LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 09.2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never
First Letter to the Corinthians 06/12-20/:”‘All things are lawful for me’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful for me’, but I will not be dominated by anything. ‘Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food’, and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, ‘The two shall be one flesh.’But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 08-09/2020
Lebanon’s Financial Crisis Changes People's Lifestyle
Aoun: We will take all measures to ensure the country’s rise, and we will work closely with our international partners to recover the stolen money
Berri at AIU Conference Rejects ‘Deal of the Century, Palestinian Naturalization’
Diab Invited to HIC Meeting, Apologizes for Not Attending
‘No Confidence’ Protests March against Government
Foucher during a dinner banquet hosted in his honor by Makhzoumi: We are supportive of the government, so long as it enjoys credibility and restores confidence in Lebanon
PSP: We will strive for a civil political system
Najm Says Won't Bear 'Endless' Suspension of Probes
Foreign Minister: We ask the Lebanese society to give us a chance to start reforms
Two protest marches head towards Central Beirut
Rahi calls for repealing Article 95 of the Constitution
Grand Mufti of the Lebanese Republic, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian presides over Supreme Sharia Council meeting
An Economic and Political ‘Corona’ in Lebanon?/Rajeh Khoury/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 08/2020
If you feel like reading in a rainy week end/Roger Bejjani/Face Book/Fenruary 08/2020
Lebanon’s cabinet heads to controversial vote of confidence/Samar Kadi/The Arab Weekly/February 09/2020
Is it still too early to judge Rafik Hariri’s legacy?/Gareth Smyth/The Arab Weekly/February 09/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published  on February 08-09/2020
Canadian lawyers file lawsuit against Iran over downed Ukrainian jet
Khamenei Says Iran Must Become Strong to End 'Enemy Threat'
Khamenei says Iran has a strong Air Force despite US pressure
Syrian Regime forces advance in northwest Syria: War monitor
Syrian regime says captured opposition key crossroads city in Idlib
Syrian army holds 9 Turkish Idlib outposts to siege ready for showdown battle/DebkaFile/February 08/2020
Turkey says capable of protecting outposts in Syria’s Idlib
Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union Holds Emergency Session in Jordan
Israel bans Palestinian agricultural exports via Jordan
French Airstrikes Kill 30 Extremists in Sahel
US Encourages Direct Negotiations Between Palestinians, Israelis on Peace Plan
Egypt releases doctor who performed FGM on 12-year-old who bled to death

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published  on February 08-09/2020
It is time to stop FGM/Dr. Luay Shabaneh/February 08/2020
The Muslim World's Inferiority Complex/Raymond Ibrahim/American Thinker/February 08/2020
The Netherlands: The Geert Wilders Show Trial Continues/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/February 8, 2020
Idlib exposes deep fissures among the stakeholders in Syria's future/Raghida Dergham/The National/February 08/2020
Iran’s iron curtain is falling/Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/February 09/2020
Incarcerating jihadists ‘forever’ could run into logistical quicksand/Rashmee Roshan Lall/The Arab Weekly/February 09/2020
It is time to get real about the Palestinians’ predicament/Iman Zayat/The Arab Weekly/February 09/2020
Too often we are silent in the face of naked evil/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/February 08/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published  on February 08-09/2020
Lebanon’s Financial Crisis Changes People's Lifestyle
Beirut - Paula Astih/Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 8 February, 2020
Lebanon’s financial crisis and the tight measures imposed by banks on depositors since late last year have greatly damaged the lifestyle of most Lebanese, who can no longer afford travel expenses, shopping and dining out. Charbel Naamah, 38, used to plan a yearly vacation abroad with his family during summer holidays. However, as most Lebanese, he can no longer afford it. Despite taking measures to save some cash in US dollars, the young man fell short on securing what’s needed to buy airplane tickets, book a hotel room and cover the remaining expenses of the trip. Since last November, Lebanon's banks tightened limits on foreign currency withdrawals, restricting depositors to a maximum withdrawal of some hundreds of dollars a month. Such measures left most Lebanese with no liquidity in US dollars. “Unfortunately, our lifestyle has unexpectedly changed in just a few months. Now, we have to think one thousand times before going to a restaurant or buying unnecessary outfits. Our purchasing power is now restricted to the basic needs of our children,” Charbel told Asharq Al-Awsat. However, others choose to maintain an extravagant lifestyle to escape the daily economic and social pressures imposed by the financial crisis. Ghada Youness, 43, said she and her family need a breathing space after a hectic week at work or school. “We are used to eating sushi twice a week,” she told Asharq Al-Awsat. “After the crisis, we’re having it only once because we expect the coming months to be get worse economically.” Across the country, most shops and malls have announced huge discounts but have failed to draw shoppers. The change of lifestyle has not only affected the poor and middle classes in Lebanon. While standing in a long queue at a bank, a woman in her sixties told Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity that she is only allowed to withdraw $300 from her account that exceeds $1 million. She is currently looking for a property to get her money out of the account. “We earned this money from our hard work ... How can they steal it from us?” she asked. Dr. Mona Fayad, professor at the Lebanese University's Psychology Department, told the newspaper that the financial crisis has wiped out the entire lifestyle of the Lebanese people. “We expect things to get worse. There will no longer be any middle class and the Lebanese would be divided between the poor and the rich,” she said.

Aoun: We will take all measures to ensure the country’s rise, and we will work closely with our international partners to recover the stolen money
NNA/Saturday, 8 February, 2020
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, stressed Saturday that “all necessary measures to ensure the country’s rise will be adopted,” adding that “serious efforts will be exerted with international partners to recover the looted public funds” and confirming that “combating corruption is an essential part of our work program.”“We will take all strict financial measures for the economic revival…and for that we do not need exceptional assistance, as much as we have the right to recover from the countries that ignited the war in Syria, part of the 25 billion dollars that Lebanon incurred as a result of this war and the Syrian displacement to it. The Lebanese economic market is small and can quickly be exhausted, but can also rapidly rise from its repression," stated Aoun. The President’s words came in a special interview published by the widely-spread French magazine, Valeurs Actuelles, in its latest issue of today.
"The current Lebanese situation is difficult, as we are suffering from a suffocating economic crisis, and the Lebanese economy has turned into a rentier economy since the Syrian entry into Lebanon in the nineties, which made our budgets rely on debts, and thus creating an unproductive economy that led to doubling the public debts," he said. “The wars that flared in a number of neighboring Arab countries, through which Lebanese products crossed into the Arab region, also contributed to doubling the economic crisis, which was further aggravated by the large number of Syrian displaced people, which exceeded Lebanon's ability to bear. Today, their number with the Palestinian refugees constitutes about half of the population of Lebanon," the President explained. In this connection, Aoun considered that the burdens shouldered by Lebanon in this respect exceed the capacity of major countries. “This crisis has cost us about 25 billion dollars so far, according to the estimates of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank," he said. “A number of countries have expressed their desire to help Lebanon, foremost of which is France,” indicated Aoun. He revealed that during the last phone call between him and French President Emmanuel Macron, the French President congratulated him on forming the new government and they both dwelled on the current crisis, whereby Macron affirmed, “We will have another conversation in the next few days." Referring to the new government’s role, President Aoun indicated that it has to work to end the current economic crisis and take broad economic and financial measures to this effect, according to its ministerial statement. "Hezbollah does not lead the new government," he stressed in response to a question. Over the US-Iranian conflict, President Aoun said: "Everyone believes that Hezbollah will interfere in a war between the two sides, but I personally guarantee that Hezbollah will respect Resolution #1701 issued by the Security Council. Additionally, the Party does not interfere in Lebanese internal affairs. It has its deputies and ministers, and everything issued by the government is acceptable at the national level, and the same applies with regards to Parliament. Outside this matter, Hezbollah has no role. We often hear that Lebanon’s sovereignty is lost and even violated due to the presence of Hezbollah, but this belief is wrong.”Turning to the Lebanese-French relations, Aoun described them as "firm and steadfast”. He added in response to a question on France’s policy towards Lebanon, that “there were very strict French positions toward Israel, just as there were French positions in the interest of Lebanon, although there were not many practical initiatives as a result of international circumstances…We have always maintained the best relations with France, and they have done what they could.” On the issue of Carlos Ghosn, the President said: "We have repeatedly contacted the Japanese authorities throughout the duration of his detention, with the aim of helping him and knowing the charges against him. We also met with the Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister and asked him about the matter, yet we received no document on this issue…Then one morning I was surprised by a call from him [Ghosn], and he left his contact number in Beirut, to which he returned from Turkey."
Asked if he anticipates a role for Ghosn in the economic revival of Lebanon, Aoun said: "This is possible."

Berri at AIU Conference Rejects ‘Deal of the Century, Palestinian Naturalization’
Naharnet/February 08/2020
Speaker Nabih Berri at the AIU meeting on a US Mideast plan held in Jordan reiterated the strong rejection of Palestinian resettlement and the so-called Deal of the Century. “In the name of the Lebanese Parliament, we condemn the deal of the century and refuse the naturalization of Palestinians in their whereabouts. We renew our commitment to stand by the Palestinian people,” said Berri speaking at the 30th emergency conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union in Jordan. “Once again, we only meet in an emergency manner….As always, Palestine unites us in confronting the deal, calling out to our values of courage and chivalry…It is a cry to save our awareness about the lurking danger…If Palestine collapses, the nation shall fall, so do we hear this cry?” said Berri. “Did we read the maps and points of the deal of the century and what will result from this crime?” he asked.
The US plan suggests that Israel would retain control of the contested city of Jerusalem as its "undivided capital" and annex settlements on Palestinian lands. Berri flew to Jordan leading an administrative and media delegation, the National News Agency reported. Berri delivered his speech at the opening of the conference. On Sunday, current chair of the AIU and Speaker of the Jordanian House of Representatives Atef Tarawneh, called for the emergency conference to coordinate the positions of Arab parliamentarians towards a peace plan announced by US President Donald Trump on January 28.

Diab Invited to HIC Meeting, Apologizes for Not Attending
Naharnet/February 08/2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab received an invitation to take part in the Higher Islamic Council meeting in Dar el-Fatwa, after “dull” relations between the two following Diab’s designation, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.
Diab, designated in December, is an original member of the HIC, along with former prime ministers, elected members, the Muftis of Lebanese regions and Sharia judges. Sources close to Diab said: “The PM apologized for participating in the meeting before his government gains the confidence vote,” but added that “obtaining the Parliament's vote of confidence for the new government is not conditional for premiers to join HIC meetings because Diab (in this case) has become a full-fledged member of the Prime Ministers Club.”“Inviting Diab to the HIC meeting could normalize relations between Dar el-Fatwa and the PM necessary to arrange the situation within the Sunni community after dull ties,” said the sources. Diab was designated after the resignation of Saad Hariri. His designation reportedly did not get the “blessings” of Dar el-Fatwa, who later failed to invite him to the HIC meeting held earlier.

‘No Confidence’ Protests March against Government
Associated Press/Naharnet/February 08/2020
Defying a cold storm that saw temperatures drop significantly in Lebanon, demonstrators kicked off a march on Saturday rejecting the new government of PM Hassan Diab named to deal with an economic crisis, which they say lacks a popular mandate. Protesting under the banner of “no confidence,” demonstrators marched through the streets of Beirut starting near the Interior Ministry in Hamra then heading to the central bank and the Parliament in downtown Beirut. The new government named in January came after weeks of political stalemate and amid nationwide protests while Lebanon grappled with an unprecedented economic crisis. Backed by the two main blocs in parliament, the government is awaiting a vote of confidence on Tuesday, which it is likely to get. But protesters say the government is an extension of traditional political parties they have denounced as corrupt. Lebanon's nationwide protests broke out Oct. 17 after a summer of discontent over a slumping economy and an austerity budget. The protests, sparked by proposals for new taxes, snowballed into demands for the ruling elite to step aside. Lebanon's ruling class has been in power since the end of the 1975-90 civil war, including some of its warlords. Protesters accuse them of mismanaging Lebanon's wealth and of widespread corruption. The new 20-member government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab was announced in late January but protests continued. In recent weeks, demonstrations have turned violent as frustration rose. Security forces and protesters clashed outside the country's parliament and the central bank in pitched street battles that left hundreds injured. Rights groups denounced the security forces' use of rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. Over the last week, security forces erected blast walls around parliament and other government buildings, sealing them off from protesters and turning central Beirut into a fortified security zone. Lebanon has one of the world's highest public debts, standing at more than 150% of gross domestic product. Growth has plummeted and the budget deficit reached 11% of GDP in 2 018 as economic activities slowed and remittances from Lebanese living abroad shrank. The national currency, which has been pegged to the dollar since 1997, lost about 60% of its value in recent weeks, sparking a run on banks which responded with limits on cash withdrawals and transfers.

Foucher during a dinner banquet hosted in his honor by Makhzoumi: We are supportive of the government, so long as it enjoys credibility and restores confidence in Lebanon
NNA/February 08/2020
French Ambassador to Lebanon, Bruno Foucher, expressed his country’s continued support to Lebanon, adding: "It is necessary for the new government to enjoy credibility and transparency and to be in contact with all parties, as well as with the people and the outside, so that it can restore confidence in Lebanon." Foucher’s words came during a dinner banquet held in his honor by MP Fouad Makhzoumi on Friday, in the presence of political, security and social figures and accredited ambassadors of Arab and foreign countries. Foucher thanked Makhzoumi for hosting the dinner in his honor, stressing, according to a statement by Makhzoumi's press office, "on the strength of the Lebanese-French relations," and hoping that "Lebanon would overcome the crises it is going through."In his welcoming word, Makhzoumi, in turn, thanked France for permanently standing by Lebanon, and its people during the October 17th Revolution, affirming that "the conditions that Lebanon faces are dangerous because of the economic, financial and social crises, which triggered the revolution.""One of the country's most challenging crises is the economic and financial policy that its governments have produced over the past thirty years,” he said. “These policies are still continuing,” he added regretfully, hoping that the friendly countries of Lebanon, who wish to help and support our country, "would not provide any financial support before the fall of the corrupt people, and before they are ousted from the public positions they occupy, and until reform is initiated and confidence of the Lebanese people in managing their affairs is restored."Makhzoumi concluded by calling on Europe, particularly France, to "support our people's decision to get rid of this corrupt political class," stressing that "Paris will remain a voice for a free and independent Lebanon in forums around the world."

PSP: We will strive for a civil political system
NNA/February 08/2020
In remembrance of its fallen Martyr Anwar al-Fatayri, the Progressive Socialist Party issued a statement on Saturday recalling his national role and sacrifices, while pledging to pursue all possible efforts for achieving a civil political system in the country. “During these difficult times filled with crises at all levels, we recall, on the anniversary of the assassination of Martyr Anwar al-Fatayri, his leading role in raising the torch of social, economic and daily living demands….Such stringent conditions which are back today to restrict the lives of people, in light of the ruling team’s hitting of all chances of rescue by insisting on the same wrong management in waste files and in undermining the essential sectors,” the Party statement indicated. PSP vowed to remain biased towards people's issues and youth concerns and aspirations, and towards national unity and coexistence, always seeking to rise above the limitations of the current system to establish a civil political system that respects the rights of citizens in a clear framework of equality and social justice.

Najm Says Won't Bear 'Endless' Suspension of Probes
Naharnet/February 08/2020
Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm stressed in a tweet on Saturday that investigations kept unresolved for an indefinite period of time won’t be tolerated and that she will use her powers to accelerate probes. “Regarding reports circulated in social media about my jurisdiction and confidential investigations, rest assured I did not meddle in details of investigation in order to ensure the independence of the judiciary..but I will not stand idle towards any investigation that remains spending indefinitely, mainly corruption charges,” said Najm. “I will exercise my full powers to accelerate investigations,” stressed Najm.

Foreign Minister: We ask the Lebanese society to give us a chance to start reforms
NA/February 08/2020
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Nassif Hitti, affirmed that "the government is looking for comprehensive structural reforms in the economy, especially towards strengthening the productive sectors, most notably the agricultural sector and the small industries, in order to strike a balance between the various economic sectors in Lebanon, which allows for dealing in a successful and effective way to find a solution to the problem of unemployment and economic collapse. "In an interview with "Akhbar Al-Yom" website, Minister Hitti added that "Lebanon is facing a serious economic crisis, and if it is not addressed in a comprehensive and rapid manner, it may lead to serious social and perhaps political repercussions; therefore, we attach great importance to economic reform." In this context, the Minister asked the Lebanese components to give them some time to launch the reform process. He also referred to the reform program as mentioned in the ministerial statement, which is based on three phases: the first stage is the one hundred-day phase devoted to rapid and necessary reforms, while the second and third phases range from one to three years to plan reform in a comprehensive manner. Finally, Minister Hitti considered that if the government gained confidence from the Parliament, Lebanon would seek support from the Gulf and Arab states, as well as from the International Support Group for Lebanon, in order to help Lebanon in its reform program.

Two protest marches head towards Central Beirut
NNA/February 08/2020
A protest march set out from Chevrolet this afternoon, passing through Furn El-Chebbak and the Justice Palace, heading towards downtown Beirut, NNA correspondent reported. Meanwhile, another protest march set out from outside the Ministry of Interior, passing through the Central Bank of Lebanon, far-reaching Hamra Street, after which it will head to the center of Beirut. The protesters announced that they will prevent deputies next Tuesday from arriving at the Parliament House to give confidence to the government.

Rahi calls for repealing Article 95 of the Constitution
NNA/February 08/2020
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi, called on the civil movement, which is pushing for the establishment of a civic-nation state based on the separation of religion and politics, to adopt the policy of administrative decentralization and a senate.
"The civil movement that calls for the establishment of a civil state must demand the restoration and completion of this state through the application of expanded administrative decentralization and the Senate, and then Article 95 of the Constitution can be repealed," Rahi said during his participation in the symposium honoring Patriarch Elias Al-Howayek at St. Maroun Church in Rome. In this context, Rahi indicated that Patriarch Howayek was the first to demand a civil state, asking: "Does this movement know that Patriarch Howayek was the first to demand a civil state?" Rahi recalled herein Howayek's past statement: "In Lebanon there is one sect called Lebanon, and all other sects are the components of this Lebanon."  “Lebanon is essentially a civil state, and belonging to it is through citizenship and not through sect and religion. The National Charter gave a spirit to this concept and constitution, as Christians and Muslims coexist with mutual respect and cooperation, but unfortunately this concept began to disappear until Lebanon became the country of sects," he concluded.

Grand Mufti of the Lebanese Republic, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian presides over Supreme Sharia Council meeting
NNA/February 08/2020 
The Supreme Sharia Council is currently holding a meeting at Dar El-Fatwa, headed by Grand Mufti of the Lebanese Republic, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, with talks touching on Sharia and national affairs. In wake of recent developments, the conferees called for "standing responsibly” as a one rank in the face of international disassembly and the attempts to strike the unity of political entities. Over the cabinet’s ministerial statement, the conferees considered that it “will pose a major challenge to the government, and time may be the greatest challenge, to demonstrate its ability to advance the country's deteriorating and dangerous conditions, and to get it out of its financial, economic, social and daily living crises, and to adhere to the constitution and the requirements of the Taif Agreement and the values ​​of integrity and transparency and commitment to applying the laws in force…”They considered that the government has to demonstrate through actions, and not words, its determination to address the problems and concerns of the Lebanese and their suffering, and work to restore their confidence in the state. “We will follow up on its pledges carefully,” they affirmed. Referring to the rejected “deal of the century”, the Council stressed that “Palestine, its history, land and sanctuaries, are not for sale, and the sacred land is not for exchange, and its national entity is not for deliberation…Its people are steadfast, unified, and struggling, and nothing will undermine their determination to regain their land and legitimate rights, and to return to their united homeland and its holy capital.”The Council also paid tribute to Martyr PM Rafik Hariri, marking the fifteenth commemoration of his assassination, stressing their “faithfulness to his memory and continuous loyalty to his approach.

An Economic and Political ‘Corona’ in Lebanon?
Rajeh Khoury/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 08/2020
Weeks ago, the French Foreign Minister gave what seemed to be an obituary to Lebanon in light of its ongoing political and economic disarray. Worst of all, those in power are dealing with the revolution that broke out in every city in the country and reached 26 countries through Lebanese expats, as though it were merely a storm or a passing crisis!
When, immediately after the formation of the single-sided government led by Hassan Diab with no support from the Sunnis - as shown by the fact that he has not visited Mufti Darian - Jean-Yves Le Drian says: “The new government must put all of its effort behind implementing reforms that are needed if Lebanon is to survive, because this is the degree of the difficulty of the situation”, this simply means that Lebanon’s survival is on the line and that there is no alternative to real, radical and responsible reform if we are to avoid the danger of total collapse.
But the constant miserable question posed by the Lebanese is: Who will carry out these reforms, if decisions are taken by the politicians, who have gone about, for years, creating the dangerous crisis that is now threatening Lebanon’s survival. In other words, how could the disease become the cure, especially with a government that has a totally clear political direction; it came out of the womb of Hezbollah, which it says is a "salvation government." However, two weeks after its formation, it is clear it will not be able to save anything.
Two days ago, Assistant US Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, who is well aware of the realities in Lebanon, said: “The Lebanese economy is in a worse position than some think, and we believe that its foreign reserves are much less than what is reported.”
This comes amid two crises: the banking crisis, which has led to strict controls on deposits and is expected to get worse, and a debt crisis, as $1.2 billion Eurobond is due to mature in March. What makes matters worse is that the sum required of the Lebanese state that is mired with corruption will eventually be paid by the central bank, which means, in practice, by Lebanese depositors and not the state itself. Former Minister of Finance Ali Hassan Al-Khalil has previously announced on TV that there is no money in the treasury: not a Lira!
Because Schenker’s statement was issued in Tel Aviv, many were quick to link his statement to the naturalization of Palestinians as part of the “deal of the century”. However, regardless of the deal, the financial crisis that Lebanon is suffering from is fatal, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated two weeks ago that "Lebanon will face a terrible financial crisis in the coming weeks".
All of this comes as no surprise and adds nothing to what we know of this miserable situation threatening to put Lebanon in the list of failed countries. Officials in Beirut admit as much. The resigned government confronted the revolution against corruption and theft with an honest admission that the situation is geared towards disaster. That is, especially that the government’s revenues have receded by 40 percent in the last three months and that catastrophic numbers have precipitated to the surface with the money meant for officials and salaries paid by this farm state to more than 300,000 employees, in addition to the public debt servicing, reaching 106 percent of revenues. This means that the electricity, healthcare, industry, import and food industries will not receive a single dollar from these massive sums of money that the central bank is asking to be secured, i.e., from the peoples’ money.
The government announced bankruptcy and is headed towards a disaster. Hassan Diab did not hesitate to say, “We are confronting an economic crisis”! Minister of Finance Ghazi Wazni also rushed to say, “If the situation continues as it is, we are walking towards collapse”.
However, what is needed is not for the Lebanese to hear this eulogy, what is required is that Diab delineates in his government’s statement what he will do to confront this disaster and that Wazni and other ministers announce how they will act to stop it.
What has been leaked from the government’s statement is mournful, for example, when it says, “In the last years Lebanon has gone through enormous crises and challenges that have accumulated and culminated in an existential one”. What an outstanding discovery! It also talks about “activating the role of the judiciary in the war on corruption”, following President Michel Aoun’s statement that “We are continuing the war on corruption”. However, up until now, there has been no such war in Lebanon, not even on a single one of the corrupt people who looted public funds.
The reality is that nobody is afraid anymore; Lebanon is in a catastrophic economic crisis, and what’s worse is that it is shut off from any possible foreign aids. It is confronting Gulf countries with a one-sided government, so it was not surprising when all indicators and communications say that it is not possible to rely on aid from Gulf countries facing accusations from a country that speaks of neutralizing itself and then enrolls in a camp that is hostile towards the Gulf.
It is no secret, and is quite clear, western statements, whether by the United Nations through its representative in Beirut, Jan Kubis that the solution is “reform reform reform”, and by US officials and countries that pledged aid in the CEDRE Conference that Lebanon cannot receive a single cent without a real and serious reform that stops this monstrous corruption and looting of public funds. This is clearly not possible without throwing the corrupt in prison or holding them accountable.
This seems impossible for two reasons: First because the decision is in the hands of a few people who benefited from corruption for a very long time. Second, because sectarianism quickly precipitates and halts any real reform process. This is what President Charles Helou faced in 1964 and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri after him in 1994, whom I remember personally telling me that day that how are we to lead to any reform when every sect believes that purging any corrupt individual belonging to it is an insult and attack against it?
Returning to the present, it is clear that Lebanon is facing two types of lethal epidemics: an economic “Corona” and a political one. The former will push the country towards bankruptcy, while the latter prevents it from undergoing any real reform process. Everything we hear about fighting corruption is impossible, such as the illusion of restoring looted money, precisely because he who looted will not restore what has been stolen.

If you feel like reading in a rainy week end:
Roger Bejjani/Face Book/Fenruary 08/2020
We were put on the trajectory of a deep political, financial and economical crisis that went spiraling since 2009.
We are about to reach rock bottom with an unprecedented confidence crisis between politicians and the people, between Banks and their depositors, between the people and the justice system and between the people and Army/security forces.
If this sentiment of mistrust has been amplified by tons of fake news, the background of failure is overwhelming and the people are not required to have any analytical skills. They only have reactionary ones.
Some (Hezbollah and their vassals) impute today’s disaster to Rafic Hariri’s financial and reconstruction policies. Of course facts and figures contradict them. If obviously the deficit has started during Hariri’s mandate in the 90’, it was due to 3 clear items:
1. EDL: Hariri urges everyone to privatize or semi-privatize energy supply in Lebanon at a time it was quite easy for him to bring in EDF or Siemens or GE. He was faced with a barrage of opposition by Jomblat, Berri and of course the Syrians. They were all benefiting from the golden eggs’ chicken popper. All energy ministers were close to either one of those 3 opponents to privatization.
2. Political employment: Many political sectarian parties excluding the Kataeb, LF and the Aounists have benefited from political not needed public employment, causing more deficit.
3. The Lebanese refugees crisis resulting from the Lebanese civil war was solved through an open blackmail made by Berri and Jomblat liberating astronomic indemnities to be paid to illegal squatters from our national budget.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah has started its wars against Israel in South Lebanon which have led to the 1996 war.
Hariri, an optimist by nature, was banking on patience rather than on confrontation. He did reach the point where his credibility in the West and in the Arab countries (excluding Syria) has reached a maximum level, whereas his credibility with the Syrian regime and Hezbollah has reached rock bottom. His bet was to leverage his international very strong connections against the Syrians and Hezbollah.
After being outcasted and persecuted by the Lahoud (a vassal to Assad and Hezbollah) régime, he was assassinated by Hezbollah.
Imputing to Rafic Hariri’s political era the demise of today is simply childish or results from total ignorance of the facts. Some would tell you : he should have resigned! Well that was the easiest thing for him to do.
You must have guessed by now that I consider Rafic Hariri and his team as one of the best thing that happened to Lebanon.
Pragmatically, Lebanese or at least a large part of the Lebanese political
choices have propelled us into the abyss we are in today.
Starting with the Cairo accord, the non ratification of May 17 accords, the suicidal destructive wars of calamity Aoun, the covering up of Hezbollah’s activity; thus affirming its grip (Iran’s grip) gradually over our country’s destiny. These political stupid choices are responsible of our dead country walking status.
Not Rafic Hariri, not Riad Salameh, not the banks...
Corruption is a byproduct of the political bad decisions and not the reason behind what we’re trying to live through today.
Corruption has always existed since 1943 in Lebanon. Addressing it is a technical issue and it can be contained through an independent justice system that we will never have as long as no prosecutor dares prosecuting Hassan Nasrallah for high treason and for protecting indicted assassins.
Our only way out is through reversing the bad geo-political decisions:
1. Outcasting Hezbollah entirely (not the Lebanese Shias) and consider it as an outlaw organization.
2. Deny political role to Hezbollah and deny them media coverage by law (the way Shin Fein was denied political or media coverage prior to the disarming of IRA).
3. Declare the neutrality of Lebanon regarding all regional conflicts.
4. Consolidate the 1948 armistice agreement with Israel and initiate permanent peace talks.
5. Provide permanent residencies to Palestinians in Lebanon (not Nationality) who will be holders of a UN temporary passport against a financial compensation to Lebanon. Organize and coordinate relocation of Palestinians in Lebanon according to quotas amongst Arab countries and Europe. Lebanon being able to absorb a maximum of 20,000 who will be granted the Lebanese nationality.
6. Reaffirm Lebanon’s friendship with the west and the Arab world.
7. Lean up the state, security and carcéral apparatus through thorough privatization.
8. Privatize EDL and GSM companies.
9. Legislate a 6 months renewable capital control.
10. Reduce retro-actively interests earned by depositors since 2011.
11. Adopt a secular political reform where sectarian belonging will only be considered in a new institution: the Sénat.
12. Adopt a Presidential regime similar to the US system as long as President is elected by the people (2 rounds election) irrespective of his/her sect.
Adopting this clear cut political agenda by a wide National Political Front would be meaningful. Much more than the idiotic attacks on public figures in restaurants or pissing on Banks’ walls.
Pragmatically, we need to form a large parliamentarian coalition that would regroup uncompromisingly around this agenda and push forward.
Only then we can have the attention of the Arabs and the West.
**you mean 2006 war...You wrote 1996 war !!

Lebanon’s cabinet heads to controversial vote of confidence
Samar Kadi/The Arab Weekly/February 09/2020
BEIRUT - Lebanese parliamentarians are preparing a vote of confidence regarding Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s Hezbollah-backed government amid extremely tight security aimed at deterring anti-government demonstrators who pledged to escalate protests to disrupt the meeting.
The parliament is to convene February 11-12 to review the new cabinet’s policy statement and vote on whether to accept the proposed government.
“This government does not represent us so we are going to do everything possible non-violently to deny parliament that represents the corrupt political class of Lebanon to recreate an administration that represents and protects their interests,” said activist Marc Daou.
“We will mobilise the people and block roads leading to the parliament building to abort the session.”
Expressing apprehension at a possible crackdown, Daou said the government would be held responsible for any violence.
“Since this government does not represent the majority of the Lebanese people who are protesting in the street, the only way for it to get a vote of confidence is through violence and protection by the security and armed forces,” Daou added.
The Higher Defence Council, grouping leaders of security and military apparatuses, stated that “efforts will be coordinated between military and security agencies to pre-empt any acts of sabotage of the parliament session.”
Local newspaper al-Joumhouria quoted security officials as describing the planned measures as “similar to ones taken in a state of emergency.”
“The troops will carry out intensive and strict measures around several areas mainly in downtown Beirut (the parliament’s location), which will be more like a military operations zone. They will confront any riots, or any attempt to disturb security,” a security source told al-Joumhouria.
Demonstrators have on several occasions protested near parliament and prevented lawmakers from reaching the building.
Backed by Hezbollah and its allies, the Shia Amal Movement and the Christian Free Patriotic Movement of President Michel Aoun, which hold a majority in parliament, the government is likely to win a vote of confidence.
The main opposition parties — the Future Movement of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the Progressive Socialist Party of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, the Christian Lebanese Forces party and the Phalange party — were expected to vote against a confidence measure.
Diab’s government faces the twin challenges of angry street protests and a collapsing economy, with Lebanon burdened with a debt of nearly $90 billion, more than 150% of GDP.
The government’s policy statement was largely criticised for being void of a clear or detailed plan to deal with the crisis.
“The policy statement is mostly rhetorical and unlikely to win the badly needed (financial) support of the international community,” said political analyst Mounir Rabi’.
“For instance, it offered no solutions for the ailing electricity sector but readopted an electricity plan approved (by the previous government) in 2019. That means deficit and waste will continue and mistrust by the international community will persist.”
“Moreover, the government will not be able to implement severe and painful economic measures that are requested by the international community because Hezbollah is against imposing new taxes or revisiting salaries in the public sector,” he said.
The policy statement maintains the so-called army-people-resistance equation. The phrasing confers legitimacy to Hezbollah as an armed force and has sparked controversy in the past after being included in previous cabinet statements.

Is it still too early to judge Rafik Hariri’s legacy?
Gareth Smyth/The Arab Weekly/February 09/2020
On February 14, 2005, I flew from northern Iraq to Beirut. Resting in the Erbil departures hall, I barely noticed a silent television showing what I assumed was the latest bombing in Iraq. Then I recognised Ain Mreisseh on the Beirut seafront.
It was the attack that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri along with 21 other people with a massive bomb — estimated at 1,000 kilograms of explosives. The bomb was detonated shortly after his motorcade left the Lebanese parliament. I wrote Hariri’s obituary on a 20-seat, propeller aircraft flying over the deserts of Iraq and Syria and then the snow-capped Lebanese peak of Qurnat as Sawda.
Hariri, for me, was a latter-day Phoenician. Like his forebears who traded along the Mediterranean and beyond, he believed in the lure, even the healing power, of commerce. If the Lebanese could do business well, then they would forget, even overcome, the sectarianism that had fuelled a 15-year civil war and that still defined Lebanese politics.
It was a strategy and the country was short of leaders with any strategy. Hariri was a good storyteller and he told the Lebanese how they might move forward. He once insisted to me that the Lebanese all ate the same food and celebrated each other’s religious festivals. “The problem,” he said, “is with the politicians, not the people.”
Hariri was an affable man, energetic and good company. He was also surprisingly humble. I once brought up with him the lack of public access to the seafront, which is required in Lebanon by law, and the many illegal buildings below high tide. I told the prime minister that Beirut’s Hamam al-Askari, the military swimming club, had once been a sandy beach where all could walk or swim.
He disagreed, saying he remembered that area as a child and it had never been a sandy beach. So, the next time I went to see him I took an old poster — one of the large tourist ones — showing that seafront with its sandy beach before the Hamam al-Askari was built. Hariri immediately admitted he had been wrong, rare in a Lebanese political leader. A few weeks later I found out he had framed the picture and put in on a wall.
On another occasion, in a newspaper story, I compared two jokes about Hariri to show how his popularity had declined over a certain period. In the first, walking on the Corniche and asked by a magic genie for a wish, Hariri had replied, “No, no, what can I do for you?”In the second, Hariri met an ordinary Beiruti. “I am poor and can’t pay my bills,” said the man. “Oh dear,” said Hariri, surprised. “My wife is also poor,” said the man, insisting. “And my children are poor.” Hariri finally looked concerned: “And your servants?” he asked. “Are they poor, too?”
One of Hariri’s aides complained that including such jokes in a newspaper showed a lack of respect for the prime minister. Such remarks can lead to a reporter being denied access but Hariri wanted none of it, he enjoyed the story. If he didn’t already know what people said in shared taxis, then he wanted to find out. This was more important to him than his own ego.
For the Lebanese, Hariri was larger than life. Not only did they swap jokes about him, they passed on rumours about pieces of land and property he had supposedly bought, sometimes imagining his financial tentacles in unlikely places.
In interviewing Hariri, the “harder” the questions, the better he answered. The first time I went to Lebanon, in January 1996, I interviewed Hariri for BBC radio. When I asked him his opinion of Al-Manar, Hezbollah’s TV station, he said his television at home wasn’t tuned to receive it. It was a clever answer delivered for radio with impeccable timing. Perhaps this mixture of directness and diplomacy was why some of Hariri’s finest moments were in crisis. During the 1996 Israeli “Grapes of Wrath” attacks and the Qana massacre, he was genuinely statesman-like — not exactly common in Lebanese politics. Hariri spoke well and he spoke for Lebanon and not for any particular sect, party or interest.
It is too early to say how history will judge Hariri. Without doubt he was the major figure in post-war Lebanese politics, more responsible than anyone for the country’s direction. Reconstruction has had successes but many burdens resulted from his economic policies. The public debt is $78 billion and the Lebanese ask whether this money has been wisely spent. Corruption has been rampant and many farmers lack basic irrigation. There are no railways and the lack of 24-hour electricity reflects a creaking infrastructure.
When I went to see Hariri just before I moved to Iran in December 2003, he feigned surprise. “You are a journalist,” he said. “Why are you leaving? Here in Lebanon, if you spend ten minutes on the phone or watching satellite television, you can know what’s going on anywhere in the world. In Iran, in ten years you won’t know what’s going on in the next house.” That was the last time I saw him. May he rest in peace.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published  on February 08-09/2020
Canadian lawyers file lawsuit against Iran over downed Ukrainian jet
The National/February 08/2020
The suit alleges that shooting down the airliner was ‘an intentional and deliberate act of terrorism’
Canadian lawyers, who previously successfully sued Iran, are seeking class action status in a lawsuit on behalf of victims aboard a Ukrainian plane shot down over Tehran last month.
Iran, its supreme leader, the elite Revolutionary Guards are among those named as defendants in the suit.
The lawyers are looking for at least C$1.5 billion (Dh 4 billion) in compensation. Iran admitted its missiles downed the Ukrainian airliner by mistake on January 8, killing all 176 people aboard, including 57 Canadians.
The lead plaintiff in the case is anonymous, identified only as John Doe, and described as immediate family to a victim identified as Jack Doe.
People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran on January 8, 2020. All 176 people on board were killed. AFP
The filing says John Doe's identity must be protected because of the risk that "his Iranian family would be put at risk of harm or death by the Iranian regime". The suit alleges that the downing of the plane was "an intentional and deliberate act of terrorism".Iranian authorities did not immediately comment on Friday, when government offices are closed.
Jonah Arnold is co-lead counsel with his father Mark Arnold, who has represented clients in several suits against Iran, including a 2017 appeal decision that led to seizure of some Iranian assets in Canada.
The 2017 ruling was in a case brought by US victims of bombings, killings and kidnappings that US courts ruled Iran was responsible for. But the plaintiffs could not claim the $1.7 billion in judgements in the United States.
It was not clear whether Iran has any assets remaining in Canada. Arnold said the case would likely unfold over years, and any judgment could be renewed and enforced in the future.
"Providing a voice for the families and seeking compensation for them in the courts is the primary objective," Jonah Arnold said. "When we get there, and we need to look for those assets, that's what we'll do."
Besides Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, others named in the lawsuit are top commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the head of the unit responsible for shooting down the plane, Amirali Hajizadeh.
Foreign states are not typically within the jurisdiction of Canadian courts. A 2012 Canadian law limited that immunity for countries Ottawa lists as "foreign state supporters of terrorism," currently Iran and Syria.
The suit was filed January 24 in Toronto, but it is not clear whether it has been served on defendants in Iran.
Mr Arnold said the Canadian government is required to ensure that happens, and that he has received confirmation that the suit is "en route".
Canada’s foreign ministry did not immediately comment.

Khamenei Says Iran Must Become Strong to End 'Enemy Threat'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 08/2020
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that the Islamic republic must become strong enough to ward off the "enemy's threats" and prevent a war. Khamenei also said Iran had a strong air force despite decades of US pressure and sanctions on the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. "We must become strong so that there will not be a war, become strong so that enemy's threats will end," he told a gathering of air force commanders and staff. "We do not want to threaten anyone... this is to prevent threats, to maintain the country's security," he added in a speech aired on state television. Tensions escalated between Tehran and Washington after a January 3 US drone strike killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad. Iran retaliated days later by firing a wave of missiles at American troops stationed in Iraq. Its defence forces had been braced for US retaliation when they shot down a Ukraine International Airlines flight a few minutes after take-off from Tehran on January 8. "Our Air Force, which had no right to & couldn't even repair parts of aircrafts (before the revolution) now builds planes," Khamenei was quoted as saying on his English-language Twitter account. "Sanctions are literally crimes, BUT they can be turned into opportunities," he added. In 2018, the United States withdrew unilaterally from a landmark nuclear deal with Iran and began reimposing sanctions as part of its "maximum pressure" campaign on the country. Top EU diplomat Josep Borrel visited Tehran last week on a mission aimed at lowering tensions over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, which has been crumbling since the US withdrawal. Iran has gradually stepped back from its own commitments under the deal, prompting the European parties to trigger a complaint mechanism under the deal to pressure Tehran to return to full implementation.

Khamenei says Iran has a strong Air Force despite US pressure
Reuters, Dubai/Saturday, 8 February 2020
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday Iran has a very strong Air Force despite limitations imposed on the country by the United States since the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution. “Since the revolution their aim was to stop us from having a strong air force ... but look at us now. We even build planes. We have transformed their pressure to opportunity,” Khamenei told a gathering of Air Force commanders and staff on Saturday, according to state news agency IRNA. Iran is marking the 41th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, which toppled the US-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. “We should become so strong to be able to put an end to our enemies’ plots ... their plots against the Iranian nation are doomed to fail,” state TV quoted Khamenei as saying. The Islamic Republic has vowed to increase its military strength despite mounting pressure from Western countries to curtail its military capabilities, including its ballistic missile program.

Syrian Regime forces advance in northwest Syria: War monitor
AFP/Saturday, 8 February 2020
Regime forces advanced in northwestern Syria Friday as they pressed a deadly campaign against the last major opposition bastion in the country in Idlib, a monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces had taken hold of a stretch of a key highway in the region of Idlib. “Regime forces have seized the entire section of the Damascus-Aleppo highway that runs through Idlib province,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. State media made no mention of control over that part of the highway but said that government forces had taken control of two villages along the road. The M5 motorway has long been in the sights of the Damascus regime, as retaking it would allow traffic to flow from the capital to second city and former industrial hub Aleppo. The Observatory said the latest advance to the northeast of the crossroads town of Saraqib meant pro-Damascus fighters only had a 30-kilometer stretch remaining to seize in Aleppo province to exert full control over the highway.

Syrian regime says captured opposition key crossroads city in Idlib
Leen Alfaisal, Al Arabiya English/Saturday, 8 February 2020
The Russian-backed Syrian regime said on Saturday it has captured the key crossroads city of Saraqib in the Idlib region, after a weeks-long offensive against the country’s last opposition bastion. “Army units now exercise full control over the town of Saraqib,” state television reported, over footage of the town’s streets deserted after weeks of bombardment. Saraqib is strategically important because it is the intersection between two major highways connecting Aleppo with Latakia, known as the M4, and Aleppo with Hama, Homs and Damascus which is known as the M5. The battle for Saraqib city and its surrounding highways triggered an exodus of civilians, and is key to the fate of the Syrian opposition as it clings onto its remaining territory in northwest Syria. The Idlib region is home to around three million people, half of whom were evacuated by regime forces from other parts of the country after they besieged cities controlled by the opposition and bombarded them with airstrikes. The Syrian war, which started with the regime’s deadly oppression of anti-government protests, has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced more than half the country’s population.

Syrian army holds 9 Turkish Idlib outposts to siege ready for showdown battle
DebkaFile/February 08/2020
The Syrian army has boxed in 9 of the 12 Turkish outposts set up in the northwest province of Idlib, as both armies prepare for a final showdown over the last Syrian province still holding out against the Assad regime. Ankara beefed up its Idlib outposts in the eastern sector of the province after Syrian shelling killed eight Turkish troops and the Syrian army reached the southern outskirts of Idlib city. On Saturday, Feb. 8, a high-ranking Russian delegation arrived in Ankara to try and avert an all-out confrontation between the Turkish and Syrian armies over Idlib. On Friday night, meanwhile, the Turkish army boosted its strength with reinforcements. A large convoy of 150 APCs carrying special Turkish commando forces crossed the border and the Turkish army was placed on war readiness. They were acting out President Recep Erdogan’s vow on Tuesday not to allow Syrian forces to gain additional territory in Idlib province. But two days later he faced the embarrassment of Syrian military gains. The Syrians reacted to this threat by pushing into the southern outskirts of Idlib City and capturing Maarat al-Numan and Saraqib from pro-Turkish Syrian rebels, with the help of Afghan Shiite militias under the command of Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers and the support of heavy Russian aerial bombardments. The two strategic towns control the M4 and M5 northern highway links to Aleppo and Damascus. Erdogan threatened Moscow that if the Syrian push continued with Russian air force support, the Astana pact, which Moscow initiated two years ago between Russia, Turkey and Iran for an agreed political resolution of the Syrian conflict, would fall apart. The Idlib battles have already generated a mass outflow of refugees from the province. Erdogan has threatened that if the Syrian army continues its campaign, he would not stop an estimated outflow of 1.5 to 3 million refugees expected to surge into Turkey from reaching Europe.

Turkey says capable of protecting outposts in Syria’s Idlib
AFP, Istanbul/Saturday, 8 February 2020
Turkey threatened on Saturday to respond if any of its military outposts in Syria’s last opposition bastion of Idlib came under attack, a day after officials said three of them had been encircled by forces loyal to Damascus.
Under an agreement with Russia, key ally of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Turkey has set up 12 observation posts in Idlib to avert an offensive by Syrian regime forces. The Idlib region is home to around three million people, half of whom were evacuated by regime forces from other parts of the country after they besieged cities controlled by the opposition and bombarded them with Russian airpower. Turkey this week sent large military convoys to beef up these positions, with officials on Friday reporting that three of them had been surrounded by regime troops. “Our observation posts in Idlib continue their duties and are capable of protecting themselves with the weapons and equipment they possess,” the Turkish defense ministry said on Twitter. “In the event of a new attack, proper response will be given in the strongest manner, based on the right of self-defense,” the tweet said. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has given Syria an ultimatum to drive back its troops from its military observation posts by the end of February after eight Turks were killed in regime fire on Monday. The deadly clashes have angered Turkey, which urged Moscow to press the regime for an end to its offensive. A Russian delegation was due to hold talks on Saturday with Turkish officials over the situation in Idlib. Turkey and Russia have worked closely in recent years to resolve the situation in Idlib despite being on opposing sides of the conflict. The Syrian war, which started with the regime’s deadly oppression of anti-government protests, has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced more than half the country’s population.

Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union Holds Emergency Session in Jordan
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 8 February, 2020
The Arab Inter-Parliamentiary Union (AIU) will hold an emergency session in Amman, Jordan on Saturday to discuss the implications of the so-called deal of the century amid expectations of widespread condemnation from the 21 Arab parliaments participating in the meeting.
Reports indicated that 17 Speakers and Heads of Shura Councils arrived in Amman on Friday as all union members confirmed their participation. Jordanian parliamentary sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the closing communique will include a unified Arab parliamentary stand that supports the Palestinian people in confronting the US peace plan announced by President Donald Trump last week. AIU Chair Atef Tarawneh, who is the Jordanian Speaker, called for an informal meeting on Friday and agreed on a preliminary closing statement, including about 11 items that support the Palestinian Authority (PA) in rejecting the US deal, informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. Arab parliamentary sources confirmed that the statement will reject the peace plan, including the recognition of Jerusalem as a unified capital of Israel, violating Palestinian refugees’ right of return, expanding settlements in the occupied territories, and recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea. Last year, US recognized the annexation of the occupied Golan Heights and moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The sources added that the unified Arab parliamentary position will stipulate adhering to the Arab Peace Initiative as an Arab reference, which confirms the decisions of the recent emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers. AIU will also reject any solution that does not lead to the declaration of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital. Meanwhile in Jordan, protests denouncing the deal of the century continued as hundreds gathered in front of the US embassy in Amman and in different regions of the Kingdom. Jordanian political parties are calling for decisive steps against Israel, namely canceling the gas agreement which entered into effect early this year.

Israel bans Palestinian agricultural exports via Jordan
Reuters, Ramallah/Saturday, 8 February 2020
Israel has escalated a trade war with the Palestinians by stopping their agricultural exports through Jordan, Palestinian Agriculture Minister Riyad al-Attari said on Saturday. Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) opened a new front in their decades-long conflict with a trade dispute that began in October and has escalated over the past week. “Yesterday, the director of Israeli crossings informed all exporters and all relevant parties that all Palestinian agriculture products would be banned from export to world markets through the Jordanian crossing starting Sunday,” al-Attari told Voice of Palestine Radio. Israeli and Jordanian officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In October, the PA announced a boycott of Israeli calves. Last weekend Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said he would halt all PA agricultural imports, which in turn prompted the PA to say it would end imports of Israeli agricultural products, fruit juice and bottled water. Those moves have frayed trade links that have generally held strong since the two sides signed interim peace accords in the 1990s, even weathering the collapse in 2014 of peace talks. Bilateral tensions have been further fueled by the announcement of US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan which has prompted a string of violent incidents in Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza. The actions of the PA, whose power base is in the West Bank, in part reflect greater efforts to end what its leaders - including new Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh - see as an over-dependence on Israeli markets. “We are at a critical political moment and we completely understand the negative impact that will result from these measures, but I say with all confidence that that negative impact will also affect the Israeli economy,” said al-Attari. “We have several options and measures with which we can respond to each Israeli decision that aims to harm our national economy,” he added.

French Airstrikes Kill 30 Extremists in Sahel
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 8 February, 2020
French and Malian forces have conducted operations that killed at least 30 extremists in Africa's Sahel region in recent days, the French military said. This came amid stepped-up efforts to combat militant groups in the area. Earlier this week, two French commando operations killed about 10 militants in the border zone where extremists groups including ISIS in the Grand Sahara operate, a French military statement said. Meanwhile n Friday, two airstrikes involving one of France's first armed drones killed almost 20 others in the restive border zone where Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso meet, the statement noted. According to the French military, France's Barkhane force in the Sahel region worked closely with Malian forces on the operations. It also confirmed there were no reports of any casualties among French or Malian troops. The military action came after France announced plans Feb. 2 to deploy 600 additional soldiers to its Barkhane force, raising the number of troops there to 5,100, the Associated Press reported. Most of the new troops will be concentrated on the three-border zone, the epicenter of the fight against extremist groups.

US Encourages Direct Negotiations Between Palestinians, Israelis on Peace Plan
Tunis- Kamal Ben Younes/Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 8 February, 2020
The US State Department Regional Spokesperson, Erica Chiusano, said that Washington was ready to support direct dialogue between Palestinian and Arab leaderships - who opposed the US peace plan, known as the “deal of the century” - and Israeli officials. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Chiusano noted that the proposed US vision of peace offered a realistic solution based on the establishment of two states and provided a verifiable path that would lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state, in which the legitimate aspirations of the people of Palestine to independence, autonomy, and national dignity would be achieved through a peace agreement with Israel. “We ask the Palestinian leadership to get to know the details of this vision of peace, and to study it fully,” she stated. She noted that if Palestinians had fears about parts of the plan, the US would encourage them to contribute to direct negotiations with the Israelis and express their specific objections at the negotiating table. Chuisano stressed that the absolute rejection of the plan would only perpetuate the desperate status quo and would not help shape the optimal solution that the world would offer to the generations of Israelis and Palestinians, who have been suffering for decades because of this ongoing conflict. The US spokesperson went on to say that her country has provided “the best and most realistic solution” for the parties, adding that it was now up to the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships to discuss and negotiate the basis of that vision. “The United States is ready to provide broad assistance to facilitate a final peace agreement,” she emphasized. On Iran, Chuisano highlighted the continued US policy of maximum pressure campaign, based on economic sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and military deterrence. The United States has withheld the funds of the Iranian regime used to finance terrorism, and it targets sources of export revenue that Tehran may use to finance and support its nuclear program, to develop missiles, and to fund its terrorist proxies, as well as its malicious regional influence, she affirmed.

Egypt releases doctor who performed FGM on 12-year-old who bled to death
AFP, Cairo/Saturday, 8 February 2020
An Egyptian court released on bail Thursday a doctor who was detained for performing a genital cutting procedure on a 12-year-old girl who bled to death last month. The gynaecologist was bailed for $3,000 by the court in Manfalout, about 400 kilometers south of the capital Cairo. He said he conducted the illegal procedure alone in his clinic “without any anesthetic or nurse present,” according to prosecutors quoted in local media. The girl bled to death shortly after the operation, commonly referred to as female circumcision. Her father filed a police complaint against the doctor after his daughter’s death in late January. Police arrested the doctor, the parents, and an aunt of the victim, before freeing the relatives days later. Known by her first name Nada in local media, the victim’s death sparked an outcry online and in Egyptian media. The National Council for Women, which first received the complaint from the authorities, called for the “maximum punishment for all who participated in this crime”. The doctor’s release on Thursday coincided with the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Dar Al Ifta, the Egyptian body tasked with Islamic religious edicts, released a statement Thursday condemning FGM, deeming it “forbidden” in Islamic law.Egypt first banned FGM in 2008, but the practice remains rife in the conservative  country with many believing it promotes women’s chastity. A 2016 survey by the United Nations Children’s Fund showed that nearly 90 percent of Egyptian women and girls aged between 15 and 49 had undergone the procedure. Doctors found guilty of performing FGM in Egypt can face seven years imprisonment but the law is not strictly enforced.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 07-08/2020
It is time to stop FGM
Dr. Luay Shabaneh/February 08/2020
A few weeks ago, my wife mentioned that our door attendant’s 10-year-old daughter, Malak, is scared because her parents had decided to “cut her.” As a professional who works for an organization that opposes all forms of gender based violence including female genital mutilation (FGM), Malak’s story disturbed me and prompted me to speak to her parents, Jumaa and Fatma.
The conversation with Jumaa and Fatma did not go far. Like thousands, if not millions, of other couples across the world, they believe that the harmful practice of FGM is a religious duty necessary to secure their daughter’s future and protect her.
But the discussion did push my own personal boundaries. To convince Jumaa and Fatma of FGM’s harms, I tried to collect enough evidence and relatable information to sway their opinion. In my field of work, there is no arguing the fact that FGM is a harmful practice with many psychological and physical repercussions.
However, convincing a couple who did not finish their secondary education was a different case, and required me to search for information and data that could resonate with them. Jumaa refused to believe that FGM is a practice that predates Islam and Christianity. He didn’t care to listen to the scientific findings. I shared with him simple facts about the origins of the practice.
FGM is an ancient practice that is as old as the Pyramids of Giza. Researchers traced the origins of FGM to the Nile valley, particularly Egypt and Sudan and more specifically the western coast of the Red Sea, in the fifth century BC.
People in many cultures believe that FGM will aid their adolescent girls in abstaining from pre-marital sex and combating any lustful desires. This is a myth, which has been repeatedly proven wrong.
FGM does not protect adolescent girls from anything. If anything, it exposes them to trauma that could last a lifetime.
This is evident in the case of Ifrah Ahmed, who bravely shared her story with the world during the Nairobi Summit on FGM late last year. Ahmed – an FGM survivor who fled her home country Somalia and sought asylum in Ireland – became an activist who aims to use her own personal survival story and struggles to put an end to FGM.
The world is full of stories of women like Ahmed, who is using her voice to speak on behalf of other women, but also of Malak, who has not been able to speak or decide for herself.
However, one fact remains true: the violent practice does not have any positive impact.
It is education, relevant information, access to knowledge, and better understanding of one’s health and reproductive rights that do make the difference for girls and women. These factors empower women to make the right choices relating to their own bodies.
It is just difficult to think that 92 percent of women and girls aged 15-49 have undergone some form of FGM in Egypt. The numbers are similar or even higher elsewhere: 88 percent in Sudan, 93 percent in Djibouti and 98 percent in Somalia. These women are exposed to ugly and risky practices inherited from the ancient world.
We, as parents and community leaders, should observe that the mutilation of sensitive sexual organs is a crime. We have to educate our communities that it is also an abuse of women and girl’s fundamental human rights, which we must protect.
Many of those who carry out FGM exploit less educated people for financial gain. Medical professionals should fight all forms of medicalization of FGM in line with the ethics of their profession. And those who advocate that cutting girls is religious should remember that girls, just like all humans, were created by God. It is unnecessary and irrelevant to distort their bodies and very much unacceptable to intervene in the business of our creator. As the holy Quran states, “We have certainly created human in the best of stature.”
The United Nations Population Fund is the UN organization responsible for ensuring that all people – men and women, boys and girls – enjoy their reproductive rights. Its strategic plan calls for achieving zero gender-based violence including FGM and child marriage. We are committed to building nations where there is zero tolerance to FGM.
We believe it is an individual responsibility for all inhabitants in all communities to fight FGM; silence is not an option. Ending FGM is a multi-dimensional battle that has legal, educational, social norm, medical obligations that must be fulfilled, and a multi-stakeholder team that includes governments, community leaders, religious leaders and professionals supported by UN agencies and international development practitioners.
*Dr. Luay Shabaneh is the Regional Director for Arab States in UNFPA, the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health.

The Muslim World's Inferiority Complex
Raymond Ibrahim/American Thinker/February 08/2020
Muslims around the world are thrilled at the recent news: "Harvard University ranks the Koran as the best book on justice" is the January 20, 2020 headline of a report published by Youm7, a popular Egyptian news site visited by millions of Arabic-readers. It writes:
The official website of the World Muslim Communities Council said on social media that, after lengthy, scientific studies that closely examined the rules of justice contained in the Noble Koran, the American university of Harvard has ranked the Noble Koran as the best book on justice[.] ... In its final evaluation, Harvard University's Classification Committee cited verses from the Noble Koran which confirm that the Noble Koran is a book replete with the rules of human justice ... and that Islam has no room for injustice but rather includes tolerance and respect for the other.
Several other leading news websites and newspapers — including Al Ahram, Egypt's most widely circulated and state-owned newspaper, founded in 1875 — carried the story, followed by all sorts of triumphant celebrations on social media.
But is it true? Did Harvard make such a pronouncement? No. The real story is that, back in 2012, a group of law students painted a number of historical quotes dealing with justice on the walls of a Harvard building.
Known as the "Words of Justice," they consist of 33 quotes from a variety of thinkers and civilizations — including African, Chinese, European, and Hindu — from 600 B.C. to the present. Among some of the more recognizable names and documents quoted are Cicero; Augustine; Aquinas; the Magna Carta; Benjamin Franklin; Immanuel Kant; Gandhi; and Martin Luther King, Jr. Among these 33 quotes is one that is Islamic, derived from the Koran:
O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. (4:135)
There were no "lengthy, scientific studies," nor "classification committees," that led Harvard to announce that the Koran is the "best book on justice;" just a single quote from Koran.
That's it — the entire story. There were no "lengthy, scientific studies," nor "classification committees," that led Harvard to announce that the Koran is the "best book on justice." Rather, one Islamic quote was deemed worthy of inclusion with 32 other non-Islamic quotations.
What to make of this shameful episode? Why would Muslims fabricate such a story? More to the point, why would they even care what infidel Harvard thinks in the first place?
For those in the know, the answer is simple: Muslims are ever and always looking for outside validation. Why? Because a growing number of them have a nagging suspicion that their religion is not just.
Indeed, they need look no farther than to the very same Koran chapter/sura (4, al-Nisa', "the Women") whence the much celebrated "justice" verse (4:135) was excerpted to encounter any number of decidedly unjust verses, including permission to sexually enslave — buy and sell — women (4:3), permission for husbands to beat their wives — since men are "superior" to women (4:34) — and so on.
Accordingly, what can be more reassuring than Western intellectual praise for Islam?
Consider this Arabic op-ed on Islam's "inferiority complex" that I translated back in 2011. Although its author, Khaled Montaser, an Egyptian intellectual, focuses on all the hoopla that erupts whenever a Westerner converts to Islam — whether in reality or not — the essence of his arguments perfectly apply to and shed light on this recent Harvard fiasco:
We Muslims have an inferiority complex and are terribly sensitive to the world, feeling that our Islamic religion needs constant, practically daily, confirmation by way of Europeans and Americans converting to Islam. What rapturous joy takes us when a European or American announces their [conversion to] Islam — proof that we are in a constant state of fear, alarm, and chronic anticipation for Western validation or American confirmation that our religion is "okay." ... And we pound our drums and blow our horns [in triumph] and drag the convert to our backwardness, so that he may stand with us at the back of the world's line of laziness, [in the Muslim world] wherein no new scientific inventions have appeared in the last 500 years. Sometimes those who convert relocate to our countries — only to get on a small boat and escape on the high seas back to their own countries.
He goes on to discuss how the Arab world — in the guise of "our media and Internet sites ... our writers and intellectuals" — exulted when it mistakenly thought the German writer Henryk Broder had accepted Islam, based on sarcastic remarks he had made: "but we are a people incapable of comprehending sarcasm, since it requires a bit of thinking and intellectualizing. And we read with great speed and a hopeful eye, not an eye for truth or reality."
Montaser continues:
How come the Buddhists don't hold the festivities we do for those who convert to their religion? And some of these converts are much more famous than Broder. Did you know that Richard Gere, Steven Seagal, Harrison Ford — among Hollywood's most famous actors — converted to Buddhism? What did the Buddhist countries of Asia do regarding these celebrities? What did the Buddhists in China and Japan do? Did they dance and sing praise and march out in the streets, or did they accept these people's entrance into Buddhism as a mere matter of free conviction? ... It is sufficient for the Buddhists that these celebrities purchase their nations' electronic goods — without any beggary or enticements.
Western government, media, and academia are all in the habit of highlighting and fixating over one small (and often fraudulent) compliment to Islam while suppressing Islam's numerous shortcomings.
A closing thought: Muslim excitement over one small — and often fraudulent — compliment is only paralleled by the Western establishment's behavior: government, media, and academia are all in the habit of highlighting and fixating over one small (and often fraudulent) compliment to Islam — such as the "Andalusian Paradise" (a myth) — while suppressing Islam's numerous shortcomings.
And it's a reminder that, instead of flattering Islam, openly and honestly criticizing it — objectively, without rancor or hyperbole — is potentially one of the Western world's most powerful, though largely untapped, strategies that could go a long way in neutralizing Islam, and without force.
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Judith Friedman Rosen Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

The Netherlands: The Geert Wilders Show Trial Continues
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/February 8, 2020
The emails indicate that Prime Minister Mark Rutte himself was involved in the decision to prosecute Wilders.
"Minister Van der Steur has deliberately withheld those documents, as is apparent from these documents. Moreover, it appears that another Justice Minister, Minister Opstelten, lied..." — Geert Wilders, February 5, 2020
"Mr. Presiding Judge, the Minister of Justice interfered in detail with my conviction. The documents even state that the Ministry of Justice instructed the public prosecutor — you will find the word 'instruct' in the documents...." -- Geert Wilders, February 5, 2020
"And every day that this trial continues and you do not punish the conspiring prosecution, and the Ministry of Justice for their lies and haggling with the principles of an independent, fair and balanced trial, by declaring them inadmissible, every day this trial continues is a black day in the history of Dutch justice." — Geert Wilders, February 5, 2020
"In the Wilders case, we certainly do not have to rely on the judge to agree with Wilders and to reach the conclusion that there has been a political trial, which is therefore not legally valid.... Wilders case appears to have been pre-cooked in the cabinet itself.... [Prime Minister] Rutte himself was involved.... The lying and spinning must stop somewhere.... This rule of law, in which judges and prosecutors receive instructions by the politicians on how to act, is rotten from within." – Joost Niemöller, Dutch Journalist, Ongehoordnederland.nl, February 5, 2020
Newly released documents show that senior members of the Dutch government — including the former prime minister and justice minister — applied political pressure on public prosecutors to indict Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom for "hate speech." Pictured: Wilders (left) sits next to current Prime Minister Mark Rutte at a meeting of political party leaders at the Dutch House of Representatives on March 16, 2017 in The Hague.
Newly released documents show that senior members of the Dutch government — including the prime minister and two former justice ministers — applied political pressure on public prosecutors to indict Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV), for hate speech for comments he made about Islam and Moroccan immigrants.
The documents, which the government turned over to the Amsterdam-based newspaper De Volkskrant in compliance with a Freedom of Information request, appear to confirm long-standing allegations by Wilders that the government's decade-long legal war against him is far from a principled pursuit of justice, and instead politically motivated aimed at silencing his criticism of multiculturalism and mass migration from the Muslim world.
On February 3, De Volkskrant reported that the government documents — numbering nearly 500 pages — show that as early as 2008, then-Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin was "intensively involved" in the decision to prosecute Wilders.
According to De Volkskrant, the Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie, OM) found nothing illegal about Wilders statements, but Hirsch Ballin pressed the OM on three separate occasions to change its assessment.
In June 2008, the OM dismissed more than 40 criminal complaints against Wilders on the grounds that his statements were made "in the context of political debate" and therefore "not of a punishable nature."
In January 2009, the Amsterdam Appeals Court, the second-highest legal authority in the Netherlands, overturned the OM's decision and ruled that Wilders could be tried for inciting hatred. Wilders said that it was a "black day for myself and for freedom of speech."
The first trial against Wilders began on October 4, 2010. He was accused of insulting religious and ethnic groups and inciting hatred and discrimination for describing Islam as fascist and comparing the Koran to Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf. Wilders argued that his statements were directed at Islam as an ideology and not at individual Muslim believers.
The trial collapsed on October 22, 2010, after it emerged that Tom Schalken, one of the judges in the case, had tried to sway a potential witness.
The retrial began on February 6, 2011 with three new judges. Wilders said that his trial was about preserving freedom of expression in the West.
On June 23, 2011, Wilders was acquitted of all charges. Judge Marcel van Oosten ruled that the statements by Wilders, while "gross and denigrating," did not meet the standard of hate speech and as such were "acceptable within the context of public debate."
Despite the acquittal, the government's harassment of Wilders continued. Internal government emails recently published by RTL Nieuws show that Hirsch Ballin's successor, Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten, repeatedly pressured the OM to bring a new case against Wilders. Opstelten, his aides and the prosecutor repeatedly consulted with each other before the decision to prosecute Wilders a second time was made in the fall of 2014. The OM has always denied that it was subject to outside political interference; the emails show that the OM denials were untruthful. An email sent by the lead prosecutor, Wouter Bos, on October 8, 2014, warned: "This must not leak!"
Other government emails show that the decision to bring a new case against Wilders was discussed as early as March 2014 in the Council of Ministers, the executive council of Dutch government, formed by all the ministers, including the prime minister. The emails indicate that Prime Minister Mark Rutte himself was involved in the decision to prosecute Wilders.
On March 18, 2016, Wilders went on trial again for allegedly inciting hatred against Moroccan immigrants. Prosecutors said that in March 2014, Wilders, while campaigning in The Hague, asked a crowd of supporters if they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands. The crowd said fewer. Wilders responded: "We'll take care of that."
Prosecution spokeswoman Ilse de Heer said that Wilders "targeted a specific race, which is considered a crime." Wilders countered that his comments referred to Moroccan criminals, not to Moroccans in general, and that, in any event, Moroccans are not a race.
On December 9, 2016, Wilders was found guilty of inciting discrimination. The court, however, imposed no form of punishment; it said that the verdict was sufficient penalty. The Public Prosecutor demanded a fine of €5,000 ($5,500). Both Wilders and the Prosecutor appealed.
Since then, Wilders has been entangled in a protracted legal process that shows no signs of ending anytime soon. In an appeal hearing on February 5, 2020, Wilders voiced his anger over the political nature of the case against him:
"Presiding Judge, members of the court: The shamelessness of the Public Prosecution Office knows no boundaries. In a report we received yesterday and heard about today, they claim — one-and-a-half days after they received the documents from the Ministry of Justice — that nothing is wrong, that nothing has been found that indicates political influence.
"Rarely have I seen attorney generals who are so damaging to the rule of law, who don't care about a fair trial. They are blinded by their hatred for me and the PPV. These kinds of people, like those two attorney generals, ensure that the trust of ordinary people, the common man and woman in the Netherlands, in the public prosecutor and the judiciary has fallen to a low point.
"The Public Prosecutor says that there is nothing wrong. Shame on you, attorney generals. What we all know now is enough to immediately end this political process, this charade....
"We already knew, Mr. Presiding Judge and members of the court, that officials from the Ministry of Justice, under the responsibility of former Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten, had adjusted press releases from the public prosecutor. That it was Minister Opstelten himself who wanted two press releases. That his officials had made a legal analysis of this case. And shared this with the public prosecutor.
"We already knew that they had helped the public prosecutor refute the defenses of the defense. That, for example, the phrase, 'we will arrange that' was brought to the attention of the public prosecutor by the Ministry of Justice. That they wanted to see the requisites in advance to provide comments.
"And now there are 475 pieces again. And indeed, we have not been able to read all of them, I mean, we could hardly read any of the pieces. But if I only look at what the media writes about it, such as Volkskrant or RTL journalist Pieter Klein, then only more shocking things have come to the surface.
"It even appears now that it [the case] has been discussed in the Council of Ministers, Mr. Presiding Judge. In the Council of Ministers. How much more political does it get?
"The documents show that a senior official of the Ministry of General Affairs of Prime Minister Rutte informed a senior official of Ministry of Justice of Minister Opstelten that the Prime Minister expects the Minister of Justice to be able to say something meaningful during the Council of Ministers of March 21, 2014 about whether the prosecution of Wilders is promising.
"How promising it is! Promising: according to the dictionary, I looked it up, that also means likely, successful. It has a positive connotation. The Council of Ministers, Mr. Presiding Judge. This concerns an opposition leader in the House of Representatives. That is shameful, but that is, unfortunately, not unique, because we also know from the documents that we received yesterday that it was — in relation to the Wilders 1 trial, but I still want to have mentioned it, to indicate what they are capable of — that it was then Justice Minister Hirsch Ballin who requested legal advice three times because he did not like the earlier advice that it was impossible to prosecute Wilders. He repeated his requests for advice until he received the advice he wanted.
"Back to this trial. Apart from the fact that it was discussed in the Council of Ministers — words cannot express, it does not become much more political and corrupt — former [Justice] Minister Van der Steur, the documents show, deliberately and personally stopped the publication, on the basis of the Dutch Freedom of Information Act (WOB), of an official message about my persecution. Minister Van der Steur stopped that.
"According to the documents, the decision on the WOB request was delayed until after the decision of the Court of First Instance. Until after my conviction. Imagine that. Mafia practices. Pure political influence of the worst kind. A minister who deliberately withholds relevant and possibly exculpatory documents until after the conviction. Words really cannot express...
"If we had received those documents earlier and also all the other documents requested on that basis, and now also obtained with the permission of your court, then perhaps it might not have come to a conviction at all...then the court might not have decided on a conviction in the first instance.
"Minister Van der Steur has deliberately withheld those documents, as is apparent from these documents. Moreover, it appears that another Justice Minister, Minister Opstelten, lied when he said during his interrogation by the commissioner, that outside the Council of Ministers — you can find it literally in the reports — he never spoke about this matter with other ministers.
"The documents that we received yesterday show that he did indeed talk to other ministers about this outside the Council of Ministers, namely with Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk.
"Mr. Presiding Judge, the Minister of Justice interfered in detail with my conviction. The documents even state that the Ministry of Justice instructed the public prosecutor — you will find the word 'instruct' in the documents — when and at what time they had to call me on October 9, 2014, to say that I was a suspect. For a phone call to me, saying that I was a suspect, the Public Prosecutor's Office was instructed by the Ministry of Justice when and at what time and on what day that had to happen.
"My case has been dealt with in detail. And this whole trial, just like the Wilders 1 trial, is permeated with political influence. From phone calls, up to the Council of Ministers, and to ministers who withheld or delayed documents, an opposition leader from the national parliament has been prosecuted for ten years that way.
"Politics have always been involved, from civil servants to ministers and the Council of Ministers. Every day that this trial continues and you do not punish the conspiring prosecution, and the Ministry of Justice for their lies and haggling with the principles of an independent, fair and balanced trial, by declaring them inadmissible, every day this trial continues is a black day in the history of Dutch justice.
"This trial will have to stop today. I have said it many times. To be honest, I find it incomprehensible that this has not been decided long ago by declaring the prosecution inadmissible. If in the unfortunate event, even after today, you want to continue with this trial again, then indeed, and you have just said that, Mr. Presiding Judge, we need ample time to read all those documents and possibly based on those documents, also call new witnesses, like Minister Van der Steur. Like the prime minister. Like all the people involved.
"It is clear from these documents that they are more involved than we already knew. And see the minutes, the records, of the Council of Ministers as well. It appears to have been discussed. It has been said by the General Affairs official against the Justice official: '[Prime Minister Mark] Rutte wants to say something about the chances of this trial, Ivo [Opstelten].' And Ivo went to the Council of Ministers on March 21. This has always been denied. Denied during the interrogations. Now it appears to have just happened. I want to see those documents from the Council of Ministers. I want to talk to people about it. It is not just about someone who steals a roll of licorice. It is about the opposition leader in the Dutch parliament whose persecution has been influenced up to the Council of Ministers.
"I want to hear the truth. I want to hear more than the truth about the political influence in this trial so that this trial is taken off the table as quickly as possible.
Veteran Dutch journalist Joost Niemöller wrote:
"On February 3, just before another hearing in the endless criminal case against Wilders, a bulk of internal documents were dropped by Justice Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus which relate to the official and political involvement in this trial. These documents were intended for the House of Representatives and are now public.
"If the Chamber takes its task seriously, it must investigate the political nature of this lawsuit. That is emphatically not an investigation into the trial itself — after all, we have a separation of powers here — but an investigation into the political role behind the continuation of this trial....
"In the Wilders case, we certainly do not have to rely on the judge to agree with Wilders and to reach the conclusion that there has been a political trial, which is therefore not legally valid.... After the internal documents released, the issue has become even more flammable.
"The Wilders case appears to have been pre-cooked in the cabinet itself.... [Prime Minister] Rutte himself was involved.... The lying and spinning must stop somewhere.
"The anger of Wilders in court was only too understandable, and all too justified. It is the anger of more and more Dutch people. Even in the mainstream media it is now recognized that this political pre-cooking goes beyond all limits.
"This is the umpteenth example in which democracy is excluded by the judiciary, because the judiciary and the OM have become an extension of politics.
"This point is increasingly emphasized by, among others, Forum for Democracy leader Thierry Baudet, whose hypocritical opponents accuse him of rejecting the rule of law.
"This rule of law, in which judges and prosecutors receive instructions by the politicians on how to act, is rotten from within."
Wilders' trial will continue on March 23. Four additional hearings are scheduled for April. It remains unclear when his trial will end.
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
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Idlib exposes deep fissures among the stakeholders in Syria's future
Raghida Dergham/The National/February 08/2020
As the civil war continues into its 10th year, even those in agreement over the Astana Process distrust each other
These days the stakeholders in the Syrian peace process, also known as the Astana Process, are finding themselves in a state of mutual distrust and regional competition.
As the Syrian civil war continues into its 10th year, President Bashar Al Assad remains vital for Russian diplomacy, with his regime key to legitimising its presence in Syria. From the Russian viewpoint, Moscow’s military and strategic deployment in the country five years ago came at the invitation of Damascus – unlike, say, the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. But there is no doubt that Russia’s military achievements in Syria, which form the basis of the restoration of its prestige, have also provided it near-permanent strategic bases in the Mediterranean.
Yet President Vladimir Putin cannot be absolutely at ease; after all, there is always the possibility of Syria turning into a quagmire for the Russians, who do not trust US intentions – or even those of their partners, Iran and Turkey. Indeed, Russia’s relationship with Turkey was never one of trust anyway. It has always been marred by doubts about the latter’s intentions, integrity and ambitions. As a result, clashes that broke out between both players in Syria earlier this week were to be expected.
However, the worst could be yet to come because – despite their co-operation in Syria – Mr Putin’s project is diametrically opposed to that of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. For his part, Mr Putin considers Syrian rebels, including those backed by Mr Erdogan, to be part of a terrorist nexus that threatens Russian ambitions. But Russia does not want to clash with Turkey either, given the continued need for its co-operation in other matters, including the conflict in Libya, where they are backing opposing parties. For this reason, it is likely that the two sides could still strike deals – in Syria and other parts of the region.
Moscow is more accommodating of Iran. It perceives Tehran as a junior partner, albeit a problematic one, due in large part to its relationship with Israel. The latter struck Iranian positions near Damascus – in the first such attack of its kind since the US assassination of Quds Force Commander Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad last month – thereby indicating that it intends to resume containment of Tehran’s ambitions in Syria.
Iran, meanwhile, is paying heed to recent developments in Washington. It had bet on the impeachment of US President Donald Trump – as well as on the Democrats’ return to the White House next year. But it is now less likely that the hardliners in Tehran will prevail over the moderates who have sought to be more accommodating towards the Americans.
Under pressure at home and abroad while faced with an economic crisis, Tehran has chosen to de-escalate tensions in the region for now. It has reined in its partners in various theatres of influence, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the various militia groups in Iraq – thanks to popular unrest against its projects in both countries.
Sources close to Tehran, however, say that the leadership sees the current state of affairs in Lebanon as favourable to its interests following the formation of a Hezbollah-backed government in Beirut. And despite the economic crisis in Iran, the regime intends to give Hezbollah a cash injection while reinforcing its support. The same sources state that Iran is doing this despite having been forced to divert funds from its proxy war Yemen.
The Iranian leadership is trying to forecast Mr Trump’s next move following his acquittal by the US Senate, given that it no longer hopes for a European rescue operation that could help it evade sanctions. This, even as it continues to publicly give Europe “the last chance” to act before withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal and, perhaps, even the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Troubled by the prospect of Mr Trump’s re-election, Iran’s options now are to either escalate tensions – which will come at too great a cost for it – or negotiate a new agreement with the US that would include curbs on its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, as well as on its incursions in Arab countries.
Circling back to Syria, Tehran is also facing difficulties in its partnership with Russia. There is coherence as far as their alliance on the ground and their support for the Assam regime are concerned. According to Russian sources, Moscow values its relationship with Tehran and considers it an essential partner in the fight against terror, as Russia defines it. It also believes defeating ISIS and the Nusra Front in Syria can be partially credited to Iran and Hezbollah.
However, there are disagreements between the two countries in the context of their relations with Israel, as well as divergences between their projects in Syria. The trajectory of the developing relations between Russia and Gulf countries, as well as Egypt, also worries Iran. Russia is not keen on the Iranian Crescent project in the region – a point of convergence with US and Israeli interests.
Speaking of US-Russia competition, Moscow has consistently raised doubts about a complete US pull-out of its troops from Syria. It believes that “continued US presence hinders the progress of normalising the situation in Syria”, according to a source familiar with Russian policy. Therefore, “the possibility of an agreement with the Americans is low to non-existent – although a clash between Russia and the US in Syria is out of the question”.
*Raghida Dergham is the founder and executive chairwoman of the Beirut Institute

Iran’s iron curtain is falling
Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/February 09/2020
Behind a curtain. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks at a celebration of the 41st anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.(DPA)
Arrogance leads nowhere.
In his State of the Union address, US President Donald Trump mentioned Iran in passing. Just like former President Ronald Reagan, who in 1981 began doggedly pursuing the dismantling of the former Soviet Union, Trump seems to be on his way to earnestly bringing down a country he sees as an enemy to its real size. That feat would allow him to leave his mark on the history of the Middle East but this is contingent on his success in doing so because Iran has been working for many years on changing the nature of several neighbouring countries and others far from it.
In his speech, Trump gave a realistic description of the state of the Iranian economy and its deterioration considering US sanctions. He mentioned the United States’ assassination of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, commander of al-Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Soleimani was the direct supervisor of Iranian activity in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, especially the Gaza Strip, and even in Yemen and Afghanistan. His activity consisted mainly in recruiting sectarian militias to serve the Iranian expansion project.
Iran wants each of those areas, which are Arab countries and territories, except for Afghanistan, to be satellites and bargaining cards. Its goal is to perpetuate its regional role, regardless of the misery that afflicts most Iranians.
The deterioration of the economy in the Islamic Republic must be considered a natural consequence of the arrogance that characterises the actions and declarations of senior Iranian officials. They refuse to admit they have no solutions to Iran’s internal problems, especially as they let the country remain captive to its oil and gas exports. Even on the external front, there is no successful Iranian model that can be presented in any political, economic or civilisational field.
Iran refuses to deal with the regional and international realities that arose with the arrival of Trump at the White House. This is why we see Iranian President Hassan Rohani talking about re-establishing the nuclear deal with the Group of Five Plus One that the US president tore apart.
Rohani does not know, or perhaps he does know very well, that the nuclear accord is no longer valid for blackmailing anyone and that counting on Europe is not a safe bet.
Iran has not overcome one psychological complex that controls all its actions — the constant denial of its defeat and refusing to admit failure with the courage it presupposes to carry out a process of self-criticism.
In 1986, two events exposed the weakness of the Soviet Union, which Reagan had dragged into an arms race it could not afford. This was when the US president spoke of the “Star Wars” defence system, a system of missiles in space capable of intercepting and disrupting any missile attack on the United States.
Time has revealed that Reagan’s plan was more akin to science fiction than reality but it served to reveal that the Soviet Union was in no way capable of competing with the United States in an arms race of this type. It showed that the Soviet economy resembled a colossus with clay legs.
The economic fragility of the Soviet Union had consequences on the ground. On January 13, 1986, the situation in South Yemen, which was then called the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), exploded. This republic was independent and remained so until 1990 when Yemeni unity was achieved.
The PDRY was a mere Soviet satellite and served as a foothold for the communist bear in the Arabian Peninsula. South Yemen suffered a civil war that marked the end of Soviet control over the country.
It turned out that the other world superpower was nothing more than a paper tiger. Perhaps the most prominent evidence of this and the biggest humiliation to the communist regime was resorting to a royal yacht of the British monarch to evacuate Soviet nationals from the PDRY.
The second event that demonstrated the weakness of the former Soviet regime was the catastrophic Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine on April 26, 1986. Ukraine was a Soviet republic and the Chernobyl accident came to confirm, without doubt, that the Soviet Union was a third-world country that possessed nuclear reactors but was unable to ensure their safe functioning.
Soleimani’s assassination came within the context of a catastrophic economic situation in Iran. He was considered a symbol of the Iranian expansionist project but Iran can no longer come up with a response to his killing. The missile strikes at Iraq’s al-Asad Airbase was more of a farce than anything else and the accidental downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane revealed that Iran is a third-world country at best.
Just as the Soviet Union could not adapt to new realities that accompanied Reagan’s arrival to the White House, Iran was unable to adapt to Trump’s era.
Certainly, arrogance is of no use to anything. It is equally futile to bet on Trump not being elected for another term in November. Not only have the Democrats failed to force him out of office with impeachment for pressuring the Ukrainian president to dig dirt on the Bidens, they displayed a great deal of internal chaos during the Iowa caucuses. Trump is still waiting for a serious Democratic contender for his position.
Time is not working in favour of the interests of the Islamic Republic just as it did not play in favour of the interests of the Soviet Union. Is there anyone in Tehran who wants to realise that Barack Obama is no longer president and that no one is willing to negotiate with Tehran on its terms, especially now that the cards in its hand no longer have any value?
Take Lebanon in the era of Hezbollah’s rule, for example, or take Iraq now. Lebanon is collapsing since it has been abandoned to its fate by the United States and the Arabs. In Iraq, there is a real popular revolution against everything related to the Iranian coloniser.

Incarcerating jihadists ‘forever’ could run into logistical quicksand
Rashmee Roshan Lall/The Arab Weekly/February 09/2020
Britain has declared a war on terrorists. It is only marginally better than US President George W. Bush’s “war on terror.” Unlike the United States, which has fought since 9/11 against an abstract noun, Britain will wage war against a common noun.
After a February 2 knife attack on a south London street by Sudesh Amman, a man with a previous conviction for terrorist offences, the British government plans to extend the time that jihadists spend in jail.
Michael Gove, a senior cabinet minister, has suggested that the new, tougher sentencing regime for terrorists should, “if necessary,” cover indefinite detention. “We need to be able to prove that people are no longer a danger to the public,” he said.
So, whole-of-life incarceration then? How else to ensure a convicted terrorist is “no longer a danger to the public?” At what point would it be reasonably safe to assume a 20-year-old like Amman no longer posed a threat?
Amman, who was killed by police within minutes of going on the rampage with a stolen knife, was not considered a serious offender when he was convicted in December 2018. He was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for six counts of collecting information “likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism” and seven counts of “dissemination of terrorist material.” He was released from prison just days before the knife attack.
Amman was released at the halfway point of his sentence under rules introduced in 1991 by Britain’s Conservative government and simplified by the Labour government’s Criminal Justice Act 2003. No one, least of all his jailers, could have predicted Amman’s orgy of violence after his release. Amman had not shown himself to be violent enough to be locked up for the rest of his life. As terrorist offences go, he was convicted for relatively innocuous crimes.
Even so, it’s not hard to understand the reason for the British government’s newly declared hard line on convicted terrorists. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under pressure to reassure a jittery public even as the British media keep up a barrage of reporting on “dangerous jihadis on our streets.”
Of the approximately 220 terrorist offenders in British prisons as of September 30, four are due for early release in March, the Henry Jackson Society think-tank said.
Johnson’s government is clearly concerned about the risks posed by prisoners serving sentences for terrorism who are eligible for early release. By some estimates, there is about one release, on average, every week. In November, three months before Amman’s knife attack, 28-year-old Usman Khan, also a terrorist convict on early release from prison, stabbed two people to death in London.
On the face of it, the British government seems to have arrived at the right answer to the deep and troubling problem of preventing convicted terrorists from causing further grievous societal harm — lock them up for as long as possible. However, this strategy quickly runs into logistical quicksand.
It is unlikely that prisons in England and Wales will ever have room to house every terrorist convict until they die. Except for a limited number of dangerous individuals, most convicts will have to be released eventually. As Nazir Afzal, a former chief prosecutor, put it: “Longer prison sentences will keep us safe for a little longer but the likelihood is that, when they come out, they will be as radical as they were when they went in, as extreme as they were and they will still want to do what they were planning to do those months or years before.”
Furthermore, the longer incarceration for terrorist convicts contemplated by the Johnson government would not have applied to Amman because he wasn’t considered a violent offender.
The British government appears to be veering towards a solution proposed by American social scientists some years ago: Let criminals get to middle age before release. Research indicates that most criminals, even violent ones, eventually grow out of breaking the law.
The American studies covered non-ideological crimes such as vandalism, homicide, rape, forgery, fraud, assault and car-theft rather than jihadist terrorism but lead researcher, Carnegie Mellon Professor Alfred Blumstein, insists: “Lots of people, as they age, they are no longer a risk. We are keeping people in prison who are physically unable to represent a threat to anybody.”This is disputable for terrorist offenders who may not age out of ideological convictions.
One way to deal with the issue is “jihadist jails,” a concept described by former prison governor Ian Acheson. He suggested establishing high-security centres that house hardliners separately from other, less serious offenders. However, “jihadist jails,” too, might not have prevented attacks by released prisoners such as Amman and Khan.
It’s a conundrum. There may not be a single solution to the threat of terrorists re-offending.

It is time to get real about the Palestinians’ predicament
Iman Zayat/The Arab Weekly/February 09/2020
Between reality and chimerical dreams lies complexity and between our hopes for peace and the Palestinians’ state of affairs lies a persistent state of denial — denial of facts on the ground, denial of the need for negotiations and, most important, denial of the other’s right to exist.
While many people around the world, especially in the Arab region, hold the Palestinian cause dear to their hearts, they have sometimes failed to concede defeats, think sensibly or deal with facts on the ground.
By responding emotionally to the Palestinian plight, the movement has grown disconnected from reality and failed to act pragmatically.
Ultimately, every defeat the Palestinians have suffered has led to another. This vicious cycle has brought us from talk about the Arab Peace Initiative based on 1976 borders to US President Donald Trump’s Deal of the Century or, as some critics have called it, “steal of the century.”
But we are where we are and, as matters stand, there is concern that Palestinian leaders’ blunt rejection of the US plan could lead to Palestinians getting even less tomorrow or perhaps nothing at all.
That said, there is good reason that Palestinians are not taking the deal seriously. Its conditions carry dire consequences for Palestinians living in Israel or under settler colonialism. For them, it is a geopolitical non-starter.
It is also clear that the deal is being used as a political ploy in Israel and the United States. In addition to helping Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu bolster his popularity, the deal is also part of Trump’s efforts to secure votes before the US presidential election this year.
While all of this is true, it is also the case that the US proposition gives Palestinians an opportunity to return to the negotiation table. Refusing to engage with it — and instead resorting to age-old denials and fiery rhetoric, as Palestinian leaders have done — could be a big mistake that hinders them from achieving future gains.
The shortcomings of the Deal of the Century are clear. It cynically conditions eventual Palestinian statehood on its full demilitarisation and compensates Palestinians’ lost territories in the West Bank with remote areas near the Egyptian border. Even more regrettably, the proposal gives Israel the green light to annex both West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, as well as recognises full Israeli sovereignty over an undivided Jerusalem.
Still, much of what the plan offers to Israel, Israel already has and will never give up. The Jewish state has been in control of the Jordan Valley since 1967. It has occupied and maintained an unbreakable headlock on life in Jerusalem for 53 years.
The only pushback to Israel’s expansion since 1948 has been several failed wars, coupled with a fiery campaign of empty rhetoric, with which Arabs across the region and Palestinians themselves have grown disenchanted.
A stark reminder of the unfortunate realities that Palestinians will have to deal with in the future came February 5, when the Trump national security adviser Robert O’Brien defended the US president’s Middle East peace plan during a meeting with diplomats in Washington.
While conceding that Trump’s plan is not perfect, O’Brien defended it as a good deal for the Palestinians, warning that Israeli expansion into Palestinian territory would be inevitable.
“The settlements are going to continue to expand. If this freeze on settlements doesn’t hold, if this peace process doesn’t work, it may be physically impossible to have a two-state solution,” O’Brien said.
Though perhaps exaggerated, O’Brien’s words remind us that every year the situation only gets worse for Palestinians — and that trend is not expected to change.
A recent UN report stated that there was a 45% increase in demolitions and confiscation of Palestinian structures in the West Bank in 2019 from 2018. At the same time, the Israeli government approved the construction of housing units and illegal outposts, strengthening its grip on the disputed land.
To contend with these realities, empty rhetoric, emotional reactions and flat-out rejections will do no good.
This has proven to be the case given Palestinian officials’ reactions. The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) threats, including to once again sever ties with Israel’s security agencies and calls for mass protests against the proposed deal, have been completely ineffective.
If anything, the PA has only shown its inability to produce a powerful reaction to any infringement on Palestinian rights or even to mobilise its own people.
While it might be difficult for all of us who believe in a just solution to the conflict to admit the bitter realities at hand, it is high time that we face them and deal with them.
It must also be noted that the Palestinian leadership, whether in Ramallah or Gaza, is no longer representative of its own people. In fact, since its establishment in 1994 as a result of the Oslo Accords, the PA has actively participated in the repression of Palestinians, while maintaining close ties with the Israeli security apparatus.
Besides, the PA’s and Hamas’s policies have always been more aimed at ensuring their own power than protecting Palestinians. To secure this power, they engaged in all forms of condemnable practices, including postponing elections, delaying reconciliation between various factions, torturing dissidents, suppressing some protests and instrumentalising mass mobilisation for short-sighted political goals.
The problem is that such inadmissible practices, along with years of suppressing dissent, have left Palestinians disenchanted with their so-called leaders and unable to effectively mobilise for their own struggle.
Though it might be painful to say it out loud, the bitter reality is that the Israeli occupation is only one layer of oppression that Palestinians are suffering from. This, coupled with Arab countries’ waning commitment to the cause as they struggle with their own issues, including in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya, is worsening the Palestinians’ predicament.
We must admit to what we have avoided for decades: The Palestinian cause is not and has never been “the first Arab cause,” as many populist leaders in the region tried to brand it, either to appeal to the masses to strengthen their grip on power or to divert attention away from their undemocratic and sometimes dictatorial practices.
The question is: How should the Palestinians deal with the situation?
For a reasonable solution to be reached, Palestinians should first let go of the decades-long state of denial and look beyond what their so-called leaders in the West Bank and Gaza are proposing and suggesting. They should take their fate into their own hands and push for real negotiations and practical solutions.
Hopefully, the Trump plan is not a final plan. After all, none of the previous plans or initiatives were final, either. True, the time for rosy dreams is long gone but there is still hope for Palestinians if they engage with the international community and Arab countries and secure real concessions from Israel through serious and direct negotiations.

Too often we are silent in the face of naked evil
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/February 08/2020
For those of us whose families were murdered in the Holocaust, or who grew up with those who survived it, the horrors of those dark days of the 1930s and 1940s are never far from our thoughts and emotions. Inescapably, our values, our view of humanity and society, and even our daily behavior is affected by those hideous crimes. Commemorations such as those on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp evoke powerful and painful emotions, but also give much strength in knowing that the world hasn’t forgotten the Nazi genocide of six million Jews and others including Roma, Slavs, homosexuals and those with mental disabilities who were deemed to taint the purity of the “Aryan race.”
Being of a second generation of Holocaust survivors has always meant that part of my identity was shaped by it; learning to live with the horrific experiences that my parents endured, but also living with the knowledge that so many family members are absent, and having to confront a void, without even photos left of them and in many cases no grave at which to grieve for them — only names and stories of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins I never met.
This feeling of senseless loss to evil affected many of my generation. “Never Again” has become not only a slogan but also a way of life, a leitmotif, but one with different interpretations. For many Jewish people, Never Again means, and understandably so, ensuring that Jewish people will be able to live lives free of constant persecution in any shape or form. However, there is as much a universal lesson from that bleak period in history as one for the Jewish people. The universal lesson is not just that other communities have suffered from a similar fate, but also that genocide and crimes against humanity have not been eliminated. It is also the responsibility of the second generation to make no compromise with Holocaust deniers. There is no excuse for those who, for whatever sick reasons, deny victims and survivors of the Holocaust their suffering and justice. They have done so since 1945, in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, when the evidence of piles of corpses at Auschwitz, Birkenau, Sobibor and Majdanek, along with the details so thoroughly documented by the meticulous Nazi-German machine, was staring them in the face. Denying survivors their truth and justice is a crime second only to that of the perpetrators of those atrocities.
In a recent TV interview, I was asked whether I could understand how such a genocide could have happened in the first place, and especially perpetrated by a nation regarded as the epitome of Western civilisation. Historically and politically, maybe even intellectually, I am capable of understanding the chain of events that led to the temporary victory of the Nazi race ideology with its twisted conclusion of wanting to eradicate an entire nation. At the same time, I replied, deep down I find it almost impossible to accept that people are capable of inflicting such extreme pain on other people, let alone innocent ones, among them one million children.
Bangladesh, East Timor, Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur and Syria are all tragic reminders that whether it is by guns and rifles, machetes or barrel bombs, our capacity for collective psychopathic behaviour hasn’t been defeated along with Nazi Germany.
However, it is not only Nazi Germany that bears responsibility, but also those who collaborated with it, and those who knew about the systematic murder of millions and did nothing to stop that killing machine or save Jews while it was still possible. Jan Karski, a member of the underground Polish resistance, and later a professor at Georgetown University, who was the first to report to the Polish government in exile and the Western allies about the atrocities in the Warsaw ghetto and other German extermination camps in Poland, observed: “We all have infinite capacity to do good and infinite capacity to do evil. We have a choice.” And, despite the excruciating difficulty of accepting that evil is ever present in human beings and is inherent in them, we are culpable for yielding to it or not doing enough prevent it.
Despite the punishments meted out to many of the Holocaust’s perpetrators, and the establishment of international mechanisms to prevent genocide, mass killings and other war crimes and crimes against humanity, these outrages have not been eradicated. Bangladesh, East Timor, Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur and Syria are all tragic reminders that whether it is by guns and rifles, machetes or barrel bombs, our capacity for collective psychopathic behaviour hasn’t been defeated along with Nazi Germany.
Hannah Arendt, a Holocaust survivor and a philosopher, warned us that what makes the Nazi killing machine frightening beyond the obvious is that much of its activities were conducted by bureaucrats sitting behind desks and overeseeing, with typical German efficiency, the mass murder machine. She called this “the banality of evil,” of men and women who carried out the wholesale murder of millions of people in a routine, job-like fashion, no questions asked, in total obedience, and at times with the deep conviction that they were doing it for the glory of the Fatherland and the Third Reich.
The generation that experienced the Second World War did much to ensure that the world understood what they went through and would draw the right conclusions from the bloodshed of the war and the genocide of the Jewish people. The establishment of the UN, the formation of the EU, the introduction of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the founding of the Jewish state and the eradication of German and Japanese militarism were all considered responses to the horrors of 1939–1945. Nevertheless, such responses never managed to eliminate war, conflict, crimes against humanity and even genocide.
Worryingly, in recent years the world has been witnessing a serious regression in some of the achievements of the postwar era in advancing human rights and preventing war. When such reversals take place it is worth remembering another of Jan Karski’s observations: “Great crimes start with little things … You don’t like your neighbors. You don’t like them because they are different. Avoid this. Avoid disliking people. Don’t make distinctions … the common humanity of people is the only real protector of human rights.”
Too often we fail this basic test of our humanity, and put the blame on others to justify the violation of our neighbours’ human rights, or else stay silent when such violations take place.
*Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations at Regent’s University London, where he is head of the International Relations and Social Sciences Program. He is also an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. He is a regular contributor to the international written and electronic media. Twitter: @YMekelberg