As'ad AbuKhalil

As'ad AbuKhalil
250px As'ad AbuKhalil
Born	As'ad AbuKhalil (1960-03-16) March 16, 1960 Tyre, Lebanon
Residence	Modesto, California, USA
Nationality	Lebanese-American
Other names	"Angry Arab"
Occupation	Professor of political science
Employer	California State University, Stanislaus
Website	http://angryarab.blogspot.com/

As'ad AbuKhalil (Arabic: أسعد أبو خليل) (born March 16, 1960) is a Lebanese-American professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus.

AbuKhalil is the author of Historical Dictionary of Lebanon (1998), Bin Laden, Islam & America's New "War on Terrorism" (2002), and The Battle for Saudi Arabia (2004). He maintains a blog, The Angry Arab News Service.

Biography

AbuKhalil was born in Tyre, Lebanon, and grew up in Beirut. He received his B.A. and M.A. in political science from the American University of Beirut, and a Ph.D. in comparative government from Georgetown University.

AbuKhalil is a professor at California State University, Stanislaus and was briefly a visiting professor at UC Berkeley. In addition, he has taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, California State University Stanislaus, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College.

Political views

AbuKhalil describes himself as "a former Marxist-Leninist, now an anarchist", a feminist, and an "atheist secularist".

He is an opponent of the Iraq War. He is critical of United States foreign policy, of Iran, Saudi Arabia, of both Fatah and Hamas, and of all rival factions in Lebanon including the Shia Hezbollah.

Israel/Palestine

He is vocally pro-Palestinian, describes himself as an anti-Zionist, supports a secular Palestinian state. He is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and says that the real aim of BDS should be to bring down the state of Israel, stating that "Justice and freedom for the Palestinians are incompatible with the existence of the state of Israel". Some opponents to BDS, among them Prime Minister of Israel Netanyahu, have cited a part from AbuKhalil's article published in Al-Akhbar where he wrote: "Finkelstein rightly asks whether the real aim of BDS is to bring down the state of Israel. Here, I agree with him that it is. That should be stated as an unambiguous goal. There should not be any equivocation on the subject" in their campaigns against the movement. In response, Abu Khalil wrote on his personal blog that it represented his personal position of what the goals of BDS should be, and that it was being purposefully distorted to stigmatize the movement.

He is highly critical of the influence of the Israel lobby in the United States. In a televised debate which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 23, 2010 (as translated by MEMRI), AbuKhalil stated that US President Barack Obama "has given free rein to the Zionist lobby to do whatever it likes, both in terms of foreign policy and domestic policy." AbuKhalil also stated that "The Zionists want to muzzle us, so that we won't oppose the wars, violence, or hatred of Israel." In the same interview, Abukhalil sharply criticized MEMRI, stating that it is "a rude, propaganda-spreading organization... which was established by a former Israeli intelligence official." (alluding to MEMRI founder, Yigal Carmon).

Lebanon

In an interview on New TV on January 13, 2010, AbuKhalil stated that "Lebanese nationalism – just like Zionism – was founded on racism and contempt for others – whether for Lebanese of other sects or for other Arabs...The Lebanese people, with all its sects, has never proven that it wants, or is capable of, true coexistence. Coexistence in Lebanon is coexistence in blood, conflict, and civil strife."

News media

In an interview which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on October 25, 2011 (as translated by MEMRI), AbuKhalil accused the network of bias and accuses it of giving preferential treatment of "American Propaganda Officials."

The Angry Arab News Service

File:As'ad AbuKhalil1.JPG

As'ad AbuKhalil addressing students in the University of Manchester

AbuKhalil's blog, the Angry Arab News Service, was launched in September 2003. The name of the blog is taken from a phrase used by a TV producer to describe AbuKhalil's perspective.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the blog is "known for its sarcastic but knowledgeable commentary", and "stands out for its sense of humor in the dour left-wing landscape." Ken Silverstein writes that the blog often becomes "a furious stream of consciousness that lacks paragraph breaks or other typographic niceties" (though AbuKhalil is nevertheless "a terrific writer and an insightful political analyst").

Commenting on his own coverage of the Syrian civil war, journalist Glenn Greenwald said "I've often cited As'ad AbuKhalil as a great source on all matters Middle East and - without adopting all or even most of what he has said - he covers Syria almost every day and does it very well."

Books

• Historical Dictionary of Lebanon (1998), ISBN 978-0-8108-3395-1
• Bin Laden, Islam & America's New "War on Terrorism" (2002), ISBN 978-1-58322-492-2
• The Battle For Saudi Arabia: Royalty, Fundamentalism, and Global Power (2004), ISBN 978-1-58322-610-0

External links

• The Angry Arab News Service
• Interview in Ceasefire Magazine
• Profile in the Los Angeles Times
• Profile in Harper's by Ken Silverstein
• Debate with Irshad Manji, Muslim feminist/reformist/Zionist, on the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoon controversy
• Interview on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman on the July 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon – 26:30 into the broadcast
• Interview on Electronic Intifada
• Slideshow on Flickr
• As'ad Abu Khalil - The United States and the Arab Revolt, Feb. 25, 2012, presentation at conference "The Arab Spring: A Year that Changed the World", held at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.