News and Analysis 6/16/23

The FBI has tried to turn a disabled boy into a terrorist …

• The FBI Groomed a 16-Year-Old With “Brain Development Issues” to Become a Terrorist (The Intercept)

… and tries to hide its persecution of the Muslim community behind the veil of state-secrets-privilege:

• FBI Claims Secret Evidence Trumps Religious Discrimination Charges in Domestic Spying Case (Time / Yahoo News)

The decision fuels “fears that the right to criticise the government is being eroded”:

• Indian Court Halts Airing of Documentary on Muslim Minority (The Guardian)

The court noted that the attorney’s “vitriolic hatred of and bigotry against persons of” client’s religion was “matched only by his equal scorn for and racism against” his client’s race:

• Court Vacates Convictions Against Black Muslim Man Whose Attorney Made Racist Posts (NBC News)

Soldier-settler violence continues:

• Palestinian Killed, Two Injured and a House Demolished in an Israeli Army Assault in Nablus (Wafa)
• ‘Silent Transfer’: How Israeli Settlers Are Launching a Second Nakba (Middle East Eye)
• Israeli Occupation Forces Impose Siege on Palestinian Town near Jenin (Palestine Chronicle)
• Israel’s Military Called the Settler Attack on This Palestinian Town a ‘Pogrom.’ Videos Show Soldiers Did Little to Stop It (CNN)

The Hamtramck council voted unanimously to display a flag representing “the native countries of immigrant residents” but not the Pride flag next to the US and Michigan flags …

• Michigan city with all-Muslim council bans Pride flags on public property at bizarre council meeting in which LGBTQ couple kiss in front of Shocked Religious Groups (Daily Mail)

… while Saudis welcome LGBTQ+ people as long as they are not open about it, and even then expect a fine rather than the still-on-the books death penalty:

• LGBTQ Emerges as a Litmus Test for Limits of Saudi Reforms (Middle East Soccer)

“For most of its existence, the state has continued selling weapons and other military wares to rogue governments, even after claiming to have stopped”:

• Israel Masked Its Arms Deals to Repressive Regimes for Decades. Here’s How (972 Magazine)

“[A]fter years of vacillating, Spain’s capital is finally prepared to embrace its Muslim past”:

• Madrid Celebrates Its Muslim Past in Spain’s New Museum (Aljazeera)

Can Biden undo Trump’s blunder and “limit the Iranian nuclear programme, release some detained U.S. citizens and unfreeze some Iranian assets”:

• US, Iran in Talks to Cool Tensions with a Mutual ‘Understanding’ (Reuters)

“Nusrat Choudhury is a trailblazing civil rights lawyer with a remarkable record of advancing equal justice for all in our nation” — Anthony D Romero, ACLU executive director:

• US Groups Celebrate First Muslim Woman to Serve as Federal Judge (Aljazeera)

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