Every child in Gaza faces starvation
Palestinian human rights groups, Amnesty International say Israel has failed to comply with World Court’s orders to ensure humanitarian aid access.
Palestinian human rights groups, Amnesty International say Israel has failed to comply with World Court’s orders to ensure humanitarian aid access.
In today’s newsletter: As suspended backbencher Lee Anderson launches a fresh attack, a former Tory MEP explains how the party got here
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Good morning. Your 7am Lee Anderson update: still not apologised. The reason, he said yesterday, is that “when you think you are right you should never apologise, because to do so would be a sign of weakness”.
Others might feel that the weaknesses of Anderson’s position are apparent enough already. In any case, the Conservatives remain in crisis over his claims that Islamists had “got control” of Sadiq Khan, and their tepid response since he was suspended.
Budget | Jeremy Hunt’s financial planning is “dubious” and “lacks credibility” and the chancellor should not announce tax cuts in next week’s budget if he cannot lay out how he will fund them, an economic thinktank has said. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) calculates that a spending freeze to fund pre-election giveaways would mean about £35bn in public service cuts.
Israel-Gaza war | Joe Biden has said he believes a new, temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is possible by next Monday. The US president offered the update spontaneously during a visit to New York yesterday, in response to reporters inquiring about when he expected a ceasefire could start.
Russia | Alexei Navalny’s allies allege that Vladimir Putin had the opposition leader killed in jail to sabotage a prisoner swap in which Navalny would have been exchanged for a convicted hitman jailed in Germany. Maria Pevchikh, a close ally of the opposition leader, said Navalny was only days from being freed.
US news | An active-duty member of the US air force has died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC, while shouting “Free Palestine””. 25-year-old airman Aaron Bushnell said on a livestream that he would “no longer be complicit in genocide”.”
Education | Labour has said it will help schools to train young male influencers who can counter the negative impact of people like Andrew Tate, a self-declared misogynist influencer, if it wins the next election. The party announced plans to pupils how to question the material they see on social media from people like Tate.
Continue reading...PM says prejudice unacceptable but refuses to address anti-Muslim concerns after comments about London mayor
Rishi Sunak has denied that the Conservative party has a problem with Islamophobia after Lee Anderson’s comments about Sadiq Khan, continuing to label them as “wrong” rather than prejudiced.
During a round of BBC local radio interviews to promote spending moved from HS2 to local transport projects, the prime minister was quizzed on Anderson’s claim that the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, was controlled by Islamists, remarks for which he lost the Conservative whip.
Continue reading...Prayer room of Great Mosque of Algiers, beset by political wrangling and cost overruns, accommodates 120,000 people
Algeria has inaugurated a gigantic mosque on its Mediterranean coastline after years of political upheaval transformed the project from a symbol of state-sponsored strength and religiosity to one of delays and cost overruns.
Built by a Chinese construction firm throughout the 2010s, the Great Mosque of Algiers features the world’s tallest minaret, measuring 265 metres (869ft).
Continue reading...Coordination among militant factions on display.
Muslim Council of Britain writes to Conservative chair over comments made by Liz Truss, Lee Anderson and Suella Braverman
Britain’s largest Muslim group has written to the Conservative party to call for an investigation into “structural Islamophobia” within the party’s ranks.
In a letter addressed to the Conservative chair, Richard Holden, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said Islamophobia in the party was “institutional, tolerated by the leadership and seen as acceptable by great swathes of the party membership”.
Continue reading...Former senior UN official says that “Israeli occupation itself is on trial.”
Sahar Khader, the author of children’s Palestinian book “Sitti’s Key,” talks about the importance of telling Palestinian stories, the challenges of getting published as a Palestinian author, and and the mainstream publishing industry’s censorship of Palestinian voices. During this time of intense suppression in the midst of the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, don’t forget how important it is to uplift Palestinian voices!
Order Sitti’s Key from Crescent Moon Bookstore, and use the code MBR for a discount!
Related:
From The MuslimMatters Bookshelf: Palestinian Literature For All Ages
The post Podcast: Sitti’s Key: A Palestinian Tale | Sahar Khader appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.
While this six-part drama is a step forward for representation of Muslims in Australia, it is spoiled by unrealistic moments and a creaky script
As a Muslim invested in the politics of the Muslim community, it’s tempting to feel short-changed by the ABC’s new show, House of Gods.
The six-part drama centres on the family of a sheikh leading a mosque in Sydney, and brings to it a heady mix of power, politics and faith. The co-creators, Osamah Sami and Shahin Shafaei, have described it as “Succession set in a mosque”. But despite its great concept and fantastic production, House of Gods unfortunately falls short in its attempt at an authentic depiction of Muslim life in Australia.
Continue reading...In the wake of the chaos of the Gaza debate, prominent Conservatives are trying to exploit fears of extremism for their own ends
It should have been a sober debate about what the UK and its allies can do to bring an end to the conflict between Israel and Gaza. Instead, the House of Commons descended into procedural chaos and angry recriminations last Wednesday after the speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, broke with parliamentary convention to allow MPs to vote on a Labour, as well as the government’s, amendment to the SNP’s opposition day motion on a ceasefire. Rather than focusing on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza that is escalating with each day that passes, the Commons drew itself into a pointless blame game that has led to days of speculation over Hoyle’s future.
Every party involved – the SNP, Labour and the Conservatives – claimed the moral high ground in Wednesday’s debate, while accusing the others of undermining a critical discussion in their own interests. And all three parties are complicit in the shameful row that followed. Hoyle explained that he selected the Labour amendment out of concern for the safety of MPs who have received threats over this conflict and did not want to support an SNP motion labelling Israel’s military offensive as collective punishment. These MPs not only wanted to express their support for a ceasefire, they feared the consequences if they could not.
Continue reading...Berlin is providing political and military support to Tel Aviv’s extermination of Palestinians.
European Leadership Network claims that Rafah attack is necessary.
Alḥamdulillah, it’s almost that time of year again. That time of the year that is marked by a mixed bag of emotions; happiness, joy, excitement, enthusiasm, anticipation, worry, stress, anxiety, and concern. Through the grace and mercy of Allah ﷻ Ramaḍān is right around the corner. In just a few days, we’ll be welcoming this very special guest that comes and visits us every single year.
In the past several weeks, anyone I’ve spoken with expresses amazement at how fast this year has gone by. It truly feels as if Ramaḍān wasn’t too long ago, but it has already been a year. In this past year, people have come and gone. There are several individuals we know who witnessed and experienced Ramaḍān with us last year, but won’t be with us this year as they have transitioned to the mercy of Allah ﷻ. We have grown, completed another year of school, and had several experiences. Time is one of the most unique and intriguing creations and blessings of Allah ﷻ. It is our responsibility to figure out how to preserve the gift of time and take advantage of it.
For some students, the build-up to Ramaḍān can sometimes create a feeling of stress and anxiety. How are we going to wake up for suḥūr, fast for so long, pray tarāwīh, and still attend our classes, take notes, study, and do well on our midterms and finals? When am I going to sleep?! Coffee! All of these feelings are totally normal, and usually through the blessings of Ramaḍān, they melt away after the first few days.
Allah ﷻ facilitates ease for us during this month, allowing us to do amazing things that we thought we would be unable to do. We are about to witness the beginning of the month of worship (praying, fasting, recitation of the Quran, duʿā, dhikr, etc.), gratitude, generosity, service, God-consciousness, mercy, and forgiveness. Allah ﷻ will be giving us another opportunity to reconnect with Him and earn His pleasure, mercy, grace, pardon, and forgiveness.
Preparing for Ramaḍān as a college/university student can be a very beneficial, fulfilling, and challenging experience that allows us to balance our responsibilities to Allah ﷻ, others, spiritual growth, and studies. The following is a guide for preparing for Ramaḍān and benefitting from its blessings as a busy (perhaps 🙂I say that because during my student days, my friends and I had a lot of free time!) college/university student.
May Allah ﷻ accept all our fasts, prayers, charity, and any other act of righteousness we do in this blessed month and make it a means for us to attain the forgiveness and mercy of Allah ﷻ. Āmīn!
Related:
– Ramadan Prep Guide for Busy People | Part 1: Training Season
– From The Chaplain’s Desk: Preparing For Ramadan On Campus
1 https://sunnah.com/nasai:752 https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1901The post From The Chaplain’s Desk: Prep Guide For Ramadan On Campus appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.
Sacked professor successfully sued Bristol university.
Two Palestinian brothers killed.
A few years ago I wrote an article on what I called “stable-door logic”: the tendency, after a disaster or atrocity, to look for ways to make sure that said disaster could not have happened if they had been in place, and to do those things. This came after a German passenger aeroplane was flown into the side of a mountain in the French Alps by its pilot while his co-pilot was out of the cockpit to use the toilet, and the co-pilot was unable to get back in because of security measures put in place after 9/11. We have been seeing the same in the wake of the murder of Brianna Ghey last year and the trial and imprisonment of her two teenage killers: Esther Ghey, Brianna’s mother, has been telling the newspapers that Brianna was vulnerable because of her addiction to social media and calling for special phones to be introduced that offer no access to social media and that if under-16s have access to any phones at all, it should have to be one of these.
Mobile phones that offer no internet access already exist, of course; they were what most of us used before the iPhone and Android became popular (there were smartphones before this, but they were rather more primitive than those of today). Mobile phones are not the only devices that offer social media access; computers and tablets do as well. In the early days of social media, alternatives to Facebook existed that catered to teenagers, such as Bebo and MySpace; the first of these closed down, likely because children wanted access to their parents’ and other relatives’ social media which was on Facebook, and the latter because it was horribly slow and sometimes illegible because of the graphics it allowed people to use, and these days mostly caters to musicians. Facebook has a lot to answer for; in other parts of the world the fake news it allows to be circulated is linked to serious inter-communal violence. But even though Brianna Ghey had been accessing sites discussing self-harm and eating disorders, these things didn’t kill Brianna Ghey; her two schoolmates did.
Esther Ghey seems to have reasoned that Brianna was killed partly because she was transgender, and maybe blames this on social media, and partly on her lack of social skills, which likewise remained undeveloped because she had enough friends online not to have to work on her relationships with her schoolmates. The simple fact is that some children fail to develop friendships at school and this was the case before social media existed. Some children do not get on at school, even if they are academically able and interested in their learning. Online communities provide an avenue for forming friendships for these young people that school does not, and without it, they would just have no friends. Removing supports from people does not always make them self-sufficient, and removing one avenue for friendship and social interaction does not mean they will find another. The killers, Eddie Ratcliffe and Scarlett Jenkinson, were also influenced by things they had read online, but they were also disturbed individuals who both inflamed each other’s criminal tendencies. This phenomenon, called folie à deux, has been documented for decades or centuries, long before computers existed, let alone the Internet.
There were opportunities to save Brianna, of course. If Scarlett Jenkinson’s old school had passed on the details of her behaviour, the fact that she had given another girl sweets laced with cannabis, making her very ill, perhaps her new school — Brianna’s school — could have ensured other students were protected, or not allowed her into the school. But none of these things were in Esther Ghey’s power; what she could have done was restrict Brianna’s freedom and her access to information and to connections with people online. Once again, people cannot face up to the fact that an evil-doer was too smart for them, and there was nothing they could reasonably have done to prevent them harming someone. As with the German air disaster, the things Esther Ghey suggests we do to prevent another similar tragedy will have unpleasant consequences for lots of other young people: cut them off from perfectly healthy and beneficial friendships, make it more difficult or impossible to contact friends when separated by distance or when one is in hospital, among other things. Although there is a stereotype of autistic people relying on the Internet for their social interaction, chronically ill people do as well, including children, particularly those who are housebound and cannot go to school or to places where people socialise.
Esther Ghey has also demanded that these special phones for teenagers be linked to their parents’ phones, and that they inform the parents if the teenager searches for some forbidden topic or other. This is an extremely dangerous suggestion; the child could be searching for help with something they could not discuss with their parents, maybe because of the parents’ religion or culture but maybe because the parents are the problem: they are the abusers, or they are the ones bringing the abuser into their life. If such parents are informed that their child is looking for ways to escape from the situation or perhaps alert the authorities to the situation, the child’s life could be in danger. It’s a way to increase parental control, not enhance the child’s safety, and sometimes the first does not help with the second.
We must also remember that the safety of all young people was at stake when Scarlett Jenkinson was allowed to move schools after trying to poison someone, not just the one she killed. She and Ratcliffe had a hit-list and there were four other names on it, so if Esther Ghey had managed to keep Brianna wrapped in cotton wool and isolated from her online community and maybe even prevent her from becoming transgender, at least one of the four others would have been at risk. A better way to protect everyone would have been to ensure that pupils, like teachers, cannot enter a school after seriously harming someone or displaying behaviour that strongly suggests they might, at least not without intensive supervision if at all. I can’t see a serious downside to keeping a murderer away from children, which is more than can be said for removing all teenagers’ internet or social media access.
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Short video summarizes evidence of widespread “friendly fire” on 7 October.
Craig Mokhiber on International Court of Justice hearings (15:18); Thaer Ahmad on attacks on Gaza hospitals (01:01:38); Asa Winstanley on BBC using Israel spies for reporting on Palestine (01:27:18); Jon Elmer on latest Gaza military developments (01:43:50); and a news update (00:24).