Author's Posts
Bloomfield Township trustee censored for criticizing Zionism
October 18th, 20241 Bloomfield Township’s Board of Trustees hosted three and a half hours of public comment in response to an anti-Zionist post by Trustee Stephanie Fakih and voted 6-1, with Fakih opposed, to censure her on Oct. 14. Fakih posted a story to her private Instagram on Oct. 4 that says “Israeli Zionists are the scum of the earth and the...
Wayne State Students for Justice in Palestine hosts pro-Palestine rally, continues calls for university divestment
October 12th, 20240 Wayne State Students for Justice in Palestine and affiliated groups hosted a “Rally for Pali” on Wayne State’s campus on Wednesday to show support for Palestine and university divestment from weapons manufacturing companies. Thirteen groups, including Wayne Law Justice for Palestine, WSU Alumni for Justice in Palestine, WSU...
Pro-Palestine student activism continues at Wayne State University
September 20th, 20240 Wayne State University hosted its first in-person Board of Governors (BOG) meeting since April, and 11 students and two professors spoke during public comment about topics that included increased police presence at meetings and university divestment from weapons manufacturers. The 3 p.m. general body session began with WSU President...
Rights groups respond to AG Nessel’s charges against 11 pro-Palestinian protesters during spring encampment at U of M
September 14th, 20240 Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged 11 people involved in protests on the University of Michigan’s campus in April and May for violations including trespassing, disturbing the peace and malicious destruction of personal property, according to a press release from the Attorney General's Office. The press release said the...
Arab American Civil Rights League files CBP complaint after Muslim woman denied entrance to U.S. at Metro Airport
August 30th, 20240 The Arab American Civil Rights League filed a federal complaint against Customs and Border Protection after an officer questioned Taiba Elgattani, who wears a hijab and uses a wheelchair, for three hours in the Metro Detroit Airport before sending her back to where she lives in the U.K. without alerting her family. Elgattani flew from...
Rep. Debbie Dingell addresses Israel’s War on Gaza in Washtenaw County town hall
August 17th, 20241 U.S. Rep Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and a group of western Washtenaw County politicians hosted a town hall for community members to voice concerns and ask questions. Dingell started the town hall at the Chelsea District Library by acknowledging potential constituent concerns. “If anybody were to write a book (about the last...
Arab American Rasha Demashkieh seeks a seat on Wayne State University Board of Governors
July 13th, 20240 Arab American and Wayne State University Alumna Rasha Demashkieh is running for an eight-year term on the Wayne State Board of Governors in the Nov. 5 election. Demashkieh, a Syrian immigrant who graduated from WSU’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 1979, said the university played a special role in her life and she...
Arab Americans for Trump aiming to flip community votes in Michigan
July 13th, 20240 Frustrated with President Biden’s support for Israel, Bishara Bahbah, Ph.D., founded Arab Americans for Trump to rally support for former President Trump in Michigan and Arizona. “The Arab and Muslim American communities will not, in any way, form or shape, ever vote for Biden,” Bahbah said. “Biden is complicit in the genocide...
Hill Harper to compete with Elissa Slotkin for U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary on August 6
July 5th, 20240 Hill Harper, 32-year union member, Detroit small business owner, cancer survivor, actor, author and a single father, is running for U.S. Senate in the Michigan Democratic primary on Aug. 6. “I am not a career politician, but I have a set of lived experiences I think for this moment are very valuable for that 100-person body...
Detroit Councilwoman Mary Waters to challenge U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar in Democratic primary on August 6
July 5th, 20240 Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters is running in the Democratic primary election for Michigan's 13th U.S. House District seat, which represents parts of Detroit, Hamtramck, Romulus, Allen Park, Grosse Pointe and more. Voters elected Waters to the Detroit City Council as one of two at-large members in 2021, where she has since...
Wayne State BOG meets virtually amid Pro-Palestine protesters’ concerns
June 28th, 20240 Members of the Wayne State University community have been advocating for the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel since November. WSU’s Board of Governors met virtually in its first meeting since the removal of the pro-Palestine campus encampment and discussed what the investment process looks like. It also hosted...
Plymouth public defender sues 35th District Court for alleged bias and harassment against lower-income defendants
June 21st, 20240 Public Defender Sundus Jaber filed a lawsuit against the Regional Managed Assigned Counsel Office (RMACO), RMACO’s director and judges from the 35th District Court in Plymouth for alleged bias against lower-income defendants, harassment and retaliation for reporting harassment. The lawsuit states that the defendants violated...
Hamtramck City Council passes boycott, divest and sanction resolution against Israel
May 31st, 20240 The Hamtramck City Council passed Resolution 2024-51 to boycott, divest and sanction Israel 4-0 at its meeting on Tuesday evening. The only entirely Arab American city council in the country became the first in Michigan and one of the first around the nation to join the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement. “The BDS...
Police raid and remove Wayne State University’s pro-Palestinian encampment, students vow to return
May 31st, 20240 Wayne State University police removed a pro-Palestine encampment and arrested 12 people on Thursday morning. During a press conference after the removal of the encampment, WSU’s Muslim Coalition President Ali Hassan said arrests included students, a medic and a third party observer. In a call Thursday afternoon, University...
FLIP awards 31 high school graduates-bound to college and five teachers from Dearborn and Dearborn Heights
May 24th, 20240 Huntington Bank and The Arab American News awarded 31 college-bound Dearborn and Dearborn Heights graduating seniors $115,000 in scholarships at the Future Leaders In Progress (FLIP) Scholarship Dinner on Wednesday, May 22. FLIP also recognized five outstanding educators from Dearborn Public Schools and Crestwood Public Schools in......
Resilient Neighborhoods: “Labor of love” revives historic Hamtramck Stadium, creates community park space
May 17th, 20241 Historic Hamtramck Stadium is one of five home ballparks for a major Negro League team between 1920 and 1948 still standing in the U.S. The park opened in May 1930 as the home stadium for the Detroit Stars Negro League baseball team, Gary Gillette, president and founder of Friends of Historic Hamtramck Stadium and baseball scholar,...
More than 100 faculty and staff at Wayne State University support student protesters
May 10th, 20240 A previous version of this article cited a version of the 2003 BOG bylaws and said the president, chair and vice chair of the Board sets the agenda 14 days before the meeting. The updated 2021 bylaws state in section 1.1.3 that the president, chair and vice chair of the Board set the agenda within five days of the meeting. More than......
CAIR reports anti-Muslim discrimination high as Israel’s war on Gaza continues
April 6th, 20240 Michigan’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations saw more than a 200 percent increase in civil rights complaints reported, according to its 2023 report, “Gaza and the Rise in Bigotry against Michigan Muslims”, released on Tuesday. Nationally, CAIR received 8,061 complaints – 495 of which from Michigan – in...
Palestinian American journalist files discrimination lawsuit against CBS Detroit
March 29th, 20240 Palestinian American journalist Ibrahim Samra filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against CBS News Detroit and its parent company, Paramount, after being fired on Feb. 28. The lawsuit alleges CBS fired Samra after he filed complaints about how the station treated him and went about covering Israel's war on Gaza, Samra’s lawyer...
Death and destruction in Gaza leave local Muslims little to celebrate in Ramadan this year
March 22nd, 20240 From new fundraisers to event cancellations for extra reflection, Ramadan looks especially different this year. The Ramadan Suhoor Festival in Dearborn usually attracts thousands of people to the Fairlane Town Center. Founder Hassan Chami said he canceled the event this year because he doesn’t think the joy is justified, even if the...
Hamtramck unveils the renaming of Holbrook Street to Palestine Avenue
March 8th, 20240 Hamtramck City Councilman Khalil Refai unveiled Palestine Avenue on Thursday afternoon after the City Council passed Resolution 2023-184 in December to rename a section of Holbrook street as a symbolic gesture of remembrance and support to the people of Gaza. The honorary Palestine Avenue is located between Buffalo and Saint Aubin......
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein visits Dearborn, meets with community
March 8th, 20241 On Thursday, The Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights hosted Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential candidate, for an evening of community discussion. Stein, 73, a three-time Green Party presidential candidate, said as president she would immediately call for a ceasefire in Gaza. “The president can make a phone...
Resilient Neighborhoods: Islamic Center of Detroit’s Muhammad Ali Park brings community together
March 1st, 20240 DETROIT – The Islamic Center of Detroit opened Muhammad Ali Park last spring as one of its many initiatives to bring together District Seven. Islamic Center of Detroit Community Relations Director Muthanna Al-Hanooti said the area, formerly known as Belton-Mark Twain Park, transformed into a beautiful space. “We converted the......
