Father of Israeli captive accuses Netanyahu of abandoning hostages for political survival

April 20, 2025 

MEMO

People, carrying flags, stage a protest, demanding the return of Israeli hostages in Gaza,on April 19, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel 

[Nir Keidar – Anadolu Agency ]


The father of an Israeli soldier held in Gaza accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday of abandoning the hostages in favor of prolonging the war for his political interests, Anadolu reports.

“We listened to Netanyahu’s words from the Hostages Square [in Tel Aviv], and we are deeply disappointed,” Hagai Angrest, father of soldier Matan, told Maariv daily.

“Across the world, everyone is saying that a ceasefire and the return of the hostages should be the top priority. Yet we see a prime minister who is abandoning the soldiers and sending more into battle.

“We were told this war would not end without them. But now it seems Netanyahu is choosing his political survival over the lives of those in captivity,” he said. “The entire country supports bringing the hostages back.”

On Saturday night, Netanyahu claimed in a televised speech that there is “no choice” but to continue the war on Gaza, asserting that a ceasefire deal with Hamas would “undermine the gains of the war.”

He alleged that Hamas rejected a proposal that included the release of half the living Israeli captives and many of the dead, in exchange for ending the war, a condition Netanyahu labeled “unacceptable.”

READ: Groups of Parliaments in Support of Palestine calls for Israel to implement Gaza ceasefire

On Thursday, Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil Al-Hayya stressed that his group is willing to engage in comprehensive negotiations that would secure the release of all Israeli hostages in exchange for a full ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, reconstruction efforts, and the lifting of the siege.

A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister said on Saturday that retrieving all the Israeli captives in one deal is “impossible.”

Israeli estimates suggest that 59 captives remain in Gaza, with 24 believed to be alive. In contrast, over 9,500 Palestinians remain imprisoned in Israel under harsh conditions, including reports of torture, starvation, and medical neglect, according to both Palestinian and Israeli rights organizations.

More than 51,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

Palestinian National Council appeals for protection of journalists amid Israeli attacks

April 20, 2025 

MEMO

Journalists hold placards as they gather outside the Al Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City to commemorate five colleagues who lost their lives in Israeli attacks on Gaza on December 26, 2024 [Dawoud Abo Alkas – Anadolu Agency]

The Palestinian National Council, the highest decision-making body of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), called Sunday for the protection of journalists amid Israeli attacks on reporters in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, Anadolu reports.

“The Israeli occupation is fully responsible for its crimes against journalists,” the council said in a statement on the eve of the Arab Media Day.

“Assaults against journalists are a deliberate attempt to silence the voice of Palestine, and annihilate its narrative,” it added.

At least 211 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.

READ: Palestine condemns Israeli police assaults on Christians in occupied East Jerusalem

“This year’s anniversary comes amid the deadliest chapters of contemporary Palestinian history, where our people have been subjected to more than 18 months of fascist and organized terrorist aggression,” the council said.

It said that Palestinian journalists have become “the direct targets of the warplanes and missiles, in a flagrant violation of all humanitarian laws.”

“These crimes are being committed amid suspicious international silence and in flagrant defiance of international resolutions, notably the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949, which stipulates the protection of civilians, including journalists, during wars,” the council said.

More than 51,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

Actress Angelina Jolie reiterates support for Gaza


April 20, 2025 

MEMO

Angelina Jolie. [Atılgan Özdil – Anadolu Agency]


World-famous actress Angelina Jolie on Saturday reaffirmed her support to Gaza by sharing a Doctors Without Frontiers report on Gaza in an Instagram story, Anadolu reports.

In a post shared by Jolie – who spent over 20 years as a goodwill ambassador and special envoy for the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency – the humanitarian aid group described the situation in Gaza as “mass grave for Palestinians and those helping them.”

“As Israeli forces resume and expand the their military offensive by air, ground and sea on the Gaza Strip, forcibly displacing people and deliberately blocking the essential aid, Palestinian lives are one once again being systematically destroyed,” it said.

The post said Israel’s deadly attacks pose a clear threat to the safety of humanitarian aid and healthcare workers in Gaza.

It called on Israeli authorities to urgently lift the inhumane and deadly siege on Gaza and to protect the lives of Palestinians, as well as humanitarian and health care personnel.

The post also expressed hope for the reestablishment of a ceasefire.

More than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.​​​​​​​

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

Social media helps fuel growing ‘sex tourism’ in Japan

MOVE OVER THAILAND

By AFP
April 20, 2025


Sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district - Copyright AFP Richard A. Brooks

Caroline GARDIN

Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists.

Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district.

There is no official data but anecdotal evidence collected by AFP suggests that increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media.

One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real tourist attraction” and that around half her customers are foreigners.

“Since they can’t communicate in Japanese, they write ‘how much is it?’ on their phones,” using an automatic translator, said Ria, who did not use her real name.

The men going to Okubo Park are mostly from South Korea, China or Taiwan but also from North America and Europe.

Awareness abroad has grown partly because of videos on social media platforms such as TikTok or the Chinese Bilibili.

The videos are often shot without consent, sometimes live, and some of the clips have racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

– Cost of living –

Ria and others say they are self-employed, with no involvement from pimps. They take their clients to nearby “love hotels”.

The average price is between 15,000 and 30,000 yen ($105-210) but the women are under pressure to charge less and less, said Ria, 26.

That was because “the cost of living and the decline in purchasing power” are making many Japanese men demand a lower price, she said.

“Foreigners tend not to negotiate the price and will usually give us more,” she said.

Nineteen-year-old Azu, who is sitting next to her at the Rescue Hub, a shelter set up by a non-profit group, agrees.

“In the best-case scenario, I can charge a client 20,000 yen per hour with a condom, sometimes a little more,” Azu said.

– Risks –

Money worries are among the issues pushing more and more women to become sex workers, said Rescue Hub head Arata Sakamoto.

It wasn’t very common for Japanese women to be sex workers on the street a decade ago, Sakamoto told AFP.

However, since the Covid-19 pandemic in particular, “young women have started selling sex at low prices”.

“I think this is one of the reasons why the number of foreign clients has increased,” he said.

Around 10 women were relaxing in Rescue Hub’s cosy apartment on a recent evening, grabbing something to eat and charging their phones.

They are safe here, but Sakamoto said the women face “risks to their physical and mental health, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases… unwanted pregnancies, abortions, and unwanted births”.

“Some women are victims of abuse, or their actions might be filmed without their consent,” he said.

“They may also not be paid for their services or their money may be stolen.”

– Patrols –

Socially conservative Japan welcomed a record 36.8 million tourists last year, thanks in part to the weak yen.

Tokyo police did not respond to requests from AFP for information about the increase in foreign clients visiting sex workers.

However, they did say that there have been more police patrols since December.

This has had the effect of dispersing sex workers throughout the area.

“It’s become safer to choose foreign customers rather than Japanese ones, because at least we can be sure they’re not plainclothes police officers,” Ria said as she sipped tea.

Only “penetrative” sexual services are prohibited in Japan and it is the sex workers who face fines, or even prison sentences, rather than the clients.

Sakamoto said “establishing legal consequences for customers” would help deter demand, including from non-Japanese.

“The authorities should also have awareness campaigns, in several languages, in airports, hotels and tourist areas,” he said.

Exec linked to Bangkok building collapse arrested


By AFP
April 20, 2025


The 30-storey tower in Bangkok was reduced to an immense pile of rubble when a 7.7-magnitude quake struck neighbouring Myanmar last month - Copyright AFP Chanakarn Laosarakham

Thai authorities said they have arrested a Chinese executive at a company that was building a Bangkok skyscraper which collapsed in a major earthquake, leaving dozens dead.

The 30-storey tower was reduced to an immense pile of rubble when a 7.7-magnitude quake struck neighbouring Myanmar last month, killing 47 people at the construction site and leaving another 47 missing.

Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong told a news conference Saturday that a Thai court had issued arrest warrants for four individuals, including three Thai nationals, at China Railway No.10 for breaching the Foreign Business Act.

The Department of Special Investigation, which is under the justice ministry, said in a statement Saturday that one of the four had been arrested — a Chinese “company representative” who they named as Zhang.

China Railway No.10 was part of a joint venture with an Italian-Thai firm to build the State Audit Office tower before its collapse.

Zhang is listed as a 49-percent shareholder in the firm, while the three Thai citizens have a 51-percent stake in the company.

But Tawee told journalists that “we have evidence… that the three Thais were holding shares for other foreign independents”.

The Foreign Business Act says that foreigners may hold no more than 49 percent of shares in a company.

Separately, Tawee said several investigations related to the collapse were ongoing, including over the possibility of bid rigging and the use of fake signatures of engineers in construction supervisor contracts.

Earlier this month Thai safety officials said testing of steel rebars — struts used to reinforce concrete — from the site has found that some of the metal used was substandard.

The skyscraper was the only major building in the capital to fall in the catastrophic March 28 earthquake that has killed more than 3,700 people in Thailand and

‘Pandora’s box’: alarm bells in Indonesia over rising military role


By AFP
April 19, 2025


Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto (3L) at the military academy during their cabinet retreat in Magelang, Central Java - Copyright AFP/File Handout

Greater military influence in government, reporters under threat and a stuttering economy — Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s first six months in power have triggered alarm bells for activists worried about a return to the country’s authoritarian roots.

Last month, Indonesia’s parliament amended a law allowing active-duty military personnel to work in 14 state institutions — up from 10 — including the attorney general’s office, which rights groups say could weaken legal checks on military abuse.

The decision has critics anxious that the world’s third-largest democracy could hark back to the days of dictator Suharto, who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for more than three decades.

“The government does not realise that Indonesia has a collective trauma over (Suharto’s) authoritarian New Order government,” said Hussein Ahmad, deputy director of rights group Imparsial.

Before Suharto was toppled by student-led protests in 1998, Prabowo was serving as a commander for an elite force to suppress unrest.

He remains accused of human rights abuses, including allegations that he had ordered the abduction of activists at the end of Suharto’s rule — which Prabowo has denied and never been charged for.

He has since rehabilitated his image, and was elected last year on the hopes that he would continue the policies of popular predecessor Joko Widodo.

Yet in the six months since coming into power, Prabowo’s former life as a general has been thrust into the public eye.

His administration’s move to expand the military’s role in government has raised eyebrows even within Indonesia’s political elite.

After Prabowo appointed government representatives to kickstart discussions of the law in parliament in February, former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said it used to be “taboo” for military personnel to enter politics.

“It was one of the doctrines that we issued back then… If you want to do politics, resign,” he told a meeting.

Presidential spokesman Hasan Nasbi denied that the new law would regress Indonesia back to Suharto’s era.

“This law actually limits the role… to 14 sectors that truly need the skills and expertise relevant to (military) training,” he told AFP, adding that the critics were “inaccurate”.



– ‘Silencing’ journalists –



After his October inauguration, Prabowo paraded his cabinet in military fatigues at a retreat.

In November, his defence minister — also a former general accused of abuses under Suharto — announced that 100 battalions would be set up to enforce the government’s agenda.

And Prabowo has also faced backlash in recent months for slashing government budgets, as Indonesia’s flailing economy is further hit by a plummeting rupiah and see-sawing markets in reaction to Washington’s tariffs.

Adding to worries is a new regulation issued last month allowing police to monitor foreign journalists and researchers.

It gives the police the authority to provide a permission letter when reporting from “certain locations” — though a spokesperson later said the letter was “not mandatory”.

But the regulation could still spook reporters working on sensitive topics, said Human Rights Watch’s Andreas Harsono.

“Journalism always goes hand-in-hand with democracy,” Andreas told AFP.

“If journalism is suppressed, the freedom of speech is suppressed, democracy will be paralysed.”

The country’s press flourished after the fall of Suharto, but local reporters have in recent weeks raised fears of an environment of intimidation.

Last month, Tempo magazine — which publishes articles critical of the government — was sent a pig’s head and six decapitated rats.

Prabowo’s spokesperson denied any government role in the incident, and said an investigation was ongoing.

Tempo’s website also started seeing cyber attacks this month after it published an investigation into some gambling companies in Cambodia and its links to Indonesian tycoons and politicians.

Journalist Francisca Christy Rosana, who was doxxed in recent weeks, said they got the message loud and clear.

“This terror was not just aimed at intimidating but silencing and stopping our work.”



– ‘Fed up’ –



Thousands across Indonesia last month protested the new law, carrying posters that called for the military to “return to the barracks”.

Dismissing the public’s outrage over the military’s potential dual role in government as “nonsense”, Prabowo said he respected the people’s right to protest.

But if the demonstrations “create chaos and unrest, in my opinion this is against the national interest”, he said in an interview earlier this month.

Andrie Yunus of KontraS, the commission for missing persons and victims of violence, said the demonstrations are “the tip of the iceberg”.

“Civilians are fed up with the entry of militarism into civilian affairs,” he said, warning that the path to a military regime “is open”.

“We consider the passing of the (military law) to be an attempt to open Pandora’s box.”

Japanese warships dock at Cambodia’s Chinese-renovated naval base

Beijing since 2022 has  been contributing to a revamp of the Ream Naval Base, which was originally built partly using US funds.

By AFP
April 19, 2025


Cambodia's Ream naval base off the country's southern coast has raised concerns in the United States - Copyright Planet Labs PBC/AFP -

Two Japanese warships made a port call at Cambodia’s Chinese-renovated naval base on Saturday, the Japanese embassy said, the first vessels to dock at the site that has raised concerns in Washington.

The United States has said the Ream Naval Base, located off Cambodia’s southern coast, could give China a key strategic position in the Gulf of Thailand near the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety.

Cambodian senior officials have repeatedly denied that the base is for use by any single foreign power, following US media reports in 2022 saying the new facilities at Ream base — originally built partly with US funds — would be exclusively for the Chinese navy.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and a delegation from China’s People’s Liberation Army inaugurated the base early this month.

Hun Manet said during the opening that the base had “nothing to hide” and denied the new and improved facility would be for Beijing’s “exclusive” use, saying ships from other countries would be allowed to dock.

Media access to the base was restricted on Saturday when the Japanese vessels Bungo and Etajima from the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) made a port call.

“We are glad to witness the visit to the renovated Ream Naval Base,” the Embassy of Japan in Phnom Penh said in a statement sent to media, adding that it is “a historically significant event”.

“We are aware that the Royal Government of Cambodia has been willing to make the base open to all the countries,” the embassy said, adding that the visit would “enhance trust and confidence”.

Cambodia has long been one of China’s staunchest allies in Southeast Asia, and Beijing has extended its influence over Phnom Penh in recent years.

Under former leader Hun Sen — Prime Minister Hun Manet’s father — China poured billions of dollars into infrastructure investments, while Washington’s relationship with Phnom Penh has deteriorated in recent years.

Chinese President Xi Jinping this week wrapped up a tour of Southeast Asia, ending in Cambodia, in which he sought to strengthen regional trade ties.

Beijing has since 2022 been contributing to a revamp of the Ream Naval Base, which was originally built partly using US funds.

US to withdraw some 1,000 troops from Syria

PROTECTING U$ OIL INTERSTS IN NORTH

By AFP
April 18, 2025


US forces patrol near Syria's northeastern border with Turkey on September 3, 2024 - Copyright AFP/File DELIL SOULEIMAN

W.G. DUNLOP

The United States will roughly halve the number of troops it has deployed in Syria to less than 1,000 in the coming months, the Pentagon said Friday.

Washington has had troops in Syria for years as part of international efforts against the Islamic State (IS) group, which rose out of the chaos of the country’s civil war to seize swaths of territory there and in neighboring Iraq over a decade ago.

The brutal jihadists have since suffered major defeats in both countries, but still remain a threat.

“Today the secretary of defense directed the consolidation of US forces in Syria… to select locations,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, without specifying the sites where this would take place.

“This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the US footprint in Syria down to less than 1,000 US forces in the coming months,” he said.

“As this consolidation takes place… US Central Command will remain poised to continue strikes against the remnants of (IS) in Syria,” Parnell added, referring to the military command responsible for the region.

President Donald Trump has long been skeptical of Washington’s presence in Syria, ordering the withdrawal of troops during his first term but ultimately leaving American forces in the country.

As Islamist-led rebels pressed forward with a lightning offensive last December that ultimately overthrew Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Trump said Washington should “NOT GET INVOLVED!”

“Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT,” Trump, then the president-elect, wrote on his Truth Social platform.



– Years of war against IS –



The 2014 onslaught by IS prompted a US-led air campaign in support of local ground forces — the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Iraqi government units.

Washington also deployed thousands of American personnel to advise and assist local forces, with US troops in some cases directly fighting the jihadists.

After years of bloody warfare, Iraq’s prime minister announced a final victory over IS in December 2017, while the SDF proclaimed the defeat of the group’s “caliphate” in March 2019 after seizing its final bastion in Syria.

But the jihadists still have some fighters in the countryside of both countries, and US forces have long carried out periodic strikes and raids to help prevent the group’s resurgence.

Washington stepped up military action against IS in Syria in the wake of Assad’s overthrow, though it has more recently shifted its focus to strikes targeting Yemen’s Huthi rebels, who have been attacking international shipping since late 2023.

US forces in Iraq and Syria were repeatedly targeted by pro-Iran militants following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, but responded with heavy strikes on Tehran-linked targets, and the attacks largely subsided.

Washington for years said it had some 900 military personnel in Syria as part of international efforts against IS, but the Pentagon announced in December 2024 that the number of US troops in the country had doubled to around 2,000 earlier in the year.

While the United States is reducing its forces in Syria, Iraq has also sought an end to the US-led coalition’s presence there, where Washington has said it has some 2,500 troops.

The United States and Iraq have announced that the coalition would end its decade-long military mission in federal Iraq by the end of 2025, and by September 2026 in the autonomous Kurdistan region.

Syria Expects to Reclaim US-Occupied Oil Fields Soon

13.12.2023 

© AFP 2024 YOUSSEF KARWASHAN

DOHA (Sputnik) - The United States military currently controls parts of Syria's provinces of Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and Al-Hasakah, where the country's largest oil and gas fields are located. The Syrian government considers the presence of the US military on its territory to be an occupation and state piracy.

Syria expects to return oil fields that are important but remain under the US's occupation to the control of the Syrian government in the near future, Syrian Oil Minister Firas Hassan Kaddour told Sputnik.

Many oil fields in northern Syria were destroyed as a result of attacks by terrorist groups, these fields returned to the control of the Syrian government, and their restoration began, the official said.

"We expect to liberate the [oil] fields remaining under occupation in the very near future, return them to the Syrian Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources and begin their restoration," the minister said on the sidelines of the 12th Arab Energy Conference in Qatar's capital city, Doha.

In 2024, Syria will conduct seismic exploration north of its capital Damascus and in other areas to search for oil and gas deposits, he added.

Drone Strikes at US Military Base in Northeastern Syria: Reports

18 November 2023, 17:07

The reconstruction of an oil refinery in the central Syrian province of Homs, which was seriously damaged during the fighting in the country, is expected to begin in 2024, Kaddour added.

"We have defined a plan for the restoration of the oil refinery in Homs, dividing the work into three stages. The first stage is its current repair, which is being carried out by our specialists. The second part is its reconstruction next year, with reconstruction plans being studied now. The development of the plant - that is in long-term plans," the official said.

Last week, the head of coordination of Iranian activities to carry out repair work at extraterritorial oil refineries, Ali Shahverdi, said that Iran would begin rebuilding the Homs refinery with a processing capacity of 120,000 barrels.

US occupation building oil refinery in Syria's Al-Hasakah: SANA

By Al Mayadeen Net
Source: Agencies
9 Jan 2022 


US occupation forces continue with their pillaging policy, depriving Syria and its people of their natural resources, contributing to their suffering.

According to state news agency SANA, the US and Kurdish armed groups have begun construction of an oil refinery in Al-Hasakah governorate in northeastern Syria.

The new plant at Rmelan fields in Al-Hasakah's northeast is expected to have a capacity of 3,000 barrels per day, according to the Syrian agency. Rmelan is home to one of Syria's largest oil resources.

The US forces illegally occupy territories in the northern and northeastern parts of Syria, where the country's major oil and gas fields are located. Damascus has decried the US presence there as occupation and pillaging.

US occupation base in Syria targeted again

Eight explosions were heard on January 8, in the vicinity of Al-Omar oil field in Syria's Deir Ezzor countryside, Sputnik reported.

The oil field is being used by the US occupation as a military base, its largest in eastern Syria. Local sources reported that the eight explosions were heard in the towns and villages surrounding the oil field, which is the biggest in Syria.

Al-Omar oil field and the Koniko gas factory have both been targeted by rockets. No information has been provided on the occupation's possible losses.

Al Mayadeen's sources had also reported on January 5 that Al-Omar was targeted by rocket fire. The sources added that the missiles caused material damage to the base, placing the entire base and its soldiers on alert.

Plan for expanded Muslim community triggers hope, fear in Texas


By AFP
April 18, 2025


Texas Muslims seeking to build a new mosque and expanded community face bitter opposition - Copyright AFP RONALDO SCHEMIDT
Moisés ÁVILA

Threats to Muslims living in Texas are nothing new, but lately the vile phone calls to Imran Chaudhary have ramped up.

The cause?

Chaudhary’s early plans for construction of 1,000 new homes, a community center, school, hospital and — controversially — a mosque and Islamic private school to serve the growing Muslim community near East Plano, in a thinly populated corner of east Texas.

One anonymous caller says, in an expletive filled message, “I suggest you get the fuck out of America while it’s still an option.”

The conservative, white, and Christian authorities tied to President Donald Trump in this state aren’t exactly welcoming either, launching investigations into the project’s legality.

Chaudhary says the pressure is misguided.

“We’ve been trying to follow every single law that is out there, from the state perspective to the federal perspective,” he said.

But just this week, Senator John Cornyn called for an investigation into the constitutionality of Chaudhary’s project, an offshoot of an existing site called the East Plano Islamic Center or “EPIC.”

The center “could violate the constitutional rights of Jewish and Christian Texans,” he said.

Texas governor and Trump ally Greg Abbott characterized the project as an attempt to install Islamic law. “To be clear, Sharia law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Sharia cities. Nor are ‘no go zones’ which this project seems to imply,” he wrote on social media.

Texas is one of more than a dozen states that have enacted “anti-Sharia law” bills, which anti-hate group Southern Poverty Law Center calls “one of the most successful far-right conspiracies to achieve mainstream viability.”

The conspiracy theory holds that Islamic law, known as sharia, is encroaching on the American legal system, a claim the American Civil Liberties Union and other legal experts refute.

Chaudhary denies that he envisions a Muslim-only town, saying that it’s “open to all, anybody can use our services, community center, our school.”

As president of Community Capital Partners, which develops EPIC properties, Chaudhary told AFP, “We never even discussed sharia. From day one we’ve consulted with our attorneys what is the best way for us to do this project, to make sure that we follow all the state laws, we follow all the federal laws.”

In a show of goodwill, Chaudhary invited the governor to a Texas-style barbeque over social media. Abbott didn’t respond.



– Fear vs optimism –



The EPIC Islamic community settled in Plano north of Dallas some 20 years ago, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the new community they want to build near Josephine.

The Plano settlement of around 5,000 people now have their own mosque. Iman Yasir Qadhi leads prayers there.

Born in Houston to a Pakistani family, Qadhi said Muslims like Texas because of the warm weather, low taxes and good food.

“Organically, when the mosque was built, a lot of people began moving in here and we found that our space wasn’t sufficient for us,” he said. “Because of the influx of people we are looking to expand.”

Only 313,000 Muslims reside in Texas, which has a population of more than 31 million, according to World Population Review.

Prospective EPIC residents can reserve lots by putting down 20 percent, with single townhouse pads starting at $80,000 and 1-acre lots going for $250,000. Maps posted online indicate more than two dozen lots have already been sold.

But at an April town hall meeting in Collin County, an overflow crowd showed up to speak out against EPIC’s project. And the developers’ lawyer Dan Cogdell said all the negative publicity will slow approvals down.

”The lies and the misinformation that Abbott’s putting out is striking,” he said.

Qadhi said he is worried about hate crimes. He said he himself has been accused of terrorism but “they are the ones terrorizing us.”

Moitree Rahman, a 38-year-old mother of two from Bangladesh, says she remains optimistic and looks forward to the expanding EPIC community.

“All the rhetoric that we are seeing and hearing, it’s not true,” she said. “That’s why we felt very confident in investing.”

'Show compassion': Faith leaders beg Trump to stop his Easter purge of Christian refugees

Matthew Chapman
April 18, 2025 

RAW STORY

Faith leaders are imploring President Donald Trump to reconsider as his administration moves to order the "self-deportation" of Afghan Christians who fled to the United States to escape the Taliban, Fox News reported on Friday evening — particularly because the order came down right around Easter, one of the most holy holidays of the Christian faith.

Already, the president has overseen mass deportations that caught up some asylum seekers from Afghanistan who would face imprisonment or death by the extremists running the theocratic Taliban regime. This new move places many thousands more in jeopardy.

"On April 10, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it would terminate humanitarian parole for Afghan nationals, effectively ordering thousands to leave the U.S. within days," said the report. "Though early reporting referred to the change as ending temporary protected status (TPS), internal DHS notifications confirm the affected Afghans were in fact under humanitarian parole. The mislabeling was repeated by media outlets and DHS but has since been corrected in official memos from advocacy groups."

Up to 9,000 paroled Afghans waiting for either an asylum hearing or a special immigrant visa, or SIV, could be affected.

A coalition of faith leaders is now urging Trump to have mercy and at least institute a 90-day pause to give them options to protect themselves or settle their immigration status legally.

"We believe all 9,000 could face persecution upon return to the Taliban, but we are particularly concerned about a group of hundreds of Christians who we believe will face an immediate threat of torture or death," said a message from the coalition, which also sent the letter to Vice President JD Vance, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and some leaders in Congress.

Enduring Hope Alliance, or EHA, a group of churches and faith-based groups, said of the situation, "This is a moment for the administration to show compassion and leadership."

A large number of Christian denominations preach mercy and acceptance for immigrants. Trump often aligns himself with evangelical faith leaders, but he has at times responded critically to Christian groups, such as Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Washington National Cathedral, when they call on him to support immigrants or emphasize compassion.