Netanyahu’s address to Congress is a decisive insult
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming address to Congress is an insult to all Americans. The Israeli right wing leader was invited to speak to a joint session of lawmakers on Capitol Hill by Speaker of the House John Boehner, who does not have the constitutional power to dwell in foreign policy. The Republican speaker...The media sensationalized Wayne County government corruption claims
After a tedious federal investigation that lasted more than three years, the FBI found no legal wrongdoing in the top leadership of Wayne County— an outcome the local media had a hard time processing. Former County Executive Robert Ficano left the county in dreadful shape with a budget deficit close to $100 million. But the county's...Top seven myths about Daesh
The self-styled “Islamic State” Group (ISIS or ISIL), the Arabic acronym for which is “Daesh”, is increasingly haunting the nightmares of Western journalists and security analysts. I keep seeing some assertions about it that strike me as exaggerated or just incorrect. 1. It isn’t possible to determine whether Daesh is a...To fight bigotry, we must unite
We live in critical times in the history of our country and community. The rampant bigotry, xenophobia and racism against Arabs and Muslims have turned violent. Three innocent lives were lost in Chapel Hill. The story of the victims has taunted families whose children look like Deah, Yusor and Razan and share their faith and...Students fight to keep affordable college from becoming extinct
My family's mantra is as American as apple pie and baseball: work hard, get an education and you'll succeed. It was clear, prescriptive and a fairly sound philosophy for those without great wealth or powerful connections. Like millions, I did what I was told. That recipe for success, however, comes with a very expensive price tag....Terrorism against Muslims
The horrific crime in North Carolina last week shocked our community. Did anybody expect it? Not really, as we thought , may be by illusion, that in we are safe in the U.S. Islamophobia is spreading in Europe. It has roots here, too. We did not expect that the words would translate to bullets so quickly, and the anger will shed...The origin of terrorist militias in the Middle East
Bashir Gemayel and William Hawi supervising training of Phalanges militiamen at Tabrieh, 1972.There is an attempt underway to make the case that Islam, the religion, inspired or spawned the creation of various jihadist groups. The fact that the U.S. itself was a major catalyst for the creation of such groups, as that was its plot...Why is it different when the bloodshed is that of American Arab Muslims
The college student who works as a cashier at the community bakery I walked into this morning looked different than she does on most mornings. She had a grieving and distressed look on her face. As she rang up my order I said, “It’s the UNC murders, isn’t it?” She nodded her head and she needed to say no more...
Amid deafening media silence, terror strikes Muslim students in North Carolina
February 11th, 20150 It took the mainstream media an entire day to report on a possible hate crime that claimed the lives of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, of Chapel Hill; his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, of Chapel Hill; and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh, were all shot dead on Tuesday...
The ICA controversy is harming the community
February 6th, 20150 Ramzi Chammout addressing Sayed Qazwini.Discrimination against Arab an Muslim Americans is rampant at both the institutional and the social levels. Our local community is already facing vicious media attacks that link us to terrorists overseas, accuse us of living under Sharia law and overlook civil rights violations against us. Now,...Jordanian pilot’s murder shows the un-Islamic barbarism of IS
Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh in a visit to Turkey.The videotaped murder of Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh by "Islamic State" terrorists is one of the most gruesome atrocities that the world has witnessed since the turn of the century. The 26-year-old pilot was placed in a cage in an orange jump suit drenched with a flammable...Tort Law: The muscle of justice
The common law of torts, which originated from English common law, has been elaborated in tens of thousands of judicial decisions with one basic message: If a person suffers a wrongful injury or harm, he or she can seek remedy in court with a trial by jury. Through tort law, our civil justice system operates to compensate victims,...Gauging outrage: Media and the aftermath of the Paris attacks
Relatives of journalist Halid Ahmed who died during the attack of Israel, mourn near his funeral on July 20, 2014.Appropriately, thousands of comics have been published in response to the Charlie Hebdo attacks earlier this month. One of the most striking ones I’ve seen so far depicts the gunmen as they fire at the magazine’s office;...
Sayed Qazwini went too far
January 30th, 20150 Sayed Hassan Qazwini's resignation from the Islamic Center of America shocked the community. But those who are familiar with the state of the relationship between the imam and some members of the ICA Board of trustees were not surprised by the news. Qazwini had blasted the board with strong statements made to The Arab American News in...Benjamin Netanyahu: The anti-American obstructionist
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s acceptance of an invitation to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress in March is an unacceptable interference in our domestic political arena and must be challenged. It is simply not enough for the White House to indicate that there will be no meeting between President Obama......
Lessons that Hollande failed to learn from Bush’s blunders
Francois Hollande.Francois Hollande is not a popular president. No matter how hard the "socialist" leader tries to impress, there never seems to be a solid constituency that backs him. He attempted to mask his initial lack of experience in foreign affairs with a war in Mali, after his country enthusiastically took on Libya. While he...The Israeli strike against Hezbollah an act of aggression
When Israel killed five Hezbollah fighters on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights on Sunday, Jan. 18, the Zionist state violated several international treaties, beating the drums of war in a region already suffering from violence and chaos. The Israeli attack, which also claimed the life of an Iranian general, was a deliberate,......
Freedom of speech stutters when it comes to Israel
January 23rd, 20150 Freedom of speech is a prerequisite to all political rights in a democracy. Without it, "we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter," as George Washington once said. The terrorist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris on Jan. 5 sparked countless statements in defense of freedom of speech, no matter how controversial or offensive...On Black-Palestinian solidarity: Can we dream together?
Activist Steven Pargett and rapper Tef Poe in Dheisheh Refugee Camp near Bethlehem.This week, a delegation of African-American activists returned from a 10-day trip to Palestine. Black organizers, artists, and journalists from organizations including the Florida-based Dream Defenders, Chicago’s Black Youth Project, and Ferguson’s...The Saudi hypocrisy
Then President George W. Bush and then Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud walk amid the blue bonnets of Crawford, TX in 2005.On Wednesday, Jan. 7, Saudi Arabia denounced the attacks on the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo as a "cowardly terrorist act." Two days later, the kingdom flogged liberal blogger...Are All Terrorists Muslims? It’s Not Even Close
What percentage of terror attacks in the United States and Europe are committed by Muslims? Guess. Nope. Guess again. And again...“Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.” How many times have you heard that one? Sure, we heard Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade say it, but to me, that was simply part of the Fox......
The U.S. veto: A bad end to a bad year
The closing weeks of 2014 spelled disaster for U.S. leadership and the rule of law. During the last two weeks of December, the U.S. countered three different efforts designed to affirm Palestinian rights. It was unfortunate since in doing so the U.S. undercut its stated commitments to uphold the rule of law in international relations...Congress: Looking forward by looking back
With the 114th Congress just underway, the political world is focused intently on the road ahead. Taxes, trade, immigration, climate change, job creation, the Affordable Care Act, there’s a long list of issues and one burning question: whether a Republican Congress and a Democratic president can find common ground. Yet, before......
The Paris attacks are an insult to the Prophet Mohamad
January 7th, 20150 Terrorism struck in the heart of Paris on Wednesday, Jan. 7, when three masked gunmen killed 12 people at the office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Media reports rushed to describe the crime as "an apparent militant Islamist attack" because the paper had published cartoons of the Prophet Mohamad, even though the suspects,...Five reasons why 2014 was a game changer in Palestine
In terms of losses in human lives, 2014 has been a horrific year for Palestinians, surpassing the horrors of both 2008 and 2009, when an Israeli war against the Gaza Strip killed and wounded thousands. While some aspects of the conflict are stagnating between a corrupt, ineffectual Palestinian Authority (PA), and the criminality of......
