Opinion

The Nation Just Lost the Election

I guess I’d call the Trump victory an “expected” shock.

In the deepest core of my being, I was unhappy with virtually everything about the election: unhappy with the Kamala Harris campaign and her unrelenting support of Israeli genocide, unhappy with the Democratic Party and its contempt for progressive voters’ values even as the party remained certain it owned their votes. But at a more superficial level. I pretty much thought Harris would win, just because Trump was way-y-y too crazy (”they’re eating the pets!”) to actually be able to reclaim the presidency.

But Trump did it — not simply capturing the “battleground” states and gaining an Electoral College win, as he did in 2016, but apparently winning the overall popular vote. As of this morning, as I sit here in my expected shock, I see that Trump is ahead of Harris by some 5 million votes, with counting still underway in some states. And, by the way, the Republicans also reclaimed control of the Senate.

Criminalizing UNRWA: How Israel is Delegitimizing the United Nations

On October 28, the Israeli Knesset passed a second reading of two bills that effectively ban the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) from carrying out “any activity” in Israel and occupied Palestine.

 Simply put, the decision is catastrophic, because UNRWA is the main international body responsible for the welfare of millions of Palestinians throughout the occupied territories, and throughout much of the region. 

 Israel followed its decision by attacking and damaging an UNRWA office in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. It was the Israeli government's way of demonstrating its seriousness regarding the matter. 

I voted to make my voice heard. Why did I choose three write-in candidates?

I voted today, on Nov. 5th, to make my voice heard because not voting was not an option for me, and it would not help either Gaza or Lebanon. 
 
From day one, I knew I would not vote for either Trump or Harris because they both support the Israeli genocide in Gaza, and both are very hostile toward Muslims and Palestinians as well as Lebanese. 
 
Dr. Jill Stein was my candidate. She was the only anti-genocide candidate. She met with Arab and Muslim Americans. She took part in pro-Palestinian protests against the US-Israeli genocide in Gaza, which I know of. I was fully aware that it would be next to impossible that Jill Stein would win but I would not sleep well at night if I voted for either Trump or Harris, whose nicknames are Doormat Donny and Holocaust Harris.
 
My initial response after Jill Stein's name was removed from the ballot in Ohio 10 days was sadness and disappointment. So, it was time to choose another write-in candidate. After some serious thought, I decided on Gadi Francis for President and Rania Khalek for Vice President.

For Freedom and Against Fear: From FDR to Kamala Harris

Button saying Every Vote Counts

On Tuesday evening October 29, 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the Ellipse, supplanting—with unifying oratory— Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric that prompted an attack on the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. Advocating a platform that both protects and expands freedoms, Harris has donned the mantle of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

During the 2024 Democratic National Convention, most media interpreted the repetition of “freedom” as a reclamation of that word from the Republican Party. But what I heard was FDR’s "Four Freedoms Speech," and I still do. That speech was President Roosevelt’s State of the Union address presented to a joint session of Congress on January 6, 1941. Yes, precisely 80 years prior to Donald Trump’s Outrage on the Ellipse and inside the selfsame Capitol Building where MAGA followers tried violently to usurp power. In addition to defining democratic freedoms, Roosevelt denounced dictatorial tyranny in his address, making his words from that January 6th resonate today as a rebuttal to Trumpism.

Black Mauritanians in Ohio show everyone what welcome looks like

Mauritanian woman

Migration is an act of courage and love. Some people want Ohio and this country to be narrow and exclusive, denying this basic human reality. They have been trying to thrust Black Mauritanians into a national anti-immigrant conversation. But at the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, we say #OHNoYouDont.

Here are a few facts about Black Mauritanians:

Black Mauritanians have chosen Ohio to be their home for decades. The first group came in the 2000s seeking safety from slavery and genocide. The newest group is here seeking freedom from slavery and apartheid, including death and erasure of their languages and citizenship. Read more about Black Mauritanians’ reasons for leaving Mauritania here.

Israeli Teens Prefer Going to Jail Over Enlisting in the Israeli Death Forces (Idf)

Sofia Orr, 19, is an Israeli teenager who chose jail over enlisting in the Israeli Death Forces (IDF). Before turning 19, Sofia was jailed three times for refusing to enlist in mandatory military service and spending her time in Neve Tzedek, which is a military prison in Tel Aviv, in protest of the ongoing Israeli war and genocide in Gaza. She believes the two sides "have to exist" and that "revenge is not the answer." This brave Israeli teenager made it loud and clear that she would continue resisting even if the government extended her jail time because it was the right thing to do. Finally, after spending 85 days in prison, Orr was recognized as a conscientious objector. 

Long before the Israeli war on Gaza and when Sofia was 15, she made up her mind not to serve in the military because, to her, the occupation and the war on Gaza and the West Bank was and is still enough reason to refuse and she would rather work advocating for peace.   

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