Arab and Muslim candidates key to outcome of US midterm elections

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Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Muslim TV medical personality of Turkish heritage, is the Republican candidate in Pennsylvania’s Senate race. (AFP)
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Updated 06 November 2022
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Arab and Muslim candidates key to outcome of US midterm elections

  • Republicans bid to take House and Senate from Democrats
  • Celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz could become first Muslim senator

CHICAGO: For President Joe Biden, a Democrat, the midterm elections are crucial and challenging. Traditionally, the party that controls the White House at this stage usually loses control of the House and the Senate. Now the Republicans are perched to take both from the Democrats in Tuesday’s elections.

Arab and Muslim Americans will play an important role in helping to define the outcome, reinforcing congressional seats they now control while expanding their community’s role in local state and municipal offices.

Here is an overview of some of the important contests to watch:

In Pennsylvania’s US Senate race, Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Muslim TV medical personality of Turkish heritage, is the Republican candidate. He faces Democrat John Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor since 2019. Polling shows Oz leading Fetterman in the election, although Fetterman this week received an endorsement from TV powerhouse Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey originally helped Oz launch his own career as a TV personality when he first appeared on her show in 2004. Oz began hosting “The Dr. Oz Show” in 2009.

If Oz wins, he will become the first Muslim US senator. Five Arab Americans have served in the US Senate. All five are of Lebanese heritage although one was part Palestinian, and three Republicans.

According to the US Census, there are at least 84,472 residents who identify as Arab who come from Egypt, Iraq and Morocco, and 83,817 who identify as Muslim from the Arab world and Asia. Pennsylvania is one of six states including Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin and Nebraska that Donald Trump won in 2016 but that flipped for Biden in 2020.

Arab and Muslim Americans will have a strong say in Tuesday’s elections in races for Congress, state legislator and local municipal contests.

 

Since the 1950s, there have been 28 Arab Americans who have or continue to serve in the US House of Representatives. The majority have been Lebanese.

 

In California’s new 48th District, Republican incumbent Congressman Darrell Issa faces a challenge from newcomer Democrat Stephen Houlahan. Issa is expected to retain his seat. Issa served from 2001 until 2019 but came out of retirement to win the office, defeating fellow Arab American Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar in 2020.

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, a Democrat who is Christian Assyrian, is seeking reelection in California’s new 16th District. She faces a challenge from Republican Rishi Kumar.

In Michigan, Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, elected in 2019, is facing a minor challenge in the newly drawn 12th District from Republican Steven Elliot and Working Class Party candidate Gary Walkowicz. Tlaib is Palestinian.

As Michigan has the second-largest concentration of Arab Americans, voter excitement will be focused on local state legislative and municipal contests. They include several candidates running for the Michigan State House including several Democrats, Alabas Farhat in the 3rd District, Ghassan (Gus) Tarraf in the 4th District, Bilal Hammoud in the 15th District, Abraham Aiyash in the 9th District and Aisha Farooqi in the 57th District. The 3rd, 4th and 15th districts include parts of Dearborn. Aiyash is seeking reelection and is the first American of Yemeni origin to hold a legislative seat there.

Pollster and political consultant Dennis Denno is running with the backing of the Democratic Party for a vacancy on the eight-member Michigan State University board of trustees. There are also many school board candidates including Nadia Berry and Hassan Beydoun for full terms, and Danielle Elzayat and Hassan Nasser for partial terms on the Crestwood school board.

In Illinois, Republican Congressman Darin LaHood, who is Lebanese American, is expected to easily hold his seat in the new 16th District against Democratic challenger Elizabeth Haderlein.

Harvard graduate Abdelnasser Rashid defeated a veteran Democratic incumbent to win the party nomination for the 21st House District which covers the influential southwest suburban region of Chicago, which has one of the largest concentrations of Palestinian Americans. Democrat Nabeela Syed is running for the Illinois House 51st District legislative seat and is being challenged by Republican Chris Bos.

 In Iowa, Democrat Sami Scheetz is running to become the state’s first Arab American state representative, in the 78th District.

In Minnesota, Democratic Congresswomen Ilhan Omar in the 5th District and Betty McCollum in the 4th District, some of the most effective voices in championing Arab and Muslim American issues in Congress, are not expected to easily defeat their challengers. Omar is being challenged by Republican Cicely Davis, and McCollum is being challenged by Republican May Lor Xiong.

However, recent polling shows Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison may lose his reelection bid to his Republican challenger Jim Schultz. Ellison is the state’s first Muslim attorney general and first to win a statewide office there.

In Louisiana, Congressman Garret Graves, a Republican of Lebanese heritage, is seeking reelection in the 6th District, challenged by Republican Brian Beizer and Libertarian Rufus Craig. No Democrat is running.


Germany has three years to overhaul military: official

Updated 6 sec ago
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Germany has three years to overhaul military: official

  • Germany’s chief of defense, General Carsten Breuer, recently warned that Russia could be in a position to “launch a large-scale attack against NATO territory” as early as 2029

BERLIN: Germany’s armed forces have three years to acquire the equipment to tackle a possible Russian attack on NATO territory, the head of military procurement said Saturday.
Defense spending has risen up the political agenda since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and more recently with the United States pushing NATO members to increase their commitments.
“Everything necessary to be fully prepared to defend the country must be acquired by 2028,” Annette Lehnigk-Emden, head of the Federal Office for Military Procurement, told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
Germany’s chief of defense, General Carsten Breuer, recently warned that Russia could be in a position to “launch a large-scale attack against NATO territory” as early as 2029.
He said there was a Russian build-up of ammunition and tanks for a possible attack on NATO’s Baltic members.
Lehnigk-Emden said that Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s new government was enabling the upgrade by allocating hundreds of billions of euros for defense.
She said the priority would be for heavy equipment such as Skyranger anti-aircraft tanks.
Merz has made rearmament a priority of his coalition government to make German forces “the most powerful conventional army in Europe.”
Rearmament had already begun under the previous government of Olaf Scholz after Russia launched its war in Ukraine.
And US President Donald Trump has raised the stakes further this year by pushing NATO members to increase their defense spending to five percent of GDP from the current level of two percent.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Thursday that 50,000 to 60,000 new soldiers would be needed in the coming years to meet the increased NATO defense needs.
Last year, the army had more than 180,000 soldiers and set a goal of exceeding 203,000 by 2031.
Germany is meanwhile looking to speed up the establishment of shelters where the population could find refuge in the event of conflict, according to the president of the German Federal Office for Civil Protection, Ralph Tiesler.
At the end of last year, the authorities began to catalogue tunnels, subway stations, underground carparks and cellars of public buildings that could be converted into bunkers.
“We are going to create one million shelter places as quickly as possible,” Tiesler told the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, indicating that a plan to this effect would be presented this summer.

 


DR Congo, Burundi thwart Rwanda on regional bloc presidency

Updated 22 min 9 sec ago
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DR Congo, Burundi thwart Rwanda on regional bloc presidency

  • Presidency of the 11-nation ECCAS had been due to pass to Kigali
  • Rwanda is accused of helping M23 rebels fighting DR Congo government

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea: Rwanda was blocked Saturday from taking the rotating presidency of the central African economic bloc because of the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The presidency of the 11-nation Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) had been due to pass to Kigali, but at a heads of state and government meeting, DR Congo and Burundi objected.
“The conference postponed to another time the transfer of the rotating acting presidency of the community to the Republic of Rwanda and consequently decided to keep His Excellency Obiang Nguema Mbasogo as acting president of the community for an additional year,” a communique said.
One ECCAS official described the atmosphere between Rwanda and DR Congo’s representatives at the meeting in Equatorial Guinea’s capital Malabo as “tense.”
The Congolese contingent said “if Rwanda took the presidency, they would not be able to travel to Rwanda for community activities or events,” the official added on condition of anonymity.
“Burundi is also on the same path.”
Diplomatic ties between Kinshasa and Kigali are fraught, with the Congolese government accusing Rwanda of supporting the M23 armed group that has taken swathes of territory in the mineral-rich eastern DRC since the start of the year.
Neighbouring Burundi has sent more than 10,000 soldiers since 2023 to help the Congolese army fight the M23 and other armed groups operating in the conflict-wracked region.
On Thursday, Qatari mediators presented the DRC government and the M23 group “a peace proposal” to end the conflict, a source with knowledge of the talks told AFP.


Immigration authorities extend activity in Los Angeles area amid street protests

Updated 08 June 2025
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Immigration authorities extend activity in Los Angeles area amid street protests

  • One hand-held sign said, “No Human Being is Illegal.”

LOS ANGELES: US immigration authorities extended activity in Los Angeles area on Saturday in the wake of protests at an federal detention facility and a police response that included tear gas, flash-bangs and the arrest of a union leader.
Border Patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks stood guard outside an industrial park in the city of Paramount, deploying tear gas as bystanders and protesters gathered on medians and across the street, some jeering at authorities while recording the events on smartphones.
“ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are,” a woman announced through a megaphone. “You are not welcome here.”
One hand-held sign said, “No Human Being is Illegal.”
The boulevard was closed to traffic as US Border Patrol circulated through the area. ICE representatives did not respond immediately to email inquiries about weekend enforcement activities.
Arrests by immigration authorities in Los Angeles come as President Donald Trump and his administration push to fulfill promises to carry out mass deportations across the country.
On Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested more than 40 people as they executed search warrants at multiple locations, including outside a clothing warehouse where a tense scene unfolded as a crowd tried to block agents from driving away.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the activity was meant to “sow terror” in the nation’s second-largest city.
In a statement on Saturday, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons chided Bass for the city’s response to protests.
“Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement,” Lyons said in a statement. “Make no mistake, ICE will continue to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and arrest criminal illegal aliens.”
Protesters gathered Friday evening outside a federal detention center in Los Angeles where lawyers said those arrested had been taken, chanting “set them free, let them stay!”
Other protesters held signs that said “ICE out of LA!” and led chants and shouted from megaphones. Some scrawled graffiti on the building facade.
Federal agents executed search warrants at three locations, including a warehouse in the fashion district of Los Angeles, after a judge found there was probable cause the employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, according to representatives for Homeland Security Investigations and the US Attorney’s Office.
Advocates for immigrant rights say people were detained Friday by immigration authorities outside Home Depot stores and a doughnut shop.


Trump says Elon Musk could face ‘serious consequences’ if he backs Democratic candidates

Updated 08 June 2025
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Trump says Elon Musk could face ‘serious consequences’ if he backs Democratic candidates

  • The president’s latest comments suggest Musk is moving from close ally to a potential new target for Trump, who has aggressively wielded the powers of his office to crack down on critics and punish perceived enemies

BRIDGEWATER, N.J.: President Donald Trump is not backing off his battle with Elon Musk, saying Saturday that he has no desire to repair their relationship and warning that his former ally and campaign benefactor could face “serious consequences” if he tries to help Democrats in upcoming elections.
Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker in a phone interview that he has no plans to make up with Musk. Asked specifically if he thought his relationship with the mega-billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is over, Trump responded, “I would assume so, yeah.”
“I’m too busy doing other things,” Trump continued. “You know, I won an election in a landslide. I gave him a lot of breaks, long before this happened, I gave him breaks in my first administration, and saved his life in my first administration, I have no intention of speaking to him.”
The president also issued a warning amid chatter that Musk could back Democratic lawmakers and candidates in the 2026 midterm elections.
“If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” Trump told NBC, though he declined to share what those consequences would be. Musk’s businesses have many lucrative federal contracts.
The president’s latest comments suggest Musk is moving from close ally to a potential new target for Trump, who has aggressively wielded the powers of his office to crack down on critics and punish perceived enemies. As a major government contractor, Musk’s businesses could be particularly vulnerable to retribution. Trump has already threatened to cut Musk’s contracts, calling it an easy way to save money.
The dramatic rupture between the president and the world’s richest man began this week with Musk’s public criticism of Trump’s “big beautiful bill” pending on Capitol Hill. Musk has warned that the bill will increase the federal deficit and called it a “disgusting abomination.”
Trump criticized Musk in the Oval Office, and before long, he and Musk began trading bitterly personal attacks on social media, sending the White House and GOP congressional leaders scrambling to assess the fallout.
As the back-and-forth intensified, Musk suggested Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president’s association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Musk appeared by Saturday morning to have deleted his posts about Epstein.
Vice President JD Vance in an interview tried to downplay the feud. He said Musk was making a “huge mistake” going after Trump, but called him an “emotional guy” getting frustrated.
“I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that’s not possible now because he’s gone so nuclear,” Vance said.
Vance called Musk an “incredible entrepreneur,” and said that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which sought to cut government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was “really good.”
Vance made the comments in an interview with ” manosphere” comedian Theo Von, who last month joked about snorting drugs off a mixed-race baby and the sexuality of men in the US Navy when he opened for Trump at a military base in Qatar.
The Vance interview was taped Thursday as Musk’s posts were unfurling on X, the social media network the billionaire owns.
During the interview, Von showed the vice president Musk’s claim that Trump’s administration hasn’t released all the records related to Epstein because Trump is mentioned in them.
Vance responded to that, saying, “Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn’t do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein.”
“This stuff is just not helpful,” Vance said in response to another post shared by Musk calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vance.
“It’s totally insane. The president is doing a good job.”
Vance also defended the bill that has drawn Musk’s ire, and said its central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Trump’s first term.
The bill would slash spending and taxes but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by $2.4 trillion over the decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
“It’s a good bill,” Vance said. “It’s not a perfect bill.”
The interview was taped in Nashville at a restaurant owned by musician Kid Rock, a Trump ally.

 


Thousands of demonstrators march through Rome to call for an immediate end to the war in Gaza

Updated 07 June 2025
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Thousands of demonstrators march through Rome to call for an immediate end to the war in Gaza

  • Protesters held a banner reading “Stop the massacre, stop complicity!” at the start of the march
  • Up to 300,000 people participated in the rally organized by the leftist opposition to ask the government for a clear position on the conflict in Gaza

ROME: Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday against the war in Gaza in a protest called by Italy’s main opposition parties, who accuse the right-wing government of being too silent.

Protesters held a banner reading “Stop the massacre, stop complicity!” at the start of the march, which moved peacefully through the center of Rome amid a massive display of rainbow, Palestinian and political party flags.

The protest attracted a diverse crowd from across the country, including many families with children. According to organizers, up to 300,000 people participated in the rally organized by the leftist opposition to ask the government for a clear position on the conflict in Gaza.

“This is an enormous popular response to say enough to the massacre of Palestinians and the crimes of (Israeli leader Benjamin) Netanyahu’s government,” the leader of Italy’s center-left Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, told reporters at the march.

“There is another Italy that doesn’t remain silent as the Meloni government does,” she said, referring to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Meloni was recently pushed by the opposition to publicly condemn Netanyahu’s offensive in Gaza, but many observers considered her criticism too timid.

”(The Italian government) is not reacting despite an abnormal massacre, despite an absolutely cruel and inappropriate reaction. The (Italian) government remains silent,” said Nadin Unali, a Tunisian demonstrator at the march.

Earlier this week, the Italian premier urged Israel to immediately halt its military campaign in Gaza, saying its attacks had grown disproportionately and should be brought to an end to protect civilians.

Israel faces mounting international criticism for its offensive and pressure to let aid into Gaza during a humanitarian crisis.

Gaza has been under an Israeli blockade for nearly three months, with experts warning that many of its 2 million residents are at high risk of famine.

The war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 hostages. They are still holding 56 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive.

Since then, Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians in its military campaign, primarily women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures.