Washington Watch Articles From 2019
Netanyahu's Real Crimes
After years of investigation and months of delay, Israel's Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit formally indicted Benjamin Netanyahu for crimes ranging from his violation of public trust to bribery and fraud.
The Cycle of Death Continues
One evening, almost two decades ago, I was on CNN's "Crossfire" sitting opposite a Democratic Congressman (who is no longer in office, having repeatedly disgraced himself in "sexting" scandals).
In the Wake of Trump’s Broken Promises: The Need for an Arab Strategy
When Donald Trump was first elected, I warned Arab friends to be careful not to put their all of their eggs in a basket that I had every reason to believe would soon unravel.
Our Democracy in Crisis?
I don't know which metaphor to use to describe the current crisis in our politics because so many come to mind.
A Message to the Arab Americans of Dallas, TX
Last weekend, I traveled to Dallas to speak at the Arab Texas Festival. It was a remarkable event that both filled me with pride at our progress and left me inspired.
Addressing Those Who Have Been Fooled
It was more than a century and a half ago that Abraham Lincoln told us, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time." While the wisdom behind these words is clear, what has long confounded me is, quite simply, "why can some folks be fooled all the time?"
He Threatened Us, Now He Goes to Jail
Back in May, a jury found Patrick Syring, a former State Department official, guilty of 14 counts of making threats against my life and my staff at the Arab American Institute.
We Have a Problem: Guns
Once again, mass shootings are in the US headlines. And in the aftermath of yet another massacre of innocents, we are in the throes of what has become patterned ritual behavior.
Our Fractured Nation “Celebrates” the Fourth of July
I'm writing from my home in Washington, DC, on the evening of the Fourth of July, deeply troubled by the display that has just unfolded a few miles away on our National Mall.
What If Palestinians “Take the Money and Run?”
I wasn't at the "Peace to Prosperity" Summit, but I listened to some of the speeches and read the documents the White House produced, and nothing I saw changed my belief that the entire affair was long on fantasy, short on reality.
Most Democratic Candidates Still Afraid to Criticize Israel's Violations of Palestinian Rights
The attitudes of Democratic voters toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have become decidedly more balanced in the past two decades. Favorable attitudes toward Palestinians are up while attitudes toward Israel appear to be in decline.
The Idea of America is at Risk
I have long argued that the American identity was fundamentally different than that of most other countries in the world. While the identity of most nations has been ethnic-based, being American represented an inclusive idea that transcended ethnicity.
Why the US “Workshop” For Palestinians Will Fail
Twenty-five years ago, I moderated the panel discussion on the Palestinian economy at the international economic summit in Casablanca, Morocco.
US Complicity in Israel’s Violations of International Law
Last week I addressed a United Nations Security Council meeting on "Israeli Settlements.
Justice Prevailed
On May 9th, 2019, a jury in US District Court for Washington, DC found a former US diplomat guilty on 14 counts of threatening me and other employees of the Arab American Institute "because of [our] race and ethnicity" and "because of [our] efforts to encourage Arab Americans to participate in the political life in the United States.
Playing 20 Questions to Figure Out the "Deal of the Century"
I believe that it was Henry Kissinger who described his approach to running Arab-Israeli negotiations as creating the illusion of momentum to compensate for the lack of momentum.
Bringing Back Memories of the Nightmarish Israeli Invasion of Lebanon
The New York Times headline on April 4th was simple enough, "After 37-Year Search, Israel Recovers Body of a Fallen Soldier," but the memories it dredged up were both painful and complicated.
Irish Senator Frances Black Makes the Case Against Israeli Settlements
This past week, we hosted Irish Senator Frances Black in Washington. Black is the Chair of the Irish Seanad's (Senate) Palestine Working Group and the lead sponsor of the legislation to ban the import of products from Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian lands into Ireland.
Pitzer College and the Struggle for Real Academic Freedom
On March 14th, the College Council, the governing body of Pitzer College in California, overwhelmingly passed (67-28) a resolution suspending its relationship with the University of Haifa until Israel ended its policy of restricting entry on the basis of "legally protected political speech or race or ancestry.
Challenging the Presidential Candidates to Discuss the Middle East in Iowa 2020
IOWA CITY, IOWA – I'm writing from Iowa where I've been speaking to audiences of activists and helping to organize "Concerned Iowans for Middle East Peace (CIMEP)" – a coalition committed to Palestinian human rights and a just Middle East peace.