Head of Revolutionary Guards says Iranian president will never meet Trump
July 31st, 20180 TEHRAN - The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Tuesday dismissed President Trump’s tentative offer of talks with Tehran, saying the Islamic Republic was not North Korea. Trump said on Monday he would be willing to meet Iran’s leader without preconditions to discuss how to improve ties after he pulled the United States out...
Report: FBI vastly undercounts hate crimes targeting Arab Americans
July 30th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — There were nearly twice as many hate crimes against Arab Americans in 2015 and 2016 than were reported by the FBI, underscoring the shortcomings of official statistics at a time of rising hate crime in the country, according to a comprehensive report on hate crime by the Arab American Institute in Washington. Using...
Soleimani warns Trump: ‘If you begin the war, we will end it’
July 29th, 20181 Major-General Qassem Soleimani, a powerful commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, said on Thursday, July 26, that Donald Trump should address any threats against Tehran directly to him, and mocked the U.S. president as using the language of “night clubs and gambling halls.” The comments by Soleimani, who heads the Quds...
New York Arabic Orchestra hosts summer workshops
July 29th, 20180 NEW YORK — The New York Arabic Orchestra (NYAO) hosts its annual Summer Workshops through the end of August. The NYAO invites musicians, students and vocalists to learn about Arabic music and improve their skills by participating in its various summer workshops for its ensembles sections I and II, Arabic vocal chorus, and Arabic...
Judge allows lawsuit against citizenship question on 2020 Census to continue
July 27th, 20181 WASHINGTON — On Thursday, July 26, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman of the Southern District of New York rejected the government’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. Census. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had the authority to reintroduce...
The Trump-Putin summit uncovers the depth of divisions in America
July 22nd, 20180 For nearly 80 years the U.S. and Russia (or the former Soviet Union) have held summits. In each case, it has been a forum for domestic political debate. The president’s supporters always say the summit took solid steps towards peace and understanding, even while the president remained forceful and unyielding. Meanwhile, the...
Texas man convicted of hate crime in 2017 mosque burning
July 21st, 20181 VICTORIA, Texas — A Texas man was found guilty this week of a hate crime in the burning of a local mosque in January 2017, an attack that a rights group connected to an increase in anti-Muslim incidents in the United States, on Wednesday. Marq Vincent Perez, 26, was also found guilty on Monday by the jury in Victoria, Texas, of...
EPA’s watchdog urges better water oversight after Flint crisis
July 19th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was slow and ineffective in its response to the 2014 water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and needs to improve its communications with state and local regulators when citizen complaints arise, its internal watchdog said on Thursday. The EPA inspector general said in a 74-page...
Arab Americans share their heritage at 12th annual Bazaar in Bay Ridge
July 19th, 20180 BROOKLYN, NY - Sunday, July 9, Arab Americans celebrated their heritage at the 12th annual Arab American Bazaar in Bay Ridge, sponsored by the Arab American Association of New York. Attendees enjoyed a wide variety of regional foods and entertainment, with many dressed in traditional outfits from countries such as Egypt, Syria,...
TSA screeners win immunity from flyer abuse claims
July 11th, 20180 PHILADELPHIA — Fliers may have a tough time recovering damages for invasive screenings at U.S. airport security checkpoints, after a federal appeals court on Wednesday said screeners are immune from claims under a federal law governing assaults, false arrests and other abuses. In a 2-1 vote, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...
Federal court blocks detention of asylum seekers
July 6th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal court has blocked the arbitrary detention of asylum seekers fleeing persecution, torture or death in their countries of origin. It also ordered a case-by-case review of whether each asylum seeker in a class-action lawsuit should be released on humanitarian parole. The ruling began from a challenge brought...
Comedian Dean Obeidallah wins lawsuit against neo-Nazi from Ohio
July 6th, 20180 COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal district court here issued an entry of default against an American neo-Nazi in a lawsuit filed by an Arab American comedian, Dean Obeidallah, who said Andrew Anglin and his website, The Daily Stormer, published fabricated information claiming Obeidallah was a "terrorist mastermind." Tuesday's default entry...
First Arab American sworn in as mayor of Paterson, New Jersey
July 6th, 20180 PATERSON, NJ —Andre Sayegh was sworn in as the mayor of Paterson, New Jersey on Sunday afternoon, July 1, becoming the first Arab American to hold the city’s highest office. Sayegh’s longtime political mentor, Rep. Bill Pascrell, administered the oath of office. Following his oath, Sayegh delivered a 12-minute inaugural...
Jewish American BDS activist denied entry into Israel
July 6th, 20180 WEST BANK — A Prominent Jewish American activist, Ariel Gold, was denied entry into Israel on Sunday, July 1, over her activism in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Gold was prevented from entering Israel when she landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport Sunday afternoon. She was held until 11 p.m....
Study: Media coverage of American Muslims Is bigoted and inaccurate
July 6th, 20182 NEW YORK— An organization looking to use data to combat the overwhelming amount of misinformation about Muslims in the media has released an in-depth report to highlight their contributions to society. The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding published the New York City edition of its report, Muslims for American......
DHS extends temporary protection status for 1,250 Yemenis
July 6th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration said on Thursday it would allow some 1,250 Yemenis to remain in the United States for at least another 18 months under protected status as war and a humanitarian crisis rage in their native country. Yemenis in the United States with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will be able to...
Officials’ reactions to U.S. Supreme Court decision on Muslim Travel Ban
July 1st, 20180 Japanese American protesters: What happened to us should never happen again WASHINGTON/DEARBORN — Outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, many protesters held signs that read "No Muslim Ban" and "We Will Not Be Banned" as they protested the court's decision to uphold President Trump's travel ban. However, in the process —......
Arab American police officer promoted in Youngstown, OH
June 30th, 20180 YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The Youngstown Police Department made history Thursday with the first promotion of an Arab American and Muslim police officer. Mohammad Awad, who is entering his seventh year with the department, is going from police officer to detective sergeant. The department swore him in to his new duties Thursday morning...
Yemeni Americans grapple with travel ban fallout as protests erupt in large cities
June 30th, 20181 NEW YORK — Yemeni Americans are most affected by President Trump's Muslim travel ban among the Arab and Muslim Americans. Yemen is one of the countries listed on the third version of the travel ban, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. The ban blocks citizens of Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, and...
Supreme Court upholds Trump’s travel ban targeting Muslim-majority nations
June 26th, 20181 WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday handed Donald Trump one of the biggest victories of his presidency, upholding his travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority countries and rejecting the argument that it represented unconstitutional religious discrimination. The 5-4 ruling, with the court’s five conservatives in...
Lawsuit claims landlord denied man a property lease because he’s Muslim
June 24th, 20181 DENVER — When Craig Caldwell wanted to sublet a space to a Muslim restaurant owner, his landlord turned the deal down. He was so shocked at the reason she gave that he used his cell phone to record two conversations with her. His landlord said find an "American person", according to the recordings. The recordings, which are part......
U.S. quits U.N. Human Rights Council, claiming it’s anti-Israel
June 24th, 20180 WASHINGTON — The Trump administration withdrew from the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday, accusing the body of hypocrisy and bias against Israel. “For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias,” Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said Tuesday...
1 In 4 hijabi women experienced shoving on NYC subway
June 22nd, 20182 NEW YORK — More than a quarter of hijabi Muslim or Arab-looking women were shoved on the subways as xenophobic attacks proliferated in New York City around and following the 2016 presidential election, a new report says. More than 27 percent of Muslim women who wear the hijab, a religious head covering, said they were......
ACLU sues over plans for citizenship question on 2020 Census
June 20th, 20181 NEW YORK —Civil rights lawyers sued the U.S. Commerce Department last week to try to stop plans to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, calling it an unconstitutional attempt to discriminate against immigrants. The Manhattan federal court lawsuit on behalf of immigrants' rights groups blames racial animus for the recent...
Tampa man goes to prison for ruining home sale to Muslim family
June 18th, 20180 TAMPA — Kaderbhai Ali Asgar choked up as he told the courtroom what Islam means to him. It is a religion of love and peace, he said. "Security for all," Asgar said. "That’s what I want." Just a feet away from him sat David H. Howard, the man who had threatened in November 2016 to burn a Davis Islands house down if Asgar and his......
