To most Israeli Jews, the recent violence is a spate of random attacks against innocents. Palestinians see it as excessive force against not only attackers but anyone who looks like them.
But the secretary of state urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to soften the language that American and European officials believe is fueling violence in the country.
Record numbers of Syrian, Iraqi, and North African migrants have been flooding into Europe, generating a massive humanitarian crisis. Host Bob Abernethy and managing editor Kim Lawton talk with Sean Callahan, chief operating officer of Catholic Relief Services, about how faith-based groups are trying help the refugees and what the US can do to address the crisis. Says Callahan, “What we would like to do is see, at the call of Pope Francis, that we all open our doors a little bit more, and we expedite the process. Currently for the refugees to get in it takes about 18 to 24 months...
The authorities began setting up roadblocks and checkpoints and deployed police officers and soldiers, in response to what the government called a “wave of terrorism.”
Religious diversity is under threat across the Middle East and other parts of the globe, according to a State Department report on religious freedoms, which recounts the rise of ISIS and its attacks on Christians and other minorities.