Category: Commentary

Turkish soccer offers Erdogan headaches instead of voters in walk-up to election

October 30, 2015February 10, 2017 James Dorsey No Comments

Turkish soccer offers Erdogan headaches instead of voters in walk-up to election By James M. Dorsey Turkish soccer has offered President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more headaches than likely votes as the Turkish leader battles to ensure that his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will secure a majority in snap parliamentary elections on Sunday. Polls…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Sports

Performing Arab-Jewish standup comedy, first time

October 29, 2015 rayhanania No Comments

I don’t know if humor can change anyone’s minds about standing up to extremism and bringing peace to the Middle East, or if it can really bring different rival religious, ethnic or national groups together. But I do know that after performing my first standup comedy show this week, the Jewish, Christian and Muslim audience…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Editors Picks, Entertainment, Israel, Palestine & Jordan

ماذا تفعل الأنظمة العربية بالشيعة والمسيحيين والأقليات؟

October 29, 2015October 29, 2015 rayhanania No Comments

ماذا تفعل الأنظمة العربية بالشيعة والمسيحيين والأقليات؟ أشكر الزميل هاني نقشبندي على مقاله الرائع بعنوان “حسن.. وماذا نفعل بالشيعة إذا؟” الذي نشر في جريدة إيلاف يوم الأربعاء 22 اكتوبر 2015. لقد وضعت أصبعك على الجرح الذي ينزف في الجسد العربي منذ بداية الثمانينيات من القرن المنصرم، حين اعتبرت انظمة الحكم العربية ان كل مواطنيها من…

Arab World, Arabic, Bloggers, Christian & Muslim, Commentary, religion

The Struggle for Social and Economic Justice in France

October 29, 2015 Abdennour Toumi No Comments

“Liberty-Equality-Fraternity” is the motto of the French Republic but the spirit it implies is applied selectively in reality. By Abdennour Toumi Paris, France — In October of 2005 neighborhoods in the banlieues of France erupted in violence, the cause of those riots, the deaths of two teenagers Ziad and Bouna, electrocuted on a power transformer…

Abdennour Toumi, Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Editors Picks, Europe, North Africa

Heroes, cowards and real terrorists in the Middle East

October 28, 2015September 24, 2018 rayhanania No Comments

This weeks marks the 20th anniversary of the murder of Yitzhak Rabin and the destruction of the Palestine-Israel peace process by Israeli extremists led by Benjamin Netanyahu. As the region spirals into greater violence, Netanyahu rises as the singular cause of this vicious cycle of death and destruction By Ray Hanania This week marks the…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Editors Picks, Israel, Palestine & Jordan, Ray Hanania

New Qatari labour law: too little, too late

October 28, 2015October 28, 2015 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey Never missing an opportunity to shoot itself in the foot, 2022 World Cup-host Qatar has adopted a new law that is more likely to convince critics that it aims to put a friendly face on its controversial kafala or sponsorship system rather than radically reform a legal framework that trade unions…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Gulf States

Retailers pull racist anti-Arab costumes for Halloween

October 28, 2015October 31, 2015 rayhanania No Comments

Every year, racist anti-Arab costumes find their way into the marketplace in America that are sold to children to use for the annual holiday celebration of Halloween. This year costumes included a racist face of an Arab and an Israeli military uniform carrying an Uzi sub-machine gun symbolizing Israel’s military terrorism against Palestinian civilians By…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Christian & Muslim, Commentary, Editors Picks, Ray Hanania, religion

AFC Salman’s FIFA candidacy puts integrity checks to the test

October 25, 2015June 12, 2019 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa’s candidacy for the presidency of world soccer body FIFA is likely to serve as a litmus test for newly introduced integrity checks on the group’s executives. Sheikh Salman, a former soccer player, has consistently like other members of his ruling…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Gulf States, Sports

Charles Glass on Syria: Religious cleansing continues

October 25, 2015 rayhanania 1 Comment

Charles Glass on Syria: Religious Cleansing Continues “Urgent” Need for US-Russian Settlement “Until the regional powers and superpowers agree that the war in Syria should end, it will not end,” veteran Middle East correspondent Charles Glass said Wednesday at an event sponsored by Christian Solidarity International. In a public lecture at Boston College, Charles Glass,…

Arab World, Bloggers, Christian & Muslim, Commentary, Guest Columnist, Syria

Palestinians continue protests against Israeli violence

October 23, 2015February 10, 2017 Mohammed Asad No Comments

Palestinians continue protests against Israeli violence By Mohammed Asad Palestinians continued protests against violence by Israeli soldiers and armed Israeli settlers at the border with Israel at the Gaza Strip on Friday October 23, 2015. Reports continued of Palestinians being wrongfully assaulted by Israeli soldiers and armed Israeli settlers throughout the Occupied West Bank and…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Israel, Mohammed Asad, News, Palestine & Jordan

Portrait with Fire: Khader Adnan

October 23, 2015October 25, 2015 rayhanania 1 Comment

Portrait with Fire: Khader Adnan By Dezeray Lyn “Some people think being jailed is a destiny. I say freedom is a destiny.” In Heather Christle’s stirring poem, Self Portrait with Fire, bending to conceal flaming legs, (s)he sets the grass on fire. On this day, sitting with Khader Adnan, Palestinian freedom fighter, it is hard…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Editors Picks, Israel, Palestine & Jordan

Netanyahu trivializing the Holocaust for selfish political gain

October 22, 2015October 22, 2015 rayhanania No Comments

Using the Holocaust for politics is disgusting. When Arabs do it it is criticized. When Israelis do it, it undermines the issue of the Holocaust. Israelis like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exploit the Holocaust all the time because scoring political points to him means more than the unprecedented human suffering that Jews and others suffered…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Israel, Palestine & Jordan, Ray Hanania

Egyptian soccer fans put youth disillusion with elections on public display

October 21, 2015October 22, 2015 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey As Egyptian general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al Sisi struggled this week to get Egyptians to cast their vote in parliamentary elections, militant soccer fans put widespread youth disillusionment with the president’s autocratic rule on public display. More than 10,000 fans rushed in response to a call by Ultras Ahlawy, the militant support…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary

Iran-Israel Deal and Mordechai Vanunu’s Supreme Court Appeal

October 20, 2015August 20, 2019 USS_Liberty Info No Comments

Sunday marked the official “adoption day” for the “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” better known as the Iran deal. Mordechai Vanunu returns to Israel’s Supreme Court for the 8th time on Monday, October 26, appealing to end the over eleven years of restrictions denying his right to leave the State. By Eileen Fleming …

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Palestine & Jordan, Video

15,000 Chicago protestors demand end to Israeli occupation

October 18, 2015October 19, 2015 rayhanania 23 Comments

An estimated 15,000 people marched demanding that Israel end its brutal military attacks against Palestinians, blasting the mainstream news media for its one-sided, pro-Israel coverage and downplaying the Israeli killing of Palestinians while emphasizing Palestinian killings of Israelis By Ray Hanania Nearly 15,000 people protesting Israeli violence against Palestinian civilians and the failure of the news media…

American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Editors Picks, Israel, Palestine & Jordan, Photographs, Ray Hanania

OECD holds FIFA responsible for Qatari World Cup-related labour conditions

October 17, 2015September 24, 2018 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey A Swiss government-sponsored unit of the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has defined world soccer body FIFA as a multi-national bound by the group’s guidelines. As a result, the group concluded that FIFA is responsible for the upholding of the human and labour rights of workers employed in…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Sports

Israel suspends Israeli-Palestinian encounters on the pitch

October 17, 2015October 17, 2015 James Dorsey No Comments

By James M. Dorsey The Israel Football Association (IFA) acting on orders of the police has suspended what it calls ‘sensitive’ matches, a reference to professional and amateur games between Israeli Jewish and Israeli Palestinian squads. Police said the suspension on soccer pitches that have long signalled mounting tensions, violence, and racism in Israeli society…

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Israel, Palestine & Jordan, Sports

Palestinians face off with Israeli soldier violence in Gaza

October 16, 2015 Tarek Masood No Comments

Heavily armed Israeli soldiers and settlers continue to harass and provoke Palestinians and Palestinians continue to stand their ground near al-Bureij in the Gaza Strip By Tarek Masood Israeli soldiers fired large canisters of gas and fired live ammunition at Palestinians civilians who gathered at the border of Al-Bureij in the Gaza Strip on Friday….

Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Editors Picks, Israel, Palestine & Jordan, Photographs, Tarek Masood