News and Analysis (1/3/21)

Isreal provide vaccines to illegal settlers, but citing agreements predicated on a full peace agreement that never materialized, Israel denies its responsibility to vaccinate those under it occupation, demanding the impoverished PA do it:

• Palestinians Excluded from Israeli Covid Vaccine Rollout as Jabs Go to Settlers (The Guardian)

Austria starts the new year by requiring all imams in the country to register with the government, and they are encouraging rest of the EU to follow suit:

• Austria Calls for European Register of Muslim Imams (Deutsche Welle)

The Indian government has planned to create settlements for retired Indian soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir, but local residents threaten to resist the plan to place “a soldiers housing colony in the ‘most militarized region in the world’”:

• Kashmir Residents Say They Won’t Allow Soldiers Colony (Anadolu Agency)

The unIslamic practice of instant divorce has been criminalized, but the high court finds no prohibition of bail if the competent court has heard from the married Muslim woman making the complaint before granting bail:

• No Bar on Granting Anticipatory Bail for Offence by Muslim Women Under Triple Talaq Law: SC (The New Indian Express)

“The admission is likely to add weight to fears that the ‘love jihad’ law will be used ‘to target the Muslim community’”:

• Bareilly: Police Say 3 Muslim Men Wrongly Framed in ‘Forcible Conversion’ Case (The Wire)

Following opposition from BJP MPs and a public uproar, a proposal to name roads after Muslim social workers and other locals in the predominantly Muslim locality is dropped as a “dangerous” reflection of a “communal mentality”:

• Plan to Name a Few Bengaluru Roads After Muslim Leaders to Be Dropped (The News Minute)

Muslim League in India have been campaigning in Kerala, an Indian state with a strong presence of communist, against Marxism and communism and frame it as “anti-religion ideology”:

• Muslim League Launches Campaign Against ‘Dangers’ of Communism as Anti-Religion (The Times of India)

Many are worried that one of Trump’s last acts in office could be attacking Iran, but it is more likely that Biden will need to deal with the potential retaliation to Soleimani’s assassination:

• Why an Iran Attack Could Be Biden’s ‘Hour One’ Crisis (Politico)

Arafat’s widow Suha accuses Palestinians rather than Israelis for poisoning her late husband and accuses him of terrorism for involvement in the second intifada:

• Widow of Late Palestine Leader Arafat: ‘Second Intifada Was a Mistake’ (Middle East Monitor)

Johaer Jilani