Back in 2008, I heard about a young Palestinian named Ibrahim Abu Jayyab, who made campaign calls to the U.S. urging Americans to vote for Obama, who he thought would help the Palestinian cause if he became president. When I interviewed Obama in Indianapolis that year, I told him about Ibrahim, and asked him how, if …
The Oslo Opportunity, Part 3: ‘Counter-jihad’ crusaders
The terror attacks in Norway occurred on foreign soil, but they have a disturbing connection to our own country and those who perpetuate fear of Islam here. To understand the link, we need to look no further than Anders Behring Breivik’s anti-Muslim 1,500 page manifesto, which cites a number of leaders active in the Islamophobia …
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Muslims preserve Jewish shrine in Iraq
Here's a great 3 minute video from the New York Times about a Jewish shrine in Iraq that is preserved and worshipped in by Muslims. They hope to restore it in order for Jewish pilgrims to visit the crumbling site, which is considered to be the prophet Ezekiel's burial ground. The shrine is beautiful--it's ancient …
Examples of empathetic journalism
This post is about the importance of “empathetic journalism.” This past summer, I spent a considerable amount of time writing about this topic, but I was never happy with anything I’d written. During the past few weeks and months, however, I’ve stumbled upon a few great examples that discuss empathetic journalism, so I’ll post them …
Arab poet Taha Muhammad Ali
I just stumbled on this video on YouTube of a poetry reading given by Taha Muhammad Ali, a renowned Palestinian poet. His poem, "Revenge", is beautiful in Arabic and English, and its message is one that we must often be reminded of--that hate should not breed hate. I think I'll be picking up his book, So …
JORDAN DENARI DUFFNER 