Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem
A look back at the Oscars and the Academy Awards night from 1978 when Palestine and Israel clashed on stage for the first time. Here’s one of several columns I published over the years reflecting on that moment, this one published in 2006. By Ray Hanania A very special Oscars Night BY RAY HANANIA (Originally…
President Obama has begun a debate on the issue of terrorism and Islam asking Americans to recognize that just because the terrorists claim they represent Islam doesn’t make it so. Why give the terrorists what they want? Defeat terrorism by being educated and understanding the facts, as complex as they may be. We are a smart…
Read More “Courageous stand by Obama on terrorism and Islam” »
Racism and stereotypes can be used to denigrate and destroy people in America, but they can also have a positive value to help Americans, who are consumed with issues of race and stereotypes, to better understand the targets of hatred. Television sitcoms can become a means of educating not hating By Ray Hanania For years…
By Ray Hanania Civil rights activists from around the country are targeting a convention being held by RE/MAX Realty in Las Vegas beginning March 2 to protest their ongoing support of illegal Jewish-only settlements in occupied Palestine that discriminate against Christians and Muslims. The annual convention will bring RE/MAX representatives from around the world to…
Read More “Civil rights activists target RE/MAX convention in Vegas” »
By Ray Hanania Rania Abouzeid was named as the recipient of the prestigious George Polk Awards in Journalism for 2014 in the category of Foreign Reporting for her feature published by Politico.com on the rise of ISIS, “The Jihad Next Door: The Syrian Roots of Iraq’s Civil War.” Rania Abouzeid grew up in Australia and is the…
By Ray Hanania Talk of the Town Radio for Friday Feb. 13, 2015 features a discussion on the Chapel Hill shootings, the murder of American peace activists Kayla Mueller and the celebration of her killing by Israelis and American Jewish activists, and also remembering the killing by Israel of another American, Rachel Corrie. Guests include Alexandra…
Read More “Radio Podcast: Alexandra Halaby on Chapel Hill, Kayla Mueller and more” »
By Ray Hanania One of my first journalism reports was written in 1976 when I was asked by the City of Chicago to cover a meeting between Morocco’s Washington D.C. Ambassador and Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. The meeting was at City Hall and was intended to commemorate the longstanding friendship between the Arab country of Morocco and the…
Read More “Morocco celebrates longest relationship with America” »
By Ray Hanania A full-length documentary on the challenges facing peace between Palestinians and Israelis, “A People without a Land” was named as the winner of the “Best Documentary Category” at the 2015 Pasadena International Film Festival. The documentary is produced by the husband and wife team of Eliyahu and Pennie Ungar-Sargon and explores the issue of the…
Read More “Film on Israel-Palestine wins Best Documentary in Pasadena” »
By Ray Hanania Arab and Muslim callers to The Arab Daily News radio show on US Arab Radio broadcast in Detroit (690 AM) and Washington DC (700 AM) said that the slaughter of three Arab Muslims on Tuesday is clearly a hate crime. The callers and guests who joined me, Chicago radio host Rush Darwish,…
Read More “Arabs, Muslims describe Chapel Hill shootings as hate crime” »
By Ali Younes The tragic death of three Muslim American students at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is by all accounts one of the most heinous crimes Arabs and Muslims have ever witnessed in decades. The triple murder of three promising young lives exposes the ugly truth in America that Arabs and Muslims can…
Read More “When murdering Muslims in America becomes acceptable, encouraged” »
By Ray Hanania When I was a child, my mother took my younger sister and I to see the Reverend Billy Graham in downtown Chicago. It had to be around 1959. My mom was a very religious Christian. She was born in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus and of Christianity. And she was proud of…
Read More “Was Islamophobia Behind Grisly Slaughter of Chapel Hill Students?” »
Was Craig Stephen Hicks an anti-Muslim fanatic or just a typical White American who shared some popular views found in American culture, who apparently thought nothing of murdering a young male neighbor and his wife and wife’s sister who had strong religious views over an alleged dispute over a parking space in their shared condominium…
By Ray Hanania Chapel Hill police have identified the alleged killer of three Muslim Arab students as Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, of 270 Summerwalk Circle. According to police, Hicks was involved in a “dispute” over a parking place at the condominium parking lot with the victims. Hicks is currently being held without bond, and many…
Read More “Update: Slaughter of Muslim students by American Christian” »
Three Arab Muslim students living in a region of growing anti-Arab and anti-Muslim anger were found slaughtered Tuesday night in Chapel Hill by a White man whose motives have not yet been determined by police. But the community is wondering whether or not this is another example of a racist hate crime by mainstream White America. By…
Read More “Three Muslim Arab students massacred at Chapel Hill” »
On Sunday, February 8, 2015, the American Middle East Voter’s Alliance Political Action Committee met with Mayoral Candidate Jesus Chuy Garcia and the Asian American leadership in Chicago and announced its formal endorsement of Jesus Chuy Garcia for Mayor of Chicago. AMVOTE-PAC’s Chairman, Judge William J. Haddad (Ret.), stated on Sunday that: “Today, AMVOTE-PAC issued…
Read More “Chicago Arab political group issues election endorsements” »
The American Human Rights Council (AHRC-USA) calls upon all peace and justice activists to continue their support of Palestinian- American leader and activist Rasmea Odeh. Ms. Odeh is scheduled to appear at the US Eastern District Court in Detroit for a sentencing hearing on Thursday, March 12, 2015. Peace and justice activists across the country…
Read More “AHRC urges court to reverse Rasmea Odeh conviction” »
The latest edition of the popular and hilarious comic strip IkhrAss which lampoons the anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian, anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish and anti-Christian (and poorly written) hate website Ikhras, authored by “Thabet al-Arabi” and “Qassem Lufti.” Ikhras is clearly funded by the Syrian regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad. Permission granted to republish the comic strip in its entirety…
By Ray Hanania Author and Muslim feminist rights voice Asra Nomani discusses the fight to confront growing extremism in the Muslim and the Arab World, and the more important battle to strengthen the voices of moderate. Nomani, the author of several books on her life as a Muslim woman, talks about the need to understand how…
Read More “Asra Nomani details her fight against extremism” »