Tuesday July 12, 2011
First there was West Nile Virus, then Swine Flu, now Sharia Islam? If you have been paying attention to the 2012 Republican Presidential primary battle you might believe that the United States was somehow suffering from a pandemic of sorts, with “Sharia Islam” slowly but surely replacing federal law. Already, over 12 states have some form of ban on “Sharia Law” on the books, and now the issue seems to have entered into the Republican Presidential Primary. Read More »
Monday July 11, 2011
By Tess Waggoner
The GOP 2012 Presidential field is beginning to take shape, and as it does a common theme is echoing among the candidates: Islam is presented as a doctrine incompatible with American values. This discourse is non-factual, and has the potential to alienate and isolate Muslims and Arab Americans alike. Read More »
Friday July 08, 2011
Last week, U.S. Representative Hansen Clarke, speaking to a forum on racial profiling, said “I’m the son of an undocumented immigrant—and I’m proud to say that.” Clarke’s father emigrated from pre-partition India in the 1930s, and later settled in Detroit’s lower east side, where Clarke grew up. A Cornell graduate, Clarke began his career in public service on the staff of Wayne County Executive Edward MacNamara, before serving as chief of staff to Rep. John Conyers. Clarke went on to win the seat for Michigan’s 13th District in 2010. Read More »
Wednesday July 06, 2011
Between 2000 and 2007, Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement have forced 69 babies to be born at checkpoints, of whom 35 babies and 5 mothers died due to lack of access to medical care. Read More »
Thursday June 30, 2011
In a statement that seemed to justify another violent raid by Israel, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the humanitarian flotilla en route to Gaza entitled the Israelis “to defend themselves.” Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) went a step further, calling for a join US-Israeli military operation against the flotilla. Read More »
Thursday June 30, 2011
Just over a year ago, a humanitarian convey of ships (“the flotilla”) headed towards Gaza to break the unlawful blockade and deliver urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the people there. Its journey was disrupted in international waters when Israel attacked it with a commando raid, leaving several Turkish activists killed, including one young American dual-citizen. Despite assiduous efforts on the part of Israel to spin the incident (confiscating all of the activists’ recording equipment and releasing selective footage of activists attacking commandos with bars and sticks), the incident caused a major uproar, and focused attention on the effects of Israel’s unconscionable blockade on Gaza. Read More »
Wednesday June 29, 2011
By Ed Gaier
Aziz Huq, assistant professor of law at the University of Chicago, recently wrote an op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times in which he argued that defending Muslims from discrimination does not only preserve basic civil liberties, civil rights and the rule of law, but also carries significant national security advantages. Huq’s writing comes in the wake of the a number of worrying signs of growing Islamophobia, including the sharia ban voted into the Oklahoma constitution, the second round of Peter King’s McCarthy-style congressional hearings, rising popular discrimination of Muslims, and the detestable anti-Muslim rhetoric on display at the Republican presidential debates in New Hampshire. Read More »
Wednesday June 29, 2011
AAI President Jim Zogby responds to Arena Moderator, David Mark's question on Jewish support for Obama.
Mark writes:
POLITICO's Ben Smith reports on President Barack Obama's potential slide in support among Jewish supporters. Many pro-Israel Democrats are reprising doubts about Obama first raised in 2008. This could, on the margins, cost the president votes and money in 2012 - political damage that would not be easy to repair.
Is Obama's support among Jewish voters really in doubt? Ronald Reagan captured an estimated 39% of the Jewish vote in his 1980 romp, a highwater mark for modern Republican candidates. Can the 2012 GOP nominee come within striking distance of that level? Read More »
Tuesday June 28, 2011
In a speech this morning at the Council on Foreign Relations, Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty laid out his campaign’s Middle East platform, accusing his Republican opponents of “isolationism” and attacking President Obama’s sluggish response to the Arab Spring. Promising to “speak plainly” about the “the opportunities and dangers we face in the Middle East,” Pawlenty offered a wide-ranging and often contradictory vision, sharply criticizing nearly every aspect of President Obama’s Middle East policy from his insistence on regime “engagement” to his purported policy of “blaming Israel first.” Read More »
Monday June 27, 2011
The Forum will cultivate an environment of increased cooperation, relationship building, and new opportunities among its participants. Breakout sessions will focus on four priority sectors: energy, information and communication technology, transportation, and agriculture. Read More »
Friday June 24, 2011
Not long ago (many of us still remember it), we had a certain degree of confidence in our ability to lead a private life. But with the technological evolution of the last few decades, most significantly the development of the internet as a primary tool of communication, any real sense of privacy now seems like a fading memory. Between the decreased costs of surveillance technology, our increased reliance on telecommunications, our common use of GPS systems, our frequent and voluntary posting of personal info, locations, and thoughts on social media, and everyone walking around with camera phones ready to capture every noteworthy moment, life is no longer as loose or anonymous as it once was. People like Anthony Weiner paid a pretty heavy price for pretending otherwise. Read More »
Friday June 24, 2011
The new edition of the FBI manual called the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide is raising concerns about safeguarding privacy. Under the auspices of the guidelines, agents will be able to pick targets, commence and execute investigations without ever documenting their activity. They will also not be required to provide any factual evidence of current or future wrongdoing. Allowing agents to operate without any supervision, advocates argue, is inviting abuse of power. Former FBI agent Michael German, now Policy Counsel for the ACLU, has been the go-to expert on this. German joined AAI President, Jim Zogby on last night's edition of Viewpoint to talk about the new guidelines. We encourage you to take a look at this: Read More »
Wednesday June 22, 2011
We reported in yesterday’s Countdown that some members of the Senate have accused President Obama of violating the War Powers Clause by authorizing U.S. involvement in NATO strikes on Libya. Read More »
Thursday June 16, 2011
Today, The New York Times carried the disturbing story of an ex-CIA officer, Glenn L. Carle, who claims that the Bush Administration asked the CIA to spy on Professor Juan Cole and gather damaging personal information on him in order to discredit him. Professor Cole was a sharp critic of the Bush administration and the war on Iraq, and “The White House wants to get him,” Carle recalled his boss saying. Read More »
Wednesday June 15, 2011
Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, continued his baseless examination of the “radicalization” of the American Muslim community today, hosting his second hearing on the subject entitled “The Threat of Muslim-American Radicalization in U.S. Prisons.” King’s first hearings back in March garnered considerably more attention from the media than today’s. The relative lack of attention (even from Rep. Keith Ellison, who was in and out of the room half the time) demonstrates how ineffective King’s first hearing was. Read More »
Monday June 13, 2011
Earlier today, The Washington Times posted an outrageous article in the paper's online "communities" section. The Article's author, Eliana Benador, attempts to stir up frenzy about an absurd question posed in her article: Whether Anthony Weiner, by way of his marriage to a Muslim woman, is "Married to a Muslim agenda." Benador makes a number of shocking, incoherent claims about Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin and paints them part of some grand Muslim conspiracy. We'd like to highlight a great piece of commentary on Benador's article from Salon's Justin Elliot and get your reactions. Read More »
Friday June 10, 2011
Things are not looking good for comprehensive immigration reform, not to mention the DREAM Act. Yesterday, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed into law a new - and probably unconstitutional - immigration law. HB 56, which will take effect on September 1st contains many provisions that surpass even those of Arizona's controversial SB 1070 in its racist undertones and its draconian enforcement measures. Just to refresh your memory, SB 1070 grants law enforcement officials the right to pursue people they suspect might be in the country illegally. If the individual in question is unable to produce documentation, they are arrested and possibly deported. Sound bad? Alabama’s law is far worse. Read More »
Friday June 10, 2011
By Ed Gaier
A recent New York Times Op-Ed by Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Ray Takeyh argues that the Middle East is headed for a post-American era. In this era, the United States would ostensible have limited ability to project its power and cajole Arab regimes to pursue policies aligned with American interests. He posits that new Arab countries in democratic transitions in the “era of self-determination” will not be as subjective to American foreign policy priorities as previous alliances of patronage have been. Read More »
Thursday June 09, 2011
After facing steadily-declining support, and a number of highly critical news stories, the Associated Press has reported that the senior staff of presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has resigned “en masse.” Campaign manager Rob Johnson, senior strategists Dave Carney and Katon Dawson, and spokesman Rick Tyler have all tendered their resignations from Gingrich’s campaign today. Read More »
Wednesday June 08, 2011
In a troubling story in today's Washington Post, Jeffrey Smith examines the Department of Homeland Security's emphasis on the threat of home-grown terror related to Islam while downplaying the risks posed by right-wing extremists. After issuing a report on the subject in 2009 entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," the story reports the unit that created it has been "effectively eviscerated." Read More »
#NC lawmaker equates Islamic prayer w/ terror http://t.co/G9sp1NeLC1 @mostrolenk @aaiusa h/t @ozzyformayor
about 8 hours, 21 minutes ago.
Latest poll to be released Friday finds Americans are divided on continuing aid to #Egypt: http://t.co/1spZM1m9d2
about 11 hours, 2 minutes ago.
RT @MaiE_89: In the 1990’s, #Egypt had a 60% favorable rating among Americans, while today only 36% of US views the country positively via @AAIUSA
about 11 hours, 5 minutes ago.
Looking at Iran by James Zogby
Kahlil Gibran Awards Gala - April 16, 2013President Obama got it just about perfect in his Jerusalem speech when he urged Israelis to see the world through the eyes of Palestinians. That portion of his remarks was so compelling it deserves to be quoted in full: Read More »
Air Date: 5/31/2012
Fellows from Syracuse University’s “Leaders for Democracy Fellowship Program (LDF); Bill Press, Host of the “Bill Press Show” and author of the new book, The Obama Hate Machine: The Lies, Distortions, and Personal Attacks on the President---and Who Is Behind Them. Read More »
The story of Arab Americans coming of age as an organized community is a classic American tale of immigrants seeking opportunity, benefiting from America’s freedoms, but also experiencing, at times, the dark side of exclusion and discrimination that has so often been a part of our nation’s history. Read More »
Apr 16 2013
Apr 27 2013
Jul 19 2013
