The Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, warned that “Jews are strictly prohibited from entering Temple Mount according to Jewish law,” but police precipitated clashes with a last minute policy reversal:
India has not only stripped Kashmir of its limited autonomy; in an unprecedented move it has reduced it from a state to “union territory” (like demoting Texas to the status of Puerto Rico) …
- Modi’s Radical Move on Kashmir Takes India into Uncharted Territory (Washington Post)
… and the consequences won’t be good:
- Here’s How India’s Decision to Cut Kashmir’s Autonomy Will Affect South Asia — and the World (Washington Post)
- Roadmap for India’s Troubled Kashmir Under Its New Status (Washington Post)
- Kashmir’s Streets Silent as People’s Despair and Rage Grow (Washington Post)
“Reporters … found, over seven days of traveling through the region, that the vast network of detention camps erected by the government of China’s authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping, continues to operate, and even expand”:
The hajj rites commemorate “the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or Abraham and Ishmael as they are named in the Bible … [and Abraham’s] wife, Hagar, who … ran between two hills … searching for water for her dying son”:
Abbas seeks “the repeal of the Israeli law that allows this confiscation of funds – theft, as defined by the Palestinians” on the assumption that Israel understands “the political dangers [posed by] the PA’s financial collapse”:
As the Saudis became more aggressive, Tehran began to see the Taliban as less of a threat than the Islamic State and opened up to “groups whose more-moderate positions made them decent candidates for cooperation”:
- Iran’s Cooperation with the Taliban Could Affect Talks on U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan (Washington Post)
“Yes, we are racists, of course we are. … The fact that someone is your inferior is not a reason to deride him or eliminate him, but help him”–Rabbi Bnei Davi:
- ‘Come Be My Slave’ — Israeli Rabbi at Military Academy Says Palestinians Should Be Enslaved for Their Own Good (Mondoweiss)
“The German Foreign Ministry said Friday that Bernd Erbel was not to assume the position as INSTEX chief ‘for personal reasons'” after he was criticized for saying, “The Palestinians are the victims of our victims”:
