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Eagle-eyed observers of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tapestry of tattoos noticed a never-seen-before Arabic script underneath his arm.
Hegseth posted an image of himself doing jumping jacks and push-ups with Navy Seals at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Tuesday.
It comes as he is facing mounting pressure to resign after sharing detailed Yemen strike plans in a group text chat with other Trump officials on the Signal app.
Hegseth has brushed off the controversy, saying that the chat did not include classified information. Now, he is in Guam and Hawaii on a trip to visit U.S. troops.
The new tattoo revealed in the video features the Arabic word ‘kafir,’ which in the Quran means ‘disbeliever’ or ‘infidel’ and is inked below hegseth’s ‘Deus Vult’ tattoo.
The discovery sparked anger from activists who are already infuriated about his tattoos featuring Christian and American images.
‘Hegseth just got a kafir (كافر) tattoo under his Deus Vult tattoo—a Crusader slogan. This isn’t just a personal choice; it’s a clear symbol of Islamophobia from the man overseeing U.S. wars,’ wrote Nerdeen Kiswani, a pro-Palestinian activist in New York City on social media.
Kiswani described the tattoos as the ‘normalization of Islamophobia at the highest levels of power.’
Others on social media felt similarly about the tattoo.
‘The كافر/kafir tattoo in the Quran means disbeliever,’ wrote writer Tam Hussein on X. ‘To the Muslim world the tattoo will be seen as an open declaration of Hegseth’s enmity towards them.’
Others defended the tattoo as a common word used by veterans of Middle Eastern wars.
‘This word is widely recognized among military veterans, especially those who served in the Middle East, as a symbol of defiance against Islamic terrorists,’ wrote X user ‘Brother Rachid.’ ‘It’s commonly seen on stickers, the backs of trucks, T-shirts, and mugs. Personally, I had it on a hat, a mug, and even on the door of my office.’
‘Muslims should not be offended or shocked at Pete Hegseth‘s new ‘kafir’ tattoo or his crusader ‘Deus Vult’ tattoo,’ wrote X user Dilly Hussain of a UK-based news site 5 Pillars UK. ‘He’s merely displaying America’s foreign policy and mindset to Islam and Muslims.’
It is unclear whether the tattoo is new, as it is inked underneath his arm where it may simply have not been noticed before.
The Department of Defense did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment.
The veteran, who served tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq and is a double Bronze Star holder, has a total of over a dozen tattoos across his right arm and chest.
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