As'ad AbuKhalil () (born 16 March 1960) is a Lebanese-American professor of

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

California State University, Stanislaus California State University, Stanislaus (Stanislaus State, Stan State) is a public university in Turlock, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. It was established in 1957 and offers 45 bachelor's deg ...

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

Biography

AbuKhalil's father served as secretary-general of the

Parliament of Lebanon The Lebanese Parliament (, ) is the unicameral national parliament of the Lebanon, Republic of Lebanon. There are 128 members elected to a four-year term in Electoral district, multi-member constituencies, apportioned among Lebanon's divers ...

. AbuKhalil studied for a BA and MA in political science at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...

, and a PhD in comparative politics at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

. AbuKhalil is a professor at California State University, Stanislaus, and was briefly a visiting professor at UC Berkeley.Robin Abcaria
Between disparate worlds
Los Angeles Times (2005-06-07). Retrieved on 2011-10-17.

Political views

AbuKhalil describes himself as "a former Marxist–Leninist who is now an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

"."A Statue to Reason"
Ken Silverstein, Harper's Magazine, 2006-07-13 He is an opponent of the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

. He is sharply critical of

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

foreign policy, and denounces the corruption of Fatah and the "vulgar anti-Jewish references” made by

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

, but sees " Israeli terrorism" as a far greater problem in scale and magnitude. He also criticises

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, and all rival factions in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

including the

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

Israel/Palestine

He opposes the state of Israel, stating that "Justice and freedom for the Palestinians are incompatible with the existence of the state of Israel". Some opponents to BDS, among them Prime Minister of Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

, have cited a part from AbuKhalil's article published in ''Al Akhbar'' where he wrote: "Finkelstein rightly asks whether the real aim of BDS is to bring down the state of Israel. Here, I agree with him that it is. That should be stated as an unambiguous goal. There should not be any equivocation on the subject" in their campaigns against the movement. In response, Abu Khalil wrote on his personal blog that it represented his personal position of what the goals of BDS ''should'' be, and that it was being purposefully distorted to stigmatize the movement. He criticizes the influence of the Israel lobby in the United States. In a televised debate which aired on

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

on February 23, 2010 (as translated by MEMRI), AbuKhalil stated that US President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

"has given free rein to the Zionist lobby to do whatever it likes, both in terms of foreign policy and domestic policy." AbuKhalil also stated that "The Zionists want to muzzle us, so that we won't oppose the wars, violence, or hatred of Israel." In the same interview, Abukhalil sharply criticized MEMRI, stating that it is "a rude, propaganda-spreading organization ... which was established by a former Israeli intelligence official" (alluding to MEMRI founder, Yigal Carmon). In 2020, AbuKhalil was criticized for posting a prediction on Twitter that Israel would put non-Jewish patients infected with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

in "mass prisons".

Lebanon

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

News media

In an interview which aired on

on October 25, 2011 (as translated by MEMRI), AbuKhalil accused the network of bias and accuses it of giving preferential treatment of "American Propaganda Officials."California State University Political Scientist As'ad Abu Khalil Accuses Al-Jazeera TV of Bias and Conspiracies in Preferential Treatment of "American Propaganda Officials"
MEMRITV, Transcript, Clip No. 3180, October 25, 2011.

The Angry Arab News Service

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

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', the blog is "known for its sarcastic but knowledgeable commentary", and "stands out for its sense of humor in the dour left-wing landscape." Ken Silverstein writes that the blog often becomes "a furious stream of consciousness that lacks paragraph breaks or other typographic niceties" (though AbuKhalil is nevertheless "a terrific writer and an insightful political analyst"). Commenting on his own coverage of the Syrian Civil War, journalist

Glenn Greenwald Glenn Edward Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) is an American journalist, author, and former lawyer. In 1996, Greenwald founded a law firm concentrating on First Amendment to the United States Constitution, First Amendment litigation. He began blo ...

said "I've often cited As'ad AbuKhalil as a great source on all matters Middle East and – without adopting all or even most of what he has said – he covers Syria almost every day and does it very well."

Books

*''Historical Dictionary of Lebanon'' (1998), *''Bin Laden, Islam & America's New "War on Terrorism"'' (2002), *''The Battle For Saudi Arabia: Royalty, Fundamentalism, and Global Power'' (2004),

Articles

The (Unrecognized) US Contribution to Bloodshed in Syria
by As'ad AbuKhalil, April 29, 2018, consortiumnews.com
The (Unrecognized) US Contribution to Bloodshed in Syria, Part Two
by As'ad AbuKhalil, May 15, 2018, consortiumnews.com

References

External links

*
''The Angry Arab News Service''

Articles
in '' Consortiumnews''
Interview
in ''Ceasefire Magazine''

in the ''

''
Profile
in '' Harper's'' by Ken Silverstein
Debate
with Irshad Manji, Muslim feminist/reformist/Zionist, on the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoon controversy
Interview
on '' Democracy Now'' with Amy Goodman on the July 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon – 26:30 into the broadcast
Interview
on '' Electronic Intifada''
Slideshow
on

Flickr Flickr ( ) is an image hosting service, image and Online video platform, video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a co ...

As'ad Abu Khalil - The United States and the Arab Revolt, Feb. 25, 2012
, presentation at conference "The Arab Spring: A Year that Changed the World", held at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abukhalil, Asad 1960 births Living people 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century atheists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century anarchists 21st-century atheists American anarchist writers American atheists American feminist writers American male bloggers American male feminists American male non-fiction writers American political commentators American political scientists Arab-American writers Atheist feminists California State University, Stanislaus faculty Former Marxists Lebanese academics Lebanese atheists Lebanese bloggers Lebanese critics of religions Lebanese emigrants to the United States Lebanese feminists Lebanese former Muslims Lebanese left-wing activists Lebanese socialists Middle Eastern studies in the United States People from Tyre, Lebanon