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Ray Hanania | |
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 Ray Hanania | |
| Born | (1953-04-17)April 17, 1953 (age 71) |
| Alma mater | Northern Illinois UniversityUniversity of Illinois at Chicago |
| Awards | Peter Lisagor Award (1985, 2002, 2006, 2009)Sigma Delta Chi Award (2009)Best Ethnic Columnist New America Media (2007)[1] |
Ray Hanania (born April 17, 1953) is an Americanjournalist, editor, public relations expert, reporter, andstand-up comedian ofPalestinian descent.[2] After theSeptember 11 attacks, he created the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour and Comedy for Peace, which brought together Israeli and Palestinian comedians. He founded his own public relations firm, called Urban Strategies Group.
Hanania was born inChicago,Illinois, the son ofPalestinian Christian (Catholic andEastern Orthodox) parents.[3] Hanania was raisedLutheran and later became an Orthodox Christian.[3] His mother is fromBethlehem. His father, George, from a prominent Christian family inJerusalem, served with theU.S. Army duringWorld War II and with theOffice of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of theCIA.
Hanania himself served with theU.S. Air Force during theVietnam War and in the IllinoisAir National Guard.
From 1977 to 1985 Hanania reported for theDaily Southtown, and from 1985 to 1992 for theChicago Sun-Times. Hanania was forced to resign from theSun-Times in the wake of complaints that he was acting as a behind-the-scenes adviser to TreasurerMiriam Santos, the city's top Hispanic officeholder.[4]
Hanania ran unsuccessfully as aDemocratic candidate for theIllinois House of Representatives, 38th District, in 1992.[5]
From 1993 to 1996 he was publisher of the suburban Villager Newspapers group, wasspokesperson for theTown of Cicero and published theArab American View, an English-language American Arab newspaper. In 1992 Hanania founded his own public relations firm, Urban Strategies Group, doing media consulting for political, government and private clients including theTown of Cicero.[6] His career in broadcast radio began in 1980 atWLS (AM) until 1992, WJJG AM 1530 (2004–2008) and he hostedThe Ray Hanania Show every Sunday morning on WSBC AM 1240 in Chicago and WCFJ AM 1470 in Chicago Heights and the Chicago Southlands. He is also the host of Radio Baladi which broadcasts monthlyevery 2nd Friday morning in Detroit. Hanania later became host of "The Ray Hanania Show" on WNZK AM 690 Radio in Detroit and simulcast on WDMV AM 700 Radio in Washington, D.C., on the US Arab Radio Network.
His internationally syndicated column was distributed byCreators Syndicate from 2002 to 2005, and 2010 until 2016. Currently, Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for The Arab News Newspaper and writes news, features an Op-Ed column every week for theArab News[7] in Saudi Arabia. Hanania describes his writing as "defining the moderate Palestinian and Arab Voice." He continues to write a Chicago political column carried locally with the Southwest News Newspaper Group (including theSouthwest News-Herald,Des Plaines Valley News,The Regional News andThe Reporter newspapers), and formerly wrote a weekly column with theArlington Heights Daily Herald (2002–2009). He has written a humor/serious column for the online website ofYedioth Ahronoth and also for theJerusalem Post, and currently publishes his columns on his personal website at TheDailyHookah.com.[8]
Earlier in his career, Hanania wrote a weekly syndicated column for theJerusalem Post and his columns advocated the "moderate Palestinian and Arab voice" and rejected extremism, embraces peace between Palestinians and Israelis, and opposed the use of violence. However, in a November 2012 column for theSaudi Gazette, he wrote "the real obstacle preventing peace is the fundamental refusal of most Israelis and most American Jews to accept the right of Palestinians to exist as a people with a state." Hanania also said that "until Israelis and Jews accept the right of Palestinians to exist, Palestinians have no option but to struggle and resist and defend themselves against violence, land confiscation and theft, and ethnic cleansing from historical Palestine.[9] However, Hanania has committed himself to non-violence, embraces peaceful negotiations and maintains consistently on his web site:
"The best way to fight extremism in the Middle East and bring peace to Israelis and Palestinians is through truth and facts. In my columns, you will read my opinions which provide a balanced view of the conflict, to let you understand the facts and the issues. I don't just criticize Israel. I also criticize the Arabs. I don't just point a finger at Israel and blame them for everything, I also point out the faults of the Arabs, too."
Hanania launched astand-up comedy career in 2001 to advance his belief that humor can calm the animosity between Jews and Arabs, promoting peace through moderation. He was featured in a front-page story inThe Wall Street Journal and other newspapers. In May 2002, the owner ofZanies Comedy Club in Chicago invited Hanania to perform comedy and enrolled him in comedy classes to hone his stage skills. He performed 35 shows for Zanies. In June, Zanies booked Hanania for a nine-show performance over Labor Day weekend. A few weeks before the show, Zanies owner informed Hanania they were going to add Jewish American comedianJackie Mason to the bill so he could get stage time before his planned appearances on Broadway.
But hours before the first show, Mason refused to have Hanania open for him. Hanania was called at home as he was leaving for the theater and told not to show up, even though the show had been pre-sold (sold out) a month before. Mason's manager and wife, Jyll Rosenfeld, who was in New York at the time, said that Hanania could not perform because he was "Palestinian" and not Jordanian as Mason had thought. After the controversy broke making international headlines (that lasted seven days), Zanies' management claimed the cancellation was because of Hanania's alleged "inexperience" as a professional comedian, even though Hanania had performed 35 shows for Zanies. But Jyll Rosenfeld told a reporter for the Associated Press that Mason was "uncomfortable" being on the same stage with Hanania because Hanania is a "Palestinian."[10] Hanania later developed a unique Palestinian-Jewish stand-up comedy routine that features his experiences growing up Arab in America and satirizing his marriage to his wife, Alison, who is Jewish.[11] With Israeli comedians Charley Warady and Yisrael Campbell, and African American comedian-journalist Aaron Freeman, he co-founded "The Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour", which broke the Arab and Palestinian comedian taboo of refusing to appear with Israelis.
Hanania was the national coordinator of the former National American Arab Journalists Association,[12] which coordinates and networks American Arab and Muslim Journalists in the United States, and is a partner affiliate of the Union of Arab American Journalists in Detroit.[13]
As of 2020, Hanania was a senior writer atThe Arab Daily News online newspaper, which is self-described as "The Newspaper of Record for the American Arab community".[14]
Hanania was married to his ex-wife Melissa until 1990.[5] His current wife, Alison, isJewish. He has two children: one daughter from his prior marriage who isCatholic, and one son from his current marriage who is Jewish. He lives inOrland Park, Illinois.
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