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https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15165/european-court-israel-labels

The Court of Justice ruling, which effectively encourages the strict French labelling requirements to be applied across the European Union, has been roundly condemned as reflecting the EU’s anti-Israel bias. Many commentators noted that of all the world’s many territorial conflicts — from Crimea to Northern Cyprus to Tibet to Western Sahara — the EU has singled out Israel as the only country subject to special labelling requirements.

“There are over 200 ongoing territorial disputes across the world, yet the ECJ has not rendered a single ruling related to the labeling of products originating from these territories. Today’s ruling is both political and discriminating against Israel.” — Israeli Foreign Ministry.

“It also goes against the international standard of trade set by the World Trade Organization… This is the worst kind of fiddling while Rome burns. The European court quoting Israel for its ‘breach of the rules of international humanitarian law’ whilst Hamas and its acolytes are bombing innocent civilian populations in Israel is one of the most perverse ironies I have witnessed in quite some time.” — Menachem Margolin, Chairman, European Jewish Association, Brussels.

The Court of Justice of the European Union, the EU’s highest court, has ruled that food products made in so-called Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights must be specifically labelled as such and may not carry the generic label “Made in Israel.”

The ruling, which singles out Israel, was presumably motivated not by concerns over food safety or consumer protection but by the EU’s anti-Israeli foreign policy preference. It has been roundly criticized as biased, discriminatory and anti-Semitic.

The labelling case has its origins in questions regarding the interpretation of EU Regulation 1169/2011, dated October 25, 2011, concerning consumer information on food products. The regulation was ambiguous on the issue of the labelling of food products from Israel.

On November 12, 2015, the European Commission, in an effort to clarify existing EU legislation on origin information of products from Israeli-occupied territories, issued a so-called Interpretive Notice. This directive stated that food products sold in the EU may not be labelled as “Made in Israel” if they are produced outside of Israel’s pre-1967 borders. The document explained:

“The European Union, in line with international law, does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, namely the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and does not consider them to be part of Israel’s territory, irrespective of their legal status under domestic Israeli law.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15160/radical-persecution

The captives, some as young as five years old, were reportedly “tortured, starved and sexually abused.”

“The government of Pakistan failed to adequately protect these groups, and it perpetrated systematic, ongoing, egregious religious freedom violations; this occurred despite some optimism about the potential for reform under the new government of Prime Minister Imran Khan.” — United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s, 2019 Report.

A first step towards eradicating this threat might be establishing an international interfaith coalition of Muslims, Christians and other religions, with chapters in every country, to stand up against religious persecution and on behalf of the right of every individual to harbor beliefs and engage in practices of his or her choosing.

On September 26, Nigerian soldiers liberated more than 300 men and boys — some as young as five years old — from what could be called a prison masquerading as an Islamic school in the city of Kaduna in northwestern Nigeria.

“Most of the freed captives seen by a Reuters reporter in the city of Kaduna were children, aged up to their late teens. Some shuffled with their ankles manacled and others were chained by their legs to large metal wheels to prevent escape…

“Reports carried by local media said the captives had been tortured, starved and sexually abused…

“One young man, Hassan Yusuf, said he had been sent to the school because of concerns about his way of life following a few years studying abroad.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/uprisings-against-the-mullahs-11574033887

The latest anti-regime protests in Iran look like a major political event, and judging by its vigorous and violent response the regime agrees. Now is a moment for the political left and right in the U.S. and Europe to unite in support of the Iranian people.

The protests erupted in several cities across the country in response to government increases of 50% in fuel prices. The increase raises the price of a liter of gasoline to only about 35 cents, or 50 cents a gallon. But the reaction to the increase reveals the desperation and anger of Iranians as the economy falters under the pressure of U.S. sanctions.

With parliamentary elections scheduled for February, the regime would only have reduced its fuel subsidies if it felt it had no choice. The mullahs must be short on cash as their oil sales abroad have been sharply reduced by Trump Administration sanctions. Oil sales are the regime’s main source of revenue.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini publicly supported the price increases on Sunday and called protesters “thugs.” The government shut down internet access across most of the country, which makes it difficult to assess the extent of the protests. But the reports and videos that have emerged show clashes that sometimes turned violent. Mr. Khameini also blamed loyalists of the former Shah, who was deposed 40 years ago.

The truth is that this turmoil is made in Tehran by the mullahs themselves. They could have used the financial windfall they received from the 2015 nuclear deal to invest in their own country. Instead they used those resources to spread revolution throughout the Middle East. They’ve continued to plow cash into developing ballistic missiles and arming Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Syria, and Shiite militias in nearby Iraq.