The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

Arabic is a dangerous language

So dangerous, in fact, that you can't board airplanes wearing a T-shirt with an Arabic slogan:

Arabic T-shirt sparks airport row

A demonstrator wears a similar T-shirt at a New York protest in July
An architect of Iraqi descent has said he was forced to remove a T-shirt that bore the words "We will not be silent" before boarding a flight at New York.

Raed Jarrar said security officials warned him his clothing was offensive after he checked in for a JetBlue flight to California on 12 August.

Mr Jarrar said he was shocked such an action could be taken in the US.

US transport officials are conducting an inquiry after a complaint from the US Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

JetBlue said it was also investigating the incident but a spokeswoman said: "We're not clear exactly what happened."
By the way, isn't Raed Jarrar the famous counterpart to Salam Pax on the original Iraq war blog "Where's Raed"?