Minaret of Freedom Weblog

Israel support for settler violence is not tacit at all:

• Israel Releases Settlers Arrested After Anti-Palestinian Attacks (Aljazeera)
• Israel’s Smotrich Wants ‘Another Nakba’, Says Former Defence Minister (Middle East Eye)
• Israel: Legal Scholars Call for ‘War Crimes’ Investigation into Smotrich Remarks (Middle East Eye)
• Jewish Settlers Attack Palestinian Ambulance Transporting Sick Child (Palestine Chronicle)
• Israeli Forces Detain 15 Palestinians in West Bank Raids (Wafa)

Iran isn’t the only country where people are protesting custodial deaths:

• Protests in North Kashmir Village After Alleged Custodial Death (Tehelka)
• What a String of Deaths in One Jail Says About the State of Jammu and Kashmir’s Prisons (Scroll)

To “suggest Palestinian children should not be seen or heard because the expression of their reality ‘discriminates’ against Jewish people – or Israelis – feels extremely dangerous”:

• Lawyers Had Children’s Art Banned from a Hospital. What Has Britain Come to? (Independent)

Four organizations “are calling on the international community to take action to stop forced organ harvesting in East Turkistan”:

• CFU Welcomes H.R. 1154 “Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2023” (Campaign for Uyghurs)

The school suspended “a Black female Muslim [who] reportedly fought off the physical advances of a white male classmate” while giving the molester mere detention:

• Muslim Advocates, Family Raise Alarm After Classmate Removed Teen’s Hijab at a Ky. School (WKMS)

“To come forward as a witness in India is an act of extreme bravery, possibly madness, because witnesses are themselves on trial”:

• The Trials of an Indian Witness: How a Muslim Man Was Caught in a Legal Nightmare (The Guardian)

“The Biden administration is appearing to endorse Israel’s escalations against Iran — a move that would necessitate U.S. involvement in a new Middle East conflict no one wants”:

• Hawkish Israel Is Pulling U.S. Into War With Iran (The Intercept)

“In many cases the signed and stamped voter tallies at the polling units differed from the results registered at the INEC collation center”:

• Muslim-Muslim Ticket Proclaimed Winner of Nigeria’s Presidential Election amid Protests (Catholic News Agency)

“[T]here are no longer contiguous lands on which a viable Palestinian state can be established”:

• Israel Killed Two-state Solution and Palestinians Must Accept It, Says Mohammed Dahlan (The National News)

Vengeance is ours sayeth the settlers …

• Israeli Settlers Rampage Through Palestinian Towns in Revenge for Shooting (Washington Post)
• Hawara West Bank: ‘What Happened Was Horrific and Barbaric’ (BBC)
• Jewish Settler Leader Says ‘Huwwara Should Be Wiped out Today’ (Palestine Chronicle)
• Israel-Palestine: UN Envoy Gravely Concerned over Killings and Retaliatory Attacks (UN)
• As Israel Reels from Violent Attack on Palestinians, Settler Leadership Remains Unapologetic (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
• Israeli Military Calls Settler Attacks on Palestinians ‘Actions of Terror’ After Weekend of Violence (CNN)
• The Pogrom Is the Point (972 Magazine)

… as the U.S. finally concedes that the IDF, “police, [and] Israeli security personnel often did not prevent settler attacks and rarely detained or charged perpetrators of settler violence”:

• U.S. Report: Israel Often Did Not Prevent Settler Attacks Against Palestinians in 2021 (Axios)

“Has Boko Haram come to Iran?” — former Vice-President Mohammad Ali Abtahi:

• Iran Investigating Poisoning of 650 Schoolgirls with Toxic Gas (BBC)

The opposition claims the election was “marred by widespread violence, rigging, intimidation of voters, doctoring of results and violation of the laid down electoral process”:

• Tensions Rise in Nigeria as Opposition Demands New Vote (Washington Post)

“The longer the war lasts, the more powerful the Houthis are likely to become”:

• Ending Counterproductive U.S. Involvement in Yemen (Quincy Institute)

“[T]heir worship and their practice of Islam — was taken away in order to make them docile and obedient to inhumane treatment”:

• It’s Time to Stop Erasing Black Muslim Americans from the Story of Islam in the US (RNS)

Despite the promise in its Declaration of Independence, Israel has no constitution to this day lest it impede supremacy of “Jewish demography” over “human and civil rights”:

• The Settler-colonial Origins of Israel’s Constitutional Crisis (972 Magazine)

“Those who dare to criticize the government now face much heavier consequences than before, with charges based on even minor Twitter remarks resulting in jail terms ranging from 15 to 45 years”:

• Saudi Dissidents Continue to Face Harsher Penalties for Criticizing the Government (National Interest Foundation)

“From the right to choose what to wear, to the right to education and work, Indian Muslim women are at risk of losing it all”:

• India Expands Its War Against Muslim Women (Middle East Eye)

“She served as the Americans with Disabilities judge for the Sacramento County Superior Court Hall of Justice and created the first Indian Child Welfare Act courtroom in Northern California”:

• Shama Hakim First Muslim American Woman Appointed as Judge in US Appellate Court (ummid.com)

Following the precedent of fellow populists in the white West, Kais Saied comes down hard on blacks and immigrants:

• Amid Crackdown on Dissent, Tunisian Leader Turns on Migrants (Washington Post)
• Racist Rhetoric by Tunisian President Sparks Fear Among Migrants and Black Tunisians (Washington Post)

Unless the third party candidate wins, the tradition that the presidency alternates between Christians and Muslims and that the VP be of a different religion than the president will be broken:

• What You Need to Know About Nigeria’s Historic Presidential Election (Washington Post)

How was “an internationally recognized clinical psychologist, best-selling author, lecturer, intellectual, and media commentator … duped … by a man who has been indicted on corruption charges”?

• Netanyahu Purveyed a Fictional History of Israel to Jordan Peterson (Israel-Palestine News)

Iranians call for abolition of the death penalty, just litigation, the end of impunity for political crime perpetrators, reconstruction of a completely independent judicial system, and acceptance of diverse narratives:

• Activists and Survivors Announce Alliance for Justice (NIAC Action)

To Shawcross bad Muslims are those who “critique … Zionism, [oppose existing] domestic and international policies, [or favor] conservative religious views, etc.”:

• A Review of the Prevent Review: Shawcross’s Guide to ‘Good Islam’ (Middle East Eye)

Saudi Arabia, “unlike Qatar, is unlikely to engage with its critics and adopt some reforms, including” relenting on its  changes to its “crackdown on freedom of expression far harsher than Qatari restrictions”:

• Saudi Sports Strategy Challenges Global Sports Governors and Activists Alike (Middle East Soccer)

“[F]armers, workers and marginalized sections” are protesting government “attempts attempts to ‘take back’ what it says is land that has been “illegally occupied”:

• In Jammu and Kashmir, ‘Eviction Drive’ Sparks Anger and Protests from a Cross-section of Society (Peoples Dispatch)

They ask for including explicit protection for “the rights of religious groups, something they said 22 other states included when they passed laws” protecting sexual orientation:

• Christian and Muslim Groups Want Faith Protections Added to LGBTQ Rights Bill (Detroit Free Press)

Settler violence continues:

• Palestinians Say Settlers Set Fire to Cars, Threw Stones in West Bank Village (Haaretz)

Settlers celebrate the carnage, but the Nablus massacre has outraged people in Palestine and the Arab nations …

• Israeli Settlers Seen Celebrating and Handing Out Sweets After Deadly Nablus Raid (Middle east Eye)
• Nablus Residents Describe ‘Massacre’ After 11 Dead in Four-hour Israeli Raid (The National)
• General Strike Launched in Occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem After Deadly Israeli Raid in Nablus (New Arab)
• Gaza ‘Waiting for War Every Moment’ as Israel Tension Surges (Aljazeera)
• Arab Countries Slam ‘Horrific Crimes’ Following Israel’s Massacre in Nablus (Palestine Chronicle)

… while the Palestinian Authority’s embarrassment at withdrawal of a UNSC draft resolution condemning the Israeli settlements just two days before the massacre may hasten its demise as Israel’s American-paid security contractor:

• Palestinian Parties Condemn PA over UN Vote Withdrawal (Aljazeera)
• Palestinian Authority Stops Contacts with Tel Aviv After Nablus Operation (Asharq al-Awsat)
• The Palestinian Authority’s last gasp? (Middle East Eye)
• IDF Nablus Raid Is Another Nail in the Coffin of the Palestinian Authority – Analysis (Jerusalem Post / MSN)

San Francisco declares putting the Eids on their calendar would show preference for one religion over others; (so, Christmas is not on their calendar?):

• San Francisco Reverses Decision to Recognize Major Muslim Holidays in Schools, Sparking Outrage (Arab-American News)

Settlers “torching homes, mosques, cars and olive groves” feel “confident knowing they have a “dedicated advocate in their corner — the attorney Itamar Ben Gvir, now Israel’s national security minister” …

• Itamar Ben Gvir: How an Extremist Settler Became a Powerful Israeli Minister (Washington Post)

… as Peace Now accuses Israel of “spitting in the face of the U.S.” …

• Israel Approves over 7,000 Settlement Homes, Groups Say (New Arab)

… and Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich declares that “human rights organisations are an existential threat to the state of Israel”:

• Netanyahu’s Regime Is Coming for Palestinian Digital Rights (New Arab)

“In his tireless struggle for a genuine emancipation of African-Americans, and his loyalty toward the truth above everything else, Malcolm X was a true American Muslim hero”:

• Malcolm X: The Assassination of an American Muslim Hero (Soundvision)

“Ilyasah Shabazz says US officials fraudulently concealed evidence that they “conspired to and executed their plan to assassinate” her father”:

• Malcolm X’s Family Plan to Sue FBI, CIA, NYPD for His Death (BBC)

Her “fight was against those who distorted Islamic teachings with the result that Islam got the label of the world’s most anti-women religion”:

• Being Muslim, Being a Muslim Woman (Frontline)

“[A]nti-war Republicans are … concerned about the practical fiscal implications of unlimited wars” so “[w]hy is not even one congressional Republican adamantly questioning billions in annual aid to Israel“?

• Can a Conservative Movement for Palestine Emerge? (WRMEA)

“Politicians in Syria, Turkey, and the United States are getting in the way of relief efforts”:

• In Syria and Turkey, Helping Earthquake Victims Is a Crime (Reason)

“The Supreme Court can ignore our First Amendment rights, but we will continue to vigorously exercise them” — Arkansas Times publisher Alan Leveritt:

• Supreme Court Won’t Hear Challenge to Arkansas’ Anti-BDS Law (Mondoweiss)

“Marcus Garvey … and the organization he founded, the Universal Negro Improvement Association, pushed for the creation of a separate Black state based on Islamic principles“:

• MSU, BSU Present Lecture on Islam, Black Radicalism (Williams Record)

The escalating Israeli violence …

• UPDATE: Ten Palestinians Killed, 100 Injured, Six Critical, in an Israel Army Incursion into Nablus (Wafa)
• Palestinian Teen Succumbs to Israeli Gunshot Wounds (Aljazeera)

… is motivated by a desire to promote Palestinian hardliners as “a pretext for the most radical and dangerous policies on its agenda”:

• Why Israel Has a Strategic Interest in Escalating Violence (New Arab)

“Keynote speaker Angelica Lindsey-Ali, a certified sexual health educator and wellness coach, encouraged women to include religion and spirituality in their business plans”:

• New Metro Detroit Organization Brings Recognition to Muslim Businesswomen (WDET)

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti called for peaceful resistance to the property tax he says is “part of the BJP’s larger agenda of impoverishing the people of the union territory”:

• Imposition of Property Tax in J&K Anti-People Move: NC, PDP (Kashmir Observer)

A family relative claims vigilantes abducted the pair, “assaulted them and turned them in to a local police station alleging they’re cow smugglers. The cops refused to take them so the gang put” them in a “car and set it on fire”:

• YouTuber on the Run After 2 Muslim Men Were Found Burnt to Death (Vice)

“The government recently gave thousands of pounds to a Christian group whose chair said Islam is ‘demonic’ and ‘spiritual wickedness’, the National Secular Society has found”:

• Chair of Government-funded Charity Says Islam Is “Demonic” (National Secular Society)

Given the “popularity of alternative facts and the vigorous efforts to manufacture and disseminate revisionist, divisive and supremacist narratives of the past” makes the availability of historical documents all the more important:

• Why India Must Make the Roy Bucher Papers on Kashmir Publicly Accessible (The Wire)

As Israel begins its war on Jerusalem, Palestinians respond with a general strike …

• Ben Gvir’s War on Jerusalem Has Begun (Mondoweiss)
• Israeli Settlers Break into Jerusalem’s Aqsa Mosque (Wafa)
• Jerusalem: Palestinians Declare Civil Disobedience over Israeli Crackdown (Middle East Eye)

… while Palestinians demand accountability for noncombatants killed in so-called “anti-terror operations”:

• I Want Justice for My Brothers Who Israel Killed (Aljazeera)
• Yousef Muhaisen, 23, Was Killed Without Posing a Real Danger to the Israeli Army (New Arab)

A Hindutva leader released on bail after calling for killing and raping Muslim women now calls on HIndus to “murder all Muslims in the country” …

• Muslim Genocide Inevitable for Hindu Rashtra: Bajrang Muni (Siasat)

… while another Hindutva leader  encourages Hindu men to “‘get’ or abduct 10 Muslim women as vengeance” “for every Hindu girl that marries a Muslim man or falls in love with a Muslim man”:

• Hate Watch: Sri Ram Sene Promises Financial Security to Men Trapping Muslim Women (Citizens for Justice and Peace)

… and the American media, absorbed by the protests sparked by a death in custody in Iran, is oblivious to the death of a wage laborer from “injuries he had sustained due to torture by police” in India:

• Medak Custodial Death: Muslim Leaders Demand Inquiry by HC (Siasat)

“[D]iplomats familiar with the conversations said that in his call to Abbas, Blinken reiterated an offer to the Palestinians for a US package of incentives to entice them to drop or at least delay the resolution”:

• US Scrambles to Avoid, Forestall UN Resolution over Illegal Jewish Settlement (Palestine Chronicle)

“Tajdeed says it does not question the Quran or the teachings of the Prophet Mohammad, which are at the heart of Islam, but rather the opinions of religious scholars and others who came later, including modern-day clerics”:

• Bahrain Charges Religious Reformers with Questioning Islam (abc News)

Unlike “the pro-democracy opposition movements in Turkey, India or Brazil — or the [American] movement against Trumpism”, the movement in Israel is not for equal rights but “to preserve … liberal democracy for Jews”:

• You Can’t Save Democracy in a Jewish State (NY Times)

“If we are repatriated, we must be allowed to become Myanmar citizens. We cannot stay in reception centres”:

• Consent Still a Major Question Hanging over Return of Muslim Refugees in Bangladesh (Burma News International)

“[T]he strike, which hit close to an Iranian cultural centre, had killed 15 people including civilians”:

• Deadly Air Strike on Kafr Sousa Suburb of Damascus (The Guardian)

“Iran International TV has suspended its London operations and relocated its broadcasting to Washington, D.C. following threats against its staff”:

• RSF Calls on Iran to Cease Targeting Journalists Abroad Following Suspension of Iran International TV’s UK Operations (Reporters Without Borders)

The Norwegian Refugee Council “calls on Israel to lift the siege and calls on donors to provide aid to help Palestinians rehabilitate their homes”:

• Gaza: 120,000 Palestinians Spend Winter in Windowless, Doorless Homes (Reliefweb)

“This law represents a very dangerous escalation. It only deepens the apartheid system that is in place and creates separate laws for Palestinians and Jews”:

• Israel Passes Law Allowing Deportation of Palestinian Prisoners (Aljazeera)

“It’s clear I hit a raw nerve” — James Cavallaro,”candidate for an Organization of American States position [who] had said top House Democrats were bought and controlled by pro-Israel groups”:

• Biden Yanks Human Rights Candidate Over Anti-Israel Comments (Haaretz)

Nations are around the world are appalled — and even the U.S. is “deeply dismayed” — by Israel’s flagrant contempt for international law …

• UN Security Council to Vote on Israel’s Settlements Expansion amid International Condemnation (Palestine Chronicle)
• US ‘Deeply Dismayed’ by Israeli Settlement Announcement (Middle East Eye)

… and as “the fascist new government provokes international criticism, Israelis grow nostalgic for the days when the state could act with violent impunity against the Palestinians”:

• Israel: It’s Apartheid, Not ‘Democracy’, These Protesters Really Want to Save (Middle East Eye)

The Israeli army paralyzed him and then “refused to allow his family to build a home for him, despite the fact that the family was on their privately-owned land, and so they were forced to live in the cave” until his death …

• The Theft of Harun Abu Aram’s Body, Home, and Life (972 Magazine)

… and unsatisfied with the extrajudicial killing of a terrorist suspect, now blows up his family;s homne …

• Israeli Army Blows Up Home of Palestinian It Killed Last Year (Middle East Eye)

… while in America a Palestinian victim of police brutality suffered “internal bleeding in his brain, a fractured pelvis, a broken nose and multiple bruises and lacerations” shortly before release “from hospital … for a hearing”:

• US Police Officer Faces Criminal Charges After Repeatedly Punching Palestinian Boy (New Arab)

Released journalist opines that Iran’s revolving prison doors serve a sinister purpose:

• Iranians Aren’t Fooled by the Regime’s Ruse. You Shouldn’t be Either (Washington Post)

It’s not just for pro-Israeli propaganda; “a unit of disinformation operatives based in Israel” has “sold access to their software to unnamed intelligence agencies, political parties and corporate clients” …

• ‘Aims’: the Software for Hire that Can Control 30,000 Fake Online Profiles (The Guardian)

… and successfully duping a veteran French anchorman:

• French Broadcaster BFMTV Suspends Presenter amid Disinformation Scandal (The Guardian)

A “‘charitable’ organisation that has long been used by the apartheid state for expropriating Palestinian lands and obfuscating Israel’s war crimes, acquired the private island for $21.5 million in an auction”:

• Israel ‘Bought Island’ from Bahrain in Latest Normalisation Move (Middle East Monitor)

Modi government moves fast to crush BBC after documentary exposes his plot to give Hindutva three days to terrorize Muslims and the subsequent murder and prosecution of witnesses to cover up:

• Censorship, Arrests, Power Cuts. India Scrambles to Block BBC Documentary (Washington Post)
• India’s BBC Raid Is Just Its Latest Attack on Press (Washington Post)

Climate collaborations between Israel and Jordan “are serving to embolden the Israeli occupation, which remains unflinching in its denial of water rights to Palestinians“:

• Palestinians Missing from Israeli-Jordanian Climate Diplomacy (Newlines Institute)

“Bin Salman puts religion at the service of his politics while protesting against the use of religion by his opponents” — Louis Blin, author of a forthcoming book on the Muslim World League:

• Saudi Columnists Bolster Calls for Reform of Muslim Religious Law (Middle East Soccer)

An “anti-Palestinian stalwart … has taken a page from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his war against Black American history … [in] seeking to dictate to the New York Board of Regents wording around how Israel – and Palestine – is presented to students”:

• New York Lawmakers Want to Write Palestinians Out of History (Electronic Intifada)

Publication of the papers could reveal why Nehru granted the special status that Modi has now revoked:

• India Trying to Prevent Declassification of ‘Sensitive’ 1947 Kashmir Papers (The Guardian)

“The European Union rejects this decision and reiterates its position that settlements are illegal under international law and that it will not recognize any changes to the 1967 borders other than those agreed by the parties”:

• European Union Rejects Israel’s Decision to legalize Settlement Outposts, Calls for Reversing Latest Decisions (Wafa)

That not “one terrorism conviction resulted from the tens of thousands of police interviews in the aftermath of 9/11. That gives you a sense of how members of an entire group were seen as a racialized security threat, even though they hadn’t done anything”:

• We Can’t Understand Islamophobia Without Recognizing Its Roots in Imperialism (Jacobin)

Israeli murder spree continues to climax:

• Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian During Nablus Raid (Middle East Eye)
• 17-year-old Palestinian Shot Dead by Israeli Army Near Nablus in West Bank (Haaretz)
• West Bank: 14-year-old Palestinian Killed in Israeli Raid on Jenin (Middle East Eye)
• New Israeli Regime Moves Toward “Cleansing” All Palestinians from Palestine (Truthout)

His insistence on taking personal days so he could attend Friday prayers led the airline “to conclude that you are not suitable for this job”:

• Muslim Claims Southwest Airlines Fired Him from BWI Job over Religious Request (Washington Times)

A “$2.5 million, five-year grant from the Lilly Endowment … will help launch programs that foster greater understanding of religious cultures in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East”:

• Library of Congress to Highlight Muslim Slave and Scholar with $2.5 Million Grant (Religion News Service)

“The ethnic minorities and refugees leading the community response in Turkey already knew not to rely on the government” …

• Turkey’s Earthquake Response Is as Political as the Conditions that Increased the Devastation (New Yorker)

… which “has provided periodic ‘construction amnesties’ – effectively legal exemptions for the payment of a fee, for structures built without the required safety certificates” …

• Turkey Earthquake: Why Did So Many Buildings Collapse? (BBC)

… and observers note the threat to Erdogan in parallels today to the 2002 election that brought him to power that include not only “the aftermath of a massive earthquake” but “a financial crisis that was punishing its economy”:

• Earthquake Compounds Turkish Leader’s Woes as Election Nears (AP)

Eight of the 44 Palestinians killed by Israel so far are minors …

• Israeli Soldiers Kill Five Palestinians in Jericho (IMEMC / Israel-Palestine News)
• Israeli Army Kills A Palestinian Youth In Nablus – Shot in the Face (IMEMC / Israel-Palestine News)
• Explosions Rock Gaza After Israeli Air Strikes (Aljazeera)

… and the settler murder spree continues as Israel legalized more oif the outposts in  violation of international law:

• Palestinian Killed by Jewish Settler in West Bank, Palestinians Say (Reuters)
• Israel Legalises Nine Settler Outposts in Occupied West Bank (Aljazeera)

“[T]housands of Iranians are also gaining experience standing up to authorities and navigating the prison system, which could become a grim asset for the decentralized movement”:

• Iran Protesters Released from Prison Wrestle with Fear and Trauma (Washington Post)

The “policy change … allows departing detainees to take their work with them”:

• Pentagon Lifts Trump-Era Ban on Release of Guantánamo Prisoners’ Art (NY Times)

Congress looks to promote a once-designated terrorist “despised and hated by Iranians across the political spectrum”:

• Amid Ongoing Iran Protests, Congress Boosts Cultish MEK Exile Group (The Intercept)

Israeli authorities locked up so many “Arabs between the ages of 16 and 55” that the number of Palestinian non-combatant detainees ‘far exceeded’ those of Arab soldiers in regular armies or bona fide POWs”:

• Israel’s Little-known Concentration and Labor Camps (1948-1955) (Al-Awda)

“So far, India, like China, has benefited from Muslim-majority states emphasizing national interests rather than communal and identity concerns. However, that may prove to be a fragile proposition”:

• India Could Be This Decade’s China (Middle East Soccer)

The new Israeli government’s “founding documents state unequivocally that the Jewish people have an ‘exclusive and indisputable right to all parts of the Land of Israel'”:

• Israel is Annexing the West Bank. Don’t be Misled by Its Gaslighting (Just Security)

The government land seizure “has left people in the Union Territory worried as they fear their homes and business establishments will be bulldozed as documents and lease deeds are being ignored”:

• Land Eviction Drives Panic, Razes Confidence in Jammu and Kashmir (Hindustan Times)

Israeli special forces murder five Palestinians, including two unarmed barbers in their way home from work:

• Thousands Mourn Palestinians Killed by Israel in Nablus (Aljazeera)

“More than a fifth of all web blackouts [in 2022] took place in Kashmir”:

• Kashmir Registers Highest Number of Internet Restrictions Globally (VoA)

Activists and journalists recently released from Tehran’s Evin prison include …

• Iran Releases Journalist Arrested During Protests, Media Report (VoA)
• Iran frees dissident Farhad Meysami after photos of his emaciated condition cause outrage online (CNN)
• Fariba Adelkhah: French-Iranian Academic Released from Iran Jail (BBC)

“The bodies of at least 580 suspected rebels killed by Indian forces were denied to families for proper funerals since April 2020”:

• ‘We Pleaded for Body’: The Hidden Graves of Slain Kashmir Rebels (Aljazeera)