Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem
By James M. Dorsey Israel is struggling with how to deal with groups some of which are underground that are linked to a banned nationalist political party that has emerged at the core of recent racist, anti-Palestinian incidents and include a militant soccer fan group that was responsible for last month’s violent clashes during a…
Matt VanDyke, a timid 26-year-old with obsessive-compulsive disorder, left home in Baltimore in 2006 for what he called a “crash course in manhood.” He bought a motorcycle, a video camera and set-off to film himself on a multi-year, 35,000-mile odyssey through North Africa and the Middle East. When revolution broke out in Libya, he joined…
Read More “American man joins Libyan revolution in ‘Point and Shoot’” »
By James M Dorsey Saudi Arabia’s four-month old bombing campaign against Houthi rebel forces in Yemen has had mixed results beyond devastation in the region’s poorest country. The insertion of Saudi-trained Yemeni ground forces that support exiled president Abd Rabbah Mansour Hadi led last month to the capture of the port city of Aden from…
Read More “Yemen and Arab Uprising: Fissures and Repercussions” »
International sporting associations struggle to balance adherence to human rights with hosting events in autocratic countries
Israeli settler terrorists were blamed for the burning death murder Friday (July 31, 2015) of an 18 month old Palestinian child. Israeli settlers continue to terrorize Christian and Muslim civilians without response from Netanyahu’s government. Netanyahu’s settler policies have encouraged attacks against Christian and Muslim civilians, as his rhetoric was blamed for the assassination of his predecessor…
Read More “Jewish settler terrorists murder 18 month old Palestinian child” »
Access to soccer fields not available to everyone in Qatar where economic and social class distinction is still the rule. Migrant worker populations continue to increase, but not the benefits By James M. Dorsey Walking around Qatar’s monumental Aspire Dome sports academy, coach Fred Engh noticed kids playing soccer on an indoor field big enough…
Read More “Qatar’s quagmire: existential fears and missed opportunities” »
By James M. Dorsey This month’s premier league final between Cairo’s two storied clubs, Al Ahli SC and Al Zamalek SC, once the world’s most violent derby, was more than a clash between two soccer giants. It was a clash between management styles and diametrically opposed approaches towards militant, highly politicized, street battle-hardened soccer fans….
Jon Stewart’s sixteen-year stint at The Daily Show ends on the 70th Anniversary of America’s Nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. The still not free Mordechai Vanunu was kidnapped from Rome by Israel’s Mossad a few days before the British newspaper The Sunday Times ran a front page story under the headline: “Revealed: the secrets of Israel’s…
Read More “Heroes, Muses, Jon Stewart and Mordechai Vanunu” »
By Ali Younes Jordanian military and government sources told the Arab Daily News late last week that US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter visit to Jordan included a secret meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Nayef and a delegation of the pro-Iranian Yemeni Houthi group currently fighting in Yemen. Carter’s trip to the region…
M’zab Valley: Neither Sectarian nor Ethnic By Abdennour Toumi Algiers, Algeria — The recurring quarrels between the Mozabite and Cha’amba communities are not necessarily limited to historic facts related to the Islamization process throughout the Maghreb. A few Arab families who migrated from el-Hijaz in the middle of the eleventh century, particularly the Beni Salam, found an…
Every day, Israeli settlers openly disrespect Islam and Muslims by entering the al-Aqsa Mosque Compound and the Haram al Ash-Sharif near the Dome of the Rock to rally and protest and chant that they will one day destroy these Holy Sites and replace them with their own. And Muslims around the world do nothing about it. Would…
The Ecumenical Institute for the Middle East will launch a new program to bring Christians from the throughout the Arab World together to strengthen their faith in hopes of reinforcing the vanishing Christian presence in the Middle East and Holy land. Participants will come from Levant countries including Palestine, Jordan, Syrian, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq and…
Read More “Middle East Christians get training to reinforce faith” »
The life and works of Palestinian filmmaker Michel Khleifi will be celebrated in London at the Shabbak Festival featuring his films and the films of others. Khleifi produced the West Bank’s first documentary film in 1980 “Fertile Memory” For many years, Michel Khleifi was the ultimate voice of Palestinian cinema. Emerging from the ashes of PLO…
Read More “Constructing a Nation’s Memory: Cinema of Michel Khleifi” »
While the dynamics of the Middle East conflict continue to change, one question continues to surface: Can there be peace in the Middle East? The answer is yes. But peace requires that the world recognize that the true obstacle to peace is rising extremism in Israel, and the need for Israelis to finally recognize the right of Christians and…
Israel’s lobby and other programs organize trips to take Jews only to Israel hoping to “educate” them on the country, such as Birthright, while closing doors to the reality of the Israeli government’s and military’s brutal oppression against Palestinians, including the discrimination against Palestinian “citizens” of the State By Dezeray Lyn It was 5:30am when…
Read More “Inodoctri-Nation: Israel’s Birthright propaganda tourism” »
The Taybeh Brewing Company, the first Micro-Brewery in the Middle East is planning its annual OctoberFest which will be held this Fall in September. Despite the oppression of Palestinians, the Festival will continue to bring people together to celebrate a German tradition that is popular throughout the world, especially in the village of Taybeh, which…
Read More “Oktoberfest in Palestine being planned in Taybeh” »
The Arab image and image of the Muslim world is a shambles in America, bludgeoned and “slibeled” nearly every day by paid anti-Arab activists and by the mainstream American News Media. The media is in a pro-Israel headlock that prohibits and discourages full and accurate information about the Arab that might expose Israel’s governments atrocities through critical…
One year since the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip and the massacre of more than 2,200 Palestinian civilians including more than 500 children, the destruction of more than 10,000 homes, and destruction of 50,000 more, Palestinians paused to celebrate the Islamic holiday marking the end of Ramadan. The Muslim World has seemingly abandoned the…
Read More “Palestinians celebrate Eid in suffering of destruction of Gaza” »