Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is accusing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of “fomenting hate” after the mayor publicly labeled him a war criminal and suggested he should face arrest if he sets foot in New York City. In a Fox News interview, Netanyahu made clear he has every intention of traveling to New York this fall to participate in the United Nations General Assembly gathering of world leaders. For his part, Mamdani has openly acknowledged that arresting a foreign leader is not within his power. The mayor, who is Muslim, has been a vocal critic of Israel and a strong advocate for Palestinians. Some of Mamdani’s past remarks have drawn accusations of anti-Semitism from critics, who also charge that he has denied Israel’s right to exist.
In other religious news from around the world, Orthodox Christian monks have returned to Estonia for the first time in nearly 100 years. The Kirikla Orthodox Monastery is the first institution of its kind to be established by the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church in decades. The monks follow a daily schedule that includes prayer, tending to a garden, and holding spiritual conversations with a growing stream of outside visitors — many of them young people. Estonia is widely considered a highly secular society, but religious leaders say they are beginning to notice a budding curiosity about faith among younger Estonians. During the Soviet era, the government shut down monasteries and effectively banned religious practice.
In Texas, a state appeals court has thrown out an injunction that had forced a Houston-area midwife to shut down her clinics. The court determined that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office had relied entirely on an anonymous email as the basis for its claim that midwife Maria Rosas had violated the state’s 2022 abortion ban. The appeals court stopped short of weighing in on whether the underlying accusations against Rosas were valid. Paxton’s office has announced plans to take the case to the Texas Supreme Court. A spokesman for the attorney general said the appeal will also aim to “ensure clarity in temporary injunction procedure in this and other cases” throughout the state.
