Minaret of Freedom Weblog

As Democrats hastily try to rebalance the wording in their resolution …

• House Resolution Would Condemn Anti-Semitic and Anti-Muslim Bigotry but Does Not Call Out Omar’s Remarks (CBS News)

… we wonder if their hair trigger for the woman who apologized for her insensitive remarks rather than the man unrepentant about defending real anti-Semites is because she’s black, Muslim, female, and calls out apartheid?

• In Condemning Ilhan Omar, Democrats Have Proved Her Right (Truthout)

Elhady “she was put in a freezing holding cell for hours, causing him to shake uncontrollably and his lips to turn blue. He was eventually taken to a hospital for treatment”:

• Judge: Muslim Man’s Lawsuit over Torture at Ambassador Bridge Border Crossing Can Go On (AP / Detroit Free Press)

An ex-CIA officer is shocked by an article “based on the premise that war with Iran is desirable for the United States and, acting behind the scenes, Israel, so it is therefore necessary to come up with an excuse to start it”:

• Fake News Could Serve as a Pretext for War Against Iran on Behalf of Israel (If Americans Knew)

Israel brazenly “claims that water sources in the area are illegal … [although] the water comes from wells in the village and inside Palestinian lands”:

• Israel Cuts Water Supply to 2,600 Palestinians in Jordan Valley (Middle East Monitor)

Not allowed to select her own counsel “she refused to attend the trial” where she was convicted in absentia on charges of “encouraging corruption and prostitution” (i.e., defending woman who remove their headscarves):

• Prominent Human Rights Lawyer Faces Imprisonment in Iran (CBS News)

“The increased contacts between the evangelical community and the Arab world could certainly contribute to changes in how Arab countries conduct their ties with Israel”:

• Why Muslim and Arab Countries Are Working So Hard to Win Over U.S. Evangelicals (Haaretz)

“Calculating that both the public and many in the political elite would rally behind him, his wager compelled key Iranian leaders to renew their confidence in him” …

• Foreign Minister Zarif’s Risky Gamble Wins the Iran Deal More Time (CNN)

… In Zarif’s view, the [ anti-terrorism financing] law is essential to help the European Union develop a way of getting around American sanctions. But opponents of the law … bogged the legislation down … committee”:

• The Plot Against Zarif – and How Iran’s Hardliners Failed (Haaretz)

Two supporters of Israel warn that the failure of Kushner’s plan for the Palestinians to exchange core values such as right of return for economic incentives will come”with a cost” to Israel:

• Trump’s ‘Ultimate Deal’ Faces Ultimate Failure (Al-Jazeera)

“For first time since 2014, some 800 Palestinians are permitted to leave for Umrah pilgrimage via the Rafah crossing”:

• Egypt Allows Mecca-bound Palestinians to Exit Besieged Gaza Strip (Al-Jazeera)

Noting that in the Qur’an, “monogamy was the rule and polygamy a restricted exception,” Egypt’s grand mufti argued that the practice is “often an injustice to women and children”:

• Egypt’s Top Muslim Cleric Brands Polygamy an “Injustice” for Women (Telegraph)

More than a response to “heightened anxiety … and fears of a growing tide of hate crime” Muslims believe that “there are certain cases where we feel if we had been around we could have served as a preventive service”:

• New York Muslim Community Patrol to Promote Unity and Understanding (The National)

“We have allowed national level politics to become a cancer on our state, to become a cancer on our legislature, to invade our chamber in a way that frankly makes me ashamed” — WV Republican House Speaker:

• Ilhan Omar Condemns ‘anti-Muslim’ Poster Linking Her to 9/11 Attacks (The National)

If a U.S. citizen joins a terrorist organization at war with the U.S., you would expect the government to prosecute her under U.S. jurisdiction. Not the Trump administration:

• U.S. Accused of Trying to Unconstitutionally Strip Citizenship of U.S.-Born Woman Who Joined ISIS (Democracy Now)

Although the author finds that Islamic “concepts or practices that express religious freedom … fall short of a full and broadly” respecting that right, the “Muslim world … contains the potential for far more” religious freedom:

• Seven Seeds of Freedom In Islam (Reason)

Poor job prospects “due to [his] past history” made finding him a job that allowed a beard “an undue pressure on public funds” so requiring he shave “is deemed to be an acceptable infringement of the religious freedom”:

• Dutch Court Rules on Two Religious Freedom Cases for Muslim Men (Jurist)

Immigrants say that “officials at the detention center “ignored or denied” requests for “religiously compliant [meals], … to make their five daily prayers …, and to have access to … like prayer rugs and copies of the Quran”:

• Muslim Immigrants Sue ICE for Getting in the Way of Religious Observance (The Intercept)

The court ruled regarding “a claim of illegal surveillance at Orange County mosques that the government could not cite state secrets privilege in denying a class action lawsuit brought by the ACLU”:

• Ninth Circuit Rules on OC Muslim Discrimination Claims (City News Service /NBC Los Angeles)

China no longer limits its repression of Islam and Muslims to its own citizens:

• China’s Expanding War on Islam: Now They’re Coming for the Kazakhs (Washington Post)

“One staff member was physically injured during the morning’s confrontations, and another official resigned after being accused of making anti-Muslim comments”:

• GOP’s Anti-Muslim Display Likening Rep. Omar to a Terrorist Rocks W. Virginia Capitol (NBC News)

Our European allies are not engaged in a bluff on Iran, but in “what the game theorist and nuclear strategist Thomas Schelling calls a tripwire“:

• Trump May Be About to Call Europe’s Bluff on Iran. Europe Isn’t Bluffing (Washington Post)

Self-styled “private mossads” hound American citizens and seek to alter the outcomes of American elections …

• How a Private Israeli Intelligence Firm Spied on Pro-Palestinian Activists in the U.S. (New Yorker)

… “Probe finds ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ snipers intentionally shot at children, civilians during 2018 Gaza rallies” …

• UN: Possible Israel Crimes Against Humanity in Gaza (Al-Jazeera)

… “men, women and children said nothing would keep them away from the holy site”:

• Banned from Al-Aqsa, Palestinians Pray at Lions Gate (Middle East Monitor)

… To paraphrase Bob Dylan, “Like Pharaoh’s tribe it was drownded in the tide”:

• Nature Brings Part of Israel’s Separation Wall Down as Palestinians Rejoice (Russia Today)

“I’m comfortable covering my hair the same way you’re comfortable covering your tits. And it’s not for me to say you’re oppressed by your top and your bra”:

• Europe’s Female Muslim Comedians Take the Mic (Politico)