MRN

The aspiration of the Media Review Network is to dispel the myths and stereotypes about Islam and Muslims and to foster bridges of understanding among the diverse people of our country. The Media Review Network believes that Muslim perspectives on issues impacting on South Africans are a prerequisite to a better appreciation of Islam.

Hajaig spat takes new turn as anti semitism debates continue

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Hajaig spat takes new turn as anti-semitism debates continue in the wake of new questions about Israel’s future

Iqbal Jassat

Can it be argued that Minister Fatima Hajaig’s remarks on Jewish “money power” and the hostile reaction by the SA Jewish Board of Deputies [SAJBD] displayed a tendency to ignore the context in which these comments were made?

Now that the dust is settled following Hajaig’s apology – which incidentally the SAJBD initially rejected but hesitantly accepted after President Motlanthe considered the matter closed as far as government was concerned – it’s useful to probe this issue given that the bogey of “anti-semitism” remains a tool to suppress freedom of expression.

If sa whites abandoned white rule will Isarael do likewise?

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

If SA whites abandoned white rule will Israel do likewise?

Iqbal Jassat

In attempting to analyse the article by Peter Fabricius titled “Two-state solution the only viable option” [Star – February 20, 2009], I fail to understand his logic in dismissing a unitary state.

The scenario he paints in supporting an argument in favour of a two-state solution is not any different to the exaggerated fears propagated by successive Israeli leaders who thus thrive in pursuing policies of expansion and perpetual dispossession of Palestinians.

To Gaza with love

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

To Gaza, With Love

by Medea Benjamin

When I traveled to Gaza last week, everywhere I went, a photo haunted me. I saw it in a brochure called "Gaza will not die" that Hamas gives out to visitors at the border crossing. A poster-sized version was posted outside a makeshift memorial at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. And now that I am back home, the image comes to me when I look at children playing in the park, when I glance at the school across the street, when I go to sleep at night.
It is a photo of a young Palestinian girl who is literally buried alive in the rubble from a bomb blast, with just her head protruding from the ruins. Her eyes are closed, her mouth partially open, as if she were in a deep sleep. Dried blood covers her lips, her cheeks, her hair. Someone with a glove is reaching down to touch her forehead, showing one final gesture of kindness in the midst of such inhumanity.
What was this little girl’s name, I wonder. How old was she? Was she sleeping when the bomb hit her home? Did she die a quick death or a slow, agonizing one? Where are her parents, her siblings? How are they faring?

Of the 1,330 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military during the 22-day invasion of Gaza, 437 were children. Let me repeat that: 437 children-each as beautiful and precious as our own.

Rumsfeld prosecution could set precedent

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Rumsfeld prosecution could set precedent

By CESAR CHELALA

NEW YORK — There is now enough evidence to try former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes, Manfred Nowak, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, recently told "Frontal 21," a German television program.

Nowak’s statement confirms what human rights and legal organizations have been saying for several years, and spotlights one of the Bush administration’s most controversial decisions regarding the use of torture.