Persecution

From forced conversion to genocide: How Yazidis carry centuries of persecution into exile

MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS: The Islamic interpretation of the Yazidi faith is what members of ISIS used to justify the enslavement of over 6,000 women and children and the murder of more than 5,000 people.

A Yazidi woman holds a flame during the Charshama Sor Red New Year ceremony at the Lalish temple in Iraq in April. For a community repeatedly driven from its ancestral homes and subjected to forced conversions, religious tradition has become an enduring expression of survival and continuity.
 New Year's Eve celebrations at the Saint Sarkis Cathedral in Tehran, 2023; illustrative.

Tehran has arrested at least 21 Christians since Israel ceasefire, non-profit claims

IRAQI JEWS in Israel protest their counterparts’ persecution under the Ba’ath regime. (Fritz Cohen)

'Ensuring their story is remembered': Report highlights forgotten exodus of Iraqi Jews

Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi

Iranian rapper who took part in Mahsa Amini protests sentenced to death


Iranian Baloch human rights activist at risk of deportation from Sweden - report

The activist and her family were repeatedly threatened by the regime during the protests that swept Iran in 2022.

 A woman in Zahedan holds a sign reading "What you’ve washed with blood is my dear soul."

Time to pay attention: US Jews live in fear of antisemitism -opinion

There is a rise of antisemitism in the United States and a lot of the fear makes it look like the antisemitism from Nazi Germany.

 RAPPER KANYE West holds his first rally in support of his presidential bid, 2020. This past week, he proclaimed to more than 18 million social media followers that he was going to go “death (sic) con 3 on Jewish people.”

Passover: Israel's national responsibility for Ukraine's refugees - opinion

The Passover message of freedom could not be more relevant to the current war being waged by Russia against Ukraine.

 A UKRAINIAN WOMAN who fled Kharkiv holds one of her children as she meets with the writer at a refugee center run by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Poland, last month.

War in Ukraine is testing some American evangelicals’ support for Putin

Opinion: The invasion of Ukraine has put Putin’s allies on the defensive.

 RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin attends a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday.

Qatar and Iran accused of religious cleansing of Baha’is

"Qatar’s suitability to host the World Cup should - once again, be questioned," said a leading expert on Qatar’s regime.

 The Baha'i shrine is seen in the northern city of Haifa August 18, 2008

Palestinian media claims Holocaust refugees 'bit the hand that fed them'

The Palestinian Authority's TV program claimed that Arabs helped Jewish refugees to discover they only came to conquer the land and expel the Arab population.

Buchenwald survivors arrive in Haifa to be arrested by the British, July 15, 1945, from "To the Promised Land" by Uri Dan (Doubleday, 1987)

Rabbis across denominational spectrum urge congressional action on Uighurs

“Your support for this legislation is absolutely crucial to ensure that our fight to prevent further atrocities against this long-persecuted group will be successful.”

A woman wearing a mask with a Uyghur flag takes part in a rally during China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit in Berlin, Germany September 1, 2020.

Biden must condemn ‘horrific’ abuses vs. Iran’s LGBTQ community - report

"How can President Biden, who claims to be supportive of gay rights say absolutely nothing about the mullahs' horrific human rights abuses toward us gay and lesbian in Iran?"

Democratic 2020 US presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden reacts during a televised townhall on CNN dedicated to LGBTQ issues in Los Angeles, California, US October 10, 2019.

Behind the Book of Esther’s mask - A Purim story

Persian scholar explains how Purim was shaped by Near Eastern myths

THAMAR EILAM GINDIN: This is why the Rabbis decided to include the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible, to have this constant thread of fighting with Amalek throughout the work.

Graffiti equating Holocaust with Uighur persecution painted on monument

The Israeli embassy condemned the vandalism.

An ethnic Uighur demonstrator wears a mask as she attends a protest against China in front of the Chinese Consulate in Istanbul