Who are Israel’s main weapons suppliers and who have halted exports?
May 10th, 20240 The United States has suspended a shipment of weapons to Israel, including heavy, bunker-busting bombs Israeli forces have used in their war against Hamas militants in Gaza that have killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians in seven months. President Biden acted in the face of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to pursue a...
Biden says U.S. won’t supply weapons for Israel to attack Rafah
May 10th, 20240 President Biden said that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah over concern for the well-being of the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there. On Wednesday Biden said in an interview with CNN that the U.S. was still committed to Israel’s defense and would supply...
Nearly 2,200 people have been arrested during pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. college campuses
May 8th, 20240 Police have arrested nearly 2,200 people during pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the United States in recent weeks, sometimes using riot gear, tactical vehicles and flash-bang devices to clear tent encampments and occupied buildings. One officer accidentally discharged his gun inside a Columbia University...
Major events in Pro-Palestinian protests at U.S. universities
May 8th, 20240 Pro-Palestinian protests demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from companies linked to Israel have spread across U.S. universities in the two weeks since Columbia University administrators called in police to dismantle an encampment on their New York City campus. Below is a timeline of significant events in the biggest wave of...
“Our anger is righteous”: Hear students at U of M’s Gaza solidarity encampment in their own words
May 8th, 20241 By Andrew Mullen For months, student activists at the University of Michigan have called for their school to cut financial ties to the state of Israel, only to be met with rejection from university officials. However, the students refuse to be ignored. Following the lead of activists at Columbia University and other schools across the...
Biden plans to visit Detroit on May 19 to address NAACP dinner
May 6th, 20240 President Biden will return to Michigan this month to speak at the NAACP Detroit Branch's 69th annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner, his campaign confirmed Wednesday. The announcement came ahead of a planned Wednesday night campaign rally in Freeland, about 14 miles northwest of Saginaw, by former President Trump, the presumptive...
American Intifada for Gaza: What should we expect?
May 6th, 20240 The mass protests at dozens of U.S. universities cannot be reduced to a stifling and misleading conversation about anti-Semitism. Thousands of American students across the country are not protesting, risking their own futures and very safety, because of some pathological hate for the Jewish people. They are doing so in a complete...
Three Arab American candidates challenge pro-Israel Democrats in Michigan’s primary
May 4th, 20240 Three vocal Arab Americans against the Israeli genocide in Gaza who have been demanding a ceasefire in the war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have filed petitions to challenge two Democratic members of Congress and a pro-Israel Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Michigan. The candidates cited frustration over their...
Pro-Palestinian protests and encampments sweep campuses of major universities across the nation
April 26th, 20240 INTIFADA ON CAMPUSES College campuses have become breeding grounds for pro-Palestine protests. Student protesters have continued to set up encampments at their universities and display their support for Palestinians and against Israeli aggressions. Students are also demanding that their universities divest from companies that...
Michigan implementing “kinship care” rule; feds say it’s first in the country to do so
April 19th, 20240 Michigan has become the first state to be approved to implement separate licensing standards for kin caregivers — extended family members like grandparents, aunts and uncles serving as foster care providers. Advocates said goal of kinship care is to keep families together, increase equity in the child welfare system and allow...
USC cancels graduation speech by valedictorian who has supported Palestinians
April 19th, 20240 The University of Southern California canceled the graduation speech from this year's valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, a biomedical engineering major and first-generation American of South Asian descent. According to reports, the school said this decision was made due to security concerns because of warnings of a plan to disrupt the...
U.S. vetoes widely supported resolution backing full U.N. membership for Palestine
April 19th, 20240 NEW YORK – The United States vetoed a widely backed U.N. resolution Thursday that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent. The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 12 in favor, the United States opposed and two...
More than 100 arrested in pro-Palestine protest on Columbia University’s campus
April 19th, 20240 NEW YORK — Police officers arrest more than 100 people following a pro-Palestine protest at Columbia University. According to law enforcement officials, protesters were arrested on a preliminary charge of criminal trespass. They'd camped on the lawn in efforts to stand as the "Gaza solidarity Encampment", according to reports. Mayor...
New York City to pay $17.5 million for forcing women to remove hijabs for mug shots
April 12th, 20240 NEW YORK CITY —The city agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle a lawsuit by two Muslim American women who said the police violated their rights after arresting them by forcing them to remove their hijabs before being photographed. The preliminary class action settlement covers men and women required to remove religious attire...
A shooting at an Eid event in West Philadelphia left three people injured
April 12th, 20240 PHILADELPHIA — At least three people were injured and hundreds fled the scene following a shooting at an Eid al-Fitr event in West Philadelphia. Police said about 1,000 people attended the celebration. The annual Eid al-fitr event took place in the Parkside neighborhood at the Clara Muhammad Square. The event came to an abrupt......
Muslim and Arab American leaders are “out of words” as they tire of the White House outreach on the war in Gaza
April 12th, 20240 WASHINGTON , D.C.— Osama Siblani was sipping his morning coffee at the office when his phone buzzed with a message from one of President Biden’s advisers. As publisher of The Arab American News in Dearborn, Michigan, Siblani serves as an occasional sounding board, and the White House wanted to know what he thought of Biden’s recent...
Hamas sticking to ceasefire conditions, including Israeli pull out of Gaza
April 7th, 20240 Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday that his Palestinian Islamist movement at war with Israel was sticking to its conditions for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, including an Israeli military withdrawal. Israeli officials visited Egypt earlier this week in a renewed effort to secure a deal, but a Palestinian official close to......
U.S. looking at report that Israel used AI to identify bombing targets in Gaza
April 7th, 20240 The United States was looking into a media report that the Israeli military has been using artificial intelligence to help identify bombing targets in Gaza, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told CNN on Thursday. Kirby, in the CNN interview, said the U.S. had not verified the content of the media report published...
Palestinian doctor walked out of Biden meeting, underscoring tensions over war in Gaza
April 7th, 20240 WASHINGTON, D.C. – A private meeting between President Biden and Muslim community leaders at the White House underscored tensions between the two camps as the Israeli war on Gaza rages on. Palestinian American doctor walked out of Tuesday evening's closed-door session, which was part of the administration's scaled-back events to mark...
White House cancels Iftar dinner after Muslim American leaders decline invite
April 6th, 20240 WASHINGTON D.C. — The White House canceled an iftar dinner after Muslim American leaders declined the invite due to President Biden's support for Israeli war on Gaza. Due to the invitees' rejection, the White House held a smaller dinner with a meeting on administration policy. Wa'el Alzayat, leader of a Muslim Advocacy...
Washington employs a blatant double standard, which is both evident and hypocritical
March 30th, 20240 By Jamal I. Bittar After numerous unsuccessful efforts spanning five months during Israel's destructive conflict in Gaza, the United Nations Security Council finally approved a resolution on Monday, urging for an immediate ceasefire. The United States, previously the sole obstacle to such a decision, opted not to veto the resolution......
U of M faculty coalition calls out administration for treatment of Arabs and Muslims on campus
March 30th, 20240 ANN ARBOR – A growing coalition of University of Michigan faculty members has united to confront what they see as the university administration’s inadequacies in crisis response concerning the challenges faced by Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students and staff within the campus community. This collective action follows “biased”...
Next U.S. Census will have new boxes for “Middle Eastern or North African”, but falls short of capturing diversity
March 30th, 20240 WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the next U.S. Census and future federal government forms, the list of check boxes for a person's race and ethnicity is officially getting longer. The Biden administration has approved proposals for a new response option for "Middle Eastern or North African" and a "Hispanic or Latino" box that appears under a......
Large crowd attended bintjbeil.org’s second annual iftar dinner in Dearborn, honoring 10 women for their distinguished contributions
March 29th, 20240 DEARBORN — On the 21st anniversary of its founding last Thursday, the well known Lebanese social media site BintJbeil.org held its annual iftar dinner in the Summit Banquet Center. Officials with the organization estimated that close to 1,000 guests attended the dinner, including elected officials and community leaders. The event's...
U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous vote allows CAIR’s challenge against No Fly List placement to proceed
March 22nd, 20240 WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Yonas Fikre’s challenge to his previous placement on the No Fly List can proceed, rejecting the government’s claim that his removal from the list rendered the lawsuit void. Fikre is an Arab and Muslim American initially from Sudan, who was tortured and......
