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Iraq

American Muslim Groups Plan to Boycott White House Ramadan

Voice of America - Wed, 03/20/2024 - 06:00
American Muslim leaders outraged by President Joe Biden's support of Israel say they will not take part in White House Ramadan and Eid celebrations this year as they demand the administration push for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. As White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports, this is not the first time American Muslims’ anger has overshadowed Ramadan at the White House.
Categories: Iraq

White House Pressures Israel on Planned Invasion of Rafah

Voice of America - Wed, 03/20/2024 - 05:39
President Biden has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to send a team to Washington to “discuss ways to target Hamas without a major ground operation in Rafah.” Netanyahu insists that going into Rafah is the only way to destroy Hamas. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem. Camera: Ricki Rosen.
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China Envoy Meets Hamas Leader as Beijing Steps Into Israel Conflict

Voice of America - Wed, 03/20/2024 - 05:03
Tel Aviv, Israel — China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday acknowledged a meeting between its diplomat Wang Kejian and the political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, on Sunday in Qatar to discuss the conflict in Gaza. In a short statement, the ministry said Wang and Haniyeh discussed the conflict but did not elaborate. The meeting is the first announced to have taken place between the Chinese envoy and Hamas since the militants attacked Israel on October 7,...
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American Muslim Groups Plan to Boycott White House Ramadan

Voice of America - Wed, 03/20/2024 - 04:33
WASHINGTON — American Muslims outraged by President Joe Biden's support of Israel say they will not take part in White House Ramadan and Eid celebrations this year as they continue to demand that the administration push for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. Should an invitation come, it's "widely understood" that American Muslim community leaders and organizations will decline, said Robert McCaw, director of the Government Affairs Department at the Council on...
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South Africa Accuses US Congress of Adding it to a New ‘Axis of Evil’ Over Israel Genocide Case

Voice of America - Wed, 03/20/2024 - 03:59
WASHINGTON — South Africa seeks to limit the damage to its relations with Washington caused by its legal challenge to Israel’s assault on Gaza, a South African official said on Tuesday. Naledi Pandor, who is South Africa's minister of international relations and cooperation, is in Washington seeking to sway members of the U.S. Congress from a proposed law that would further strain U.S. ties to Africa’s most vibrant democracy and a major mining, banking and manufacturing hub. “I think...
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UN Rights Chief Warns Israel's Restriction of Aid Could Be War Crime

Voice of America - Tue, 03/19/2024 - 23:26
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations human rights commissioner said Tuesday that the looming famine in the Gaza Strip is the result of Israel's restriction on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid, and he warned it could amount to a war crime. "The extent of Israel's continued restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza, together with the manner in which it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war...
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Attacks on US Palestinians Put Arab Americans on Edge

Voice of America - Tue, 03/19/2024 - 19:48
Arab Americans and US Muslims fear bias attacks after Hamas Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza
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Arab Americans, US Muslims Fear Bias Attacks After October 7

Voice of America - Tue, 03/19/2024 - 19:47
Fear of retaliation and reprisals has spread through Arab American and U.S. Muslim communities since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and the start of Israel’s war in Gaza. As VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, many Arab Americans say they haven’t felt this on edge since the September 11 terror attacks more than 20 years ago. Camera: Adam Greenbaum
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Washington to Host Israeli Team to Discuss Rafah Ground Invasion Plans

Voice of America - Tue, 03/19/2024 - 06:49
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to send a delegation to the U.S. to discuss Israeli plans for a ground invasion into Gaza’s crowded city of Rafah — a plan the White House has described as a “mistake.” Meanwhile, aid groups warn that famine is looming for the besieged exclave. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.
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US Destroys Houthi Missiles, Drones in New Yemen Strike

Voice of America - Tue, 03/19/2024 - 06:37
washington — The U.S. military said it destroyed seven missiles and three drones Monday in areas of Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels that presented threats to merchant ships and U.S. Navy vessels. Iran-backed Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea region since November in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians during Israel's war against Hamas militants in Gaza. United States Central Command forces operated "in self defense" when they engaged and destroyed...
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Iranians Tighten Belts for Persian New Year Festivities

Voice of America - Tue, 03/19/2024 - 02:57
Tehran, Iran — Millions of Iranians will travel to be with their families for Nowruz, the Persian New Year, Wednesday but economic troubles in the sanctions-hit country are weighing on the festivities. Iranians will celebrate the start of the year 1403 at exactly 26 seconds past 6:36 a.m. on March 20, matching the astronomical time of the spring equinox. Globally, some 300 million people will wish each other "Happy New Year" ("Nowruz mobarak") including in Iran,...
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Al Jazeera: Reporter Released After Being Detained, Beaten in Gaza

Voice of America - Tue, 03/19/2024 - 02:46
washington — An Al Jazeera journalist covering a hospital raid in Gaza on Monday was beaten and detained by Israeli forces for around 12 hours, the network said. Al Jazeera reported that members of the Israel Defense Forces assaulted their Arabic language correspondent, Ismail al-Ghoul, destroying his equipment and arresting him along with other media and hospital workers. Al-Ghoul had been forced to strip naked before being led away by the soldiers, Al Jazeera said. He was released late...
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Rights Violations in Iran May Be Crimes Against Humanity, UN Investigators Find

Voice of America - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 20:54
GENEVA — Iran’s violent repression of peaceful protests and widespread, systematic violations of human rights could, in many cases, amount to crimes against humanity, according to a U.N. fact-finding mission. The three-member team on the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, in its first report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, accuses the Iranian government of a litany of crimes in connection with the protests that erupted following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini on...
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Despite Offers to Mediate, China Distances Itself from Mideast Turmoil 

Voice of America - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 19:02
Amman — For years, China has sought to raise its profile by offering to broker conflicts and disputes in the Middle East, but analysts say Beijing’s limited involvement in the Gaza war shows China continues to put its self-interests first. In a recent article in Foreign Policy magazine, Yun Sun, China Program director at the Stimson Center in Washington said that China’s role in brokering the Saudi-Iran rapprochement last year raised hopes it could chart a way to de-escalate tensions in the...
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Famine Imminent in Northern Gaza, Food Security Experts Warn

Voice of America - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 18:00
United Nations — Famine is imminent in the northern Gaza Strip between now and May, and the rest of Gaza’s population is facing crisis levels of hunger and worse, a United Nations-backed food security report concluded Monday. “More than half of all Palestinians in Gaza —1.1 million people — have completely exhausted their food supplies and are facing catastrophic hunger, according to the report,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Monday after the release of the...
Categories: Iraq