{"id":93960,"date":"2026-02-04T06:27:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=93960"},"modified":"2026-02-04T06:27:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:27:02","slug":"news-and-analysis-2-4-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=93960","title":{"rendered":"News and Analysis 2\/4\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Conflicting reports on U.S. &#8211; Iran war continue:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/us-navy-shoot-down-iranian-drone-in-arabian-sea\">US Navy Shoot Down Iranian Drone in Arabian Sea<\/a> (euronews)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/israel-news\/2026-02-04\/ty-article-live\/trump-says-u-s-talking-with-iran-at-more-than-one-location-witkoff-meets-israeli-leaders\/0000019c-2671-db08-abdd-6ffba00a0000\">Trump Agrees to Move Nuclear Talks From Turkey to Oman per Iran&#8217;s Request, Report Says <\/a>(Haaretz)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aa.com.tr\/en\/americas\/us-negotiating-with-iran-right-now-trump\/3819450\">US Negotiating with Iran &#8216;Right Now&#8217;: Trump<\/a> (Andalou Ajansi)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aa.com.tr\/en\/world\/israel-seeking-us-strikes-on-iran-but-trump-just-not-there-report\/3819466\">Israel Seeking US Strikes on Iran, but Trump &#8216;Just Not There&#8217;: Report<\/a> (Andalou Ajansi)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/israelis-split-on-joining-possible-us-strike-on-iran-survey-finds\/\">Israelis Split on Joining Possible US Strike on Iran, Survey Finds<\/a> (Times of Israel)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/today.yougov.com\/politics\/articles\/54025-us-military-intervention-iran-little-support-half-americans-think-likely-to-happen-soon-january-30-february-2-2026-economist-yougov-poll\">U.S. Military Intervention in Iran Has Little Support but Half of Americans Think It&#8217;s Likely to Happen Soon<\/a> (YouGov)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Israeli war crimes continue:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeasteye.net\/news\/israel-kills-nine-gaza-including-three-children-and-kills-man-west-bank-raid-0\">Israel Kills 21 Palestinians in Gaza Bombing, Including Infants<\/a> (Middle East Eye)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/rafah-gaza-israel-palestinians-egypt-crossing-fb4fb8edf3ffd227a576cf01f8ce9b64\">Palestinians Wait at Border Between Gaza and Egypt as Uncertainty Clouds Reopening of Rafah Crossing<\/a> (AP)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/4\/how-israel-destroyed-gazas-health-system-deliberately-and-methodically\">How Israel Destroyed Gaza\u2019s Health System \u2018Deliberately and Methodically\u2019<\/a> (Aljazera)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/punchbowl.news\/embargoed-letter-to-sec-rubio-re-de-facto-west-bank-annexation\/\">Over 75 Members of Congress from Both the House and Senate Urging the Administration to Stop Israeli Annexation Efforts in the West Bank<\/a> (Punchbowl News)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;[H]e played a leading role in a drive to repair Libya\u2019s relations with the West, beginning in the early 2000s&#8221; but later &#8220;faced numerous allegations of torture and extreme violence against opponents of his father\u2019s rule&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/3\/saif-al-islam-gaddafi-son-of-former-leader-killed-in-libya\">Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Son of Former Leader, Killed in Libya <\/a>(Aljazeera)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Unbroken: In Pursuit of Freedom for Palestine is a collection of writings by the Palestinian political leader, who has been held in Israeli prisons since 2002&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2026\/feb\/03\/marwan-barghouti-palestine-mandela-publish-new-book-from-prison-unbroken-in-pursuit-of-freedom-for-palestine\">Marwan Barghouti, \u2018Palestine\u2019s Mandela\u2019, to Publish Book from Prison<\/a> (The Guardian)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>HRW defends the &#8220;pause&#8221; in publication on the grounds that the due to the &#8220;complex and consequential issues&#8221; in the report &#8220;aspects of the research and the factual basis for our legal conclusions needed to be strengthened to meet Human Rights Watch\u2019s high standards&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/3\/israel-palestine-head-of-human-right-watch-quits-over-blocked-report\">Israel-Palestine Head of Human Rights Watch Quits over \u2018Blocked\u2019 Report<\/a> (Aljazeera)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;[T]he government\u2019s decision to allow the IAF to continue operating in parliament, even though the Brotherhood itself is now illegal, is a \u201ccompromise\u201d that is somewhat acceptable for the Islamist movement&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/blogs\/menasource\/why-the-muslim-brotherhood-is-staying-calm-amid-crackdowns-in-jordan\/\">Why the Muslim Brotherhood Is Staying Calm amid Crackdowns in Jordan<\/a> (Atlantic Council)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;A Muslim school near Birmingham, Ala., was &#8230; winning academic awards, increasing enrollment and looking to expand. Then came the lawn signs, the first warning that trouble was on the way&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kuow.org\/stories\/a-thriving-muslim-school-in-alabama-looked-to-expand-but-was-met-with-islamophobia\">A Thriving Muslim School in Alabama Looked to Expand, but Was Met with Islamophobia<\/a> (KUOW \/ NPR)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>New York City&#8217;s Muslims are on a rebound, led by cultural and political fugures:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/feb\/03\/new-york-city-muslims-city-landscape\">\u2018New York Is Constantly Being Renewed\u2019: How Muslim Creatives Are Changing the City\u2019s Cultural Landscape<\/a> (The Guardian)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/ng-interactive\/2026\/feb\/03\/muslim-new-york-city\">This Is Muslim NY: a Non-exhaustive List of the Artists, Politicos, and Entertainers Driving the City&#8217;s New Era<\/a> (The Guardian)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;While Epstein was joking with Barak about being a Mossad agent, he was also working to cultivate some goodwill for Qatar with Steve Bannon, who had served as the Trump administration&#8217;s chief strategist from January 2017 to August 2017&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2026\/02\/03\/jeffrey-epstein-brokered-secret-meeting-between-qatari-and-israeli-leaders\/\">Jeffrey Epstein Brokered Secret Meeting Between Qatari and Israeli Leaders<\/a> (Reason)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conflicting reports on U.S. &#8211; Iran war continue: US Navy Shoot Down Iranian Drone in Arabian Sea (euronews) Trump Agrees to Move Nuclear Talks From Turkey to Oman per Iran&#8217;s Request, Report Says (Haaretz) US Negotiating with Iran &#8216;Right Now&#8217;: Trump (Andalou Ajansi) Israel Seeking US Strikes on Iran, but Trump &#8216;Just Not There&#8217;: Report [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93960"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93969,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93960\/revisions\/93969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}