“Where is Ahmad?” The soldier called my name while we were stopped at the last Israeli checkpoint on the way from Ramallah to Jerusalem. I am a Palestinian American. But once I’m in my ancestral homeland, I’m not an American in the eyes of Israeli authorities. I am simply Palestinian, denied the basic right to movement and pilgrimage to the Holy Land. For too long, Palestinians in the diaspora, like myself, became travelers on our soil. We tried to forget the realities of occupation in the West Bank, and that a few hours south in Gaza our brothers and sisters…

A few months ago I met with a group of students to talk about what’s happening in Israel and Gaza. Some were Jewish, some were Palestinian. I'm sharing what we discussed again in hopes that it might be helpful to others in discussing this ongoing tragedy. The purpose of the meeting was to see what they could agree on, morally. As you can imagine, emotions ran high. I suggested that, at least for the purpose of our conversation, they not think of themselves as either “Pro-Palestinian” or “Pro-Israel” but instead look deeper into what basic moral principles were at stake.…

The United States has vetoed Palestine’s bid for full UN membership, stating the UN is not the venue for recognition of a Palestinian state. Their representative clarified that Palestinian statehood is something that can only be ratified unilaterally by Palestine's mortal enemy: Israel. The US position has caused controversy among lefty do-gooders who can’t understand why Israel has the power to decide Palestine is not a country, so I thought I’d run you through the history: In 1948, during a conflict known as the “Nakba”, Arabs ethnically cleansed 750,000 Jews and conquered 56% of Israeli land on which they built…

A special State Department panel told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the U.S. should restrict arms sales to Israeli military units that have been credibly accused of human rights abuses. He has not taken any action. A special State Department panel recommended months ago that Secretary of State Antony Blinken disqualify multiple Israeli military and police units from receiving U.S. aid after reviewing allegations that they committed serious human rights abuses. But Blinken has failed to act on the proposal in the face of growing international criticism of the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza, according to current and former…

In his annual letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy touted the transformative potential of generative AI while also committing to ongoing cost-cutting measures. The Wall Street Journal reports that Andy Jassy, CEO of tech and e-commerce giant Amazon, proclaimed in his 2024 letter to shareholders that generative AI could usher in the largest technological transformation since the rise of cloud computing and the internet itself. Jassy sees AI as a critical building block for Amazon’s next major growth pillar, following the successes of its online Marketplace, Prime subscription service, and Amazon Web Services cloud division. “Generative AI may be the largest technology transformation…