News and Analysis (3/23/20)

Counter-intuitively, the Indonesian VP wants medical personnel exempt from ritual requirements to wash before prayers during the pandemic:

• Vice President Demands Muslim Clerics Support Covid-19 Mitigation Tactics (Jakarta Globe)

Amid violence through the Middle East, Canadian Jews, Christians, and Muslims are showing solidarity and working together to support their community:

• The Jewish-Muslim Team Providing Sharia Loans (The Canadian Jewish News)

Iran has released US veteran Michael White, and a group of economists and policy experts urge Trump to lift sanctions to enable confronting the coronavirus:

• Iran Releases Detained U.S. Navy Veteran to Swiss Embassy Over Coronavirus Fears (Wall Street Journal)
• With Iran Ravaged by Virus, U.S. Is Pressured to Ease Sanctions (Bloomberg)
• Economists Demand Trump Immediately Lift Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela Sanctions That Are ‘Feeding the Coronavirus Epidemic’ (Common Dreams)
• The Coronavirus Could Kill Millions. U.S.-Iran Hostilities Will Make It Worse (New Republic)

Israel’s Nationality Law took away Arabic’s status as an official language, limits national right to self-determination to Jews and calls for promoting Jewish, but not Christian or Muslim, settlement within Israel:

• Israel, US Pretend East Jerusalem Palestinians Don’t Exist (Al-Monitor)

Turner is banned from the profession for life, having “failed to show any insight whatsoever into his actions or the impact that his views could have on pupils [and showing] no remorse throughout the process” :

• Teacher Banned From Schools After Describing Islam as a ‘Vile Religion (Telegraph)

“In 2015, anti-Houthi sentiment bolstered Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi’s leadership. Today, many say his support hangs by a thread”:

• ‘Saudi Puppet’: Yemenis Question Their President’s Legitimacy (Middle East Eye)

While Pompeo accuses China, Iran, and Russia of spreading the coronavirus, China and Iran point fingers at the US:

• Pompeo Says China, Russia, Iran are Spreading Disinformation About Coronavirus (The Hill)
• Iran Leader Refuses US Help; Cites Coronavirus \Conspiracy Theory (Al-Jazeera)

“[O]ver the last four decades, [MEK] has devolved into a secretive, cult-like group that resembles a militant, Islamist version of the Church of Scientology” engaged in “bombings, sabotage missions, and murders”:

• Defectors Tell of Torture and Forced Sterilization in Militant Iranian Cult (The Intercept)

On the seventeenth anniversary of the murder of American activist Rachel Corrie we should remember her sacrifice and the Palestinians’ continuing struggle:

• ‘Rachel Corrie’s Death Should be Incentive for Global Solidarity With Palestine’ (Middle East Monitor)