Middle East Eye:

The Labour Party is supporting the creation of a new Muslim leadership group intended to become the primary point of engagement between Keir Starmer’s government and Muslim communities in the UK.

A draft document setting out plans for the network seen by MEE describes its core objectives as including “to influence public policy in a way that safeguards and promotes the rights of British Muslims”, and “to influence the media debate around Muslims in Britain”.

The proposal document says:

The initial focus will be creating a credible group that engages with the government of the day and over time take on a wider remit of support for Muslim representation and leadership development.

The government and policymakers are not easily able to access, connect or seek credible and expert advice from diverse British Muslim communities. There is a dire need for a credible group which a range of institutions, both public and private, can easily access, trust and engage with.

The new network appears to pose a direct challenge to the claims to leadership of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the largest body representing Muslim organisations in the UK.

Key figures involved in the new group, provisionally known as the Muslim Leadership Council, are understood to include Asim Hafiz, a former British Army imam; Julie Siddiqi, the former executive director of the Islamic Society of Britain; and Dilwar Hussain, the founder of the New Horizons in British Islam think tank.

One person, who said they had declined to be part of the new group, said these had been prompted by what was perceived as a “vacuum of leadership within the Muslim community” after the 7 October Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel and the start of the war in Gaza.

Another person told MEE: “The first few meetings had a broad section of the community and met after the start of the war as the community realised Labour was losing support in Muslim communities.”

[RT]

Occupation forces tear down Palestinian flags and flags of the Fatah movement during their storming of the village of Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya.

[J]

PRESS RELEASE: the ICJ will deliver its Advisory Opinion in respect of the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem on 19 July 2024 at 3 p.m

[RT]

South Africa’s new Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola:

"South Africa will continue to do everything within its power to preserve the existence of the Palestinian people as a group."

He has committed to redoubling South Africa’s efforts and working in solidarity with those who are resisting occupation, oppression, human rights abuses and injustice in Palestine.

[RT]