Thursday May 03, 2012
Last week, Mona Eltahawy’s article for Foreign Policy, Why Do They Hate Us?, received both strong praise and harsh criticism for its take on misogyny and gender inequality in the Arab world. Eltahawy correctly identified several problems impacting many Arab women, including sexual harassment, limited civil rights, and female genital mutilation, but the framing and objectives of the piece were called into question by a multitude of critics (the best of which include Tom Dale, Mona Kareem, and Leila Ahmed). Read More »
Tuesday May 01, 2012
Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa’s tweets, in which he “invite[s] everyone to stand with Bahrain and vote in a survey against the harmful Al Jazeera film” is another troubling example of authority figures attempting to influence or pressure reporters into providing them with more favorable coverage. Read More »
Monday April 30, 2012
Despite repeated attempts to incite a media frenzy surrounding their “Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference” in Dearborn, Michigan this Sunday, the Islamophobes did not succeed this weekend in garnering the press attention they wanted, and now they are crying about it. On her website, Pamela Geller, the conference’s main organizer, vents about her event’s lack of media coverage: “There is something fundamentally broken in our culture. Imagine a society that extols the supremacist tyranny of the sharia while smearing and defaming human rights activists fighting for freedom and individual rights over gencdercide [sic] and gender apartheid.” Read More »
Monday April 30, 2012
Yesterday, more than a hundred people gathered at a town hall at the Doubletree Hotel in Dearborn, Michigan to stand in solidarity with the Arab American and American Muslim communities against Islamophobia. The town hall, organized by AAI and local community groups, was held in response to an anti-Muslim conference at the Hyatt in Dearborn, organized by Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, and other leading Islamophobes. Read More »
Monday April 30, 2012
By Jeffrey Wright
Brennan’s speech today will be touted as an example of the Obama Administration’s transparent approach to the drone war, but given its shortcomings, Americans should demand a much more thorough accounting of President Obama’s understanding of his powers and their limits - if any remain. Read More »
Sunday April 29, 2012
This week, we’re faced with the latest challenge when Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer bring their so-called “Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference” to Dearborn on Sunday. Along with a tremendous group of local organizations, AAI has organized a community town hall on Islamophobia on the same day as their conference this Sunday, April 29 at 1pm at the Doubletree Hotel in Dearborn (5801 Southfield Road). AAI President Jim Zogby will be there, along with Eli Clifton, the co-author of a groundbreaking report on Geller and friends called Fear Inc., and prominent journalist and blogger Sarah Posner. Read More »
Friday April 27, 2012
If you haven’t done so already, please take two minutes today to email "60 Minutes" to thank them for their brave coverage and urge them to resist pressure to distort it. Read More »
Thursday April 26, 2012
By Danielle Malaty
In the midst of the controversy circling Arizona’s SB 1070 and the fight over the power to regulate immigration, the prevalence of racial profiling is certainly not limited to Arizona. Read More »
Thursday April 26, 2012
As Congress attempts to address (or evade) the issue of indefinite detention, it is crucial to read the fine print and only support legislation what would represent a complete and aggressive stand against the executive branch’s ability to indefinitely detain in the United States allowed by the NDAA. Read More »
Thursday April 26, 2012
By Danielle Malaty
A majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices indicated Wednesday that they will most likely uphold at least a portion of Arizona's controversial immigration law, despite the fact that four provisions of the law were blocked by a federal appeals court last year. Read More »
Thursday April 26, 2012
The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman penned a surprising piece on Tuesday about Peter Beinart’s controversial book The Crisis of Zionism. Read More »
Wednesday April 25, 2012
Today, the Justices of the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the federal challenge to Arizona’s controversial state-based immigration law, SB 1070. The primary question presented to the Supreme Court is whether federal immigration laws preclude Arizona’s efforts at cooperative law enforcement and preempt the provisions in SB 1070. Read More »
Wednesday April 25, 2012
By Jeffrey Wright
Spencer Ackerman, Wired’s intrepid national security correspondent, broke yet another important story yesterday evening, revealing that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, has ordered a top-to-bottom review of military training materials to ensure that they do not contain Islamophobic content. Dempsey’s order came after military brass learned that a class intended for senior military officers had used Islamophobic course materials. The class, entitled “Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism,” was offered as an elective at the military’s Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) in Norfolk, Virginia. JFSC was founded after the Second World War with the goal of training military officers to work cooperatively, and it educates mid-level officers, many of whom will spend their careers in the military and eventually rise to the highest ranks of their branches. Read More »
Tuesday April 24, 2012
Last Friday, several New York news outlets reported that John Brennan, President Obama’s top National Security Advisor, praised NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly for striking an appropriate balance “between our security and our freedoms and our rights as citizens.” These comments engendered a storm of criticism from American Muslim and Arab American groups who contend that such remarks put the White House “seal of approval” on the NYPD's controversial policing and surveillance program. Pulitzer Prize-winning AP reports have revealed that the NYPD has been spying on American Muslims and Arab Americans without criminal predicate. Read More »
Tuesday April 24, 2012
Last week, Secretary Clinton overruled Ros-Lehtinen’s hold on Palestinian aid and agreed to disburse the full $147 million package. It’s a rare move for any administration to make, but signals an increasing awareness of the important role that aid has played in securing American interests among the Palestinians. Read More »
Monday April 23, 2012
A combination of vast economic hardship, human rights abuses and international politics have revived Morocco's February 20 movement and ushered in new challenges to the monarchy. Now, Morocco’s protest movement is hoping to finally bring its cause into the international spotlight. Read More »
Monday April 23, 2012
By Jeffrey Wright
Palestinian Christians are eager to leave the West Bank for the same reasons most Palestinians are: the Israeli occupation. Read More »
Thursday April 19, 2012
In the midst of ever-evolving tragedy in Syria, the media has largely missed the continuing unrest in Bahrain, where just today tens of thousands of Bahrainis took to the streets to demand the release of opposition activist Adbulhadi Al-Khawaja. Read More »
Friday April 13, 2012
There is the controversy surrounding Salafi candidate and front-runner Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, whose antagonism towards the United States is undermined by the fact that his mother is an American citizen (a technical disqualifier in Egyptian elections). In effect, Egypt is having its own variation of a “birther” controversy. Read More »
Friday April 13, 2012
In case you missed it, check out the video below for our hill briefing on the current situation of religious minorities in the Middle East. Read More »
What Comes First: #Media Impact or Influence? discussed on @aaiusa blog #Arab American Institute http://t.co/CiGquFfO @ramahkudaimi @ramisms
about 56 minutes ago.
#Assad gives interview to Russian channel, warns other countries that "sow chaos" in #Syria could suffer same fate: http://t.co/0m0whyNt
about 1 hour, 33 minutes ago.
Have truer words ever been spoken? “What’s important is the policy, not the tourism" -- http://t.co/y7LTODbT #Countdown #Israel #Romney
about 1 hour, 55 minutes ago.
Be Part of the Change!Benjamin Netanyahu, ever the master maneuverer, has done it again. Just moments before the Israeli Parliament was to ratify the call for new elections, the Kadima Party announced that it had completed negotiations with the Prime Minister and would join the government producing Israel's largest governing coalition in history (including 94 of 120 Members of the Knesset). The announcement sent shockwaves throughout the region and here in the US. Speculation was rife about what this sudden move might mean. Read More »
Barbara Slavin, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and correspondent for Al-Monitor; Ron Kampeas, Washington Bureau Chief for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), Shane D'Aprile, editor of Campaigns & Elections. Read More »
The subcommittee's meeting today to explore whether there are risk factors or preincident indicators of terrorist activity identified by intelligence and law enforcement organizations to enable them in thwarting attacks while preserving -- let me repeat that -- preserving individuals' right to privacy and civil liberties. Read More »
May 26 2012
May 31 2012
Jun 21 2012
