Middle East Experience

This is the first year, the hosts noted, where the prize is equally given to men and women: four to men, four to women, adding up to the final eight.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: WATCH: Israel Prize Ceremony commences on Independence Day

Most experts agree that the risk of contracting the coronavirus outdoor is very limited.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Israelis will no longer need to wear masks outside starting Sunday

The Iraqi man is charged with attempted murder, dangerous interference with traffic and fleeing the scene of an accident..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Iraqi man on trial for Berlin motorway rampage

The Association of Banks in Lebanon said Thursday that Lebanese lenders have transferred $240 million to Lebanese students studying abroad to cover their tuitions..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Banks transfer 0 million to Lebanese students abroad

During Ramadan, an Egyptian series starring 25 actors with disabilities will be aired on social media, amid efforts to shed light on the marginalization and stigma that Egyptians with a disability face.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: First TV series starring people with disabilities to be released in Egypt

After the grand success of the Pharaoh's Golden Parade, Egypt is preparing for another major event involving the relics of Tutankhamun, one of ancient Egypt’s most famous kings.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Egypt plans another royal parade, this time for King Tut's gold mask

One of the first actions of new Labor Knesset member Rabbi Gilad Kari was sneaking a Torah scroll into the Western Wall plaza for women activists to pray from.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: New Israeli legislator smuggles Torah scroll for Women of the Wall

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it is following with concern the current developments of Iran’s nuclear program, the most recent of which was the Iranian announcement of raising the level of uranium enrichment to 60 percent, which cannot be considered a program intended for peaceful uses, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Wednesday.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“The Kingdom calls on Iran to avoid escalation and not to subject the security and stability of the region to further tension, and to engage seriously in the current ongoing negotiations, in line with the expectations of the international community towards Iran’s utilization of its nuclear program for peaceful purposes and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in a manner that achieves security and stability in the region and the world, and limits From the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” according to a statement on SPA.Iran confirmed Wednesday it would start producing by next week uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, days after a blast it blamed on Israel hit a key nuclear facility in Natanz.“Modification of the process just started and we expect to accumulate the product next week” from centrifuges at Natanz, tweeted Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Kazem Gharibabadi.“The Kingdom stresses the importance of the international community reaching an agreement with stronger and longer determinants, in a way that strengthens monitoring and control measures and ensures preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons or developing the necessary capabilities for that, and takes into account the deep concern of the countries of the region about the escalatory steps that Iran is taking to destabilize regional security and stability, including Its nuclear program,” the statement by the Kingdom’s foreign ministry added.Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, who are also worried about Iran’s ballistic missiles and regional network of proxies, had supported former US President Donald Trump’s move to quit the accord in 2018 and re-impose harsh sanctions on Iran.Ambassador Rayed Krimly, the head of policy planning at the Saudi foreign ministry, told Reuters that any agreement that does not effectively address the concerns of states in the region would not work.“We want to make sure at a minimum that any financial resources made available to Iran via the nuclear deal are not used ... to destabilize the region,” he said.“We are going to do everything we can (so) that a nuclear deal is a starting point not an end point in this process.”With ReutersRead more:Iran will start 60 pct uranium production, Iranian envoy to IAEA confirmsEuropean powers concerned about Iran’s 60 pct uranium enrichment move: StatementIran’s President Rouhani says enrichment plans an answer to ‘evilness’
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Arabia says Iran uranium enrichment cannot be intended for ‘peaceful’ means

The suspects in an alleged plot to destabilize Jordan will go trial in the kingdom’s State Security Court, state television reported Wednesday.“The court’s prosecutor began his investigation Wednesday into individuals implicated in the sedition,” it said.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Since 2013, the jurisdiction of the State Security Court, which has both military and civilian judges, has been limited to five areas -- high treason, espionage, drug trafficking, counterfeiting money, and terrorism.Around 20 suspects have been arrested since April 3 in connection with what Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi earlier this month called a “wicked plan” to destabilize the throne.Among them are former royal court chief Bassem Awadallah and a former special envoy to Saudi Arabia, Sharif Hassan bin Zaid.King Abdullah II’s half-brother Prince Hamzah, a former crown prince who is suspected of involvement in the plot, will not stand trial.“Prince Hamzah’s case has been resolved within the royal family,” Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh was quoted as telling a closed session of parliament on Monday.Read more:No ‘coup’ attempt in Jordan, Prince Hamzah will not face trial: Lawmakers cite PMJordan's King Abdullah, Prince Hamzah make first public appearance since royal riftJordan’s former finance minister Bassem Awadallah remains in detention: Official
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Jordan ‘plot’ suspects to go on trial in security court, reports State TV

The daughter of one of the founding figures of Iran’s clerical establishment said on Monday she intends to boycott the upcoming presidential elections, citing her lack of faith in any reforms from within the establishment.Faezeh Hashemi, a women’s rights advocate and a former lawmaker said during a virtual conversation on the audio-chat app Clubhouse she would not vote in Iran’s presidential elections even if her own brother – Tehran city council chairman and potential presidential candidate Mohsen Hashemi-Rafsanjani – were to run.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The Clubhouse discussion with Hashemi lasted over six hours, with over 10,000 Iranians listening inside and outside the country.Hashemi’s father, former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, was one of the founding figures of Iran's clerical regime. He played a key role in bringing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to power. He died in 2017.Hashemi said she will boycott the elections because the “reformist” movement in Iran has “hit a dead end.”Hashemi also said that through this decision, she is protesting reformists for abandoning reformist ideals in order to stay in power.She added that she is open to changing her mind if a candidate committed to those ideals were to run.Hashemi is an outspoken critic of the regime inside Iran. She was jailed for six months in 2012 for “spreading anti-state propaganda.”Iran is due to hold presidential elections on June 18, and several senior Iranian officials have already expressed concern over potentially low voter turnout.The regime considers turnout critical to its legitimacy on the international stage.Khamenei has in the past gone as far as saying voting is a “religious duty,” and that people should participate in elections out of “love” for their country, even if they do not like the supreme leader personally.The Iranian opposition typically urges Iranians to boycott elections, arguing that they do not bring about change and only serve to legitimize the regime. This belief is partially due to Iran’s vetting process for candidates, under which only candidates who are approved by the regime can run for election. Elections in Iran “fall short of democratic standards due in part to the influence of the hard-line Guardian Council, an unelected body that disqualifies all candidates it deems insufficiently loyal to the clerical establishment,” US democracy watchdog group Freedom House said in its Iran report for 2021.Iranians blame the regimeThe Iranian people hold their own government, not the United States, responsible for their problems, Hashemi said in another part of the virtual discussion, adding that Tehran’s own policies are to blame for sanctions imposed on the country.“We have sanctions because of our own aggressive policies ... Our money is spent on missiles and helping [foreign militias] rather than on medicine that our people need,” Hashemi said.“People don’t blame [former US President Donald] Trump for sanctions, they blame their own government.”In January, Hashemi came under attack, primarily from proponents of the regime, for saying a second term for Trump would have been beneficial for Iran.“For Iran, I would have liked to see Trump [re]-elected. But if I were an American, I wouldn’t vote for Trump,” Hashemi said in an interview with an Iranian news website.Hashemi said she supported the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against the regime in Tehran.“Maybe if Trump’s pressure would have continued, we would have been forced to have change in some policies. And the change would have definitely benefited the people,” she said.Read more:European powers concerned about Iran’s 60 pct uranium enrichment move: StatementIran’s Zarif under fire for silencing critics, journalists in Clubhouse room‘No to Islamic Republic’: Iran opposition seeks to unify in anti-regime campaign
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Daughter of Iran’s ex-president Rafsanjani says she is boycotting upcoming elections