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

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http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews21/english.april29.21.htm
 

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Bible Quotations For today

Jesus said to them, 3It is I; do not be afraid
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 06/16-21/:”When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, got into a boat, and started across the lake to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The lake became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were going.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 28-29/2021

Ministry of Health: 1478 new coronavirus cases, 27 deaths
President Aoun: We refuse to see Lebanon as transit point for what could harm brotherly Arab countries in general, KSA and Gulf states in particular
Aoun meets committee for establishing and equipping Deir El Qamar Hospital, East Christian Relief Organization delegation
Report: Govt Talks Likely to Resume after Hariri’s Return
In new round of border tensions, Israel downs Hezbollah drone
Lebanon makes multiple moves to end Saudi ban on produce imports
Judge Aoun Hails Move to Freeze Assets of Banks and Their Chairmen
Bitar Hears Testimonies of 3 New Witnesses in Port Blast Case
Bassil Travels to Moscow for Talks with Russian Officials
Hariri meets Russian, Egyptian ambassadors over general situation
Fahmi Says 'Nothing New' in Slim's Case after Rifi Remarks
U.N. Clarifies Recruitment Channels after Scam in Lebanon
Army Leadership Denies Report about Meeting Bukhari
Lebanon PM Diab Qatar CV story ‘too ridiculous to be replied to’
Joint Committee approves bill deeming healthcare providers who succumbed to Covid-19 martyrs, tweets Araji
Swiss Ambassador hands Health Minister pediatric service of Beirut Governmental Hospital - Quarantine
Japan Sets June Trial for Americans Accused in Ghosn Escape
Lebanese-Made Thriller Takes Arab Streaming World by Storm

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 28-29/2021

White House, State Department, Pentagon dispatching senior officials to Middle East
Third working group on US-Iran nuclear deal meets for first time in Vienna: Diplomat
US warship fires warning shots in new incident with Iranian Guards
US eyes major rollback in Trump-era Iran sanctions to revive nuclear deal
German Woman Faces 'Security Charge' in Iran
De facto North Cyprus offers two-state plan at UN talks, dismissed by Greek Cypriots
Flight tracking services record first flight between Israel and Syria
Turkish Armenians keep low profile after Biden’s recognition of genocide
Netanyahu blinks, finally makes Gantz justice minister
Israel is not an apartheid state - editorial
Human Rights Watch really wants to push Israel and PA into one state
Israeli refusal to allow Jerusalem ballot could offer Abbas pretext to postpone vote
Saudi Arabia wants good relations with Iran, says few differences with US
EU Slams 'Manipulation' of Vaccine Info by China, Russia
 

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 28-29/2021

Hunter Biden's Laptop/Peter Schweizer/Gatestone Institute/April 28/2021
In the West, Islamists are more important than Kurds - opinion/Kamal Sido/Jerusalem Post/April 28/2021
How Israel and the US are taking Iran’s drone threat seriously - analysis/Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/April 28/2021
Russia’s expanding footprint in the Middle East/Talmiz Ahmad/Arab News/April 28/2021
Assad is indulging in “sham elections” as Syrians continue to suffer, UN told/Ephrem Kossaify/Arab News/April 28/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 28-29/2021

Ministry of Health: 1478 new coronavirus cases, 27 deaths
NNA/28 April ,2021   
The Ministry of Public Health announced 1478 new coronavirus infection cases, which raises the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 524241. 27 deaths have been registered over the past 24 hours.

President Aoun: We refuse to see Lebanon as transit point for what could harm brotherly Arab countries in general, KSA and Gulf states in particular
NNA/28 April ,2021 
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, emphasized that he refuses that “Lebanon is a transit point for what could harm the brotherly Arab countries in general, and Saudi Arabia and Gulf states in particular, given the strong ties which Lebanon binds with these countries”, asserting that “These countries have always stood by Lebanon’s side in various circumstances which the country had witnessed”.
“KSA is a brotherly country and we are interested in preserving the existing economic cooperation with it. Today, we are exerting great efforts to uncover the circumstances of what happened and put things back on the right track” the President added. Positions of President Aoun came while meeting Industry Minister, Imad Hobballah, who was accompanied by a delegation of members of the Board of Directors of the Industrialists Association, today at the Presidential Palace. The delegation included: Ziad Bekdash, George Nassrawi, Hassan Yassin, Sabounjian, Mounir Al-Bassat, Ibrahim Al-Mallah, Adnan Ataya and Ghassan Saliba. At the beginning, the Industry Minister pointed out to the importance of local industrial production in this period, especially since industry is the sector which is mostly capable of continuing, in light of the current harsh economic crisis which we are experiencing. Minister Hobballah also enumerated the difficulties which this sector faces, especially regarding the failure of the BDL to secure necessary funds for factories, and the Dollar rate crisis. “These are attempts to strike what is remaining of the Lebanese production and economy, which is unacceptable, especially as it restricts the process of local industrial production” Minister Hobballah said. In addition, the Industry Minister tackled the latest developments in the field of exporting agricultural goods after the recent decision taken by KSA in this field, where he stated the importance and necessity of addressing this issue and correcting matters by punishing those involved. “Protecting Saudi security is also our responsibility as Lebanese, and it should be achieved through cooperation with Saudi authorities. I hope to work to tighten control through Customs and in various state institutions who are concerned in this matter, so that smuggling operations be controlled. This affects our relations with brotherly countries, thus inflicting serious economic repercussions on Lebanon” Hobballah concluded.
Vice President Nassrawi:
Afterwards, the association’s Vice President, George Nassrawi, emphasized the role which industry plays in the national economy, considering that it is the main productive sector, and an entrance to the socio-economic solution.
“Industry preserved job opportunities in very difficult circumstances in which Lebanon complains of increased poverty, unemployment and scarcity in resources. Through industry, incomes are secured for families, and these families will not seek and request aid from the government” Nassrawi said.
“Industry also secures essential life supplies and basic consumer goods for citizens in terms of foodstuffs. It is the main source for the introduction of hard currencies into the country, through its exports abroad. These exports estimate to around $ 13 billion annually, including 10 billion for the local market and 3 billion exports” Nassrawi continued.
Then, Vice President Nassrawi listed the association’s demands, most prominent of which are:
-Refusing to put controls and limitations on export operations to ensure the return of money, which constitutes a blow to exports, industry and economy, in addition to providing banking facilities to secure the import of raw materials (Amounting 100 million USD).
-Rescheduling the debts owed by industrialists to banks, with acceptable interest rates which reflect the current market benefits in Lebanese Lira or foreign currency.
-Adopting measures of the Economy Ministry to protect the consumer basket without distinguishing between the industrialist who benefits from subsidies and the industrialist who doesn’t
-Confronting the attempts of some countries to promote their products in foreign markets as being of Lebanese manufacture.
-Reviewing some unfair trade agreements against Lebanon before the Arab facilitation agreement to which Lebanon is bound and which the Arab countries aren’t.-Lifting the damage resulting from BDL Circular No.2020 / 568 to pay off bank loans in the loan currency.
President Aoun:
For his part, the President welcomed the delegation, and asserted support for industrialists’ demands and all measures which would help in preserving and developing this sector.
President Aoun also addressed the problem which occurred with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and stressed that he refuses that “Lebanon be a transit point for what could harm brotherly Arab countries in general, and Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries in particular, given the strong ties which bind Lebanon with these countries which have always stood next to Lebanon in different circumstances”.
“KSA is a brotherly country. We are interested in preserving the existing economic cooperation with Saudi Arabia and today we are exerting great efforts to uncover the circumstances of what happened and return matters to the correct path. The Interior Minister has been assigned to follow-up this issue with competent Saudi authorities, and it seems there is an understanding. We hope to reach solutions” the President said.Finally, President Aoun indicated that the measures taken at Monday’s meeting, at Baabda, will be implemented, and “Security apparatuses will tighten control over the export movement from Lebanese land, sea and air facilities to reassure countries that receive Lebanese agricultural and industrial products”. -- Presidency Press Office

 Aoun meets committee for establishing and equipping Deir El Qamar Hospital, East Christian Relief Organization delegation
NNA/28 April ,2021 
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, asserted his keenness on the unity of Jabal region, and its people, considering that this unity constitutes the backbone of Lebanese unity, and that with our national unity we can overcome all challenges which face us. The President also said that his main concern, when he moved to the summer Presidential residence in Beiteddine Palace was to preserve, fortify and push forward for this unity. “Our concern was also to achieve development projects in Shouf region, most prominent of which was the completion of Deir El Qamar Governmental Hospital” President Aoun indicated. Stances of the President came while receiving, MP Farid Boustany, who was accompanied by a delegation from the committee for equipping the Deir El Qamar Governmental Hospital. The delegation included: President, Professor Antoine Loutfallah Al-Boustany, head of Our Lady of the Hill, Father Joseph Abi Aoun Al-Mariami, members: Engineer Karim Moussa Dr. Danny Youssef, Mrs. Mary Rose Layan Arab, Nicolas Aftimus, Michel Khattar, Lilian Naasi, Abdo Akl, Wassim Al-Boustany, and Antoine Reno. MP Boustany firstly conveyed the greetings of the people of Deir El Qamar and Shouf saying: “Our visit today is a thank-you, especially since you were among the first to sponsor the Deir Al-Qamar Governmental Hospital project, so you had the white hands in allocating the necessary support by the concerned ministries to complete this medical facility in the town of Deir Al-Qamar, Shouf”. “With your support, we have overcome all difficulties. We are here today in the process of finishing the first section of the hospital which will be soon opened under your auspices. The delegation accompanying me today includes the committee appointed by the Health Ministry, headed by Professor Antoine Loutfallah Boustany, and the Hospital’s support committee” MP Boustany added. “Despite the crisis which Lebanon is passing through, we came to assure your Excellency of our determination and will to implement this hospital. This wouldn’t have been possible without the land granted by the Maronite Order. Here, the truth must be said, many good hands were behind the establishment of this hospital” MP Boustany concluded.
Father Joseph Abi Aoun: Then, Father Abi Aoun thanked President Aoun for receiving the delegation and for his efforts in tireless follow up on the completion of the hospital project “In accordance with the directives of your Excellency in order to establish the principle of balanced development in various Lebanese regions”.“As monasticism, we are an essential part of our people in Deir al-Qamar, and from this point of view we have provided the land on which the hospital will be established, to serve the people of Deir al-Qamar and the Shouf region. We are in safe hands, Mr. President, as long as you are leading the ship of the homeland” Father Abi Aoun concluded.
Professor Boustany: Head of the committee, Professor Antoine Boustany, said: “The project to build Deir Al-Qamar Governmental Hospital dates back to more than 15 years, and after a stop due to various reasons we prefer not to mention, and for the good fortune of the Shouf region and its residents, MP Boustany came with honest words, working withcommitment and care. Deir Al-Qamar Hospital is the only governmental hospital in the Upper, Middle and Coastal Shouf region, which receives the attention of the Ministry of Health”.
“The hospital will combine high professional specialties and modern medical equipment, and we will create an atmosphere of professional cooperation with all the Shouf hospitals and their doctors. Finally, this project will have a very important impact on rooting the population and decent living, and how much we need this national mission” Professor Boustany concluded.
President Aoun:
For his part, the President responded welcoming the delegation and stressed that “Deir El Qamar enjoys great history and was distinguished by its men. It is not permissible for this town to remain without this hospital and everyone should cooperate to complete this achievement. This hospital is an important matter and we will cooperate with you to support its completion, especially in equipment and construction”.President Aoun also hoped that this project would be completed soon “So that it would be in the service of Deir El Qamar people, and all the people of Jabal region”.
East Christian Relief Association: President Aoun met the Director General of SOS CHRETIENS D’ORIENT, Mr. BenjaminBlanchard, the head of the mission in Lebanon Artur Lanternier, and the director of the Lebanon Mission, Mrs. Karen Ashkouti. The delegation briefed the President on the relief work which the Association carries out, especially works which were done after the August 14 Beirut Port explosion, which focused in particular on caring for those affected and providing means of support for them and for damaged hospital health centers. For his side, the President thanked the delegation fort their accomplishments, especially after the Beirut Port explosion, and referred to the difficulties which Lebanon faces, due to the repercussions of the Syrian displacement on various sectors of the country. President Aoun also asserted the need to work for the return of displaced Syrians to safe areas in their country, while providing them with assistance, stressing the importance of international support for this return.-- Presidency Press Office

Report: Govt Talks Likely to Resume after Hariri’s Return
Naharnet/28 April ,2021 
Baabda is reportedly awaiting PM-designate Saad Hariri to return from an official trip abroad in order for the stalled talks on a government formation to “resume”, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday. Hariri is expected to return from Abu Dhabi in the coming few hours, according to the daily. Baabda sources said “the new signal” about the resumption of talks is attributed to “an agreement between President Michel Aoun and Maronite Patriarch Beshara el-Rahi who handles part of the contacts between the two men.”During Rahi’s meeting with Aoun at Baabda Palace on Monday, the Patriarch had briefed Aoun on his latest talks with Hariri, after the latter’s meeting with Pope Francis during a trip to the Vatican earlier this month. Hariri had requested the Pope’s assistance to help the crisis-wracked country overcome its crises. Pope Francis reaffirmed his desire to visit Lebanon but said it would only happen once a new government was formed.

In new round of border tensions, Israel downs Hezbollah drone
The Arab Weekly/April 28/2021
JERUSALEM- Israeli forces brought down a drone belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah group that crossed into northern Israel from Lebanon on Tuesday, the Israeli military said. “Troops downed a drone that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli airspace in the eastern part of the Blue Line,” an army statement said, referring to the UN-demarcated border. “The drone was monitored by the IDF throughout the incident,” it added, using the acronym for the Israeli Defence Forces. In the statement, the military said that earlier in the day troops had located another Hezbollah drone that also had been downed along the border with Lebanon several weeks ago. The statement did not say what means were used to bring the two drones down. “We will continue to operate in order to prevent any attempt to violate Israeli sovereignty,” the statement said. There was no immediate comment from Lebanon or Hezbollah. Earlier last week, Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group that it will suffer “heavy consequences” if it acts against Israel. Touring the IDF’s Northern Command with senior military commanders, Gantz said the Israel Defense Forces “is ideally prepared along the northern border and definitely on the Lebanese front.”“We are aware of Hezbollah’s attempts to challenge us in new ways,” he said, without elaborating on the new tactics. “We will deal with any threat. If Hezbollah challenges the IDF and the State of Israel, it will suffer very, very heavy consequences and I hope they don’t do that.”Israel has acknowledged several incidents in recent years in which its own drones have been lost during missions along the Lebanese frontier, with Iranian-backed Hezbollah claiming to have shot them down.
Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006, is the dominant presence in Lebanon’s south near the border with Israel. The militant group has vowed to bring down Israeli drones breaching Lebanese airspace. In last February, an Israeli intelligence report predicted that Iran will seek to project strength as it pursues a return to the 2015 nuclear accord by using its “proxies” in the Middle East, including Hezbollah, to sow unrest. Israel has been a vocal and consistent critic of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated between world powers and Iran, which placed curbs and checks on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for economic incentives. The intelligence assessment also warned that Shia Iran and its allies, notably the Lebanese group Hezbollah, were continuing to threaten Israel along its northern border. The Israeli army has repeatedly warned of attempted cross-border attacks by Iran-backed fighters in Syria, from Hezbollah and other groups and responded with air strikes on Syrian territory.Enemy groups operating along Israel’s northern border continue to be deterred by the prospect of a war with Israel, a senior Israeli military commander said at the time on condition of anonymity.
“But the ‘deterrence deficit’ within the Shia Axis requires a response and may undermine the stability in the northern arena,” the military official added, referring to the possible consequences of Israeli military action in the region. Israel considers Hezbollah to be its toughest and most immediate threat. Israeli officials estimate that Hezbollah possesses some 130,000 rockets and missiles capable of striking virtually anywhere in Israel. The group has also gained valuable battlefield experience by fighting alongside Iranian troops backing the forces of President Bashar Assad in the Syrian civil war. Hezbollah has come under pressure at home from its rivals, who blame it for aggravating the country’s severe economic crisis through its military interventions in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Its close ties with Iran and military involvement across the region have alienated oil-rich Arab countries and other potential donors.
 

Lebanon makes multiple moves to end Saudi ban on produce imports
The Arab Weekly/April 28/2021
BEIRUT--Lebanese security forces announced the detention of a suspected drug smuggler at Beirut airport on Tuesday, a day after Lebanon pledged to crack down on the crime to persuade Saudi Arabia to lift its ban on Lebanese fruit and vegetables.The Beirut airport security forces said the detained man was trying to smuggle 11 kg of cocaine into the country on a Qatar Airways flight from Brazil. Lebanon on Monday urged Saudi Arabia to rethink a ban on Lebanese fruit and vegetable imports, a day after the suspension came into force over alleged drug smuggling. Riyadh announced Friday the suspension of the fresh produce shipments from Lebanon, saying they were being used to hide drugs and accusing Beirut of inaction. Other Gulf Arab states have said they support of the Saudi ban, raising fears in Lebanon, which faces an unprecedented economic crisis, that they may follow suit. The Saudi decision deprives Lebanese growers of one of their top export destinations, in a country already mired in its worst economic crisis in decades. Lebanese President Michel Aoun headed a meeting Monday to discuss the ban. “Those attending hoped Saudi Arabia would review the decision to forbid Lebanese agricultural products entry to Saudi Arabia,” the presidency said in a statement afterwards. The Saudi news agency reported Friday that customs officials in the Red Sea port of Jeddah seized 5.3 million banned captagon pills hidden in a consignment of pomegranates from Lebanon. The head of the Lebanese fruit and vegetable exporters and importers syndicate however claimed it was a shipment from Syria that had transited through the country. “Lebanon categorically rejects being associated with such crimes, as a route or passageway,” the presidency said. Security forces would be ordered to double down to prevent all smuggling from Lebanon, especially to the Gulf, it said. Saudi Arabia was the top destination for Lebanon’s exported agricultural products in 2019, accounting for 22.1 percent of those exports, a government report found last year. Arab countries — mainly Gulf nations — accounted for 77.8 percent of Lebanon’s total exports. The agricultural sector had been struggling for years before the latest financial crisis hit in late 2019. Main overland trade routes to the Gulf and Iraq were disrupted due to the war that broke out in neighbouring Syria in 2011. Captagon is an amphetamine manufactured in Lebanon and probably also in Syria and Iraq, mainly for consumption in Saudi Arabia, the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) says. Lebanon regularly carries out drug busts on its soil. In February, Lebanese customs seized five million captagon pills at Beirut’s port. Moreover, in 2015 a Saudi prince was detained as he tried to smuggle out two tonnes of the amphetamines on a private plane from Beirut airport. Saudi Arabia has taken a step back from its former ally Lebanon in recent years, angered by the influence of Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah, which is backed by Riyadh’s rival Tehran.

Judge Aoun Hails Move to Freeze Assets of Banks and Their Chairmen
Naharnet/28 April ,2021
Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun on Wednesday lauded a decision by Bekaa’s acting First Examining Magistrate Amani Salameh that froze the real estate assets of all Lebanese banks and the real estate assets, shares and stocks of their chairmen. “I publicly declare my belonging to the club of judges – to the most honorable people. Bravo, Judge Amani! You have always and anew proved that you support the right, the aggrieved and righteous justice,” Aoun tweeted. “I’m with the free judges against those who target them from inside and outside the judiciary. I’m with the revolution of clean hands. I’m with you and I’m proud of that,” the judge added. Judge Salameh’s decision follows a complaint filed by The People Want to Reform The Regime civil society group. The complaint, on behalf of Lebanese depositors, accuses all Lebanese banks of “breach of trust, negligent and fraudulent bankruptcy, scam through the smuggling of funds, undermining the state’s financial reputation, money laundering, illicit enrichment and the violation of the constitution.”“In the coming days, the decision will include other influential individuals suspected of involvement in the offenses mentioned in the complaint,” The People Want to Reform The Regime said in a statement.

Bitar Hears Testimonies of 3 New Witnesses in Port Blast Case
Naharnet/28 April ,2021
Lead investigative judge into the Beirut port blast, Tarek al-Bitar, on Wednesday heard the testimonies of three new witnesses in the case, the state-run National News Agency reported. NNA noted that this is the first time that the three individuals have testified in the case. Bitar will meanwhile schedule other successive sessions to hear the testimonies of more witnesses before beginning the interrogation of non-detained defendants, the agency added.

Bassil Travels to Moscow for Talks with Russian Officials
Naharnet/28 April ,2021
Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil on Wednesday traveled to Moscow for talks with Russian officials over the situation in Lebanon and the region. MP Georges Atallah of Bassil’s Strong Lebanon bloc told the PSP’s al-Anbaa news portal that Bassil’s visit to Russia will tackle three main topics: the new government, the economic file and Syrian refugees. “Russia has a proposal related to Beirut port,” Atallah revealed.

Hariri meets Russian, Egyptian ambassadors over general situation
NNA/28 April ,2021
PM-designate Saad Hariri, on Wednesday received at the “Center House” Russian Ambassador to Lebanon, Alexandre Rodakov, in the presence of Hariri's Special Envoy to Russia, George Shaaban, and Advisor Bassem el-Shab. PM-designate Hariri thanked the Russian leadership for the welcome he received during his recent visit to Moscow, and Russia’s understanding towards his stances regarding the political and economic crises afflicting Lebanon. Hariri also valued Russia's support for forming a government of specialists as soon as possible, in line with the French initiative.On the other hand, Hariri met with Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon, Dr. Yasser Alawi, with whom he discussed the general political situation in the country and Cairo’s efforts to help Lebanon overcome its current crises.

Fahmi Says 'Nothing New' in Slim's Case after Rifi Remarks
Naharnet/28 April ,2021
Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi on Wednesday commented on remarks voiced by ex-justice minister and former Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi. “During a press interview, ex-minister Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi mentioned information about the case of the assassination of the political activist Lokman Slim,” Fahmi’s office said in a statement. “The interior minister’s office would like to clarify that Lebanese security agencies have not unveiled anything new in the case and it hopes security agencies will be provided with any lead that might serve the investigation,” the office added.
In the interview, Rifi said that a CCTV camera had detected “one of the cars of the killers of Lokman Slim” and that the vehicle is “linked to Hizbullah.”“A highly credible foreign intelligence agency is following up Slim’s assassination case and the case is being strenuously and truly followed up outside the official Lebanese investigations,” Rifi added. Slim, one of Hizbullah’s most vocal critics in Lebanon, was assassinated earlier this year in south Lebanon and his bullet-riddled body was found in his car. At the time, Hizbullah condemned the killing and urged authorities to “work quickly on unveiling and penalizing the perpetrators.”Hizbullah also called on authorities to "combat the crimes that are moving from one area to another in Lebanon and the accompanying political and media exploitation that comes at the expense of domestic security and stability."

U.N. Clarifies Recruitment Channels after Scam in Lebanon
Naharnet/28 April ,2021
The United Nations on Wednesday clarified its recruitment procedures, after media reports said some individuals in Lebanon have impersonated U.N. staff members in order to scam citizens. “It has come to the attention of the United Nations (UN) that some individuals in Lebanon may be impersonating UN staff members and scamming people after promising them jobs with the UN or circulating fake vacancy announcements of positions with the international organization,” a statement distributed by the United Nations Information Center Beirut said. “The UN system in Lebanon underlines that its recruitment procedures are not done through individuals but strictly through the official UN career portal or official UN websites,” the statement added. The U.N. also warned that individuals impersonating the position of an international U.N. civil servant would be “committing fraud and subject to legal action.”Al-Jadeed TV has aired a report showing the picture, real name and alias of one of the supposed impersonators.

Army Leadership Denies Report about Meeting Bukhari
Naharnet/April 28/2021
Leadership of Lebanon’s army denied claims published in a local newspaper about a meeting between the Army chief General Joseph Aoun and Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Walid al-Bukhari, the Army Leadership-Orientation Directorate announced Wednesday. The army clarified in a statement that official meetings held by the army leadership are always declared in official statements.“A local newspaper reported this morning about a meeting held away from the media between the Armed Forces Commander General Joseph Aoun and the Saudi ambassador Walid al-Bukhari,” the army declaration said.
“The army commander finds it noteworthy to clarify that the entire meetings of the Army chief are announced by official statements issued daily on the official army website, and the meeting with the Saudi ambassador did not take place as the newspaper claimed, the leadership affirms that it welcomes any meeting aimed at supporting the military institution, especially in these exceptional circumstances,” it added. Al-Akhbar daily claimed Wednesday that Aoun and Bukhari met and discussed the assistance the army requests from brotherly and friendly countries to Lebanon.
 

Lebanon PM Diab Qatar CV story ‘too ridiculous to be replied to’
Bassam Zaazaa/Arab News/April 28/2021
Lebanon’s caretaker PM Hassan Diab’s office issued media statement saying news report about handing his CV to Qataris for a job is ‘too ridiculous to be
Lebanese tabloid Al Akhbar said Diab surprised Qatari officials when he gave them a copy of his CV to find him a job
Diab’s media statement said newspaper reported on the Qatar trip “jokingly” in a bid to disrupt negotiations with Qatari officials
BEIRUT: Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab gave his resumé to Qatari officials during a visit last week, Al-Akhbar newspaper has reported. The Lebanese tabloid said that Diab surprised Qatari officials when he gave them a copy of his CV to find him a job. “The news is too ridiculous to be replied to,” read a statement from Diab’s media office. Al-Akhbar said Diab gave a copy of his resumé to prospective employers after the formation of a new Lebanese cabinet, which would remove his position as caretaker prime minister. Al-Akhbar published that Diab’s purported move embarrassed a number of Qatari officials. His visit was organized to discuss and seek Qatar’s support to fund the ration cards to be given to 750,000 poor families amid Lebanon’s economic crisis. Diab’s media statement added that the newspaper reported on the Qatar trip “jokingly” in a bid to disrupt negotiations with Qatari officials. “This is too silly. It is impossible for such a thing to have happened during an official trip … the news is a total sham in my opinion,” an official at Diab’s general headquarters, who requested anonymity, told Arab News. The news sparked social media uproar, with many ridiculing the reported move with memes on WhatsApp. Some commenters defended Diab, with one Twitter user labelling him as “the most clean-handed official in Lebanon.” On his Twitter handle, MP Jamil Al-Sayyed said any Lebanese official who visits the GCC would be interested in working there and making money.
Al-Sayyed said Diab presented his resumé for a future job at Qatar University based on his academic credentials. Diab is a former university professor. “Where’s the bad in that! This is an indicator that he did not benefit from the state’s corruption like most of his predecessors,” he tweeted. Another Twitter user said “Diab is open to work, no need for a CV, Google is enough.”

Joint Committee approves bill deeming healthcare providers who succumbed to Covid-19 martyrs, tweets Araji
NNA/April 28/2021
Parliamentary Health Committee Head, MP Assem Araji, on Wednesday said via twitter that the Joint Parliamentary Committees have approved a bill proposal, submitted by members of the Health Parliamentary Committee, to consider doctors, nurses, paramedics, and medical assistants, who died while performing their duties combatting the Coronavirus pandemic, of a similar rank to that of a Lebanese army martyr, provided that their families could also benefit from the financial and moral benefits provided to the families of Army martyrs.

Swiss Ambassador hands Health Minister pediatric service of Beirut Governmental Hospital - Quarantine
NNA/April 28/2021
The pediatric service of Beirut Governmental Hospital Quarantine, destroyed by the 4th August explosion in Beirut, was reconstructed by Switzerland. On Wednesday 28th April 2021, the pediatric service was handed over to HE the Minister of Public Health, Dr. Hamad Hasan, by HE Monika Schmutz Kirgöz, Ambassador of Switzerland in Lebanon, in the presence of representatives of the hospital administration, the Ministry of Public Health, Deputy Special Coordinator of the United Nations in Lebanon, Mrs. Najat Rushdi, the Embassy of Switzerland, and the media.
In her address, Rushdi highlighted the fact that the Governmental Hospital Quarantine treated approximately a thousand children annually from the most vulnerable social and economic stratum, including Lebanese nationals, refugees of various nationalities, and internally displaced persons.
“Today, at a time when Lebanon endures the worst economic and financial crisis in its history, a light could be seen bringing about hope for the resurgence of Beirut, the reconstruction of a better Lebanon, and the restoration of the capabilities of its medical institutions,” Rushdi said. She saluted the families of the blast victims, as well as the nursing body's continuous efforts to treat patients. Moreover, Rushdi saluted Switzerland for its continuous support to Lebanon and the Lebanese people, and for its immediate response providing emergency assistance in the wake of Beirut Port explosion by ensuring temporary treatment equipment in hospitals, and also by rehabilitating several damaged public schools. For her part, the Swiss Ambassador to Lebanon said, “When tragedy struck in the heart of the Lebanese capital on August 4, Switzerland made sure to remain faithful to its humanitarian traditions and to the long history of its friendship with Lebanon, so it intervened quickly.” “Today, eight months after the explosion, I am pleased to hand over a new department of pediatrics to His Excellency the Minister of Health,” she added, while commending “the speed and quality of this achievement, which is a joint fruit of efforts of a number of individuals and institutions, many of whom stand among us today.”Kirgöz went on to applaud the Ministry of Public Health’s swift response to Switzerland's offer of assistance. “The United Nations played a central role in coordinating international solidarity by ensuring a coherent and fair distribution of aid,” she added, saluting as well the hospital staff for its resilience. “Switzerland has been involved for several years in Lebanon in order to protect and strengthen the independence of vulnerable people, who are victims of conflict, and to ensure that children receive quality services in the field of education, protection, and water, which are among our priorities. Therefore, children were at the heart of the response that Switzerland provided after the explosion. Beyond that, we have rehabilitated approximately 19 public schools that were inaugurated last March,” Kirgöz concluded.
In turn, the Health Minister said, “Lebanon’s horizon would have been blocked had it not been for the support of our international and UN partners; they have all demonstrated an advanced humanitarian sense and a high level of responsibility and responsiveness to stand by their fellow humans.”
“To those children who are suffering, especially in these difficult times that Lebanon is going through, we say, with your efforts, Lebanon can once again become the Switzerland of the Middle East,” Hassan added.
He went on to recall Lebanon’s pioneering efforts receiving, reviving, and supporting all of those who sought refuge on its land. “Unfortunately, we have become in dire need of someone who supports us and stands by our side.”Hassan finally stressed the need to rebuild and restore all what had been destroyed in Beirut. Winding up the handover ceremony, the hospital administration presented a shield of honor to the Swiss Ambassador as a token of appreciation of all her efforts.  The Beirut’s port explosion on August 4th 2020 took a heavy toll on human lives and caused massive destruction in the surrounding of the port. Public facilities were destroyed. Among these was the Governmental Hospital Quarantine, a reference public hospital for pediatrics in Lebanon, annually treating about a thousand children and babies from a socially and economically vulnerable population, including refugees. Its capacity to provide healthcare came to a halt. As part of its response to the blast, Switzerland has reconstructed a full-fledged pediatric service at Beirut Governmental Hospital Quarantine. This self-implemented project, whereby the Embassy of Switzerland directly tendered the works to a local architect and construction firm, allowed for a rapid and effective reconstruction. The rebuilt pediatric service provides the same number of beds as before the explosion, and a high-quality environment for specialized pediatric healthcare. A new operation theatre reserved for pediatric chirurgical interventions was added.

Japan Sets June Trial for Americans Accused in Ghosn Escape
Associated Press/April 28/2021
The trial of two Americans accused of helping former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn escape from Japan while out on bail will open on June 14, the Tokyo District Court said Wednesday. Michael Taylor and his son Peter are accused of hiding Ghosn in a music box so he could flee to Lebanon in late 2019. The Taylors have been denied bail at the Tokyo Detention Center and not available for comment. Ghosn, arrested in 2018, was awaiting trial on financial misconduct allegations, including underreporting his compensation and breach of trust in diverting Nissan Motor Co. money for personal gain, when he fled. He says he is innocent. Japan has no extradition treaty with Lebanon, but has one with the U.S., which extradited the Taylors last month after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected their appeal. Michael Taylor, with the help of another man, George-Antoine Zayek, hid Ghosn in a large box, which passed through airport security in Osaka, central Japan, and was loaded onto a private jet that flew to Turkey, according to Japanese authorities. Peter Taylor is accused of meeting with Ghosn and helping carry out the escape. The Taylors were paid at least $1.3 million, authorities say. The Taylors argued in the U.S. courts they did not commit a crime because jumping bail is technically not a crime in Japan. Tokyo prosecutors have said they are accused of helping a criminal escape and violating immigration regulations. They face up to three years in prison if convicted. Although prospects for Ghosn facing trial in Japan are dim, Greg Kelly, a former Nissan executive and an American, is standing trial in Tokyo on charges of underreporting Ghosn's compensation. He has denied the charges. Ghosn, credited with successfully leading Nissan for two decades, was worried about a possible public reaction to his income and had taken a big pay cut in 2010, when disclosure of such executive salaries became required in Japan. The focus of Kelly's trial is on whether the various ideas on paying Ghosn after retirement should have been included in the annual securities report, as well as how much Kelly knew of the plans. Kelly has said he was only looking into legal ways to pay Ghosn because he believed it was in Nissan's interests to prevent Ghosn from going to a rival company. Japanese executives typically don't get the big paychecks and stock options some of their American counterparts receive. During Kelly's trial, Nissan officials have said they went to the prosecutors to get Ghosn arrested because they were worried Nissan's French alliance partner Renault would gain more power and effectively swallow up the Japanese automaker. Ghosn was sent in by Renault in 1999 to salvage Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy.
 

Lebanese-Made Thriller Takes Arab Streaming World by Storm
gence France Presse/28 April ,2021
"Alephia 2053", an Arabic-language animated feature set in a bleak future, has struck a chord in a region all too familiar with autocratic rule and bold, bloody resistance. Released on YouTube on March 21, a decade after the Arab Spring uprisings, the Lebanese-made thriller has already garnered more than eight million views. The 60-minute film's success is a testament to the growing popularity of online streaming platforms because of the coronavirus pandemic. But it is also "proof that the movie reflects people's thoughts," says Rabih Sweidan, the film's Lebanese creator and executive producer. "Everyone sees it from their perspective and they see themselves and their communities in it."The storyline, set in 2053 in the fictional Arab state of Alephia, follows a group of undercover agents plotting to take down hereditary ruler Alaa Ibn Ismail and his autocratic regime, described as the most tyrannical in the world. Through a meticulous operation led by operatives who have infiltrated top regime ranks, the "resistance" succeeds in toppling the dictator in a coup and ending a century of autocratic rule. They are buoyed by crowds taking to the streets chanting the now-famous Arab Spring refrain -- "the people demand the fall of the regime" -- in the face of heavily armed security forces who respond with live fire. The movie closes with a familiar scene: fists are thrown into the air as a euphoric crowd pulls down the statue of the fallen dictator with ropes. Sweidan says Alephia 2053, with its uncannily familiar-looking dictator figure, is "a fictional movie but it is based on reality. It is a description of social reality."It is not inspired by any single Arab country but depicts conditions familiar to many across the world, he says. "The world has become a small village, where the situation is the same in more than one place," Sweidan adds. "Alephia could be the 23rd country in the Arab League," which has 22 members.
- Brighter future -

The animation, directed and illustrated by Jorj Abou Mhaya, is produced by Lebanon's Spring Entertainment company. "More than 70 percent of the work took place in Lebanon and was done by Lebanese," says Sweidan, though it also received backing from Malil'Art animation studio in Angouleme, France. Though the movie is highly reminiscent of the 2011 uprisings, Sweidan says it is an attempt to break away from what he calls an obsession with the past. "There is always a tendency in the Arab world to imagine what might have happened in the past, but there is no theatrical or cinematic work that imagines what the Arab world will be like in the future," says Sweidan, who first thought of the plot four years ago. "The idea for the film came from a question: What will the Arab world look like in 20 or 30 years?" According to Sweidan's vision, the future holds more promise. The film tries to express this through color grading: the closing scenes incorporate a livelier gradient than the dim and dusty scheme that dominates the first chunk of the film, says Sweidan. "Things can't always remain dark," he adds. lm wants to imagine is a future that's not as bad as the past or the present."Lebanese cinema critic Elias Doummar called it "a milestone in Arab animation.""It portrays Arab reality, and its audience just keeps on growing."
 

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 28-29/2021

White House, State Department, Pentagon dispatching senior officials to Middle East
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/28 April ,2021
A group of US officials from the White House, State Department and Pentagon are heading to the Middle East this week to meet with allies in several Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, sources familiar with the trip said Wednesday. The purpose of the trip is to hold talks to hash out differences over several matters in the region, including the Iran nuclear deal. Brett McGurk and Derek Chollet will head Washington’s delegation of officials, one of the sources told Al Arabiya English. McGurk is the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, and Chollet is a senior policy advisor to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He is the Counselor of the State Department. Other officials making the trip will be Acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern affairs Joey Hood and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Dana Stroul, sources confirmed to Al Arabiya English. Bloomberg first reported the trip. Among the countries, the officials will visit Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Egypt. But one source said other countries could be added.

Third working group on US-Iran nuclear deal meets for first time in Vienna: Diplomat
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/28 April ,2021
The third round of indirect talks between the United States and Iran began Wednesday with a third working group meeting for the first time, a senior diplomat involved in the negotiations said.US Special Envoy Rob Malley continues to head Washington’s delegation. Malley landed in Vienna on Tuesday night after briefing Israeli officials who were visiting the US on the status of the talks. “The Vienna talks are underway. Sanctions lifting and nuclear working groups continued considerations of measures to be taken by Washington and Tehran in order to restore JCPOA,” Russia’s envoy to the UN atomic watchdog, Mikhail Ulyanov, tweeted. Since the indirect talks began earlier this month, European mediators and diplomats from China and Russia have created three separate working groups. Two of the groups are looking at what the US and Iran need to both do to return to the JCPOA, an acronym for the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration. The third group, most recently formed, is studying which US sanctions can be lifted and how. “The third working group-on practical arrangements for implementation- met today for the first time,” Ulyanov said. After the first two rounds of indirect talks, a senior US State Department official told reporters that progress had been made. But the official warned that there was still a long road ahead before a final deal was reached, blaming a large part of the problem on the Trump administration’s wide-ranging sanctions regime on Iran. The official also questioned Iran’s seriousness in reaching a new deal. Iran has altered its stance multiple times since President Joe Biden took office. The Iranian regime has recently returned to its demand that all US sanctions be lifted before Iran returns to full compliance with the 2015 deal. Washington has so far refused but has expressed willingness to ease “certain sanctions.”

US warship fires warning shots in new incident with Iranian Guards
The Arab Weekly/April 28/2021
LONDON — An American warship fired warning shots when vessels of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard came too close to a patrol in the Arabian Gulf, the US Navy said Wednesday. The Navy released black-and-white footage of the encounter Monday night in international waters of the northern reaches of the Arabian Gulf. In it, lights can be seen in the distance and what appears to be a single gunshot can be heard, with a tracer round racing across the top of the water. Iran did not immediately acknowledge the incident. The Navy said the USS Firebolt fired the warning shots after three fast-attack Guard vessels came within 68 yards (62 meters) of it and the US Coast Guard patrol boat USCGC Baranoff. “The US crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio and loud-hailer devices, but the (Guard) vessels continued their close range maneuvers,” said Commander Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the Middle East-based 5th Fleet. “The crew of Firebolt then fired warning shots and the (Guard) vessels moved away to a safe distance from the US vessels.” She called on the Guard to “operate with due regard for the safety of all vessels as required by international law.”“US naval forces continue to remain vigilant and are trained to act in a professional manner, while our commanding officers retain the inherent right to act in self-defence,” she said. The incident Monday marked the second time in this month alone that the Navy accused the Guard of operating in an “unsafe and unprofessional” manner, after tense encounters between the forces had dropped in recent years. Footage released Tuesday by the Navy showed a ship commanded by the Guard cut in front of the USCGC Monomoy, causing the Coast Guard vessel to come to an abrupt stop with its engine smoking on April 2.
The Guard also did the same with another Coast Guard vessel, the USCGC Wrangell, Rebarich said. Such close passes risk collisions. The interaction marked the first “unsafe and unprofessional” incident involving the Iranians since April 15, 2020, Rebarich said. However, Iran had largely stopped such incidents in 2018 and nearly in the entirety of 2019, she said. In 2017, the Navy recorded 14 instances of what it describes as “unsafe and or unprofessional” interactions with Iranians forces. It recorded 35 in 2016, and 23 in 2015. The incidents at sea almost always involve the Revolutionary Guard, which reports only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Typically, they involve Iranian speedboats armed with deck-mounted machine guns and rocket launchers test-firing weapons or shadowing American aircraft carriers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf through which around a quarter of all world oil passes. Some analysts believe the incidents are meant to pressure the United States and its allies in the region and in part to squeeze President Hassan Rouhani’s administration after the 2015 nuclear deal. They include a 2016 incident in which Iranian forces captured and held overnight 10 US sailors who strayed into the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters. The incident comes as Iran negotiates with world powers in Vienna over Tehran and Washington returning to the 2015 nuclear deal. It also follows a series of incidents across the Middle East attributed to a shadow war between Iran and Israel, which includes attacks on regional shipping and sabotage at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.

US eyes major rollback in Trump-era Iran sanctions to revive nuclear deal
The Associated Press/28 April ,2021
The Biden administration is considering a near wholesale rollback of some of the most stringent Trump-era sanctions imposed on Iran in a bid to get the Islamic Republic to return to compliance with a landmark 2015 nuclear accord, according to current and former US officials and others familiar with the matter.
As indirect talks continue this week in Vienna to explore the possibility of reviving the nuclear deal, American officials have become increasingly expansive about what they might be prepared to offer Iran, which has been driving a hard line on sanctions relief, demanding that all US penalties be removed, according to these people. Americans officials have refused to discuss which sanctions are being considered for removal. But they have stressed that they are open to lifting non-nuclear sanctions, such as those tied to terrorism, missile development and human rights, in addition to those related to the nuclear program.
Biden administration officials say this is necessary because of what they describe as a deliberate attempt by the Trump administration to stymie any return to the deal. Under the 2015 agreement, the United States was required to lift sanctions tied to Iran’s nuclear program, but not the non-nuclear sanctions.
When President Donald Trump re-imposed sanctions after withdrawing from the deal in 2018, he not only put the nuclear sanctions back in but also added layers of terrorism and other sanctions on many of the same entities. In addition, the Trump administration imposed an array of new sanctions on previously unsanctioned entities. This has put the current administration in an awkward position: Iran is demanding the removal of all sanctions. If the US doesn’t lift at least some of them, Iran says it won’t agree to halt its nuclear activities barred by the deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.
But if the Biden administration makes concessions that go beyond the nuclear-specific sanctions, Republican critics and others, including Israel and Gulf Arab states, are likely to seize on them as proof that the administration is caving to Iran. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has led the charge among Trump alumni to denounce any easing of sanctions.
Former Trump administration officials say all the sanctions are legitimate. Gabriel Noronha, a former State Department senior adviser on Iran, said all the Trump-era sanctions had been approved by career Justice Department lawyers and would have been rejected if they weren’t legitimate. But a senior State Department official involved in the negotiations said officials now “have to go through every sanction to look at whether they were legitimately or not legitimately imposed.”The official, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks, also said the US would be prepared to lift sanctions that would otherwise deny Iran the benefits it’s entitled to under the deal, not just those specifically related to nuclear activity. Those sanctions could include restrictions on Iran’s ability to access the international financial system, including dealing in dollar-based transactions. “There are sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA and as we have said, if Iran resumes its compliance with the nuclear deal ... we would be prepared to lift those sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said last week. He declined to elaborate on what might be “inconsistent” with the deal. Despite the reticence of Price and the senior official, their comments suggested that sanctions imposed on Iran’s Central Bank, its national oil and shipping companies, its manufacturing, construction and financial sectors are on the block. Deal critics briefed on aspects of the Vienna negotiations say they suspect that is indeed the case.That’s because the bank, oil, shipping and other sanctions, all ostensibly imposed by the Trump administration for terrorism, ballistic missile and human rights concerns, also affect nuclear sanctions relief.
Current officials say no decisions have yet been made and nothing will be agreed in Vienna until everything regarding sanctions relief and Iran’s return to compliance with the nuclear deal has been settled. But critics of the nuclear deal fear the administration will go beyond even what has been suggested by the administration’s oblique comments. They suspect that sanctions on people, companies, government agencies or other entities identified for nuclear sanctions relief in the 2015 deal will be cleared; even if they were subsequently penalized on other grounds. “The administration is looking to allow tens of billions of dollars into the coffers of the regime even if it means lifting sanctions on major entities blacklisted for terrorism and missile proliferation,” said Mark Dubowitz, a prominent Iran deal critic and CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “They’re even looking to give the regime indirect access to the US dollar through the US financial system so that international companies can clear transactions with Iran through the US dollar,” said Dubowitz, who is frequently criticized for his hard-line stance on Iran but has also been asked for his views on sanctions by the administration. The State Department spokesman’s reply to such concerns only increased the worries of the critics. “The JCPOA, that original agreement, spells out precisely what is allowed, precisely what is prohibited in order for a country to be in compliance with it. That remains the blueprint for all of this,” Price said. The Obama administration grappled with much the same issue after the conclusion of the nuclear deal in 2015. It took the position that some sanctions previously imposed by it and former President George W. Bush’s administration for terrorism reasons should actually be classified as nuclear sanctions and therefore lifted under the deal. Still, many countries and international companies were hesitant to jump into the Iranian market for fear that the sanctions relief was not clear-cut and that a future US president could re-impose the sanctions. Now, that that has happened, and even before an agreement has been concluded in Vienna, that concern has resurfaced. Already, Republicans in Congress and opponents of the Iranian government are stepping up efforts to codify Trump’s hard-line stance on Iran with new legislation. Although a law to bar a return to the nuclear deal is unlikely to pass, there is wide bipartisan support for resolutions encouraging the administration to take a tougher line on Iran. Such a resolution was introduced on Wednesday with more than 220 Democratic and Republican co-sponsors. In it, they call for the administration to recognize “the rights of the Iranian people and their struggle to establish a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Republic of Iran while holding the ruling regime accountable for its destructive behavior.”

German Woman Faces 'Security Charge' in Iran
Agence France Presse/29 April ,2021
A German-Iranian national held in Iran faces a "security charge", her daughter said as a court held a first hearing in the case on Wednesday. Nahid Taghavi, 66, was arrested at her Tehran apartment on October 16 after years fighting for human rights in Iran, in particular for women's rights and freedom of expression, according to the rights group IGFM. "Today was the first hearing of #NahidTaghavi Another trial day is scheduled, date unknown," her daughter Mariam Claren wrote on Twitter. "My mother was allowed to see her brothers. They hugged her. Her first hug after almost seven months."Taghavi's brothers were not allowed in the hearing but were given access to her, Claren said.  "She is accused of a 'security charge'," Claren told AFP, adding that details were hazy but that it related to "propaganda against the state."Claren said her mother, an architect, had been held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, and has been placed in isolation in the last four weeks. "My biggest worry is her health," she said. Claren said her mother's lawyer had only been given access to the charge sheet on Saturday and had yet to see the case files. Germany's foreign ministry said in October that it was aware of the arrest of a German-Iranian woman in Iran, but did not name the detained citizen.

De facto North Cyprus offers two-state plan at UN talks, dismissed by Greek Cypriots
Reuters/29 April ,2021
The Turkish Cypriot delegation to UN-sponsored talks proposed a two-state solution for Cyprus on Wednesday to end the conflict with Greek Cypriots and put the island’s two communities on an equal footing, but it was swiftly rejected by the Greek Cypriot side. The Mediterranean island was split in 1974 between a Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish Cypriot north. Only Turkey recognizes the breakaway state in Northern Cyprus. The proposal was presented at informal talks with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Geneva, who had urged both sides to “be creative” after a four-year stalemate in peace negotiations. The foreign ministers of Greece, Turkey and Britain are also taking part as guarantor nations in the two-day talks. Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, who presented the plan, told Reuters earlier this week that he hoped his proposal for a two-state solution will bring a “new vision” to the talks, despite its prior rejection by Greek Cypriots. “The Turkish Cypriot proposal is aimed at establishing a cooperative relationship between the two States on the island based on their inherent sovereign equality and equal international status,” the Turkish Cypriot proposal said. It called on Guterres to take an initiative leading to the UN Security Council adopting a resolution securing the equal international status and sovereign equality of the two sides. On that basis, negotiations would follow under his auspices on the future relationship between the two independent states, focusing on property, security and “border adjustment”, it said. Any agreement reached would be submitted for approval in simultaneous referenda in the two states, it added. But Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades, who serves as president of the island’s internationally-recognized government, said that the proposal was a “great disappointment”. “Of course I have told the Secretary-General that our attempt was to create a positive climate, without provocations, without any references to whatever unacceptable (things) we heard. I have also told the Secretary-General that we will submit, in writing, our own positions,” he said in a statement.

Flight tracking services record first flight between Israel and Syria
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/28 April ,2021
Flight tracking services recorded a rare flight between Israel’s Ben Gurion airport and regime-controlled Syria’s Latakia region on Tuesday, local Israeli media reported. The flight was operated by the Russian Air Force, noting that it landed near the Russian-operated Hmeimim airbase, which is located 24 kilometers southeast of Latakia. Observers and international affairs experts have been monitoring Russia’s work as a mediator between Syria and Israel in recent months. Despite Iranian presence on its soil, multiple Syrian officials openly discussed the possibility of peace with Israel after negotiations. The flight was preceded by a flight from Moscow to Tel Aviv. It was followed by another flight from Latakia back to Moscow.The Israeli army announced in its annual report for 2020 that it carried out 50 airstrikes on targets in Syria and launched more than 500 missiles and smart missiles during the past year, intending to prevent Iran’s positioning in Syria.

Turkish Armenians keep low profile after Biden’s recognition of genocide
The Arab Weekly/April 28/2021
ISTANBUL - Turkey’s president, RecepTayyip Erdogan may have denounced US President Joe Biden for recognition of the Ottoman wartime mass killings of Armenians as “genocide” but the few thousand Armenians still living in Turkey have kept a low profile fearing retribution should they openly celebrated the landmark step. “Discretion has become a part of our daily lives,” said an Armenian Turk who, like many others interviewed for an article by AFP, wished to remain anonymous to protect his local business. Biden on Saturday became the first US president to brush aside Turkish pressure and call the 1915-1917 events a genocide in which “1.5 million Armenians were deported, massacred or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination”. His words caused relief and bittersweet joy in Armenia and among the tiny Caucasus state’s vast web of ethnic communities across Europe and the Americas.
Once an integral part of the Ottoman Empire’s multifaceted society, only 60,000 ethnic Armenians are still believed to live in modern Turkey, most of them in Istanbul. When Armenians still prospered under the Ottomans – the magnificent tomb of an Armenian admiral dominates a corner of cemetery in Istanbul’s Sisli district – their population may have numbered as much as 2.4 million. Ankara accepts that both Armenians and Turks died in vast numbers while the Ottomans battled tsarist Russia, but denies the existence of a deliberate policy of genocide. Dozens of angry Turks rallied outside the US consulate in Istanbul on Monday to express outrage at Biden’s decision. Probably few of them realised that in 1915, it was Henry Morgenthau, the then US ambassador to the Sublime Porte (Ottoman Turkey), who first raised serious concerns internationally at what was happening to the Armenian population in the east and south of Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it “groundless, unfair” and detrimental to US-Turkish ties. The Turkish-Armenian businessman said his community faces waves of anti-Armenian sentiments whenever debates resume about the century-old events. “We were raised since childhood not to speak Armenian on the street. We were even told to call our mothers ‘anne’ (in Turkish) instead of ‘mama’,” he said.“Everyone has differences on every issue but when it comes to the Armenian question, everyone is united in Turkey.”
‘Hate speech’ Yetvart Danzikyan, editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, whose former editor Hrant Dink was gunned down in Istanbul in 2007, said the annual commemorations pass in a “climate of tension” in Turkey. “The climate is shaped by (Turkey’s) tough response, which goes as far as to hold Armenians responsible” for what happened, Danzikyan said in a telephone interview.
Fahrettin Altun, Erdogan’s powerful press adviser, tweeted on Tuesday that “distorting history further encourages Armenian extremism”, pointing to the Turkish diplomats assassinated by Armenian militants in the 1970s and 1980s. For Agos’s Danzikyan, Altun’s words and similar comments represent a campaign of psychological pressure and intimidation that make it difficult to speak freely. “How can you expect a community which has lived under pressure for decades to speak up?” Danzikyan asked. Selina Dogan, an ethnic Armenian former MP from the main opposition CHP party, agreed that her community’s silence since Biden’s announcement was part of an attempt at self-preservation. Armenians have remained discreet “to maintain their presence in these lands,” said Dogan, who is now a municipal assembly member representing a district on the European side of Istanbul where many Armenians live. In Turkey, “hate speech is glorified”, said Dogan. Paramaz Mercan, a 50-year-old Armenian who lives in the mostly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir, said his attempts to relate the way his community felt to the media did not end well. “On one particular occasion, I expressed a thought and said I wanted to live my own culture, which prompted some to say that I should be deported,” he recalled.

Netanyahu blinks, finally makes Gantz justice minister

Jerusalem Post/April 28/2021
Netanyahu's 180-degree U-turn came only hours before a 3:30 p.m. showdown before the High Court of Justice.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday finally caved in on his more than month-long opposition to appointing Blue and White leader Benny Gantz as Justice Minister in the current transitional government. The government approved the nomination of Gantz Wednesday afternoon.
Netanyahu's 180-degree U-turn came only hours before a 3:30 p.m. showdown before the High Court of Justice, where his lawyer had been harshly lectured late Tuesday night for the prime minister's conduct. Following the approval, the 3 p.m. hearing was postponed until 5 p.m. and could be postponed further because the hearing's primary issue, the appointment of a Justice Minister, was resolved. In a statement on Wednesday, Netanyahu said that he had detailed legal arguments against the High Court and Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit's treatment of his actions on the justice minister issue as being against the law. Already late Tuesday night, the High Court froze Netanyahu's attempt to appoint Likudnik and Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis to be justice minister.
Netanyahu's statement explained that his agreement to appoint Gantz was a way "out of the deadlock," even if he thought he could defend his legal position blocking the Blue and White leader. Wednesday's developments followed an unparalleled day of legal drama.The justices had been expected to decide the issue of who will be justice minister as early as Wednesday, though Tuesday’s twists and turns showed how combustible the situation is. The High Court's 3:30 p.m. hearing may still go ahead to deal with other vacant ministerial portfolios, but those are viewed as slightly less pressing.
At mid-afternoon on Tuesday and after hours of a stormy cabinet meeting, the Likud and its allies voted to appoint Akunis, despite Mandelblit ruling that the vote was illegal because Blue and White had not consented to it. The meeting itself came about under pressure from Mandelblit, the High Court and Gantz following nearly a month in which the post has been vacant. Gantz filled the post for a temporary three-month period until the start of April, but Netanyahu has blocked his Blue and White Party from filling it permanently ever since. "We followed through on our pledge to stop Bibi's plan, and will continue to protect democracy," Blue and White said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
DURING THE cabinet meeting, there was frequent shouting, accusations of conflicts of interest, violating the law and a general feel that the Likud and Blue and White could barely even sit in the same room, let alone resolve the issue. Netanyahu claimed that it made no sense to appoint a permanent justice minister who could bind the next government's hands on certain issues, when a new government could come into being at any moment. Instead, he suggested either granting certain powers of the justice minister to Gantz to resolve specific issues, or having separate, broader political negotiations with the Blue and White leader. In the meantime, Gantz and other Blue and White officials said Netanyahu was acting cynically, or even violating conflict of interest laws that prevent him from being involved in law enforcement issues while under indictment. Public Security Minister Amir Ohana retorted that Gantz had conflict of interest issues because of the Fifth Dimension saga probe (though he is not a suspect there) and that the coalition agreement empowering Gantz to decide who the justice minister will be is null and void now that there is a new Knesset. Mandelblit said that no one has a conflict of interest on the issue, but that a justice minister is needed to resolve the problem of unvaccinated prisoners coming to court in person.
He added that if the High Court must intervene and appoint a justice minister itself, it would be a disaster.

IN A SHOCKING moment, Netanyahu denied Mandelblit the right to speak before holding the vote to approve Akunis, allowing him to declare the vote illegal only after it had already been held. Later Tuesday, the High Court justices appeared to say that they agreed with Mandelblit: that Netanyahu and the Likud had violated their own coalition agreement with Blue and White by holding a vote without acknowledging the other party’s veto. Under the coalition deal, Likud controls one set of ministries and Blue and White controls another one, including the justice ministry.
Mandelblit gave Netanyahu permission to bring in lawyer David Peter to represent him, since the differences between the sides left him incapable of defending the executive branch’s position. However, Peter faced a harsh audience with the justices cutting him off left and right and insisting that he recognize that Mandelblit’s views were binding on Netanyahu. Moreover, they said it was highly problematic that Netanyahu had cut off Mandelblit from speaking before the vote about Akunis. Further, they lectured Peter that the High Court is not like a playground friend who can have his or her “knee scraped” in response to the prime minister feeling the justices had “put his back to the wall.” Rather, the justices said that Netanyahu power-grabbing a ministry – in violation of the coalition deal he agreed to and enshrined into law – was an issue of paramount constitutional relevance to the court’s jurisdiction.
Netanyahu issued a Facebook warning explaining his actions, blaming Gantz for breaking a new deal and advising the High Court to stay out of the issue and leave it to the politicians. Gantz issued a Facebook video slamming Netanyahu as a chronic deal-violator and calling on anyone considering his overtures for a new rotation government to realize that the prime minister would break any deal later.

Israel is not an apartheid state - editorial

Jerusalem Post/April 28/2021
HRW’s exploitation of the apartheid image in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a cynical appropriation of the suffering of the victims of the actual apartheid regime.
In a 213-page report published this week, the US-based NGO Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of apartheid, the oppressive system of institutionalized racial segregation implemented by South Africa’s white regime from 1948 to 1991. The report – titled “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution” – was primarily written by Omar Shakir who is the “Israel and Palestine director” of HRW. In it, HRW urges the UN to apply an arms embargo against Israel – similar to the one that targeted apartheid South Africa – until verifiable steps are taken to end its alleged crimes. “Prominent voices have warned for years that apartheid lurks just around the corner if the trajectory of Israel’s rule over Palestinians does not change,” declared HRW executive director Kenneth Roth. “This detailed study shows that Israeli authorities have already turned that corner and today are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.”
HRW asserts that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, both within sovereign Israel and in the territories, meets the legal definition for apartheid crimes set out by the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Apartheid crimes are defined as inhumane acts of a character similar to other crimes against humanity “committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.”To back up its claim, HRW points to Israel’s 1950 Law of Return, which grants citizenship to all Jews who want to immigrate to Israel. It says this discriminates against Palestinian refugees and their descendants who want the same “right of return.” It also cites the 2018 Nation-State Law, saying the legislation shored up Israel’s identity as a Jewish state at the expense of equality for all its citizens. Laws and policies adopted by the Israeli government to preserve a Jewish majority have afforded benefits to Jews at the expense of the fundamental rights of Palestinians, it alleges.
Yet, as organizations such as NGO Monitor and CAMERA have correctly pointed out, the Law of Return is neither racist nor peculiarly Israeli.
“Similar laws have been in effect in many democracies, especially those with large diasporas, such as Mexico, Ireland, Finland, Greece, Poland, Germany, Italy and Denmark,” said Alex Safian, the associate director of CAMERA. Safian said such laws are expressly permitted by the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, which permits nations to favor certain groups for citizenship provided there is no discrimination targeting any particular group.  Gerald M. Steinberg, who heads the Institute for NGO Research in Jerusalem, noted that the HRW report reiterates the main claims of a 2017 submission to the ICC by a group of NGOs linked to the PFLP terror group, alleging that “Israel persecutes the occupied Palestinian population and subjects them to the crimes of persecution and apartheid.”
“By drawing a direct line to South Africa and labeling the Jewish state as inherently racist, the goal is to delegitimize the concept of Jewish sovereign equality, regardless of borders or policies,” Steinberg wrote in The Jerusalem Post. “The South African regime was characterized by cruel and systematic, institutionalized dehumanization. In contrast, and notwithstanding the ongoing conflict, Israel’s non-Jewish citizens have full rights, including voting for Knesset representatives.”
HRW’s exploitation of the apartheid image in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Steinberg said, is a cynical appropriation of the suffering of the victims of the actual apartheid regime.
As anyone who lives here knows, the HRW claims are patently false. Any analogy between Palestinians in Israel today and blacks in South Africa in the second half of the 20th century not only diminishes the horrors of apartheid, but feeds the very hatred it is purportedly targeting.
No one is saying that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict does not need to be addressed and resolved. But reports such as the latest one by HRW contribute to the false narrative that Israel is guilty of apartheid, conveying a message that the best way to rectify the problem is to dismantle the Jewish state. It is this hypocrisy that needs to be exposed – and not Israel’s alleged crimes.

Human Rights Watch really wants to push Israel and PA into one state

Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/April 28/2021
This attempt to shoehorn several different areas, run by three different authorities into one place is at the heart of new human rights reports about Israel.
New reports slamming Israel for “apartheid” have been driven by a desire to reset the definition of apartheid and redefine Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as one state. This attempt to shoehorn several different areas, run by three different authorities, into one place is at the heart of new human rights reports about Israel. This appears timed for the new Biden administration, which came into office in January. The message to Israel is also clear: Even if the Jewish state withdraws from the West Bank, as it did Gaza, it will still be defined as “apartheid” by these groups. The goal appears to provide no way for Israel to extricate itself from this new definition, which calls into question whether the real goal is to try to force it to assume control of Gaza and rule over millions of people without their consent.
The new Human Rights Watch report, released this week says that it examines Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. “It presents the present-day reality of a single authority, the Israeli government, ruling primarily over the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, populated by two groups of roughly equal size, and methodologically privileging Jewish Israelis while repressing Palestinians, most severely in the occupied territory.”
It is important to note that the definition here is predicated on defining Israel as including the Gaza Strip and West Bank – as a “single authority.” It does note that Hamas runs the Gaza Strip but somehow still maintains the fiction of a “single authority.”
IN JANUARY, the group B’Tselem also released a report claiming “this is Apartheid.” That report claimed that there is “a regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.” It uses similar language as the Human Rights Watch report.
“More than 14 million people, roughly half of them Jews and the other half Palestinians, live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea under a single rule,” B’Tselem claimed. "The [is] fact that the entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is organized under a single principle: advancing and cementing the supremacy of one group – Jews – over another – Palestinians.
"All this leads to the conclusion that these are not two parallel regimes that simply happen to uphold the same principle," it reads. "There is one regime governing the entire area and the people living in it, based on a single organizing principle."
It appears the two reports are linked by this new theme, which seeks to present Israel as controlling not only the autonomous Palestinian Authority, but also Hamas-run Gaza. It is unclear why, after decades in which the Palestinians ran their own affairs, controlled their own cities and became more separate from Israel, that such reports seek to shoehorn these areas back into Israeli control.
It may be linked to arguments in the US that once again support a “one-state solution.” Note that the language in the HRW report says “single authority” and in B’Tselem’s says “single rule.” The term “between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River” appears in both.
The terminology that portrays this area as one single entity appears to dovetail with the term “from the river to the sea.” This slogan was adopted by Palestinian nationalists, including Hamas.
ISRAEL'S HUMAN rights record regarding control over and treatment of the Palestinians has largely improved in recent decades. Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians rarely result in the death of civilians, a major change from how events unfolded during the First and Second Intifadas.
An entire Palestinian generation has grown up under PA schools and under Hamas rule. Someone born when the Palestinians first began to administer their own affairs in a new authority under the Oslo Accords is now 25 years old. Someone born in Gaza when Hamas seized power will soon be graduating high school. Yet the fiction of a “single” authority is presented as evidence of apartheid.
The message appears to be that no matter how much authority Palestinians have, even in a state, Israel will never be permitted by some to extricate itself from Gaza or the West Bank. This is because the definitional concept of “control” now includes controlling two out of Gaza’s three borders. Such a minor level of control is still enough to argue that Gaza is “part” of Israel.
Under such logic, even if Israel wanted there to be a fully functioning Palestinian state, it would still be said to “control” it. Even if it did come into existence, Israel would still “occupy” Jerusalem, much as it is accused of “occupying” the Sheba’a Farms in Lebanon and thus justifying the Hezbollah “resistance.”
It’s unclear why the “one-state” concept has returned despite the vast separation that exists today between Israel and these areas, far more than in the past. It appears timed for the new US administration and designed to set up a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby Israel will be told that even if it doesn’t control Gaza and Ramallah, it will be defined as controlling them.
The more Israel seeks to separate, the more it will be told it must reincorporate Palestinian areas into itself. This may be due to the fact that the two-state concept enabled Israel to exist as a state with a Jewish majority. The only way to prevent that is to continue to claim that millions of people in Gaza are part of Israel, so as to create the fiction of Israel having a population that is half-Palestinian.
AT THE END of the day, the Palestinian leadership doesn’t want to surrender its autonomy and become part of Israel, and neither does Hamas in Gaza. The illusion that these areas are all seeking to be part of one state is used to present the area as a single entity.
There is no way, presented within these new human rights reports, for Israel to ever not control the “single entity.” Despite the fact that various accords and UN plans and resolutions have indicated that these are not the same entity – but rather defined as two states, an autonomous region, or “occupied” territory – the new reports seek a one-state analysis.
This definition may be designed to delegitimize Israel – because forcing the Jewish state to retake all these areas, and thus arguing it must grant citizenship to millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, inevitably creates a road to a so-called “binational” state which is no longer an Israeli majority.
Pro-binational arguments have been advanced for years without any evidence that the vast majority of people want this future. It would make more sense if half the people in the “single” area wanted a binational, one-state end result. That they do not and that they have lived apart for decades, and that Israel has improved its human rights record across the “single” area, indicates that advocating for this analysis has an agenda.
It remains to be seen if this new push will catch on among Western countries, who are the natural targets of this talking point. Given the fact that large parts of the world have less interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and many states already recognize a Palestinian state, as opposed to recognizing the Palestinian state as part of Israel, would appear to negate the “river to the sea” analysis. The reports may have been designed to pre-empt the fact that Palestinians and Israelis are growing apart and to prevent a Palestinian state from becoming more autonomous. While it not clear whether the Palestinians are on board with this idea, Israel is clearly not.
 

Israeli refusal to allow Jerusalem ballot could offer Abbas pretext to postpone vote
The Arab Weekly/April 28/2021
RAMALLAH - Palestinian sources said President Mahmoud Abbas could find in Israel’s refusal to allow voting in Jerusalem the right justification to cancel scheduled Palestinian elections. Such a move would allow him to avoid bitter setbacks in legislative votes including the strong rise of rival lists within the Fatah movement, as well as the possibly poor performance of his divided movement in front of Hamas. Egyptian officials said that the Palestinian Authority does plan to call off its first elections in 15 years, citing Israel’s refusal to allow voting in east Jerusalem. An Egyptian diplomat and an intelligence official said they had seen the decision, which will be announced on Thursday at a meeting of the Palestinian factions. They added that Egypt was in talks with Israel to reach a compromise to allow the vote to go ahead, but those efforts had so far failed.
The intelligence official told the Associated Press that Hamas wants the elections to go ahead but that no faction wishes to proceed without guarantees from the international community that voting will be held in east Jerusalem. The official said the Palestinian factions are discussing an alternative, the formation of a unity government that would include Hamas. A Palestinian official said no decision will be made until the factions meet on Thursday and that if Israel decides to allow voting in east Jerusalem, the May 22 elections will go ahead as planned.
The official said Fatah is opposed to holding elections without east Jerusalem, because it would mean accepting its Israeli annexation. The Palestinian Election Commission says 6,300 voters in east Jerusalem would need to submit their ballots through Israeli post offices in accordance with past agreements, while the other 150,000 could vote with or without Israeli permission. If Israel maintains its rejection and cancels a previous protocol agreeing these centres, voters could vote in suburban areas. The small number of those who require Israeli permission to vote are unlikely to have a decisive impact on the outcome.
But Palestinian sources confirm that President Abbas is focusing on this detail hoping to turn it into an issue of national and international public concern, in order to justify his prior decision to postpone the elections indefinitely. Abbas said, “Jerusalem is a red line that we will not accept breaching. We salute our people in Jerusalem for their steadfastness in the face of Israeli plans aimed at controlling the holy city.” He added during a meeting of the Fatah Central Committee that lasted late into Sunday night, “We stress that we will not, under any conditions, accept the holding of general elections without the presence of Jerusalem and its people, whether at the level of candidacies, campaigning or voting as stipulated by the agreements signed (with Israel).”
The spokesman for the Democratic Reform Movement, Dimitri Diliani, said that the Palestinian electoral law does not give any political party the right to cancel or postpone the elections, and that Abbas’s decision to postpone the ballot, if it is announced, would be outside the law and would entail many political complications. Talking to The Arab Weekly, Diliani added that Israel has now begun to clarify its position on the elections as it has told a number of European ambassadors it does want to block the vote. This, according to him, proves that the main hurdle is Abu Mazen (Abbas). Observers say that postponing the elections would be a hard decision to take, because it is only backed by Abbas’ slate within the Fatah movement. Two other Fatah lists, (Freedom and the Future) reject postponement. The same applies to Hamas as well as 35 other lists participating in the poll and who believed to share a desire that the scheduled dates should not be changed.
It expected that that pressure on the Palestinian president will intensify from the United States and the European Union, especially since the latter threatened to stop the financial support it provides to the Palestinian Authority (PA) if the vote is postponed. Pressure is also expected to be put on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if it is established that he is indeed obstructing the elections in Jerusalem. Former Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, Barakat Al-Farra, said the Palestinian Authority’s position on the elections is linked to the Oslo Agreement, which gave the Palestinians the right to hold elections in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. If the PA accepts the holding of votes in all territories except Jerusalem it would mean it recognised the whole of the city as the capital of the state of Israel, as proclaimed by former President Trump’s so-called “Deal of the Century”. Talking to The Arab Weekly, Farra pointed out that Abu Mazen is waiting for more Western pressure on the Israeli government to push it to agree to the elections. He said that no final decision on holding or postponing the ballot has been reached yet, Farra downplayed the impact of a postponement on the political situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, saying any decision on the matter would take into account the national interest. He explained that “the Palestinian factions will not argue about a decision to postpone the vote if it is because of Jerusalem, as there is no room for concessions in any issue related to Jerusalem, as that would mean giving up on a Palestinian right.”He added that the postponement, if it actually takes place, will be in order to give the international Quartet an opportunity to play its role in the peace process, with the possibility of expanding it to Arab parties, provided that the first issue raised is that of the election and ensuring it takes place in Jerusalem. But analysts see the danger in cancelling the elections under the guise of postponement because it will allow the two governing authorities in the West Bank and Gaza to continue ruling without a mandate and without duly elected institutions. In the final analysis this could suit the interests of Israel, as the situation would further fuel divisions and rivalries among Palestinians and keep the two de facto ruling authorities in place.

Saudi Arabia wants good relations with Iran, says few differences with US
The Arab Weekly/April 28/2021
DUBAI - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz spoke during a television interview about a number of thorny issues, notably the talks with Iran, the Yemeni crisis, the kingdom’s Vision 2030, as well as relations with the new US administration of President Joe Biden. In the broadcast late Tuesday, the crown prince struck a conciliatory tone towards the kingdom’s arch-nemesis Iran, saying he sought “good” relations, after sources said the rivals had held secret talks in Baghdad. The two countries, locked in a fierce struggle for regional dominance, cut ties in 2016 after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions following the kingdom’s execution of a revered Shia cleric. “Neighbouring country” “Iran is a neighbouring country and all we aspire for is a good and special relationship with Iran,” said Prince Mohammed. “We do not want Iran’s situation to be difficult. On the contrary, we want Iran to grow… and to push the region and the world towards prosperity.”He added that Riyadh was working with regional and global partners to find solutions to Tehran’s “negative behaviour.” That marks a change in tone compared to Prince Mohammed’s previous interviews, in which he lashed out at Tehran, accusing it of fuelling regional insecurity. The prince did not mention any negotiations with Tehran. Talks in Baghdad, said to have been brokered by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, were reported by the Financial Times which said a first meeting had been held on April 9. Riyadh has officially denied the talks while Tehran has stayed mum, asserting only that it has “always welcomed” dialogue with Saudi Arabia. The initiative comes at a time of shifting power dynamics, as US President Joe Biden is seeking to revive the tattered 2015 nuclear deal that was abandoned by Donald Trump. Saudi Arabia and Iran have backed opposite sides of several regional conflicts, from Syria to Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is fighting the Houthi militias.
A message to Houthis
Iran supports the Houthis, who are battling the Saudi-led military coalition that intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015. The militias have also stepped up drone and missile strikes on targets within Saudi Arabia, including its oil facilities. In his interview, Prince Mohammed renewed calls for a ceasefire and negotiations with the Houthis. He said no state wanted an armed militia along its borders and urged the Houthis to “sit at the negotiating table.” Riyadh last month presented a nationwide ceasefire proposal for Yemen but the Houthis have yet to accept it. “Saudi Arabia proposed a ceasefire and economic support in exchange for a cessation of hostilities by the Houthis,” the crown prince said. “While there is no doubt that the Houthis have a close relationship with the Iranian regime, there is no doubt that the Houthis are Arabs at the end of the day, and it is inevitable that they will have to work with their brothers to end this conflict,” he added.
Few differences with US
On relations with Washington, Prince Mohammed said the United States was a strategic partner and that Riyadh had only a few differences with the Biden administration which it was working to resolve. The crown prince, however, stressed Saudi Arabia would not accept any pressure or interference in its internal affairs. “We are more than 90% in agreement with the Biden administration when it comes to Saudi and US interests and we are working to strengthen these interests,” the crown prince said. “The matters we disagree on represent less than 10% and we are working to find solutions and understandings … there is no doubt that the United States is a strategic partner,” he added. Prince Mohammed, who became crown prince in 2017 and has consolidated power since, said Saudi Arabia is also building strategic partnerships with Russia, India and China.The Biden administration earlier this year released a US intelligence report implicating the crown prince in the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi but spared him any direct punishment. The prince denies any involvement. It has also withdrawn support for offensive operations by a Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis.The conflict is seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran which are locked in a rivalry for regional influence.
Domestic policies
Saudi Arabia, which is facing a number of regional and international challenges, is also involed in a tough battle to diversify its economy and transform its society. In this regard, Prince Mohammed laid out a vigorous defense of his domestic policies and the thinking behind his push to transform Saudi Arabia economically and socially. He revealed economic figures and cited milestones to explain why the government has raised taxes, cut subsidies and embarked on unpopular austerity measures to hit targets in the so-called Vision 2030 plan. The crown prince said the kingdom is in talks to sell a 1% stake of the state-owned oil giant Aramco to a leading global energy company. In 2019, the kingdom listed 5% of Aramco on the Saudi stock exchange in an effort to raise money for its sovereign wealth fund. The interview was timed to mark five years since the launch of Vision 2030, Prince Mohammed’s blueprint for transforming the kingdom from an oil-dependent nation to an economic powerhouse that is open to the world. In his unveiling of the project in 2016, he acknowledged Saudi Arabia had an “addiction to oil.”One of the most important goals of Prince Mohammed is to create millions of jobs for young Saudis entering the workforce. He aims to lower unemployment to 7% by 2030. The kingdom’s unemployment shot to a high of 15.9% in mid-2020 before going back down to around 12%. To boost government revenue last year and help offset the double shock of the coronavirus pandemic and downward slide in oil prices, the government tripled taxes on goods and services to 15%, which led to a rise in inflation and grumblings on social media. The crown prince described the tax rate as a “temporary decision” that could last from one to five years and then be lowered to between 5% and 10%. He said difficult decisions had to be made “to avoid catastrophe and create opportunities.”The crown prince is popular among many Saudis for his bold social reforms. With backing from his father, the prince has lifted the ban on women driving, curbed restrictive male guardianship laws, opened the country to cinemas and concerts and issued directives that have dramatically dropped the kingdom’s rate of executions. “Today we cannot advance… with the presence of extremist thought in the kingdom,” he said, adding that it would hamper economic growth and development. He cautioned that any Saudi with extremist views, even if that person hasn’t yet committed a crime, “is a criminal.” He attempted to put distance between the kingdom and the teachings of the late Sheikh Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab, whose ultraconservative teachings are known as “Wahhabism” and associated with some of the most extreme interpretations of Islam. The prince said there is no single person nor school of thought in the kingdom that Islam should be confined to. With the interview targeting Saudi viewers during the holy month of Ramadan, he said no longer should punishment and laws be based on narrow, outdated 100-year-old clerical interpretations of the Quran.
“Our constitution is the Quran. It has been, it is and will continue to be,” the crown prince said, stressing that religious moderation is key.

EU Slams 'Manipulation' of Vaccine Info by China, Russia
Agence France Presset/28 April ,2021
Beijing and Moscow have stepped up "state-sponsored disinformation" campaigns denigrating Western-developed vaccines against Covid while promoting their own, the EU said on Wednesday. "The so-called 'vaccine diplomacy' follows a zero-sum game logic" that seeks to "undermine trust in Western-made vaccines, EU institutions and Western/European vaccination strategies," a report from the EU's foreign service said. Since December, Russian media, authorities and state companies have united behind pushing the Sputnik V vaccine while using "antagonistic messaging" to accuse the EU of "sabotaging" the Russian jab, the report said. "Pro-Kremlin media outlets, including the official Sputnik V Twitter account, have sought to undermine public trust in the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and cast doubt on its procedures and political impartiality."The report said that state-backed media had tried to "sow confusion" over an application for marketing approval by the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in a bid to fuel the narrative that the body had been deliberately delaying giving the greenlight. "Pro-Kremlin outlets have also accused the EMA and the EU in general of political bias against the Russian-made vaccine," it said. Beijing meanwhile was promoting its vaccines as "more suitable for developing countries," including those in the Western Balkans, while deploying "misleading narratives" about the safety of Western vaccines and even on the origin of the coronavirus, the report said. The EU's vaccine rollout has faced widespread criticism from within the bloc as delivery shortfalls hampered early efforts to get jabs into arms. There have also been concerns over the safety of some vaccines -- especially AstraZeneca -- over links to rare blood clots and some countries have restricted its use. Brussels insists that deliveries are now picking up and the bloc is on target to inoculate 70 percent of adults by the end of July. Nonetheless EU member Hungary broke ranks and has been administering the Russian and Chinese jabs, while Austria and Germany said they are in talks to purchase Sputnik V. The EMA launched a rolling review of Sputnik V in March. If it gets the regulator's approval it would be the first non-Western coronavirus vaccine authorized for use across the 27-nation bloc.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 28-29/2021

Hunter Biden's Laptop
Peter Schweizer/Gatestone Institute/April 28/2021
The book's [Secret Empires] conclusions were based on reconstructions of timelines, records obtained through hard work done on location in foreign countries. Yet, some in the media still accused us of engaging in a "witch hunt" designed simply to embarrass the family of now-President Joe Biden.
Law enforcement sources have since confirmed a Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes, but that actually means they are looking not just at his taxes, but at the money he made that he may or may not have declared on his taxes. That investigation continues.
What emerges from all of this clearly shows what I call the "Biden business model," in which the Biden family seems to trade off the Biden name, Biden connections, and the Biden access.
Recently, Hunter Biden has sat for several interviews to discuss his new memoir about his struggles with drug addiction. The investigative reporter in me cannot resist pointing out these interviews were done by CBS News, owned by ViacomCBS, which also owns Simon & Schuster, the publisher of his new book. He mostly dodged questions about the laptop.
[T]he deeper question that should concern us more... is whether he is covering for his father. Emails reviewed by Sen. Ron Johnson's committee during its investigation referenced a consultant writing to Hunter Biden about a proposed partnership with Chinese businessmen. The email says Hunter will receive a 20% equity in the partnership, plus a 10% stake "held by H for the big guy?"
The identity of "the big guy" has not been established. But... [t]he modern model of corruption in politics is rarely done in a straight line, but along the branches of a family tree. As foreign governments and other interested parties have learned, the way to a politician's heart is through his family. There is circumstantial evidence in the collection of materials now possessed by the FBI and journalists that Hunter Biden was acting as a cover for business dealings that would benefit his father or at a minimum the Biden family estate, which includes his father.
Investigative journalism mostly reconstructs events and exchanges from hidden scraps, obscure records, and third-party documents. Often the best we can do is to show that something bad must have happened based on the coincidences we find in these records. Because reporters are not prosecutors, they cannot issue subpoenas or compel testimony. It is exceedingly rare for a reporter to obtain that "smoking gun."
That is why the case of Hunter Biden's missing laptop, combined with original text messages and emails obtained through direct access to a recipient's Gmail account, is so notable. It is primary, original source. At long last, even Hunter Biden himself has finally acknowledged it.
The story of Hunter Biden's business dealings while his father Joe was Vice President and point man for United States' foreign policy in both Ukraine and China was already known, dimly, in 2018 when the book Secret Empires was published and revealed the extent of those dealings. Our research combed through obscure records, cross-checked them, and made some educated conclusions. The book made plain what many had suspected -- that Hunter Biden received money, position, and other favors from foreign governments and corporations that were eager to please his father. The book showed that there was no way that Hunter could have gotten such things without his father's name, position, and knowledge. The book's conclusions were based on reconstructions of timelines, records obtained through hard work done on location in foreign countries. Yet, some in the media still accused us of engaging in a "witch hunt" designed simply to embarrass the family of now-President Joe Biden.
Hunter Biden's missing laptop became a story in itself during the 2020 presidential election. Because of the involvement of Rudy Giuliani in bringing it to the press, its provenance was discounted; it was, we were told, part of a Russian disinformation campaign. Yet it should be noted that the contents of that laptop were furnished to the press only after the physical machine had been seized by the FBI as part of its investigation into Hunter Biden's finances. Law enforcement sources have confirmed a Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes, but that actually means they are looking not just at his taxes, but at the money he made that he may or may not have declared on his taxes. That investigation continues.
I was approached in 2019 by a man named Bevan Cooney, who had been a business partner of Hunter Biden's but was convicted of fraud in another deal and was at the time in prison. I did not respond to him then, but late in 2020, Bevan Cooney reached out to us again and gave us written consent to directly access his personal Gmail account, which contained 26,000 emails relating to his business dealings with Hunter Biden. What we have is not printouts, PDF files or screenshots purporting to be genuine. It is the email account itself. We have been poring through its contents and cross-checking them against other sources to confirm their authenticity and accuracy. We have cross-referenced the Hunter Biden emails with the Bevan Cooney emails, with Secret Service travel logs, materials provided by another former associate of Hunter Biden's named Tony Bobulinski, and Senator Ron Johnson's committee report on these matters. They all match up perfectly. For example, where the emails reference Hunter Biden being in a certain location, or out of town until a certain date, we found perfect correlation with the Secret Service travel logs.
What emerges from all of this clearly shows what I call the "Biden business model," in which the Biden family seems to trade off the Biden name, Biden connections, and the Biden access.
Recently, Hunter Biden has sat for several interviews to discuss his new memoir about his struggles with drug addiction. The investigative reporter in me cannot resist pointing out these interviews were done by CBS News, owned by ViacomCBS, which also owns Simon & Schuster, the publisher of his new book. He mostly dodged questions about the laptop. "There could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me," he said in the interview. "It could be that I was hacked. It could be that it was the – that it was Russian intelligence. It could be that it was stolen from me. Or that there was a laptop stolen from me."
His response, like the proverbial "homework-eating dog" answer, speaks for itself. But it still distracts from the deeper question that should concern us more -- and that is whether he is covering for his father. Emails reviewed by Sen. Ron Johnson's committee during its investigation referenced a consultant writing to Hunter Biden about a proposed partnership with Chinese businessmen. The email says Hunter will receive a 20% equity in the partnership, plus a 10% stake "held by H for the big guy?"
The identity of "the big guy" has not been established. But I have learned one thing in the years I have spent looking for corruption and cronyism by government officials. The modern model of corruption in politics is rarely done in a straight line, but along the branches of a family tree. As foreign governments and other interested parties have learned, the way to a politician's heart is through his family. There is circumstantial evidence in the collection of materials now possessed by the FBI and journalists that Hunter Biden was acting as a cover for business dealings that would benefit his father or at a minimum the Biden family estate, which includes his father.
*Peter Schweizer, President of the Governmental Accountability Institute, is a Gatestone Institute Distinguished Senior Fellow and author of the best-selling books Profiles in Corruption, Secret Empires and Clinton Cash, among others.
© 2021 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.

In the West, Islamists are more important than Kurds - opinion

Kamal Sido/Jerusalem Post/April 28/2021
The Kurdish people in Iraq and Syria are being punished for cooperating with the US and defending “Western” values such as democracy and women’s rights, and what does the US do? It lets Iran attack. On April 15, the airport in the Kurdish capital of Erbil was attacked by a drone, and a pro-Iranian Iraqi militia praised the attack. At the same time, Turkey attacked the Kurdish refugees from Afrin in northern Syria. There had already been several attacks on Kurds in the past: Iran incited Shi’ite militias against the Kurds in Iraq in revenge for attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. As a result, Iraqi Kurdistan lost nearly a third of its territory to the Iraqi army and Shi’ite militias in 2017. Iran accuses the Kurds in Iraq of supporting “anti-Iranian Zionist-American aggression” while at the same time Iran blames Israel for sabotaging its nuclear facilities – so the Kurds must be punished.
The Syrian Kurds, on the other hand, are being punished by Russia for cooperating with the United States. Russia, the protecting power in Syria, allows Turkey to use Syrian airspace to attack the Kurdish people from the air. The Kurds have no chance against the Turkish Air Force. In Syria, Russia and Iran are cooperating very closely with Turkey, fighting against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, among others.
Thus, the Kurdish people in Iraq and Syria are being punished for cooperating with the United States and for defending “Western” values such as democracy, minority rights, women’s rights and freedom of belief. And what does the US do? It allows Iran to attack Iraqi Kurds and other minorities. Turkey can do whatever it wants with the minorities in Syria. They are expelled or – as in the case of Afrin – slaughtered.  In this context, we should also take a look at what is happening in Afghanistan right now: The people of Afghanistan, especially the women, are currently being abandoned to Taliban tyranny. Apparently, there are strategists in NATO who think it would be possible, with the help of Turkey, to send the Taliban and all Sunni Islamists against Russia and China. Thus, the Sunni Islamists are geopolitically important, but Kurds and women are not.
Whether Turkey, as a Sunni Islamist regional power, will risk turning against Russia and China remains to be seen. Today’s Sunni Islamists have changed since the times of the Cold War, and China is now under a different leadership, too: the country is ruled by turbo-capitalist communists, with Confucius as an idol instead of Karl Marx.
IN RUSSIA, the situation has changed a lot as well. There, political power is no longer based on Marx or Lenin, but on Russian Orthodoxy. Moreover, Russia has the best relations with Israel, and it will not be easy to position Muslims, in this case Sunnis, against Russia and China. During the Cold War, there were no widely available social networks. Back then, it was easier to tell the Muslims that the Russians and Chinese were “infidel atheists” and that “all communists work for Israel”, because Marx was Jewish. This narrative was widespread in the Arab-Islamic world, and I heard it a lot myself as a young man in Aleppo in the early 1970s. Even in the case of Iran, the self-declared protective power of all Shi’ites, it will not be easy to mobilize the Sunni Islamists against the hated Shi’ite mullahs. Turkey, which in turn sees itself as a protecting power of the Sunnis, has always had many common interests with Iran and, above all, a common enemy: the Kurds. Therefore, it will be almost impossible for the US and the West to turn Turkey and the Sunni Islamists against Iran in the long run. Iran also has good relations, not only with Hamas, but with various other Sunni groups.
Therefore, any NATO strategy aimed at winning over the radical Sunni Islamists led by Turkey will fail, probably with disastrous consequences. Turkey would become much more aligned with Russia and China, and would also cooperate very closely with Iran. The fears of the undemocratic systems in Moscow and Beijing are understandable and justified. However, the dangers for world peace and for the people in Western cities come primarily from the Islamic world – from a radical political Islam of Sunni and Shi’ite character, whose control centers are located primarily in Istanbul and Tehran. Today, the main sources of anti-Western ideas, antisemitism and misogyny are not to be found primarily in Moscow or Shanghai, but in Istanbul, Tehran or Islamabad.
Turkey can only be used as a bulwark against China or Russia if it ends its ongoing enmity with the Kurds – and not just with one Kurdish group, but with all Kurds, including the PKK. Turkey can only be a consistent global player if it is neither vulnerable nor susceptible to blackmail. A Turkey that is tied up at all corners by “Kurdish problems” will hardly succeed in becoming a factor of stability. Therefore, Turkey will continue its zigzag course between Russia, China, and Iran on the one hand and the West on the other. When push comes to shove, however, Turkey will not go to war alongside the West.
*Dr. Kamal Sido was born in the Kurdish region of Afrin and has been in exile for more than 40 years. He works for the German human rights organization Society for Threatened Peoples as a Middle East expert and advisor on ethnic, religious, linguistic minorities and nationalities.
 

How Israel and the US are taking Iran’s drone threat seriously - analysis

Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/April 28/2021
The decision to try to counter UAVs or drones has been in the works for years. Back in 2018 Congress first authorized a cooperative US-Israeli Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) Program
It’s not a coincidence that the head of US Central Command has been warning about drone threats and that the US and Israel are increasingly working on efforts to confront drones.
A readout of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s bilateral meeting with Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat on April 27 revealed that the “United States and Israel agreed to establish an inter-agency working group to focus particular attention on the growing threat of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Precision Guided Missiles produced by Iran and provided to its proxies in the Middle East Region.”The decision to try to counter UAVs or drones has been in the works for years. Back in 2018, Congress first authorized a cooperative US-Israeli Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) Program. This was done by “expanding the scope of the anti-tunnel cooperation program, [and] then, in the FY2020 NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act],” the Congressional Research Service notes.
“Congress created a separate authority (Section 1278), which authorized the Secretary of Defense to ‘carry out research, development, test, and evaluation activities, on a joint basis with Israel, to establish capabilities for countering unmanned aerial systems that threaten the United States or Israel.’ Section 1278 requires a matching contribution from the government of Israel and caps the annual U.S. contribution at $25 million. Congress authorized the program through 2024,” it said.
CENTCOM HEAD Gen. Kenneth McKenzie has become a kind of prophet of counter-drone discussions because he keeps warning about the growing threat. In March, he spoke to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sen. Tom Cotton noted that while the US had spent “billions” on counter-drone technology, there was still a threat. McKenzie had in fact already warned in writing that drones are “the most concerning tactical development in the CENTCOM area of operations since the rise of the Improvised Explosive Device.”
Responding to Cotton, the general said, “I think the key thing is [that] right now we're simply at a stage in the development of systems, and you see it in the back-and-forth of warfare, where the advantage is with the operator and with the offense. We will catch up; it's going to take us a little time to do that.
"And really, it's what we would call the Group 1 and Group 2s that concern me the most; the small ones that you can go and buy at Costco -- you know, duct tape a grenade or a mortar bomb to and fly it into an objective," he said. "The larger ones, we have ways to deal with them because they're like aircraft in a traditional way – although, they're still very concerning.”
McKenzie doubled down in more testimony to the House in April. “These small- and medium-sized UAVs proliferating across the [area of operations] present a new and complex threat to our forces and those of our partners and allies,” he told the House Armed Services Committee on April 20. “For the first time since the Korean War, we are operating without complete air superiority.” The work between the US and Israel on this issue is important because the rise of Iranian drone threats is increasingly bedeviling US partners in the region. Tehran knows this and keeps unveiling more and more drones.
Iran has a seemingly endless amount of drones these days; it used them against Saudi Arabia in 2019 and also sent a drone from Syria’s T-4 base into Israeli airspace in February 2018. On April 28, the IDF said that it had “downed a drone and located an additional drone belonging to the Hezbollah terror organization that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli airspace.”
The threat is clear. In January a report at Newsweek indicated Iran may have exported a new type of drone to Yemen, one capable of reaching Israel.

MCKENZIE HAS warned about various types of drones, including those purchased off-the-shelf and then modified by terrorists. The Iran threat is more complex, consisting of larger drones. Iran has been building them for years, going back to the 1980s when it first developed its Ababil and Mohajer programs. The Islamic Republic also has advanced drones dubbed part of its Shahed line, including the Shahed 171 which is a copy of America's secretive RQ-170, and the Shahed 129, which is a copy of the Predator.
Iran sent so much drone technology to Yemen that the Houthis became one of the region’s leaders in using kamikaze drones. Furthermore, there was so much evidence of the Iranian link, including gyroscopes, that some of the wreckage of these Iranian drones was carted off to Washington, put on display in the Iran Materials Display at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling – or what some affectionately call the “petting zoo.”
According to the Department of Defense, there are remains of a Shahed-123 unmanned aerial vehicle, shown in a 218 photo. “The Department of Defense established the Iranian Materiel Display in December 2017 to present evidence that Iran is arming dangerous groups with advanced weapons, spreading instability and conflict in the region. The IMD contains materiel [military material] associated with Iranian proliferation into Yemen, Afghanistan and Bahrain.”
There are other drones as well, including a Qasef-1, a drone the Houthis use that is derived from an Ababil. The Foreign Policy Research Institute called the Iran drone technology proliferation “low tech, high reward.”
Last week, Iran’s IRGC released new images it says were taken by a drone of a US aircraft carrier. The same thing was done back in September 2020. Now Iran is upping harassment of US ships again in the Gulf. Drones may play a greater role in that harassment.
WHAT WE know is that Iran’s drone arm is large, expanding and proficient. The drones have a long-range capability and they have successfully evaded Saudi radar to strike at Abqaiq in 2019. They can be used in swarms and with cruise missiles. They fly to their target with a warhead on board, so they are essentially kamikaze drones that behave more like a cruise missile. They don’t have to communicate with their base, meaning that jamming them may not work. They have to be shot down.
The recent case of a Syrian S-200 missile flying deep into Israel illustrates the problem. Drones are slower than an S-200. Patriot missiles and Israel’s other air defense systems have been used against drone threats and Israel increasingly practices using air defense systems against drones.
Israel has a wide variety of counter-drone technology. This includes not only the missile defenses, like Iron Dome, but also systems designed to counter smaller drones, such as IAI’s Drone Guard, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’ Drone Dome, Elbit Systems ReDrone, the innovated Smart Shooter system for rifles, the Xtend company’s Skylord system, and others. Israel usually distinguishes between smaller “drones” such as quadcopters and larger UAVs, a category under which Iran’s drones would likely fall.
The technology needed to stop a large, fixed-wing drone that may be flying fast is different than what is needed against a slow-moving but highly maneuverable quadcopter with a grenade on it. Nevertheless, with a crowded airspace, and small birds that sometimes can be mistaken for drones, the challenge is growing. You can shoot drones down, jam them, use lasers, missiles, guns, nets, and even other drones to kill drones. The question for the US and Israel may be whether and how to settle on several technologies that mesh well.
That Washington and Jerusalem are looking increasingly at how to bring all this together makes sense since Israeli defense companies already supply counter-drone technology to the US, and America has likewise supported Israeli air defense systems.

Russia’s expanding footprint in the Middle East
Talmiz Ahmad/Arab News/April 28/2021
Over the last month or so, the shadow of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has loomed large across the Middle East. In March, he visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. He was soon back in the region, visiting Egypt and Iran on April 12-13.
Russia became a key player in the Middle East when it brought its armed forces into Syria in September 2015 to prevent externally sponsored regime change. Having achieved this fairly quickly, its diplomatic canvas has broadened to include all the regional states, with which it is building substantial ties in the areas of energy, economics and defense, while seeking to pursue regional peace and security. During his visit to the Gulf, Lavrov promoted a UAE role in enhancing stability in Syria, which his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan strongly supported. The latter criticized sanctions on Syria and backed the country’s re-entry to the Arab League.In Doha, Lavrov shaped the Russia-Turkey-Qatar troika to discuss peace in Syria as an initiative to supplement the Astana process. Turkey and Qatar could jointly promote the settlement of the Idlib issue, where a few thousand Turkish-backed extremist elements are embedded within a 3 million-strong civilian population.
Lavrov’s most important interactions were in Saudi Arabia, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan. These meetings took place against the background of some uncertainty relating to the new US administration’s position on regional security issues.
In this scenario, Russia can play the useful role of a “balancer” in respect of the Kingdom’s two major competitions — with Turkey and Iran — by facilitating dialogue between them. Once mutual confidence between estranged neighbors is achieved, Russia will seek to obtain Middle East stability through a new regional security architecture shaped consensually by the area’s nations acting in concert. As in the case of other Gulf countries, Russia’s agenda with Saudi Arabia is buttressed by substantial bilateral ties based on trade, including grain exports, and defense cooperation, besides being partners in the OPEC+ dialogue that ensures stability in the world’s energy market. Lavrov’s foray to the Gulf states in March was complemented by his visits to Egypt and Iran in April. Though some commentators have seen the Cairo visit as a deliberate rebuke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was meeting the Ukrainian president in Istanbul at the same time, the outreach to Egypt was important in itself.
Russia has consolidated its defense relations with Cairo through the sale of military hardware, including fighter jets, tanks, attack helicopters and missile systems, as well as regular joint exercises. Besides this, Russia is working on a nuclear power plant and developing a gas field in the country, while it has also become a major grain supplier to Egypt. Russia’s ties with Egypt have been further strengthened by an Egyptian company emerging as the region’s first manufacturer of Russia’s coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V.
In Cairo, in terms of the regional agenda, Russia’s two main interests were Libya and Syria. Russia and Egypt were already partners in the Libyan conflict, opposing the Tripoli government that is backed by Turkey, and they have also now become partners in the country’s peace process. With regard to Syria, they are again on the same page, as Egypt has also consistently opposed regime change in Damascus.
Lavrov’s visit to Tehran was in the context of coordinating their positions on the revival of the Iran nuclear deal. The two countries agree that this should be kept separate from the other issues relating to regional security and that there should be a “synchronized approach” to the US lifting sanctions and Iran returning to the provisions of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. In January, Russia and Iran had entered into an information and cybersecurity agreement that will boost Iran’s cyber defenses against hostile attacks, mainly from Israel.
While Russia backs Iran on the nuclear question, it is also sensitive to the security concerns of Israel and the Gulf Arab states and, hence, strongly advocates Tehran’s participation in a regional security conclave taking place within the framework of the peace plan that Moscow had floated in July 2019.
As the US recedes from the Middle East landscape, Russia will emerge as the central figure in the regional cauldron. Though Ankara was not on Lavrov’s itinerary, ties with Turkey are an important part of Russia’s regional interests. While bilateral ties have blossomed in energy, the economy and defense, Turkey remains a difficult partner as it seeks to retain its strategic autonomy on regional issues and its partnership with the US, despite their many differences. It is likely that Joe Biden’s coolness toward the Turkish leader and Saturday’s recognition of the Armenian genocide of 1915 will push Ankara further into the Russian embrace. There is a churn being seen in Middle East politics, with regional states asserting new interests, playing new roles, engaging with fresh challenges, and building alliances to serve ideological and/or security interests. As the US recedes from the Middle East landscape, Russia will emerge as the central figure in the regional cauldron and is likely to offer the best hope for peace and security.
*Talmiz Ahmad is an author and former Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE. He holds the Ram Sathe Chair for International Studies at Symbiosis International University in Pune, India.

Assad is indulging in “sham elections” as Syrians continue to suffer, UN told
Ephrem Kossaify/Arab News/April 28/2021
NEW YORK: The permanent US representative to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, on Wednesday accused the Assad regime of blocking the drafting of a new constitution. She also warned that the “so-called May 26 elections (will) be neither free nor fair, and will not be representative of the Syrian people.”
“While the Assad regime run their sham elections, the people of Syria continue to suffer,” she said. Elections in Syria must be held under the auspices of a new constitution and supervised by the UN, as was mandated unanimously by the Security Council, Thomas-Greenfield said.
“The Assad regime must secure steps to enable the participation of refugees, internally displaced people and the diaspora in any Syrian election,” she added. “Until then we will not be fooled.” She reiterated that Washington “will not support reconstruction aid that benefits the regime absent progress in achieving the political reforms called for in (Security Council) Resolution 2254.” She also condemned Assad for “hindering and weaponizing” the delivery of aid supplies. As the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, the envoy urged council members to reauthorize the Bab Al-Hawa crossing and reinstate the crossings at Bab Al-Salam and Yaroubiyah, a move that has been vetoed by Russia and China.
“Should the UN lose access to cross-border mechanisms, the COVID crisis in Syria will go from dire to disastrous,” said Thomas-Greenfield. “Four million people inside northwest Syria depend on the 1,000 UN trucks that use the crossing each month. There is no alternative. Nothing can match the scope and the scale of the UN cross-border humanitarian mechanism. In fact, it’s quite clear that one sole crossing point is insufficient for the vast needs.”She also highlighted what she described as a “deep moral wrong” that is unfolding in the Rukban refugee camp. “For 16 months the camp’s residents have been without medical aid because the Assad regime and Russia will not allow the UN to make deliveries to these people in need,” she said. “We urge the Assad regime and Russia to allow unhindered humanitarian access to the camp. These people are not pawns. Aid cannot be politicized.”
Her Russian counterpart on the Security Council, Vassily Nebenzya, responded by defending the Syrian regime and repeating its rhetoric. He blamed the worsening humanitarian situation on “relentless sanctions pressure exerted by the collective West,” and the deteriorating security situation on “terrorists using civilians as human shields.”
He also welcomed the prospect of next month’s elections as part of the Syrian government’s efforts to “ensure the state is functioning.” “We lament the fact that some countries are up in arms against the very idea of upcoming elections and are ready declaring them illegitimate,” Nebenzya said. “(The) interference in the internal affairs of the Syrians is unacceptable and contradicts the existing norms of international law.” He added that “the negative background information on the upcoming elections” has nothing to do with the work of the constitutional committee.  Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, reiterated that the elections scheduled for May 26 were called under the auspices of the existing Syrian Constitution, and are not part of the political process established by Security Council Resolution 2254. “The UN is not involved in this election and has no mandate to be,” he told the council. “Resolution 2254 mandates the UN to facilitate a political process that culminates in the holding of free and fair elections in accordance with a new constitution, administered under United Nations supervision to the highest international standards of transparency and accountability, with all Syrians, including members of the diaspora, eligible to participate.”
He urged council members to prioritize a “proactive search” for a political settlement to the conflict, saying that events in the past month have demonstrated how easily the situation could deteriorate, despite a year of relative calm “by Syrian standards.”There has been a significant escalation of fighting in northwest Syria, including air strikes on a UN-supported hospital in western Aleppo close to densely populated camps for internally displaced persons, where UN humanitarian aid is delivered. Residential areas in the city have also been shelled. Meanwhile Daesh continued its assaults in central and northeastern Syria. In one incident dozens of civilians were kidnapped in rural Hama. “It is all too easy to become immune to these kinds of developments and the dangers they could lead to,” said Pedersen. He also said that he met with The Syrian Women’s Advisory Board in Geneva this week, and its members voiced fears that “differences among external actors would perpetuate the Syrian conflict.”
“Let us not forget that, in addition to challenges facing all Syrians, many women have also experienced sexual and gender-based violence, early and forced marriage, and trafficking,” he added. “And with men killed and injured in large numbers, more women than ever are heading households — against the backdrop of violence, terrorism, displacement, instability, destitution and pandemic.” Pedersen said the women he talked to also stressed the need for progress to be made on the issue of the thousands of people who remain locked up, abducted or missing, as there has been little so far. “Allow me to stress again the importance of unblocking progress on detainees, abductees and missing persons,” he said. “As long as this file remains largely frozen, many Syrians will be unable to even begin to think of moving on, and Syria’s social fabric cannot begin to be restored.” Pedersen also expressed concern about the economic destitution that Syrians face, with food prices at historic highs and no sign of inflation abating. “12.4 million (people) are now food insecure, an increase of 4.5 million in the past year alone,” he said. “Fuel shortages remain a key concern as well. “A large-scale, cross-border response for an additional 12 months remains essential to save lives. I appeal for the members of the council to focus on achieving consensus to that end.”