Islam

The ruins of the Great Omari Mosque, the largest and oldest mosque in northern Gaza. (Omar El Qattaa)

The obliteration of Gaza’s multi-civilizational treasures

Israel’s war has brought ruin to thousands of years of rich heritage in Gaza, with Palestinian experts decrying the destruction as a cultural genocide.

By Ibtisam Mahdi February 17, 2024

Palestinian Muslim worshippers pray overnight during Laylat al-Qadr, outside the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, July 13, 2015. Layal al-Qadr, falls on the 27th day of the fasting month of Ramadan, marking the night Muslims believe the first verses of the Koran were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed through the archangel Gabriel. Activestills.org

The obsession with exposing the ‘Muslim mindset’

After a decade of poor reportage, chaos in the region, and right-wing rule under Netanyahu, the Jewish Israeli public has hardened in its attitudes toward Islam. By Daniel Amir Zvi Yehezkeli is Israel’s Arabist par excellence. After over a decade as head of the Israel Channel 10’s Arab desk, Yehezkeli has become a trusted figure in Israel’s…

By +972 Magazine March 5, 2018

Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally, September 7, 2016. (Michael Vadon/CC BY-SA 4.0)

Will the Trump administration treat Middle Easterners as inferior?

What foreign leaders would possibly be willing to engage in tough negotiations with the Trump administration if its top officials approach them as defective? By Derek Davison On Friday, Donald Trump’s transition team announced that Fox News national security analyst Kathleen Troia McFarland will serve as his Deputy National Security Advisor, working under National Security…

By +972 Magazine November 29, 2016

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File photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looking out over the Egyptian border. (Ariel Jerozolimski/POOL/FLASH90)

What is Israel’s place in the Middle East?

It’s time for Israel to recognize that it can coexist with its neighbors without fear or feelings of superiority. Academia can lead the way. By Assaf David The perception of Israel as a foreign entity in the Middle East, hence a fortress under threat, is shared by all major purveyors of knowledge and discourse in the…

By +972 Magazine September 6, 2016

A mourning vigil following the shooting in an LGBTQ night club in Orlando, FL was held in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts on June 12, 2016. (photo: Tess Scheflan/Activestills.org)

Muslim and Queer: Mourning after Orlando

As a Queer person, the shooting on Sunday reminded me how ugly bigotry is. As a Muslim woman the media frenzy surrounding the shooting on Sunday reminds me of how ugly discrimination is. By Suhad Babaa I am Queer and Muslim, raised in a Muslim and Christian household. I was taught to love and be gracious, to be humble and…

By +972 Magazine June 16, 2016

Palestinian Muslim worshippers pray overnight during Laylat al-Qadr, outside the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, July 13, 2015. Layal al-Qadr, falls on the 27th day of the fasting month of Ramadan, marking the night Muslims believe the first verses of the Koran were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed through the archangel Gabriel. Activestills.org

The Ramadan guide for the curious Israeli

Most Israeli Jews know next to nothing about their Palestinian neighbors. Here are a few pro-tips for the holy month of Ramadan. And so it begins. Ramadan, the month of fasting in Islam, in which Muslims are made to fast from sunrise until sunset for 29-30 straight days, after which they celebrate three days of…

By Samah Salaime June 6, 2016

Passengers evacuate a subway in Brussels following the terrorist attack, March 22, 2016. (Evan Lamos/EurActiv)

We don’t have the privilege of being Islamophobic

Israelis tend to warn of the ‘Islamization’ of Europe in the wake of attacks like those in Brussels. But the fear of Muslims in a country where Jews and Muslims must live together is simply not an option. After events like the terrorist attacks in Brussels or Paris, it has become common to hear Israelis…

By Noam Sheizaf March 22, 2016

Palestinian Muslim worshippers pray overnight, July 13, 2015 outside the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City during Laylat al-Qadr which falls on the 27th day of the fasting month of Ramadan, July 13, 2015. (photo: Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Activestills.org)

Searching for incitement in Palestinian mosques — harder than you think

Channel 10 News wanted so badly to prove that Muslim preachers in Israel and the occupied territories use their Ramadan sermons to incite against Jews. Something went wrong along the way. By Anat Saragusti “Incitement in Mosques.” That was the headline of a campaign that ran on Israel’s Channel 10 News this week, and which…

By The Seventh Eye July 19, 2015

Mahmoud Mansour celebrates in Jaffa before heading to out to his wedding reception. (photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

Wedding crashers: Do anti-miscegenation protesters hate or love Judaism?

With chants of “Death to Arabs” and “Mohammed is dead” in the background, the 30-something couple spoke earnestly, their faces worried. “As far as I’m concerned,” said the woman, an economist who didn’t want to be named, “I came to a funeral. The father is in mourning. I’m here to support the family in their…

By Dahlia Scheindlin August 18, 2014

General Nader Jahanbani beside Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and General Mohammad Khatami. (IIAF Personnel Archive)

‘In this room there is no Islam’: The Shah’s ‘special relationship’ with Iran’s Israeli community

A new documentary tells about the lives the Israeli community living in Iran during the 1960s and 1970s. But will the film be enough to challenge the dominant Israeli narrative regarding the root of animosity between the two countries? By Lior Sternfeld / Haokets It seems that the mechanisms of remembrance and forgetfulness worked perfectly in shaping…

By Haokets June 8, 2013

Islam (Rudy Herman/CC BY 2.0)

Dispelling modern myths of Muslim anti-Semitism

An academic chapter about the history of Muslim relations with Jews provides a refreshing rejoinder to the tired assumption that Muslim society and culture are fundamentally anti-Semitic. In this post, I am hosting a short comment by the author, explaining his argument. (more…)

By Dahlia Scheindlin May 20, 2013

Muslims march in Buckinghamshire, England to commemorate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. (photo by MonkeySimon CC BY 2.0)

Autoxenophobia: The ‘demographic threat’ goes worldwide

The real demographic balance that should worry liberal, humanist, open and progressive people is the number of xenophobes in our society, rather than the number of people with beards, skullcaps or hijabs. By Dubi Kanengisser When I lived in Toronto, I used to jokingly exclaim “man, I hate those immigrants.” Like all jokes, this had a…

By +972 Magazine October 3, 2012

Mitt Romney and PM Netanyahu during Romney visit to Israel July 29, 2012 (Avi Ochayon/GPO)

WATCH: Netanyahu is poster boy of Florida anti-Obama ad

Despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s persistent claims that he is not meddling in the upcoming U.S. elections, a TV commercial that will air on select Florida networks on Thursday stars the Israeli leader. Released by Politico one day ahead of its scheduled broadcast, the ad features a bit from the prime minister’s recent speech, in which he criticizes the…

By Mairav Zonszein September 20, 2012