News and Analysis 12/22/21

At the “religious parliament,” the general secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha made a direct call for mass murder:  “Be ready to kill and be ready to go to jail. Even if 100 of us are ready to kill 20 lakhs of them (Muslims), then we will be victorious, … [defending] Hindutva from every demon who is a threat”:

• Hindutva Leaders at Haridwar Event Call for Muslim Genocide (The Wire)

“The Bosniak member of the country’s tripartite presidency, Sefik Dzaferovic” refuted Orban’s “shameful and rude” statement, saying, “It is not a challenge for the EU to integrate 2 million (Bosnian) Muslims, because we are an indigenous European people who have always lived here and we are Europeans”:

• Hungary’s PM Denounced in Bosnia for Anti-Muslim Rhetoric (Seattle Times)

Democracy before partisanship. The “commander in Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) who heads its foreign military operations, told the leaders of two [pro-Iranian] militias” to accept their loses in the recent Iraqi election:

• Iran Seeks to Cool Tensions in Iraq (Reuters)

Sri Lanka will not let it lack of cash pervent it from paying its debt to Iran:

• Sri Lanka Plans to Pay Off Iran Oil Debt with Tea (BBC)

“Palestinian homes, paved roads and water cisterns are repeatedly demolished thanks to a near-total ban on construction, while illegal Israeli settlements flourish,” yet, a local community movement of “non-violent Palestinian activism … has often worked hand in hand with the anti-occupation movement in Israel”:

• ‘We Are Family’: the Israelis Sharing Life and Hope with Palestinians (The Guardian)

“On the basis of population, Kashmir deserves more seats, however the delimitation commission has proposed more seats for Jammu as per geography”:

• ‘They Want to Hinduise Kashmir’: Saifuddin Soz on Delimitation Proposal (The Wire)

Although the court had already “ruled that Arzoo … was a minor and could not enter into a legally valid marriage as her consent had no legal value” she had refused to return to her parents until last Wednesday:

• Pak Court Allows Minor Christian Girl Who Converted to Islam to Go with Parents (NDTV)

“According to Israeli Public Broadcaster, Kan, the new rules give occupation forces the right to shoot Palestinian stone throwers even as they are fleeing”:

• Israel Army Allows Soldiers to Open Fire at Palestinian Stone Throwers (Middle East Monitor)

“Those who advocate strikes against nuclear sites are underestimating the risks and overestimating the benefit”:

• Don’t Attack Iran (Defense One)

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