Trump’s decision crystallizes Palestinians predicament of entrenched American bias
December 15th, 20170 By Mary Turfah Last Wednesday, Donald Trump announced his plans to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as recognition, against that of the world, of Israel's right to Jerusalem as its capital. But the idea that Trump has "endangered" the peace process is misleading because it presupposes the existence of...
What Trump has done: The entire U.S.-Middle East political framework just collapsed
December 15th, 20170 By Ramzy Baroud Now that President Trump has fully adopted the Israeli right wing political discourse on Palestine, the Palestinian Authority is in a very tough spot. "I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel," Trump said in Washington last Wednesday. The embattled president has...
Trump’s Jerusalem decision: A fatal and fateful blow
December 15th, 20170 By Dr. James J. Zogby President Trump's decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital was irresponsible and dangerous for more reasons than I can count. Let me outline just a few of the principal concerns: While we have all grown weary of hearing the over-used mantra "this is the end of the peace process", Trump's...
On Jerusalem, Obama was no better than Trump
December 15th, 20170 By Khelil Bouarrouj President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital has simply exposed the grim reality of American peace mediation between the Israelis and Palestinians. Under Trump's predecessors, America's "special relationship" with Israel was headed to the same denouement of embracing Israeli occupation...
Why is Trump undoing decades of U.S. policy on Jerusalem?
December 8th, 20170 By Shibley Telhami It is almost impossible to see the logic of the Trump administration's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and possibly moving the U.S. embassy to Israel there—before it even unveils what's certain to be a controversial plan for Middle East peace, which will be tough enough to sell. The White House is...
It’s time for Detroit to stand up to racial and religious bias in public services
December 8th, 20170 By Amy V. Doukoure The city of Detroit has had a sordid history with race relations, and it is true that many of the issues present in the 1960's remain relevant in the city today. People living in the communities of Detroit, many of them minorities, immigrants and Muslims, feel as though they are forgotten while the Downtown areas...
Tom Friedman’s paean to a Saudi tyrant ignites NYT comments-storm
December 2nd, 20170 By Mike Whitney "I've never thought much of Friedman's work, but this is the work of a complete toady." Jim, New York Times comments section "What a nauseating exercise in a…-kissing!" Karim Pakravan, NYT comments section NEW YORK — Why did Tom Friedman write such a gushing tribute to the Saudi tyrant, Mohammed bin Salman?...
Palestinians: Victims of an unjust U.S. law
December 2nd, 20170 Imagine that you are a victim of a violent crime or theft but are forbidden from reporting it because Congress has passed a law that not only prohibits you from reporting the crime, but threatens punishment if you dare to do it. This is the situation in which the Palestinians find themselves today. The Palestinians have been told that...
Reining in the rogue royal of Arabia
November 17th, 20170 By Patrick J. Buchanan If the crown prince of Saudi Arabia has in mind a war with Iran, President Trump should disabuse his royal highness of any notion that America would be doing his fighting for him. Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, the 32-year-old son of the aging and ailing King Salman, is making too many enemies for his own good,...
Not my Wonder Woman: The Zionist agenda in U.S. mainstream feminism
September 22nd, 20172 By Zarefah Baroud Most women will agree that female representation in the media is incredibly important for a plethora of reasons— not only in media but also politics and other platforms lacking opportunity for female participants. Providing women of all ages a strong and positive role model could break a toxic habit and pattern...
35 years after Sabra and Shatila: An indictment of the international community
September 22nd, 20170 By Nabil Mohamad On September 16, 1982, following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the right-wing Christian Phalange militia stormed the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut and began a massacre which ended in the deaths of hundreds, maybe thousands, of mostly Palestinian civilians. I was 19-years-old at the time. By chance...
Three years after the war: Gaza youth speak out
September 8th, 20170 "At bedtime, I am afraid to turn the lights off. I am not a coward, it is just that I worry that this bulb hanging from the ceiling is the last light that remains (shining) in my life." Soon after he penned these words, Moath Alhaj, a young artist from a Gaza refugee camp, passed away in his sleep. After he'd disappeared for two days,...
Keeping DACA is the right thing to do
September 8th, 20170 The American Dream: Work hard, play by the rules, provide a better life for your family. The dream that has attracted immigrants to our shores for more than a century must be reformed and modernized to accommodate our modern-day realities. Republicans and Democrats both agree. However, the recent actions of our president to end the...
The terror next time: The ISIS story is not ending
September 3rd, 20177 Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, has been reduced to rubble. It has been finally conquered, snatched back from the notorious group, Daesh, after months of merciless bombardment by the U.S.-led war coalition, and a massive ground war. But "victory" can hardly be the term assigned to this moment. Mosul, once Iraq's cultural jewel and...
Who needs to step up?
September 3rd, 20170 An interesting thing keeps happening to me. Every few days, someone — an acquaintance, a colleague, even a stranger on the street — approaches me. They ask some version of the same question: What can we do to pull ourselves out of this dark period? For Americans who respect representative democracy, the Constitution and the rule......
Senate Bill 720: Making it a crime to support Palestinian human rights
August 20th, 20170 By James J. Zogby It is fascinating to watch some U.S. senators tripping over themselves as they attempt to defend their support for or opposition to proposed legislation that would make it a federal crime to support the international campaign to Boycott, Divest or Sanction (BDS) Israel for its continued occupation of Palestinian...
Charlottesville tragedy can be lesson to community
August 20th, 20171 By Abed Hammoud The recent tragic events in Charlottesville, VA should be a lesson to our Arab and Muslim community here in Metro Detroit, specially in the Dearborn-Dearborn Heights area. These events show that personal attacks, character assassination and the spread of false information on social media and elsewhere can have......
Power to the people: Why Palestinian victory in Jerusalem is a pivotal moment
August 4th, 20170 Neither Fatah nor Hamas have been of much relevance to the mass protests staged around the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. Neither have American pressure, half-hearted European "concern about the situation" or cliché Arab declarations made one iota of difference. United Nations officials warned of the grim scenarios of escalation,...
Fear and trepidation in Tel Aviv: Is Israel losing the Syria war?
July 28th, 20170 Israel, which has played a precarious role in the Syrian war since 2011, is furious to learn that the future of the conflict is not to its liking. The six-year-old Syria war is moving to a new stage, perhaps its final. The Syrian regime is consolidating its control over most of the populated centers, while ISIS is losing ground fast...
Restoring faith in representative democracy
July 27th, 20170 There's no shortage of threats to our democracy. Russian meddling in elections, the vulnerability of state voting systems to hacking, politicians' assaults on the media and political leaders' growing fondness for policy-making in secret — all of these pose a real challenge to our system's viability. As worrisome as these are,...
How Trump and Netanyahu pushed Palestinians into a corner
July 27th, 20170 Early October 2016, Misbah Abu Sbeih left his wife and five children at home and then drove to an Israeli police station in occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem. The 39-year-old Jerusalemite was scheduled to hand himself over to serve a term of four months in jail for, allegedly, trumped up charges of "trying to hit an Israeli......
The story behind the Jerusalem attack: How Trump and Netanyahu pushed Palestinians into a corner
July 21st, 20170 By Ramzy Baroud Early October 2016, Misbah Abu Sbeih left his wife and five children at home and then drove to an Israeli police station in occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem. The 39-year-old Jerusalemite was scheduled to hand himself over to serve a term of four months in jail for, allegedly, trumped up charges of "trying to hit...
Israel vs. the United Nations: The Nikki Haley doctrine
June 28th, 20170 The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, seems to be championing a single cause: Israel. When Haley speaks about Israel, her language is not merely emotive nor tailored to fit the need of a specific occasion. Rather, her words are resolute, consistent and are matched by a clear plan of action. Along with......
Donald Trump and the politics of whine
By Thomas L. Knapp "No politician in history, and I say this with great surety," President Trump told Coast Guard Academy graduates on May 17, "has been treated worse or more unfairly" than himself. A day later, in the wake of the Justice Department's appointment of former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to...
Trump’s visit to Israel: How Palestine disappeared from US media coverage
June 2nd, 20170 As if he has, overnight, been transformed into a master politician, Donald Trump's 27-hour trip to Israel has left many analysts mystified. Quoting former Israeli political adviser Mitchell Barack, the New York Times referred to Trump as the "Liberace of world leaders", in reference to flamboyant piano player Wladziu Valantino......
