“According to local reports, Kurdish leaders in the border region have called on both sides to observe a ceasefire during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which starts on Saturday. Isis said that they would pray in Kobani on the first holiday of Eid…. Air strikes conducted by the US-led coalition have not slowed the Isis advanceâ€:
In Australia, “Muslim women wearing the niqab or burqa were to be made to sit in a glass enclosure in Australia’s parliament house. That’s the latest episode in two months of anti-terror theatre” …
- Australia’s Plan to Segregate Muslim Women in Parliament: We Are Gripped by ‘Security’ Madness (Guardian)
… while in France, entrepreneurial women circumvent the headscarf ban by starting home businesses:
“[A]nother woman approached her and began verbally abusing her with racist remarks. The woman’s abuser grabbed her by the hair and neck as her head was bashed several times on the wall of the train’s carriage. The Muslim woman was then pushed off the train when it arrived in Batman Station in Coburg North”:
- Alleged Muslim Woman Attacked on Train Raises Questions of Anti-Muslim Views in Australia (International Business Times)
“Humanitarian arguments, if consistently applied, could be used to flatten the entire Middle East.” Including Israel:
“There is no Muslim monolith, just an endless pattern of nuance and difference”:
- The Muslim world, like the Christian world, is complex so let’s get some context (Sydney Morning Herald)
The report says that “mass executions, abducted women and girls as sex slaves, and used child soldiers … may amount to systematic war crimes”, but also that “Iraqi government air strikes on the Sunni Muslim militants had caused ‘significant civilian deaths’ by hitting villages, a school and hospitals in violation of international law”:
The “video shows the beheading of a man identified as the pilot of a missing Nigerian Air Force jet and burnt out parts of a plane — the first indication that Nigeria’s homegrown Islamic extremist group has the capability to bring down aircraft”:
- Boko Haram Video Shows Beheading of Nigeria Pilot (AP /abc News)
“France called on Israel on Thursday to drop plans for new settlements in East Jerusalem, joining the United States and Berlin in criticism of the move” that would preempt any two-state solution by “effectively severing the northern and southern West Bank” …
… just as Sweden signals it will become “the first long-term EU member country to” recognize the Palestinian state:
Journalist Amira Hass was “reminded of the image that Israelis commonly have of Palestinians: irrational hotheads,” but “she has received messages of support from many Palestinians. Hundreds signed a petition saying they were shocked by the expulsion, calling her a courageous defender of Palestinian human rights”:
- Palestinian University Expels Israeli Visitor (AP / abc News)
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