Search Results for: silence

Constructive dialogue over complex issues seems increasingly difficult to find in these extremely polarizing times. For the Jewish community of which I am a part, the highly valued idea of any such “makhloket l’sheim shamayim” — the Talmudic notion of an argument for the sake of heaven — seems all the more elusive when attempting [...]

US District Judge Mark Walker blocked the enforcement of a Florida law Wednesday that would have banned a transgender public school teacher from introducing themselves to students with their personal pronouns. The law, which went into effect in 2023, bans public school employees or contractors from providing to students a “preferred personal title or pronouns [...]

“In a minute there is time For decisions and revisions which a minute/will reverse” —T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Though much has been published about both military and legal elements of Israeli nuclear deterrence, not much has been written about the specific ways in which these core elements could conceivably intersect. [...]

Yonatan Shapira is an ex-captain and pilot in the Israeli Air Force. In 2003, he helped coordinate the circulation of a letter that was signed by 27 Israeli Air Force pilots expressing their refusal to engage in Israeli military actions targeting Palestinians. Additionally, Shapira has endorsed the domestic Israeli movement supporting Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions [...]

A New York judge denied a motion Wednesday to delay former US president Donald Trump’s falsified documents trial start date until after a US Supreme Court decision concerning presidential immunity is handed down. The case, New York v. Trump, accuses the former president of falsifying business records to conceal payments to adult film star Stormy [...]

Uganda’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday upheld most provisions of controversial legislation that imposes a sentence of death by hanging against individuals convicted of “aggravated homosexuality.” In upholding the Anti-Homosexuality Act, the court maintained that though the country’s penal code is “undoubtedly … considered to be a relic from the country’s colonial past,” the bill’s overwhelming [...]

What makes someone qualified to rule? One way to answer this question might be to approach it from the Islamic perspective, that is, by considering the criteria required for someone to become a mujāthid, a person accepted as an authority in Islamic law. The criteria include knowledge of the Shārīe‘ā essential objectives – ‘religion, life, [...]

Scotland’s controversial Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 came into force on Monday. The law intends to unite existing hate crime laws, along with creating several new offenses, most notably criminalizing “threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended to stir up hatred.” Stirring up racial hatred has been an offense since 1986. However, [...]

UN independent experts expressed concern about the ongoing water shortage in Guadeloupe, a French Caribbean island. They raised concerns over tap water pollution, steep prices and attempts to silence critics, calling the situation a threat to human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. After a last-minute ban was imposed on a planned debate about [...]

The India Supreme Court Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud revealed on Friday that 600 lawyers from all across the country wrote to him to express serious concerns over the acts of a “vested interest group” trying to put pressure on the judiciary and intending to defame courts for “political agendas.” Senior lawyers signed the letter, [...]