News and Analysis 1/11/25

The Swiss national who had been residing in South Africa for  over twenty years “was arrested in Iran and accused of spying took his own life in prison on Thursday, the chief justice of Iran’s Semnan province was quoted as saying by the Iranian judiciary news agency Mizan”:

• Switzerland Seeks Answers from Iran After Traveler Dies in Prison (AlArabiya)

Israeli war crimes continue:

• LIVE: Israel Bombs Ports, Power Station in Yemen as Gaza Carnage Continues (Aljazeera)
• Israeli Drone Strike in West Bank Kills Two Children, Palestinians Say (BBC)
• Letters from Gaza – ‘Alhamdulillah. We Are Not Okay’ (Ksshmir Observer)
• With UNRWA Fate Unclear, UN and Israel Argue over Who Is Responsible for Palestinians (Middle East Monitor)
• Researchers Say Study Shows Gaza Death Toll Far Exceeds Official Figures (Haaretz)

More pushback against Zionism’s war on free speech:

• Mark Rylance Joins Criticism of Police Ban on Pro-Palestine March in London (The Guardian)
• Reporting Under Fire: Gaza, Genocide, and the Truth Behind the Headlines (Project Censored)

“The army brass and the majority of Israelis support a deal to free the 100 or so hostages still held by Hamas in exchange for ending the conflict. But the decision-makers oppose such an agreement”:

• Why Gaza Is Israel’s Forever War (Foreign Policy)

“I think being Muslim and hijabi, you get taken less seriously. Sometimes we get spoken down to. I think there’s this assumption that we’re ignorant and we don’t understand what we’re talking about”:

• Muslim Families Are Battling to Get Their Autistic Children Diagnosed (Hyphen)

“[I]n early medieval Europe the world of construction and decorative crafts was “dominated by Muslims’”:

• How Medieval Muslim Migrants Helped Build Europe’s Castles, Churches and Monasteries (Middle East Eye)

“The US is, in fact, the only remaining veto against a Palestinian state”:

• The UN Can End the Middle East Conflict by Welcoming Palestine as a Member (Aljazeera)

“Sri Lanka rarely convicts Buddhist monks, but … Gnanasara … has repeatedly been accused of hate crimes and anti-Muslim violence,” and received “a presidential pardon he received in 2019 for a six-year sentence … for contempt of court and intimidating the wife of a political cartoonist who is widely believed to have been disappeared”:

• Controversial Buddhist Monk Jailed for Insulting Islam (BBC)

“Iran’s new Razvan drone, resembling Israel’s Hero series, showcases Tehran’s reverse engineering capabilities”:

• Iran Unveils New Suicide Drone Copied from Israeli Company – Report (Jerusalem Post)

ImadadDean