“It is not the fact that the Univ. of Chicago invited a pro-Israel speaker that offended so many. Rather, it is Olmert’s criminality that offends. It is the disparity with which the university treated its affected students that offends. It is the way in which they assured us that all views would be given a platform, and yet blatantly repressed the point of view of one group of people, that offends. And for this they must, at the very least, apologize,” says Christina Abraham.

Christina Abraham talks to Al-Jazeera about the University of Chicago’s inappropriate invitation of war criminal and former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert.

Despite an abysmal record on human rights, he has been invited by the University’s Harris School of Public Policy, as a leader with a vision of “achieving prosperity through peace.” CAIR-Chicago’s Civil Rights Director Christina Abraham will address the hypocrisy of this invitation at a press conference outside the event. Also read CAIR-Chicago’s Action Alert regarding this issue,
HERE.

Olmert was prime minister during Operation Cast Lead in which Israel Defense Forces killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and wounded more than 5,300. Olmert is also responsible for implementing the siege on Gaza, now well into its third year. The siege has plunged more than 80 percent of the population into abject poverty.

“Amina Sharif of the Chicago branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations also praised Obama’s approach. ‘A lot of Muslims felt hurt under Bush, and Obama’s healing some of those wounds.’ However, she said, Muslims in the U.S. and abroad are losing patience for him to fulfill some promises in the Middle East, including pressuring Israel to end settlement building in the West Bank.”

Naim Zaita is now a United States citizen after attempting to gain his citizenship for nearly 4 years. Zaita, a Palestinian, applied for citizenship in 2005, but was forced to endure delays and complications

Film Makers from the West Bank and State Department officials will visit the CAIR-Chicago office this upcoming Saturday and Monday. The 3-man news team from Palestine is working on a State Department-supported project titled “Muslim Life in America.”

…it seems like the Israelis are constantly shifting the starting point of this debate back a notch, a process through which the obvious is played as benefaction, and entitlements re-branded as concessions.

A week after US President Barack Obama’s speech at Cairo University, Gihan Shahine sifts through a web of applause, scepticism and cautious optimism

KIM LANDERS: From the start of this carefully balanced speech, it was clear President Barack Obama was trying to set a new tone and deliver a new message.