I have two issues for the reader today that I do not want wasted amidst the crowdedness, and some brief comments on them. - The Arabian Business Magazine published a list of the power 100, a list of the world's most influential Arabs. Usually, the focus would be on the world of finance, business, culture, media and advertisement and other sectors. Once again, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal came at the top of the list, as he is rather ubiquitous, thanks to his global economic ventures and also his philanthropy that almost competes with his ventures. But what caught my attention after him was Dahi Khalfan Tamim, the Dubai chief of police, while the third place went to Dalia Mogahed. In fact, both of these last two names entered the list for the first time and yet, they went straight to the top. The nature of the Lieutenant-General's work requires that he should remain relatively unknown. However, the assassination of a Hamas leader by Israeli terrorists in Dubai helped him rise to global fame when the Dubai police succeeded in immediately publishing information on the group that monitored the movements of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, as well as pictures of them and their forged European passports. It seems that the Israelis thought that Dubai was a third world country, and thus acted in a foolish manner that reflects along with their criminal intents, their arrogance. However, the Dubai chief of police succeeded in giving them a slap in the face. But then perhaps Dahi Khalfan Tamim's fame will be similar to the type of fame that the artist Andy Warhol spoke about half a century ago when he said: “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” While Tamim's fame is well deserved, it perhaps does not suit the nature of his job. Meanwhile, Dalia Mogahed is a young woman that makes us all proud. She is Egyptian-American, and is the Executive Director of the Gallup Centre for Muslim Studies. She was selected as an advisor by U.S. President Barack Obama on the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships Program. She co-wrote a book with John Esposito, entitled ‘Who speaks for Islam? What a billion Muslims really think'. Her works are published by some of the most prestigious research centres in the United States. I support Arabian Business one hundred percent in its choice. I have followed Dalia Mogahed's work in many conferences, and always found her to be well-informed and to have strong arguments. Moreover, I have an additional reason to support her: many American right-wing websites, in particular those belonging to the Likudnik enemies of humanity and peace, attack her constantly. In truth, she was subjected to a mean campaign after she appeared in a television program alongside a member of the Huzb ut-Tahrir (which I personally oppose by the way). But what I don't understand is how can Dalia be considered less informed or less upright for merely appearing in a television program, while those who are protesting this often sit with the neo-Nazis in the Israeli government? Congratulations brother Dahi, and congratulations sister Dalia. - On March 20, I wrote in this column about the Huffington Post electronic newspaper, after it was derided by Justin Raimondo, one of the best pro-peace American commentators. Raimondo described the Huffington Post as being Israeli Occupied Territory (a phrase that was coined by the conservative American writer Pat Buchanan to describe the U.S Congress). But an extremist Likudnik website soon responded to him, and spoke about the same newspaper in the following terms “Anti-Semitism and anti-Israel hatred on the Huffington Post”, which was a blatant attempt to cover up what the post publishes often in the defence of Israel and in justification for its crimes. I read the Huffington Post every day, and I hold its publisher Arianna Huffington in high esteem. However, I find that the accusations against the post of being biased in favour of Israel to be true, perhaps for fear that this liberal website might be accused of anti-Semitism. A few days ago, I was on my way to Beirut and I printed a list of headlines from the website so I can choose what I want from them to read later. I found that Justin Raimondo was absolutely right: on the occasion of the Jewish Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the electronic newspaper published a large number of news stories related to this religious topic, as though there was nothing going on in the world other than Passover. Hence, I read titles like the following: “Seder Talking Points: Seven Secrets of Passover” by Bruce Feiler, “Passover 2010, Why Pesach Matters” by Brad Hirschfield, “Obama's Hospitality, a question of character” (about the Seder dinner at the White House which was hosted by the President) by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach “Religion: How the Obama Seder became a White House tradition”, and “Obama is still Pro-Israel” by Steve Sheffey, an apologist for Israel that glosses over the Netanyahu government, its racism and its crimes against the Palestinians. How can a self-respecting newspaper allocate all this space for a religious topic? In my opinion, it is because of fear, and perhaps I will return to the Jewish Passover feast in a later article. This feast celebrates the exodus from Egypt, which I insist is nothing by a religious myth that has no traces in actual history. [email protected]
