Politics

Say what you will about the Arab world, it’s hard to earn its gratitude. President Obama went to Egypt and not Israel. He demanded that Israel cease adding new settlements in the West Bank. He treated Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu with a chilling disdain. For all of that, though, Obama’s approval rating in Arab countries … Continued

As a group, Americans of the Muslim faith give President Barack Obama the highest job approval rating of any major religion. A Gallup Poll of 275,000 adults released late last week finds that while the Democrat’s overall approval rating has dropped across all faiths — even those Americans without any — Muslims continue to approve … Continued

President Barack Obama’s adviser to the Muslim world is coming to the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn on Sunday to discuss U.S. foreign policy at a Ramadan dinner hosted by U.S. Rep. John Conyers. Rashad Hussain, 31, is the special envoy of the U.S. to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, a group of … Continued

Republicans have dug a deep hole for themselves on matters related to the Middle East and Islam reflecting the extent to which the Party has become captive of the neo-conservative “clash of civilization” crowd and their partners on the evangelical Christian right. This drift becomes clear listening to statements by Republican leaders and surveying the … Continued

Barack Obama’s popularity has plummeted in the Arab world, where most people support an Iranian nuclear weapon, according to a poll released on Thursday. The survey of almost 4,000 people in six countries will come as a blow to the White House, which has argued that positive perceptions of Mr Obama – particularly after his … Continued

The White House 5:27 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. Upon taking office, I declared that America is a friend of each nation and every person who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that the United States was ready to lead in pursuit of that future. At the beginning of my administration, … Continued

CNN on Wednesday removed its senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs, Octavia Nasr, from her job after she published a Twitter message saying that she respected the Shiite cleric the Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, who died on Sunday. Ms. Nasr left her CNN office in Atlanta on Wednesday. Parisa Khosravi, the senior vice president … Continued

The Arab League will turn to the UN Security Council to declare a Palestinian state if proximity talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials fail to achieve progress by September, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Gheit said Saturday. According to Egyptian news site Al-Masry Al-Youm, Abul Gheit said Arab countries should act while taking into consideration … Continued

War drums are beating in the Middle East. In a short time, the United States has increased the number of its carrier strike groups opposite Iran to three, and reports are raining down of a tightening ring of American and Israeli concentrations all around the Islamic Republic. On the diplomatic front, the Israelis are unusually … Continued

An U.S. State Department official said President Barack Obama is preparing to appoint a new ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic after a four-year hiatus, according to Reuters. The new ambassadorship is part of Obama’s drive to improve relations between the United States and the Islamic and Arab world. The official said the Syrian Ambassador … Continued

The president of the nation’s largest Arab American advocacy group called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s endorsement on Sunday of an independent Palestinian a “positive first step.” The news broke of Netanyahu’s first-ever call for a limited, demilitarized independent Palestinian state at the conclusion of the annual conference of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “If (Netanyahu) … Continued