The Ray Hanania Radio Show-Arab News

US Election 2024 Special | S4 E14 | Guest: Yossi Mekelberg

This week, here on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show" we discuss the issue of what we expect president elect Donald Trump to do when he takes officer in January ... what will his approach be to the Middle East, Israel, Palestine ... he has started to nominate individuals to serve in his cabinet and not unexpectedly, many of them are very pro-Israel as they were during his first four years in office beginning in 2017 ... what can we expect from Trump 2.0 ....

Yossi Mekelberg, a Senior Consulting Fellow at the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House. He is a visiting professor at the University of Roehampton. Columnist with Arab News.

He'll discuss what he expects from the Trump administration

Hanania also discusses the performance of Arab American voters in the election nationally, and takes phone calls from listeners.

Get more information on me at ArabNews.com or on my personal website at www.Hanania.com.

US Election 2024 Special | S4 E12 | Guests: Ishmael Ahmed and Bishara Bahbah

This week, here on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show" we discuss the upcoming elections with local state candidates in the Arab American community ... discussing the battle by Trump and Harris to win Arab and Muslim American votes in the final days of the presidential election. Arab and Muslim Americans have become very important for the first time in many presidential elections mainly because the battles are over razor thin margins between the two candidates in swing states like Michigan ... the swing states happened to have the largest concentrations of Arab and Muslim voters and they can end up deciding the election.

My first guest today is Democrat Ishmael Ahmed who is a part of a coalition of Arab American leaders who this week endorsed Kamala Harris for president during a meeting in Detroit ... Ishmael has been a longtime activist in Michigan and knows the Arab and Muslim community very well ... he was also a founder of ACCESS and the director of ACCESS for 32 years ... and he headed the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services under former Gov. Granholm who was later appointed to head the Department of Energy for the Biden Administration ... and he was also a vice chair of the Democratic party in Michigan for more than a decade ... and was an autoworker and worked on overseas freighters, He also is a US military veteran ....

We will also speak with Dr. Bishara Bahbah who is the chairman of Arab Americans for Trump. Bahbah was a longtime Democrat who switched parties following Biden's unconditional and all out support for Israel's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza this past year and now with the expansion of Israel's wars and violence against Lebanon, murdering tens of thousands of civilians in Palestine and in Lebanon.

US Election 2024 Special | S4 E11 | Guests: Suzanne Akhras and Dr. Ahmed Ghanim

This week on The Ray Hanania Radio Show, we discuss the upcoming elections with local state candidates from the Arab American community, exploring their issues and challenges. We will also examine how the Middle East conflict is impacting their campaigns. A YouGov poll co-sponsored by Arab News shows that for most Arabs and Muslims in America, the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon is a major concern. The Arab community appears divided between Democrats and Republicans, though a large majority may support a third-party candidate like Dr. Jill Stein. Without Stein in the race, the poll suggests it would be a close call between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, with a slight lean toward Trump.

My first guest today is Democrat Suzanne Akhras, running for the Illinois House 82nd District, a seat that became vacant in December 2023, with a Republican appointed to fill the vacancy. Akhras is a passionate advocate committed to driving positive change and upholding shared values. She is focused on ensuring women’s access to reproductive healthcare, expanding mental health resources, advocating for community safety, and reducing gun violence. Visit her campaign at www.SuzanneforIL.com.

We will also speak with Dr. Ahmed Ghanim, a Democrat and former candidate for Congress in Oakland County, Michigan’s 11th District. Dr. Ghanim was invited to a Michigan meeting organized by Kamala Harris’s campaign to build support among Arab Americans. However, after being admitted, he was unexpectedly escorted out by security without explanation. Although the Harris campaign later apologized, this incident created an awkward moment, challenging her campaign’s efforts to regain Arab American support in Michigan, a swing state.

Find more information about me on ArabNews.com or at www.Hanania.com

US Election 2024 Special | S4 E10 | Guests: Tarek Ali Ahmad and Joseph Haboush

This week, here on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show" we discuss the results of a new YouGov Poll co-sponsored by Arab News looking at Arab American voters and the November 5, 2024 presidential election

Our guests to analyze the poll are Arab News Editor Tarek Ali Ahmad and Al Arabiyya journalist Joseph Haboush

SEG 1: Tarek Ali Ahmad the Head of the Arab News Research & Studies Unit and its Media Editor. He edits and oversees the award-winning, long-form Deep Dives, research reports and is the host and moderator of the Briefing Room webinar. Notable coverage includes spearheading Arab News’ coverage of the Lebanon conflict, and the 2024 US Elections as well as the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos since 2020. He is also an executive producer of Frankly Speaking, the newspaper’s HardTalk-style interview show. He holds an MA in Human Rights Law from SOAS, University of London, and a BA in Media and Communication from the American University of Beirut.
@Tarek_AliAhmad

SEG 2: Joseph Haboush is the Washington correspondent for Al Arabiya English, covering US foreign policy and national security from the State Department and Pentagon. He previously worked for The Daily Star and The Telegraph while based in Beirut and was a non-resident scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute think-tank. He has reported from several countries, including Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Italy, Georgia, Mexico and others @jhaboush

The Ray Hanania Radio show is broadcast live every Thursday at 5 PM on WNZK AM 690 Radio and rebroadcast on Monday at 5 PM on the US Arab Radio in Michigan ,,, it is also available online at ArabNews.com/rayradioshow

Get more information on host Ray Hanania at ArabNews.com or on his personal website at www.Hanania.com.

US Election 2024 Special | S4 E9 | Guests: Jeff Cohen and Dr. Zaher Sahloul

This week, here on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show" we address the year-long and escalating violence that has plagued the Middle East. Violence has always marked relations between Israel and the Palestinians in the face of opposition to peace and solutions like the Two-State Solution, and also the role of the Western news media in covering and spinning the conflict.

It has been a long conflict marked by explosions of violence including the violence committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023 that took more than 1,200 Israeli lives, and the year-long violence by Israel in Gaza that has taken more than 54,000 lives, also mostly all civilians. But it didn't just start on Oct. 7 as Israel's government contends, and criticism of Israel's government is not anti-Semitic.

With me today to discuss this ongoing tragedy are two individuals who will help us look at this growing crisis.

Jeff Cohen ... Jeff was founding director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College, where he was an associate professor of journalism. He founded the media watch group FAIR in 1986, and cofounded the online activist group RootsAction.org in 2011. Cohen has coproduced documentary movies, including "The Corporate Coup D'Etat" and "All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception and the Spirit of I.F. Stone." He is the author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media. He has been a TV commentator at CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, and was senior producer of MSNBC's Phil Donahue primetime show until it was terminated three weeks before the Iraq invasion. He can be reached through these websites:

His organizational website is RootsAction.org
His personal website is JeffCohen.org
FAIR's website is FAIR.org
Twitter @Jeffcot
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Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president and founder of Med Global who is with us addressing the growing crisis for displaced people in Palestine, Lebanon and the region. The number of refugees and medical needs have risen to crisis proportions. More importantly, there has been a huge increase in the number of doctors and medical professionals who have been targeted by Israel's government in the Gaza and Lebanon conflicts. www.medglobal.org Twitter @Sahloul @MedGlobalorg

The Ray Hanania Radio show is broadcast live every Thursday at 5 PM on WNZK AM 690 Radio and rebroadcast on Monday at 5 PM on the US Arab Radio in Michigan ,,, it is also available online at ArabNews.com/rayradioshow

Get more information on host Ray Hanania at ArabNews.com or on his personal website at www.Hanania.com.

US Election 2024 Special | Guests: Ephrem Kossaify & Brian Katulis

This week, here at “The Ray Hanania Radio Show" we address the aftermath of the United Nation's General Assembly's 79th Session, first with Arab News UN Correspondent Ephrem Kossaify who details for us all the many topics and challenges that the United Nations addresses. Ephrem is a phenomenal journalist and his reporting on the United Nations which is his main beat is comprehensive and enlightening.

Then we speak with Brian Katulis, a Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy at the Middle East Institute. He was formerly a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, where he built the Center’s Middle East program and also worked on broader issues related to U.S. national security. THE MEI just released Katulis' most recent analysis called "Strategic Drift: An assessment of the Biden Administration's Middle East approach."

The Ray Hanania Radio show is broadcast live every Thursday at 5 PM on WNZK AM 690 Radio and rebroadcast on Monday at 5 PM in Michigan ,,, it is also available online at ArabNews.com/rayradioshow

Get more information on host Ray Hanania at ArabNews.com or on his personal website at www.Hanania.com

US Election 2024 Special | S4 E5 | (ADC) Guests: Maryam Hassanein, Safa Rifka, Susan Abulhawa and more

This week, host Ray Hanania takes “The Ray Hanania Radio Show" on the road to Dearborn, Michigan which has the largest concentration of Arab and Muslim voters and an Arab American Mayor. Hanania attended the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) Convention September 12 through the 15th that was held in Dearborn, and found significant opposition to both Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, and overwhelming favoritism for third Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein. 
 
There, Hanania spoke with Arabs who support Trump, and Arabs who support Harris but who also said Harris "has time to change" to take a stronger position challenging the policies of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Door is still open for them supporting Harris, they said, but it is closing fast. The Gaza conflict has seriously impacted American politics across the country. 
 
Interviewed are Maryam Hassanein, an appointee of the Joe Biden administration who explains why she resigned in protest of his policies in Gaza. Hassanein She worked in the Department of the Interior as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary's office.
 
Also interviewed is Safa Rifka, the National Chairman of ADC who explains why they moved the annual convention from Washington DC to give Arab Americans a platform to address issues including the presidential elections.
 
Three Democratic Legislators were interviewed who participated in an ADC panel addressing questions from a contentious audience about who the Arab community should support for president,  Harris, Trump or Stein. The legislators include Michigan State Rep. Alabas Farhat, Georgia State Rep. Ruwa Romman, and Illinois State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid. Romman defends Harris believing Arabs must work through the system and Farhat and Rashid believe the door is still open for Harris to take action against Israel's genocidal government policies in Gaza.
 
And, Hanania also interviews several activists who attended the ADC Convention on the issue of the presidential elections. First Susan Abulhawa the author of the 2010 book "Mornings in Jenin," then North Carolina activist Rania alMasri who disagrees with Romman and supports Stein; and, Minnesota democrat and uncommitted delegate Kevin Aldwaik who is supporting Trump.

US Election 2024 Special | S4 E4 | Guests: Bill Lipinski and Dr. Jill Stein

Welcome to The Ray Hanania Radio Show brought to you by the US Arab Radio Network and sponsored by Arab News, the leading English Language Newspaper in the Middle East at ArabNews.com.

I am Ray Hanania, your host. It's Thursday Sept. 5, 2024. 

This season The Ray Hanania Radio Show focuses on the US Presidential elections, the battle between the major party candidates former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris and the Alternative candidates including Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party.

Who do Arabs and Muslims support in the presidential election and why?

I have two guests today who will help us answer that question and talk about the impact of alternative of 3rd Party candidates.

First up is Bill Lipinski, Lipinski served in the U.S. Congress 22 years from 1983 until 2005. Lipinski's district on the Southwest side and suburbs of Chicago in Illinois included one of the largest concentrations of Arab, Palestinian and Muslim voters in the country. Lipinski, a conservative Democrat, also is the co-host with me of the weekly podcast on American politics "Two Guys on Politics". Lipinski will help us understand 3rd party candidates and their impact on the election process if a candidate fails to receive 270 Electoral College Votes.

We'll also speak with Third Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein .. Stein represents the Green Party which has a strong history in impacting presidential elections that cannot be taken for granted, even though she has been pushed aside by American's Main Stream News media ... The Green Party included the candidacy of Lebanese American Ralph Nader in 2000 ... Nader's candidacy had a huge impact on Al Gore who lost to George W. Bush after Gore lost Florida to Bush by only 537 votes ... Dr. Stein has been the presidential nomi nominee of the Green Party running in 2012 and 2016 ... Stein had a huge impact on the election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in 2016.

This show is broadcast live every Thursday at 5 PM on WNZK AM 690 Radio and rebroadcast on Monday at 5 PM in Michigan ,,, it is also available online at ArabNews.com/rayradioshow

Get more information on host Ray Hanania at ArabNews.com or on his personal website at www.Hanania.com.

US Election 2024 Special | S4 E3 | Guests: Yossi MekelBerg and Jim Zogby

This season The Ray Hanania Radio Show focuses on the US Presidential elections, the battle between the major party candidates including Republican party nominee former President Donald Trump and Democrat party nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, and the third party contenders.

 

First up in Segment 1 is Yossi Mekelberg, Mekelberg is an associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House since 2002. 

 

He was previously professor of international relations at Regent’s University, where he was head of the international relations and social sciences programme, and the faculty lead on outreach projects. He had taught at Regent’s University since 1996, and before that at King’s College, London.

 

Next is James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute ... Zogby currently serves as Chair of the DNC Ethnic Council, an umbrella organization of Democratic Party leaders of European and Mediterranean descent ... he was also a delegate at the convention, co-organized several public forums that paralleled the convention which blocked the voices of Arabs and Muslims on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

 

For more information on Ray Hanania visit www.Hanania.com

US Election 2024 Special | S4 E2 | Guests: Bishara Bahbah and Nasser Beydoun

The Ray Hanania Radio Show is brought to you by the US Arab Radio Network and sponsored by Arab News, the leading English Language Newspaper in the Middle East at ArabNews.com 

This season The Ray Hanania Radio Show focuses on the US Presidential elections, the battle between the major party candidates including Republican party nominee former President Donald Trump and Democrat party nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, and the third party contenders who could push the election into the House, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Green Party's candidate Dr. Jill Stein.

Who do Arabs and Muslims support in the presidential election and why? What are the issues?

This Episode features two guests address the factors driving Arab and Muslim voter American support in the November 5, 2024 American Presidential Election ... What do Arab and Muslim Republicans expect from Trump? ... and What do Arab and Muslim Democrats expect from Harris?

First up in Segment 1 is Dr. Bashira Bahbah a Republican and the Chairman of Arab American for Trump. Bahbah talks about why Arab and Muslim Americans should support former president Donald Trump.

Next is Michigan political activist Naseer Beydoun, a Lebanese American Democrat and former candidate for U.S. Senate from Michigan who was challenged and removed from the ballot by the pro-Israel lobby. Beydoun talks about the Arab and Muslim community and what Kamala Harris must do to win their support in the presidential election contest against Donald Trump.

For more on Arab News radio host Ray Hanania, visit ArabNews.com or his personal website at www.Hanania.com.