Dear Friend,

We're nearing the end of the year and there is so much I want to share with you. A piece of me, and I know a piece of you, has been lost.

Alongside you, AAI is bearing witness to and speaking out about what most of our elected officials and media are ignoring. Palestinians are suffering genocide. While you and I, together with our allies, do all we can to save lives, the White House and too many in Congress are failing all of us.

We know the Palestinians who have been killed are so much more than numbers. They were teachers, medics, journalists, entrepreneurs, students, scientists, parents, artists, khalos and khaltos, toddlers and babies. They had so much to offer the world, but they were denied the opportunity to deliver on that promise, and humanity is worse for it.

This pain is even more acute because no end is in sight even though most Americans join us in our call to save lives.

I want you to know you are not alone. Arab Americans are on the frontlines of so many fights right now and we are so proud to be with you in those fights. Whether it is the fight for the recognition of Palestinian rights and humanity, the fight for a ceasefire, the fight for peace security and democracy in Lebanon, Syria and across the Arab world, the fight against discrimination, bigotry, and hate crimes, or the fight for free speech – AAI stands with you and for you.

I’ve said it before and it’s even more true today. Our small, committed staff is outperforming the times in which we find ourselves. AAI’s work is nonstop but, together with you, we are a force. On all fronts, Palestine, Lebanon, the MENA category, voting rights, free speech, and hate crimes, Arab American concerns are heard because of you and your support.

While we are unsure of what 2024 will bring, the leadership role AAI holds in key policy areas makes us ready for the fight. What we do know about 2024 is that there will be national elections and mis and disinformation about our community and our concerns. But, with your continued support, AAI can make the type of impact I know you want to see.

As a longtime AAI supporter, you know that AAI has been funding most of our work through foundations and grant programs. But, for the issues deeply ingrained in my heart and yours, like Palestine, Lebanon, free speech, and privacy, AAI is not receiving outside support. That is why we need your continued support. I know for certain that AAI must raise $400,000 to be able to fight the way you want us to in 2024.

Over 40 years, our record together has fostered an Arab American community commitment to service. Because of your support of this value of service, Arab Americans continue to win mayoral races, city council races, school board races, statehouse races, congressional races, and they serve as leaders in every single professional field. You made this possible.

With you, we’ve achieved so much together but ugly barriers to our full participation still exist. These include the Palestine exception to free speech, bigotry and hate, profiling, and voter suppression. We want to share with you some of the ways our AAI team has tackled these barriers, and how, with your continued support, we will take the fight into 2024.

Our decades-long advocacy to secure a Middle East and North African (MENA) ethnic category on the census is in high gear and we will make it happen! At the same time, we are fighting for data equity, making sure critical data about our community is available for health research and delivery, education, and so much more. This highly technical work will have an impact for generations, and AAI is proud to be the trusted policy source and lead on this issue!

As we’ve shared before, AAI plays an outsized leadership role in combating the hate crime crisis. AAI’s research and reporting has made AAI a go-to source for policy and data analysis. So much, that AAI Executive Director Maya Berry serves as the co-chair of the Hate Crimes Task Force at the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human rights, making a difference for Arab Americans and all communities. From the passage of the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act to working with officials in support of its implementation, our anti-hate and bias work is critical—and clearly much-needed in the current backlash we are experiencing. And we have big plans for 2024 as we update our state-based research to publish a new hate crime report.

In 2023, our community faced important races in Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio putting our Yalla Vote program in gear. As a premier partner of National Voter Registration Day and an Election Protection partner, AAI made a critical difference in protecting the right to vote and our democracy. Our bilingual Arabic/English Yalla Vote Election Protection Hotline helped voters cast their ballots by answering their questions related to IDs, polling places, and election deadlines.

Finally, an issue that remains at the heart of our community – Palestinian human rights. AAI led efforts opposing Israel’s campaign to join the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP) while working to raise awareness regarding Israel’s new, even more discriminatory, COGAT rules. Although Israel’s early entry into the Visa Waiver Program was a shocking development, AAI immediately swung into gear collecting the violations we knew would occur. As we continue to collect reports from people who have been discriminated against while traveling to the West Bank or Israel, we are making it clear to U.S. officials that Israel’s entry into the program was a mistake that needs reversing. Arab Americans, especially Americans of Palestinian descent, are not treated equally at the border.

Maya and I are also working around the clock to make sure your concerns are heard by the Administration, Congress, and the media. With the increased targeting of our community because of their stand for Palestinian lives, we have spoken directly to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona about the need to investigate hate crimes and threats against our students' right to free speech. We pressed Secretary Blinken on the need to evacuate Americans from Gaza and treat their evacuation with the same urgency used to evacuate Americans from Israel. We’ve talked with Vice President Harris about the failure of the Biden Administration to meet the moment we are in to protect innocent lives. We also voiced our disagreement with the Administration’s decision not to publicly condemn or even question Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Palestinians in Gaza. And when our concerns were not being heeded, we immediately put a poll into the field examining Arab American attitudes and concerns and the data confirmed what we suspected—Arab American voters value all human life. Support for President Biden plummeted from 59% in 2020 to just 17% demonstrating the Biden Administration’s approach to Israeli actions in Gaza is a failure—on the policy front, the political front, and the moral front. And our poll was not an outlier. President Biden’s response to this crisis is hurting him with other voters as well, including young people.

We also met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to voice our concerns against the singling out of the only Palestinian American Member of Congress Rashida Tlaib and to press for a ceasefire. We are also speaking to the media about Arab American support for a ceasefire, the increase in hate and employment discrimination, and the dangerous attempts to equate the real problem of antisemitism with criticism of Israeli policy and actions. Our concerns have been picked up by the New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, CNN, CNNI, Democracy Now, and the Nation, to name a few. We are also coordinating our actions and keeping in regular contact with other national Arab American organizations like ADC, ATFL, Arab America, and The American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine.

And, just this week, we brought Arab American leaders to the White House to express our concern about the lack of engagement with our community, the genocide underway in Gaza, and the Administration’s refusal to call for a ceasefire.

Finally, my weekly Coffee and Column conversations continue to bring hundreds together to discuss the significance of Palestine and so many other important topics. We have built a community in conversation, and in some cases, it has translated to actions on the issues we all care about so much. We will continue to build in 2024, but your support is critical now.

Your support is what keeps this work going. Your $250, $1,000, or $5,000 donation can help change the narrative. A contribution at any level will help—when it comes to advocating for our community, every dollar matters.

-Jim

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Arab American Institute Foundation
1600 K Street, NW, Suite 601
Washington, DC 20006
United States