Ihsan Alkhatib

On October 26, 2017, Jonathan Lawrence wrote a commentary for Reuters entitled “Sunni North Africa, fears of Iran’s Shi’ite shadow.”* Mr. Lawrence wrote: ‘Given the tiny number of Shi’ites living in North Africa and the tight control over mosques in the region, widespread Shi’ite religious influence on the ground is unrealistic. Whether or not the scale of proselytism justifies the level of concern, Moroccan and Algerian leaders view Iran’s Africa policy as a threat to their domestic order and regional security. The prospect of sectarian strife exists for “heterodox” – i.e. non-Sunni – minorities scattered across the region, numbering in the millions who live under mainstream Sunni rule. Some of these groups are offshoots of Shi’ite Islam, but are not necessarily the source of conflict. In Algeria, their mere difference – and the government’s toleration of them – sometimes provokes attack from local hardliners.’ Mere competition between religious doctrine...

Houla massacre memorial, courtesy of Houla.org Remembering the Houla Massacre. 10/31/1948 -  October 29, 2009 Houla Massacre of 1948 Apathetic State: No Military Readiness or Political Will to Stand and Fight The 1948 Houla Massacre Anniversary October 31, 2009 is the sixty- first anniversary of the Zionist massacre in Houla, a village in South Lebanon. The Zionist Hagganah gang, led by Menachem begin, blew up houses and massacred in cold blood tens of the town's men. As a consequence of the Zionist attack, (one of a string of subsequent attacks on South Lebanon over the years), led to the people of Houla becoming refugees in their own homeland in 1948, living in the Dbayeh refugee camp. It was not until the beginning of May of 1949 that these displaced Southern Lebanese were able to go back to their destroyed village. The Need for Strong defense of Lebanon The Lebanese right wing has always claimed that there is ...

It seems that wherever there is fighting in the Arab world, somehow you see French Bernard-Henri Levy. One is tempted to think that Levy is a man interested in visiting conflict zone to advocate for human rights and rally support for those rising against authoritarian regimes.  Not so. In a column in the Wall Street Journal of 10/10/2017 Levy writes* defending the Kurds right to secede from Iraq. He wrote that the Iraqi Kurdish Northern region is being denied the right to “be free, to flourish as an island of democracy and peace.” This is after the Kurdish Iraqi separatists have engaged in a violent land grab and ethnic cleansing of territory clearly beyond the boundaries of the Kurdish-controlled province. [Not too long ago a writer in the Wall Street Journal wrote a column critical of Catalonia’s referendum on secession. That writer made a compelling argument against secession. That very same paper provided space for Levy to advocate for Kurdish separatism.] N...

Mr. Imad Hamad, AHRC Executive Director Dr. Nahed Ghazzoul Dr. Ghazzoul will keynote AHRC's Refugees' Awareness Day Presentations and Reception on October 26: On Thursday, October 26, 2017 at 6 p.m., the American Human Rights Council (AHRC-USA) will be hosting a special Dinner Reception regarding the world's refugee crisis, one of the most pressing crises in recent memory. The reception will be held at the Greenfield Manor Banquet Hall located in Dearborn, Michigan. The American Human Rights Council (AHRC-USA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Nahed Ghazzoul, an assistant professor at Al- Zaytoonah University in Amman, Jordan will serve as the reception's special guest and keynote speaker. Dr. Ghazzoul's is internationally recognized as an authority on the subject of refugees, especially the Syrian refugees. She has participated in numerous forums and international conferences related to this most pressing challenge facing the modern wo...