Human Rights

14 Dec 2021; MEMO: Leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, said he spent the entirety of his detention in solitary confinement and was repeatedly moved from cell to cell.

Speaking following his release yesterday, Salah said the Israeli occupation imposed "harsh" prison conditions on him in order to prevent him from being in touch with any other detainee. "They held me in the solitary cell of the solitary department," he said.

14 Dec 2021; MEMO: The Israeli occupation is helping Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces crackdown on Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli journalist revealed yesterday.

Speaking to public broadcaster Kan, Israeli journalist and specialist in Palestinian affairs Gal Berger said: "Israel hurried to help the PA because it is unable to deal with Hamas."

Berger pointed out that Hamas "has recently raised its head in the West Bank."

14 Dec 2021; MEMO: Leaders of the Tablighi Jamaat movement in India have responded with anger to Saudi Arabia's decision to ban the movement and describe it as "aberrant and perverse" and a "gateway to terrorism".

14 Dec 2021; MEMO: Democratic proposal for a US State Department office addressing anti-Muslim bias will get a procedural vote in a House committee today, after a Republican congresswoman used an Islamophobic slur against a Democratic colleague, Reuters reports.

The bill, authored by Representative Ilhan Omar, would create a special envoy for monitoring and combating Islamophobia, and include state-sponsored anti-Muslim violence in the department's annual human rights reports.

14 Dec 2021; MEMO: A new coalition of Jewish academics has rejected the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which members say stifles academic freedom. According to the Jewish Faculty Network (JFN), the definition has been used to "intimidate and silence the work of unions, student groups, academic departments and faculty associations that are committed to freedom, equality and justice for Palestinians."

13 Dec 2021; MEMO: Former US President, Donald Trump, said in an interview, published Monday, that he did not think Israeli's Benjamin Netanyahu was ever serious about signing a peace deal with Palestinians, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"I don't think Bibi ever wanted to make peace," Trump said to Axios news journalist, Barak Ravid. "I think he just tapped us along. Just tap, tap, tap, you know?" He was referring to Netanyahu using his nickname.

Belagavi (K'taka) Dec 13 (PTI) Even as the BJP government in Karnataka prepares to table the anti-conversion Bill during the ongoing winter session of legislature, state's Energy Minister V Sunil Kumar on Monday said that a law prohibiting 'love jihad' will also be introduced in the days to come.

'Love jihad' is a term generally used by right wing activists to refer to the alleged campaign of Muslims forcing Hindu girls to convert in the guise of love.

13 Dec 2021; MEMO: A Palestinian man was killed and two others were injured by Israeli soldiers when they stormed the West Bank city of Nablus in the early hours of Monday, a health official said.

Sources reported to Wafa News Agency that the Palestinian man, Jameel al Kayyal, 31, was shot in the head by the Israeli occupation forces.

Two others were also wounded, the sources said, noting that all of them were rushed to a Palestinian hospital.

13 Dec 2021; MEMO: "Salah has been released from prison and is on his way home," Omar Khamaysi told Anadolu Agency.

Waving green banners, scores of Palestinians stood outside Megiddo prison in northern Israel to welcome Salah.

The Higher Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, the highest representative body of Arab residents of Israel, is also planning to organize a reception ceremony for Salah in his hometown Umm al-Fahm.

12 Dec 2021; MEMO: Algeria secured a place in the semi-finals of the FIFA Arab Cup yesterday by beating Morocco in a dramatic penalty shoot-out, winning 5-3.

The quarter-final fixture at Qatar's Al-Thumama stadium saw the two North African teams level in the second half, after Algeria's Yacine Brahimi scored first in the 62nd minute, with Morocco's Mohammed Nahiri equalising just two minutes later.