On April 5, the final Friday in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan this year — a special time for Muslims worldwide — more than 3,500 Israeli police were deployed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Here, an estimated 57,000 Muslims attended Friday prayers.
In Israel, most Jewish men are drafted into three years of military service soon after they graduate from high school. Jewish women serve two-year stints. The ultra-Orthodox community has been exempt. But this is beginning to change. Israel’s Supreme Court just ruled that religious seminaries called yeshivas are being cut off from government funding because they don’t send students into the military.
Russia has detained four suspected shooters in the Crocus City Hall mass shooting. The suspects are all from Tajikistan. Now, there are reports in cities across Russia that people from Central Asia are experiencing a rise in harassment, mistreatment and xenophobic behavior.
Social change in Saudi Arabia has long been deemed impossible due to the influence of the conservative clerical establishment. But as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman supports new cultural attractions, experts are wondering whether the power of these clerics has diminished. Raihan Ismail, professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University, spoke to The World’s host Carolyn Beeler about what role the clerics play in Saudi society today.
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed seven aid workers from the relief group World Central Kitchen (WCK) overnight. Among the dead were three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, an American Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian. The World’s host Carolyn Beeler speaks to Sean Carroll, the CEO of ANERA, which works closely with WCK, about the incident.