In the News, January 30, 2015

January 30, 2015

Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: Yazidis ask Israel for assistance, Egypt cracks down on charities, and Portugal offers citizenship to descendants of expelled Jews.  
AROUND THE WORLD
Yazidis Ask Israel for Help
by Jacky Hugi
Al-Monitor
www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/01/yazidi-military-assistance-pogrom-israel-iraq-zvi-hauser.html#
Contact with Israel is a dirty business in this neighborhood, military contact all the more so. Be that as it may, in a reality where all levees have been breached and the worst appears to have already befallen the Yazidis, what could they possibly lose by seeking a rapport with Jerusalem? 

‘I Did Not Convert. I Did Not Say Prayers.’
by Mohammed A. Salih
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/29/i-did-not-convert-i-did-not-say-prayers-196-yazidis-released-islamic-state/
The Yazidis who spent almost six months as captives of the Islamic State only to be suddenly released recount their time as hostages—and fear for their future. The released Yazidis do not have a place they can call home at the moment. Many of the towns and villages that they come from are still under the Islamic State’s control. 

Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi Folly: Domestic Crackdown, Global Export
by Carol E.B. Choksy and Jamsheed K. Choksy
World Politics Review
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/14942/saudi-arabia-s-wahhabi-folly-domestic-crackdown-global-export
Beyond its borders, Saudi Arabia remains the major source of Wahhabi ideology, which spreads outward to radicalize foreign Muslims. With the death of 90-year-old King Abdullah and the accession of his half-brother, 79-year-old Salman, to the throne, Saudi Arabia should change its ways. 

The Houthis Test King Salman
by Fahad Nazer
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/142831/fahad-nazer/the-houthis-test-king-salman
Although the insurgent group’s influence had been growing for months, its advance on the capital in September set off alarms across the Middle East and in the West. For the Saudis, the change of power within Yemen may weaken the leverage they once had with Sanaa and signals the growth of an even larger threat: Iran. 

Egypt’s War on Charity
by Nicholas Linn and Emily Crane
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/29/egypts-war-on-charity-morsi-muslim-brotherhood/
Though the government is unable to take care of its poor itself, it is deeply suspicious of organizations that try to fill in the gaps, particularly those that have an Islamic character. Egypt’s leaders have long memories: they know only too well that the Muslim Brotherhood built a massive network of supporters through its anti-poverty work during the long years of the Mubarak regime. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is eager to ensure such activity is no longer possible.

The U.S. Is Complacent as Egypt Repeats Its History of Repression
Washington Post editorial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-us-is-complacent-as-egypt-repeats-its-history-of-repression/2015/01/29/d07fe6fc-a716-11e4-a2b2-776095f393b2_story.html
The dismal 70-year history of U.S. support for Arab dictators, which has done much to produce the chaos now engulfing the region, does not deter the president from re-embracing the policy for Mr. Sissi as well as Saudi Arabia’s new King Salman. It’s hard to foresee the future of the Arab Middle East at such a tumultuous moment, but one of the least likely outcomes is a return to stability under 1950s-style military strongmen such as Mr. Sissi. 

Government Allies Are Said to Have Slaughtered Dozens of Sunnis in Iraq
by Kareem Fahim
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/world/middleeast/government-allies-are-said-to-have-killed-dozens-of-sunnis-in-iraq.html?ref=todayspaper
At least 72 people from a majority Sunni village in eastern Iraq were methodically singled out for slaughter this week, according to witnesses and local Sunni leaders, who said the victims were killed by Shiite militiamen who were supporting Iraqi security forces. The murders are a potentially explosive descent into the kind of sectarian violence that led many Iraqi Sunnis to lose all trust in their government and its militia allies, even before the jihadists of the Islamic State began their rapid advance through much of northern Iraq last summer. 

Nigerian Refugees Fleeing Boko Haram Are a Crisis in the Making
by Joshua Meservey
Washington Post op-ed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/joshua-meservey-nigerian-refugees-fleeing-boko-haram-are-a-crisis-in-the-making/2015/01/29/316ce5d0-a674-11e4-a2b2-776095f393b2_story.html
As Boko Haram has advanced, tens of thousands of people have fled into fragile neighboring countries that are ill equipped to provide shelter. This influx of refugees is sowing the seeds of a prolonged humanitarian and security crisis. The United States should lead an urgent international response to address the emergency and prevent greater damage. 

Outlawing Intolerance
Economist
http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21641268-holocaust-conference-prague-proposes-criminalising-speech-defames-groups-few-lawmakers-are
The centerpiece of the recent European Jewish Congress was a framework statute for the promotion of tolerance that would criminalize “group libel,” hold governments responsible for tolerance between different social groups, and outlined cases in which the government can bar intolerant religious or ethnic practices. But this agenda is sharply at odds with the liberal philosophical tradition, embodied for example in the American constitution's first amendment, of protecting free expression (however offensive) unless it directly incites violence. 

Judges of Faith
Economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2015/01/india-america-and-religion
Although both the United States and India have legal systems based on the Anglo-Saxon tradition of precedent and case law and a huge body of jurisprudence that traces the boundaries between religion and the law of the land, there is one crucial difference between the two countries. Because of the First Amendment bar on the establishment of any religion, American judges have to steer clear of anything that could imply passing judgment regarding the "truth-claims" of a particular faith or the interpretation of that faith. In India, by contrast, judges love talking about religion. 

Portugal To Offer Citizenship To Descendants Of Expelled Jews
by Krishnadev Calamur
NPR
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/01/29/382392843/portugal-to-offer-citizenship-to-descendants-of-expelled-jews
Portugal's Cabinet approved a law Thursday that would offer citizenship to the descendants of Sephardic Jews who were expelled, burned at the stake or forcibly converted to Christianity 500 years ago.
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