The Arab American News
Author's Posts
No slack for anti-Zionism
Ruminating on the backlash against Helen Thomas' comment at the December 2, 2010 "Images and Perceptions of Arab Americans" conference that "Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by Zionists," I cross my fingers and hope that I'll be judged by what I've done with my life, rather than by one or two of my many dumb...Islam the solution in face of injustice
First, an apology: I am not going to write about the Wikileaks. I like gossip as much as the next (wo)man. The leaks provide a lot of it, interspersed with some real information. To put it bluntly: secular nationalism has not delivered. It has brought no real independence, no freedom, no economic and technological breakthrough.But...Israeli firms see a global market for their anti-terrorism products
TEL AVIV (LA Times) — As he inspected the Taj Mahal hotel after the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, and listened to a hotel manager bemoan the lack of adequate security preparations, Israeli export official Avi Hefetz saw a growth market in the making. A photo of Israeli security technology, MagShoe, a machine used in...Readers pick Assange as Person of the Year, TIME picks Zuckerberg
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is TIME Magazine's Person of the Year for 2010. The controversial founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has won an online vote to be TIME Magazine's Person of the Year. The annual online vote asks readers to choose the most influential person, people or things from the previous year. Readers voted a...U.S. sues school over denial of Muslim pilgrimage
WASHINGTON — The federal government sued a suburban Chicago school district Monday for denying a Muslim middle school teacher unpaid leave to make a pilgrimage to Mecca that is a central part of her religion. In a civil rights case, the department said the school district in Berkeley, Ill., denied the request of Safoorah Khan on...Yemen funneled U.S. aid to insurgency war
NEW YORK (IPS) – Yemen is diverting U.S. military counterterrorism assistance to an abusive military campaign unrelated to terrorist threats, a prominent human rights group has learned from Wikileaks. U.S. military assistance to Yemen more than doubled from $67 million to $150 million in 2010 and is expected to increase to $250...Israel now builds separation wall with Africa
CAIRO (IPS) — After the separation barrier against Palestinian territories, Israel has begun to build a new wall, this one to keep migrants from Africa out. The new wall is coming up on the Egyptian border, and with Egyptian support. The Israeli government approved plans late last month to build a detention camp near its border with...
Amer Act signed into law
December 18th, 20100 Family turns tragedy into benefit for others As of Tuesday, December 14, relatives in Michigan will be given special consideration when children are placed into foster care by the Department of Human Services. It was on that day that Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm signed House Bill 4118 into law. HB4118 is also known as the "Amer...UM’s dream season ends in College Cup
Michigan soccer coach Steve Burns (in background pointing) instructs players during Dec. 10's 2-1 loss to Akron. Photo courtesy of MGoBlue.comNear the midway point of Friday night's game against Akron, Dearborn's Soony Saad received a pass from his brother Hamoody, setting him up for a good look at what would have been the go-ahead...Obama’s shift on Israeli settlements
As Obama caves in, settlements are no longer of key relevance to the Mideast peace talks. With divergent views on settlements, the Israeli Prime Minister and the Palestinian Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during a business conference in Tel Aviv December 13, 2010. Netanyahu hailed on Monday a U.S....Sahara Hotel owners to pay $100K to settle EEOC national origin harassment, retaliation suit
LAS VEGAS – The former and current owners of the Sahara Hotel & Casino, a popular establishment on the Las Vegas strip, will pay a total of $100,000 and furnish other relief to settle a national origin harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced...
New poll underlines gloom shrouding “peace process”
December 18th, 20100 WASHINGTON – Hope among both Jewish and Palestinian Israelis that a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians can ever be achieved appears to be fading, according to two major new polls released here Thursday. A solid majority of 63 percent of Palestinian Israelis and a plurality of 47 percent of Jewish Israelis say they don't...
Zionists don’t control Congress?
December 18th, 20100 Zionists don't control Congress? AIPAC drafts resolution against declaration of Palestinian statehood, U.S. House passes it unanimously Washington (PNN) — In a vote of 435-0 on Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution opposing a unilateral declaration of statehood by Palestine and...
Poll: Discrimination growing in Michigan
December 18th, 20100 Discrimination based on race, gender or sexual orientation is apparently getting worse in Michigan, respondents in a recent poll commissioned for the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion say. The poll showed that 46 percent of Michigan residents said people of color have worse education and employment opportunities than white...
Praise for passing Amer Act
December 18th, 20100 Last week the Michigan legislature passed the so-called "Relative Placement Bill," House Bill 4118, which requires DHS to place foster children with relatives before strangers, as long as the best interests of the child are not harmed by doing so. The law grew out of the nightmare experienced by Ahmed and Rehab Amer, who had three of......
Senate Foreign Relations Committee approves professional exchange program with Muslim countries
WASHINGTON — The Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week passed legislation written by Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) to establish a professional exchange program between the United States and Muslim-majority countries. The International Professional Exchange Act will help build professional capacity, strengthen civil society, and...Stout Middle School names gymnasium after Shamey
DEARBORN — Long-time physical education teacher, athletic director, basketball coach, and mentor Tommy Shamey was honored at Stout Middle School in Dearborn on Tuesday, Dec. 14 in a surprise ceremony at the Stout vs. Salina basketball game. Longtime Stout gym teacher, athletic director, and basketball coach Tommy Shamey has...Think your commute is bad?
BETHLEHEM CHECKPOINT (IPS) – It's 5 a.m. The late autumn dawn is about to break. But for 3,500 Palestinian workers, a hard day's work began hours ago. Young and old men push and shove their way out through the narrow lane, barely a meter wide, bars of iron rising above them on either side. Over their heads sits a corrugated steel...Direct Mideast talks collapse, Gulf states back Palestinians
Brazil, Argentina recognize independent Palestine on 1967 borders Houses under construction are seen in a Jewish settlement near Jerusalem known to Israelis as Har Homa and to Palestinians as Jabal Abu Ghneim December 8, 2010. The United States on Tuesday abandoned its effort to persuade Israel to freeze construction of......
A nuclear-free Mideast demands policy change on Israel
There are two things one can say regarding U.S. policy toward Israel's nuclear weapons program: First, it is consistent with the rational, common-sense notion that both accession to the NPT and establishment of regional nuclear weapons-free zones can only be achieved when the concerned states are persuaded that both are in their...Father killed while buying TV, family says
DETROIT— Hassan Abdallah, 39, of Dearborn was shot and killed on Thursday, December 2 around 11 p.m. while sitting in his car waiting to buy a TV from a friend of a former co-worker on the city's west side. "They believe that it was a set-up for his money," said reporter Adnan Beydoun of the Arabic section of The Arab American News,......
The truth will always win
In 1958 a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide's The News, wrote: "In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win." WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeHis observation perhaps reflected his father Keith Murdoch's expose that Australian troops were being needlessly sacrificed by...
Protesters demand WSU repeal decision to pull Helen Thomas diversity award
December 11th, 20100 Protestors gathered outside Wayne State University’s (WSU )Faculty Administration Building early today demanding the school reverse its decision to pull the annual Helen Thomas’ Spirit of Diversity Award. The protest was held by WSU’s Arab American Student Union, (ASU) and included about 45 demonstrators. Several were not......