English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For October 29/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews19/english.october29.20.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006

Bible Quotations For today
I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn
Saint Matthew 13/24-30/:”Jesus put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn..

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 28-29/2020

Lebanon Records 1,809 New Coronavirus Cases
Estonia and Guatemala designated Hezbollah, and other countries should do the same
Czech parliament calls to designate Hezbollah a terrorist group
Beirut blast: Lebanon victims file almost 700 legal complaints
Lebanon’s parliament speaker Berri says new government could be formed within days
Second round of Lebanon-Israel sea border talks under way
Lebanon demands extra 1,430 sq. km. in US-brokered talks with Israel
Lebanon, Israel Initiate Second Round of Maritime Border Talks
Aoun Discusses with Lavrentiev the Russian Initiative on Refugees
Jumblat Says Battle against Pandemic Just Started
Daryan: Hariri’s Rescue Govt Bid is an Opportunity that Everyone Should Seize

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 28-29/2020

France tells Turkey it won’t give in to ‘intimidation attempts’
Azerbaijan Says 14 Civilians Killed in Armenian Missile Attack
US accuses Syria of delaying constitution ahead of election
Syria Strike Shows Russia Not Seeking 'Lasting Peace', Says Erdogan
France-Turkey tensions: Paris seeking ‘strong’ EU response, potentially sanctions
Turkey Vows 'Legal, Diplomatic Actions' over Charlie Hebdo Cartoon
Satellite photos show construction at Iran nuclear site
Sudanese in Israel fear being returned after normalization
Celebrating a crucial milestone for the people of Sudan and for the United States
Head of Sudan’s ruling council defends Israel deal: We were not blackmailed
Arab coalition destroys six Houthi drones, three missiles targeting Saudi Arabia
Algeria’s president transferred to Germany for treatment
Women on 10 Flights from Qatar Invasively Examined
Trump lifts ban that prohibits funding Israeli scientific research in West Bank
 

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 28-29/2020

Russia-Turkey and Surrogate Warfare/Charles Elias Chartouni/October 28/2020
The Future of Arab Normalization with Israel/Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/October 28/2020
See No Evil: Europe Supports Genocidal Regime in Iran/Benjamin Weinthal/Gatestone Institute/October 28/2020
How Turkey manufactured a 'crisis' with France over 'cartoons'/Seth J. Frantzman/The Jerusalem Post/October 28/2020
Media bias and the US election/Ray Hanania/Arab News/October 28/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 28-29/2020

Lebanon Records 1,809 New Coronavirus Cases
Naharnet/October 28/2020
Lebanon recorded 1,809 new coronavirus cases and 11 deaths in around 36 hours on Sunday and Monday, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday. The cases include 1,763 local cases and 46 among people coming from abroad. The new infections raise the country’s overall tally to 73,995 while the deaths take the death toll to 590. The country has meanwhile recorded 36,803 recoveries. 292 of the new cases were recorded in Baabda district, 245 in Northern Metn, 238 in Beirut, 133 in Baalbek district, 125 in Aley district, 71 in Keserwan, 66 in Chouf and 59 in Sidon district.

Estonia and Guatemala designated Hezbollah, and other countries should do the same
The National/October 28/2020
This week, Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant party in Lebanon, was dealt a blow in the international arena from two unlikely sources. Guatemala and Estonia took formal steps to designate the party a terrorist organisation, denying it and its members access to their borders and economies. Estonia took the added step of imposing sanctions. Hezbollah has already been designated as a terrorist organisation by a host of nations, including the US, Britain, Germany and Saudi Arabia and the UAE, among others. That recognition of the party’s vast network of international criminal activities now extends to Central America and the Baltic Sea. Over the past four decades of Lebanon’s history, Hezbollah has used its armed militia as a bludgeon with which to develop an obstructive political presence in Parliament and other areas of government. Its fighters are also in neighbouring Syria, where they have propped up the regime of Bashar Al Assad for years. There are reports of Hezbollah operatives training the Houthi rebels of Yemen, training militiamen in Iraq, and providing support to Hamas, the extremist group that rules the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah’s regional presence is impossible to ignore.
But not enough is said about Hezbollah’s global reach. In recent years, its operatives have been caught with large amounts of ammonium nitrate all over Europe. The explosive chemical, used primarily as a fertiliser, triggered a deadly blast in Beirut on August 4.
In 2015, British authorities seized three tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored by Hezbollah operatives in London, and more than eight tonnes of the substance was found to have been stored by the group in Cyprus. Prosecutors in Argentina have also found that Hezbollah, and its patron the Iranian government, were behind a 1994 suicide bombing at a Jewish Community Centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. As Tehran continues to feel the economic pinch from renewed US sanctions, Hezbollah has diversified its revenue sources through money laundering activities often linked to drug cartels. It is particularly active in the tri-border area between Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, where it is involved in organised crime. Not enough is said about Hezbollah’s global reach. In recent years, its operatives have been caught with large amounts of ammonium nitrate all over Europe. By its very name, Hezbollah, which means “Party of God” in Arabic, claims to serve divine justice – but could not be further from any such thing. It portrays itself as a resistance movement and a political party that represents the Lebanese people. But no legitimate political party maintains its own rocket arsenal and an army of fighters involved in brutal wars throughout the Middle East, in addition to criminal networks that span parts of Latin America and Africa. Hezbollah has all of this, and yet its officials insist on being treated as legitimate politicians. Estonia and Guatemala are the latest countries to have taken steps to protect their people from the group. More countries would do well to follow that example, and designate Hezbollah as a terrorist entity. Its leadership have done enough damage to Middle Eastern nations, including their native Lebanon. Due largely to Hezbollah’s actions, the Lebanese people have been increasingly isolated from their allies abroad even as they are locked in an economic crisis. Until Hezbollah’s influence is effectively curtailed, their plight will persist.

Czech parliament calls to designate Hezbollah a terrorist group
The Jerusalem Post/October 28/2020
The Czech Republic does not currently have its own list of terrorist organizations, and the legislature called to establish one and put Hezbollah on it. The Czech parliament called on the government to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist group, in a resolution passed on Wednesday.
The Czech Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the parliament in Prague, voted 63-7 to adopt the motion calling the Lebanese Shi’ite group “an indivisible whole and a terrorist organization that significantly destabilizes the Middle East region and, through its global network, also threatens all democracies.”
The Czech Republic does not currently have its own list of terrorist organizations, and the legislature called to establish one and put Hezbollah on it. The resolution added that the parliament “rejects the misleading division of this organization into military and political parts, as this organization acts as an internally interlinked structure.” The European Union claims that there is a division between the Lebanese Shi’ite terrorist organization’s political and military wings, banning only the latter, though Hezbollah itself does not recognize such a division. The resolution also calls for Prague to push for the EU to abandon this policy.
Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi thanked the Czech parliament on Thursday, saying that the decision follows similar decisions made by other countries in the EU and Latin America in the past months. “The decision of the Czech parliament against Hezbollah is another step in the Foreign Ministry’s effort to expand international pressure on Hezbollah,” said Ashkenazi. “I call on the European Union and other countries to recognize Hezbollah in all its arms as a terrorist organization.” Israel has asked its allies around the world to outlaw Hezbollah, and a growing list of countries has done so. On Thursday, Estonia announced sanctions against Hezbollah, and on Friday Guatemala became the eighth country to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization in 2020. Four EU member states have already banned Hezbollah. Ashkenazi said at the time that he was happy to see that diplomatic efforts “led by the Foreign Ministry to label all branches of Hezbollah a terrorist organization are bearing fruit and being recognized worldwide – and especially in Latin America.”

Beirut blast: Lebanon victims file almost 700 legal complaints
AFP /Thursday 29 October 2020
The Beirut Bar Association on Wednesday handed the public prosecutor almost 700 criminal complaints from victims of the city’s deadly August 4 port blast, Lebanon’s National News Agency said. The explosion of a massive stockpile of ammonium nitrate in a dockside warehouse killed more than 200 people, wounded thousands and ravaged swathes of the capital Beirut. “We presented 679 complaints today, in the name of the families of those killed, wounded and affected,” Bar Association head Melhem Khalaf said, according to the NNA. “We cannot stop until a verdict is pronounced,” Khalaf said, calling the blast “a horrific catastrophe.”It was the first wave of complaints to be filed of around 1,400 cases being compiled by the Bar Association. “We need to go deep with the ongoing investigations,” Khalaf added. The blast was the country’s worst peacetime disaster.
It reignited popular outrage against the political class, after it emerged officials had known the ammonium nitrate had been stored unsafely at the port for years. Lebanese officials have rejected an international probe, despite demands both from home and abroad for an impartial investigation.
A local investigation has led to the arrest of at least 25 suspects, including the chief of the port and its customs director. Experts from France and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation took part in the preliminary investigation. A judicial source told AFP that Lebanon had received the report from the American experts, and was expecting one from France within the next two weeks. “Much hinges on the French report to determine the causes of the explosion,” the source said. According to Khalaf, the FBI report relies on information from the Lebanese agencies, whereas the French one will draw on “the results of laboratory tests.”Lebanon has complained it has yet to receive satellite images of the port before, during and after the blast that it requested from France and Italy.

Lebanon’s parliament speaker Berri says new government could be formed within days
Reuters, Beirut /Wednesday 28 October 2020
Lebanon’s influential Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday that a new government could be formed within a few days if talks keep going positively. Weeks of political dispute have delayed a deal on a new cabinet that must tackle a crippling financial meltdown - the worst crisis since a 1975-1990 civil war. Veteran Sunni politician Saad al-Hariri was named premier for a fourth time last week, pledging to swiftly form a new cabinet which must then address a long list of problems. Hariri stepped down a year ago as the crisis erupted and huge protests against the political elite swept the country. The currency has since collapsed, banks are paralyzed and the state has defaulted on its hefty foreign currency debt. A new government will have to agree a financial recovery plan, resume talks with the International Monetary Fund and enact overdue reforms to trigger foreign cash Lebanon badly needs. Otherwise, donors have made clear, there will be no aid. The country is also grappling with a COVID-19 surge and the fallout of the August explosion at Beirut port that killed nearly 200 people and caused billions of dollars of damage. Hariri has presented himself as the candidate to build a cabinet to implement a roadmap by former colonial ruler France which sought to rally Lebanese leaders to tackle the crisis. “The coming government could see the light within four or five days if the positive atmosphere continues on the current track,” the office of Shiite leader Berri, whose Amal party is allied with Iran-backed Hezbollah, quoted him as saying.

Second round of Lebanon-Israel sea border talks under way
Arab News/October 28/2020
NAQURA: Lebanon and Israel, still technically at war and with no diplomatic ties, launched a second round of maritime border talks Wednesday under UN and US auspices to allow for offshore energy exploration. The talks, expected to last for two days, were held at the headquarters of UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL in the Lebanese border town of Naqura, guarded by army roadblocks and with UN helicopters circling above. After years of quiet US shuttle diplomacy, Lebanon and Israel this month said they had agreed to begin the negotiations in what Washington hailed as a “historic” agreement.
The announcement came weeks after Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab nations to establish relations with Israel since Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. Lebanon — which last saw military clashes with Israel in 2006 — insists that the negotiations are purely technical and don’t involve any soft political normalization with Israel. “Today’s session is the first technical session,” said Laury Haytayan, a Lebanese energy expert. “Detailed discussions on demarcation should begin.” Lebanon, mired in its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, is looking to settle the maritime border dispute so it can press on with its offshore quest for oil and gas. The search for hydrocarbons has already heightened tensions in the eastern Mediterranean following repeated Turkish exploration and drilling operations in waters claimed by both Cyprus and Greece. In February 2018, Lebanon signed its first contract for drilling in two blocks in the Mediterranean with a consortium comprising energy giants Total, ENI and Novatek. Exploration of one of the blocks is more controversial as part of it is located in an 860-square-kilometer (330-square-mile) area claimed by both Israel and Lebanon.
Lebanon is expected to adopt a “maximalist approach” to maritime border negotiations, said Haytayan. The energy expert explained that Lebanese negotiators will likely try to claim areas that fall beyond the disputed 860 square kilometers zone, including the Karish gas field currently operated by Israel, she told AFP. “We have to wait to see the reaction of the Israelis,” she said. While the US-brokered talks look at the maritime border, a UNIFIL-sponsored track is also due to address outstanding land border disputes. “We have a unique opportunity to make substantial progress on contentious issues along” the border, UNIFIL head Major General Stefano Del Col said in a statement on Tuesday. The meetings have raised faint hopes for a thaw between the neighbors who have repeatedly clashed on the battlefield. The Israeli defense minister and alternate prime minister, Benny Gantz, said on Tuesday he was “hearing positive voices coming out of Lebanon, who are even talking about peace with Israel.” Gantz, speaking during a tour of northern Israel, did not specify which Lebanese comments he was referring to. But they came a day after Claudine Aoun, daughter of Lebanese President Michel Aoun, told Al Jadeed TV that peace with Israel would be conceivable if outstanding issues were resolved. “We have the maritime border dispute, the issue of Palestinian refugees, and another topic which is more important, which is the issue of natural resources: water, oil and natural gas which Lebanon is depending on to advance its economy,” she said. When asked directly if she would object to a peace treaty with Israel, she responded: “Why would I object?“ “Are we supposed to stay in a state of war? ... I don’t have doctrinal differences with anyone ... I have political differences.”
The Shiite Muslim armed movement Hezbollah, a major force in Lebanese politics, has criticized the maritime talks. Israel and Hezbollah last fought a war in 2006, and both sides still exchange sporadic cross-border fire.''

Lebanon demands extra 1,430 sq. km. in US-brokered talks with Israel
Joseph Haboush and Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday 28 October 2020
Lebanon called for an extra 1,430 square kilometers (550 sq. miles) on Wednesday during the second round of US-brokered negotiations with Israel over maritime borders between Beirut and Tel Aviv. For years, the debate was over close to 860 sq. kilometers of disputed waters, where there are believed to be large swathes of natural gas reserves. But senior political and military sources in Lebanon told Al Arabiya English ahead of Wednesday’s session that the Lebanese Army Commander ordered the delegation heading the talks to state that Lebanon’s southern maritime border begins from Ras al-Naqoura toward the sea. But Reuters reported that the Israeli team presented its own map that pushed the boundary farther north than its original position, according to a source familiar with what was discussed. All sides agreed to have another session on Thursday. This will be the third round of dialogue in less than a month after Washington spent years trying to mediate and find common ground for the talks to begin. The first round of talks earlier this month was seen as positive, with little controversy surrounding any of the topics discussed that included opening speeches and each delegation’s positions. While the formalities were relatively straightforward the first time around, officials dug into details and technicalities on Wednesday. According to a Lebanese army study, Lebanon’s new maximalist approach references the border between the French and British mandate instead of the 1949 Armistice Agreement. “It also does not take into account Tekhelet’s island in Israel and other small rocks, as they are small and uninhabited,” said Laury Hatayan, the MENA Director at the Natural Resource Governance Institute.
In recent years, Lebanese officials have demanded that Beirut’s border begin from the “B1” point, demarcated in the 1949 Armistice Agreement between Lebanon and Israel. The new directives appear to backtrack on that stance and demand Ras al-Naqoura as the starting point, giving Lebanon more than 1,400 sq. km. they had not claimed previously. The Armistice Agreement “largely matches” with the international boundary line, or Paulet-Newcomb line, a Lebanese army source said. Why does this matter? Tekhelet, an island claimed by Israel, is around 1,800 meters south of Ras al-Naqoura and 1,000 meters west of the shore. Based on this, the Lebanese army has conducted a new study based on the UN Law of the Sea Convention, ratified by Lebanon in 1982. This has not been agreed to or signed by Israel. The Lebanese army source said that the delineation of the Lebanese Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) boundaries allowed for the modification of the maritime boundary line, “provided that more accurate data is available, and this is the case.”But this line would also cross the Karish Field, which Energean from Greece is prepping to dig in after signing a deal with Israel. “Accordingly, the Karish field will be located in a disputed area which bears consequences on international companies drilling for oil and gas in this area. The same can be said of concession Block 72, which was open for bidding by Israel on June 2020,” the army source added. Hatayan, an oil and gas expert, told Al Arabiya English that the Israelis probably expected this new Lebanese approach but that it was unclear how Tel Aviv would respond. She noted that new dispute could result in Energean and other energy companies to refrain from investments in Block 72 or the Karish Field. The US State Department said it does not comment on private, diplomatic discussions, when asked if the new Lebanese stance threatened the fate of the negotiations. - With Reuters

Lebanon, Israel Initiate Second Round of Maritime Border Talks
Agence France Presse/October 28/2020
The second round of US-mediated sea border talks between Lebanon and Israel launched on Wednesday at the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura under UN and US auspices. John Desrocher‏, the US ambassador and mediator is to lead the US delegation, while US envoy David Schenker, who facilitated the opening of the first session, may not attend, said al-Joumhouria daily. It said the representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Jan Kubis, would not lead the UN delegation, and that he assigned one of his senior aides who took part to his side in the first session.
‏According to the daily, commander of the international forces operating in the south (UNIFIL), General Staffan Del Col, will "chair the negotiation session and distribute the roles and interventions during the session." Wednesday’s round was scheduled earlier this week but was postponed for “technical” reasons. Israel announced that a delegation will leave Wednesday morning for Naqoura to partake in the second round of maritime border talks between Israel and Lebanon, reported the daily. Lebanon and Israel are still technically at war and with no diplomatic ties. The talks, expected to last for two days, were held at the headquarters of UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura, guarded by army roadblocks and with UN helicopters circling above. After years of quiet US shuttle diplomacy, Lebanon and Israel this month said they had agreed to begin the negotiations in what Washington hailed as a "historic" agreement. The announcement came weeks after Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab nations to establish relations with Israel since Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. Lebanon -- which last saw military clashes with Israel in 2006 -- insists that the negotiations are purely technical and don't involve any soft political normalisation with Israel. "Today's session is the first technical session," said Laury Haytayan, a Lebanese energy expert. "Detailed discussions on demarcation should begin." Lebanon, mired in its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, is looking to settle the maritime border dispute so it can press on with its offshore quest for oil and gas. The search for hydrocarbons has already heightened tensions in the eastern Mediterranean following repeated Turkish exploration and drilling operations in waters claimed by both Cyprus and Greece.
Maximalist approach'
In February 2018, Lebanon signed its first contract for drilling in two blocks in the Mediterranean with a consortium comprising energy giants Total, ENI and Novatek. Exploration of one of the blocks is more controversial as part of it is located in an 860-square-kilometre (330-square-mile) area claimed by both Israel and Lebanon. Lebanon is expected to adopt a "maximalist approach" to maritime border negotiations, said Haytayan. The energy expert explained that Lebanese negotiators will likely try to claim areas that fall beyond the disputed 860 square kilometres zone, including the Karish gas field currently operated by Israel, she told AFP. "We have to wait to see the reaction of the Israelis," she said. While the US-brokered talks look at the maritime border, a UNIFIL-sponsored track is also due to address outstanding land border disputes. "We have a unique opportunity to make substantial progress on contentious issues along" the border, UNIFIL head Major General Stefano Del Col said in a statement on Tuesday.
-'Positive voices' -
The meetings have raised faint hopes for a thaw between the neighbours who have repeatedly clashed on the battlefield. The Israeli defence minister and alternate prime minister, Benny Gantz, said on Tuesday he was "hearing positive voices coming out of Lebanon, who are even talking about peace with Israel".Gantz, speaking during a tour of northern Israel, did not specify which Lebanese comments he was referring to. But they came a day after Claudine Aoun, daughter of Lebanese President Michel Aoun, told Al Jadeed TV that peace with Israel would be conceivable if outstanding issues were resolved. "We have the maritime border dispute, the issue of Palestinian refugees, and another topic which is more important, which is the issue of natural resources: water, oil and natural gas which Lebanon is depending on to advance its economy," she said. When asked directly if she would object to a peace treaty with Israel, she responded: "Why would I object?" "Are we supposed to stay in a state of war? ... I don't have doctrinal differences with anyone ... I have political differences." The Shiite Muslim armed movement Hizbullah, a major force in Lebanese politics, has criticised the maritime talks. Israel and Hizbullah last fought a war in 2006, and both sides still exchange sporadic cross-border fire.

Aoun Discusses with Lavrentiev the Russian Initiative on Refugees
Naharnet/October 28/2020
President Michel Aoun received at Baabda Palace Russia's special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, at the head of a delegation of diplomats and military personnel, the National News Agency reported on Wednesday. Discussions focused on the Russian initiative to return Syrian refugees back to their homeland, and on the international conference to be held in Syria for the repatriation of the displaced. In 2019, Aoun agreed with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials to “activate tripartite Lebanese-Russian-Syrian action to secure the return of Syrian refugees” to their country. The high-ranking Russian delegation arrived Wednesday in Beirut aboard a Russian military plane on an official visit to Lebanon. The delegation is composed of a number of diplomats and military personnel. It is set to meet other senior Lebanese officials to discuss the international conference on the return of displaced Syrians. Talks will also highlight the bilateral relations between Lebanon and Russia.

Jumblat Says Battle against Pandemic Just Started
Naharnet/October 28/2020
Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat lamented the spike in coronavirus cases in Lebanon saying the “confrontation is still at the beginning.” “It seems the confrontation with coronavirus is still in its beginning, the virus is sweeping villages and towns everywhere and things will turn much worse in winter,” said Jumblat in a tweet.
The PSP leader said in light of its spread, prevention measures are necessary to counter the virus threat. He said: “In the foreseeable future, there is no treatment except prevention, face masks, voluntary quarantine, social solidarity and awareness.” He urged close coordination between ministries and the state institutions to counter the threat. On Tuesday the Health Ministry said that Lebanon recorded 1,809 new coronavirus cases and 11 deaths in around 36 hours on Sunday and Monday. The cases include 1,763 local cases and 46 among people coming from abroad. The new infections raise the country’s overall tally to 73,995 while the deaths take the death toll to 590. The country has meanwhile recorded 36,803 recoveries. 292 of the new cases were recorded in Baabda district, 245 in Northern Metn, 238 in Beirut, 133 in Baalbek district, 125 in Aley district, 71 in Keserwan, 66 in Chouf and 59 in Sidon district.

Daryan: Hariri’s Rescue Govt Bid is an Opportunity that Everyone Should Seize
Naharnet/October 28/2020
Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan stressed Wednesday that PM-designate Saad Hariri is seeking to form a rescue government to stop collapse and everyone must seize this opportunity.
“Economic collapse has ruined the lives of the Lebanese and affected their tranquility. The current effort of Hariri to form a capable and effective rescue government is an opportunity that everyone should seize to get the country out of its crises,” said Daryan in remarks marking the birth of the Prophet Mohammed. The Mufti noted that “no one will help the Lebanese if they do not help themselves first in these fateful conditions,” referring to long disagreements among political parties over cabinet portfolios amid a crunching economic crisis. On the other hand, Daryan rejected defamation of Prophet Mohammed.“Anyone who defames and insults Islam and its Messenger, puts himself in a confrontation with all Muslims of the world,” he said.
 

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 28-29/2020

France tells Turkey it won’t give in to ‘intimidation attempts’
AP/October 28/2020
PARIS: France will continue its fight against Islamic extremism despite criticism from Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and will not give in to “destabilization and intimidation attempts,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal said Wednesday.
France “will never renounce its principles and values,” Attal said after a cabinet meeting, underscoring “a strong European unity” behind its stance against Islamic violence after the beheading of a French teacher on October 16.The history teacher, Samuel Paty, was killed while walking home from his school in a Paris suburb by an 18-year-old after a social media campaign criticized him for showing students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a lesson on free speech. His killing prompted an outpouring of anger in France, which has faced a wave of jihadist attacks since the January 2015 massacre of 12 people at the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The paper, which had drawn the ire of Muslims worldwide after publishing cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad, republished the images last month to mark the opening of a trial for suspected accomplices in the Charlie Hebdo attack.
French President Emmanuel Macron mounted a staunch defense of France’s secular tradition after Paty’s killing, and vowed to crack down on Islamic radicalism, in particular by closing mosques suspected of fomenting extremist ideas.
That prompted Erdogan to accuse Macron of unfairly targeting France’s Muslim community, and fueled the latest diplomatic spat between the two NATO allies in recent months. Charlie Hebdo further inflamed Turkish critics Wednesday after it ran a front-page cartoon of Erdogan that portrayed him drinking a beer in his underwear, while lifting the skirt of a woman wearing a hijab to reveal her naked bottom. “Ooh, the prophet!” the character says in a speech bubble, while the title proclaims “Erdogan: in private, he’s very funny.”

Azerbaijan Says 14 Civilians Killed in Armenian Missile Attack
Agence France Presse/October 28/2020
Azerbaijan said Wednesday an Armenian missile strike on Barda district near the Nagorno-Karabakh frontline killed 14 civilians, but Yerevan denied carrying out an attack. Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev said Armenian forces had fired Smerch missiles against Barda and the prosecutor general's office said 14 civilians had been killed and 40 wounded. Armenia's defence ministry said the report was "groundless and false".

US accuses Syria of delaying constitution ahead of election
Arab news/Agencies/October 28/2020
NEW YORK: The US and several Western allies on Tuesday accused the Syrian regime of deliberately delaying the drafting of a new constitution to waste time until presidential elections in 2021, and avoid UN-supervised voting as called for by the UN Security Council.
US Deputy Ambassador Richard Mills urged the Security Council to “do everything in its power” to prevent Bashar Assad regime from blocking agreement on a new constitution in 2020. The Trump administration believes Assad’s hope is to “invalidate the work” of UN special envoy Geir Pedersen who has been trying to spearhead action on a constitution, and the council’s call for a political transition. The Security Council resolution adopted in December 2015 unanimously endorsed a road map to peace in Syria that was approved in Geneva on June 30, 2012 by representatives of the UN, Arab League, EU, Turkey and all five permanent Security Council members — the US, Russia, China, France and Britain. It calls for a Syrian-led political process starting with the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with UN-supervised elections. The resolution says the free and fair elections should meet “the highest international standards” of transparency and accountability, with all Syrians — including members of the diaspora — eligible to participate. At a Russian-hosted Syrian peace conference in January 2018, an agreement was reached to form a 150-member committee to draft a new constitution. That took until September 2019, and since then only three meetings have been held with little progress. Pedersen, the UN envoy, told the Security Council on Tuesday he was unable to convene a fourth meeting in October because the government wouldn’t accept a compromise agenda which the opposition agreed to. During his just concluded visit to Damascus, he said there was “some valuable narrowing of the differences” that could enable consensus on agendas for the next two meetings. “If we are able to find agreement in the next two days, it should be possible to meet in Geneva sometime in the month of November,” Pedersen said, dropping the Nov. 23 date in his prepared speech. Mills, the US envoy, urged Pedersen “to take any measures he thinks are appropriate to facilitate the parties’ efforts ... and also to identify to the council who is blocking progress.”
“Syria is wholly unprepared to carry out elections in a free, fair and transparent manner that would include the participation of the Syrian diaspora,” Mills said. “This is why we need the constitutional committee to work, and why we need the UN to accelerate its planning to ensure Syria’s upcoming elections are credible.”German Ambassador Christoph Heusgen called Assad’s “delaying and obstruction tactics” on the constitutional committee’s work “just detestable.”He said Russia, Syria’s most important ally, “should finally use its influence by, for instance, just cutting military aid and stopping its support, so that the Syrian regime finally plays ball.” Syria’s tactics are clear, Heusgen said. “They want to waste time until the presidential elections in 2021. The regime should not have any illusions. The elections will not be recognized if they are held under the present circumstances.”French Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere also criticized Assad’s “refusal to engage in good faith” and called for preparations to begin for UN-supervised elections that include the diaspora. France won’t recognize results that don’t comply with these provisions, he said, stressing: “We will not be fooled by the regime’s attempts to legitimize itself.”
Russia’s ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, made no mention of the April presidential election and countered that Syrians must have “the opportunity to negotiate without interference from the outside.” “The work of the constitutional committee should not be subject to any deadlines,” he said, expressing hope that Pedersen’s mediation will enable the committee’s work to continue “in line with the agenda agreed by the Syrians.”Russia also sparred with Western ambassadors over its veto threats that led to the closure of two border crossings to deliver aid to Syria — one in the northeast and one in the northwest — leaving only one crossing to Idlib in the northwest. The US, Germany, France, Britain, Belgium and others criticized the border crossing closures. UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told the council that Syrian government deliveries across conflict lines to the northeast are “not delivering at the scale or frequency required to meet the current health needs.” He said one hospital received only 450 gowns in April, and another received nothing for its maternity wing. Lowcock also said “the situation of families across Syria is truly desperate,” citing food prices more than 90 percent higher than six months ago.
Russia’s Nebenzia responded, noting “with satisfaction the progress in UN humanitarian deliveries from inside Syria including through cross-line routes,” saying this “proves” the government is providing aid to people including in areas not under its control.

Syria Strike Shows Russia Not Seeking 'Lasting Peace', Says Erdogan
Agence France Presse/October 28/2020
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday strongly condemned Russia for conducting an air strike that killed dozens of pro-Ankara rebels in Syria. "Russia's attack on the training centre of the Syrian national army forces in the Idlib region shows it does not want lasting peace in the region," Erdogan said in a televised address. A Russian war plane on Monday hit a training centre for Turkish-backed fighters in the northwestern Syrian province near Turkish border. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack killed 78 fighters in the bloodiest surge in violence since a truce almost eight months ago. The pro-Ankara group, known as Faylaq al-Sham, retaliated by killing at least 15 Moscow-backed fighters, the monitor said. Faylaq al-Sham is a Sunni Islamist group that has acted as Turkey's proxy during several Turkish military campaigns on Syrian soil, and has also been the source of pro-Ankara mercenaries sent to fight in Libya. A truce at the start of the year brought an end to a Russia-backed Syria regime offensive that had killed more than 500 civilians and displaced almost one million people.
It was one of the worst humanitarian crises of Syria's nine-year civil war. The last major rebel stronghold covers around half of Idlib province as well as slivers of adjacent provinces.

France-Turkey tensions: Paris seeking ‘strong’ EU response, potentially sanctions
Emily Judd, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday 28 October 2020
France is pushing for a “strong” European Union response to Turkey, including potential sanctions, over “provocations” from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The country’s minister for European affairs said on Wednesday that it is exhorting its EU partners to take action against Ankara.
Read more: US reiterates potential serious consequences for Turkey after Erdogan mocks sanctions. “We need to go further... We will push for strong European responses, which could include sanctions,” said Clement Beaune in an address to parliament. Erdogan has lashed out at French President Emmanuel Macron in recent days following Macron’s response to the beheading of a teacher in France by an extremist over the use of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a class on freedom of expression. Macron said last week that France will not give up caricatures and that the teacher was killed “because Islamists want our future,” vowing “they will never have it. On Monday, Erdogan responded in a provocative speech that accused Macron of having both an “anti-Islam agenda” and mental problems. France recalled its ambassador from Ankara over the comments. The Turkish president also went on to urge Turks “never” to buy French brands and said that Muslims in Europe are being treated like Jewish people before World War II. European leaders including the prime minister The latest flareup between Erdogan and Macron is just one incident in a series of bilateral clashes over issues including the conflict in Libya, the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, and maritime control in the eastern Mediterranean. The United States told Al Arabiya English on Tuesday that “unnecessary” infighting between NATO allies “only serves our adversaries.” The US, France, and Turkey are part of the 29-member international military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which was founded to create a counterweight to the Soviet Union’s military capabilities at the time the organization was established in 1949.

Turkey Vows 'Legal, Diplomatic Actions' over Charlie Hebdo Cartoon
Agence France Presse/October 28/2020
Turkey on Wednesday vowed to take "legal and diplomatic actions" over a cartoon in the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo mocking Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "We assure our people that necessary legal and diplomatic actions will be taken against this cartoon," the Turkish presidency said in a statement. Minutes later, the Ankara prosecutor's office launched an "official investigation" into the publication, the news agency Anadolu reported.

Satellite photos show construction at Iran nuclear site
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates/AP/October 28/2020
Iran has begun construction at its Natanz nuclear facility, satellite images released Wednesday show, just as the U.N. nuclear agency acknowledged Tehran is building an underground advanced centrifuge assembly plant after its last one exploded in a reported sabotage attack last summer.
The construction comes as the U.S. nears Election Day in a campaign pitting President Donald Trump, whose maximum pressure campaign against Iran has led Tehran to abandon all limits on its atomic program, and Joe Biden, who has expressed a willingness to return to the accord. The outcome of the vote likely will decide which approach America takes. Heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. nearly ignited a war at the start of the year.
Since August, Iran has built a new or regraded road to the south of Natanz toward what analysts believe is a former firing range for security forces at the enrichment facility, images from San Francisco-based Planet Labs show. A satellite image Monday shows the site cleared away with what appears to be construction equipment there. Analysts from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies say they believe the site is undergoing excavation.
“That road also goes into the mountains so it may be the fact that they’re digging some kind of structure that’s going to be out in front and that there’s going to be a tunnel in the mountains,” said Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at the institute who studies Iran’s nuclear program. “Or maybe that they’re just going to bury it there.”Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that his inspectors were aware of the construction. He said Iran had previously informed IAEA inspectors, who continue to have access to Iran’s sites despite the country having moved away from many limits of its landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. “They have started, but it’s not completed. It’s a long process,” Grossi said. Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations, would not comment on the satellite images or discuss specifics of the construction, but said Iran was being transparent with its actions.
“Nothing in Iran regarding its peaceful nuclear program is being done in secret, in full keeping with the JCPOA, and as the IAEA has repeatedly confirmed,” Miryousefi said in an email.
“This instance is no different,” he said.
Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, last month told state television the destroyed above-ground facility was being replaced with one “in the heart of the mountains around Natanz.”
Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the JCPOA deal Iran, in which Tehran agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. When the U.S. ramped up sanctions, Iran gradually and publicly abandoned those limits as a series of escalating incidents pushed the two countries to the brink of war at the beginning of the year.
Iran now enriches uranium to up to 4.5% purity, and according to the last IAEA report, had a stockpile of 2,105 kilograms (2.32 tons). Experts typically say 1,050 kilograms (1.15 tons) of low-enriched uranium is enough material to be re-enriched up to weapons-grade levels of 90% purity for one nuclear weapon. Grossi told The Associated Press, however, that the IAEA’s current estimate is that Iran does not yet have enough to produce a weapon.
Iran’s so-called “breakout time” — the time needed for it to build one nuclear weapon if it chose to do so — is estimated now by outside experts to have dropped from one year under the deal to as little as three months. Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, though Western countries fear Tehran could use it to pursue atomic weapons. Natanz, built underground to harden it against airstrikes, long has been at the center of those fears since its discovery in 2002. Centrifuges there still spin in vast halls under 7.6 meters (25 feet) of concrete. Air defense positions surround the facility in Iran’s central Isfahan province. Despite being one of the most-secure sites in Iran, Natanz was targeted by the Stuxnet computer virus — believed to be the creation of the U.S. and Israel — before the nuclear deal.
Full Coverage: Iran
In July, a fire and explosion struck its advanced centrifuge assembly facility in an incident Iran later described as sabotage. Suspicion has fallen on Israel, despite a claim of responsibility by a previously unheard-of group.
There have been tensions with the IAEA and Iran even at Natanz, with Tehran accusing one inspector of testing positive for explosives last year. However, so far inspectors have been able to maintain their surveillance. something Lewis described as very important.
“As long as they declared to the IAEA in the proper time frame, there’s no prohibition on putting things underground,” he said. “For me, the real red line would be if the Iranians started to stonewall the IAEA.”
For now, it remains unclear how deep Iran will put this new facility. And while the sabotage will delay Iran in assembling new centrifuges, Lewis warned the program ultimately would regroup as it had before and continue accumulating ever-more material beyond the scope of the abandoned nuclear deal. “We buy ourselves a few months,” he said. “But what good is a few months if we don’t know what we’re going to use it for?”
*Associated Press writer David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.
*Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Sudanese in Israel fear being returned after normalization
Arab news/Agencies/October 28/2020
TEL AVIV: Sudanese asylum seekers living in Israel fear being kicked out once ties are normalized between the two countries, though some hope their presence will be seen as an advantage. Technically at war with Israel for decades, Sudan on Friday became the third Arab country this year to announce it is normalizing ties with the Jewish state, following the UAE and Bahrain in August. But since the announcement, members of the Sudanese community in Israel have been “very afraid” of being sent back, said 26-year-old Barik Saleh, a Sudanese asylum seeker who lives in a suburb of Tel Aviv.
Israel counts a Sudanese population of around 6,000, mostly asylum seekers. Thousands of others left or were forced to return after Sudan split in 2011 when South Sudan won its independence — only for the fledgling country to plunge into civil war. Some of the Sudanese — often labeled as “infiltrators” for crossing illegally into Israeli territory before being granted permission to stay — were minors when they arrived. They are not always allowed to work, and they cannot gain Israeli citizenship. Saleh, who grew up in West Darfur, was just nine when his family fled war to neighboring Chad. “My parents are in a refugee camp,” said the young man, who arrived after journeying through Libya and Egypt, and has lived in Israel for 13 years. “I will be the first one for normalization,” he said. “But if I will be deported from here, then I will be in 100 percent danger,” he added.
Former President Omar Bashir oversaw Sudan’s civil war in the Darfur region from 2003. Some 300,000 people died in the conflict and 2.5 million were forced from their homes. Bashir, in detention in Khartoum, is wanted by the International Criminal Court over charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. “We are here because it is not safe to go back to Sudan yet,” said 31-year-old Monim Haroon, who comes from a stronghold region of Darfuri rebel leader Abdelwahid Nour’s Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) faction. “The reason why we are here in Israel is not because of the lack of a diplomatic relationship between Sudan and Israel, but because of the genocide and ethnic cleansing that we went through,” Haroon said. Sudan’s transitional government, in place after the fall of Bashir in 2019, signed a landmark peace deal with an alliance of rebel groups earlier this month. But Nour’s rebel faction was not one of them. Some of those in power in Sudan today were also in control under Bashir. They include Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, vice president of Sudan’s ruling transitional sovereign council. He heads the feared Rapid Support Forces, long accused by human rights groups of committing widespread abuses in Sudan’s Darfur provinces. “For me it is very dangerous,” said Haroon, who was previously head of Nour’s office in Israel. “Unless Abdelwahid signs a peace agreement, I cannot go back.”
In Neve Shaanan, a suburb of Tel Aviv known for its asylum seeker community, stalls and restaurants offer Sudanese food, including a version of the popular bean dish “foul,” served with grated cheese. Usumain Baraka, a smartly dressed 26-year-old who works nearby, has finished a master’s degree in public policy at a university in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv. Like Saleh, he too was nine when he fled Darfur for Chad, where his mother still lives in a refugee camp. “They (militiamen) killed my dad and my big brother, and they took everything we had in the village,” Baraka said. “At one point I had two options: To go back to Darfur to fight for a rebel group, or leave the camp and try to have a normal life.”While the young men who AFP spoke to expressed fear that their presence in Israel would be at risk under the normalization agreement, some said they would like the Jewish state to see it as an asset rather than a burden.
Haroon said Sudanese in Israel could be a “bridge” between the countries, not only in the private sector, but also to help build understanding between the two peoples. “I hope the Israeli government will see this potential asset, the important role that we can bring promoting the interest of the two countries,” he said. Both Sudan and Israel have said in recent days that migration would be one of the issues on the agenda during upcoming meetings on bilateral cooperation. “Israel is my second home,” said asylum seeker Saleh. “There is no language that I speak better than Hebrew, even my own local language.” But Jean-Marc Liling, an Israeli lawyer specialized in asylum issues, warned that with the normalization announcement, the return of Sudanese asylum seekers would likely be on the government’s radar. “The first thing that comes to the government’s mind is: we’ll be able to send back the ‘infiltrators’,” Liling said.
 

Celebrating a crucial milestone for the people of Sudan and for the United States
Jonathan Schanzer/The Washington Times/October 28/2020
Diplomatic breakthrough marks the end of Sudan being controlled by war criminals and terrorists
President Donald Trump announced by tweet last week yet another Middle East peace achievement. Building off of the historic deals between Israel and the Persian Gulf nations of Bahrain the United Arab Emirates, Sudan has followed suit. But this is more than just a diplomatic breakthrough. It marks a crucial milestone for the people of Sudan, and for the United States. For the Sudanese people, it is the end of a three-decades long saga during which their country was controlled war criminals and terrorists. The saga began in 1989, when strongman Omar al-Bashir rose to power. Sudan became a Muslim Brotherhood state, advised by Hassan al-Turabi, a jihadist ideologue who hosted annual Islamist conferences attended by myriad terrorist groups — Hamas, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda to name a few. The State Department justifiably added Sudan on the State Sponsor of Terrorism list in 1993. Sudan, in fact, was the early headquarters of Osama bin Laden before he moved his operation to Afghanistan in 1996. The attacks of 9/11 forced the Bashir government to purge its Sunni jihadists. But, the country’s problems did not end. In 2003, a war in the Darfur region erupted, with rebel groups challenging the central government in Khartoum. Mr. Bashir responded with brutality, leading to charges of war crimes against him at the International Criminal Court. Mr. Bashir also aided abetted the activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran — also a state sponsor of terrorism — granting it a safe haven in Africa to distribute arms to violent nonstate actors, including the Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas. In 2012, the Israeli warplanes screamed across the skies of Sudan and destroyed a warehouse in Khartoum filled with lethal Iranian rockets. Soon after, the Bashir government began to usher the departure of Iranian agents.
But it was not until 2019 that the terrorists were finally purged. After five months of protests reminiscent of the Arab Spring, the Sudanese people ousted Omar al-Bashir. A new, transitional government took over. And while it is far from a liberal democracy, it has enacted reforms like separating mosque and state, and outlawing female genital mutilation. In short, it’s on the right path. Earlier this year, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the chairman of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council held a surprise meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, raising the specter of normalization between Israel and Sudan, which viewed Israel as an enemy since the 1950s, and officially declared war against it in 1967. The Trump administration, already at work on several other peace agreements in the region, took notice. Throughout the spring and summer, Sudan pushed the United States to remove it from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. The Trump administration, in turn, pushed Sudan to normalize ties with Israel. It was a tough negotiation. But in the end, both sides got what they wanted.

Head of Sudan’s ruling council defends Israel deal: We were not blackmailed
Reuters 28 October/2020
The military leader of Sudan's ruling council sought to defend on Monday a US-backed agreement to establish relations with Israel, saying the deal was yet to be concluded and could benefit Sudan as it struggles with a profound economic crisis. In his first public comments on the deal, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said he had consulted the prime minister and most political forces before the agreement was announced on Friday in a call with US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The move is controversial in Sudan, once a staunch enemy of Israel, and has stirred opposition from some prominent political factions. "I always prefer to call it reconciliation instead of normalization," Burhan said in a televised interview. "So far, we have not concluded an agreement. We will sign with the other two parties, America and Israel, on the aspects of cooperation."Burhan leads a military-civilian sovereign council that took charge after the ouster of former president Omar al-Bashir last year following popular protests. A government of technocrats has been grappling with an economic crisis that includes rapid inflation, a weakening currency, and shortages of essential goods.
Sudan won the prospect of some relief last week when the United States confirmed it would lift Khartoum from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that had blocked international funding and debt relief. Many Sudanese saw the move as unduly delayed and deployed to pressure Sudan into accepting the deal on Israel. "We were not subjected to blackmail," said Burhan. "We lay down our interests and we found benefits, and it could be that we gain more than the other parties." Burhan said tense relations with the civilian component of the sovereign council had improved recently, and that he had agreed with civilian political leaders that the deal on Israel should be approved by a yet-to-be formed legislative council.

Arab coalition destroys six Houthi drones, three missiles targeting Saudi Arabia
Arab news/Agencies/October 28/2020
RIYADH: The Arab coalition intercepted and destroyed six armed Houthi drones targeting the Kingdom in a coordinated atack on Wednesday. The drones targeted civilians and residential property, coalition spokesman Col. Turki Al-Maliki said. The coalition, he said, is taking steps to ensure people remain safe from Houthi attacks. Later on Wednesday, the coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles targeting the Saudi cities of Jazan, Najran and Khamis Mushait. It also countered a hostile threat targeting civilians in the Kingdom by destroying two "targets in the air" launched by the Iran backed Houthis, Al-Ekhbariya reported. Al-Maliki said the Houthi militia's hostile behaviour is against international law. The UAE condemned the Houthi attacks and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation described the strikes as a dangerous escalation. The ministry added that it stands in solidarity with the Kingdom and supports any measures it takes to ensure the safety and security of its citizens and residents. The ministry said that the security of both the UAE and Saudi Arabia are indivisible, and that any threat or danger facing the Kingdom is considered by the UAE as a threat to its own security and stability. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) also condemned the attacks as a flagrant violation of international law that threatens the security of Gulf states. The GCC supports Saudi Arabia’s measures to protect its security and called on the international community to confront Houthi attempts to destabilize security in the region, Secretary-General Nayef Falah M. Al-Hajraf said.

Algeria’s president transferred to Germany for treatment
Arab news/Agencies/October 28/2020
The transfer to Germany was made at the request of the presidency staff, according to a press release. The statement announcing the Algerian leader’s hospitalization on Tuesday said his condition was stable

ALGIERS: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was transferred to Germany for specialist medical treatment Wednesday, a day after his country’s presidency announced he had been hospitalized but did not reveal why. Several senior officials in the 75-year-old president’s entourage developed COVID-19 symptoms on Saturday, and the president was placed in what the government called “voluntary preventive confinement.” It was unclear if Tebboune’s current hospitalization was connected. The transfer to Germany was made at the request of the presidency staff, according to a press release from the presidency broadcast on national television Wednesday. The statement announcing the Algerian leader’s hospitalization on Tuesday said his condition was stable. It did not reveal the cause of his illness or say when the hospitalization occurred. The statement said that while Tebboune was admitted to a specialized care unit in Algiers on the recommendation of his doctors, “the state of health of the president of the republic...does not inspire any concern.”

Women on 10 Flights from Qatar Invasively Examined
Agence France Presse/October 28/2020
Australia revealed Wednesday that female passengers on 10 planes flying out of Doha were forced to endure "appalling" physical examinations, as Qatar expressed regret for the distress caused to the women.
The Gulf emirate had already been facing a huge hit to its reputation after reports emerged that women were removed from a Sydney-bound Qatar Airways flight and forced to undergo vaginal inspections on October 2. The searches were carried after a newborn baby had been abandoned at Doha airport. Qatar's government said Wednesday in its first account of the events that the baby had been wrapped in plastic and left to die in a rubbish bin. But Australia continued to pile pressure on Qatar, with Foreign Minister Marise Payne announcing that the number of planes targeted was much greater than a single flight. She told a Senate committee that women on "10 aircraft in total" had been subject to the searches, including 18 women -- including 13 Australians -- on flight to Sydney. AFP understands one French woman on the Sydney-bound plane was also among them. Payne did not detail the destinations of the other flights, adding she was unaware if any Australian women were on those planes. Payne had already described the incidents as "grossly disturbing" and "offensive". Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also weighed into the controversy on Wednesday, describing the treatment of the women as "appalling" and "unacceptable". "As a father of a daughter, I could only shudder at the thought that anyone would, Australian or otherwise, would be subjected to that," he said. Qatar is a conservative Muslim monarchy, where sex and childbirth out of wedlock are punishable by jail. Ahead of its hosting of football's World Cup in 2022, it has struggled to reassure critics that its promises on women's rights, labour relations and democracy are credible.
'Distress'
Facing potentially devastating commercial and reputational damage, Qatar's government released a statement Wednesday to explain its version of events while promising to ensure the future "safety, security and comfort" of passengers. "While the aim of the urgently-decided search was to prevent the perpetrators of the horrible crime from escaping, the State of Qatar regrets any distress or infringement on the personal freedoms of any traveller caused by this action," the statement. Prime Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al-Thani had ordered an investigation and the results would be shared with international partners, it added. However the statement did not specifically detail that women had been forcibly examined, only referring to a "search for the parents". The statement said the newborn baby was a girl and had been "concealed" in a plastic bag and buried under garbage in the bin. "The baby girl was rescued from what appeared to be a shocking and appalling attempt to kill her. The infant is now safe under medical care in Doha," it said. Human Rights Watch called Wednesday for the airport incident to trigger much greater reforms to protect women. "In Qatar and across the Gulf region, sexual relations outside of wedlock are criminalised, meaning a pregnant woman who is not married, even if the pregnancy is the result of rape, may end up facing arrest and prosecution," the watchdog said in a statement. "Qatar should prohibit forced gynaecological exams and investigate and bring to account any individuals who authorised any demeaning treatment. It should also decriminalise sex outside of wedlock." Qatar Airways is one of the few airlines that has maintained flights to Australia since the country closed its international border early in the pandemic and restricted the return of its own citizens.

Trump lifts ban that prohibits funding Israeli scientific research in West Bank
Reuters/West Bank/Wednesday 28 October 2020
The Trump administration lifted a decades-old ban on Wednesday that had prohibited US taxpayer funding for Israeli scientific research conducted in Jewish settlements in occupied territory, drawing Palestinian condemnation. With Tuesday’s US election approaching, President Donald Trump’s move was praised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and could resonate with evangelical Christian voters who support Israeli settlement in the West Bank. The West Bank settlement of Ariel, the site of an Israeli university, was chosen as the venue for a ceremony opening a new avenue of US scientific cooperation with Israeli researchers. Palestinians, who seek the West Bank for a future state, said the move made Washington complicit in what they termed Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise. In Ariel, Netanyahu and David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, revised three agreements reached between 1972 and 1977, enabling researchers in settlements to apply for US government funds. They also signed a new scientific and technology cooperation accord. Under the now-lifted prohibition, research money for Israelis could not be distributed in areas such as the West Bank that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Most countries view permanent settlements on such land as a violation of the Geneva Conventions, though Israel disputes this. “The Trump vision ... opens Judea and Samaria to academic, commercial and scientific engagement with the US,” Netanyahu said at the ceremony in Ariel, using biblical names for West Bank territory. “This is an important victory against all those who seek to delegitimise everything Israeli beyond the 1967 lines.”Friedman said $1.4 billion had been invested by three US-Israeli research cooperation funds since 1972. A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said lifting of the funding ban represented “American participation in the occupation of Palestinian lands”. The Trump administration last year effectively backed Israel’s right to build West Bank settlements by abandoning a long-held US position that they were “inconsistent with international law”. At the ceremony, Netanyahu again praised Trump for his “successful approach to bringing peace to our region”, citing US-brokered deals for diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 28-29/2020

Russia-Turkey and Surrogate Warfare
Charles Elias Chartouni/October 28/2020
شارل الياس شرتوني: روسيا وتركيا والحرب البديلة

http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/91853/charles-elias-chartouni-russia-turkey-and-surrogate-warfare-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%b1%d9%88%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%a7-%d9%88%d8%aa/
The latest Russian retaliatory strikes on the Turkish affiliated Syrian rebels highlight the forthcoming conflict dynamics between the two, and their overlapping strategic landscapes extending between the Caucasus, the Mediterranean waters and the Arab hinterland. The Turkish and Russian forays and the checkmating game all along the rainbow extending between the Middle East, Northeast Africa and Southern Caucasus are quite indicative of exponential conflicts that are likely to nurture domestic instability, expand the scope of strategic voids, and question international civility and the likelihood of UN arbitration and negotiated conflict resolution all along the widening spectrum of hostilities. The Russian military strikes aim at drawing strategic limes, setting a limit to the discretionary inroads attempted by Erdogan, and containing his inclination to instrumentalize Islamist terrorism in his subjugation tactics. This firm message should be seized by NATO to reinvest the variegated conflict landscapes, impose international mediations and negotiated solutions, and bring back diplomacy and UN arbitration to the foreground of imploding geopolitics.
Containment and cooptation are preliminaries if we were to oversee geopolitical stabilization, negotiated conflict resolution and State building, and put an end to this state of open ended conflicts, Islamic militancy and nihilism. The Russian bludgeoning is timely and of good omen to redress strategic imbalances, sustain the ongoing international arbitration showcased in Lybia, sound a dire warning in the Caucasus, stabilize the tectonics of the Syrian-Iraqi marshes, and convey a sobering message to the Iranians. Nonetheless, short of an overall Western containement strategy, relayed by a comprehensive scheme of normalization, peace making and State building, this strategic arc of conflict is likely to perpetuate and become a major source of international instability, widespread incivility and nihilistic drifts and proliferation of Islamic totalitarian proclivities ( Islam neigt zum Totalitären / Islam totalitarian proclivities, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Der Spiegel, 18, 2003 ).

The Future of Arab Normalization with Israel
Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/October 28/2020
Israel is a stabilizing influence in an unstable region of the world. It is a democracy, a military and technological innovator, an economically advanced country. It can assist its new allies in each of these areas, as it has already begun to do even in the short time since normalization began.
This may be their last opportunity to achieve a reasonable two state solution. Israel's Arab neighbors have demonstrated that the Palestinian cause is not as high on their agenda as it appeared to be in the past. These nations understand that the situation the Palestinians now find themselves in have been the result of self-inflicted wounds -- most importantly an unwillingness to take yes for an answer when the Israelis have offered them statehood.
Even now, the Palestinian leadership refuses to sit down and negotiate with Israel. They must understand that they will not get a state as the result of the boycott movement, protests on university campuses or meaningless resolutions of the United Nations. Recent developments make it clear that statehood for the Palestinians will come only through negotiations with Israel.
Now that the Sudan has joined the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in normalizing relations with Israel, the future seems bright for even more Arab countries to make peace with their former enemy. Pictured: An Etihad Airways flight carrying a delegation from the United Arab Emirates on a first official visit, lands at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport on October 20, 2020.
Now that the Sudan has joined the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in normalizing relations with Israel, the future seems bright for even more Arab countries to make peace with their former enemy. The big prize, of course, would be Saudi Arabia, and already we are hearing rumors from its leaders pointing in that direction. Even Lebanon, which currently houses Hezbollah, has dropped hints about possible peace overtures.
The possibility does exist that before long, most of the Sunni Arab states will recognize that their interests lie in a peace process with Israel. They will see the economic, technological, diplomatic and military advantages in having Israel as an ally instead of an enemy.
An important uniting force behind this movement is Iran, a non-Arab Shiite Muslim state, which is a destabilizing force among other Muslim nations. Iran is the largest exporter of terrorism and the only country with the potential for developing a nuclear arsenal. Its hegemonic goals extend throughout the Middle East and require the overthrow of stable Sunni regimes. These regimes realize that Israel, which is the primary target of Iran's animosity, will never allow it to develop nuclear weapons. They also realize that Israel plays an important role in constraining Iran's exportation of terrorism.
But more is involved in this new development than the old cliché of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Israel is a stabilizing influence in an unstable region of the world. It is a democracy, a military and technological innovator, an economically advanced country. It can assist its new allies in each of these areas, as it has already begun to do even in the short time since normalization began.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump hinted at the possibility that Iran may someday join in the process toward a more stable and peaceful Middle East. That seems unlikely with the current regime. The Ayatollahs, with the help of American sanctions, are bankrupting Iran and destroying its historically affluent middle class. Were there to be a popular election, the current regime would fall. The middle unity of Sunni Arab nations with Israel may increase the pressure for regime change in Iran. That would be a good thing for the Iranians and for the region.
The other outlying regime is Turkey, which is a military powerhouse and a member of NATO. Although the Turkish people, like the Iranian people, have no history of hatred against the nation state of the Jewish people, its current leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, like the Iranian Ayatollahs, has stirred up hatred and animosity. They have done so largely for domestic reasons, to distract attention from their failed leadership. It is ironic that not so long ago, Iran and Turkey were Israel's closest allies in the Middle East, while the Arab states that are not in the process of making peace with Israel were its most intransigent enemies. The Middle East has changed quickly and it can change back just as quickly.
The big losers from these new developments are the Palestinians. Their leadership has "never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity," as Israel's former Foreign Minister Abba Eban put it. This may be their last opportunity to achieve a reasonable two state solution. Israel's Arab neighbors have demonstrated that the Palestinian cause is not as high on their agenda as it appeared to be in the past. These nations understand that the situation the Palestinians now find themselves in have been the result of self-inflicted wounds -- most importantly an unwillingness to take yes for an answer when the Israelis have offered them statehood.
Even now, the Palestinian leadership refuses to sit down and negotiate with Israel. They must understand that they will not get a state as the result of the boycott movement, protests on university campuses or meaningless resolutions of the United Nations. Recent developments make it clear that statehood for the Palestinians will come only through negotiations with Israel. The time has come for the Palestinian Authority to join with other Sunni Arabs in recognizing that the nation state of the Jewish people is here to stay and that negotiation is the only road to statehood and a permanent peace that will benefit both the Palestinian and Israelis, as well as the rest of the region, and indeed the entire world.
*Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School and author of the book, Guilt by Accusation: The Challenge of Proving Innocence in the Age of #MeToo, Skyhorse Publishing, 2019. His new podcast, "The Dershow," can be seen on Spotify, Apple and YouTube. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2020 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.

See No Evil: Europe Supports Genocidal Regime in Iran
Benjamin Weinthal/Gatestone Institute/October 28/2020
Swiss and German economic deals might be aiding Iran's illicit nuclear weapons program.... The Swiss firm Ceresola TLS reached an agreement [in 2010] with the Rahab Engineering Establishment in Iran to deliver tunneling technology as part of a subway project. This is precisely the type of heavy earth-moving equipment Iran's rulers need to burrow away nuclear facilities underground, as the regime did with the Qom and Natanz nuclear enrichment plants.
The German company Krempel delivered to two Iranian companies insulating pressboards that were incorporated into Iranian missiles armed with chemical warheads, which were used by the Syrian regime in a chlorine gas attack in January 2018. The attack resulted in 21 injuries, including six children.
The Association of Iranian Banks in Europe wrote in July: "45 percent of the EU exports to Iran came from Germany, which delivered goods worth 555 million Euro, with an increase of 31 percent compared to last year."
Europe's most powerful economic engine, Germany, and the rest of the EU have sadly opted to align themselves with the Islamic Republic of Iran on the pressing issues of Iran's nuclear program, and its stomach-turning human rights record.
The German company Krempel delivered to two Iranian companies insulating pressboards that were incorporated into Iranian missiles armed with chemical warheads, which were used by the Syrian regime in a chlorine gas attack in January 2018. The attack resulted in 21 injuries, including six children. Pictured: A Syrian girl holds an oxygen mask over the face of an infant at a makeshift hospital following a chlorine gas attack on the town of Douma, near Damascus on January 22, 2018.
To better understand Europe's current policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran, it is worth citing an episode recounted in a 2006 essay by Iran expert Amir Taheri.
In 1984, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, then foreign minister of the Federal Republic of Germany and an ex-member of the Nazi party, traveled to Iran in an attempt to moderate the malign conduct of the then five-year-old revolutionary regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Genscher declared his intention to engage in "critical dialogue" with the regime, but the notion sparked the joke that "critical dialogue" was really "an exercise in joint criticism, by the mullahs and the Europeans, of the Americans," Taheri wrote. The German foreign minister announced at the time that his dialogue with Iran's rulers was a success in "intensifying" political relations between then West Germany and the Islamic Republic.
Thirty-six years after Genscher introduced the phrase "critical dialogue" into Europe-Iran diplomacy, it is clear that his policy has failed.
Take the most recent example of the obsolete concept of critical dialogue: Tehran's murder last month of the innocent champion wrestler Navid Afkari, which yet again thrust into the global spotlight the regime's utter disregard for basic standards of human rights championed by Europe.
Tehran hanged Afkari for his protest, as part of nation-wide demonstrations, against the fundamental political and financial corruption of Iran's current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The failure of critical dialogue is also apparent in Europe's business ties with Iran. Germany's eagerness to do business with Iran's regime has been a constant since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Genscher noted in 1984 that economic relations remained solid during the period 1979-1984. Iran's 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran and its taking hostage of 52 American diplomats and citizens, who were held for 444 days, did nothing to upset German-Iranian relations.
Likewise, Europe works not only to keep Iran's regime afloat but also, witting or unwittingly, to enhance Tehran's military apparatus through the provision of dual-use goods (civilian technology that also could have a military purpose).
Switzerland's embassy in Iran, for example, boasted on its Twitter feed on October 19:
"Signed during President Rouhani's visit to Bern in July 2018, the road transportation agreement between #Iran + #Switzerland has passed Majlies with a large majority. The agreement facilitates #bilateral goods + passenger transport, marking the expansion of ties + int'l trade."
It is unclear what type of equipment is involved in the road transportation deal between Bern and Tehran. Governments and monitors of nuclear and long-range missile proliferation should be deeply suspicious of the agreement. As my colleague Mark Dubowitz and I revealed in a 2010 Wall Street Journal article, Swiss and German economic deals might be aiding Iran's illicit nuclear weapons program.
We disclosed in 2010 that the Swiss firm Ceresola TLS reached an agreement with the Rahab Engineering Establishment in Iran to deliver tunneling technology as part of a subway project. This is precisely the type of heavy earth-moving equipment Iran's rulers need to burrow away nuclear facilities underground, as the regime did with the Qom and Natanz nuclear enrichment plants.
Similarly, in 2018, the German newspaper Bild revealed that Berlin's Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control had ostensibly approved a deal for the Krempel company to sell militarily applicable technology to Iranian companies.
Krempel delivered to two Iranian companies insulating pressboards that were incorporated into Iranian missiles armed with chemical warheads, which were used by the Syrian regime in a chlorine gas attack in January 2018. The attack resulted in 21 injuries, including six children. The pressboards manufactured by Krempel can also be inserted into motors.
The United States government, under both the Obama and Trump administrations has classified Iran's regime as the world's leading state-sponsor of terrorism.
Germany has, nevertheless, possibly been the principal adversary of the U.S. "maximum pressure" campaign to isolate Iran's regime and advance Middle East security.
Politico's chief Europe correspondent, Matthew Karnitschnig, wrote this month, "Since [Senator John] McCain's death in 2018, Germany has refused to back the U.S. on just about every major foreign policy front, whether concerning China, Russia, Iran, Israel or the broader Middle East."
Mahmoud Vaezi, chief of staff for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, also recently stressed after a meeting with Germany's ambassador to Tehran, Hans-Udo Muzel, that "Germany has been Iran's traditional partner."
In September, the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce and Industry proudly tweeted a statement from its managing director, Dagmar von Bohnstein: "Potentials are high, trade between #IRN and #GER is increasing and German medium enterprises now know how to deal with sanctions."
In other words, the pro-Iran business group in Germany is celebrating its ability to circumvent U.S. sanctions targeting the regime for its malign activities. Germany's foreign ministry has made no secret of its efforts to weaken U.S. sanctions.
Last year, Germany's Social Democratic foreign minister, Heiko Maas, sent his business diplomat, Miguel Berger, to a conference to teach how to evade American sanctions. Björn Stritzel, a Bild journalist, wrote at the time in a scathing commentary:
"While the Tehran regime plays with fire, Germany is also offering the mullahs a stage in Berlin! Yesterday, the Federal Foreign Office sent a business director [Miguel Berger] to a conference to give tips on how to cleverly bypass US sanctions against Iran. Every penny from the business deals that were initiated there [at the conference] flows directly into Tehran's terrorist coffers, with which the mullahs oppress their own people."
Berger has since been promoted to state secretary of the German foreign office.
In October, the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce announced that trade between the two countries in the first eight months of 2020 was up 8%, and exceeded 1.1 billion euros. The great majority of the trade consisted of German exports to Iran, including "industrial machines" such as "pumps and compressors" -- once again, the exact type of technology that Tehran could utilize for military purposes.
The Association of Iranian Banks in Europe wrote in July:
"45 percent of the EU exports to Iran came from Germany, which delivered goods worth 555 million Euro, with an increase of 31 percent compared to last year. Germany remains the most important european trade partner of Iran with an increase by 25 percent in trade volume..."
All of these trade numbers and deals between Germany and Iran bespeak a profound indifference to international security and the safety of the Jewish state. This despite Chancellor Angela Merkel's famous declaration to Israel's Knesset in 2008 that the security of the Jewish state is "non-negotiable" for her administration.
The massive gap between her rhetoric and her actions belies a largely pro-Iran regime foreign policy. Merkel's version of critical dialogue has built on Genscher's 1984 version. Whereas back then, the U.S. was the object of "critical dialogue" along the lines of Amir Taheri's anecdotal joke and the whipping boy for the German government, both Israel and the U.S. now face the wrath of Merkel's government and the German Bundestag.
Disturbingly, Merkel's administration has shifted away from the West and toward Russia's Vladimir Putin, the Communist Party of China, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Europe's most powerful economic engine, Germany, and the rest of the EU have sadly opted to align themselves with the Islamic Republic of Iran on the pressing issues of Iran's nuclear program, and its stomach-turning human rights record.
*Benjamin Weinthal is a fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal
© 2020 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.

How Turkey manufactured a 'crisis' with France over 'cartoons'
Seth J. Frantzman/The Jerusalem Post/October 28/2020
The way Ankara invented this crisis is similar to other manufactured crises pushed by Turkey’s far-right government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey has sought to leverage a crisis that Ankara largely invented with France to push its influence in the Islamic world by portraying Ankara as a “defender” of Islam.
The manufactured controversy hinges on claims that France is “Islamophobic” and that France’s President Emmanuel Macron has defended cartoons that are offensive to Muslims.
The cartoon controversy dates back half a decade and arose only because an extremist murdered a teacher in France. Rather than condemn the extremist and the murder, Turkey’s president and media contrived to use the murder to bash France. The latest moves by Turkey include comparing Muslims in Europe to Jews before the Holocaust and calling for a boycott of French goods. The move is coordinated with Qatar and being pushed by Iran’s regime as well.
The way Ankara invented this crisis is similar to other manufactured crises pushed by Turkey’s far-right government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his regime’s support for Muslim Brotherhood affiliates across the Middle East, such as Hamas.
Since last year, Turkey has created a new crises every month, with the US in Syria in October 2019 and then with Libya and then Egypt, then Europe, Russia, the Syrian regime, Libya again, Greece, Cyprus, Iraq, then Armenia, Greece again, then Armenia and then Greece yet again and then with France.
Turkey has bombed Iraq, invaded and ethnically cleansed Kurds in Syria, invaded Libya, challenged the French Navy at sea, harassed Greek F-16s, used Russia’s S-400 air defense system and prodded Azerbaijan into a war with Armenia, while sending Syrian mercenaries paid by Ankara to fight in Libya and Azerbaijan and using drones to attack Kurdish activists in Syria and Iraq, all while claiming Turkey is fighting “terrorism.”
Turkey hosted Hamas twice for high-level meetings and has threatened to “liberate Al-Aqsa” in Jerusalem and said that “Jerusalem is ours,” in reference to Israel’s capital, all while also threatening US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and bashing the Trump administration for supporting Israel.
THE ORIGINS of the attacks on France go back to November 2019, when Turkey’s leader condemned Macron as “brain dead.” The comments are part of a rising crescendo of comments by Turkey’s regime bashing Europe.
In January Turkey’s foreign minister claimed Europe was full of “racist spoiled children” who should “know their place.” On October 25 he again said Europe was full of “spoiled racists.”
The same Turkish regime that brands Europe as racist has expunged 60 of 65 mayors from the opposition HDP party, targeting members of the Kurdish minority, and has systematically expelled Kurds from Turkish-occupied areas of northern Syria.
Ankara also frequently bashes Jews, comparing Israel to the Nazis in a speech at the UN in September 2019 and downplaying the Holocaust in comments this week in which Turkey claimed Muslims are the new Jews of Europe being subjected to a “lynch” similar to what Jews faced during the Second World War. Turkey frequently compares European countries to Nazi Germany, but Ankara rarely commemorates the actual Holocaust, instead repurposing Jewish suffering to leverage its own recent rhetoric against Israel and Europe today.
Turkey was increasingly in tensions with France over the Eastern Mediterranean and France’s willingness to speak out against Turkish aggression in the Mediterranean, Libya, Armenia and Iraq. In July an incident at sea led France to condemn Turkey and complain to NATO. The issue was so sensitive that NATO would not reveal details of the investigation in September. However, it appears that Turkey also used S-400 radar to track NATO-member Greek F-16s in August, showing that Ankara was using Russian weapon systems against NATO. Ankara used the radar during a joint exercise between France, Italy, Greece and Cyprus. On September 12 Turkey threatened France, saying “don’t mess with Turkey,” amid near-daily threats by Erdogan against almost every country in the Middle East and Europe. On September 30 Macron slammed Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan’s war against Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.
This set the stage for the next manufactured crisis. In early October Turkey decided to shift its crises policy from attacking Armenia to harassing Greece with the declaration of a new naval Navtex drill with its navy near a Greek island. France condemned Turkey for harassing Greece, a NATO ally, on October 12.
Ankara’s leadership then decided to push a new crisis with France over Macron’s comments about Muslims. Macron believes France is facing provocations by Islamist extremists and has called this “separatism” as he pushes French values of secularism. Turkey bashed France on October 5 over these comments. Macron had made the comments after yet another terrorist attack on the magazine Charlie Hebdo which had published cartoons in 2015 that were considered offensive. Meanwhile a French teacher named Samuel Paty was murdered on October 16, accused of showing offensive cartoons in a class on October 6. France went into national mourning.
Turkey’s leadership set upon the murder of the teacher to attack France for “Islamophobia,” even though the teacher was a victim of Islamist extremism. Turkey’s president said that Macron needed “mental treatment,” and France recalled its ambassador on October 25. Turkey mobilized its state media TRT and other media such as Anadolu to attack France, coordinating with Qatari media. Iranian media also followed suit, bashing France for “anti-Islam comments.”
After France recalled its ambassador, Turkey realized the crisis could help benefit Ankara since Turkey was about the cancel the Navtex, fearing clashes with Greece. To create a crisis with France, to replace the Greek crisis, Turkey needed to portray itself as “defending Islam.” Turkey’s regime also knew the US had just brokered a deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia and that Turkey couldn’t continue to push Azerbaijan toward an escalating war. This left Ankara with only one option: Fan the flames of crises with France.
On October 26, Turkey’s president called for a boycott of French goods. This was an entirely invented crisis. France hadn’t done anything to Turkey and there were no new “anti-Islam” comments from France or any actions at all from Paris that related to the sudden “boycott.”
The way Ankara coordinated the crisis with its pro-government media was clear from how Turkey’s president used similar themes from media commentators. On October 24 Anadolu had published an article saying that “Islamophobia is replacing antisemitism” in France. On October 26 Turkey’s president said the exact same thing, claiming Muslims were being treated in Europe the same as Jews had been.
Turkey’s media is almost all pro-government and linked to the ruling party in Turkey because Ankara has imprisoned the most journalists in the world, silencing all dissent. This means that articles at TRT or Anadolu reflect the narrative put out by Ankara every morning, closely coordinated with the AK Party. There is no criticism of Turkey’s leadership in major media in Turkey, so every crises with countries like France can be pushed systematically from the top down. In this case Turkey revealed its narrative two days before the president pushed this story of “Muslims are the new Jews of Europe.”
Iran has followed Turkey’s narrative by calling in French diplomats for consultation. Pro-Turkish media elements have also pushed for protests across the Middle East, trying to transform the boycott of France into a global “Islamic” cause. This puts many Muslim countries in a difficult position, not wanting to defend offensive cartoons in France, but wondering why this is a sudden crisis when France hasn’t appeared to have actually done anything or changed recently.
Turkey, Qatar and Iran have coordinated, putting pressure on countries from Malaysia to Pakistan, Kuwait to the Kurdistan region, with many forced to respond in some way to the France “controversy.”

Media bias and the US election
Ray Hanania/Arab News/October 28/2020
Four years ago, a succession of American newspaper polls predicted Hillary Clinton would easily win the presidential election and defeat Donald Trump. On election day, Trump proved them all wrong. How?
In part, Clinton took Trump for granted, in her own arrogant and entitled manner, disparaging his supporters by pejoratively describing them as a “basket of deplorables.” Another reason was that much of the news media also took Trump for granted, refusing to take him seriously and attacking him at every turn, every misstep and every spoken stumble. What Clinton and sections of the mainstream media failed to grasp was how her attack on Trump and his supporters would solidify them as a loyal base. Calling them “deplorables” so insulted them that, rather than look at Trump, they vented their anger on Clinton and the media. That Clinton arrogance and media bias ultimately made Trump the victor. The “hate divide” that split the country into two resulted in a base that would not be swayed.
In the four years since, not much has really changed. The political attacks on Trump are vicious — far more vicious than they were to the US’ first African American President Barack Obama — and the unrelenting perception of media bias continues to fuel his support base.
Polls have been accurate about one thing over the years: That the public distrusts the news media. A recent survey by Gallup and the Knight Foundation found that nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of Americans see too much bias in the media as a “major problem.”
Sections of the media continue to blame the hate divide on Trump. But the president leads his own communications, makes his own shoot-from-the-hip pronouncements and continues to deal directly with the media outlets that have savaged him during his time in office.
However, the hate divide literally means that the country is divided, with about half supporting the president no matter what and half opposing him no matter what. This means that the brutal battles on the campaign trail will probably not persuade anyone to switch sides.
Following his recent interview on the popular CBS News program “60 Minutes,” Trump’s performance was portrayed as below par. The worst part was that the media unfavorably compared his interview to his rival Joe Biden’s. In truth, Biden stumbled several times, but these were generally ignored by the media. At one point, interviewer Norah O’Donnell even corrected something Biden said as if it was nothing.
O’Donnell asked about foreign policy and the biggest challenges. In his response, Biden said: “What happens now is you have the situation in Korea, where they have more lethal missiles and more capacity than they had before.” O’Donnell quickly corrected him, saying “North Korea,” making the mistake irrelevant. Biden responded by confirming, “North Korea.” Had Trump made that mistake, the media would likely be going berserk, writing about how the president’s rhetoric could have started a nuclear war with a friendly ally rather than a crazed foe.
If you want to know what is happening in next week’s election, don’t pay attention to the mainstream US news media.
After the interview, Biden’s staff also had to correct a figure he quoted. It was explained that the Democratic nominee “misspoke” and that the cost of free public college education could be twice as much as the $150 billion he told O’Donnell. The media would have had a field day had that been Trump.
However, it is the perception of media bias — exaggerated by his supporters and marginalized by his critics — that could carry Trump to victory. The president’s followers are not focused on his leadership as much as they are on the perceived bias against him.
Why were the polls all wrong in 2016? Because the “deplorables” were angry at being vilified by Clinton. So, when the news media calls them to ask how they will vote this time, how many Trump supporters hang up the phone and how many lie to avoid being criticized?
If you want to know what is happening in next week’s election, don’t pay attention to the mainstream US news media. Instead, watch for the results as they come in from four states: North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Florida. Then you will know who is winning, and I think Trump continues to hold an edge in all four.
*Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist. He can be reached on his personal website at www.Hanania.com. Twitter: @RayHanania