“Promoting democracy in the Arab world” is all the rage in the US these days.  It has become a veritable cottage industry, with serious and not-so serious analysts and ideologues, all getting in to the act.  Not a week goes by that there isn’t another forum held or a paper published on the topic.

As we have learned from past experience, in an election year, Congress doesn’t legislate, it plays politics.  And this month has, so far, provided great examples of this irresponsible behavior.

It is worrisome to note that “Arab-baiting,” once favored as a weapon by some politicians in the 1980’s and a regular feature in election campaigns, appears to be making a comeback, albeit in a slightly different form.

Termed the "Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act," the bad news was self-evident.  Approved by a 371 "for"—37 "against" margin (with 9 members of Congress voting "present" and 25 not voting at all), HR 4681 was much more than the anti-Hamas statement its supporters declared it to be. 

I was in Warsaw to speak at an OSCE conference on Islamophobia when my office forwarded me an article that had just appeared in the New York Sun, a purveyor of incitement and hate, masquerading as a newspaper.

The humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian lands has reached unimaginable proportions, with the economy strangled by closure, salaries unpaid, and a medical emergency situation killing both the chronically ill and those requiring immediate treatment.

because how could any person of conscience ignore the need to speak out in defense of the victims of the horrible conflict that has been raging in the western part of Sudan?  The stories of widespread rape, the slaughter of innocents, the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the dislocation of families make Darfur one of the great tragedies of this new century.