Rising violence in Jerusalem
Confrontations between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters have been escalating for weeks—and have now attracted global attention, including that of the UN Security Council.
The location: The clashes took place at Al Aqsa mosque—which is the third holiest site in the world in Islam. It sits on a plateau that is also considered holy by Jews who call it the Temple Mount—and it includes the famous Western Wall which is the holiest site where Jews can pray.
The problem: The site is open to tourists during certain times but only Muslims are allowed to pray there. But in recent years, groups of religious and nationalist Jews—escorted by police—have been holding prayers in defiance of rules. Also: Al-Aqsa is located in East Jerusalem—which was given to Palestinians as part of the original division of the land into Israel and Palestine. But it is effectively controlled by Israel which claims it as its own.
The triggers: The conflict first began when Israeli police placed barriers around the mosque—during Ramzan and at a time when Muslims congregated daily for prayers after the day-long fast. But the protests escalated due to an ongoing court case—which may result in the evictions of Palestinians from the nearby Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. The reason: nationalist Jewish settlers have been moving into this Palestine-dominated area.
The clashes:
- At least 205 Palestinians and 17 Israeli officers were injured in the clashes that took place on Friday. A young Palestinian said, “They do not want us to pray. There is a fight every day, every day there are clashes. Every day there are troubles.”
- Soon after, thousands remained within the compound, refusing to leave—which triggered a fresh round of confrontations over the weekend.
- On Sunday, the Supreme Court deferred hearing the evictions case, but it did little to turn down the temperature.
- On Monday—which is Jerusalem Day—armed Israeli forces stormed the compound and deployed stun grenades. And the barricaded Palestinians threw stones and Molotov cocktails. At least 300 were injured.
- And the violence spread beyond Al Aqsa—as Hamas and Israel exchanged air strikes.
What’s next: The UN Security Council is holding emergency consultations—and is considering a statement calling on Israel to cease evictions and calling for “restraint” and respect for “the historic status quo at the holy sites.” The country holding it back: The US. The Hindu has more on the UN. Associated Press has more context for the conflict. BBC News has the latest details. The clip below offers a glimpse of the clashes:
Schoolgirls attacked in Afghanistan
As the US readies to pull out entirely—and the Taliban readies to take over the country—there have been a series of bloody attacks since Saturday. The worst of them took place outside a girl’s school in a Kabul suburb. More than 85 people—mostly schoolgirls—died in a bombing, which left around 150 injured. Oddly, no one has taken responsibility for the attack—and the Taliban insists it is not involved. Next line of speculation: the school is situated in an area dominated by the Hazara community—a persecuted minority who are of Mongolian and Central Asian descent and are mainly Shia Muslims. They could possibly be the real target of the bombing. Meanwhile, Taliban has declared a three-day ceasefire in honour of Eid. (BBC News)
WhatsApp’s new policy maneuver
Last week, WhatsApp announced that it was scrapping the May 15 deadline for users to accept its revised privacy policy (explained here):
“[N]o accounts will be deleted on May 15 because of this update and no one in India will lose functionality of WhatsApp either. We will follow up with reminders to people over the next several weeks.”
Except there’s a catch—and it lies in that innocuous word ‘reminders’. As Entrackr explains:
“In reality, over the coming weeks, WhatsApp will send ‘persistent reminders’ to its users to accept its updated privacy policy. And if users do not accept the updates after these persistent reminders, the functionality of WhatsApp will be severely restricted.”
These restrictions will include not being able to access their chats, or only being able to answer incoming calls.
New details on the Gates divorce
Wall Street Journal accessed the divorce papers of Bill and Melinda Gates—and discovered that she’d been talking to her lawyers about splitting up since October 2019. Yup, this is no pandemic breakup. One possible reason: the meeting with the lawyers followed a New York Times story about Bill’s friendship with the world’s most famous child sex offender: Jeffrey Epstein. Gates first met Epstein in 2011—after he was first convicted of sex crimes—and kept up the association. The couple again met him together in 2013 to discuss philanthropy-related issues:
“Ms. Gates, a global advocate for women and girls, had told her husband she was uncomfortable with Mr. Epstein after the couple met him together in 2013. Mr. Gates and some employees of the Gates Foundation continued a relationship with Mr. Epstein despite her concerns.”
When asked about his relationship with Epstein, Gates has previously said: “I met him. I didn’t have any business relationship or friendship with him.” (Wall Street Journal or Axios for a non-paywall link)
Three China stories
One: The government has ordered Muslim women in Xinjiang to be fitted with IUDs to ensure they will not become pregnant. This is in stark contrast with Beijing’s efforts to encourage Chinese women to have more babies—since its population is rapidly aging due to the old ‘one child’ policy. This is how bad it is:
“If they had too many children or refused contraceptive procedures, they faced steep fines or, worse, detention in an internment camp. In the camps, the women were at risk of even more abuse. Some former detainees say they were made to take drugs that stopped their menstrual cycles.”
New York Times has more.
Two: On a far less horrific note, a Chinese zoo is in trouble for hiding the fact that three of its leopards escaped over a week ago—and one of them is still at large in Hangzhou City. The reason for this stupid decision:
“The park also admitted to police that it did not report the incident over worries that it would affect the flow of tourists into the zoo during China's May Day public holidays in the first week of May.”
Three: A tourist was left hanging for dear life after strong winds destroyed the glass bottom of a 100-metre high bridge. The good news: He was finally rescued. Point to note: “Glass bridges are a popular tourist attraction in China, with the most famous in Zhangjiajie national park, Hunan province, which stretches 430 metres across a canyon, 300 metres in the air.” And they’re clearly not very safe. The Guardian has more. See image of the stranded man below:
Three fun things
One: Say hello to ‘Zoom Zoom’—the new and very silly dance number from Salman Khan’s upcoming ‘Radhe – Your Most Wanted Bhai’. Sadly, it is not an ode to con-calls.
Two: We adore this viral photo of three old-time screen goddesses—Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh and Helen—hanging out at the Andamans.
Three: Speaking of goddesses, archaeologists have uncovered two stunning sculptures of queen Rudrama Devi (A.D 1262 – 89) at Sangameswara Swamy Temple in Telangana. The Hindu has the story. One of the gorgeous portraits of the great queen is below:
