Pages tagged US-Arab-Relations

We hate to say we told you so, but we told you so. In advance of this week’s seminal “In Defense of Christians” summit, AAI’s Jim Zogby – who serves on the IDC advisory board – warned in his column that we should be concerned with “those [attending] who either want to defend only some Christians... or those whose advocacy is limited exclusively to Christians.” You can see then why we weren’t too surprised when Texas Senator Ted Cruz got booed off stage after unnecessarily inserting Israel into his keynote speech. Read more

A Washington conference aimed at spotlighting persecution of Christians in the Middle East collapsed Wednesday evening when Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was booed off the stage for his support of Israel, whose Jewish citizens he said were equal victims of Islamic extremist persecution.

Cruz was the keynote speaker at a dinner concluding theIn Defense of Christians conference held in the capital to bring attention to the plight of Christians in Iraq, Syria and other areas of the Middle East where Islamic extremist forces are demanding non-Muslims either pay a special tax, convert or face execution.

Before the 2003 invasion...

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As President Barack Obama prepares to unveil his strategy for turning back ISIL’s gains in Syria and Iraq, the headlines will most likely focus on expanding U.S. airstrikes and challenges of defeating the group without involving American troops.

But one potentially critical part of the battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant also seems poised for a big new push: working to keep foreign fighters — including Americans — from joining the group in the first place.

Officials and outside experts say an essential part of fighting ISIL, Al Qaeda and similar groups is undercutting their propaganda...

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Hundreds of activists, including Christian clergy from across the Middle East and more than a dozen members of Congress on Tuesday begin a three-day conference aimed at training a serious policy-impacting force in Washington to protect persecuted Christians overseas.

Concern has been building for two decades about the plight of minority Christians in certain hot spots in the Middle East and Africa, but upheaval across Iraq and Syria in the last few years has displaced hundreds of thousands, leading some U.S. faith leaders to frame this as an unprecedented new era.

“I don’t want to have on my conscience that...

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In the last two months, three major hate crimes have hit New York City, the most ethnically diverse place in the United States. Last week, a manchased a Muslim American woman into oncoming traffic in Brooklyn while threatening to behead her. Earlier this month, a group of teenagers physically assaulted a Sikh American while hurling racial slurs like “terrorist” and “Osama”. In late July, a man shouted similar epithets at Sandeep Singh before running him over with his truck and dragging him nearly 30 feet.

In the nearly 13 years since 9/11, and now in the three months since the Islamic...

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In the last two months, three major hate crimes have hit New York City, the most ethnically diverse place in the United States. Last week, a manchased a Muslim American woman into oncoming traffic in Brooklyn while threatening to behead her. Earlier this month, a group of teenagers physically assaulted a Sikh American while hurling racial slurs like “terrorist” and “Osama”. In late July, a man shouted similar epithets at Sandeep Singh before running him over with his truck and dragging him nearly 30 feet.

In the nearly 13 years since 9/11, and now in the three months since the Islamic...

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As President Barack Obama develops his strategy to combat the Islamic State (ISIS), he needs to be sure to include Arab nations in his coalition, says James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute.  "What I truly hope occurs is that in addition to whatever coalition the president is assembling, that Arab states, front and center, are a part of that coalition because they've got a lot at stake here," Zogby told J.D. Hayworth and Miranda Khan on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV Tuesday.  "This gang has to be rolled back, they have to be defeated, but they can...

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The organization September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows has launched a campaign against Islamophobia through a new bus ad promoting religious tolerance and interfaith unity in New York City. This comes just after a recent poll conducted by the Arab American Institute shows that Americans have an increasingly negative attitude toward Muslims in the United States.

"We wanted to make a clear statement that our 9/11 family members do not want to promote fear and hatred in our names," said Peaceful Tomorrows Project Director Terry Greene, whose brother died aboard United Flight 93, to HuffPost. "We believe that unity...

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We have every reason to be concerned with the fate of the Christian communities of the Arab World. From Egypt to Iraq, these ancient churches have not only survived through centuries of hardship, foreign invasions, and domestic repression, they have also played an important role contributing to Arab culture and Islamic civilization. Read more

Recent atrocities committed in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State have drawn attention to the plight of Christians in the Middle East. But the issue, with deep historical roots and myriad foreign policy implications, predates the incursions of the Islamic State. Who are these Christians? What is life like for them? And what should Americans committed to cause of assisting them keep in mind while attempting to raise awareness of the issue? NCR asked James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, for his thoughts.

NCR: Help us understand the bigger picture. How should we view the persecution of...

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