In late 2003 he was the target of a failed assassination attempt, when a car bomb exploded beneath his vehicle as his wife was backing it out of their driveway.

After graduating he worked as a sociologist, and was a member of the Emile Touma Institute for Political and Historical Research.

Makhoul reversed the Ford out of the driveway, and his wife started the engine of the Honda, intending to pick up their twin children from school.

[1] In May 2005, two young Jewish men (Alexander Rabinovitch and Eliran Golan) were convicted of obtaining explosive materials for criminal purposes.

[citation needed] His brother Ameer Makhoul was a director of the Haifa-based Ittijah, the Union of Arab Community-Based Associations.