News and Analysis (9/4/14)

“Former Deputy Imam of al-Azhar Sheikh Mahmoud Ashour told Al Arabiya News that Sotloff’s killing was not only against humanity but ‘there is no religion that accepts the killing of a human soul.’ Ashour cited a verse from the Quran saying “Do not kill any soul, which God has made forbidden, except in just cause” …

… while Sotloff’s family “said they would not ‘allow our enemies to hold us hostage with the one weapon they possess: fear.’ [family spokesman Barak] Barfi then spoke heatedly in Arabic, daring Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), to a debate on the tenets of Islam”:

“Turkey, a Nato member with a powerful air force, is an obvious candidate. Iran, opposed to Isis and backing the new Baghdad government but wary of western intervention – especially against its close ally Syria – is already active”:

“In Ferguson, an invisible line separated white and black communities. In Jerusalem, a no-man’s land separated people, designated by barbed wire” …

…  while Israel’s murder of one American family member and arrests of others may be a game-changer, alarming the Department of State :

“The idea that any contraband could be hidden in a short beard is laughable. But trampling a man’s religious freedom isn’t funny”:

“Other charges against various members of the group include financing terrorism, embracing ‘deviant ideology’, disobeying the king, using the media to support terrorism, providing shelter to wanted people and training for combat”:

According to a Gaza businessman, “The people of Gaza ‘need to feel their humanity and dignity, otherwise the West – the US and Israel – are forming an army of 1 million in the future. And I wonder what power can stop an army of 1 million, ready to die’” …

… and according to Hanan Ashrawi, “the Palestinians are demanding a commitment to the 1967 borders and a deadline for the end of Israel’s occupation [and] … within three years, the occupation should end”:

“Imran Khan’s charismatic style of leadership, and his hero-status as the captain of Pakistan’s only World Cup-winning cricket team, has attracted mass support from urban and youth voters. But Mr. Khan’s decision to press forward with a nearly three-week long protest is beginning to alarm his middle-class supporters”:

The good news is that both sides are serious enough to come to a deal by the [Nov/ 24] deadline” — Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi: 


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