Mokarzel harbored tacit Lebanese separationist aspirations that he did not openly advocate until the Ottoman defeat in World War I. Before the Ottomans' fall, Mokarzel's rhetoric was more diplomatic; unlike Al-Ayam (The Days), another US-based Arabic newspaper, which was openly hostile toward the Ottoman sultan and authorities, Al-Hoda took a more cautious tone, reminding its Arabic-speaking American readers that they were above all, Ottoman settlers in a foreign land. In 1894, Mokarzel attended an event honoring the Ottoman sultan, giving an address in French to the assembled notables among whom was the Ottoman consul-general of New York. In 1899, Mokarzel criticized the newly established Young Syria Party that aimed to overthrow the Ottoman government and sought to recruit a militia for that purpose. At the turn of the twentieth century, Mokarzel began to openly express his disdain for the Ottoman consul in New York. Mokarzel represented the Lebanon League of Progress in the Arab Congress of 1913 in Paris advocating for the autonomy of Mount Lebanon within the Ottoman Empire.