Middle East – SEDAA

British Jews are living under the shadow of fear: Whatever happens in Israel and Palestine, nothing excuses bigoted and criminal behaviour in the UK

30th October 2023 admin

By Khadija Khan The increase in anti-Semitic incidents following Hamas’s barbaric attack on Israeli civilians on October 7 is abhorrent – but regrettably not surprising. Whenever tensions flare up between Israel and Palestine, this decades-long conflict spills out from the middle east and makes its way to our shores. When Hamas terrorists crossed the border from Gaza into Israel, and slaughtered 1,400 people before taking hundreds of innocents as hostages, most right-thinking people sympathised with Israel. For this was the worst pogrom against Jews since the Holocaust. And yet…

After Mahsa Amini’s death, it’s time for hijab apologists to take a back seat

25th September 2022 admin

By Khadija Khan When 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was visiting family in Tehran on September 13, she had no idea that she would fall foul of Iran’s notorious “morality police”. She was with her brother Kiarash when she was arrested by the regime’s ‘Guidance Patrol’ and transferred to the ‘Moral Security’ agency, for wearing “inappropriate” hijab. Mahsa’s brother was told she would be taken to a detention centre to undergo a “briefing class” and released shortly afterwards. But she never made it. She instead arrived at Kasra Hospital, where she died…

Taliban takeover reconfirms Muslim world is no longer bipolar, nor the focus of West’s attention

8th September 202112th September 2021 admin

By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid At least eight people were injured when Houthi rebels launched a drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport on August 31. The strike came two days after one of the most lethal Houthi attacks in recent times, as 30 soldiers of the Saudi-led coalition were killed and over 60 injured in drone and missile attacks in Yemen’s southern al-Anad military base. The Houthi attacks were a message to the Arab, Iranian and other leaders that had come together for the Baghdad summit last week. For, among…

Israel-Palestine: A ‘Promised Land’ beset by conflict

24th May 202129th May 2021 admin

By Saima Baig What to say about a conflict going on for over seven decades that hasn’t been said already? One that is rife with religious rivalries, manifesting in extremely strong political positions. These past few weeks, violence once again escalated between Israel and Palestine. There had already been tensions for weeks, with the attempted eviction of several Arab families in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood on the one hand, and Israeli security forces raiding the Al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), the complex in Jerusalem’s Old…

The unbearable lightness of being a Turk abroad

13th June 2020 admin

By Sofia Demirturk Like pretty much everyone else in this world, I didn’t choose the nationality I was born into. As the Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun stated, geography is indeed destiny. Without meaning to undermine the power of individuality, often times our dreams, our means of reach and the very way we define who we are is, to a degree, a limited by the very geography we are born into. I’m not a linguist, but as a native Turkish speaker who also happens to speak some English, I think different in…

Virginity: losing my most ‘valuable’ asset

27th March 202017th December 2020 admin

By Reema They say love is a beautiful thing. For many women in Saudi Arabia, that just isn’t the case. We were taught that love is only allowed after marriage. It is also expected that one’s marriage will be arranged by one’s family. That didn’t stop us, however, from searching for love. You just had to know how to keep it a secret. Like many girls, I had always dreamt of finding love. And I did find love—or so I thought. I had a secret boyfriend, as a lot of…

Israa Gharib’s ‘honour killing’ should make us examine the religious sources and the cultures that embolden misogyny

13th September 201918th September 2019 admin

By Khadija Khan Israa Gharib, a 21 year old Palestinian woman from the Bethlehem area, was purportedly murdered in August in an “honour killing”. Gharib, a make-up artist, was reportedly killed at the hands of her relatives for merely posting a picture on Instagram with her soon-to-be fiancé. Three of Israa’s relatives have now been charged and others who also played a part in her death will also be prosecuted. The young woman’s murder has once against revealed the problems in conservative Muslim societies, where honour killings are prevalent and…

The case of Rahaf Mohammed is a wake-up call for us all

16th January 2019 admin

By Aliyah Saleem Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun showed tremendous courage as she barricaded herself into a hotel room in Bangkok, Thailand, to prevent being sent back to Saudi Arabia, where she could have faced prison and death for renouncing Islam. Her case demonstrated the power of social media as people such as the journalist Mona Eltahawy joined in to gather as much attention as possible for her. Rahaf has now been provided asylum by Canada where can she build a life for herself on her own terms. We…

The case of Jamal Khashoggi

16th October 2018 admin

By Saima Baig Saudi Arabia has been a repressive country with a regime that has oppressed almost everyone living there — other than rich men. The ruling monarchy has had to do this to ensure its survival. The country has been responsible for spreading its own brand of militant Islam all over the world. It has been able to do so because of the petrodollars it has distributed in the countries where it sends its religion and funds terrorists. It also buys weapons from the west and is an…

Iran: the Girls of Revolution Street

2nd April 2018 admin

By Atoosa This year, March 20th marked the first day of the solar calendar, the first day of spring. In Iran and across communities in Central Asia and the Middle East, as has been done for over 3,000 years, people of all races and religions celebrated the New Year with rituals and symbols of spring, family and food. Reflecting on the past year, there has been a mass confrontation between the citizens and government, from across Iranian society and particularly from women, who have demonstrated a re-invigoration in the…