A century ago, Gibran Khalil Gibran wrote a love poem to Lebanon: "You have your Lebanon, I have my Lebanon." He spoke of his affection for the people, their poetry, art, music and love of life; their generous and welcoming spirit; their gifts to (...)
I remember Albert Einstein's definition of insanity: "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." I've been thinking about this quote in relation to the recent bizarre behavior of all the parties involved in the (...)
Netanyahu's 15 years as prime minister have come to an end, but his legacy lives on. If there were questions about what exactly that legacy might be, the never-shy Bibi was quick to list his accomplishments in a "valedictory speech" before the (...)
Speaking at a Memorial Day observance last week, President Joseph Biden noted, rather ominously: "Our democracy is in peril." Politics, if we can even call it that, has become so distorted and hyperpartisan that the shared values, comity and (...)
At a recent conference in Israel, Ron Dermer, former Israeli ambassador to the US, was asked to respond to a criticism. During his tenure in Washington, he focused more on courting conservatives than on liberal Americans. In response, Dermer noted (...)
In the 45 years since launching the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, I've witnessed more tragic wars than I can count, and I've defended Palestinians against more heinous crimes than I can list. During all this time, there have always been American (...)
On Wednesday , I was in the midst of my weekly Zoom chat with readers of this column when the discussion was hacked and ended by a pro-Israel group playing loud songs in Hebrew. I had been speaking with Omar Shakir of Human Rights Watch on how the (...)
As expected, US President Joseph Biden's recognition of the Armenian Genocide under the Ottoman Empire was greeted with relief by Armenian Americans and outrage by many Turks. But recognition without reckoning means little. In the end, it is the (...)
Following Israel's fourth election in two years, a muddy picture emerges. Though despised by many voters, Benjamin Netanyahu remains the most potent force in the country. Still, the political situation remains so fractious that forming a government (...)
As Israelis go to the polls for the fourth time in two years, the election looks peculiar. This is partly because for some it is crucial while for others it holds very little at stake. For much of the public and Israel's supporters in the US, (...)
In 1967, the Kerner Commission, created by President Lyndon Johnson to investigate the riots that engulfed American cities, concluded that “Our nation is moving towards two societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal.”
In the past year (...)
Violence book ends the first two decades of the century. First, the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 claimed the lives of almost 3,000 innocents. Secondly, the 6 January 2021 storming of the US Capitol took its own unique toll on American (...)
The Middle East Donald Trump inherited from his predecessors in January 2017 was a place in tatters. The Islamic State (IS) was in control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria. Civil wars raged in Yemen and Libya. Iran and Turkey, each dreaming of (...)
Any discussion of Arab Americans must consider, at the outset, both the deep diversity as well as the shared attitudes and concerns that exist within the community. As is the case with most ethnic groups, Arab Americans are not a monolith. They hail (...)
As I sit to write this piece four days after the election, Joe Biden is leading in enough states to make it clear that he will win enough electoral college votes to become the 46th president of the United States. What was also clear is that (...)
When they go to the polls to cast their ballot for President of the United States, 59% of Arab Americans say they will vote for Democratic candidate Joseph Biden with only 35% supporting the reelection of President Trump. This is one of the findings (...)
During the past century, we have witnessed a long and tragic history of US domestic policies that have targeted persons of Arab descent. We've been subject to discriminatory treatment by law enforcement, immigration authorities, and by both (...)
On 17 September, US President Donald Trump spoke on American history at the National Archives in Washington, DC.
In his remarks, the president denounced what he called the “left-wing indoctrination” of American school children whom he said are being (...)
This week, the news that all the Palestinian factions were meeting might have been a hopeful sign, since Zogby Research Service (ZRS) polling shows that what Palestinians most want from their leaders are unity and a strategy that will move them (...)
I've been engaged in Democratic Party platform debates for over three decades and am amazed at how the party consistently gets the section on Israel/Palestine wrong. Wrong because the positions expressed are out of touch with political realities on (...)
On Tuesday, 23 June 2020, Jamaal Bowman made history by winning the Democratic Party primary in New York State's 16th Congressional District. Here's why his victory is so significant.
Bowman beat Eliot Engel, a 16-term incumbent Congressman who (...)
It was appropriate that during the week in which we commemorated the 100th anniversary of the San Remo Conference, Israelis and Americans were discussing the Israeli government's declared intention to annex large portions of occupied Palestinian (...)
In last week's column, I cautioned that in the face of the severe economic dislocation currently experienced by so many families across the United States, we could expect to see the emergence of a number of political and social movements. Shocks to (...)
“Once we OPEN UP OUR GREAT COUNTRY, and it will be sooner than later, the horror of the Invisible Enemy, except for those who lost a family member or friend, must be quickly forgotten. Our Economy will BOOM, perhaps like never before.” — Tweet from (...)
While reporting from Israel/Palestine has focused on Israel's difficulties in forming a new government and on measures being taken by Israelis to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic, the story behind the story is the role anti-Arab racism has played (...)