News and Analysis (7/19/10)

Palestinians married to Israeli Arabs will now have to swear a pledge of allegiance to a “Jewish democratic state” if they wish to live on their spouses’ land:

• Israeli ‘Loyalty Oath’ Approved (Al-Jazeera)

With the wearing of a niqab now a criminal act, the French national motto liberté, égalité, fraternité becomes even less appropriate …

• Criminalising Women Behind the Veil (BBC)

… meanwhile, the Syrian regime takes a similar step in prohibiting teachers who wear the niqab from teaching at public schools — “the politicisation of what should be a personal issue”:

• Syria’s Niqab Ban Is Part Of A Clash Within Islam Itself (Guardian)

The obstacle to Muslim integration in America is not the Muslim-American community, but the prejudices of Americans of other faiths:

• Islamaphobia And The Muslim Center At Ground Zero (CNN)

The complex story of the hip media mogul Saad Mohseni, “the Rupert Murdoch of Afghanistan,” backed by USAID funding to change Afghani culture:

• The Networker (New Yorker)

“The man in the video betrays himself in his own words as a con artist, and now he is again prime minister of Israel”:

• Tricky Bibi (Haaretz)

Kevin Duewel