Free Republic

For John Akouri, whose father immigrated from Tripoli, Lebanon, in 1955, there is only one choice for president in November’s election: Donald Trump... The former president’s supporters are now looking for more voters like Akouri... What they are finding is a growing receptiveness, particularly with certain Arab Americans who find appeal in Republicans’ conservatism on social issues... Akouri feels that in some ways, Arab Americans have been left out of politics under Biden and his vice-president, Kamala Harris... This year, Michigan Republicans have gone to extra effort to connect with the Arab American community in the state. For instance, during...

Does President Biden realize how angry some voters in Michigan are — specifically, Arab Americans? That anger is on full display in Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit that has one of the highest percentages of Arab Americans among U.S. cities (54 percent, though experts believe that’s a significant undercount). Opinion Video traveled to Dearborn to understand voter sentiment in a population that has the power to sway the election. Michigan has over 200,000 registered voters who are Muslim — enough to swing the state. (Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes in 2020.) Just finding a pro-Biden Arab American voter in...

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg today announced the indictment of JAMAL IDRISSI, 33, for two assaults on Black men in Midtown on October 16, 2021 and October 18, 2021 while saying anti-Black slurs. IDRISSI is charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with two counts of Assault in the Third Degree as a Hate Crime and Attempted Assault in the Third Degree as a Hate Crime, and Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree, a misdemeanor hate crime. ...

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=W_t4if3ubcc Syrian-American human rights activist Ammar Abdulhamid and Egyptian-American researcher Samuel Tadros discussed Zionism and Israel last week on Al-Hurra TV (United States), reports the Middle Ease Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Ammar Abdulhamid said that there is a colonialist-imperialist streak in all civilizations and this means that the colonialist aspects of Zionism are not unique. He argued that the Arabs have become nihilistic with regard to Israel because they focused on annihilating Israel instead of building a Palestinian state right from the start. He also said that one cannot ignore the role that Arab Jews played in Israel's establishment...

Ammar Campa-Najjar’s questionable campaign. Reprinted from American Greatness. Running for Congress in California’s 50th district against Duncan Hunter Jr., Ammar Campa-Najjar has been described as a working-class progressive, a “Latino Arab-American,” and a “Palestinian-Mexican.” Though he has been described and describes himself many things, “transparent” is not one of them. So it came as a shock when it was revealed that Campa-Najjar’s grandfather was Abu Yousef al-Najjar—the “leader and operational head” of Black September, a notorious Palestinian terrorist cell. Black September carried out the abduction, torture, and murder of 11 Israelis and one West German police officer at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Yousef...

The President's approval rating has rebounded somewhat since our July poll. Following a series of disastrous weeks, Trump's approval numbers have moved up slightly, especially among his base and a few other sub-groups not known for their support of the president. On the heels of replacing key White House personnel, Trumps looks for a reset after 200 rather chaotic days in office. Recently, President Trump has talked tough to North Korea and has supported sanctions against the nuclear dictatorship, while also trying to reign in leaks coming out the White House. Trump's biggest support and other improvements came from his...

Arab Americans Join With Tech, Privacy Groups to Fight Surveillance - Morning Consult https://morningconsult.com/2016/07/26/arab-american-groups-join-partner-tech-privacy-fight-surveillance/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTlRNeE16TmpNR0ZpT0daaSIsInQiOiJ1QXBqd28wWmlEbnpjWUVWRDNOaDZCU2tFMmJ6NXJ2MVJyRHZpcjhGWWxPcGJ1U1VyQXFCXC9PcUN6RmJ3emRKdkJJTWJSUmtBRGRTV09XNlI4QUZHU0xybWYxQ1I5QTRqQkJrZDAxbUEwVzg9In0%3D Arab Americans Join With Tech, Privacy Groups to Fight Surveillance Amir Nasr   |   July 26, 2016 Privacy advocates in the technology space have a new ally in Arab American groups to help with their fight to keep U.S. surveillance at bay. They are spurred on by anti-Muslim rhetoric from Republicans. In December, Donald Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown” of U.S. borders to Muslim immigrants. In March, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the country needed to “empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim...

Like many of their compatriots, Arab-Americans are confronting their presidential election choices this year with considerable ambivalence. Republicans have been repelled by presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump’s vow to temporarily ban all Muslim immigration and his racist remarks about other ethnic minorities. Many Arab-American Democrats, meanwhile, gravitated toward the candidacy of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who made Palestinian rights and aversion to US military intervention in the Middle East pillars of his foreign policy. However, Sanders on June 7 lost his chance for the nomination to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. For Randa Fahmy Hudome, a lifelong Republican and...

The federal government is considering allowing those of Middle Eastern and North African descent to identify as such on the next 10-year census, which could give Arab-Americans and other affected groups greater political clout and access to public funding, among other things. The U.S. Census Bureau will test the new Middle East-North Africa (MENA) classification for possible inclusion on the 2020 census if it gets enough positive feedback about the proposed change by Sunday, when the public comment period ends. Arab-Americans, who make up the majority of those who would be covered by the MENA classification, have previously been classified...

Coachella Valley High Drops Mascot That Offended Arab Americans This proposed mascot logo for the Coachella Valley High School "Arab" has been approved by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. It may replace an image that some Arab Americans found offensive. (American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee) By LOUIS SAHAGUN Official says school agrees to change 83-year-old 'Arab' mascot that offended some Arab Americans High school Arab mascot being retired had a snarling face, hooked nose, heavy beard and wore a headscarf For 83 years, Coachella Valley High School has rallied behind a mascot with a snarling face, a hooked nose, a heavy...

The explosion took place over a Halal grocery in a portion of the city dominated by Arab immigrants: Ismail Adan, 34, has lived in the building since 2002 and left shortly before the fire. He said his mother had called him early in the morning and he left to visit her, but a cousin who was staying with him was in the third-floor apartment when the explosion occurred. He said the cousin leapt from the window and was injured but he has spoken with him in the hospital. “He’s OK. It’s not very serious,” Adan said.

Tourists visiting the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City can read its brochures in 10 different languages – but Arabic is not one of them. Nor will it be any time soon. “Nine languages are spoken by over 97 percent of our visitors: English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Mandarin, Italian, Japanese and Russian,” a representative from the memorial told the New York Post. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, claiming Arabic is the world’s fourth-most-spoken language, is sending letters to memorial coordinators demanding answers on why the language is not included. But it appears that the Arabic community is looking for...

The area around the World Trade Center was once the center of Arab-American life in New York City. But all that remains of sprawling "Little Syria" are three buildings: a community center, a tenement building and a church. Activists from Save Washington Street are trying to have these fading memories recognized at the National September 11 Memorial Museum.

President Obama and Mitt Romney are deadlocked with each holding 49 percent support nationally as they head into Tuesday’s election, though Mr. Romney holds a lead on enthusiasm, according to this week’s The Washington Times/Zogby Poll of likely voters, released Thursday night. Mr. Obama has more votes already in the bank: About a quarter of those surveyed said they’ve cast their ballots by absentee or early voting, and they broke 53 percent to 45 percent in favor of the president. But Mr. Romney, the Republican nominee, leads when it comes to those who have yet to hit the polling booth...

He's not a Jew. At least, that's the latest on the man behind the anti-Islam film, "Innocence of Muslims," that has fueled attacks on U.S. diplomatic installations in Libya, Egypt and Yemen, leaving the U.S. ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, dead. The filmmaker appears to be an Egyptian Christian rather than an Israeli Jew, as he had claimed in interviews. The Associated Press tracked down an Egyptian Coptic Christian living in Southern California who admitted to involvement with the film's logistics, and whose middle name and a known alias closely resemble the apparently fake name - Sam Bacile -...

Little Syria is facing a big problem. Activists are rallying to save the last vestiges of America’s first Arab-American neighborhood before it’s too late — but the city doesn’t think the buildings are worth it. “Most people don’t realize that the center of Arab life was in the shadow of the World Trade Center,” said Todd Fine, an organizer with Save Washington Street, a campaign to preserve the surviving two buildings of New York’s once bustling Syrian quarter. “The fact that it’s near Ground Zero makes it trickier to talk about,” he said. “Yet this should have been protected wherever...

"They are sitting on the corners like pirates," says Tony Gentile The vendors and their fans blame racism for the heat as more Arabs and Asians move into the South Brooklyn neighborhood, once an Italian enclave... Falafel sellers Sammy Kassen, 21, manger of Middle Eastern Halal Food which sits about 50 feet from Lone Star and Islam Baiuomy, owner of Halal Express Food which is across the street, cash in on running a cheap business on the pavement. The vendors and their fans blame racism for the heat as more Arabs and Asians move into the South Brooklyn neighborhood, once...

This is from NBC in FL.: Angry Fans Plan to Occupy the Miami Dolphins During Sunday's Game vs. Denver "No one is trying to get arrested like those folks in Occupy Wall Street," said angry Dolphin fan behind protest planned for Sunday By Janie Campbell | Saturday, Oct 22, 2011http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/sports/132343108.html Here I copy a comment from that page:Why do we all smell a racist rat (the one interviewed by NBC - Ms. Nawaz Arabic name)? That aside, I am all for some of the good things some of the 'OCCUPY' members advocate for, but not the haters' agenda of hatred...

On a daily basis, I sit in awe at the amount of nonsense that pervades the world’s media. The latest is the preoccupation with the ethnicity of Steve Jobs’s biological father. Steve Jobs was adopted at birth. And until his untimely death last week, as far as almost anyone in the world knew, he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Jobs. In fact, as far as Steve Jobs himself was concerned, his only parents were Paul and Clara Jobs. As the New York Times reported nearly 15 years ago (“Creating Jobs,” Jan. 12, 1997): “Jobs holds a firm...

While some GOP presidential contenders ratchet up their anti-Muslim rhetoric to toxic levels, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniel (R) is set to accept a prestigious award next month from the Arab American Institute. Maya Berry, executive director of AAI, told TPM that the award was incidental to his status as a possible presidential candidate and celebrates his broad record of public service and his Syrian heritage, which is not commonly known. Nonetheless, she noted that Daniels' award comes at a time of increasingly mainstream anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment in conservative circles. "It's a moment to honor our own and Mitch Daniels...