The Arab American News
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More than 500 Oxford faculty and staff endorse Gaza solidarity encampment
May 17th, 20240 OXFORD, U.K. – On Tuesday, just over a week since the establishment of Oxford’s “Liberated Zone” for Gaza, more than 500 members of the faculty and staff at the University of Oxford have now pledged their support in writing for the solidarity encampment and its demands. More signatures are being added in support daily. The...
Universities should protect student rights, promote safety and champion open discourse
May 10th, 20240 By Jamal I. Bittar In the past few weeks, over 2,600 students have been arrested across the U.S. as universities and colleges, traditionally seen as bastions of free expression, now grapple with clashes between students and overly aggressive law enforcement. The reliance on police enforcement and punitive measures to suppress protests...
Educate, don’t intimidate: Reimagining campus responses to protests
May 10th, 20240 By Morhaf Al Achkar, MD, PhD* In recent weeks, university campuses across the United States have transformed into epicenters of political activism. Sparked by the ongoing conflict in Gaza, students have established pro-Palestine encampments, seeking to express solidarity and raise awareness. Rather than engaging with these peaceful...
Gov. Whitmer pushes free community college plan at Livonia Career Technical Center
May 10th, 20240 LIVONIA — Michigan could be the first state in the nation to make preschool through community college free if Gov. Whitmer can convince state lawmakers to approve her plan as part of the state budget this summer. But that proposal — a key provision of her $80.7 billion budget plan — appears in jeopardy after the Democratic-led...
Who are Israel’s main weapons suppliers and who have halted exports?
May 10th, 20240 The United States has suspended a shipment of weapons to Israel, including heavy, bunker-busting bombs Israeli forces have used in their war against Hamas militants in Gaza that have killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians in seven months. President Biden acted in the face of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to pursue a...
Biden says U.S. won’t supply weapons for Israel to attack Rafah
May 10th, 20240 President Biden said that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah over concern for the well-being of the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there. On Wednesday Biden said in an interview with CNN that the U.S. was still committed to Israel’s defense and would supply...
FLIP to award $111,500 in scholarships for 29 college-bound graduates from Dearborn, Dearborn Heights high schools
May 10th, 20240 Huntington Bank in partnership with The Arab American News will hold the FLIP scholarships 2024 Award Dinner on May 22 DEARBORN – For the third year in a row The Arab American News in partnership with Huntington Bank will distribute $111,500 in FLIP scholarships to 29 high school college-bound graduates from Dearborn and Dearborn...
Michigan Fuels, in conjunction with ExxonMobil, donates $15,000 to Dearborn Public Schools
May 8th, 20240 DEARBORN – Continuing an annual tradition of more than 30 years, Michigan Fuels – in partnership with ExxonMobil – donated $15,000 to Dearborn Public Schools, on Friday, April 26, in a ceremony at Fordson High School. “We are incredibly pleased and grateful to continue supporting our area high school students throughout...
Gaza needs minimum 16 years to rebuild lost homes, U.N. says
May 8th, 20240 GENEVA – Rebuilding Gaza's shattered homes will take at least until 2040, but could drag on for many decades, according to a U.N. report released on Thursday. Nearly seven months of Israeli bombardment have caused billions of dollars in damage, leaving many of the crowded strip's high-rise concrete buildings reduced to heaps, with a...
Netanyahu assures Israelis of “total victory”, while teetering on the brink of total defeat
May 8th, 20240 By Jamal I. Bittar Last Friday, Israel launched an assault on Iran in response to an Iranian incursion onto Israeli soil the weekend prior, involving over 300 missiles and drones. Among the various options available to the Israeli government – ranging from assaults on numerous nuclear facilities, military bases and key national...
Nearly 2,200 people have been arrested during pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. college campuses
May 8th, 20240 Police have arrested nearly 2,200 people during pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the United States in recent weeks, sometimes using riot gear, tactical vehicles and flash-bang devices to clear tent encampments and occupied buildings. One officer accidentally discharged his gun inside a Columbia University...
Pro-Palestinian students protests and encampments spread across major Canadian universities
May 8th, 20240 TORONTO — Quebec Premier Francois Legault said on Thursday the encampment at Montreal's McGill University should be dismantled as more students erected pro-Palestinian camps across some of Canada's largest universities, demanding they divest from groups with ties to Israel. The Canadian protests come as police have been arresting...
Major events in Pro-Palestinian protests at U.S. universities
May 8th, 20240 Pro-Palestinian protests demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from companies linked to Israel have spread across U.S. universities in the two weeks since Columbia University administrators called in police to dismantle an encampment on their New York City campus. Below is a timeline of significant events in the biggest wave of...
“Our anger is righteous”: Hear students at U of M’s Gaza solidarity encampment in their own words
May 8th, 20241 By Andrew Mullen For months, student activists at the University of Michigan have called for their school to cut financial ties to the state of Israel, only to be met with rejection from university officials. However, the students refuse to be ignored. Following the lead of activists at Columbia University and other schools across the...
Biden plans to visit Detroit on May 19 to address NAACP dinner
May 6th, 20240 President Biden will return to Michigan this month to speak at the NAACP Detroit Branch's 69th annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner, his campaign confirmed Wednesday. The announcement came ahead of a planned Wednesday night campaign rally in Freeland, about 14 miles northwest of Saginaw, by former President Trump, the presumptive......
Palestinians are gratified for American students’ support, wonder why students in the Arab world are dormant
May 6th, 20240 Palestinians may be gratified to see American university campuses erupt in outrage over Israel's offensive in Gaza, but some in the embattled enclave are also wondering why no similar protests have hit the Arab countries they long viewed as allies. Demonstrations have rocked U.S. universities this week, with confrontations between...
Book: Awakening the Sleeping Tiger Within
May 6th, 20240 By Anne Marie Ameri, Ph.D. Dearborn has been called the “Sleeping Tiger” because of the potential political power of particularly the Dearborn Arabic residents when it is “awakened.” For five years, I was compelled to write this powerful book, Awakening the Sleeping Tiger Within: Breaking the Power of Mainstream Media’s......
Three Arab American candidates challenge pro-Israel Democrats in Michigan’s primary
May 4th, 20240 Three vocal Arab Americans against the Israeli genocide in Gaza who have been demanding a ceasefire in the war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have filed petitions to challenge two Democratic members of Congress and a pro-Israel Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Michigan. The candidates cited frustration over their...
Sexual assault complaint filed against Warren chiropractor, video evidence presented
April 26th, 20240 Dearborn attorney Azzam Elder filed a complaint in Macomb County Circuit Court April 19 alleging that his client, referred to as Jane Doe in the court document, was sexually assaulted by Warren chiropractor John Pispidikis. Pispidikis owns the Spinal Recovery Center on 12 Mile Road. Elder held a press conference on the sidewalk...
Mass graves discovery in Gaza: What do we know and what are the consequences under international law?
April 26th, 20240 THE HAGUE – The discovery of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals, said by Palestinian authorities to contain hundreds of bodies, have triggered calls by the U.N. rights chief and others for an international investigation. While not defined under international law, a mass grave is a burial site containing multiple bodies, the existence...
Michigan to receive $156M in federal funds for rooftop solar panels in low-income areas
April 26th, 20240 LANSING – Michigan will get more than $156 million in federal funding for a program to expand residential solar in low-income communities, part of a federal initiative to confront climate change while reducing energy bills for people in low income areas. “Michigan is committed to leading the future of clean energy, lowering utility......
Michigan implementing “kinship care” rule; feds say it’s first in the country to do so
April 19th, 20240 Michigan has become the first state to be approved to implement separate licensing standards for kin caregivers — extended family members like grandparents, aunts and uncles serving as foster care providers. Advocates said goal of kinship care is to keep families together, increase equity in the child welfare system and allow...
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani visits Metro Detroit, meets with community
April 19th, 20240 On Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani paid a quick visit to Metro Detroit. The Iraqi leader's first stop was at the Islamic Institute of America, a Dearborn Heights mosque, and his second stop was at the Shenandoah Country Club in West Bloomfield, where he had dinner with local Iraqi Americans. al-Sudani's visit was......
AG’s office to investigate how Fay Baydoun used a $20M grant
April 19th, 20240 Attorney General Dana Nessel's office has opened an investigation into a $20 million grant awarded to a Metro Detroit businesswoman used on expenses that included a $4,500 coffee maker, an $11,000 first-class plane ticket and $408,000 in salaries for two people over three months. Nessel's office confirmed Wednesday it had opened an...
U.S. vetoes widely supported resolution backing full U.N. membership for Palestine
April 19th, 20240 NEW YORK – The United States vetoed a widely backed U.N. resolution Thursday that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent. The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 12 in favor, the United States opposed and two......
