Minaret of Freedom Weblog

At least 61 children were among the victims arrested as Israeli forces are rounding up Palestinians en masse inside Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory:

• ‘Terrorizing a Generation’: Israel Arresting Palestinian Children (Al-Jazeera)
• The War on Palestinians Continues—Now in the Form of Mass Arrests (The Nation)

The tipping point in public willingness to close its eyes to Israeli atrocities manifests itself in an EU member country’s Parliament, the EU’s foreign policy chief, among Afro-Americans, among American progressives, among young people all over the world, on the New York Times op-ed page, and even in Hollywood:

• Ireland Condemns ‘De Facto Annexation’ of Palestinian Land By Israel (The Guardian)
• Status Quo in Israel-Palestine Conflict No Longer an Option: EU’s Borrell (Daily Sabah)
• How George Floyd’s Filmed Murder Has Changed How Palestinians Are Viewed in the Mainstream (Gothamist)
• Generation Z Will Free Palestine (Aljazeera)
• ‘NYT’ Runs an Op-ed Justifying Violent Resistance, And Some Zionists Abandon P.R Duties (Mondoweiss)
• Hollywood Sentiment Shifts on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Hollywood Reporter)

“The clerics issued a statement in which they said the constitutional watchdog did not ‘recognize the principle of a republic and the people’s vote,’ but rather ‘regards its own preferences and desires as superior to the people’s choice'”:

• Qom Clerics Join Criticism of ‘Stage-Managed’ Iran Presidential Election (Iran INternational)

A Muslim organization calls out the British media for minimizing Israeli efforts to seize the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah as “evictions”, the Israeli raid on Al Aqsa Mosque and its aftermath as “clashes”, and Israeli bombardment of Gaza with euphemisms like “conflict” and “flare-up”:

• Israel-Palestine: British Media Coverage ‘Skewed’ And ‘Biased’, Report Finds (Middle East Eye)

The chairman of the Pakistani parliament’s committee on Kashmir accused India on Thursday of replicating the Israeli occupation model in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, following reports that accuse “New Delhi of issuing half-million new Kashmiri domicile certificates to non-locals”:

• Man Arrested in India For Facebook Appeal To Hoist Palestine Flag (Al-Jazeera)

“This week President Hassan Rouhani ordered a ban on all mining of cryptocurrencies over the summer, in response to rolling electricity blackouts around the country. The ban is meant to apply to licensed as well as unlicensed operators”:

• After Years of Warnings, Iran Finally Clamps Down on Power-Hungry Bitcoin Miners (Forbes)

Once Palestine’s cultural and economic capital, Jaffa is still home to around 20,000 Palestinians that lived there before Israel’s establishment in 1948, but government backed gentrification aims to push them out:

• The Other War in Israel: Gentrification (Intelligencer)

Undercover Israeli forces, known as “Mista’arvim”, sneaked their way into the Umm Al-Sharayet neighborhood, where they shot and killed a young man identified as Ahmad Jamil Fahd, before leaving him “to bleed to death”:

• Palestinian Man Killed by Israeli Undercover Unit in West Bank (Al-Jazeera)

The interpretation of laïcité  in contemporary France allows both left wing neo-republicans and right wing conservatives “to justify policies targeting Muslim visibility”:

• Publicly French, Privately Muslim: The Aim of Modern Laïcité (Berkeley Center)

After Muslim butcher Mohammad Shakir filed a case against the men who brutally assaulted  for selling cow meat, UP police counter-sued him for “‘mischief by killing an animal’ and committing an act likely to spread infection”:

• Muslim Meat Seller Assaulted in UP; Police File Counter Case Against Him (Kashmir Observer)

“It seemed like all these ethno-nationalists from India and Israel coming together”:

• The Israeli–Palestinian Conflict Has Further Stoked Anti-Muslim Bias All the Way in India (Buzzfeed)

Reports indicate that the extensive use of “draconian laws and frequent imposition of curfews” by Indian security forces have created “an atmosphere of terror and fear” in Indian occupied Kashmir:

• India Grilled Over Terror Atmosphere In IIOJK (Kashmir Media Service)

Iran has informed the UN nuclear watchdog it has decided to extend a monitoring deal with the agency for a month:

• Iran Extends Agreement With Nuclear Agency, Averting Crisis (NY Times)

“Iran is using its abundance of oil to generate electricity that powers a massive bitcoin cryptomining operation that enables the country to turn its greatest natural resource into money”:

• Iran Devises Way to Convert Oil to Bitcoin (Bank Info Security)

As popular perception continues to shift in favor of Palestinians, many young American Jews begin to separate their Jewish American identities from Israel. “Killing more that 200 Palestinians in two weeks won’t bring back our ancestors who perished in the Holocaust”:

• Young American Jews Have Reached a Tipping Point With Israel (Rolling Stone)

As if to underscore that Israel’s ceasefire is only with Hamas and not with innocent civilians, Israeli settlers have once again raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under the protection of Israeli forces:

• Backed By Israeli Police, Jewish Settlers Enter Al-Aqsa Compound (Al-Jazeera)

Palestine Legal, an organization that defends “the civil and constitutional rights of U.S citizens who advocate for Palestinian freedom,” responded to “1707 incidents of suppression from 2014 to 2020”:

• When It Comes to Palestine, Free Speech Rights Are Under Attack (Jacobin)

The AP told Emily Wilder that her tweets “violated the news agency’s social media policy when she was fired this week, but that they did not say which tweets were in violation of that policy, or how”:

• ‘Disgraceful’: AP Slammed for Sacking Reporter amid Palestine Row (Aljazeera)

Scott Horton’s new Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism is so important because now that “everyone is talking about rightwing delusions and conspiracy theories, we really need to understand how” the lie that Iraq was behind 9/11 “became so repeatable by American leaders”:

• The Lies and Conspiracy Theories from Neocon ‘Crazies’ that Fueled Iraq War Are Subject of New History (Mondoweiss)

Nine workers were injured in a blast at a chemical factory in Isfahan, Iran, alleged to have  created drones used against Israel:

• Blast at Iranian Complex Housing Drone Factory Injures Nine (The Guardian)

“[N]ot a single Indian army personnel has been tried despite committing massacres such as the Hawal massacre where 70 innocent Kashmiris were killed by indiscriminate firing by the Indian army”:

• Protests Held Across UK to Observe Kashmir Martyrs’ Day (The Express Tribune)

A Jewish-Iranian parliamentarian labelled Benjamin Netanyahu  “a tyrant” who would manipulate religious values to enable carnage and occupation, and who “has chosen racism as his ideology”:

• Jewish-Iranian MP Slams Israel, Calls on Jews to Support Palestinians (Israel Hayom)

[The following letter to the editor was submitted to The Washington Post on May 5. The editors elected not to  publish it.  We are pleased to print it here]:

The Washington Post editorial “An election fiasco leaves the Palestinian government weaker than ever” (5/3/21) tries to blame the Palestinian leadership for the delay in the elections saying, “Mr. Abbas indefinitely postponed the elections on Thursday, citing as a pretext Israel’s failure to confirm that it would allow a few thousand Palestinians to vote in East Jerusalem.”  The number of Arab Jerusalem voters Israel insists of disenfranchising is actually hundreds of, not “a few,” thousands. I am certain that were some American politicians to refuse to allow hundreds of (or even “a few”) thousands of black voters from an election the Post would understand it was the cause of, rather than a pretext for, the angry reaction it would surely provoke.

Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad
Minaret of Freedom Institute
www.minaret.org

A cease fire between Hamas and Israel does not stop the IDF attacks on civilians in Jerusalem:

• Celebrations in Gaza as Ceasefire Takes Hold (Aljazeera)
• Israeli Police Fire Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets at Palestinians in Al Aqsa Mosque Compound (The News)

His grandfather “poured his life saving’s into purchasing an apartment in the tower” after Israel forced him to move, and now the Israelis have bombed that home to oblivion …

• My Grandfather Bought a Home in Gaza With His Savings. An Israeli Airstrike Destroyed It (New York Times)

… “Israeli law allows Jews to reclaim these grounds lost in the 1948 war; it does not allow Palestinians to reclaim property they lost in that war”:

• The Possible Eviction of Palestinians in East Jerusalem Was a Spark for Conflict (NPR)

Young people, progressives, and anti-racism activists increasingly back the Palestinian cause:

• Social Media Highlights Shifting Perceptions of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Among Young Americans (Yahoo News)
• Racial Reckoning Is Shifting US Public Opinion on Palestine (Aljazeera)

The Associated Press caves to Republican  demands that a newly hired Jewish reporter be fired for criticizing media bias on the apartheid state:

• The Associated Press Terminates New Staffer Amid Uproar over Tweets About Israel and Palestinians, Sparking Backlash (Washington Post)

The historic and ideological links between the Hindutva ideology and Zionism are becoming increasingly obvious:

• India’s Intifada: Why Modi Is Arresting Pro-Palestinian Protesters in Kashmir (Haaretz)
• Man Arrested in India for Facebook Appeal to Hoist Palestine Flag (Aljazeera)

A 100-year-old mosque was demolished by the local administration in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh citing a court order in the midst of tensions between the district’s Hindu nationalist Bharati Janata Party and the country’s Muslim minority:

• In Most Inflammatory Action Since Babri Masjid Demolition, Indian Muslims Fearful as Another Mosque Razed (Arab News)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stated on Tuesday that “Tehran and other world powers are in agreement that the major sanctions on Iran will be lifted”, though negotiations are still in progress:

• Iran President: ‘Main Agreement’ Made With World Powers to Lift Sanctions (The Hill)

As the civilian death toll in Gaza rapidly rises, the United States to proceeds to move forward with “a $735 million dollar arms sale” with Israel, amidst “violations of human rights and international humanitarian law perpetrated by Israeli forces”:

• USA: Biden’s Approval of Weapons Sale to Israel Puts Civilians at Greater Risk (Amnesty International UK)

The series “probably owes more to Spinal Tap than it does to Goodness Gracious Me” and “it is twice as hard to be lighthearted when you have to bear the weight of representation”:

• We Are Lady Parts Review – Give It Up for TV’s Fearless Muslim Riot Grrrls (The Guardian)

Palestinians go on strike  …

• Palestinians Go on strike as Israel-Hamas Fighting Rages (AP)

… as Israel continues its colonial agenda to displace and evict Palestinians from their homeland, the United States also continues to “ignore the bedrock principle of absolute equality in Palestine/Israel — for which it has never advocated” and thus continues to be a part of the problem, rather than the solution:

• What We’re Seeing Now Is Just the Latest Chapter in Israel’s Dispossession of the Palestinians (Washington Post)

Reports from the UN indicate that over ten thousand Palestinians have been “forced out of their homes” in Gaza Strip, as the “the total death toll from Israeli strikes” in the Palestinian territory reaches 137:

• Several Children Killed as Israel Pounds Gaza Refugee Camp: Live (Al-Jazeera)

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gregory Meeks now says all Democrats wanted was a dialog about the issue, but the outcome suggests the dialog was a one-sided “shut-up and give Israel whatever it wants”:

• Democrats Abandon Push to Delay Biden Administration Arms Sale to Israel (Politico)

• Are Social Platforms Deliberately Silencing Palestinians? (Al-Jazeera)

… but a “group of Jewish Google employees is calling on the company to increase its support of Palestinians amid Israel’s deadly bombing campaign in Gaza” …

• Google Employees Call for Company to Support Palestinians and Protect Anti-Zionist Speech (The Verge)

… and at gaming network IGN “more than 70 of the publication’s journalists, staff have condemned the “blatant disregard for the most basic standards of journalistic integrity and editorial independence” in deleting and apologizing for “a post linking readers to charities and organisations in Palestine”:

• Gaming Network IGN Staff Angry over Deleted Palestine Charity Post (The Guardian)

On Tuesday, Prothom Alo Senior Correspondent Rozina Islam was assaulted, arrested, and sent to jail “under a draconian colonial-era law that carries ridiculously harsh penalties” for collecting information “exposing corruption” in the Bangladeshi Health Ministry:

• Rozina Islam: Bangladesh Arrests Journalist for COVID Reporting (Aljazeera)

High profile reporters harassed by “far right Jewish-extremists” are now being granted security by Israeli television stations:

• Israeli TV Reporters Face Attacks And Threats From Jewish Extremists (The Guardian)

The major reaction from most Western countries has been to ” affirm unequivocally that they stand by Israel and its right to defend” its regime of apartheid and Jewish supremacy, while  the  Palestinian people are left with no choice but to face the constant tyranny and oppression on their own:

• Why The West Supports Israel’s ‘Right To Defend’ Its Apartheid Regime (Middle East Eye)

35 year old Christopher Beckham plead guilty “to harassing two Muslim girls and injuring their father with a knife” after being charged with a federal hate crime:

• Tennessee Man Admits Hate Crime in Attack on Muslim Girls (abc)

Press freedom advocates have sharply condemned Israel’s bombing of a Gaza building that housed the offices of Al-Jazeera and the Associated Press news agency, labelling it as “a brazen attempt to silence journalists covering the Israeli military’s ongoing offensive” …

• Israel Strike in Gaza Destroys Building With AP, Other Media (The National Herald)

… amidst international outrage sparked by headlines highlighting Israeli brutality and illegal war crimes against the Palestinian populace:

• Israeli Airstrike on Home in Gaza Kills 10+ People, Most of Them Children (CBS)
• Israeli Forces Kill Two Palestinians at Nakba Day Marches, Wound 450 (Al-Jazeera)
• Israel’s Bombing of Gaza Apartment Buildings Could Be a War Crime, Human Rights Groups Warn (Business Insider)
• Tens of Thousands Protest Across North America in Solidarity with Palestine (TRT World)

As thousands marched peacefully through the streets of Paris in protest against Israeli atrocities, French riot police “fired tear gas and used water cannons against protestors supporting Palestinians” under he French interior minister’s blanket ban on protests in solidarity with Palestine:

• Police Fire Tear Gas on Banned Palestinian March in Paris (Associated Press)

On Saturday, police in Indian occupied Kashmir arrested at least 21 protestors for expressing solidarity with Palestinians, including a graffiti artist who “painted a simple mural in support of Palestine”:

• Kashmir Police Puts 21 Pro-Palestine Protestors Behind Bars (India TV)
• Kashmir Police Arrest Graffiti Artist over Palestine Mural (Al-Jazeera)

• Prominent Muslim Group to Boycott White House Eid Celebration over Stance on Israel-Gaza Violence (The Hill)
• US: Muslim Groups to Boycott Biden Eid event over Israel Support (Aljazeera)

U.S. and Iranian diplomats, currently negotiating via intermediary governments in Vienna, have indicated that an agreement is within reach under which Iran “could return to pre-sanctions production of almost 4 million barrels a day in as little as three month”:

• Iran Gears Up for Return to Oil Market as U.S. Talks Advance (Bloomberg)

Prince Mohammad Bin Salman’s reversal on previously labelled “bitter rivals” Turkey and Iran comes with the realization that the Kingdom can no longer count on “US political and military backing”:

• Saudi Talks With Iran, Turkey Shows MBS Knows He Can’t Lean on the United States for Support (Business Insider)

Pakistani and Chinese “diplomats agreed to adopt a joint stance at all international forums for a peaceful resolution of the Palestine issue in the face of Israeli aggression” and China’s FM identifies the root cause as the injustice to the Palestinian people:

• Pakistan, China Discuss Latest Developments In Palestine (Yeni Safak)
• Chinese Foreign Minister Expounds On China’s Position On Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (The Edge Markets)

Netanyahu doesn’t think that 119 fatalities (including 31 children) and 830 injuries is enough; he promises more to come:

• ‘This Is Not Yet Over,’ Netanyahu Says, After Israel Hits Urban Areas Of Gaza (NPR)
• Deaths Rise As Palestinians Flee Heavy Israeli Fire in Gaza (Associated Press)
• Several Palestinians Killed by Israeli Fire in West Bank Protest (Al-Jazeera)

Prominent Democratic senators slam Biden’s “unwavering support for Israel’s security” (read: terrorism) policies even as he prevents the Security Council from calling for a ceasefire:

• Biden Followed Pro-Israel U.S. Precedent. but New Critics Shake The Status Quo (NBC)
• Biden Is Blocking a UN Statement Calling for a Ceasefire (Mondoweiss)

French President Macron sacrifices his people’s freedom of speech and assembly on the altar to Israel:

• Emmanuel Macron’s Government Has Banned Palestine Solidarity Demonstrations (Jacobin)

Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes “because they are built without permits” in a system that routinely denies Palestinians said permits is a system designed almost never to hold anyone accountable:

• Israel Has Chosen a Two Tiered Society. Violence is The Inevitable Result. (Washington Post)

On Eid al Fitr, Kashmiris have extended solidarity with Palestine by wearing Palestinian flags on their shirts:

• Kashmiris Show Solidarity With Palestinians on Eid (TRT World)

The US double standards on China’s oppression of Uygur Muslims highlights rather than excuses its culpability in the oppression of Palestinian Muslims:

• U.S. Crocodile Tears over Muslim Human Rights Fool No One (CGTN)
• US Funds Make Israel’s Bombardment of Gaza Possible. When Will They Be Halted? (The Guardian)

Iran’s Press TV reports that “Hamas says it has targeted the Israeli regime’s Iron Dome stations and an Israeli air base which is used by Israeli warplanes to bombard civilian targets in the besieged Gaza Strip”:

• Iran Says Hamas Is Targeting Iron Dome Sites, Airports (Jerusalem Post)

Israel’s cascade of bombings brought the “total deaths resulting from the raids on Gaza since Monday to 26, including nine children” Furthermore, at least “122 people have been wounded in the air strikes” and many are in critical condition:

• Israel Continues to Bomb Gaza After Air Strikes Killed Nine Palestinian Children (Middle East Eye)

In the face of Israel’s atrocities, the US policy of unconditional support persists as “Washington subsidizes Israeli actions, arms the Israeli military, provides political cover for Israeli activities, and pressures Arab nations to advance Israeli interests”:

• America’s Middle East Embarrassment: Underwriting Apartheid in the Palestinian Territories (Antiwar)

• Twitter Said It Restricted Palestinian Writer’s Account by Accident (Vice)

… and Facebook-owned Instagram has not only “censored content about Israeli aggression” but “removed posts and blocked hashtags about one of Islam’s holiest mosques” on the absurd grounds that “they were associated with “violence or dangerous organizations”:

• Instagram Labeled One of Islam’s Holiest Mosques a Terrorist Organization (BuzzFeed)

How a Ziojnist donor’s warning to a high level university official that hiring a scholar who has researched the Israeli occupation “would damage university reputation” led to a reversal of the university’s original decision to hire her:

• Did a University of Toronto Donor Block the Hiring of a Scholar for Her Writing on Palestine? (The New Yorker)

The United Kingdom announced measures to suppress the (BDS) campaign against Israel by banning the general public from launching their own boycotting campaigns against the apartheid state:

• UK Tries To Curb BDS As Israel’s Apartheid Status Become Impossible To Dispute (Middle East Monitor)

The official census states that “only four of Jammu and Kashmir’s 20 districts are Hindu majority, the rest being Muslim majority,” yet:

• Indian Govt Website Declares 97% Of Kashmiris Are Hindu (Global Village Space)

Sara Zemmahi was barred from running in a local election by “French President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling centrist party, the La Republique en Marche (LREM) party” after she was photographed in a hijab for a campaign flyer:

• Macron’s Party Bans Muslim Candidate For Wearing Hijab In Poster (Aljazeera)

Pakistan and Turkey are both calling for an emergency OIC meeting and for the UN to condemn Israeli brutality against innocent worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque citing “the killing  of children, as well as forced evictions”:

• Israeli Attack On Palestinians: Pakistan Backs Turkey’s Call For OIC, UN Meeting (The News)

Iran’s move to enrich uranium to 63%, which experts say “is a short technical step away” from weapons grade uranium, may complicate the ongoing Vienna talks:

• UN Watchdog: Iran Has Enriched Uranium To Highest Purity Yet (AP)