LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 10/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 23/13-15:”‘But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on September 09-10/2019
Hezbollah's Dhimmis...
IDF denied Hezbollah shot down Surveilance Deone
Iran, Hizballah’s new ground rules: Instant reprisal for Israeli strikes/DebkaFile/September 09/2019
Hizbullah Says Downs Israeli Drone over South Lebanon
Aoun Hails Political Reconciliations, Says Lebanon Won’t Collapse
U.S. State Dept. Official Begins Lebanon Visit by Meeting Hariri
Hariri Refutes Claims about 'Evading' Russian Military Cooperation
Nasrallah Tells Trump, Netanyahu that Hizbullah, Iran Will Remain Defiant
Fifth PSP Supporter Held over Qabrshoun Incident
Jumblat: Dialogue Restored between PSP, Hizbullah
Khalil Says Cabinet to Begin Discussing 2020 State Budget
Israeli Army Resumes Drilling, Barricading Works Opposite al-Wazzani
Mattis Says Iran Assassinated Hariri
Hezbollah decides alone in face-off with Israel
Lebanese people must rise to country’s many challenges

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 09-10/2019
Airstrikes Kill 18 Pro-Iran Fighters in East Syria: Monitor
Air Strikes At Al Bukamal, The Alleged Iranian Base & The Explosions
UN atomic watchdog confirms Iran installing new centrifuges
Netanyahu Fights for Political Life a Week before Israel Votes
IDF: Shite Militias Fired Rockets At Israel From Syria. The rockets failed to hit Israeli territory.
IAEA: Iran Installing More Advanced Centrifuges for Uranium Enrichment
IRGC Fired Rockets From Syria but Fell Short: Israel Army
Israel's Settlers and the Palestinians They Live Among
Israel Reports Failed Missile Attack after Deadly Raid on Pro-Iran Groups
Netanyahu Accuses Iran of Destroying Secret 'Nuclear Site'
Netanyahu's Bid to Place Cameras at Polling Stations Fails
Abdalla, Career Diplomat Turned Sudan's First Female Foreign Minister
Egyptian Delegation in Gaza to Contain Drone Incident
Egyptian Foreign Minister in Sudan to Begin 'New' Ti
Gargash: Saudi, UAE Messages on Yemen Stress their Strategic Partnership
Queen Approves Brexit Delay Law

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 09-10/2019
Hezbollah's Dhimmis/Dr.Walid Phares/Face Book/September 09/2019
IDF denied Hezbollah shot down Surveilance Deone/Jerusalem Post/September 09/2019
Iran, Hizballah’s new ground rules: Instant reprisal for Israeli strikes/DebkaFile/September 09/2019
Hezbollah decides alone in face-off with Israel/Makram Rabah/The Arab Weekly/September 09/2019
Lebanese people must rise to country’s many challenges/Chris Doyle/Arab News/September 09/2019
IDF: Shite Militias Fired Rockets At Israel From Syria. The rockets failed to hit Israeli territory./Jerusalem Post/September 09/2019
Why Arabs Hate Palestinians/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/September 09/2019
Iran Ready to “Wipe the Zionist Regime off the Map”/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/September 09/2019
Erdogan’s Golden Days are Over/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/September 09/2019
Disarming Iran begins with its Houthi proxy/Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri/Arab News/September 09/2019
Report: Over 120 Syrian churches damaged by war since 2011/AP/September 09/2019
The Increasingly Right Stuff: Religious Parties in Israel’s Upcoming Election/David Pollock and Tamar Hermann The Washington Institute/September 09/2019
Another conference on Libya? Enforce the arms embargo instead/Ben Fishman/The Hill/September 09/2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on September 09-10/2019
Hezbollah's Dhimmis...
Dr.Walid Phares/Face Book/September 09/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/78335/dr-walid-phares-hezbollahs-dhimmis-%d8%af-%d9%88%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%af-%d9%81%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%b3-%d8%b0%d9%85%d9%8a%d9%88-%d8%ad%d8%b2%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%84%d9%87/
Hezbollah is now drawing, in fact recruiting Lebanese Christians. Victims of mass propaganda, money and failure of their politicians...
This has national security consequences for the United States and its Homeland Security.
In a deeper analysis, this is a sign of regression and disorientation. Never under the Lebanese Christian resistance of Bashir Gemayel (1978-1982) and Patriarch Sfeir (2000-2005) Christians opted for one Jihadism (Khomeinist) for fear of another Jihadism (Ikhwan and Salafism).
The Lebanese Christians fought both terror for 15 years, alone. It was only when "the free areas fell" in 1990, leaders were assassinated and politicians were bought for years, that this anomaly was created, and now explained by this abnormal argument that Christians are rushing to Hezbollah to defend themselves from the Jihadists.
No kidding, fleeing to terrorists to defend themselves from terrorists? How about defending themselves from all terrorists? This is mental weakness. They need better leadership.
It is also due also to myopia of their own community leaders and lots of money and influence from and by the Iran axis. In North East Syria, tens of thousands of Christian Syriacs live away from Jihadists and Assad.
They have formed their own defense forces and are fine. So is now the case in northern Nineveh in Iraq. So was the case in South Sudan. The era of being protected by one evil against another evil is gone. It is not about Sunnis and Shia anymore, it is about Jihadist or not Jihadist.

IDF denied Hezbollah shot down Surveilance Deone
Jerusalem Post/September 09/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/78328/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%a8%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a-%d9%81%d8%b5%d9%84-%d8%ac%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%af-%d9%85%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%b3%d9%84%d8%b3%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b3%d9%91%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a7/
The IDF denied claims that Hezbollah shot down a drone in the pre-dawn hours of Monday over south Lebanon, stating that a small surveillance drone crashed. According to the military, the UAV fell in southern Lebanon while performing reconnaissance operations. There was no concern that the Lebanese Shi’ite group got hold of any intelligence from the drone. Hezbollah, meanwhile said they had "confronted" the Israel drone with "appropriate weapons" as it was heading towards the town of Ramiyeh. The wreckage is now in the hands of Hezbollah's fighters, the Iranian-backed terrorist group said in a statement.
The drone came down outside the village where Hezbollah had dug their flagship 1-km.-long cross-border tunnel that infiltrated several dozen meters into northern Israel, close to the communities of Zarit and Shetula.
It was the last one discovered by the IDF in early January, and was the largest and most strategic of the six cross-border tunnels dug by the Lebanese Shi’ite group which had planned to have dozens of terrorists attack the nearby communities in the next war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The incident came a week after Hezbollah and Israel exchanged cross-border fire following an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed two militants planning a drone attack against Israel. It was the fiercest bout of violence since the 2006 Second Lebanon War. While the group retaliated for Syria, Lebanon’s LBCI’s news channel that Hezbollah warned that it would retaliate for an alleged Israel drone attack in their southern Beirut stronghold of Dahiyeh which targeted the group’s precision missile project. “Retaliation over drones will be in kind, and will be at its own time and according to its own circumstances,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned. Nasrallah said while a flare-up with Israel at the border was over, the episode had launched a “new phase” in which the Iran-backed group no longer had red lines. Despite the continued tension along the border, LBCI reported that US mediation regarding the demarcation of the land and maritime borders between Israel and Lebanon is expected to resume “within the next few hours.” US Envoy David Schenker is expected to hold discussions with Lebanese officials, mainly with Speaker Nabih Berri. The UN-demarcated Blue Line currently separates Lebanon and Israel’s territory with more than 200 points. Thirteen of the points are disputed by the Lebanese government. The two countries also have an unresolved maritime border dispute over a triangular area of sea of around 860 sq. km., which extends along several blocks for exploratory offshore drilling Lebanon put for tender two years ago.

Iran, Hizballah’s new ground rules: Instant reprisal for Israeli strikes
DebkaFile/September 09/2019
The swiftness of the pro-Iranian militia’s missile attack on IDF Hermon positions on Monday, Sept.9 – hours after an unidentified air strike on their Abu Kamal bases near the Syria-Iraq border – attested to a radical change of tactics by the forces commanded by the Al Qods chief, Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Arab sources reported that 21 members of Al Qods, the Shiite militias deployed in Syria and Hizballah were killed in that air strike. In reprisal, those forces fired Zelzal 2 surface missiles from a point near Damascus at the iDF’s Hermon bases. They were obeying new orders from Soleimani to henceforth react immediately to any Israeli attacks, copying the Hamas tactic of instant retaliation for IDF attacks.
The IDF’s northern forces were placed on highest alert Monday night and the population advised to stay in protected areas in view of estimates that Iran and its proxies are preparing a second attack in reprisal for the air strike on its Abu Kamal weapons depots in eastern Syria.
The new policy was formulated on Aug. 23 at a secret counsel of war held in Beirut by Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Gen. Hossein Salami, Soleimani and the Hizballah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Since then, Hizballah, the pro-Iranian Shiite militias serving in Syria and Iraq, as well as the Palestinian terrorist organizations deferring to Tehran. have been immersed in preparations to implement the new tactic. Hizballah went first, firing two rockets from Lebanon on Sept. 1 at an IDF military ambulance driving on Israel’s northern border. On Sept. 7, Hamas launched its first explosive drone from the Gaza Strip at an IDF border patrol – an advance from explosive balloons. Both missed their targets. The third incident in the new cycle, the surface missile fired on Monday against IDF positions on Mt. Hermon could easily have been a match to a powder keg. However, Israel’s leaders and military chiefs decided to take advantage of the fact that the Zelzal 2 missed its target and exploded on Syrian soil and refrained from responding. There is no explanation as yet for the premature implosion of the Iran-made missile. But the message it carried was clear: Iranian and pro-Iranian forces will be emulating the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad and for the first time in years have determined to hit back for Israeli attacks on their forces and satellites in Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and Iraq. This presents Israel’s high military command with a new challenge from at least three neighboring borders and a much heightened potential for a major conflagration.

Hizbullah Says Downs Israeli Drone over South Lebanon
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/September 09/2019
Hizbullah said Monday it had shot down an "Israeli drone" as it crossed the border into Lebanon, a week after a flash confrontation between the arch-foes. Fighters from the group "confronted with the appropriate weapons an Israeli drone" heading towards the border village of Ramyeh, a statement said.
The drone is now in the hands of Hizbullah, it added. The Israeli military said a "drone on a routine mission in northern Israel fell," without elaborating on what it was doing nor how it was downed. It said the drone was "simple" and that there was no risk of a breach of information if it fell into enemy hands. The military said the drone fell Sunday, not Monday, and the reason for the discrepancy was not clear. The incident follows an escalation in tensions between the two, which included an exchange of fire on Sunday, September 1, when Hizbullah said it had fired anti-tank missiles into Israel, destroying a military vehicle and killing or wounding those inside. Israel's army said it had responded with around 100 artillery shells after Hizbullah targeted a battalion headquarters and military ambulance, hitting both. Israeli officials denied claims of casualties. Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah later said his organization would respond to any further Israeli attacks with strikes "deep inside Israel" and not just along the border. The flare-up was sparked by an Israeli strike in Syria which killed two Hizbullah fighters on August 24 and was followed by what the movement described as an Israeli drone strike on its southern Beirut suburbs stronghold.
Israel has not acknowledged that attack, but accused Hizbullah and Tehran of colluding to produce precision-guided missiles on Lebanese soil. Israel has staged hundreds of strikes against what it says are Iranian and Hizbullah targets in Syria since the civil war began there in 2011, vowing to prevent its arch-foe Iran from entrenching itself militarily in the neighboring country. But a drone attack by Israel inside Lebanon would mark a departure -- what Nasrallah labelled the first such "hostile action" since a 2006 war between them. The 33-day war killed 1,200 Lebanese -- mostly civilians -- and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. The flaring tensions come just a week ahead of Israel's September 17 election, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen as wanting to avoid a major conflict ahead of the vote.

Aoun Hails Political Reconciliations, Says Lebanon Won’t Collapse
Naharnet/September 09/2019
President Michel Aoun on Monday praised the latest reconciliations between political parties, and urged the Lebanese not to have any fear for the future, the National News Agency reported. "Have no fear for the future as Lebanon will not fall at all," Aoun said. Aoun said that reconciliations are necessary between parties “because it would be difficult to embark on resolving the economic, financial and social challenges amid disagreements," he said. On the upcoming appointments, Aoun said only the best would be selected to assume key positions. Aoun's remarks came during his meeting with Head of the Maronite Central Council, Wadi Khazen, at Baabda palace.

U.S. State Dept. Official Begins Lebanon Visit by Meeting Hariri
Associated Press/Naharnet/September 09/2019
Prime Minister Saad Hariri met Monday evening at the Center House with the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, who was accompanied by the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard.The meeting was held in the presence of Hariri’s adviser ex-minister Ghattas Khoury. A statement issued by Hariri’s office said discussions focused on “the developments in Lebanon and the region, and the bilateral relations between the two countries.”The U.S. Embassy in Beirut meanwhile said that Schenker "reaffirmed the importance of preserving Lebanon's security, stability, and sovereignty." "The Assistant Secretary is conducting a regional tour, including stops in Lebanon, Iraq, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, with the goal of emphasizing the importance of bilateral relationships and underscoring the United States' deep commitment to continuing to work with its partners and allies toward stability in the Middle East and North Africa," the Embassy said in a statement. In Lebanon, Schenker will be joined by Deputy Assistant Secretary for Levant Affairs, Joel Rayburn. Schenker, who is in charge of the file of the land and maritime border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel, is scheduled to meet with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat and Kataeb Party head Sami Gemayel. The U.S. Embassy statement said Schenker, accompanied by U.S. Ambassador Richard, will also meet with officials from the Lebanese Army. He will also conduct interviews with Lebanese media. This is Schenker's first visit to Lebanon since taking the post earlier this year. The Associated Press news agency said Hariri and Schenker discussed the maritime border dispute with Israel. Both Lebanon and Israel are claiming areas with potentially lucrative offshore gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon hopes to unleash offshore oil and gas production as it grapples with an economic crisis.

Hariri Refutes Claims about 'Evading' Russian Military Cooperation
Naharnet/September 09/2019
Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s media office refuted claims on Monday published in Hizbullah’s al-Akhbar newspaper about Lebanon’s military cooperation with Russia. Al-Akhbar published an article on Monday titled “Hariri Evading Military Cooperation with Russia?”“The press office of the PM assures that information contained in the article is false and totally contradicts the course of positive relations with Russia,” said the statement. In its report, al-Akhbar said that “representatives of the Russian army confirmed during the meeting of the Russian-Lebanese Joint Committee Moscow's readiness to provide weapons to Lebanon, without any political conditions, while Western powers provide the Lebanese army with weapons suitable only for internal fighting not ashamed to assert that their weapons are not intended to defend Lebanon from Israeli aggression.” Al-Akhbar added: “The positive atmosphere shown by the Lebanese army towards military cooperation with Russia, remains no more than “good intentions,” as long as Hariri stands in the way of raising the level of this cooperation, in accordance with the desire of the United States and the West.”According to reports, Hariri is expected to visit Moscow early next month.

Nasrallah Tells Trump, Netanyahu that Hizbullah, Iran Will Remain Defiant
Naharnet/September 09/2019
Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday stressed that Hizbullah and Iran will remain defiant in the face of the growing U.S. pressure. “We are fighting a grand battle and America and Israel are trying to besiege our camp,” Nasrallah said in brief political remarks during a religious sermon marking the ninth eve of the Shiite Ashoura commemorations. “Today the leader of our camp is (Iran’s supreme leader) Imam Khamenei… and America is trying to besiege him,” Nasrallah added. “Tonight and tomorrow we will tell (U.S. President Donald) Trump and (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu that we are people whose will cannot be bent by besiegement, sanctions, poverty or hunger,” the Hizbullah leader emphasized. Nasrallah said he will address the latest political developments in a speech marking the last day of Ashoura on Tuesday morning.

Fifth PSP Supporter Held over Qabrshoun Incident
Naharnet/September 09/2019
A fifth supporter of the Progressive Socialist Party was detained Monday in the ongoing probe into the deadly Qabrshmoun incident. The National News Agency said Military Examining Magistrate Marcel Bassil questioned two PSP supporters and two Lebanese Democratic Party supporters in the second interrogation session in the case, in the presence of their lawyers. The LDP supporters included a brother of State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib. “At the end of the session, Judge Bassil issued an arrest warrant for one of the PSP supporters and released the three others on bail,” the National News Agency said. “He scheduled the interrogation of another suspect -- who did not attend today’s session for being outside Lebanon -- for Wednesday,” NNA added. Monday’s arrest raises the number of those held over the incident to five, all of whom are PSP supporters. Two of Gharib’s bodyguard were killed and a third was wounded in a clash with PSP supporters in Qabrshmoun as the minister’s convoy was passing in the Aley district town. A PSP supporter was also injured in the incident and is still in hospital. Gharib and the LDP have accused the PSP supporters of setting up an “ambush” while the PSP has accused the minister’s bodyguards of opening fire first on protesters.

Jumblat: Dialogue Restored between PSP, Hizbullah
Naharnet/September 09/2019
Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat on Monday said that dialogue with Hizbullah has restored normalcy thanks to Speaker Nabih Berri’s efforts. “We are calmly watching the developments and thanks to Speaker (Nabih) Berri, the dialogue with the party was restored after a break, its best to calmly express points of view through communication and emphasize the right of each group for calm expression,” said Jumblat in a tweet. Jumblat added: “We are going to calmly focus on the importance of reforms mainly the electricity sector as advised by (senior French diplomat and interministerial delegate tasked with following up on CEDRE, Pierre) Duquesne as a way to limit the deficit.”On Saturday, Berri brought PSP and Hizbullah delegations for a meeting at the Speakership residence in Ain el-Tineh. The two agreed to settle their differences after months of disputes.

Khalil Says Cabinet to Begin Discussing 2020 State Budget
Naharnet/September 09/2019
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil on Monday held talks at the Grand Serail with Prime Minister Saad Hariri. The National News Agency said the discussions tackled “the general economic and financial situations.”Khalil announced after the meeting that the talks touched on the draft 2020 state budget. “The Cabinet will start holding sessions to discuss the budget next week and there are no major disagreements over it,” Khalil added.

Israeli Army Resumes Drilling, Barricading Works Opposite al-Wazzani
Naharnet/September 09/2019
The Israeli army on Monday resumed drilling and barricading works near the military road that is adjacent to the electronic border fence opposite the Lebanese al-Wazzani park, Lebanon’s National News Agency said. An Israeli military patrol meanwhile combed the military road next to the border wall between the Israeli settlement of Metulla and the hills of the Lebanese town of Adaisseh. The Lebanese Army and UNIFIL peacekeepers were meanwhile patrolling areas near the border wall to assess the situation.
An Israeli drone meanwhile hovered over the Marjeyoun district during the Israeli movements.

Mattis Says Iran Assassinated Hariri
Naharnet/September 09/2019
Former US Defense Secretary James Mattis accused Iran of the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri as he highlighted the threats posed by the Persian country in the region. In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Mattis said Iran “is a country that uses terrorism, and that killed the former prime minister of Lebanon. “When I was commander of Central Command we caught Iran, not armed with a nuclear weapon, trying to murder an Arab ambassador two miles from the White House. We did not do anything about it at that time, but can you imagine a country that would do that now armed with a nuclear weapon,” said Mattis. He added: “This is a country that uses terrorism, and that killed the former prime minister of Lebanon. They used terrorism trying to sow discord in Bahrain, and they have used terrorism all through the region, and in Yemen.”On 14 February 2005, Hariri was killed along with 21 others in an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. Explosives equivalent to around 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of TNT were detonated as his motorcade drove near the St. George Hotel. Among the dead were several of Hariri's bodyguards and former Minister of the Economy, Bassel Fleihan. The massive explosion sent a tremor across the region and unleashed a popular uprising that briefly united the Lebanese and ejected Syrian troops from the country. But despite millions of dollars spent, justice remains elusive in a case that has been overshadowed by more recent turmoil. Five Hizbullah suspects are being tried in absentia by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon based in The Hague.

Hezbollah decides alone in face-off with Israel
Makram Rabah/The Arab Weekly/September 09/2019
No sane individual would consider investing in a country whose political elite fail to ensure state sovereignty and stability. No one was shocked at the news that Hezbollah targeted an Israeli patrol on the border. Ever since Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and other senior party members took to the pulpits and warned of a calculated, limited response to Israeli aggression, it was only a matter of time. Israel denied that the anti-tank rocket attack September 1 killed any of its troops but Hezbollah and its fellow travellers carried on with their customary celebratory speeches and bragging rituals. The only real surprise was that Hezbollah’s blatant breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which has been in effect since Hezbollah’s confrontation with Israel in July 2006, did not prompt a harsh Israeli reprisal. Instead, Israel fired 100 artillery shells into Lebanon, striking positions Hezbollah used to launch its attack.
What is certain is that both sides were strictly advised by the United States and, more important, Russia to avoid open warfare. Israel is being careful not to steer away from the far more serious threat on its eastern borders as Iran expands its hegemony across Syria and beefs up its arsenal of long-range and accurate ballistic missiles.Hezbollah, which has most of its forces stretched thin across the region and is reeling from crippling US financial sanctions, wants to delay a serious confrontation with Israel until a more opportune moment, i.e. when US President Donald Trump loses next year’s United States presidential elections or the United States strikes a new deal with Iran, not necessarily in that order. The most shocking part of the showdown between Israel and Iran’s operatives was the Lebanese state’s complete lack of control. Rather than objecting to Hezbollah’s declaration of war, the state bolstered its claims, saying that the so-called resistance had the right to defend Lebanese territory from Israeli aggression.
By giving Hezbollah its blessing, the Lebanese state, or what remains of it, effectively condoned Hezbollah’s nefarious activity in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
After the military debacle, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri phoned US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and French President Emmanuel Macron’s adviser with the request that they rein in Israel, without acknowledging that Hezbollah had breached Resolution 1701.
As soon as Hariri ended his urgent pleas, the US Department of State snubbed him by releasing a statement saying Hezbollah should refrain from “hostile actions that threaten Lebanon’s security, stability and sovereignty” and affirming that “the United States fully supports Israel’s right to self-defence.”
The Lebanese government’s irresponsible handling of this incident reveals its deep state of delusion: It believes it can continually refuse to take responsibility for Hezbollah’s actions, without understanding what is at stake. In an interview with US cable channel CNBC, Hariri even stuck to one of his weakest talking points, repeating that “Hezbollah is not a Lebanese problem but a regional problem.”
This is what Hariri conveniently left out: Hezbollah is not merely an Iran-sponsored Lebanese outfit that operates outside of Lebanon but a political party that holds three seats in Hariri’s cabinet. By giving Hezbollah political cover, as the Lebanese government has done time and again, the state has transformed from being a helpless hostage to the group to its eager accomplice. This has been acknowledged by Gulf countries that shed their amity and financial largesse to Lebanon and its struggling economy. One day after the Hezbollah attack, in a scene resembling the Twilight Zone, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, Hezbollah’s main Christian ally, opted to go ahead with a roundtable on Lebanon’s abysmal economic situation.
The meeting, which included all Lebanese political factions, was another missed opportunity to confront Hezbollah over its weapons’ stash. Such a move would have strengthened Aoun in his quest to rejuvenate the economy and prove to the country that he is not merely Hezbollah’s lackey.
No sane individual would consider investing in a country whose political elite fail to ensure state sovereignty and stability, which are essential elements for economic prosperity. Aoun ended his roundtable by declaring a state of national emergency and asking that all factions come together. He warned that Lebanon had only six months to go before total economic collapse. While total war between Iran and Israel in Lebanon might be delayed, Beirut has equally critical issues at stake. The disturbing reality is: Not only is Hezbollah a regional problem but the Lebanese state’s failure to confront Iran’s unheeded ambition has turned it into a problem for the region and beyond.
*Makram Rabah is a lecturer at the American University of Beirut, Department of History. He is the author of A Campus at War: Student Politics at the American University of Beirut, 1967-1975.

Lebanese people must rise to country’s many challenges
Chris Doyle/Arab News/September 09/2019
On the 22nd day of each month, thousands of Lebanese Christians ascend the mountain above Jbeil, historic Byblos, to the cedar tomb of Mar Charbel at the monastery of St. Maron. The image of this 19th-century saint bestrides many buildings in the area, his adherents convinced that he performed miraculous healings. More than one such pilgrim has admitted to me that they have invoked Mar Charbel, pleading with him to cure Lebanon’s ills.
Ever since the Syria crisis kicked off more than eight years ago, mountains of speculation have centered on how Lebanon would survive the buffeting of regional forces and how much spillover this small state would endure. Lebanon is sadly used to being mired in regional storms, whether the Arab-Israeli conflict, tensions with Iran or the wars on Iraq. The latest round of Israel-Hezbollah tensions is another timely reminder of just how fragile Lebanon’s security environment is.
On one level, Lebanon has coped and is a success not to be sniffed at. The ethnic and sectarian divisions that deluged Syria in cataclysmic war and strife did not engulf Lebanon, even if they strained relations between every community. Lebanon welcomed and has hosted well over a million Syrian refugees, making up a fifth of its entire population. It still has more refugees per capita than any country in the world, straining every fiber of the Lebanese state and infrastructure. Few countries would have coped, but somehow Lebanon has so far. Outside help is still sorely needed if this is to continue.
Increasingly, Lebanese political leaders are demanding that the Syrian refugees return to their country; that somehow it is safe for them to do so. It is a politically sensitive issue to state that any return of refugees to Syria must be voluntary, as stipulated in international law. More and more Syrian refugees are being forced back to Syria. The demolition of illegally built Syrian refugee homes by the Lebanese army in Arsal, in the northern Beqaa, has escalated these tensions further. Raids on Syrian-owned businesses have increased. The bottom line is that life will, in all likelihood, only get tougher for refugees, not least as Lebanon lurches headlong into ever deeper economic crisis. The calls to “protect” Lebanese jobs grow louder.
How much the Syrian refugee crisis has hurt the Lebanese economy is hard to define. It certainly has had an impact and surely is one of the contributing factors to a debt that is now 150 percent of the country’s gross domestic product at more than $80 billion. Paying off that debt consumes almost half of the country’s budget. Poverty is on the rise because a third of the population survives on less than $1.90 a day — the international poverty line. The trouble is that investment from the Gulf has largely dried up and remittances from the sizeable Lebanese diaspora are no longer sufficient.
These economic ills could be addressed, not least if the government were able to carry out the tough reforms demanded at the April 2018 donor conference, where $11 billion was conditionally pledged. This might be easier but for Lebanon’s own domestic political dilemmas. It took all of eight months to finally form a government in February. It is shaky at best and hardly in a position to take the tough decisions the country requires. Austerity budgets are hardly the stuff to warm Lebanese hearts. Stopgap measures will not cut it.
If funds were available, Lebanon might be able to address its huge infrastructure problems. Areas of Syria have more power per day than some in Lebanon. Power cuts are common and the Lebanese cannot wait until addition power generation comes online. On a positive note, Lebanon aims to source 12 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The country also has a great tourist offering, but not when the roads in and out of Beirut are clogged up for hours or visitors have to face the three to four-hour queues at the airport during the high season.
Lebanon has one of the most incredible environments of any country in the region. But this is at risk courtesy of the never-ending garbage crisis, which includes the burning of toxic waste and swollen coastal landfill sites that seep into the Mediterranean.
The government is shaky at best and hardly in a position to take the tough decisions the country requires.
But, perhaps most importantly, corruption can no longer be ignored. The chairman of the foreign relations committee in the Lebanese Parliament, Yassine Jaber, told me: “Panadol does not work anymore. You need surgery.” Other politicians echo the same mantra but the challenge is to find out how to get a serious anti-corruption drive going when so many communities feel their interests are dependent on the status quo. If offshore gas resources do come to the rescue of the Lebanese economy, one can only hope that all revenues are better protected from waste than in the past.
Skill and talent abound among the Lebanese people. One has to trust that they will once again rise to the challenges their country faces.
*Chris Doyle is director of the London-based Council for Arab-British Understanding. Twitter: @Doylech

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 09-10/2019
Airstrikes Kill 18 Pro-Iran Fighters in East Syria: Monitor
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 9 September, 2019
Airstrikes hit positions of pro-Iranian forces and allied militias in eastern Syria overnight, killing 18 fighters, a war monitor said Monday. It was not clear who carried out the raids in the region of Albu Kamal near the border with Iraq, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Britain-based Observatory, which has a vast network of contacts across Syria, said: "18 fighters were killed, but their nationalities have not yet been determined". Albu Kamal lies in Deir Ezzor province which covers much of Syria's remote eastern desert, where the ISIS group's so-called "caliphate" made its last stand this year. Control of the area is split between US-backed Kurdish fighters and groups aligned with the Damascus regime, which is supported by Iran and Russia. In June 2018, strikes near the Iraqi border killed 55 pro-regime forces, mostly Syrians and Iraqis, the Observatory said. An American official said at the time that Israel was responsible, but the Jewish state declined to comment. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria targeting what it says are positions of Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah and Iranian forces, which it has vowed to prevent gaining a foothold on Syrian territory. Iran, its allied militias and Russia have backed Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in the country's devastating eight-year civil war. Pro-regime forces in Deir Ezzor are operating with the backing of various foreign armed groups including Iraqis and Iranians. The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces control a swathe of territory further north in the province, which it seized from ISIS in a months-long campaign backed by US-led coalition forces. The Syrian conflict, which broke out in 2011 with the bloody repression of anti-regime demonstrations, has become a complex war, dragging in regional and international powers and leaving more than 370,000 people dead.

Air Strikes At Al Bukamal, The Alleged Iranian Base & The Explosions
Al-Arabiya and others asserted that the airstrikes hit a militia called Al-Abdal, Haidarion and Kata’ib Hezbollah.
Just after midnight, in the first hours of Monday morning, loud explosions were heard in an around the Syrian town of Al Bukamal near the Iraqi border. Very quickly reports emerged that “Iranian” or “Iranian-backed militias” had been targeted in the attacks. These appeared similar to a June 2018 airstrike that targeted a Kata’ib Hezbollah base at a similar location. The September 9, 2019 airstrikes occur amid increased tensions between Iran and the US and between Israel and Iranian-backed groups such as Hezbollah. They also come after five similar mysterious airstrikes in Iraq between July 19 and August 25, and just days after satellite images revealed a new Iranian base allegedly being constructed in Al Bukamal. Fox News reported on September 4 that the new base was a “classified Iranian project, call the Imam Ali compound.”Going off of social media reports, with very little evidence from the ground, many assume the attacks struck the Iranian or Hashd al-Shaabi, Iraqi militia, targets. That is what Al-Masdar and other sites said. There is only one video online that appears to show the explosions after the strikes.
Social media accounts, which are impossible to verify in terms of their access to knowledge, have claimed the Imam Ali complex of Iran was targeted. The airstrikes came just a day after reports indicated the Al Bukamal Iraq-Syria border crossing was supposed to open. Since earlier this year, work has gone into creating a new border crossing at the site. Al Bukamal was occupied by ISIS from 2014 to 2017 and has only recently been fully cleared of ISIS threats while the Syrian regime and Iraqi army seek to rehabilitate the area. It is a strategic crossroads between Iraq and Syria and is near US forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces that control the area north of the Euphrates, north of Al Bukamal. Al-Arabiya and other media outlets claimed that the airstrikes hit a militia called Al-Abdal, Haidarion and Kata’ib Hezbollah. Al-Arabiya also claimed that Iran is deploying members of Lebanese Hezbollah, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba from Iraq and its Fatimion and Zeinabion militias from Afghanistan and Pakistan in the area alongside Iran's own Revolutionary Guard Corps. The existence of the Iranian investment in Al Bukamal is now well known and it was reasonable that many sites would claim that this was the target of the explosions. For instance the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Al-Hurra that the Iranian positions were likely struck. SOHR says it documented heavy casualties in the airstrikes and that at least 18 people - Iranians and others - were killed. Ammunition depots exploded.
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“Unidentified planes have so far targeted concentrations of Iranian forces and their militias in and around Al Bukamal," according to Dier Ezzor 24, a media network. The Syrian army reportedly also sent elements of the 4th division to the area on August 28 “to replace Iranian Revolutionary Guards Forces.”
Sputnik news in Arabic reported that US pressure in Iraq had stopped the crossing from opening on time this week. “A source in the Popular Mobilization Forces told Sputnik that the crossing is expected to be open within nine days.” It was the PMF that was allegedly targeted on September 9.
Some questioned whether the explosions were airstrikes, pointing out a lack of air defense against them. Forces in the city were on high alert throughout the morning. Syrian state media and other major media linked to pro-Iranian networks did not report the alleged airstrikes.
In other news a member of the Nujaba militia was killed in Al Bukamal on September 6.

Israel exposes fresh secret Iranian nuclear site
Reuters/September 09/2019
Iran destroyed the site at Abadeh when it realized that Israel had uncovered it
Site was discovered in a trove of Iranian documents Israel released last year
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Iran had been developing nuclear weapons at a secret site near the city of Abadeh, but that Tehran destroyed the facility after learning it had been exposed. It was the first time Netanyahu had identified the site, which, he said, was discovered in a trove of Iranian documents Israel previously obtained and disclosed last year. "In this site, Iran conducted experiments to develop nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said in broadcast remarks, showing an aerial picture of several small buildings, including their coordinates, that he said were taken at the Abadeh facility late in June 2019. "When Iran realized that we uncovered the site, here's what they did," he said, showing a picture from a month later in which the buildings no longer appeared. "They destroyed the site. They just wiped it out."Netanyahu's comments followed a Reuters report revealing that the International Atomic Energy Agency found traces of uranium at a different site in Iran that the Israeli leader had first pointed to during a speech last year at the United Nations. Iran had yet to explain the traces of uranium at that site, though it denies ever having sought a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu, who strongly opposed a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, made the remarks in a televised speech about a week before a general election in Israel in which he is in a tight race to win another term. "I call on the international community to wake up, to realize that Iran is systematically lying," Netanyahu said. "The only way to stop Iran's march to the bomb, and its aggression in the region, is pressure, pressure and more pressure." However, Iran rejected Netanyahu's claims saying he was seeking a "pretext for war.""The possessor of real nukes cries wolf," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet, making reference to Israel's own presumed nuclear arsenal.

UN atomic watchdog confirms Iran installing new centrifuges
News Agencies/September 09/2019
VIENNA: The UN nuclear watchdog told Iran on Monday there is no time to waste in answering its questions, which diplomats say include how traces of uranium were found at a site that was not declared to the agency. It also said Iran was starting to follow through on its pledge last week to further breach its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, this time installing more advanced centrifuges and moving toward enriching uranium with them, which the deal bans. Diplomats say Iran has yet to explain to the International Atomic Energy Agency how the uranium particles ended up at what Tehran has said was a carpet-cleaning facility. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vehemently opposes Iran’s nuclear deal with major powers, first pointed to the site last year, calling it a “secret atomic warehouse” and saying it had housed unspecified radioactive material that had since been removed.
Details of IAEA inspections are confidential and the agency generally does not comment on them. But the IAEA’s acting chief made clear that in meetings in Tehran on Sunday he pushed Iran to improve cooperation with the UN non-proliferation watchdog.
“Time is of the essence,” Cornel Feruta, who took over as IAEA chief in an acting capacity after the death of his boss Yukiya Amano in July, told a news conference during a quarterly IAEA Board of Governors meeting.“I think that was a message very well understood,” he said of his meetings with officials including Iran’s foreign minister and its nuclear energy chief. The IAEA has told member states that Iran has had two months to answer its questions, though it has only given a very general description of the issue because it is confidential, diplomats who attended a briefing by its inspections chief last week said.
At the same time, the Vienna-based IAEA has not yet sounded the alarm because such questions are part of a painstaking process that can often take many months. “We are very, let’s say rigorous, meticulous and we are faithful to our mandate,” Feruta said, without going into specifics.
The 2015 nuclear deal only lets Iran enrich uranium with just over 5,000 of its first-generation IR-1 centrifuge machines. It can use far fewer more advanced centrifuges for research but without accumulating enriched uranium. But in response to US sanctions imposed since Washington withdrew from the deal in May last year, Iran has been breaching the limits it imposed on its atomic activities step by step.
Last week the Islamic Republic said it would exceed the deal’s limits on research and development, the term applied to Iran’s use of technologically advanced centrifuges.An IAEA spokesman said Iran had informed it that it was making modifications to accommodate cascades — or interconnected clusters — of 164 of the IR-2m and IR-4 centrifuge. Cascades of the same size and type were scrapped under the deal. IAEA inspectors have verified that smaller numbers of various advanced centrifuges had been or were being installed, the spokesman added. “All of the installed centrifuges had been prepared for testing with UF6,” though none of them were being tested with UF6 on Sept. 7 and 8, he said, referring to the uranium hexafluoride feedstock for centrifuges. He added that Iran had also informed the agency it would modify lines of research centrifuges so that enriched uranium was produced, which is not allowed under the deal. In a confidential report to member states, the IAEA also said Iran had made those modifications on some lines.

Netanyahu Fights for Political Life a Week before Israel Votes
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 09/2019
Israel moved into its final week of campaigning Monday for an unprecedented second general election in five months with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu battling for political survival while facing a potential corruption indictment. With the September 17 vote looming, Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud drew outrage from opposition parties with a push for last-minute legislation that would allow party officials to bring cameras to polling stations. His critics labelled it a naked attempt to depress turnout among Israel's Arab population, as it could intimidate many into staying away.
They also pointed out that it could serve to energize Netanyahu's base of right-wing voters due to his warnings -- so far unfounded -- that the election could be stolen. The premier says he is only interested in protecting the integrity of the vote and preventing fraud. Netanyahu has used similar tactics in the past, including warning on election day in 2015 that Israeli Arabs were voting in "droves," a comment for which he later apologized. Parliament had planned to hold the first of three required votes on the bill on Monday, but it failed to receive necessary backing from a committee and appeared dead for now. The main opposition Blue and White centrist alliance said it would vote against it, and ex-defense minister Avigdor Lieberman said his nationalist Yisrael Beitenu would do the same. "The rule of law that Netanyahu is trying to undermine has won," Blue and White leader Benny Gantz said after the bill failed to make it out of the committee. "In the coming days, Netanyahu will continue his spin. He will try to disrupt the election day, to challenge the election outcome and he will attempt to reinstate this law. We will not allow it."
Netanyahu said: "There is no reason for those who really want pure elections to oppose the camera law that prevents election fraud.
"There is only one answer: Come in masses to the ballot box and vote for Likud," he added. The bill would have allowed election supervisors from political parties to bring cameras to polling stations, though not inside voting booths. Netanyahu's camera legislation comes as he struggles to remain in office and continue his reign as Israel's longest-serving prime minister. After April elections, Likud along with its right-wing and religious allies won a majority of seats, but Netanyahu was unable to form a governing coalition, suffering one of the biggest defeats of his political career.
He was unable to do so because he could not convince his old nemesis Lieberman to abandon a key demand and join the government. Netanyahu then opted to move toward a second election rather than risk Israeli President Reuven Rivlin choosing someone else to try to form a government.
Trump, Putin posters
Lieberman has only gained in support since the last election, opinion polls show, and Netanyahu may face a similar conundrum after the upcoming vote. His main challenger is ex-military chief Gantz and his centrist alliance, as was the case in April. Netanyahu has once again sought to highlight his links with world leaders, posting giant posters of himself alongside U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He says he hopes to visit Russia later this week to hold talks with Putin, while he also planned a statement on Iran's nuclear program Monday evening. Ahead of April polls, Trump made controversial moves seen as backing Netanyahu, including recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights. So far Netanyahu has not benefited from similar decisions in the run-up to next week's vote. Gantz has sought to maintain a stoic presence as part of a campaign to present himself as someone Israelis can trust on security issues. But his main approach has been to argue that he can restore dignity to the prime minister's office after years of investigations into Netanyahu's affairs. Israel's attorney general has said he intends to indict Netanyahu on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust pending a hearing expected in early October.Netanyahu is not required to step down if indicted -- only if convicted with all appeals exhausted. Gantz, who has ruled out serving in a government with a prime minister under indictment, has sought to convince other members of Likud to abandon Netanyahu and form a unity government with his Blue and White, so far without success. The two sides won 35 seats each in the last election, but a majority of lawmakers endorsed Netanyahu as prime minister.
It is not clear whether Lieberman will endorse Netanyahu again.

IDF: Shite Militias Fired Rockets At Israel From Syria. The rockets failed to hit Israeli territory.
Jerusalem Post/September 09/2019
Rockets were fired at Israel from the outskirts of Damascus by a Shi’ite militia operating under the command of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, the Israel Defense Forces said on Monday. A number of rockets were launched from Syrian territory but failed to hit Israeli territory, the statement said. “The IDF holds the Syrian regime responsible for all events taking place in Syria.” The rocket fire comes more than a week after an Israeli airstrike hit a team of IRGC members with “killer drones” south of Damascus. Last night the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that an airstrike targeted an IRGC and Shi’ite militia base near Albukamal in Syria. It is unclear if the alleged airstrike and the rocket fire are linked. Shi’ite militias have played a key role in supporting the Assad regime over the last eight years. Some of these groups include locals but many also include volunteers from Lebanon or Iran and as far away as Afghanistan. These Shi’ite paramilitaries also include forces from Iraq who are linked to the Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Forces, such as Kata’ib Hezbollah. In ideology and outlook they are similar to Hezbollah and all are linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Since 2016 there have been increasing concerns that these groups are entrenching in Syria alongside Iranian IRGC positions and Hezbollah, creating a network of bases that stretch from Lebanon to Iran via Syria and Iraq. This is what is called Iran’s “land bridge” and many of the groups have openly threatened Israel. This includes Kata’ib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, whose leader even went to southern Lebanon. In recent years Israel has warned Iran against entrenching in Syria and Israel’s former chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot says more than 1,000 airstrikes have targeted Iranian targets in Syria. On August 24 Israel struck an Iranian “killer drone” team south of Damascus, killing two members of Hezbollah. On September 1 Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at Israeli vehicles on the border and on September 9 in the morning Hezbollah said an Israeli drone crashed near Ramiya in southern Lebanon.
Shi’ite militias linked to the IRGC have a presence in Syria and the attempt by them to fire rockets at Israel is a major escalation. In May 2018 and January 2019 rockets were fired at Israel by Iran’s IRGC. An Iranian drone also penetrated Israeli airspace in February 2018.
Iran has been accused of transferring precision missile technology to Iraq and then via Syria to Hezbollah. Last week the IDF released details of an Iranian-supported Hezbollah factory in the Bekaa valley that converts rockets to precision guided missiles. In addition reports since last August have indicated Iran transferred missiles to Iraq. In June 2018 an airstrike targeted a base of Kata’ib Hezbollah near Albukamal in Syria on the Iraqi border. On September 3 Fox News revealed that Iran was building a base near Albukamal. This is one of many Iranian bases in Syria that also host Shi’ite paramilitaries and Hezbollah.

IAEA: Iran Installing More Advanced Centrifuges for Uranium Enrichment
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 9 September, 2019
Iran is moving towards enriching uranium by installing more advanced centrifuges in breach of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday. The deal only lets Iran produce enriched uranium with just over 5,000 of its first-generation IR-1 centrifuge machines. It can use far fewer advanced centrifuges for research but without accumulating enriched uranium. But in response to US sanctions imposed since Washington withdrew from the deal in May last year, Iran has been breaching the limits it imposed on its atomic activities step by step.
Last week Tehran said it would breach the deal’s limits on research and development, the term applied to Iran’s use of advanced centrifuges. An IAEA spokesman said Iran had informed it that it was making modifications to accommodate cascades - or interconnected clusters - of 164 of the IR-2m and IR-4 centrifuge. Cascades of the same size and type were scrapped under the deal. Inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog have verified that smaller numbers of various advanced centrifuges had been or were being installed, the spokesman added. “All of the installed centrifuges had been prepared for testing with UF6,” though none of them were being tested with UF6 on Sept. 7 and 8, he said, referring to the uranium hexafluoride feedstock for centrifuges. He added that Iran had told the agency it would modify lines of research centrifuges so that enriched uranium was produced, which is not allowed under the deal.
In a confidential report to member states, the IAEA also said Iran had made those modifications on some lines. Iran defended Sunday its decision to use advanced centrifuges as IAEA acting chief Cornel Feruta urged Tehran to offer "time and active cooperation" with his inspectors. Feruta met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's nuclear program, while in Tehran. He is serving as the IAEA's acting director after the death of late director-general Yukiya Amano in July. While Iran continues to pull away from the deal, Tehran has made clear it wants IAEA inspectors to continue their work. But officials blamed European leaders for being unable so far to offer a way for Iran to sell its crude oil around US sanctions. A proposal by France to offer a $15 billion line of credit failed to materialize. China, Britain, France, Germany and Russia all were parties to the accord.

IRGC Fired Rockets From Syria but Fell Short: Israel Army
Jerusalem- Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 9 September, 2019
Iranian-backed Shiite militias fired rockets at Israel from Syria on Monday but they fell short, the Israeli military said. “A number of rockets were launched by Shi’ite militias operating under the command of the Iranian Quds Force from Syrian territory near Damascus,” the military said, referring to the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. “All failed to hit Israeli territory.”The statement came after overnight airstrikes in Syria hit positions of pro-Iranian forces in eastern Syria overnight, killing 18 fighters, according to a war monitor. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights did not immediately identify who carried out the strikes. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in neighboring Syria against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets, but rarely acknowledges them. An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Israel was behind the latest strikes. Israel has vowed to prevent Iran, its main enemy, from entrenching itself militarily in Syria. Iran, its allied militias and Russia have backed Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in the country's devastating eight-year civil war.

Israel's Settlers and the Palestinians They Live Among
West Bank- Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 9 September, 2019
His people’s link to the land goes back to biblical times, says the comics illustrator. His neighbor, a farmer, says the land belonged to his ancestors and has been stolen. One is an Israeli settler, the other a Palestinian living across the road. Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank are one of the most heated issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians want the area, captured by Israel in a 1967 war, for a future state. Israel has built more than 120 settlements there, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the run-up to a Sept. 17 election, has renewed his pledge to annex them, alarming the Palestinians. Most of the international community sees the settlements as illegal and major obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian peace, a view Israel disputes. Michael Netzer moved to Ofra in 1985, about a decade after the settlement was established, one of Israel’s first in the West Bank.
“It’s ridiculous to say that Jews can’t live here,” said the 63-year-old comics artist. “The Bible is a part of it. I would ask anybody: Is it so easy to lose your connection to your ancestors and your land? Of course it isn’t. For the Jewish people, that history is what made us what we are.”
The red roofs of Ofra’s homes are easily seen from Ein Yabrud, the Palestinian village across the road. Azmi Musleh, 53, a local farmer, said Ofra sits on land his family used to cultivate. “That land is my heart and soul. It is my family’s heart and soul. We used to grow sesame, figs, olives, back to the time of my father, his father, and his father before him,” Musleh said.
Israel’s settler communities are hardly homogeneous. Some settlers are driven by burning ideology. Others are just looking for a cheap apartment. Some of the settlements adjacent to Israel are seen by many Israelis as just regular towns, unlike the more isolated enclaves deep inside the West Bank.
“I don’t feel like a settler,” said Michele Coven-Wolgel, a 60-year-old lawyer from Maale Adumim, a large settlement about 15 minutes’ drive from Jerusalem. “Should we be annexed? Yes, we’re a city of 41,000 people, we’re a city, we have a mall.”Against the backdrop of desert hills, the villas of Maale Adumim provide their inhabitants with a comfortable life. Education is good and transport to the city is easy. Ali Farun, 74, from the Palestinian town of al-Eizariya, about 1.5 km (one mile) from Maale Adumim has little hope of the territory ever coming under Palestinian control.
“It doesn’t matter if they annex it to Jerusalem or if it remains West Bank - they control it, one way or another,” said Farun. Havat Gilad, a cluster of prefab huts sprinkled across a hilltop deep in the West Bank, is home to about 45 families. Its residents say their presence in the West Bank fulfills God’s biblical promise to the Jewish people and secures Israel’s safety.
“This belongs to the people of Israel, there’s no question about it,” said Itai Zar, 43, who founded Havat Gilad in 2002 after his brother was shot dead by Palestinian fighters nearby. “Eighteen years ago we came here, one family, and today we have a flourishing community.”Bothena Turabe, saw the settlement’s growth from her Palestinian village Sarra, across the way. “In the night you look at them and you think there is nothing, and the next morning you look and you see there are more caravans,” said Turabe, 47, a member of the village council. “This land is not yours to take - you’re stealing it.”Beitar Illit is a settlement built for Israel’s fast-growing ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. According to Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlements watchdog, Beitar Illit saw the most construction of all Israel’s West Bank settlements in 2018. Its densely built apartment blocs and Dollar stores seem a world apart from Havat Gilad’s huts and dirt roads. And unlike in Zar, residents cite financial concerns for moving here. “We’re not here for ideological reasons,” said David Hamburger, 36, a Beitar Illit shop owner. “There’s no way for us to buy houses anywhere else besides settlements.” With large families, seven children on average, high unemployment and poverty, the ultra-Orthodox Jews seek cheap housing that will allow their close-knit community to live together. For Mohammad Awad, a 64-year-old farmer from Wadi Fukin, a Palestinian village next to Beitar Illit, it makes no difference why people come to live in the settlement.
“It’s impossible to have peace between us because the main conflict between us is on a piece of land which they took by force, so how can I let a person steal my land, live in it and enjoy it, and live with him in peace?” he said.

Israel Reports Failed Missile Attack after Deadly Raid on Pro-Iran Groups
Associated Press/Naharnet/September 09/2019
Unknown warplanes targeted overnight an arms depot and posts of Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria, near the Iraqi border, killing at least 18 fighters, Syrian opposition activists said Monday. The strikes come amid rising tensions in the Middle East and the crisis between Iran and the U.S. in the wake of the collapsing nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.An official with an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq blamed Israel for the airstrikes that hit in the eastern Syrian town of Boukamal. There was no immediate comment from Israel. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that Iran has no immunity anywhere and that the Israeli military "will act — and currently are acting — against them." According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the airstrikes began late on Sunday and continued after midnight, killing 18 Iranian and pro-Iranian fighters and also causing extensive damage. The Sound and Pictures, a local activist collective in eastern Syria, gave a higher death toll and said 21 fighters were killed and 36 wounded. The collective said the strikes targeted positions belonging to Iranian militias and those of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, a mostly Iran-backed Shiite militias, but did not say who the dead and wounded were. A Syria-based official for the Iraqi militia claimed that Israel was behind the attack, adding that four missiles fired by warplanes hit a post manned by Iranian gunmen and members of Lebanon's Hizbullah group. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said there were no Iraqi casualties in the strike, which he said hit about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the Iraqi border. Meanwhile, the Israeli military had no comment on the airstrike but said rockets launched from Syria on Monday fell short and did not land in Israel. The military said the rockets were launched from the outskirts of Damascus by Shiite militants operating under the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The military said it holds the Syrian government responsible for the attempted attack. Israel views Iran as its greatest threat and has allegedly struck Iran-linked targets as far away as Iraq in recent weeks. Israel is known to have struck Iranian and Hizbullah targets in Syria on numerous occasions.

Netanyahu Accuses Iran of Destroying Secret 'Nuclear Site'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 09/2019
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused Iran of having a previously undisclosed site aimed at developing nuclear weapons that it destroyed. Iran destroyed the site located near the city of Abadeh, south of Isfahan, sometime between late June and late July after realizing that Israel had detected it, Netanyahu alleged. In an address on live television, with photos of the alleged site on a screen behind him, Netanyahu referred to an intelligence trove he had previously announced last year. "Today we reveal that yet another secret nuclear site was exposed in the archives that we brought from Tehran," Netanyahu said. "In this site, Iran conducted experiments to develop nuclear weapons... When Iran realized that we uncovered the site, here's what they did: They destroyed the site, they just wiped it out."The prime minister, whose country is an arch-enemy of Iran, did not provide further details on the alleged experiments, or when they purportedly were held. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. When he announced the intelligence trove allegedly obtained from a secret compound in Tehran, Netanyahu said he had new "proof" of an Iranian nuclear weapons plan that could be activated at any time. But while Netanyahu then accused Iran of lying about its atomic ambitions, he did not provide evidence that Tehran had actively worked to obtain the bomb since its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
'Campaign antics'
Netanyahu's latest statement comes just days ahead of Israel's September 17 polls in which he is facing a difficult re-election campaign and opponents accused him of politicizing intelligence with the presentation. "Netanyahu is again using intelligence information for his election propaganda," Yair Lapid of the centrist Blue and White alliance said on Twitter. "The Iranian nuclear (issue) cannot be used for campaign antics." Iran has been scaling back its commitments under the 2015 deal in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's pullout from the accord and reimposition of sanctions. Netanyahu firmly opposed the nuclear deal and then urged Trump to withdraw from it. Despite having opposed the deal, he has recently called on European nations to enforce its parameters as he and the United States seek to raise the pressure on Iran. European nations have been trying to keep the nuclear deal alive.
Speculation has meanwhile mounted over whether Trump could soon meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, with the U.S. leader saying earlier this month that "anything is possible."But Rouhani last week ruled out holding any bilateral talks with the United States. Netanyahu said Monday that "I call on the international community to join President Trump's sanctions to exert more pressure on Iran."

Netanyahu's Bid to Place Cameras at Polling Stations Fails
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 9 September, 2019
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed in his bid to legislate that cameras be installed in polling stations to prevent what his supporters claim is voting fraud in Arab districts. A parliamentary committee voted it down Monday before it reached the plenum, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Netanyahu sought to pass the legislation a week before elections. He accused his opponents of conspiring to "steal" the election. Netanyahu stressed that his proposal was just a matter of transparency, however, it drew renewed accusations that he was promoting racism and incitement against the country's Arab minority. According to AP, Netanyahu routinely lashes out at the media, the judiciary, the police and his political opponents, claiming there is a conspiracy of "elites" to oust him.

Abdalla, Career Diplomat Turned Sudan's First Female Foreign Minister
Khartoum- Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 9 September, 2019
Asma Mohamed Abdalla, a seasoned diplomat who was sacked decades ago by now-ousted leader Omar al-Bashir, has become Sudan's first female foreign minister as the country transitions to civilian rule. Born in 1946, Abdalla was sworn in on Sunday as a member of the country's new 18-member cabinet, the first since Bashir was overthrown by the army in April. Bashir, who had seized power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, was deposed following months of nationwide protests against his ironfisted rule. Dressed in a white traditional Sudanese tobe and wearing spectacles, Abdalla took the oath as foreign affairs minister at the presidential palace along with 17 other ministers. The swearing-in ceremony was held in the presence of members of the joint civilian-military ruling sovereign council, including its chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The sovereign council will oversee a 39-month transition period as Sudan embarks on the road to civilian rule, the main demand of protesters. Abdalla, whose studies were partly in the United States, was one of the first three women to join Sudan's foreign ministry as a diplomat after graduating from Khartoum University in 1971 with a degree in economics and political science. But she was sacked in 1991 by the then administration of Bashir, who had seized power two years before in a coup.Abdalla's appointment is part of new Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's plan to have a government made up of technocrats and one that reflects gender balance.
'Positive image'
Hamdok himself is a seasoned economist who built a career in international organizations, most recently as deputy executive secretary of the UN's Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa. "By having women ministers like Asma Mohamed Abdalla, Sudan is putting across a positive image to the world," a European diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Sudan is showing that it is changing... and is no more a pariah state as it was during the Bashir years." Decades of sanctions imposed by Washington on Khartoum had isolated Sudan from the international community. The sanctions, imposed in 1997, were lifted in October 2017 but Washington has kept Sudan on its list of alleged state sponsors of terrorism, making foreign investors wary of doing business with the African country. Experts say a priority for Abdalla as foreign minister would be to navigate negotiations with Washington on removing Sudan from the terrorism blacklist. The other key foreign policy file for Khartoum is Cairo, with whom Sudan has often had strained ties due to trade and border issues. Cairo, however, has been a steadfast ally of the generals who seized power after the army ousted Bashir. On Monday, Abdalla met in Khartoum with her visiting Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry. Abdalla had served as a diplomat in several overseas Sudanese missions, including at the United Nations, in Morocco and Stockholm. After she was sacked by Bashir, Asma worked in regional organizations including the Arab League. In 2009, she set up a bureau offering translation services. Abdalla, whose husband has also worked with the United Nations, has one daughter.

Egyptian Delegation in Gaza to Contain Drone Incident
Ramallah - Kifah Zboun/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 9 September, 2019
An Egyptian security delegation arrived in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in an attempt to defuse tensions sparked by a drone attack a day earlier. The incident saw the aircraft being launched from the coastal enclave, fire an explosive at an Israeli military position near the border and return. The delegation entered the Hamas-controlled enclave via the Erez crossing. Hamas had deployed more members to the border to secure the delegation’s entry to Gaza. It also tightened security measures at the hotel where it will be staying. These heightened measures were taken in light of recent bombings in Gaza that were carried out by Palestinian factions that follow ISIS’s ideology. The delegation was set to arrive in Gaza at the end of the week, but recent developments forced it to depart earlier. The delegation had last visited the enclave two months ago. Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the delegation will focus on defusing tensions. It held talks with Hamas officials and is set to meet with Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions. “The Egyptian delegation will discuss a number of issues, including easing the suffering in Gaza and convincing Israel to commit to bilateral understandings and relations,” said Hamas spokesman Abdullatif al-Qanou. “Hamas delegation’s recent visit was positive and will be continued with the Egyptian delegation in Gaza,” Qanou noted. He stressed that talks with “our Egyptian brothers have not stopped and communication is always ongoing.”On Saturday, a drone flown from Gaza fired an explosion at an Israeli military Humvee deployed along the border fence. No Israeli soldiers were injured, but the vehicle sustained damage.The incident came hours after the Israeli army struck several Hamas targets in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday night, in retaliation to five rockets that were fired toward southern Israel communities bordering the enclave.

Egyptian Foreign Minister in Sudan to Begin 'New' Ties
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 09/2019
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry arrived in Khartoum Monday, officials said, to begin what Cairo hailed as a "new start" in relations as Sudan embarks on a transition to civilian rule. Egypt was a steadfast ally of Sudanese military generals who seized power after the army ousted long-time leader Omar al-Bashir in April following months of nationwide protests against his autocratic rule. But previously ties between the neighbours had often been strained over the years due to trade and border disputes, although efforts have been taken by both to address the concerns. Shoukry was due to hold talks with officials including new Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Sudan's first female foreign affairs minister, Asma Mohamed Abdalla. A meeting with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of a joint civilian-military sovereign council that is overseeing Sudan's transition, was also planned.
"His visit is very important because it establishes a new start in Sudanese and Egyptian relations," the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement. "The visit also shows Egypt's support for Sudan and to its people in achieving their demands." Relations between Cairo and Khartoum had deteriorated in early 2017, when Bashir accused Egypt of supporting rebels in conflict zones, including Darfur in western Sudan. Sudan in May 2017 banned the import of animal and other agricultural products from its northern neighbour. But for years the main bone of contention between the two countries has been Egypt's control of the Halayeb triangle, which lies in a mineral-rich border region. During Bashir's rule, Sudan regularly protested at Egypt's administration of Halayeb and the Shalatin border region near the Red Sea, saying they are part of its sovereign territory since shortly after independence in 1956. Ties between the neighbours improved after Sudan lifted the ban on Egyptian products in October 2017 following talks in Khartoum between Bashir and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.Sisi and other Egyptian officials had regularly called for stability in Sudan after protests erupted against Bashir in December.

Gargash: Saudi, UAE Messages on Yemen Stress their Strategic Partnership
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 9 September, 2019
United Arab Emirates State Minister for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said Monday that the joint messages from Abu Dhabi and Riyadh on the developments in Yemen underscore their strategic partnership. “The interests of Saudi Arabia are the interests of the UAE. We have absolute trust in them,” he said in a series of tweets. This partnership is “bound by goals and cemented with sacrifices.” Saudi Arabia and the UAE had hailed in a joint statement on Sunday the legitimate government of Yemen and the Southern Transitional Council for complying with the urgent dialogue called for by the Kingdom. They stressed the need to preserve this positive development, embrace brotherhood and shun sedition. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have worked closely with different parties in following up on the ceasefire in southern Yemen and in preparing for the dialogue, they said.

Queen Approves Brexit Delay Law
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 09/2019
Queen Elizabeth II has given her formal approval to a law that would force the government to delay Brexit if it is not able to strike a divorce deal with Brussels, the House of Lords said on Monday. "EUWithdrawal6Bill receives Royal Assent," the upper chamber said on Twitter, referring to the newly-passed law.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 09-10/2019
Why Arabs Hate Palestinians
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/September 09/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14845/why-arabs-hate-palestinians rush to Riyadh to seek money the next. You cannot shout slogans against the Egyptian president one day and go to Cairo to seek political backing the next.
Remarkably, Turki al-Hamad, a Saudi writer, did what even some Western countries refuse to do: he dared to condemn Hamas and other Gaza-based groups for firing rockets at Israel.
"Palestinians bring disaster to anyone who hosts them. Jordan hosted them, and there was Black September; Lebanon hosted them, and there was a civil war there; Kuwait hosted them, and they turned into Saddam Hussein's soldiers. Now they are using their podiums to curse us." — Mohammed al-Shaikh, Saudi author, RT Arabic, August 13, 2019.
Many people in the Arab countries are now saying that it is high time for the Palestinians to start looking after their own interests and thinking of a better future for their children.... The Arabs seem to be saying to the Palestinians: "We want to march forward; you can continue to march backward for as long as you wish."
"We should not be ashamed to establish relations with Israel." — Ahmad al-Jaralah, a leading Kuwaiti newspaper editor, arabi21.com, July 1, 2019.
Saudi writer Mohammed al-Shaikh has called for banning Palestinians from performing the Islamic hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, after a video surfaced showing Palestinians, during the recent hajj, carrying Palestinian flags and chanting, "With blood, with soul, we redeem you, Al-Aqsa Mosque!" Saudi Arabia has strict rules banning political activities during the hajj. Pictured: Hajj pilgrims in and around Mecca's Grand Mosque and on its roof, during night prayers. (Image source: Al Jazeera/Wikimedia Commons)
Is it true? If so, why? Sadly, the Palestinians are known for betraying their Arab brothers, even effectively stabbing them in the back. The Palestinians, for example, supported Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait – a Gulf state that, together with its neighbors, used to give the Palestinians tens of millions of dollars in aid each year.
This disloyalty is precisely how a growing number of Arabs, particularly those living in the Gulf states, have been describing the Palestinians for the past few years.
In recent months, however, Arab criticism of the Palestinians, mostly aired through traditional and social media, has further escalated, and sometimes turned ugly.
Some Arab writers and journalists expressed outrage over the Palestinians' opposition to peace plans, particularly the US administration's yet-to-be-announced "Deal of the Century."
They accused the Palestinians of losing countless opportunities and said that the "Deal of the Century" could be the Palestinians' "last, best chance to achieve a state."
Khalid Ashaerah, a Saudi, denounced the Palestinians as "traitors" and expressed hope that Israel would be "victorious" over the Palestinians.
The Arab attacks on the Palestinians reflect an intense and increasing disillusionment in the Arab world with the Palestinians and anything related to them.
At the core of this deep sense of disillusionment is the Arabs' belief that despite all they did to help their Palestinian brothers for the past seven decades, the Palestinians have proven to be constantly ungrateful toward the Arab and Muslim people and states.
Such a widespread view as that now being expressed in various Arab states accuses the Palestinians of betraying their Arab and Muslim brothers. As an Arab saying goes, it accuses them of spitting in the well they have been drinking from. The image refers to the financial aid that Palestinians have received for decades from many Arab states.
Until a few years ago, it was the Egyptians who were spearheading the anti-Palestinian campaign in the Arab world. Prominent Egyptian media personalities, journalists, writers and politicians seemed to be competing for a blue ribbon on who could attack Palestinians harder.
The Egyptians focused their criticism against the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip -- a coastal enclave that has a shared border with Egypt. The Egyptian critics, who are mostly affiliated with the regime of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, see Hamas -- an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood organization now outlawed in Egypt -- as a threat to Egypt's national security and stability.
These critics also seem incensed at Palestinian criticism of Sisi for having alleged good relations with Israel and the US administration.
The Palestinians seem to believe that Sisi is conspiring against them, together with Israel and the US administration. They point out, for example, that last May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sisi "my friend." Netanyahu had thanked Sisi after Egypt sent two helicopters to help extinguish wildfires in Israel. "I would like to thank my friend the Egyptian president, Sisi, for sending the two helicopters," Netanyahu announced.
"Instead of defending their cause, the Palestinians are insulting Sisi and the Egyptian people," a prominent Egyptian journalist, Azmi Mujahed, said.
"I have a message to send to the Palestinian beggars who sold their land and honor: You are cursing Egypt and its army and president. You are a group of despicable folks. Whoever insults our president insults all of us."
The Egyptians' attacks on the Palestinians reached a peak in 2014, when several prominent writers and journalists called on their government to expel Palestinians and launch a military strike against the Gaza Strip. The fierce attacks came amid reports that the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip were providing support to ISIS-inspired terrorist groups waging war on Egypt's security forces right in its Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian writer Lamis Jaber urged the Egyptian government to expel all Palestinians and confiscate their property. She also called for arresting anyone who sympathized with the Palestinians. "We give aid to the Gaza Strip, and in return they [Palestinians] kill our children. They are dogs and traitors."
Jaber further pointed out that while Palestinian patients are being treated in Egyptian hospitals free of charge, the leaders of Hamas are enjoying themselves in "seven-star hotels" in Turkey and Qatar.
Jaber is just one of several leading Egyptians who have been waging a campaign against the Palestinians in recent years -- a move reflecting Arab disappointment with Palestinians' "ungratefulness" and "arrogance."
The message the Egyptians are sending to the Palestinians is: We are fed up with you and your failure to get your act together and behave like adults. We are also fed up with you because after all these years of supporting you and fighting for your cause, in the end you are spitting in our face and offending our president.
Now it seems that it is the Saudis' turn to "tell it like it is" to the Palestinians. Like their Egyptian colleagues, many Saudi writers, bloggers, activists and journalists have taken to social media to denounce the Palestinians in an unprecedented manner. Some Saudis, for instance, are describing the Palestinians as terrorists and accusing them of selling their land to Israelis.
These denunciations are coming not only from Saudis, but from a growing number of Arabs in other Arab and Muslim countries, particularly in the Gulf.
Like the Egyptians, the Saudis seem enraged by the recurring Palestinian attacks on the royal family in Saudi Arabia, especially Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In the past two years, Palestinians have burned Saudi flags and photographs of bin Salman during demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Why? The crown prince is seen by Palestinians as being "too close" to Israel and the US administration.
Like the Egyptians, the Saudis feel betrayed by the Palestinians. Saudi Arabia for years has given the Palestinians billions of dollars in aid, but this has not stopped the Palestinians from bad-mouthing Saudi leaders at every turn.
The Saudis are now saying that they, too, are fed up. Their outrage reached its peak last June, when Palestinians assaulted a Saudi blogger visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Palestinians spat in the face of the blogger, Mohammed Saud, and accused him of promoting "normalization" with Israel by visiting the country.
Since that incident at the holy site, many Saudis and citizens of Gulf states have been waging daily attacks on the Palestinians, mostly on social media.
Saudi blogger Mohammed al-Qahtani wrote: "To all those in Israel who are listening to our voice: We call for transferring the custodianship over Al-Aqsa Mosque from Jordan to the State of Israel so that the despicable assault on the Saudi citizen, Mohammed Saud, will not recur."
This is an extraordinary statement from a Saudi writer, and would have been totally unthinkable just a few years ago. A Saudi national is saying that he prefers to see an Islamic holy site under Israeli custodianship (rather than Jordanian custodianship) because only then will Muslims feel safe to visit their mosque. Other Saudis seem extremely unhappy with the Palestinians' relations with Iran. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two terror groups controlling the Gaza Strip, receive financial and military aid from Iran and political backing from Turkey. The Saudis and other Gulf states see Iran, not Israel, as the major threat to their stability. Because of that, these states have come closer to Israel in recent years. Israel and they have a common enemy: Iran.
Remarkably, a Saudi writer, Turki al-Hamad, did what even many Western leaders refuse to do: he dared to condemn Hamas and other Gaza-based groups for firing rockets at Israel. Al-Hamad, denounced the Palestinians for allowing themselves to serve as puppets in the hands of Turkey and Iran. Commenting on a recent barrage of rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip, he said: "Iran and Turkey are facing a crisis [an apparent reference to economic and political crises in Iran and Turkey] and the Palestinians are paying the price." In other words, the Palestinians have chosen to align themselves with two countries, Iran and Turkey, that support the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah.
Another Saudi writer, Mohammed al-Shaikh, repeated the old-new charge in the Arab world that wherever the Palestinians go, they cause trouble.
"Palestinians bring disaster to anyone who hosts them. Jordan hosted them, and there was Black September; Lebanon hosted them, and there was a civil war there; Kuwait hosted them, and they turned into Saddam Hussein's soldiers. Now they are using their podiums to curse us."
In another comment on Twitter, al-Shaikh called for banning Palestinians from performing the Islamic hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. His comment came after a video surfaced showing Palestinians, during the recent hajj, carrying Palestinian flags and chanting, "With blood, with soul, we redeem you, Al-Aqsa Mosque!"
The Saudis have strict rules banning political activities during the hajj. Al-Shaikh apparently viewed the Palestinians as using the pilgrimage to Mecca to stage a demonstration, stir up trouble during the hajj and embarrass the Saudi authorities.
"The dogs of Hamas," al-Shaikh said after viewing the video, "should be banned from performing the hajj next year because of their obscene behavior."
Fahd al-Shammari, a Saudi journalist, attacked Palestinians by calling them "beggars without honor." He went as far as saying that a mosque in Uganda is more blessed than Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is a Jewish holy site."
The Palestinians can only blame themselves for damaging their relations with the Arab states. Biting the hand that feeds you has always been a policy for which the Palestinians have paid a heavy price.
Burning photos of Arab leaders and heads of state on the streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has proven to be a big mistake. You simply cannot burn pictures of the Saudi crown prince one day and rush to Riyadh to seek money the next. You cannot shout slogans against the Egyptian president one day and go to Cairo to seek political backing the next.
Many people in the Arab countries are now saying that it is high time for the Palestinians to start looking after their own interests and thinking of a better future for their children. They no longer see the Palestinian issue as the main problem in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Arabs seem to be saying to the Palestinians: "We want to march forward; you can continue to march backward for as long as you wish."
What they see is Palestinian stagnation, mainly thanks to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas leaders, who are too busy poisoning their peoples' minds and ripping each other to shreds to have time for anything positive. The Palestinians may just wake up one day to discover that their Arab brothers can truly no longer be duped.
Ahmad al-Jaralah, a leading Kuwaiti newspaper editor, was even more blunt, saying: "The Palestinian cause is no longer an Arab concern. We fund the Palestinians, and they respond by cursing us and behaving badly. The Arabs and Muslims no longer applaud the Palestinians. We should not be ashamed to establish relations with Israel."
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Iran Ready to “Wipe the Zionist Regime off the Map”
د.مجيد رافيزادا/جيتستون: إيران مستعدة لإزالة ومسح النظام الصهيوني من على الخريطة
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/September 09/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/78323/%d8%af-%d9%85%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a7-%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%aa%d8%b3%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%a5%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%af%d8%a9-%d9%84/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14837/iran-zionist-regime
If, for any reason, the Israeli government ever issued a declaration, about destroying Iran “in half an hour,” as Iran recently said about Israel, we would probably never hear the end of the criticism from all parts of the world. The European Union would likely take even more measures to counter Israel. There would doubtless be an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to hurl slanders against Israel, followed by countries pledging solidarity and support for Iran.
Amazingly, Israel has been bullied and criticized by the same international community for merely taking precautionary measures to defend its citizens and territorial integrity, as any country would.
For some reason, the Islamic Republic is getting a free pass for constantly threatening to wipe out Israel off the map. This lopsided injustice is either a case of selective amnesia or outrageous double standards by the international community…. The international community… needs to stop its double standards by taking measures against Iran’s vows to annihilate Israel.
Fortunately, since President Donald J. Trump took office, America’s Iran policy has been heading in the right direction. Steadily escalating economic sanctions have inflicted serious damage on Iran’s economy. Maximum pressure is the right policy to adopt to bridle this predatory regime.
Recently, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, again vowed to obliterate Israel. He boasted that Iran has empowered its Lebanese proxy to such an extent that Hezbollah “alone” can wipe out Israel. Pictured: Salami receives his promotion to the rank of Major General, from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a ceremony held on April 22, 2019. (Image source: khamenei.ir)
Malign behavior in the world today seems largely to be the result of people who have the power to correct what is wrong willfully looking the other way: hypocrisy. Currently, one of the biggest beneficiaries — along with China, North Korea, Venezuela, Russia, Turkey and Cuba — is the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Among other lawlessness, Iran, since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, has continued non-stop to threaten the existence of Israel in contravention of Chapter 1 the United Nations Charter — without any reproof or rebuke from the international community.
Amazingly, Israel has been bullied and criticized by the same international community for merely taking precautionary measures to defend its citizens and territorial integrity, as any country would.
If, for any reason, the Israeli government ever issued a declaration about destroying Iran “in half an hour,” as Iran recently said about Israel, we would probably never hear the end of the criticism from all parts of the world. The European Union would likely take even more measures to counter Israel. There would doubtless be an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to hurl slanders against Israel, followed by countries pledging solidarity and support for Iran.
It was Mojtaba Zolnour, chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, who issued this latest threat.
For some reason, the Islamic Republic is getting a free pass for continually threatening to wipe out Israel off the map. This lopsided justice is either a case of selective amnesia or outrageous double standards by the international community.
In a recent ceremony in the northern city of Urumiyeh, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, again vowed to obliterate Israel.
He boasted that Iran has empowered its Lebanese proxy to such an extent that Hezbollah “alone” can wipe out Israel.
According to Salami, “The Lebanese Hezbollah has now developed such an extent of power through the experience of confrontation against proxy wars that it is now, by itself, able to wipe the Zionist regime off the map in any possible war.” He added that “They [the US and its allies] intended to undermine Iran’s regional influence, but everyone witnessed how this policy backfired to increase Iran’s influence and a united front was formed against the Zionist regime.”
Salami also pointed out that Iran has assisted Hezbollah to sharpen its military capabilities fighting in Syria to become strong enough single-handedly to “wipe the Zionist regime off the map”.
Revealingly, when the Iranian general was appointed as the IRGC commander by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in April, it appears that one of the main reasons behind his appointment was his deep antagonism towards the state of Israel and the Jewish people.
Before becoming the IRGC commander, Salami was in charge of building up Iran’s ballistic missile system capable of “annihilating” Israel.
The IRGC commander has consistently maintained his desire and ambition to destroy Israel. Salami was previously quoted as saying that “Today, more than ever, there is fertile ground — with the grace of God — for the annihilation, the wiping out and the collapse of the Zionist regime.”
He also famously boasted that “In Lebanon alone, over 100,000 missiles are ready to be launched,” adding:
“If there is a will, if it serves [our] interests, and if the Zionist regime repeats its past mistakes due to its miscalculations, these missiles will pierce through space, and will strike at the heart of the Zionist regime. They will prepare the ground for its great collapse in the new era.”
He also has said, “Iran’s policies towards the terrorist groups and the Zionist regime will not change, and this regime will be vanished from the global political scene.”
As one of the most effective ways to attract public support in the Iranian government is to slander Israel, Iranian politicians across the political spectrum have shown support for the IRGC commander.
Iran, however, does not have monopoly on violence; it needs to be told — in no uncertain terms — by the international community that it cannot continue to bully Israel.
The international community, for its part, needs to stop its double standards by taking measures against Iran’s vows to annihilate Israel.
Fortunately, since U.S. President Donald J. Trump took office, America’s Iran policy has been heading in the right direction. Steadily escalating economic sanctions have inflicted serious damage on Iran’s economy. Maximum pressure is the right policy to adopt to bridle this predatory regime.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Erdogan’s Golden Days are Over
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/September 09/2019
In August 2014, I paid a visit to President Abdullah Gul days after his term ended. He was very cordial when we used to visit Ankara and Istanbul for talks with Erdogan and Davutoglu to decipher the Turkish policy in the region. It was no secret that Gul was president during “Erdogan’s term” just as Dmitry Medvedev was president during Vladimir Putin’s term. Experience has shown that the telephone of a leader stops ringing when he loses his title or when he leaves office after losing favor with the “strong man” in the country.
We discussed the Syrian crisis that was raging at the time. Gul avoided talking directly about Erdogan’s policy there or about his relations with him. I had the feeling the man wanted to wait and avoid getting embroiled in an early battle with his old friend. Gul realized that he was being vague during our meeting, which is why he said to me as I was leaving: “At any rate, a severe tone does not solve problems, neither here no abroad.”
The message was clear. He was objecting against Erdogan’s way of managing affairs with countries. He had shifted his tone from saying “my friend Bashar” to describing him as the “dictator in Damascus.” Perhaps Gul was seeking to avoid an early clash with a man who was not known for being forgiving of people who abandon his ship and later hold the captain responsible for crashing it into rocks.
I again pondered Erdogan’s policy in Syria after three years. In September 2107, I traveled to the Kurdistan Region and visited the counter-terrorism headquarters in Erbil where I met several ISIS prisoners, including a member from each of China, Kazakhstan and the United States. They all had similar stories in that they came to Turkey and networks arranged for their transport to ISIS’ “caliphate”. I suspected that Turkey was playing with fire when it opened its border to thousands of roaming fighters under the pretext of toppling the Assad regime.
It never occurred to Erdogan at the time that he was inadvertently offering a favor to the Russian president, who would rather confront extremists in Syria than pay the price for confronting them in Russia and its neighboring countries.
Another example of Erdogan’s hasty policies: In December 2008, he received then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. During the talks, he frequently went to a side room to contact Assad, hoping to transform the meeting into a tripartite summit. The Syrian leader did not attend and demanded that Israel make a public declaration that it would withdraw from the Golan Heights. Erdogan was banking at the time on Damascus’ desire to end the isolation brought about after it was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in 2005 in wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Prior to that, Istanbul had hosted a Syrian and an Israeli delegation for indirect negotiations. Davutoglu moved back and forth between the two delegations with various ideas and proposals. The negotiations failed and Olmert departed the city. The Gaza war erupted soon after.
Erdogan benefited immensely from the improvement in his country’s economy. He benefited even more when western powers believed that the “Turkish example could act as a bridge to reach reconciliation between Islamic peoples and the values of modernity.” Ankara boasted at the time of its ability to talks to all parties and opted to ignore Iran’s expansionist agenda in the region, believing that it was merely a “competitor”, not a “rival or enemy.”
The situation changed when the fires of the “Arab Spring” broke out and when what observers described as “a Turkish-Qatari agenda, with a Muslim Brotherhood trend” began to emerge in Egypt, Libya and Syria. Observers in Europe noticed that officials were quick to praise the Turkish example without gathering enough information about Erdogan’s deep policies that were concealed behind Davutoglu’s smile and a policy of “eliminating problems.”
In Syria, the developments went against Erdogan’s ambitions. Russia’s military intervention sealed Assad’s fate and kept him in power. This therefore, crushed Turkey’s goals to keep Kurdish fighters away from its borders. Moscow brought Turkey to heel when Ankara downed a Russian warplane. This move had greater repercussions than when NATO member Turkey purchased the Russian S-400 missile defense system and angered the US. Russia’s infiltration of the NATO alliance through Turkey did not prompt it to present Ankara many favors in Syria as demonstrated in the surrounding of Turkish surveillance posts and raids on Idlib.
Moscow has kept up a policy of offering small gifts to Ankara in order to guarantee that it continues to unsettle its relations with the US. Washington, which is starting to have doubts about Erdogan’s loyalty to NATO, in turn, has adopted a policy of small steps and small favors. It is humoring Ankara in the issue of the Syria “safe zone”.
This has left Turkey at a loss in committing to old pledges to the United States and NATO and new ones to Russia.
These unsteady relations have made Turkish foreign policy prone to surprise turnarounds in complex regional circumstances and a very murky international scene. The best example of this is Erdogan’s threat to flood Europe with Syrian refugees if it does not pay the right price. This is an unusual way to address countries. Turkey has gone from eliminating problems to eliminating friendships.
This has all been accompanied by a floundering Turkish economy. The lira has weakened dramatically and foreign investment has dropped. Erdogan adopted a vindictive approach in addressing the so-called “Gulen coup”. He carried out a wide purge that has gone beyond the military to reach the judiciary, schools, universities and administrations. Istanbul dealt him a blow when it refused to pledge allegiance to him. He called for a re-election and it only deepened his wound. The sultan does not have the right to lose Istanbul. This blow will not be forgotten in the history books. His doubts over old friends have grown. They concluded that the problem lies in the captain and they have started to abandon ship before he pushes them off. They are now preparing to launch a new party.
A tense Erdogan wanders in a vast palace. An exhausting tango with Trump. A costly tango with Putin. He is in denial that the golden days are over.

Disarming Iran begins with its Houthi proxy
Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri/Arab News/September 09/2019
The Houthis’ attacks on civilians and innocent people inside Yemen and their repeated attacks on Saudi Arabia with ballistic missiles and drones prove the importance of confronting, dismantling and disarming this terrorist militia and even proving that it poses a threat to the security and stability of the region. It is a threat to power supply lines and is a tool of Iran. Tehran has always relied on such affiliated terrorist militias to do its dirty work.
The international pressure on Iran and the application of sanctions will remain ineffective while they are not tied to the implementation of its plans. We know that the problems Tehran cause the world firstly come from the terrorist fighters it supports — hundreds of thousands of them, if not millions, distributed across many continents and not just in the four key Arab countries of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Today, the Houthis use ballistic missiles developed by Tehran to target Saudi territory. Hundreds of them would have caused great destruction had they not been intercepted and shot down.
However, the world has not reacted strongly to condemn Tehran and the Houthi terrorist militia, which is the first militia to possess ballistic missiles. Their use is one of the war crimes carried out by the Houthis.
The Houthis have used drones and missiles to target civilian airports inside Saudi Arabia, including Abha Airport, and vital facilities and oil transfer stations in Afif, Dawadmi and the Shaybah oil field. Iran is involved in these terrorist acts and even manages this battle to destabilize the region’s security and undermine the global energy market. None of these acts would have been achieved without Tehran’s reliance on terrorist militias; and the most important today are the Houthis because they are now the regime’s favorite, as arguedby Foreign Policy magazine in June.
Events have proven that Saudi Arabia and its allies are the first line of defense against Iran’s terrorism-supporting schemes in the region. In light of this, the decision to launch Operation Decisive Storm was not an improvised one, but was based on facts and a broad understanding of this danger, which is growing as the international community fails to take any real responsibility.
Iran manages this battle to destabilize the region’s security and undermine the global energy market.
We also know that Tehran is working to develop its dangerous nuclear program, which will ultimately make the world face the onset of nuclear terrorism. And this will not be far away, as stated by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who said Tehran was “several months” from a nuclear weapon.
Just as ballistic weapons have reached the hands of Tehran’s terrorist militias, it will not be impossible for nuclear bombs to reach them either. This talk is not an exaggeration. As a reminder, an international coalition was previously formed to defeat Daesh, so why do we not see this alliance re-centered on these militias? Or is one form of terrorism acceptable and another reprehensible?
The talks announced last week between the US and the Houthis must be serious and based on forcing the Houthis to accept the political process and integrate into Yemeni society after they hand over their weapons, stop their terrorism and declare allegiance to the Yemeni state, rather than subordination to Iran and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The US efforts will be ineffective and insufficient without these conditions. The fastest and most effective way to put pressure on Iran is to cut its terrorist wings; then Tehran will will ask to negotiate a return to the world as a real state, not a terrorist regime.
*Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri is a political analyst and international relations scholar. Twitter: @DrHamsheri

Report: Over 120 Syrian churches damaged by war since 2011
AP/September 09/2019
BEIRUT: A Syrian war monitor associated with the opposition said Monday that over 120 Christian places of worship have been damaged or destroyed by all sides in the country’s eight-year conflict. Some of the attacks were deliberate, such as the Daesh group using bulldozers to destroy the ancient Saint Elian Monastery in Homs province in 2015. The majority, however, were caused by front-line combat, shelling or rockets. Christians made up about 10 percent of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million, who co-existed with the Muslim majority and enjoyed freedom of worship under President Bashar Assad’s government. Most have left for Europe over the past 20 years, with their flight significantly gathering speed since the start of the current conflict.
Around half of all Syrians are now either internally displaced or have left the country. The report by the Qatar-based Syrian Network for Human Rights, which collects statistics on the war, said government forces were responsible for 60% of the 124 documented attacks since fighting erupted in March 2011. The rest were blamed on Daeshmilitants, the Al-Qaeda-linked group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham and other factions of the armed opposition. There was immediate comment from the government, which rarely comments on reports from foreign organizations. “Targeting Christian places of worship is a form of intimidation against and displacement of the Christian minority in Syria,” said Fadel Abdul Ghany, the founder and chairman of SNHR. The report said Daesh was behind 10 attacks on Christian sites, five of which were in the northern city of Raqqa, once the extremists de-facto capital. The group was known for displacing and killing Christians in areas it controlled and confiscating their properties. Hardest hit was the northern province of Aleppo, with 34 attacks, 24 by rebels and six by the government. The highest number of attacks by government forces — 27 out of 29 — was in the central province of Homs.
SNHR’s report also placed blame on Syrian government allies Russia and Iran, but did not specify how many of the attacks they’d caused.

The Increasingly Right Stuff: Religious Parties in Israel’s Upcoming Election
David Pollock and Tamar Hermann The Washington Institute/September 09/2019
Amidst all the turmoil of Israel’s unprecedented second national election within six months, due on September 17, one key yet often overlooked factor stands out: the decisively right-wing role of the small religious parties. Despite the high birth rate of the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox groups, they still get only about one-fifth of the vote, and thus of the seats in the Knesset. But that will probably be enough to prevent the formation of a narrow centrist government under the Kahol Lavan (Blue and White, Israel’s national colors) coalition. As a result, the most likely outcomes are either another narrow right-wing government led by the Likud Party, or a broader center-right one with both Likud and Kahol Lavan.
The reason is that the religious parties’ mandates are almost always crucial to make up the necessary majority in parliament. The last time Israel had a center-left government—precisely because these Jewish religious parties were willing to join it—was two decades ago, during Ehud Barak’s short-lived tenure as prime minister in 1999-2000. After that, the religious parties agreed to join only right-wing governing coalitions. So those are the only kind of governments Israel has had ever since, even when center-left and right were almost tied.
Moreover, this remarkably disproportionate right-wing religious tilt seems well on track to repeat itself in the current election. Depending upon the precise results, Israel’s religious parties could conceivably be enticed to join some kind of center-right “national unity” government, or they might even be left out of such an oxymoronic coalition entirely. But their rightward ideological turn will make them loath to join a purely centrist government, even if the right gains no clear path to the required 61-seat Knesset majority.
Moreover, the leading centrist party, as the latest statements by its leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid reiterate, reciprocates in kind, with public disdain for these “sectoral” religious parties. So the one big thing that appears almost certain is this: opposition from these religious parties will continue to prevent the formation of any purely centrist Israeli government. That is why, when asked in an August poll what kind of coalition they expected, a mere 5 percent of the Israeli Jewish public predicted a centrist one, headed by Kahol Lavan.
Jewish religious political parties have always been part of the Israeli political scene. In fact, their roots go back to the pre-state Zionist movement’s institutions. Over the years these parties represented two different religious sectors: the ultra-Orthodox (e.g., Agudat Israel Party) and the Orthodox or National Religious (e.g., Ha’Mizrahi, later known by the Hebrew acronym Mafdal, or National Religious Party). Neither of these parties represented or could have represented both sectors at the same time, as the two were deeply divided over the Zionist creed and the question of Israel as a Jewish entity. The ultra-Orthodox sector was anti- or at least non-Zionist and hence saw the state of Israel as a political entity with no Jewish religious value. The national Orthodox sector, however, is deeply committed to the Zionist idea and sees Israel as an entity invested with religious significance.
Furthermore, the ultra-Orthodox saw the establishment of Israel as a negative development in Jewish history. In their belief system, in order to be redeemed, the Jewish people should wait until the Messiah comes and not take active steps to change their existential situation. The National Religious sector on the other hand considers the state of Israel as the beginning of Jewish national and religious redemption and hence as sacred.
Both kinds of parties, ultra-Orthodox and National Religious, acknowledge the authority of the religious leadership—their respective rabbis. However, while the ultra-Orthodox parties see their authority as standing far above that of the state and its institutions in all walks of life, the National Religious parties see the state institutions as the relevant authority in political matters, and the rabbis as the supreme authority on religious matters. The latter duality is quite problematic when a situation has political and religious aspects at the same time. For example, who is the relevant authority—the political or the religious leader—when a withdrawal from parts of the Greater Land of Israel is discussed, as such a move goes against the promise of God to give the land in its entirety of the Children of Israel (i.e., the Jews).
Zionist or non-Zionist, the Jewish Israeli religious parties have always been small in terms of their electoral appeal. They get their disproportionally strong political influence first and foremost from the need embedded in the structure of the Israeli parliamentary system to build multi-partner coalitions in order to get a large enough majority in the Knesset. One should add to that the drive of almost all Israeli prime ministers, regardless of their party affiliation, to emphasize their commitment to Jewish history and values by having religious parties as part of their coalition-based governments.
In the past, the ultra-Orthodox and the National Religious parties could easily join every coalition, be it led by Labor or Likud (the formerly two dominant parties in Israel). The ultra-Orthodox parties were mainly interested in securing large budgets for their communities, which did not see themselves as participants in Israeli public political discourse. In particular, the ultra-Orthodox communities and leaders had no interest in security and foreign relations, the focal points of Israeli politics. The National Religious parties for their part were much more involved in this discourse, but their rather moderate views on security, the economy, and other issues enabled them in the past to join forces with non-religious political actors of both the left and the right.
However, in recent years things have dramatically changed. Both population sectors and the parties representing them⁠—the ultra-Orthodox parties United Torah Judaism and Shas, and the National Religious parties Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home)—have turned politically to the right. The ultra-Orthodox sector has been deeply politicized, some would even say “Zionified.” As shown below, since the mid-1990s and even more so today, on the grassroots level the members of this sector define themselves in huge numbers as right-wingers.
To an even greater extent, the National Religious sector also massively affiliates itself with the political right. With few exceptions, the latter strongly identifies with the Judea and Samaria (West Bank) settlement project as well as with the settler community. Last but not least, the National Religious sector has undergone a cognitive transition: they no longer see themselves as a parochial political player, but rather as the ideological spearhead of Israeli Jewish society. A common metaphor used by the leaders of this sector is, “We are no longer just riders of the nation’s train, but already occupy the locomotive driver’s seat.” This unequivocal political identity makes the religious political parties critical participants in all right-wing coalitions and increases their bargaining position vis-a-vis Likud leaders. On the other hand, unlike in the past, this identity reduces the political field of maneuvering of their own leaders, as they can hardly act in the opposite direction to their voters’ political will and hence be considered as realistic participants in a center or center-left coalition.
Furthermore, it works both ways. Binyamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud have generally preferred a narrower coalition with the religious parties over a broader one without them. Rather than question the clout of the religious parties, as many on the left and center do, the Likud and the splinter right-wing parties tend to celebrate and accommodate their desires. And on the other side of the political spectrum, Israel’s centrist and left-wing parties have grown increasingly anti-religious.
In the current electoral context, Avigdor Liberman’s small center-right faction—the hawkish, Jewish-nationalist, but secular party Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Is Our Home), which polls project may double its seats to 10 and play a key swing role in coalition formation⁠—has explicitly called for an end to Jewish religious exemptions from the military draft. This all but rules out a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox. And Yair Lapid, head of the large Yesh Atid (There Is a Future) faction in the main Kahol Lavan centrist coalition, has long been identified with secularist tendencies in Israeli public life.
If these contenders were willing to consider a coalition with Israel’s Arab political parties, projected to earn 10-13 seats in the upcoming vote, they might come closer to a majority even without any Jewish religious parties behind them. But these centrist opposition parties remain unwilling to consider that option. The Arab parties have for the most part returned the disfavor, unwilling to join any Israeli government in the past. They did, however, form a crucial part of the “blocking majority” against Likud that enabled Yitzhak Rabin to assume the prime ministry in 1992. And one of their top leaders today, Ayman Odeh, has just offered to help give the center a new majority after the upcoming election, even from outside a formal governing coalition.
The latest straw polls predict that the religious parties will maintain or even increase their strength. They project around eight seats for the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism; another eight for the Sephardi Orthodox party Shas; and even more seats, perhaps eleven, for the new party aptly named Yamina (Rightward), which inherits many of the hawkish National Religious voters of the former Jewish Home Party, and some others besides. If anything, these polls may underestimate the religious voters, who may be more motivated to vote twice in six months, and who have also been known to shy away from or even deliberately mislead pollsters.
So, if the past is prologue, we may well see Israel’s Jewish religious parties once again give the right a decisive advantage in coalition formation. To be sure, Israeli politics has had its share of surprises lately, and Netanyahu’s legal troubles add a new layer of uncertainty to this prognosis. A wider coalition of strange bedfellows, possibly without some of the religious parties, cannot be totally ruled out. Nevertheless, a narrow center-left coalition seems almost impossible—if only because of the special role these small religious parties play in the self-proclaimed Jewish state.
*David Pollock
David Pollock is the Bernstein Fellow at The Washington Institute, focusing on regional political dynamics and related issues.
*Tamar Hermann
Tamar Hermann is a political science professor at the Open University of Israel and academic director of the Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute.

Another conference on Libya? Enforce the arms embargo instead
Ben Fishman/The Hill/September 09/2019
Five months into Libya’s latest civil war, the violence continues unabated. Since Khalifa Haftar launched his attack on Tripoli in April, the war has left more than 1,100 dead and over 100,000 displaced. The nature of the fighting has transitioned from a largely ground-based assault to one relying on air attacks from a combination of outdated Libyan aircraft and imported drones.
Instead of reducing collateral damage, the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) most likely are responsible for mass-casualty attacks against civilians. A ceasefire or a return to political negotiations between the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) seem as far off as ever, despite frequent calls from the international community urging peace.
Most recently, the Group of 7 (G-7) leaders declared their support for a “long-term ceasefire” in Libya and the need for a “political solution.” Such routine international proclamations have become empty rhetoric.
Equally problematic is the time-honored tradition of holding international conferences intended to create momentum for peace talks. The French-led G-7 statement pressed for holding another such “well-prepared international conference to bring together all the stakeholders and regional actors relevant to this conflict.” French foreign minister Jean-Yves LeDrian echoed his intention to put together such a conference in an Aug. 29 speech.
Since Emmanuel Macron was elected president in 2017, he has hosted two such conferences on Libya — and that was before the latest civil war. France’s approach to Libya, mainly engaging Haftar, deeming him an essential political actor and aiming to bring him into the political fold, has failed. Another international conference with the same strategy, whether in Paris or at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York, will repeat the same empty promises. For a conference to achieve a concrete result, it should focus on addressing one of the primary causes of the latest civil war: the blatant arming of both sides by outside actors in violation of a long-dormant U.N. Security Council-imposed arms embargo.
The Security Council imposed an arms embargo as part of 2011 intervention in Libya. It remains in effect only on paper. No enforcement mechanism exists to check ships or flights for transporting potential weapons shipments. Even worse, this happens in plain sight as armored vehicles are unloaded on docks and armed drones, clearly from outside Libya, hover in the skies. As the war continues, each side is relying on outside suppliers to match the other side’s increasingly sophisticated arms and systems.
As U.N. special envoy Ghassan Salame told the Security Council in late July, “Armed drones, armored vehicles and pick-up trucks fitted with heavy armaments, machine guns, recoilless rifles, mortar and rocket launchers have been recently transferred to Libya with the complicity and, indeed, outright support of foreign governments.”
On one side, Turkey — who has never joined an international consensus calling for a ceasefire — reportedly has provided armored vehicle and drones to GNA forces. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), however, claims publicly to support a ceasefire but long has supported Haftar’s forces, built a military airbase in eastern Libya, and provided the LNA with Chinese-made UAVs, armored vehicles and additional materiel.
France, whose support for Haftar was revealed in 2016 when three French special forces members died in a helicopter crash in Benghazi, recently had forces accompanying the LNA in its offensive against Tripoli. Their presence was revealed by the discovery of French anti-tank Javelin missiles after GNA forces drove the LNA out of the strategic town of Gharyan. France explained that the U.S.-origin Javelins were there for force protection, essentially acknowledging they deployed forces to aid Haftar. Yet, France consistently calls for a ceasefire and a return to political negotiations — at least nine times since Haftar’s offensive — in various multilateral formats.
Convening yet another conference on Libya is a recipe for continued political stagnation, unless it addresses concretely the issue of illegal arms imports. Neither warring side has reached the point where it will prefer a political compromise to ongoing war, especially given the increasing divisiveness in the country. Therefore, the only way to alter the potential for renewed political negotiations is to begin draining each side’s source of weapons and materiel.
Washington is best positioned to lead such an initiative. Since Egypt, France and the UAE agreed to “prevent destabilizing arms shipments” to Libya on July 16, the U.S. should call them on that commitment and invite them to discuss devising a mechanism to enforce the arms embargo. If these allies agree, doing that would isolate Turkey and expose them to potentially uncomfortable arms interdictions. A limited enforcement mechanism would not require a large international inspection team on the ground or a naval deployment.
To start, the U.S. can provide declassified imagery analysis to expose the use of armed drones by either side. Starving Haftar of his air assault capacity will significantly limit his ability to continue an offensive in the west. Deterring Turkish shipments would similarly reduce the GNA’s forces from rearming.
The U.N. Support Mission in Libya remains the ideal convener of a renewed, enhanced political dialogue among all Libyans, not just the warring parties. But without the support of the international community and a concerted effort to ground UAVs and halt weapons supplies, the U.N. has minimal leverage to renew peace talks and aid Libya’s long-stalled political transition.
*Ben Fishman is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He served from 2009 to 2013 on the National Security Council, including as director for North Africa and Jordan. Follow him on Twitter @fishman_b.