Founder & Editor
Comedian | Professor | Writer
Amer Zahr
amer@amerzahr.com
America's Funniest
(& Smartest) Arab
Comedian | Professor | Writer
Amer Zahr
amer@amerzahr.com
America's Funniest
(& Smartest) Arab
Posts by Amer Zahr
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, May 15, 2019 | (4 Comments)
You have to feel bad for the Israelis. They’ve tried everything to get rid of us. But we just ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, March 7, 2019 | (5 Comments)
Recent events in America have compelled me to once again make something clear. Palestinians don’t hate Jews. I can ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, February 14, 2019 | (9 Comments)
Dear sister Ilhan, As a Palestinian, I can tell you that we have seen this movie before. You stand for ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, October 30, 2018 | (No comments)
This past weekend, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Robert Bowers calmly walked into the Tree of Life ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, April 8, 2018 | (18 Comments)
It’s been more than a week now of Israel murdering Palestinians in Gaza. To be clear, their deaths were ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, March 1, 2018 | (20 Comments)
Before I get into this amateur movie review of “Black Panther,” and before I get into trouble, let me ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, January 18, 2018 | (11 Comments)
It’s quite popular these days to declare that Donald Trump’s racist views on immigration are “un-American.” He only wants ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, December 8, 2017 | (9 Comments)
It doesn’t matter where anyone builds their diplomatic palaces. Jerusalem still speaks Arabic. I’ve heard her. Hundreds of restaurants ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, February 16, 2017 | (2 Comments)
The events of the past couple months circulating around the Palestine/Israel saga have been even more intriguing than usual. From ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, February 8, 2017 | (3 Comments)
It is quite easy to identify the Islamophobia of Donald Trump and many on the right. The “Muslim Ban,” ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, November 11, 2016 | (6 Comments)
Donald Trump won. I’m not here to tell you that Bernie would have beaten him, or that Hillary won ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, July 13, 2016 | (No comments)
As an Arab American surrogate for Bernie Sanders, there’s been a lot to think about since yesterday’s endorsement of ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, June 10, 2016 | (3 Comments)
I was an Arab-Muslim-Palestinian-Christian-American kid growing up in a quiet, all-white, insulated suburb of Philadelphia. I always knew I ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, April 30, 2016 | (3 Comments)
Five days ago, the Palestinian people received a gift from the people of South Africa. Last Tuesday, a massive ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, April 18, 2016 | (1 Comment)
In 2008, we said, “This is the most important presidential election in a lifetime.” We were wrong. In my ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, March 28, 2016 | (3 Comments)
There is absolutely no shortage of drama in being a Palestinian. No matter where one lives, a Palestinian experiences ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, March 11, 2016 | (1 Comment)
Many of us read the now quite-widely circulated article yesterday in The Daily Beast attacking Bernie Sanders for being ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, February 22, 2016 | (7 Comments)
Many of us read Professor Steven Salaita’s hard-hitting oped in Salon ten days ago, where he declared, quite loudly ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, February 12, 2016 | (34 Comments)
Dear Beyonce, I watched your Super Bowl performance last Sunday. I heard your words. I was excited. Ecstatic. Encouraged. ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, January 17, 2016 | (4 Comments)
In the 1988 American presidential election, 60% of white voters cast their ballots for Republican candidate George H.W. Bush. ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, December 25, 2015 | (12 Comments)
We Palestinians see ourselves in the shadow of Jesus. Two thousand years ago, Palestinians were the first followers of ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, December 11, 2015 | (6 Comments)
Theories abound as to why Donald Trump has enjoyed such a meteoric political rise. Is it because he appeals to working-class ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, November 27, 2015 | (2 Comments)
He was brash. Reckless. Audacious. Walking right in front of police officers like he had nothing to fear. It ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, November 19, 2015 | (5 Comments)
The inscription on the Statue of Liberty reads: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses, yearning to ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, October 28, 2015 | (2 Comments)
Late last week, WXYZ Detroit, the local ABC news affiliate here, told us about an eye-catching billboard in the ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, October 22, 2015 | (4 Comments)
There were warning signs. We all knew he was a little off, but I never thought it would get ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, September 22, 2015 | (6 Comments)
Dear President Obama, I’m just like you. Sure, I’m an Arab Palestinian, and you’re a white-Anglo-Saxon-black-Kenyan. But we’re both ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, September 15, 2015 | (7 Comments)
The generation of our fathers and mothers preserved and protected the one thing Israel has tried for 70 years ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, September 1, 2015 | (8 Comments)
Israel, things are not going well for you. It’s been 67 years. You’ve tried everything. And we’re still here. ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, August 17, 2015 | (8 Comments)
I am in Ramallah. Restaurants with creative menus and talented chefs abound. You can run into tiny spots with ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, July 28, 2015 | (6 Comments)
I’m an immigrant, sort of. I was born in Jordan in 1977. My mother came to America from her ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, July 17, 2015 | (5 Comments)
Dear Senator Graham, What happened yesterday in Chattanooga was tragic. Everyone should agree about that. It should be assumed. ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, July 10, 2015 | (5 Comments)
Something funny happened on the internet this week. On Tuesday, Snapchat featured Tel Aviv in a 24-hour “live story.” ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, June 21, 2015 | (3 Comments)
ISIS a fringe group that believes it is saving the soul of the Islamic world. It believes that its ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, June 18, 2015 | (3 Comments)
What happened last night in Charleston triggered a range of emotions. President Obama said he felt “heartache,” “sadness,” and ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, June 3, 2015 | (6 Comments)
I have just returned from a two-week trip to Palestine. I am quite sorry that I was not very ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, May 15, 2015 | (4 Comments)
Today is Israeli Independence Day. We Palestinians call it “Nakba Day.” “Nakba” translates from Arabic into English as “catastrophe.” ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, May 8, 2015 | (12 Comments)
Dear Pam, I’ve been watching you. Now, I don’t mean that I’ve been “watching” you in the same way ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, May 1, 2015 | (3 Comments)
Sidi Bouzid is a modest city of about 120,000 in central Tunisia. Mohamed Bouazizi was a fruit vendor on ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, April 10, 2015 | (10 Comments)
I’m noticing something going on in my country. America is under attack. This week, at the University of Michigan ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, April 1, 2015 | (9 Comments)
The media has damaged me. I must confess something. I was watching CNN last week when the first reports ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, March 24, 2015 | (33 Comments)
Last week, in upstate New York, many residents of a small town got all bent out of shape. Pine ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, March 19, 2015 | (14 Comments)
Imagine this. A ninth-grader sits in school every day. He has no disciplinary problems. He is the only black ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, March 12, 2015 | (13 Comments)
This past Monday night, I participated in a panel debate at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield, Michigan, ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, February 28, 2015 | (17 Comments)
We spend a lot of our time talking about immigrants, minorities, and foreigners. But we almost never talk about ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, February 14, 2015 | (10 Comments)
After Tuesday’s events in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, some are saying that the triple murder of Deah Barakat, Yusor ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, February 11, 2015 | (11 Comments)
The killing of young, promising college students would normally be a pretty big story. Shootings on or near campuses ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, January 31, 2015 | (4 Comments)
By most accounts, American Sniper depicts its Arab Iraqi subjects in a simplistic and shallow fashion. No one has ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, January 24, 2015 | (7 Comments)
The prime minister of Israel is coming to visit us. He’s not coming to meet with President Obama. He’s ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, January 16, 2015 | (13 Comments)
Terrorism. Islamic terrorism. Islamism. Jihadism. ISIS. Al-Qaeda. AQAP. Muhammad. Or just Islam. It is the top story in the ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, January 9, 2015 | (38 Comments)
I refuse to condemn. I refuse to condemn ISIS. I refuse to condemn Paris. I refuse to condemn 9/11. ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, December 26, 2014 | (23 Comments)
Two weeks ago, I was in Jerusalem. I stayed in the Jerusalem Hotel, one block from the largest entrance ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, October 9, 2014 | (5 Comments)
The events of the past couple weeks have confirmed something we Arabs and Muslims have known for some time: ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, September 4, 2014 | (6 Comments)
We all remember Hans Christian Andersen’s short tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” the story about two weavers who promise ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, August 28, 2014 | (9 Comments)
In 2008, as an Arab American and person of color, I voted for Barack Obama. I didn’t vote for ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, August 17, 2014 | (6 Comments)
It is hard for me to see Ferguson through anything other than Palestinian eyes. The killing of 18-year-old Michael ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, August 6, 2014 | (36 Comments)
For many, following all the ins and outs of the Israeli-Palestinian saga can be confusing. Hamas did that, the ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, August 2, 2014 | (7 Comments)
If you’ve been observing, following, and analyzing Israel, especially in its current offensive in Gaza, you might be asking ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, July 23, 2014 | (36 Comments)
Dear Jon, I, like many Americans, watch you just about every day. You’re welcome. I’m not sure if you ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, July 20, 2014 | (4 Comments)
Israel, Don’t you see what is going on? I won. It’s over. There are protests around the world, all ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, July 19, 2014 | (11 Comments)
Over the past couple of weeks, many of us Palestinians have been incessantly writing, posting, tweeting, and commenting about ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, July 15, 2014 | (8 Comments)
No one else can understand a Palestinian’s relationship to Israel, and I wouldn’t expect as much. She consumes us, ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, July 9, 2014 | (2 Comments)
Over the past week, the American press has latched on to the story of Tariq Khdeir, the 15-year-old Palestinian ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, June 27, 2014 | (25 Comments)
I watched “Tyrant” on FX the other night. I had to. Ever since I saw the preview, I knew ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, June 18, 2014 | (10 Comments)
An Arab should pick his or her favorite World Cup team carefully. But before I get into that, a ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, June 11, 2014 | (5 Comments)
Someone needs to give Bill O’Reilly a hug. And that someone should be a Muslim. In 2010, Bill O’Reilly ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, June 4, 2014 | (122 Comments)
Every now and then, I come across Arab Americans who tell me, “Why are you hung up on this ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, May 27, 2014 | (5 Comments)
Pope Francis recently concluded his visit to the Holy Land. Now, I’m not a religious guy, but it doesn’t ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, May 14, 2014 | (14 Comments)
I have been saying for a fairly long time that we Arabs are not white, despite both our lack ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, April 29, 2014 | (209 Comments)
Arabic translation below… ????? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ?????????? Dear George, Congratulations. Mabrook. You’re marrying Amal Alamuddin, an international ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, April 20, 2014 | (16 Comments)
I’m not a religious guy. I might talk about Jesus in a different way that priests, ministers, and popes ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, April 18, 2014 | (47 Comments)
Before I moved to Ann Arbor in 1995, I had never met a Chaldean. Ok, in truth, I had ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, April 8, 2014 | (3 Comments)
Last week’s shooting at Fort Hood was horrific. Army Specialist Ivan Lopez murdered 3, wounded 16, and then he ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, March 29, 2014 | (4 Comments)
The current negotiations between Israel and us Palestinians are essentially over. The whole episode was probably never going to ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, March 20, 2014 | (7 Comments)
This week, ABC Family picked up a pilot episode of “Alice in Arabia.” ABC Family belongs to the family ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, March 7, 2014 | (7 Comments)
We Arab Americans are in the midst of a civil rights movement. Profiling and discrimination are rampant. We are ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, February 23, 2014 | (4 Comments)
Last week, the Palestinian right of return made a special news appearance. For some time, the issue has been ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, February 16, 2014 | (8 Comments)
Israel, I know how you feel. It’s been a tough year. And it’s only just started. Your world seems ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, February 3, 2014 | (8 Comments)
Thank God for DVR. Otherwise, I might have thought I had hallucinated when I saw not one, but two ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, January 14, 2014 | (6 Comments)
It is time. It is time to talk about the failure of Israel. I am not speaking of a ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, December 15, 2013 | (11 Comments)
This past week, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly and her guests were discussing an article recently published on Slate.com ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, December 8, 2013 | (3 Comments)
I wasn’t going to write anything in the wake of the death of Nelson Mandela. I thought it would ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, November 18, 2013 | (31 Comments)
A couple of weeks ago, it might have been cute if I had shown you the above array of ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, November 7, 2013 | (18 Comments)
Yesterday, a very interesting e-mail arrived in my inbox. ADC (the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee) informed me that they ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, November 4, 2013 | (5 Comments)
Okay, listen up all you Muslims. Stop complaining. No more grumbling. Enough with the whining. The shooting at Los ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, October 30, 2013 | (4 Comments)
Last weekend, college students from around the country converged on Stanford University for a conference of the Students for ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, October 24, 2013 | (25 Comments)
I’ve been on some Arab dating sites (OK, all of them), and I’ve noticed while I’ve messaged many women, ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, October 15, 2013 | (5 Comments)
Now, as I’ve said before, I watch the news all the time. It’s a social activity. And watching this ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, October 2, 2013 | (3 Comments)
It’s hard to describe what it felt like listening to Benjamin Netanyahu speak yesterday at the United Nations. Many ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, September 20, 2013 | (12 Comments)
At first glance, it may have seemed that we Arabs were not that present in the news this week. ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, September 16, 2013 | (37 Comments)
Something amazing happened on CNN last night. Palestinians were portrayed as human beings. In his show “Parts Unknown,” Anthony ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, September 13, 2013 | (4 Comments)
It’s been 20 years since Oslo. We Palestinians might not be good at everything, but we are strangely talented ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, September 8, 2013 | (7 Comments)
Dear President Obama, My views about the current situation in Syria are borne out of my experience and existence ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, August 29, 2013 | (2 Comments)
In “The Godfather,” we watch Michael Corleone go from idealistic, youthful, and ethical to violent, depraved, and dishonest. It ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, August 20, 2013 | (3 Comments)
So they tell us the Palestinians and Israelis are meeting in Jerusalem to discuss peace. There might be some ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, August 8, 2013 | (2 Comments)
Ramadan is over. Muslims can re-join American society in breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as opposed to dinner, late dinner, ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, July 29, 2013 | (5 Comments)
Last week, President Obama hosted an Iftar at the White House. “Iftar” is the nightly breaking of the fast ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, July 19, 2013 | (7 Comments)
This week, there has been much talk about John Kerry’s efforts to reignite the stalled peace process between the ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, July 16, 2013 | (6 Comments)
Palestinian-Americans are split on a fundamental American issue: football. Many of those from my father’s generation of immigrants are ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, July 8, 2013 | (1 Comment)
Ramadan, in part, is meant to be a reminder to all Muslims as to how lucky they are to ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, July 4, 2013 | (10 Comments)
(This post has been slightly revised from July 4, 2012, and re-posted now) I love America, but sometimes it’s ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, June 28, 2013 | (2 Comments)
The 2010 United States Census Form sent me on a very interesting journey. After I told the government my ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, June 12, 2013 | (2 Comments)
Things keep happening, and our leaders keep saying nothing. The Arab International Festival event has been a staple in ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, May 15, 2013 | (13 Comments)
Well, it’s that time of year. It’s the day when we Palestinians commemorate the establishment of the state of ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, May 10, 2013 | (7 Comments)
A couple weeks ago, I performed at the invitation of the Arab Student Association at the University of Iowa. ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, April 19, 2013 | (13 Comments)
I was planning on having a lazy Friday watching funny YouTube videos, reading my Facebook News Feed, and catching ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, April 10, 2013 | (14 Comments)
Have you lost your mind? Seriously, when we first met, I thought you were the one I had been ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, March 23, 2013 | (33 Comments)
Mr. President, I very closely followed your trip to Israel this week, and I have to say, you confused ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, March 13, 2013 | (58 Comments)
Mr. President, I hear you are traveling to Israel next week. As a concerned patriotic American citizen of Palestinian ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, March 4, 2013 | (9 Comments)
Being a Palestinian is relentless. It’s action-packed, hectic, and lively. It’s frantic, frenzied, and chaotic. It’s frenetic, feverish, and ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, February 19, 2013 | (3 Comments)
On Friday night, live on national TV, Bill Maher said: “Based on every statement I’ve heard from every Republican ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, February 14, 2013 | (5 Comments)
Being an Arab means knowing certain things. We know we created algebra, we know we have to get to ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, January 29, 2013 | (2 Comments)
This past Sunday, my post here on The Civil Arab discussed the ongoing property tax dispute between HYPE Athletics ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, January 27, 2013 | (No comments)
Everyone knows that Dearborn, Michigan is the center of Arab-America. It contains the largest concentration of Arabs anywhere in ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, January 20, 2013 | (2 Comments)
Seriously, what would Israel do without us? Israelis are struggling with their identity, with their future. Mainly they’re asking ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, November 19, 2012 | (14 Comments)
How do I explain who we are? We wake up every morning with a hole in our hearts, for ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, November 5, 2012 | (10 Comments)
Four years ago, I voted for Barack Obama. And I’m doing it again tomorrow. Why? Well, first of all, ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, October 26, 2012 | (19 Comments)
Where is Bill O’Reilly when you need him? This week, Israeli newspaper Haaretz published a survey that contained some ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, October 21, 2012 | (7 Comments)
Mitt Romney is clearly a very nice white male. But he made some big news this week. During the ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, October 13, 2012 | (4 Comments)
The life of a Palestinian can be pretty depressing. We have to deal with dispossession and the refugee life. ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, September 29, 2012 | (11 Comments)
This week, Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech in front of the General Assembly of the United Nations. As a ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, September 18, 2012 | (2 Comments)
Well, America, welcome to democracy in the Arab World. This is what it looks like. Breaking News: Arabs are ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, September 13, 2012 | (48 Comments)
Some idiot made a film depicting an image of the prophet Muhammad. So what? He even called the Quran ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, August 6, 2012 | (8 Comments)
Sunday’s attack on a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin was horrific. The attacker killed six worshippers and turned ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, August 2, 2012 | (1 Comment)
From +972Mag, where this appears as an op-ed analysis: Look, as a Palestinian, I’m used to hearing racist epithets ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, July 20, 2012 | (No comments)
Michelle Bachmann has a funny way of saying “Happy Ramadan.” Last week, the Minnesota congresswoman disclosed that she and ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, May 15, 2012 | (7 Comments)
It’s May 15 again, and we are still here. We haven’t gone anywhere. Though, if you’ve been watching the ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, April 28, 2012 | (4 Comments)
A weird thing happened last week. A major American media outlet told the truth about the Israeli occupation of ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, March 28, 2012 | (9 Comments)
I’m not saying Israel has anything to hide, but this doesn’t look good. In the past few days, Israel ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, March 11, 2012 | (7 Comments)
I’m a Palestinian, so I watch the news all the time. And I’ve been intensely watching for the past ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, February 28, 2012 | (No comments)
Today, my state of Michigan is holding its Republican presidential primary. Both frontrunners have gotten into hot water, Mitt ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, February 20, 2012 | (1 Comment)
We have recently learned that the New York Police Department has been monitoring Muslim students throughout the northeastern United ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, February 10, 2012 | (18 Comments)
I love watching reality TV. Whether it’s “Cupcake Wars,” “Storage Wars,” or “Shipping Wars,” I just can’t get enough. And ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, February 4, 2012 | (7 Comments)
We don’t get to choose our moms, so I consider myself pretty lucky. She has been unconditionally loving and ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, January 21, 2012 | (12 Comments)
I’ve always been prone to lose things. It’s probably because I enjoyed a fairly privileged upbringing. I grew up ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, January 13, 2012 | (5 Comments)
About a month ago, I attended the annual banquet of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) in Dearborn, Michigan. Over ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, January 4, 2012 | (7 Comments)
2011 was a busy year for Arabs. According to my calculations, we were on CNN at least once every ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, December 31, 2011 | (4 Comments)
This week, I experienced a kind of confusing racism I never could have imagined. Since I am proud of ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, December 27, 2011 | (6 Comments)
Well, another Christmas has come and gone. To Palestinians, this holiday is really special. Jesus was one of us. ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, December 17, 2011 | (7 Comments)
The Muslims on TLC’s “All American Muslims aren’t evil enough. That’s why home-improvement giant Lowe’s pulled its ads from ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, December 11, 2011 | (26 Comments)
So I was watching the news on Friday (as I always do… remember, CNN is a social activity for ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, December 2, 2011 | (13 Comments)
Shafeeq Zahr was born in Nazareth around 1912. He was smart, funny, and dashingly good-looking. He was a Palestinian, ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, November 23, 2011 | (6 Comments)
Dear Barack, We Arabs and Muslims in this country were so excited when you won in 2008. We all ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, November 14, 2011 | (4 Comments)
Barack Obama must be wondering how, in the midst of a recession, high unemployment, and little hope, he got ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, November 7, 2011 | (6 Comments)
What a crazy couple months. We Arabs just cannot get out of the news. Whether it’s Qaddafi, Palestine, Syria, ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, September 20, 2011 | (5 Comments)
Sometime this week, Mahmoud Abbas will be asking the United Nations Security Council for full recognition for the State ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, September 11, 2011 | (9 Comments)
On September 11, 2001, I was 24 years old. I was a graduate student at the University of Michigan ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, September 2, 2011 | (1 Comment)
Ramadan can cause a lot of confusion throughout this country. For the past 30 days, Americans have been wondering ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, August 25, 2011 | (4 Comments)
For us Arabs, this month has definitely not been short of news. Libya is in the middle of a ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, August 13, 2011 | (3 Comments)
“There’s a little bit of Israel in all of us… Come find the Israel in you.” That’s what I ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, August 2, 2011 | (8 Comments)
Muslims are entering the holy month of Ramadan, a time of fasting, reflection, and sleeping in whenever possible. As ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Saturday, July 16, 2011 | (23 Comments)
Last weekend, I was lucky enough to perform at the annual convention of the American Federation of Ramallah Palestine ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, June 20, 2011 | (3 Comments)
On June 8, I wrote a column entitled “The Arab Spring & Big, Bad, Scary Muslims” about the depiction ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, June 8, 2011 | (8 Comments)
Yes, that was the cover of the most recent edition of The Atlantic, one of America’s foremost magazines on ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, June 1, 2011 | (3 Comments)
The Israeli-Palestinian marriage is reaching a monumental tipping point. With a right-wing Israeli government that has basically told the ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, May 24, 2011 | (3 Comments)
As a Palestinian-American, I have spent the last week glued to my television set. The Palestinian-Israeli saga has been ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, May 16, 2011 | (7 Comments)
It’s May 15. Israeli Independence Day. Nakba Day. Israelis “celebrate” this day. We Palestinians “commemorate” it. “Celebrate” and “commemorate” ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, May 13, 2011 | (3 Comments)
A few weeks ago, I returned from a month-long trip in Palestine, where I performed some comedy shows, ate ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, May 2, 2011 | (5 Comments)
Osama bin Laden is gone… finally. His death will save lives. It will also change lives around the world. ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, April 22, 2011 | (3 Comments)
Today, Pastor Terry Jones of Florida tried to burn a Quran in Dearborn, Michigan. Dearborn is home to the ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Wednesday, January 19, 2011 | (2 Comments)
It was two years ago that Israel was completing its invasion into Gaza. Over 1400 Palestinians were killed, over ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, January 3, 2011 | (No comments)
One of the perils in writing about the Palestine/Israel question is that one can sometimes be misunderstood. There are ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, December 27, 2010 | (5 Comments)
For Palestinians, Christmas is very special. We’re related to Jesus. My family is from Nazareth, and I’m pretty sure ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Friday, December 10, 2010 | (9 Comments)
Helen, don’t you know that you can’t say the Jews should get the hell out of Palestine? Don’t you ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, November 25, 2010 | (8 Comments)
As an Arab-American, Thanksgiving is an especially wonderful holiday. I have even more things to be thankful for than ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, October 4, 2010 | (10 Comments)
When Aladdin came out, I was a teenager. I thought it was awesome. Finally, Disney made a movie about ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, September 20, 2010 | (5 Comments)
There are a few things I know about Barack Obama. I know that he was born in Hawaii. I ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Tuesday, June 1, 2010 | (2 Comments)
Israel attacked (not surrounded, not redirected… attacked) a ship bringing supplies to Gaza, which has been blockaded by Israel ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, May 17, 2010 | (3 Comments)
Dear Rima, I’d like to give you my number, but that would be way too forward and Arab of ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, May 9, 2010 | (2 Comments)
Invariably, a crazy Muslim or Arab does something crazy every now and then. We have our share of crazies ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Sunday, April 11, 2010 | (1 Comment)
On the 2010 Census form, as on almost every other form that asks one to identify his race, there ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Monday, March 15, 2010 | (No comments)
Something funny is happening in Israel. There’s trouble in paradise. Last week, on March 10, CNN ran a front-page ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, February 18, 2010 | (2 Comments)
Less than a week ago, I was performing at a private party for about 75 Arab-Americans in the suburbs ... (Continue reading)
Amer Zahr | Thursday, November 19, 2009 | (2 Comments)
Jon, I’ve been watching you First, thank you for airing the interview you conducted with Mustafa Barghouti and Anna ... (Continue reading)