Arab Center Washington DC

06/08/2026

Ingie Gohar reports on the House’s passing of an Iran War Powers resolution and its rejection of a Lebanon War Powers resolution introduced by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, whom a Republican House member accused of “advocating for terrorists on a daily basis” in shocking remarks later struck from the congressional record; the House Armed Service committee’s approval of the controversial Section 224 of the 2027 NDAA, which would forge intimate cooperation between the US and Israeli defense communities; and reports that the Pentagon has raised to the highest level the Israeli espionage threat against the United States.
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The Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency has raised the counterintelligence threat level for Israel to its highest designation, "critical." The designation stems from heightened concerns that Israel is surveilling top US officials to gather information on internal deliberations regarding the war i...

06/08/2026

As global attention shifts elsewhere, Diana Butto argues that justice for depends on sustained activism, accountability, and collective action.

06/05/2026

📄 Khalil E. Jahshan argues that a renewed Arab joint list could increase Palestinian-Arab representation in and help deny another governing coalition. Its success depends on overcoming party rivalries and translating Arab voters’ overwhelming preference for unity into electoral leverage.
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On May 24, 2026, three Palestinian Arab parties in Israel announced that they would run on a joint list in the parliamentary elections scheduled to be held by October 27, 2026. After months of political maneuvering, arm-twisting, and speculation, three parties—Hadash, Ta’al, and Balad (as they a...

06/04/2026

📄 Josh Paul analyzes Section 224 of this year's National Defense Authorization Act, which would shift - defense ties from military aid to deeper industrial and technological integration. The result would be a harder-to-reverse relationship that could weaken congressional oversight and create new risks for national security.
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For decades, the US-Israel defense relationship has been one of donor and recipient. True, there is operational collaboration in intelligence sharing and counterterrorism (and now, very visibly, in the war against Iran), and the two countries have partnered on a range of defense technology research....

06/04/2026

📄 Nabeel Khoury examines ’s rival authorities, which remain trapped between external patrons, internal corruption, and humanitarian collapse. The PLC and the Houthis govern different Yemens, Khoury argues, but both have subordinated public welfare to political survival.
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The May 28, 2026, death of former president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi marked the end of an era for Yemen. As vice president from 1994-2012, Hadi was often overshadowed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Upon taking over as president following Saleh’s 2012 abdication, Hadi faced a worsening crisis cause...

06/03/2026

📄 Ruhama Bekele examines the smart city projects that are embedding AI-enabled surveillance into daily life while using ethical frameworks to mask weak accountability. The result is a growing architecture of state control that civil society can expose but not easily constrain.
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Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies have expanded states’ capacity to monitor, categorize, and predict human behavior. In the Gulf, states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have unveiled national strategies for embedding AI in citywide infra...

06/03/2026

📄 The -Israeli war on has built on sanctions, poverty, and repression to produce a severe humanitarian crisis. Yara M. Asi discusses the challenges for Iranian civilians, who are today struggling with mass casualties, displacement, damaged health systems, food insecurity, and lasting social devastation.
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For the hundreds of children that attended the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Iran, Saturday, February 28, 2026, probably began like any other day. But on that morning, shortly after the students’ parents dropped them off, the school hurriedly decided to close due to reports that th...

06/03/2026

🗺️ Support in the Senate for blocking arms sales to has increased significantly since 2024. While the latest resolutions failed to pass, 85% of Senate Democrats voted in April 2026 in favor of halting such sales.
View the infographic to learn more about the sharp increase in Senate support for blocking arms sales to Israel 👇

https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/shifting-voting-trends-in-the-us-senate-on-arms-sales-to-israel/

06/03/2026

Experts discuss transitional justice in Syria and assess the significance and limitations of recent prosecutions.

06/01/2026

Khalil E. Jahshan discusses the revival of the Joint Arab List ahead of ’s 2026 elections, exploring efforts to unite Arab parties, boost Arab voter turnout, and challenge Netanyahu’s coalition.