The Arab American News
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Detroit mayoral primary: Mary Sheffield in the lead as battle for second place intensifies
August 1st, 20250 DETROIT – Among the nine candidates vying to succeed Mayor Mike Duggan, City Council President Mary Sheffield stands out as the clear frontrunner in the August 5 primary election. The race will narrow the field to just two finalists who will advance to the November 4 general election. Sheffield’s strong lead is evident through her...
Southfield Mayor Kenson Siver faces familiar challengers in primary as calls for change grow
August 1st, 20250 SOUTHFIELD – Mayor Kenson J. Siver will face voters in the upcoming primary election on Tuesday, August 5, seeking to retain his seat for another four-year term. Southfield is home to approximately 76,000 residents, including a significant population of Arab and Chaldean Americans. Siver, 79, has served as mayor for the past 10 years,...
Chaldean American Tom Semaan seeks reelection as New Baltimore mayor, faces two strong challengers
August 1st, 20250 NEW BALTIMORE, MI – Incumbent Chaldean American Mayor Thomas (Tom) Semaan is running in the August 5 primary election to retain his seat for a third two-year term. He faces two serious challengers: City Council member Ryan Covert and Anchor Bay School Board President Patrick Green. The top two vote-getters in the primary will advance...
Two Israeli rights groups join international organizations and officials accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza
August 1st, 20250 Two leading Israeli human rights groups have accused Israel of “committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza”, becoming the first such organizations to make the claim. B’Tselem said in a major report released on Monday that it came to that “unequivocal conclusion” after an “examination of Israel’s policy in the Gaza...
Forty Democratic senators press Trump to end humanitarian crisis in Gaza, 27 senators vote to block U.S. weapons to Israel
August 1st, 20250 Amid reports that hundreds of Palestinians have died from malnutrition in the besieged Gaza Strip since May, a group of prominent Jewish Democratic lawmakers — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (New York) and Senator Adam Schiff (California) — is spearheading efforts to pressure President Trump’s administration to...
Georges Abdallah receives hero’s welcome in Beirut after four decades in French prison, reaffirms commitment to resistance
August 1st, 20250 BEIRUT – French authorities released Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Lebanese leftist pro-Palestinian and Europe’s longest-held political prisoner, last Friday, after 41 years in detention. Abdallah, who was arrested in the early 1980s on charges of conspiring to assassinate an American and an Israeli diplomat, arrived at Beirut’s...
How two families crossed the rubble of Gaza, fleeing war and hunger
July 27th, 20250 The Bakrons and Al-Bareems, two families from opposite ends of Gaza, have criss-crossed the rubble-strewn territory many times during 21 months of war, in search of food and shelter from Israeli attacks. They’ve sought refuge in the homes of friends and relatives, in school classrooms and in tents, moving frequently as the Israeli...
Gov. Whitmer demands return of $8.2M from grant to Fay Beydoun amid fraud probe
July 27th, 20250 LANSING — In her first public statement regarding an ongoing investigation into the alleged misuse of taxpayer funds, Governor Whitmer has called on State Attorney General Dana Nessel to recover $8.2 million from a $10 million grant received by Arab American businesswoman Fay Beydoun through a nonprofit she founded in 2022, which was...
Inkster launches first major housing project in decades to boost affordable homeownership
July 27th, 20250 INKSTER — The city of Inkster broke ground last Friday on a new housing project called Annapolis Pointe, located near the intersection of Middlebelt and Annapolis Roads in the southwest part of the city, in its first major residential development in more than 20 years. The investment aims to help low- and moderate-income families...
Michigan AG Dana Nessel escalates crackdown on pro-Palestine activists as students vow to resist
July 27th, 20250 LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is continuing to target student activists supporting Palestinian rights, despite mounting criticism in recent weeks, through what the TAHRIR Coalition — a broad coalition of student organizations at the University of Michigan — describes as an ongoing campaign of intimidation and...
Fragmenting a nation: Israel’s enduring pursuit of Palestinian disunity
July 27th, 20250 Israel is aggressively implementing plans to shape Palestine's future and the broader region, sculpting its vision for the “day after” its genocide in Gaza. The latest, bizarre iteration of this strategy proposes fragmenting the occupied West Bank into so-called “emirates”, starting with the “emirate of Hebron.” This...
Garden Farm Supermarket opens in Inkster to serve growing Arab, Muslim and other ethnic communities
July 27th, 20250 INKSTER – Near the intersection of three cities experiencing rapid growth in their Arab, Muslim and other ethnic populations, a new supermarket — Garden Farm — has recently opened at 30215 Cherry Hill Road, with the aim to meet the needs of the expanding Arab community in Inkster, Garden City and Westland. While there are no...
French President Macron says France will recognize Palestine as a state
July 27th, 20250 French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state, amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza. Macron said in a post on social media that he will formalize the decision at the United Nations General Assembly in September. “The urgent thing today is that the war in...
Al-Sharaa pushes the Druze into Israel’s embrace: Has Syria’s partition begun?
July 18th, 20250 As ceasefire negotiations in Gaza continue, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has seized the opportunity to continue his policy of deflection from internal crises, aiming to capitalize as much as possible on the new geopolitical reality created by Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood.” This time, however, he’s doing so through the...
Sweeping budget and spending law leaves millions uninsured, while adding trillions to federal deficit
July 18th, 20250 By Sunita Sohrabji The newly passed federal legislation dubbed by Republicans as the “Big, Beautiful Bill” is poised to trigger a seismic shift in the U.S. healthcare and fiscal landscape. Marketed as a tax cut package, the new law also constitutes the most substantial rollback of health coverage since the Affordable Care......
Four CUNY professors say they were fired for supporting Palestine
July 18th, 20250 As Congress grills CUNY’s chancellor, the terminated Brooklyn College faculty say Palestine activism is “the only thing we have in common.” By Sanya Mansoor Four adjunct professors at the City University of New York say the university fired them because of their activism for Palestine. The administration’s decision...
A comprehensive look at primary elections in Metro Detroit municipalities
July 18th, 20250 DETROIT – As the August 5 primary elections draw near, voters across many Metro Detroit communities have begun casting absentee ballots to narrow down crowded fields of candidates in various local races. Seven cities are holding mayoral primaries to reduce the number of contenders to two finalists who will advance to the November......
Trump faces backlash as 69 percent believe Epstein details were concealed, Reuters/Ipsos poll
July 18th, 20251 Most Americans think President Trump's administration is hiding information about accused sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and give it poor marks on the issue after pledging to make public documents in the case, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found. The two-day poll, which closed Wednesday, showed 69 percent of respondents thought the federal...
Dearborn bans Airbnb-style rentals in residential neighborhoods starting in 2026, citing housing and quality-of-life concerns
July 18th, 20250 DEARBORN – On Tuesday, in a packed chamber, the Dearborn City Council voted unanimously to pass a new ordinance banning short-term home rentals through platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo in all residential areas of the city — except for the East and West Downtown districts, which will be subject to special regulations. The ordinance,...
Federal court paved way for dismissal of lawsuit accusing Hamtramck of anti-LGBTQ bias: Flag restrictions on public property deemed constitutional
July 18th, 20250 DETROIT – In a ruling on Tuesday described by local officials as “historic”, a federal court in Detroit paved the way toward dismissing a lawsuit challenging Hamtramck’s policy prohibiting LGBTQ+ pride flags from being flown on public property — a decision hailed as a “complete victory” by the city’s leadership, which...
When disaster calls, will FEMA answer?
July 18th, 20250 By Sunita Sohrabji The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) uneven response to the Texas floods — which killed 132 people, including children — has left states wondering whether they can continue to rely on the agency amid an environmental disaster. “The FEMA director (David Richardson, the agency’s acting......
Trump administration shares Medicaid data with ICE, sparking outrage over privacy and immigration enforcement
July 18th, 20250 Medicaid officials have reportedly made an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to allow agents to examine a database of Americans’ personal information – including home addresses, social security numbers and ethnicities. The data sharing agreement will allow ICE to find “the location of aliens”, according to...
Elections 2025: Adam Alharbi runs for mayor to unite Hamtramck through service, reform and vision
July 18th, 20250 Adam Alharbi said that he is driven by a deep commitment to public service and a strong belief in the potential of the city where he was born and raised. Alharbi, who is an engineer and a community activist, has announced his candidacy for mayor of Hamtramck this year. His campaign vision centers on infrastructure development, improved......
Father of slain Palestinian American speaks with Zeteo about his son’s death and lack of official U.S. response
July 16th, 20250 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBgJ78YOt0c Kamel Musallet, the father of 20-year-old Arab American Sayfollah Musallet, who was allegedly beaten to death by Israeli settlers, spoke recently to Zeteo's Prem Thakker about his son's life and death and the lack of any official American response. “I honestly, deeply, not only think, ...
Gaza ceasefire talks in limbo as regional players navigate shifting landscape
July 11th, 20250 At the conclusion of a four-day visit to Washington, which included daily meetings with President Trump and senior members of his administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed conditional approval of a temporary ceasefire agreement in Gaza and a partial prisoner exchange with Hamas. He also threatened to resume his......
