Crime

Defendant pleads guilty to brazen antisemitic attack that drew outcry from NYC Jewish community Waseem Awawdeh will be sentenced to 12 months in jail for attempted assault in the second degree as a hate crime and six months for criminal possession in the fourth degree

(Jewish Insider) Waseem Awawdeh, one of five defendants charged with targeting a Jewish man in a brazen antisemitic attack that drew an outcry from New York City’s Jewish community, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon, […]

Legal

Key Hezbollah financier, a ‘global terrorist,’ faces charges in New York Mohammad Bazzi extradited from Romania, arraigned in federal court for alleged financial fraud and conspiracy; investigators say he funneled millions to Lebanese terror group

(Times of Israel) An alleged financier for the Hezbollah terrorist organization was arraigned in a federal court in New York City on Wednesday. Mohammad Bazzi has been accused of funneling millions of dollars to the Lebanese terror group. The US Justice Department […]

Moderation & Reform

‘A real force of nature’: Pakistani-Canadian journalist Tarek Fatah dead from cancer at 73 Tarek Fatah, a self-described secular Muslim, was known for criticizing religious extremists and Pakistan nationalists

(National Post) Tarek Fatah, the Toronto Sun columnist, has died at the age of 73, his family has said. In more than a decade writing columns for the Sun, Fatah, who identified as a secular Muslim, distinguished himself with his acidic opinions […]

Academics & Education

Muslim students lead protest for adequate prayer space at New York’s Baruch College Thursday's protest, coming on the final day of Ramadan, was one of the larger weekly protests students have organized over the past two months.

(Religion News) Loud chants carried through the main plaza at Baruch College in the early afternoon on Thursday (April 20) as a group of around 40 students protested near the Office of Student Life. The students, a majority of them Muslim, were […]

Government & Politics

Member of Alberta multiculturalism council resigns over past antisemitic posts A letter rejecting Tariq Khan as a UCP nominee in 2018 references a video he shared labelling the Holocaust a hoax

(Canadian Press) A member of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s new multiculturalism panel resigned Monday after the opposition resurrected past antisemitic social media posts. The Alberta NDP asked Smith to remove Tariq Khan, a Calgary-based realtor, from the Premier’s Council on Multiculturalism, citing […]

Government & Politics

Omar no longer a speaker at US Commission on Religious Freedom event The congresswoman, who has a long history of antisemitic statements, was previously slated to speak at the release of the commission’s 2023 annual report.

(JNS) Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who has compared boycotts of Israel and of Nazi Germany, was slated to deliver opening remarks at a U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom event on Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Terror Victims, […]

Government & Politics

Minneapolis mayor signs ordinance allowing Islamic call to prayer year round Muslim leaders say Minneapolis is now the first major U.S. city to allow broadcasts of all five daily calls to prayer.

(KARE) With the stroke of a pen, the more than 20 mosques throughout Minneapolis are now allowed to publicly broadcast the Adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, five times per day throughout the year. Mayor Jacob Frey officially signed the new ordinance […]

Government & Politics

The adhan, five times a day: Minneapolis City Council poised to vote on allowing a full daily set of Muslim prayer calls year-round Minneapolis has limited the broadcast of the Islamic call to prayer to three or four times a day. The City Council will vote next week on a proposal to expand that to five times a day.

(Sahan Journal) Minneapolis mosques would be able to broadcast the adhan — the Islamic call to prayer — five times a day under a proposed ordinance unanimously approved March 29 by the City Council’s Public Health and Safety Committee. The resolution would […]

Children & Teens

Repatriation of Canadian women and children detained in Syrian camps underway, says lawyer Government has not yet confirmed repatriation has started or said how many are returning

(CBC) Multiple Canadian women and their children are on their way back to Canada after spending years held in camps for ISIS suspects and their families in northeastern Syria, according to their lawyer. Ottawa lawyer Lawrence Greenspon told CBC News that some of his clients […]

Demographics

Advocacy group seeks Middle Eastern, North African category included in Census, other federal forms Advocates believe adding a MENA category will make a difference in schools, health care and more accurate data collection.

(WDET) The National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) is working to get the Middle Eastern and North African designation added to the federal Office of Management and Budget. NNAAC is an advocacy arm of Arab Community Center for Economic and Social […]

Fasting

Muslim inmate files lawsuit claiming Virginia prison won’t accommodate Ramadan observances Green Rock inmate seeks damages, injunction; action claims 20 others also denied

(Washington Times) A Muslim inmate at the Green Rock Correctional Center in Chatham, Virginia, is suing for what he claims is the prison’s denial of accommodations during Ramadan, a monthlong religious observance that calls for fasting from dawn to sunset. Alexander Crichlow […]