Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem
American Middle East organizations protest against granting Israel Visa Waiver approval Civil society organizations representing tens of thousands of Palestinian Americans, Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, and allied communities are expressing deep concern and outrage regarding the United States’ decision to admit Israel into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP) despite Israel not fully meeting the…
Civil Society Organizations to the Israeli Supreme Court: Cancel the Racist Admissions Committees Law A petition by Adalah on behalf of nine organizations argues that a recent amendment to the law, aimed at ‘strengthening Jewish settlement,’ underscores its discriminatory purpose towards Palestinian citizens and will harm marginalized communities. 21 September 2023 Today, 21 September 2023,…
CAIR Announces Lawsuit in D.C., Mass., N.J., Mich. Seeking End to Secret Government Watchlist 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…
Disrespecting the memory of the 2,977 murdered victims of Sept. 11, 2001 by fueling a hatred of Arabs and Muslims By Ray Hanania The terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001 was a horrific event that took the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans, mostly civilians who were not involved in any conflict, an act of horrific violence…
Relationship between Arab Americans and African Americans needs more balance, Black State Rep says By Ray Hanania Illinois State Rep. Cyril Nichols has raised an issue that many Arab Americans prefer not to discuss. Are Arab Americans doing enough to balance the support they get from African Americans? In an interview on The Ray Hanania…
Menendez and Risch condemn Syria’s re-admission to Arab League U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement condemning the Arab League’s decision to re-admit Syria, but Arab American leaders condemn Senators Menendez and Risch for failing to respect the…
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The term Arab will be meaningless if we don’t stand behind it and choose “MENA” instead By Ray Hanania Last month, members of the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation, House Bill 3768, which would include the term MENA (Middle East and North Africa) in the “Uniform Racial Classification Act” which requires state agencies to…
Call me Arab, don’t call me MENA writer argues Columnist Ray Hanania argues that the term MENA to describe Arab Americans only dilutes the ability for Arabs to defend themselves against racism and that the term Arab should be used not only with the U.S. Census but in seeking equality in government contract awards. MENA…
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AHRC Holds Meet and Greet with MDOC In an effort to keep dialogue with government agencies, AHRC held a Meet, Greet & Open Conversation community forum earlier this past week with the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) leadership. The forum was organized and facilitated jointly by AHRC and the Islamic Center of Detroit (ICD). The…
Illinois Review skewers Mayor Lightfoot ally Ramzi Hassan By Ray Hanania Illinois Review, one of the conservative movement’s most respected online news sources, took Edward’s Realty President Ramzi Hassan to task for his support of Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau But in the process, Illinois Review also revealed that Hassan, who is Palestinian American, donated…
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Why allow religious extremists to re-define Islam in the West? By Ray Hanania Rashid-Al-Din Hamadani was a writer and a physician who rose to influence in the Mongolian Dynasties that ruled over Persia, serving as a Grand Visier to many of the Mongolian Khans. Born in Persia in 1247 of Jewish parents, Rashid-al-Din converted to…
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When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot targeted Arab businesses in 2021 and 2022 Looking back at why Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s racism against Arab American business owners disqualifies her from running for re-election and why Arab American voters should support other candidates running for mayor like Dr. Willie Wilson, Paul Vallas, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Roderick Sawyer,…
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Gov. Pritzker Announces Six Appointments to Boards and Commissions — no Arabs included Building on a strong team of diverse experts in their fields, Governor JB Pritzker announced the following appointments in his administration. But Governor continues to exclude Arab Americans STATE BOARD OF HEALTH Karen Phelan will continue to serve on the State Board…
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“Ramy” cable series melds Arab world reality with every day American life By Ray Hanania As a Palestinian writer in America, my lifelong ambition is to write a TV series that portrays Arabs to Americans as being “no different” than other Americans. If I were to script that show someday, I would call it “Everybody…
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UN experts condemn Israel’s ‘sadistic’ punitive measures against French-Palestinian rights defender Salah Hammouri UN independent experts have called on Israel to immediately release Salah Hammouri, an arbitrarily detained French-Palestinian human rights defender and lawyer, who has just ended a 19 day hunger strike in objection to the systematic policy of administrative detention. “We are concerned…
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib panders to emotions but fails to achieve results Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib says she is a champion of human rights for Palestinians, but is she really effective or is she just pounding her chest and fueling the emotions of a community in America that is discriminated by racism, media bias and stereotyping? Tlaib…
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Pritzker makes more appointments, none are Arab American Gov. Pritzker Announces Ten Appointments to Boards and Commissions and Senior Executive Positions. Building on a strong team of diverse experts in their fields, Governor JB Pritzker announced the following appointments in his administration The following are appoints to the State’s Boards and Commissions made this week…
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Arabs and Muslim blast Mayor Lightfoot for racist store closings The American Arab Chamber of Commerce blasted Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot as “racist” for shutting down Arab and Muslims businesses when crimes are committed near them. Chamber officials said Lightfoot does not close stores owned by other racial groups when crimes occur near their businesses….
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