World Hijab Day: Unwrapping the debate over head covering

World Hijab Day, an annual day to encourage women to wear the traditional Muslim head covering and to educate others on why it is worn, is being marked around the globe today, February 1.

The day was established in 2013 by Bangladesh-born New York resident Nazma Khan, who told a TEDx talk that she had endured discrimination for wearing the hijab and had been referred to derogatorily as "ninja" or "Batman." Khan designated the day to inspire women around the world to embrace a life of modesty and exercise their freedom of religious expression.

However, in some countries, the wearing of a hijab has little to do with choice. In Iran and Afghanistan, women are required to wear hijabs in accordance with Islamic law.

In May 2022, the Taliban in Afghanistan issued a decree mandating that all women wear burqas, traditional Islamic garments that cover the entire body from head to toe, leaving only the eyes exposed.

Michigan’s Arabs and Muslims push to defeat Biden in critical state

Mohammad Enayah relied on a cousin in Gaza for regular updates on his extended family living under Israel’s bombardment. He heard about the daily challenges his family faced in trying to survive: no access to running water, regular bombings and fleeing from one stranger’s home to another seeking safety.

Then, in November, he received the news he had been dreading: 30 members of his extended family had been killed by an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp. He began to look at the list of names of those killed but couldn’t make it past the first one.

“The first name was so familiar,” Enayah said, his voice breaking as tears streamed down his face. “I just put it aside and I said, ‘I don’t want to read it.’ But to honor them, I had to. It took me a week just to go through the names.”

It is for that reason that Enayah, like many Arab American and Muslim voters in Dearborn — where Arab Americans make up the majority of the population — is resolved not only to withhold his vote from President Biden, but also to actively campaign against him. Some Michigan Arabs and Muslims have launched an “Abandon Biden” campaign — part of a broader national movement still getting off the ground — to ensure that those in their community show up to cast their votes, but not for Biden.

Far from Ukraine and Gaza, Another War Just Killed 50,000 People

Unmarked by global street protests or quarrels over funding in Congress, three years of war in Myanmar have killed an estimated 50,000 people since the army seized power in the Southeast Asian country.

The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) ranks Myanmar as the most violent of 50 wars it monitors around the world, noting the hundreds of small militias that have formed to fight the junta since the February 1, 2021, coup against elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The project told Newsweek it estimates a death toll of at least 47,000 in violence in Myanmar since then, including at least 8,000 civilians, but says that figure is conservative and that the total death toll could well be another 12,000 higher, including a further 2,000 civilian deaths.

"The number of attacks by the military over the years has been massive, but there has been kind of an increase with the rebels taking over more and more territory at the end of the year," Andrea Carboni, ACLED's head of analysis, said in an interview.

Russia to Japan: Drop territorial claim if you want a peace treaty

Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev told Japan on Tuesday it would have to drop territorial claims to a group of Pacific islands if it wanted to conclude a peace treaty with Russia formally ending World War Two.

The blunt remarks by Medvedev, a former president who is deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, over what Moscow calls the Kuril islands are likely to anger Japan which lays claim to four of the southernmost islands, which it calls the Northern Territories.

Russia, the main successor state to the Soviet Union, and Japan have never signed a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities during World War Two, with the islands remaining the primary stumbling block.

The islands are located off Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, and were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War Two.

Minneapolis officials clearing out relocated Camp Nenookaasi encampment Tuesday morning

The City of Minneapolis is clearing an encampment in south Minneapolis on Tuesday morning.

The encampment was formed after a different encampment, known as Camp Nenookaasi, was cleared earlier this month a few blocks north of the current location at 14th Avenue South and 26th Street East.

City officials previously told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the relocated Camp Nenookaasi location would be closed after a viral gastroenteritis outbreak associated with the camp sent one person to the hospital.

Back in December, when the city set its first date to clear the original site, officials cited the potential for such outbreaks as a reason.

Mythology behind anti-Semitism drives disconnect over support for Palestinians

There has been a sharp increase in anti-Semitism around the world since the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas and Israel's subsequent military attacks in the Gaza Strip.

The apparent connection of this spike to many countries' condemnation of Israel's response has brought renewed focus on the relationship between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. When does criticism of Israel "cross the line" to anti-Semitism, and when is it a legitimate political expression?

As a scholar of modern Jewish history, anti-Semitism and Zionism, I suggest that the key to understanding that relationship begins with understanding anti-Semitism itself.

Anti-Jewish animosity is certainly not new -- it dates to antiquity. The early Christian church attacked Jews for rejecting Christ and blamed them collectively for crucifying him.

Undercover Israeli team kills 3 in West Bank hospital; Hamas vows 'response': Live updates

An undercover Israeli military team infiltrated a hospital in the West Bank city of Jenin and killed three militants Tuesday in an attack Hamas leaders described as an execution and war crime that "will not pass without a response."

Muhammad Jalamana, 27, had been using Ibn Sina Hospital as a hideout while planning a major attack "in the immediate time frame," the Israeli military said in a statement. Also killed were brothers Muhammad and Bassel Azawi, who the military said also had been involved in terrorist activities.

The Palestinian Health Ministry released video showing gunmen dressed in scrubs and other civilian garb sweeping through the hospital, guns drawn. The Israeli statement reiterated the claim that large numbers of militants use hospitals and other civilian space "as a shelter and human shield." Hamas again rejected the claim.

"The resistance that promised our people to jihad until the occupation was defeated ... will not be intimidated by the assassinations or the cowardly enemy crimes," Hamas leaders said in a statement.

Houthi rebels fire on U.S. Navy destroyer in Red Sea

Houthi rebels based in Yemen launched an attack on a U.S. Navy ship in the Red Sea, the latest salvo in the ongoing conflict, U.S. Central Command confirmed Friday morning.

"At approximately 1:30 p.m. Sanaa time (5:30 a.m. EST), Iranian-backed Houthi militants fired one anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward Arleigh-Burke class destroyer USS Carney in the Gulf of Aden," U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

"The missile was successfully shot down by USS Carney. There were no injuries or damage reported."

The military did not provide any further information. However this would be the first reported time Houthis have targeted a U.S. military vessel rather than a commercial vessel.