In June 1967 I was in the midst of my final weeks in college when the war broke out.At the time, I knew little about the Middle East, since I was more engaged in the anti-war and civil rights movements.And so, as I watched the UN Security Council debates that preceded and followe

While most of Washington was eagerly awaiting former FBI director James Comey’s Thursday appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee, they may have missed an important confirmation hearing that had occurred a day earlier.On Wednesday, Russell Vought, President Donald Trum

The recent horrific massacre of 29 Egyptian Coptic Christian pilgrims served as a tragic reminder of the vulnerability of minority faith communities in many parts of the Middle East.As a Maronite Catholic with family and friends in the Middle East, a PhD in comparative religion a

If I were a movie critic writing reviews of audience reactions to US President Donald Trump’s performances abroad, they would look something like this: “...a big hit in Riyadh”; “...a smash sensation across the Holy Land”; “...subdued, but a success in Vatican City”; and “...a di

As I write, President Donald Trump is on his way to the Middle East, where he has set a high-stake programme, addressing some of the United States’ and the Arab world’s most critical concerns: Gulf security, defeating extremism, reining in Iran and resolving the Arab-Israeli conf

There is no question that in many parts of the world, including the Middle East, vulnerable religious communities are facing threats to their very survival or serious problems of discrimination.In situations such as these, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USC

 During a confusing and unsettling time, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas came to Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump.As has been the case with most issues, Trump has been remarkably unpredictable when addressing the Middle East.During his cam

This week, nearing the end of four years of service as an Obama presidential appointee to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), I felt compelled to issue a public dissent to USCIRF’s 2017 annual report.While the larger part of my dissent dealt with the wa

One thousand five hundred Palestinian prisoners have been on a hunger strike for almost a week now. They are refusing sustenance in an effort to improve the deplorable conditions faced by the nearly 6,500 Palestinians who are currently imprisoned in Israel.On the day before