Gaza without cancer medicine as Haley blames Arabs for Washington’s sins
August 26th, 20180 On Sunday August 12, news from Gaza was distressing: The Ministry of Health announced that it would no longer be able to treat cancer patients in the Israel-besieged Strip. "Colon and lung cancer, as well as lymphoma patients, cannot be provided with the necessary therapy now," said Dr. Mohammed Abu Silmiya, director of Abdulaziz...
Mission accomplished: Why solidarity boats to Gaza succeed despite failing to break the siege
August 18th, 20180 When Mike Treen, the national director of the "Unite Union" in New Zealand arrived at the airport in the capital, Auckland, on August 1, a group of people were anxiously waiting for him at the terminal with Palestinian flags and flowers. They hugged him, chanted for Palestinian freedom and performed the customary native Haka...
Another historic win and counting!
August 17th, 20180 This week, Arab and Muslim Americans scored another historic victory in Minnesota where Ilhan Omar won comfortably a Congressional primary election. Omar, America’s first Somali American legislator, won the Minnesota Democratic primary for Congress on Tuesday. The seat she competed for in the Fifth District is currently held by U.S....
Mahmoud Abbas: Stop exploiting Ahed Tamimi for personal gain
August 13th, 20180 The father of 11-year-old Abdul Rahman Nofal contacted me, asking for help. His son was shot in the leg during Gaza's "Great March of Return" protests. The Strip's dilapidated health care system could not save the little boy's leg, as it was later amputated. His father, Yamen, himself a young man from the Buraij Refugee Camp in...
Watch out for card skimming at the gas pump
August 13th, 20180 With the summer travel season in high gear, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning drivers about skimming scams at the pump. Skimmers are illegal card readers attached to payment terminals. These card readers grab data off a credit or debit card’s magnetic stripe without your knowledge. Criminals sell the stolen data or use...
A historic election for Arab and Muslim Americans
August 10th, 20180 Michigan voters set a new record of involvement this historic primary election thanks in large part to the candidacy of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Progressive Movement led by Senator Bernie Sanders, and in a twisted way thanks to President Trump and his racist rants. Energy could be felt everywhere in this election. Rashida Tlaib’s...
A more perfect union
August 5th, 20181 You know these words, but how often do you stop to think about them? “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…” They...
Common enemy: Why Israel is embracing fascism in Europe
August 5th, 20181 Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Israel on July 19, where he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials. Orban’s visit would have not required much pause except that the Hungarian leader has been repeatedly branded for his often racist, anti-Semitic remarks. So why is Orban wining and dining with...
Israel’s false, Apartheid “democracy”
August 3rd, 20181 By Mohamed Mohamed Since its inception, Israel has been a discriminatory state, posing as a (false) democracy. This is not a matter of opinion; it is a fact and there is plenty of evidence to back it up. On Thursday, July 19, the Israeli Knesset passed the “Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People” bill into...
Civil rights leaders, Census policy experts urge public comments on citizenship question
July 29th, 20182 Civil rights leaders joined Census policy experts on July 17 in an urgent plea, particularly to communities of color, for a show of public activism and force to derail a fast-moving Trump administration effort to officially ignore them. The fight begins by taking full advantage of a narrow window of opportunity in which to speak out...
Jewish nation-state Law: Why Israel was never a democracy
July 27th, 20181 The head of the Arab Joint List Alliance at the Israeli Knesset (Parliament), Aymen Odeh, described the passing of the racist Jewish nation-state law as "the death of our democracy." Did Odeh truly believe that, prior to this law, he had lived in a true democracy? Seventy years of Israeli Jewish supremacy, genocide, ethnic cleansing,...
Our endorsements for the August 7 primary elections
July 27th, 20180 This election is a defining event for America This election, for many reasons, is perhaps the most important one in America’s modern history. First, our democracy is in grave danger. During the last presidential election and since Donald Trump took office, there have been a systematic attack on our democracy at all levels. The...
Thank you, Ireland
July 22nd, 20183 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......
