Photos by Ali Aleiou and Sandra Whitehead

Volunteers serve up a tasty buffet of chicken and goat with rice and samousas (fried pastries filled with beef and vegetables) at Somali Cultural Night at the Somali Resource Center, 1020 W. Historic Mitchell St., Milwaukee.

The Somali Resource Center of Milwaukee, 1020 W. Historic Mitchell St., hosted its first annual Somali Cultural Night last Friday .

“With July 1 being Somali Independence Day and July 4^th being the U.S. Independence Day, we decided Friday (July 3) was a good day for our celebration,” said the Somali Resource Center co-founder and executive director Lul Abukar in an interview with the Wisconsin Muslim Journal after the event. The July 1 Somali national holiday marks the unification of the Trust Territory of Somalia and the state of Somaliland into the Somali Republic, and the new nation’s independence from colonial rule in 1960.

“We plan to hold Somali Cultural Night every year around this time,” Abukar said.

A joyful occasion

I arrived with my family at 6:30 p.m., our first visit to the Somali Resource Center. We parked on an empty street in front of what appeared to be an empty building. A lone shopkeeper on the other side of Mitchell Street leaned against a wall in front of the Garden of Eden International Grocery. He was the only person in sight. We crossed the street and approached him.

“We’re looking for the Somali festival,” I said.

“Follow me,” he said. We did and returned across the street. We passed the corner building and found ourselves in a big parking lot. It was filled with cars and buzzing with families in colorful, traditional dress. Children skipped along excitedly.

He pointed to a door where the people flowed in. We thanked him and joined the procession.

Downstairs in the basement, we entered a wide tunnel. Vendors sat at tables that displayed colorful hijabs (Muslim headscarves) and jewelry. A child sat beside a henna artist who painted a tattoo on her hand.

Somali Cultural Day festivities were held in the Somali Resource Center, which is home to an adult day program during the week, as well as a hub to help community members find services they need.

Inside the center, youth (and a few adults) stood in the lobby in front of a large screen, cheering for Cape Verde against the mighty Argentina in a surprisingly close World Cup game. Their energy was palpable.

Young ladies snapped photos of each other in an adjacent hall, in front of a Somali flag with a light blue background and a five-pointed white star in the center.

A curtain of shiny blue streamers hung across a doorway. We waved them apart and entered a banquet room. Mostly men sat at half a dozen long, rectangular tables covered with white linens, watching the game on another wall-mounted screen. A light blue runner ran down the center of each table. Blue and white balloons and crepe paper streamers draped the walls. A man circulated, offering water to guests.

Volunteers set up a hot buffet of chicken and goat meat with rice, beef sambosas (a popular fried pastry with a savory filling) and tasty sabaayad (Somali flatbread). Friends in their finery greeted each other in the buffet line and took photos together.

Although everyone had cheered for Cape Verde, no one seemed to mind the final score—Argentina 3 and Cape Verde 2.

Wisconsin’s Somali community

“As a result of the devastating Somali Civil War in the 1990s, approximately two million Somalis sought refuge in neighboring African nations and abroad,” wrote Joshua R. Brown, Ph.D., professor of German and linguistics at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, in the university’s “Somalis in Wisconsin” project. 

In the early 1990s, the United States opened up its borders to asylum seekers, he explained. By 2024, about 165,000 Somalis lived in the U.S., with 3,429 living in Wisconsin (.06% of the state’s population), according to the World Population Review.

The majority of Somali refugees in the U.S. settled in Minnesota, but “urban pressures like increasing crime, decreasing job opportunities and overcrowding forced some Somalis living in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) metropolitan area to move to Wisconsin,” Brown wrote. “Since the 1990s, Barron – the county seat of Barron County – in northwestern Wisconsin has a total population of 3,000 with approximately 400 Somali residents.” Others moved to Milwaukee and other cities for job opportunities and because of familial ties.

A community hub

Friday night Milwaukee’s Somali community, along with many friends of the Somali Resource Center, filled three spacious rooms. Milwaukee Alderman Alex Brower (District 3) attended.  Inshirah Farhoud, a long-time nurse practitioner with Children’s Hospital, and her mother stopped by.

“A great friend to the Somali Resource Center, Dr. Mike Mentor, and his wife Barb came,” Abukar noted. The Milwaukee pediatrician “has been a great support since November 2024, since we first opened our doors.”

The Somali Resource Center of Milwaukee’s volunteers all work without pay, executive director Lul Abukar told the Wisconsin Muslim Journal. “It’s been two years and we haven’t billed anybody yet.” With no grants yet, the center’s activities are funded completely by donations from within the community, she said.

Addressing urgent needs

Abukar and the Somali Resource Center’s longtime volunteer and new vice president, Fatima Aden, offered a short presentation about the Somali Resource Center, its services and history. The center’s services develop based on the needs that arise among the Somali community and other immigrants in the greater Milwaukee area, Abukar said. They include services such as housing assistance, interpreting services and connecting individuals to resources for food, healthcare, youth activities, education, social and other essential services.

“Tell me about Lul Abukar?” I asked Aden in a text after the event.

“Lul is the most dedicated and hardworking person I know,” she replied. “She leads by example and always gives her best in everything she does. I admire her for her integrity, kindness and strong work ethic.

“She is patient, supportive and genuinely cares about helping our community grow and thrive,” she continued. “She encourages me to challenge myself and to never stop learning. She believes in my skills and abilities. I’m grateful for the guidance and encouragement she continues to give me.”

“I have been working in the community since early 2015, as a language specialist,” Lul Abukar told WMJ. She worked in roles with Aurora Healthcare, the IRIS program by Lutheran Social Services and others to connect people with the services they needed for refugee settlement, to find healthcare and more. “Prior to that, I was always an interpreter for the family—aunts, uncles, and for refugee families. 

“My family was one of the first Somali refugee families,” she said. “My father arrived in 1990 and we came in 1993. He spoke multiple languages but Arabic and Somali were the main languages at home.”

As a young teen, Abukar spent summers with her father in Columbus, Ohio, working in a community center he started in 2000, one of the first in the United States. “I would go and stay with him and he would take me to his office every morning,” she recalled. “I would have to work and volunteer there. 

“Then I thought it was torture,” she said. “Never in a million years did I think that 20 plus years down the line, I would be the one at the office actually working.

“He was one of the founding fathers of the first (Somali) community in the U.S., and his was the first community center in Columbus, Ohio, for Somalia and East African individuals. He passed in 2011. I learned a lot from him and for that I am grateful.”

Likewise, Abukar’s mother was “a community philanthropist and volunteer,” Abukar said. “When we came to Milwaukee in 2004, my mother welcomed a lot of the refugee families and helped them settle in. It was natural to her. She would help them get furniture, find used items to use in their house. Growing up with those two parents, I learned giving back first was always a priority.” 

After earning a university degree in healthcare management with a minor in business, Abukar also became the only Somali licensed as a certified language specialist in Wisconsin and found many families that needed so much more than healthcare. They needed housing, food, education, jobs. 

“The way it works in our community is by word of mouth. When you help one uncle or aunt, they tell each other. Word gets around,” she said. Soon people began stopping by her house to get help filling out social security paperwork, Medicaid applications and many other things. 

As her network grew, she learned what people needed and where to find the resources they needed. “That’s what led me to decide we needed a hub where people could get the services they need,” she said.

Said Hassan, co-founder of  the nonprofit Community Services Agency, Inc., also known as COMSA, told the audience he was there “to support the mission of the Somali Resource Center.” 

Building a hub

When Abukar decided to build a community hub, “I had no clue how to do it,” she confessed. “I actually thought I would start my own interpreting company. But, when it came down to it, people needed resources as well as interpreting,” she said. So, with three other co-founders, she looked for a large space where people could come in and feel comfortable, rather than just a small office, she said.

“We call it a Somali Resource Center but we host all refugees, no matter where you come from,” she explained. “Right now we have Senegalese, Burmese, Somali and a few Arabic individuals. But I still want to respect and honor where my parents came from, so we call it the Somali Resource Center.”

The center serves about 40-55 walk-ins a week, she said. Those are people seeking information and help in finding resources. Its adult day program is open Monday through Friday and serves 15 seniors, “and we are hoping to bring more.” 

VP Fatima Aden, also the assistant director of the adult day program, has been working with Abukar since the beginning. She heard about the center the way everyone else does, word-of-mouth from her family, she said. “I decided that I wanted to be a part of it,” she said. 

Days at the center are full of variety, she said. People walk in with all different kinds of needs. The center is there to help them meet them.

And, by the way, they are all volunteers. “None of us get paid because we haven’t started billing yet, Abukar said. “We also don’t have any state or federal grants. For two years now, we’ve been self-funding by collecting community funds from amongst ourselves, and my business partner, Abdisalam Osman, who owns Garden of Eden, he’s a godsend.”

Abdisalam Osman and Lul Abukar are co-founders of the Somali Resource Center. 

A Photo Essay by Tomohiro Oshima

Japan has never declared itself a country of immigration.

Through successive revisions of its immigration laws, the government has maintained that it “does not adopt an immigration policy.” It has absorbed foreign workers through the Technical Intern Training Program, drawn international students into its labor market, and refused to call any of it immigration. By the end of 2023, the number of registered foreign residents reached approximately 3.4 million¹. Yet the majority remain institutionally precarious — suspended between economic necessity and legal exclusion.

Scholar Hidenori Sakanaka, a former director of the Tokyo Immigration Bureau, has long argued that Japan operates as a de facto country of immigration while refusing to officially call it one — absorbing foreign labor through side-door channels even as it denies any shift in national policy. The vacuum this creates is filled by religious communities, ethnic networks, and mosques.

In Nishinari Ward, Osaka — in the district known as Kamagasaki — stands Masjid Istiqlal Osaka. “Istiqlal” means independence in Indonesian. True to its name, this mosque has built a network of mutual aid that operates independently of state institutions. Muslims from Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and elsewhere gather here to pray, study, celebrate, and sustain one another. Children learn the Quran alongside their Japanese homework; young couples marry under Islamic rites; newborns are held in aging hands.

One of those newborns is called Minami — “south” in Japanese — because she was born in the south of Osaka. Her father is a diplomat, and the family will soon leave again. “She was born here,” her mother said quietly. “So this is part of her.”

But the mosque’s function extends far beyond the rhythms of ordinary life. When the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake struck, Masjid Istiqlal opened its doors to displaced people — stocking halal food, opening its prayer space, and providing bedding. Japan’s official evacuation plans had made no provision for halal dietary requirements, prayer schedules, or language barriers. During COVID-19, the mosque distributed food to those who had lost income and facilitated vaccination for foreign nationals facing linguistic barriers to public health services. These are not acts of charity. They are acts of infrastructure.

Kamagasaki was built by Japan’s postwar economic miracle as a reservoir of day labor. As that generation disappears, young Muslim migrants are putting down roots in the same streets. Among them: a man from Indonesia who works at an elderly care facility in rural Wakayama, who recently brought his bride from home. “When we have children,” he said, “we will have to move — somewhere outside Osaka, where the schools are better.”

Japan did not decide to receive these people. Yet they are already here — raising the next generation, building community, putting down roots. The country is changing without having decided to change.

Anne Hathaway’s decision to wear a full body swim suit in St Tropez has sparked debate [Getty]

New photos of American actress Anne Hathaway wearing a full-body wetsuit in the coastal town of Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera have sparked comment and debate over the double standards which Muslim women have to endure when they wear similar clothing in France.

The Oscar-winning actress, who announced her third pregnancy earlier this month, has been sporting many looks on her holiday with her husband.

However, it was her long-sleeved, full-length tie-dye patterned wet suit that caught the attention of many, who compared it to modest swimwear that many Muslim women choose to wear.

Many commentators took to social media to decry “double standards”, with Hathaway’s choice of dress at the beach accepted and praised while Muslim women who wear the hijab and full-coverage swimwear are often turned away from public pools and beaches.

Author Nadeine Asbali told The New Arab that there is a clear difference between how celebrities are treated compared to the systematic discrimination Muslim women face for wearing the same garments.

“When we make autonomous decisions about the clothing we wear, we are cast as oppressed victims in need of saving. When non-Muslim (often white) women make the same decisions about their bodies, they are commended as being forward-thinking, edgy and admirable. In the case of Anne Hathaway, she has been celebrated for protecting her pregnant body from the sun, whereas Muslim women in burkinis are routinely banned from public places and considered overly conservative or even anti-feminists. This all comes down to the way non-Muslim women are extended a level of humanity that means their decisions are considered truly their own, whereas Muslim women are perpetual victims to be liberated by white, mainstream feminism,” she said.

“I’ve been in France for almost four years. I was told I couldn’t enter a public pool with my daughter because of my hijab and modest swimwear. I took her home. And then I had to explain to her why we had to leave. Why did the other children get to stay? Why did the rule exist at all? I still don’t know if I found the right words. I’m not sure there are right words for that,” writer and publisher Boutina Azzabi told The New Arab.

“I’m lucky that I can cross borders. We’ve swum in rivers, in the sea, in pools in other countries where nobody looked twice. Just a mother and her daughter in the water. Many women don’t have that option. They live in central France, far from any border, far from anywhere the rules are different,” she continued.

According to Azzabi, the policing of swimwear has nothing to do with hygiene or sun protection, but rather is a direct attack on visible displays of Islam.

“France calls this secularism. But the secularism applied to Muslim women isn’t neutrality toward religion. It’s discomfort with the visibility of Islam specifically. You are welcome, the message goes, as long as you don’t make your faith too visible. As long as you look free in the way we’ve decided freedom looks. And it’s not only states that send that message. It’s hotel managers in Marrakech. Pool attendants in London. Restaurant owners who seat you and then make you feel, for the rest of the meal, that you’ve done something wrong by being there,” she said.

Researcher Rayan Freschi also told The New Arab that the ban on Islamic practices is a manifestation of France’s war against Islam and Muslims.

“Regarded as an internal threat to civilisation, the entire French political spectrum supports the criminalisation of Islam to varying degrees. Since the beginning of the War on Terror, a repressive consensus has emerged around prayer, the hijab, and political aspirations. It is this consensus that explains the lack of domestic coverage of this affair,” he said.

Some said that while Hathaway may have worn the wetsuit for protection from the sun, the reason behind the choice was irrelevant, and that Muslim women should not be penalised or excluded for making similar clothing choices.

Sarah Fraincart, a prominent French-Moroccan rower and politician, also weighed in on the subject.

“No one would think to kick Anne Hathaway off the beach for this swimsuit cover-up. But a Muslim woman in the same outfit is a national controversy. For one, it’s a responsible, stylish choice. For the other, it’s oppression,” she wrote in an Instagram post.

Fraincart also said Laurent Wauquiez, a French member of parliament, was “wretched” after he praised effectively banning the burkini (modest swimwear) in municipal swimming pools in Grenoble.

“I congratulate myself on this new victory. All subsidies to the city of Grenoble have been cut, which had authorised the wearing of the burkini in its municipal swimming pools. Once again, on this issue, justice has ruled in our favour! We we’re right to not back down,” the MP wrote on X on Thursday.

France banned the hijab from public schools in March 2004, while prayers are prohibited in French educational spaces. Many Muslim women who wear the hijab in France also face challenges when it comes to finding employment.

Last year, Amnesty International said France’s hijab ban in all sports would violate human rights and unfairly target Muslim women.

“Laïcité”, or “secularism”, which is theoretically embedded in the French constitution to protect everyone’s religious freedom, has often been used as a pretext to block Muslim women’s access to public spaces in France,” the rights group said in a report.

“Over several years, the French authorities have enacted laws and policies to regulate Muslim women’s and girls’ clothing in discriminatory ways. Sport federations have followed suit, imposing hijab bans in several sports,” the Amnesty report added.

Photos by Cherrie Hanson

Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Sen. Kelda Roys, Rep. Francesca Hong and Andrew Manske participated in the WMCA/WMCF Governor Candidate Forum last Wednesday at the Oak Creek Performing Arts Center.

The Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance and the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Foundation hosted their first Governor Candidate Forum Wednesday, July 1, at the Oak Creek Performing Arts Center, 304 E. Puetz Rd., from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Four of the seven candidates for Wisconsin governor participated.

The two organizations “are the civic home for Wisconsin’s Muslim community,” said Fauzia Qureshi, who serves as executive director for both organizations. WMCA is “Wisconsin’s only Muslim-led civic advocacy group, an organization where we endorse candidates, advocate for our community and build political power for Wisconsin’s Muslim community,” she explained. WMCF “is our educational arm where we conduct research. We provide education and training to invest in our future leaders and our community together.”

The gubernatorial forum was billed as a “chance to hear directly from the candidates and ask the questions that matter to our community.” Moderators asked each candidate, “How would their administration be inclusive of Wisconsin’s 70,000 diverse Muslims? Combat Islamophobia? Respond to the genocide in Gaza and ‘Boycott, Sanction and Divest’ (BDS) legislation? They also asked questions about funding for education, cuts to SNAP and Medicaid for refugees and others, subsidies to data centers and more. 

Members of Greater Milwaukee’s Muslim community mingled with candidates at a reception before the forum.

Former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Rep. Francesca Hong, Mr. Andrew Manske and Sen. Kelda Roys attended the event and responded to all questions.

Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis), the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate, never responded to the invitation. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez accepted the invitation but sent regrets on the day of the event after receiving the questions. An email from Crowley’s team said he “will be unable to attend … We are sorry for the late notice, and we would be happy to reschedule a time for the County Executive to speak with the organization.” 

Rodriguez’s team emailed to say, “Lt. Governor Rodriguez takes the issues on tonight’s agenda seriously and wants to engage them with the depth they deserve. The format finalized hours before the start of tonight’s forum doesn’t allow for that kind of discussion, and so she won’t be able to participate … she would welcome the chance to sit down with your organization and community members to listen and talk through these concerns directly.”

Candidate Manske took issue with their absence, posting on Facebook, “Shame to Sara Rodriguez and David (Crowley) for skipping the forum. For once, we were given the questions ahead of time, and these two skip because of  ‘hard questions.’”

Gubernatorial candidate Sen. Kelda Roys (left) and members of her campaign team distributed literature and chatted with community members.

Asking the tough questions

Wisconsin’s Muslim community has good reasons to host this forum, Qureshi told the audience. 

“We are living in a moment where, from the highest offices in this land, our community is being named as a threat; where an anti-Sharia caucus exists in our own legislature, not to protect anyone, but to send a message that we do not belong, that our faith is something to be feared, that our presence is something to be policed. 

“We reject that message completely and unapologetically. We do not just reject (that message). We build, we organize, we show up because that is what this work has always required.” 

Becky Cooper (right), campaign manager for Rep. Francesca Hong’s gubernatorial race, met with the public in the lobby of the Oak Creek Arts Center. Hong also met attendees during the reception.

The process of developing the questions extended well beyond the two organizations, Qureshi said. “They came from our allies and our community, the 70,000 Wisconsin Muslims across the state who pray here, raise their children here, vote here, pay taxes, and belong here. These are the questions of mothers and fathers who are sometimes afraid to send their children to school, from some of our small business owners, watching their neighbors disappear, from young people asking whether this state, whether this country, will ever truly see them.”

“Tonight, we ask the people who want to lead this state to stand in front of our community and answer what they stand for,” Qureshi said. “This is not a moment to shrink. This is a moment to grow in power, in clarity and in solidarity … In times like this, we do not step back. We lean in, we ask the hard questions.”

A team of co-moderators, including two award-winning journalists and a respected Milwaukee attorney, asked questions of the candidates. University of Wisconsin-Madison global health and cell biology student Eiman Mir writes for the Daily Cardinal and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Undergraduate Science and Technology. She was named a 2024 Wisconsin Journalist of the Year and received an award in 2024 from the South Asians Journalist Association.

Milwaukee attorney Munjed Ahmad is a partner and founding member of Emmett and Gerard, LLP. He specializes in immigration, criminal and business law.

Attorney Munjed Ahmad asked the candidates what they did when his client, Islamic Society President Salah Sarsour, a legal permanent resident, was held in a jail in Indiana by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for 80 days.

Gubernatorial candidates answer

The forum proceeded with three rounds of questions: introductions, long-form questions and a lightning round. 

In their first round, each candidate had one minute to explain why they were running for governor. 

Mandela Barnes: “I’m running simply because things need to be better … Many folks in this audience, in this community, have felt directly attacked, have felt left behind, have felt forgotten. Running for governor means representing everybody, especially the communities that have been left behind.”

Kelda Roys: “I’m running for governor to raise wages, lower costs, fully fund our public schools, and to protect our rights and freedoms from this dangerous authoritarian regime … Our next governor’s most important job is to do everything in her power to protect us from the harms of the Trump regime, including holding them legally accountable.”

Francesca Hong: “I’m running for governor because this moment demands a movement, a leader who believes in transformative change and understands the power of building a coalition so that we can finally work to have a Wisconsin that belongs to everyone … We have to have somebody willing to stand up for all communities in our state. That’s why I’m running.”

Andrew Manske: “I want to represent every single person in the state. I don’t bow to special interests. I have values. I want to bring those values to the governor’s mansion. I give out my phone number and email. I’ll give it to anybody who wants to talk. I think it’s disgusting that people’s freedom of speech is suppressed. I will advocate for all communities.”

In the Lightning Round, candidates held up the red side of a paddle for “No” and the green side for “Yes.”

Long-form questions

Candidates were given 90 seconds to answer each long-form question. Here are the highlights.

Q: The Muslim community is facing a significant rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric and hate crimes … As governor. What specific steps would you take to protect Wisconsin’s Muslim community? 

Mandela Barnes: “We should all be very deeply concerned, regardless of what your faith is, regardless of where you were born, regardless of any identifying factor, at the rise in anti-Islamic rhetoric. It has led to our communities being less safe …

“We need laws on the books. We need to build more cultural competency. So many young people are learning the absolute wrong things when it comes to people who are not like them.”

Kelda Roys: “My first week of law school was the week of Sept. 11. I knew that was going to lead to an incredible infringement on our civil rights and liberties, and a huge rise in Islamophobia. So, I stood up and founded an ACLU chapter. Again and again, when I hear hatred, bigoted speech, anti-Muslim rhetoric, anti-Semitic rhetoric, racist rhetoric, I speak out.”

Francesca Hong: “At the bare minimum, an executive is to show not just solidarity, but use the power of the executive and the platform to ensure that all communities across the state know when we must condemn Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate. The executive has the responsibility to ensure the platform is being used to prioritize communities who are at risk and vulnerable to continuous, hateful attacks. We must also strengthen hate crimes reporting and education, ensuring the religion of Islam and the history of Muslims, specifically here in Wisconsin, is included in our curriculum.”

Andrew Manske: “There are Muslims who are working-class people just like me. We’re all Wisconsin citizens. I don’t think anybody should be treated differently.”

Co-moderators Omar Waheed and Eiman Mir are both award-winning journalists. (Not shown above is co-moderator Atty. Munjed Ahmad.)

Q: The president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, which is Wisconsin’s largest mosque, was abducted by ICE and detained 80 days before a federal judge released him. He’s a lawful permanent resident of the United States, lived here more than 30 years, does not have any criminal record in the U.S., and was clearly targeted because of his Palestinian human rights advocacy … What actions did you take to help Mr. Sarsour while he was unjustly detained? How will you protect Wisconsin residents from unjust federal detention in the future?

Andrew Manske: “Freedom of speech should be protected no matter what … What happened there is immoral and wrong … All he did was speak.”

Francesca Hong: “What happened to Salah Sarsour should be a warning call for all Wisconsinites and folks across the country that the justice system works for some and not for others. I was one of the first candidates and elected officials to put out a statement condemning what happened to Mr. Sarsour. I did everything I could, including submitting a character reference for Mr. Sarsour. 

“To protect the civil rights of all people here in Wisconsin, I would introduce legislation, as well as executive orders, to ensure everyone’s civil rights are protected.”

Kelda Roys: I spoke out immediately and posted to raise awareness about yet another lawless kidnapping by ICE. I also helped to organize my legislative colleagues and reached out to community leaders … Trump’s ICE is incompatible with a free society. It must be abolished. We can have secure borders without dehumanizing people and undermining our right … As governor, I will work to hold every single ICE agent who breaks our state laws legally accountable.”

Mandela Barnes: “There are people … who use different issues to frame the Muslim community as anti-American. These folks say they love America … but nothing could be further from the truth. You can’t love a country if you don’t love the people in it. 

“When Mr. Sarsour was detained, it showed just how deep the disregard is for certain people that don’t believe what they believe and don’t see things the way they see it. 

“We put out a statement but now I’m not in office. I wish I was; there would be more I would have been able to do … I want to continue to have conversations with people who might not even be aware of what this situation meant so they can learn.”

Asked if they support the School Choice voucher program, through which public funds are used to support private schools (such as Salam School, an Islamic k-12 college preparatory school), Mandela Barnes explained he would continue to support the School Choice program but would focus on accountability “to eliminate bad actors. Every school receiving a dime of public money should have to face the same set of standards, should have to face the same level of public accountability and a form of public governance,” he said.

Candidate Kelda Roys said she believes “public dollars belong in public schools. I do not believe the state should subsidize religious education. I believe that is a choice that should be available to parents, but not at taxpayer expense.

In the “Lightning Round,” the candidates were given paddles to hold up, with a green side for yes and a red side for no. Here are the results:

Q: Across the country, state lawmakers are introducing legislation to ban Sharia law. “Sharia” means path in Arabic and is a set of principles to guide Muslims as they practice their faith. It’s very similar to Catholic Canon Law. The legislation unfairly targets Muslim religious practice and violates the First Amendment. Would you veto any anti-Sharia legislation that comes across your desk as governor? 

Yes – Hong and Roys

No – Manske 

No answer – Barnes

Q: The IHRA definition of antisemitism is now Wisconsin Law. Unfortunately, that definition conflates criticism of the Israeli government and its policies with antisemitism and results in the chilling of political speech protected by the First Amendment; various human rights organizations such as Amnesty International Human Rights March, and the ACLU, as well as Jewish organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace and B’Tselem oppose the adoption of the IHRA definition. Would you repeal Act 1 43? 

A unanimous yes

“I was one of the first candidates and elected officials to put out a statement condemning what happened to Mr. Sarsour,” said Rep. Francesca Hong. I regret that I had not put into that statement that we can’t ignore the timing of Mr. Sarsour’s abduction, that the legislation adopted the IHRA definition (of antisemitism) was signed by the governor on Friday and Mr. Sarsour was abducted on Monday … that would have put into context the dangers of what happens when you sign into law legislation like IHRA.”

Q: Our community overwhelmingly understands that the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza constitutes a genocide. This is a conclusion revealing a candidate’s moral courage and clarity, and whether you see Palestinians and Muslim as equally deserving of human life and dignity. Do you agree with the overwhelming consensus amongst genocide experts, including Israeli scholar, Ross Segal and Brown University Holocaust historian Omar Bartow, that the Israeli government’s actions of Gaza constitute a genocide? Wisconsin’s anti-BDS law creates government forced consequences for companies boycotting, divesting and sanctioning Israel. Would you repeal Wisconsin’s anti BDS law?

A unanimous yes, met with applause

Q: Sheriff Departments of Wisconsin have signed 2 87 G agreements and cooperate with federal immigration authorities two 80 C. 2 87 G programs have historically targeted individuals with little or no criminal history. Would you limit Wisconsin’s law enforcement’s cooperation with ICE.

Yes – Barnes, Hong and Roys

No – Manske

Local candidates join in

Before the forum, candidates for governor and members of their campaign teams mingled with the audience at a reception. 

In addition to the gubernatorial candidates, a few other local candidates or campaign staff members chatted with attendees. U.S. Army veteran and Democrat Ben Brist said he was there to let people who live in the Wisconsin State Assembly’s 61st District (Greenfield) know he is running to win incumbent Bob Donovan’s seat. 

A member of Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District candidate Mitchell Berman’s campaign staff handed out flyers that said, “Mitchell is running for Congress because it’s time for a new generation of leaders who will fight back against the higher costs that Trump’s corruption is enabling in D.C.”

The remarkable trajectory of the Atlas Lions since the 2022 FIFA World Cup, now confirmed once again in 2026, is not simply a sporting success story.

Some sporting achievements remain confined to stadiums and trophy cabinets. Others take on a far greater significance, becoming a reflection of a nation’s journey, its ambitions, and its place in the international system. Morocco’s rise among the world’s football elite unquestionably belongs to the latter category.

The remarkable trajectory of the Atlas Lions since the 2022 FIFA World Cup, now confirmed once again in 2026, is not simply a sporting success story. It reveals something much deeper about Morocco itself. Over the past two decades, the Kingdom has quietly built one of the most compelling examples of how sport can become an instrument of national influence. At a time when perceptions often matter as much as military capabilities or economic indicators, football has become one of Morocco’s most effective tools for projecting confidence, credibility, and ambition.

History has always shown that football and geopolitics rarely evolve independently. The countries that have traditionally dominated the sport have often been those enjoying broader political, economic, or cultural influence. Brazil projected joy and creativity, Germany discipline and efficiency, while countries such as France, England, and Italy naturally extended part of their international prestige through football. Sporting success has long been another language through which nations tell the world who they are.

A long-term vision

Morocco’s story, however, is different. It is not the emergence of another traditional football power. It is the rise of a country that has patiently constructed a coherent long-term strategy, combining institutional reforms, investment in youth, international openness, and political continuity. The results we are witnessing today are not the product of a golden generation appearing by chance but the outcome of years of planning and strategic vision.

The 2022 World Cup offered the first global demonstration of this transformation. Becoming the first African and Arab nation to reach the semi-finals was, of course, a historic sporting achievement. Yet what truly stood out was the extraordinary emotional response it generated across continents. Morocco did not attract support only from its citizens, but also from millions of Africans, Arabs, and even neutral football fans who embraced the Atlas Lions as their own. In many ways, the team came to embody the possibility that countries from the Global South could compete on equal terms with football’s established powers without sacrificing their own identity.

It would, however, be misleading to attribute Morocco’s success solely to the contribution of players born abroad. Although the diaspora has played an important role, that narrative overlooks one of the country’s greatest achievements. Long before the world began celebrating the Atlas Lions, Morocco had already started transforming its football ecosystem from within.

Building at home

The Mohammed VI Football Academy perfectly illustrates this ambition. Today, it stands among the finest youth development institutions in world football, producing technically gifted, tactically intelligent, and mentally resilient players capable of competing at the highest level. Together with significant investment in infrastructure, coaching, governance, and youth competitions, it has fundamentally changed the country’s ability to develop elite footballers at home.

This domestic revolution matters because it changes the nature of Morocco’s success. The Kingdom is no longer simply identifying talented players developed elsewhere. It is increasingly producing its own. That evolution often receives less international attention than the stories of European-born internationals, yet it may well be the most important factor in ensuring that Morocco’s current success proves sustainable.

At the same time, Morocco has achieved what very few countries have managed successfully. Rather than viewing its diaspora and its domestic talent pool as competing realities, it has transformed them into complementary strengths.

This did not happen overnight. For decades, Morocco has maintained remarkably close ties with its communities abroad. Through cultural institutions, language, religion, family connections, and sustained political engagement, successive governments have consistently reinforced the relationship between the Kingdom and millions of Moroccans living overseas. These efforts have created a strong sense of belonging that cannot easily be measured and one that transcends passports and borders.

This is why reducing the decision of many dual nationals to represent Morocco to simple sporting calculations misses the point entirely. For many of these players, wearing the Moroccan jersey is not merely a career choice. It is the expression of an identity that has been carefully preserved across generations.

Many identities, one team

The national team, therefore, reflects today’s Morocco in perhaps its most authentic form. It is African, Arab, Amazigh, Mediterranean, Atlantic, and, through its diaspora, deeply European. These identities do not compete with one another. They reinforce one another, creating a country that feels comfortable navigating multiple cultural and geopolitical spaces simultaneously.

This may ultimately be Morocco’s greatest strength. In an increasingly fragmented international environment, countries capable of building bridges often enjoy advantages that extend well beyond diplomacy. The Atlas Lions embody that role. They speak several languages, come from different educational systems, play across Europe’s biggest leagues, yet remain united around a shared national project. In many ways, they are a reflection of Morocco itself.

Football has therefore become much more than a sport. It has become a powerful expression of Morocco’s broader strategic trajectory. Over the past 25 years, the Kingdom has expanded its partnerships across Africa, consolidated its relationship with Europe, strengthened its Atlantic vision, and positioned itself as one of the region’s most stable and credible actors. Football did not create this transformation. It simply made it visible to billions of people.

Every international tournament now reinforces a broader national narrative. Every victory projects an image of competence, stability, and ambition. Every player becomes an ambassador whose influence sometimes reaches audiences that traditional diplomacy could never access.

The 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Morocco will co-host alongside Spain and Portugal, represents the next chapter in that story. More than a sporting event, it will provide an unprecedented opportunity to showcase decades of economic development, institutional reforms, and international openness before the largest global audience ever assembled around a single competition.

American political scientist Joseph Nye famously argued that the ability to attract can be as important as the ability to coerce. Morocco’s football revolution offers a compelling illustration of that principle. It demonstrates that influence in the twenty-first century increasingly depends on credibility, consistency, and the capacity to inspire. 

Ultimately, Morocco’s greatest victory may not lie in the number of matches it wins.

It lies in having transformed football into one of the most persuasive expressions of its national story, a story built not on slogans, but on long-term vision, patient institution-building, and the confidence to embrace every dimension of its identity.

For years, Morocco invested quietly while others attracted the headlines. Today, the world is beginning to notice. And perhaps that is the clearest sign that this football revolution was never only about football. It was always about the emergence of a country that has learned to convert sporting excellence into lasting international influence.

At more than a thousand years old, Fes is considered the spiritual heartland of Morocco. It is known as the ‘City of Saints’ because several ascetics and learned figures are buried there, including the 12th-century Amazigh scholar Sidi Ali ibn Harzihim.

UNESCO and Guinness World Records cite it as the home of the world’s oldest university, the University of Al Quaraouiyine, which was founded by scholar and philanthropist Fatima Al-Fihri in 859 CE. It is also home to the world’s largest medina, known for its handmade carpet and rug bazaars and the Chouara Tannery.

The initiative Barakah’s Womb has also become a space where Muslim women from abroad come to explore their feminine power.

Launched in 2018, it offers retreats, workshops and courses designed to foster deep connections with both the physical and spiritual aspects of womanhood, with a particular focus on the womb.

I decided to attend its first retreat in November 2022, where I gathered with more than a dozen women of different ages and backgrounds at a beautiful riad.

Here, we prayed in the latter part of the night, learnt how to make our own tasbih beads and massage oils, sang nasheeds, played the daf drum and learnt about the art of womb steaming.

It was there that I met the founder and doula, Shakirah Sabira. We had been connected on Facebook for years, but this was the first time we had met in person.

Shakirah witnessed her first traditional birth at the age of 18 and went on to complete her doula studies with Amani Birth and Midwifery at the world-renowned midwifery school Indie Birth.

She also received ijazah in several Islamic sciences, is a graduate of the Al Fajar Institute in Cairo and is the author of The Womb’s Tale: The Sanctity of the Womb and Her Cycle.

The womb in Arabic, or rahm, is often understood in light of kinship and mercy from Allah, given that both words are derived from the same Arabic root letters: ra, ha and meem. They carry a richness that connects the idea of the womb to mercy, compassion and divine care.

This is linked to a hadith reported by Aisha bint Abi Bakr, in which the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Kinship (rahm) is derived from Allah. If anyone maintains ties of kinship, Allah maintains ties with him. If anyone cuts them off, Allah cuts him off (Al Adab Al Mufrad).”

Reflecting on the significance of womb health in Islam, Shakirah tells The New Arab: “The womb in Arabic is not simply an organ. It is the site of Divine naming and sacred connection. It is linguistically and spiritually tied to Ar-Rahman, one of the names or attributes of Allah. This clearly shows us that care for the womb is not separate from our deen but is deeply embedded within it.

“Prioritising the physical health of the womb is therefore an act of worship when done with intention. It is about honouring a part of the body that Allah Himself has elevated, not only as the vessel that brings forth life, but as a locus of mercy, rhythm and cyclical intelligence within a woman,” she adds. 

“At a practical level, womb health impacts hormones, emotional regulation, fertility and overall wellbeing. But beyond that, neglecting it often leads to a disconnection from the body, from cycles and from the deeper spiritual awareness that those cycles cultivate.”

I spoke to Shakirah again following her group’s latest retreat in Fes, titled The Garden of Fes: Companionship with the Rose, Zhar and the Divine Fragrance, which was described as a women’s spring retreat centred on rose and zhar (orange blossom), alongside a journey of medicine-making.

Reflecting on why conversations around the womb and femininity remain limited in many Muslim communities, she says: “In Western Muslim communities, the topic is still under-discussed, not because we lack the framework, but because we have inherited discomfort around speaking about women’s bodies, full stop. At the same time, wider Western conversations are beginning to normalise these discussions, though without the spiritual grounding.

“So Muslim women are caught between silence within their own spaces and secular conversations that do not fully reflect their values. What is needed is a reclamation: spaces where we can speak about the womb with both knowledge and spiritual etiquette, rooted in our own tradition.”

The other half of the Barakah’s Womb team is 34-year-old Aamirah Patel, who has spent several years supporting Muslim women’s personal and professional development through initiatives such as co-launching the UK-based charity Muslim Women Connect and working for TRT World’s philanthropic arm, TRT World Citizen, in Istanbul.

When I speak to her, she has just arrived in Fes, which is now home.

The signature use of rose and zhar (orange blossom) reflects a traditional, restorative plant-based ritual centred on womb healing and feminine sisterhood

“Fes feels like a mirror. There are not many outward places to look at. I am learning about the slowness of life and a community that is inward and quiet. There is a quiet deepening of the self. In Morocco, you spend a lot of time at home; it is a place of sanctity, even though I am close to the Qarawiyyin. It has been a quiet chapter,” Aamirah explains to The New Arab.

“Women here live their femininity in a way that many women in other places are cut off from, and women of all ages surround you. There is something reflective in that when someone is in their childbearing years versus someone who is in their ‘advice’ or ‘sage’ years.”

It is said that women have cycles or seasons that symbolise the natural progression of beauty and fulfilment.

According to the blog Escape the Busy, these are split into four stages: Spring, the Maiden, which represents growth, innocence and curiosity, taking a woman from childhood to early adulthood; Summer, the Mother, which represents nurture and abundance, and can be understood through raising children, relationships or creative projects that require devotion; Autumn, the Wild Woman, which indicates empowerment and transformation and a letting go of what no longer serves; and Winter, the Wise Woman, a reflective period when wisdom is shared.

What ties these periods together is the honouring of the feminine, represented by the womb.

“If the power of the womb were understood, life would be very different for Muslim women. I think societies are guided by the circadian rhythm, guided by masculine principles – the 24-hour cycle. There is a notion that is already deeply embedded in Islam through Surah Nisa, Surah Maryam and Surah Rahman,” Aamirah explains.

“We have references to Rahm multiple times throughout the Quran, but unfortunately, we live in societies that do not recognise the strength of that. Colonisation has destroyed that in a lot of ways,” she adds. 

Her comments remind me of a drink from my ancestral country, Sierra Leone, known as bangba, which my mother tirelessly promoted to my sisters and me.

It is a traditional bitter herbal medicine made from forest tree roots that are boiled or soaked, and it was used to treat illnesses, including those related to women’s health.

But I wonder how many of my countrymen in the diaspora still teach their children how to make it.

In Morocco, however, this conversation is still being had. Dr Ellen Amster is a leading expert in the history of medicine and how colonialism shaped modern global narratives.

In her recent talk, Rethinking the Histories of Global Health: From Midwife to Sorceress to MIH, the Politics of Birth and Reproduction in Morocco, she argued that medicine was used as a tool of ‘civilising’ under French colonial rule, and that traditional healing practices were often disregarded.

French medical authorities viewed local midwives as medical rivals and “sorceresses” and attempted to replace these historically significant practitioners with a more formalised system, leading to the creation of the muwaldia, a Moroccan birth attendant trained under French authority to assist doctors.

Barakah’s Womb is a holistic healing platform dedicated to spiritual and physical womb health based on traditional Islamic teachings

Conversations on the womb today also extend to concerns around uterine health and maternal care, particularly in Black and Brown communities, which tend to face greater disparities.

In an Instagram post, actress Lupita Nyong’o revealed that she had suffered from uterine fibroids, which often appear during the years women are typically able to conceive and give birth, and can result in heavy menstrual bleeding, painful periods and urinary incontinence.

Studies indicate that Black women are two to three times more likely to develop uterine fibroids than white women.

By age 35, about 60% of Black women have fibroids, compared with an estimated 40% of white women of the same age.

These disparities extend into broader reproductive health outcomes, including pregnancy-related complications.

There are several steps, Shakirah says, that can help women begin to reconnect with their femininity and care for their womb health.

“The first step is to make a conscious intention to slow down. Modernity is structured to expect women to function in a constant state of masculine output, which runs counter to the cyclical nature of the female body. Reconnecting with femininity begins with recognising and honouring those rhythms rather than overriding them,” she explains. 

“Practically, I would suggest three gentle entry points. Firstly, begin tracking your cycle and observe the emotional and energetic waves. This allows you to build a relationship with your body and respond to it with more care and precision,” she adds. 

“Secondly, introduce simple practices of womb care. This could be as simple as keeping your feet warm during your period or as gentle as a womb massage. These are small acts, but they establish a connection.

“Thirdly, reconnect spiritually. This means seeing your body not as separate from your worship but as a deeply important part of it. Even in times when you are not praying or fasting, there are forms of remembrance, reflection and presence that deepen your connection to Allah through whichever state you are in,” Shakirah continues. 

“Ultimately, femininity is not something to perform. It is something that is embodied. And the womb, when tended to, becomes the gateway back to your most embodied and centred feminine self.”

Franklin Mayor John T. Nelson (center left) joins Muslim community leaders, elected officials and other Greater Milwaukee citizens as they cut the ribbon to open the WMCA/WMCF office in Franklin.

“It was very emotional,” said Sheila Badwan about the June 24 grand opening of the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance and the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Foundation office at 3321 W. Rawson Ave., Franklin. 

Franklin Mayor John Nelson, flanked by WMCA president Badwan and WMCF president Mushir Hassan, M.D., participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony as Muslim community leaders and allies, and elected officials applauded. Soon, Badwan would speak about “what having a building means for our community, especially right now, and why these two organizations matter,” she told the Wisconsin Muslim Journal.

Photo credit: Hamza Zuberi

Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance’s first Advocacy Day, Feb. 19, 2025, drew participants from Milwaukee and Madison to the state Capitol to meet with their representatives and staff.

Muslim Women’s Coalition founder and executive director Janan Najeeb founded WMCA in 2019 “to organize, educate and empower” (as its mission statement says) the state’s 70,000 Muslims in the civic process. WMCA also advocates for Wisconsin Muslims, engaging policymakers and building coalitions with other organizations who share common goals. 

Since then, it has provided Wisconsin’s Muslim community with civic education and political organization, and encouraged civic engagement. It has also impacted state policies, such as working recently with legislative leaders to introduce a joint resolution recognizing Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as significant religious observances in Wisconsin, and winning local and state resolutions to recognize July as “Muslim Heritage Month.” 

The WMCF, a nonprofit public service foundation, was established in Ramadan 2025 to strengthen Muslim civic engagement and leadership through research and education. (Paperwork and planning for WMCF started in 2023.) 

“As we push for advocacy, we want to ensure we’re exerting our energies and focus on what the community needs,” said Hassan in an interview with WMJ. “We’re going to ask the question, ‘What is in the best interest of the community?’ That involves policy research as well as polling in the community. Tackling the groundwork, that’s where WMCF comes in.”

Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance founder Janan Najeeb hired Kristin Hansen to be its first executive director. Hansen is experienced in nonprofit management and voter education, and served in the Democratic Party leadership at various levels.

About 150 diverse Muslim community members, allies and elected representatives attended the celebration to mark the significant milestone of establishing a home for Muslim American civic activity. Balloons, other decorations, and refreshments, including signature halal drinks made especially for the event, set a festive atmosphere despite the stormy weather. 

Attendance by elected officials and allies meant a lot to the Muslim community, organizers said. That WMCA’s founder Janan Najeeb and many founding board members were present was very special, Badwan added. 

But nothing compared with the opportunity to celebrate with the Islamic Society of Milwaukee board president Salah Sarsour, Badwan said. Just five days free from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Indiana that held him 80 days, Sarsour symbolized the whole purpose of these organizations, she said. 

“We advocated for him and for the resolutions passed for him (by the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors and the City of Milwaukee). We wrote letters of support for him. To have him there with us at our celebration was so meaningful!

“And now the next chapter will begin,” Badwan said. “We must make sure we continue to combat Islamophobia because we see the anti-Muslim rhetoric that’s coming from the top.”

“We must make sure we can continue to work for justice, especially with Brother Salah’s case,” Qureshi added. “We must make sure we can stand together with him and others.

“To do this work, we are looking for ‘founders,’ people who want to provide a donation to sustain this work,” she said. “Donors will be recognized in plaques as ‘founders’ because they will provide the foundation for the future. This is something we need this community to support.” 

Photo credit: Fauzia Qureshi

Islamic Society of Milwaukee board president Salah Sarsour, his sister Fawzia Sarsour (center) and daughter-in-law Seema Oweisi joined the celebration of the Wisconsin Muslim community’s new home for civic activity. Sarsour, held by ICE for 80 days on charges his lawyers and supporters call false, credited God and the Milwaukee Muslim community and its allies with his June 18th release, when the community gathered at ISM-Main to welcome him home.

Having a home base matters

WMCA founder Janan Najeeb is “thrilled about the office and excited at what the future holds,” she said. “There was always the intention to grow and expand, and have our own place, which is critical to becoming an important player in mobilizing Muslim voters and allies throughout Wisconsin. I’m really happy to see this step take place.

“To have them continue advocating on behalf of Muslims, to continue to build relationships and work with allies, as well as with elected officials who stand up for their values and ethics, as opposed to doing what is politically expedient for their careers, is going to be of utmost importance in these critical times.

“There have been several underdogs in elections around the nation, progressive Muslim candidates, who went on to win because citizens are looking for people who will represent them rather than work for special interest groups.”

Mayor Cavalier Johnson (center) declared July 2026 Muslim Heritage Month in the City of Milwaukee at a ceremony last week with Muslim community leaders.

“I’m confident in the WMCA team and the community,” Najeeb continued. “Greater Milwaukee Muslims tend to be active politically,” she added. “Now we want to really reach out to all these other areas where there are Muslim voters who may not be as involved. The WMCA is going to bridge that gap.

“Having their own space is going to be a game changer,” Najeeb exclaimed.

Badwan agreed. “At the height of anti-Muslim hate and all these policy shifts that are happening in our country, how important it is to have a building where you can invite elected officials and other people who want to learn about us, and to partner and engage with us,” she said. “We work with so many different partners in the civic world, and we want to have a place where they can come.” 

“We plan to host more and more events,” said Fauzia Qureshi, who serves as executive director for both WMCA and WMCF. “We are happy to have a place where our community and the greater community can attend workshops and events.”

“Being able to stand up when you see basic civil rights being threatened, being able to make sure people are aware of these very big issues that directly affect your day-to-day life, that’s the important work we are doing,” Hassan said.

“The current employees are doing an excellent job of being able to carry the vision forward, as well as quickly identifying issues that rise up to be important, and having statements ready and approaches for what we should do,” he added.

“The WMCA, and now the WMCF, is a testament to what a community can do when everyone comes together with a common goal and really fights for it,” said WMCA’s first executive director Kristin Hansen. “In this case, the common goal is political voice.”

Hansen is the founder and president of Blue Sky Waukesha, a nonprofit civic organization that provides nonpartisan civic programs and election resources. She works for the Fair Elections Center, a national, nonpartisan voting rights and election reform nonprofit organization.

“We started small,” she recalled about WMCA’s beginning. In 2019, Hansen served WMCA as its only employee, and she was part-time. “We worked on voting–making sure everyone knew how to register and how the process worked.

“Then we got it to the point where a full-time executive director and staff could be hired. It snowballed from there. Fauzia (Qureshi)’s leadership has taken it to a whole new level.

“The Muslim community in Wisconsin has embraced and supported this organization. That is key to its success. There are a lot of organizations that say they speak for a community, but they don’t have the wide and deep support the WMCA does. To do what it did, you have to build that level of trust and support within your community.”

Photo credit: Khurram Zuberi

Muslim leaders from across Wisconsin attended Gov. Tony Evers’ Eid al-Fitr celebration at the Executive Residence in April. Left-right: Reem Alaeddin, WMCA/WMCF executive director Fauzia Qureshi, former Muslim Women’s Coalition board member Hanadi BuAli, M.D., former emira of ISM Brookfield Orusa Mozaffar and MWC executive director Janan Najeeb

Franklin Alderman Yusef Hasan told WMJ, “I’m happy and honored their office is in my district.” The Muslim population in Franklin has grown significantly in recent years, and many Muslims are participating in the community’s civic life, including running for elected positions. The ISM recently purchased a large property in Franklin to create a Muslim community center and school.

“A lot of people rely on WMCA and WMCF, especially during elections,” Hasan said. “People always ask me who WMCA is endorsing. I always check with them. Now I can just stop in on my way home.” 

“The office represents a permanent home for Muslim civic power in Wisconsin,” Qureshi said. “For too long, our community has shown up at the table without a dedicated infrastructure to sustain that presence. 

“This space really changes that. It’s where a lot of our advocacy will begin, with watch parties and advocacy training,” she said. “It will also host civic education and community organizing. It will all be rooted right here for years to come.

“For me personally, this space is about being of service. Ours is a faith that shows up for your neighbors and advocates for your community. It is not separate from your spiritual life. It is your spiritual life.

“Being a part of bringing this to life is one of the greatest honors of my career.”

Muslims were not just guests but early participants in the American story. Rawpixel/iStock via Getty Images Plus

In the 1520s and 1530s, a man named Esteban de Dorantes, known as Estevanico, walked across the deserts of what is now Texas, New Mexico and Arizona – decades before the English founded Jamestown in 1607 and a full century before the Pilgrims reached Plymouth in 1620.

Born in Azemmour, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, he had been enslaved and taken to Spain and then across the ocean. In an ill-fated journey in which most people perished, Estevanico survived. He learned various Native American languages and became one of the first people from the Old World to cross the southern interior of the future United States.

By the evidence of his birth in Morocco and the biographical information we have, he was a Muslim. His presence puts a question to the familiar account of Muslims in America as outsiders, particularly after 9/11.

As a scholar of religion, I focus my research on identity and belonging, in places ranging from East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean to Islamic communities in the U.S. South. In my 2026 book on the history and future of American Islam, and a companion volume on the future of religious pluralism in the U.S., I argue that Muslims who were present at the nation’s founding helped shape its music, its laws and its civil society.

Quran recitation and American music

The largest number of Muslims came in as enslaved labor. Among them were Muslims from the Senegambian and Sahelian belt of West Africa, a region shaped by centuries of Islamic learning. By some estimates they numbered in the tens of thousands, and many were literate in Arabic and schooled in the Quran and in Islamic law before they were ever captured.

Some left behind remarkable written records, such as the autobiography of an enslaved Muslim scholar named Omar ibn Said.

Their deeper imprint, though, lies in the broader culture they helped shape, including musical tradition. Some scholars, such as Shalom Goldman, have noted that Muslim Americans played a significant and often overlooked role in the development of jazz, a genre often celebrated as the nation’s most distinctive cultural contribution.

Consider the field holler that became one of the taproots of American popular music. The field holler was an improvised, solitary cry sung by enslaved African Americans as they labored at tasks such as picking cotton or hoeing crops. Mournful and soaring, these vocalizations allowed workers to communicate across distances, release pent-up emotion and endure the grind of forced labor.

Some scholars have traced elements of this vocal tradition to enslaved West African Muslims, who carried into the fields a devotional practice of singing shaped by centuries of Islamic practice. Scholars have noted similarities between the field holler, the Muslim call to prayer – the “adhan” – and the recitation of the Quran.

The ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik traced the vocal style of the blues to a broad region of West Africa that had been in sustained contact with the Arabic-Islamic world since the eighth century. He argues that its melismatic, wavering intonation, in which many notes are bent across a single syllable, is a direct inheritance of that long encounter.

In her lectures, historian Sylviane Diouf has illustrated this argument by pairing her lectures with a recording of the call to prayer with the 1940s field recording of a Mississippi “Levee Camp Holler.” This was a work song preserved by the folklorist Alan Lomax, who recorded thousands of vernacular American performances for the Library of Congress.

How Islam gave America the blues.

Diouf writes that the two share the same ornamented notes, elongated syllables, wavy intonation, melisma and pauses, so that when they are played one after the other it becomes hard to tell where the call to prayer ends and the holler begins.

Religious freedom and Islam

A century later, another American Muslim would become central to a landmark case on religious freedom.

In 1964 the heavyweight champion Cassius Clay announced his conversion to Islam and took the name Muhammad Ali. Three years later, called to fight in Vietnam, he refused induction, declaring that his faith forbade it. The consequences were immediate and enormous: He was stripped of his title, barred from the ring in his physical prime, convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to five years in prison. For more than three years – from ages 25 to 28 – the finest heavyweight of his generation was not permitted to fight.

He carried the contest to the Supreme Court instead. In the 1971 case Clay v. United States, the justices unanimously overturned his conviction, finding that the government had wrongly told his draft board that his objection was neither sincere nor religious.

The ruling recognized that Ali’s refusal rested on genuine religious conviction – that a Muslim’s faith could ground conscientious objection on the same terms long granted to other American religious traditions that opted out of war, such as the Quakers and Mennonites.

In doing so, the ruling helped clarify that protections for peace churches had been widened to include Muslims. The case prompted the courts to consider that constitutional religious protections extended to all religions, not just Christianity and Judaism.

Civic engagement

The third contribution is quieter and repeated millions of times a year. Among the five pillars of Islam is zakat, the obligation to give a fixed share – generally 2.5% – of one’s accumulated wealth to those in need. Alongside it runs ṣadaqa: voluntary charity given over and above that obligation, with no fixed rate and no appointed season, in a form as small as a kind word or as large as an endowment.

Disciplined by these obligations, American Muslims have become outsized contributors to the nation’s charitable life. Though they make up roughly 1% of the population, American Muslims gave around US$4.3 billion to charity in 2020, according to researchers at Indiana University’s Muslim Philanthropy Initiative. On average, that’s about $3,200 per donor, compared to $1,900 from their non-Muslim neighbors.

Roughly 85% of it stays within the United States, and the larger part flows not to mosques or Muslim institutions but to broadly secular ends: relief for domestic poverty, pandemic response during COVID-19, and the defense of civil rights.

The same outward orientation marks the zakat data; of the roughly $1.8 billion in obligatory alms American Muslims paid in 2021, the single largest share passed through charitable nonprofits rather than to relatives or houses of worship.

As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, the full story of Muslim Americans is one in which they appear not as guests but as participants. In a polarized republic, it can help deepen the understanding of the country and the people who helped shape it.

Immigrants on a ferry boat near Ellis Island, circa 1920. (Photo courtesy of NARA/CreativeCommons)

(RNS) — As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, debates over national identity, religion and immigration have intensified. Was America founded as a Christian nation? A pluralistic democracy? A nation of immigrants? Who belongs, and who gets to decide?  

In 2026, these questions are not abstractions as America grapples with an immigration crisis. Immigrant and faith communities have been on the front lines, navigating the federal enforcement system, shaping public opinion and wrestling with questions of responsibility and morality. 

Religion News Service asked five prominent faith leaders and thinkers to weigh in. Their answers, in a new five-part video series beginning Thursday (June 25), are not uniform. Their perspectives reflect their different religious traditions, immigration experiences and personal visions of what America is and should be.  

The series features Georgia pastor and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock; Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR in Los Angeles; historian John Fea of Messiah University; Tony Suarez, pastor and COO of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; and Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America. 

In the opening episode (below), Patel argues “melting pot” is the wrong metaphor for America. Drawing on his experience as a Muslim immigrant from India, he proposes a different one: the United States as a “potluck nation” — a place where the expectation is not assimilation but contribution. Everyone brings something, and everyone is accountable to the table. 

“What Does It Mean to Belong in America?” is a video project for the Atlas of American Belonging, Religion News Service’s multimedia initiative examining how belonging has been claimed, granted, challenged and denied at the intersection of faith and immigration. The Atlas is a project supported by the Henry Luce Foundation. 

Photos by Cherrie Hanson

A place to meet friends, work, purchase high quality imported chocolates, olive oil, spices and coffee, Al-Hamawi opens on Layton Avenue in Milwaukee.

Al-Hamawi Roastery and Coffee is an elegant store where you can purchase a dizzying array of imported products and order from a menu of 140 drinks. But what owner Mahmoud Suleiman wants his new store to be known for is community.

“What I sincerely want to highlight is the social gathering of people of all ages. I want people to sit at the table and actually conversate—with no cell phones. I enjoy bringing together different communities, sitting with people, getting to know people and having them get a taste of our culture,” said Suleiman.

In its first Wisconsin location, the family-friendly café, tucked into a multi-tenant building at 1010 W. Layton Avenue, is open 7 a.m. to midnight seven days a week. Al-Hamawi joins other Milwaukee Arab style cafes including Azal Coffee, Haraz Coffee House and Al Wadi Coffee House that have become part of a popular nationwide trend. One big draw is late-night hours in an alcohol-free space. 

“After 9 o’clock at night, if you want to go out and have fun, you want to go out and relax somewhere, you’re either going to go to a bar where there’s music banging and there’s too much going on. This place, it’s different races, different ages coming together and it’s a place where you can be after dark and enjoy yourself without drinking,” Suleiman said.

Al-Hamawi owner Mahmoud Suleiman sharing his business ethos and mission with new customers.

Welcoming, sophisticated space

The Layton Avenue Al-Hamawi Roastery and Coffee store is clean, bright and finely appointed with almost every design and décor element sourced from overseas. Upon entering, customers are warmly greeted by at least one staff member. Next, they are likely to be drawn in by a massive display case with a sweet and savory selection of nuts, seeds, snack mixes and dried fruits. The shelves are also filled with baked goods, like homemade baklava, herbs, spices, seasonings and condiments, coffee, chocolates and candies, canned and packaged food, organic olive oil, olives and stuffed grape leaves. In fact, the store features more than 250 products. 

The back wall contains bins with 75 different chocolates and candies, individually handmade in Jordan and shipped in fresh each week by air. Customers can fill small metal baskets with an assortment of the elegantly wrapped chocolates that look like small gifts. The chocolates are sold by weight. 

Marvin Hussain (left) visiting his sister Nishat in Milwaukee bring their laptops to Al-Hamawi to catch up on work and enjoy the atmosphere.

The drink counter offers hot and cold choices ranging from all the popular coffee shop standards such as cappuccinos, cortados and lattes, to specialty espresso drinks, karak chai, Turkish coffee, several flavors of matcha, beverages caffeinated and non-caffeinated refreshers, frappes, sodas, teas and more. It also features a display case of tempting bakery with assorted cakes, cake pops, rice krispie treats and other sweets. 

Everything, Suleiman said, is about offering high-quality authentic Levantine heritage food.

“We want to bring the best-tasting and highest quality—from products to packaging to display. The most important thing is taste,” he said.

By 5:30 p.m. on a recent Tuesday, the roastery and café was busy and most tables were filled with families, couples, groups of friends and people sitting solo working on laptops. Suleiman said the pace picks up even more at night.

“It really gets crowded later, like around 10 p.m., we’re at full capacity,” he said. The café also added an outdoor seating area with umbrella tables.

A friendly staff creates a gathering place for family and community where everyone feels welcome.

Investing in a business he loves

Suleiman, whose business background is his family’s second-generation retail furniture business in the Chicagoland area, became interested in the Al-Hamawi as a loyal customer.

“I liked the business and then I loved the business. I would visit at least three times a week. And then, I inquired about opening a store, which wasn’t their goal to be a franchise, but it’s something I kind of pushed them to do,” Suleiman said.

Al-Hamawi, which has roots in Jordan dating back to 1942, has two roastery and café locations in suburban Chicago as well as a campus-specific store at a suburban Chicago community college where students and staff can grab their favorite drink. In the future, Suleiman hopes to open a second location in Milwaukee with drive-through service, ideally near a college, university or hospital that would provide a steady stream of grab-and-go orders. He is opening another Al-Hamawi store in Dearborn, Michigan, later this year. 

S’mores and more fill the cake, mousse and cookie case at Al-Hamawi.

Committed to community

While it offers all the popular café beverages, Suleiman points out that Al-Hamawi is much more than a coffee shop.

“The whole point of Al-Hamawi is – it’s not just the coffee and the roastery. It’s gathering families and community members to sit, to be in a nice, safe spot. In fact, our coffee shop was the last thing we added to our menu, and we did so well with it, but our main products are the groceries, the chocolates, the jars, the dried fruits,” Suleiman said.

He also wants to be a business member that is engaged in the community and supports local charities and nonprofits. 

“This is a community business and it’s a community-welcoming atmosphere. I personally believe that any business that works in a community should definitely give back to the community. That’s how it should work, and that’s something I strongly believe in. It’s not about one person gaining, it’s about everybody gaining. Without our customers, we wouldn’t be in business. Without our neighbors, we wouldn’t be in business. Without the city, we wouldn’t be in business. That’s what community is all about,” said Suleiman. 

Suleiman said most customers found out about the roastery and café via word-of-mouth recommendations while many were already familiar with the stores in the Chicago area. Al Hamawi had a soft opening at the beginning of June and has enjoyed brisk business right from the start. Suleiman said a grand opening is being planned in the coming months.

“We wanted to do a full 60-day opening before we have our grand opening. We’d like to get some community members involved, get the mayor involved and folks from around town,” Suleiman said.

Al-Hamawi’s Milwaukee team enjoying the excitement of the customers and the new shop.

Sudanese women sit on beds while monitoring their family members treated for dengue fever at Omdurman Hospital, as Sudan grapples with outbreaks of dengue and cholera in Khartoum, Sudan on September 23, 2025 [El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters]

I recently visited Khartoum for the first time since the war started. It quickly became clear to me that the world still doesn’t fully comprehend what has happened there. In the streets of Sudan’s capital, the destruction was apocalyptic. A city that used to have a population of 7 million seemed almost empty as we drove through its districts.

The buildings were almost all destroyed or partially flattened by shelling and air attacks, while those left standing were riddled with bullet holes. I had never seen this scale of destruction before in my 30 years of working with Islamic Relief.

The difficulty in accessing many areas, and the sense that this a complicated war in a faraway place, means the crisis has not received anywhere near the international attention it needs.

There are more than 58,000 recorded deaths so far, but there are estimates that as many as 150,000 may have been killed. It is hard to track casualty numbers when the country’s infrastructure lies in ruins and millions of people are displaced.

People are not just dying from violence but from disease and starvation. There have been repeated outbreaks of cholera, viral hepatitis, meningitis, yellow fever, and other infectious diseases. The war has created the world’s biggest hunger crisis, where 29 million people, 62 percent of the population, now don’t have enough food. And famine continues to spread.

Local community kitchens run by volunteers are at the heart of the fight to stop famine, but they urgently need more support. Islamic Relief recently conducted research that found 42 percent of the 844 surveyed kitchens across the country have shut down in the last six months due to a lack of funds and supplies.

Now the US-Israel war on Iran is choking supply chains and exacerbating Sudan’s hunger crisis, with food and fuel prices doubling and pushing even more families into hunger.

In the western regions of Darfur and Kordofan, people continue fleeing horrific atrocities: Drone attacks on hospitals and schools, towns under siege, villages burned down, and aid convoys bombed. I am in awe of our staff there who continue to work in such extreme conditions and help the displaced as much as they can. And yet, there is still so much need that is not met.

Even in Khartoum and the east of the country, where there are improvements in security and displaced families have started going back to their communities, the situation is bad.

At least 1.3 million people have returned to the capital only to find a disaster: Severe food shortages, few jobs, and almost no service provision. Poverty is desperate and widespread, as the war has shattered the economy.

Some 200 schools are out of operation in Khartoum alone, now either destroyed or sheltering displaced families, so returning children have nowhere to restart their education. Hospitals that haven’t been destroyed have been looted and are only partially operational. Electricity is only available for a few hours a day.

Our Islamic Relief team in Khartoum is helping to rebuild schools and health facilities, delivering and providing people with psychosocial support for the trauma they have experienced. But the scale of need is immense and difficult to match.

I met many survivors with terrible stories. One woman, Ayesha, told me how four of her sons were killed by warring factions. She carried her grandchildren for five days to reach a camp for displaced people in the eastern Sudanese city of Gadarif. Everyone I met had their own similar stories of loss and dangerous journeys.

People are still afraid that the fragile improvements in the capital will collapse as the war continues. In the past month, fighting has intensified in several states, while Khartoum has been hit by drone attacks.

For many people, the greatest fear now is that the unending war in the west of the country will result in Sudan, one of the largest countries in Africa, splitting in two.

Last month, world leaders met in Berlin for a major conference to mark the third anniversary of the war. But once again, there was little concrete progress towards the diplomatic breakthrough that is needed to bring sustainable peace and protect civilians.

It is vital that international governments urgently step up political efforts to get a ceasefire, support stability and local response groups, and ensure that humanitarian aid can reach everyone in need. Tragically, there are many resources coming from abroad that fuel the war rather than help resolve it.

What the Sudanese people I met want most is for the war to end, to go back to their homes, and to live in dignity and without fear. It should not be too much to ask.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Darializa Avila Chevalier campaign Instagram

On Tuesday night, all three of the Democratic candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani won their primaries.

The victories of Brad Lander (over two-term Rep. Dan Goldman in NY-10), Darializa Avila Chevalier (over five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat in NY-13), and Claire Valdez (to replace a retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez in NY-7) have ignited a debate about the future of the Democratic Party and generated a meltdown among pro-Israel centrists.

Will this progressive insurgency extend beyond New York? What does it say about Mamdani’s power in the city? How will Lander, who has equivocated on the issue of Palestine, govern on the issue in Congress?

Mondoweiss: Did anything about last night’s results surprise you?

Feld: Well, I didn’t expect Valdez to win by such a large margin, but it just goes to show the strength of Mamdani’s operation and the strategy that they put together when they chose these three races. They were well-selected.

That’s a good segue. Can you talk about the Mamdani of it all? He goes 3 for 3 with his endorsement picks amid the usual right-wing, pro-Israel campaigns smearing him as an alleged antisemite.

What does last night say about Mamdani’s political power in the city and the power of NYC-DSA more broadly?

I think both Mamdani and DSA really exponentially increased their power yesterday. Mamdani and his team ran these races in a way that would really cement the understanding that he’s created a new type of organizing in the city, as his victory last year showed.

It also demonstrates, as you noted a few weeks ago, that the smear campaigns that have been used against Mamdani and against Palestine advocates don’t work anymore. That we’re going to have a member of Congress who attended the October 8th rally in Times Square, which would have been considered politically disqualifying, but now turns out to be actually qualifying. It’s been pointed out in in quite a few ways that support for Palestine is a touchstone of authenticity at a time when Democratic politicians really are lacking in it, as you can see in the party’s low ratings.

One indication of that is the weakness of several incumbents, like Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, but also a number of others that nobody was watching, who all scored surprisingly low victories against opponents that didn’t have much money or name recognition, like Grace Meng winning with just 57% against an opponent without much money.

And I think we’re going to see it’s not over yet. We’re going to see this in other states and other primaries where there is no Mamdani, and that will be the real test. Mamdani certainly showed the careful strategy in his planning, and demonstrated the strength he brings when he endorses political candidate and puts his muscle behind them.

But the issues also drove a lot of these results, particularly in District 10. 

Some people asked, why is Dan Goldman in trouble? He’s been a standard issue, garden variety liberal Democrat on 90-odd percent of the issues. So why would he lose? Well, we have the answer. It was because he was completely out of step with his district, including a lot of Jewish voters, on an issue that people wrongly thought would consolidate Jews in favor of someone like Goldman. We learned that Jewish voters and non-Jewish voters in lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn in that district do not want to be represented by somebody who voted to sanction the ICC, who voted to censure Rashida Tlaib, who’s voted for every weapons system Israel ever wanted, who couldn’t call it a genocide. That doesn’t represent us. And it’s an important enough issue that we will make a change.

You alluded to this, but we have the midterms coming up, and the Republicans seemingly have some Trump-created problems as a result of the Iran War.

There’s a standard refrain from centrists after results like last night’s, when people say New York City doesn’t represent the rest of the country. However, as you say, the issue of Israel/Palestine obviously transcends the location.

Do you believe progressive campaigns will help shape the midterms in some capacity, and what would you say to people who say NYC is not reflective of the wider United States?

Well, I think that the insurgent progressives are going to help save the midterms.

First of all, we’ve seen lots of places besides New York City where people with similar perspectives on Palestine have won upset victories. Analilia Mejia and Adam Hamawy in New Jersey, Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania, and at the end of this month, there’s a strong possibility that Melat Kiros in Colorado is going to defeat longtime incumbent Diana DeGette. We have primaries to come in Florida. We have general election contests in California that will be progressive Democrats versus mainstream Democratic incumbents such as Doris Matsui and Jimmy Gomez. So we’ll find out soon enough that this type of movement is not limited to New York. 

But I would also suggest to people who say that New York isn’t the world that they look at the polling on Israel and the Iran war nationally. It’s impossible to get those huge numbers we’re seeing react negatively to Israel if it were only New York.

In Michigan, it looks like we’re going to have Abdul El-Sayed cruising to a victory in the primary. I predict he’ll win the general election and go to the Senate. I believe he will be a stronger candidate in the general election than his main opponent, Haley Stevens, would be. We’ll have to see if some progressive insurgents can win primaries in swing districts and then prove we can carry those districts in November with a similar message — not just primaries in blue districts.

There’s been a lot of focus on the three candidates Mamdani backed, but there were other left-wing victories as well. Can you talk about those?

DSA won seven out of the eight legislative races that they that they targeted. And the eighth one was a very narrow loss. So the power of DSA and the Mamdani left in New York certainly goes beyond these three congressional races, and it will embolden other challenges in the future. I don’t think we’re done yet. A lot of incumbents at the state Assembly level who were not targeted by DSA and weren’t followed closely got very low reelection percentages. It makes sense because it’s really the same voters. 

Organizing breeds organizing and victory breeds victory. I think we’re looking at a movement that’s really feeling its power and deciding where to go next. 

Last weekend we saw a lot of establishment Democrats crying to the New York Times about how they were Mamdani’s allies and now he’s turned against them. Well, Mamdani did the biggest favors for the establishment you could ever imagine. He vaporized Chi Osse’s challenge to Hakeem Jeffries challenge, and he vaporized Kathy Hochul’s challenge, and both of them would have been fighting the same voter revolt that took down Espaillat and Goldman. A lot of people including me were upset, but other people are saying this was smart because he was able to focus on these three winnable races and have the maximum impact.

But Hakeem Jeffries should not be resting easy, not only for a future re-election, but even in a speakership, there’s a decent chance that the bloc of progressives that come in next January if Democrats win the House will be larger than the Democratic majority. And those progressives will be able to put Hakeem Jeffries’ speakership, should it happen, into a chokehold over issues like Israel and corporate giveaways and healthcare, and a lot of other things that are important to the people who elected them. Neither Avila Chevalier nor Valdez have committed to support Jeffries for Speaker.

It seems like the writing had been on the wall for Goldman for over a year. Are there current incumbents who should be getting nervous about potential challengers?

There are quite a few incumbents who could face challenges in two years. But we have to see how they perform once they’re back in Congress next year. One of the great benefits of a stunning sweep like we saw yesterday is that it puts fear into the establishment Democrats.

And it may change the way that they act in office. 

So I do think that there’s every possibility of a wide palette of challenges in 2028 to establishment Democrats, not least of whom would be Chuck Schumer, who I think almost could plan his retirement at this point. I have a feeling that Schumer looked at last night’s results and is seriously reconsidering whether he even wants to subject himself to the kind of campaign he will have — whether that’s a challenge from AOC or, should she decide instead to run for president, some other progressive running against him.

Schumer is a clear example because he’s the leader in the Senate. Jeffries is the leader in the House. So both of them are really in a unique position, because they don’t have a free hand to govern the way they would want to, looking at last night.

Beyond that, I would say let’s see if the surviving establishment Democrats who go back to Washington next year get the message or not. If they do, then it will change who gets challenged.

What does last night mean for pro-Israel lobbying groups, like AIPAC? It’s obviously a big loss for them and their message.

The Israel lobby is toxic, and that was proven again yesterday. Nevertheless, they’re still crowing about several victories that they had in a variety of districts, including NY-17, where their preferred candidate Cait Conley was nominated. They won the race in Maryland where they had spent a lot of money. Obviously they failed in these three marquee races in New York, but we’re not going to be able to stop fighting them. They don’t just shrivel up and fade away. They adapt their tactics.

Now, things may be changing faster than they can adapt. We’ve talked before about some of the things that they’ve done to adapt. For one thing, they’ve thrown in the towel on aid to Israel in order to preserve arms sales. So that will become the new battle. 

They used a lot of tactics against Darializa Avila Chevalier that they previously used against Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush, but this time they didn’t work. I’m talking about criticizing her for what she said about Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, for example. Those were big messages that were used in 2024 against Bowman and Bush. But they didn’t work against Darializa. Neither did her old, deleted social media posts. And so what we’ve also learned is that sometimes vast amounts of money are not enough.

Now the money does do something. Espaillat came closer to winning than I thought he would, because his poll numbers were in the 30s, and he ended up doing better than that. That could be the result of the massive money that was spent against Avila Chevalier in the final two weeks. But it didn’t work. And they do have to hide their hand as best they can. You have investigative journalists like Ryan Grim and Mondoweiss that draw attention to the secret spending that AIPAC’s doing and exposing it. And then that becomes the issue. It became an issue in the Valdez versus Reynoso race. It certainly became an issue in the Espaillat-Chevalier race.

And their desperation was so great in the Espaillat race that we saw the most intense and atrocious racism used against Avila Chevalier, implying that her ethnic background was was Haitian rather than Dominican, as if Haitian is a slur, using a version of great replacement theory to fearmonger that Mamdani and Avila Chevalier were trying to push out the longstanding Dominican community. Thankfully this was rejected, but it just shows the desperation that as much as AIPAC and its allies scream racism — claiming that Mamdani was attacking Jews when he called AIPAC “dark money monsters” — they are totally comfortable using racism if that’s what they think they need to do to win.

It’s an incredible sign of changing times that, while AIPAC has to hide its hand and avoid any mention of Israel, a successful candidate for Congress like Claire Valdez would air a TV ad that is all about Palestine. I don’t think anyone would have believed this even two years ago. I think it has a lot to do with why she was able to defeat a solid, popular progressive like Antonio Reynoso, who was supported by most labor unions and the Working Families Party.

Let’s talk about Lander, who was endorsed by Mamdani and has criticized Israel, despite referring to himself as a Zionist and equivocating on some of these issues. How do you see him governing?

I think we have to see what Brad Lander is going to do, because he won overwhelmingly.

And I think he proved that there is an upside to being many things to many people. We talked earlier about Mamdani’s “team” approach. One of the most interesting things that happened was Mamdani going to great lengths to co-brand the three candidates he was endorsing, including in a very powerful ad that linked all three and ran during the Knicks finals. The ad showed him passing the basketball to Lander, who then passed it to Avila Chevalier, who then passed it to Valdez.

But Lander, trying to appeal to everyone and thread the needle, had to disavow any endorsement of Avila Chevalier. He had let it be known that he left DSA after their Twitter feed promoted that October 8th rally. And of course, Avila Chevalier was at that rally. I passed by a canvass last week in Tompkins Square Park where the volunteers presented Lander with a t-shirt that showed the basketball ad imagery of all four, Mamdani and the three candidates. Lander sheepishly folded it up and said that he’d be giving it to his son, but he wouldn’t be wearing it.

So, Lander is the poster child for all the contortions that liberal Zionists have to go through this new political environment. But he’s a very talented politician. Lander really leads a charmed life. He came in a distant third for mayor, but managed to convert that into a congressional seat. That’s about as impressive an accomplishment for a politician as we’re likely to see. So he’s one to watch. 

He’s also very ambitious. I wouldn’t rule out Lander running for Senate — probably not in two years, it’s too soon for him to go up against Schumer, but maybe in four years against Kirsten Gillibrand, who should be feeling very, very nervous right now. She shares all of Schumer’s liabilities and has managed to skate under the radar. She said horrifically racist things against Mamdani last year. She proudly serves on the Senate Abraham Accords Committee. I don’t think that’s going to fly in 2030. And she’s very lucky that she’s not up for reelection sooner than that.