English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For July 04/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the
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http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews21/english.july04.21.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
Let your speech always be gracious,
seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.
Letter to the Colossians 04/05-10:”Conduct
yourselves wisely towards outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your
speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you
ought to answer everyone. Tychicus will tell you all the news about me; he is a
beloved brother, a faithful minister, and a fellow-servant in the Lord. I have
sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know how we are and that
he may encourage your hearts; he is coming with Onesimus, the faithful and
beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here.
Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner greets you, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas,
concerning whom you have received instructions if he comes to you, welcome him.”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials
published on July 03-04/2021
Health Ministry: 137 new Corona cases, 3 deaths
Health Ministry: 6 incoming cases, 26 local cases of Delta variant
Pope urges ‘peace’ at talks with Lebanese Christian clerics
Pope urges Lebanese leaders to shun partisanship, fix broken country
Shea Urges 'Accountability and Closure' in Port Blast Probe
Lebanese Army denies reports by social media sites about contacts made with its
leadership
FPM calls on PM--designate to return, assume his responsibilities
Bitar Prosecutes Diab and ex-Ministers, Officers over Port Blast
Khalil, Zoaiter Say Ready to be Questioned by Bitar
Hassan Confirms Arrival of Delta Variant in Lebanon
Frem to launch national political project on Sunday
Lebanese leaders can’t halt the oncoming electoral tsunami/Baria Alamuddin/Arab
News/July 03/2021
Syriac Epigraphy in Lebanon: Syriac inscriptions and Art on Maronite Churches
(part 1)/Dr Amine-Jules Iskandar/Syriac Pres
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
July 03-04/2021
Military Put on Standby to Evacuate Canada's Fire-Threatened Towns
Iran denies involvement in attacks on US forces in Iraq, Syria
Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant resumes operations: State media
Iran Fears 'Fifth wave' of Covid Linked to Delta Variant
Saudi Suspends UAE Flights Due to Virus Variant
Europe Court Refuses to Hear Case on Arafat Death
Israel bombs Hamas site in Gaza over fire balloons
Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank clashes, says health ministry
Israeli defense officials checking if cargo ship attacked by Iran forces
US offers up to $4 mln reward for arrest of top al-Qaeda leader
Turkey risks stirring up tensions by East Medi gas exploration
US slams Turkey over use of ‘child soldiers’ in Libya, Syria
Egypt’s President Sisi opens strategic Mediterranean naval base
Egypt to open new military base on border with Libya to deal with Turkish
challenges
Blame game is Iraq’s solution to electricity disaster
Assault on Tunisian MP renews polemic over parliamentary immunity
Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC
English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on
July 03-04/2021
The American-Iranian Crucible/Charles Elias Chartouni/July 03/2021
Recent Petitions Singling Out Israel for Condemnation Are Anti-Semitic/Alan M.
Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/July 03, 2021
A Mobster and Turkey's Arms Shipments to Jihadis/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone
Institute/July 03/2021
How did the Abraham Accords fundamentally shift Israel's politics?/Herb Keinnon/Jerusalem
Post//July 03, 2021
How Biden chose the wrong target to hurt Iran/Dalia Al-Aqidi//Arab News/July
03/2021
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on July 03-04/2021
Health Ministry: 137 new Corona cases, 3
deaths
NNA/July 03/2021
In its daily report, the Ministry of Public Health announced on Saturday the
registration of 137 new infections with the Corona virus, thus raising the
cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 545,363. Three deaths were also
recorded during the past 24 hours, the report indicated.
Health Ministry: 6 incoming cases, 26 local cases of
Delta variant
NNA/July 03/2021
According to the daily report issued by the Ministry of Public Health over the
Coronavirus, it announced the registration of 6 incoming cases and 26 local
cases of the COVID delta variant.
Pope urges ‘peace’ at talks with Lebanese Christian
clerics
The Arab Weekly/July 03/2021
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis called Thursday for peace and hope for Lebanon’s
“disillusioned and weary people” as he met ten Christian leaders from a nation
caught in an economic and political crisis. The pontiff greeted the leaders and
their delegations, who stayed overnight Wednesday at the Saint Martha’s guest
house in the Vatican, where the pontiff himself lives, before walking to Saint
Peter’s Basilica nearby. “I invite you all to join spiritually with us, praying
that Lebanon may recover from the serious crisis it is going through and show
the world once again its face of peace and hope,” Francis tweeted on Wednesday,
calling it a “special day of prayer and reflection on Lebanon”. Before the first
of three meetings, the Pope brought the group inside the basilica to pray at the
papal altar and place candles at the tomb of Saint Peter in the crypt below. The
all-day talks were sparked by the clerics’ “deep concern for Lebanon,” said
Francis, adding the Middle Eastern country is “very close to my heart and which
I wish to visit. “In these woeful times, we want to affirm with all our strength
that Lebanon is, and must remain, a project of peace,” said the 84-year-old
Argentine pontiff. “Its vocation is to be a land of tolerance and pluralism, an
oasis of fraternity where different religions and confessions meet.” The pope
has repeatedly offered prayers for the people of Lebanon, which plunged into
crisis after a huge blast in Beirut killed more than 200 people and ravaged
swathes of the city last year. The “disillusioned and weary Lebanese people”
were in need of “certainty, hope and peace”, he said. “Stop using Lebanon and
the Middle East for outside interests and profits,” he added. A visit by Francis
to Lebanon could possibly come later this year or early in 2022, preferably
after a new government takes over, according to Paul Richard Gallagher, the
pope’s de facto foreign minister. Maronite patriarchal vicar Samir Mazloum said
ahead of the meeting that one focus was emigration of young people and the
impact of the crisis on schools, hospitals, families and food security.
Currently “50 to 60 percent of our young people live abroad, there are only old
people and children left,” he lamented, underscoring high unemployment and the
collapse in the value of the local currency. Cesar Essayan, apostolic vicar in
Beirut said, “Lebanon is in the middle of an identity crisis” with corruption
reaching all sectors of society, including the religious. “This is a very
important moment for us,” he told an online press conference. Among those
attending the Vatican meeting was Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, who has spoken
out against corruption among Lebanese politicians. Meeting the pope “will be an
important step to help Lebanon remain the home of the Christian-Muslim
partnership,” he told the French language daily L’Orient-Le Jour. Lebanon
recognises 18 official religious sects and its 128 parliamentary seats are
divided equally between Muslims and Christians.
Pope urges Lebanese leaders to shun partisanship, fix broken country
Reuters//July 03/2021
Pope Francis on Thursday urged the leaders of Lebanon, which is mired in a
financial depression and facing its worst social crisis in 30 years, to put
aside partisan interests and work for peace and stability. Francis made the
appeal at the end of a day-long summit with Lebanese Christian leaders in the
Vatican to discuss how religions can help the country get back on its feet. He
also repeated his wish to visit Lebanon, which is still reeling from a huge
chemical explosion at the Beirut port last year that killed 200 people and
caused billions of dollars worth of damage. "I would reiterate how essential it
is that those in power choose finally and decisively to work for true peace and
not for their own interests," Francis said. "Let there be an end to the few
profiting from the sufferings of many! No more letting half-truths continue to
frustrate people’s aspirations," he said during a closing prayer service in St.
Peter's Basilica, much of it conducted in Arabic.Lebanon is battling a deep
financial crisis, which the World Bank has called one of the worst depressions
of modern history. It has pushed more than half the population into poverty and
the currency has lost more than 90% of its value in about two years. Francis
said Lebanese were "disillusioned and weary...in need of certainty, hope and
peace" Prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri, a Muslim, has been at
loggerheads for months with President Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian, over
cabinet positions.
In his closing address, Francis also said Lebanon and the Middle East should not
be used "for outside interests and profits". Iranian influence has been on the
rise in Lebanon over the past years through Hezbollah, the armed Shi'ite group
whose political power has grown. Iran's sway has so far put rich Gulf Arab
states off coming to Lebanon's rescue.
Shea Urges 'Accountability and Closure' in Port Blast Probe
Naharnet/July 03/2021
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea has called for “accountability and
closure” regarding the catastrophic 2020 explosion at the port of Beirut. “As we
approach the sad anniversary of the port blast, we join you in calling for
accountability and closure, first and foremost for the victims, but more broadly
for everyone who wants to turn the page on the old way of doing business,” Shea
said. Nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in
fertilizers that had been improperly stored in the port for years, exploded on
Aug. 4, 2020, killing 211 people, injuring more than 6,000 and devastating
nearby neighborhoods. The blast was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions
ever recorded and was the most destructive single incident in Lebanon's troubled
history. Shea voiced her remarks during an embassy reception marking America’s
244th Anniversary of Independence. The reception was held in honor of students
in the 2020-21 cohort of the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange & Study program (YES).
The ambassador also said that her country is “looking forward to next year’s
elections (in Lebanon) – in some ways the ultimate form of accountability to the
public.” “May the year ahead see responsible steps forward to lead Lebanon out
of the multiple crises it is confronting, and toward the prosperity its people
deserve and the potential that this country represents,” she said. “The
government and people of the United States has made clear our commitment to the
people of Lebanon,” the ambassador added. Shea voiced her remarks about the port
explosion a day before the Lebanese judge leading the investigation announced
that he will pursue senior politicians and former and current security chiefs in
the case.
Lebanese Army denies reports by social media sites about
contacts made with its leadership
NNA/July 03/2021
Lebanese Army Command - Orientation Directorate issued a statement this
afternoon, in which it denied the recently circulated news by some social media
outlets regarding allegations about certain contacts made with the Army
leadership. The statement underlined that such news aims at creating confusion
at the Lebanese arena and a rift between the Lebanese, particularly by
exploiting the stifling economic and daily-living crisis that is afflicting
Lebanon. It also confirmed that “the Army has the supreme national interest in
mind, and its first and only concern is to maintain security and stability, and
everything the leadership does falls within this framework.”“The Army Command
also highly values the popular and political engagement with the army, which is
expressed in the supportive communications that the military institution
receives, especially in terms of the complex and difficult tasks that the army
performs with all professionalism, morality, discipline and patience,” the
statement went on. Meanwhile, the Army leadership called for avoiding any
atmosphere that would fuel sedition and harm civil peace in the country.
FPM calls on PM--designate to return, assume his
responsibilities
NNA/July 03/2021
The Free Patriotic Movement’s political council held its periodic virtual
meeting on Saturday, chaired by its Chief, MP Gebran Bassil, following which it
issued a statement confirming that “the Movement is sensitive to the daily
problems faced by the Lebanese in light of an unprecedented crisis and
understands every popular anger, and assures that it will not leave any
legislative means as it did on the subject of the ration card or any practical
means, such as rationalizing support, to boost the people's steadfastness.”
“The Free Patriotic Movement calls on the Prime Minister-designate to return to
Lebanon and assume his responsibilities by expediting the formation of a
government capable of achieving reform and advancement,” the statement
underlined.
Meanwhile, FPM expressed its fear of “the suspicious attempts to destabilize
security by exploiting people's pain to provoke unrest, similar to what almost
happened in Tripoli, which, like all other regions, has the right to receive
electricity, water, medicine, food, and uncompromised security.”
It also warned of “any regional political plans to enter the North or any other
area security-wise, and encourages all unconditional investment initiatives that
are in the interest of Lebanon and its economy, similar to the readiness
demonstrated by Russian companies.”
Over the Beirut Port blast, the Movement’s political council statement
highlighted the right of the Lebanese to know the full truth about the
explosion, after eleven months since its occurrence. “While respecting the
independence of the investigation, the Movement believes that the main goal is
to find out who introduced the aluminum nitrates, who used them, and how they
exploded, in order to identify the perpetrator of the crime, bring him to trial
and acquit those unjustly arrested,” the statement went on.
The Movement deemed that the port crime is not solely in the negligence of duty
despite its importance, but, more significantly, in the criminal act that killed
the innocent and destroyed a part of the capital and left in the souls and
society wounds that are difficult to heal. Referring to the great importance of
the touristic summer season, FPM cautioned against any sabotage attempts and
demanded “a quick remedy of the incomprehensible measures taken at Beirut
Airport, as if they were intended to impede people’s arrival to their country.”
Touching on the recent initiative by the Pope towards Lebanon, the statement
said: “The Free Patriotic Movement pays respect to His Holiness the Supreme
Pontiff and the Patriarchs who gathered to pray for the sake of Lebanon,
affirming its existence that is linked to its role and its importance in
carrying the message of dialogue and peace among peoples. The Movement, thus,
calls on all the Lebanese to meet the Vatican in its endeavors and prayers to
save and preserve our homeland, because salvation is primarily the
responsibility of the Lebanese, both society and leaders.”
Bitar Prosecutes Diab and ex-Ministers, Officers over Port
Blast
Associated Press/July 03/2021
The Lebanese judge leading the investigation into last year's massive explosion
at Beirut's port announced Friday he intends to pursue senior politicians and
former and current security chiefs in the case, and requested permission for
their prosecution, state media reported.
The move -- two days before the 11-month anniversary of the horrific blast --
was praised by families of the victims and survivors as a bold step by Bitar,
whose predecessor was removed following legal challenges by two former ministers
he had accused of negligence that led to the explosion.
Judge Tarek Bitar confirmed charges filed by his predecessor against outgoing
Prime Minister Hassan Diab and summoned him for questioning, National News
Agency reported. He did not set a date. Bitar also asked the government and the
interior ministry for permission to question two of Lebanon's most prominent
security chiefs -- the head of General Security Directorate, Maj. Gen. Abbas
Ibrahim, and the head of State Security, Maj. Gen. Tony Saliba. Caretaker
Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi later announced that he would grant Bitar the
permission to prosecute Ibrahim seeing as the request "respects all the legal
norms." Separately, he asked parliament to lift immunity for two legislators who
were charged by his predecessor, and a former interior minister -- Nouhad al-Mashnouq.
Bitar also filed charges against former army commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji and
former head of military intelligence Brig. Gen. Camille Daher, as well as two
other retired intelligence generals, and said he will also be pursuing judges.
Nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in
fertilizers that had been improperly stored in the port for years, exploded on
Aug. 4, killing 211 people, injuring more than 6,000 and devastating nearby
neighborhoods. The blast was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever
recorded and was the most destructive single incident in Lebanon's troubled
history.
William Noon, whose brother, Joe, a firefighter, was killed while extinguishing
the massive fire that led to the port blast, said Bitar was starting to deliver
on his promises. "Today I felt that there is hope and that we are going
somewhere," he told The Associated Press, adding that the charges filed by Bitar
were similar to those of his predecessor, an indication that those persons were
apparently to blame. Noon, however, said he expected interference from
politicians, adding that the families plan to take to the streets if Bitar is
not allowed to carry on with his work.
"Judge Tarek Bitar has taken a very courageous decision," wrote Lebanese lawyer
and activist Nizar Saghieh on Twitter. "He is opening again the battle of
(lifting) immunities against influential people." It was not immediately clear
if Diab would accept to be questioned by Bitar, after declining to be
interrogated by the former prosecutor, Fadi Sawwan, last December. In an
interview with the AP late last year, Diab, who had resigned following the
explosion, said he was being singled out and charged while others knew more,
calling it "diabolical." He formally asked parliament to lift immunity of three
lawmakers: former Finance Minster Ali Hassan Khalil, former Minister of Public
Works Ghazi Zoaiter and former Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq. He also
asked the Bar Association for permission to question former Public Works
Minister Youssef Fenianos.
NNA said they will be questioned over possible intentional crimes of killing and
negligence. Families of the victims and survivors of the blast have accused the
ruling political class of corruption and negligence that led to the explosion of
ammonium nitrates. Ali Hassan Khalil and Zoaiter are members of the bloc of
Lebanon's powerful Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and along with Fenianos are
strong allies of Hizbullah. Bitar was named to lead the investigation in
February after Sawwan was removed following legal challenges by senior officials
he had accused of negligence that led to the blast. In mid-April, Bitar ordered
the release of six people, including security officers, who had been detained
for months. Among those released was an officer who had written a detailed
warning to top officials prior to the explosion about the dangers of the
material stored at the port. On Friday, he also ordered the release of General
Security officer Major Daoud Fayyad and the engineer Nayla al-Hajj.
Khalil, Zoaiter Say Ready to be Questioned by Bitar
Associated Press/July 03/2021
Former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil and ex-public works minister Ghazi
Zoaiter have issued a joint statement saying they are ready to be questioned by
lead investigative judge Tarek al-Bitar in the Beirut port blast probe. Noting
that they heard about the judge’s request to question them through the media,
Khalil and Zoaiter said that they are both ready to appear before Bitar even
before a permission is issued by parliament to have their immunity lifted. They
added that they want to cooperate in order "to help in reaching the truth and
specify responsibilities regarding this crime." Khalil and Zoaiter are members
of the bloc of Lebanon's powerful Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and along with
Youssef Fenianos, another ex-minister facing prosecution, are strong allies of
Hizbullah. Bitar was named to lead the investigation in February after his
predecessor, Fadi Sawwan, was removed following legal challenges by Khalil and
Zoaiter. Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab had also refused to appear before
Sawwan, arguing that he was being “singled out.” Diab was summoned again by
Bitar on Friday. Bitar also announced Friday that he will prosecute ex-interior
minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq, General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, State
Security head Tony Saliba, ex-army chief Jean Qahwaji, ex-military intelligence
head Camille Daher, two ex-military intelligence officers and several judges.
Hassan Confirms Arrival of Delta Variant in Lebanon
Naharnet/July 03/2021
Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan on Friday confirmed the presence in the
country of three cases of the highly-contagious Delta variant of
coronavirus.Hassan also advised citizens and residents above 30 who opted not to
take the AstraZeneca jab to take any available vaccine. Vaccination is “the only
way for protection, in addition to the precautionary measures,” the minister
stressed. The minister voiced his remarks during a vaccination campaign in the
Dhour al-Shweir area alongside MP Elias Bou Saab.
Frem to launch national political project on Sunday
NNA/July 03/2021
Resigned MP Neamat Frem is expected to launch a national political project
tomorrow, Sunday, at a press conference to be held at Notre Dame University of
Louaize at 11:00 a.m., which will be transmitted live via Lebanese television
stations.
The project is "a movement that aims to build the republic of man, freedom,
mission and sovereignty in Lebanon”. It constitutes a response by the founders
to the huge collision and the death of Lebanon's identity, in an alternative
project to that of surrender which denotes an uprising of life.
Lebanese leaders can’t halt the oncoming electoral tsunami
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/July 03/2021
If we don’t believe in change, we will never witness it. One of the principal
obstacles to the revolutionary transformations required for Lebanon to survive
as a state is the cynicism that perceives real change to be impossible — that
corrupt elites will always cling to power, and nothing can be done about
Hezbollah’s traitorous agenda.
A symbolic blow was struck against this prevailing cynicism when Beirut’s
Engineers Syndicate elected its general assembly. Despite supposed rivals such
as the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), the Future Movement, Hezbollah and the
Lebanese Forces collaborating in a ploy to retain control, they were swept
aside, as nearly 80 percent of votes went to “Syndicate Revolts” candidates
affiliated with the uprising. If the votes of 60,000 engineers from across
Lebanon’s social spectrum can be replicated in national elections, the mind
boggles at the implications!
We have run out of adjectives to adequately describe the rage and despair felt
by ordinary Lebanese. All conventional factions have suffered crippling blows to
popularity and credibility, and President Aoun, Gebran Bassil and the FPM have
found that the depths of public enmity and loathing they command are practically
limitless. Even Hezbollah and Amal, whose grassroots support was always taken
for granted, have encountered unprecedented disenchantment. In an indication of
how far the political class has fallen, investigating judge Tariq Bitar
announced legal proceedings last week against a range of politicians, including
acting Prime Minister Hassan Diab, over last year’s Beirut port explosion. It is
thus no surprise that established factions are keen to see elections delayed for
as long as possible, despite intense popular demands that they should be held
immediately, as possibly the only route out of the crisis. Experts fear there
will be efforts to delay the vote beyond the constitutionally mandated date of
May 2022.
Such logic is further proof of how dissociated from reality these mafia factions
have become. Far from the protest movement running out of steam, as citizens
become hungrier and poorer they will grow even further alienated from those who
have hauled this nation into this entirely self-inflicted cataclysm. Tehran will
see Lebanon shattered in the dust before it allows its proxies and puppets to
relinquish their grip on power, yet all these efforts to preserve Hezbollah’s
dominance have achieved is uniting the entire nation against it.
Every day sets new precedents in the disintegration of survivable normality. A
few weeks ago we were grieved by fights breaking out at petrol stations; today
we are seeing petrol stations destroyed or looted in their entirety. The endless
queues for empty fuel tanks and grocery shelves are reminiscent of the final
grim days of the Soviet Union. Unemployment is estimated at over 40 percent, and
77 percent of families can’t afford to adequately feed themselves — over 30
percent of children go to bed hungry. Incomes plunge as prices soar.
We have run out of adjectives to adequately describe the rage and despair felt
by ordinary Lebanese.
Despite the unforgiving heat of the Lebanese summer, the Rafik Hariri University
Hospital no longer has the resources to operate its air conditioning; hospitals
are receiving only about 2 to 3 hours of electricity from the grid. There is no
fuel for generators, in part because so much subsidized fuel is smuggled to
Syria. Priority life-and-death institutions are a step away from grinding to a
complete halt. Critical electronic systems at airport customs, the Ministry of
Justice and public security centers have failed in recent days, because of
electricity and supply shortages.
In a sign of how dysfunctional the country has become, privilege in Lebanon
today means being able to afford to pay someone else to take your car to sit all
day in a miles-long queue for a few miserable liters of fuel, or flying to
Jordan to stock up on baby milk and medication, or holding down three jobs in
order to maintain a bearable standard of living.
Such is the hollowing out of Lebanon’s economy after decades of chronic
mismanagement and systematic theft, that the nation is exclusively reliant on
imports, resulting in this tiny country having the world’s biggest trade
deficit. Yet the depletion of foreign currency reserves means that Lebanon can
no longer pay for imports, as the domestic currency slides into hyperinflated
valuelessness.
Without the generous support of Lebanon’s immense diaspora, the country would
have long since starved. Organizations like the British Lebanese Association,
Life and Impact have spearheaded commendable initiatives for making life more
bearable. But if Lebanese overseas don’t want such dependence to become
self-perpetuating, they must work together to exert their influence upon
Lebanon’s political system, while incessantly reminding the world of Lebanon’s
plight.
The intervention of Pope Francis means a great deal, including raising Lebanon
with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The pope said Lebanon must not be
exploited “for outside interests and profits.” Why is it that foreign
dignitaries appear far better able to perceive the plight of the “disillusioned
and weary” Lebanese people than our own heartless leaders?
We have experienced false hopes of the revolutionary potential of the ballot box
in the past, only to wake up the next day and find that most votes went to
traditional parties, with progressives, radicals and independents left out in
the cold.
This time, everything is possible, but nothing can be taken for granted:
Uprising networks must be organized and focused, working to raise awareness and
show people that their only salvation is if citizens unite across traditional
sectarian and factional dividing lines. Initiatives such as the “Towards One
Nation” project have terrific potential to reinvent Lebanese models of political
organization. Each further day that Lebanon’s leaders delay their democratic
reckoning only exacerbates the scale of the catastrophe awaiting them: A vote
today may win them 15 percent, a ballot tomorrow may give them 5 percent. And if
they torture long-suffering citizens by delaying significantly longer, it won’t
be a question of what proportion of their revenues and privileges they can cling
on to, but whether they can flee Lebanon in one piece!
*Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle
East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has
interviewed numerous heads of state.
د. امين جول اسكندر: النقوش السريانية في لبنان: نقوش سريانية وفنون في الكنائس
المارونية - الجزء الأول
Syriac Epigraphy in Lebanon: Syriac inscriptions and Art on Maronite Churches
(part 1)
By Dr Amine-Jules Iskandar President of Tur Levnon-Syriac Maronite Union
Syriac Pres/11/04/2020
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/100283/dr-amine-jules-iskandar-syriac-epigraphy-in-lebanon-syriac-inscriptions-and-art-on-maronite-churches-part-1/
Associations and movements like our Tur Levnon-the Syriac Maronite Union aim to
preserve Syriac heritage in Lebanon and to revive the Syriac language. This
project can be made achievable by reintroducing Syriac to Christian schools and
to the Maronite mass. For this aspiration to become possible, it is necessary to
show Maronites what they are losing when they abandon Syriac language and script
by replacing them with another language and script.
Why is it fundamental to reintroduce the Syriac language and history in our
teaching?
Because today our society ignores everything about its identity, its heritage,
culture and spirituality. People have no idea what is being said in Syriac
during the Maronite mass. Some Maronites have no idea what language they are
listening to. Others think Syriac is being used because it is the language of
Jesus Christ. No one suspects this is really something of our past, our
literature and our living identity. No one suspects these are the last traces of
our identity that need to be saved, valued and revived if we intend to remain as
a living people in this part of the world. That is why in our previous
researches we first intended to make people aware of their heritage and its
existing traces in our contemporary environment. It was necessary to first
explain our history and literature, and then expand the study to shed light on
the manifestations of our Syriac identity in art and Lebanese architecture (1).
In this study we want to go deeper into our past and culture and we will try to
express our spirituality and the quality of our relation with the Divine.
How does Syriac culture approach the Divine, the Beyond and the concept of
Existence? And what would we – Syriac Maronites – lose when we abandon the
Syriac language and Syriac script developed by and for our Syriac way of
thinking, philosophy and understanding?
The approach below focuses on the field of Epigraphy. This science concerns
inscriptions on hard supports like stone and even rock. The study concentrates
on the territory of historical Mount Lebanon, from Qebayet to Jezzine, being the
homeland of the Maronites. First, it was necessary to create a repertoire of
epigraphs from all over this territory and belonging to all periods because,
unfortunately, nothing was ever done in this field regarding Lebanon. Several
archaeological campaigns were done and published regarding the rest of the
Syriac Fertile Croissant –from Edessa and Tur Abdin, up to Nineveh and
Diyarbakir- covering most of Syria-Mesopotamia. These publications started as
far back as 1907 with Henri Pognon (2). But the Lebanon of the Maronites never
got its share of publications except very exceptional and brief approaches like
Mission de Phénicie of Ernest Renan in 1860 (3). The French writer mentioned
some Syriac epigraphs he found randomly while searching for Phoenician and Greek
inscriptions. Authors like the Jesuits René Mouterde (4), Paul Mouterde (5), the
Vicomte Philippe de Tarazi (6) and, later, Salamé-Sarkis (7) -who worked on the
garshouné inscriptions of Tripoli – also mentioned only very few Epigraphs in
Lebanon. Others like Pierre Chébli (8), Henri Leclercq (9) and Alain Desreumaux
(10) chose to repeat in their publications the older discoveries of Ernest
Renan.
This general observation proves that a fully new survey and documentation was
necessary to support and base our research on. The result was a catalog of a
hundred inscriptions (11) from which 36 were chosen to elaborate a theory of the
expression of Syriac spirituality around this type of art. The 36 inscriptions
selected are interesting because they belong to a complete environment or
building. The other examples couldn’t be part of the selection because they were
either isolated or seemed amputated from the architecture or ensemble to which
they might have belonged. After the catalog was completed and published (12), it
was finally possible to start the analysis phase. The observations made during
our study were fascinating as they were very unexpected. Facts that could have
sounded completely random and thoughtless appeared to be repeated in exact ways
in very different places and periods. Coincidence could not explain these
similitudes anymore. The elaboration of a certain number of canons and rules was
imposing. Two types of configurations are described here to substantiate the
idea of this phenomena. The first is about the Saint Bernard prayer, and the
second is about the squarish movement.
The Saint Bernard prayer
With the creation of the Maronite College in Rome in 1584, the latinization of
the Maronite Church was increased with more and more noticeable influences. One
of them was the use of the prayer, or Memorare, of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux to
the Virgin Mary. It was somehow modified to be adapted to garshouné, but the
meaning remains the same. We read in it:
He who becomes a servant to the Virgin Mary, will never perish.
This prayer written in garshouné appears five times between the Metn Mountain
and the Jezzine area in Southern Lebanon. We find it in a circular shape at
Notre-Dame-du-Pré in Qornet-Hamra from 1703 (13) (fig. 1), Notre-Dame de
Machmouché, dated 1732 (fig. 2) and Saint-Maron in Mazraat-Yéshou, dated 1814
(fig. 3):
We encounter it again but in strait lines in Notre-Dame de Tamish, dated 1807
(fig. 4) and Notre-Dame-des-Semences in Kphiphén, dated 1838 (fig. 5). Hence,
from the Metn Mountain to the Jezzine area, the example repeats itself five
times, three of which respect the same configuration: It is circular and turns
around an oculus. Without the corpus provided by our catalog, no one would have
ever suspected this circular garshouné inscription of Saint Bernard evolved a
continuous code in the Maronite Church.
The squarish movement
We notice that the gyratory inscriptions inside squares have a particular
organization. Instead of turning in respect to a swastika shape, or equal-armed
cross, the movement does not obey any sort of equality between the four sides.
In fact, the top lines are the longest, using the entire width of the square.
The vertical lines to the left as well as the horizontal lines in the bottom,
use the 2/3 of the width of the square, and respect therefore the logic of the
swastika. But the only space left for the last side (vertical lines to the
right) is ½ the width of the square. The whole composition looks like a mistake
and as if a lack of planning lead to this forced shrinking of the last lines.
But if we consider several examples of squarish movement compositions, we notice
they all follow the same rules.
Let us contemplate four examples, of which three are from Lebanon (17th-18th
century) and one from Medieval Syria-Mesopotamia: Saint-Shalito in Gosta, dated
1628 (fig. 6), Saint-Antoine-le-Grand in Daraoun, dated 1656 (fig. 7), and
Saint-Georges-Martyr in Néemé, dated 1756 (fig. 8) all show the identical logic
described above. In Syria-Mesopotamia, the unchanged code is visible again on
the Chair of Bennaoui (14) (fig. 9). The similar space organization is
respected; nothing is random. It is even possible to say that this lack of
balance between the lines is desired by the sculptor to emphasize the direction
of the text. He clearly wants to avoid the equality between the lines. He
therefore neglected the equal-armed cross composition which was very well known
at the time as is shown by many swastika representations on stones and mosaics
all over Phoenicia and Syria-Mesopotamia. The huge difference in time and space,
is a proof that Maronite sculptors were not working randomly, but rather
following a clear set of canons and conscious tradition reflecting their living
identity, and going back many centuries in time.
The pyramidal composition
The most characteristic feature in the art of epigraphs appears to be the
pyramidal composition “Soyumuto Piramidoyto”. It is represented by the 36
examples selected from the hundred inscriptions of our catalogue because they
are part of a complete and coherent set involving architecture, art and
inscriptions.
The architectural style typical of Maronite churches is very stark, simple,
ascetic and severe. The atmosphere of humility and modesty reigns everywhere.
There is very rarely any type of ornamentation or virtuosity of any kind; just
as the Mimré of the Syriac Fathers of the Church remain humble and poetic away
from Greek theological controversy. The Syriac Maronite tradition is deeply
monachal. Its architecture is sometimes harsh or even troglodytic, and its art
is reduced to the Crosses. All the life of the Maronites is oriented and focused
on the Eucharistic. Saint Ephrem and other Syriac authors wrote in poetry. The
Maronite hymns and prayers are chanted, by the clergy and the people. The
concept of virtuosity was an alien in the valleys and on the slopes of Lebanon
continuously covered with the smoke of incense “bésmé” rising from every cave,
every church and every house. The monks, like the people, were peasants
harboring the terraces of the mountains.
In this atmosphere of austerity, nothing could disturb the silence of
contemplation. The churches were called sanctuaries “Hayklo”. They were
sanctuaries for the Eucharist in the communion. They are the house of communion,
horizontally between the worshipers and then vertically with Christ-Hosts. The
Syriacs call the Eucharist Qurbono and the mass Qurobo. But the Maronites call
them both Qurbono and make no difference between the two, because for them, Mass
is the Eucharist.
What do we see when we look at a Maronite church that presents an epigraph?
Simplicity is always there all over the facade. Then appears the entrance door
“Tar‘o” emphasized by its frame consisting in megalithic stones. Above it, sits
the epigraph with its simple calligraphy as austere as the architecture and the
peasants’ life. There is no place for embellishment and certainly no virtuosity.
Somewhere on the facade, under or above the epigraph, rules the cross “Slivo”,
and sometimes it is flanked by the two circles representing the sun “Shemsho”
and the moon “Sahro”. If we look above, we might find an oculus or a simple
opening. And some churches even offer the representation of the Chalice “Koso”
and occasionally the Paten “Pénko”. This is all that can be found on the
entrance facade of a Maronite Church that has a Syriac epigraph. What is the
meaning of each of these elements, what is the message conveyed by their
juxtaposition?
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous
Reports And News published on
July 03-04/2021
Military Put on Standby to Evacuate
Canada's Fire-Threatened Towns
Agence France Presse/July 03/2021
Canada's government has warned of a "long and challenging summer" ahead as it
prepared military aircraft to help evacuate towns and fight more than 100
wildfires fueled by a record-smashing heat wave. At least 152 fires were active
in the western province of British Columbia, 89 of them sparked in the last two
days, according to officials. Most were caused by lightning strikes. The fires
were north of the city of Kamloops, 350 kilometers (220 miles) northeast of
Vancouver. While the immediate blame for the scorching heat in Canada has been
placed on a high-pressure "heat dome" trapping warm air in the region, climate
change is causing record-setting temperatures to become more frequent. Globally,
the decade to 2019 was the hottest recorded, and the five hottest years on
record have all occurred within the last five years.
"The dry conditions and the extreme heat in British Columbia are unprecedented,"
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said Friday. "These wildfires show that we are
in the earliest stages of what promises to be a long and challenging summer."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met Friday afternoon with an incident response
group that included several ministers. He said he had already spoken with
British Columbia's premier, as well as local mayors and indigenous chiefs in
communities under threat. "We will be there to help," he told a news conference.
The response group announced it would set up an operations center in Edmonton,
where armed forces will be able to provide logistical support. Military aircraft
were also deployed to help. Roughly 1,000 people have already fled the wildfires
in British Columbia, and authorities are searching for many who have gone
missing.
Late Friday, the British Columbia medical examiner's office said there had been
719 deaths in the past week, "three times more" than the average number of
deaths recorded over this period under normal circumstances. "It is believed
likely the extreme weather BC has experienced in the past week is a significant
contributing factor to the increased number of deaths," Lisa Lapointe, the
province's chief coroner, said in a statement.
The village of Lytton, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of Vancouver, was
evacuated Wednesday night because of a fire that flared up suddenly and spread
quickly. Nearly 90 percent of the village was torched, according to Brad Vis, an
MP for the area.
The fire came a day after the village set a Canadian record-high temperature on
Tuesday of 49.6 degrees Celsius (121 degrees Fahrenheit). "I cannot stress
enough how extreme the fire risk is at this time in almost every part of British
Columbia and I urge British Columbians to listen carefully to officials in your
communities and follow those directions," provincial premier John Horgan said.
'Concerning' heat
The heat wave continued to spread across central Canada on Friday. In addition
to British Columbia, heat wave warnings were issued for the provinces of
Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as well as parts of the Northwest
Territories and northern Ontario. "A dangerous long duration heat wave will
continue" and will bring "very warm temperatures over the next couple of days,"
Environment Canada warned in bulletins for British Columbia. "The duration of
this heat wave is concerning as there is little relief at night with elevated
overnight temperatures." Lytton resident Jeff Chapman told the CBC he saw his
parents die in the fire that engulfed the town. With only minutes to react, the
elderly couple sought shelter from the smoke and flames in a trench in their
backyard, as Chapman ran for safety at nearby rail tracks. From that vantage, he
said, he saw the fires sweep across and destroy most of the town. "Today our
thoughts are mostly with families that are grieving, that are facing terrible
loss," said Trudeau during his press conference. British Columbia also warned
Friday of flooding from melting mountain snow caps and glaciers under the heat
dome. Further south, the US states of Washington and Oregon have also been
sweltering under record-high temperatures this week. Hundreds of firefighters
scrambled Friday to contain three wildfires in drought-hit northern California
that have scorched nearly 40,000 acres, including a popular tourist lake
preparing to welcome hordes of visitors for the July 4 holiday weekend.
Evacuation orders were in place along stretches of Shasta Lake -- a camping and
boating hotspot 160 kilometers south of the Oregon border -- as soaring
temperatures and high winds spur blazes at a relatively early stage in the
region's fire season.
Around 40 structures were destroyed, including at least half a dozen homes near
the town of Lakehead. More than 500 lightning strikes were recorded in
California in the last 24 hours, threatening to cause more fires.
Iran denies involvement in attacks on US forces in Iraq,
Syria
Reuters, Dubai/03 July ,2021
Iran denied on Saturday US accusations that Tehran supported attacks on US
forces in Iraq and Syria, and condemned US airstrikes on Iranian-backed
militants there, state media reported. On Tuesday, the United States told the UN
Security Council that it targeted Iran-backed militia in Syria and Iraq with
airstrikes to deter the militants and Tehran from conducting or supporting
further attacks on US personnel or facilities. But Iran’s UN envoy, Majid Takht
Ravanchi, said: “Any claim to attribute to Iran... any attack carried out
against American personnel or facilities in Iraq is factually wrong and void of
the minimum requirements of authenticity and reliability,” according to the
official news agency IRNA. Under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, the
15-member Security Council must immediately be informed of any action that
states take in self-defense against armed attack. Washington told the United
Nations that the airstrikes hit facilities used by militia blamed for an
escalating series of drone and rocket attacks against US forces in Iraq. But
Ravanchi said: “The US argument that such attacks were conducted to deter
...Iran and the so-called Iran-backed militia groups from conducting or
supporting further attacks..., has no factual or legal ground, as it is founded
on mere fabrication as well as arbitrary interpretation of Article 51.”“The
attacks by the United States are conducted in flagrant violation of
international law,” Ravanchi said in a letter, quoted by IRNA.
Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant resumes operations: State
media
The Associated Press, Tehran/03 July ,2021
Iran’s sole nuclear power plant is back online following an emergency shutdown
two weeks ago, state TV reported Saturday. The report quoted Mostafa Rajabi
Mashahdi, spokesperson for the country’s energy ministry, as saying the Bushehr
plant “returned to production energy” after the completion of needed
maintenance. Mashahdi did not elaborate but last week, Iran’s nuclear department
said engineers were working to repair the plant’s broken generator. Authorities
earlier this year had warned of Bushehr’s possible closure because of American
sanctions barring Iran from procuring equipment for repairs. Bushehr is fueled
by uranium produced in Russia, not Iran, and is monitored by the United Nations’
International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA acknowledged being aware of reports
about the plant, but declined to comment.
Construction on Bushehr, on the coast of the northern reaches of the Arabian
Gulf, began under Iran’s shah in the mid-1970s. After the 1979 Islamic
Revolution, the plant was repeatedly targeted in the Iran-Iraq war. Russia later
completed construction of the facility. The 1,000-megwatt plant feeds the grid
with enough energy for a tiny part of Iran’s nationwide 64,000-megawatt
consumption.
Iran Fears 'Fifth wave' of Covid Linked to Delta
Variant
Agence France Presse/July 03/2021
President Hassan Rouhani expressed fears Saturday that Iran will be hit by a new
wave of Covid-19 due to an outbreak of the Delta variant in the Middle East's
hardest-hit country. "It is feared that we are on the way to a fifth wave
throughout the country," Rouhani told a meeting of Iran's anti-virus taskforce,
warning the public to be careful as "the Delta variant" had entered the country
from the south and southeast. Covid-19 has killed more than 84,000 people out of
over 3.2 million infections in Iran, according to official figures that
authorities admit do not account for all cases.
Delta, first detected in India and now present in at least 85 countries, is the
most contagious of any Covid-19 variant yet identified. The Islamic republic
confirmed three cases of the Delta variant on May 5 in the central province of
Qom. Iran's health ministry has classified as "red" -- the highest category on
Iran's coronavirus risk scale -- the capital Tehran and nine other cities in
Tehran province. The southern and southeastern provinces of Fars, Hormozgan,
Kerman and Sistan-Baluchistan are also now classified as "red". In red zones,
all shops must stay shuttered except for those considered essential, including
grocery stores and pharmacies.
Border controls -
Authorities in Sistan-Baluchistan province said on Wednesday that they had
closed travel across the border with Pakistan until further notice, although
goods transport by road would be permitted. On Saturday, Alireza Raisi, the
spokesman for the anti-virus taskforce, called for "strict controls of the
country's borders", especially those on the eastern side of Iran. Strangled by
US sanctions that have made it difficult to transfer money to foreign firms,
Iran says it is struggling to import vaccines for its population of 83 million.
Just over 4.4 million people have received a first dose of anti-Covid vaccine in
Iran, while only 1.7 million have received the necessary two jabs, the health
ministry says. "God willing, the situation will improve in terms of vaccinations
from next week," said Rouhani. The authorities in Iran have approved emergency
use of two locally produced vaccines. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
received the first dose of one on June 25, his office announced on Twitter. "We
have to follow exactly all the rules we have issued for the red zones" and other
virus-hit areas, Rouhani said, stressing that "if the guidelines are questioned
or not followed, we will have a problem."The outgoing Rouhani administration has
drawn criticism for its handling of the pandemic. Rouhani, a moderate, is in the
final weeks of his presidency having served the maximum of two consecutive
terms. He will be replaced in August by ultraconservative cleric and former
judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi.
Saudi Suspends UAE Flights Due to Virus Variant
Agence France Presse/July 03/2021
Saudi Arabia has suspended flights to three countries, including the neighboring
United Arab Emirates, to protect against a coronavirus variant, the interior
ministry said Saturday. The move comes seven weeks after the oil-rich kingdom
permitted fully immunized citizens to travel abroad, after a ban on foreign
trips that lasted more than a year. The UAE, and especially Dubai, is a key
leisure destination for Saudis. Flights to and from the UAE, alongside
those to Ethiopia and Vietnam, will be suspended from Sunday, an interior
ministry official said, quoted by the state news agency SPA. Saudi citizens and
residents returning from these countries will be required to quarantine for 14
days, it added. Citizens would be banned "from travelling directly or
indirectly, without obtaining prior permission from... authorities." The
decision was taken due to "the spread of a new mutated strain of the (Covid-19)
virus", it added, without explicitly mentioning the increasingly globally
emergent Delta variant. The variant, first detected in India and now present in
at least 85 countries, is the most contagious of any Covid-19 variant yet
identified. The UAE announced last week it had recorded cases of the Delta
variant and it has suspended flights to and from India. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile,
has put major limits on the annual hajj pilgrimage. It has officially recorded
more than 490,000 cases of coronavirus, including nearly 7,850 deaths. The
oil-rich Gulf state is home to a large expat workforce from Asia, Africa and the
Middle East.
Europe Court Refuses to Hear Case on Arafat Death
Agence France Presse/July 03/2021
The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday dismissed a case brought by the
widow and daughter of Yasser Arafat, who have claimed the iconic Palestinian
leader's death was the result of poisoning. Suha El Kodwa Arafat and Zahwa El
Kodwa Arafat, who are French citizens, filed their case with the
Strasbourg-based European court in 2017 after French courts dismissed their
claims. Arafat died at the Percy military hospital near Paris aged 75 in
November 2004 after developing stomach pains while at his headquarters in the
West Bank city of Ramallah. Many Palestinians accuse Israel of poisoning Arafat,
a charge flatly denied by the Jewish state. But in 2012 his widow, Suha El Kodwa
Arafat, said traces of the radioactive isotope polonium 210 had been found on
his clothes, prompting a French lawsuit alleging his murder. After a series of
analyses and witness interviews, a court in Nanterre, west of Paris, dismissed
the case, a ruling upheld on appeal. Lawyers for Arafat's widow said the
investigation had been "fundamentally biased" and accused the judges of closing
the probe too quickly. Arafat's wife and daughter turned to the European court
in 2017, saying they had been refused their right to a fair hearing, in
particular a refusal of their request for an additional expert report on his
death. In a unanimous decision, three judges said that after reviewing the case,
"at all stages of the proceedings the applicants, assisted by their lawyers, had
been able to exercise their rights effectively". "Judges did not appear to have
reached arbitrary conclusions based on the facts before them and their
interpretation of the evidence in the file or the applicable law had not been
unreasonable," they added.
Israel bombs Hamas site in Gaza over fire balloons
The Arab Weekly/July 03/2021
TEL AVIV/GAZA – Israeli aircraft hit a Hamas site in the Gaza Strip overnight in
response to incendiary balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave, Israel’s
military said on Friday. Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas confirmed one of its sites
had been struck. Israel’s military said it had hit a Hamas weapons manufacturing
site. There were no reports of casualties. Since a May 21 ceasefire ended 11
days of Israel-Hamas fighting, Palestinians in Gaza have sporadically launched
balloons laden with incendiary material across the border, causing fires that
have burned fields in Israel.
Palestinians say the balloons aim to pressure Israel to ease restrictions on the
coastal enclave that were tightened during the May fighting. Balloon launches
had ebbed after Israel eased some restrictions on Gaza last week. But on
Thursday, balloons were again launched from Gaza, causing at least four brush
fires near Israeli cities along the border. “In response to the arson balloon
fire towards Israeli territory today IDF (Israeli military) fighter jets struck
(a) weapons manufacturing site belonging (to) Hamas,” the military said in a
statement. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the Israeli strikes a “showy
reaction” and said Palestinians were “putting pressure on (Israel), forcing it
to respect the rights of our people and to walk back its unjust
positions.”Another incendiary balloon was launched from Gaza Friday, a day after
similar attacks led to the Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian enclave. The
balloon caused a brush fire in southern Israel, firefighters said. A
firefighting team “put out a brush fire in the Eshkol region” near the border
with the Gaza Strip, a statement from the fire service said. “A fire
investigator… determined that the fire was caused by an incendiary balloon,” the
statement said. Egypt and the United Nations have stepped up mediation efforts
over the Israeli strikes and Gaza balloon launches, though the incidents have
not led to a broader escalation. At least 250 Palestinians and 13 in Israel were
killed in the May fighting, which saw Gaza militants fire rockets towards
Israeli cities and Israel carry out air strikes across the coastal enclave.
Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank clashes,
says health ministry
The Associated Press/03 July ,2021
The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man
Saturday evening during clashes in the occupied West Bank. The ministry
identified the slain man as Mohammad Fareed Hassan, 20, from Qusra village near
Nablus city. The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported that Hassan
was shot in the chest as residents confronted settlers who stormed the village
from a nearby settlement. It said Israeli troops accompanied the settlers.
Palestinians have been holding weekly protests against the expansion of Israeli
settlements at several locations of the West Bank. Israel captured the West Bank
in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of
their future state. Nearly 500,000 Israelis live in more than 130 authorized
settlements and dozens of outposts across the occupied West Bank. The
Palestinians and much of the international community view all settlements as a
violation of international law and an obstacle to peace.
Israeli defense officials checking if cargo ship
attacked by Iran forces
Reuters/03 July ,2021
Israeli defense officials were checking whether an Israeli-owned cargo ship was
attacked on Saturday by Iranian forces on its way from Jeddah to the United Arab
Emirates, Israel’s N12 Television News reported. The crew was not hurt and the
ship was not badly damaged, N12 said, citing unnamed sources within Israel’s
defense establishment. Lebanese pro-Iranian TV channel Al Mayadeen had reported
earlier that the ship was attacked in the Indian Ocean.
US offers up to $4 mln reward for arrest of top al-Qaeda
leader
Tamara Abueish, Al Arabiya English/03 July ,2021
The United States said it would offer up to $4 million for the arrest of a
senior al-Qaeda leader who encouraged attacks against the country. The State
Department on Thursday announced it would provide the reward in return for
information on the further identification or location of Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud
al-Qosi. Al-Qosi is part of the leadership team that assists the current “emir”
of the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). “Since 2015, he has appeared in
AQAP recruiting materials and encouraged lone wolf attacks against the United
States in online propaganda. He joined AQAP in 2014, but has been active in
al-Qaeda for decades and worked directly for Osama bin Laden for many years,”
the State Department said in a statement. Al-Qosi was captured in Pakistan in
December 2001 before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay, according to the
statement. He pleaded guilty in 2010 before a military commission to conspiring
with al-Qaeda and providing material support to terrorism. However, he was
released and returned to Sudan in 2012 pursuant to a pretrial agreement. The US
often offers rewards in exchange for information on the whereabouts of
terrorists that can range from $3 million to over $10 million.
Turkey risks stirring up tensions by East Medi gas
exploration
The Arab Weekly/July 03/2021
ANKARA – Turkey will carry on exploring for oil and gas in the eastern
Mediterranean, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday in comments that may
revive tensions with the European Union and Greece amid attempts to repair their
frayed ties. Turkey is at odds with EU members Greece and Cyprus over energy
resources and jurisdiction in the region, and tensions flared last year when
Turkish and Greek navy frigates escorted vessels exploring for hydrocarbons.
Speaking in the north-western province of Sakarya, Erdogan said Turkey had been
receiving “signals of natural gas” in the eastern Mediterranean and vowed to
continue defending Turkey’s rights in the region. “Whatever our rights are, we
will take those one way or another. And we will carry out our oil exploration
operations in the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus, and all those seas,” he said,
without elaborating or providing a timeline.
EU leaders had threatened punitive measures against Ankara over its offshore
activities, but later froze those plans after Turkey withdrew a research vessel
from contested waters. Ankara has since been working to repair ties with the
bloc and Athens.
After Turkey brought its Oruc Reis vessel back to port in November amid threats
of EU sanctions, Ankara resumed direct talks with Athens after a five-year
hiatus. The two sides have held two rounds of talks since January, but have said
no immediate results should be expected. Erdogan’s comments came a week after
the EU promised 3.5 billion euros for Turkey to continue hosting Syrian refugees
until 2024. Ankara later dismissed it as insufficient and called on the bloc to
take concrete steps to increase cooperation. Brussels and Ankara also disagree
over the divided island of Cyprus.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned on Thursday that it would
resume operations in the eastern Mediterranean if the EU and United Nations did
not take steps on equitable sharing in Cyprus, after informal U.N.-led talks in
April yielded no significant results. Ankara backs the breakaway Turkish Cypriot
administration in the north and is the only country that does not recognise the
Greek Cypriot government to the south. Cyprus was split in two after a Turkish
invasion prompted by a brief Greek-inspired coup in 1974. Erdogan will visit
northern Cyprus on July 20.
US slams Turkey over use of ‘child soldiers’ in Libya,
Syria
The Arab Weekly/July 03/2021
WASHINGTON - The United States on Thursday added Turkey to a list of countries
that are implicated in the use of child soldiers over the past year, placing a
NATO ally for the first time on such a list, in a move that is likely to further
complicate the already fraught ties between Ankara and Washington. The US State
Department determined in its 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) that Turkey was
providing “tangible support” to the Sultan Murad division in Syria, a faction of
Syrian opposition that Ankara has long, supported and a group that Washington
said recruited and used child soldiers. There was no immediate reaction from
Turkey on the move. In a briefing call with reporters, a senior State Department
official also made a reference to the use of child soldiers in Libya, saying
Washington was hoping to work with Ankara on the issue to address it. “With
respect to Turkey in particular … this is the first time a NATO member has been
listed in the child soldier prevention act list,” the State Department official
said. “As a respected regional leader and member of NATO, Turkey has the
opportunity to address this issue, the recruitment and use of child soldiers in
Syria and Libya,” she said.
Several international reports have implicated Ankara in the recruitment and
military mobilisation in foreign battlefields of underage mercenaries among
pro-Turkish and militant militias in Syria. Turkey, through proxies and its own
armed forces, has also been involved in the Libyan conflict. Ankara’s support
helped the Tripoli-based government reverse a 14-month assault from eastern
forces backed by Egypt and Russia. Thousands continue to be stationed in Libya
with Turkish authorities refusing their withdrawal despite UN and US demands.
Their stay on Libyan soil aims to bolster the Islamist camp before the
forthcoming general election scheduled for next December and risks undermining
the whole political process. Turkey has carried out three cross-border
operations in Syria against the Islamic State (ISIS) extremist group, as well as
US-backed Kurdish militia and has frequently used factions of armed Syrian
fighters on top of its own forces. Some of these groups have been accused by
human rights groups and the United Nations of indiscriminately attacking
civilians and carrying out kidnappings and lootings. The United Nations had
asked Ankara to rein in these Syrian rebels while Turkey rejected the
allegations, calling them ‘baseless’. Governments placed on this list are
subject to restrictions, according to the State Department report, on certain
security assistance and commercial licensing of military equipment, without a
presidential waiver.
It was not immediately clear whether any restrictions would automatically apply
to Turkey and the move raised questions whether it could derail Ankara’s ongoing
negotiations with Washington on Turkey’s bid to run Afghanistan’s Kabul airport
once the US completes the pull-out of its troops.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the two things will not likely be
linked. “When it comes to trafficking in persons, I would not want to link the
report today with the constructive discussions we’re engaging in with Turkey, in
the context of Afghanistan or any other area of shared interest,” he said in a
briefing. Turkey has offered to guard and run Hamid Karzai airport after NATO’s
withdrawal and has been holding talks with the United States on logistic and
financial support for the mission. Relations between Ankara and Washington
continue to be strained however over a number of contentious issues.
Egypt’s President Sisi opens strategic Mediterranean
naval base
AFP/03 July ,2021
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday opened a strategic naval
base on the Mediterranean Sea to “secure shipping lines,” the presidency said.
“It is the latest Egyptian military base on the Mediterranean, and will be
focused on securing the country’s northern and western front,” the Egyptian
presidency said in a statement. The ceremony was attended by Crown Prince of Abu
Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. The base lies some 255 kilometers
(160 miles) west of Alexandria, toward the border with Libya. State-run
newspaper Akhbar Al-Youm reported that the base includes an airstrip and a
1,000-metre (3,280-foot) long pier.
Egypt to open new military base on border with Libya to
deal with Turkish challenges
The Arab Weekly/July 03/2021
CAIRO – Egypt is preparing to announce the inauguration of a new military base
on its border with Libya as one of its measured options to confront Turkish
influence in Libya and face Ankara’s refusal to withdraw its forces and
mercenaries from Tripoli. On Saturday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
will inaugurate the “Third of July” military base (air and naval) in the Jarjoub
region, close to the border with Libya, in the presence of a number of Arab
officials from different countries. Libyan media talked about the possibility of
the attendance at the ceremony of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the commander of
the Libyan National Army, as well as Speaker of Parliament Ageela Saleh and
Mohammed al-Menfi, head of the Libyan Presidency Council. Egyptian sources did
not confirm or deny that invitations were sent to Libyan leaders, but unofficial
sources did not rule out the participation of senior Libyan officials in the
event. The same sources told The Arab Weekly, “The absence of Abdelhamid al-Dbeibah,
the prime minister of the Government of National Unity (GNU) from the
inauguration ceremony would confirm that Cairo has reservations about his
political positions, especially his implicit support for the continuation of
Turkish interference in his country.”The base is set to be a focal point for
logistical support to the Egyptian naval forces deployed on the Mediterranean
coast and an intelligence hub to help secure the 1,145 kilometre western land
border with Libya and to stop any elements that may try to infiltrate the
Egyptian border. The new base will be, Saturday, the site of the Qadir 2021
exercise which is expected to one of the most important training manoeuvres
conducted by the Egyptian army as it sets its eyes on getting ready on multiple
fronts.
The opening of the new base on the anniversary of the Muslim Brotherhood’s
official removal from power in Egypt, sends other messages. One of them is that
any attempt to firmly entrench the presence of the Brotherhood in Libya will be
met with decisive Egyptian moves.
Analysts stressed that the opening of the base at a time when Turkey is trying
to avoid the withdrawal of its mercenaries from Libya demonstrates Cairo’s
intent to underline its presence and interest in what is happening on its
western border. Egyptian military expert, Major General Hamdi Bakheet, confirmed
in a statement to The Arab Weekly that the base aims to deal with any threat
that comes mainly from west of the border and completes the strategic cover
provided by other bases and troop concentrations in a northwestern direction.
The Egyptian army inaugurated the “Mohamed Naguib Military Base” in July 2017,
in the far west, also near the Libyan border. Thus there are two bases in the
vital area, each with complementary tasks. Major General Adel Al-Omda, an
adviser at the Nasser Military Academy, told The Arab Weekly that Egypt is
working to diversify the areas of its military presence in order to fill the
gaps that could pose a threat to its security in the light of the political
leadership’s reliance on economic openness with more than one partner.” He
pointed out that securing the country’s ambitious projects requires a “high
degree of readiness to meet any external threats to its development efforts.”
Cairo had previously opened the “Bernice” military base on the Red Sea near the
southern border with Sudan to protect and secure navigation in the Suez Canal
and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which is a key focal point and an axis for moving
towards the Horn of Africa, an area of competition with some hostile regional
powers. Military experts point out that the new base, along with the east Port
Said base (northeast of Egypt), constitute important centres of support for the
southern and northern fleets in Egypt in terms of providing them with all
administrative and technical needs, command and control systems and liaison with
various branches of the armed forces and civilian bodies as part of the army’s
responsibilities in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Cairo’s work on multiple
fronts has benefitted from the modernisation over the past few years of its
military land, sea and air arsenal. This has allowed it to reorganise the army’s
forces and deploy them on a number of vital fields as part of a new phase linked
to the rising dangers in the Sinai region and the western border with Libya.
According to analysts, Cairo aims with the establishment of military bases to
avoid the weakening of the armed forces that comes with the transfer and
deployment of assets from various parts of the country. Operational positioning
provides the army with greater efficiency in terms of transfer of supplies and
monitoring of maritime and land borders and rapidly thwarting any dangers.
Blame game is Iraq’s solution to electricity disaster
The Arab Weekly/July 03/2021
GHDAD – Faced with the collapse of the electricity system, with the complete
power shutdown Friday in many governorates, except for the Kurdistan region,
Iraqi officials found no better solution than to look for scapegoats to blame
for the national disaster. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered the
dismissal of the director general of General Company For Electric Power
Transmission Upper and Middle Euphrates, while other politicians blamed
electricity workers for the crisis. Electricity minister Majed Mahdi Hantoosh
had already resigned at the end of June.
As temperatures reached 52 degrees Celsius, officials resorted to simplistic
technical explanations to justify the frequent interruptions of the power
supply, or blamed it all on the financial crisis that prevented the government
from repaying it debt to Iran, which continues to exert control over this vital
service.
The chronic electricity crisis in Iraq and the inability of successive
governments over more than a decade and a half to overcome it, despite the
country being one of the major oil producers and exporters in the world, has
illustrated the failure of the state in managing the country’s resources as a
result of widespread institutional corruption. Some analysts say one of the
hurdles to overcoming the electricity crisis is the existence of a large network
of businesses that flourish from selling electricity generators. Profiteers have
no interest in a functioning power grid and go as far as to pressure parliament
members and government officials to prevent any permanent solution. A
parliamentary investigation at the end of last year accused successive
governments controlled by Islamist parties of squandering funds allocated to
solving the electricity problem. The probe revealed that between 2005 and 2019,
Iraq spent no less than $80 billion on the electricity sector, without achieving
any progress. Among the forms of corruption mentioned by the investigation is
the decision by former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (2006-2014) to build power
plants that ran on gas that the country basically lacks, simply because the
contractors offered large commissions. The contractors worked for companies tied
to Iran, which forced Iraq to pay millions of US dollars annually to Tehran to
provide the country with the gas it needed to run these stations.
Baghdad owes Iran $6 billion for importing both electricity and gas. The current
crisis was sparked by Iran’s suspension of the gas exports that Iraq relies on
to operate its power stations. Analysts say that Tehran is using the electricity
issue as one of many cards it wields in its quest to ensure its dominance over
the Iraqi decision-making process and prevent any new prime minister from
looking for alternative agreements with other countries, such as Saudi Arabia.
In addition, the authorities have a problem collecting electricity bills. Only a
very small number of Iraqis pay such bills. Abuses in most of the country’s
cities from ordinary consumers and even from officials lead to further revenue
losses.
With each summer, Iraqi officials begin to search for temporary solutions to the
looming electricity crisis, even though the government is supposed to have
prepared a strategic plan based on mobilising the country’s own resources and
diversifying sources of imports so that Iraq does not remain hostage to Iran’s
whims. On Friday, the prime minister announced that many decisions had been
taken, which he described as “important” to address the current crisis. The most
important of these, he explained, is “the setting up of a crisis task force to
deal with the shortage of electricity supplies in Baghdad and the provinces,” in
a move that seemed only aimed at trying to defuse popular anger. Member of
Parliament’s Energy Committee, Zahra Al-Bajari, attributes the problem of
electricity to a combination of factors, including dependence on imported gas
from Iran, lack of maintenance of refineries, the vandalising of electricity
pylons and insufficient investment in domestic resources. Bajari criticised the
ministry of electricity for not developing a genuine strategic plan to boost
energy supplies, as well as the general lack of coordination and cooperation
between the ministries of electricity and oil over the supply of fuel to power
stations.
MP Raad al-Dahlaki called on the government and the House of Representatives to
form a joint crisis task force to address the electricity issue from security,
economic and political perspectives. Iraq needs 22,000 megawatts but its actual
production is only 17,000 megawatts. While the Iraqi individual’s need for
electricity is necessarily high due to the use of air conditioners, the per
capita share of electricity is actually the lowest in the Middle East. The Iraqi
ministry of electricity earlier in the year announced it intended to reach a
production level of 19,000 megawatts by this summer. Predictably, this goal has
not been achieved.
Assault on Tunisian MP renews polemic over parliamentary
immunity
The Arab Weekly/July 03/2021
TUNIS – An assault by Tunisian MP Sahbi Smara on the leader of the Free
Constitutional Party (PDL) Abir Moussi, Wednesday, has renewed controversy over
the role of parliament in running the country’s affairs. It also raised
questions about the risk of violence spinning out of control in the country’s
heated political climate in a way that could threaten the democratic transition.
The acts of violence have revived the polemic over whether MPs should enjoy
immunity even when they commit unlawful acts. Rached Khiari, a Dignity Coalition
MP, is wanted by the Military Court for accusing the president of having
received funds from the US during his election campaign. The allegations were
rejected by the US embassy in Tunis. So shocking was the assault by Smara, who
is close to the populist and ultraconservative Dignity Coalition, that it
revived calls for the dissolution of parliament, with many Tunisians decrying
the unprecedented moral and organisational collapse of the legislative body.
Some held the Speaker of Parliament and leader of the Ennahda Islamist Movement
Rached Ghannouchi responsible for the high level of tensions and disorganisation
in parliament, condemning his inability to lead and his refusal to resign.
Smara’s attack on Moussi was met with a widespread wave of condemnation,
including from the Labour Union, as well as civil society groups, political
parties and independent figures, who expressed their solidarity with the leader
of the Free Constitutional Party and demanded the intervention of the judiciary
to hold the violence perpetrator accountable. Many called for the parliamentary
immunity of the MP to be lifted so he can face charges. But no formal request
for the lifting of his immunity was made by the parliament or the public
prosecutor’s office. The prime minister’s office denounced the violence but
refrained from calling the aggressor to be held accountable.
Presidential stance
On Thursday, a day after the assault on Moussi, President Kais Saied entered the
fray. He condemned the violence but revealed that he knew that “the plot to
attack Moussi was hatched three days ago.” He did not say whether he knew of the
plot before or after the assault, hence raising questions about whether he knew
of plans to attack Moussi and abstained from intervening to stop the violence.
“Anyone who uses violence, especially in state institutions, must be
prosecuted,” Saied said. He noted, “the (parliamentary) immunity they enjoy
under the constitution allows them to be independent in the exercise of their
functions, but not to attack people, regardless of the differences we have with
them.”An agitated Samara repeatedly slapped Moussi, before other lawmakers and
legislative aides intervened. It was unclear why the MP attacked Moussi in an
incident that represents the latest episode of chaos that has engulfed Tunisia’s
tumultuous parliamentary sessions. A widely-circulated video footage shows
Samara getting up from his seat and moving slowly towards the opposition figure
while she was streaming the session directly on her mobile phone, then he hit
her in the face and the shoulder.
The head of the PDL posted on her Facebook page: “This is their true face
…violence ” At the time of the incident, tensions were rising in the parliament
because of a sit-in staged by the Free Destourian MPs to try to block a deal to
allow the Qatar Fund for Development to be headquartered in Tunisia. Moussi and
her party denounced the deal as sanctioning a “form of coloniamism” of Tunisia
by Qatar. Judge and activist Kalthoum Kennou, a candidate of the 2019
presidential election has called for Samara’s arrest. Although he announced no
measures agaisnt Smara, Ghannouchi, expressed his “great shock” and condemned
the attack on Moussi. “While the speaker of parliament confirms his rejection
and condemnation of this heinous act, he stresses that this behaviour is
individual, condemned and irresponsible and does not honour the parliamentary
institution that has enacted laws criminalising all forms of violence against
Tunisian women,” a statement released by Ghannouchi’s office said. The
statement, however, failed to convince political figures and social groups, who
deplored the speaker’s attitude. The Tunisian General Labour Union put out a
statement in which it held Ghannouchi responsible for the attack on Moussi,
saying that it “strongly condemns this cowardly attack and denounces the
terrorist parliamentary camp that has become accustomed to violence against
anyone who disagrees with its members.” The Union also held Ghannouchi
responsible for the repeat of such practices “that are offensive to political
life and the country’s reputation.” Secretary-General of the Democratic Current
Ghazi Chaouachi, warned that “silence about what is happening in parliament may
plunge the country into a cycle of violence and deepen the country’s crises,”
calling on “the public prosecution to take over the matter and open an
investigation into the assault’s purpose.”“The parliament’s speaker should take
a decision against the aggressing MP and strip him of his immunity,” Chaouachi
said in a statement to The Arab Weekly. “The speaker of p arliament failed to
run the parliament properly and did not guarantee a normal functioning of the
body’s structures. He bears the responsibility in the first place and he must
resign from his position,” he added.
— Leading at the polls —
The head of the Democratic Bloc Noomen El-Euch considered what happened a
setback in the history of parliament, warning of the danger of the recurring
acts of violence, which could encourage aggressors to commit more crimes. He
also expressed his surprise at the silence and inaction of the Public
Prosecution. Moussi even got support from those who opposed her ideas and
performance in parliament, including parties and political figures from the
government’s parliamentary alliance. Some denounced violence against women in
parliament, recalling the assault against Samia Abbou, a member of the
Democratic Bloc, by MPs from the Dignity Coalition. Chiraz Chebbi, a member of
the Qalb Tounes bloc, an ally of Ennahda, said in a statement to The Arab
Weekly, “If it weren’t for the difficult situation the country is going through,
I would have submitted my resignation.”Abbou, an MP with the Democratic Bloc,
said, “Parliamentary immunity does not put the MP above the law.”In a response
to the incident, the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women also voiced its
concerns, noting the parliament has become an arena for violence against women
and the violation of their rights and has turned into an “unsafe space for
women.”The Tunisian League of Human Rights also condemned the attack, calling on
the Public Prosecutor and the Minister of Women, Family and Seniors to take the
necessary legal measures against Smara. In its statement, the league also
denounced “inappropriate gestures” and “that undermine [Moussi’s] dignity” from
Seifeddine Makhlouf (The Dignity Coalition bloc). Members of the pro-Islamist
Dignity Coalition continued to taunt Moussi after the incident. After the attack
by Smara, Makhlouf heaped insults at the MP. At one moment, he was shown on
camera with wads of cash in hands hands telling Moussi she is “like a goat that
can be bought and sold. Makhlouf also pushed Moussi several times. The attack on
Moussi is the latest in a long series of assaults and acts of violence inside
parliament, usually provoked by members of the Dignity Coalition with no
reaction from Ennahda members and the parliament speaker. In December last year,
a fierce brawl took place inside the parliament’s building that shocked the
entire country, prompting the citizens to launch an online campaign calling on
Saied to dissolve the parliament and end what many referred to as an
“unprecedented disgrace.”Violence broke out when members of the far-right
Dignity Coalition reportedly assaulted deputies from the Democratic Bloc before
a session examining the 2021 finance bill in the presence of Finance Minister
Ali Kooli. Many parliamentarians including Democratic Current MP Anouar Bachahed
sustained head injuries. Moussi and the PDL MPs are fierce opponents of Islamist
parties and groups, particularly the Ennahda movement. The results of an opinion
survey released Thursday have shown the PDL to be leading in the polls with 43%
of likely votes.
Elections are scheduled for 2024 but there have been recent calls for early
elections. The Free Destourian party has held many street demonstrations against
Islamists in recent months. It has also waged a campaign to close the offices of
the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) branch in Tunisia. A PDL
sit-in was broken up by the police.
The Latest The Latest LCCC English
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on
July 03-04/2021
The American-Iranian Crucible
Charles Elias Chartouni/July 03/2021
شارل الياس شرتوني: البوتقة الأميركية الإيرانية
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/100292/charles-elias-chartouni-the-american-iranian-crucible-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d9%88%d8%aa%d9%82%d8%a9-%d8%a7/
The latest bombardments of Iranian military sites in Syria and Iraq, the intense
congressional debates and bipartisan controversies over the ongoing negotiations
in Vienna, and deliberations with allies on the purview of the current rounds of
talk have become more actual than ever, after the election of Ibrahim Raissi, a
fascist cleric who was in charge of thousands of political assassinations for
decades, shady nuclear and military experimentation and deliberate concealment
of specific production sites, anti US terrorist attacks in Iraq, and pursuit of
political destabilization throughout the Middle East, are far from the linear
scenarios outlined by some analysts and policy makers. The diplomatic and
political landscapes are circuitous and fraught with pitfalls along the road.
There is no diplomatic and political consensus around an issue that cuts across
heated internal political dilemmas, a highly volatile Middle East and a murky
Iranian political scene marked by enhancing political extremism, massive
political repression and ubiquitous societal alienation. The rosy picture
featured by the self fulfilling prophecies and ideological hues of leftist
democrats are overshadowed by the outdated negotiation script of 2015, the
political inroads of an Iranian imperialism in action, and the ostentations of
the Pasdaran political takeover.
The diplomatic road map and its conventional Vade Macum have become redundant
since Iranian unilateralism, cynicism and arrogance have subverted the basics of
professional negotiation and its overall scope. The Iranians are coming to the
table with an overriding political agenda based on unilateral calculations and
psychotic blinders: lifting of financial sanctions, validation of imperial
inroads and active sabotaging in the Middle East, discretionary nuclear and
military experimentation, and heightened internal repression. The American
political scene is unlikely to cash this amount of contradictions, gloss over
pervasive intellectual inconsistencies, generate internal and international
consensuses, muster the endorsement of the EU and Middle Eastern partners (
ranging between Sunnite power brokers, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and Israel … )
and negotiate a comprehensive deal based on multiple predicates. The
idiosyncrasies of the Iranian Islamic regime are unlikely to be tackled through
exclusive diplomatic mediations, the use of punitive and dissuasive measures
should evolve on shifting scales, ad hoc coalitions, steady containment and
ultimate total war destruction schemes, Fascism and Totalitarianism should be
annihilated.
Recent Petitions Singling Out Israel for Condemnation
Are Anti-Semitic
Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/July 03, 2021
The bigots who promote these petitions, and the useful idiots who sign them,
cannot possibly be motivated by a concern for universal human rights. If they
were, they would focus on nations with really horrendous human rights records,
such as Iran, which hangs gays, China, which imprisons Muslim dissidents,
Russia, which murders dissenters, Saudi Arabia, which oppresses women, Syria,
which gases its own people, as well as Palestinians, and many other nations that
face no external threats.
Israel, on the other hand, faces existential threats, and acts in self-defense.
It does more to protect innocent civilians than any country faced with
comparable threats. Yet it is the only country that is subject to petitions by
teachers unions, faculty senates, student bodies, and other groups....
"Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic, and saying so is vile. But singling out
Israel for opprobrium and international sanction out of all proportion to any
other party in the Middle East is anti-Semitic, and not saying so is dishonest."
— Thomas L. Friedman.
There is an old joke about a Hitler rally in which the Fuhrer shouts out a
rhetorical question: "Who is to blame for all of Germany's evils?" And before
the crowd can shout "the Jews," a man in the front row screams out: "The bicycle
riders." Hitler stops and turns to the man and asks him, "Why the bicycle
riders?" To which the man responds, "Why the Jews?" .... There is no good
response.
Therefore, let us stop pretending that these hateful, one sided and mendacious
petitions are anything but what they are: anti-Semitic bigotry, pure and simple.
History will judge the bigots behind them harshly. So should all decent people
today.
Let there be no doubt that the recent spate of one-sided petitions singling out
Israel for condemnation are motivated by hatred of Israel, precisely because it
is the nation state of the Jewish people.
The bigots who promote these petitions, and the useful idiots who sign them,
cannot possibly be motivated by a concern for universal human rights. If they
were, they would focus on nations with really horrendous human rights records,
such as Iran, which hangs gays, China, which imprisons Muslim dissidents,
Russia, which murders dissenters, Saudi Arabia, which oppresses women, Syria,
which gases its own people, as well as Palestinians, and many other nations that
face no external threats. Israel, on the other hand, faces existential threats,
and acts in self-defense. It does more to protect innocent civilians than any
country faced with comparable threats. Yet it is the only country that is
subject to petitions by teachers unions, faculty senates, student bodies, and
other groups that seem to focus more on Israel than on their own mission to
improve the lives of their members.
I am not talking here about criticism of Israeli policies, I support such
criticism, as I do criticism of American policies, but there is a vast
difference -- in tone, in content, nastiness and yes, in bigotry -- between
legitimate criticism and the demonization that these petitions direct against
the nation state of the Jewish people.
As Thomas L. Friedman, a frequent critic of Israel policies wrote:
"Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic, and saying so is vile. But singling out
Israel for opprobrium and international sanction out of all proportion to any
other party in the Middle East is anti-Semitic, and not saying so is dishonest."
So let's call a bigot a bigot and anti-Semite an anti-Semite. Let's not mince
our words. I challenge any of those who have organized these one-sided petitions
to justify "Why Israel?" There is an old joke about a Hitler rally in which the
Fuhrer shouts out a rhetorical question: "Who is to blame for all of Germany's
evils?" And before the crowd can shout "the Jews," a man in the front row
screams out: "The bicycle riders." Hitler stops and turns to the man and asks
him, "Why the bicycle riders?" To which the man responds, "Why the Jews?" I am
now shouting that question to the bigots who promote these hateful petitions:
"Why the nation state of the Jewish People?" There is no good response.
The fact that the United States provides funding to Israel does not explain the
hatred. The United States provides considerable funding to Jordan, Egypt, and
now the Palestinian Authority. Moreover, Israel gives back as much as it gets to
American national security. If the United States were to suddenly to cut off all
aid to Israel, the petitions would not stop, the hatred would not abate and the
bigotry would not end. Surely the justification has nothing to do with the
comparative records of various countries, or with the manner by which the United
Nations divided the British mandate into to potential states: one for the Jewish
residents of the area; and one for the Arab residents— which the Jews accepted
and the Arabs waged war.
Nor is it based on support for the Palestinians, as a people. These same
petition writers and signers have been notably silent about the 4,000
Palestinians who were recently killed by Syria. Nor were they heard from when
Jordan killed thousands of Palestinians or when Hamas murdered members of the
Palestinian Authority during its coup in the Gaza Strip. This is not about the
Palestinians; it is about the Jews. And it is about hatred toward the Jews and
their state.
Some of the writers and signers are themselves Jews, but that does not excuse
their self-hating bigotry. Even if one could argue that Jews have a special
obligation to be critical of their own state, that would not justify the bigotry
shown by so many non-Jews, both in the United States and in Europe.
If you do not believe me, read what a Palestinian human rights activist, Bassem
Eid, says about "the squad" and other bigoted demonizers of Israel:
"I'm a Palestinian who grew up in a UNWRA refugee camp outside of Jerusalem....
Let me say this as directly as I can: Rep. Omar does not know what she is
talking about. Worse, for years, Rep. Omar has been engaged in not arguing any
facts, but simply throwing out dirty anti-Semitic epithets, a mirror image of
the anti-Semitism by "white supremacists" she claims to decry.
"Politicians like Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spend a
considerable amount of time attacking Israel for the supposed harm it inflicts
on Palestinians. If they truly care about the wellbeing of Palestinians, they
ought to focus their attention elsewhere. These days, the vast majority of
suffering Palestinians experience is the direct result of the corruption of the
Palestinian Authority and the influence of the terrorist group Hamas....."
Therefore, let us stop pretending that these hateful, one sided and mendacious
petitions are anything but what they are: anti-Semitic bigotry, pure and simple.
History will judge the bigots behind them harshly. So should all decent people
today.
*Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at
Harvard Law School and author of the book, The Case Against the New Censorship:
Protecting Free Speech from Big Tech, Progressives and Universities, Hot Books,
April 20, 2021. His podcast, "The Dershow," can be seen on Spotify, Apple,
iTunes and YouTube. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at
Gatestone Institute.
A Mobster and Turkey's Arms Shipments to Jihadis
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/July 03, 2021
Erdoğan's government claimed the cargo was humanitarian aid to Turkoman locals
in Syria but then filed criminal charges against the editors Cumhuriyet, for
being members of a "terrorist organization," espionage and revealing state
secrets.... The prosecution asked for life sentences for two Cumhuriyet editors.
Since then, Can Dündar, then-editor-in-chief, has been living in Germany in
exile.
At the beginning of May, Sedat Peker, a convicted Turkish mob boss and a fierce
supporter of Erdoğan -- until now -- began posting videos on social media in
which he made uncorroborated accusations of corruption, murder and drug-running
against top politicians.
After weeks of silence, Erdoğan... ordered prosecutors and judges to investigate
and establish that all of Peker's claims were lies and a smear campaign against
his government. Who will trust the independence of a legal probe when the
president has already ordered its verdict?
A notorious mob boss has just added to the nightmares of Turkey's President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Sedat Peker, a convicted criminal who was a fierce
supporter of Erdoğan -- until now -- recently began posting a series of videos
on social media in which he made uncorroborated accusations of corruption,
murder and drug-running against top politicians. Millions of Turks have tuned in
to watch.
On January 19, 2014, the Turkish Gendarmerie command in southern Turkey searched
three trucks heading for Syria. Accompanying the trucks were Turkish
intelligence officers; the trucks had a bizarre cargo: In the first container,
were 25-30 missiles or rockets and 10-15 crates loaded with ammunition; and in
the second, 20-25 missiles or rockets, 20-25 crates of mortar rounds and
anti-aircraft ammunition in five or six sacks. The crates had markings in the
Cyrillic alphabet. One of the drivers testified that the cargo had been loaded
onto the trucks from a foreign airplane at Ankara's Esenboğa Airport and that,
"We carried similar loads several times before."
It was evident that the arms were bound for jihadists fighting against Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's regional
nemesis. Nearly two years later, Erdoğan would almost confess to the arms
shipments. "What does it matter," he said in November 2015, "if it [the cargo]
was arms or not?"
In May 2015, the secular daily newspaper Cumhuriyet published on its front page
photographic evidence of arms deliveries by the Turkish intelligence services to
Islamist groups in Syria. Erdoğan's government claimed the cargo was
humanitarian aid to Turkoman locals in Syria but then filed criminal charges
against the editors Cumhuriyet, for being members of a "terrorist organization,"
espionage and revealing state secrets.
No one at the time dared ask why humanitarian aid to an ethnic group in a
country engulfed by civil war was a state secret, and why would spies publish
secret material in a newspaper instead of handing it over to their foreign
controllers?
"He who ran this story will pay heavily for it," Erdoğan said in a public
speech. The prosecution asked for life sentences for two Cumhuriyet editors.
Since then, Can Dündar, then-editor-in-chief, has been living in Germany in
exile.
In December 2015, Russia claimed that Turkey was supporting the Islamic State
through trading the jihadists' oil, their main source of income. In March 2016,
another report claimed that total supplies sent by Turkey to terrorists in Syria
in 2015 included 2,500 tons of ammonium nitrate; 456 tons of potassium nitrate;
75 tons of aluminum powder; sodium nitrate; glycerin; and nitric acid. The
report stated:
"In order to pass through the border controls unimpeded, effectively with the
complicity of the Turkish authorities, products are processed for companies that
are purportedly registered in Jordan and Iraq ... Registration and processing of
the cargo are organized at customs posts in the [Turkish] cities of Antalya,
Gaziantep and Mersin. Once the necessary procedures have been carried out, the
goods pass unhindered through the border crossings at Cilvegözü and Öncüpınar."
Fast forward to the present. At the beginning of May 2021, Sedat Peker, a
convicted Turkish mob boss and a fierce supporter of Erdoğan -- until now --
began posting a series of videos on social media in which he made uncorroborated
accusations of corruption, murder and drug-running against top politicians.
Millions of Turks have tuned in to watch. The first seven videos Peker posted
were viewed on YouTube more than 56 million times. Peker posted an eighth and
promised more.
In the eighth video, Peker detailed how Erdoğan's government sent arms shipments
to jihadis in Syria:
"The intelligence agency's trucks... contained (among other things) drones,
military uniforms, bullet-proof vests, radios... I offered my own trucks [to the
government] for humanitarian help for the Turkoman [a Turkic ethnicity who
speaks Turkish]. They used my trucks without telling me what they sent to Syria.
We knew they shipped arms. But that was normal... They were Peker's trucks, not
Turkish intelligence's [in case something went wrong]... They went to Syria in
my name, without any customs registration between Turkey and Syria. I saw
Turkoman people thanking me in videos they posted on social media. Or so I
thought. Then I realized that the Turkoman people were speaking Arabic. Then I
learned that my trucks had been used to send [military equipment] to al-Nusra."
Jabhat Al-Nusra was a Salafist-Jihadist group fighting in Syria. In December
2012, the U.S. State Department designated it a foreign terrorist organization,
and in April 2013, it became the official Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. In July
2016, al-Nusra formally re-branded itself from Jabhat al-Nusra to Jabhat Fatah
al-Sham.
In January 2017, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham rebranded yet again when it merged with
several other groups — Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zinki, Liwa al-Haq, Jaysh
al-Sunna, and Jabhat Ansar al-Din — to establish HTS. In 2018, HTS was
designated by the United States as a terrorist organization, with the UN
Security Council including it as a sanctioned entity linked to the Islamic
State, al‑Qaeda, and associated individuals and groups.
In his eighth video, the Turkish mobster Peker claims that the Erdoğan
government sent arms shipments to al-Nusra through SADAT, a Turkish military
consultancy company. SADAT defines its mission as "providing consultancy and
military training services at the international defense and interior security
sector."
Critics, however, including opposition lawmakers, have been inquiring about
SADAT's activities, suspecting its real mission may be to train official or
unofficial paramilitary forces to fight Erdoğan's multitude of wars inside and
outside Turkey.
SADAT is owned by retired general Adnan Tanrıverdi, who was appointed in August
2016 as Erdoğan's chief military advisor. In 2020, he quit. Tanrıverdi had been
forced to resign earlier, in 1996, from the military due to "suspected radical
Islamist activities." In a 2009 speech, Tanrıverdi said:
"To defeat Israel, the country must be forced into defensive warfare, all of its
forces must be engaged and the war must be prolonged.
"What should Turkey do? The resistance units in Gaza should be supported by
anti-tank and low-altitude anti-aircraft weapons.
"Turkey, Iran, Syria, the Iraqi Resistance Organization and Palestine should
form the nucleus of a defense structure. Within this context the formation of an
Islamic rapid reaction force consisting of an amphibious brigade, an armored
brigade and an airborne brigade should be encouraged."
Peker's revelations included claims that Erdoğan's senior entourage had been
involved in illegal business dealings in northern Syria, and in collaboration
with senior al-Nusra officials. Peker said Abu Abdurrahman was in charge of
al-Nusra's trade with Turkey. "I am talking about billions of dollars," he said.
"Including trading aluminum, tea, sugar, copper, smuggled oil, scrap metal,
second-hand cars." Peker claimed the Turkish official in charge of trading with
al-Nusra was Metin Kıratlı, head of administrative affairs at the presidency.
After weeks of silence, Erdoğan denied Peker's claims, but not in a convincing
way. He ordered prosecutors and judges to investigate and establish that all of
Peker's claims were lies and a smear campaign against his government. Who will
trust the independence of a legal probe when the president has already ordered
its verdict?
According to Avrasya, a polling company, 78% of Turks who vote for the
opposition believe in "all revelations of Peker." That is not surprising.
Avrasya's research also found that nearly a quarter of Erdoğan's voters also
believe that all of Peker's revelations are true. A notorious mob leader has
just added to Erdoğan's nightmares.
*Burak Bekdil, one of Turkey's leading journalists, was recently fired from the
country's most noted newspaper after 29 years, for writing in Gatestone what is
taking place in Turkey. He is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 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.
How did the Abraham Accords fundamentally shift Israel's
politics?
Herb Keinnon/Jerusalem Post//July 03, 2021
NATIONAL AFFAIRS: Connecting the related dots from Abu Dhabi to Maghar
“Fundamentally, the UAE and Israel decided to do things differently with the
signing of the historic Abraham Accords in 2020,” Foreign Minister Yair Lapid
and his Emirate counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, wrote on
Thursday in the Abu Dhabi newspaper The National.
“With the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UAE and Israel, our
two countries set out to determine a new paradigm for our region...,” they
wrote. “While the Abraham Accords were the first of their kind in our region,
they represent a future that we believe must become more commonplace: one in
which differences are set aside in favor of dialogue.”
It’s not every day that an Israeli and an Arab foreign minister pen an op-ed
together, and it served as a suiting conclusion to Lapid’s two-day visit to the
United Arab Emirates – the first official visit by an Israeli minister – during
which he inaugurated Israel’s embassy in Abu Dhabi, and its consulate in Dubai.
While some reading the foreign ministers’ words about the Abraham Accords being
the first of its kind in the region may speculate about which Arab country may
be next to follow the lead of the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan and normalize
ties with Israel, the ripples from the accords can already be felt much closer
to home – within Israel itself.
Is it a coincidence that just as the Abraham Accords were signed in the fall,
ushering in a paradigmatic shift in Israel’s relations with the Arab world,
overtures were being made between then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Mansour Abbas, then of the Joint List?
Those overtures then led to a paradigmatic shift in Israeli politics, with Abbas
breaking away from the Joint List of four Arab parties and running independently
with his own Ra’am (United Arab List) faction, with a message that it is okay to
join forces with a Zionist government – even a right-wing Zionist government –
if this promotes Israeli-Arab interests.
This shift went in both directions: Netanyahu and the Likud willing to cooperate
with an Arab party, long viewed on the Right as a veritable fifth column in the
Knesset; and an Arab party willing to deal with a right-wing prime minister who
built in the settlements, continues to enforce a blockade around Gaza and in 12
years made no progress on the diplomatic front with the Palestinians. Once
Netanyahu and the Likud crossed the Rubicon and showed a willingness to
cooperate politically with Abbas, that paved the way for other parties in the
Knesset to do the same. This eventually led to the formation of the current
61-seat coalition, which includes, and depends for its survival, on Abbas and
Ra’am’s four seats.
This just proves the truth behind that old 1988 campaign slogan, “only the Likud
can” – though not in the way the Likud publicists had in mind. They had in mind
that only the Likud, as the memorable campaign jingle went that year, could
provide “personal security, real peace, a free market and social justice.”
Instead, only the Likud’s Menachem Begin could have signed a peace deal with
Egypt that included a complete and total withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula,
because had Labor’s Shimon Peres put that idea on the table, Begin and the Right
would have worked feverishly against it.
Likewise, only Ariel Sharon of the Likud could have proposed, promoted and
implemented a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, because had Peres and Labor
proposed the same idea they would have been pulverized by Sharon and the Likud.
By the same token, Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid could conduct coalition
negotiations with Abbas, and Yamina leader Naftali Bennett could join a
coalition with Ra’am, only after Netanyahu and the Likud legitimized and made
kosher political cooperation with an Arab party that does not view Israel as the
national homeland of the Jewish people.
ABBAS, TOO, needed to gain legitimacy from somewhere for his willingness to
engage with Netanyahu, and then to enter into a government led by a right-wing
politician, Bennett. Though he managed to squeak just past the electoral
threshold and into the Knesset with four seats, Abbas’s conciliatory approach
and his philosophy of engagement with the Right – even though the Palestinian
issue remains far from being resolved – has not brought him widespread
popularity on the Arab street.
His future, and that of his party, is believed to be very much dependent on the
survival of the current government, for if the government were to fall now and
elections called tomorrow, Ra’am would likely join Yamina, New Hope and Meretz
as parties that may struggle just to make it back into the next Knesset.
And this is where the Abraham Accords come into play, and where Abbas was able
to derive legitimacy for his steps.
If the United Arab Emirates could negotiate and eventually sign a deal not only
with Israel, but with the right-wing Netanyahu, because of a realization that by
so doing they are advancing the interests of their country, then why can’t an
Israeli-Arab party cooperate with and even join an Israeli government, even one
with a right-wing prime minister, if by so doing it can advance the interests of
Israeli-Arabs?
If it is okay for the UAE, even though the Palestinian issue has not been
resolved, to normalize ties with Israel because this will help it push back
against Iran’s hegemonic regional designs, allow it to benefit from Israel’s
technological, agricultural and intelligence prowess, and enable it to buy F35s
from the US, then why is it equally not okay for an Arab party to deal with a
right-wing Israeli government if this benefits the Israeli-Arab community.
Abbas realized that he who sits around the table, gets fed, and that if the
Israeli-Arab community wants to get a fair share of the country’s resources –
and not just thrown some scraps from the table from time to time – it needs to
be around the cabinet table. And it must be willing to sit at that table even if
it doesn’t like everything that the cook is dishing out for others.
For instance, Abbas and Ra’am will certainly come under criticism on the Arab
street for continuing to sit in a government that this week reached a compromise
with settlement leaders whereby the illegal outpost of Evyatar would not be
demolished, but rather turned into an army encampment pending a survey of
whether it is private Palestinian or state land, at which time it might become
the site of a yeshiva.
Likewise, Ra’am will surely take heat if agrees to a compromise that will allow
the coalition to extend by another year the Family Reunification Law preventing
Palestinian males under the age of 35 and females under the age of 25 from
living with their Israeli spouses inside the Green Line.
In both cases, the party will be asked how it could lend its hand to a
government that carries out such measures.
Here, too, Abbas can gain cover from the United Arab Emirates and the other
Abraham Accords countries that have carried on with their normalization with
Israel despite May’s mini-war in Gaza.
It is no small thing that Lapid went to the UAE – or that Abu Dhabi welcomed him
– just a month after Israel fought Hamas. Moreover, the Emirati hosts made it
clear throughout the visit that the Gaza conflict was not going to impact the
burgeoning ties. Why not? Because those ties are good for the UAE.
So if the UAE is not going to let an 11-day war – during which 256 Palestinians
were killed and the Gaza Strip devastated by Israeli firepower – torpedo its
relations with the Jewish state, then does Ra’am need to bolt the coalition
because of the government’s compromises over Evyatar or the Family Reunification
Law?
Lapid and bin Zayed, when they wrote of the transformational potential of
UAE-Israel ties, had in mind greater regional developments, hoping that the
success in the ties between Israel and the UAE will impact attitudes around the
region.
Where that potential seems to have been felt most strongly, however, was not in
Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, but rather in places like Abbas’s home town of Maghar
and among the Bedouin in the Negev – the bedrock of Ra’am’s political support –
who stand to benefit the most from the party’s joining the coalition, since the
government has pledged to recognize three unrecognized Bedouin villages in the
Negev.
On the surface, Lapid’s visit to Abu Dhabi and coalition developments this week
seem to have taken place in isolation. But they did not. There is a line that
connects those two distant dots: The Abraham Accords and Ra’am’s membership in
this coalition.
How Biden chose the wrong target to hurt Iran
Dalia Al-Aqidi//Arab News/July 03, 2021
Authorized by President Joe Biden, the US military carried out airstrikes last
week against weapons storage facilities used by Iran-backed militias in the
Iraq-Syria border region. The attack provoked a wave of condemnation, although
the White House defended its action as a self-defense measure to protect the
interests of the US and its allies. The Department of Defense said US forces
were in Iraq at the invitation of its government for the sole purpose of
assisting the Iraqi security forces in their efforts to defeat Daesh, but Prime
Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi was not at all pleased with the US action against
the very militias that are trying to weaken his powers.
Kadhimi’s office said the attack was a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty,
and that Baghdad’s National Security Council was studying all available legal
options to prevent the recurrence of conduct that “violatesIraq's airspace and
territory.”
These conflicting views reflect the nature of current US-Iraq relations, and
give a clear picture of the magnitude of Iran’s influence on a supposedly
sovereign country.
If Biden wants to send an important message of deterrence, to show that he is
prepared to act appropriately to protect the US and its personnel in Iraq, he
should have chosen the appropriate target and the right location.
The Pentagon said two Iran-backed militia groups, Kata’ib Hezbollah and Kata’ib
Sayyid Al-Shuhada, used the bases targeted by the US to launch drone attacks on
US assets. In fact, these militias are not merely backed by Iran — they and
others are under the direct command of Brig. Gen. Esmail Ghaani, commander of
the Quds Force, the powerful overseas division of the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps. Striking a couple of bases in remote areas does no serious damage
to the structure of these militias, so it was a waste of money and ammunition on
the wrong target. If the US wants to send a clear and firm message to Tehran
that it will no longer tolerate hostile acts against its interests and those of
its allies in Iraq and the region, the place to do that is Vienna — where talks
are currently taking place to revive the moribund Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action, the 2015 deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
The clear path to peace, and the only successful US policy in the Middle East
and North Africa, is to focus on and expand the Abraham Accords to include more
countries.
The Biden administration should not ignore the assessment of the Defense
Intelligence Agency, published in April, that Iran has been focusing its efforts
on bolstering the capabilities of partners and proxies to maintain strategic
depth and options to counter the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. “Tehran has used
its relationships to challenge a continued US presence in the region and
encourage a US military drawdown,” the report said. It concluded that Iran
sought to derail Israel’s normalization of relations in the region, using a
combination of threats from its proxies and partners with diplomatic outreach.
How did the White House react to such a dangerous conclusion? Instead of
focusing on how to weaken the regime in Tehran by tightening the economic
sanctions to limit its ability to fund and train its proxy militias, the US
Treasury released three Iranians from sanctions, at the same time claiming that
the decision had nothing to do with the talks in Vienna. These three individuals
are linked to the Iranian conglomerate Mammut Industries and its subsidiary
Mammut Diesel, which were accused of suppling ballistic missile equipment to
Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which oversees the development of Iran’s
liquid-propelled missiles.
When it comes to a US strategy in Iraq, Iran has the upper hand regardless of
what Prime Minister Kadhimi says or promises, because he is basically powerless.
Since taking office, most of President Biden’s actions indicate that he is
planning to implement the failed foreign policies of Barack Obama.
Instead of pulling the US air defense systems out of the Middle East, which
clearly imperils the country’s troops and its strongest allies in the region,
the Biden administration should have deployed US military strength as leverage
when dealing with rogue states.
The clear path to peace, and the only successful US policy in the Middle East
and North Africa, is to focus on and expand the Abraham Accords to include more
countries. But Biden and his colleagues in the Democratic Party will not do
that, for one simple reason — because the accords were an achievement of their
arch enemy, Donald J. Trump.
• Dalia Al-Aqidi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy. Twitter:
@DaliaAlAqidi