Party City first national retailer to offer Ramadan decorations
May 25th, 20180 Party City said it's become the first national retailer to offer a dedicated line of decorations for Ramadan, after numerous requests from customers. Ramadan began on May 16 and ends at on June 14, kicking off the start of the day-long Eid al-Fitr celebration. The chain, which has more than 900 stores in the United States and...
Arab American activist set to take reins at Massachusetts Teachers Association
May 25th, 20180 BOSTON — Merrie Najimy, the president-elect of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), was inspired to become an educator and later a unionist after experiencing in her own youth that the curricula taught in the Massachusetts public schools she attended felt exclusionary to Arab American students. Growing up in the Lebanese...
Workers hit McDonald’s with multiple sexual harassment claims
May 25th, 20180 LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK — Ten women who work at McDonald’s restaurants in Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and six other cities have filed sexual harassment complaints in the past few days with the federal government against the company and its franchisees, which they said ignored or retaliated against them for such complaints. The...
U.S. ends practice that gave some immigrants reprieves from deportation
May 25th, 20180 NEW YORK — On Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions barred immigration judges from a once-common practice of shelving deportation cases involving some immigrants with deep ties to the United States. The practice known as administrative closure allowed judges to clear low-priority cases off their dockets, effectively letting some...
Pastor’s parting gift to Bay Ridge’s Arab Americans, a new political club
May 25th, 20180 By Paula Katinas BAY RIDGE, NY — The Reverend Khader El-Yateem, a Palestinian-born cleric who founded the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church 20 years ago and became a political force in Bay Ridge when he ran for City Council last year, announced that he is forming a new political club to carry on his work after he leaves...
Georgia activists march for Palestinian rights, denounce Israel
May 18th, 20181 By Alaa Elassar “It’s important to recognize that we are here out of extreme heartbreak and outrage, but also to remember that this outrage is not just as a result of the recent killings in Gaza, but through the everyday experiences in Palestine." - Rozina Gilani, a Jewish Voice for Peace organizer ATLANTA — It began...
Arab Americans rally in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn against U.S. embassy move, Israeli brutality in Gaza
May 18th, 20180 By Brandon Sapienza NEW YORK — On Monday, May 14, the NY4Palestine Coalition and community leaders held a march from 72nd Street to 82nd Street along Fifth Avenue in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn in protest of President Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. The move has been met with outrage...
France says Middle East is ‘explosive,’ criticizes U.S. policy and unjustified Israeli violence
May 15th, 20180 PARIS - French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Tuesday described the situation in the Middle East as “explosive” and criticized the United States for unilateral acts in the region and Israel for what he said was an unjustified level of violence. Thousands of Gaza residents turned out on Tuesday for the funerals of...
Pro-Trump pastor who claims Islam is a “cult” picked to lead prayer at opening of U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem
May 14th, 20180 WASHINGTON - An anti-gay, pro-Trump pastor from Dallas will give the opening prayer Monday night at the introduction ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem. Pastor Robert Jeffress, a Fox News contributor and supporter of President Donald Trump, will add to the controversy surrounding the diplomatically awkward event. Jeffress,...
Paterson, NJ elects first Arab American mayor in landslide victory
May 11th, 20181 PATERSON, NJ — Andre Sayegh registered a resounding victory in Paterson’s six-man mayoral contest on Tuesday, capturing the office that he failed to gain in two previous elections. Using the theme “One Paterson”, Sayegh converted alliances he reached with community leaders from various ethnic groups into a coalition that...
Arab American cop files claim against his employer after his colleagues called him ‘Beirut Bomber’ and ‘ISIS’
May 11th, 20180 SAN JOSE, CA — A Lebanese-American police officer in San Jose filed a claim against the city and his employer after enduring years of harassment based on his ethnicity and religion. Oakland’s KTVU reported Tuesday that San Jose police officer Nabil Haidar, a 22-year veteran of SJPD and a Muslim, endured taunts about his religion...
Trump via Twitter: I will announce my decision on Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday
May 7th, 20180 WASHINGTON - President Trump said he would announce a decision on the future of the Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday as European countries piled pressure on Washington to remain in the 2015 agreement. Trump has threatened to withdraw from the deal, which provided Iran with relief from economic sanctions in exchange for limiting its...
Trump skips White House Correspondents’ dinner in D.C. for rally in Washington, MI
May 4th, 20180 WASHINGTON, MI — While the First Amendment and award-winning journalism were being honored at the White House Correspondents Association's annual dinner in Washington, D.C. on April 28, President Trump held a speaking event at Total Sports Park in Washington, Michigan. It was the second year in a row the president skipped the...
Supreme Court appears ready to uphold Trump’s travel ban
April 27th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court's conservative majority appeared poised to hand President Trump a huge legal victory, signaling on Wednesday it was likely to uphold his contentious travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority countries. Conservative justices including Chief Justice John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy, a frequent...
Supreme Court curbs human rights claims against companies
April 27th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Foreign corporations cannot be sued in American courts for human rights abuses committed overseas, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, refusing to revive a lawsuit claiming Jordan-based Arab Bank helped finance militant attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The 5-4 decision ended a lawsuit by some......
Pentagon: Man linked to 9/11 attacks captured in Syria
April 23rd, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man linked to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, who was said to have praised "violent jihad", was captured in Syria by U.S.-backed forces more than a month ago, the Pentagon said on Thursday. "We can confirm that Mohammad Haydar Zammar, a Syrian-born German national, was captured more than a month...
Arab American actor lands role on HBO’s ‘Westworld’
April 23rd, 20180 LOS ANGELES — Boualem Hassaine has always loved acting. He would stand in front of the mirror and practice as a child for hours. All that practice has led to roles in "American Sniper", "The Accountant" and most recently, HBO's "Westworld." Hassaine, who primarily grew up in Algeria, now lives in Litchfield Park, Arizona, a suburb......
Dr. Maya Hammoud first Muslim appointed as president of national OB-GYN education association
April 23rd, 20180 NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — As the nation's communities become more diverse, so do the health needs of its women. The Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO)— which sets educational objectives for medical students across the nation and focuses on women's health— knows that all too well. So, the APGO appointed...
Trump’s Muslim travel ban faces U.S. Supreme Court showdown
April 22nd, 20180 WASHINGTON - The ultimate showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court over President Trump’s immigration policies and in particular the “Muslim Travel Ban” is set for Wednesday when the justices hear a challenge to the lawfulness of Trump’s travel ban executive order targeting people from several Muslim-majority countries. The case...
Starbucks to close 8,000 U.S. stores on 5/29 for racial-bias training
April 17th, 20180 Starbucks Corp will close 8,000 company-owned U.S. cafes for the afternoon on May 29 to train nearly 175,000 on how to prevent racial discrimination in its stores. Starbucks’ roughly 6,000 licensed cafes will remain open. Starbucks said it would make training materials available to the employees of those stores, who are employed by...
U.S. launches crackdown on sexual harassment in housing
April 13th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Trump administration is launching an initiative on Thursday to crack down on sexual harassment of women by landlords and encourage victims to come forward for help from the Justice Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development. The two departments will create a task force to combat sexual......
NYPD settles Muslim surveillance lawsuit for $1 million
April 13th, 20180 NEW YORK CITY — Last Thursday, a group of Muslim owned-businesses, mosques, individuals, and student groups reached a settlement with the New York Police Department (NYPD) in a federal lawsuit challenging the discriminatory surveillance of American Muslims in New Jersey. Filed in 2012 in federal court in New Jersey, in Hassan v....
Sagging school funding fuels teacher protests
April 6th, 20180 CHICAGO — Teacher demonstrations are likely to spread as more educators hit the streets to take on states that they claim are choosing tax cuts over the education of students in elementary and secondary public schools. Protests have erupted in states with some of the lowest teacher salaries in the nation, leading to multi-day job......
NY attorney general probing Brooklyn police shooting death
April 6th, 20180 NEW YORK — The New York attorney general’s office is investigating the fatal shooting by police of an unarmed Black man who pointed a metal pipe at officers in Brooklyn in the latest such killing to prompt street protests. The death of Saheed Vassell on Wednesday was one of a string of fatal shootings of unarmed Black men by...
Hollywood executives back Netflix over anti-Israel ‘Fauda’ boycott
April 6th, 20180 LOS ANGELES — More than 50 Hollywood executives have thrown their support behind Netflix, which is facing a campaign by a Palestinian-led movement to drop Israeli television series “Fauda” from its streaming platform. In a letter on Tuesday to Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos, the executives from record labels and......
