Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl is the recipient of the American Academy of Religion 2020 Martin E. Marty Award. Press release as follows: "Khaled Abou El Fadl, Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor in Islamic Law at the UCLA School of Law and Chair of the Islamic Studies Interdepartmental Program at UCLA, is the recipient of the 2020 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. "In announcing the award, Evan Berry, chair of the AAR’s Committee on the Public Understanding of Religion (CPUR) acknowledged the award “identifies extraordinary, relevant, broad-reaching contributions to the public understanding of religion. We recognize Dr. Abou El Fadl’s influences inside and outside of the academy.” "At the UCLA School of Law, Abou El Fadl teaches International Human Rights, Islamic Jurisprudence, National Security Law, Law and Terrorism, Islam and Human Rights, Political Asylum, and Political Crimes and Legal Systems. The committee cited and commended his intellectual courage, ability to write for non-specialist audiences, longstanding commitment to human rights, and willingness to bring academic expertise to bear on the complex religious and political dynamics that have characterized the post-9/11 era." "The AAR Marty Award celebrates individuals whose work has a relevance and eloquence that speaks, not just to scholars, but more broadly to other publics as well. Founded in 1909, the AAR is the world’s largest association of religion scholars with some 8,000 members in North America and abroad. The AAR’s mission is to foster excellence in the academic study of religion and enhance the public understanding of religion."
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl (UCLA and Usuli Institute) Receives American Academy of Religion (AAR)'s Martin E Marty Award (December 7 2020)
Thursday, December 10, 2020
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Akbar Shahid Ahmed: "Trump Is Rushing Through His Biggest, Most Dangerous Arms Deal. Congress Could Stop It." (11/20/20)
President Donald Trump wants to spend the final weeks of his presidency transferring America’s most advanced fighter jet, a set of powerful armed drones and thousands of bombs and missiles to a Middle Eastern dictatorship that is deeply implicated in multiple civil wars and aggressively represses its own population.
A growing group of lawmakers and activists is mobilizing to stop him.
Trump plans to wrap up a $23 billion weapons sale to the United Arab Emirates by the middle of December. It would put an exclamation point on a presidency that has focused more on arms deals than any since President Dwight Eisenhower first warned of the political power of the military-industrial complex.
Before that happens, critics of the deal want both houses of Congress to pass resolutions disapproving of the transfer.
Their hope is that sending such a message in a bipartisan way, which would have to be the case for the bills to clear both the Democratic House and the GOP-held Senate, would pressure Trump to respect lawmakers’ reservations about how the belligerent UAE might use the weapons ― or would at least motivate President-elect Joe Biden to halt the transfers once he takes office in January.
On Wednesday, Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) joined Democratic foreign policy heavyweights Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.) and Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) in sponsoring four resolutions of disapproval for the arms sales. Now those lawmakers and a coalition of influential activists from humanitarian, anti-war and human rights groups will spend the weeks ahead convincing Congress to support the legislation and pushing leadership in the two chambers to bring it to a vote, starting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
For a number of reasons, the activists face an uphill battle. Senators will not reconvene until Nov. 30 and they are then only present and able to consider motions like these resolutions for a handful of days in December. It’s unclear exactly when the lawmakers’ statutory right to block the arms deals expires, but aides say that point should be on or around Dec. 10. In that same period, Congress will be considering possible additional coronavirus relief and hammering out a bargain to keep the government open ahead of a funding deadline of Dec. 11.
The UAE also has a positive reputation in Washington, bolstered by its suave ambassador, Yousef Al Otaiba, and his large lobbying operation. Both representatives of the Emirates and Trump administration proponents of the deals are likely to emphasize how they align on two priorities that are broadly shared across Capitol Hill: supporting Israel and countering Iran.
Many members of Congress, among others, perceive the arms sales as a gift to the Arab nation for its agreement earlier this year to normalize relations with Israel. Al Otaiba is expected to play on Americans’ anxieties about Tehran and their sense that his country is uniquely moderate and pro-Western among Muslim-majority nations to win support for the deal.
Still, a dozen well-informed observers told HuffPost they are increasingly confident that a rare combination of progressives, hawks and more on Capitol Hill will send a big signal about changing U.S. foreign policy to prioritize human rights and give less credence to bellicose, often unreliable dictators abroad.
“I expect quite a fight in Congress… a short and fierce fight,” said Philippe Nassif of Amnesty International, one of the groups opposing the sale.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-arms-deal-uae_n_5fb6e9b3c5b618e45b468a37
Akbar Shahid Ahmed: "Major Jewish Group Joins Fight Against Trump’s Massive Middle East Weapons Sale" (12/6/20)
J Street, a prominent Jewish American organization working on Middle East issues, is joining the growing push to stop President Donald Trump from sending $23 billion in military arms and equipment to the United Arab Emirates. The group’s opposition, which has not been previously reported, bolsters the effort to block the deal through a congressional vote later this week.
“We oppose this arms sale and urge Senators to vote for the bipartisan resolutions rejecting it introduced by Senators [Bob] Menendez, Chris Murphy and [Rand] Paul,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami told HuffPost in an email. “The sale of a massive quantity of such destructive weapons systems to the UAE would only further fuel an escalating arms race in a region already suffering from destabilizing wars that endanger civilians and undermine U.S. interests.”
Menendez (D-N.J.), Murphy (D-Conn.), Paul (R-Ky.) and other opponents of Trump’s dangerous deal with the UAE could benefit from the added support. Congress has 30 days from when the State Department notified it of the weapons transfer to vote to block the sale. The Senate is expected to vote on resolutions opposing the arms deal on Dec. 10 or 11, just within that 30-day window. Those resolutions will need support from all Democrats and a handful of Republican senators to pass. If they do, the Democratic-led House is all but guaranteed to immediately take them up and pass them as well.
While Trump is almost certain to then veto the legislation ― as he has previously done to defend UAE ally Saudi Arabia ― votes against the deal would be a major rebuke of the UAE government’s policies and would send a message to President-elect Joe Biden, who could halt the weapons shipments.
J Street’s decision, in particular, to oppose the deal is highly significant because of the group’s status as a pro-Israel voice that’s respected by progressives, mainstream politicians and even some hawkish figures.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/uae-arms-sale-israel-j-street_n_5fcabc06c5b619bc4c32fd2f
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