Plus, with midterm elections around the corner, we’ve officially reached the halfway mark of the current presidential administration. Regardless of where you stand politically, staying informed on recent policy shifts is essential. Today, we're sharing actionable strategies to help you not just survive, but truly thrive in the years ahead

As-Salaam-Alaikum my dear sisters and brothers.

I want to share a personal update about my health and about the difficult road that now lies ahead of me.

First, I need to thank you.

Thank you to every person who is a member of The North Star.

Thank you to everyone who has donated to my work and to our projects serving the people of Gaza. Your support has allowed us to keep showing up for people who are suffering, and it has sustained me personally in more ways than I can adequately express. I do not take any of it—or any of you—for granted.

For more than 30 years, I have lived with serious spinal problems.

They began when I was just 15 years old, after I was assaulted by bigots and ultimately needed three spinal surgeries. Then came the brutal car accident in 2003. And now, after all these years, I am facing another major chapter.

My body has rejected the titanium discs that were implanted in my spine. They will have to be removed because they are now literally destroying the bone in my spinal column. I have now been told that I need a four-level spinal fusion—a pretty rare and serious operation with a major recovery ahead.

I will see one more expert this coming week. After that, I will begin preparing my heart, mind, body, and family for the surgery and for everything that will follow.

I am not frightened.

I am sober about what is in front of me. I understand its gravity. I know this will be difficult. The pain I am already experiencing is almost too much to bear on some days. At times, I need Allah not simply to help me through the day, but through each hour, each minute, and sometimes each individual moment.

But Allah has never abandoned me—not for one second.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught us that no fatigue, illness, sorrow, hurt, or distress afflicts a believer—not even the prick of a thorn—without Allah using it to remove some of our sins.

That does not mean the pain is easy. It means the pain is never meaningless. Allah sees all of it, and not one moment of suffering endured with faith is ever wasted.

Allah sees our pain. He sees the suffering that nobody else witnesses. He knows the pain we struggle to explain and the private moments when merely continuing requires every bit of strength we have. And I believe with my whole heart that, for those who turn toward Him, Allah does not waste any of it. He can use our suffering for our benefit in this life and reward us for it in the next.

I would never romanticize pain. I hate this pain. I would not wish it on anyone. But I am also deeply grateful to Allah for the person He has formed me into through everything I have endured.

My own experience with pain has made me more sensitive to the pain of others. It has softened my heart. It has helped me recognize suffering even when people cannot put it into words. It has shaped my life’s work and my determination to stand beside people who have been wounded, abandoned, oppressed, or forgotten.

So much of my heart for people in pain comes from the fact that I understand pain so intimately.

At the same time, this experience has left me infuriated all over again by the American insurance industry. We can hardly call it a healthcare industry when so much of its power is devoted to determining what care it will and will not cover.

I am spending more money on health insurance than I have ever spent in my life. Yet even with that enormous expense, I am still forced to confront the denials, restrictions, gaps, and maddening calculations of a system that too often places money between human beings and the care they desperately need.

It is cruel. It is dehumanizing. And it is wrong.

Yet even as I experience that anger, I remain conscious of how many medical options are still available to me. I can see specialists. I can obtain detailed imaging. I can consult surgeons. I have access to medical technology, pain treatment, and the possibility of a complex operation and recovery.

And that reality makes me think constantly of my sisters and brothers in Gaza, including many of my dear personal friends there.

So many Palestinians have been brutally wounded. Many are living with catastrophic spinal injuries as severe as—or even worse than—my own, but without access to the specialists, operating rooms, medications, rehabilitation, equipment, and technology available to me.

Some know exactly what treatment they need, but cannot receive it. Others endure unimaginable pain without adequate medication. Hospitals have been destroyed or overwhelmed. Doctors have been forced to attempt the impossible with almost nothing.

My awareness of their suffering does not erase my own pain, but it gives my pain perspective. It deepens my gratitude to Allah, strengthens my commitment to this work, and reminds me why we must continue serving people in Gaza with everything we have.

We must never accept a world in which lifesaving medical care is treated as a privilege—whether that care is denied by an American insurance company or made impossible by siege, destruction, and war.

As I prepare for what comes next, I am asking you to pray for me.

To my Muslim sisters and brothers, please make sincere du‘a for me and my family: for wisdom and clarity as I make these decisions, for the physicians and medical teams who will care for me, for a successful surgery, for protection from complications, and for a complete and lasting recovery.

To my friends of other faiths, and to those who may not practice a faith at all, I welcome your prayers, your love, and your hopes for healing. Your compassion means more to me than you know.

And please continue praying for—and standing with—the wounded people of Gaza. Pray for those suffering in hospital beds, tents, and damaged homes. Pray for those whose injuries cannot wait. Pray for the physicians and nurses working beyond exhaustion. Pray for the families caring for loved ones without the medicine or equipment they need. And continue helping us serve them.

I do not know every detail of the road ahead. But I know that Allah already sees the entire road. He knows every difficult day, every painful night, and every moment of healing before I reach it.

That is enough for me.

Alhamdulillah in ease. Alhamdulillah in hardship. Alhamdulillah in every condition.

May Allah use this chapter for my benefit in this life and in the next. May He allow it to deepen my compassion rather than diminish it. And may He return me to this work with even greater tenderness for every person living in pain.

Thank you for loving me. Thank you for praying for me. Thank you for supporting The North Star, my work, and our projects in Gaza.

We will continue, insha’Allah.

I love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,

Shaun

Today we offer an alternate take on the situation and share some life and business lessons that can be learned.

🕊️ Help Save Saida, a Palestinian Mother of 10 Fighting Cancer

As-Salaamu Alaykum, my dear friends.

I need your help today for a Palestinian mother named Saida.

She is 52 years old. She is a mother of 10. And after surviving the bombing, displacement, hunger, terror, and destruction of Northern Gaza, she is now facing something else that cannot wait: a malignant cancer in her upper jaw.

Doctors in Cairo have said Saida needs surgery as soon as possible to stop the cancer from spreading. The surgery will involve the removal of part of her upper jaw, followed by reconstructive surgery, medication, housing, nutrition, and extensive aftercare.

🤲🏽 Please click here now to donate directly to Saida’s GoFundMe.

I want to be very clear about this, because I know how many scams exist online and how careful people have to be.

I know this family. I know the person running the GoFundMe. I have seen Saida’s scans. I have spoken to people directly connected to her doctors and medical team. I am 100% sure this is legitimate.

And as always, I also need to say this plainly: I am not being paid for this. I do not have access to this fundraiser. I do not have access to the funds. I never have and I never will. Every donation goes through the GoFundMe created for Saida’s care.

The fundraiser is being organized by Jennifer Vermeer from Bozeman, Montana. Jennifer is currently in Cairo assisting Palestinian refugees who were evacuated from Gaza for urgent medical treatment and survival. She is helping Saida navigate this medical crisis at a time when Saida has already lost so much.

Saida was forced to leave behind her husband and most of her children in Northern Gaza. Only her son, Ahmed, was able to accompany her to Cairo so he could care for her through treatment and recovery.

Their family home was destroyed in the bombing campaigns.

They have lost nearly everything.

And when Saida arrived in Cairo, she came carrying only a plastic bag with her belongings.

I want you to sit with that for a moment.

A mother of 10.

Cancer in her jaw.

Her home destroyed.

Her husband and most of her children still in Northern Gaza.

And she arrives in another country for emergency surgery with her life reduced to a single plastic bag.

This is what this genocide has done to Palestinian families. It has not only killed people by bombs and bullets. It has shattered every system that helps human beings survive: hospitals, pharmacies, cancer treatment, clean water, safe housing, family networks, transportation, income, food, and dignity.

And now Saida needs us.

The public GoFundMe goal is $12,000, but the most urgent need right now is $6,000 to cover the rest of her surgery costs. Some of the money has already been raised privately, but we need to move quickly.

🚨 Please donate here to help cover Saida’s urgent cancer surgery.

This is not abstract.

This is not theoretical.

This is one mother, one family, one surgery, one urgent moment where we can step in and make a real difference.

Cancer does not wait for a convenient time. Surgery cannot be delayed forever. The longer this takes, the more dangerous it becomes.

Every donation matters here.

$5 helps. $10 helps. $25 helps. $100 helps. And if someone reading this is able to give more, please do. We need to help this family close the gap quickly so Saida can get the surgery and aftercare she urgently needs.

For those of us who are Muslim, we know the weight of caring for the sick, the displaced, the oppressed, the refugee, the stranger, and the family in hardship. But whether you are Muslim or not, this is one of those basic tests of our shared humanity.

A Palestinian mother survived Gaza.

Now she needs help surviving cancer.

💚 Please click here to donate to Saida’s GoFundMe right now.

Please donate.

Please share.

Please keep Saida, her son Ahmed, her husband, and all 10 of her children in your prayers.

May Allah grant her shifa, protect her family, reunite them in safety, and reward every single person who helps her in this urgent moment.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun

Before Gaza has been rebuilt, the United States Government is already building a highly fortified military base there.

Before Palestinians have sovereignty, Washington is preparing a command structure.

Before Gaza has safety, freedom, or even a real political future, the United States is helping construct the infrastructure to manage what comes next from just outside the cage.

That should alarm every single one of us.

Family, this is why The North Star exists. Mainstream outlets will call this “stabilization,” “coordination,” or “postwar planning,” but we are not obligated to use the language of the governments that armed, funded, and protected this genocide. We are here to tell the truth plainly. If you believe that work matters, click here to become a member of The North Star.

According to an Israel Hayom report by Danny Zaken, the U.S. military has begun building a large base near the Gaza border, not far from the Re’im military camp. The report says the base is intended to serve as a combined military and civilian headquarters for organizations and forces expected to operate in the area under what it describes as the Trump plan.

That alone is the story.

Because if the first major infrastructure of “peace” is a military base, then we should ask what kind of peace is actually being planned.

Israel Hayom reported that the new base is meant to replace the multinational headquarters that had been operating in Kiryat Gat, where representatives from more than two dozen countries had been involved at the height of activity. The report says most of those representatives left after the war with Iran broke out, and that Washington is now moving forward with a new site closer to Gaza, including tenders for mobile structures and plans for a command-and-control tower.

A tower. Mobile structures. A military-civilian headquarters. Built in coordination with Israel. Near Gaza’s perimeter.

This is not a neutral detail. This is the shape of power.

For months, U.S. officials have presented their Gaza plans as humanitarian and stabilizing. Reuters previously reportedthat roughly 200 U.S. troops were operating from a Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat, with expertise in transport, planning, security, and engineering. That center included Israeli, British, and Canadian personnel and was tasked with monitoring the ceasefire, organizing aid, and helping plan an international force for Gaza.

At the time, U.S. officials insisted American troops would not enter Gaza. But that assurance does not answer the deeper question.

Who gave Washington the right to design Gaza’s future?

Who gave Israel the right to coordinate the reconstruction of the society it helped destroy? And where, exactly, are Palestinians in this plan?

That is the missing center of the entire story. Israel Hayom discusses the Board of Peace, expert committees, international forces, foreign governments, infrastructure, rubble removal, and command operations. But Gaza is not an empty project site. Gaza is not a battlefield spreadsheet. Gaza is not a humanitarian management problem waiting for generals, contractors, and foreign committees to solve.

Gaza belongs to Palestinians.

If Palestinians are not leading the future of Gaza, then the future being built is not freedom. It is administration from above.

This becomes even more disturbing when we place the new report beside what was already reported earlier this year. In February, The Guardian reported that Trump officials were planning a 5,000-person military base inside Gaza, based on Board of Peace contracting records reviewed by the outlet. The proposed compound, according to The Guardian, would spread across more than 350 acres and serve as a military operating base for a future International Stabilization Force.

The details are chilling. The Guardian reported that the planned military outpost would eventually include 26 trailer-mounted armored watchtowers, bunkers, a small-arms range, a warehouse for military equipment, and barbed wire around the entire site.

That is not the blueprint for Palestinian freedom.

That is the blueprint for a fortified occupation.

The Guardian also reported that the Board of Peace is chaired by Donald Trump and led in part by Jared Kushner, and that its charter appears to grant Trump permanent leadership and control. Rutgers law professor Adil Haque described the Board of Peace to The Guardian as a legal shell that, in practice, allows the United States to use it for its own purposes.

That detail matters because it tells us what kind of authority is being constructed. This is not a Palestinian-led recovery process. This is not international solidarity under Palestinian consent. This is a U.S.-driven governance structure, wrapped in international language, built around military planning, and positioned over Gaza’s future.

The Guardian’s article was about a planned base inside Gaza. Israel Hayom’s report describes a base near Gaza’s border. They may not be the same site. But together, they point in the same direction: the United States is not merely talking about humanitarian aid. It is building and planning military infrastructure around the future governance and control of Gaza.

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And the language of “stabilization” should not fool us.

In the history of occupation, empire, and foreign intervention, “stability” is often what powerful states call controlwhen they want it to sound benevolent. “Security” is what they call domination when they want it to sound necessary. “Reconstruction” is what they call the phase after destruction, especially when the destroyers still expect to shape what gets rebuilt.

That is what we have to confront here.

The same governments that armed and protected Israel’s genocide now want to manage the aftermath.

The same Israeli military that helped turn Gaza into rubble is reportedly coordinating the base that will help organize Gaza’s next phase. The same American government that shielded Israel diplomatically now wants to present itself as a neutral stabilizer.

That is not neutrality.

That is power laundering itself through humanitarian language.

The land question makes all of this even more alarming. The Guardian reported that it was unclear who owned the land where the planned military compound would be built, while much of southern Gaza was under Israeli control. Diana Buttu, a Palestinian-Canadian lawyer and former peace negotiator, asked the obvious question in The Guardian: “Whose permission did they get?”

That question should sit at the center of this entire story.

Because if Palestinians did not consent to this, then it is not reconstruction. It is domination with a construction contract.

Israel Hayom also reported that five countries have approved sending forces to the area: Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, and Albania. Three others — Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Azerbaijan — have expressed willingness in principle, though the report says most countries have suspended practical consent because of the war with Iran. Indonesia, according to the report, is continuing to train a force of about 5,000 troops for the mission.

That sounds international. But it is not that simple.

The report says Israel refuses to allow soldiers from countries it considers hostile, including Pakistan and Turkey. Think about what that means. Even the so-called international force is being filtered through Israeli approval. Israel, the occupying power and the state responsible for genocide in Gaza, is helping determine which countries may participate in the force that will shape Gaza’s future.

An international force vetted by Israel is not international justice.

It is occupation with a guest list.

And even inside the Israeli security establishment, the report says there is deep doubt that the political track will work. One security source told Israel Hayom that, under current assessments, renewed fighting in Gaza is more likely than Hamas being disarmed through diplomacy.

That may be the most revealing line in the entire story.

If the people building this apparatus believe renewed fighting is more likely than a diplomatic breakthrough, then what is the base really for? Is it for peace, or for the next phase? Is it for reconstruction, or for managing the battlefield after diplomacy fails? Is it for helping Palestinians rebuild their lives, or for keeping Gaza under a U.S.-Israeli security architecture while everyone pretends this is humanitarian?

Those questions go to the heart of what is being built.

Because Gaza does not need a command tower before it needs homes. Gaza does not need an international force curated by Israel before it needs freedom. Gaza does not need a military-civilian headquarters on its border before it needs an end to siege, starvation, displacement, occupation, apartheid, and genocide.

Gaza needs hospitals that function. Gaza needs schools. Gaza needs clean water. Gaza needs families reunited. Gaza needs disabled children cared for. Gaza needs doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, and builders. Gaza needs Palestinians to decide their own future.

What Gaza does not need is the United States and Israel building the infrastructure of control and calling it peace.

One of the things Islam teaches, and something I want my non-Muslim readers to understand, is that trust and authority are sacred responsibilities. In the Qur’an, Allah commands people to return trusts to those entitled to them and, when judging between people, to judge with justice. You can read that teaching in Qur’an 4:58. That matters here because Gaza’s future is not a possession to be handed from one empire to another. It is a trust that belongs to the people of Gaza.

No country that helped destroy Gaza has the moral right to appoint itself guardian over Gaza.

No military alliance has the right to turn Palestinian sovereignty into an administrative problem.

No “peace board” has the right to rebuild Gaza without the consent and leadership of Palestinians themselves.

That is the moral line.

If Washington wants to help Gaza, it can stop arming Israel. It can end diplomatic cover for genocide. It can support Palestinian-led reconstruction. It can fund hospitals without controlling them. It can support schools without militarizing them. It can help clear rubble without building command infrastructure over the people buried beneath it.

But a base on Gaza’s border is not liberation.

A command tower is not justice.

A military-civilian headquarters built with Israel is not Palestinian self-determination.

It is the architecture of control.

This is the part that mainstream coverage will likely soften. They will talk about deadlock, stabilization, disarmament, reconstruction, international partners, and security coordination. They will make it sound technical, complicated, and inevitable. But the basic moral truth is plain enough: after helping Israel destroy Gaza, the United States is now preparing to help manage Gaza.

That should outrage us.

It should alarm every person who cares about Palestinian freedom. It should alarm every person who understands that reconstruction without sovereignty is just another form of domination. It should alarm every person who knows that military bases do not magically become humanitarian projects because officials attach civilian language to them.

The Trump plan for Gaza appears to begin not with Palestinian rights, but with foreign command.

Not with freedom, but with control.

Not with justice, but with infrastructure for whatever comes next.

And if even Israeli security sources reportedly believe renewed fighting is more likely than diplomacy, then we should stop pretending this is simply about peace.

The United States is building a base near Gaza.

The Guardian previously reported plans for a massive military base inside Gaza.

The question is not just where these bases are being built.

The question is what future they are being built to enforce.

This is why The North Star exists. We are not here to translate domination into polite language. We are not here to pretend that a military base becomes humanitarian because powerful governments say so. We are here to tell the truth clearly, with receipts, and the truth is this: Gaza does not need a U.S.-Israeli architecture of control. Gaza needs freedom.

If you believe independent journalism like this needs to exist, click here to join The North Star as a monthly, annual, or founding member.

Love and appreciate each of you!

Your friend and brother,
Shaun

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In a world overflowing with refugees, the United States has decided who deserves rescue…

White South Africans - the only obese “refugees” in the world.

Not Palestinians fleeing genocide in Gaza. Not Sudanese families fleeing mass slaughter. Not Congolese families fleeing war. Not Haitians. Not Syrians. Not Yemenis. Not Afghans who risked their lives alongside the United States.

White South Africans.

Family, this is why The North Star exists. Because some truths are too ugly for mainstream media to say plainly, even when the numbers are screaming. This is not a complicated policy dispute. This is a refugee program being bent around race, power, and white grievance. If you believe we need independent journalism willing to call this what it is, click here to become a member of The North Star.

According to Mother Jones, every single one of the 599 refugees admitted into the United States last month was a white South African.

That is 100%.

Mother Jones also reported that since October 1, 2025, the United States has admitted 6,668 refugees. Of those, 6,665 were white South Africans. Just three were from Afghanistan.

That means 99.96% of all refugees admitted into the United States during that period were white South Africans.

Sit with that number.

99.96%.

That is not a coincidence. That is not an accident. That is not a bureaucratic glitch. That is not “humanitarian concern.” That is a government policy so racially obvious that pretending not to see it becomes its own kind of lie.

This is open white supremacy.

I do not say that casually. I am not saying every white South African refugee is a bad person. I am not saying every family who came here under this program is lying about their fears or hardships. Human beings are complicated, and governments often use ordinary people as props for ugly political projects.

But the policy itself is what it is.

In a world full of refugees, Donald Trump has created a refugee system that overwhelmingly admits white South Africans while almost everyone else is shut out.

According to Reuters, Trump raised the refugee admissions ceiling by 10,000 specifically to allow more white South Africans into the United States. Reuters also reported that the administration had admitted only three non-South African refugees this fiscal year.

According to Mother Jones, the State Department estimated the cost of resettling those additional 10,000 Afrikaner refugees at $100 million.

One hundred million dollars.

For this.

For the racist fantasy of “white genocide.”

The Trump administration has claimed white Afrikaners are facing an emergency in South Africa. But the Associated Press reported that the South African government, and white Afrikaner advocacy groups themselves, rejected the claim that white South Africans are facing a humanitarian emergency. Reuters reported that South Africa’s foreign ministry called the assertion that white Afrikaners face systemic persecution “entirely without foundation.”

And still, Trump built the program around them.

This is the moral obscenity.

The world is not short on refugees. The world is full of them. Gaza has been turned into a landscape of mass graves, destroyed hospitals, starving children, amputees, widows, orphans, and families who have been displaced again and again by Israel’s genocide. Sudan is suffering one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes on earth. Congo has millions displaced. Haiti is collapsing under violence, hunger, and political chaos. Afghanistan still has families who were abandoned after serving alongside American forces. Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Myanmar, Ukraine, and so many other places are full of people with urgent, undeniable claims to refuge.

And yet the United States looked out at all that human suffering and said, in practice, we choose white South Africans.

Not some.

Not many.

Nearly all.

99.96%.

That number should haunt every decent person in this country. It should be repeated in every interview. Every Trump official should be forced to answer for it. Every Republican who claims to care about religious freedom, persecution, refugees, or human rights should be asked whether they support a refugee program that has admitted 6,665 white South Africans and just three people from everywhere else.

Because this is not refugee policy.

This is racial preference dressed up as humanitarianism.

And it becomes even more grotesque when you remember the history. Afrikaners are not just any ethnic group in South Africa. They are descendants primarily of European settlers, and their political institutions helped build and enforce apartheid, one of the most infamous systems of racial domination in modern history. That does not mean every Afrikaner alive today is guilty of apartheid. Children do not inherit personal guilt for the sins of their ancestors.

But history matters.

And it is morally obscene for the United States to treat white South Africans as the world’s emergency refugee population while Black South Africans still live with the economic and social aftermath of apartheid. It is obscene to turn the beneficiaries of a racial caste system into the face of global victimhood while people actually being bombed, starved, occupied, displaced, and hunted are told to wait outside.

This is how white supremacy works in policy.

It does not always announce itself with a burning cross. Sometimes it arrives as a memo. Sometimes it arrives as a refugee ceiling. Sometimes it arrives as a $100 million allocation. Sometimes it arrives as a spreadsheet where 6,665 out of 6,668 people just happen to come from the racial group that Trump, Elon Musk, and the far right have decided to mythologize as victims of “white genocide.”

And we are supposed to pretend this is normal.

No.

It is not normal.

It is not moral.

It is not defensible.

It is not Christian. It is not democratic. It is not humanitarian. It is not even subtle.

One of the things Islam teaches, and something I want my non-Muslim readers to understand, is that justice cannot be tribal. The Qur’an commands believers to stand firmly for justice, even when that witness is against themselves, their parents, or their own people. You can read that command in Qur’an 4:135. That teaching matters here because it cuts directly against the sickness of racial favoritism. It says truth and justice must not bend around tribe, nation, party, family, or race.

That is exactly what America is violating.

A just refugee system does not ask, “Who looks like our preferred political fantasy?”

A just refugee system asks, “Who is in danger?”

A just refugee system does not turn away the world’s desperate while rolling out the red carpet for the far right’s favorite racial grievance.

And that is what makes the 99.96% figure so damning. It does not require a complicated explanation. It exposes the whole thing.

If a refugee program admits 6,665 people from one white group and three people from the rest of the planet, the burden of proof is not on us to prove racism.

The burden is on them to explain how it could be anything else.

This is where mainstream political language fails. They will call it “controversial.” They will call it “unusual.” They will call it “a dramatic shift.” They will call it “prioritizing Afrikaners.” They will call it “refugee policy.”

But a country that admits virtually no refugees except white South Africans is practicing open racial preference.

A country that spends $100 million on a racist conspiracy theory while slamming the door on people fleeing actual war and genocide is not confused.

It is showing us its values.

And Trump’s values are clear.

He sees white grievance as an emergency.

He sees Black and brown suffering as background noise.

This is why The North Star exists. We are not here to politely describe white supremacy until it becomes invisible. We are not here to launder racism through bureaucratic language. We are here to tell the truth plainly, with receipts, and this truth is plain: Donald Trump has turned America’s refugee program into a 99.96% white South African pipeline.

If you believe independent journalism like this needs to exist, click here to join The North Star as a monthly, annual, or founding member.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun

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Donald Trump said the war with Iran was almost over.

Then he said it again.

Then again.

Then again.

According to CNN’s Aaron Blake, Trump has now claimed at least 38 times that a deal with Iran was near, that Iran was desperate to make one, or that the war was about to end. CNN’s count includes social media posts, public remarks, and phone calls with reporters.

Thirty-eight times.

At some point, this is not optimism. It is not strategy. It is not negotiation. It is not confidence. It is not the famous Trump “art of the deal.”

It is a lie repeated so many times that the repetition itself becomes the scandal.

Family, this is why independent journalism matters. Mainstream media often treats Trump’s lies as if they are weather events, something that just rolls in and rolls out. But when a president lies over and over again about a war he helped start, people die under those lies. Families pay for those lies. Soldiers risk their lives under those lies. If you believe The North Star needs to keep telling the truth plainly, click here to become a member.

The war against Iran began on February 28. Reuters reported that U.S. and Israeli forces began bombing Iran that day, and that the conflict had stretched into a three-month-long war by early June. Reuters also reported that both the House and Senate have backed war powers efforts aimed at limiting Trump’s ability to continue hostilities, reflecting growing concern even inside his own party.

This was not supposed to happen.

This war was supposed to be quick. A few days. Then a few weeks. Then maybe a month. Then maybe a little longer. And now here we are, in the fourth month of a war Trump keeps claiming is basically over, while the region keeps burning and the American people keep being asked to trust a man whose timeline has failed again and again and again.

Thirty-eight times is not a mistake.

Once can be a mistake.

Twice can be bad information.

Three or four times can be arrogance.

Thirty-eight times is a method.

According to CNN’s analysis, the pattern began on March 23, less than a month into the war, when Trump started suggesting major progress was being made toward peace. CNN reported that by March 25, Trump was saying Iran wanted a deal badly, and by March 26, he was claiming Iran was begging for one.

Think about that.

If Iran was begging for a deal in March, why is the war still going in June?

If the deal was almost done in April, why are we still waiting in the fourth month?

If the final issues were being settled in May, why is Trump still promising the same imaginary breakthrough in June?

That is the problem with lying in public for this long. Eventually, the calendar itself becomes a fact-check.

CNN’s timeline is brutal because it shows the repetition. Trump did not merely make one bad prediction. He made the same prediction over and over, then kept making it after it failed. On April 7, he announced a ceasefire and suggested the agreement needed two weeks to be finalized. It was not finalized. On April 15, according to CNN, he said the war was very close to being over. It was not over. On April 17, he made several more sweeping claims about how close the deal was. No deal came. On April 20, he again suggested things would happen quickly. They did not.

Then came May.

Still no deal.

Still no end.

Still Trump.

According to CNN, Trump acknowledged on May 18 that previous moments when a deal looked close had fallen apart, but then insisted the latest moment was different. It was not different. The next day, he said the war would end quickly. It did not. By May 23, he was again saying the administration was getting closer, that a deal was largely negotiated, and that an announcement would come soon. It did not.

This is where the whole thing becomes deranged.

Not because diplomacy is easy. It is not. Not because negotiations never shift. They do. Not because presidents can never be wrong. They can.

But because Trump is not simply updating the public as facts change. He is selling the same false ending over and over again, regardless of how many times reality humiliates him.

The war keeps going.

The deal keeps not arriving.

Trump keeps saying it is almost here.

And his followers keep believing him.

How?

How does this man have an ounce of credibility left with his own supporters?

If Barack Obama had promised 38 times that a war was ending, only for it to keep expanding, the right would never stop talking about it. If Joe Biden had said 38 times that a peace deal was right around the corner, only for missiles to keep flying, Fox News would have built an entire month of programming around it. If any Democrat had helped start a war in February, promised it would be over almost immediately, then dragged the country into June while insisting a breakthrough was always two or three days away, Trump supporters would call him a liar, a fraud, and a danger to the republic.

And they would be right.

But because it is Trump, his followers keep adjusting reality around him.

If the deal does not happen, it is because Iran is difficult.

If the war continues, it is because Trump is being tough.

If gas prices rise, it is somebody else’s fault.

If Congress pushes back, they are traitors.

If the ceasefire collapses, Trump never really promised peace.

If Trump says the same false thing for the 38th time, they call it leadership.

No. It is not leadership. It is deception with better branding.

Reuters reported that the United States and Iran have been engaged in largely indirect negotiations for an interim deal, but that no agreement has been reached while the two sides have continued to periodically exchange fire. Reuters also reported that the war has driven up oil prices and disrupted supply chains, including humanitarian aid.

That is the reality beneath Trump’s speeches.

The war is not over.

The deal is not done.

The costs are not theoretical.

And the violence is not rhetorical.

Reuters reported that Trump’s Middle East ceasefires have failed to stop violence in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran. In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes have continued. In Lebanon, Israeli strikes have continued. In the U.S.-Iran conflict, the sides have continued to exchange fire even after a ceasefire was announced.

That same Reuters analysis quoted Trump describing Middle East ceasefires as involving “shooting in a more moderate manner” rather than a total halt in fighting.

Read that again.

Not peace.

Not justice.

Not diplomacy.

Not an end to the killing.

“Shooting in a more moderate manner.”

That is the moral emptiness of this whole thing. Trump wants credit for peace while the shooting continues. He wants credit for ending a war while the war enters its fourth month. He wants credit for a deal that does not exist. He wants the applause before the achievement, the victory lap before the victory, the Nobel Prize fantasy before the blood is even dry.

And his followers keep giving it to him.

This is not normal.

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A president saying a war-ending deal is close 38 times without producing the deal should be treated as a major credibility crisis. It should dominate every interview with him. Every Republican who supports him should be asked whether they believe the 39th claim. Every member of Congress should be asked whether they are comfortable letting a president continue hostilities when his public statements about the war have been this wildly unreliable.

Because this is not a reality show. This is not one of Trump’s failed casinos. This is not a campaign rally where he can ramble for two hours and lie about crowd sizes.

This is war.

And war is where lies become corpses.

One of the things Islam teaches, and something I want my non-Muslim readers to understand, is that truth is not optional just because power is involved. The Qur’an commands believers to stand firmly for justice, even when that witness is against themselves or their own people. You can read that teaching in Qur’an 4:135. That is a hard command. It means truth cannot be bent to protect your tribe, your party, your president, or your preferred strongman.

That is exactly what this moment requires.

If Trump lied, say he lied.

If Trump was wrong, say he was wrong.

If Trump has no idea how to end the war he helped start, say that too.

But do not let him keep selling the public the same fake ending every few days while real people live and die in the war he keeps pretending is almost over.

Reuters reported that only 36% of Americans approved of U.S. strikes on Iran in recent polling, and only 25% said the benefits had been worth the costs. That is not a mandate. That is not national unity. That is a warning sign.

And yet Trump keeps trying to govern through performance.

He performs strength.

He performs diplomacy.

He performs control.

He performs peace.

But the actual record tells a different story: the war began February 28, the deal has not arrived, the ceasefires are unstable, the region remains on edge, and Trump has now told some version of the same false story at least 38 times.

Enough.

Thirty-eight times is not a communications problem.

It is not a misunderstanding.

It is not the fog of diplomacy.

It is a president repeatedly telling the American people that the end is near when the end is not here.

The people who still believe him should ask themselves a simple question: If a man can be wrong 38 times about war and peace, what would it take for you to admit he is lying?

Because the rest of us do not have to keep pretending.

Donald Trump said the Iran war was almost over.

Thirty-eight times later, the war is still here.

And so is the lie.

This is why The North Star exists. We are not here to normalize propaganda because it comes from a podium. We are not here to confuse repeated deception with political strategy. We are here to tell the truth plainly, especially when powerful people keep lying about matters of life and death.

If you believe independent journalism like this needs to exist, click here to join The North Star as a monthly, annual, or founding member.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun

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America Should Not Host the World Cup While Banning the World

A man earned his way to the World Cup.

Not through favoritism. Not through politics. Not through privilege. He earned it through excellence, discipline, reputation, and years of work in one of the most demanding jobs in global sports.

Then the United States blocked him at the border.

That is what happened to Omar Abdulkadir Artan, one of Africa’s top soccer referees, a Somali official selected to work at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. And it is completely, utterly shameful.

Family, this is exactly why independent journalism matters. Corporate media will often describe moments like this with the cold language of “visa complications” and “vetting concerns,” as if a man’s life, career, dignity, and nation were not just humiliated in public. The North Star exists to say plainly what power tries to hide behind bureaucratic phrases. If that matters to you, click here to become a member of The North Star.

According to Al Jazeera, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Artan was denied entry after arriving in South Florida. A DHS spokesperson said he was “determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns,” but provided no public details explaining what those concerns actually were.

According to Reuters, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said a Somali national arrived at Miami International Airport from Istanbul, underwent additional inspection, and was deemed inadmissible. Reuters also reported that Artan had a valid visa, according to media reports. Al Jazeera made the same basic point in another way: the fact that he arrived in the United States suggests he had already been granted permission to travel.

Now, to be clear, a visa does not automatically guarantee admission into the United States. Customs officials can still deny entry at the port of arrival. But that legal technicality does not make this morally acceptable. It does not make it fair. It does not make it less ugly. And it certainly does not erase the obvious context: Omar Artan is Somali, and Somalia is on Donald Trump’s travel ban list.

The White House proclamation itself lists Somalia among the countries whose nationals face full entry restrictions. The government can wrap that policy in all the sterile national security language it wants, but what it produced here was a global humiliation of a man who had already been selected by the world governing body of soccer to help officiate the world’s biggest tournament.

And let’s not pretend this was some random local referee with a thin résumé.

According to Reuters, Artan was named Best Male Referee for 2025 by the Confederation of African Football, the governing body for soccer across Africa. According to The Guardian, he has been a FIFA referee since 2018, officiated at the Africa Cup of Nations, and was set to become the first Somali official ever to work a World Cup.

That is not a small thing.

The Africa Cup of Nations is one of the most important international tournaments in the world. The Confederation of African Football Champions League is the premier club competition on the African continent. FIFA, the world governing body for soccer, does not select referees for the World Cup as a courtesy. These are elite appointments. They are earned.

Artan earned his place.

America took it from him.

And what makes this even more enraging is the dignity of his response. Reuters reported that Artan thanked FIFA and the Confederation of African Football for their support and said, “I promise to keep my refereeing levels up.” That is a man refusing to be broken by a government that treated him as disposable.

But we should not allow his grace to soften our outrage.

Because this is not just about one referee. It is about the hypocrisy of the entire tournament.

FIFA has spent years branding soccer as a force for unity. Its own campaign, “Football Unites the World,” says the game brings people together “all over the world.” FIFA’s “Unite for Inclusion” campaign says “football is for everyone” and commits to fighting discrimination at all levels.

Beautiful words.

But what do those words mean when one of the best referees in Africa can be selected for the World Cup, fly to the host country, and be turned away because he comes from a banned nation?

What does “football unites the world” mean if the host country gets to decide that some of the world is not welcome?

What does “football is for everyone” mean if “everyone” does not include a Somali Muslim referee who earned his place on the field?

This is where FIFA’s cowardice matters. According to The Guardian, FIFA confirmed Artan “will be unable to train and officiate” at the World Cup and said it was not involved in host country immigration processes. In plain English, FIFA is saying: this is not our problem.

But it is their problem.

If FIFA awards the World Cup to a country whose government can block qualified officials from participating because of nationality, religion, race, or origin, then FIFA cannot hide behind paperwork. FIFA chose the host. FIFA accepted the risk. FIFA made the deal. FIFA gets the money, the prestige, the broadcast revenue, the corporate sponsors, and the global stage. It does not also get to wash its hands when the host country humiliates a referee who belongs at the tournament.

That is not neutrality.

That is cowardice.

And the problem is already bigger than Omar Artan. The Guardian reported that the 2026 World Cup has been caught up in Trump’s aggressive border restrictions, with visa and entry problems affecting Artan, Iranian team officials and staff, an Iraqi player and team photographer, a Swiss player, and even some Scottish fans.

That is the bigger scandal.

The United States wants the honor of hosting the world while building systems to exclude the world. It wants the ceremony, the flags, the anthems, the tourism, the revenue, the stadiums, the television spectacle, and the global prestige. But when people from certain countries actually arrive, suddenly they are treated like threats.

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This is not the spirit of the World Cup.

It is the betrayal of it.

The World Cup is supposed to be one of the few places where the whole world is visible at once. Rich nations and poor nations. Powerful nations and occupied nations. Nations that are celebrated and nations that are constantly stereotyped. Players, referees, coaches, journalists, workers, and fans from every corner of the earth come together around the same game. That is the point.

And yet here we are, watching the United States tell one of the best referees in the world that his excellence still was not enough to overcome his nationality.

That is the message.

You can be one of the best in Africa.

You can be selected by FIFA.

You can have the credentials.

You can have the visa.

You can have the spotless public record.

You can have the honor of representing your people on a stage they have never reached before.

And still, at the border, America can look at your passport and say no.

One of the things Islam teaches, and something I want my non-Muslim readers to understand, is that human beings are not honored or disgraced by nationality, tribe, race, or passport. In the Qur’an, Allah teaches that humanity was made into nations and tribes so that we may know one another, not despise one another. The verse says the most honored people are not those with the most powerful country, but those with the most righteousness and consciousness of God. You can read that teaching in Qur’an 49:13.

That moral teaching is directly relevant here.

Because the United States did not treat Omar Artan like a man to be known. It treated him like a category. Somali. Banned nation. Vetting concern. Inadmissible.

That is how discrimination often works. It turns a full human being into a label, then punishes him for the label.

And that is why this story is so infuriating. Not because soccer is more important than life and death. It is not. But because sports often reveal the truth about the societies that host them. The World Cup is supposed to be a mirror of global possibility. Here, it is becoming a mirror of American exclusion.

Omar Artan should be preparing to officiate at the World Cup.

He should be walking onto the field as the first Somali referee ever to do so.

He should be a source of pride for Somalia, for Africa, for Muslims, and for every person who believes merit should matter more than bigotry.

Instead, he was turned away in Miami.

And FIFA shrugged.

No. That is not good enough.

If the United States cannot welcome the world, it should not host the world. If FIFA cannot protect qualified participants from discriminatory exclusion, it should stop pretending its slogans mean anything. And if “Football Unites the World” is going to be more than a marketing campaign, then FIFA must act like the world actually includes Somalia.

Because Omar Artan did not fail the World Cup.

The World Cup failed him.

And so did America.

This is why The North Star exists. We are not here to politely describe injustice until it becomes invisible. We are here to name it, document it, and refuse to let powerful institutions hide behind empty language. If you believe this work needs to continue, click here to join The North Star as a monthly, annual, or founding member.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun

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Donald Trump said he “calls the shots” with Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu.

Then Israel fired the shots that Trump said he told them not to fire.

Again.

That is what makes this moment so humiliating for Donald Trump. He did not merely say he hoped Benjamin Netanyahu would listen to him. He did not merely say the United States was urging restraint.

He boasted that Netanyahu “doesn’t call the shots” and that he, Donald Trump, does. And then he said that he told Israel not to bomb Iran.

Then Netanyahu showed the world exactly how little that boast was worth.

Family, independent journalism matters most in moments like this, when mainstream media bends over backward to avoid saying the plain moral truth. The North Star is not here to launder power. We are here to name it, confront it, and tell you what the public record actually shows. If that kind of journalism matters to you, click here to become a member of The North Star. We cannot keep doing this work without you.

According to the Financial Times, Trump said Netanyahu would have “no choice” but to accept whatever agreement the United States reached with Iran. Then Trump went even further, regarding his demand that Israel not bomb Iran - which Israel just did.

“I call the shots,” he said. “I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots.”

That was not a private whisper. That was Trump doing what Trump always does: projecting dominance. He wanted the world to believe that Netanyahu, the man currently leading Israel through genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in Palestine and Lebanon, and a widening regional assault, was somehow under his control.

But within hours, Israel attacked Iran anyway.

According to Axios, Trump told Netanyahu not to retaliate against Iran’s missile attack and to give diplomacy more time. A senior U.S. official told Axios that Trump urged Netanyahu to hold off because the United States was close to “doing something good” in negotiations with Tehran. The same report said Netanyahu pushed back, then “pseudo agreed” to stand down.

Then Israel struck Iran.

Reuters reported Monday that Israel and Iran exchanged strikes in the first direct military exchange between the two countries since an April ceasefire. The Guardian reported that Israel’s attacks included a strike on an Iranian petrochemical complex and strikes on Iranian defense systems, while Iranian state television reported explosions in the cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Karaj, and Tabriz.

So now we are left with three possibilities. None of them make Trump look strong.

First, Trump may have been lying. This is ALWAYS a possibility.

He may have known Israel was going to attack Iran. He may have known Netanyahu had no intention of letting Washington restrain him. He may have known the whole “I call the shots” routine was political theater designed to make himself look powerful while Israel did exactly what Israel planned to do anyway.

Second, Trump may have genuinely told Netanyahu not to attack Iran, and Netanyahu ignored him. That may be even worse.

Because if the President of the United States publicly claims that Netanyahu “doesn’t call the shots,” publicly presents himself as the man in control, and then Netanyahu bombs Iran anyway, the world just watched the Israeli prime minister walk straight over him.

Third, Trump and Netanyahu may have been engaged in a public performance of disagreement while the machinery of escalation kept moving underneath it.

That is how empires often work. Publicly, leaders posture. Privately, weapons flow, targets are selected, red lines are blurred, and civilians pay the price. Then when the bombs fall, everyone pretends to be surprised.

Whatever the truth is behind closed doors, Trump’s public claim collapsed in real time.

He said Netanyahu did not call the shots.

Israel answered with airstrikes.

No matter which of these three things are true, all three make Trump look he’s a completely weak sycophant for Israel…AGAIN.

And that is why the word again belongs in the headline. This is not the first time Trump has tried to present himself as the man restraining Netanyahu, only for Israel to expose the limits of that claim. In recent days, Trump had already been forced into a profanity-laced confrontation with Netanyahu over Lebanon, where Israeli escalation threatened to blow up U.S. negotiations with Iran. Reuters reported that Trump acknowledged calling Netanyahu “crazy” during that call and said he was “a little bit perturbed” by Netanyahu’s “constantly fighting with Lebanon.”

In other words, this was not some sudden misunderstanding.

Trump knew Netanyahu was escalating.

Trump knew Netanyahu was a problem.

The administration knew Israel’s attacks in Lebanon could endanger the broader diplomatic track with Iran.

Then Israel struck Iran anyway.

This is not just a Trump problem. It is an American problem.

For decades, presidents from both parties have pretended that the United States is somehow “restraining” Israel while continuing to arm it, fund it, protect it, excuse it, and rescue it diplomatically. They issue stern statements. They leak stories about tense phone calls. They tell reporters they are “frustrated” or “concerned.” Then Israel does what it wants, and Washington adjusts the script.

That is not restraint.

That is complicity with better public relations.

And Trump, for all his endless boasting, has now become the perfect symbol of it. He wants the credit for being powerful without accepting responsibility for what power does. He wants to say he controls Netanyahu when that sounds strong, then distance himself from Netanyahu when Israel escalates. He wants the photo-op of dominance and the deniability of helplessness.

No.

You do not get to claim you call the shots, then pretend the shots had nothing to do with you.

That is the lie at the heart of American policy toward Israel. Washington wants all of the influence, all of the leverage, all of the weapons sales, all of the strategic control, all of the regional dominance, and none of the accountability. It wants to be treated as indispensable when deals are made, but innocent when bombs fall.

It does not work that way.

If Netanyahu can ignore Trump and still receive American protection, then Trump is not calling the shots.

If Trump secretly approved or tolerated the attack while pretending otherwise, then he is lying.

And if this whole thing was coordinated theater, then the American public is being played while the region burns.

Those are the choices.

Pick one.

One of the things Islam teaches, and something I want my non-Muslim readers to understand, is that truth is not supposed to bend itself around power. In the Qur’an, Allah commands believers to stand firmly for justice, even if that witness is against themselves, their parents, or their own people.

That is not a small moral teaching.

It is a command to tell the truth even when the truth embarrasses your side, your tribe, your party, your president, or your allies.

That is exactly what this moment demands.

If Trump lied, say he lied.

If Netanyahu humiliated him, say Netanyahu humiliated him.

If the United States is pretending to oppose escalation while enabling it, say the United States is pretending.

And if Israel is dragging the region deeper into catastrophe while Washington performs concern for the cameras, say that too.

Because people are dying beneath these performances.

Families in Gaza are still being starved, bombed, displaced, and buried in a genocide that the United States has armed and protected. Families in Lebanon have been forced from their homes while entire communities are destroyed. Now Iran is being pulled deeper into a cycle of direct strikes and retaliation that could engulf millions more people if the people with power continue playing games with language, weapons, and plausible deniability.

The danger here is not just that Trump looks weak.

The danger is that Trump looks weak while still being deadly.

That combination is horrifying. A president desperate to look strong can make catastrophic decisions. A prime minister desperate to survive politically can escalate endlessly. And an American political system captured by Israel can keep pretending all of this is complicated when, morally, it is not.

Mainstream journalism will spend endless paragraphs on the “tensions” between Trump and Netanyahu, the “delicate diplomacy,” the “fragile ceasefire,” and the “regional conflict.” But it will rarely say the thing plainly: Israel keeps escalating because it knows the United States will not impose real consequences.

Anger is not a consequence.

A leaked phone call is not a consequence.

A social media post is not a consequence.

A president saying “I call the shots” is not a consequence.

Consequences look like cutting off weapons. Consequences look like ending diplomatic cover. Consequences look like sanctions. Consequences look like accountability in international courts. Consequences look like making Israel pay a real price for genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and regional escalation.

Until then, all of this is theater.

Trump told the world he calls the shots.

Then Israel bombed Iran.

So either Trump was lying, Netanyahu ignored him, or both men are using public confusion as cover while the region is pushed closer to disaster.

There is no innocent explanation here.

And there is certainly no strong one.

If Trump wants the world to believe he calls the shots, then he owns what happened after he said it. If he does not own it, then he should stop pretending he is in charge. And if Netanyahu can openly defy the President of the United States without consequence, then every American should ask the obvious question:

Who is actually running American foreign policy?

Because from Gaza to Lebanon to Iran, it sure as hell does not look like the answer is the American people.

This is why The North Star exists. We are not here to dress up moral collapse in polite language. We are not here to pretend lies are strategy or cowardice is diplomacy. We are here to tell the truth plainly, with receipts, and with the moral clarity this moment demands.

If you believe independent journalism like this needs to exist, click here to join The North Star as a monthly, annual, or founding member.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun

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Any references to markets, prices, or economic conditions are subject to change and may be influenced by a variety of factors, including unforeseen geopolitical or market 
developments. Any forward-looking statements are speculative and should not be relied upon as guarantees of future performance.

Starting tomorrow, and for the rest of the summer, I will be returning to full-time journalism. The humanitarian work will continue, and I will keep donors updated privately on the projects they helped make possible, but my daily public focus is now shifting back to reporting, analysis, investigation, and truth-telling.

And there is a lot to cover.

Before I get into what I’ll be focused on, I want to ask you directly to support this work. Independent journalism only survives when readers decide that truth-telling is worth funding. If you value my reporting, my investigations, my analysis, and my willingness to say what others will not, please click here to become a member of The North Star. Your membership helps make this work possible without corporate advertisers, billionaires, or political gatekeepers deciding what can and cannot be said.

Of course, I will continue covering the genocide in Gaza with the urgency, moral clarity, and consistency it demands. I will also be covering how this crisis has expanded into Lebanon, the role of Iran in the region, the Trump presidency, the corruption that continues to rot American politics from the inside, and the new and old forms of injustice shaping this country every day.

I will be digging back into mass incarceration, civil rights, human rights, police violence, political corruption, and the systems that continue to crush poor people, Black people, immigrants, Muslims, Palestinians, and oppressed communities across the United States and around the world.

Where I can, I also want to help teach the truth about Islam.

I am still a relatively new Muslim, and I am learning every day, but I also know that so many people in this country have been lied to about Islam, Muslims, Palestine, Arabs, and the global Muslim community for their entire lives. Islamophobia is not just personal prejudice. It is political. It is profitable. It is used to justify wars, surveillance, censorship, deportations, hate crimes, and the dehumanization of entire populations. I want to help my readers understand that more clearly and honestly.

This summer, I will be writing with focus.

I will be following the receipts.

I will be naming names.

I will be explaining the systems, not just reacting to the headlines.

And I will be doing my best to connect the dots between what happens in Gaza, Washington, Beirut, Tehran, prisons, courtrooms, police departments, campaign offices, and the lives of ordinary people trying to survive under systems designed to break them.

Thank you for walking with me through these past weeks of humanitarian fundraising. What we have done together has mattered deeply. Now I am asking you to stay with me for the journalism ahead.

Please click here to join as a monthly, annual, or founding member. We have a lot of work to do, and I am ready to get back to it.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun

As-Salaam-Alaikum and good morning from New Jersey!

My friends, I am writing today with deep gratitude.

Because of 1,812 donors, we have now raised $206,127 to help build a school for young orphans in Gaza.

Alhamdulillah.

That means, because of you, we can now begin the next formal steps of this project: securing the land, hiring the teachers and staff, finalizing the local details, and beginning the construction process for a school that hundreds of orphaned children in Gaza desperately need.

I want to slow down and let that sink in.

This did not happen because of one person. It happened because good people all over the world came together and gave what they could. Some people gave thousands. Some gave hundreds. Some gave $50. Some gave $5. Some gave even less, but gave sincerely and from the heart.

And every gift mattered.

Allah knows what each of us is capable of giving. Allah knows what is easy for us and what stretches us. The person who gave $5 may have sacrificed more than the person who gave $500. Allah knows best. I am simply grateful for every single donor who helped carry this school from an idea, to a sketch, to a verified campaign, to a project that can now begin moving on the ground.

This is what happens when people refuse to let despair have the final word.

This is what happens when people see children who have lost parents, homes, safety, and years of school, and decide that grief alone is not enough.

This is what happens when mercy becomes action.

In Islam, orphans hold a sacred place in our hearts and in our obligations. Again and again, the Qur’an commands us to honor them, protect them, and never oppress them. Allah says in Surah Ad-Duha, “So as for the orphan, do not oppress him.” And the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught that the one who cares for an orphan will be close to him in Paradise, holding his fingers together to show that closeness.

So when we help build this school, we are not just funding walls.

We are helping fulfill a sacred responsibility.

This school is being designed for orphaned children in Gaza ages 5–9, serving Grades 1, 2, and 3. It will include 6 classrooms, space for approximately 270 children, 6 washrooms, a teachers’ room, an administrative office, a dedicated counselor’s space, solar power support, secure fencing, and an outdoor artificial grass play area.

A school cannot erase everything these children have endured. But it can give them structure again. A teacher again. A desk again. A morning routine again. A safe place to learn, play, heal, and begin again.

That is what you helped make possible.

We still have work to do. The full goal is $250,000, which means we still need $43,873 more to fully fund the school.

🏫 If you have not yet given, or if you can give again, please donate here to help us finish the full school for Gaza’s orphans.

This project is LaunchGood verified, tax-deductible, and for Muslims it is Zakat eligible. I am a full-time employee of Human Concern International, and I do not receive fees, commissions, percentages, bonuses, or personal compensation from this fundraiser.

Not a penny.

From here, I will update donors privately as we receive progress reports, photos, construction updates, staffing updates, and every major development from the team. You deserve to see what your generosity is building, and I intend to keep you informed as carefully and honestly as I can.

To every donor who helped us reach this point: thank you.

You helped us unlock the next phase.

You helped us prove this school can be built.

You helped give Gaza’s young orphans something the world has tried to steal from them: a future.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun

Please CLICK HERE to Donate Today, OK?

As-Salaam-Alaikum and good afternoon from New Jersey.

My friends, this will be my final fundraising email for the school for young orphans in Gaza.

I have sent nearly 75 emails for this project. I have asked in the morning, at night, before Fajr, after Jummah, during Dhul Hijjah, during LaunchGood competitions, in the final minutes before deadlines, and in the quiet moments when I was honestly not sure if we were going to make it. I have pushed hard because this school matters, because the children matter, and because our team on the ground in Gaza has been counting on us to help turn this plan into something real.

But I also know when I have asked as much as I can ask publicly. After this, I will update donors privately on the progress of the project, but this is my final fundraising email for this school.

And because it is my final ask, I need to make it plainly and with my whole heart.

As of right now, 1,720 supporters have raised $195,379 toward the full $250,000 goal. We are only $4,621 away from $200,000, the point where construction can begin. We are also only $54,621 away from fully funding the entire school.

🏗️ Please donate now and help us cross $200,000 so construction can begin

I want you to sit with that for a moment.

After all of these emails, after all of the giving, after all of the people who gave $5, $50, $500, $5,000, and more, we are less than $5,000 away from the construction threshold. We are not asking whether this school is possible anymore. We are asking whether enough of us will finish what we started.

That is the whole thing now.

This school is being built for orphaned children in Gaza ages 5–9, serving Grades 1, 2, and 3. These are children who should be learning how to read, write, count, study Qur’an, ask questions, play safely, and sit in a classroom with a teacher who knows their name. Instead, many of them have spent the past two years surrounded by displacement, fear, hunger, grief, and the loss of family.

A school will not erase what they have endured, and I would never pretend that it could. But it can give them structure again. It can give them a daily rhythm, a desk, a teacher, a whiteboard, counselling support, friendship, play, and a place where adults are planning for their future instead of only mourning what has been stolen from them.

That kind of stability is a mercy.

🤲🏽 Give your Zakat, sadaqah, or tax-deductible donation today

The proposed school includes 6 fully equipped classrooms with space for approximately 270 children, around 45 students per classroom. It includes 6 washrooms, each with its own separate exterior entrance, an administrative office, a teachers’ room, a dedicated counselor’s space, solar power support, electrical infrastructure, secure perimeter fencing, and an outdoor artificial grass play area.

Every part of this school has a purpose.

The classrooms matter because these children have lost years of learning. The counsellor’s space matters because grief does not disappear just because a child gets quiet. The washrooms, fencing, solar support, and electrical infrastructure matter because dignity and safety are not extras. The outdoor play area matters because children need room to move, laugh, breathe, and feel like children again.

We have raised $195,379.

We need $4,621 to reach $200,000 so construction can begin.

We need $54,621 to fully fund the school.

That could happen today if 5 people give $1,000, or 10 people give $500, or 47 people give $100, or 93 people give $50, or if one person, family, masjid, church, business, or foundation decides to carry this next threshold and push us into construction.

Most likely, it will take what it has always taken: a community of people giving according to their capacity.

📚 Help us turn this final ask into the beginning of construction

I want to thank every donor who has already given. Some of you gave once. Some of you gave again and again. Some of you gave large gifts that changed the pace of the campaign. Some of you wrote to me and said you could only give a few dollars, but you wanted to be part of building this school.

Please hear me clearly: every gift mattered.

Allah knows what each of us is capable of giving. Allah knows what is easy for us and what stretches us. The person who gave $5 may have given with more sacrifice than someone else who gave $500. Allah knows best. I am simply grateful.

This project is organized by Human Concern International. It is LaunchGood verified, tax-deductible, and for Muslims it is Zakat eligible.

And I want to say this clearly one final time in this fundraising push: I am a full-time employee of Human Concern International and have been for more than 2 years. I do not receive fees or personal compensation from this fundraiser.

Not a penny.

I have pushed this hard because the children are worth it. I have risked exhausting my list because the children are worth it. I have sent nearly 75 emails because a school for young orphans in Gaza is worth that and more.

Now I am asking one last time.

If you have already given and can give again, please do.

If you have been waiting, this is the moment.

If you can give $5, give $5.

If you can give $50, give $50.

If you can give $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, or more, please give according to your capacity.

And if you can help us finish the entire remaining need, I am asking you directly to step forward now.

🇵🇸 Donate now through the verified LaunchGood campaign and help us finish this school

This is my final fundraising email for this project.

I am asking us to cross $200,000 today so construction can begin.

And I am asking us, if we possibly can, to keep giving until the full $250,000 is raised and this school is fully funded.

After you give, please forward this email to 3 people who care about Gaza, children, education, mercy, and justice. Tell them we are only $4,621 away from construction beginning and $54,621 away from finishing the whole school.

Thank you for carrying this with me.

Thank you for caring about these children.

Thank you for helping us get this far.

Now let’s finish what we started.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun

This week we glean insights from FIRE and offer a “diet” version that may work for you.

In a hurry? PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

As-Salaam-Alaikum from the airplane flying home from speaking in Minneapolis.

My friends, we are at the moment in this campaign where the next donations do not just move a number on a screen.

They move us from promise to construction.

As of right now, 1,687 supporters have raised $193,509 to help us build a school for young orphans in Gaza. That means we are just $6,491 away from $200,000 — the threshold where construction can begin.

And after that, we are only $56,491 away from fully funding the entire school.

That is where we are.

Not at the beginning.

Not halfway.

Not dreaming from a distance.

We are standing right at the edge of the build itself, and I need us to push through.

🏗️ Donate now and help us cross $200,000 so construction can begin

I want to speak directly to the people who have been watching this campaign and wondering if it was really going to happen.

It is happening.

More than 1,600 people have already given. We unlocked the $10,000 LaunchGood award. We crossed $50,000, $100,000, $150,000, and $190,000. Our team on the ground in Gaza is preparing for the next phase. The plan is real. The children are real. The need is real.

And now the only thing standing between this project and the beginning of construction is the next $6,491.

That could be one donor.

It could be seven donors giving $1,000.

It could be 13 donors giving $500.

It could be 65 donors giving $100.

It could be 130 donors giving $50.

Or it could be a wave of people giving whatever they can, because they understand that a school for orphaned children in Gaza is worth finishing.

This is not the moment to assume someone else will handle it.

This is the moment to help carry it.

🤲🏽 Give your Zakat, sadaqah, or tax-deductible donation today

The school is being designed for orphaned children ages 5–9, serving Grades 1, 2, and 3.

These are children who should be learning to read, learning to write, learning to count, learning Qur’an, asking questions, making friends, and walking into a classroom where a teacher knows their name. Instead, many of them have spent the past two years living through displacement, hunger, fear, grief, and the loss of family.

A school will not erase everything they have endured. I would never pretend that it could.

But a school can restore a rhythm.

It can give a child a desk, a teacher, a whiteboard, a safe courtyard, a daily routine, counselling support, and adults who are planning for their future instead of only grieving their past.

For a child who has lost almost everything, that kind of stability is a mercy.

The proposed school includes 6 fully equipped classrooms with space for approximately 270 children, around 45 students per classroom. It includes 6 washrooms, each with its own separate exterior entrance, an administrative office, a teachers’ room, a dedicated counsellor’s space, solar power support, electrical infrastructure, secure perimeter fencing, and an outdoor artificial grass play area.

Every part of this school is practical.

The classrooms matter because children have lost years of learning.

The counselling space matters because grief does not disappear just because a child is quiet.

The washrooms, solar support, fencing, and electrical infrastructure matter because dignity and safety are not optional.

And now we are close enough for construction to begin.

📚 Help us turn this school from a funded plan into a physical place for children

I know I have asked a lot.

I know these emails have been frequent. I know some people are tired. I know some people unsubscribe every time I push hard for Gaza. But I also know this: the children are worth the cost of asking again.

If I have to choose between protecting my email list and helping hundreds of young orphans in Gaza get a school, I choose the orphans.

Every time.

And I am asking you to choose them with me.

This project is organized by Human Concern International. It is LaunchGood verified, tax-deductible, and for Muslims it is Zakat eligible.

I am a full-time employee of Human Concern International and have been for more than 2 years. I do not receive fees or personal compensation from this fundraiser.

Not a penny.

I am pushing because we are close.

I am pushing because the team in Gaza is counting on us.

I am pushing because this school only gets built if we finish funding it.

And I am pushing because $6,491 is too small a gap for us to let construction wait.

🇵🇸 Donate now through the verified LaunchGood campaign

If you have already given, thank you. Truly. If you can give again, please do.

If you have not given yet, this is the moment.

Give $5 if that is what you can give.

Give $50 if that is what you can give.

Give $100, $500, or $1,000 if you can.

And if Allah has placed the capacity in your hands to give $5,000, $10,000, $25,000, or to cover the final remaining gap, I am asking you directly to step forward now.

We need $6,491 to reach $200,000.

We need $56,491 to finish the full school.

And we have come too far to slow down before construction begins.

🏫 Please give today and help us begin building this school for Gaza’s orphans

After you give, please forward this email to 3 people who care about Gaza, children, education, mercy, and justice. Tell them we are just $6,491 away from construction beginning and less than $57,000 away from fully funding the school.

Let’s cross $200,000.

Let’s finish the full $250,000.

Let’s build this school.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun

CLICK HERE to Help Us Cross $200,000!

As-Salaam-Alaikum and good evening from Minneapolis. I am here speaking later tonight.

My friends, this is the update I have been waiting to send. 1 month ago it seemed impossible that we’d be able to raise these funds to build this new school.

But as of right now, 1,662 supporters have raised $190,751 to help us build a school for young orphans in Gaza.

That is extraordinary.

And now we are close to a threshold that changes everything.

When we reach $200,000, construction can begin.

That means we are just $9,249 away from moving this project from fundraising momentum into the actual beginning of the build.

🏗️ Donate now and help us reach $200,000 so construction can begin

I want us to really understand what that means.

For weeks now, we have been asking, pushing, emailing, sharing, praying, and giving. We fought through the LaunchGood competitions. We unlocked the $10,000 award for the school. We crossed $50,000, then $100,000, then $150,000, then $185,000, and now we are standing right at the edge of the point where the team can begin construction.

We are not dreaming in the distance anymore.

We are almost there.

And for the children, that matters. A school is not an abstract thing to them. It is a daily place to sit, learn, breathe, heal, play, and be known. It is a teacher calling their name. It is a classroom where they can learn how to read and write. It is a courtyard where they can move safely. It is counselling support for grief no child should ever have to carry.

This school is being designed for orphaned children in Gaza ages 5–9, serving Grades 1, 2, and 3. These are young children who have already lost far too much, and the least we can do is help give them a structured, safe, dignified place to begin again.

🤲🏽 Give your Zakat, sadaqah, or tax-deductible donation today

The proposed school includes 6 fully equipped classrooms with space for approximately 270 children, around 45 students per classroom. It includes 6 washrooms, each with its own separate exterior entrance, an administrative office, a teachers’ room, a dedicated counsellor’s space, solar power support, electrical infrastructure, secure perimeter fencing, and an outdoor artificial grass play area.

Every part of that matters.

The classrooms matter because these children have lost years of learning.

The counsellor’s space matters because grief does not disappear just because a child is quiet.

The washrooms, fencing, solar support, and electrical infrastructure matter because dignity is not an extra. Safety is not an extra. Planning for the real conditions in Gaza is not an extra.

And now we are less than $10,000 from the point where construction can begin.

That could be 2 donors giving $5,000.

It could be 10 donors giving $1,000.

It could be 19 donors giving $500.

It could be 93 donors giving $100.

It could be 185 donors giving $50.

Or it could be one person reading this who decides to carry the whole gap.

Most likely, it will be a combination of all of it, just like it has been from the beginning. Some people will give $5. Some will give $50. Some will give $500, $1,000, or more. Allah knows what each of us is capable of giving, and Allah knows what it costs us to give it.

📚 Help us cross the construction threshold for Gaza’s orphan school

The full goal is still $250,000, which means we have $59,249 left to fully fund the school. I do not want to minimize that. We still have to finish.

But today, the immediate goal is clear: $200,000.

Once we cross that line, construction can begin, and then we keep going until the entire school is funded.

This project is organized by Human Concern International. It is LaunchGood verified, tax-deductible, and for Muslims it is Zakat eligible.

And I want to be clear again: I am a full-time employee of Human Concern International and have been for more than 2 years. I do not receive fees or personal compensation from this fundraiser.

Not a penny.

I am pushing because this school is no longer some far-off hope. It is close enough to touch now. The team in Gaza can begin preparing to build. The children can begin moving closer to a real place of learning. And every donation right now helps turn the last few weeks of mercy and sacrifice into something concrete.

A real school.

For real children.

In Gaza.

🇵🇸 Please donate now and help us reach $200,000 today

After you give, please forward this email to 3 people who care about Gaza, children, education, mercy, and justice. Tell them we are just $9,249 away from the point where construction can begin, and $59,249 away from fully funding the school.

We have come too far to slow down now.

Let’s get to $200,000 and begin building.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun