ARABINFOCUS

                  TRUMP AND NETANYAHU VIOLATE HUMAN RIGHTS Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday decided to bar Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) from entering Israel ahead of a trip scheduled to begin Sunday. The two Muslim congresswomen had planned to visit several West Bank towns and Jerusalem. “Refusing entry to a human rights advocate because they work for an organization that has criticized human rights violations by Israel would constitute a blatant assault on freedom of expression,” Philip Luther, research and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said in a statement. Wibisono, the U.N. investigator for human rights violations in the Palestinian territories, resigned his post in January 2016 after Israel refused to grant him access to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.   The WP says to-day that Israel to allow Democratic Rep. Ra...

Saudi Arabia allow adult women to travel without permission Saudi Arabia has allowed adult women to travel without permission and granted them more control over family matters, further eroding a heavily criticized male guardianship system at a time of heightened scrutiny over its human rights record. A series of royal decrees published by the official gazette on Friday stipulated that a Saudi passport should be issued to any citizen who applies for it and that any person above the age of 21 does not need permission to travel. The amendments to regulations also grant women for the first time the right to register child birth, marriage or divorce and to be issued official family documents and be eligible as a guardian to children who are minors. The Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has eased social restrictions, such as lifting a driving ban for women last year, as part of a push to open up the conservative Muslim kingdom and transform the economy. Guardianship’s status ...