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A Palestinian-American member of staff at a prestigious US university has filed a civil rights complaint against her workplace, following allegations that it discriminated against Palestinians by denying them access to trauma services. The complaint against George Washington University (GW) was initiated by Palestine Legal and co-counsel Benjamin Douglas on behalf of Nada Elbasha, who works in GW’s Office of Advocacy and Support (OAS). Elbasha claims that after the OAS expressed support for Palestinian human rights in a social media post and offered a “virtual processing space” for those impac… Continue reading “US university accused of anti-Palestinian discrimination”

TheSouth African government said Sunday it will distance itself from a decision by Miss South Africa to attend the Miss Universe pageant in Israel this December over Israeli abuses against Palestinians. Beauty queen Lalela Mswane confirmed she would represent her country at the international event last week, fulfilling a life-long dream according to the Miss South Africa organisation. However, the South African government has urged Mswane not to take part given Israel’s policies against Palestinians – considered “apartheid” by leading NGOs – piling pressure on the 24-year-old to boycott the pa… Continue reading “Miss South Africa support pulled over Israeli pageant”

At the end of October, the Israeli Knesset voted down by a sweeping majority of 93 to 12 a bill to commemorate the victims of the 1956 Kafr Qasim massacre. The bill was proposed by Knesset Members (MKs) Aida Touma-Sliman, Ayman Odeh, and Ofer Cassif from the Joint List, an alliance comprising four of the Palestinian-majority political parties in Israel: Balad, Hadash, the Arab Democratic Party, and Ta’al. The bill would have seen the Israeli government officially recognise its responsibility for the massacre, as well as making it part of the Israeli school curriculum and declassifying the docu… Continue reading “The Kafr Qasim massacre and Israel’s politics of denial”

Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem released a report on settler violence this past October detailing the torture of a Palestinian teen. 15-year-old Tariq Zbeidi was beaten, bound with metal chains, pepper-sprayed, tied to a tree and had the soles of his feet burned by Israeli settlers. After losing consciousness, Zbeidi woke up in an Israeli military jeep and was subsequently threatened by an Israeli soldier with arrest if any stone-throwing happened in his village. Zbeidi’s testimony is a small illustration of the grander cycle between Israeli settler violence and the impunity it is g… Continue reading “For the UN, Palestinian lives don’t really matter”

Civil resistance in the Palestinian town of Beita will intensify again, locals say, in reaction to the Israeli prime minister’s recent vow to push ahead with new settlement homes in the occupied West Bank. In a press conference on Sunday, Naftali Bennett vowed to legalise the settler outpost of Eviatar on Mount Sabih in the Palestinian town of Beita, south of Nablus. Since May, the town has become the centre of a protest movement against Israeli attempts to establish the new settlement, which would be illegal under international law. The weapon versus the camera. Beita, Palestine. pic.twitter…. Continue reading “In Palestine’s Beita, the civil resistance vows to fight on”

Philip Dorroll’s Islamic Theology in The Turkish Republic makes a bold claim, while we traditionally talk about Islamic schools of thought in terms of 4 main scholastic schools in Sunni Islam and 3 in Shi’ism, Dorroll proposes we consider Turkey as having its own unique school of thought within Sunnism. Often the Islamic experiences of Turkey are overlooked because it’s not an Arab country and it is assumed Arab issues are also Turkish ones, which has led to both generalised presumptions about Islam in Turkey and overall neglect from religious studies scholars. The core of modern Turkish theol… Continue reading “Islamic Theology in the Turkish Republic”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom was forced to leave an event she attended at the London School of Economics Tuesday night by pro-Palestine students. Videos shared on Twitter show students chasing Tzipi Hotovely out of the building as she is surrounded by bodyguards, while police ward off protesters. She was attending a debate forum at the central London university which lasted approximately 90 minutes according to LSE. 🚨 | NEW: Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely fleeing the London School of Economics pic.twitter.com/fh4GxnCDS3 — Politics For All (@PoliticsForAlI) “Shame on you,” shout… Continue reading “LSE students ‘expel’ Israel ambassador Hotovely”