Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning Egyptian-American analyst and commentator on Arab and Muslim issues. Before moving to the United States in 2000, Eltahawy reported for various media from Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia and China. She used to write a weekly column for the Saudi-owned international Arab publication Asharq Al-Awsat before her articles were discontinued for being "too critical" of the Egyptian regime. In light of the current social upheaval in the Middle East, she has been featured in broadcast and print for major networks such as ABC, CBS, PBS, HBO, and The New York Times.

About

Mona Eltahawy is a lecturer and researcher on the growing importance of social media in the Arab world. She taught as an adjunct at the New School in New York, the University of Oklahoma, and the UN-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. Before she moved to the United States in 2000, Eltahawy was a reporter in the Middle East for many years, and was the first Egyptian journalist to live in Israel reporting for a western news agency.

She writes for Egypt’s independent daily Al Masry Al Youm, Qatar’s Al Arab, and Israel’s The Jerusalem Report. Her essays and op-eds—typically covering Egypt and the Islamic world, women's issues, and Muslim political and social affairs—have been published in Canada's Toronto Star, Israel's The Jerusalem Report, Denmark's , The Washington Post, and the International Herald Tribune. Eltahawy speaks publicly at universities, panel discussions, and interfaith gatherings on Egypt, the Middle East, human rights and reform in the Islamic world, feminism, and Egyptian Muslim-Christian relations. She spoke at the first TEDWomen conference about the virtues of confusion in breaking stereotypes of Muslim women.

The Economist credits Eltahawy with coining the phrase "the opium of the Arabs," referring to Israel as "an intoxicating way for [Arab leaders] to forget their own failings or at least blame them on someone else. Arab leaders have a long practice of using Israel as a pretext for maintaining states of emergency at home and putting off reform."

In 2005, Eltahawy was named a Muslim Leader of Tomorrow by the American Society for Muslim Advancement, and she is a member of the Communications Advisory Group for Musawah, the global movement for justice and equality in the Muslim family. In 2009, the European Union awarded her its Samir Kassir Prize for Freedom of the Press for her opinion writing, and Search for Common Ground named her a winner of its Eliav-Sartawi Award for Middle Eastern Journalism. In 2010, the Anna Lindh Foundation awarded her its Special Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism, and the Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media at the University of Denver gave her its Anvil of Freedom Award. She is a board member of the Progressive Muslim Union of North America.