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In order to renew ties with the Americans, Abu Mazen will save Jews from lynching Hamas condemned the Palestinian Authority for rescuing the two Israelis who were caught in the heart of Ramallah last night. The incident ended "only" in the arson of their vehicle, and not in vain By Assaf Gibor --- 28 Kislev 5702 (02/12/2021) The bloodthirsty Palestinians whom the two Israelis, Breslav Hasidim, fell into the hands of in the heart of Ramallah, had already seen in their eyes the next lynching. Videos taken at the time of the incident documented the moments of fear: the two...

S President Donald Trump has been criticised for repeatedly referring to the coronavirus as the "Chinese Virus", with critics saying he is "fueling bigotry" and putting Asian-American communities at risk. The president's new labelling of the virus came as China and the US traded blame over the origins of the virus, ignoring World Health Organization (WHO) warnings not to link the pathogen, which was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of December, to a particular area or community to avoid discrimination or stigmatisation. The virus, and the disease it causes, COVID-19, has infected more than...

In the wake of President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last week, the “experts” crowding the media predicted strategic calamity: Vast, violent protests and a wave of terror would sweep the Muslim world in the coming days. Instead, the largest demonstration anywhere this weekend was the funeral procession for Johnny Hallyday, the “French Elvis.” Nothing in the Middle East came close. We have witnessed, yet again, the carefully phrased anti-Semitism of the pristinely educated; the global left’s fanatical pro-Palestinian bias; and the media’s yearning for career-making disasters. Rather than waves of protest, the waiting world got tepid statements...

The former head of Al Jazeera America's documentary unit announced a lawsuit against her former employer on Thursday, charging the American branch of the Qatar-based news network with a vitriolic bias against Israel, as well as discrimination against non-Arabs and women. Shannon High-Bassalik, who formerly worked with CNN, NBC and MSNBC, sued the company for discrimination after being fired in February only half way through her three-year contract, reports The Guardian. She charged the company with showing a blatant pro-Arab bias both in terms of employment and news coverage, with the most intense bias coming out against Israel. High-Bassalik said...

Focus on police bias obscures meaningful debate on structural racism that perpetuates racial injustice and inequality. In the wake of the death of Michael Brown, the unarmed teenager shot by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, on Aug. 9, the public has heard quite a bit about the town, its residents and their supposed violence. But about half an hour drive west of Ferguson, along a highway straddling the Missouri River, you will come to what may seem a planet away: St. Charles County. St. Charles is a “Whitopia” — a predominantly white county that has posted 6 percent...

Fatwa: Women who swim in the sea commit adultery, should be punished • "When a woman goes swimming, as the word for sea is masculine, when "the water touches the woman's private parts, she becomes an 'adulteress' and should be punished." - Summary of a report titled "The misguided Fatwas of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis", as published in the Al Masry Al Youm. A report by a committee set up by Al Azhar, one of the oldest and most prestigious Islamic universities in Cairo, to study the fatwas issued by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis reveals how Islamists view...

An Israeli source says that the US has warned that an attack on Iran by Israel may put an end to Israel's relations with its neighbors as well as the peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt, reported the Hebrew daily Yediot this morning. According to the source, the Americans explained that Egypt and Jordan may break off relations with Israel because the two countries' leaders need the support of the masses. "The leaders do not have control over their people, the street rules over them", said the source, and added that "an Israeli attack would bring the entire Islamic-Arab world...

Obama is the first US president to address the joint houses of parliament [Reuters] Barack Obama, the US president, has addressed the British parliament, saying that Western influence remains strong in the world, despite emerging world powers such as China, India and Brazil. In a speech to both houses of parliament on Wednesday, Obama said that Western powers still had a responsibility to uphold "universal rights", but stressed that this work must be done through multilateral forums like the G20. "Even as more nations take on the responsibilities of global leadership," Obama said, "our alliance will remain indispensable to the...

THE death of Osama bin Laden provoked scenes of jubilation in America. Coming in the middle of the spring, the reaction in the Middle East was mixed. We look at responses to his death in the Arab press. In al-Sharq al-Awsat, a pan-Arab newspaper, Hussein al-Shabakshy comments on the response of the general public and media to Mr bin Laden's death and the consequences for the uprisings in the Arab world: The reaction of the Arab public has been varied. Some refuse to believe he was just killed because—according to them—he was "already dead": how else could his prolonged silence...

President Obama, who aims to avoid offending the Arab Street by withholding the photo of a dead Osama bin Laden, seems to care little about offending the American Street. Here's how Obama explains concealing the photo in question: "It is important to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool...We don't trot out this stuff as trophies...The fact of the matter is, this is somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received...We don't need to spike the...

Muslim support for the assassinated al-Qaida leader has declined rapidly since 2003, but Palestinian Muslims remain more enthusiastic that he would do the right thing; only 1% Lebanese Muslims voice support for bin Laden. [snip] Among six predominantly Muslim countries recently surveyed, Muslims in the Palestinian territories voiced the most support for the assassinated al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, a poll released on Monday showed. The poll, conducted by Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, found that Muslims around the world displayed a declining confidence in bin Laden, while the Palestinian Muslims retained the highest rates for the assassinated terrorist....

Here are just a few: "The Holy Koran is sacred, just like the Bible is to Christians," Dr. Mohamed Elsanousi, director of community outreach for the Islamic Society of North America, said in an interview. "Desecration of this book is something people will not tolerate." "Hardball" host Chris Matthews, who called Jones' plans to burn the Islamic holy book "a terrible idea" and warned that it "could cause trouble and even death" when televised in Muslim countries, asked, "What do you think the reaction will be as this goes on international television? What will be the consequence?" "It's obviously intolerant...

The West always champions its slogan that religion is a special relationship between man and God, and no one has the right to intervene in this matter. Yet today we find that some have inquired into the affairs of President Obama, to determine whether he is a Muslim or a Christian. Despite repeated assurances from the man himself that he follows the Christian faith, 20 percent of Americans insist that he is a Muslim, and that his political ambitions prevented him from converting to Islam. We are preoccupied with the issue of Obama and Islam, as are the Americans. Ever...

Rashad Hussain, America’s special envoy to the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Saudi-based body formed in 1969 to “protect” Jerusalem from the Israelis, announced a new title this week for President Barack Obama. According to Hussain, Obama is America’s “Educator-in-Chief on Islam.” Hussain so designated Obama in a keynote speech Wednesday, June 23, at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The occasion was another “post-Cairo” conference, following on the event that welcomed Islamist ideologue Tariq Ramadan to Washington in April. Hussain also declared that Obama is “Educator-in-Chief” on the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which has produced...

Obama has apparently confirmed what many have suspected since the presidential campaign: that he is a Muslim, not a “committed Christian,” as he professed during the presidential campaign. The periodical Israel Today has reported that in a private meeting with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Obama told Gheit that he is a Muslim. The exchange was aired on Nile TV.

The House of Wisdom By Jonathan Lyons Bloomsbury / 272 pages / $26 Dust will never gather on Jonathan Lyons' lively new book of medieval history - the opening page of his The House of Wisdom cites a cleric scandalized by the Crusader ladies of Antioch and their penchant for the plunging neckline and the bejeweled merkin. If this is the Middle Ages, thinks the reader, bring it on! But this pleasure gradually gives way to another beguilement, to be found in Lyons' subtitle: "How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization." That phrase suggests a brave viewpoint for a historian nowadays,...

The international plot by the US and some western and Arab countries to bring Iran under control was defeated, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said, describing the recent events in Gaza as part of the same plot.

Arabs and Muslims gave the benefit of some doubt on Wednesday to U.S. President Barack Obama's offer of "a new way forward" with the Muslim world, but many said it would take deeds rather than words to convince them. After eight years of President George W. Bush, who invaded two Muslim countries and gave strong support to Israel, Arabs and Muslims watched Obama's inaugural speech on Tuesday closely for any sign that U.S. policy toward them will change. With some exceptions on the fringes, a clear majority said they welcomed a new tone from Obama, who promised relations based on...

NEW YORK - The Al Jazeera Network plans to announce on Thursday that it has signed a deal to run its news on Worldfocus, a syndicated nightly news program produced in New York and distributed throughout the United States. The deal would help the international news network, one of the top services in the Arabic-speaking world, broaden its reach in the United States, where it so far has been available to only a limited audience. Worldfocus, hosted by former NBC News correspondent Martin Savidge, is produced by New York City public broadcaster WLIW and syndicated to a number of Public...

I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided. After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn, and I declared their launching from Gaza to be inexcusable and an act of terrorism. Although casualties were rare (three deaths in seven years), the town was traumatized by the unpredictable explosions. About 3,000 residents had moved to other communities, and the streets, playgrounds and shopping centers were almost empty. Mayor Eli Moyal assembled a group of citizens...