Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Features
  • Comment
  • Store
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
    • Submit Press Release
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Stores Targeted
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Arab Radio Podcast intro
    • Radio Baladi Detroit
  • Hanania on Tiktok
  • Subscribe to eNewsletter
  • Toggle search form
  • Mahnoor Ahmad Photo courtesy of her website at AhmadforCongress.com
    Muslim American woman challenges unresponsive Congressman Sean Casten in March 19 Democratic primary Activism
  • Committee to Protect Journalists website. Number of journalists killed in Gaza war now 50
    More than 50 journalists killed in Israel-Gaza war Arab World
  • AHRC Logo new Feb 2021
    On World Children’s Day, Israel has turned Gaza into a Graveyard for Children: American Arabs
  • Jewish Defense League members participated in the Washington D.C. rally supporting Israel Nov. 15, 2023. Photo courtesy of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
    Doctors Without Borders condemns deliberate deadly attack on convoy of staff and family members in Gaza Arab World
  • Palestinian protest land grabs by Israel's government from Palestinian Christians and Muslims. Photo courtesy of Peace Now
    Peace Now: Attempt for the Establishment of a New Settlement in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City Arab World
  • Palestinians walk around buildings destroyed during the Israeli bombardment in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on October 29. (Photo: AP/Hatem Moussa)
    CPJ expresses grave concern over 4th communications blackout in Gaza Arab World
  • Comedian Ramy Youssef courtesy of his Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ramysfaceboo/
    Arab American Comedy Festival, 209th Anniversary National Tour returns to New York roots American Arabs
  • The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and nearly 100 human rights, civil rights and civil liberties, immigrant rights, faith based organizations, and ADC’s Volunteer TPS/DED Lawyers Working Group sent a request to Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas urging them to designate Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) and/or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Palestinians present in the United States.  
    Nearly 100 Organizations Join ADC in Demanding TPS/DED for Palestinians American Arabs
  • Jewish Defense League members participated in the Washington D.C. rally supporting Israel Nov. 15, 2023. Photo courtesy of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
    Terrorist groups involved at pro-Israel demonstration in Washington D.C. American Arabs
  • Doctors without Borders calls for end to Israeli attacks targeting hospitals in Gaza Strip. Nov. 11, 2023
    Patients and medical staff trapped in hospitals under fire in Gaza Arab World
  • Attorney Sarah Gad
    2024 election battle among Arab Americans shaping up in Ilhan Omar’s Minnesota congressional district American Arabs
  • Palestinian civilians flee their homes as Israel continues its savage bombing and missile attacks against homes, neighborhoods and buildings destroying most of the buildings in most of the Gaza's cities. Photo courtesy of Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights
    US Congress: Reject Bill to Support Forced Israeli Displacement of Palestinians to Third Countries  American Arabs
  • RMS Titanic departing Southampton on April 10, 1912. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia and Francis Godolphin Osbourne Stuart - http://www.uwants.com/viewthread.php?tid=3817223&extra=page%3D1
    Arabs on Titanic: Arabs share the pain but not the glory in ship’s tragic tale American Arabs
  • MedGlobal humanitarian appeal for Gaza violence victims
    Bombing of Al Ahli hospital in Gaza worst attack on healthcare this century  American Arabs
  • IDF soldiers and Israeli settlers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
    Israeli Academic Institutions Persecute Palestinian Students for Social Media Posts Amid Offensive on Gaza Christian & Muslim
Veterans, military, Air Force, service, Ray Hanania

Proud to be a veteran, anyway

Posted on November 12, 2015November 12, 2015 By rayhanania No Comments on Proud to be a veteran, anyway
SHARE ...
          
 
  

  • Tweet

Loading

American Arabs celebrate Veterans Day even if the rest of the nation doesn’t want to see our service as important and sits by silently while we are discriminated against

By Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania covering Chicago City Hall (1976-1992)
Ray Hanania
covering Chicago
City Hall
(1976-1992)

One of the smartest things I did was to enlist in the military back in 1973. My draft number was in the low 30s and it was a certainty that I would have been drafted anyway.

There were options, like turning to clout to avoid being sent overseas to fight in Vietnam. That’s what kept George W. Bush out of active duty military service. His father and pals helped get him a cushy job that he didn’t always show up for in the reserves.

Keep in mind, the reserves during the Vietnam War was not like the reserves today. During the draft, you couldn’t enlist in the reserves. You needed clout. You had to be a “fortunate son,” as John Fogerty sang with his band Credence Clearwater Revival.

Fogerty was talking about the privileged children of then President Richard M. Nixon. Politicians love to put on the uniform but so few of them served active duty when the opportunity was there.

Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather is the focus of a new film called “Truth” starring Robert Redford that explores the issue of politics, clout and Bush avoiding military service. Rather lost his job reporting Bush used clout to avoid military service, but the conservative right ramped up to dirty him up, as they did Senator John Kerry.

Newspaper announcement of Ray Hanania's military service 1973
Newspaper announcement of Ray Hanania’s military service 1973

Rather was a great journalist, and one of the first journalist victims of the rise of conservative fanaticism.

I served during the Vietnam War but they never sent me overseas. I was trained for it. I was ready to go. But as the war wound down, I trained in a hospital and later served at an F-111 Air Force Base in Idaho.

At least I served and was ready to go overseas. It wasn’t my choice. Had it been, I would have gone.

Although I served during the Vietnam War I remember back in 1976 going to a VFW post and being told that I couldn’t join because I didn’t go overseas. The “commander” threw in the snipe about me being “Arab anyway.”

I also served more than 10 years in the Illinois Air National Guard during the 1980s and 1990s and there were far less problems there. You can read my story about American Arab veterans at Al Jazeera English.

Click here to read the story.

Many people think anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism began after the terrorists attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001. But that’s just not true. America was hostile to Arabs long before Sept. 11. The day I was honorably discharged from active duty, the FBI opened an investigation into me that lasted two years. I have the lengthy report they wrote, with all the blacked out lines.

The FBI “suspected” I was a “terrorist” but concluded I was only concerned about bettering my American Arab community. How much taxpayer dollars did the government waste investigating me and coming to that obvious conclusion?

They ended the probe only because I had entered journalism, publishing my own newspaper, before being hired by the mainstream news media in 1977 to cover Chicago and Illinois politics. (The FBI report also cautioned other agents not to interview me because I might write about it.)

Power in this country comes from communications. Journalists have a lot to do with deciding what is or isn’t news: Like the fact Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel never served in the U.S. Military. Instead, Emanuel volunteered and wore the uniform of the Israeli military.

His animosity towards Arabs is one reason why Emanuel has shut down the annual Arab American Heritage Month, which the city began in the 1980s but ended only when Emanuel came to office. And, it’s one reason why Mayor Emanuel cowardly refuses to grant me an interview.

None of the mainstream American journalists covering him at Chicago City Hall have the courage to ask or report on that. None served in the military either, I guess. So what’s so surprising?

Oh yea, November is Arab American Heritage Month. I guess Emanuel and his buddy, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner — who punishes Americans who criticize Israel by denying them state taxpayer funds — forgot!

Ray Hanania is an award-winning Palestinian American columnist, managing editor of The Arab Daily News at https://thearabdailynews.com, and writer at Al Jazeera English. Follow him on Twitter @RayHanania. To find out more about Ray Hanania and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit http://www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2015 CREATORS.COM.

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
rayhanania
rayhanania
Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News
RAY HANANIA — Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster

Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.

Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).

Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.

Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.

Click here to send Ray Hanania email.

Follow RayHanania on Gettr.com, the uncensored Twitter Ray Hanania on Gettr, the new Twitter
rayhanania
Latest posts by rayhanania (see all)
  • Hostages versus Prisoners: Israel war on Gaza is as much a war on weaponizing words - December 1, 2023
  • Muslim American woman challenges unresponsive Congressman Sean Casten in March 19 Democratic primary - November 21, 2023
  • More than 50 journalists killed in Israel-Gaza war - November 21, 2023

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
          
 
  
 
          
 
 Tweet 
American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Ray Hanania Tags:American Arabs, anti-Arab discrimination, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuek, Military Veterans, Veterans Day

Post navigation

Previous Post: Freedom for Pollard and Vanunu
Next Post: Bahraini players’ support for Salman raise more questions than answers

Related Posts

  • Saudi Arabia’s Reach in Yemen: Fighting for Regional Dominance Arab World
  • Christianity Today and Evolution of the Soul Arab World
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action American Arabs
  • PEW poll shows most Americans oppose bans on Muslims American Arabs
  • Abdul El-Sayed with members of the Michigan Women's March in 2017. Photo courtesy of El-Sayed's Facebook Page.
    Abdul for Michigan airs first TV Campaign Ad “The People’s Summer” American Arabs
  • Why American Arabs and Muslims need their own news blog Activism

More Related Articles

Podcast: Who’s Who in Iraq, Syria conflicts Ali Younes
Filmmaker Colette Ghunim Traces of Home documentary. Documentary Filmmaker returns to find parents’ ancestral homes in Mexico and Palestine American Arabs
Brussels terrorism and Edjteehad in the West Abdennour Toumi
Saudi Arabia and Iran: Volatile Political Geography of Oil and Minorities Arab World
Obamas at the annual White House Easter Egg roll, photo courtesy of the White House Farewell to a brilliant First Lady Commentary
Arab American Democratic Club President Samir Khalil. Khalil's Facebook Page. Arab Democratic Club to host Zoom candidate’s and leaders forum March 25 Activism

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • A child stands in front of an apartment building bombed by Israeli using an American made 2000 pound bomb.
    Hostages versus Prisoners: Israel war on Gaza is as much a war on weaponizing words
    December 1, 2023
  • Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib
    Americans rally to support Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib targeted by Islamophobic racism
    November 8, 2023
  • Palestinian parent and child seek refuge as American sanction terrorism by Israel spreads through Gaza Strip Oct 2023
    Some American legislators stand up for justice and against all violence
    October 15, 2023
  • Map of the Gaza Strip, courtesy of Wikipedia
    Israel-Palestine conflict as much about American hypocrisy as it is about violence
    October 11, 2023

Events

  • No events
  • NEWSWIRE
  • Palestinians walk around buildings destroyed during the Israeli bombardment in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on October 29. (Photo: AP/Hatem Moussa)
    CPJ expresses grave concern over 4th communications blackout in Gaza
    November 18, 2023
  • Racist grafitti a Palestinian Cultural Center for Peace and Boston Islamic Seminary, one of a wave of acts of racism targeting Arabs and Muslims in the wake of Israel's war crimes in Gaza October 2023
    CAIR-MA Calls for Hate Crime Probe of ‘Nazi’ Vandalism Targeting Boston Palestinian, Islamic Sign
    October 11, 2023
  • American Middle East groups oppose granting Visa Waiver approval to Israel Sept. 27 , 2023
    American Middle East organizations protest against granting Israel Visa Waiver approval
    September 27, 2023
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, announced Tuesday (Sept. 19, 2023) the filing of a lawsuit with a dozen plaintiffs seeking an end to the government’s secret watchlist that almost exclusively targets Muslims for harassment and humiliation when they travel.
    CAIR Announces Lawsuit in D.C., Mass., N.J., Mich. Seeking End to Secret Government Watchlist
    September 19, 2023

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

  • 250-x-250-Ziyad-banner-Ad.jpg
  • NEWS
  • Mahnoor Ahmad Photo courtesy of her website at AhmadforCongress.com
    Muslim American woman challenges unresponsive Congressman Sean Casten in March 19 Democratic primary
    November 21, 2023
  • Committee to Protect Journalists website. Number of journalists killed in Gaza war now 50
    More than 50 journalists killed in Israel-Gaza war
    November 21, 2023
  • AHRC Logo new Feb 2021
    On World Children’s Day, Israel has turned Gaza into a Graveyard for Children:
    November 20, 2023
  • Jewish Defense League members participated in the Washington D.C. rally supporting Israel Nov. 15, 2023. Photo courtesy of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
    Doctors Without Borders condemns deliberate deadly attack on convoy of staff and family members in Gaza
    November 19, 2023
grab450

Recent Posts

  • Hostages versus Prisoners: Israel war on Gaza is as much a war on weaponizing words
  • Muslim American woman challenges unresponsive Congressman Sean Casten in March 19 Democratic primary
  • More than 50 journalists killed in Israel-Gaza war
  • On World Children’s Day, Israel has turned Gaza into a Graveyard for Children:
  • Doctors Without Borders condemns deliberate deadly attack on convoy of staff and family members in Gaza
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib, book cover. Photo courtesy of Cune Press
    Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib
    November 1, 2021
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • Comedian Ahmed Ahmed at The Comedy Bar in Chicago June 9 - 11, 2023
    Comedian Ahmed Ahmed performs in Chicago June 9-11, 2023 at The Comedy Bar
    June 9, 2023
  • Ziyad Food item
    Essential recipes and ingredients during Ramadan 
    April 4, 2023
  • Hussam al-Mayman, The Mayman Show, podcast Arab News
    Arab News launches third season of The Mayman Show podcast
    December 15, 2022
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Comedian Ramy Youssef courtesy of his Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ramysfaceboo/
    “Ramy” cable series melds Arab world reality with every day American life
    October 22, 2022
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at Gab.com, MeWe.com and IDobbinate.com, the alternatives to Facebook and Twitter Censorship.

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2023 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme