About the Publisher

Siblani has now published The Arab American News for thirty-five years. The newspaper rapidly became one of the local and national media’s most popular resource for American-based Arab and Arab American opinion and analyses.
Mr. Siblani’s rare political acuity is appreciated by the media. He also has a well-deserved reputation for honest yet engaging interviews with an eye and ear for both the culture and political milieu he lives in and those of the region of the world he was born in. He effortlessly bridges the knowledge and understanding gaps that exist in American audiences and is an expert producer of useful sound bites. He is nimble with analogies that quickly illuminate issues for those whose backgrounds are sketchy.

Siblani has always been a staunch supporter of Palestinian rights and opponent of Israeli occupation and aggression. When Palestinian was considered the “P” word and virtually no one talked about the subject in public, Siblani stood up and shouted from the pages of The Arab American News and whatever opportunities he could get with the media. He was a fearless and vocal opponent of the 1991 Gulf War tirelessly making back-to-back media appearances and giving print interviews in an effort to avert certain disaster for the Arab World. He did the same in trying to avert the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq. He vehemently opposes proposed American military intervention in Syria and Yemen.

Successive American administrations have sought Mr. Siblani’s counsel at the White House and the State Department on issues related to the Arab World He attended the Arafat-Rabin-Clinton White House signing ceremony As a journalist, the White House and State Department press offices stay in contact with him and he has attended White House lawn picnics for the media. Siblani’s influence extends abroad as well. He met with several Arab world leaders, including Syrian President Bashar Assad and Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa, as well as with Lebanese President Michelle Suliman among other Arab leaders.

He has been a guest of former Tunisian President Zine al-Abideen bin Ali, late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahater Mohamed, among other world leaders. Journalists have applauded Siblani not only as a source but as a peer. In 2003, he addressed the American Society of Newspaper Editors at their annual convention. He is a frequent lecturer on U.S.-Arab relations and the role of ethnic, minority and alternative media in America, at several American universities, including the Columbia University School of Journalism, the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan State University, Central Michigan University and Wayne State University, among others. He hosted, in 2011, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) convention in Detroit with a grand opening reception in Dearborn, MI.

Siblani was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in April 2013. He is the first to be inducted from an ethnic media outlet, and the second Arab American, after the induction of the legendary late Helen Thomas in 1993.