English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For July 12/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Jesus Teaches His Disciples” The "Our Father” Prayer
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11/01-04/:”He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’He said to them, ‘When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins,for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 11-12/2021
Tons Of Doubtful Question Marks Shadow General Abbas Ibrahim’s refusal to Respond To Judge Bitar’s request/Elias Bejjani/July 10/2021
Bennett: Israel ‘on alert’ over Lebanon crisis
Lebanon to investigate sick baby’s death amid healthcare crisis
Rahi Slams Aoun for Axing Line-Ups, Hariri for 'Perpetuating' Designation
Alloush Says Hariri Inclined to Quit in 'Four to Five Days'
Ex-PM Says Hariri Has Not Yet Decided to Step Down
Govt. Raises Price of Staple Bread Once More in Lebanon
Zahrani Power Station to Restart after Fuel Delivery
Expat Pill Couriers: Lifeline in Medicine-Starved Lebanon
Syria, Lebanon raise bread prices amid economic crises
The Beirut Port blast investigation will not bring justice unless Lebanese act/Makram Rabah/Al Arabiya/July 11/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 11-12/2021
Pope Greets Faithful for Prayer from Rome Clinic Balcony
Syria Raises Bread, Diesel Prices as Assad Hikes Wages
Afghanistan Installs Anti-Missile System at Kabul Airport
Afghan forces repel Taliban assault on provincial capital, governor says
Netanyahu Leaves Official Residence a Month after Losing Office
Egypt court upholds life sentences for ten Muslim Brotherhood leaders
Iran-backed Houthis confirm death of 20 leaders in battle in Yemen’s al-Bayda
India claims arrest of two al-Qaeda-linked operatives

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 11-12/2021
Marxist, Extremist Support for Palestinian Terrorism Leads to Jew-Hate Throughout West/Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute./July 11, 2021
Taliban win in Afghanistan could fuel Hamas, Hezbollah - analysis/Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/July 11/2021
Israel's Foreign Min. Lapid makes historic trip to UAE while challenges persist in region/Seth J. Frantzman/Israel Gulf Report/July 11/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 11-12/2021
Tons Of Doubtful Question Marks Shadow General Abbas Ibrahim’s refusal to Respond To Judge Bitar’s request
Elias Bejjani/July 10/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/100516/elias-bejjani-tons-of-doubtful-question-marks-shadow-general-abbas-ibrahims-refusal-to-respond-to-judge-bitars-request-%d8%b9%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%aa%d9%81%d9%87%d8%a7/
The matter is so simple, if General Abbas Ibrahim is really innocent, and has nothing to do with the Beirut’s Criminal and terrorist port explosion, then why would he refrain from positively and as soon as possible respond to Judge Bitar’s request, and answer bravely, openly and honestly all his judicial questions in regards to the explosion?. If General Ibrahim is actually innocent, then we really wonder why a very active, loud and extensive public and media campaign is going on openly and suspiciously in advocating for his so called security, intelligence and patriotic roles in Lebanon and in the USA !!!?
In conclusion: In case the General is so confident of his innocence, and that he did not play any illegal role in the terrorist explosion, then he is supposed to even voluntarily respond to the Judge’s official request, and answer all his questions….or otherwise he would be incriminating himself.

Bennett: Israel ‘on alert’ over Lebanon crisis
Jerusalem Post/July 11/2021
“Lebanon is on the verge of collapse, like every country that Iran takes over," Bennett warned. Israel is monitoring the crisis in Lebanon to ensure it does not spill over the border, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday. “Lebanon is on the verge of collapse, like every country that Iran takes over,” he said at the opening of the cabinet meeting. “The citizens of Lebanon are paying a heavy price for the Iranian takeover of the country.” Israel is “watching the situation closely… and we will continue to be on alert,” he added. The IDF and Israel Police prevented an attempt to smuggle weapons from Lebanon into Israel last Friday, which Bennett cited as “one of many examples.” Security forces detained suspects who had 43 pistols in their possession at Ghajar, the Alawite-Arab village astride the border between Lebanon and the Israeli Golan. An investigation was underway to determine whether Hezbollah was involved, the IDF said Israel is monitoring the crisis in Lebanon to ensure it does not spill over the border, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday. “Lebanon is on the verge of collapse, like every country that Iran takes over,” he said at the opening of the cabinet meeting. “The citizens of Lebanon are paying a heavy price for the Iranian takeover of the country.” Israel is “watching the situation closely… and we will continue to be on alert,” he added. The IDF and Israel Police prevented an attempt to smuggle weapons from Lebanon into Israel last Friday, which Bennett cited as “one of many examples.” Security forces detained suspects who had 43 pistols in their possession at Ghajar, the Alawite-Arab village astride the border between Lebanon and the Israeli Golan. An investigation was underway to determine whether Hezbollah was involved, the IDF said
The IDF and the police have stopped at least five major drug- and weapons-smuggling attempts from Lebanon this year.
Senior Hezbollah official Hajj Khalil Harb was operating a drug- and weapons-smuggling ring across the Lebanon-Israel border, the IDF said last week. Defense Minister Benny Gantz last week sent the UN Interim Force in Lebanon a proposal for Israel to send humanitarian aid to the Lebanese people amid the country’s worsening economic and humanitarian crisis. Seventy-seven percent of Lebanese households are unable to buy food, essential drugs have run out, and electricity and gas shortages have become commonplace, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund reported. The World Bank has said the situation in Lebanon is one of the world’s worst financial crises since the 1850s. “As an Israeli, as a Jew and as a human being, my heart aches seeing the images of people going hungry on the streets of Lebanon,” Gantz tweeted last week. “Israel has offered assistance to Lebanon in the past, and even today we are ready to act and to encourage other countries to extend a helping hand to Lebanon so that it will once again flourish and emerge from its state of crisis.” Lebanon is expected to refuse the help, as it did last year after an explosion in Beirut killed dozens of people and Israel offered humanitarian and medical aid.
Tzvi Joffre contributed to this report.

Lebanon to investigate sick baby’s death amid healthcare crisis
AFP/11 July ,2021
The health ministry said Sunday it will investigate the death of a baby girl whose family said she was not able to access proper hospital treatment amid Lebanon’s severe medical shortages. Jouri al-Sayyid, 10 months old, died on Saturday in the village of Mazboud, southeast of Beirut, three days into a high fever that caused lung inflammation. Her uncle Aymen al-Sayyid told AFP she had died because of a “lack of proper care in hospital and lack of medicines.”“Drugs weren’t available at the hospital, so her father went to the pharmacy to buy some, but it was closed,” Sayyid added. “We’re living in a country where the hospitals don’t have medicine, and the pharmacies are closed.”Many of Lebanon’s pharmacies closed their doors on Friday in a protest strike over the lack of medicines caused by the country’s economic crisis. Mazboud hospital, where the girl died, denied any wrongdoing. It said in a statement that Jouri had received “full, appropriate treatment including all necessary medicines”, and she had died shortly after being removed from the hospital to be treated elsewhere. Dr. Kamal Mourad told AFP she had been taken out of the facility without hospital medics being consulted.
The girl’s death sparked fury on social media in Lebanon, which has spiraled into an economic meltdown involving supercharged inflation and shortages of basic goods including food, fuel, and essential drugs. Health Minister Hamad Hassan vowed in a statement to open an investigation into the circumstances of the baby’s death. A widely-shared video showed the father carrying the girl in his arms, wrapped in a sheet, and taking to task Lebanon’s underfire political class blamed for its economic collapse and exodus of capital. “Who should I complain to? The crocodiles and sharks that left the country?” he angrily asks in the video. An association of importers of medicines has warned for weeks that the country could soon exhaust its stocks of hundreds of basic medicines for chronic diseases. Lebanon’s cash-strapped authorities have gradually cut subsidies on basic goods including medicines. But delays in the tendering process for drug imports have caused shortages of many products including basic painkillers and baby formula.

Rahi Slams Aoun for Axing Line-Ups, Hariri for 'Perpetuating' Designation
Naharnet/July 11/2021
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday criticized both President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Saad Hariri for the delay in forming a new government. “The world is repeating its appeals, while those concerned with forming the government are refraining from carrying out their constitutional and national duties, even in form,” al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon. “Despite the total collapse, they are still deliberately exchanging fabricated preconditions in order to delay the government’s formation,” the patriarch added. “The phrase ‘in agreement with the PM-designate’ does not stand for obstructing the submitted line-ups and designation does not mean a perpetual designation without forming a government,” al-Rahi noted. He added: “The people’s interest comes before all constitutional interpretations and sectarian sensitivities. Together with the good-willed people, we will not allow the fall of the country at the hands of parties that do not want a government and other parties that do not want a state.”

Alloush Says Hariri Inclined to Quit in 'Four to Five Days'
Naharnet/July 11/2021
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is mulling to quit the mission of forming a new government because “every day is being worse than the day before,” al-Mustaqbal Movement deputy chief Mustafa Alloush said on Sunday. “The obstruction is being practiced by the President’s camp,” Alloush said in a radio interview. “We have four to five days in order to find a final solution prior to resignation,” Alloush added. “All the attempts for formation with the Baabda camp have failed and, in principle, things are headed for resignation,” the Mustaqbal official went on to say.

Ex-PM Says Hariri Has Not Yet Decided to Step Down
Naharnet/July 11/2021
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri “has not yet decided to step down” although “this is one of the serious option on the table,” an ex-PM has said. Should Hariri take such a decision, this “will not happen without prior political moves,” the former premier, who asked not to be named, told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Sunday. The PM-designate “will have a final stance in light of his evaluation of the political situation,” the ex-PM said. Noting that President Michel Aoun is “betting on” Hariri’s resignation, the former premier confirmed that the issue of naming a replacement had been discussed during a meeting for the so-called club of ex-PMs. “They didn’t show enthusiasm to endorse this proposal, because it is unacceptable to offer Hariri’s resignation as a gift to Aoun, who is obstructing the formation of a mission-driven government and refusing to facilitate the issue out of submission to (Free Patriotic Movement head Jebran) Bassil’s desire,” the ex-PM added. “The mere engagement in the game of naming a replacement would mean that we are automatically and willfully accepting to offer Aoun a reward for his intransigence and stubbornness,” the former premier went on to say.

Govt. Raises Price of Staple Bread Once More in Lebanon
Associated Press/July 11/2021
For the seventh time in a year, Lebanon's economy ministry has announced new prices for bread, slowly removing subsidies as the country sinks deeper into a dire economic and political crisis. The ministry said raising the price was necessary as the national currency continues to slide against the dollar, making imports of basic supplies including fuel and wheat more expensive. The currency, pegged to the dollar for nearly 30 years at 1,500 to the dollar, has lost over 90% of its value. It is now trading at nearly 20,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar. This is the second price hike this month. The ministry raised the price of a bag of flatbread, a staple in Lebanon, by 6% - making it now sell at 4,000 Lebanese Pounds (or $2.7 at the official rate). The decision also included a new reduction in the size of the bag of bread - this time by 5%. Lebanon is in the throes of an economic crisis that is bringing regular life to a near halt. Businesses are shutting down, pharmacies have gone on strikes because they can't secure imported medicines. Fuel shortages have forced hospitals and the country's only airport to ration their use, shutting down air conditioning and lights in some parts. A marathon for vaccination against COVID-19 scheduled for Saturday and Sunday was postponed because many of the centers that planned to take part had no fuel to operate their generators or internet. The World Bank has called Lebanon's crisis one of the worst the world has seen in the past 150 years. The crisis is made worse by a stifling political deadlock among rival groups who are failing to agree on a new government line-up. The current government had resigned last year following the massive August blast in Beirut's port. The government has since operated in a caretaker capacity - which doesn't allow it to continue talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout. As the crisis deepens, tempers are fraying. Protesters set up road blocks at major intersections in the capital Beirut to object to the political class's continued bickering and worsening conditions. At long queues in gas stations, some motorists fired their guns in the air in anger.

Zahrani Power Station to Restart after Fuel Delivery
Agence France Presse/July 11/2021
A major power station in Lebanon is to resume operations on Sunday, two days after it ground to a halt due to a lack of fuel at a time of constant power cuts and economic collapse. Zahrani in south Lebanon -- one of the country's four main power plants -- went offline on Friday because the state electricity company was unable to access fuel shipments stuck offshore due to pending payments. Electricity of Lebanon (EDL) said Saturday that foreign correspondent banks had completed payment procedures and preparations were underway to unload the cargo the same day.
"Zahrani power plant will be back in service starting tomorrow morning after the entire cargo aboard the tanker is unloaded into its tanks," EDL said in a statement. The state electricity company did not refer to Deir Ammar power station which also went offline on Friday because it ran out of fuel. Together, Deir Ammar and Zahrani provide about 40% of the country’s electricity. Lebanon is mired in what the World Bank has called one of the worst economic crises since the 1850s, and the cash-strapped state is struggling to buy enough fuel to keep the lights on. Power cuts in recent months have lasted up to 22 hours a day in some areas, while even private generator owners have been forced to ration output as fuel prices rise, resulting in periods of complete blackout. This has disrupted work at businesses, government offices and hospitals. The government's Covid-19 vaccine committee on Friday said it cancelled a mass vaccination drive planned for the weekend because of power outages in most centers. The international community has long demanded a complete overhaul of the electricity sector, which has cost the government more than $40 billion since the end of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. Lebanon has been without a fully functioning government since the last once resigned in the wake of a devastating explosion at Beirut port last year that killed more than 200 people. The economic crisis has seen the Lebanese pound lose more than 90 percent of its value against the dollar on the black market, and left over half the population living below the poverty line.

Expat Pill Couriers: Lifeline in Medicine-Starved Lebanon
Agence France Presse/July 11/2021
Barely two hours after Lydia landed from Marseille in France, friends and relatives flocked to her apartment to collect drugs that have vanished from Lebanese pharmacies because of crippling shortages. They started knocking on her door as early as 7:30 am -- before she even had a chance to unpack two suitcases and a backpack stuffed with medicine she had purchased from France for more than $1,000. "I didn't even have a chance to sleep, but I understand because there's nothing worse than running out of medicine," especially if you have a chronic illness, the woman in her sixties said from her home in Baabdat, north of Beirut. Lydia, like many other Lebanese expats, has become a courier for family and friends grappling with a raft of shortages due to what the World Bank has termed one of the world's worst financial crises since the 1850s. As pharmacies run out of hundreds of medicines, including over-the-counter pain killers, the suitcase of a Lebanese expat, once teeming with gifts and duty-free purchases, now resembles a portable pharmacy. "I brought everything: antibiotics, medicine for hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, Parkinson's and cancer as well as many antidepressants," Lydia told AFP. Her parents also recently flew in from Marseille carrying medicine for 12 people in four large suitcases, she said. The expat deliveries, Lydia said, remind her of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. "The crisis has revived wartime reflexes, especially a sense of social solidarity," Lydia said. But "what is happening today is unprecedented and surreal," she added. "We have never seen such shortages in medicine or fuel... We have never felt this suffocated."
Shopping in Cyprus
Lebanon's foreign currency reserves are fast depleting and the cash-strapped state has started to gradually reduce subsidies on key imports including fuel and flour. Medicine importers say hundreds of drugs have disappeared from the market, as the central bank owes suppliers abroad millions of dollars and they can no longer open new lines of credit. For its part, the government accuses importers of hoarding medicine with the aim of selling it at a higher price once medicine subsidies are reduced by the state and drugs become more expensive. For the Lebanese people, the shortages have triggered a worldwide drug hunt. As for pharmacies, they staged a nationwide strike Friday protesting the lack of supplies. In the neighboring island of Cyprus, pharmacists can now spot Lebanese customers scouring for supplies to take back home. Tracy Najjar made a trip to Cyprus last month with her husband Paul to temporarily escape Lebanon's crisis, but also to stock up on medical supplies. "The pharmacist immediately guessed we were Lebanese," she said. "He told us that another Lebanese couple had come in two days earlier to buy a ton of drugs," she added. Tracy, who lost her three-year-old daughter Alexandra in the Beirut port blast that killed more than 200 people last summer, said she bought some of the most basic supplies. They included eye drops, powdered milk, antidepressants and drugs for high blood pressure.Apart from family and friends, beneficiaries often include strangers who reach out over social media, now a key platform for buying and exchanging medicine.
Certain death
President Michel Aoun this month pledged to continue subsidizing medication and medical supplies selected by the health ministry on a priority basis.The central bank has for months urged the health ministry to identify priority drugs, but a list has yet to be finalized. The central bank said last week it would earmark $400 million to support key products including medicine and flour. The head of the medicine importers' syndicate said the bank had promised it $50 million a month in subsidies for medicine -- just half of importers' current bills for that period. Expecting shortages only to worsen, Ahmad, a 58-year-old parking attendant, warned that the situation is turning deadly. The 58-year-old father of three suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes but can't find the pills prescribed by his doctors. "I can not even find the generics," he said.
He tried to do without for a few weeks but his blood pressure quickly climbed. He reached out to a cousin in Istanbul and a friend in the United Arab Emirates to secure the medication, at a cost much higher than the subsidized prices he would have paid if available in Lebanon. "We either die because we can't find medicine or we die because we have run out of money after spending it all on drugs brought in from abroad," he said. "Either way, they are killing us," he added, referring to Lebanon's under-fire political class.

Syria, Lebanon raise bread prices amid economic crises
The Arab Weekly/July 11/2021
DAMASCUS/ BEIRUT – Steep bread and diesel price hikes went into force in government-held parts of war-torn Syria on Sunday, bringing more pain for civilians in a long-running economic crisis. The price of diesel fuel nearly tripled and the price of bread doubled, according to the official SANA news agency, only days after Damascus announced an increase in the price of petrol. The move coincided with a decree issued by President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday that increases by 50 percent public sector salaries and sets the minimum wage at 71,515 Syrian pounds a month ($57 at the official rate), up from 47,000 pounds ($37). In a second decree, Assad raised public sector and military pensions by 40 percent, according to SANA. According to a revised price list published by SANA on Saturday night, one litre of diesel fuel will now cost 500 pounds, up from the 180 pounds users in most sectors were paying previously.
Mustafa Haswiya, of the state-run Syrian Company for the Storage and Distribution of Petroleum Products, said 80 percent of Syria’s hydrocarbon needs are purchased from abroad using foreign currency. “It was necessary to raise prices in order to reduce the import bill,” which would otherwise have risked making oil products unaffordable, SANA quoted him as saying. The price of subsidised bread doubled to 200 Syrian pounds. The state-run Syrian Foundation for Bakeries said that the rising price of diesel fuel contributed to the increase, according to SANA. The pro-government Al-Watan daily on Sunday said the diesel fuel hike will lead to “an increase in the price of transportation within and across provinces” by more than 26 percent and will make other goods more expensive too. It said the transport, agriculture and industrial sectors will see a rise in production costs, leading to further inflation.
The cost of heating homes will also climb by 178 percent, Al-Watan said, making it all the more inaccessible. Damascus has repeatedly raised fuel prices in recent years to tackle an accelerating economic crisis sparked by the country’s decade-long civil war and compounded by sanctions. The latest price hikes came nearly two weeks after the government in neighbouring crisis-hit Lebanon raised fuel prices by more than 35 percent to combat shortages that authorities there blame in part on smuggling to Syria.
For the seventh time in a year, Lebanon’s economy ministry announced on Saturday new prices for bread, slowly removing subsidies as the country sinks deeper into a dire economic and political crisis. The ministry said raising the price was necessary as the national currency continues to slide against the dollar, making imports of basic supplies including fuel and wheat more expensive. The currency, pegged to the dollar for nearly 30 years at 1,500 to the dollar, has lost over 90% of its value. It is now trading at nearly 20,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar. This is the second price hike this month in Lebanon. The ministry raised the price of a bag of flatbread, a staple in Lebanon, by 6% — making it now sell at 4,000 Lebanese Pounds (or $2.7 at the official rate). The decision also included a new reduction in the size of the bag of bread — this time by 5%. Lebanon is in the throes of an economic crisis that is bringing regular life to a near halt. Businesses are shutting down, pharmacies have gone on strikes because they can’t secure imported medicines. Fuel shortages have forced hospitals and the country’s only airport to ration their use, shutting down air conditioning and lights in some parts.

The Beirut Port blast investigation will not bring justice unless Lebanese act
Makram Rabah/Al Arabiya/July 11/2021
Over eleven months have passed since the titanic Beirut port explosion, which claimed 214 innocent lives and injured thousands of people, leaving many displaced from their houses due to the destruction wreaked by the blast, and no justice has yet to be served.
The explosion was heard all the way in neighboring Cyprus and is estimated to have had the strength of 500 tons of TNT, the biggest non-nuclear explosion in history and around one-twentieth of the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
Despite the incredible damage caused, justice has yet to be found, with Lebanon’s political elite time and again refused to cooperate with judiciary authorities – a judiciary which, like the rest of the country’s archaic institutions, is mired by corruption and hampered by the absence of the rule of law.
Recently, Judge Tarek Bitar, the special investigator on the Beirut port blast, filed charges against a number of former ministers, including the caretaker Premier Hassan Diab and senior security officials for their role and negligence which led to the blast. Bitar’s daring act was naturally received with optimism by the Lebanese public, especially the families of the victims which have been vocal and unwavering in their demand for swift justice. However, Bitar’s charges were not novel, nor surprising, but merely reiterated the findings of his predecessor Judge Fadi Sawan, who six months ago was forced out by the Court of Cassation, Lebanon’s highest court, because he summoned and interrogated many of the same individuals Bitar has now indicted.
Despite the positive implications of Judge Bitar’s actions there are many factors and indicators that the judiciary action will fall short of identifying the real culprits behind the Beirut blast. To begin with, the names of those accused of negligence and criminal endangerment are merely scapegoats for their respective feudal lords, meaning that even if they are found guilty the true perpetrators of the disaster will continue to escape punishment.
Perhaps more importantly, judicial authorities continue to refuse to pursue much of the evidence that local and regional press have uncovered, chiefly the blast’s ties to pro-Syrian regime businessman and Russian-Syrian citizen George Haswani, who was responsible for importing the 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate – the explosion’s fuel – despite the case underscoring that the disaster was mainly due to criminal neglect. Naturally, Assad’s implication in the blast hides Hezbollah’s and Iran’s involvement in storing these explosives, as well as weaponry, in the Beirut port, as they continue to fight in Syria to keep Assad in power. While the ongoing investigation is confidential under law, it is clear that the investigation has purposely sidestepped Hezbollah and has been apprehensive to address the real elephant in the room, why is Hezbollah so eager to defend those accused of this heinous crime, including perhaps themselves. The Beirut blast might indeed be the result of criminal negligence, but the true cause needs to be identified by a judge after a long a thorough investigation with tangible evidence used to decide an outcome, a culture which unfortunately remains alien to most Lebanese, at least those in power.
Regardless of the legal process or the millions of forensic pieces needed to reconstruct the crime, one is soberly reminded that the real enforcer of the law is not Judge Bitar and his fellow judges, but Hezbollah, which sees itself above the law, and has time and again accused anyone who is even willing to hint to the possibility of its involvement in the blast as being an Israeli collaborator.
Two days after Judge Bitar’s indictment, Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, soberly reminded everyone, including the families of the victims of the blast, that the current course of the investigation, although technically not known to him nor the public, is being politicized, and that it will not achieve real justice. History instead teaches us the irony of Nasrallah’s words. Real justice to Nasrallah exempts Hezbollah’s top assassination squad and one of its senior members, Salim Ayyash, who was found guilty of the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, an act which Hezbollah and its supporters shamelessly celebrated as a victory, rather than hand in the criminal. In fact, Nasrallah is not wiling to entertain any form of justice which implicates him or his group directly, or by association to any act of violence.
Bitar and his crusade to bring peace for the hundreds who lay dead in the graveyards, and the thousands who remain homeless because of the disastrous August 4 blast, will fail as long as the Lebanese refuse to acknowledge the fact that Hezbollah should be put on trial, and not limit judicial proceedings to only a few corrupt politicians and security officers who have for years benefited from their protection.
Bringing the culprits of the Beirut port explosion, whomever they are, to justice will set a dangerous precedent and will end the culture of impunity which Hezbollah and the entire Lebanese political establishment has exploited for decades. The fight for justice requires the Lebanese to protect Bitar and his likes, not by only flooding social media with letters of support, but by being ready to face the real leviathan, Hezbollah and the corrupt class it protects.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 11-12/2021
Pope Greets Faithful for Prayer from Rome Clinic Balcony
Agence France Presse/July 11/2021
Pope Francis greeted supporters for prayers on Sunday from the 10th floor balcony of his hospital where he is recovering from colon surgery. "I am glad to be able to keep the Sunday Angelus appointment, even here" at the hospital, he said. "I have deeply felt your closeness and the support of your prayers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart," he told 200 people gathered below. "In these days of being hospitalized, I have experienced how important good health care is, accessible to all, as it is in Italy and in other countries. "A healthcare system that assures good service, accessible to everyone. This precious benefit must not be lost. It needs to be kept," Francis said. The 84-year-old pontiff has been in Rome's Gemelli hospital since last Sunday, when he underwent planned surgery for an inflammation of the colon. He temporarily ran a fever last week after his operation, but a chest and abdomen scan and other tests revealed no particular abnormalities. "I would like to express my appreciation and my encouragement to the doctors and all healthcare workers and hospital staff," Francis said. And the Church leader asked people to "pray for all the sick, especially for those in the most difficult conditions: may no one be left alone, may everyone receive the anointing of listening, closeness and care."

Syria Raises Bread, Diesel Prices as Assad Hikes Wages
Agence France Presse/July 11/2021
Steep bread and diesel price hikes went into force in government-held parts of war-torn Syria on Sunday, bringing more pain for civilians in a long-running economic crisis.
Damascus has repeatedly raised fuel prices in recent years to tackle a financial crunch sparked by the country's decade-long civil war and compounded by a spate of Western sanctions. The price of diesel fuel nearly tripled and the price of bread doubled on Sunday, according to the official SANA news agency, only days after Damascus announced a 25 percent increase in the price of petrol. "This was all expected and now we fear further increases in the price of... food and medicine," Damascus resident Wael Hammoud, 41, told AFP while he waited for more than thirty minutes to hail a cab to take him to work.
The price hikes coincided with a decree issued by President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday that increases public sector salaries by 50 percent and sets the minimum wage at 71,515 Syrian pounds per month ($28 at the official rate), up from 47,000 pounds ($18). In a second decree, Assad raised public sector and military pensions by 40 percent, according to SANA. A price list published by the state news agency on Saturday night showed one liter of diesel fuel will now cost 500 pounds, up from the 180 pounds users in most sectors were paying previously. Mustafa Haswiya, of the state-run Syrian Company for the Storage and Distribution of Petroleum Products, said 80 percent of Syria's hydrocarbon needs are purchased from abroad using foreign currency. "It was necessary to raise prices in order to reduce the import bill," SANA quoted him as saying. The price of subsidized bread doubled to 200 Syrian pounds. The state-run Syrian Foundation for Bakeries said that the rising price of diesel fuel contributed to the increase, according to SANA.
- 'No money' -
Diesel fuel in Syria is used to power vehicles and private generators that run for up to 20 hours per day in some areas to supplement an ailing power grid hampered by fuel shortages. The pro-government al-Watan daily on Sunday said the diesel fuel hike will lead to "an increase in the price of transportation within and across provinces" by more than 26 percent. The agriculture and industrial sectors will also see production costs rise, it noted. The cost of heating homes will also climb by 178 percent, according to al-Watan. An economist in Damascus who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that the government will continue to raise prices as the crisis deepens. "As long as there is no money entering the treasury, the price increases will continue," he said. The latest price hikes came nearly two weeks after the government in neighboring crisis-hit Lebanon raised fuel prices by more than 35 percent to combat shortages that authorities there blame in part on smuggling to Syria.The provision of basic services and staple goods in Syria has been battered by the country's civil war, which began in 2011 with government repression of protests. In rebel-held northwestern Syria, neighboring Turkey -- a key backer of anti-government forces there -- has sought to plug the gap, building flour mills and supplying power.

Afghanistan Installs Anti-Missile System at Kabul Airport
Agence France Presse/July 11, 2021
Afghan authorities said Sunday they have installed an anti-missile system at Kabul airport to counter incoming rockets, as the Taliban pressed on with a blistering offensive across the country. Washington and its allies are due to end their military mission in Afghanistan at the end of next month, even as the insurgents say they now control 85 percent of the country -- a claim that could not be independently verified and is disputed by the government. The Islamic fundamentalist group's rapid gains in recent weeks have raised fears about the security of the capital and its airport, with NATO keen to secure a vital exit route to the outside world for foreign diplomats and aid workers. "The newly installed air defense system has been operational in Kabul since 2:00 am Sunday," the interior ministry said in a statement. "The system has proven useful in the world in repelling rocket and missile attacks." Interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian told AFP it had been installed at the airport, though officials did not offer details about the type of system or who had installed it. But Afghan security forces spokesman Ajmal Omar Shinwari said the system was given by "our foreign friends". "It has very complicated technology. For now our foreign friends are operating it while we are trying to build the capacity to use it," he said. The Taliban have regularly launched rockets and mortars at government forces across the countryside, with the jihadist Islamic State group (IS) carrying out similar strikes on the capital in 2020. IS also claimed responsibility for a rocket attack this year at Bagram Air base, the biggest US military facility in the country, which was recently handed over to Afghan forces.
'No organized capacity' -
Over the years, the U.S. military installed several C-RAMs (Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar Systems) across its bases, including at Bagram, to destroy incoming rockets targeting the facilities, a foreign security official and media reports said.
The C-RAMS includes cameras to detect incoming rockets and alert local forces. "The Taliban do not have any organized capacity but have demonstrated that they can fire modified rockets from vehicles and create panic, especially if aimed at an airport," a foreign security official said. Turkey has promised to provide security for Kabul airport once US and NATO troops leave next month. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkey and the United States had agreed on the "scope" of how the airport would be managed under the control of Turkish forces.
Taliban militants have waged a rapid offensive across the country, but mostly in the northern and western provinces, since early May, when the final US troops began leaving Afghanistan. India on Sunday became the latest country to evacuate diplomats as the security situation deteriorates. Its foreign ministry said staff had been temporarily pulled from its consulate in southern Kandahar, where the Taliban are fighting with Afghan forces on the edge of the city. A security source added that around 50 Indian personnel, including around six diplomats, were brought home.
Last week Russia announced it had closed its consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, while China also evacuated 210 nationals from the country.
'Space for terrorists' -
After Kabul called on militiamen across the country to help counter attacks, Afghan security spokesman Shinwari on Sunday urged Afghan youths to join the armed forces -- saying the authorities had made recruitment procedures easier. However, Pakistan's envoy to Kabul called on the international community to help strengthen Afghanistan's security forces, warning that deploying militias to fight the Taliban could worsen the situation in the violence-wracked country and benefit jihadist groups. "If the situation continues to worsen and deteriorate in Afghanistan, of course, there will be challenges in terms of security inside of Afghanistan," Mansoor Ahmad Khan told AFP on Saturday, saying it could give space to groups like IS or al-Qaida. The Afghan government has repeatedly dismissed the Taliban's gains as having little strategic value, but the seizure of multiple border crossings and the taxes they generate will likely fill the group's coffers with new revenue. The insurgents have routed much of northern Afghanistan in recent weeks, and the government holds little more than a constellation of provincial capitals that must largely be reinforced and resupplied by air.

Afghan forces repel Taliban assault on provincial capital, governor says
Reuters/11 July ,2021
Afghan security forces, with the help of air strikes, repelled an assault by Taliban fighters on the provincial centre of a key northern province bordering Tajikistan on Sunday, officials said. The Taliban assault was the latest in a string of offensives that has seen insurgents capture territory across Afghanistan as US-led foreign forces are in the final stages of withdrawing troops after almost 20 years of fighting. “The enemy’s offensive attacks were repelled, and they suffered heavy and unprecedented casualties, as a result of which 55 enemy soldiers were killed and 90 were wounded,” the governor of Takhar province Abdullah Qarluq said. Reuters could not independently confirm his account.More than a dozen Taliban fighters were killed in airstrikes by the Afghan Air Force on hideouts on the outskirts of Takhar’s provincial center, Taluqan, Afghanistan’s defense ministry said on Twitter.
“The Taliban attacked Taluqan from four directions last night (Saturday), but were faced with strong resistance from security forces and (local) people,” Khalil Asir, spokesman for Takhar Police Command, told Reuters. Taluqan is just the latest provincial capital to come under Taliban pressure. Earlier this week Taliban fighters entered the capital of the western province of Badghis, seizing police and security facilities and attempting to take over the governor’s office before special forces pushed them back. Insurgents have made a fresh push to gain territory in recent weeks, emboldened by the departure of foreign forces. The Pentagon believes that after taking dozens of district centers, the Taliban will make a push for provincial centers. In southern Afghanistan, too, clashes continued. India said on Sunday it had temporarily repatriated officials from its consulate in Kandahar, a major city in southern Afghanistan. “Due to the intense fighting near Kandahar city, India-based personnel have been brought back for the time being,” Arindam Bagchi, chief spokesperson at India’s foreign ministry, said in a statement. “India is closely monitoring the evolving security situation in Afghanistan,” Bagchi said, adding that India’s consulate in Kandahar was being run by local staff temporarily. Taliban officials said on Friday that the Sunni Muslim insurgent group had taken control of 85% of Afghanistan’s territory. Afghan government officials dismissed the assertion as propaganda.

Netanyahu Leaves Official Residence a Month after Losing Office
Agence France Presse/July 11, 2021
Israel's former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally departed his official Jerusalem residence early on Sunday, nearly a month after he was ousted by his successor Naftali Bennett. "A little after midnight the Netanyahu family left the residence on Balfour [Street]," a spokesman for the family told journalists in a statement. Moving trucks were spotted outside the residence and black Audi cars were filmed being towed from the property over the weekend. The hawkish Netanyahu, who served as Israel's leader for 12 straight years following an earlier three-year term, stayed in office longer than any other prime minister in Israel's history.  He remained in office even as he went to trial on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust. He denies the charges and says they are a left-wing plot against him.  He led Israel through four deeply divisive elections in less than two years before right-wing nationalist Bennett was sworn in on June 13 to head an ideologically disparate coalition, unseating him. However, Netanyahu did nt vacate the prime ministerial residence. Instead, he continued to host dignitaries including Nikki Haley, who served as US ambassador to the United Nations under president Donald Trump. In late June, Netanyahu and Bennett's offices announced a final date for the former premier to move out: Saturday, July 10. Netanyahu left after midnight Sunday, slightly after the deadline he agreed to. "Crime Minister", an organization that has mounted weekly protests against Netanyahu outside the residence for more than a year, mocked him on Sunday.  "The defendant and his family fled as the last of the thieves in the night," the group wrote on Facebook. Bennett is to take over the prime minister's residence on Sunday.

Egypt court upholds life sentences for ten Muslim Brotherhood leaders
The Associated Press/11 July ,2021
Egypt’s highest appeals court upheld on Sunday the sentencing of ten leaders of Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, including the group’s head, to life imprisonment, the state-owned MENA news agency reported. In 2019, a Cairo criminal court found all ten, including the group’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, guilty of charges related to killing policemen and organizing mass jail breaks during Egypt’s 2011 uprising. That revolt culminated in the ouster of longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The defendants were found guilty of helping around 20,000 prisoners escape, and of undermining national security by conspiring with foreign militant groups — the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Meanwhile, the Court of Cassation acquitted eight middle-rank leaders of the organization, who were sentenced earlier to 15 years in prison. All of the sentences, which the court considered on appeal, are final.
This is the latest of several life sentences for Muslim Brotherhood leaders, who stood several trials since the crackdown on the group in 2013 following the military ouster of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, the late Mohammed Morsi. Morsi had hailed from the group’s ranks but his one-year rule had proven divisive and provoked nationwide protests. Tens of thousands of Egyptians have been arrested since 2013, and many have fled the country. Morsi himself was a defendant in the prison-break case, but he collapsed in a courtroom and died while appearing in a separate trial in summer 2019. A judge eventually dropped the charges against Morsi, who in 2011 escaped with other Brotherhood leaders two days after they were detained amid a crackdown by Mubarak’s security forces trying to undercut the planned protests. Last month, the Court of Cassation upheld the death sentence for 12 people involved in a 2013 protest, including several senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders. The trials and death sentences have consistently drawn scathing criticism from rights groups at home and abroad, which call the process a mockery of justice.

Iran-backed Houthis confirm death of 20 leaders in battle in Yemen’s al-Bayda
Tamara Abueish, Al Arabiya English/11 July ,2021
The Iran-backed Houthi militia confirmed that 20 of its military leaders had been killed in a battle in Yemen’s al-Bayda, Al Arabiya reported on Sunday. Fighting between the internationally-recognized Yemeni government and the Houthis raged in a battle for the al-Zaher district, south of the central al-Bayda province. The Yemeni army had managed to thwart the Iran-backed group’s attacks on its sites in the outskirts of the district, the country’s defense ministry said on Saturday, adding that the fighting in the area ended with the Houthis suffering “large human and material losses.”Yemen’s government has sought to secure the provinces around al-Bayda and weaken the Iran-backed group in the past few days as the Houthis attacks on Marib and al-Jawf continue. The defense ministry shared a video on Twitter of its army forces battling the Houthis in al-Jawf.

India claims arrest of two al-Qaeda-linked operatives
AFP/11 July ,2021
An al-Qaeda offshoot in Kashmir planned attacks in northern India ahead of the country’s Independence Day, police claimed after arresting two men with alleged links to the group on Sunday. The two men were detained in a district in Lucknow city, the capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, by an anti-terrorism squad, police said. Uttar Pradesh’s Additional Director General of Police Prashant Kumar said the pair had links to Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a Kashmir offshoot of extremist group al-Qaeda. “They were targeting crowded market places for explosions and Lucknow was their main target,” Kumar told a media conference, adding that the alleged attacks in the state were planned to take place before August 15, India’s Independence Day. “They were planning to execute bomb blasts and human bomb blasts and had collected arms and explosives for this.”He added that arms, explosives and a pressure cooker were also found. Ansar Ghazwat-Ul-Hind, a small rebel group in the Himalayan territory of Kashmir -- which is contested between nuclear rivals and neighbors India and Pakistan -- was founded in 2017. The group was created by Zakir Musa, a top militant who had pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and who said he was fighting to establish a caliphate in Kashmir. Musa was killed by government forces in Kashmir in 2019. In April, police in Kashmir said they had killed five suspected militants including the-then chief of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, Imtiyaz Shah. Police had previously said that Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind was wiped out last year.Kumar claimed the alleged plans were being coordinated from Pakistan. Rebel groups in Kashmir have been fighting Indian soldiers since 1989, demanding independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians. In August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindi-nationalist government stripped Indian-administered Kashmir of its semi-autonomy and brought it under direct rule. Sunday’s arrests came ahead of elections in Uttar Pradesh and six other states in 2022. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is looking to retain power in six of the states, including Uttar Pradesh.

The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 11-12/2021
Marxist, Extremist Support for Palestinian Terrorism Leads to Jew-Hate Throughout West
Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute./July 11, 2021
For decades, most articles on the Middle East have portrayed Israel in a negative light, not as a democracy under constant threat. Willfully or not, they promote Jew-hate. Hamas is often described as a "Palestinian militant group," almost never as a terrorist organization.
Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005. All the same, Israel is accused of imposing a "blockade" on the coastal strip -- without a mention that everything necessary for the residents of Gaza is allowed, or that what is being blockaded are deadly weapons. Also never mentioned is the extreme brutality of Hamas operatives towards their own residents of Gaza, who are all Arabs, or that the Palestinian Authority still supports and finances terrorism. The Palestinian Authority's rewards and incentives for murdering Jews are also always left out.
On June 24, The New York Times published yet another biased report: "Gaza's Deadly Night: How Israeli Airstrikes Killed 44 People". The Times stated that "on May 16, Israeli airstrikes destroyed three apartment buildings, decimating several families". It never noted that Hamas had attacked Israel, that Hamas uses civilians as human shields, or that Israel invariably warns residents in advance about buildings set to be destroyed, to provide time for the residents to leave rather than be injured or killed.
On May 18, when Israel was being subjected to some of the 4,000 missiles fired at it by Hamas, French Prime Minister Jean Castex... announced that he was "worried about the fate of the civilian populations in Gaza". He did not even touch on what Hamas and Iran are planning for Israel's population.
Recent anti-Israel protests all over the Western world indicate that those imbued with Jew-hate no longer hesitate to make false and delusional accusations against Israel and Jews -- sadly, a long tradition in Europe. Jew-hate is out in the open now, along with a readiness to physically attack Jews. Pictured: Policemen guard the synagogue in Gelsenkirchen, Germany during a vigil of the Initiative against Anti-Semitism Gelsenkirchen on May 14, 2021, the day after a highly aggressive group of at least 200 people brandishing Palestinian and Turkish flags and shouting anti-Semitic slurs gathered in front of the house worship. Police were deployed to prevent the mob from entering the building.
London. May 23. An organization called The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign organized a protest against Israel. 180,000 people turned up. Placards compared Israelis to the Nazis, and black flags of jihadist movements, accompanied by cries of "Allahu Akbar", fluttered alongside the Palestinian flags. "Israel, the new Nazi state", some read; and "Nazis are still around, now they call themselves Zionists". This kind of comparison is now common among many in Europe who also seem sympathetic to Marxism, in which there always has to be an "oppressor" and "oppressed", never a "win-win" or a "making the pie bigger." Do these new Marxists, who compare Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, to the Third Reich and the Zionists to the Nazis, really not know what the Nazis did to six million Jews, or what Communists and Marxists today, in China, Russia, Cuba, or Venezuela, are still doing to their own citizens?
The protesters in London shouted openly anti-Semitic slogans. One demonstrator, Tariq Ali, a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review, addressing the crowd, implied that the Jews deserve a second Holocaust: "They have learned nothing from what happened to them in Europe. Nothing". Another man exhibited a drawing of Christ carrying the cross, along with the words: "Do not let them do the same thing again". A few days earlier, when a convoy adorned with Palestinian flags drove through a Jewish area in North London, shouts from loudspeakers included "Free Palestine", "F**k the Jews", "F**k their daughters", "F**k their mothers" and "Rape their daughters".
In Paris, the same day, protesters shouted similar slurs. Since the French government had banned the demonstration and had asked the police to disperse all groups carrying Palestinian flags, the demonstrators numbered "only" a few thousand. The French interior ministry said the ban was necessary to avoid "ugly incidents", as when, in 2014, in the heart of Paris's Jewish district, kosher restaurants and a synagogue were attacked.
In Berlin, a demonstration had been organized a few days earlier, on May 16. As in London and Paris, protesters also denounced Israel -- and Jews. Antonia Yamin, an Israeli television journalist reporting on the protest, was assaulted with firecrackers by demonstrators who heard her speak in Hebrew.
Similar protests -- in Stockholm, Brussels, Rome, Madrid, Warsaw, Los Angeles and New York -- indicate that all over the Western world, those imbued with Jew-hate no longer hesitate to make false and delusional accusations against Israel and Jews -- sadly, a long tradition in Europe. They no longer bother to hide it. Jew-hate is out in the open now, along with a readiness to physically attack Jews.
Although the organizers of these protests described them as "pro-Palestinian", they soon became more pro-terrorism. When, on May 11 and for the next 10 days, Hamas -- on the list of terrorist organizations in the European Union, the United States, and other nations -- began firing more than 4,000 rockets and missiles at Israel, a country the size of Vancouver Island, and Israel defended itself, most demonstrators sided with Hamas.
For those who may not know, Hamas's charter in its preamble states: "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it." It adds in its Article 7:
"The day of judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (kill the Jews), when the Jews will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."
The protesters were supporting and making common cause with an anti-Semitic Islamic terrorist organization with a genocidal aim.
Journalists from major European and American media could have pointed out these comparisons, as well as the incitement to hatred of Israel and Jews; most did not.
Nearly all of the articles published in Europe and the United States nonchalantly described the protests and the hatred shouted by protestors, without drawing any connection between the protests and the subsequent assaults.
For decades, most articles on the Middle East have portrayed Israel in a negative light, not as a democracy under constant threat. Willfully or not, they promote Jew-hate. Hamas is often described as a "Palestinian militant group," almost never as a terrorist organization. Instead, Palestinian propaganda is repeated: the Gaza Strip is described as an "open air prison" -- which it is -- but imposed by its own leadership, not by Israel. Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005. All the same, Israel is accused of imposing a "blockade" on the coastal strip -- without a mention that everything necessary for the residents of Gaza is allowed, or that what is being blockaded are deadly weapons. Also never mentioned is the extreme brutality of Hamas operatives towards their own residents of Gaza, who are all Arabs, or that the Palestinian Authority still supports and finances terrorism. The Palestinian Authority's rewards and incentives for murdering Jews are also always left out.
Judea and Samaria are usually referred to as the West Bank, but recently the United States, instead, resumed using the tainted "occupied territories". Although Jews have inhabited the area for nearly 4,000 years -- Judea is named for Jews -- Israel is portrayed as occupying territory not its own. In April 2018, the major French magazine Paris Match published on its front page a portrait of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, smiling, in front of a large photo of Jerusalem's al Aqsa mosque. The caption described him not as the head of a terrorist organization but as a "political leader" -- you know, like Churchill. Inside the magazine, in an interview, Haniyeh falsely accused Israel of "war crimes". "The Palestinians", he added, "want to regain the land that the Jews have stolen from them". For the record, Palestinians, meaning Arabs who claim the land now home to Israel, did not even exist until the twentieth century. Yet no article correcting Haniyeh's lies accompanied the interview.
In addition, on May 21, Newsweek published an article in which the most deceptive elements of anti-Israel propaganda are gathered and Israel is defined, incorrectly, as "the initiator of violence". On May 28, The New York Times published on its front page photographs of Palestinian Arab children killed in Gaza. "They were only children... they wanted to be doctors artists, leaders", the paper stressed. The accompanying article did not mention that it was the rulers of these children who began the bombardment. The article did not even discuss Hamas -- or that when Israel turned over all of the Gaza Strip to the Arabs in 2005, they could easily have made it into a "Singapore on the Mediterranean". Instead, the article falsely claimed that the Arabs in Gaza were victims of Israeli violence. The former national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, wrote in a tweet: "I am canceling my subscription to NYTimes ... Today's blood libel of Israel and the Jewish people on the front page is enough." One wonders what took him so long.
On June 24, The New York Times published yet another biased report: "Gaza's Deadly Night: How Israeli Airstrikes Killed 44 People". The Times stated that "on May 16, Israeli airstrikes destroyed three apartment buildings, decimating several families". It never noted that Hamas had attacked Israel, that Hamas uses civilians as human shields, or that Israel invariably warns residents in advance about buildings set to be destroyed (for instance here and here), to provide time for the residents to leave rather than be injured or killed.
Europe's political leaders could have denounced the protests and incitement to hatred; instead, they spoke about Israel and the Palestinian terror organizations in the same breath, as if there were no difference between the firefighter and the arsonist. Europe's leaders rarely spoke of Palestinian terrorism -- instead, many accused Israel of "violence against the Palestinian populations".
Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, recently spoke of the "warlike arrogance" of Israeli politicians, of "the dehumanization of the Palestinians by a large part of the Israeli political class and society". His apparently uninformed -- or malicious -- positions are those of the great majority of leaders of European countries. French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian went even further. On May 23, he described Israel as an "apartheid" country, thereby choosing to ignore what he must know: that Israel is home to a population of 1.8 million Arab citizens who enjoy the same rights as Jews. Israel's government replied that Le Drian had not told the truth and had promoted antisemitic hatred.
A few days earlier, on May 18, when Israel was being subjected to some of the 4,000 missiles fired at it by Hamas, French Prime Minister Jean Castex first accused the state of "colonizing Jerusalem", then announced that he was "worried about the fate of the civilian populations in Gaza". He did not even touch on what Hamas and Iran are planning for Israel's population.
American leaders, unlike many European politicians, generally show respect for the core values of democratic societies and Western civilization. Now, however, when some American politicians repeat openly anti-Semitic statements, their political party refuses to reprimand them or even remove them from committees that might lead them to further misrepresentations. After U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar made allegations that Jews buy influence with money ("It's all about the Benjamins"), Congress passed a resolution condemning antisemitism in a vague and general manner. It condemned discrimination in just about everything. On June 7, Omar sent out a tweet saying:
"We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity.
"We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban."
The tweet prompted 12 Jewish Democrats in the House of Representatives to send a letter maintaining that "there is no moral equivalency between the US and Israel and Hamas and the Taliban" and asking Omar to "clarify" her position. Her answer was a denial of the evidence, along with an arguable, "I was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries".
House leaders then issued a joint statement. saying they "welcome[d] the clarification" from Omar and that the incident was over.
"It takes considerable skill," Attorney Stephen M. Flatow commented, "to come up with the words to sound just apologetic enough to get your critics off your back, but without actually apologizing."
Then, on June 29, Omar declared that her Jewish Democratic colleagues who say that she is antisemitic "haven't been partners in justice" and "haven't been equally engaging in seeking justice around the world".
Another politician, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, has also been repeating, falsely, that "Israel is a racist state". On June 15, she published a tweet saying, "Israel's government doesn't value Palestinian lives. It has managed a decades-long ethnic cleansing project, funded by the U.S." On June 30, she sent another tweet about Israel: "This is not democracy, this is apartheid." As of this writing, there has been no reaction from the leaders of her party.
In Europe, for years, most of the leading politicians have chosen to support the "Palestinian cause" while staying blind to the viciousness of Palestinian terrorism, the killing of Israeli Jews and the repeated thirst of Palestinian leaders for Jewish blood. These European leaders fund non-governmental organizations that -- again dishonestly -- accuse Israel of "war crimes" and other atrocities. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, now in the 16th year of his four year term, is received in Paris and Berlin with all the respect due a lawful head of state. During each of their visits, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron maintained that they support the creation of a Palestinian state -- without ever addressing the lethal statements of Abbas or the support and incentivization the Palestinian Authority gives to murder, terrorism, and other breaches of human rights. When Israel is attacked, if they denounce the attacks at all, they immediately add that the Israel's response must not be "disproportionate" and, from the U.N., that the "fighting must stop". They never talk about the relationship between the hatred of Israel -- to which they contribute -- that is rising in Europe or the Jew-hate that follows Israel-hate. The United States under the presidency of President Donald J. Trump was an unconflicted friend of Israel. Trump unequivocally denounced the Palestinian Authority's ties to terrorism and quickly ceased regarding Abbas as a legitimate interlocutor. Trump stressed that Israel is a democracy under attack, which deserves to live in peace. The Biden administration has been following a different path; it has promoted and funded the Palestinian Authority, without so much as a murmur on its continuing support for terrorism. Biden, rather, seems to be promising to reward terrorism. His administration has already given Abbas, who has who has not stopped calling for Israel's destruction, $75 million and allocated an additional $100 million for aid, apparently with no guarantees that it would arrive where it was intended. The United States has additionally pledged that it will rebuild Gaza, still ruled by a genocidal Hamas, and open a consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem. When anti-Semites attacked Jews in New York and Los Angeles a few weeks ago, Biden said nothing. On May 21, probably regarding his silence as unacceptable, several Jewish groups sent him a letter asking for a response. Three days later, he posted a simple tweet: "The recent attacks on the Jewish community are despicable, and they must stop." Aaron Keyak, who was the "Jewish engagement director" of the 2020 Biden presidential campaign, offered advice -- but to Jews. His "solution"? "It pains me to say this, but if you fear for your life or physical safety take off your kippah and hide your magen david. [star of David]..."
With the exception of a few Central European countries, Europe has become an anti-Israel continent. It is now unsafe for Jews -- especially those who support Israel or do not see why they should hide that they are Jews. A 2018 poll carried out in the seven main European countries showed that only 22.6% of people in Western Europe had a favorable opinion of Israel. The poll indicated that older people were more sympathetic towards Israel than younger people. A 2019 study, conducted by the European Union's Agency for Fundamental Rights, found that 44% of European Jews between the ages of 16 and 34 have experienced anti-Semitic harassment; 85% reported "that people in their countries accuse or blame them for anything done by the Israeli government", and 41% said they have considered emigration. Since 2019, the situation has not improved.
Most people in the United States are still pro-Israel. A recent poll shows that 75% of Americans have a favorable view of Israel. Although America today is also a far safer country for Jews than Europe, the recent anti-Israel demonstrations, and the physical assaults on Jews in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere, and especially the presence of outspoken anti-Semites in Congress, suggest that changes could easily take place. One hopes that Americans committed to the Judeo-Christian values of the Free World ​​will react before it is too late.
U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, a Jewish Democratic Congressman from Minnesota, tweeted in May: "I'll say the quiet part out loud; it's time for 'progressives' to start condemning anti-semitism and violent attacks on Jewish people with the same intention and vigor demonstrated in other areas of activism. The silence has been deafening."On May 25, Senate and House Republicans joined together to introduce the "Preventing Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes Act". Senator Ted Cruz stated:
"Antisemitism is a unique prejudice with a unique history, which has resulted in unique horrors throughout history... This wave of abhorrent violence is directed at Jews for being Jewish, just like Hamas is firing rockets into Israel because they want to murder Jews and eliminate the Jewish state."
On June 15, the U.S. Senate, passed a resolution asserting that "Anti-Semitism remains a serious and growing danger for Jews in the United States and around the world." It is, however, merely a resolution. It does not point to the causes of the danger -- presumably 2,500 years of Jew-hate combined with the newly-imported Islamic kind -- or offer any means to fight it.
*Dr. Guy Millière, a professor at the University of Paris, is the author of 27 books on France and Europe.
© 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.

Taliban win in Afghanistan could fuel Hamas, Hezbollah - analysis
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/July 11/2021
Will the ascendency of the Taliban in Afghanistan prompt countries to be more willing to welcome senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders?
The looming crisis in Afghanistan, as the Taliban appear to be marching toward consolidating victories against the government, could have the unintended consequences of possibly fueling Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Taliban are a militant movement that is seeking to capture a country from the internationally recognized central government. Many countries appear to be hosting and helping the Taliban quietly.
This is similar to how Hezbollah and Hamas thrive with foreign support and receive legitimacy, despite their illegitimate stockpiling of weapons and use of extrajudicial assassinations and extralegal militant movements to threaten the region. For years, the labeling of Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups was supposed to ostracize them and banish them from outside the realm of acceptable organizations. But many major countries did not view them as terrorists, specifically Turkey and Iran. Both back Hamas, and Iran also backs Hezbollah. Hamas leaders have received red-carpet welcomes in numerous countries, from Turkey to Qatar and even Malaysia.
Now, the Taliban victories in Afghanistan – and their ability to open doors from Qatar to Russia and Iran – illustrate that a model of militant extremist movements receiving international “koshering” is happening with increased frequency. There was a time when countries supported various proxy groups during the Cold War. However, the end of that war led to a brief interlude in international affairs where a hegemonic US and liberal world order appeared to reduce the number of militant movements being treated as states.
Now, global chaos is back – and the rise of various authoritarian regimes that want a multi-polar world and are all opposed to the US means that groups like Hamas and Hezbollah can thrive.
The big question is how much more respect can Hamas and Hezbollah gain? Hamas held a high-level meeting with Russia in March. It has been hosted by Turkey, although Ankara also hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recently. The question is whether a Taliban victory might make countries more willing to be flexible on hosting senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
So far, the international community has put almost no pressure on these groups to lay down their weapons. Hezbollah not only possesses 150,000 rockets but also appears to conduct foreign and military policy for Lebanon, slowly supplanting the state; perhaps it has already become more wealthy and powerful than the state that hosts it.
Hamas also recruits child soldiers and conducts illegal rocket fire against Israel. The fact that these organizations appear to thrive and receive financing indicates that no price is exacted from them.
The more than 4,000 Hamas rockets that were fired at Israel did not lead to widespread global condemnation. This means that the Taliban appearing to consolidate gains could have the unintended global effect of fueling Hamas and Hezbollah and their danger to the Middle East – as well as the wider danger that militant groups pose to world order.

Israel's Foreign Min. Lapid makes historic trip to UAE while challenges persist in region
Seth J. Frantzman/Israel Gulf Report/July 11/2021
The month of June and July 2021 has shaped up to be a historic series of weeks in Israel-Gulf relations. However, there are still many challenges and hurdles, not the least of which is the changing dynamics in the region.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid made a historic trip the UAE at the end of June. This comes a little more than a year after the first flights came from the UAE to Israel in 2020 carrying humanitarian aid for the Palestinians. Those symbolic flights were part of a process that included an oped by UAE ambassador to the US Yousef al-Otaiba in June 2020. Now a year later Lapid’s trip to Abu Dhabi helped cap a year of important diplomacy, of which the Abraham Accords was a crowning achievement. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid meets with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. (Israel MFA)
According to a text from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lapid underlined the following key points. “This is an historic moment. And it is a reminder that history is created by people. People who understand history but are willing to change it. People who prefer the future to the past. We are standing here today because we chose. Peace over war. Cooperation over conflict. The good of our children over the bad memories of the past.” He met with Abdallah Bin Zayed, Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Noura Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Youth Khalid Belhoul, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Al Khaja and several important individuals were in attendance, including the Ambassador of Canada, Marcy Grossman, and the Charge' d'Affaire of the United States in the United Arab Emirates, Sean Murphy. Lapid wrote an oped with his UAE counterpart. Talks may be underway to do an event for the one year anniversary of the Accords.
The Israeli team that came to the UAE included Alon Ushpiz, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Eitan Na'eh, Charge' d'Affairs of the Embassy of Israel to the United Arab Emirates. The visit was announced in mid-June and came off without any postponements, unlike previously scheduled trips by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The trip was widely praised and seen as cementing ties between Israel and the UAE.
There are many issues that remain to be resolved. These include UAE interest in seeing progress on Israel-Palestinian issues. The UAE has said that it agreed to the Abraham Accords as a way to prevent Israel from annexing parts of the West Bank. While that process has ended, there are questions about what comes next regarding Israeli-Palestinian discussions. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met. with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in early July. This was important because Turkey has tended to back Hamas and take a critical view of Israel’s policies. It has also been critical of peace and normalization between Israel and the Gulf. This meeting comes after Hamas also met with Russia’s Foreign Minister in March and after the May conflict between Israel and Hamas. Egypt has played a key role in helping end that fighting. Jordan has praised Israel’s new government as presenting an opening to better relations. According to journalist Lahav Harkov “Jordanian King Abdullah told new Israeli President Herzog that he is satisfied by the new Israeli government's efforts to put relations between the countries back on track, in a phone call tonight.” Towards that end the new Israeli government has agreed to provide the Kingdom with more water.
Former MK and journalist, and policy fellow at Mitvim Ksenia Svetlova wrote at Ynet that Israel cannot continue to ignore Jordan, noting that Lapid had spoken to foreign ministers of Egypt and Bahrain and made an official visit to UAE, while Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has already talked to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
These diplomatic developments illustrate several patterns. Israel has now inaugurated an embassy and consulate in the UAE, making practical progress on the ground. However on the larger issues of expectations about the Abraham Accords there are several complexities. One is a sense that the new US administration, as well as the Gulf, want to see progress on Palestinian issues.
Another set of controversies revolves around questions that have been raised about whether the Biden administration is working to cement Israel-Gulf ties to build on the normalization agreements, nor whether it is putting cold water on some of the Trump administration’s policies, such as the Abraham Fund. Reports, such as this one at Globes, say the US has frozen interest in this fund. On July 8 a report noted “the enthusiasm surrounding the Abraham Accords, particularly the seemingly flourishing relationship between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, seems to have taken a backseat following reports that none of the economic projects promised by the U.S. as part of the agreements have take off the ground. “
Other reports say that there is now less interest in Saudi Arabia in the Gulf peace agreements, although many of these reports rely on sources that have an agenda. What policy disagreements between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi mean for these issues is not yet known. Experts who follow these issues closely hope that news of a rift will soon pass.
These controversies and others are part of the process that ebbed and flowed after the normalization agreements were signed last year.
Outside the political and diplomatic front, other community, business and people-to-people relations continue. to flourish. The Association of Gulf Jewish Communities has taken off with events and social media reports on weekly shabbat times and other important details. They will be holding a Tisha B’Av virtual event on July 18 featuring Rabbi Adam Mintz. Ambassador Houda Nonoo continues to inspire with her weekly posts about shabbat and other details. She noted on July 10 that “Bahrain has been ranked as the 12th safest country in the world.” On July 3 Michael Sussman wished everyone a “shabbat shalom” from the “beautiful beaches on Sadayaat Island in UAE. In Arabic Sadyaat means happiness, which makes this greeting for a restful Shabbat from the ‘Island of Happiness.’”
In early June the first images of progress on the Abrahamic Family House, Abu Dhabi's multi-faith place of worship, appeared. “New images show the foundations of the church, mosque and synagogue being built on Saadiyat Island. The names of the three houses of worship have been revealed as Imam Al Tayeb Mosque, St Francis Church, and Moses ben Maimon Synagogue,” an article at The National noted. See more details here.
According to Gulf-Israel Green Ventures there was also great news from the Gulf on cooperation as Abu-Dhabi based ADQ’s venture capital arm “DisruptAD, was a lead investor in Israeli cultivated meat startup @AlephFarms's $105 million Series B.” This relates to food security issues. Al Arabiya highlighted the importance of Greentech. “As the first anniversary of the US-brokered Abraham Accords nears, the UAE and Bahrain are continuing to expand bilateral relations with Israel with huge collaborations in the field of green technology, an expert told Al Arabiya English. The deals are expected to surpass $500 million over the next five years, according to Asher Fredman, CEO of Gulf-Israel Green Ventures. ‘And that is a conservative estimate,’ he said,’ the article noted.
Abu Dhabi continues to lead in efforts to provide kosher food for visitors.
A fire at Jebel Ali port was brought under control quickly.
On July 6 Bahrain's Crown Prince and Prime Minister, received Ambassador Khaled Yousef Al-Jalahma, Bahrain's new Ambassador to Israel.
There were positive developments in Morocco-Israel relations as Moroccan air force C-130s landed in Israel. At the same time Israeli F-35s practiced with their UK counterparts, a British ship HMS Richmond that is part of the Queen Elizabeth carrier strike group docked in Haifa, and Israeli, Italian, US and UK F-35s practiced in Italy last month. Brad Bowman at FDD and Seth J. Frantzman wrote an article arguing that Egypt and the UAE should be added to the annual Noble Dina naval exercise.
Reports say that Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health Social and Daman Insurance have partnered with Israel’s Clalit Health, “the world’s second largest healthcare services provider, supporting AbuDhabi’s efforts to become a leading life sciences hub and medical tourism destination.”
Robert Greenway, President and Executive Director of the Abraham Accords Peace Institute, visited the House of Ten Commandments in Bahrain with Houda Nonoo. He wrote that it was a “testament to the vision of the Kingdom’s leadership, the commitment of its citizens to peace, the triumph of faith, and hope of the #AbrahamAccords.”
Meanwhile, as Israeli defense companies prepare to showcase their latest technology in Greece at DEFEA, following challenges they faced getting to IDEX, Ephraim Sneh has argued at Ynet that Israel should supply the Gulf with air defense. “With U.S. set to withdraw air defenses from its allies in the Mideast, Jerusalem must step in and offer its own, opening the way for genuine dialogue and overt cooperation in the region, as well as providing military defense industry with greater resources to develop even better systems.”
With Greece and the UAE growing closer, it should be noted that in Greece Israel’s SIBAT “will conduct its activities and support the 20 Israeli industries participating in the event via its own pavilion. The Israeli companies participating in this event are global leaders in their fields: Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), RAFAEL, Aeronautics, Smart Shooter, AITECH, Astronautics, Bagira, Bet Shemesh Engines, Double Shoot, EMTAN, Nir Or, PLASAN, Israel Shipyards, IWI, Meprolight, Camero Tech, Uniscope, Uvision, RT,” according to the Israeli Defense. Ministry.
Meanwhile DMCC, the world’s flagship Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise says it “welcomed 1,230 new member companies in the first half of 2021, the best 6-month performance since 2013. This builds on DMCC’s strong performance in 2020, during which the business district attracted 2,025 new businesses supported by DMCC’s relief packages offered during the global pandemic.”
In another unique event, Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre Program Manager Mr. Adnan AlRais “charted the trajectory of the U.A.E. space program and opportunities for partnership in the years ahead during a webinar co-hosted by the U.S. Commercial Service and the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council. This webinar, which also featured speakers from Northrop Grumman and Jacobs, is part of the U.S. Commercial Service’s Discover America trade talk series,” according to the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council.