Fear as an obstacle to peace: Why are Israelis afraid?
May 26th, 20170 Bat-Hen Epstein Elias's long article on Iranian Jews is interesting. Parts of it, in fact, are heartwarming. Yet, despite the lack of any serious evidence, the story is entirely framed in the language of fear. Entitled, "All the Jews there live in fear that their telephones are tapped", the story in "Israel Hayom" peddles the idea...
Trump in Saudi Arabia: King of hypocrisy
May 26th, 20172 Trump's affinity for all things "yuge" and slathered in gold was manifest in his choice of visits. Instead of taking the opportunity to make a diplomatic stride through his first foreign visit since taking office, Trump rather reinforced the commitment to power and money shared between the two warmongering governments through a...
Nakba was 69 years ago, but Arab complacency keeps it going
May 19th, 20170 May 15 marked the 69th year of systematic expulsion and pillaging of Palestinian communities, in addition to the centennial of the Balfour declaration that began the travesty. In May of 1948 alone, after the Israeli militiamen of the Haganah, Irgun and Palmach liquidated entire villages via massacres, forcing the spared from their...
Firing Comey will haunt Trump’s presidency
May 12th, 20171 In another display of power overreach, Trump played Nixon when he fired FBI director James Comey. Or perhaps he thought he was still on the Apprentice, with "You're fired" as his only misguided attempt at wielding power. Here, in firing Comey, the ends do not justify the means; the Americans are paying attention to the cause of...
Trump’s 100 days: A reign of error
May 5th, 20170 President Trump's first 100 days were characterized by attempts to reject every act of President Obama's in his eight years in office. In other words, this is also known as "Whitelash"; a rejection of everything passed by the first Black president by a reactionary reputed bigot. In fact, the entirety of Trump's 100 days in office...
The real reasons behind the Palestinian hunger strike
May 5th, 20170 Gaza is the world's largest open air prison. The West Bank is a prison, too, segmented into various wards, known as areas A, B and C. In fact, all Palestinians are subjected to varied degrees of military restrictions. At some level, they are all prisoners. East Jerusalem is cut off from the West Bank, and those in the West Bank are...
Palestinian, Jewish voices must jointly challenge Israel’s past
April 29th, 20170 Israel has resorted to three main strategies to suppress Palestinian calls for justice and human rights, including the Right of Return for refugees. One is dedicated to rewriting history; another attempts to distract from present realities altogether and a third aims at reclaiming the Palestinian narrative as essentially an Israeli...
Stand up for justice, support the Palestinian prisoners
April 29th, 20170 Since mid-April, more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners have been conducting a hunger strike led by Palestinian leader and notable prisoner Marwan Barghouti. After Barghouti's well-publicized April 16 New York Times op-ed calling for humane conditions, regular family visits and due process, this hunger strike has reinvigorated the debate...
When ISIS is defeated: Who will fill the intellectual vacuum in the Arab World?
April 21st, 20170 Back in the Middle East for a few months, I find myself astounded by the absence of the strong voices of Arab intellectuals. The region that has given rise to the likes of Michel Aflaq, George Habash, Rached al-Ghannouchi, Edward Said and numerous others has marginalized its intellectuals. Arab visionaries have either been co-opted...
The only campaign promises Trump keeps are those that harm immigrants
April 21st, 20170 Donald Trump, having run an inflammatory campaign salvaged only by promises of non-interventionism, reneged upon multiple campaign promises by bombing two nations, unprovoked, in a span of one week. Despite his repugnant rhetorical exterior, Trump struck a chord with the average American as far back as 2013 with tweets advising the...
United apology isn’t enough; corporate arrogance requires scrutiny
April 16th, 20170 Immigrants and people of color, it seems, can't catch a break on holiday. There are the issues with flying while Arab. There are the proven problems with driving while Black. Apparently there's also boarding while Asian. One of the most brutal metaphors for crass capitalism played out Monday as fellow passengers on United Airlines...
We need to safeguard the ‘public’ in public office
April 16th, 20170 For the last few years, I've been keeping a file of clippings about the erosion of transparency and candor in government. I'm sorry to report that it's getting rather full. This is not a good thing. Public officials should feel strongly obliged to do their business in an open and upfront manner. When you hold public office, the...
How Israel understands the Arab Peace Initiative
April 8th, 20171 Once more, the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 is taking center stage. Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas insisted during his speech before the recently concluded Arab League Summit in Jordan that the initiative is the only solution on the table; asserting that it will not be changed or even tweaked. But why is this...
Who benefits from the horrific chemical attacks in Syria?
April 8th, 20170 The deadliest chemical attack in Syria in years killed dozens of people in the rebel-held northern Idlib province on Tuesday morning, including children, and sickened scores more. The alleged "chemical airstrikes" are said to have taken place in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, about 50km south of the city of Idlib. Predictably, the...
Hubbard’s statue has no place under the Dearborn sun
April 8th, 20172 Former Mayor Orville Hubbard's statue stood in front of the Dearborn City Hall on Michigan Avenue and Schaefer Road from 1989-2015. After much community debate, the sale of the building and national events like the Charleston massacre in 2015, the statue was removed and placed into storage. Many said it was for good reason. Hubbard......
The next phase in the war on BDS: Why Israel detained Omar Barghouti
March 31st, 20170 The Israeli state has violated international law more than any other country, yet has rarely, if ever, been held accountable for its crimes and misconduct. Israel's successful public relation campaigns through the ever-willing Western media partners, coupled with the relentless work and pressure carried out by its powerful backers in...
DHS secretary should apologize for shutting out community leaders
March 31st, 20170 In a meeting Wednesday at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials arranged to meet with Arab and Muslim community activists and leaders under the pretext that those communities would be represented and heard. The subtext that unfolded throughout the course of the contentious......
Sanctuary cities and DOJ funding: The hypocrisy of Jeff Sessions
March 31st, 20170 In a surprise White House appearance on March 27, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced his intent to make America's cities less safe and more vulnerable to crime unless he gets his way. He didn't say it quite like that, of course. In fact, he asserted the opposite, accusing so-called "sanctuary cities" of "mak our nation less safe...
CAIR-OK releases report showing dramatic increase in Anti-Muslim hate incidents
March 30th, 20170 OKLAHOMA CITY-The Council for American Islamic Relations in Oklahoma released its 2016 Civil Rights report Thursday showing a dramatic increase in complaints regarding vandalism and property damage to Islamic centers. A similar report showed an increase in hate crime-related incidents that involved violence. A few key findings of...
Using Hollywood celebrities to validate Islam
March 24th, 20170 When Terry Holdbrooks Jr., converted to Islam in 2003, he was inundated with death threats and labeled a "race traitor." If a religious conversion ever deserves to be admired, Holdbrooks' conversion does; not because Islam has "won" yet another convert, but because the new convert was assigned the very rule of subjugating his Muslim...
Khalaf should be commended for UN’s Israel apartheid report
March 24th, 20170 The trepidation journalists, officials, and workers of non governmental organizations (NGOs) have to operate under in reporting on Palestine and Palestinians under occupation is not a phenomenon limited to the United States. Worldwide, Israel's hegemonic hold on an international political narrative leaves officials tasked with defending......
Hispanics shouldn’t over-interpret Trump’s election
March 24th, 20170 It's safe to say that Donald Trump doesn't have many fans in the Hispanic community. The real estate mogul rose to power spewing rhetoric that was openly hostile to Latinos. He's promised to deport more undocumented immigrants and build a wall along the nation's southern border. And who can forget his smear of Mexican immigrants as...
U.S. and Israeli codependent relationship not just about money
March 17th, 20170 "We must look back 25 years to realize how far Israel has fallen in world support," wrote famed Jewish scholar and Harvard sociologist Nathan Glazer in 1976. In the last 40 years since Glazer wrote his piece, which was uncovered and transmitted by Philip Weiss, Israel's global support has fallen much further. The country that once......
Muslim Ban 2.0: An equally appalling sequel
March 17th, 20170 Trump's doctrine propels the U.S. into a perpetual war waged against the very fabric of a diverse America. If Donald Trump should learn one thing, it's that sequels to bad movies are usually, if not always, equally as abysmal. The blocking of the president's latest executive order by two federal judges— Derrick K. Watson of Hawaii...
Ambassador David Friedman: A diplomatic oxymoron
March 17th, 20170 American ambassadors are stationed in nearly 200 countries across the globe, each of which has a unique relationship with the United States. Depending on the diplomatic conditions and challenges present, an ambassador's responsibilities and functions can vary widely from country to country. At the most fundamental level, however, all......
