Arab Writers Group Syndicate

Prisoners of the past as the Palestine-Israel conflict hits 60 years
By Ray Hanania – Arabs and Jews share one trait: They master the art of selectively remembering the past, especially the tragedies. For Jews, it is the Holocaust. For Palestinians, it is “al-Nakba,” an Arab word for “the catastrophe.” But the biggest problem has always been the manner in which each side has championed their suffering while ignoring their own guilt. Jews mastered the art of public relations and communications, while Arabs mastered emotion, anger and hate. In more than 60 years, little has changed. Read more »

Arabs driven by biases that mirror Israeli biases
By Ray Hanania – Last month, Hamas terrorists fired rockets into Israel and killed an Israeli girl. The attack provoked a massive response from Israel which claimed to target Hamas militants but ended up killing dozens of Palestinian civilians. Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs roundly condemned the Israeli attacks, but made no mention of the murder of the Israeli girl. Israelis were no different, condemning the murder of the little girl and then excusing away the murder of scores of innocent Palestinian civilians. As the back and forth escalated, the partisanship increased with Palestinians ignoring their attacks against Israel and Israelis ignoring their attacks against Palestinians. And people wonder why peace has been elusive so far in the Middle East. Read more »

Rev. Wright crosses line but is wrongly disparaged
By Ray Hanania – Barack Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., is only saying what many Americans who are victimized by ongoing American racism and hatred believe deep down. It’s just that when you are a victim of American-style hate, and when your voices are intentionally shut-out because of your race and your religion, you sometimes go a little too far, as Rev. Wright did in emotional sermons at his religious pulpit. Rev. Wright may have crossed the line, but he doesn’t deserve the attacks that question his patriotism or his sincerity in challenging growing racism and hatred that dominate not only American society but also our foreign policy conduct. Read more »

Israel hides immoral conduct behind Congressional hypocrisy
By Ray Hanania — This week, the U.S. Congress once again threw kerosene on Middle East violence and suffering, insuring the violence will continue, not end. Approved 404 to 1, House Resolution 951 is filled with dozens of paragraphs condemning Hamas and its rocket attacks against Israel, while defending Israel’s government response which has killed scores of innocent Palestinian men, women and children. The end result is that by playing one-sided politics, Congress is helping to destroy Israel and all hope moderate Palestinians have for their own secular, independent state. Read more »

Gaza killings fault of Hamas and silent Palestinians, too
By Ray Hanania – Hamas is a terrorist organization that is as dedicated to the destruction of Israel as it is to the destruction of the secular Palestinian society and the elimination of Christian Palestinians and secular Muslims. The organization has never advocated rights for secular or Christian Arabs in Palestine and have always embraced violence as a means of creating an environment in which they hope to one day achieve their fascist goals. You cannot blame Israel for the deaths without speaking out even more forcefully against the terrorist policies of Hamas. Read more »

Another defeat handed in politically motivated “Terrorism” cases
By Ray Hanania — The only good thing that can be said about the current corruption of the “American justice” system driven by anti-Arab and anti-Muslim biases is that the initial rulings can be overturned. It happened this week in the overturning of the injustice of the David Boim Terrorism case. Read more »

Airport security in Israel, protection or harassment?

By Sherif Hedayat - When I flew into Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel on November 28th, I thought the four-hour “security check” was uncalled for. I tried to justify the ordeal as a blatant profiling of a potential terrorist attacker because I was of Middle Eastern descent. This did not discount the fact that they detained any and all Arabs or Middle Eastern people that were traveling alone. Read more »

Omaha massacre raises issues of American hypocrisies

By Ray Hanania — (Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine) When an unknown man pulled out his gun and started randomly shooting shoppers killing nine and wounding more than five at an Omaha, Nebraska shopping Mall, Wednesday, the first thing I feared was terrorism. I wondered, “Was he Arab or was he Muslim?” When they identified the “terrorist” as Robert Hawkins, a White unemployed 19 year old who had complained about losing his job and being kicked out of his home, I asked myself, “Isn’t he a terrorist, too?” Read more »

American hypocrisy in Ashqar political persecution

By Ray Hanania – Palestinian Muslim Abdelhaleem Ashqar was sentenced to 11 years in prison this week because he refused to testify against an organization he says is defending the rights his people. Ashqar was a part of the political persecution launched by disgraced former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft that also included Bridgeview car salesman Mohammed Salah. Like Salah, Ashqar was singled out for political convenience. Although neither man had anything to do with allegations of terrorism – a fact proven in their trials – they were instead vindictively punished because of America’s one-sided policies that prosecute Palestinian extremism but ignore extremism in Israel that also has undermined peace. Read more »

Wiretapping fails to protect Americans

By Saffiya Shillo – Why does the government need to skip the justice system to obtain permission to invade the privacy of an American citizen? What’s the goal? To catch the terrorists before they strike? To make sure that people who appear suspicious are monitored? Wiretapping without the proper system of checks and balances does not change that goal. It will only serve to put in place a reckless abuse of power. The fact that telecommunication companies will be offered immunity and anonymity in dispensing of our private information is incomprehensible. It’s un-American. The Protect American Act that Congress will be voting on this week does not protect America. It should not become a permanent law. Read more »