LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 28/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Letter to the Philippians 04/01-07:”Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus./

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on June 27-28/2019
Media Facilities in Occupied Lebanon are the Iranian Occupier's Mouthpieces
Political Castration Plague Has Hit The Majority Of Our Lebanese Christian Politicians
Aoun says fight against corruption is permanent practice rather than seasonal
Aoun Says Lebanon’s Fight is 'Permanent' against Corruption
Hezbollah sees U.S. war on Iran as unlikely - report
Lebanon’s Retired Army Officers Block Highways in Budget Protest
Retired Military Officers Escalate Protests, Block Major Highways into Beirut
Moody's Sees Risk of Lebanon Debt Rescheduling
Moody's Sees Possibility of Lebanon Debt Rescheduling Despite Budget...Khalil Says 'All Under Control'
Ibrahim: General Security Didn’t Hand Dissidents to Syrian Authorities
IS Militant Involved in 'Dozens of Attacks' Arrested
2 Syrians who 'Monitored Hizbullah' Sentenced to Jail
Reports: Germanos to be Suspended after Hariri-Bassil Agreement
Abbas Praises Jumblat’s Positions on Palestine
Lebanon’s General Security Chief Denies Handing Dissidents to Damascus
Hariri on deal of the century: The Lebanese government and all institutions are against it
AUB Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences launches report on revitalizing Lebanon's rural areas and competition for innovation in agriculture
Loyalty to Resistance meets in regular session, broaches overall situation
The next Lebanon-Israel war will be unlike any other

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 27-28/2019
Deadly Suicide Bombings Shake Tunisian Capital
Iran Warns Trump against 'Illusion' of Short War
Revealing Identity of US Mercenary Puts Libya’s GNA in Hot Water
US Envoy Tours Euro-Med Countries over ‘Washington’s Priorities in Syria’
Houthis Inject Fake Drugs in Coup-run Pharmacies
Israel Receives Chilean President, Rebukes Ambassador First
Sudan’s Mahdi Calls for ‘Consensus that Preserves Revolution’
Egypt Holds Activists Accused of ‘Funding Muslim Brotherhood’
Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu hails victory as step to repair democracy
President Falls Ill as Attacks Rock Tunisia Capital

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 27-28/2019
Media Facilities in Occupied Lebanon are the Iranian Occupier's Mouthpieces/Elias Bejjani/June 27/2019
Political Castration Plague Has Hit The Majority Of Our Lebanese Christian Politicians/Elias Bejjani/June 27/2019
The next Lebanon-Israel war will be unlike any other/Barbara Diamond/TOI/June 27/2019 '
 Palestinian murdered German for being 'Jew’ who 'destroyed my country'/Benjamin Weinthal/Jerusalem Post/June 27/2019
The Saudi Partnership with Asian Tigers/Salman Al-dossary//June 27Asharq Al-Awsat /2019
What Is Trump Up to in Iran?/Jonathan Bernstein/Bloomberg View/June 27/2019
Turkey Loses an Ally/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/June 27/2019
UK: A Clash of Educations/Denis MacEoin/Gatestone Institute/June 27/2019
UK: A Clash of Educations, Part II/Denis MacEoin/Gatestone Institute/June 27/2019
Iran responds to US threats with further aggression/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/June 27/2019
How US can react to Iranian provocations while avoiding war/Sir John Jenkins/Arab News/June 27/2019
Pompeo bids to charm Asian giants amid China challenge/Andrew Hammond/Arab News/June 27/2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on June 27-28/2019
Media Facilities in Occupied Lebanon are the Iranian Occupier's Mouthpieces
Elias Bejjani/June 27/2019
 The majority of the media facilities in occupied Lebanon, newspapers, TV channels, and newspapers are mere puppets, cymbals and trumpets that echo the Iranian-Hezbollah occupier's degrees of oppression, corruption ,humiliation, deception and fabrication of  lies. The MTV is not an exception at all.

Political Castration Plague Has Hit The Majority Of Our Lebanese Christian Politicians
Elias Bejjani/June 25/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/76116/elias-bejjani-political-castration-plague-has-hit-the-majority-of-our-lebanese-christian-politicians/
Sadly the majority of our Christian politicians, and the Maronites in particular, as well as all the so called political parties, are in reality and practicality, patriotically, conscience, sovereignty and independence wise are totally castrated with no what so ever hope of any hope of recovery through surgical or non surgical therapies or treatments.
In reality, and in all fields of actuality, they are all helpless, hopeless, hungry for power, their leadership falls in the lowest scale of calibre in all spheres, and on all levels, and actually much, much worst than the Iscariot himself.
The thirty Dinars deviated concept, and the rotten thinking process of the Iscariot are the foundation of their life style, and bases of their entire attitudes and all approaches for all matters.
Meanwhile, the disastrous and sickening part of this Christian on going deteriorating of faith and hope dilemma mainly lies in the cancerous-devastated Lebanese Christian public opinion that is totally strayed and alienated from all that is freedom, identity, dignity, fear of the Judgment Day and conscience.
The corrupted politicians have evilly succeeded in turning their followers into puppets, much more like sheep.
These sheep like followers are blind and deaf and do see and hear only what their masters the Iscariotic politicians allow them to have access to.
In this very same realm of ethical, political and faith-patriotic arenas, Lebanon President’s Son in-law, Mr. Gobran Bassil is a deviated current leading and prominent disastrous politician, there is no doubt in this sad and imposed reality.
But what is more disappointing than the deviated Bassil and imposed status, is that both Sami Gymayel and Samir Geagea, the Maronite politicians and the “owners” of the two major Feudal and dictatorship Maronite falsely called political Parties are not better than Bassil in any way in any domain what so ever, but definitely, much much worse.
In conclusion, We the Maronites in Lebanon, as well as in the Diaspora, we are in an urgent need for leaders and politicians who not corrupted, not narcissistic, and who genuinely fear Almighty God and His Day Of Judgment..
We definitely are in an urgent need for politicians and leaders from the cut, calibre and garment of the Late Martyr, Bachir Gmayel.

Aoun says fight against corruption is permanent practice rather than seasonal
NNA - Thu 27 Jun 2019
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, on Thursday stressed that the fight against corruption is not a seasonal process, but rather a permanent practice in which state institutions and citizens join hands alongside supervisory bodies. President Aoun said he was adamant to set right the performance of state institutions and public sector employees, stressing that there will be no leniency with violaters of laws and regulations in effect. "The final word in this regard will be up to the judicial bodies and supervisory aparatuses," Aoun was speaking during his meeting at the Baabda palace with a delegation of the "National Unity Forum" led by Consul Khaled Al Daouk. Talks reportedly touched on the general situation in the country. The Head of State also highlighted the importance of the reform steps that Lebanon has committed to, notably at the CEDRE conference, stressing that any reform must be based on a personal conviction of the importance of rectifying any imbalance wherever it exists. On the other hand, Aoun received at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Head of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) for the year 2019-2020, Walid Moussa, who briefed him on the work of the Federation, which includes 165 institutions and professional and academic bodies from 70 countries. President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, received at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, "Strong Lebanon" bloc MP Salim Khoury, with whom he tackled the conditions of Jezzine and East Sidon. Discussions also tackled most recent political developments. President Aoun also received former MP Emile Rahma, and discussed with him the recent political developments.

Aoun Says Lebanon’s Fight is 'Permanent' against Corruption
Naharnet/June 27/2019
President Michel Aoun said that fighting corruption is not a “seasonal” process, but rather a permanent practice shared between the state institutions and citizens who are supposed to work alongside the supervisory bodies. During his meeting with a delegation from the National Unity Forum, Aoun stressed that he is in the process of correcting the performance of institutions and their employees. “There will be no leniency with violators of laws and regulations in force,” he said. The President referred to the importance of reform steps that Lebanon committed to, mainly at the CEDRE Paris conference. He said “any reform must be based on a personal conviction of the importance of correcting the imbalance wherever it is found.”

Hezbollah sees U.S. war on Iran as unlikely - report
Reuters/June 27/2019
Sheik Naim Qassem told Lebanon's al-Joumhouria newspaper U.S. President Donald Trump "does not need war."
BEIRUT - The Iran-backed Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah believes a U.S. war on Iran is unlikely for reasons including Iran's strong defensive capabilities, Hezbollah's deputy leader said in an interview published on Thursday. Sheik Naim Qassem told Lebanon's al-Joumhouria newspaper U.S. President Donald Trump "does not need war.""He does not benefit from a war that he can start but whose results he cannot control and which might begin with Iran but may be accompanied by the region being set on fire," he said. The leader of Hezbollah, a heavily armed group founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, said last month it was unlikely the United States would launch a war against Tehran as it would pay a heavy price. On Wednesday, Trump said any war between Iran and the United States would be swift, but reiterated his desire to avoid a military confrontation even while blasting Tehran’s leaders.

Lebanon’s Retired Army Officers Block Highways in Budget Protest
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 27 June, 2019
Hundreds of veterans burned tires and blocked main arteries into the Lebanese capital Beirut and elsewhere on Thursday to protest plans to tax their pensions and other measures in the 2019 budget.
Parliament is debating a draft budget approved by the cabinet last month. It aims to cut the deficit to 7.6 percent of gross domestic product from 11.5 percent last year, with Lebanese leaders warning the country faces financial crisis without reform. Fears of cuts in public-sector pay and pensions sparked protests as the budget was being drawn up earlier this year. The draft approved by cabinet omitted a proposed temporary public-sector pay cut. But army veterans continue to object to measures that will affect them. The draft budget includes a 3 percent cut in their pensions to help support health care and social services, a pension tax and a freeze on early retirement. In a reminder of the political issues facing Prime Minister Saad Hariri's government, plumes of smoke rose early on Thursday as veterans blocked highways for several hours with burning tires. Long lines of cars queued on the highway south of Beirut, a scene repeated elsewhere in the country. The veterans waved Lebanese flags and held photos of soldiers who died in service, whose families will also be affected. "The political class pushed us to this," said Abbas Ammar, a first sergeant who retired in 2001. "All our lives we preserved the security of our country. These are our rights that we earned." The protests, which began at 5 am, were scheduled to last until 10 am. However, by about 9 am, veterans reopened the highways at the request of the army command. The main steps to cut the projected deficit to 7.6 percent of GDP include an increase in tax paid on interest, an import tax and a government plan to issue low-interest treasury bonds to cut debt-servicing costs.

Retired Military Officers Escalate Protests, Block Major Highways into Beirut
Associated Press/Naharnet/June 27/2019
Retired servicemen blocked major highways around Lebanon early on Thursday as angry commuters stuck in traffic expressed dismay standing in long queues of vehicles in the scorching heat. The five-hour protest, which began at dawn on Thursday, saw closures of the northern, southern and eastern entrances to Beirut. The demonstration caused major traffic jams and delays in getting into the city. The protesters plan was to end the blockage not before 10:00 am, but they made a gradual opening of some roads at the request of the Lebanese Army. On Wednesday, the retired servicemen vowed to escalate measures and block all roads leading to and from the capital in protests against the benefit cuts proposed in the 2019 draft state budget. The servicemen have warned of a second stage of protests they said might include “besieging and isolating the parliament building and gradually isolating Lebanon from the outside world when the legislature convenes to discuss the draft state budget.” Lebanon is dealing with a looming crisis as the economy struggles with soaring debt, rising unemployment and slow growth. The government's tightened budget and key reforms aim to unlock billions of dollars in pledged foreign assistance.
But the planned cuts have unleashed a wave of public discontent, amid leaks that austerity measures could target pensions, wages, services and social benefits.

Moody's Sees Risk of Lebanon Debt Rescheduling
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 27 June, 2019
Slowing capital inflows to Lebanon and weaker deposit growth increase the risk of a government response that will include a debt rescheduling or another liability management exercise that may constitute a default, Moody's Investors Service said.This was despite fiscal consolidation measures included in the draft 2019 budget that is being debated in parliament, Moody's said in a June 25 credit analysis, according to Reuters. Asked about the report, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said on Thursday "matters are under control". The draft budget aims to cut the deficit to 7.6 percent of gross domestic product from 11.5 percent last year, with Lebanese leaders warning the country faces financial crisis without reform. Lebanon's public debt is 150 percent of GDP, among the largest in the world. State finances are strained by a bloated public sector, high debt-servicing costs and subsidies for power. The Moody's report said: "Despite the inclusion of fiscal consolidation measures in the draft 2019 budget, slowing capital inflows and weaker deposit growth increase the risk that the government's response will include a debt rescheduling or another liability management exercise that may constitute a default under our definition."Lebanon has long depended on financial transfers from its diaspora to meet the economy's financing needs, chiefly the state budget deficit and the current account deficit of an economy that imports heavily and exports little by comparison.

Moody's Sees Possibility of Lebanon Debt Rescheduling Despite Budget...Khalil Says 'All Under Control'
Naharnet/June 27/2019
Moody's Investors Service said that the slowdown in capital inflows in Lebanon and the decline in deposit growth are fueling the government's move to take measures including debt restructuring or another liability management exercise that may constitute a default. In a credit analysis on June 25, Moody's said “this was despite the fiscal consolidation measures included in the 2019 draft budget that is being debated in parliament.”“Slowing capital inflows and weak deposit growth reinforce the likelihood that the government will take measures including debt restructuring or another liability management measure that could constitute a default under our definition,” said Moody’s. In that regard, Finance Minister Hassan Khalil said when asked about the report: “Things are under control.”Lebanon’s cabinet approved a budget expected to trim Lebanon's deficit to 7.59 percent of gross domestic product -- a nearly 4-point drop from the previous year. Debt servicing and public sector salaries and benefits each will make up 35 percent of the budget, while government subsidies to the state-owned electricity company will constitute 11 percent.

Ibrahim: General Security Didn’t Hand Dissidents to Syrian Authorities
Naharnet/June 27/2019
General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim affirmed on Thursday that the Directorate “has not handed any Syrian dissident to the Syrian authorities,” stressing that Lebanese laws ban illegal entry and will deport to Syria anyone trying to enter “illegitimately,” the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Thursday.
“Those who were returned to Syria, have entered Lebanon surreptitiously in the last few days and have no security files in their country,” Ibrahim told the daily in an interview. Media reports have claimed that the “security agency last week, handed over 30 people, including women, to the Syrian security at the Lebanese-Syrian border, and were transferred by the intelligence security forces to Damascus,” a claim strongly denied by the Lebanese General Security chief. Reports also said the General Security allegedly arrested three Syrian dissident recruits in the area of Qob Elias in the Bekaa region. They were reportedly summoned as part of a security campaign against illegal foreign workers. These reports were categorically denied by Ibrahim, who told Asharq al-Awsat that the general security "has not handed any dissident to Syria over the past eight years, so why now?” he said. He explained saying: “There is a decision by the Higher Council of Defense in Lebanon on April 24, 2019 to prevent the illegal entry of any Syrian, and demanding the return to Syria of all those who enter surreptitiously. We are applying this decision no more and no less.”Ibrahim emphasized that authorities in Lebanon will deport any Syrian national who enters illegally into Lebanon, “state decisions must be applied,” he affirmed. For his part, Head of the Syrian Negotiations Commission Nasr al-Hariri “condemned” the move describing it as "immoral.” He said: “Lebanese authorities can not invoke frail legal reasons to justify this immoral act which is inconsistent with the rules of human rights and international law.”

IS Militant Involved in 'Dozens of Attacks' Arrested
Naharnet/June 27/2019
An Islamic State group militant involved in “dozens of terrorist attacks” in Lebanon has been arrested, the army said on Thursday. “The Intelligence Directorate has arrested the terrorist Hussein Ahmed al-Hujeiri who belongs to the Daesh group and is wanted on multiple arrest warrants,” the military said in a statement. “He is accused of carrying out dozens of terrorist operations against civilians and the armed forces, including participation in the assassination of Internal Security Forces chief warrant officer Zaher Ezzeddine, in addition to his key role in transferring arms to the terrorist groups and recruiting individuals and transporting them to fight inside Syria,” the army added. Investigations are underway under the supervision of the relevant judicial authorities, it said.

2 Syrians who 'Monitored Hizbullah' Sentenced to Jail
Naharnet/June 27/2019
Two Syrians were handed jail sentences on Thursday on charges of involvement in acts of terror, the National News Agency reported. “The Military Court sentenced the Syrian Abdul Azim al-Mghayzel to three years' hard labor and the Syrian Kamal Ghannoum to a year in prison,” NNA said. “It convicted the former of carrying out acts of terror, monitoring the movements of Hizbullah convoys and senior officials and providing terrorist groups with this information,” the agency added. “The later was convicted of involvement in the aforementioned offense and belonging to the al-Nusra Front group,” it said.

Reports: Germanos to be Suspended after Hariri-Bassil Agreement
Naharnet/June 27/2019
Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil agreed during their latest meeting to seek the suspension of State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Peter Germanos, a media report said. “But today's report that the justice minister has signed a decree suspending Germanos is baseless,” MTV quoted informed sources as saying. Al-Jadeed television had earlier reported that Justice Minister Albert Serhan intends to suspend Germanos and First Examining Magistrate of the Bekaa Imad al-Zein within 24 hours. “The judicial inspection commission questioned them and submitted its report to the justice minister two days ago, requesting that they be suspended and referred to the disciplinary council,” the TV network said. It noted that the reported decision has to do with the ongoing probe into the judicial corruption that was exposed after the arrest of several so-called “brokers” who were acting as intermediaries between some defendants and judges.

Abbas Praises Jumblat’s Positions on Palestine
Naharnet/June 27/2019
The Progressive Socialist Party on Thursday said that its leader and ex-MP Walid Jumblat had received a telephone call from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas praising his support for the Palestinian cause, the National News Agency reported. NNA said Abbas hailed Jumblat’s positions and “his absolute rejection of the deals that tamper with this cause.”The Palestinian President affirmed that Lebanon has always shown support for the Palestinian cause. “These principled positions are not alien to the brotherly Lebanon towards the Palestinian cause, given its support for the rights of our people to freedom and independence and the establishment of an independent State with Jerusalem as its capital," Abbas said.

Lebanon’s General Security Chief Denies Handing Dissidents to Damascus
Beirut - Youssef Diab/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 27 June, 2019
Lebanon’s General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim debunked media leaks claiming Lebanon secretly extradited Syrian opposition fugitives and handed them over to the Syrian regime.
Local media reports had claimed that Lebanon's security agency last week, handed over 30 people, including women, to Syrian security apparatuses at the Lebanese-Syrian border. According to unnamed sources cited by multiple media outlets, the 30 were transferred by intelligence security forces to Damascus. But this is a claim strongly denied by Ibrahim. He, in a phone interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, affirmed that Lebanese authorities have not handed any Syrian dissident to Damascus, but stressed that the Lebanese law bans unregistered entry and allows deporting any Syrian who entered the country illegally.
“Those who were returned to Syria, have entered Lebanon surreptitiously in the last few days and have no security files in their country,” Ibrahim told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The media reports had also said the Lebanese General Security allegedly arrested three Syrian dissident recruits in the country’s eastern Qob Elias city in the Bekaa region. They were reportedly summoned as part of a sweeping security campaign against illegal foreign workers.
Underlining that Lebanon has not handed any dissident to Syria over the past eight years, Ibrahim rebuffed the claims with irony, asking: “so why now?” Elaborating on the fresh waves of security campaigns finding, seizing and deporting Syrians who entered Lebanon illegally, Ibrahim said: “There is a decision by the Higher Council of Defense in Lebanon on April 24, 2019 to prevent the illegal entry of any Syrian, and demanding the return to Syria of all those who enter surreptitiously. We are applying this decision no more and no less.”
“The Lebanese General Security (when deporting Syrians) is acting based on a Cabinet decree approved on 31 December 2014. Seeking to restrict the flow of more Syrian refugees into the country, the decision made the conditions for the entry of Syrians to Lebanon even more difficult,” Human Rights lawyer Nabil Al Halabi, who is also a member of the Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, dubbed LIFE, told Asharq Al-Awsat. Voicing LIFE’s position on the state decision to curb the influx of Syrian asylum seekers, Halabi said “it violates human rights and the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.”Despite the efforts poured by NGOs to counteract this decision, Halabi noted: “there is a strong political and media campaign that reach the point of directing threats at human rights organizations and warns against interfering with the issue of deporting refugees.”

Hariri on deal of the century: The Lebanese government and all institutions are against it
NNA/Thu 27 Jun 2019
he Council of Ministers held a meeting today at the Grand Serail. At the end of the meeting, Minister Wael Abu Faour read the following official information:
The Council of Ministers held today a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Hariri in the absence of Ministers Violette Safadi, Jamal Jarrah, Hassan Lakkis, May Chidiac and Avidis Kidanian.
Premier Hariri started by addressing the so-called deal of the century. He said: "The position of the Lebanese government is clear. We are against this project and there is consensus in Lebanon on rejecting it, expressed by all the components and institutions in Lebanon. Lebanon's position is based on the Arab League and Beirut Summit resolutions. Our Constitution is clear and forbids resettlement and emphasizes the right of return." Premier Hariri's stance was supported by all ministers.
Premier Hariri then asked all ministers to complete the preparation of all applicable decrees of the laws issued previously, stressing that he will follow up this subject weekly with the concerned ministers to complete them as soon as possible. He also pointed out that there are draft laws from Parliament that will be studied by the Council of Ministers. There are also a number of questions submitted by deputies to the government on various subjects, which should be answered.
Finally, Premier Hariri pointed out that the Council of Ministers will hold meetings dedicated to follow-up on the CEDRE decisions and the McKinsey Economic plan.
The Council of Ministers then proceeded to discuss the agenda. Most items were adopted, most importantly: A number of draft laws and the approval of a number of loans and grants, from China, the European Bank, the World Bank and Turkey. The Cabinet also approved a number of agreement and memorandums of understanding with several states including Armenia, the Russian Federation, Egypt, Serbia and Gabon.
We approved the request of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to allow students who studied in Syria or any other country, and Syrian students and from other nationalities, to take the 2019 official exams for the certificates issued by the Directorate General for Vocational and Technical Education even if they can't secure the required documents to accept their candidacy to these exams.
The new customs law was also discussed and it was agreed to approve it after being reviewed by the Minister of Finance within one month. The draft law on electronic transactions was also adopted and a decision was also taken to cancel the Investment Guarantee Authority, due to the lack of employees and because of the uselessness of the institution over the past years. An organizational decree concerning the mechanism for the application of Article 73 of Law 220 dated 29-05-2000 was also adopted. This law is known as the law of the rights of disabled. The decree allocates three percent of the public sector jobs to persons with special needs and this is an old demand from people with special needs.
Question: Why didn't any appointments take place?
Abu Faour: This was not on the agenda, and it was not among the items discussed.
Question: Is it because of a lack of consensus?
Abu Faour: I cannot say that, but what can be said from my position as minister is that until now, no proposal has been submitted to the Council of Ministers.
Question: Will the exceptional examinations session include the students who have not been able to take the brevet exams?
Abu Faour: We are talking about Syrian or non-Syrian students who were unable to obtain the documents required for their exams. They are being allowed to take the exams. For the students who did not apply to the first session, there is a proposal submitted by the Minister of Education to allow them to take the exams, but independently. This is completely different.
Question: Did you discuss the sit-ins of the retired military?
Abu Faour: They were discussed and there is a general feeling in the Council of Ministers that, in many cases, things go beyond the logic that must be adopted in some of the demands put forward. Some movements and statements also depart from the logic that must be respected by every right holder.
Question: Did you agree to follow up this file or deal with it in some way?
Abu Faour: No decision has been taken, but frankly, there is a general atmosphere in the cabinet that some, not all, demands should be more logical. Some steps, if not most, must be more law-abiding. The Lebanese citizen should not pay for some of the steps that have become disturbing.
Question: When will the Council of Ministers begin appointments, knowing that a consensus is needed?
Abu Faour: What happened yesterday in Parliament, with regard to the Constitutional Council, made it easier for the Lebanese government to approve the appointments related to the Constitutional Council, because yesterday there was a kind of compromise between the blocs.
Question: Was it a distribution of shares?
Abu Faour: We can call it a settlement, or, in a less nice way, a distribution of shares. But yes, the blocs agreed on a group of names that meet the demands of the parliamentary blocs.
Question: Will the same thing happen in the Council of Ministers?
Abu Faour: If logic is to adopt efficiency, and I call for a debate on the efficiency of those who were elected yesterday in Parliament. If there is a lack of efficiency, this is dangerous. But if they are competent people, chosen by the parliamentary blocs or the components of the Council of Ministers, this is historically how appointments take place and today too.
Question: Will you continue applying the quotas?
Abu Faour: I did not say quota, but I said taking into account the demands of some parliamentary blocs and components. In all cases, there is a lot of noise in the media and public opinion on the remaining appointments, but on the table of the Council of Ministers or in the stage preceding the Council of Ministers, further consultation is required before reaching a proposal of appointments.
Question: Are there any appointments on the agenda of the next session?
Abu Faour: The agenda is determined by the Prime Minister, and we are waiting for what he will send us.
Question: On the subject of the deal of the century, there was talk of 6 billion dollars allocated to Lebanon. Did you discuss this?
Abu Faour: Lebanon's position on the so-called deal of the century is not about the size of the funds or the size of the temptations. It is a principled position that starts with what the prime minister said in cabinet. He said the following: It is up to the Palestinian people to reject or approve and the Palestinian people rejected this whole matter unanimously. Therefore, no one can impose on the Palestinian people anything it does not want.
Second, the approach of funds and inducements is not accepted by the Lebanese state, and it is not likely to be part of the debate. Emphasizing the right of return, rejecting the resettlement and adhering to the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with Quds as its capital, is a demand that has been agreed upon by all Arab countries. Lebanon is at the forefront of defending this right. And therefore the issue is not to be discussed in terms of money or temptations or what is said about billions that will not make any difference. It is clear from the course of events at the conference that was held that it is doomed to failure.

AUB Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences launches report on revitalizing Lebanon's rural areas and competition for innovation in agriculture
NNA -Thu 27 Jun 2019
The Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences (FAFS) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) hosted two consecutive launches on Tuesday, June 18, 2019. The first session was the launch of the IFPRI 2019 Global Food Policy Report: Revitalizing Rural Areas in Lebanon and the second was the soft launch of the WBG DigitalAG4MENA Competition. The first session, held in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), was one in a series of launches that have been held in major cities around the globe including Washington, Moscow, Brussels, Beijing, and New Delhi. IFPRI's 2019 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR) reviews major food policy developments and events from the past year, and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2019 at the global and regional levels. This year's report spotlights the urgent need for rural revitalization to address persistent crises such as food insecurity, poverty and inequality, and environmental degradation that deeply affect rural people worldwide, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The session featured two keynote speakers: Clemens Breisinger, senior research fellow and country program leader, IFPRI Egypt, and Fatma Abdelaziz, research associate, IFPRI Egypt. Breisinger highlighted the global themes and key findings of this year's GFPR. He argued that the key building blocks for productive, sustainable, and healthy rural areas lie in five pillars: connectivity and integration of rural and urban areas to boost employment and livelihoods; gender equality through increasing women's participation, particularly in governance and policy; an environment which provides economic incentives and provides an opportunity to invest in innovative practices and technologies; renewable energy that promotes investment and competition among providers; and governance to ensure a predictable regulatory environment.
Rural revitalization is critical, timely, and achievable and addressing the rural crisis will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and alleviate the impacts of climate change.
Next, Abdelaziz presented the GFPR's relevant findings for the MENA region. She highlighted the cluster-based development approach, a geographic concentration of many interconnected businesses which can build on the strengths of local communities, and offered illustrations of existing handicrafts, furniture, and textile clusters in Lebanon. The approach offers new prospects for youth to revitalize rural areas, thereby resulting in job creation and poverty reduction in countries like Egypt and Lebanon.
The speakers were then joined for a panel discussion featuring Shady Hamadeh, professor and director of the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit (ESDU) at FAFS; Julian Lampietti, manager for the Global Agriculture Practice in the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, World Bank; Constantin Salameh, senior coach and investment advisor at Berytech/Agrytech; Faten Adada, agriculture officer - Regional Initiative for Small Scale Family Farming, FAO Regional Office for Near East and North Africa countries; and Ghassan Al Salman, field officer at ESDU. The discussion that followed raised vigorous debate on the importance of engaging and empowering rural people, particularly women, to achieve rural revitalization; the dimensions and possibilities of leap-frogging into digitization whereby water scarcity, digital technologies, and women and youth present opportunities to leverage open data, digital payment backup, investment in infrastructure, and human capital to revive rural areas; the optimal process to promote agricultural and non-agricultural "incubators" with a focus on investments in scalable, high social impact companies in MENA; and the importance of building a resilient agriculture sector in the MENA region through linking farmers to markets, social protection and bridging the pillars of decent work with those of food security.
The second session held in collaboration with the World Bank Group (WBG) continued the discussion around themes of agricultural revitalization through the use of digital technologies. The WBG's latest focus in the MENA region has been on strengthening agricultural markets and raising the profile of the agricultural sector. Its DigitalAG4MENA competition will be an opportunity to crowdsource innovative information and communication technology (ICT) solutions, targeted at raising efficiency, equity and environmental sustainability of food systems in MENA. DigitalAG4MENA is a scale up of the DigitalAG4Egypt competition throughout the entire region, starting with Lebanon as the second country following Egypt. This soft launch kicked off a great opportunity for the agriculture entrepreneurs and professionals in the Arab world who are looking to apply and implement their agriculture, business, and technology knowledge and create value in their society.
The WBG session featured four speakers who joined for a panel discussion: Hadi Jaafar, assistant professor of irrigation engineering and water management at FAFS, who gave an overview of the latest applications in remote sensing and smart farming; Ramy Boujawdeh, deputy general manager, Berytech, presenting a snapshot of the agricultural entrepreneurial ecosystem in Lebanon and highlighting the role of Agrytech in helping innovators transform their ideas into businesses that can grow globally; Nisrine Turky, co-founder of IoTree, pioneering artificial intelligence (AI) driven smart electronic devices capable of detecting and identifying agricultural pests and notifying the farmers via a mobile application when, where, and how to intervene, thereby improving farmers' production while reducing the use of pesticides; and Fatma El Zahraa Aglan, agricultural specialist, World Bank Group, who launched DigitalAG4MENA.
An audience of over 60 participated in both sessions, including faculty, students, alumni, and external guests from academia, the public and private sectors, from organizations including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and from NGOs and civil society.--AUB

Loyalty to Resistance meets in regular session, broaches overall situation
NNA - Thu 27 Jun 2019 at 16:54 Politics
"Loyalty to Resistance" bloc on Thursday held its periodic meeting at its headquarters in Haret hreik, under the chairmanship of bloc head, MP Mohammed Raad. The bloc discussed most recent developments in Lebanon and the broad region. In a statement issued in the wake of the meeting, the bloc renewed its condemnation of the "Deal of the Century" and all summits and workshops organized to promote this Deal, which shall fail, as the bloc said, to terminate the right of the Palestinian people to return to their country and decide their fate. The bloc said that all countries, parties and institutions that contribute to the promotion of the "deal of the century" are an effective partner in defying the Charter of the United Nations, denying the right of the Palestinian people and consecrating the legitimacy of the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the arrangements for the systematic refugee resettlement that will mainly entail Lebanon.
As such, the bloc called on the Lebanese government to adopt a clear political stance condemning the Deal of the Century and refusing to participate in it while warning against the repercussions of its dangers on its security and stability. The bloc said all the Lebanese are concerned with condemning this conspiratorial deal.

The next Lebanon-Israel war will be unlike any other
Barbara Diamond/TOI/June 27/2019
When one attends the annual Shurat Ha Din conference on Law and War, it is a marathon of experts presenting their views on the International understanding of the protocols of fighting a war. It is an update on fighting international terrorist network funding. It is an opportunity to face uncomfortable truths and to digest sensitive new information which we had not heard before. One never knows what will stand out as life-changing information.
At the end of two days of seminars, military experts, politicians, international previous heads of State, technology experts and International leaders – new conclusions came upon me which I must now digest and share with you.
The first and most critical conclusion is quite simply that Israel will be at war with Lebanon in the not too distant future. It may be one year or two or three…but it is coming. It is really quite absurd as the Lebanese people have quite a good life and Israel makes no demands upon them and threatens them in no fashion. I am quite sure that the Lebanese people do not relish the idea of their homes being destroyed, family members dying and their way of life being decimated. But that is exactly what is waiting for them if there is no international attention, world-wide pressure and internal rebellion against Nazrallah’s leadership of Hezbollah.
The influence of Iran as the major player behind all that is evolving is beyond dispute. Whilst the world essentially is terrified of a nuclear capable Iran, they manage to avoid dealing with the reality that Iran is at the core of all of the previous and potential wars in the Middle East. When it was revealed that Lebanon has shored up its missiles to a whopping 140,000 units, it seemed an impossible number. Surely someone has made a mistake? Where did they come from? Who paid for them? Numbers are easy to dismiss … but facts are not.
The answers became clear over the past two days at the Shurat Ha Din conference. Iran has paid for it all and is using Hezbollah in Lebanon as its surrogate to “handle” the Israeli problem. The dots became connected when specialists on North Korea explained that country’s role in all that is developing. Whilst pretending to be interested in joining the “family of nations” North Korea is in fact not only selling Iran all the weapons It needs, but is setting up factories in Iran which are staffed with North Korean employees who make the weapons with the parts secretly shipped from North Korea on the open seas. According to the two experts, a ship from North Korea with contraband can change its flags and name on the outside up to twenty plus times in one journey in order to avoid international detection. That the dictator Kim Jae-ryong’s family is essentially evil and demagogic can be validated with the recent revelation that North Korean emissaries who were sent to meet with the U.S. negotiators returned to North Korea only to be assassinated for not bringing back the information the regime required as to what they considered the USA’s “true intentions.”
The world is facing a new group of evil players who are not dissimilar to Adolph Hitler, to whom Alan Dershowitz referred when discussing the need for nations to face evil before it has a chance to fully evolve. Dershowitz explained that had Churchill attacked Hitler in the early days, a possible 100,000 Germans might have been killed. By waiting until Europe had no option but to go to war, the result was a death toll of fifty million people. It does seem that no one is capable of learning from the lessons of history…regardless of their enormity.
Until Naftali Bennett explained that Israel’s army will never again go into Lebanon to dismantle a missile as he did when he was a specialist in the Army during the Lebanon war in which he served, it was unclear what he was about to reveal. He reports that Israel now knows that 30% to 40% of the homes in Lebanon are built with a missile room as part of the residence. That room has a ceiling which can be opened electronically so the missile can be shot from the residence. This explains how 140,000 missiles can be out of sight to overhead surveillance. Large homes are actually built around the larger missiles as they would be too large to bring into a previously built structure. Lebanon is gearing up for war. Hezbollah is in control of Lebanon now. The government of Israel knows it. Now we know it.
The creativeness of this approach is the Arab mentality at its most vile. Because they trust that Israel will not fire upon civilian targets and will follow the rules of international warfare, they presume that they will have the upper hand. They think Israel will be so torn at the thought of killing innocents, that they will not be able to defend themselves swiftly. Experts believe that Hezbollah will open the next war with 3,000 to 4,000 rockets per day aimed at Israel. Divide that into 140,000 and you can imagine the potential length of the war. That of course presumes that Israel will be caught unaware. It will not be.
Naftali Bennett unexpectedly became the most interesting speaker of the two days…because although he did not reveal the Israeli security cabinet’s plan for reprisal, he made it clear that the laws which exist for international warfare are outmoded… and hence invalid. Warfare will no longer be man to man combat on the ground. Technology has taken warfare into a terrifying place and the law is lagging behind so severely as to be irrelevant in future conflagrations.
By definition, if one allows one’s home to host a missile, then the members of the family in that home are no longer innocent collateral damage, but part of the military force intent on participating in an all-out war. That changes all prior assumptions. The very same Israeli army which up until now discussed every detail with lawyers without making a military move, would now need to have carte blanche to destroy every home, hospital, mosque and school in defense of our Nation state. The laws on the books do not begin to deal with the new realities of potential combat here in the middle east.
It is certainly not for me to say that Israel would use an atomic bomb on Lebanon, but there may be no alternative.
Alan Dershowitz spoke to the conference with stunning information which I myself had missed somewhere along the line. He reports that the Grand Mullah of Iran claims that once they reach nuclear capabilities, it will take only one bomb to kill three million Israelis. When they are reminded that Israel has nuclear capabilities which could kill 20 to 30 million of their people, they shrug their shoulders and say…”that is fine with us. We will lose people but the Muslim faith will survive. “ Little wonder the people of Iran are terrified of the Mullahs. Rightly so. If the Iranian population does not wake up soon and depose them by force, their own nation could be decimated in this web of evil intent.
Professor Dershowitz discussed at great length the need for pre-emptive action. He explained that in International law, when there is clear evidence that an enemy plans to destroy another nation, that other nation has the right of first attack. Will Israel wait for the first three or four thousand missiles to rain down on it before it reacts ?
Iran has created an opportunity for their own people to survive unscathed by encouraging Hezbollah to do its bidding.
The Israelis who are angry at their Prime Minister for not destroying Gaza as Hamas sends hundreds of rockets toward our Southern towns are not looking at the entire picture. What we have not been privy to is the severity of the situation in Lebanon. If Israel begins another war with Gaza, it would be the perfect time for Hezbollah to garner the will to begin their own attack. This is not a war which will be fought on the ground. Our soldiers will not be going into the houses to find the missiles… drones will locate them and homes and families will be decimated. Preserving peace is a delicate balance.
The message given loud and clear at the end of the conference by Nitsana Darshan-Leitner founder and president of the organization thirteen years ago, is that it is our individual obligation to let the entire world know -now … that in the next Lebanon war, all civilians will be considered combatants and will not be spared. If we share the message with clarity, there is actually a possibility that the Lebanese people who do not have the missiles in their homes will force Hezbollah out of their lives so that they will survive.
For the first time ever, I am taking pause to consider whether the time is right for an “Unity” government in spite of all the dis-unity we have witnessed. With our enemies taking themselves to a new level, we need to be cohesive as a Nation prepared to support one another rather than waste our efforts with petty deprecation.
Thus far Israel has taken the moral high ground in every war effort. How long will it be before that is no longer a viable option?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in the Washington DC area, Barbara has been a pro Israel activist for over four decades, having had a radio show in Jerusalem called “Barbara Diamond One on One” , doing in depth interviews which aired in Israel and in the UK. She participated in missions to the USSR to meet with Refuseniks, to Ethiopia with a medical team to help the Jewish villages and to China to open up relations prior to China recognizing the State of Israel, She has been pro-active lobbying congress and helping to start a Pro Israel PAC in Los Angeles. She stays involved through the Jerusalem Press Club attending up to the moment briefings which she would like to share with the readers. Ms. Diamond is the 2018 recipient of the “StandWithUs”-Israel leadership award.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 27-28/2019
Deadly Suicide Bombings Shake Tunisian Capital
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 27 June, 2019
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in separate attacks on security forces in the Tunisian capital on Thursday, killing one police officer and wounding several other people, the government said.The first attack targeted a police patrol in Charles de Gaulle Street in central Tunis. One police officer was killed and at least one other as well as three civilians were wounded, the Interior Ministry said. Shortly afterwards, a second suicide bomber blew himself up near a police station in al-Gorjani district. Four people were wounded, according to the ministry.
Heavily armed police cordoned off the locations of the attacks, one of which was about 200 metres away from the French embassy. Interior Ministry spokesman Sofian Zaak said the attackers had not yet been identified, and he called on the public to show strength and not panic. Last October, a woman blew herself up in the centre of the capital Tunis, wounding 15 people including 10 police officers in an explosion that broke a long period of calm after dozens had died in militant attacks in 2015. Security has improved since authorities imposed a state of emergency in November 2015 after those attacks - one at a museum in Tunis and another on a beach in Sousse. A third attack targeted presidential guards in the capital. ISIS claimed responsibility.

Iran Warns Trump against 'Illusion' of Short War
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 27/2019
Iran's foreign minister on Thursday warned U.S. President Donald Trump he was mistaken to think a war between their countries would be short, as Washington sought NATO's help to build an anti-Tehran coalition. The latest developments in the Iran-U.S. standoff came as a diplomatic source in Vienna said Tehran would not exceed a uranium stockpile limit agreed with world powers, contrary to what it had said earlier this month. Iran had set Thursday as a deadline to surpass the agreed 300-kilogram (660-pound) reserve of enriched uranium because it no longer felt bound by certain limits contained in the 2015 deal, which the United States unilaterally pulled out of in May 2018. "They won't exceed it today," the diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP in Vienna on the eve of a meeting by a commission that oversees the nuclear deal. The source suggested there might be a "political reason" for this, given intensified efforts by European governments in recent days to de-escalate tensions in the Gulf region. The tensions, sparked by Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear deal, were exacerbated earlier this month when Iran shot down a U.S. spy drone over the strategic Gulf after a series of tanker attacks that Washington blamed Tehran for despite its denials. Since then the arch-foes have been locked in a war of words, which escalated this week when Trump announced new sanctions against Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei and top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif.
'Short war is illusion'
"'Short war' with Iran is an illusion," Zarif wrote on Twitter a day after Trump said he does not want a war with Iran but warned that if fighting did break out, it "wouldn't last very long." The Iranian foreign minister added: "Whoever begins war will not be the one ending it." On Wednesday, Trump hinted that any conflict would be waged with air strikes, saying there would be no U.S. boots on the ground. In an interview on Fox Business Network, Trump was asked if America was going to go to war with Iran. "Well, I hope we don't but we're in a very strong position if something should happen. We're in a very strong position," Trump said. "It wouldn't last very long, I can tell you that. And I'm not talking boots on the ground." His remarks came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tried to rein in the crisis between the two sides, saying that Tehran "never seeks war" with Washington. But as the tensions remained high, the acting U.S. defense chief on Thursday pressed NATO allies to join Washington's efforts to squeeze Iran and ensure the safety of ships in the Gulf after the tanker attacks. Mark Esper urged allies to "consider public statements condemning Iran's bad behaviour and making the point that we need to have freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz." He also sought to "internationalise" the Iran issue, at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels devoted to discussing the Iran-U.S. crisis.
'Maximum pressure'
Many European countries have been alarmed at the Trump dministration's hawkish approach to Iran, fearing the U.S. policy of "maximum pressure" is counterproductive and could lead to war. Any NATO involvement in the Gulf would need unanimous support from all 29 member states, and given European unease this would be extremely difficult to achieve. "We would like to see more calm from the two actors but we really don't want this to become a NATO issue," said a diplomat from the alliance in Brussels. Under the landmark deal with world powers in 2015, Iran pledged to reduce its nuclear capacities for several years and to allow inspectors into the country to monitor its activities in return for relief from international sanctions. The deal set a limit on the number of uranium-enriching centrifuges, and restricted Iran's right to enrich uranium to no higher than 3.67 percent, well below weapons-grade levels of about 90 percent. But after being hit by waves of crippling U.N. sanctions, the Islamic republic said in May it would gradually step away from its commitments. Tehran has also threatened to start enriching uranium above the agreed purification level of 3.67 percent starting from July 7.

Revealing Identity of US Mercenary Puts Libya’s GNA in Hot Water
Cairo - Jamal Jawhar/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 27 June, 2019
A report by The Washington Post revealing the identity of the foreign pilot, whose aircraft was downed by the Libyan National Army on May 7, has sparked controversy in Libya. The controversy comes amid accusations against Fayez al-Sarraj's Government of National Accord (GNA) of using mercenaries in the battle for the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The newspaper had quoted US officials as saying that an American Air Force veteran was freed after a six-week detention, noting that he was accused of acting as a mercenary in Libya. A Libyan official slammed GNA’s attempt to use foreign fighters in Tripoli’s battle.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that both parties need to stop resorting to foreign aid in internal battles. Jamie Sponaugle, a 31-year-old Florida man, was piloting a Mirage F1 combat jet near Tripoli when his plane went down. He had long worked at Libya’s air academy, based in the city of Misrata, the Post said. In images released by the LNA shortly after the incident, Sponaugle was seen bloodied and receiving medical treatment from LNA forces after his aircraft went down. Video that appeared on social media showed him identifying himself as a Portuguese national named Jimmy Rees and saying he was in Libya under a civilian contract focused on “destroying bridges and roads.”The apparent involvement of an American military veteran in the battle for Tripoli between the LNA and the GNA, illustrates the complexity of a long-simmering conflict that has emerged as a major global proxy war involving illicit arms and dueling accusations of mercenary use. Meanwhile, Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Sayala discussed Wednesday with his Chinese counterpart the situation in Tripoli. According to the statement released by GNA’s foreign ministry, Wang Yi stressed the importance of resuming dialogue to solve the Libyan crisis.
Yi noted that his country supports Libya’s unity and stability, and rejects any foreign intervention in its affairs. He pointed out that China wants its companies to participate in Libya’s reconstruction.

US Envoy Tours Euro-Med Countries over ‘Washington’s Priorities in Syria’
Washington - Elie Youssef/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 27 June, 2019
US Special Representative for Syria Engagement and Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Ambassador James Jeffrey continues his Euro-Mediterranean tour to confirm Washington’s priorities for Syria. Upon arriving in Brussels, Jeffrey joined Acting Secretary of Defense Minister Mark Esper in a meeting of the defense ministers of the “Global Coalition’s Small Group.” Jeffrey, accompanied by Deputy Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Ambassador William Roebuck, held separate meetings with senior EU officials to discuss the situation in Syria and Iraq, including the need for additional assistance for stability. State Department spokesperson Marlo Cross-Durrant said the Ambassador's tour was to confirm US priorities with the United Nations and the international community in Syria, and address many issues related to ending the conflict there as soon as possible. In an e-mail sent to Asharq Al-Awsat, Durrant indicated Washington would remain engaged with the United Nations and other parties, including Russia, to encourage all possible efforts to advance the political process in Syria as required by Security Council Resolution 2254. The Spokesperson said Washington continues to call on all parties, including Russia and the Assad regime, to honor their commitments to end the violence in Idlib, avoid any major military offensive and allow unimpeded humanitarian access. Negotiations between Washington and a number of European and Arab countries as well as Turkey are underway to establish a safe zone on the Turkish-Syrian border, resolve the Turkish dispute with the Kurds, and begin reconstruction in Syria's northeastern regions. Durrant said Washington urged its partners and allies not to provide reconstruction assistance to the Syrian government in the absence of real progress towards a political settlement of the conflict in line with Resolution 2254. In order to ensure ISIS’ lasting defeat, Washington is working with its allies and partners in the international coalition to get contributions to help stabilize the situation in northeastern Syria, according to the Spokesperson. She reported that the stability of the region requires financial contributions beyond what can be provided by one state, and maintaining this assistance contributes to the stability of northeastern Syria in the foreseeable future. On the safe zone, Durrant noted that Washington is holding positive and fruitful discussions with Ankara on the establishment of that region to ensure its stability and security and address Turkey’s security concerns. The tripartite meeting, which included national security officials from Russia, Israel and the United States, discussed issues of regional security and coordination in a timely manner and the ways in which they can work to reach peaceful solutions to conflicts in the Middle East, according to the Spokesperson.

Houthis Inject Fake Drugs in Coup-run Pharmacies
Sanaa/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 27 June, 2019
Yemeni pharmacists warned against the grave consequences of Houthi militias tampering with drug supplies in the country, flooding stores with unsafe generics that threaten the lives of Yemenis nationwide. Pharmaceutical officials, speaking under the condition of anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthi practice could lead to the break out of endemics and dozens of patients dying from improper treatment. The Iran-backed militias had also been selling painkillers as specialized treatment drugs. Although the pills seem to drown the pain, they leave the illness untreated and increase the chances of the condition getting worse. With depleted funds leaving the insurgency’s highest echelons desperate, Houthi insider sources admitted to fake drugs being sold off in coup-run areas to funnel more cash into their war effort. According to agents who work with imported drugs in coup-run areas, many poor quality drugs have been approved by the coup’s self-styled regulators. These medicines are not only harmful to patients and destabilize the local pharmaceutical economy, but have also set the pretext for Houthis to extort legal and qualified agents and dealers. Houthis are looking to establish a monopoly over the drug market in areas they run. This has led to them targeting stable and reasonable drug rates without taking into account the terrible economic conditions suffered by Yemeni patients. More so, pharmacists considered any license issued by Houthis void “because legal procedures practiced are not valid and go against conventional provisions for accreditation.”Houthi-granted licenses are also issued by self-styled health offices both randomly and without respect for standards. The Houthi-run Supreme Commission for Medicines has published data showing the bill for imported drugs in 2018 amounted to about 65 billion Yemeni riyals.
According to the report, the insurgents are allegedly importing drugs and medical supplies from more than 20 countries.

Israel Receives Chilean President, Rebukes Ambassador First
Tel Aviv - Nazir Magally/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 27 June, 2019
The political Israeli leadership received Chilean president Sebastian Pinera on Wednesday amid tension. The Foreign Ministry summoned Chilean ambassador to Tel Aviv Monica Jimenez for a session, when she and embassy employees who accompanied the Chilean president in his visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque were rebuked. The FM stated Wednesday that, “Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the government takes seriously any infringement of Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount, especially one that violates an agreed-upon procedure.”The statement went on to add that: "One must separate between complete religious freedom, which Israel insists on upholding, and the maintenance of our sovereignty over the Temple Mount." The Chilean president arrived as a guest to the Palestinian authority on Tuesday, and informed Israel that it is a private visit – he was keen to visit sacred sites of the three religions, and was accompanied by a huge number of Palestinian officials and ministers including Palestinian Authority Affairs Minister Fadi al-Hadm. According to the Israeli FM, the minister’s participation is a violation to the agreed upon visit-procedure, especially that the Chileans are aware that Israel rejects any activity for PA figures in Jerusalem which it considers the capital (the east and the west). “Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people since the days of King David,” President Reuven Rivlin said. “Our historical connection to Jerusalem, and our sovereignty in Jerusalem, make us responsible for preserving Jerusalem as a city of faith and peace," he added. Chilean President apologized for allowing Palestinian officials to accompany him during his Temple Mount visit on Tuesday, clarifying that he had not invited Palestinian officials to join him, and had not even known that they were there. This is the place for a meeting where the three religions can cooperate with each other,” Pinera said, expressing delight for visiting Israel for the second time since becoming a president five years ago.

Sudan’s Mahdi Calls for ‘Consensus that Preserves Revolution’
Khartoum – Ahmed Younis and Mohammed Amin Yassin/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 27 June, 2019
Sudanese political and religious leader Sadiq al-Mahdi has called for consensus among rival parties before the African initiative reaches a dead end. He also called for wisdom as Norwegian and British envoys exert efforts to bring the parties back to the negotiating table. In a press conference on Wednesday, Mahdi rejected a call for nationwide mass demonstrations against the country’s ruling generals on June 30. “Our opinion is to avoid escalatory measures from either side,” Mahdi noted. He said any escalation prior to receiving the ruling military council’s response to a power transfer plan proposed by Ethiopia would be “premature.”He welcomed the Ethiopian and the national initiatives, urging both parties to coordinate and prepare a joint work plan. However, he condemned the wave of crimes that accompanied the sit-in near the army’s General Command, suggesting the formation of an independent commission to investigate the clampdown. Mahdi also pressed parties to consider the nation’s interest a priority and follow a national approach that maintains the revolution’s goals and prevents sedition. He slammed the current political division, saying it leads to the country’s destruction,. He attributed the delay in reaching an agreement with the military council to the diverse viewpoints within the Alliance for Freedom and Change because it includes right, left and centrist parties. “We recognize our lag in responding to the demands, but it is because out party is composed of different political forces,” he explained. He also revealed receiving many initiatives to resolve the country’s crisis, but stressed that the national initiative is the best and comes in line with the African Ethiopian mediation. Ethiopia’s proposal calls for forming a new 15-member civilian-majority governing body, which the protest leaders have accepted but the military council has so far dismissed.“We accept the principle of mediation to get out of the crisis, and we don’t believe that escalation and counter-escalation will serve the nation’s interest,” Mahdi said. He also warned against foreign interference in Sudan.

Egypt Holds Activists Accused of ‘Funding Muslim Brotherhood’
Cairo/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 27 June, 2019
Egypt’s state security prosecutor has remanded for questioning 11 political activists, journalists and a former lawmaker who were detained for “joining and participating in the funding of a terrorist group,” in a clear reference to the Muslim Brotherhood. The state prosecutor ordered them remanded in custody for 15 days. Egypt's Interior Ministry said Tuesday that security forces raided 19 businesses – with a total turnover of 250 million Egyptian pounds - accused of funding a plot to target state institutions. Among the detainees were Zyad Elelaimy, a former legislator and member of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, Economist Omar el-Shenety and journalists Hossam Monis and Hisham Fouad. The Democratic Alliance, which consists of five parties, on Tuesday called for “the immediate release of the detainees.” It stressed in a statement that the suspects have no links with the Muslim Brotherhood, saying “all such rumors are false.”

Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu hails victory as step to repair democracy
AP/27 June 2019/
ISTANBUL: Ekrem Imamoglu, the opposition candidate who won an Istanbul mayoral election that was voided weeks later, retook office in Turkey’s largest city following his repeat win, a stunning victory he called a step toward repairing a damaged democracy. Cheered on by supporters of the opposition Republican People’s Party, Imamoglu returned to Istanbul City Hall to take up the seat he held for 18 days before Turkey’s top election board nullified the first election for mayor and ordered a rerun. “The people of Istanbul have confirmed their attachment to the republic and to democracy,” Imamoglu told the jubilant, flag-waving crowd. “This confirmation has shown the world that Turkey isn’t any ordinary Middle Eastern country. The belief in democracy runs deep in Turkey’s veins.” Imamoglu won the first vote on March 31 by a narrow margin. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s governing party challenged the results, and recounts of ballots from some Istanbul districts went on for weeks before Imamoglu was inaugurated as mayor. The electoral council eventually granted a request from the president’s party to annul the election. The decision aroused concerns of a possibly deliberate undermining of democracy in Turkey, where Erdogan is accused of increasing authoritarianism. In a rebuke to the ruling party, voters returned Imamoglu to the mayor’s office by a much bigger margin. He received 54.21 percent of the vote — 806,000 votes more than the governing Justice and Development Party’s candidate, former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. In his speech — interrupted by chants of “Mayor Ekrem” and his campaign slogan “everything will be beautiful” — Imamoglu promised to end what he described as the “squandering” of the city’s public funds by the governing party. “The squandering will end, the belt-tightening will start. Istanbul’s 16 million (people) will share the city’s blessings,” he said. Earlier, authorities at Istanbul’s main court presented Imamoglu with a framed certificate confirming his mandate to rule over Turkey’s largest city and commercial hub for the next five years. Istanbul’s governor — the interim mayor — later handed over the municipality’s official seal to Imamoglu in a televised ceremony.

President Falls Ill as Attacks Rock Tunisia Capital
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 27/2019
Double suicide attacks shook Tunisia's capital Thursday, even as the country was plunged into uncertainty with the hospitalization of President Beji Caid Essebsi who was said to be "seriously ill". The violence revived fears for the stability of the North African state, which is seen as a rare democratic success story of the Arab Spring uprisings but has been hit by repeated Islamist attacks. Thursday's blasts -- one on a central avenue and another against a security base -- killed a police officer and wounded at least eight people including several civilians, the interior ministry said.
An AFP correspondent saw body parts strewn in the road around a police car after the first attack, which took place on Habib Bourguiba, a central avenue near the old city. The interior ministry said one policeman died from his wounds after that blast, while another policeman and three civilians were wounded. "It was a suicide attack," interior ministry spokesman Sofiene Zaag told AFP. Half an hour later, the second attack targeted a base of the national guard, judicial police and the anti-terror branch in the capital. "An individual blew himself up outside the back door" of the base, wounding four security personnel, Zaag said, adding that both bombers were men. Ambulances and emergency services vehicles quickly arrived on the scene as security forces tried to keep the curious away. Body parts lay on the sidewalk near the police vehicle that was targeted, including the head and feet of the bomber.
Onlookers shocked
Some onlookers rushed in to take pictures, while others fainted in shock or left the scene in tears. "Get out of here! What are you filming? Go away! Go home," officers shouted as they tried to push people behind a police cordon. Several shops and offices closed amid the panic.
Just hours after news of the attacks broke, the presidency announced that Essebsi "was taken seriously ill and transferred to the military hospital in Tunis". Key adviser Firas Guefrech described the 92-year-old leader as in "critical condition" and in a later tweet said that Essebsi was "stable", urging supporters to pray for his recovery. Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said on Facebook he had paid a visit to the ailing president. "I would like to reassure Tunisians that the president is receiving the necessary care," he said, warning against the dissemination of "false and confusing information".Essebsi, the country's first democratically elected president, came to power in 2014, three years after the Arab Spring uprising toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked revolts in several Arab nations. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. Civil protection units and police rapidly deployed to Habib Bourguiba avenue, where the interior ministry is located. "It is a cowardly terrorist operation... (to) destabilise Tunisians, the economy and democratic transition," Chahed told reporters, noting that it happened as the tourist season was in full swing. "These (terrorist) groups don't belong in Tunisia and our war against them is... a question of life or death," the prime minister added.
Upcoming elections
Sofiene Sliti, spokesman for the anti-terror prosecutors, said the suicide bombers wore explosive vests. The twin attacks also came ahead of presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for October and November. In April Essebsi said he did not plan to stand for re-election in order to make way for someone younger. The veteran politician served as an adviser to Habib Bourguiba, the father of Tunisia's independence from France, holding a number of key jobs under him and later under Ben Ali. Tunisia, the cradle of the Arab Spring uprisings, has been hit by repeated Islamist attacks since the 2011 overthrow of Ben Ali. On October 29, 2018 an unemployed graduate blew herself up near police cars on Habib Bourguiba avenue, killing herself and wounding 26 people, mostly police officers, according to the interior ministry. The Tunisian authorities said she had sworn allegiance to IS. That attack was the first to rock the Tunisian capital for over three and a half years. In March 2015, jihadist gunmen killed 21 tourists and a policeman at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis. In June that year, 30 Britons were among 38 foreign holidaymakers killed in a gun and grenade attack on a beach resort near the Tunisian city of Sousse. And in November 2015, a suicide bombing against a bus carrying presidential guards killed 12, in an attack claimed by IS.

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 27-28/2019
 Palestinian murdered German for being 'Jew’ who 'destroyed my country'
Benjamin Weinthal/Jerusalem Post/June 27/2019
A witness said the 31-year-old Palestinian man said that the real estate investor and 57-year-old victim Michael Riecher is a "Jew" who “annihilated my country.”
A Palestinian man allegedly murdered a German real estate investor in November because he was a “Jew” who "destroyed his country," according to shocking testimony during a Wednesday court appearance in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg.
A Lebanese-born witness using the alias of Haitham Ahmad said the 31-year-old Palestinian man named Iyad Bayatneh said that 57-year-old victim Michael Riecher is a " Jew" who “annihilated my country,” according to a report in the local newspaper Schwarzwälder Bote.
Jürgen Lück, a reporter for Schwarzwälder Bote, who broke the story about the lethal antisemitic motive behind Riecher's death, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that "according to Riecher's friend, Riecher was definitively not Jewish.”
Lück has reported extensively on the trial.
Ahmad said that the Palestinian’s hatred in connection with the apparent reference to Jews destroying his country is related to the motive for murder. It is unclear what Iyad means by "my country." Ahmad presumably meant the West Bank because he and Ahmad knew each other from the West Bank and Jordan.
Riecher played a critical role in the renovation of a local sanctuary room of the synagogue and worked with Syrian refugees regarding housing placement. Bayatneh's accomplice, 28-year-old Syrian Mohammed Omran Albakr, allegedly devised the plan to attack and rob Riecher. Albakr eventually moved into Riecher's parent’s house with his wife.
The testimony by the witness, who works as a barber, took place in the court house in the town of Horb am Neckar. Schwarzwälder Bote reported that Ahmad and said that “Iyad did not say anything about plans” to murder Riecher. The witness said that Iyad did not comment on the fact that Riecher could be killed as part of the attack. Riecher was in frail health due to a lung condition. Riecher died by strangulation. According to the indictment, Albakr and Bayatneh used their hands to
murder Riecher, added Lück. Albakr is believed to have strangled Riecher. Bayatneh told the police that Albakr murdered Riecher. Albakr has remained tight-lipped about his alleged in the murder.
Albakr was previously listed in media reports, because after his arrival to Germany in 2015, he was praised as a model refugee in a 2016 Schwarzwälder Bote article. The role of Riecher’s wealth also played a role in his murder and robbery of money. Schwarzwälder Bote reported that Albakr, according to Ahmad’s testimony, dreamed of buying a Ferrari and a house in Syria.
Albakr lived on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. According to the newspaper, he studied mathematics and refused to serve in the Syrian army. As a result, the Syrian regime of president Bashar Assad imprisoned him. After he was released from prison, Albakr migrated to Turkey and eventually to Germany. Free Democratic Party MP Michael Theurer said in 2014: "If Michael Riecher had not taken over the financial risk of the property developer, we would not be sitting in a rock-solid, renovated sanctuary today.” The murder of Riecher comes amid growing antisemitism in Germany. Michael Blume, the commissioner to combat antisemitism in the state of Baden-Württemberg, has faced a wave of criticism for drawing an apparent parallel between the Nazi mass murderer Adolf Eichmann and a German Jewish activist who fights the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center urged Blume to resign because of his comparison in March. Henryk M. Broder, Germany’s leading authority on contemporary post-Holocaust antisemitism, wrote that Blume has “no idea about antisemitism.” Blume refuses to urge a partially-owned state bank to close its account with the pro-BDS Palestine Committee Stuttgart. The Bundestag declared BDS antisemitic in May.

The Saudi Partnership with Asian Tigers
Salman Al-dossary//June 27Asharq Al-Awsat /2019
One cannot but notice the developments that have taken place in the last four years in Saudi Arabia’s relations with the East and West, especially with countries having powerful economies.
The relationship is no longer confined to immediate economic or political interests, but to strategic partnerships based on long-term mutual goals. It is also based on developments in Saudi relations with Asian countries, not only with South Korea and Japan - which Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is currently visiting - but also with other countries of great importance, such as India and China.
While Saudi Arabia has the giant Vision 2030, the Asian tigers are seeking to diversify their relations with Riyadh to include the promotion of mutual investment, military cooperation and the fight against terrorism. They are also increasingly relying on Saudi oil. This will open new horizons for Riyadh’s aspiration to expand its cooperation with the Asian tigers beyond the black gold.
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country “supports Saudi reform efforts, and seeks to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries.”
During his lengthy meeting with the president of South Korea at the Blue House, Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that the strategic partnership between the two countries was an opportunity for Riyadh and Seoul to support capacity development and cooperation at the political, security, defense and economic levels, as well as cultural and social affairs.
While the economy is at the heart of strategic Saudi-Asian partnerships, one cannot overlook the increasing military capabilities of India, China and South Korea, as well as Japan’s move to change its constitution to lift restrictions that prevent it from participating in military operations abroad.
It is likely that Asian countries, in the future, will invest more in security and military relations with the Saudi partner, and there is no doubt that recent tensions in the Gulf region as a result of the Iranian escalation, will influence the role of these countries in contributing to the stability and security of oil shipping routes.
This means that as the strategic partnership deepens between the major Asian powers and Saudi Arabia, Saudi-Asian security and military cooperation will grow as a corollary of that cooperation. This will lead to a change in the strategic roles played by the Asian countries in the Middle East, especially with China and Japan being concerned about the impact of instability on their economic interests in the region.
Saudi Arabia is establishing a group of international strategic partnerships based on its evaluation and within the framework of Vision 2030 and its operational programs. The Kingdom is not only seeking to achieve its own interests, but also those of its partners, as the basis that guarantees the success and sustainability of long-term strategies.
The Asian tigers will certainly not find a country better than Saudi Arabia to be their reliable international strategic partner that serves their interests and ensures their success.

What Is Trump Up to in Iran?
Jonathan Bernstein/Bloomberg View/June 27/2019
On Thursday, my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Mark Gongloff wrote: “America either is or is not sliding toward war with Iran, depending on the time of day, prevailing winds and relative hangriness of whoever happens to be making the War Decisions at the moment.”
Then things got even more unsettled.
As the New York Times reported, “President Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing an American surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them on Thursday night after a day of escalating tensions.”
Where to begin? Frankly, I’m at a bit of a loss. The president is evidently ordering and countermanding military strikes while he has a lame-duck acting secretary of defense and an acting Air Force secretary. He’s handed key decisions over to a national security adviser whom he regularly bad-mouths. Meanwhile, he’s apparently consulting with goofball cable-news hosts to figure out some of the most important questions of his presidency.
It’s not as if his previous rounds of crises have been resolved. Not the trade war with China, not the appalling treatment of migrant families at the US border, not the standoff in Venezuela (which Trump apparently just got bored of and moved on).
As for what the president is up to in Iran? Peter Baker says: “For two and a half years, he has veered between bellicose threats against America’s enemies and promises to get the United States out of the intractable wars of the Middle East. Now he had to choose.” And yet rather than choosing, he seems to be going full speed ahead in both directions at once.
Even if we give Trump every benefit of the doubt, supposing – without evidence – that this was actually a well-considered plan that was designed to look like chaos for some as yet unknown but actually sensible reason, it’s still hard to imagine how allies can have any confidence in an administration that appears to act so impulsively.
Back on Thursday, three scholars of how wars start still found it possible to offer soothing words about how shooting down a drone shouldn’t lead to uncontrollable escalation. That’s somewhat reassuring, I guess.
But meanwhile, Trump’s professional reputation in Washington (and in capitals around the world) will take yet another hit, on a day when the president suffered yet another defeat in the Republican-majority Senate. None of this is likely to have any direct effect on Trump’s approval ratings or his re-election chances. But it will continue to make it less and less likely that anyone will do anything this president wants.

Turkey Loses an Ally
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/June 27/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14389/turkey-sudan-ally
Erdogan's close ties to Bashir appear to have had the goal of expanding Turkey's economic and military influence in Africa as well as in the Gulf. After the ouster of Bashir, however, all of Turkey's endeavors in Sudan, including a key Turkish strategic project on the Red Sea, could now be in jeopardy -- bad news for a Turkish government that already facing serious economic problems.
Bashir granted Erdoğan the use, near Egypt and Saudi Arabia, of Suakin Island, a Sudanese port city in the Red Sea.... The Turkish press reported that Ankara was preparing to build a "military base" on the island, which would turn it into the "second Turkish eye in the Mediterranean after Cyprus."
According to the Turkish financial newspaper, Dünya, billion-dollar business deals -- including Turkey's investment in a new airport in Khartoum, as well as in the fields of agriculture, textiles, and oil -- could also be in jeopardy.
The April 11 military coup that ousted Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir after 30 years of Islamist rule seems to have the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan extremely worried. Pictured: Omar al-Bashir. (Photo by Omar Rashidi/PPO via Getty Images)
The April 11 military coup that ousted Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir after 30 years of Islamist rule seems to have the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan extremely worried.
The Turkish government, in its attempts to prop up Bashir's ailing government, had invested heavily in Sudan. The ouster of Bashir, after months-long protests, has thrown the cooperation between the Turkish and Sudanese regimes in intelligence, economics and military, among other matters, into uncertainty.
Although Turkey is a member of NATO with long-standing aspirations to become part of the European Union -- while Bashir came to power in 1989 by overthrowing Sudan's democratically elected government and was later indicted by the International Criminal Court as a war criminal -- Erdoğan and his loyalists are blaming the United States, Israel and other "global powers" for toppling their ally.
Turkish newspapers aligned with Erdoğan are even claiming that Bashir's ouster was indirectly aimed at Ankara. The reason for this false accusation is that Sudan -- which borders Egypt and Libya, and is close to Saudi Arabia -- has held both strategic and political significance for Turkey. Erdogan's close ties to Bashir appear to have had the goal of expanding Turkey's economic and military influence in Africa as well as in the Gulf. After the ouster of Bashir, however, all of Turkey's endeavors in Sudan, including a key Turkish strategic project on the Red Sea, could now be in jeopardy -- bad news for a Turkish government that already facing serious economic problems.
Bashir, subject to a warrant by the International Criminal Court for genocide, war crimes, and other atrocities, visited Turkey at least twice, in 2009 and 2017, to attend meetings of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation; Turkey, for its part, during the past decade, entered into dozens of bilateral agreements with the Bashir regime.
One agreement, signed in May 2011, created a comprehensive roadmap for military cooperation between the two countries. Six years later, when Erdoğan became the first-ever Turkish president to visit Sudan, the two leaders signed 22 additional agreements.
Erdoğan delivered speeches at the Sudanese parliament and the University of Khartoum, and was awarded an honorary doctorate. During his acceptance address, Erdoğan, referring to Bashir as his "dear brother" and his regime as Sudan's "commonsensical administration," went on to accuse the West of "turning a blind eye" to Israel's supposed "state terrorism and persecution of Palestinian children."
"There is not a single value or a principle they [the Western world] would not stamp on for money and for their interests... The riches of Sudan are being exploited by the West," he said.
The audience cheered him on, shouting "Allahu Akbar" ["Allah is the greatest"] and other Islamic slogans, to which Erdoğan responded with the Muslim Brotherhood "Rabia" sign.
The pro-government newspaper Sabah reported that "Erdoğan's Sudan visit was... part of a larger political and economic drive to increase Turkey's ties with the [African] continent."
During the same visit, Bashir granted Erdoğan the use, near Egypt and Saudi Arabia, of Suakin Island, a Sudanese port city in the Red Sea conquered in the 16th century by Ottoman Turks, who ruled it for the next 300 years. Erdoğan responded by saying that the island "would be restored in line with its original form."
The Turkish press reported that Ankara was preparing to build a "military base" on the island, which would turn it into the "second Turkish eye in the Mediterranean after Cyprus."
Meanwhile, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency has already restored a number of Suakin's Ottoman-era artifacts and mosques, while the Turkish Foreign Ministry denies reports that Bashir's ouster means the end of Turkey's use of the island.
In addition, according to the Turkish financial newspaper, Dünya, billion-dollar business deals -- including Turkey's investment in a new airport in Khartoum, as well as in the fields of agriculture, textiles, and oil -- could also be in jeopardy.
Turkey was one of the few countries that had amicable relations with the Bashir regime. Both states shared sympathies for the Muslim Brotherhood. Bashir belonged to the Islamic Movement, which then became the main component of Sudan's ruling party, and was seen as Sudan's equivalent of the Muslim Brotherhood. His political affiliations, as listed by the Sudanese Tribune, were with the Muslim Brotherhood, the National Islamic Front and the National Congress Party.
As Erdogan's government is also a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, the ideological cooperation between Turkey and Sudan is at risk as well. It remains to be seen whether the future Sudanese government will be involved with any form of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Erdoğan's government must therefore be nervously observing what has emerged as a violent aftermath of the coup. On June 3, clashes between the interim Transitional Military Council government and civil opposition groups led to the killing of at least 100 protesters. A disagreement between the military and oppositionists appears to be over a draft of the new civil constitution that omits rule by Sharia (Islamic) law. Ironically, the military that overthrew the Islamist Bashir insists that Sudan be governed by Sharia.
Ironically, Erdoğan -- who has prosecuted tens of thousands of political opponents and jailed more journalists than any other world leader -- has urged Sudan to employ a "normal democratic process" and overcome its upheaval peacefully, through "national conciliation."
The ouster of Bashir means that Erdoğan, a close ally of the Sudanese dictator, has lost his major backer in northeast Africa. How the transitional government will treat the existing agreements with Erdoğan's Turkey remains to be seen.
*Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.
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UK: A Clash of Educations
Denis MacEoin/Gatestone Institute/June 27/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14415/britain-education-clash
While Britons are striving to promote British values, those increasingly appear not to be the values everyone here wants.
The No Outsiders curriculum... teaches acceptance of people different from oneself, which is what brings pupils into contact with mutual respect for Christians, Muslims and Jews, the disabled, gays and everyone who might be considered "other". "It should make absolutely clear that no group should be left out...."
There seems to be a broader agenda at work here: that is, to find ways in which to maintain British values when faced with people who in many instances seem to oppose them. One example might be a lesson summed up in the Anderton Park expressions about British values...: "Jewish people are equal to Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and people with no religion." Many might not agree to that sentiment, whether in primary or secondary education, and possibly many Muslim parents would wish their children not to be taught it....
The importance of teaching children about respect for other people cannot be exaggerated. In the light of this, can there be any question that the lessons at Anderton Park school are vital for the West?
Anderton Park Primary School in Birmingham, England is an outstanding place of education for children between the ages of five and eleven. For more than two months now, it has been at the centre of a standoff between modern Western values and the concerns of a large group of Muslim parents. Pictured: Anderton Park Primary School. (Image source: Oosoom/Wikimedia Commons)
What started as a small protest in the UK has taken on wider dimensions that are already spreading to other cities. For more than two months now, a primary school in Birmingham in the UK has been at the centre of a standoff between modern Western values and the concerns of a large group of Muslim parents. As early as April, reports said, leafleters were targeting schools in Birmingham, Manchester, Oldham, London, Blackburn and Bradford.
The almost daily protests outside the schools, although on a more muted scale, are the biggest since those against Salman Rushdie and his book, The Satanic Verses back in 1988 -- events that for some radicalized a generation. According to the author Kenan Malik, those early protests sowed the seeds of rifts that have since become wider. Some form of clash between these two sets of values is taking place again.
Anderton Park Primary School is an outstanding place of education for children between the ages of five and eleven. Most of the children are Muslims, but that does not restrict the efforts to introduce them to being fully educated citizens in the country where most were born.
According to the UK's 2011 Census, Muslims, numbering 234,014, make up 21.6% of Birmingham's population, well above the average for England and Wales as a whole (4.8%). Birmingham is the largest city by population after London. Its Muslim population is almost as large, and the city itself is even more ethnically diverse than the capital. Muslims have arrived from Africa, Asia (mainly Bangladesh and Pakistan), and parts of eastern Europe. "Islam is a growing social force in Britain's second city", according to The Economist, and its Central Mosque "has influence everywhere from the classroom to the bedroom".
Clearly, what is happening in Birmingham may have a disproportionate bearing on Muslims and others throughout the UK. The context within which social pressures are growing seems, first, that Muslims now make up one in every twenty people in the UK. Alongside that, there is the understanding, developed by Dame Louise Casey in her 2016 governmental review of opportunity and integration in the UK, that Muslim communities have been proving the hardest to assimilate within British society at large.
If some Muslims find it hard to integrate (whether of their own volition or because of lack of opportunity within the general public), they often run their own communities, and often seem to reject the opportunities Britain offers them. Many have also been given to what appears to some Britons as unneighbourly behaviour in a period when many in the UK have been striving to promote British values while enjoying and accommodating the diversity of its many new inhabitants. This is what Prime Minister Theresa May emphasized in her introduction to the government's 2018 Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper, that while Britons are striving to promote British values, those increasingly appear not to be the values everyone here wants. She said:
Britain is one of the world's most successful multi-ethnic, multi-faith societies. We can rightly be proud of this diversity, which has contributed so much to our culture and our economy, and has made us the strong, vibrant nation we are today. But we cannot ignore the challenges we face. We still have a long way to go to tackle the inequalities and injustices that hold people back. It is not right that where you are born, who your parents are, or where you went to school should determine your outcomes in life. The government's ground breaking Race Disparity Audit of public services reinforces the importance of addressing the inequalities that can act as barriers to integration and opportunity, barriers which prevent us from building a Britain where everyone has the chance to succeed. We must also do more to confront the segregation that can divide communities. This undermines our unity as a nation and prevents those in isolated communities from playing a full part in society and benefiting from the opportunities that living in Britain brings.
Let us take this for a broad context in which to look at Anderton Park Primary, after which we can examine the protests being made against it.
Anderton Park Primary stands out as one of several British schools that put special emphasis on teaching children the ways in which they can grow up to fulfil those hopes of Mrs May and all those in and outside government who work to bring about what they consider a good society for all citizens. Here are, first, Anderton Park's Equality Charter, and then its love for British Values. It is worth reading in some detail:
Anderton Park Equality Charter
In our school everyone is equal.
We treat everyone equally and fairly & challenge inequality & stereotypes
We cannot sparkle if we are not equal
We use positive, kind language to and about each other
We do not use the language of hate
We celebrate and protect differences
We fully uphold and believe in the Equality Act 2010 and do not discriminate against anyone because of gender, race and nationality, age, disability, sexual orientation (and gender identity, LGBT+), pregnancy, religion or beliefs or marital status
We actively promote equality and foster good relationships between people who share a characteristic and those who don't
We always challenge views or comments that are unacceptable.
Everyone is special. Everyone is welcome. Everyone is different.
We love Fundamental British values
By law this means we as staff, children, governors and families need to understand:
democracy
the rule of law
individual liberty
Mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith.
Our favourite law is the Equality Law 2010. We love it!
Girls are equal to boys. Gay people are equal to straight people. Disabled people are equal to able bodied people. Jewish people are equal to Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and people with no religion. You get the idea. This is so important.
We expect everyone to challenge any language or behaviour that is unequal.
We do not allow 'like a girl' to be used as an insult, just as we would not allow 'gay' or 'black' to be used as an insult. Boys play with dolls, dress up, girls are builders, pink is not for girls. Thus, we help students develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence, to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England.
We encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely. We teach children they have choices. We reward what we value.
We will promote harmony & understanding between those with different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation for and respect for their own and other cultures.
Watch 'Like a Girl', 'Children See Children Do', 'Love has no labels' regularly to remember why this is important.
As a reflection of these values, Anderton Park is recognized by UNICEF as a Rights Respecting School, that is to say, a school that embeds the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in their practice and ethos. There are now more than 5,000 rights respecting schools in the UK, and all compete for awards that recognize how far they have developed.
The protests against the school are being led by a young man named Shakeel Afsar, about whom little else is known other than that he has a niece and nephew at the school. "Anti-LGBT protests" have been focusing on the claim that Anderton Park is teaching young children about LGBT issues that are inappropriate on the grounds that Islam opposes and punishes homosexuals, often executing them. Parents were reportedly told, "If you take your kids to school today, you're not a Muslim and you'll burn in hell."
"LGBT issues" are, of course, a gross exaggeration of what the school actually teaches. Its head teacher, Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson, has made it clear that, among other things, Anderton Park does not even teach sex lessons:
The suggestion that Hewitt-Clarkson and her dedicated team are somehow "sexualising" pupils at the school is popular among the protest's leaders. But unlike many other primary schools, Anderton Park doesn't actually teach sex education.
"We have never taught sex here," Hewitt-Clarkson says. "Some primary schools do, but we don't, and we never will."
Anderton Park also does not deliver specific lessons on LGBT rights. Instead, the idea of families with "two mummies or two daddies" is normalised through the books that children read and the discussions they have with teachers.
"When you read all these news reports or listen to these protesters, you'd think we talk about being gay the whole time," Hewitt-Clarkson says. "It's probably 0.5 per cent of the time, but because it's here there and everywhere, it's just normal.
She goes on later, in Human Rights News and Views, to discuss the school's No Outsiders curriculum, which teaches acceptance of people different from oneself, which is what brings pupils into contact with mutual respect for Christians, Muslims and Jews, the disabled, gays and everyone who might be considered "other". "It should make absolutely clear that no group should be left out...."
These lessons are based on the No Outsiders lessons programme developed in Birmingham itself:
The No Outsiders programme was created in 2014 by Andrew Moffat, the assistant head teacher at Parkfield Community School in Birmingham.
The programme aims to teach children about the characteristics protected by the Equality Act -- such as sexual orientation and religion.
Books used in programme include stories about a dog that doesn't feel like it fits in, two male penguins that raise a chick together and a boy who likes to dress up like a mermaid.
Regrettably, the protestors' emphasis on LGBT has forced schools emphasis on are forcing schools to cancel a wider programme, No Outsiders , which teaches diversity of all sorts. Next year the government might make lessons based on it compulsory.
Since the protests, several schools – Parkview Community School, and four primaries: Leigh Primary School, Alston Primary School, Marlborough Junior and Infants School and Wyndcliff Primary School – have stopped teaching "No Outsiders" altogether, even though lessons in diversity of all sorts do indeed provide the most important lesson for all children – a lesson that will be present, one hopes, throughout their lives.
What on earth, we may ask, can there be to prompt months of protest in which so many people have become incensed? In March, just before the Anderton Park School protests began, Afsar had led similar cries of outrage against another primary school not far away, Parkfield School. On that occasion, the school backed down and agreed to suspend all LGBT lessons until they came to an agreement with parents –- an agreement Afsar and others might again try to prevent.
There seems to be a broader agenda at work here: that is, to find ways in which to maintain British values when faced with people who in many instances seem to oppose them. One example might be a lesson summed up in the Anderton Park expressions about British values, which underpin so much of the school's ethos: "Jewish people are equal to Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and people with no religion."
Many might not agree to that sentiment, whether in primary or secondary education, and possibly many Muslim parents would wish their children not to be taught it as it contradicts one of the most fundamental doctrines of the Islamic faith: that in God's eyes Islam and Islam alone is the true religion. Unfortunately, however, that doctrine contravenes the law against religious discrimination under the 2010 Equality Act. Here again:
Anderton Park's approach to equalities education, which weaves teaching about equal rights and the challenging of stereotypes into the wider curriculum and has the 2010 Equality Act at its core, is nothing new. (Italics added).
Hewitt-Clarkson has for many years devoted 0.5% of her annual timetable to teaching the characteristics of the Equality Act, which underlies her school's Equality statement above. Half of the school's staff are themselves Muslim. But everyone is expected to be proactive against discrimination:
As public sector workers, teachers have a duty to eliminate discrimination, tackle prejudice and foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who don't. You don't just sit back and wait until a racist or homophobic thing happens to deal with it – you go out of your way to promote good relationships.
The headmistress's concern to meet the requirements of the Equality Act is endorsed by Amanda Spielman, the Chief Inspector of Ofsted, the government's Office for Standards in Education, which monitors, evaluates and grades all schools in the country.
With direct reference to the crisis facing Anderton Park and remarks by MP Esther McVey that parents know best and should be able to withdraw their children from relationship education until they are as old as 16, Spielman rebutted the idea forcefully:
"To be clear, this is about the Equality Act, which says children must be taught respect for the protected characteristics and to the extent we have got a case where it says this isn't a pick and choose whichever one's parents feel like."
The Equality Act is aimed at protecting people from discrimination on grounds of religion or belief, sexual orientation and age.
Spielman said the new relationships education lessons were "age appropriate" and not to be confused with sex education, which is not mandatory until secondary school.
But she added that opt-outs would undermine the National Curriculum:
"The idea that, on the one hand, children need to be prepared for life in modern Britain and this is an obligation for all schools, yet at the same time parents can opt out completely ... well, what would you do if parents could opt out of biology, could opt out of geography, because they didn't want their children knowing about evolution or reproduction? Where would it end?
"At the point you start saying every parent can choose which topics, we have completely lost sight of a national curriculum, of a national education system that prepares all children in this country."
The matter will have to be concluded soon. In September 2020, RSE lessons will become statutory [relationships and sex education] for all state-funded schools. The RSE curriculum lasts to age 16 and teaches children necessary information about family and friend relationships, and in later stages about sexual matters. Many faith schools are included in the statutory requirements. To refuse to teach such classes will mean breaking the law, and parents who withdraw their children for reasons that contradict those legal requirements may well face charges of denying them an education.
The importance of teaching children about respect for other people, including people with different sexual orientations, cannot be exaggerated. In the light of this, can there be any question that the lessons at Anderton Park school are vital for the West?
*Dr. Denis MacEoin has taught Persian, Arabic and Islamic studies in the UK and is currently a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

UK: A Clash of Educations, Part II
Denis MacEoin/Gatestone Institute/June 27/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14432/uk-clash-educations-ii
"It seems it was far less politically complicated to keep quiet." — Baroness Cox, address on grooming gangs to the House of Lords, May 14, 2019.
"In the context of schooling, it manifests itself as the imposition of an aggressively separatist and intolerant agenda, incompatible with full participation in a plural, secular democracy.... It appears to be a deliberate attempt to convert secular state schools into exclusive faith schools in all but name. (5:2)" — Peter Clarke, the Deputy Assistant Commissioner and head of the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism branch, in a report for the House of Commons, July 22, 2014.
Is Ofsted, the schools inspectorate, still hampered by an unwillingness to ask hard questions and a desire to "avoid giving offence"?
Recent protests about supposed LGBT lessons in a school in Birmingham, England, have drawn attention from the media, politicians, the High Court, and the National Secular Society. Pictured: Birmingham, England. (Image source: Brian Clift/Wikimedia Commons)
Recent protests about supposed LGBT lessons in a school in Birmingham, England, have drawn attention from the media, politicians, the High Court, and the National Secular Society. While the protests may well spread to other cities, for the moment they are contained. When these lessons, which are based on the "No Outsiders" curriculum within the international system of "Diversity Education," become legally compulsory for almost all schools in 2020, either the protests will die out or become more clamorous in a struggle to rescind the law -- an act to which the government might well not agree.
The question of demands placed on Western governments to alter national laws in order to accommodate religious rulings remains an issue that is divisive, notably between secular states and citizens who might not want a secular state but a religious one instead.
In the instance of Birmingham, the current controversy calls to mind another that took place in the city's educational system several years earlier. This was the so-called "Trojan Horse" affair, in which it was alleged that some school governors and teachers had plotted to undermine the teaching of secular values by placing extremists within staff and management positions. The claims about Operation Trojan Horse started in March 2014 with publication of a letter supposedly written by an Islamist in Birmingham and sent to a contact in Bradford. The letter had apparently been sent to Birmingham City Council some months earlier, in late November 2013.
By March 11, the London Times had declared the letter to be "a crude forgery", and by June 8, two newspapers, the Independent and the Guardian, had also declared it a hoax and the investigation that had started into it "a witch hunt". Nevertheless, by July, Birmingham's Education Commissioner, Sir Mike Tomlinson, stated that it was no hoax but was happening -- "without a shadow of doubt".
In the end, it did not matter greatly whether or not the letter itself was a forgery, or who the agitators had been. As time passed and investigations were carried out into schools in Birmingham and elsewhere, it became clear that something unprecedented had occurred and that there were reasons to look into it.
The situation attracted enormous publicity, and its ramifications are beyond the scope of a short article. However, the Government, the Home Office, the Department of Education, Ofsted (the government's Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills), the Birmingham Council, and many others were drawn into investigations and the production of reports. In March, Ofsted investigated 21 schools in Birmingham while the Education Funding Authority carried out similar enquiries. Later, Ofsted extended its investigations to schools in East London, Bradford, and Luton -- after the publication of reports concerning the schools in Birmingham.
Of those, the most telling was a 129-page report for the House of Commons written by Peter Clarke, the Deputy Assistant Commissioner and head of the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism branch. In his report he states that, "I most definitely was not approaching my role from the perspective of looking for evidence of terrorist activity, radicalisation or violent extremism." The emphasis, therefore, fell on extremist doctrine.
One of Clarke's leading conclusions regarded the failure of the City Council to respond to concerns they already had even before the above-mentioned letter was received. Clarke then goes on to identify the reason why the Council was so slow in responding over a long period:
"Despite this, some eight weeks after the receipt of the 'Trojan Horse' letter, in a further Birmingham City Council briefing note sent to the Leader of the Council, there is no suggestion that the central allegation – that headteachers were being systematically undermined and driven from their posts – needed further investigation. The focus of the Council was very much on the potential community cohesion impact that the publication of the 'Trojan Horse' letter might have. It was not until the appointment of Ian Kershaw in April 2014 that the Council mounted a full investigation into these serious allegations."
This unwillingness to offend indicates the same extreme sensitivity to possible Muslim reactions that seems to have led other councils, police and social workers to drag their feet for years despite concerns about grooming gangs in Rotherham, Telford and other cities. Baroness Caroline Cox made this clear in an address to the House of Lords on 14 May 2019:
"It seems it was far less politically complicated to keep quiet. Many victims did not receive support because of the state's reluctance to interfere in supposed cultural practices. Agencies downplayed ethnic or religiously identified dimensions of abuse. They also applied generic labels such as 'Asian' to the perpetrators, which is a source of great concern to Asians who would never indulge in or condone such horrible crimes."
The Clarke Report, regarding education, listed numerous examples of how, in many schools, a conservative Islamic agenda was imposed. These may be found in section 4 under various rubrics. For example, schools were often packed with Islamic symbols (4:25); conservative religious practices were widespread, with bans on music, severe limits to art, gender segregation, and enforced prayer (through bullying of pupils to do so: "children bullied into prayer" (4:26); prefects called 'Ambassadors' were selected from pious families to act as a form of religious police to monitor and report on improprieties committed by other students ("They have been described as the 'religious police' by some members of staff." (4:29); some anti-Western themes were spoken at school assemblies (4:30); there was witness evidence of intolerance in several schools towards those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual (4:32); there was considerable imposition of gender segregation and preference for boys over girls ("There is evidence that women and girls are not treated as equal to men and boys in schools," "there are classes where boys and girls are required to sit separately. In Park View maths lessons, where all the teachers are men, the girls were separated at the sides and back of the classroom, while the boys sat in the centre, towards the front." (4:43; 4:49-4:52).
These and similar forms of behaviour are attributed by Clarke to "The ideological agenda in Birmingham schools" (section 5 title.):
"This investigation has revealed a sustained and coordinated agenda to impose upon children in a number of Birmingham schools the segregationist attitudes and practices of a hardline and politicised strand of Sunni Islam. Left unchecked, it would confine school children within an intolerant, inward-looking monoculture that would severely inhibit their participation in the life of modern Britain." (5:1)
Clarke continued:
"In the context of schooling, it manifests itself as the imposition of an aggressively separatist and intolerant agenda, incompatible with full participation in a plural, secular democracy. Rejecting not only the secular and other religions, but also other strands of Islamic belief, it goes beyond the kind of social conservatism practised in some faith schools which may be consistent with universal human rights and respectful of other communities. It appears to be a deliberate attempt to convert secular state schools into exclusive faith schools in all but name." (5:2)
He went further, saying:
"This agenda, though not necessarily the tactics involved, appears to stem from an international movement to increase the role of Islam in education. It is supported by bodies such as the Association of Muslim Schools–UK (AMS-UK), the International Board of Educational Research and Resources (IBERR), the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and the recently closed Muslim Parents Association (MPA). The movement provides practical advice and religious legitimisation to those who, in the words of the IBERR, seek to 'Islamise the provision of educational services'. Some of the individuals who have featured in the investigation were associated with, or held positions in, these bodies." (5:3)
So far so good, but there was something much wider that was never included in either the Clarke Report or the Ofsted inquiry. Omission of earlier important evidence that shows a deep reluctance to carry forward information that might unsettle Muslim communities -- the sort of reluctance referred to by Baroness Cox.
As far back as 2008, the present writer was commissioned by Civitas, an influential independent think tank known as the Institute for the Study of Civil Society, to write a full report on Muslim schools in England.
As Clarke reported six years later (4:28), Islamic materials were often removed from schools when Ofsted inspectors were expected (they did not make unannounced visits). As going to schools in person and interviewing staff might not show the true picture of what was happening, it seemed preferable to start by looking at websites: reading them might reveal their thinking on all sorts of issues. The hunch turned out to be right.
My report, Music, Chess and Other Sins, went online in February 2009; its sections looked at:
Moderates and Extremists
Social Cohesion
The Muslim Curriculum and the National Curriculum
Muslim Schools and Women
Muslim Schools and Ofsted
Muslim Schools and Hate
In section 3, there is a reference to items in the Muslim Council of Britain's 2007 document, Meeting the Needs of Muslim Pupils in State Schools: Information and Guidance for Schools:
".... the organization articulated several areas where Muslim pupils have to be separated from their non‐Muslim fellows. Although there has always been a right for parents to withdraw their children from acts of collective worship, the MCB's insistence that Muslim children must not take part in any but Muslim worship (p.44) denies them the opportunity—which so many other children take advantage of— to share a religious experience with the rest of their school. But the self‐seclusion impinges on so much of the curriculum that it places enormous restrictions on young Muslims and their ability to be part of the schools to which they belong. The activities and lessons from which the MCB wants the right to withdraw Muslim pupils include: mixed swimming (p.38); dance (p.39); sex and relationship education (p.47); music (p.52); drama (p.53); figurative drawing (p.53). On farm visits, touching or feeding pigs is prohibited (p.56), and staff are warned that pupils and parents may refuse to shake hands with a member of the opposite sex at prize‐giving ceremonies (p.58)"
This gives some flavour of how Muslim educators were trying to keep Muslim children separate from Christians, Jews, Hindus, and others in their own schools.
The original plan was to publish a much longer 78,000-word report with a massive bibliography, a vast array of footnotes, and numerous quotations directly or indirectly on school websites or other linked material were cited. In a long appendix, all the schools surveyed via those websites were listed, with names of teachers and preachers or radical organizations involved in setting educational standards and curricula. The list also contained links to school websites and links from those sites to extremist material. Not all schools had such links, but a surprising number did.
This full version could not be published for fear that the detailed remarks on schools and individuals might lead to litigation. However, after Civitas presented Ofsted with the "safe" version -- probably a valuable enough guide to matters school inspectors were probably unaware of -- the present author handed a printout of the unedited version to the Ofsted official to whom we had given the published report.
Even though the contents of that full version might have struck alarm in official circles in and beyond Ofsted, as far as we were aware the reports were buried. Ofsted has never since referred to any of their contents, not even when the Birmingham scandal erupted a few years afterwards.
As a result, a great opportunity was missed that may have forestalled some later developments, especially the clear evidence of extremist schools, some of whose websites had even openly favoured jihad. Nevertheless, although there is a full list of photographs and links, schools have now cleaned up their online sites, removing material of concern.
With many decent schools, there appears to be transparency. But the Darul-Ulooms and other extremist-linked institutions often have direct and indirect links to fundamentalists. It is hard to single out any one school, but the following passage, taken at random, may suffice to sum up why so many of these schools are run on lines contrary to the values and expectations of British society. The Jameah Girls School in Leicester is a Darul-Uloom for female students between the ages of 6 and 16:
"The Jameah Girls Academy in Leicester has a direct link to a fatwa site run by the school's own patron, Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari. Among his many distasteful rulings are these: He places severe restrictions on male doctors treating female patients; he rules that women may not swim (even for medical reasons) where a male lifeguard is present, or where there are non-Muslim women; using tampons is 'disliked' (makruh — a classification in shari'a law); a woman may not travel beyond 48 miles without her husband or a close relative accompanying her; a female is encouraged to remain within the confines of her house as much as possible; polygamy is permissible. If anyone were to ridicule polygamy, he would become an unbeliever; it is a grave sin for a woman to refuse sex to her husband; it is forbidden to have close, intimate relations with or have love for non-Muslims Muslims are not to sit, eat, live or mingle with them; the legal punishment for adultery is stoning."
In the light of recent protests outside schools in Birmingham, it is likely that many fundamentalists are still working to restrict attempts to bring Muslim children inside the way of life British society offers them. Do the anti-LGBT protests act as a smokescreen for continuing attempts to block integration from the earliest age? If this is happening in some state schools, have things improved in Muslim schools more widely? Is Ofsted, the schools inspectorate, still hampered by an unwillingness to ask hard questions and a desire to "avoid giving offence"?
*Denis MacEoin PhD is a British-Irish scholar who has taught Arabic and Islamic Studies at universities in Morocco and the north-east of England. He has written more than forty books and think-tank reports, as well as hundreds of articles. He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Iran responds to US threats with further aggression
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/June 27/2019
Since the Trump administration began exercising its “maximum pressure” policy on the Islamic Republic, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appears to have given the green light for the military to act as it wishes.
In order to alter Iran’s aggressive policies in the Middle East and deter Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons, the US offered it the chance to come to the negotiating table. The Iranian leaders categorically declined the invitation and threw cold water on the possibility of negotiations in the future.
In a tweet mentioning Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Khamenei wrote: “You said that Trump has said negotiations with the US would lead to Iran’s progress. By the grace of God, without negotiations and despite sanctions, we will progress.” In a meeting with Abe, Khamenei also pointed out that: “I do not consider Trump, as a person, deserving to exchange messages with. We will not negotiate with the United States.”
der to maximize pressure on the Iranian regime, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, the Department of Treasury reimposed primary and secondary sanctions on Iran’s energy sector and its banking and financial systems; and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was designated as a terrorist organization.
Nevertheless, Iran appeared determined to continue its destabilizing behavior and the Iranian leaders issued several threats. For example, Rear Adm. Alireza Tangsiri, the head of the IRGC Navy, was last month quotedas saying: “If we are banned from using it (the Strait of Hormuz), we will close it.”
As a result, the US deployed a Patriot missile battery, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the USS Leyte Gulf guided missile cruiser, Carrier Air Wing Seven, and destroyers from Destroyer Squadron Two to the Middle East in order to deter the Iranian regime from carrying out its threats.
But, instead of coming to the negotiating table and avoiding an escalation, the Iranian regime decided to practice its own version of maximum pressure not only on the US, but also on other countries in the region.
Iran’s equivalent of employing maximum pressure is overwhelmingly anchored in using hard power rather than soft power. There are two crucial pillars to Iran’s policy. The first is instructing its proxies across the region to attack and wreak havoc on entities that are linked to the US, European countries and Gulf states. For example, 40 workers at an ExxonMobil site in southern Iraq had to be evacuatedlast week after it came under rocket fire.
The Houthi attack on a Saudi oil installation and the rocket that landed near the US Embassy in Baghdad are also being tied to the Iranian regime and its proxies. It was recently leaked that the head of the Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, had instructed a conglomerate of more than 40 Iraqi militia groups that operate under the banner of the Popular Mobilization Forces to “prepare for proxy war.”
In the last two months, six oil tankers have been attacked. First, four were targeted close to Fujairah in the UAE. A month later, a pair of tankers transiting the Gulf of Oman off the coast of Iran was sabotaged with explosives — one went up in flames and both were left adrift. Both attacks took place close to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that separates Iran and Oman and is one of the most crucial in the world, with about a third of global seaborne-traded oil passing through it.
Instead of coming to the negotiating table, the Iranian regime decided to practice its own version of maximum pressure.
Iran’s fingerprints are all over these attacks. And this brings us to the second pillar of Iran’s policy, which involves direct military attacks. It is believed that the attacks on the tankers were directly carried out by the Iranian regime because of the high level of sophistication. As US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pointed out: “This assessment is based on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high degree of sophistication.”
Iran’s direct attacks have also included shooting down a US military dronelast week. The head of the IRGC, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, said that was a warning to the US, addingthat: “The only way for our enemies to be safe is to respect our sovereignty, national security, and the national interests of the great Iranian nation.”
Instead of acting as a rational state, Iran is becoming more aggressive and violent. Tehran is attempting to further destabilize the region in order to impose insecurity and fear and advance the regime’s revolutionary and parochial interests.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and president of the International American Council. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

How US can react to Iranian provocations while avoiding war
Sir John Jenkins/Arab News/June 27/2019
Will there be war? By which, of course, I mean: Will there be a shooting war between Iran and the US? A lot of people — particularly in America — seem to think it possible. And many of those think that, if it happens, it will be the fault of the US and specifically President Donald Trump, who, in the very week when he was supposed to be helping solve the Israel-Palestine conflict, decided instead to stir up a hornet’s nest in the Gulf by first threatening Iran, then backing down, then threatening it again, then offering talks and then slapping humiliating sanctions on the supreme leader and eight of his little helpers.
Now I’m not excusing Trump. Unpredictability can sometimes be an advantage; if you’re trying to keep someone stronger off balance, for example. But, if you want to deter someone weaker than you in a more sustained way, then predictability is better, especially if your unpredictability begins to look like cluelessness. That’s one of the key lessons to be drawn from the consistent way the US dealt with Iran in the late 1980s — a lesson forgotten or ignored when President Barack Obama failed to enforce his own red lines in Syria in 2014.
But we really do need to speak about Iran too. Iran’s strategy in the region has been consistent since 1979 — a sustained push to establish influence and eventually ideological and material hegemony across large parts of the region and to ensure that any battles are fought far from its own territory. Some of this is understandable, given the disasters of the Iran-Iraq War, much of it fought on Iranian territory.
Iran may have retreated from time to time in order to recover strength, dial down tensions it couldn’t handle or switch the point of attack. But you can’t really say that all those years spent building, equipping and backing Hezbollah, Amal, Da’wa, the key Shiite militias in Iraq, Saraya Al-Akhtar and Saraya Al-Mukhtar in Bahrain and now the Houthis (and no, I’m not saying they’re all simply puppets of Tehran, so please don’t write in), or opportunistically backing the Taliban and Hamas, snuggling up to Caracas and Havana and creating a massive clericalized structure of internal oppression, represent a progressive national security strategy. It would have been far better for Iran to reform its economy, maintain and modernize its oilfields, invest in new and peaceful technologies, liberalize its trade, adopt international banking and accounting standards, grow jobs, free the talents of its extraordinary people — who are getting restive — and get on with its neighbors rather than spend so much time and money plotting against them.
One result of that plotting is that Iran’s reach is wider than ever before. The clearly coordinated events of the past month — the acknowledged shooting down of an unmanned US surveillance drone; unacknowledged attacks on shipping; missile and mortar attacks on the US embassy, contractor bases and an Exxon-Mobil facility in Iraq; Houthi drone and missile attacks on Saudi airports, power and desalination plants, and Aramco pumping stations and the East-West pipeline in Riyadh governorate (with at least the possibility that the latter strike originated not in Yemen but Iraq) — have been specifically designed to be mostly deniable; to advertise intent; and to showcase the range of capabilities, targets and options that Iran and its allies now have.
The fact that nothing much happened in Syria or Lebanon (or indeed in the northern Gulf) is probably not a coincidence. It’s not as if Iranian aims there are unclear, or unambitious. The Israelis certainly don’t think so. That’s why they have conducted some 1,000 precisely aimed strikes over the last five years on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah-related targets. But this theater is probably best kept in reserve for the moment, with multiple possible destinations for the estimated 150,000 missiles Hezbollah holds — and more reportedly now in the possession of some Iraqi militias.
Unless the Islamic Republic suddenly changes, Iran will not stop its efforts to build a regional hegemony.
Such a conflict would be asymmetric, much of it deliberately in the grey zone, and therefore almost certainly unwinnable by the US in any conventional sense, unless it was prepared to commit massive and sustained force; something that seems unlikely given US domestic politics, whatever alarming threats the president may tweet out after midnight. It would also damage Iran enormously, of course. But Tehran probably calculates that the widespread damage it could inflict in return would be enough to make the political price for its enemies too high for them to wish to pay.
And, unless the Islamic Republic suddenly changes — and there are few signs of that in spite of the obvious economic pressure it is under, with oil exports reportedly down to around 400,000 barrels per day, the economy likely to shrink by around 6 percent, inflation approaching 40 percent a year and joblessness sharply up — Iran will not stop its efforts to build a regional hegemony that seeks to subordinate the interests of the other states of the region to its own. That almost certainly means continued low level but exhausting conflict of one sort or another and sustained regional tensions that can only hinder the prospects for urgently needed economic and political development. In practice, we already see this in parts of Iraq, where many of the Shiite militias aligned with Iran are refusing to be subordinated to central authority, and Syria, with the spread of sectarian warlordism. But this is only the start unless something fundamentally changes in the calculations of those in Tehran who control Iran’s external activities, particularly in the Supreme National Security Council, whose members continue to make belligerent threats against the Arab states of the Gulf, Israel, the US and anyone who crosses them.
In the end this isn’t just about Trump, any more than Saudi and wider Gulf Arab dissatisfaction with the last US administration was just about Obama. The fact is that any US president would now like to lower the country’s exposure to Middle Eastern conflicts in the face of a resurgent China and a revanchist Russia. So the aim must be to avoid war, which is to say any major escalation of the current conflicts in the region, while responding proportionately to Iranian provocations. There is already talk of calibrated responses to IRGC cyberactivity.
Any proper strategy will almost certainly also mean a more robust and active US and allied naval presence in the Gulf, perhaps even a repeat of the escorting of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz that we last saw in the 1980s. It could at some point mean limited and precisely targeted military action in response to clear threats, as has happened from time to time over the past few years in Syria, when Iranian-linked forces sought to attack US troops based in Al-Tanf and elsewhere. It should mean a continued increasing of the costs to Iran of its adventurism in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Given that Iran has already sought to involve itself in the reconstruction of these countries in order to profit from the destruction it has helped cause, that means targeting entities linked to Iran, Hezbollah and the Iraqi Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi. Some of that is already happening, with the long-standing designation of Iran’s Khatam-al-Anbiya and Hezbollah’s Jihad Al-Bina, and similar action recently taken against Harakat Hezbollah Al-Nujaba, Kata’ib Hezbollah, their leaders and associated companies in Iraq, and against the Fatemiyoun and Zainabiyoun militias in Syria. Good. More please.
It will also mean responding proportionately but decisively to any attacks by Hezbollah anywhere in the region. In my view, it should also involve a renewed effort to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict politically, not just economically, and a concerted effort to help the central government in Iraq exert proper control over its own territory and reconstruct Mosul quickly, properly and transparently. And we need a proper settlement in Yemen, which contains the Houthis, provides for genuine federalism and allows the country as a whole under a strong, fair, efficient and properly funded central government to start repairing the extraordinary damage the protracted conflict there has caused.
Europe needs to get on board. It has shown reluctance to do so, preferring to criticize the US, its long-standing ally and protector, from a distance. Europe really shouldn’t need to be forced to do the right thing. So it is ironic that Iran could do exactly that by breaching the nuclear deal’s limits of 300 kilogram holdings of low-enriched uranium and 130 metric tons of heavy water, as it is threatening to do. In an ideal world, Iran could help in other, rather more deliberate ways, if it wanted. After all, they say they don’t want war. And Trump has said he would welcome new talks. So why don’t they just say yes? It really isn’t the hardest word.
*Sir John Jenkins is a senior fellow at Policy Exchange. Until December 2017, he was corresponding director (Middle East) at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Manama, Bahrain, and was a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. He was the British ambassador to Saudi Arabia until January 2015.

Pompeo bids to charm Asian giants amid China challenge
Andrew Hammond/Arab News/June 27/2019
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo finishes up on Thursday an important India trip, which is part of a wider three-nation visit that also includes stop-offs in two other key allied nations — Japan and South Korea. This latest tour is seeing him doubling down on embedding his revamped Indo-Pacific strategy in the face of China’s growing strength.
One of the big potential windows of opportunity Pompeo senses right now in the Indo-Pacific (the Donald Trump team’s preferred phrase for the massive geography spreading from the US west coast to India) comes with the landslide re-election of Narendra Modi. Hence the reason why New Delhi, which is also wary of Beijing’s rise to power, was the first stop for Pompeo before heading to Japan — to push negotiations for a bilateral trade treaty and for the G20 summit — and then to South Korea, where the nuclear talks with the North will be top of the agenda.
To be sure, there remain some irritants in the Washington-New Delhi relationship, including US threats to levy sanctions if India continues to buy Russian military equipment. Moreover, the two nations are also in dispute over tariffs and the possibility of US restrictions on work visas for Indian professionals in retaliation for New Delhi’s insistence on local data storage by big foreign firms.
Nevertheless, this week’s talks have been upbeat. The deepening of the US-India relationship is centered on promoting a regional agenda of ensuring “freedom of the seas and skies, promoting market economics, supporting good governance, and insulating sovereign nations from coercion.” And a key part of the overall US rationale for its revamped US Indo-Pacific strategy is enabling India to potentially act as a counterweight to China.
To this end, Washington declared New Delhi a major US defense partner in 2016. And, last September, Pompeo helped finalize with India a Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement, underpinning greater counterterrorism and defense cooperation, which then-Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed elevated bilateral relations “to unprecedented heights,” including the first bilateral military exercises in the Bay of Bengal later this year.
The success of that India trip last autumn helped bring greater credibility to the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy, which has come under criticism for its perceived (under) ambition vis a vis China, which has its own ambitious “Belt and Road” scheme. Hence why Pompeo has spent time during his previous trips articulating revamped plans for a “new era in US economic commitment to peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.” This includes plans for some $113 million in regional investments focused on technology, energy and infrastructure that, in the secretary of state’s words, represent “just a down payment” on US commitment to the region.
Yet, welcome as the details of the administration’s emerging plan are for many US allies, critics claim that the strategy will have less overall impact than the Obama administration’s Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). To be sure, the Trump team has announced alternative plans to pursue bilateral trade deals in the region, but this has so far had only very limited success, with no TPP signatories yet finalizing any such agreements with the US.
And the added pressure on the White House here is China’s monumental ambition in comparison, as illustrated by the $1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative, along with its alternative vision to TPP of a Free Trade Area of Asia Pacific and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Inevitably, this has led to concerns about future US influence in the region, with, for instance, former Obama administration trade representative Michael Froman despairing that Washington “is the one going to be left on the sidelines as others (especially Beijing) move forward.”
Partisan criticism of the Trump team’s plan aside, history also points to the apparent under-ambition of current US strategy. Since 1945, US administrations of both Republican and Democratic stripes have helped create and nurture key global and regional bodies and institutions — from the UN to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank — that have helped embed US influence.
Partisan criticism of the Trump team’s plan aside, history also points to the apparent under-ambition of current US strategy.
Inspired by this postwar success, both the administrations of George H.W. Bush and especially Bill Clinton sought to respond to the collapse of Soviet communism by encouraging the creation of a range of institutions, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. In this context, the Obama team’s TPP was only the latest example of a global institution-building project that began in the post-Second World War era to embed US influence and encourage the growth of democracy and open markets.
It is in this context that Pompeo is now seeking to convince US allies that the Trump team is wholly committed — politically, economically and security-wise — to the region. Here, one key message will be that, while his plan is, so far at least, dwarfed by the Belt and Road Initiative, the US model being promoted is more sustainable and adheres to international standards of transparency and the rule of law.
The implicit criticism here is that Beijing, by contrast, could leave countries in massive debt thanks to the Belt and Road’s stress on state infrastructure projects. While this US message will resonate with some, other key regional players will nonetheless be torn due to the massive scale of potential financing offered by China. Real questions remain about the ambition of the Trump team’s regional strategy at a moment of significant geopolitical flux.
*Andrew Hammond is an Associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics