Thank you, Ireland
July 22nd, 20180 In Ireland on Wednesday morning, I watched an amazing debate unfolding in the Irish Seanad (Senate), as members spoke for and against a bill to prohibit the importation of Israeli goods produced in settlements in occupied Palestinian lands. The legislation in question is the Control of Economic Activity (occupied territory) Bill 2018,...
The massacre of Inn Din: How Rohingya are lynched and held responsible
July 22nd, 20180 “In my four years as high commissioner, I have heard many preposterous claims. That claim is almost in its own category of absurdity. Have you no shame, sir, have you no shame? We are not fools.” These were some of the remarks made by the outgoing United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, in his...
Donate with honor, not to a sham charity
July 22nd, 20180 Would you donate to a charity called Help the Vets? What about if you get a robocall that asks you to donate your car to “Veterans of America?” Unfortunately, just because the word “veterans” is in the name, it doesn’t mean that an organization actually helps veterans. For example, Help the Vets didn’t help disabled and...
Get involved, be a true American citizen
July 22nd, 20181 Back in 1883, Teddy Roosevelt wrote an essay on what it takes to be a true American citizen. He did not mince words. “The people who say that they have not time to attend to politics are simply saying that they are unfit to live in a free community,” he wrote. “The first duty of an American citizen, then, is that he shall work in...
Anti-Semitism Awareness Act doesn’t protect Jews – it protects Israel
July 6th, 20180 After trying and failing to pass the so-called “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act” in the last legislative session, supporters have once again submitted a bill that, if passed by Congress, will dramatically curb free speech and academic inquiry on college campuses. As I argued in my testimony to the House Judiciary Committee last...
Once the fireworks of Independence Day fade, how independent are we?
July 6th, 20181 Guest editorial By the Muslim Public Affairs Council Every July 4th holiday, most Americans spend time with their families, indulge in grilled foods and watch awestruck as dazzling explosions light up the night sky. For many of us, it’s a time to reflect on the complex juxtapositions that define our nation; from the...
Did Israel inspire Trump’s family separation policy?
June 30th, 20182 This past May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the government's “zero tolerance” policy at U.S. border crossings. It was a matter of weeks before the new policy began yielding tragic outcomes. Those attempting to unlawfully cross into the U.S. were subject to federal criminal prosecution, while their children were taken...
Drifting backward, repeating America’s shameful history
June 29th, 20180 Tuesday, June 26, 2018 will be remembered as a shameful day in the history of the United States of America. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Trump's executive order banning citizens of Muslim-majority nations from entering the country. The decision fulfilled a campaign promise by then-candidate Donald Trump. No one can spin...
This time, Nikki Haley spits on the entire world
June 25th, 20180 The Trump administration withdrew from the U.N. Human Rights Council on Wednesday, condemning the “hypocrisy” of its 47 member states and its alleged "unrelenting bias" against Israel. Trump’s ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, traveled to Washington to make the announcement alongside Trump’s top diplomat and former chief...
While tragedy engulf homelands this Eid, there are things to celebrate here
June 19th, 20180 As the Arab and Muslim worlds were ending a month of blessed fasting, observing the most holy month in Islam and getting ready to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, there isn’t much to celebrate there— a region engulfed in bloodshed and complicated conflicts among brothers and neighbors. In Gaza, a real massacre engulfing the besieged Strip...
The anti-Semitism Awareness Act is back: Free speech is at risk
June 18th, 20181 Back in 2016, without debate or an actual vote, the U.S. Senate stealthily passed a disturbing and dangerous piece of legislation called “The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2016” (AAA). The bill would have required the Department of Education (ED) to apply a State Department (DOS) working definition of anti-Semitism in evaluating...
Beating the U.S. ‘veto’: Palestinians need urgent protection from Israel
June 15th, 20181 What is taking place in Palestine is not a "conflict." We readily utilize the term but, in fact, the word "conflict" is misleading. It equates between oppressed Palestinians and Israel, a military power that stands in violation of numerous United Nations resolutions. It is these ambiguous terminologies that allow the likes of United...
Why Jefferson’s vision of Islam in America matters today
June 15th, 20181 The author of the Declaration of Independence had sought to protect not just Christians, but Americans of all faiths. After last year’s deliberate break with tradition, President Trump has resumed the iftar dinner—the sundown meal during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. An estimated 3.3 million American Muslims celebrate...
Eight things I learned about Palestine while touring eight Western nations
June 6th, 20181 On February 20, I embarked on a global book tour that has, thus far, taken me to eight nations. The main theme of all my talks in various cultural, academic and media platforms was the pressing need to refocus the discussion on Palestine on the struggle, aspirations and history of the Palestinian people. But, interacting with hundreds...
Media burdens run two ways
May 25th, 20180 I was chatting with a group of students the other day when one of them looked me in the eye and commented, “You’re very tough on journalists.” I had to plead guilty. Of course I’m tough on journalists. Maybe even as tough on them as they are on politicians. Our representative democracy depends on journalists doing their......
I just visited Iran. Here’s what I heard about the U.S.
May 25th, 20180 By Peter Van Buren Iran is a dangerous place these days, at least in a car. Traffic in the cities here moves like Tetris, with drivers pushing their cars into any open space that will fit. Trips begin in chaos and play out in confusion. How it ends is always up to God’s will, everyone says. I went to Iran this month to...
Pompeo’s Plan B: Pouring more venom on Iran
May 25th, 20180 By Kaveh L. Afrasiabi It is now perfectly clear that this administration has no diplomatic track with Iran and is simply bent on regime change, which will only wreak havoc on regional and global peace and stability. The scene at the Heritage Foundation on Monday could have come from the film “The Ugly......
Nakba: As Israel celebrates, my family mourns
May 18th, 20180 By Mohamed Mohamed “It was like a dream.” That is how my maternal grandfather, Abu Ahmad, described his memories of our village near Safad in the Galilee in the northern part of Palestine, after I had curiously asked him about it as a kid. He told me it was cradled within a lush, beautiful landscape, where cherry and...
Facts about the ICA controversy This is why Eide Alawan should not be thrown under the bus
May 18th, 20180 By Rafael Narbaez, Jr. Disputes or differences between members of the board of directors of a mosque or even among different groups within the community is not something new. Having done fundraising for dozens of mosques throughout the country, this was always a sad reality that I encountered when visiting Muslim...
America spits on the graves of Palestinians dying for freedom
May 18th, 20180 The actions of the Trump administration concerning the Palestinian people have become more shameful by the day. In December, President Trump announced his intention to fulfill his ill-guided campaign promise to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, gifting Israel a de facto recognition of the Holy City as its capital. Not only did...
My home is Beit Daras: Our lingering Nakba
May 18th, 20180 When Google Earth was initially released in 2001, I immediately rushed to locate a village that no longer exists on a map, which now delineates a whole different reality. Although I was born and raised in a Gaza refugee camp and then moved to and lived in the United States, finding a village that was erased from the map decades......
Eclipsing factionalism: The missing story from the Gaza protests
May 11th, 20180 The Gaza border protests must be understood in the context of the Israeli occupation, the siege and the long-delayed “Right of Return” for Palestinian refugees. However, they should also be appreciated in a parallel context: Palestine’s own factionalism and infighting. Factionalism in Palestinian society is a deep-rooted ailment...
While Israel and Iran claim no desire for armed conflict, Trump might stumble into war against Tehran
May 11th, 20180 Israel has launched its biggest attack ever on Iranian forces in Syria. This is a serious development, but reports of the entire Middle East being on the verge of all out war fail to fully appreciate the motives and intentions of the various players. Looked at from the Israeli point of view, it is an excellent moment to act against......
The dangers of debt
May 11th, 20180 Politicians and commentators these days like to point to an array of threats to our constitutional system. There’s one, though, that doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it should: Our national debt. We may not yet be in imminent danger of fiscal collapse, but we’re moving into uncharted waters. We are among the most indebted...
As Trump and Netanyahu join forces to torpedo Iran Deal, here’s a ‘typically ignored’ fact: Israel has nuclear weapons
May 4th, 20181 By Jake Johnson "How can this hypocrisy continue, with Israel having hundreds of nuclear weapons, no inspections and no adherence to any nuclear treaty calling out Iran on nuclear weapons?" - Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit the U.S. media circuit on Tuesday to......
