Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem
10 years ago this month, Israel withdrew from its brutal and oppressive occupation of the Gaza Strip, replacing it with an even more oppressive embargo and even worse military chokehold with more deaths and more violence. And yet Israelis continue to lie about how they left Gaza and the Palestinians never used the gesture for “peace.” By…
Read More “10 years since Israel withdrew from Gaza on Israeli lies” »
The news media publishes the lies and distortions of many pro-Israel activists without bothering to double check the facts. They offer cautions that comments should be civil but they allow the authors of the columns to libel anyone who believes that Palestinians have rights and that violence in the Middle East is caused by increasingly hostile…
Read More “Pro-Israel lies from activists opposed to peace” »
The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) expressed concerns with evidence of recent chemical attacks in southern Syria against civilian targets and civilian neighborhoods. Field staff working with the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) reported the use of a chemical agent in a recent attack in Erbin, Eastern Ghouta. The exact chemical agent remains unknown as field staff…
Read More “Chemical weapons in Syria raise international concerns” »
The Tabboun: News from around the American Arab community and the Middle East American indicted in attempt to burn down New York mosque Vanita Gupta, the head of the Civil Rights Division, and William C. Killian, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, announced today that a federal grand jury in Knoxville, Tennessee, returned…
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The Liberation of Aden, progressing but with challenges By Gamal Gasim Taking control of the Aden province and its transformation into a free and safe area has been a huge challenge to the government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which has been based in Riyadh before the beginning of the Saudi-led military operation on…
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By James M. Dorsey Israel and Palestine are playing political soccer with Palestinian football as the ball. It is a match which Israel is unlikely to win and that could prove to produce a bruising loss. The stakes for Israel are far higher than for Palestine. Israel is effectively on probation as it seeks to…
Torture by Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which an inmate is isolated from any human contact except for members of the prison staff for at least 22 hours a day. By Eileen Fleming Last week, New York Times reporter Erica Goode wrote: I’ve been covering solitary confinement on and off for…
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Troubled Waters Under the Tigris and Euphrates Bridges By Abdennour Toumi Ankara, Turkey — Last summer I was in the southeastern province of Mardin, when social-demand riots erupted in the majority of Kurdish villages and towns. Burning tires and barricades blocked the roads as farmers protested the cut-off of electricity and especially of water needed to irrigate…
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Pro-Israel groups are engaged in a disinformation campaign to discredit organizations that support Palestinian civil rights. The prestigious independent organization Public Interest Investigations has identified a new campaign by extremist pro-Israel groups with U.S. Funding to discredit the important UN Economic and Social Council and the Palestine Return Centre (Center) By Ray Hanania Pro-Israel groups…
Read More “Israeli campaign to spread lies exposed by prestigious British group” »
A history of abuses by the US Justice Department and the FBI targeting innocent Americans of Arab heritage and the Muslim religion raise serious questions about the role of these agencies and their true agendas. But the incidents suggest that the FBI is the largest real domestic terrorist operation in America By Dezeray Lyn The…
Read More “Unmasked: How the FBI became the biggest domestic terrorist threat in America” »
Although the Middle East and the question “who supports Israel more” dominate national politics and presidential elections, the first major debate of the top 10 Republican contenders had another agenda, defeating Donald Trump. Middle East issues took a back seat, but they definitely will surface as the election campaign energizes Make sure to take the Presidential…
Read More “First Republican debate steers clear of Middle East” »
Khalil Gibran is one of America’s best known American Arabs. The acclaimed poet’s book, The Prophet, first published in 1923, has sold more than 100 million copies and has been an inspiration to American Arab writers for generations. On Friday, August 7, 2015, the animated film will open at limited engagements throughout the country with…
Read More “Khalil Gibran movie opens with not enough publicity” »
Rightwing haters hone in on anyone who has a Middle East name, with the exception of “Jesus,” of course, one of the most famous Middle Eastern names. But in many cases, not everyone with a Middle Eastern name is Middle Eastern although they don’t seem immune to the hate industry that targets Arabs, Muslims and…
Read More “Arab name controversy reflects growing hate in America” »
Gaza’s children came out into the streets this past week to show support for the victims of Israeli extremist brutality, including the arson murder by an Israeli settler of an 18 month old child, Ali Dawabsheh. Dawabsheh died when his home was set fire by Jewish terrorists from nearby illegal Israeli settlements By Mohammed Asad Children in…
Read More “Gaza youth protest Israel’s killing of children” »
It was a fundamental truth that most Americans were too overcome with anger to anticipate. The unnecessary American war against Iraq in March 2003 only accomplished one unintended goal, making Iran a much more powerful nation than it was. The Iraq war failed to free the Iraqi people and it had nothing to do with…
Read More “Obama argues the Iraq war only helped strengthen Iran” »
The Israeli company SodaStream, which is based in Airport City adjacent to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, reported a significant loss in revenue for the first half of 2015. The Israeli owned company became a legitimate of non-violence protestors and activists when it launched a factory in the Occupied West Bank in the industrial zone…
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’” »