Offensive lineman Oday Aboushi from the University of Virginia was selected by the New York Jets in the fifth round of the NFL Draft on Saturday, making him one of the first Palestinian-Americans to play in the NFL.
Aboushi, a Brooklyn native, performed exceptionally well both as a student and as an offensive and defensive lineman when he attended Xaverian High School. Intent on challenging himself academically, he chose to attend the University of Virginia which is known for its academic reputation. There he played for four years, starting over three dozen games and earning a selection to the first team All-ACC squad. He graduated in the winter with a degree in sociology.
Standing at 6’5” and 310 pounds, Aboushi is known for his ferocity and good blocking instinct on the field. The Jets will hope to utilize him in protecting the pocket.
Aboushi comes from an arguably unique background. He is the ninth of ten children born to Palestinian parents who immigrated to New York from their town of Beit Hanina in the occupied West Bank. Aboushi speaks English and Arabic. [Read more...]
Excellent sentence by The Guardian on Stephen Hawking’s boycott of Israel (with bonus at the end)
World-renouned theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking joined the boycott of Israel on Tuesday by withdrawing from a conference hosted by Israeli president Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.
The announcement was met with ferocious (and nonsensical) pressure from backers of Israel’s occupation. In one case, an Israeli law firm, Shurat HaDin, condemned Hawking’s decision to join the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement as “hypocritical”, arguing that the computers he uses contain technology designed by Israeli tech engineers.
Rather than addressing Hawking’s concern about the rights of Palestinians as well as Israel’s frequent and disproportionate use of force against Palestinian civilians, the critics chose instead to bring attention to Israeli technological or scientific contributions. It is as if these advancements grant Israel free reign to violate international law (via settlement building, occupation, etc.), civil rights (via minority rights, race-based deportations, etc.), and human rights (via movement restrictions, incarceration of children, etc.).
Luckily, Hawking isn’t bending. Whitewashing and rebranding Israeli human rights and international law violations, and attempting to guilt BDS advocates by skewing the focus of the boycott call is wholly unsuccessful. [Read more...]