Minaret of Freedom Weblog

“Let us be very clear. The Republican attacks on Ilhan Omar have nothing to do with keeping Jews safe. Nothing. This is about … sending a threat to leaders who speak out for Palestinian rights” — Jewish Voice for Peace Action:

• GOP House Members Oust Ilhan Omar from Foreign Affairs Committee (Mondoweiss)

“The kinds of training police are given in Israel is actually part of the problem because it encourages a warrior mindset in police and exposes them to practices that would be unconstitutional in the U.S.”:

• Memphis Police Chief Trained with Israel Security Forces (The Intercept)

Israel wants to focus on Iran, but its provocation of Palestinians gets in the way; meanwhile Palestinian youth sour on their elders’ nonviolence movement which Israel and the U.S. just pretend does not exist:

• Israelis and Palestinians Do What They Do Best, but for the Wrong Reasons (Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer)

“Men do not get prosecuted for not observing their hijab. This is hypocrisy, not Islam, and plays into the stereotypes”:

• Voices of Faith: ‘My Hijab Liberates Me, Not Oppresses Me’ (Record-Courier)

“Palestinians under siege, subject to killing by world’s 11th most powerful army & deputized settlers but news producers want me to come on air to comment on Palestinians celebrating the killing of 9 Israeli settlers?” — Noura Erakat:

• As Violence Rises in Palestine, the ‘NY Times’ Runs Patrick Kingsley’s Awful and Dangerous Report (NY Times)

Male Muslim characters are rare enough, but still they “outnumber female characters 174 to 1, and when women do appear, they are portrayed as ‘fearful and submissive’ or endangered:

• Visions of Selves and Systems: Muslim Lives on American Television (LA Review of Books)

“Special rapporteur tells The National that the current characterisation obstructs public discussion of Israel’s discriminatory treatment of Palestinians”:

• UN Official Calls on EU to Review Definition of Anti-Semitism (The National News)

“Why launch a devastating incursion, targeting militants yet harming countless civilians, when that method has been proven to exacerbate rather than contain violence?” Because that is result Israel desires:

• The Myth of the ‘Cycle of Violence’ (972 Magazine)
• Israel: Collective Punishment Against Palestinians (Human Rights Watch)
• Palestinians Face Removal as Far-right Israel Vows Expansion (AP)
• Israeli Forces Detain 28 Palestinians in West Bank Raids (Wafa)
• Palestinians See Fewer Paths to Safety Amid Violence with Israel (Christian Science Monitor)
• Palestinians Fire Rockets, Israel Hits Gaza, Days After U.S. Call for Calm (Reuters)
• ‘It’s All Empty Promises’: Palestinians Feel Betrayed by US, Warn There’s Only So Much They Can Bear (CNN)

Muslims call for police reform after the murder of a fleeing unarmed black man and after the shooting of a Muslim teenager holding a knife:

• Muslim American Group Calls for Systemic Reform After Police Killing of Tyre Nichols (Andalou Agency)
• ‘Lethal Force Was Inappropriate’: Muslim, Afghan Leaders Demand Change After Tracy Police Shoot Teenager (abc10)

“Israeli jail authorities assaulted Palestinian women prisoners on Tuesday morning amid a push to enforce strict new measures against Palestinian inmates introduced by Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security”:

• Palestine: Women Prisoners Assaulted by Israeli Jail Authorities (Middle East Eye)

An Egyptian writer would have been allowed to protest the burning of a Qur’an by burning a Torah was not stopped by Swedish authorities; “he was dissuaded by ‘the leadership of the Muslim community in Sweden'”:

• Muslim Anger at Sweden over Qur’an Burning Is Misplaced (Cato)

The BJP and its “ideological parent” the RSS hope offering poor Muslims equal welfare benefits will allow an end run around demands for equal rights:

• How Modi, Mohan Bhagwat’s Muslim Outreach Isn’t Anti-Hindutva, Rather Part of Its Larger Doctrine (India Today)

Raised in an environment of poverty and abuse the Klansman refused to believe a Muslim could love America. Then, he met a Syrian refugee who loved this country as much as he did:

• The Unlikely Friendship Between a Muslim Doctor and a Former Klan Member (AAMC)

“February is usually a very cold and rainy month, which means people who leave their homes have to live in open spaces during cold and rainy weather”:

• Palestinians in a Jordan Valley Village Ordered by Israeli Forces to Leave Their Homes During February for Army Drills (Wafa)

“Iranian authorities reported an “unsuccessful” drone attack late Saturday that targeted a defence ministry “workshop complex” in central Isfahan province”:

• Iran Says Israel ‘Responsible’ For Drone Attack: Envoy (Barrons)

“[A]llowable circumstances for abortion may depend on which … school of thought, one chooses to follow” but “even the strictest … will always allow exceptions for a pregnant person’s wellbeing”:

• Muslim-American Opinions on Abortion Are Complex. What Does Islam Actually Say? (NPR)

Among the devastating facts that “Suarez can back up with hard evidence his assertion that ‘most victims of Zionist assassinations (i.e., targeted killings of specific individuals) were Jews'”:

• Palestine Hijacked: How Zionism Forged an Apartheid State from River to Sea (WRMEA)

“The conference unanimously agrees that Al-Shabaab, ISIS and other like-minded groups have deviated from the true teachings of Islam and that they are considered enemies of the Islamic religion”:

• Muslims Clerics in Somalia Denounce Religious Extremism (Garlowe Online)

“According to the Forum’s statement, Sabaaneh was dismissed after he had published a cartoon criticising the Palestinian Authority’s lack of response towards the Israeli crimes in the Occupied West Bank”:

• Palestine Journalists’ Forum Slams PA Arbitrary Dismissal of Cartoonist (Middle East Monitor)

“I am so grateful that I live in an area where I have the choice. That empowers me to another level” — Skokie school board member Bushra Amiwala:

• For American Muslim Women, Hijabs Symbolize the Right to Choose (Washington Post)

The “gunman appeared to have had a personal, not a political, motive[, but t]he incident came amid increased tensions between the neighbouring countries”:

• Azerbaijan to Evacuate Embassy in Iran on Sunday After Fatal Shooting (Reuters)

“Every year, as the olive harvesting season starts, settler violence against West Bank Palestinians increases”:

• The Perils of Separating Culture and Occupation in Palestine (Middle East Eye)

In the apartheid state, Palestinians property rights and educational rights are easily ignored …

• Palestinian Farmer Ordered by Israeli Soldiers to Uproot Olive Saplings on His Land (Palestine Chronicle)
• Palestine: Education Hit by Flagrant Israeli Violations, Says Rights Group (Middle East Monitor)

… and political rights are next on the chopping block:

• Israel Far-right Coalition Forming Plan to ‘Push Palestinians Out of Politics’ (New Arab)

“India’s federal government blocked [the BBC documentary] over the weekend and banned people from sharing clips on social media, citing emergency powers under its information technology laws”:

• India’s Government Scrambles to Block a Film About Modi’s Role in Anti-Muslim Riots (NPR)

He “never received proper medical and mental health care for some of his physical and mental health injuries. In addition, Emad was not allowed to practice his religion as a devout Muslim”:

• Muslim Inmate Denied Rights to Prayer by Wisconsin Jail (WUWM)

Is the conflation of anti-apartheid with anti-Semitic becoming harder even in the Congress?

• McCarthy Might Have a Math Problem in Blocking Omar from Panel (The Hill)

“Even if the government intends to provide us with benefits by creating these new IDs, their authoritarian treatment towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir has made us doubt their intentions”:

• Surveillance Concerns as India Issues New Digital IDs in Kashmir (Aljazeera)

The Israeli army continues its violent rampage:

• • Israel Army Kills 10 Palestinians, Including Elderly Woman (Aljazeera)
  • Four Palestinians Shot by Israeli Gunfire near Ramallah (Wafa)

• Hiding Israel’s Atrocities Under the Bridge (Haaretz)

Complaints include a “dildo monkey” at children’s reading time, an 11-year-old exposed to sexual intercourse, and parents questioned as to why they declined to join an LGBT after-school club”:

• Muslim Parents Vow to Remove Kids from School Unless LGBT Concerns Are Addressed (5 Pillars)

”There’s a proposal on the table now that the UN together with the OIC … would co-convene with a number of countries an international conference within March on women in the Muslim world”:

• Top UN Female Diplomat Urges Muslim Nations to Remind Taliban of Women’s Rights in Islam (Andalou Agency)

“Roth himself … [calls] on the university to take a stronger stance in support of academic freedom with regard to criticism of Israel—particularly for those who do not have the public profile he does” …

• Harvard Changed Its Mind on Ken Roth—Not on Allowing Free Speech About Palestine (The Nation)

… and the drafter of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism deplores hatemongers’ abuse of what was meant to be a broad analytical tool into a narrow legal bludgeon:

• Is Free Speech on Israel Under Attack? Kenneth Stern Drafter of the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism (Palestine Deep Dive / YouTube)

The prohibition on non-Muslim students in Muslim schools is inflammatory in a country where “non-Hindu children are studying in Sanskrit schools [and c]hildren of every religion are also studying in missionary schools”:

• Madrasas Say NCPCR Order on Non-Muslim Students Is Spreading Hatred, Suspicion (The Wire)

Amid the ongoing avalanche of Israeli violence and oppression …

• Including Four Siblings, Israeli Soldiers Abduct Thirteen Palestinians in West Bank (IMEMC)
• Palestinian Political Prisoners Prepare Mass Civil Disobedience in Israeli Prisons (Middle East Eye)
• Israeli Government to Demolish All New Palestinian Homes in Area C (Palestine Chronicle)
• Masafer Yatta: Holding On to the Land Despite the Israeli Occupation’s Unbearable Agonies and Hardship (Wafa)

… the case of a Palestinian man shot to death after he lost his place in the vehicle check line for helping a driver with a flat tire is so outrageous that even the Israeli police admit it bears investigation:

• Israel Probes Death of Palestinian Who Was Pepper-sprayed and Shot (BBC)

Geert Wilders’ right-hand man wanted to give his anti-Islam rhetoric a factual grounding, but instead he found “Islamic answers to … Christian questions”:

• Q&A: The Quran Taught Racist Dutch Leader to Shun Hatred and Embrace Islam (TRT World)

Women’s access to education is especially important because, “women are the backbone of our [Islamic] society”:

• Pursuit of Knowledge in Islam: International Day of Education 2023 (Al Hakam)

“There are 221 cases against VDGs for alleged involvement in acts of violence such as murders and rape”:

• Why Is India Arming Villagers in Jammu and Kashmir? (Deutsche Welle)

“Deputy Minister Avi Maoz is establishing a government agency that aims to eradicate Israel’s secular identity”:

• Jewish Law Above All: Recordings Reveal Far-right Knesset Member’s Plan to Turn Israel Into a Theocracy (Haaretz)

“[T]he mob entered a private flat at which a Hindu woman was celebrating her birthday with her friends … after hearing that five Muslim men and two Hindu women were there”:

• MP: Over 100 Bajrang Dal Men Enter Private Home, Thrash Muslim Men; Cops Detain Latter (The Wire)

The “AP and Shomrim have documented the money trail from New Jersey to imprisoned Israeli radicals who include Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin and people convicted in deadly attacks on Palestinians”:

• Extreme Israeli Group Takes Root in US with Fundraising Bid (AP)

”The Netanyahu government’s vindictive measures are not new, but are only more intense variations of Zionist and Israeli policies that have existed since the 1910″:

• Israel’s New Government Is Zionism Unveiled (New Arab)

Erdogan’s departure would have consequences for Ukraine, Syria, NATO, and, of course, Turkey:

• What an Erdogan Loss in Turkey’s Presidential Election Would Mean for the Country and the World (Grid)

One of the world’s oldest Zionist organizations aims to eliminate Palestinian civil society:

• Zionist Group Uses US Anti-terrorism Laws to Sue Palestinian Activists (The Guardian)

The government’s position makes the UK a dumping ground for products rejected by the US under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act … and drives the CCP to continue … serious human rights violations”:

• CFU Is Disappointed with the Ruling Raised Against UK Government by Uyghur Groups (Campaign for Uyghurs)

Israel’s war on love is a form of demographic engineering that targets both the romantic and filial variety:

• The Palestinian Couples Kept Apart by Israel’s ‘Separation Policy’ (Middle East Eye )
• Give Up Your Right to Live in the West Bank, or Never See Your Children in Gaza Again (972 Magazine)

Iran punishes a man who removes his wife’s head (8 years and two months) almost as severely as a woman who removes her own headscarf (ten years):

• He Beheaded His Wife in Iran. His Prison Sentence? Eight Years and Two Months (CNN)

Hebron and Jerusalem demonstrate that the core issue  the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is power, not religion …

• The Struggle for Jerusalem Isn’t Just About Religion (The National News)

… but “, for Zionists – religious, secular or, even atheists – the war has always been or, more accurately, had to be, a religious one”:

• It Has Always Been a ‘Religious War’: On Ben Gvir and the Adaptability of Zionism (Palestine Chronicle)

“Moderate Muslims and militant Hindu nationalists are strange bedfellows”:

• To Engage or Not Engage. Hindus and Muslims Suss Each Other Out (Middle East Soccer)

“Over the past week, Israeli occupation forces killed 8 Palestinians, the youngest being a 14-year-old boy, bringing the total death toll from Israeli fire, in the West Bank, to 18 in the first 20 days of 2023”:

• This Week in Palestine: Eight Palestinians Killed by Israel in Occupied West Bank (Palestine Chronicle)

It is illegal to deport a native for even an actual crime; Israel’s willingness to deport people for exposing human riots violations demonstrates the criminal nature of the state:

• Deportation Punishment for Activism Against Israel, Hammouri Says (Aljazeera)

Judge says that when the only way to avoid Christian services is to return to your cell, it amounts to an ultimatum of “Be Christian or be penalized”:

• Muslim Inmate Wins Another Shot at Challenge to Sunday Services (Bloomberg Law)

Dean Douglas Elmendorf says his decision to deny Roth a fellowship was “a mistake” …

• Harvard Reverses Course on Human Rights Advocate Who Criticized Israel (NY Times)

… but a man invited to join the Young Global Leaders  Network after his efforts to expand property rights in Palestine is suspended indefinitely for contrasting WEF silence on Israel with its solidarity with Ukraine:

• Ukraine a ‘Special Case’: Is the WEF ‘Hypocritical’ on Palestine? (Aljazeera)

Government “eviction of natives from the so-called state-owned land … has … raised fears that the authorities aim to settle outsiders to alter the demography of the Muslim-majority region” …

• Outrage in Indian Kashmir over the Eviction of Locals (La Prensa Latina)

… and 24 of the 112 shutdowns last year were in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir:

• India’s Jammu and Kashmir Saw More Internet Outages than Any Country in 2022 (Quartz)

“Calls have mounted in recent years, including among Israeli activists, for greater transparency about the conduct of nascent Israeli forces during the 1948 conflict”:

• Film on Israel’s 1948 War Shows Palestinian Agony: Director (France 24)

A Muslim human rights group says a court ruling forcing a woman born Hindu into Islam because her mother “unilaterally” converted her to Islam in childhood during a divorce violates the Qur’an:

• Decision to Reinstate Woman as Muslim ‘Against Quran, Court Ruling’ (Free Malaysia Today)

The Israeli Supreme Court’s revocation of the appointment of a Netanyahu ally because of his criminal convictions may accelerate the new government’s plan to dominate the judiciary:

• Major Israeli Supreme Court Ruling Rocks Netanyahu’s Coalition (Axios)

“Because sanctions prevented us from ever putting our equipment in Iran”:

• Cloudflare Says White House Asked Tech Firm to Bypass Iran Censorship, but US Sanctions Got in the Way (CNN)

Settler/soldier violence continues unabated:

• Palestinian Teacher Among Two Killed by Israeli Forces in Jenin Raid (Middle East Eye)
• Palestine: Illegal Israeli Settler Tries to Run over Children in Masafer Yatta (Middle East Monitor)
• Palestinian Family Mourns After Israeli Soldiers Kill Father in Front of His Son (Mondoweiss)
• MSF Urges Israeli Authorities to Stop Plan to Evict Palestinian Residents (Medecins sans Frontieres)

If doctrine does cannot explain the Hamline controversy, racism might:

• National Muslim Civil Rights Group Voices Support for Former Hamline Professor (MPR News)
• National, Local Muslim Groups Differ on Hamline University Response to Art Dispute (Star Tribune)
• The Review: The Hamline Scandal Is an Onion With Many Layers (Chronicle of Higher Education)
• The Role of Blackness in the Hamline Islamic Art Controversy  (RNS)

Israeli soldier/settler violence continues:

• Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian ‘After Argument’ near Ramallah (Aljazeera)
• Settlers Filmed Attacking Palestinians, Foreign Tourists During West Bank Hike (Times of Israel)

The Iranian-American “sentenced to 10 years in jail on spying charges that the US said were baseless” is protesting “the failure of the US to free him and other dual nationals”:

• Siamak Namazi: American Jailed in Iran Begins Hunger Strike (BBC)

To understand the Zionists’ intense desire to suppress “Farha” one must understand the power of expressing the true  collective experience of a people as the fictional narrative of a single person:

• Farha Is a New Milestone for Palestinian Cinema (Politics Today)

Pakistan has been too focused on fighting the political challenge posed by the Taliban to confront the religious challenge:

• Taliban Version of Islam (Dawn)

Human rights activists, Palestinian Alumni of Harvard Kennedy School, and Kenneth Roth himself speak out against HKS’s “support for Israeli state-sponsored violence and apartheid”:

• Harvard Faces Outcry for Rescinding Post to Ex-Head of Human Rights Watch over Criticism of Israel (Democracy Now)
• Harvard Kennedy School Palestinian Alumni Call for the Resignation of HKS Dean, Reinstating HRD Kenneth Roth (Wafa)
• Kenneth Roth: On Harvard University Ban & Why Human Rights Campaigners Won’t bB Silenced over Israel (Palestine Deep Dive / YouTube)

He didn’t believe the judges would really file charges, but then he didn’t believe the raid would happen in the first place:

• Austria Drops Bogus Tterrorism’ Charges Against Muslim Academic (Aljazeera)

“[M]isusing the label ‘Islamophobia’ has the negative effect of watering down the term and rendering it less effective in calling out actual acts of bigotry”:

• Muslim Public Affairs Council Statement of Support for Hamline Professor Who Showed Muhammad Paintings (Reason)

Israeli violence continues …

• Israeli Army Vehicles Flatten Land Inside Gaza’s Southern Borders, Navy Forces Fishermen to Leave Sea in North (Wafa)
• Israeli Forces Gun Down Palestinian in Qalandiya Refugee Camp (Wafa)

… and Palestinian political prisoners (such as Marwan Barghouti) are transported along with hardened criminals in a bus with conditions that violate international humanitarian law:

• Palestinian Prisoners Call This Bus a ‘Moving Grave’ (Mondoweiss)

“Hashemi has been jailed several times for making anti-government statements and participating in protests”:

• Iran Sentences Daughter of Former President to Five Years in Prison (CNN)

“[T]he court will be offering its view on Israel’s attempt to make permanent what is meant to be a temporary military occupation”:

• What Will Happen After the ICJ Delegitimises Israel’s Occupation of Palestine? (Middle East Monitor)

“Iran or Saudi Arabia – are more permissive of abortion than many American states are”:

• Amid Abortion Bans, Muslim Americans Turn Back to Their Faith’s Ruling on Abortion (NPR / WSIU)

“They are going to go to extreme lengths to avoid a sustained confrontation with the Israelis” — Aaron David Miller:

• Biden’s Response to Israel’s Far-right Government: Avoid Confrontation (The Guardian)

Homes, wells, young people, the PA, its own Arab citizens, and a PTA are among the targets of the apartheid state:

• Israel Orders Demolition of 5 Homes, 3 Wells in Masafer Yatta (MEMO)
• Two Youths Injured by Live Bullets During Confrontations with Israeli Soldiers in Jordan Valley Town (Wafa)
• Israel’s Hardline Govt Revokes Palestinian FM’s Travel Permit over UN Move (New Arab)
• Israel Imposes More Repressive Measures on Palestinians Following UNGA Vote (People’s Dispatch)
• In the Rush to Suffocate Palestinians in Israel, Lawmaker Proposes Revoking Citizenship on Loyalty Grounds (Wafa)
• Israeli Police Break Up East Jerusalem Parent-teacher Association Meeting (Haaretz)

The silence of Muslim political thinkers stands “in stark contrast to the deeply egalitarian message emphasised in both the Quran and Mohammed’s teachings”:

• Debate: Forget Past Choices of Thinkers, What Can Muslims Do Now to Tackle Caste? (The Wire)

The son of a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany now faces discrimination for not excluding Israel from his campaign to blow the whistle on oppressive governments:

• Harvard Kennedy School Condemned for Denying Fellowship to Israel Critic (The Guardian)

“Both hijab bans and hijab mandates exist to control women”:

• Muslim Residents Reexamine Hijab amid International Protests (Independent Florida Alligator)

It’s more of the same as the Democrats replace Nancy Pelosi (if the Capitol “crumbled to the ground,” we’d still be aiding Israel with Hakeem Jeffries (“Israel today, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever”):

• Weekly Briefing: ‘The Palestinian Issue Is Not Ready for Prime Time’ — or Is It? (Mondoweiss)

“When the Phules were thrown out by their families for promoting education among Dalits and other castes, Fatima Sheikh encouraged the couple to establish the first all-girls school … at her home”:

• ‘First Muslim Woman Teacher’: Fatima Sheikh’s Statue Unveiled Days Before Birth Anniversary (The Kashmir Monitor)

AI technology pretends “impartiality, while remaining flawed on topics, such as racism in politics and the Palestinian issue”:

• Palestine, Corbyn and Trump: Can ChatGPT Truly Be Unbiased? (Middle East Eye)