News and Analysis 5/17/25

“The Nakba is not just a past event. It’s an open wound still bleeding today before our eyes between the river and the sea” — Lee Mordechai, history professor at Hebrew University:

• Marking Nakba Day Is Controversial in Israel. These Israelis and Palestinians Did It Together (JTA)

“After years of gradual progress toward stability, a succession battle is pushing the country to the precipice of another full-blown civil war”:

• ‘Knives Are Out’ in South Sudan as Vice President Is Held in Detention (NY Times)

The Zionist war on free speech — and the resistance — continue:

• Arsenal FC Face Legal Action for Firing Staff over Pro-Palestine Posts (Mondoweiss)

Israeli war crimes continue:

• Deadly Israeli Strikes Pound Gaza, Trump Says ‘People Are Starving’ (Reuters / Alarabya)
• More than 100 Palestinians Are Killed in Gaza in a Day of Israeli Airstrikes (NPR)
• Soldiers Abduct Several Palestinians Near Salfit (IMEMC)
• Thousands of Palestinians Flee North Gaza amid Intensified Israeli Attacks (Aljazeera)

A judge’s “opinion that the accuser’s niqab, which covered all of her face except a slit for her eyes, amounted to a denial of the defendant’s rights” to confront the accuser was overruled:

• A Muzzle Award for a Judge Who Tried to Stop a Muslim Witness from Testifying While Covering Her Face (Media Nation)

The Biden “administration pressed the Israelis rhetorically to wind down the campaign and protect civilians, but they had no intention of doing so—and Washington had no intention of asserting its power”:

• Biden’s Gaza Failure, the Syrian Revolution, and the Folly of US Middle East Policy (Middle East Policy)

“Netanyahu has been predicting that Iran is months away from getting a nuclear bomb for more than a decade”:

• Trump’s Reversal on Iran May Be His Most Consequential (Washington Post)

“[T]he question that haunts the film is why [Fatima], or anyone in today’s France, should have to choose between integral parts of herself” …

• ‘The Little Sister’ Review: Coming-of-Age Drama About a French Muslim’s Lesbian Awakening Is a Low-Key Stunner (Hollywood Reporter)

… while in Chicago the “Ayah Project’s second annual queer Muslim conference was [more than] just a chance for faith members to commiserate and find community”:

• Queer Muslim Conference Brings Strength to Chicago’s Marginalized Community (Windy City Times)

“[T]he power to suspend habeas corpus has long been understood as belonging to Congress, not the president”:

• Since Immigration Is an ‘Invasion,’ a Top Trump Adviser Says, the President Might Suspend Habeas Corpus (Reason)

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