Kurt Pelda

Volunteer. Totally biased: In favour of democracy and free speech, against all kinds of extremism and hate speech.

[Ahmed Al-Khalidi @khalidi79397]

Israel in an apartheid state - Arabs make up about 21% of Israel’s population.

Israel in an apartheid state - Arab citizens of Israel can vote in national elections on the same legal basis as other Israeli citizens.

Israel in an apartheid state - Every vote has the same legal value. Israel’s parliamentary elections are required by law to be national, direct, equal, secret and proportional.

Israel in an apartheid state - Arab citizens serve in Israel’s parliament. As of 2026, Arab and Druze lawmakers serve both in Arab-led political parties and in broader national parties.

Israel in an apartheid state - Arab lawmakers can lead parliamentary committees. For example, Arab lawmaker Yasir Hujeirat currently chairs the parliament’s Science and Technology Committee.

Israel in an apartheid state - Arab politicians have served as government ministers. Arab citizens have held cabinet-level positions in Israeli governments.

Israel in an apartheid state - An Arab political party has participated in an Israeli governing coalition. In 2021, the Arab party Ra’am became part of the coalition supporting Israel’s government.

Israel in an apartheid state - Arab citizens also serve in major political parties that are not specifically Arab parties. Current examples include representatives in Likud, Yesh Atid, Yisrael Beitenu and other parties.

Israel in an apartheid state - Israel’s Declaration of Independence promises complete social and political equality to all citizens regardless of religion, race or sex. It also guarantees freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture.

Israel in an apartheid state - The Declaration of Independence specifically called on Arab residents to participate in building the country on the basis of “full and equal citizenship.”

Israel in an apartheid state - Arabic has legally recognized special status in Israel. Israeli law specifically protects the use and status of Arabic in dealings with government institutions.

Israel in an apartheid state - Non-Jewish citizens have the legal right to observe their own religious holidays and weekly days of rest.

Israel in an apartheid state - Arab judges serve in Israel’s court system, including at the highest levels of the judiciary. Arab judges have served on Israel’s Supreme Court as well as lower courts.

Israel in an apartheid state - Arab students are strongly represented in Israeli universities and colleges. More than 60,000 Arab students were enrolled in higher education in 2023–2024.

Israel in an apartheid state - Arab students now make up about 20% of undergraduate students in Israel. Their share reached a record 20.4%, roughly matching their share of the overall population.

Israel in an apartheid state - The number and proportion of Arab university students have roughly doubled since 2009–10. The increase has occurred at bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels.

Israel in an apartheid state - Israel operates a large Arabic-language public-school system. Arab children can attend schools where Arabic is the main language of instruction.

Israel in an apartheid state - Arab citizens play a major role in Israel’s healthcare system. The share of Arab doctors has risen substantially and is approaching their share of the population.

Israel in an apartheid state - Around 30% of new doctors entering Israel’s medical system are Arab.

Israel in an apartheid state - Arab Israelis make up roughly one-third of pharmacists in Israel. This is higher than their share of the overall population.

Israel in an apartheid state - Arab men and women work alongside Jewish Israelis throughout the healthcare system. Hospitals, clinics and pharmacies are among the most integrated workplaces in Israeli society.

Israel in an apartheid state - Arab women’s participation in the workforce has increased significantly. Among Arab women aged 25–54, labor-force participation reached about 50% in 2023.
>>

[Ahmed Al-Khalidi @khalidi79397]

Saudi Arabia is not an apartheid state – Public practice of any religion other than Islam is prohibited. Non-Muslim houses of worship may not be built. Apostasy and non-Muslim proselytizing are criminalized; conversion from Islam is punishable by death on the books. Naturalization requires the applicant to be Muslim.

Lebanon is not an apartheid state – Law No. 296 of 2001 bars anyone without citizenship of a “recognized state” from acquiring real property. Palestinian refugees fall under this ban and cannot legally buy or, in practice, inherit real estate after 2001. They remain excluded from dozens of licensed professions and from citizenship after generations born in the country.

Kuwait is not an apartheid state – The Nationality Law requires that a person seeking naturalization “be an original Muslim by birth, or that he has converted to Islam.” Non-Muslims are barred from naturalization. Women cannot confer nationality on their children on the same terms as men.

Qatar is not an apartheid state – Qatari women cannot confer nationality on their children born to a non-Qatari father, with no exception. Citizenship applications by long-term residents are capped and rarely granted. The kafala sponsorship system ties a migrant worker’s legal status to a citizen sponsor.

United Arab Emirates is not an apartheid state – Citizenship is transmitted primarily through the father. Naturalization is exceptional and tightly limited. The kafala system places migrant workers’ residency and job mobility under a citizen sponsor.

Pakistan is not an apartheid state – The Constitution (Article 260) and Ordinance XX declare Ahmadis non-Muslims. Penal Code sections 298-B and 298-C make it a crime for Ahmadis to call themselves Muslim, use Islamic terminology, or preach their faith, punishable by imprisonment. Blasphemy under section 295-C carries the death penalty.

Iran is not an apartheid state – Constitution Article 13 recognizes only Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians as religious minorities. Baha’is are excluded from official recognition, identity documents listing their faith, university admission on equal terms, and communal property rights.

Afghanistan is not an apartheid state – Under Taliban rule, apostasy and blasphemy are capital offenses. Non-Muslims and converts have no legal pathway to public worship or equal civic status.

Maldives is not an apartheid state – The Constitution states that only a Muslim may be a citizen. Conversion from Islam can result in loss of citizenship. Apostasy and blasphemy remain capital offenses on the books.

Mauritania is not an apartheid state – Apostasy is a capital offense. Conversion from Islam can result in loss of citizenship rights. Hereditary slavery of the Haratin (Black) population by Bidhan (Arab-Berber) groups has persisted despite formal abolition.

Yemen is not an apartheid state – Apostasy is punishable by death. Public non-Muslim worship is not protected. Personal-status rules follow Sharia distinctions between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Egypt is not an apartheid state – The Constitution names Islam as the state religion and the principles of Sharia as the main source of legislation. Unrecognized groups such as Baha’is cannot obtain identity documents reflecting their faith. Muslim women cannot legally marry non-Muslim men unless the man converts. Blasphemy is criminalized.

Jordan is not an apartheid state – A Muslim woman cannot legally marry a non-Muslim man unless he converts. Nationality is transmitted through the father; citizen women cannot confer nationality on children or foreign spouses on equal terms. Converts from Islam face bureaucratic and family-law disadvantages.

Syria is not an apartheid state – Personal-status law follows Sharia rules that restrict Muslim women’s marriage to non-Muslims. Palestinian refugees hold a distinct legal status and do not acquire full citizenship.
>>

[eli @Elitiker]

Jetzt wo die Hamas bald an der Spree regiert, sollte der Bau neuer U-Bahn Tunnel schnell vorangehen.

[John Spencer @SpencerGuard]

"Underground cities. How Ukrainian infantry survive under fire," as @asherdigs @yadinsoffer @traysartech and I have been saying. There is a lot of discussions about drones, but most less discussion about how the war in Ukraine has turned into a tech advanced expansion of WWI subterra environments. Highways, manufacturing plants, hospitals, underground cities, and more. Force protection and survival will require the rapid use of the subterra.
https://t.co/w6ur5jZzmF

The modern front line is steadily moving underground, echoing some of the darkest episodes of World War I and its "mole-like" existence.

Classic dugouts with three or six layers of overhead cover are becoming a thing of the past. Today, on the front line, only those who dig in deep and strategically stand a chance of surviving. Infantry are tirelessly building "underground cities" — burrows no more than three feet wide, underground rooms and tunnels built on the principle that the longer, the better. They build them from scratch. These are the very "defensive lines" that are mentioned in the news, says Lieutenant Colonel Kovalov.

[Kurt Pelda @KurtPelda]

P(o)utin met même la pro-Poutiniste en colère. Sa stratégie ne marchera pas.

[Marine Le Pen @MLP_officiel]

La décision prise par les autorités russes de placer sous administration temporaire les filiales et actifs en Russie de plusieurs entreprises françaises et européennes constitue un acte hostile à l’encontre des intérêts de la France et des Nations d’Europe.

Cette décision, qui porte directement atteinte aux intérêts et aux droits de nos entreprises, doit être condamnée fermement.

Notre communiqué avec @J_Bardella ⤵️

[Kurt Pelda @KurtPelda]

@AbrahamKohen03 @kelghazzali Deutsch ist nicht so deine Stärke, oder?

[Kurt Pelda @KurtPelda]

@LRapax @kelghazzali Können Sie mir bitte folgen, damit ich Ihnen eine Direktnachricht schicken kann?

[Darth Putin @DarthPutinKGB]

When you vote for the wrong candidate.

[Kacem El Ghazzali @kelghazzali]

Ein Kampfsportzentrum im Aargau unterlegt seine Trainingsvideos mit jihadistischen Anaschid – Gesängen, die Märtyrertod und bewaffneten Kampf gegen Ungläubigen verherrlichen. Der NDB beobachtet das seit Längerem. Passiert ist nichts.

Die Recherche von @KurtPelda und meiner Einordnung dazu, warum diese Hymnen im Jihadismus so zentral sind. @CH_Wochenende

Warum hat der NDB niemanden, der solche Gesänge aus dem Arabischen übersetzen und einordnen kann? Das ist Grundwissen für jede ernsthafte Radikalisierungsprävention. Fehlt die Kompetenz oder fehlt der politische Wille?

[Künstliche Intelligenz @KI_Agent]

Nicht vergessen: Es ist noch nicht so lange her, als Menschen in Deutschland unter Lebensgefahr vor dem Wahnsinn der Linken geflohen sind.
Video: Flucht durch die Spee nach West-Berlin im September 1988

[Marc Felix Serrao @MarcFelixSerrao]

Immerhin eine sagt «er». Das Opfer.

[Radosław Sikorski 🇵🇱🇪🇺 @sikorskiradek]

Ku pamięci, liczby samolotów bojowych:
Rosja 860, UE 1600, NATO 4500 w tym,
myśliwce 5 generacji:
Rosja 40, UE 200, NATO 1100

[EMMA @EMMA_Magazin]

Die "Bundespolizistin", die ein 15-jähriges Mädchen auf einer Toilette vergewaltigt hat, ist ein biologischer Mann. Warum spielt das bei der Berichterstattung der meisten Medien keine Rolle? - Das Transgesetz und die Folgen. 
https://t.co/1KTbUoK4O8
#Trans

[Rona @ronalyze]

Es ist – nach dem Verständnis von Trans- und Queeraktivisten – trans- und queerfeindlich, den Täter als Mann zu bezeichnen und ihn zu zeigen. Es findet auch keine Distanzierung von Transaktivisten von diesen Tätern statt. Stattdessen kämpft man dafür, dass diese Täter als Frau angesprochen werden und im Gefängnis Sonderbehandlungen erhalten – z.B. Abtasten durch weibliche Beamtinnen und am liebsten eine Verlegung ins Frauengefängnis. Es gibt LGBTQ-Polizei-Vereine, die sich dafür engagieren. Das geht schon seit vielen Jahren so und war schon vor dem Selbstbestimmungsgesetz eingeführt. Ich würde es als Täterschutz bezeichnen.

[Julian Reichelt @jreichelt]

Wenn sie die Medien dazu bringen können, zu behaupten, dass dieser Perverse eine Frau ist, dass Frauen Mädchen auf der Toilette vergewaltigen, dann können sie Medien dazu bringen, alles zu behaupten. Dann können sie Menschen dazu bringen, alles zu behaupten. Das ist die Macht der Propaganda. Und diese Schlagzeile ist ein Tiefpunkt in der Geschichte von BILD. Der Täter ist ein Mann. Es ist wirklich krank und gehirngewaschen, ihn als Frau zu bezeichnen.

[Christo Grozev @christogrozev]

Another major GRU/FSB blunder, on par with the Google Translate fiasco. And another win for the FBI.
(We at @InsiderEng and @derspiegel have been tracking this cell for months and will publish a full investigation in the next few days). A few highlights below.

[Michael Steiner @AnwaltSteiner]

Wir brauchen Daten, Daten, Daten...

...und datenbasierte Diskussionen

"Häusliche Gewalt hat viel mit der Herkunft zu tun – es wird Zeit, dass die Behörden das Offensichtliche beim Namen nennen"
https://t.co/PN2Tubgbch

[Ahmed Al-Khalidi @khalidi79397]

I envy the director who called his own country's army something worse than any enemy ever called it, and then drove home.

I envy that he signed his name to it.

I envy that his face is on the poster.

I envy that the state's revenge was a press release.

I envy that the ministers who despise him can only threaten his funding.

I envy that his worst punishment is being hated loudly by people with keyboards.

I envy that Iranian propaganda spends millions and never reaches the accusation he made himself, unpaid, on camera.

I envy that he will be invited to debate his critics on television.

I envy that his critics want to argue with him at all.

I envy that his mother watched the ceremony from her living room.

I envy that his mother has a living room.

I envy him because forty minutes past the last checkpoint, outside his country and outside his law, the review arrives at night, on motorcycles.

I envy him because out there, men take you out in your underwear so the street remembers it.

I envy him because an hour from his editing room, but under a different flag, a film like that ends on a rooftop, with the director going over the edge.

I envy him because in that place, the director own people will drag the body through the market, so the next director understands the notes.

I envy him because 50 kilometers from the theater that screened his film, and past the border of everything he is accused of, they shoot the knees first, so the neighborhood hears the whole verdict.

I envy him because there, the sentence includes your brothers.

I envy him because there, the sentence includes the house your father built.

I envy him because there, a rumor that you spoke to a foreign journalist is the entire trial.

I envy him because there, nobody cuts your budget, they cut you.

I envy that the distance between his applause and that rooftop is shorter than his commute, and that no one confuses the two jurisdictions.

I envy that he says all of it from inside the country he is accusing.

[Nina Scholz @NinaaScholz]

Die mittlerweile enormen Probleme im Migrationsbereich sind kein allgemeines Migrationsproblem. Sie sind in erster Linie Folge der Einwanderung aus islamisch geprägten Ländern. Die Ursachen lagen und liegen nicht in Diskriminierung, Rassismus oder sozioökonom. Faktoren. Zahlreiche andere Einwanderer und Flüchtlinge erleben ebenfalls Diskriminierung, stehen vor ähnlichen sozialen Herausforderungen und müssen vergleichbare Hindernisse überwinden. Trotzdem wenden sie sich weder extremistischen Ideologien zu noch entwickeln sie eine feindselige Haltung ggü der übrigen Gesellschaft oder wenden gar Gewalt an, um diese zu bekämpfen. Ein zentraler Pull-Faktor für Radikalisierung, nämlich das Angebot einer extremistischen islamischen Ideologie, die Tag für Tag Abwertung und Hass auf alle anderen Gruppen schürt, ist dort schlicht nicht vorhanden.

Religiöser Extremismus, Unduldsamkeit, Verachtung der Aufnahmeländer, Überlegenheitsfantasien und mitunter auch Beifall für Gewalttaten zeigen sich leider auch in der Mitte islamischer Gesellschaften und europäischer islamischer Communities, die sich mit den Terrorristen immer dann einig sind, wenn es gegen Pluralismus, konkret gegen Homosexuelle, Atheisten, islamkritische Geister und diejenigen Muslime geht, die religiöse Gebote & Verbote nicht über alles stellen. Und nicht erst seit dem 7. Oktober 2023, aber seither in zunehmendem Maße, gegen Juden.
Angesichts dieser islamisch argumentierten Intoleranz und Gewalt in Europa, die man (von einigen wenigen frühen Warnungen abgesehen) nach Jahrzehnten weitgehenden gesellschaftlichen Friedens weder vorausgesehen noch für möglich gehalten hatte, verfielen viele in eine Art Schockstarre, die in Verdrängung und Wunschdenken überging. Das ist vielleicht ein allzu menschlicher Reflex, der jedoch – wenn ihm ein großer Teil der Gesellschaft und der politisch Verantwortlichen erliegt – gefährliche Auswirkungen auf den gesellschaftlichen Frieden hat.
Noch ein persönliches Wort:
Ich weiß, dass viele nur noch lamentieren, es sei mittlerweile viel zu spät, und resigniert abwinken. Ich weiß nur nicht, wohin - außer in eine Looserposition - das führen soll.
Es wäre klug, wenn die Bedrohung der Freiheit durch islamischen Fundamentalismus spät aber doch von Politik und Gesellschaft als strategische Herausforderung begriffen würde und die Erarbeitung einer umfassenden Gegenstrategie auf die Prioritätenliste käme.

[NZZ @NZZ]

In Kreisen progressiver Historiker wird der Westen oft und lautstark der Sklaverei angeklagt. Dabei klinkten sich die Kolonialmächte in Afrika in ein System ein, das der Islam längst etabliert hatte. Nur geht das in der Kritik gern vergessen. https://t.co/tYWrB2fEnk