Netanyahu could deny Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib entrance into Israel
July 20th, 20190 TEL AVIV - Since condemning freedom of expression with regard to the BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions) movement has been prevalent in the U.S., and with President Trump's recent unapologetic racist remarks about Democratic congresswomen of color (a remark that included U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit)),...
Jared Kushner’s ‘deal of the century’ fails in Bahrain
July 3rd, 20190 MANAMA - The so called "deal of the century" proposed by President Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, which sought to deal with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, was met with minimal interest from the attending crowd. With the Palestinians absent from the conference table, in addition to the refusal of many Arab...
Ending America’s endless war
June 30th, 20190 The United States has been at war for too long. Even today, we seem to be preparing for a new war with Iran, which would be the worst yet. Earlier this month, President Trump ordered thousands of additional U.S. troops to the Middle East to confront Tehran and its proxies. And we recently learned that the Pentagon had presented the...
How long can the federal debt keep rising?
June 27th, 20190 A few months ago, the federal debt we have accumulated over the past decades crossed the $22 trillion mark. That’s a record. And it’s surely not going to be the last. According to Congressional Budget Office estimates, annual federal deficits over the next decade — the deficit is the annual figure for how much more Congress and...
Opposition research: It’s not Trump’s fault that politics is a “dirty” game
June 27th, 20190 In a June 12 interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, President Trump freely admitted that he would listen to foreigners offering him “dirt” on his political opponents. “I think you might want to listen,” Trump said. “There isn’t anything wrong with listening .... Somebody comes up and says, ‘hey, I have...
Keys to avoiding home rental scams
June 22nd, 20190 By Colleen Tressler Need more space than an apartment, condo or townhouse can offer, but not ready to buy? A single-family home rental may fit the bill. But not all home rental listings are legit, so here are some tip-offs and tools to help you avoid a rental scam. According to National Rental Home Council (NRHC) members,...
‘World Refugee Day’: Palestinians keep their right of return alive through hope, resistance
June 22nd, 20190 The United Nations’ World Refugee Day, observed annually on June 20, should not merely represent a reminder of “the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.” It should also be an opportunity for the international...
Kushner as a colonial administrator: Let’s talk about the ‘Israeli model’
June 16th, 20190 In a TV interview on June 2, on the news docuseries “Axios” on the HBO channel, Jared Kushner opened up regarding many issues, in which his “Deal of the Century” was a prime focus. The major revelation made by Kushner, President Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, was least surprising. Kushner believes that Palestinians are not...
Let’s talk about the new “Bollywood” Aladdin
June 13th, 20190 A remake of Disney’s Aladdin movie has remedied a lot of its cultural mistakes from the 1992 animated musical film, but what’s with the Bollywood features that were supposed to be symbolic of a fictional Arab country called “Agraba?” From the characters' clothes, to the dance moves that are typical of Bollywood’s dancing...
Freedom of expression in America has a different meaning when it comes to Israel
June 10th, 20190 When then-graduating PhD candidate Steven Thrasher made a speech at the NYU graduation commencement last month, endorsing the BDS movement, some parties felt the need to disassociate from Thrasher’s views and go out of their way to express their “outrage” and “shock” at his remarks. Thrasher, who earned his doctoral degree...
Compromise is the essence of our democracy
June 8th, 20190 You may not be ready for next year’s elections, but in political time, they’re coming up fast. Even politicians who aren’t running for president are crafting their stump speeches. Which means that at some point you’re almost certain to hear someone announce, sternly, “I. Will. Not. Compromise.” And if you’re there in the...
Facing the facts: Israel cannot escape ICC jurisdiction
June 8th, 20190 The chief military advocate general of the Israeli army, Sharon Afek, and the U.S. Department of Defense general counsel, Paul Ney, shared a platform at the “International Conference on the Law of Armed Conflict”, which took place in Herzliya, Israel between May 28-30. Their panel witnessed some of the most misconstrued...
Resurrecting the PLO is Palestine’s best response to the ‘Deal of the Century’
May 31st, 20190 Palestinian groups Fatah, Hamas and others should not confine themselves to simply rejecting the Trump administration's so-called “Deal of the Century.” Instead, they should use their resistance to the new American-Israeli plot as an opportunity to unify their ranks. Leaked details of the “Deal of the Century” confirm...
Malware from illegal video streaming apps: What to know
May 20th, 20190 The popularity of video streaming services has taken off in the past few years. It’s become easier to stream video through smart TVs, streaming boxes that connect to your not-so-smart TV,and even streaming sticks. These devices let you stream video through popular apps like Hulu, Netflix, SlingTV, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube TV....
The two narratives of Palestine: The people are united, the factions are not
May 20th, 20190 The International Conference on Palestine held in Istanbul between April 27-29 brought together many speakers and hundreds of academics, journalists, activists and students from Turkey and all over the world. The conference was a rare opportunity aimed at articulating a discourse of international solidarity that is both inclusive and......
Israel’s common denominator: Why Israel will continue to bomb Gaza
May 20th, 20190 On May 4, Israel launched a series of deadly airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, prompting a response from various resistance groups. At least 25 Palestinians were killed and nearly 200 people wounded in the Israeli attacks. Four Israelis were also killed by Palestinian rockets. The clashes were instigated by Israel, when the...
Is America ready for John Bolton’s war with Iran?
May 17th, 20190 National Security Advisor John Bolton’s announcement this week that the U.S. is deploying a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the U.S. Central Command region seemed perfectly framed to put America on a war footing with Iran. And it is. Claiming that the decision was made in response to “a number of troubling and......
France and the EU, recognizing yet supporting apartheid reality in Palestine
May 3rd, 20190 A recent statement made by the outgoing French ambassador to the U.S. regarding the nature of Israeli apartheid accentuates a larger ailment that has afflicted the European Union foreign policy. The EU is simply gutless when it comes to confronting Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. Ambassador Gerard Araud was, of course,...
Notre Dame of Gaza: Our mosques and churches are also burning
April 26th, 20191 As the 300-foot spire of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris tragically came tumbling down on live television, my thoughts ventured to Nuseirat Refugee Camp, my childhood home in the Gaza Strip. Then, also on television, I watched as a small bulldozer hopelessly clawed through the rubble of my neighborhood mosque. I grew up around that...
Jail bonds hurt more than just the poor
April 26th, 20190 The time is now for the state of Michigan to reform its jail bond system. When it comes to criminal justice, our society has too long been focused on incarceration rather than rehabilitation. Therefore, a recent resolution approved by the Wayne County Commission strongly supports the bipartisan package in the Michigan House and Senate...
War versus peace: Israel has decided and so should we
April 19th, 20190 So, what have we learned from the Israeli legislative elections on April 9? A whole lot. To start with, don’t let such references as the “tight race” between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his main rival, Benny Gantz, fool you. Yes, Israelis are divided on some issues that are particular to......
Americans have the right to hear from the leader of BDS movement
April 19th, 20190 I awakened early Wednesday to listen to a voicemail message from Omar Barghouti, a leading member of the Palestinian movement to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) Israel. In the message, Omar told me that he was at Ben Gurion Airport and despite holding a valid U.S. visa and a boarding pass for his flight to Washington, D.C., the...
Pardoning Assange would be the first step back toward rule of law
April 12th, 20190 On April 11, the ongoing saga of journalist and transparency activist Julian Assange took a dangerous turn. Ecuador's president, Lenin Moreno, revoked his asylum in that country's London embassy. British police immediately arrested him — supposedly pursuant to his "crime" of jumping bail on an invalid arrest warrant in an investigation......
For Palestinians, it doesn’t matter who wins the Israeli elections
April 12th, 20190 Israeli elections have just concluded and the results indicate that Benjamin Netanyahu is set to win a fifth term as Israeli prime minister. The race between Netanyahu and his strongest challenger, Benjamin Gantz, who is a former chief of staff of the Israeli military forces, was very tight. But even if Gantz and his associated political...
The unfinished Gaza war: What Netanyahu hopes to gain from attacking Palestinian prisoners
April 12th, 20190 The current violence targeting Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails dates back to January 2. It was then that Israel’s public security minister, Gilad Erdan, declared that the “party is over.” “Every so often, infuriating pictures appear of cooking in the terrorist wings. This party is coming to an end,” Erdan was quoted in......
