This past week, as guest of a veterans’ group, I traveled to Iowa to deliver remarks on Armistice Day, the day commemorating the end of World War I. Instead of offering comments typical of the day, focusing on those young soldiers who served, fought, and died, my remarks dealt with the impact of that war—in particular on the people of the Arab World, and on the Arab American community. I titled my speech: “How ‘the war to end all wars’ planted the seeds for a century of conflict.” 

This past week, as guest of a veterans’ group, I traveled to Iowa to deliver remarks on Armistice Day, the day commemorating the end of World War I. Instead of offering comments typical of the day, focusing on those young soldiers who served, fought, and died, my remarks dealt with the impact of that war—in particular on the people of the Arab World, and on the Arab American community. I titled my speech: “How ‘the war to end all wars’ planted the seeds for a century of conflict.” 

In the days after Israel was attacked on October 7, 2023, then-President Biden cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to make the same mistakes the US made following 9/11. Biden never publicly spelled out what he meant, but it was understood as a warning to Netanyahu, in response to the shock generated by the attack, not to overreact or overreach, as President George W. Bush had done by invading and occupying Iraq and proposing a US-led democracy agenda that would transform the Middle East. That war lasted more than a decade with tremendous cost in lives, treasure, and US prestige. It also emboldened Iran and spawned extremist groups across the Levant and North Africa, like ISIS. 

In the days before the election for mayor of New York City, a group of rabbis issued a “A Call to Action” attacking public figures like Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani whom they say “refuse to condemn violent slogans, deny Israel’s legitimacy, and accuse the Jewish state of genocide.”

A century ago, Gibran Khalil Gibran wrote a love poem to Lebanon, "You have your Lebanon, I have my Lebanon."

Last week, the Arab American Institute, Churches for Middle East Peace, and the American Friends Service Committee brought a group of Palestinian Americans with family in Gaza to meet with members of Congress and media.  

Poor Syria! That’s an inauspicious start, but it’s honest, as the country is facing myriad problems, internal and external, none of which can easily be resolved. 

If US President Donald Trump really wants to earn a Nobel Peace Prize, he’s going to need to do better than his 20-point “Comprehensive Plan to End Gaza’s Conflict.” While in his characteristic style of exaggeration, Mr. Trump called the release of his plan “one of the greatest days in human history,” poring over Arab, Israeli, and US press reveals that most analysts are not inclined to see it that way.  

On September 10th, conservative Republican political activist Charlie Kirk was murdered while speaking at a rally on a college campus in Utah. The reactions to his death were immediate and sustained, reflecting the deep divisions that plague American society today.