News and Analysis (8/1/20)

Convention delegates are frustrated by both the Democratic Party’s refusal to acknowledge Israel’s brutal occupation and “by a drafting and voting process that was anything but open, inclusive and democratic”:

• The 2020 Democratic Platform Betrays Palestinians and Again Gives Israel a Pass (Washington Post)

The Australian native “converted to Islam as a teenager. He ‘fell in love with America’s history, its principles, and particularly its commitment to freedom’”:

• Muslim Sailor Aboard USS George Washington Gets Navy Waiver to Grow 4-inch Beard (Virginia Pilot)

Both the U.S. and Iran “want to see a withdrawal of NATO forces; … to stymie the Afghan heroin trade; … to protect against terror groups …; and an inclusive government in Kabul that is not monopolized by the Taliban”:

• What Do US-Iran Talks Mean for Afghanistan? (The Diplomat)

• Jammu and Kashmir authorities detain journalist and editor Qazi Shibli (Committee to Protect Journallists)

… meanwhile doctors who must treat locked-down “residents of the Valley online.” find it “no easy task in Kashmir, which has had no 4G internet for close to a year and where broadband connections are thin on the ground” …

• A Year Without High-speed Internet Ravaged Health, Education, Entrepreneurship in Kashmir (Scroll)

… but Kashmiri Muslims fighting the scourge of intoxicants can learn from the Muslim barber who “raised enough awareness among the people and they wouldn’t let their daughters be used for prostitution any more”:

• Kashmir in Search of Subhan Hajam (Kashmir Observer)

“The people who really need a mosque are the estimated 500,000 Muslims in Athens and the Attica region”:

• Turkey’s President Has Hurt Muslim Interests over Hagia Sophia (Balkan Insight)

In a nation where cremation is the norm, worries “about the hygiene of burials” are presented as an objection to cemeteries:

• Japan Lacking Burial Grounds for Expanding Muslim Population (Kyodo News)

The monarchist group leader was arrested “for alleged involvement in a 2008 mosque attack in Shiraz that killed 14 people and injured more than 200”:

• Iran Says It Has Detained Leader of US-Based Opposition Group (VoA)

“[T]he Islamic regime, which was established on promises of ‘social justice’, is still struggling to convince Iranians that it has remained true to the ideals of the revolution”:

• Bribery Case Reignites Scrutiny of Iran’s ‘Beverly Hills’ Elite (Financial Times)

The “RSS driven exclusionary ideology of Hindutva, which has no space for minorities, especially Muslims. Second, is a radical departure from the pluralistic and democratic polity … [of] India’s founding fathers”:

• ‘India’s Actions in Kashmir, Part of Majoritarian Agenda’ – Andalu Agency

Ukraine describes first round talks as “constructive”, but reports that it is “too early to say how much compensation Tehran would agree to pay”:

• Ukraine, Iran Conclude First-Round Talks on Plane Downing Damages (Aljazeera)