Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem
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…
Read More “Performing Arab-Jewish standup comedy, first time” »
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…
Read More “ماذا تفعل الأنظمة العربية بالشيعة والمسيحيين والأقليات؟” »
“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…
Read More “The Struggle for Social and Economic Justice in France” »
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…
Read More “Heroes, cowards and real terrorists in the Middle East” »
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…
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…
Read More “Retailers pull racist anti-Arab costumes for Halloween” »
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…
Read More “AFC Salman’s FIFA candidacy puts integrity checks to the test” »
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,…
Read More “Charles Glass on Syria: Religious cleansing continues” »
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…
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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…
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…
Read More “Netanyahu trivializing the Holocaust for selfish political gain” »
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…
Read More “Egyptian soccer fans put youth disillusion with elections on public display” »
Holy Land Principles Push Cisco On Fair Employment Holy Land Principles, Inc. intensifies its campaign to get a leading American company to sign an effective, well-proven set of fair employment principles. Cisco, the huge high tech company, is being pressed to sign the Holy Land Principles— an 8-point corporate code of conduct for American companies…
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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 …
Read More “Iran-Israel Deal and Mordechai Vanunu’s Supreme Court Appeal” »
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…
Read More “15,000 Chicago protestors demand end to Israeli occupation” »
بيت لحم مهد المسيح ومهد الانتفاضة ، بقلم د. فايز أبو شمالة قبل ألفي عام أخص الله مدينة بيت لحم بالبركة، فاحتضنت ميلاد المسيح، واليوم يخص الله مدينة بيت لحم بالبركة ثانية، لتكون حاضنة الانتفاضة الفلسطينية ضد الصهاينة، وضد عناصر الاجهزة الأمنية الذين أظهروا وحشية وقسوة في قمع الشباب الرافض لتهويد القدس، بشكل لا يختلف…
Read More “بيت لحم مهد المسيح ومهد الانتفاضة ، بقلم د. فايز أبو شمالة” »
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…
Read More “OECD holds FIFA responsible for Qatari World Cup-related labour conditions” »
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…
Read More “Israel suspends Israeli-Palestinian encounters on the pitch” »