The story: In Iraq, claims of new restrictions on Palestinians’ access to social support and economic opportunity have sparked public outrage on social media. Coming amid a broader push to regulate non-Iraqi labor, the controversy involves an alleged move to bar Palestinians from owning taxis—one of the sole remaining economic lifelines of the diaspora. Critics accuse political elites in Baghdad of hypocrisy for claiming to support the Palestinian cause while purportedly curtailing the rights of Palestinians at home.

The coverage: A copy of the alleged directive, apparently signed by the Ministry of Interior’s legal committee in October, states that the government does not...