Arabs praise Obama speech, await actions
June 10th, 20090 Local media flocked to the Lebanese American Heritage Club to hear reaction to President Obama's speech from local Arab American community leaders Osama Siblani, L, Imad Hamad, Hasan Newash and others. PHOTO: Nick Meyer/TAAN DEARBORN — A press conference was held Thursday morning at the Lebanese American Heritage Club in...Report ties dubious Iran nuclear documents to Israel
WASHINGTON (IPS) — A report on Iran's nuclear program issued by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month generated news stories publicizing an incendiary charge that U.S. intelligence is underestimating Iran's progress in designing a "nuclear warhead" before the halt in nuclear weapons-related research in 2003. That false...Obama ties Palestinian cause with Israel’s security and Arab reform
On June 4, in Cairo, President Obama started a promising dialogue with Islam: President Barack Obama waves to the audience as he leaves the Grand Hall of Cairo University after delivering a speech in Cairo June 4, 2009. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic "So let there be no doubt: Islam is a part of America. And I believe that America...The end of free speech?
On October 16, 2004, President George W. Bush signed the Israel Lobby's bill, the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act. This legislation requires the U.S. Department of State to monitor anti-Semitism world wide. To monitor anti-Semitism, it has to be defined. What is the definition? Basically, as defined by the Israel Lobby and Abe...State Dept issues booklet on being Muslim in America
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) released a booklet entitled "Being Muslim in America" in March. The goal of the bureau is to provide foreign civilians and opinion makers information about U.S. policy, society and values, according to the State Department. This...Student becomes fourth valedictorian in her family
With the winners separated by mere percentage points and the competition fierce, it takes a special inner-drive to become a valedictorian Zeinab Saghir is the fourth Fordson valedictorian from her family. Few know that better than the Saghir family, which has produced four valedictorians at Fordson since 2000, including the 2009...CAAO delegation meets with State, Justice officials
CAAO leaders described their meetings with the State and Justice Departments as productive but added that there is much work to be done. PHOTO: TAAN DEARBORN — The Congress of Arab American Organizations (CAAO) sent delegates to Washington D.C. this past week to meet with senior officials from both the U.S. State Department...BRIDGES meeting discusses border patrol issues, paid informants
DEARBORN — Congress of Arab American Organizations (CAAO) representatives met on Thursday at a BRIDGES meeting to discuss with law enforcement officials new travel requirements and allegations of FBI agents sending informants into community mosques. Arab American community leaders meet with federal law enforcement officials on...Corruption in Lebanon elections?
BEIRUT — When Lebanon heads to the polls Jun. 7 to decide whether the Hizbullah-led opposition alliance will unseat the ruling Western-backed coalition, voter anonymity could be compromised by shortcomings in the 2008 parliamentary election law. A Lebanese woman shows her ink-stained finger after casting her vote at a polling...Saving Israel from itself
The United States and Israel fundamentally disagree about the need to establish a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel. President Obama is committed to a two-state solution, while Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu is opposed and has been for many years. To avoid a direct confrontation with Washington, Netanyahu will...
Palestinian intern in Detroit to tackle homeland water crisis
May 30th, 20090 Despite a collective outcry from human rights groups, the humanitarian situation in Palestine remains on shaky ground. Manar Sami Shraideh And without adequate outside support, some Palestinians, like Manar Sami Shraideh, have begun to seek help for the problems that plague the country in the face of Israeli checkpoints...Aerial bombing makes terrorists
During the last thirty years of wars in Afghanistan, Afghan civilians have had one safe place to escape to: Pakistan. Men carry a victim of a bomb blast through the streets of Peshawar, in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province May 28, 2009. Two bombs exploded on Thursday in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing...Bigger, badder jihad plot in ‘Obsession’ rebooted
WASHINGTON (IPS) — A new documentary from a shadowy non-profit, the Clarion Fund, has ties to groups widely accused of Islamophobia. "The Third Jihad" purports to educate U.S. citizens about the threat of a "cultural jihad" by the country's own American Muslim population. The film goes to great lengths to define itself as an expose...Holy Land Foundation, AIPAC cases are a travesty of justice
In case you happen to think that the "war on terror" is no more because the Obama administration won't use that Bushian phrase, think again. The legal and policy structures that made the war on terror so objectionable are still in place, and they are still trampling on Arab and Muslim rights. In this most recent case, an unfair...Arab American defensive tackle takes game to the NFL
He began his college career as the only Palestinian player to ever play Division-I football, and now former Ohio State defensive tackle Nader Abdallah is taking his game to the next level. Jacksonville Jaguar Nader Abdallah Abdallah, an undrafted free agent following last month's NFL Draft in New York, signed with the......
NEWS BRIEFS: Senate bill builds momentum for immigration reform
Four Democrats have introduced a measure in U.S. Congress that ethnic community advocates say would help legal immigrants reunite with their families and end decade-long waiting times for legal immigrant visas. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, along with co-sponsoring Sens. Kristen Gellibrand, D-NY, Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Charles...
FILM REVIEW: Lemon Tree
May 29th, 20090 Starring Hiam Abbass, Doron Tavory, Ali Suliman and Rona Lipaz-Michael. Written by Suha Arraf and Eran Riklis. Directed by Eran Riklis. Not rated. Now playing at the Landmark Maple Art Theatre. Life often gives lemons to the Palestinians, and they don't always have the option of making lemonade. When an Israeli Defense......
Red Wings four wins away from back-to-back Stanley Cups
After a 4-1 series win over the rival Chicago Blackhawks, there's just one team standing between the Detroit Red Wings and back-to-back Stanley Cups: the Pittsburgh Penguins, their finals opponent in 2008. Detroit Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood (L) and Tomas Holmstrom wave to the fans after the Red Wings defeated the...
UM-D officials meet with community leaders, discuss allegations of bias
May 23rd, 20090 DEARBORN — Top University of Michigan-Dearborn administrators are engaging American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and Congress of Arab American Organizations representatives in an ongoing dialogue addressing accusations of discrimination raised by members of the Arab Student Union on campus. Representatives of the...
New York “terror plot” a government set-up?
May 23rd, 20090 The corporate media and the authorities are having a field day lavishing saturation coverage on the so-called New York "terror plot" in which four men, three of them U.S. citizens, supposedly planned to blow up a Jewish temple and shoot down military planes, feverishly citing it as another example of why we should accept police state...AIPAC’s hidden persuaders
Despite the ballyhoo of the recent AIPAC national policy conference in Washington, when Israel-U.S. bonds were feted, relations between the two countries are currently more strained than at any time since 1991. That was when the elder George Bush, as U.S. president, fiercely lobbied Yitzhak Shamir to join in the Madrid peace conference.......
Community briefs: Memorial Day parade Monday in Dearborn
DEARBORN — The 85th annual Dearborn Memorial Parade is to be held Monday, May 25. Arab American military veterans with Dearborn youth during a past Memorial Day commemoration. The Parade will begin at 10 a.m. at Michigan Avenue and Firestone Street and will go to Michigan Avenue and Schaefer Road. Following the parade will...Cousins killed in hit-and-run
DEARBORN — The bodies of two Dearborn men killed in a Detroit car crash on May 17 were on their way to Lebanon on Thursday to be buried in their family homeland. Mahmoud Bazzi, 20, L, and Hussien El-Zaghir, 26, were killed on May 17 when an SUV ran a yield sign and crashed into the side of their Chevrolet Malibu on Detroit's......
Support emerges for indicted attorney
May 23rd, 20090 DEARBORN — A group of Arab Americans has planned a June 5 event to show support for indicted attorney Tim Attalla. Tim Attalla The 49-year-old Miller-Canfield lawyer from Northville was recently accused of charges linked to a federal probe of the Michigan motorcycle gang the Highwaymen. Donations will be collected...Ohio woman seeks return of her kidnapped son
A Toledo woman is stepping up an international fight to get back her U.S.-born son, taken from her by her ex-husband in Oman in 2006. Mohamed Jaafar, allegedly taken away from his mother by his father in 2006. Mary Hariri, with the help of the U.S. State Department, the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited......