Instead of inviting American Muslim community leaders the White House hosted “a number of Middle Eastern diplomats and senior officials, including representatives from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan, [and] one American Muslim military chaplain”:
- Trump White House Under Fire for Lack of Muslim-American Representation at Ramadan Celebration (VOX)
“Israeli soldiers killed four Palestinians, including one child, and injured 618 others, including five journalists, 26 children and 14 women, and added that 117 of the wounded were shot with live fire, among them eight who suffer very serious injuries” …
… and a bill calling for Israel “to be defined as a state of all its citizens†is so threatening to Israel’s apartheid essence “that Israeli lawmakers could not even allow it to be discussed in the full Knesset session” …
- Israeli Lawmakers Kill ‘Equality for All Citizens’ Bill Before It Is Even Introduced (Mondoweiss)
… In contrast to Israel’s efforts to drive out it’s Muslim and Christian populace, “homes of Jews (those not destroyed during the war anyway) are held by the Syrian government for their owners and their families in perpetuity hopeful that the Jews of Syria will return”:
- An American Housewife in Syria – Damascus, Part I (Eurasia Future)
“The benevolent TV host’s … work with Palestinians on a visit to the holy land in 2013 can be termed as highlight of his career where he ‘humanised’ the oppressed community for once in front of the American audience”:
- Anthony Bourdain: Celebrity Chef Who ‘Humanised’ Palestinians (Express Tribune)
“MLI was the opposite of a grassroots initiative: a program hosted and fully funded by an organization deeply embedded in the State, whose leadership, till today, continues to normalize the Occupation and conflate Islam and terror”:
- Why I Left The Muslim Leadership Initiative (Muslim Matters)
Arab states that believe in regime change are dupes of an Israeli policy that knows, as a “former top Mossad official” Haim Tomer puts it, that “it is better to have the Iranians fighting among themselves,” just as Israel prefers Muslim states to fight among themselves:
- The Idea of Regime Change in Iran Is Delusional (Al-Jazeera)
Group threat theory posits that when majority groups feel threatened by “minority groups based on observation of a small group of deviants among them …[, m]inority groups … often feel threatened in turn because they view this prejudice as irrational or unjustified”:
“Stewart’s payment to Nehlen … came before Nehlen began openly making anti-Semitic statements but well after Nehlen had begun making viciously anti-Muslim comments and promoting fringe conspiracy theories”:
- Virginia US Senate Candidate Previously Paid Anti-Semitic, Anti-Muslim Figure for Fundraising List (CNN)
“[E]fforts to censor criticism of the Israeli government and advocacy for Palestinian rights do a disservice to the real problem of anti-Semitism in the United States”:
Trump’s welsh on the Iran deal means a weakened U.S. position in the region, hardships for American industry, driving India and China closer to Iran, more oppression in Saudi, increasing threats of greater nuclear proliferation, and even creates embarrassment on the soccer field …
- Trump vs. Iran: How the Qatar Crisis Weakened the U.S. in the Middle East (Haaretz)
- American Companies Are Paying the Price for Trump’s Iran Policy (CNN)
- 8 Major Companies Still In Iran As U.S. Sanctions Inch Closer (Forbes)
- Iran Slams U.S. for Seeking Saudi Oil Output Hike, Says OPEC Won’t Comply (Reuters)
- As US Sanctions Loom, India and Iran to Begin Trade Talks (Economic Times)
- Iran Makes Hard Turn East as Fate of Nuclear Deal Dims (Al-Jazeera)
- Saudi Court Sentences Four to Death for Links to Iran (Al-Jazeera)
- What if Iran Leaves the NPT? (The Bulletin)
- Getting The Boot: Iran Manager Calls Out Nike On World Cup Cleat Snub (RFE/RL)
… and drives Trump himself deeper into a fantasy world:
