Friday January 25, 2013
Sen. Johnson got a heated response from Secretary Clinton when he asked about UN Ambassador Susan Rice “purposefully misleading the American public” on what happened in Benghazi. He continued to push, asking why a phone call wasn’t made to people on the ground after the attack to ascertain whether or not the attack was the result of a protest or a planned terrorist assault. Read More »
Thursday January 24, 2013
By Jade Zoghbi
At AAI’s Inaugural Event last Sunday, White House leaders and Arab American supporters embraced Obama’s second term with a sense of accomplishment, empowerment, and anticipation for future successes. Read More »
Wednesday January 23, 2013
On Capitol Hill today, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared in front of Senate and House committees to defend her handling of the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya last September. Read More »
Wednesday January 23, 2013
In the past week there have been some great articles about the misleading torture narrative in Zero Dark Thirty, the popular movie chronicling the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. Read More »
Tuesday January 22, 2013
By Jennine Vari
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus urged governors and state legislators to consider Electoral College reform, by allocating electoral votes by congressional district as opposed to the winner-take-all system. Read More »
Friday January 18, 2013
This weekend in Washington is jammed-packed with events, and the Arab American community is participating in all of it. From volunteering during a national day of service, to attending the Inaugural Ball and official swearing-in ceremony Monday, Arab Americans are right at the center of all the action. Following inauguration weekend, AAI will get straight back to work, attending a White House meeting to discuss our community and support for national immigration reform. Here are a couple things we’re doing this weekend; we’ll update you on them over the next few days. Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates and photos. Read More »
Friday January 18, 2013
By Jade Zoghbi
Throughout the movie, the illusion of protection for Burnat behind the lens vanishes as soldiers first threaten him with violence, then attack him. The two directors, however, realize that it is the truth which will free and empower the young and old, and perhaps prevent the continuing alienation between the two populations from a young age forward through the development of meaningful contact. Read More »
Thursday January 17, 2013
Today, Nancy Pelosi’s office announced that long-time chief of staff John Lawrence will retire after a successful 38-year career on Capitol Hill. His replacement will be Arab American Nadeam Elshami. Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Elshami currently serves as the communications director and senior adviser to the House minority leader Nancy Pelosi. Read More »
Wednesday January 16, 2013
The selection of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense has been significantly more controversial than that of John Brennan, a man who is associated with several of the nation’s troubling and controversial counterterrorism policies, and who has repeatedly provided legal justification for the use of torture on suspects, deeming it “an absolutely vital tool.” Read More »
Tuesday January 15, 2013
Last week, a group of Palestinians erected a “tent village” on Israeli-occupied land that had been seized for Jewish settlement construction. They named the city Bab Al Shams, after the powerful novel Gate of the Sun by Lebanese writer Elias Khoury. The book tells the story of the Palestinian struggle through the eyes of an aging freedom fighter, his relationship with his wife, and his forced exile from his home. Read More »
Friday January 11, 2013
One of the silver linings of the incoming 113th Congress was that Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the controversial chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, had reached the term limit of her position and would be stepping down from the chairmanship. Unfortunately, The Hill revealed this week that Ros-Lehtinen has been appointed to serve as the chair of the committee’s Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee. Read More »
Friday January 11, 2013
West Virginia Democrat and Arab American member of Congress Nick Rahall is said to be considering a run for Jay Rockefeller’s (D-WV) Senate seat in 2014 when he retires. A Rahall spokesman confirmed to The Hill earlier today that a potential run for Rockefeller’s seat is "under consideration." Read More »
Thursday January 10, 2013
After years of trying to break into the American market, the Qatari-based network Al Jazeera has bought the US channel Current TV, with plans to launch Al Jazeera America. Read More »
Monday January 07, 2013
Today’s big news in Washington is the announcement of President Obama’s nominations for two key foreign policy posts: former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel has been tapped to be the next Secretary of Defense and current Deputy National Security Advisor for Counterterrorism John Brennan will leave the White House to serve as director of the CIA. Both men must be confirmed by the Senate in hearings expected to begin later this month. Though both of these nominations are important in their own right, they also provide a window into the evolving foreign policy outlook of the Obama Administration. The results are decidedly mixed. Read More »
Monday January 07, 2013
Arab Americans aren’t the only ones celebrating the appointment of Johnny Khamis as the first-ever Arab American City Council member representing the 10th district of the city of San Jose, California. Khamis’s swearing-in ceremony, which was led yesterday by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, received prominent attention from the local San Jose news site, MercuryNews.com which lauded the newly-elected Republican for, among other things, helping San Jose to reach yet “another milestone in the growing diversity of the Bay Area's largest city.” Read More »
Thursday January 03, 2013
The President signed into law yesterday the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The news came as a disappointment to civil liberties advocates and a coalition of civil and human rights groups that called on the President to veto the bill. The White House had threatened to veto the bill due to restrictions imposed on the President to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Read More »
Thursday January 03, 2013
Egyptian comedian and television satirist Bassem Youssef is being investigated by prosecutors for insulting President Mohammed Morsi. Youssef is often called the Egyptian Jon Stewart because of his style of political satire, and his show, “el Barnameg,” or “The Program,” bears a considerable resemblance to Stewart’s American “Daily Show”. Read More »
Thursday December 20, 2012
Lawmakers from the Senate and House met in a closed-conference and released the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Conference Report Tuesday night, whereby conferees re-inserted language in the bill that allows for the indefinite detention of Americans without charge or trial. The NDAA is unconstitutional and un-American. Tell your Representative to say NO to indefinite detentions and vote NO on the NDAA! To close the Guantanamo prison was a hallmark of the President’s 2008 campaign. Urge the President to VETO the 2013 NDAA and tell him that he campaigned on the promise of a renewed commitment to the rule of law, and by signing the Defense bill, he will not be able to fulfill his commitment to closing the infamous detention center in Guantanamo once and for all. Read More »
Thursday December 20, 2012
All eyes are on the North African states of Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt as each country struggles to form a stable democratic government. But amid the chaos, Washington is looking to strengthen pre-existing ties in the region with countries whose governments have survived the Arab Spring. Read More »
Wednesday December 19, 2012
The Arab American Institute and the New America Foundation's Middle East Task Force invite you to the launch of a critical public opinion survey on what Palestinians and Israelis want in a peace deal and their thoughts about the prospects for achieving it. Read More »
#NC lawmaker equates Islamic prayer w/ terror http://t.co/G9sp1NeLC1 @mostrolenk @aaiusa h/t @ozzyformayor
about 5 hours, 43 minutes ago.
Latest poll to be released Friday finds Americans are divided on continuing aid to #Egypt: http://t.co/1spZM1m9d2
about 8 hours, 24 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 8 hours, 27 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
