LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 09/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 01/46-56/:”Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 08-09/2019
Hezbollah Is Stubbornly Insisting To Replicate The Puppet & Corrupted Resigned Lebanese Cabinet
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude: The country is ruled by a group with weapons
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude: Country Ruled by Armed Group and Person You All Know
Mufti Tells Khatib There's Sunni Consensus on Naming Hariri
Main Lebanon PM candidate withdraws from consideration
Lebanon’s Khatib sees consensus on Hariri as prime minister again
Parliamentary Consultations on New PM Postponed to December 16
Lebanese Women March in Beirut against Sexual Harassment
Abdallah Chatila, Lebanese-Born, Donor of Hitler Items Welcomed in Israel
Man Sets Himself Alight at Riad al-Solh Protest
Tripoli's Civil Movement declares general strike, blocking of roads tomorrow
Taymour Jumblatt announces Democratic Gathering's boycott of tomorrow's parliamentary consultations
Sidon's Elia Square turns into a meeting place to help the needy
Rahi officiates over Mass service in Bkirki
Bishop Alwan: The Church does not protect anyone
Lebanon's Hariri re-emerges as PM candidate as Khatib withdraws

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 08-09/2019
Systematic air strikes are dismantling the Al Qods compound at Abu Kamal
Bombing Iran to Stop Its Nuclear Plans Is ‘An Option,’ Israeli Foreign Minister Says
Report: At least 5 pro-Iranian men killed in strike on Syria-Iraq border
Iran Unveils Budget of 'Resistance' against U.S. Sanctions
Iran to unveil new generation of uranium enrichment centrifuges soon
Trump Thanks Iran as American Freed in Prisoner Swap
Trump Tells Jewish-Americans He is Israel's Best Friend
Protests grip Baghdad and southern Iraq despite rising toll
Iraq demonstrations ‘a telltale sign’: US Defense Secretary Esper
Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu pushes annexation plan as new elections loom
Israeli aircraft strike Hamas sites in Gaza after 3 rockets
Egyptian officials say policeman, militant killed in Sinai
Turkish incursion in Syria’s Idlib displaces 38,000 in one week: Monitor
Egypt Coordinates with Vatican to Counter Extremist Ideology

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 08-09/2019
Hezbollah Is Stubbornly Insisting To Replicate The Puppet & Corrupted Resigned Lebanese Cabinet/Elias Bejjani/December 08/2019
Leading figures agree to new Hariri government/Najia Houssari/Arab News/December 08/2019
Megaphone: The voice of Lebanon's uprising/Timour Azhari/Al Jazeera/December 08/2019
5 Quick Takeaways from the Lebanese Revolt, Others/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/December 08/2019
Lebanon and the Monster of Bankruptcy/Rajeh Khoury/Asharq Al Awsat/December 08/2019
Time Is Running Out/Interview With Former Minister Nasser al-Saidi/Michael Young/Carnegie/December 08/2019
*Systematic air strikes are dismantling the Al Qods compound at Abu Kamal/DEBKAfile/December 08/2019
The Historic IPO Was No Dream/Salman Al-Dossary/Asharq Al Awsat/December 08/2019
Ayatollahs should be most afraid of Iran’s own citizens/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/December 08/2019
Iranian protesters need protection from the regime/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/December 08/2019
Disillusionment at NATO despite policy shifts/Yasar Yakis/Arab News/December 08/2019
Egypt: Christian Churches Burn "Accidentally," or Have "Terrorists Changed Operations"?/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/December 08/2019
The Fate of Christians in the Current World/Denis MacEoin/Gatestone Institute/December 08/2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 08-09/2019
Hezbollah Is Stubbornly Insisting To Replicate The Puppet & Corrupted Resigned Lebanese Cabinet
/حزب الله مصر على استنساخ الحكومة التبعية والإفساد المستقيلة
Elias Bejjani/December 08/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81229/elias-bejjani-hezbollah-is-stubbornly-insisting-to-replicate-the-puppet-corrupted-resigned-lebanese-cabinet-%d8%ad%d8%b2%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%84%d9%87-%d9%85%d8%b5%d8%b1-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%89-%d8%a7/
The Iranian armed Lebanese terrorist proxy, “The Party Of God”, Hezbollah, is the actual ruler of Lebanon, and it fully controls the country’s decision making process, as well as all the officials including the president, House Speaker and the cabinet.
At the present time, and as a result of an Iranian recent orchestrated parliamentary elections, and an electoral non-constitutional law that was tailored and imposed by intimation and force, Hezbollah enjoys a majority in both the parliament and the Cabinet.
The mass public peaceful Lebanese revolution that has been going on for the past 52 days has forced the cabinet to resign.
But the Occupier, Hezbollah, and its Iranian masters, are still defiant and insist to maintain the pre revolution status quo.
Since the Cabinet’s resignation, Hezbollah has been stubbornly refusing to respond to any of the revolution’s just demands, and is insisting to maintain its irony Iranian grip on the country.
Hezbollah’s leadership in both Beirut and Tehran are evilly challenging the Lebanese peaceful revolution, and through terrorism and intimidation are adamant to replicate the corrupted-puppet resigned government in a bid to maintain their occupational status.
Apparently Hezbollah’s leadership has solely formed a new puppet government that is a mere replicate of the resigned one. But it is not yet official announced.
All that is left before its official announcement is a Lebanese Muslim Sunni politician that is willing to head it, as a facade cover no more no less.
Three Muslim Sunnis are competing for the post, Caretaker PM, Saad Al Hariri, Beirut MP Fouad Makhzoumi, and the businessman Samir Al Khatieb.
The PM’s name will be known tomorrow (Monday) through the folkloric president’s consultations with the 128 Members of the Lebanese Parliament.
But the real outcome is not clear due to the fact that many Lebanese well informed analysts strongly believe that the covert-Hariri Bassil business partnership is still very sold with the Hezbollah’s blessings which means that Hariri is still the one that Aoun, Bassil, Hezbollah and Berri prefer. They know him very well because he has been serving their interests, as well the Iranian agenda.
It is worth mentioning that 74 MP’s are all in Hezbollah’s leadership pocket and under its tip, and accordingly they will blindly vote in accordance to its orders “Faraman”.
In summary Hezbollah has belligerently refused to respond to all the demands of the revolution, and definitely will by force try to hold on to the ongoing status of its occupation.
Meanwhile the mass peaceful revolution is expected to go on in spite of all the oppression that its activists are facing, while all kinds of economical hardships that the country is facing are getting worse.
In conclusion, Lebanon needs a flood of divine intervention, and the floods of water on the roads to wash the ungodly leaders out.
Our Prays go to the oppressed and occupied Lebanon that Almighty God shall always guard, protect and safeguard.

Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude: The country is ruled by a group with weapons
NNA/December 08/2019
Beirut's Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop Elias Aoudeh presided over a memorial Mass service at St. George's Cathedral in downtown Beirut this morning, marking the fourteenth commemoration of the martyrdom of Gibran Tueni and his two companions.
In his homily, Aoudeh paid tribute to the memory of Martyr Tueini, recalling the true essence of his words that still reflect on our present times. "To believe that the true word does not die, but resonates stronger, listen to what Gibran said many years ago, as if to describe the present situation in our beloved country, which was distorted by the hand of corruption, betrayal and repression," he said.
"What remains of the truth, service, humility, deliberation, transparency, justice, openness, democracy and freedom, what is left of it in our country?" questioned Aoudeh, criticizing the current rulers for adopting the ways of "totalitarian regimes with their one-party system."
"How long are we to continue paying the price for internal and external polarizations? How long are we to continue wasting opportunities? How long will the people remain captive to the policy of an extremist party?" Aoudeh went on to question. "This country is ruled by a person you all know and by a group that governs us with arms!" he exclaimed. The Archbishop considered that for a citizen's identity to be preserved, the country must be preserved. "Today, unfortunately, Lebanon pays the price of the mistakes committed by a corrupt and bankrupt political class," he said, adding, "Had it not been for the people who held on to their identity, Lebanon would have been lost a long time ago."
"The Lebanese people have demonstrated their ability to preserve the country and identity after the many struggles it has gone through...We must learn to belong to the homeland and a new political class must be created," he emphasized.
Bishop Aoudeh hailed the Lebanese youth's uprising under the country's national flag, and slogans of achieving social justice, anti-corruption, accountability, liberation of the judiciary from political interference, and forming a min-government of specialists with integrity and competence. "Are these mere fictitious demands, or are they the simplest things required to build a state?" he wondered. "The Lebanese people take pride in being a peaceful people, whose weapons are unity, faith, honesty and truth, especially their steadfastness in the face of conspiracies and attempts to sow discord and despair in souls," the Bishop maintained. "Birth, my dear ones, is preceded by a painful labor, and the birth of a new Lebanon is approaching," he said. "It is a question of will, above all, the will to sacrifice, the will to abandon selfishness and personal interests, the will to open up to the other and extend the hand of dialogue and the determination to reach for what unites rather than highlight the differences," stressed Aoudeh. "Our country is in conflict and is waiting for a heroic act to save it," he underscored.

Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude: Country Ruled by Armed Group and Person You All Know
Naharnet/December 08/2019
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude on Sunday decried that Lebanon is being ruled by one “person” and an “armed group.” “Today, this country is being ruled by a person you all know, and no one is saying a word, and it is being ruled by a group hiding behind arms,” Aude said in a sermon marking the 14th anniversary of the assassination of the journalist Gebran Tueni. “What has scared officials and is still scaring them is the voice of right and truth, the voice of the hungry and suffering people, the voice of everyone who cherishes the country,” Aude added.
“The ruling authority has been sentenced to death while the people and their country will only find resurrection and victory. The birth of a new Lebanon is nearing,” the metropolitan went on to say. Commenting on the protests that have been sweeping the country since October 17, Aude said the Lebanese who are on the streets are “sacrificing a lot for the sake of a future whose fathers and grandfathers had waited but did not get.”

Mufti Tells Khatib There's Sunni Consensus on Naming Hariri
Naharnet/December 08/2019
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan on Sunday told premiership candidate Samir Khatib that there is Sunni “consensus” on naming caretaker PM Saad Hariri to lead the new government. The Mufti is “among the supporters of PM Saad Hariri, who is exerting efforts to advance Lebanon, and he supports his Arab and international role in this regard,” Khatib said in a statement from Dar al-Fatwa after meeting Daryan. “I learned from His Eminence that as a result of the meetings, consultations and contacts with the sons of the (Sunni) Muslim community, consensus has been reached on naming PM Saad Hariri to lead the new government,” Khatib added. “Accordingly, I will head to the Center House to meet with PM Saad Hariri and inform him of this, because he was the one who named me to form a new government, and I thank him for his precious confidence,” Khatib went on to say. As Khatib’s meeting with Hariri got underway later in the day, MTV reported that Hariri will meet with the political aides of Speaker Nabih Berri and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in “the coming hours.” Speaking after his meeting with Hariri, Khatib said: "When my name was mentioned to be appointed Prime minister-designate, I listened to the wishes of many friends and political leaders. This is an occasion to extend my thanks to President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and the leaders who gave me their trust." "It was natural to conduct a series of contacts with the concerned political parties. These contacts took place over a period of two weeks during which I was subjected to an unfair campaign by some biased people," he lamented. He added: "After my latest meeting today with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan, I came to meet with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who had named me and supported me. I informed him of the position of the Mufti, which I announced from Dar al-Fatwa.” Khatib concluded: "Thus, I apologize with a very clear conscience for not being able to continue the journey to which I have been nominated, asking God Almighty to protect Lebanon from all evil and to enlighten the consciences and minds of the Lebanese and political leaders to overcome the crisis and reach the shore of safety. I renew my thanks to Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who overwhelmed me with his affection and trust, and who will remain for me a role model in loyalty, patriotism and wise leadership.”The developments come on the eve of binding parliamentary consultations to pick a new premier. The main political parties, including Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal Movement, had reached consensus on Khatib’s nomination in recent days. Hariri stepped down on October 29, bowing to pressure from unprecedented street protests. The protest movement that has swept the country since October 17 has demanded the appointment of an independent technocrat government and an overhaul of the entire political system.

Main Lebanon PM candidate withdraws from consideration
Associated Press/December 08/2019
Khatib, a prominent contractor, announced his decision after meeting with Hariri. Hariri had said he backed Khatib for the post.
BEIRUT: A possible candidate for prime minister of Lebanon said Sunday he is withdrawing from consideration for the post, prolonging the country’s political crisis. Samir Khatib’s announcement came hours before he was expected to be named as the official candidate for the post following consultations between the president and major parliamentary blocs. Khatib’s statement also comes shortly after his visit to the country’s top Sunni religious authority, who told him the community supports resigned former prime minister Saad Hariri for the job. Hariri resigned Oct. 29 amid nationwide protests in which demonstrators accused the political elite of corruption and mismanagement. The protesters had rejected Khatib as a candidate. At the time, Hariri said he reached a “dead end” with his political rivals over forming an emergency government to deal with the country’s crumbling economy. Lebanon’s national unity government was headed by Hariri, a Sunni Muslim backed by the West, but was dominated by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group and its allies, including the party of President Michel Aoun. Khatib, a prominent contractor, announced his decision after meeting with Hariri. Hariri had said he backed Khatib for the post. Under Lebanon’s sectarian-based political system, the prime minister comes from the Sunni Muslim community, while the president is chosen from the Maronite Christian community. The parliament speaker is chosen from the ranks of Shiite Muslims.

Lebanon’s Khatib sees consensus on Hariri as prime minister again
Emily Judd, Al Arabiya English/Sunday, 8 December 2019
Lebanese businessman Samir Khatib arrived on Sunday to Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri's residence in Beirut to inform him of his withdrawal for candidacy, according to an Al Arabiya correspondent. Khatib said on Sunday there was a consensus for nominating Saad Hariri as prime minister again to form a new government, speaking after a meeting with Lebanon's top Sunni Muslim religious leader Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian. The statement spelt the end of Khatib’s candidacy for the post which is reserved for a Sunni Muslim in Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system.
Hariri, now running a caretaker government, quit as prime minister on October 29, prompted by protests against the ruling elite. “Positions come and go, but the dignity and safety of the country is more important,” Hariri said at the time. Consensus emerged last week around Khatib as the new premier, with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the leading Shia Muslim in the state, saying he would nominate Khatib. “I was originally going to nominate Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri or the person he backs to form the government, and given that he supports Engineer Samir Khatib, I will nominate ... Samir Khatib,” Berri told al-Joumhouria newspaper. Hariri was first elected to Lebanon’s Parliament in a 2005 landslide victory, following the assassination of his father, then-prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, in a Beirut car bombing. Following in his father’s footsteps, Hariri headed the Future Movement party and was named prime minister in June 2009. He exited the position when his unity government collapsed in 2011, but was named prime minister again in December 2016. The Saudi-born Lebanese businessman is a telecom mogul, whose net worth in 2013 was estimated at $1.9 billion by Forbes.- With Reuters

Parliamentary Consultations on New PM Postponed to December 16
Naharnet/December 08/2019
The Presidency on Sunday postponed the binding parliamentary consultations for naming a new PM from Monday, Dec. 9 to Monday, Dec. 16, after Dar al-Fatwa told the candidate Samir Khatib that there is Sunni consensus on re-nominating Saad Hariri for the post. "In light of the developments, at the desire and request of most parliamentary blocs, and to allow for further consultations and contacts, President (Michel) Aoun has decided to postpone the binding parliamentary consultations previously scheduled for tomorrow to Monday, December 16," the Presidency said in a statement. Aoun had held phone talks with Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker PM Hariri after Khatib announced the withdrawal of his nomination earlier in the day. The main political parties, including Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal Movement, had reached consensus on Khatib’s nomination in recent days. Hariri stepped down on October 29, bowing to pressure from unprecedented street protests. The protest movement that has swept the country since October 17 has demanded the appointment of an independent technocrat government and an overhaul of the entire political system.

Lebanese Women March in Beirut against Sexual Harassment
Associated Press/Naharnet/December 08/2019
Scores of women marched through the streets of Beirut on Saturday to protest sexual harassment and bullying and demanding rights including the passing of citizenship to children of Lebanese women married to foreigners. The march started outside the American University of Beirut, west of the capital, and ended in a downtown square that has been witnessing daily protests for more than seven weeks. Nationwide demonstrations in Lebanon broke out Oct. 17 against proposed taxes on WhatsApp calls turned into a condemnation of the country's political elite, who have run the country since the 1975-90 civil war. The government resigned in late October, meeting a key demand of the protesters. "We want to send a message against sexual harassment. They say that the revolution is a woman, therefore, if there is a revolution, women must be part of it," said protester Berna Dao. "Women are being raped, their right is being usurped, and they are not able to pass their citizenship."Activists have been campaigning for years so that parliament drafts a law that allows Lebanese women married to foreigners pass their citizenship to their husbands and children. Earlier this year, Raya al-Hassan became the first woman in the Arab world to take the post of interior minister. The outgoing Cabinet has four women ministers, the highest in the country in decades.

Abdallah Chatila, Lebanese-Born, Donor of Hitler Items Welcomed in Israel
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 08/2019
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday hosted a Lebanese-born Swiss real estate mogul who purchased Nazi memorabilia at a German auction and is donating the items to Israel. Rivlin called Abdallah Chatila's gesture an "act of grace."Chatila, a Lebanese Christian who has lived in Switzerland for decades, paid some 600,000 euros ($660,000) for the items at the Munich auction last month, intending to destroy them after reading of Jewish groups' objections to the sale. Shortly before the auction, however, he decided it would be better to donate them to a Jewish organization. Among the items he bought were Adolf Hitler's top hat, a silver-plated edition of Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and a typewriter used by the dictator's secretary. The items are to be donated to Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. Chatila said he initially bought the items for personal reasons. "He is the personification of evil -- evil for everyone, not evil for the Jews, evil for the Christians, evil for humanity," he said. "And that's why it was important for me to buy those artifacts."But Chatila decided that he "had no right to decide" what to do with these artifacts, so he reached out to Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal, a nonprofit fundraising body that assists Israeli and Jewish causes. It then decided to pass the items on to Yad Vashem because of its existing collection of Nazi artifacts. "Usually Yad Vashem doesn't support trade. We do not believe in trade of artifacts that come from the Nazi party or other parts," said Avner Shalev, chairman of Yad Vashem. "We like that it should be in the hands of museums or public collectors and not in private hands."
At a press conference held at Rivlin's residence, Chatila said his donation has been criticized by some in his homeland. Israel and Lebanon have never signed a peace agreement, and relations remain hostile. "I got a few messages saying that I was a traitor, saying that I helped the enemy. And also some messages of people warning me not to go back to Lebanon," he said. "It's easy for me as I don't go to Lebanon. I don't have a problem with it." But Chatila said his parents still travel to Lebanon, making the backlash difficult for his family. Rivlin thanked Chatila for his act and donation "of great importance at this time" when Holocaust denial and neo-Nazism are on the rise. He also noted that the artifacts would help preserve the Holocaust legacy for future generations who will not be able to meet or hear from the dwindling population of aging survivors. "What you did was seemingly so simple, but this act of grace shows the whole world how to fight the glorification of hatred and incitement against other people. It was a truly human act," Rivlin said. The items are still at the German auction house, and it was not immediately known when they would be transferred to Yad Vashem.
Chatila was born in Beirut into a family of Christian jewelers and moved to Switzerland at the age of two. Now among Switzerland's richest 300 people, he supports charities and causes, including many relating to Lebanon and Syrian refugees. Rabbi Mehachem Margolin, head of the European Jewish Association, said Chatila's surprise act had raised attention to such auctions. He said it was a powerful statement against racism and xenophobia, especially coming from a non-Jew of Lebanese origin. "There is no question that a message that comes from you is 10 times, or 100 times stronger than a message that comes from us," Margolin told Chatila.

Man Sets Himself Alight at Riad al-Solh Protest
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 08/2019
A man in Lebanon tried to self-immolate during a protest in Beirut on Saturday, the Lebanese Red Cross said, before protesters extinguished the flames. Protesters in Riad al-Solh Square smothered the flames with jackets and blankets, an AFP photographer said. The man, who did not lose consciousness, was evacuated in a Red Cross ambulance. "A man set fire to himself, a Lebanese Red Cross team intervened," the organization wrote on Twitter. The official NNA news agency reported that a man in his forties had doused himself in petrol before setting himself alight. Media reports said he did not have money to buy medicine. Lebanon is going through a dire economic and financial crisis amid political paralysis and an ongoing protest movement. On Saturday, dozens gathered in the central Riad al-Solh Square for another demonstration against the country's ruling elite. Protests began on October 17, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of Lebanese demanding an end to corruption and incompetent leadership. Lebanon's financial situation, already precarious before the protests, has deteriorated markedly since. In recent weeks, thousands of people have lost their jobs or had their salaries slashed.
Several cases of suicide have been reported in recent days, with financial difficulties believed to be a motivating factor. In February, a Lebanese man died from severe burns after setting himself on fire at his daughter's school over a fee dispute with the management. The World Bank has warned of an impending recession that may see the proportion of people living in poverty climb from a third to half the population. Unemployment, already above 30 per cent for young people, would also increase, it has said. Outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri asked Arab and Western allies for financial help on Friday.
An $11 billion (10 billion euro) aid package pledged at a conference dubbed CEDRE in Paris in April 2018 has not been unlocked by donors for lack of reform.

Tripoli's Civil Movement declares general strike, blocking of roads tomorrow
NNA/December 08/2019
Tripoli's popular movement organizers announced through loudspeakers in Abdel Hamid Karami's "Al-Nour Square" this evening, that tomorrow will be a general strike day in the city, and the main and subsidiary roads will be cut off starting 4:00am, NNA correspondent in Tripoli reported.

Taymour Jumblatt announces Democratic Gathering's boycott of tomorrow's parliamentary consultations
NNA/December 08/2019
"Democratic Gathering" Chief, MP Taymour Jumblatt, tweeted Sunday saying: "Following the breach of the Constitution and violating the principles adopted in forming governments, namely through suspicious side consultations which denote a real setback that contradicts these principles and fails to respect institutions and their role, the Democratic Gathering will refrain from partaking in the parliamentary consultations scheduled for tomorrow."

Sidon's Elia Square turns into a meeting place to help the needy
NNA/December 08/2019
The "Square of Elia" in Sidon has turned into a meeting place for humanitarian initiatives organized by the city's civil movement, within the framework of helping and supporting citizens especially those who have lost the ability to secure the least livelihood means in light of the difficult economic crisis.
In this context, the organizers, joined by several young men and women, worked to distribute food portions to those in need throughout the day, in addition to setting up a fully-equipped "open-air kitchen" on stage to secure food supplies to a number of needy families.

Rahi officiates over Mass service in Bkirki
NNA/December 08/2019
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi, likened the people's revolution to "torrential rain," calling on the political class to not disdain the civil movements and the youth revolution that wants to build a new civilized Lebanon. "There is no stronger force than the people!" he stressed.
The Prelate also advised the officials "not to ignore the demands of the people so that they do not block the roads, and not to bear the responsibility for destroying Lebanon before the international community."On the other hand, the Patriarch called for mutual respect for the prerogatives of the judiciary and ecclesiastical justice in the case of "Mission de Vie."

Bishop Alwan: The Church does not protect anyone
NNA/December 08/2019
Maronite Patriarchal Vicar, Bishop Hanna Alwan, held a press conference on Sunday, dwelling on the issue of the two detained nuns. Alwan underlined the importance of the judiciary which determines, according to him, the itinerary and security of the state. He deemed that when justice is honest and non-politicized, the state will be in a good position, while the corruption of justice corrupts society. Calling for the independence of the judiciary, Bishop Alwan said the church does not protect anyone, but insists on the integrity and independence of the judiciary. He, thus, called for expanding the investigation to unveil the "unfeared truth" in the aforementioned case. With regards to sexual harassment, he recalled that it has not been tolerated by any pope, adding, "At the Council of Patriarchs, we have published a law on this issue to punish the perpetrators, and we do not cover or tolerate this matter, and we have commissioned a church committee to investigate."

Lebanon's Hariri re-emerges as PM candidate as Khatib withdraws
Al Jazeera/December 08/2019
Lebanon's leading Sunni Muslim politician, Saad Hariri, has re-emerged as a candidate for prime minister as businessman Samir Khatib withdrew his candidacy to lead a government that must tackle an acute economic crisis. President Michel Aoun responded by postponing until December 16 consultations with lawmakers that had been expected to result in Khatib being named prime minister on Monday. The delay was requested by most parties in parliament, the presidency said on Sunday. Hariri quit as prime minister on October 29, prompted by mass protests against an entire political class blamed for state corruption and steering Lebanon into the worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. Under the country's power sharing system, the prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim. Hariri has continued to govern in a caretaker capacity until a new prime minister is named. After Hariri quit, talks to agree a new cabinet became mired in divisions between Hariri, who is aligned with Western and Gulf Arab states, and adversaries including the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah. Last month Hariri officially withdrew his candidacy to be prime minister. A consensus on Khatib appeared to form last week among the main parties, including Hariri. But Khatib failed to win enough backing from the Sunni Muslim establishment for the position. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, Lebanon's most senior Sunni cleric, told Khatib during a meeting on Sunday that he backed Hariri, Khatib said after the meeting. "I learnt ... that as a result of meetings and consultations and contacts with the sons of the (Sunni) Islamic sect, agreement was reached on nominating Saad al-Hariri to form the coming government," Khatib said.
There was no immediate statement from Hariri.
'Hariri is no exception'
Protesters gathered outside parliament after the announcement for scheduled rallies to protest the way the government is being formed and the delays in choosing a candidate amid the downward spiral of the economy. They were quick to denounce Hariri's possible return as a contender for the job. "We want an independent head of government," said Layal Siblani, one of hundreds of protesters gathered outside parliament. "Hariri is no exception. He is one of the pillars of this authority, he and his family ... They should not portray him as our savior because he has good international contacts."Siblani also protested the role of the religious authority in naming or supporting a candidate. "The head of the government is for all people. We should all know that and that there is no room for religious authorities to interfere."Security forces prevented the protesters from marching to Hariri's office, tightening roadblocks and scuffling with some who tried to push their way out of a cordon. Heavy rains didn't stop dozens of protesters from reaching the outside of Hariri's office chanting: "You will not come back, Hariri," and "Revolution." In recent days, in his role as caretaker prime minister, Hariri appealed to friendly foreign states to help Lebanon secure credit lines for essential imports as the country grapples with a hard currency shortage. He has said he would return as prime minister only if he could lead a technocratic government of specialist ministers which he believes would satisfy protesters and be best placed to deal with the economic crisis and attract foreign aid. But this demand has been rejected by groups including Hezbollah and its ally Aoun, a Maronite Christian, who say the government must include politicians.

Leading figures agree to new Hariri government
Najia Houssari/Arab News/December 08/2019
BEIRUT: Samir Khatib, after meeting with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdellatif Deryan on Sunday, 24 hours before the planned start of binding parliamentary consultations to name a new prime minister, will stand aside to allow Saad Hariri to form a government in Lebanon. Khatib had previously been recommended by Hariri, the former prime minister currently serving as caretaker, to succeed him. Lebanese security forces implemented strict security measures on Sunday, to ensure that the roads to the Baabda Palace were secure for the 128 members of Parliament, who will name the next prime minister. Last night the process was postponed for a week. Public affairs expert and activist Zeina El-Helou told Arab News: “The parties participating in the protests movement have decided through their coordination bodies that they will not block roads on Monday. Instead, they will allow for the parliamentary consultations to take place because, for 41 days, this has been our demand after Hariri’s government resigns.
“But if others proceed to block roads, know that they are affiliated with political parties that do not support the political settlement that will take place.”The civil movement continued in Beirut over the weekend, as activists rejected Khatib as a possible prime minister as “an extension of the ruling political power.”El-Helou said: “The parties in power did not take into consideration the people’s confidence crisis toward this government, nor have they considered the economic crisis or people’s demands. “We reject Hariri’s return to head the government because of his history in this role, and we refuse to have the crisis portrayed as a Sunni sect crisis.”MPs from the blocs that had agreed to name Khatib prime minister retracted the statement that this was final, especially the bloc affiliated with President Michel Aoun, the largest grouping in Parliament. Mario Aoun, member of the Strong Lebanon bloc, said: “The bloc has not yet made a final decision, but it is likely that Khatib will be named if Hariri does not retract his stance that he is the most powerful in his sect and because we are committed to national unity.”He did not rule out “a political surprise on the day of the consultations.”Hezbollah and its allies accused Hariri — without naming him — of “acting with obstinacy and selfishness in an attempt to evade duties.” MP Hassan Fadlallah of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc said: “There are those who think the boat will sink, so they try to jump off it to save themselves, or they see that the country is collapsing, so they want others to bear the consequences while they watch from outside the national responsibility.”The head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, said that the only solution to the political impasse was to form a government based on the principles of the Taif Agreement and the constitution. “We do not want to be part of a government that has toppled all the constitutional foundations,” he said.

Megaphone: The voice of Lebanon's uprising
Timour Azhari/Al Jazeera/December 08/2019
Volunteers at the activist media platform say their goal is to push boundaries of acceptable discourse in Lebanon.
Beirut, Lebanon - Tarek Keblaoui has barely left the streets since Lebanon's uprising began. He has experienced its twists and turns, from the initial explosion of unity more than 50 days ago, through subsequent episodes of violence and growing economic uncertainty.
It has not been easy for the 26-year-old freelance videographer, who films for Megaphone, an independent media platform that has grown to become the voice of the youth-driven protest movement. "I've been beaten, I've been teargassed, I've gone on very little sleep," Keblaoui said, but he has never thought of leaving. "If this whole thing goes south? If there's more violence? I'd buy a bigger zoom lens for the camera," he added with a laugh. Like many Lebanese people, Keblaoui had waited for years to experience something like the cross-sectarian uprising that has swept Lebanon since October 17, bringing down a government in the process. Protesters want a new government of independent experts to be appointed to steward the country through its worst economic crisis in a generation, which they blame on policies adopted by former militia leaders and businessmen who have ruled Lebanon since its 1975-90 civil war. The demonstrators also want early elections to be held based on a new, non-sectarian electoral law. But the country's political elites, deeply entrenched, have so far held on to power. They have used media organisations under their sway to try and steer the narrative of the uprising, while supporters of some parties, mainly Hezbollah and its ally the Amal Movement, have attacked protesters across the country in what appeared to be organised mobilisations.In this climate, working for an independent, anti-sectarian organisation like Megaphone can feel intimidating. "There's always a fear that one day we'll get the wrong kind of fame with the wrong kind of people, who might decide to take measures against us," Keblaoui said. "But despite these fears, there's a duty to keep going."
'Push the boundaries'
Founded in 2017, Megaphone has recently gained popularity for its critical take on news and its breakdowns of politicians speeches during the uprising. While the majority of its output consists of videos, it also publishes text opinion pieces in Arabic and daily news wraps in English and Arabic.
Before the uprising, Megaphone would post one or two videos a month, each of which received between tens of thousands and 200,000 views, but over the weeks-long protest movement, it has published scores of videos which have cumulatively been watched millions of times.
The platform has also published dozens of no-holds-barred opinion pieces, penned by leading Lebanese progressive thinkers, featuring topics ranging from how the uprising has countered patriarchy in the country, to dissections of Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah's psyche. A recent piece, titled "Cutting off the king's head", began with the line: "For those who do not know this: The ultimate goal of any revolution is to behead the king."
It is rare to find that kind of outspoken coverage on traditional media in Lebanon, largely owned and funded by politicians and businessmen.
"The predominant structures in the media industry in Lebanon are more or less extensions of the current political establishment," Rabie Barakat, a lecturer in media studies at the American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera. "One way to circumvent these structures is to create platforms like Megaphone."Megaphone is funded entirely with grants from foundations and programmes outside Lebanon, which according to Barakat, "makes sense, because we don't have an industry in Lebanon capable of creating platforms that can sustain themselves". The platform's funders include the European Endowment for Democracy, Canal France International and Denmark-based International Media Support. Funders have no influence over Megaphone's editorial policy, according to Jamal Saleh, the group's creative director. Activists and journalists in Lebanon have been interrogated and, in some cases, sentenced to jail terms for critique far less cutting than that published by Megaphone. The platform's volunteers say it is their goal to push the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable discourse in the country.
"We've been very critical from the beginning," Saleh told Al Jazeera. "The revolution has definitely given us a more fertile ground and more support, and we feel that, but we never compromise on our editorial line."
Between activism and journalism
Saleh spoke from the group's nondescript Beirut office, the exact location of which is kept under wraps for security reasons. Similarly, all those who work with Megaphone keep a low profile online. The same cannot be said for their presence in the streets. Many have led chants throughout the current uprising, and at protests in the years before. Most of the Megaphone's core group are in their mid to late 20s and met at the university. They participated in the large anti-corruption protests in Beirut in 2015, a precursor to the current uprising. "Almost everyone who works for us has held a Megaphone at some point, hence the name," 27-year-old Saleh said. "We have all been involved in activism," she added, noting that she does not see that as an issue for an organisation that also publishes news. "We have what I'd say is our straight news content in the daily news items, which aim to be more or less objective. But our progressive views are clear and I think that's why people come to us." Barakat said that the platform clearly has an "activist or a motivational side" that aims to drive the uprising in Lebanon. "I don't think it's ethically problematic by any means. I just think it's good to distinguish between journalism and activism on a case-by-case basis." Saleh said the group saw a large gap in what traditional media in the country was offering to a mostly-young part of the population who became increasingly opposed to the sectarian parties that have ruled the country since the civil war ended in 1990.
Amplifying regular voices
Megaphone's style is slick and snappy - intentionally geared towards a generation who get their news on social media. Open up Instagram, Facebook and - to a lesser extent - Twitter in Lebanon today and you are bound to see posts of their daily news wraps, or links to their latest video, uploaded late at night by a tireless team of volunteers, although two people have recently been given salaried positions. The platform is also constantly evolving. Recently, it has been posting short, unedited, single-shot videos under the title "a snapshot from the street", which amplify the voices of regular people taking part in the protests.
"This idea came from me arriving at Megaphone on the second night [of protests] after being teargassed and showing them this insanely cinematic footage," Keblaoui recalled. Unfiltered and unedited, the videos show scenes like people chanting feminist slogans, an impassioned speech by an older man to young protesters about why the uprising is a "revolution", and, from early on, security forces teargassing protesters. Saleh says 18-hour days have become the norm, and she had only seen her parents once in the first 30 days of the uprising."Everyone here has given it their everything," she said. "But it's very fulfilling getting out this content that we all really believe in."

5 Quick Takeaways from the Lebanese Revolt, Others
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/December 08/2019
1- In 1989, central and eastern Europe witnessed several uprisings that spelled the end of the Soviet Union: The people rose up in East Germany, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. These protests were peaceful and derived inspiration from the 1789 French Revolution and the 1917 Russian Revolution. The uprisings were led by the people, not a party and a party leader. They did not destroy democratic and constitutional life. On the contrary, they established it out of nothing. They did not lead to civil war, but allowed them to contain the earthquake that was the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia. They also allowed them to take in the unification of Germany. These are the most ideal revolutions.
That same period, however, witnessed the conflict over who inherits the Soviet empire. Thus, we witnessed the wars in the former Yugoslavia and Chechnya. In both these cases, religion and sectarianism came to play and produced civil discord.
2- The “Arab Spring” revolts fall somewhere in between the above two examples: They started off peaceful, but the oppression of the ruling regimes pushed them towards the latter example. Tunisia remains the role exception.
The Lebanese revolution is a mix of the above two examples. It also derives examples from recent uprisings over poor socio-economic conditions that were witnessed in France, Chile, Iraq and Iran. The protesters are predominantly demanding improved social and economic conditions. The Lebanese people are also posing a question of identity, similar to what is taking place in Hong Kong and Catalonia.
3- Despite various contradictions, the Lebanese people have managed to mark major accomplishments that are at the core of their new revolutionary identity: First, they set aside sectarianism, even if for a small degree, from public life. Sectarianism looms large over Lebanon through cronyism and division of political shares. It would be futile to introduce any economic reform and provide job opportunities without shedding off some of this sectarianism. It would also be futile to attempt to save democracy and develop it while the country remains entrenched in sectarianism.
Second, the protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful. Let us take a step back and admire how youths, who have been deprived of their most basic rights, have managed to keep their protests peaceful. This peacefulness strikes at the core of a regime that has deprived them of life’s basic needs. This peacefulness is also a reflection of the restraint of the people and the best reply to de facto forces’ warnings and intimidation that the protests could spiral into violence.
4- The same relation that exists between sectarianism and violence also exists between the non-sectarianism and non-violence: It is true that the authority’s deliberate failure to meet the protesters’ demands have led some people to suicide. This total disregard to the pleas of the people could have easily pushed some of them towards violence. However, this is not how the Lebanese revolution works. Turning to violence in Lebanon is the easiest way to bring back sectarianism and lift the morale of its corrupt leaders. Civil divisions will eliminate social demands and the goals of the revolution once violence rears its ugly head.
5- The revolutions in central Europe may not have been possible without the collapse of the Soviet Union: The collapse provided fertile ground for change. This does not apply to Lebanon because Iran, despite its economic crisis and own protests, is still fully functional along with its allies and proxies. Iran and its allies are working on bringing about the Yugoslavia and Chechnya scenarios. This counter-revolution will only make the main uprisings more committed to their peaceful path.

Lebanon and the Monster of Bankruptcy
Rajeh Khoury/Asharq Al Awsat/December 08/2019
Last Wednesday, President Michel Aoun announced that parliamentary consultations would take place on Monday, thereby deferring them for five more days, 34 days after the government resigned, and 47 days after the revolution began. This happened after the end of the third meeting between Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, the latter representing the Shiite duo that has been insisting for two weeks on rejecting the proposed name of Samir Khatib for Prime Minister. All of this took place before Dany Abu Haidar, a Lebanese citizen, who took his own life because of poverty and inability to support his family, was buried.
What will have changed between last Wednesday and this Monday?
Nothing at the level of the regime and the government formation facing an economic crisis that has ushered a stage of bankruptcy and collapse. There is no clear path for either the appointment of Samir Khatib nor for the return of Saad Hariri after the political settlement that led to Michel Aoun’s presidential election collapsed. The uprising, which rejects a non-technocratic government and the inclusion of the same politicians who bankrupted the country, adds to this.
So, where can we go from here?
It is not enough to talk about an economic path that leads to panic, if not to hell, after the capital control measures taken that limited cash withdrawals from banks to USD300 per week and prevented transfers overseas, and after the valid fears of ‘haircuts’ on deposits.
It is not enough to talk about a political path that leads to more complications, especially after the bickering between Aoun and the former PMs who have repeatedly accused him of disregarding the constitution and trying to return to a time before the Taef Agreement. These accusations were launched after the President had been appointing ministers before choosing their PM. In response to popular demands to abide by the constitution, it was stated that “The President is using his constitutional rights by binding the consultations to a designation of a PM and the formation of a new government to prevent the country from descending into a prolonged vacuum.”
The dispute around this continued after the alliance between Aoun and the Shite duo, upon Hariri’s insistence on the formation of a technocratic government to meet the demands of the uprising, attempted to convince Hariri to commit political suicide. They pushed him to support Mohammad Safadi’s candidacy, then Samir Khatib, announce his support in a written statement, get the approval of the Mufti, the former PMs, and to take part in this government.
After Hariri rejected the temptations and pressures to head a techno-political government which would maintain Hezbollah’s dominance in political decision-making in the executive authority, it became clear that the alliance between Aoun and the Shiite duo, i.e., Hezbollah and Amal Movement, insist on having him for several reasons. First, he is economically useful, as he can work on reactivating the CEDRE Conference aid. Second, he is a local and regional Sunni power, which is important, especially during these difficult times when Hezbollah is subjected to severe foreign pressure, sanctions, and is classified as a terrorist organization by the US. Third, his approval of a techno-political government would help Hezbollah overcome the uprising and quell the protests it has produced from Tyre and Nabatieh to Baalbeck. This is especially important as it is happening in parallel with violent disturbances in Iran and Iraq; in the latter, the protesters set fire to the Iranian Consulate three times in Najaf while chanting, “Iran out out” despite the violent repression that they faced.
Before Aoun announced Monday as the date for the parliamentary consultations, the exchanges between him and the former PMs were heated. In a statement released by former PMs Fouad Siniora, Tammam Salam, and Najib Miqati, they said, “We are alarmed by the serious violation of the Taef Agreement in its letter and spirit, and we are alarmed by the assault on the parliamentary authority to designate a PM through binding parliamentary consultations conducted by the President and the assault on the authority of the designated PM by naming what is being called a possible PM.”
Aoun responded with a statement that repeated what he has been saying for the last month. He claims the consultations that he is doing are not a violation of the constitution and the Taef accord. He accused the former PMs of not realizing the negative consequences of accelerating consultations on the country’s general situation and national unity.
All of this comes after Hariri’s statement last week, where he explicitly accused Aoun of chronically denying the gravity of the situation the country is in. That is in terms of the popular uprising and its legitimate demands to form a technocratic government, the crippling economic crisis that has put the country on the brink of collapse, and the attempts to accuse him of discarding candidates for premiership other than him. In light of these irresponsible practices, he responded to Aoun’s famous slogan that he clung to and kept the country in presidential vacuum for two and a half years “either me or no one” with the slogan “Not me, but someone else”!
The uprising has been heightened after the number of suicides due to poverty has increased. It has rejected Samir Khatib’s candidacy raising the slogan “All of them means all of them”, which is being chanted now in Iraq.
This implies the necessity of overthrowing the entire corrupt political elite. The regime and the Shiite duo have presented a new slogan in opposition, “All of us means all of us in government.” This is related to what Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad had announced about there being no alternative to a national unity government, i.e., duplicating the current cabinet, other than remaining under a caretaker government for a very long time. This means rejecting all of the uprising’s demands and maintaining the regime which rebels accuse of being corrupt and plundering public funds, at a time where Lebanon has entered real bankruptcy and the threat of complete collapse.
Last Thursday, Siniora commented on Samir Khatib’s candidacy, saying “This man’s character and his ethics are one thing, but his suitability for this exceptional stage is something else.” When asked whether he would possibly name him in the consultations, he answered, “It is only possible to predict what a reasonable person would do, as for others, that is something else.” This implies that whoever is reasonable will not name Khatib.
This leads to a very confusing question:
What crisis will birth a government? Will it emerge out of a resolution of the dispute between the Sunni politicians and the alliance between Aoun and the Shiite duo? Or will come after the revolution is quashed so that a techno-political government is formed despite the widespread outrage stemming from the series of suicides that have taken place recently, such as George Zreik burning himself alive for not being able to pay his daughter’s school fees, Naji Fliti hanging himself for not being able to buy a LBP1,000 thyme manoushe for his daughter, Dany Abou Haidar taking his own life last Wednesday for not being able to support his family, and a fourth citizen committing suicide on Thursday after another citizen tried to burn himself alive in Akkar because of financial pressure?
The upcoming dates assigned for consultations are the last hope for Hariri’s approval. Still, it appears that the parliamentary alliance between Aoun and the Shiite duo, which includes 42 MPs, will be maintained until the end of the consultations in order to guarantee that Aoun remains in charge and push for a government that serves the interests of that alliance. But what do we do with the revolution and the rebels? How do we confront the monster of bankruptcy in a country where citizens take their own lives because they are unable to buy a manoushe? How do we confront it in a country where people rush to withdraw USD300 while TV channels compete to uncover scandals of theft and plunder, a country whose debt has reached USD100 billion while the amount that has been looted by politicians, stored in offshore European banks, exceeds USD320 billion?

Time Is Running Out/Interview With Former Minister Nasser al-Saidi
Michael Young/Carnegie/December 08/2019
In an interview, former minister Nasser al-Saidi explains why Lebanon’s financial revival will be a massive undertaking.
Nasser al-Saidi is a Lebanese economist who served as first vice governor of Lebanon’s Central Bank in 1993–2002 and as minister of economy and trade in 1998–2000. He was chief economist and strategist of the Dubai International Financial Center, and acts as an advisor to governments, central banks, and regulators in the region. He is currently the founder and president of Nasser Saidi & Associates. Diwan interviewed Saidi in early December to get his views on the financial crisis that Lebanon is facing today, and to ask him what steps are needed to install financial stability in the country. The monumental task ahead is why Saidi said that any new government willing to grapple with Lebanon’s financial problems would effectively face a politically suicidal undertaking.
Michael Young: You’ve described the way Lebanon has been raising money in recent decades as a “Ponzi scheme.” Can you elaborate on what you meant?
Nasser al-Saidi: A Ponzi scheme develops when promised returns on investments are paid to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. How did this happen in Lebanon? Successive governments have been fiscally reckless, with an average budget deficit of 8.5 percent of GDP since 2010. The high levels of government borrowing along with high interest rates led to a “crowding out” of the private sector and a sharp decline in investment and domestic credit to the private sector. This resulted in dismal economic growth and now a recession.
In tandem, the Central Bank raised U.S. dollar interest rates to attract deposits of the Lebanese diaspora and foreign investors to help finance Lebanon’s twin deficits—the persistent current account deficits and the budget deficits. Higher interest rates raised the overall cost of government borrowing and led to a “crowding out” of the public sector: Government deficits were increasingly financed by the Central Bank. In turn, banks preferred to deposit at the Central Bank rather than risk lending to the private sector or the government, earning rates on U.S. dollar deposits exceeding international rates by 600 to 700 basis points. They were paid 8 percent and more, while international rates were 1 percent.
By 2016, the flow of remittances and capital inflows that served to finance Lebanon’s twin fiscal and current account deficits started declining. The Central Bank attempted to shore up its international reserves and preserve an overvalued exchange rate by increased borrowing from the banks through so-called “financial engineering” schemes and swap operations. It also engaged in a massive bailout of domestic banks—in excess of $5 billion—that had suffered large losses on their foreign operations in Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and other countries.
While in the United States and Europe such bailouts after the 2007–2009 global financial crisis were undertaken by governments as part of their fiscal operations in return for equity and through the imposition of conditions, no such conditionality was imposed by Lebanon’s Central Bank. Financial engineering, swaps, and other quasi-fiscal operations led to a ballooning of its balance sheet, from 182 percent of GDP in 2015 to 280 percent by October 2019, the highest ratio in the world. The growth in Central Bank assets—largely Lebanese government bonds and T-bills—was financed by more bank borrowing at high interest rates and led to a growing liquidity crunch for the private sector.
The bottom line is that the Central Bank was financing government budget deficits and monetizing the public debt through bank borrowing, earning less on its “assets” than it was promising and paying the banks. Increasingly, it was paying high returns on deposits from fresh money from domestic banks and international borrowing.
MY: Lebanon has imposed de facto capital controls. Is the message here that the decisionmakers favor protecting the banking sector over economic growth? And if so, does Lebanon have other choices given the pain that would ensue if the banking sector were to collapse?
NS: The de facto, informal capital, payments, and exchange controls imposed by the banks, with the implicit consent of the Central Bank, are intended to control capital flight, given the growing loss of confidence in the sustainability of government finances and the ability of the banking system to continue financing government deficits. But the self-declared bank holidays only brought on panic by depositors and investors. Indeed, the measures were self-defeating: Capital and foreign exchange controls, along with payment restrictions, while temporarily protecting the banks and the international reserves of the Central Bank, have generated a downward spiral in trade and economic activity and will result in an increase in non-performing loans, directly hurting banks.
In addition, the imposition of controls is left to the arbitrary discretion of the banks, which has generated heightened uncertainty concerning transactions and payments, and has led to a drying up of capital inflows and remittances, weakening the net foreign asset position of the banking system. International country evidence shows that while capital controls can be effective as part of a policy toolkit, they are not a substitute for the well-structured macroeconomic, fiscal, financial, and monetary reform program that Lebanon needs.
MY: Today there is a liquidity crunch, which has dire consequences for a country very heavily reliant on imported goods. Given that the Central Bank appears to have much lower reserves than initially announced, does Lebanon have any other choice than to go to the international community for such liquidity?
NS: Given the large level of sovereign and Central Bank debt—a total of LL150,183 billion, of which LL82,249 billion is Central Bank debt as of the second quarter of 2019—and the direct exposure of the banking system, with 70 percent of bank assets being in government and Central Bank paper, Lebanon will need to turn to the international community. The promised CEDRE Conference commitments made by a group of donors and investors in April 2018 will have to be renegotiated and recast into a multilateral economic stabilization and liquidity fund. This fund will be subjected to conditionality relating to fiscal, sectoral (electricity, water, transport, and other), structural, and financial reforms.
MY: Can the banking sector survive the current shock?
NS: The banking sector, including the Central Bank, is at the core of the required macroeconomic and financial adjustment program, given that it holds an overwhelming share of public debt. Public debt (including Central Bank debt) will have to be reprofiled and restructured. For example, a domestic Lebanese pound debt reprofiling would repackage debt maturing over 2020–2023 into new debt at substantially lower rates, maturing over the next five to ten years. Similarly, foreign currency debt can also be restructured and repackaged into longer maturities, benefiting from a guarantee of the CEDRE participants, which would drastically lower interest rates. The suggested debt reprofiling and restructuring operations would result in substantially lower debt service costs from the current 10 percent of GDP and would create fiscal space during the adjustment period.
There will have to be a bail-in by the banks and their shareholders, accompanied by a consolidation and restructuring of the banking system. In turn, the extensive bail-in means that a large recapitalization and equity injection will be required to restore banking system soundness and monetary stability.
MY: Where do you see Lebanon going in the coming months? What dynamics will be in play?
NS: Absent the formation of a confidence rebuilding and credible new government and rapid policy reform measures, the current outlook is a deepening recession, growing unemployment, with a sharp fall in consumption, investment, and trade. It will also come with a continued depreciation of the Lebanese pound on the parallel market, resulting in rapidly accelerating inflation and a decline in real wages, along with a sharply growing budget deficit due to falling revenues. As a result, financial pressures on the banking system will increase, with a scenario of increasing ad hoc controls on economic activity and payments, and market distortions.
MY: What would you do at this stage to prevent the worst from happening? Can you outline a realistic step-by-step process the government and the banking sector can adopt to emerge from the financial mess they’ve created.
NS: Time is running out. A new government needs to be formed, dominated by non-partisan, independent, competent “technocratic” ministers known for their integrity, endowed with extraordinary decisionmaking powers, and willing to sacrifice their political future, given the difficult policy decisions required. Effectively, this would be a “hara-kiri government.” The government should, within weeks, prepare and start implementing a comprehensive macroeconomic, fiscal, monetary reform program with a clear policy road map including the implementation of structural reforms. While the policy road map should include deep structural reforms—for example pension system reform—these can be sequenced, but need not be implemented immediately.
The immediate priority is to address the interlinked currency, banking, fiscal, and financial crises. For the adjustment program to be credible, public finances must be put on a sustainable path through dramatic and sustained fiscal adjustment to reduce debt and the budget deficit—requiring a massive primary surplus of 6 percent of GDP, excluding interest payments. The state must also resize the public sector and restructure the financial system through a reprofiling and restructuring of public debt, including Central Bank debt. Lebanon will need to call on the international community to support its adjustment program through a reconfigured, recast CEDRE program. As part of the program, the Central Bank’s reserves will need to be supported by bilateral Central Bank swap lines. External multilateral funding worth some $20–25 billion (35–45 percent of GDP) will also be required.
These painful measures require a broad and strong political commitment. The choice is between market-imposed, disorderly, and painful adjustments, meaning a hard landing, or self-imposed reforms that are credible and sustainable. However, nothing indicates the ruling political class and policymakers are ready for these difficult choices. Nor is there political courage and capacity for reform.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 08-09/2019
Systematic air strikes are dismantling the Al Qods compound at Abu Kamal
DEBKAfile/December 08/2019
The air strike of Saturday night, Dec. 7, was the fourth this week in a campaign for breaking up the Iranian Al Qods strategic hub which houses Iraqi Shiite militias outside Abu Kamal near the Iraqi border. The strikes aim not only to stem the flow of arms convoys from Iraq, but to level its buildings in order to put the facility permanently out of commission. DEBKAfile’s military sources report the campaign’s intensity is being gradually notched up. The latest bombardment was therefore the heaviest. The damage caused was excessive and the casualty count ran into dozens, according to Western military and intelligence estimates – mostly Iraqi Shiite militiamen but also Iranian Al Qods officers. Defense Minister Naftali Bennett had this raid in mind when on Sunday, he said, “We must shift from prevention to the offensive, as the only way to drive Iranian aggression out of Syria.” In typical hyperbole, he declared: “We say to them (the Iranians) that Syria will be their Vietnam. You will bleed until your forces quit Syria!” Eastern Syria is turning into an arena for combined US and Israeli aerial operations, in the face of which Iran and the Iraqi militias have so far held silent.
DEBKAfile postulates three reasons for their non-response:
1-They have no air force units available in the arena for defense.
2-Iran’s supreme commander in the region, Al Qods chief Gen.
3-Qassem Soleimani, is deeply mired in an all-out effort to salvage Tehran’s grip on Iraq’s Shiite community against swelling anti-Iran resistance in the south and Baghdad. Iraq comes first in Tehran’s order of priorities ahead of Abu Kamal.
4-Soleimani is waiting for an opportune moment for hitting back.

Bombing Iran to Stop Its Nuclear Plans Is ‘An Option,’ Israeli Foreign Minister Says
DPA/Haaretz/December 08/2019
Yisrael Katz told Italy’s Corriere della Sera: ‘If it were the last possible way to stop this, we would act militarily’
Israel would be ready to bomb Iran to stop its nuclear weapon capabilities, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz said in a Saturday interview.
“Is bombing Iran an option that Israel is considering?” Katz was asked by Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper. “Yes, it is an option. We will not allow Iran to produce or obtain nuclear weapons. If it were the last possible way to stop this, we would act militarily,” Katz replied. He criticized European countries for not supporting the hard line the United States has adopted under President Donald Trump, withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal. “As long as the Iranians delude themselves into thinking they have Europe’s backing, it will be more difficult for them to back down,” Katz said. The Israeli minister spoke to the Italian newspaper on the sidelines of MED 2019, a foreign policy conference in Rome where he spoke on Friday. In his speech, he said it was “high time” for Western and Arab countries to “create a coalition that would threaten Iran and tell it to stop its nuclear program.”Katz made a different controversial remark this week when he said that he would not like to see Jeremy Corbyn win the British election.“I won’t meddle in internal elections but I personally hope that he won’t be elected, with this whole wave of anti-Semitism… I hope the other side wins,” he told Israel’s Army Radio. Iran was also a topic in a phone conversation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Netanyahu’s office said. The two leaders also discussed the war in Syria, with the aim of avoiding any friction between Israeli and Russian forces.

Report: At least 5 pro-Iranian men killed in strike on Syria-Iraq border
Ynetnews/December 08/2019
The attack is said to have taken place in the area where last month 23 Iranian Revolutionary Guards had been killed in a confirmed Israeli raid; reports come just hours after Netanyahu calls on Europe to come out against Tehran's 'murderousness'At least five men belonging to pro-Iranian militias were killed in a pre-dawn strike on Sunday in Iraq along the border with Syria, according to Syrian rights group.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack targeting the Tehran-backed groups, took place near the city of Abu Kamal in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq.
The presence of Iranian-backed forces has made the area a target for aerial attack, often attributed to Israel.  Israeli military officially confirmed last month it had targeted the area in a series of wide-scale airstrikes that left at least 23 people, believed to be Iranians, dead. The army said that during the November 20 raid, its fighter jets hit multiple targets belonging to Iran's elite Quds force, including surface-to-air missiles, weapons warehouses and military bases. After the Syrian military fired an air defense missile, the Israeli military said a number of Syrian aerial defense batteries were also destroyed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about the need to counter the Iranian aggression in the Middle East just hours before the reports about the lastest strike surfaced. "On Saturday there was a bloody attack in Baghdad in which over 20 innocent Iraqi demonstrators were murdered," said Netanyahu. "I would like to tell you that there are growing indications that this murderous attack in Baghdad was carried out by Shiite Iraqi militias on direct instruction from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards," he added. "At this time, against this murderousness, the pressure on Iran must be increased. This is what I am calling on the countries of Europe to do. I would also like to make it clear that with or without the countries of Europe, Israel will not allow Iran – at any stage – to develop nuclear weapons."

Iran Unveils Budget of 'Resistance' against U.S. Sanctions
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 08/2019
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani announced Sunday what he called a "budget of resistance" to counter crippling U.S. sanctions, weeks after a fuel price hike sparked nationwide protests that turned deadly. Rouhani said the aim was to reduce "hardships" as the Islamic republic has suffered a sharp economic downturn, with a plummeting currency sending inflation skyrocketing and hiking import prices. The U.S. sanctions imposed in May last year in a bitter dispute centered on Iran's nuclear program include an embargo on the crucial oil sector whose sales Washington aims to reduce to zero in a campaign of "maximum pressure".Rouhani told parliament that the budget, which includes a 15 percent public sector wage hike, "is a budget of resistance and perseverance against sanctions". It would "announce to the world that despite sanctions we will manage the country, especially in terms of oil," he added. Rouhani said the 4,845 trillion rial ($36 billion at the current street rate) budget was devised to help Iran's people overcome difficulty. It would benefit from a $5 billion "investment" from Russia which was still being finalised, he said, without giving further details. "We know that under the situation of sanctions and pressure, people are in hardship. We know people's purchasing power has declined," said Rouhani. "Our exports, our imports, the transfer of money, our foreign exchange encounter a lot of problems. "We all know that we encounter problems in exporting oil. Yet at the same time, we endeavor to reduce the difficulty of people's livelihood."Rouhani said that despite the US sanctions his government estimated that Iran's non-oil economy would "be positive" this year. "Contrary to what the Americans thought, that with the pressure of sanctions our country's economy would encounter problems, thank God we have chosen the correct path... and we are moving forward," he said. The budget announcement comes after fuel price hikes Iran announced in mid-November triggered deadly demonstrations across the country. Officials in Iran have yet to give an overall death toll for the unrest in which petrol pumps and police stations were torched and shops looted. London-based human rights group Amnesty International said at least 208 people were killed in the crackdown, but Iran has dismissed such figures as "utter lies."
'Reducing hardships'
U.S. President Donald Trump began imposing punitive measures in May 2018, after unilaterally withdrawing from an accord that gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for limits on its nuclear program. The United States has continued to ramp up its sanctions this year as part of a stated campaign of "maximum pressure" against the Islamic republic. Iran's economy has been battered, with the International Monetary Fund forecasting it will contract by 9.5 percent this year. The sharp downturn has seen the rial plummet and inflation running at more than 40 percent. In his speech, Rouhani only touched on a few areas of the draft budget for the financial year starting late March 2020, which must be scrutinized and voted on by parliament. "All our efforts are geared towards reducing these hardships to some extent so it can be more tolerable," he told deputies. "I deem it necessary here to tell the honorable representatives that the criteria of our budget is still based on maximum pressure and continuation of America's sanctions," he said. "This does not mean that the government will not take other steps, but at the same time this is our criteria and based on this criteria we have devised and executed the budget."The budget comes ahead of parliamentary elections in February.

Iran to unveil new generation of uranium enrichment centrifuges soon
Reuters/Saturday, 7 December 2019
Iran will unveil a new generation of uranium enrichment centrifuges, the deputy head of Iran’s nuclear agency Ali Asghar Zarean told State TV on Saturday.
“In the near future we will unveil a new generation of centrifuges that are domestically made,” said Zarean, without elaborating. In September, Iran said it had started developing centrifuges to speed up the enrichment of uranium as part of steps to reduce compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal following the withdrawal of the United States.

Trump Thanks Iran as American Freed in Prisoner Swap
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 08/2019
President Donald Trump had rare positive words for Iran on Saturday, thanking the U.S. foe for a "very fair" negotiation to successfully pull off a prisoner swap that saw an American released from Iranian detention amid soaring tensions. The exchange, which took place in neutral Switzerland, involved a Princeton graduate student jailed in Iran for espionage since 2016 and an Iranian national arrested over a year ago in Chicago. "Thank you to Iran on a very fair negotiation," tweeted Trump, as Xiyue Wang made his way home to his family. The U.S. leader was expected to welcome Wang in person when he arrives in the United States, after a stop in Germany for medical evaluations. "It was a one-on-one hostage swap," Trump told reporters. "I think it was great to show than we can do something. It might have been a precursor as to what can be done."A photo tweeted by the American Embassy in Bern showed Wang on a rainswept tarmac in Zurich with an official blue and white U.S. jet in the background, hugging Ambassador Edward McMullen. The Chinese-born American was in apparent good health and in "very, very good humor," said a senior US administration official. Tehran had announced the release of its national, Massoud Soleimani, shortly before Trump revealed that Wang was returning home. "Glad that Professor Massoud Soleimani and Mr Xiyue Wang will be joining their families shortly," Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted -- along with a photograph of himself and the scientist on a plane under the words "Going home.""Many thanks to all engaged, particularly the Swiss government," which has looked after US interests in Iran in the absence of diplomatic ties, Zarif said. The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed that the exchange -- which it called a "humanitarian gesture" -- took place on its territory. Both the US and Iran credited Switzerland with an intensive diplomatic effort to secure the men's release. "Our country stands ready for further facilitation," the foreign ministry statement said.
'Hopeful' sign
The United States and Iran have not had diplomatic ties since 1980, and relations have sharply worsened since Trump withdrew from an international accord giving Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear program. The arch-enemies came to the brink of military confrontation in June this year when Iran downed a US drone and Trump ordered retaliatory strikes before cancelling them at the last minute. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States was "pleased that Tehran has been constructive in this matter."Briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, the senior U.S. official noted that Trump "remains committed to talks with Iran without preconditions" -- about Tehran's nuclear program, its "malign activities" in the Middle East, and the deadly mass protests that have gripped the country. While Iran has so far rebuffed U.S. offers of talks, the official said: "We're hopeful that the release of Mr Wang is a sign that the Iranians may be willing to come to the table to discuss all these issues."The official also voiced hope that Wang's release signals "the Iranians are realizing that the practice of hostage-taking diplomacy really should come to an end."A doctoral candidate at Princeton, Wang was conducting research for his dissertation on late 19th- and early 20th-century Eurasian history when he was imprisoned in August 2016. He was serving 10 years on espionage charges. "He was not a spy, he was not involved in espionage and, and was wrongfully detained from the start," the US official said. A statement on the Iranian judiciary's Mizan Online website said Wang had been "freed on Islamic clemency." Soleimani, a professor and senior stem cell researcher at Tehran's Tarbiat Modares University, was arrested on arrival at an airport in Chicago in October 2018 for allegedly attempting to ship growth hormones, according to Iranian media. The U.S. official confirmed the Justice Department has dropped charges against Soleimani, calling the swap a "reciprocal humanitarian gesture" and a "very, very good deal for the United States.""There's been absolutely no payments of cash or lifting of sanctions or any sort of concessions or ransom," the official said.
Spying allegations
Rob Malley, president of the International Crisis Group consultancy, called it a "rare bit of good news on US-Iran front.""But several other Americans remain unjustly detained in Iran and they should be released too," he cautioned. "They should not be used as pawns in the two countries' fraught relationship."
Foreign nationals still held in Iran include former U.S. soldier Michael R. White, British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, French academic Roland Marchal and Australian university lecturer Kylie Moore-Gilbert. Two other Australians, travel bloggers Jolie King and Mark Firkin, were released in October by Iran, in another apparent swap for Iranian student Reza Dehbashi. In September, Negar Ghodskani, an Iranian woman sentenced in the United States for violating sanctions against Tehran was released and returned home after giving birth in custody. An unknown number of Iranians are detained abroad.

Trump Tells Jewish-Americans He is Israel's Best Friend
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 08/2019
U.S. President Donald Trump aimed to make inroads Saturday in the politically important Jewish-American vote with a Florida speech where he declared himself the best friend Israel has ever had. At a conference in Hollywood, Florida, the Republican real estate magnate said Jewish-Americans had been wrong to vote for Democrats under his predecessor Barack Obama. "So many of you voted for people in the last administration," he said. "Someday you'll have to explain that to me because I don't think they liked Israel too much." By contrast, Trump said, "the Jewish state has never had a better friend in the White House than your president, Donald J. Trump." He was speaking at a meeting of the Israeli-American Council, a non-profit whose funders include billionaire Jewish-American casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam -- both of them high-profile Trump supporters. Jews make up only a small portion of the electorate but in Florida they represent a crucial piece of the swing state electoral puzzle. Historically, American-Jews have voted heavily Democratic.
Trump, who is hoping to repeat his 2016 strategy next year by winning reelection through strategic accumulation of electoral college votes in key states, has worked especially hard to woo Jewish-Americans. Since taking office he has upended decades of American policy in the Middle East by acceding to a string of Israeli demands and all but slamming the door on Palestinians. This includes recognizing the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and also recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a territory taken from Syria in 1967. In November, the Trump administration again broke with decades of international consensus when it said that it would no longer consider Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian lands in the West Bank illegal. The policies are also highly popular with right-wing evangelical Christian Republicans -- a vital part of Trump's support base. Despite the aggressive support for Israel, coupled with intense pressure on the Palestinians, the Trump administration says it has a peace plan ready to unveil once an ongoing Israeli leadership impasse is resolved. Trump has put his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is Jewish-American but had no previous experience in government before joining this administration, in charge of the peace plan. "A lot of people say that can't be done," Trump told the crowd on Saturday. "They say that's the toughest of all deals but if Jared Kushner can't do it, it can't be done." Taking direct aim at one of his potential Democratic opponents for the 2020 election, Trump told the audience that left-wing Senator Elizabeth Warren should not get their vote because she would impose heavy taxes. "Let's take 100 percent of your wealth away," he said in a reference to Warren.
One problem, Trump told the gathering, is that some American-Jews, while being "great people, they don't love Israel enough."

Protests grip Baghdad and southern Iraq despite rising toll
AFP, Baghdad/Sunday, 8 December 2019
Thousands of Iraqi protesters streamed into streets and public squares in the capital and restive south on Sunday, saying they were not deterred by deadly violence meant to “scare” them. In Baghdad, crowds of anti-government demonstrators thronged Tahrir Square, the epicenter of their movement. Late Friday, unidentified gunmen attacked a parking complex near Tahrir where demonstrators had been squatting for weeks, leaving 20 protesters and four police officers dead, medics told AFP. Protesters feared it signaled that their movement would be derailed but by Sunday, the numbers gathered under the sun in Tahrir were staggering. “They’re trying to scare us in whatever ways they can, but we’re staying in the streets,” said Aisha, a 23-year-old protester. At least 452 people -- the vast majority of them protesters -- have died and 20,000 have been wounded since the rallies erupted. In Nasiriyah, a protest hotspot where dozens were killed in a spree of violence last month, protesters regrouped in downtown along with representatives of powerful tribes. “We will keep protesting until the regime collapses,” pledged Ali Rahim, a student. In other southern cities, local authorities had declared Sunday -- the first day of the work week in Iraq -- a holiday for civil servants. Road blocks and massive strikes also disrupted work in Hilla, Amara, Diwaniya, Kut and the shrine city of Najaf, AFP’s correspondents there said. The rallies have persisted despite the resignation of premier Adel Abdel Mahdi earlier this month, with protesters demanding the complete ouster of the ruling class. Iraq is ranked the 12th most corrupt country in the world by watchdog group Transparency International, with billions of dollars pilfered each year from the state budget of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)'s second-largest producer.

Iraq demonstrations ‘a telltale sign’: US Defense Secretary Esper
By Emily Judd, Al Arabiya English/Sunday, 8 December 2019
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday demonstrations in Iraq are partly against Iran’s involvement in the country and called the protests “a telltale sign.”“People [are] coming out across Iraq protesting under any number of issues, whether it’s a job opportunity, economic pressures, but also saying we want Iran out of our country. And so that's a telltale sign,” said Esper at a gathering of top US defense and military officials in Simi Valley, California.  Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - Quds Force, reportedly visited the capital city of Baghdad twice last month ‘to advise,’ according to sources.  David Schenker, the top US diplomat for the Middle East, said on Friday that Soleimani’s presence in Baghdad is “unorthodox.”“It is incredibly problematic and it is a huge violation of Iraqi sovereignty,” said Schenker. Anti-government protesters set fire to the Iranian consulate building in southern Iraq three times last week and removed the Iranian flag from the building, replacing it with an Iraqi one. Esper described the Iranian regime as being “under stress” and said that the US was “prepared for any contingency.”At least 400 people have been killed in Iraq since October 1, when thousands took to the streets in mass protests in Baghdad and the predominantly Shi’a south. The protesters accuse the government of being corrupt and decry growing Iranian influence in Iraqi state affairs. Esper acknowledged that he was worried by instability in Iraq and stressed the US does not want the country to collapse. “What we don’t want is [Iraq] to collapse. They’ve been good partners of ours and we need to continue to support them in the way we do currently,” said Esper. Iraq’s parliament approved the resignation of Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi on December 1, amid ongoing violence and anti-government demonstrations in the capital. Lawmaker Mohamed al-Daraji said that parliament faced a “black hole in the constitution” that didn’t clearly set out how members of parliament should deal with a premier’s resignation.

Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu pushes annexation plan as new elections loom
AFP, Jerusalem/Sunday, 8 December 2019
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday touted his plan to annex a swathe of the occupied West Bank and Israeli settlements in a last-ditch effort to prevent another general election. “It’s time to apply Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and legalize all the Judea and Samaria settlements, those that are in settlement blocs and those outside of them,” he said, using the biblical term for the West Bank. “They will be part of the State of Israel.”Netanyahu announced in September, a week before general elections, that he planned to annex the Jordan Valley, which accounts for around a third of the West Bank, if re-elected. His Sunday remarks, at a conference organized by rightwing newspaper Makor Rishon, came alongside an appeal to rival Benny Gantz to form a unity government and save the time and money involved in elections. “I have offered to Benny Gantz to join a unity government and today too I’m telling him to join a unity government with me,” Netanyahu said.“It’s not too late.”The September polls yielded no clear winner, and Wednesday is the last day for a member of parliament to propose a coalition before the country heads to another vote -- the third in a year. “I want American recognition of our sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, it’s important,” Netanyahu said, noting he recently discussed the issue with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, without presenting a formal plan. Pompeo last month announced that the United States no longer shared the widely held international position that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal. On Friday, however, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution supporting a Palestinian state and determining that the US should “discourage” steps such as “unilateral annexation of territory.” Around 400,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank alongside around 2.6 million Palestinians. The settlements are viewed as major stumbling blocks to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state. Israel blames Palestinian violence and intransigence as the main obstacles to peace. Netanyahu has said in the past that the wider moves to annex or “legalize” settlements in the West Bank would be in coordination with US President Donald Trump and his long-awaited peace plan.

Israeli aircraft strike Hamas sites in Gaza after 3 rockets
The Associated Press, Jerusalem/Sunday, 8 December 2019
Israeli aircraft bombed several militants’ sites in Gaza early Sunday, hours after three rockets were fired from the Palestinian enclave toward southern Israel. The military said in a statement the airstrikes targeted military camps and a naval base for Hamas, the Islamic militant group controlling Gaza. There were no immediate reports of casualties. On Saturday evening, Israel announced that its air defenses, known as “Iron Dome,” intercepted two of three missiles coming from Gaza. Later, it said all three rockets had been shot down. No Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. The Israeli army said Hamas was responsible for any attack transpiring in Gaza. Cross-border violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza has ebbed and flowed in recent years. Last month, the two sides fought their worst round of violence in months. Leaders from Hamas and the smaller but more radical Islamic Jihad are in Cairo, talking with Egyptian officials about cementing a cease-fire that would see some economic incentives and easing of restrictions on Gaza. Hamas has fought three wars with Israel since seizing Gaza in 2007 and dozens of shorter skirmishes.

Egyptian officials say policeman, militant killed in Sinai
The Associated Press, el-Arish/Sunday, 8 December 2019
Egyptian officials say a militant attack has killed a police conscript in the restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula. The officials say that the militants attacked a police checkpoint in the town of Rafah early on Sunday, wounding another two conscripts who were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Authorities say that security forces killed a militant, and wounded others, in clashes that followed the assault. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorized to talk to reporters No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which bares the hallmarks of an ISIS affiliate based in northern Sinai. Egypt is battling an ISIS-led insurgency in the Sinai that intensified after the military overthrew former president Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

Turkish incursion in Syria’s Idlib displaces 38,000 in one week: Monitor
Agencies/Sunday, 8 December 2019
The Turkish incursion in northeastern Syria has displaced 38,000 civilians in less than a week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Sunday. Several Syrian regime and Russian airstrikes hit areas across Idlib, the country’s last major opposition bastion. At least 19 civilian, eight of them children, were killed during the airstrikes. Russian raids also killed two civilians including a child in the nearby area of Jabal Zawiya, the Observatory said. Crude barrel bombs dropped by government helicopters, meanwhile, killed five civilians including three children in the village of Abadeeta, also in the same area. In the southeast of the embattled region, an air raid by a regime aircraft killed another child in the village of Bajghas, the Observatory said. The Idlib region, which is home to some three million people including many displaced by Syria’s civil war, is controlled by the country’s former al-Qaeda affiliate. The Damascus regime has repeatedly said it will eventually take back control of Idlib. The Turkish assault began after Trump moved US troops out of the way following an Oct. 6 phone call with Erdogan. Turkey says the “safe zone” would make room to settle up to 2 million Syrian war refugees - roughly half the number it is currently hosting - and would push back the YPG militia, which Ankara deems a terrorist group due to its links to Kurdish insurgents in southeast Turkey.

Egypt Coordinates with Vatican to Counter Extremist Ideology
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 8 December, 2019
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday affirmed Egypt's appreciation for the role of the Vatican in promoting the values of tolerance, mercy and justice, as well as enhancing ties with Cairo. This came in a message handed over by Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, while wrapping up his visit to the Vatican City, to Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church. Shoukry conveyed to the pontiff the greetings of Sisi and Egypt's appreciation for relations with the Vatican that have developed throughout the years, said spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Ahmed Hafez. Shoukry also held bilateral talks with Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher. A statement said they exchanged views on regional issues of common concern. The Vatican Foreign Minister was keen to listen to the Egyptian assessment on developments in the situation in Libya, Syria and the African Sahel region. During these talks, Shoukry affirmed Egypt’s keenness to continue consultation and coordination between Cairo and the Vatican regarding issues of pivotal importance for both parties, whether at the bilateral or regional level. The foreign minister also expressed Egypt's pride in relations with the Vatican and appreciation of positive development witnessed in the various issues of common interest. The minister also reviewed efforts exerted by Cairo to promote the values of citizenship and freedom of religion, which was appreciated by the Vatican top diplomat.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 08-09/2019
The Historic IPO Was No Dream
Salman Al-Dossary/Asharq Al Awsat/December 08/2019
Every Saudi success story endures a large deal of skepticism before it proves itself and goes on to set an example in goal setting and achieving.
This time, the success story undergoing scrutiny is the Aramco IPO. Disbelief has haunted all the Kingdom’s reforms on various levels as though to hint that Saudis aren’t able to cross the finish line with their projects. But while others were focused on the obstacles ahead, Saudis were dedicated to attain successes in their initiatives and programs.
In the 1,429 days-- from the moment Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman floated his plans for the oil giant’s IPO as part of the Kingdom's economic reform program, until the IPO’s closing last Thursday, when it recorded a world-beating subscription rate-- the record of doubt in the ability of the Saudi government to proceed with this subscription has been played on repeat. International media scrambled to launch frantic campaigns to prove that this offering is nothing but a wild dream doomed to failure.
Fake news headlines flooded the media scope with artificial skepticism. But all that did not slow the Saudis from moving forward to achieve what is now known as the world’s biggest IPO.
Aramco, since its founding some eight decades ago, has only gained historic value as the world’s largest oil exporter which is responsible for 10 percent of global production. Last year, it was dubbed the world’s most profitable company with its revenues outdoing giants like Apple and JPMorgan Chase. Its oil reserves, in the past year, were five times greater than those of these companies combined: Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum, Chevron and Total. What is more is that much of Aramco’s oil is found easily on land or in shallow waters. Last but not least, Aramco in 2018 alone brought in $ 111 billion in net revenues.
Saudi Arabia has a large economic diversification program based on sustainability, opening new economic sectors and developing labor markets through strategic diversification. Aramco's IPO is only one of the tools employed to reach the goal of economic diversification.
Aramco’s IPO spells only the beginning of mega investment opportunities that will be available to local and international investors.
What is more is that the Kingdom, four years after launching its Vision 2030, continues to deliver on its promises. The IPO’s success is yet another stark example of the determination to implement that ambitious vision.
As for those who missed the subscription and were apprehensive and skeptical, they will return to subscribe in the future, but only after the value of the company would have reached two trillion dollars. Even if late, they will be welcomed to join the crown jewel of global oil companies.

Ayatollahs should be most afraid of Iran’s own citizens
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/December 08/2019
After protesters gained control of the Iranian Arab-majority city of Mahshahr, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel were dispatched to gun down protesters. Terrified citizens fled to a nearby marsh, where they were encircled and systematically massacred with machine guns. Mahshahr’s death toll was estimated at 130. “What have you done that the undignified shah did not do?” the city’s MP, Mohammed Golmordai, bellowed against the regime during a televised Parliament broadcast, before being physically attacked by other deputies.
US officials estimate that more than a thousand citizens were killed during the recent protests in Iran, with countless thousands more injured and detained. The authorities prepared with ruthless efficiency for the huge outburst of anger that erupted across almost every province, triggered by an overnight 200 percent rise in gasoline prices and a decrepit economy that has shrunk by 80 percent. IRGC personnel and Basij paramilitaries were deployed countrywide with shoot-to-kill orders, enjoying virtual impunity thanks to the comprehensive internet shutdown.
Yet, even as Tehran was massacring its own citizens, the regime was simultaneously exploiting the chaos of unrest elsewhere in the region to export thousands of rockets to menace Saudi Arabia and other nearby states. A veteran Western diplomat warned me that Tehran imminently intends to lash out again at Gulf targets in an attempt to wrong-foot its enemies and neutralize the perfect storm of pressures it is currently experiencing. America and Europe’s deafening failure to respond to repeated military provocations this year makes such a course of action highly likely.
Intelligence sources report that Iran recently exported short-range ballistic missiles to paramilitary bases in Iraq (deployment in southern Iraq puts numerous Saudi cities directly within their 600-mile range). Meanwhile, a shipment of sophisticated Iranian missile components was impounded en route to Yemen. IRGC adviser Allahnoor Noorollahi declared: “Unfortunately, some Gulf countries have become a military camp for our enemy. I must say this, 21 of their bases constitute targets for our missiles. NATO itself announced that Iran’s 110 missile bases and launching sites are capable of launching 20,000 missiles per day.” The fact that Iran is boasting about exploiting front-line Arab states to launch thousands of missiles “per day” against its enemies illustrates how Tehran envisages further militarizing these nations.
With even the middle classes reduced to grinding poverty, ordinary Iranuans see themselves as the walking dead.
Through their brutal domestic crackdown, the ayatollahs wanted to send a message that all opposition would be confronted with murderous force: Unemployed, impoverished protesters must be crushed and humiliated. Grieving families were informed that, to retrieve the mangled bodies of their loved ones, they must first pay for the bullets that murdered them.
This was also a message for Iraq and Lebanon — a blueprint for how dissent should be confronted. Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei were the architects of the Damascus regime’s war against its own citizens. And, if they were willing to exterminate hundreds of thousands of innocent people, perhaps they think there are no levels of civil unrest that can’t be crushed. Yet, even in Syria today, there are rumblings that desperate citizens may again turn out in defiance of their genocidal regime. The hyper-inflated currency has left starving Syrians unable to afford bread — what are they supposed to eat? Each other?
Mass killings by Iranian proxies have exacerbated public anger in Iraq. This rage has been manifested in attacks against Iranian consulates and paramilitary offices, as well as the burning of images of Khamenei and Soleimani. Experts warn that Tehran has inadvertently triggered a “blood feud” by killing large numbers of Iraqis from prominent tribes throughout the Shiite south. Tribes “are blaming Iran and its proxies for this. It’s very dangerous, and uncharted territory for Tehran,” warned one expert.
Protests took a further nasty turn last week, when thousands of Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi paramilitary thugs descended on Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to intimidate demonstrators, with numerous stabbings reported. In the ensuing days, paramilitaries opened fire directly on protesters, killing dozens. There was also an attack on the home of cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, who withdrew his faction from the government in support of the protests. The US subsequently sanctioned several notorious Hashd leaders blamed for ordering the killings.
In Lebanon, I have been struck by how complacently disconnected senior officials are from the massive outbreak of public anger. Some of the deluded souls I talked to belittled the protesters, predicting that everything would soon be business as usual, with Gebran Bassil as president. Attempts by unpopular figures like Bassil (denounced by protesters as thieves and parasites) to exploit the unrest for personal promotion can only make matters 100 times worse. Three high-profile suicides in recent days by poor and indebted individuals have fueled a debate about why this nation is in such a sorry state.
According to my trusted sources who attended a recent security conference in Qatar (with senior Iranian, Turkish, Russian and Israeli representation), regime-connected Iranian academics floated proposals for a five-year freeze on ballistic missile development, disassociation from Yemen, acquiescence to key US demands on the nuclear issue, and rebranding Hezbollah as a purely political entity. While we shouldn’t take such offers at face value, this demonstrates the regime’s extreme discomfort.
During Palestinian uprisings, Israel’s military gruesomely refers to crackdowns against militants as “mowing the grass” — believing that such killing sprees are necessary every few months to keep things under control. Tehran, likewise, may believe it has restored order, but it too is only “mowing the grass.” With even the middle classes reduced to grinding poverty, ordinary Iranians see themselves as the walking dead; lacking food, jobs and meaningful life prospects.
Even in Iraq and Lebanon, Tehran’s attempts at violent crackdowns risk triggering a social and tribal backlash that would make these nations hostile environments for all forms of foreign meddling in perpetuity; particularly if Iran tries to exploit these nations as front-line states in its megalomaniacal war against the civilized world. Yet the greatest hope for the liberation of Arab citizens from Iranian domination may paradoxically be through the unconquerable spirit of the Iranian people themselves, as they face down the corruption, brutality and terrorism of the ayatollahs. The Islamic Republic’s greatest existential threat is thus not America or Israel, but its own countrymen.
*Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Iranian protesters need protection from the regime
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/December 08/2019
Thanks to the tireless efforts of human rights activists and opposition-linked intelligence networks, the world has acquired at least a partial image of the circumstances surrounding the continuing dissatisfaction of the Iranian people with the theocratic establishment and Iran’s latest popular uprising.
One of the clearest impressions from this information is that the clerical regime’s ongoing crackdown on dissent is perhaps even more severe than anything Iranians have experienced over the past three decades.
At least 450 protesters are reported to have been killed and, of these, the opposition movement the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has managed to identify 154 by name across three dozen cities. The NCRI has also been working to keep tabs on the authorities’ broader tactics, which include house raids that have led to the arrest of suspected protesters as young as 12.
At least one politician has issued public threats regarding the possibility of capital punishment for participants in this latest uprising. And the death toll underscores the fact that this cannot be dismissed as a hollow threat.
The international community must not underestimate how indiscriminate the regime’s killings might turn out to be. In 1988, a staggering 30,000 political prisoners were killed in the space of just a few months, according to Amnesty International. And, as an audio recording from that time confirmed when it was leaked in 2016, the victims included pregnant women and young teenagers.
The mass executions were carried out as part of an effort to suppress the threat posed to the mullahs’ regime by an organized, democratic resistance movement known as the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). As such, members and associates of the PMOI constituted the overwhelming majority of the victims. Some now believe that the key organizers of recent protests could be said to be associates of this oppositional group.
Contrary to a historical preoccupation with downplaying the post-1988 strength of the resistance, Iranian officials now appear all too willing to acknowledge and portray those arrested as being involved with the PMOI. As he did in the midst of a previous uprising in January 2018, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei blamed the current unrest on the Iranian oppositional group, which is also known as Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), and its organizing efforts.
Tehran’s willingness to namecheck its enemy should set off alarm bells for the international community.
Some might find it difficult to see any clear boundary between the oppositional group and the countless Iranian citizens who endorse its pro-democracy platform. In a recent press conference, Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the regime’s Supreme National Security Council, said: “These people were connected to governments and the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)… I believe 34 MEK members have been arrested so far. A vast network of individuals, operating not under the MEK’s name but pursuing their line and modus operandi, were also identified.”
Tehran’s willingness to namecheck its enemy should set off alarm bells for the international community. Iran failed to decisively suppress the PMOI/MEK in 1988 and it has failed to prevent it from gaining in membership and organizational power during the subsequent three decades. Now, some argue that it could be standing at the head of a protest movement that could very well lead to a new democratic revolution. And there is every reason to believe the regime will use any means necessary to prevent it from gaining more influence over Iranian society.
In fact, there is every reason to believe that the regime has already set out on this mission. If the latest casualty figures don’t point to this conclusion, then it is imperative for international observers to consider that those figures are undoubtedly incomplete. Not only does the persistence of the unrest point to the certainty of more killings, but the existing figures only represent the information activists have been able to smuggle out of the country in the midst of what may be the largest and most sophisticated shutdown of the internet in history.
The scope of the crackdown is so pervasive that, according to some reports, the ruling theocracy has turned some elementary schools into makeshift prisons.
If the mullahs come away from the latest brutal crackdown with the impression that they are effectively concealing the extent of their crimes, there can be little doubt that they will green light further violations in the future.
Fortunately, there are some fairly simple steps that world powers and human rights groups can take to prevent this from happening. Firstly, the UN Security Council must convene a special session to discuss the protests and issue a statement making it clear that the violent repression of legitimate dissent will not be tolerated. This means that the UN should immediately dispatch a fact-finding mission to Iran. This is advice that was first given by the president-elect of the NCRI, Maryam Rajavi.
Beyond that, anyone who supports the cause of Middle Eastern democracy should push for providing the Iranian people with the means to communicate and acquire information freely. It has long been said that knowledge is power and, in the age of online communications, reliable and up-to-date access to information could be the most vital tool for protecting the Iranian people from the repressive power of the state.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and president of the International American Council. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Disillusionment at NATO despite policy shifts
Yasar Yakis/Arab News/December 08/2019
The NATO summit held in London last week was dominated by a phrase that French President Emmanuel Macron used in an interview with The Economist on Nov. 7. While talking about various shortcomings of the organization, he said: “What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO. The United States appears to be turning its back on us,” notably by pulling its troops out of northeastern Syria without notice.
In an effort to cushion the US reaction, he continued by inviting the European members of the alliance to do more for their own defense. All the same, US President Donald Trump described Macron’s remarks as a “very, very nasty statement.” Referring to France being invaded during both world wars, he added: “Nobody needs NATO more than France.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted to Macron’s statement with more moderate words, saying that such sweeping judgments were not necessary. “Even if we have problems and need to pull together,” she continued, “NATO remains vital to our security.”
Macron’s reference to NATO’s “brain death” provoked other reactions too. Among several weaknesses of the organization, he has also mentioned Turkey, saying: “Turkey now fights against those who fought with us (meaning the Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization). And sometimes they work with (Daesh) proxies.” Such a direct negative reference provoked President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to reciprocate with even harsher words: “Look, Mr. Macron. I am addressing you from Turkey, but I will tell you again at NATO. First, have your own brain death checked.”
Despite this exchange of narratives — the likes of which are rarely used at the level of heads of state — NATO did not break its tradition of reflecting only the positive aspects of its performance in the summit’s final declaration.
NATO is adjusting its strategy to new threats, especially after the demise of the Soviet Union.
NATO has a tradition of reaffirming the allies’ commitment enshrined in Article 5 of its charter. This article provides that an armed attack against any NATO member shall be considered an attack against them all and that they will take such action as they deem necessary. This is a polite way of saying that they will move only if their own national security is at risk. This understanding of Article 5 was confirmed in 1964 in a letter by then-US President Lyndon B. Johnson to Turkey, when he said that the NATO countries might not come to help Ankara if it was attacked by the Soviet Union. Therefore, Turkey is under no illusions that France would agree to send its young men to defend Turkey under Article 5 if it was attacked by another country today.
Having said this, NATO is adjusting its strategy to new threats, especially after the demise of the Soviet Union. A lecturer in the NATO Defense College used to tell us that NATO was established in 1949 “to keep the US in (Europe), the Soviet Union out and Germany down.” This initial intention is now far from reality. The Soviet Union no longer exists, though a reduced threat continues to be perceived from the Russian Federation. Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its pressure on Eastern Ukraine are perceived in NATO countries as signs of Russia’s expansionist policy. The nations where this threat is felt in a more concrete manner are the three Baltic states and Poland. To keep Germany down has no relevance to today’s reality. On the contrary, Germany was invited to join NATO six years after the establishment of the alliance. Its admission prompted the Soviet Union to establish the Warsaw Pact, which became NATO’s main target. The US rightly expects all other NATO countries to increase their military spending to 2 percent of their gross domestic product. This issue is one of the permanent items on the NATO agenda, with little progress so far.
Meanwhile, Cyberattacks and hybrid tactics have become a new reality in warfare. Last week’s final declaration mentioned this subject as an important policy target.
The emergence of China as a major actor on the international arena is a new phenomenon. It does not yet pose a direct military threat to NATO countries, but the alliance has to assess all implications of this important phenomenon. The summit tasked the NATO secretary general to prepare a report and submit it to the alliance’s ministerial council. This preparation covers both the China factor and other developments, such as Daesh and all its implications. Like other international organizations, NATO constantly updates its policies according to new requirements, but the priorities of each of its 29 member states are far from being identical. This causes disillusionment for certain members, who believe that their national priorities are not being properly addressed. Turkey is one of them.
*Yasar Yakis is a former foreign minister of Turkey and founding member of the ruling AK Party. Twitter: @yakis_yasar

Egypt: Christian Churches Burn "Accidentally," or Have "Terrorists Changed Operations"?
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/December 08/2019
Preliminary reports from Egyptian authorities said that all three fires appeared to be accidents related to electrical or circuit failures, not arson.... General opinion among Christians, however, is that the fires were "not a coincidence."
"The fire started from the wooden ceiling of the adjacent hall." Video footage, he added, indicated that something from the market behind the church was hurled onto its roof. — Fr. Samuel, St. George Church in Mansoura, World Watch Monitor, November 11, 2019.
"Terrorists change their operations, from bombings to burning." — Fr. Ephraim Youssef, a priest at St. George Church in Mansoura, World Watch Monitor, November 11, 2019.
On October 13, a fire "completely destroyed" St. George Church in Helwan, considered "one of the greatest and oldest churches belonging to the Coptic Orthodox Church." (Image source: Diego Delso/Wikimedia Commons)
Recently, over the course of two weeks, three Christian churches were torched in Egypt.
First, on Sunday, October 13, "a massive fire swept through a major Coptic church in a Cairo suburb causing heavy damage, but no casualties." Online images and video of the St. George Church in Helwan — considered "one of the greatest and oldest churches belonging to the Coptic Orthodox Church" — confirm that , to quote Bishop Bishara, it "had been completely destroyed."
"I immediately rushed to the church and found it on fire with heavy smoke filling the place," said Fr. Andrew, who personally served at the church for three decades.
"The old wooden building burned down very fast and the fire destroyed everything inside, even before the firefighters arrived.... Our loss is great. We have lost a great historical building and we can't rebuild anything like it."
A separate Coptic report in Arabic noted that "The fire destroyed an ancient history and rich architectural heritage unique to religious tourism in Egypt. Although there were no human casualties, the parish of Helwan and all Copts of Egypt are grieved [at its loss]." The congregation held mass in the torched church on the following Sunday (October 20). As one Copt explained, "I don't know what to say. Either way it's our church and we'll continue to pray in it."
Three days after the fire, on October 16, another blaze broke out in another St. George Church, this time in Mansoura (images here and here). "The fire completely ate up the wooden chapel," stated the report. Five people—two of whom were firefighters — were injured in the inferno.
The cries of schoolgirls first alerted Fr. Samuel, who lives near the church, that something was amiss. He rushed out to find "a huge fire erupting in the chapel on the upper floor of the church and the services hall attached to it."
Two weeks after that, on Friday, November 1, yet another fire broke out in yet another St. George Church, in Shubra. According to the report:
"The fire had started at around 8:30am close to the church theatre hall, in a building adjacent to the church itself. Anba Makary, Bishop of South Shubra, was then officiating Mass on the ground floor for persons with disabilities. They were all safely evacuated."
(That all three churches are named after St. George could merely be coincidental, or not. As a patron saint of the Copts, churches named after the "dragon-slaying" St. George are ubiquitous in Egypt; conversely, because the warrior saint is widely seen as a "protector," if the fires were arson, the message might be: "he cannot protect you.")
Preliminary reports from Egyptian authorities said that all three fires appeared to be accidents related to electrical or circuit failures, not arson. No concluding report for any of the fires has since been issued. This absence of information has not stopped state-run media from also presenting all three fires as accidents. General opinion among Christians, however, is that the fires were "not a coincidence."
According to Fr. Samuel of the Mansoura church, "The fire started from the wooden ceiling of the adjacent hall." Video footage, he added, indicated that something from the market behind the church was hurled onto its roof. Another clergyman, who is also a professional engineer, at the same church, said:
"When we built the church, we designed the electrical circuits in the best possible way and we make sure to switch everything off when we are not around. Also, the electricity distribution panel is equipped with devices to protect against overcurrent and high voltage rise."
A local source speaking on condition of anonymity added that a short while before the fires, the security services had contacted several churches and told to make sure their surveillance cameras were in working order: "This indicates," he postulates, "that the national security had information suggesting that some churches in Egypt would be attacked."
In certain respects, these recent blazes in Egypt and the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in France are similar. To the casual observer, they appear as tragic accidents of historic churches. In both countries, however, a long paper trail of attacks on churches exists. In the days before the fire at Notre Dame, for example, a report revealed that, on average, two churches a day were attacked in France — a country that holds one of Europe's largest Muslim populations — and in some cases had human fecal matter smeared on them.
In Egypt, attacks on churches are an even more common — and often deadly — occurrence. To name some of the more notable incidents, on Palm Sunday of 2017, two Coptic churches were bombed and 50 worshippers killed; on Sunday, December 11, 2016, a Coptic church was bombed and at least 27 worshippers killed; on New Year's Eve of 2011, another church was bombed and about 23 Christians killed; and on Christmas Eve of 2010, seven Christians were shot dead while leaving their church.
Discussing the recent fires — which he does not think were accidental — Fr. Ephraim Youssef, a priest at the church in Mansoura, observed that "Terrorists change their operations, from bombings to burning."
Sadly, Islamist hostility for churches remains as keen as ever. However, instead of choosing spectacular bomb blasts, these three recent cases may suggest that those who hate churches in Egypt are turning to more subtle tactics — ones that look like, and are dismissed as, accidents, to draw less attention and blame. Either way, Egypt's Christians are left with fewer churches. Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Sword and Scimitar, Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

The Fate of Christians in the Current World
Denis MacEoin/Gatestone Institute/December 08/2019
Why should it be anti-Muslim or "Islamophobic" to write about the effects of jihad or the conservative Muslim treatment of unbelievers? The facts are well established within international bodies, NGOs, national commissions, and verifiable journalistic reports. Reformist Muslims themselves are highly critical of the discriminatory laws and behaviours in countries from which they or their forebearers originated.
Indeed, it is precisely Muslims of a reformist and liberal bent who are most vocal about radical restrictions on the values that other Muslims claim are universal.
Let us be clear. No doubt, there will probably always be people, call them the real "Islamophobes", who will use problems within Muslim states or communities to try to tar Islam or Muslims as a whole. But these and other issues still need to be faced as authentic human rights concerns.
A particularly widespread problem for Christians in Muslim countries is the ban on Christian proselytization.... While Christian and secular countries rightly permit Muslims to preach, convert, and instruct non-Muslims, 25 Muslim states forbid proselytization and have laws saying that Muslims who convert to another faith may be put to death as apostates.
Liberalized versions of Islam have in the past few decades been suppressed by fundamentalist takeovers of entire societies. It is therefore hard to believe that countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, or Turkey will return quickly to the moderation they had developed in the previous century. If there is hope for good relations between non-Muslims and Muslims, it must rest, as has already begun, with the Muslims in liberal democracies.... The British organization Muslims Against Antisemitism, is a shining example; in America, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy is another. They should be treasured and helped.
In the Middle East, Christians are being attacked and driven out at an unprecedented pace. Pictured: A church that was burned and destroyed by ISIS in the town of Qaraqosh, Iraq, photographed on December 27, 2016.
A recognition of the religious freedoms offered by secular non-coercive states should be of particular importance to Muslims worldwide. It is a serious criticism of Islamic practice both historically and in the modern era that many Muslim countries seem to remain deeply intolerant towards the followers of other religions or the followers of differing branches of their own religion; toward people they regard as having left Islam, or even whom they perceive as having "offended" its followers, whether inadvertently or not. Persecution of religious minorities, and other Muslims seems common in many Muslim countries -- from the highly restrictive Saudi Arabia to the more liberal Indonesia, and especially in countries where the religion is closely allied to the state.
This situation needs to be discussed. Discussion could explore the disparity between European societies, where there is a separation between religion and the state -- above all France -- and the many home cultures where that separation does not exist, and from which so many Muslim immigrants arrive. The disparity between these two political climates is marked when it comes to religious freedom and the rights of different religious entities to live unmolested within differing nations and their differing state institutions, such as the judiciary. It is not hard to see how secular laws and values offer Muslims earthly protections well above those available to non-Muslims in Islamic states. However, there are individuals such as the British political scientist Jim Wolfreys, who condemn strong secularism and claim that it is a principal cause of ill will toward Muslims.[1]
Why should it be anti-Muslim or "Islamophobic" to write about the effects of jihad or the conservative Muslim treatment of unbelievers? The facts are well established within international bodies, NGOs, national commissions, and verifiable journalistic reports. Reformist Muslims themselves are highly critical of the discriminatory laws and behaviours in countries from which they or their forebearers originated. Indeed, it is precisely Muslims of a reformist and liberal bent who are most vocal about radical restrictions on values that other Muslims claim are universal.
Let us be clear. No doubt, there will probably always be people, call them the real "Islamophobes", who will use problems within Muslim states or communities to try to tar Islam or Muslims as a whole. But these and other issues still need to be faced as authentic human rights concerns.
Before the emergence of international human rights standards, different cultures approached differing cultural matters, such as child marriage, freedom of speech, treatment of women or equal application of the law in differing ways. Islamic and Western norms met closely at certain points yet diverged at others. That sense of proximity remains today: murder, theft, fraud, adultery, giving false testimony, the primacy of education for children, obedience to the law, charitable giving, care for the elderly, attentiveness and treatment for the sick and disabled, punishment for crime, represent negative and positive values for the followers of all religions.
Despite this, there remain increasing gulfs between Western and Islamic values, for instance, regarding adultery. Betrayal of a spouse is an infraction of the Western moral code, but no country would dream of legislating its punishment, apart from the division of households and property in a divorce suit. In more than one Muslim country, however, it is an offence that can and often does lead to floggings or stonings to death. Slavery, sadly, still persists in many parts of the Muslim world (here, here and here).
Excessive alcohol or drug consumption are frowned on by most Westerners because of the personal, familial and social problems they engender; alcoholics and drug addicts are considered vulnerable people who require social and medical help, but moderate drinking in social settings is regarded as perfectly normal, often even desirable. For use that becomes problematic within the society, most, if not all, Western countries provide official and voluntary organizations and centres where help is made available, often free of charge. Portugal, still a fairly conservative Catholic country decriminalized drugs in 2001; since then, it has experienced enormous success in reducing drug use. Other countries are starting to move in a similar direction. In Muslim countries, however, alcohol is banned and the use of hard drugs can be punished by death – something very much the occasion in Iran.
In the West, homosexuals are no longer discriminated against by any state, and same-sex marriage is increasingly adopted, even in countries that previously had religious strictures about any expression of gay attachment, such as the formerly Church-dominated Republic of Ireland. The gap between Western governments and populations who form open LGBT partnerships and hold Gay Pride parades on the one hand[2], and the 13 Muslim countries where homosexuals may be flogged or put to death is widening. As worrying, in a 2007 survey of Muslim views in the UK, 71% of the youngest Muslims (16-24 years old) stated that homosexuality is wrong and should be illegal, as opposed to the oldest generation (55+), only 50% of whom thought otherwise.[3] In other words, from generation to generation, that gap may also be widening.
As the West secularizes more and more – notably in countries such as Ireland, the UK, France (since 1905) and Israel (since 1948) – the process opens up pathways for limited governmental interference in the affairs of religious communities. Conversion to another religions may not be routine but doing so is a right protected by Western laws, as is the right to proselytize.
This openness has encouraged multiculturalism, within which people of faith are encouraged to practice their rites according to the beliefs in which they have been brought up or to which they have converted. In such countries, there are no restrictions on individuals changing their religion or abandoning it altogether. This is not to say that all groups get on well together: my native Northern Ireland may have shifted from its condition of political and religious bigotry in the 1950s and 1960s when I was growing up; but it still retains sectarian hostilities based on religion that have led to violence in living memory. Such extreme division is not much visible in the rest of the UK, despite the persistence of antisemitism and, after many repeated incidents of violence evidently committed under the influence of Islam (for instance here, here , here, here and here), a certain skittish apprehension regarding the genuine neighbourliness of many people newly-arrived in Britain.
This is not the situation in the Islamic world. Many Muslims entering Europe and North America may find themselves bewildered by our religious freedoms, and assume that what is permitted in their home countries -- such as "uncovered women" being "available" -- is permitted in the West. Traditionally, down to the present day, Islamic rulers and clerics have imposed severe restrictions on non-believers. It is a basic Muslim tenet that the only true religion in the world is Islam, and based on the Qur'an (3:85): "And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam it will never be accepted of him and in the hereafter he will be one of the losers." According to a modern Shi'i theologian, "the holy Quran has never used the term religion in a plural form which indicates that the Almighty God recognizes only one religion and one path to Him and that is Islam".
Perhaps that is not surprising; many religions, Christianity notably included, think the same. Like Christians, Muslims hold that true believers are, or will be, in heaven and unbelievers in hell. Muslims also believe that Jews and Christians are a partial exception to this rule, if they accept Islam: Abraham, Moses and Jesus are regarded as prophets, and the Torah and Gospels are considered divine scripture, albeit corrupted from Islam by rabbis and priests. Even so, Jews and Christians, however moral, who do not convert to Islam will also find themselves in the Fire (al-Nar) for eternity. Some Muslims are happy to engage in positive interfaith and intercommunity relations; but it is hard not to wonder if each side are actually hoping that the other side will come around to seeing things their way.
In Muslim societies, followers of minority faiths are generally small in number – often, unfortunately, not by accident (for example, here, here and here). The largest number of Christians in any Islamic state are the Copts of Egypt. According to the Wall Street Journal:
The Egyptian government estimates about 5 million Copts, but the Coptic Orthodox Church says 15-18 million. Reliable numbers are hard to find but estimates suggest they make up somewhere between 6% and 18% of the population. Most Copts are Egyptian, although there are significant pockets of them in Syria, Libya, Jordan and other countries, including in the West.
In the past year, Egypt has moved up an annual league table of persecution of Christians compiled by the charity Open Doors. According to its World Watch List, North Korea is still the most dangerous country in the world in which to be a Christian, and Nepal has had the biggest increase in persecution.
But Egypt, home to the largest Christian community in the Middle East, is of particular worry. Officially about 10% of the 95 million population are Christian, although many believe the figure is significantly higher.
Although the Coptic Christians are more clearly indigenous than many of their Muslim counterparts, the population as a whole does not regard them with special favour. Christians are despised as dhimmis, people whose lives and property are, in theory, "protected" by Islamic rulers, but who are nevertheless subjected to harsh limitations imposed under Islamic law. Over the centuries, Egypt's Christians have been persecuted, often severely. However, until the rise to power in a bloodless coup d'état led by Gamal Abdel Nasser that overthrew the monarchy in 1952, the treatment of the Copts was similar to the treatment of Christians and Jews across the Muslim world.
With the rise of fundamentalism in Egypt under the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood from the 1930s on, antagonism towards Christians and attacks on individuals and property have soared. Coptic Christians suffer a wide range of discrimination, attacks on churches, including a bomb in 2011 that killed 21 worshippers, church demolitions, kidnappings of young Christian women, and murders. The demolitions were only banned in 2016 when a court in Alexandria ruled them impermissible. Churches have been demolished or burnt down, and many individuals have been killed by mobs. This persecution was described as "unprecedented" in 2018, after a year in which 128 Copts were murdered.[4]
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Christians are being attacked and driven out also at an unprecedented pace. Reports about their growing plight come from a variety of sources. The most fully researched general report was written in 2017 by Huma Haider of the University of Birmingham as a Helpdesk report commissioned by the UK Department for International Development. The report begins:
A century ago, Christians in the Middle East comprised 20 percent of the population; today, they constitute no more than 3-4 percent of the region's population. The drastic decline in the number of Christians in the Middle East is considered to be part of a longer-term exodus related to general violence in various countries, lack of economic opportunities in the region, and religious persecution.
Later (p. 5), it gives more details of this decline:
In Egypt, it is reported that the Christian population has declined from 8.3 percent (1927) to 5.3 percent (2011)... In Iraq, there were approximately 1.5 million Christians prior to 2003 (less than 5 percent of the population) Today, estimates range between 200,000 and 250,000... In Syria, Christians numbered approximately 8 percent of the population of 22 million prior to 2011. Today, it is estimated that half have left the country, with evidence demonstrating that most do not expect or intend to return. Entire Christian villages have reportedly been emptied out, leaving some rural areas without any notable Christian presence... In the case of larger cities such as Damascus and Aleppo, the percentage of Christians fleeing is likely no greater than the percentage of Muslims fleeing.
It is reported that Christianity could disappear from Iraq... within five years... In Iran, there has been a decline in the Christian population from 0.9 percent (1970) to 0.35 percent today... Christians in the region, who do not reside in countries directly affected by the current wars, may also seek to leave, given the anti-Christian threat of ISIS and ISIS-like groups to the stability of the region.
Haider enumerates the various forms of persecution that have led to this decline, one that has accelerated in the 21st century. She lists (and elaborates on) the following categories:
Violence and harassment
Expulsion
Destruction of religious property and cultural heritage
Larceny (i.e. illegal seizure of Christian houses and land)
Lack of legal and constitutional protections (unequal citizenship and insufficient freedom of religion)
Restrictions on and suppression of the practice of religion
Arbitrary arrests and imprisonment
Targeting of religious leaders
Educational exclusion (Christians forbidden to teach their children about Christianity; textbooks in some countries teach hatred and intolerance toward non-Muslims)
Impunity and institutional weaknesses (mob violence often goes unpunished)[5]
A particularly widespread problem for Christians in Muslim countries is the ban on Christian proselytization. In Iran for example, attempts by Christians (or Baha'is) to convert Muslims are punishable by death. Whereas Christian and secular countries rightly permit Muslims to preach, convert, and instruct non-Muslims, 25 Muslim states forbid proselytization and have laws saying that Muslims who convert to another faith may be put to death as apostates. For a legalistic justification for the law on apostasy, readers should consult the popular online resource: Islam: Question and Answer. The website, supervised by Shaykh Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid, a Saudi Salafi scholar, treats the subject under the rubric "Why death is the punishment for Apostasy". The matter is made simple under shari'a law: "when a person who has reached puberty and is same voluntarily apostatizes from Islam, he deserves to be killed".[6] The shari'a ruling is based inter alia on a tradition of the Prophet recorded in the canonical collections of Hadith.
Is it in any way "Islamophobic" to draw attention to these ruptures of international human rights law in many Muslim countries? It is hard to believe so. There is a vast difference between fact-based criticism of some Islamic laws or practices and the racist and xenophobic hatred that would characterize actual Islamophobia. Liberalized versions of Islam have in the past few decades been suppressed by fundamentalist takeovers of entire societies. It is also hard to believe that countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey will return quickly to the moderation they had developed in the previous century. If there is hope for good relations between non-Muslims and Muslims, it must rest, as has already begun, with the Muslims in liberal democracies.
As more and more Muslims become conscious of the extremely different ways in which most secular states treat minorities -- such as themselves -- compared to what they may have experienced in their homelands, many Muslims may rightly seek out equitable treatment as citizens in their adopted countries. To do that, they have to struggle hard against hatred, perhaps even by their co-religionists, economic challenges, poor job expectations, physical attacks, verbal harassment, and discrimination at many levels. Such has always been the struggle faced by immigrants.
Many will have been brought up to discriminate against non-Muslims, to call Jews "the sons of apes and pigs"[7]; to believe that Christians, Hindus, Yazidis and other unbelievers are destined for hellfire, and even that other Muslims -- Shi'is, Sufis, Ahmadis, and so on -- supposedly rank heretics, are also destined for the Fire.
More and more, Muslims living in non-Muslim territories have learned -- and are teaching -- their children that such attitudes undermine the interpretation of Islam that they may wish to develop in their own communities. Many Muslims recognize that, while their original societies do little or nothing to calm the prejudice against non-Muslims, Western countries and organizations are developing ways to live with others who are different from oneself. The British organization Muslims Against Antisemitism, is a shining example; in America, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy is another. They should be treasured and helped.
Dr. Denis MacEoin is a former lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies at a British university. He has written many books and articles on Islam and contributed to Islam-related work by Policy Exchange, Civitas, and the Gatestone Institute, where he is a Distinguished Senior Fellow.
[1] See Jim Wolfreys, Republic of Islamophobia: The Rise of Respectable Racism in France, London, 2018.
[2] One of the biggest such parades is the annual Gay Pride parade in Tel Aviv, which has been taking place for over 20 years. See TOI staff and agencies, "Over 250,000 revelers flood Tel Aviv for Israel's biggest ever Gay Pride parade", The Times of Israel, 8 June, 2018. Tel Aviv itself has been dubbed the 'most gay-friendly city' in the world: Christopher Muther, "Welcome to Tel Aviv, the gayest city on earth", The Boston Globe, 17 March, 2016.
[3] Munira Mirza, Abi Senthilkumaran, and Zein Ja'far, Living apart together: British Muslims and the paradox of multiculturalism, Policy Exchange, 2007, p. 47.
[4] A fuller discussion of the tensions between Christians and Muslims in Egypt may be found in Abdel-Latif El Menawy, The Copts: An Investigation into the Rifts Between Muslims and Christians in Egypt, London, 2019.
[5] For some further reports, see here and here and here. A more comprehensive account may be found in Alon Ben Meir, "The Persecution of Minorities in the Middle East, in K. Ellis, Secular Nationalism in Muslim Countries. Minorities in West Asia and North Africa, London, 2018; for full details and instructions for purchase of the chapter or the book, go here.
[6] Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law, ed. and trans. Nuh Ha Mim Keller, rev. ed., MD, 1994, o8.1, p. 595; for fuller rulings about apostasy in general, see ibid paragraphs o8.0 to o8.7(20), pp. 595-598.
[7] This is a widespread expression, used at all levels. See, for example, Jeffrey Goldberg, 'Egyptian President Calls Jews "Sons of Apes and Pigs"; World Yawns', The Atlantic, 14 January, 2013. For earlier examples, see Anon, 'Arab/Muslim Anti-Semitism: Muslim Clerics – Jews Are the Descendants of Apes, Pigs, And Other Animals', Jewish Virtual Library, updated November, 2002. See further a study by social psychologist Neil J. Kressel, 'The Sons of Apes and Pigs: Muslim Antisemitism and the Conspiracy of Silence, Potomac Books, University of Nebraska Press, 2012.
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