English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For June 22/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the
lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews21/english.june22.21.htm
News Bulletin Achieves Since
2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006
Bible Quotations For today
When they bring you to trial and hand you over, do
not worry beforehand about what you are to say; but say whatever is given you at
that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 13/09-13:”‘As for
yourselves, beware; for they will hand you over to councils; and you will be
beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings because of
me, as a testimony to them. And the good news must first be proclaimed to all
nations. When they bring you to trial and hand you over, do not worry beforehand
about what you are to say; but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is
not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Brother will betray brother to death,
and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put
to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who
endures to the end will be saved.”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials
published on June 21-22/2021
Fathers’ Day: The Holy Gift Of Fatherhood/Fathers on Earth are God’s
servants/
Elias Bejjani/June 21/2021
President Aoun receives MP Jamil Al Sayed, Head of Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society
Statement by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers on the current crisis
Lebanon ‘sliding into the abyss’ as politicians fail to break impasse
US weighs options as Lebanon’s allies move to assist military
MoPH: 46 new coronavirus infections, 3 deaths
Health Minister to hold health cooperation talks in Turkey
Aoun Says ‘No Despair’ on Solutions
Berri Says Bassil Agreed to 'Half' of His Initiative
Premiership Slams Calls for Activating Caretaker Cabinet
Oueidat Refers Judge Ghada Aoun to Judicial Inspection
Judge Orders Prosecution of Stations Withholding Fuel from Consumers
Hassan to Travel to Turkey to Boost Medical Cooperation
Masnaa Road Blocked over Efforts to Curb Smuggling to Syria
Report: Military Says Number of Soldiers Fleeing Army over Crisis 'Exaggerated'
Israeli Forces Fire at Municipality Vehicle
Health Minister to hold health cooperation talks in Turkey
LCC: To a Rescue Transitional Phase, and a Pivotal Diaspora Role
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June
21-22/2021
Lapid to be first-ever Israeli minister to visit UAE next week/Lahav
Harkov/Jerusalem Post/June 21/2021
Hamas' Growing Closeness To Iran And Rapprochement With Assad Regime Enrages
Syrian Opposition/MEMRI/June 21, 2021
Iran’s president-elect says he won’t meet Biden
Iran's President-elect Defends Himself over 1988 Executions
Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Plant Shut Down over 'Technical Fault'
Hamas Denounces 'No Signs' of Helping Gaza Aid Crisis
Germany Arrests Russian Scientist for 'Spying' for Moscow
US Navy tests warship's metal with megablast
Afghan Leader Ghani to Visit White House as Withdrawal Nears
U.S. Envoy Offers to Meet North Korea 'Anywhere Anytime'
Joint Statement by Canada, the European Union, United Kingdom, and United States
on the announcement of new sanctions against Belarus
Canada imposes additional sanctions on Belarusian individuals and entities over
attacks on human rights and fundamental freedoms
Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC
English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June
21-22/2021
Taliban enters Kunduz City, seizes control of 16 districts/Bill Roggio/
FDD's Long War Journal/June 21/2021
Biden should use Raisi election for Iran course change/John Bolton/The
Washington Examiner/June 21/2021
Iran Stops Pretending/Karim Sadjadpour/The Atlantic/June 21/2021
Is Egypt back in the Arab driver’s seat? - analysis/Elie Podeh/Jerusalem
Post/June 21/2021
The US-Backed Palestinian Human Rights Violations/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone
Institute/June 21/2021
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on June 21-22/2021
Fathers’ Day: The Holy Gift Of Fatherhood/Fathers on Earth
are God’s servants
Elias Bejjani/June 21/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/65390/elias-bejjani-fathers-day-the-holy-gift-of-fatherhood/
“Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father!” (Lydia
M. Child, U.S. Author)
Canadians observe Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June. It is a day for
people to show their appreciation for fathers, grandfathers, godfathers and
fatherly figures. Father figures may include stepfathers, fathers-in-law,
guardians, foster parent, and family friends. Hopefully, all men will have the
blessed grace of being fathers. Being a father is a heavenly endowment, a great
satisfaction, and a fulfilling Godly obligation as the Holy Bible teaches us:
“Genesis 1:28 “God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill
the earth, and subdue it.”
Almighty God has blessed both parents, fathers and mothers and recommended that
they be honored, respected, cared for, and obeyed by their children. God’s fifth
commandment delineates this heavenly obligation and duty: “”Honor your father
and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which The Lord your God
gives you.” (Exodus 20:12 ).
God is our Holy Father, and we all, men and women, are His beloved children.
Fathers on Earth are God’s servants who are entrusted by Him to safeguard,
raise, embrace, support, provide and teach their children. Meanwhile fathers are
required to carry their holy duties in raising their children in the fear of
God, with the best of their knowledge, all their resource and means, full
devotion and with all required sacrifices.
Fathers are the cornerstone of their families upon which children depend, learn,
nurture, hold fast and shape their lives. Caring, devoted and righteous fathers
are always given a hand by God and blessed for their rearing and erection of
boundaries. Today we are celebrating “Fathers’ Day”, with all those who cherish
fathers, appreciate their sacrifices and honor their Godly role. Best wishes to
all fathers hoping they will be shown today all the due gratitude from their
sons and daughters. On this very special day our deceased fathers’ and mothers’
spirits are roaming around sharing with us our joy and happiness, God bless
their souls.
Attitudes of gratitude or ingratitude towards fathers on Fathers’ Day, are very
sensitive issues that affect and touch the hearts and minds of many people.
These two contradicting attitudes exhibit how much a person is either
appreciative or ungrateful. The majority of people hold on dear to their fathers
and do all that they can to always show them their great and deeply felt
gratitude, while sadly there are those odd ones out who show no gratitude,
abandon them and even at times endeavour to ruin their lives and inflict harm
and pain on them. By doing so and negating God’s commandments that stress an
utmost respect for parents, these people make themselves enemies of Christ
Himself. Definitely God will be angry about such condemned conduct. This
deviation from all human norms occur because of ignorance, selfishness, lack of
faith and hope. These people fall into temptation, become proud of what they
should be ashamed of, worship things that belong to this world and forget all
about “Judgment Day”.
Colossians 3/20: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases
the Lord”.
Leviticus 20/09: “For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be
put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him”
Fathers no matter what must be loved, honored, dignified and respected. God
Himself is a Father and He will not bless those who deny their fathers’ heavenly
right of fatherhood and respect. In this context, Billy Graham says: “A good
father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most
valuable assets in our society.” The Holy Bible in tens of its verses warns and
puts on notice all those with callous hearts and numbed conscience who show no
gratitude to their fathers and break their hearts.
Isaiah 46:4: “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.”
Even when fathers are abandoned by their children and denied their heavenly
rights, they never ever hold any grudges, feelings of hatred or hostility
against them. No matter what, fathers always wish their children health,
prosperity and success. One of our Lebanese deeply rooted sayings portray how
fathers constantly feel towards their ungrateful children: ” My heart beats for
my son no matter what, while my son’s heart is callous like a rock”. Many verses
in the Holy Bible overtly call on the children to treat their parents with love,
endurance, affection and utmost care. At the same time the Bible instructs
parents to value the Godly delegation to them to raise their children with all
means of righteous, protection and provision.
Proverbs 23/22: “Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise
your mother when she is old”.
Ephesians 06/01-02: “Children, it is your Christian duty to obey your parents,
for this is the right thing to do. Respect your father and mother is the first
commandment that has a promise added: so that all may go well with you, and you
may live a long time in the land”.
Many grown-up men and women do not appreciate their parents’ sacrifices unless
they themselves have become parents. Back home in Lebanon where the family has
always been sacred, we have a saying that shows how important it is in the eyes
of the God that parents are always to be respected, honored and loved. “God will
not bless or facilitate the life of those who mistreat their parents and He will
reply to the parents’ wrath when they ask for punishment for their ungrateful
children”. Good, loving , faithful and God-fearing fathers know no hatred,
grudges or despair. They remain, always, hopeful and keep on praying to Almighty
God that their children, (grateful or ungrateful ) are constantly healthy,
prosperous, happy, and successful .
Philippians 04/04-07: “May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord. I
say it again: rejoice! Show a gentle attitude toward everyone. The Lord is
coming soon. Don’t worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for
what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart. And God’s peace, which
is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union
with Christ Jesus.”.
Happy Fathers’ Day to all Fathers.
N.B: This above piece is from the 2015 archive and republished with minor
changes
President Aoun receives MP Jamil Al Sayed, Head of
Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society
NNA/June 21/2021
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, asserted that despite everything
that is happening, he “Did not despair of the initiatives for reaching a
solution with the presence of sane people, provided that the constitution and
powers entrusted by constitutional authorities, primarily the presidency, are
not violated”. The stances of President Aoun were conveyed by MP, Major General
Jamil Al-Sayed. The President had met Al-Sayed and discussed with him current
political developments, today at the Presidential Palace.
After the meeting, MP Al-Sayed said: “General and living conditions were
discussed during the meeting, in addition to the need to expedite finding
solutions in light of the continuous government crisis.
The meeting also tackled some constitutional interpretations which attempt to
empty the Presidency of the Republic from its powers, especially in the matter
of forming governments despite the clarity of the provisions of the
constitution. It was recalled that these attempts began since 2005 with the
government of Premier, Fouad Seniora, who marginalized the Presidency of the
Republic and allowed himself to organize the agenda of the Parliament, in
parallel with holding cabinet meetings and issuing decision while ignoring the
presence of the President despite the President’s written objections at that
time.
Marginalization did not stop at this point, but also extended to the Parliament
and continued throughout the term of President Michel Suleiman, who did not
reconsider the illegitimate decisions of Prime Minister Seniora. Then, the
Presidency became under the authority of other leaders, resulting in the spread
of corruption, and settlements that all resulted in the current situation.
His Excellency the President made it clear that despite everything that is
happening, he did not despair of the initiatives reaching a solution with the
presence of sane people, provided that the constitution and the powers entrusted
to the constitutional authorities, primarily the presidency, are not violated.
Head of the Kuwaiti Red Crescent:
The President praised the historical relations which bind Lebanon and Kuwait,
and its stand next to Lebanon in all circumstances which the Lebanese went
through, in addition to opening its doors to the Lebanese to contribute to the
Kuwaiti economic renaissance.
The President also considered that the Kuwaiti Prince, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber
Al-Sabah expressed his love for Lebanon and the Lebanese , on several occasions,
in addition to his keenness to provide everything that helps to overcome the
ordeal which the country witnesses in various fields.
Moreover, President Aoun recalled the friendship he had with the late Prince,
Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who stood next to Lebanon in regional
and international forums, providing all necessary support in different
circumstances.
President Aoun’ positions came while receiving Chairman of the Board of
Directors of the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society, Dr. Hilal Musaed Al-Sayer.
The Kuwaiti Ambassador to Lebanon, Abdel-Al Suleiman Al-Qana’i, head of the
Kuwaiti Red Crescent mission in Lebanon, Dr. Musaed Rashid Al-Enezi, and a
member of the delegation, Mr. Abdullah Ali Al-Mushawah also attended the
meeting.
At the outset of the meeting, Ambassador Al-Qinai conveyed to President Aoun the
greetings of the Kuwaiti Prince, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Crown
Prince Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and officials in the Kuwaiti
government.
Then Dr. Al-Sayer briefed the President on the assistance provided by Kuwait and
his Society after the Beirut Port explosion, especially the air bridge, which
included 18 planes transportinghundreds of tons of aid, in addition to the
restoration of a number of houses damaged as a result of the explosion,
children’s cancer and hospitals. Contributions also included a number of
Lebanese regions, including vaccinating more than 36,000 displaced Syrians, and
providing ambulances and other blood transfusions.
In addition, Dr. Al-Sayer pointed out that the association is in the process of
preparing to send shipments of infant formula and medicines to treat chronic
diseases, noting the existing coordination between the association and the
Lebanese Red Cross.
The President then thanked Dr. Al-Sayer for the support which the Society
provided and still intends to provide. President Aoun also conveyed his
greetings to the Kuwaiti Prince, through the delegation, wishing Kuwait
continuous progress and prosperity, and contentment to its brotherly people.
Dr. Al-Sayer’s Statement:
After the meeting, Dr. Al-Sayer made the following statement:
“We discussed the assistance provided by the State of Kuwait and the Kuwaiti Red
Crescent in Lebanon, especially after the Beirut Port explosion, with President
Michel Aoun, in the presence of Ambassador Abdel Al AL-Kinaii. 18 planes loaded
with 700 tons of health and relief aid immediately departed from Kuwait after
this explosion, in addition to two hospitals including the Children’s Cancer
Center. In addition, 3 wards were rehabilitated at the Wardia hospital, a
maternity ward, an orthopedic ward and an internal medicine ward.
Moreover, Kuwait contributed to the assistance of Lebanese farmers, through
purchasing 3,000 tons of agricultural crops and distributing them to Syrian
refugees. The Red Crescent, in cooperation with the Lebanese Health Ministry,
provided 36,000 doses pf Pfizer vaccine to Syrian refugees, Palestinians and
some Lebanese, where a number of them were vaccinated in several Lebanese
regions, including the north, Akkar and Sidon.
The President thanked the State of Kuwait and the Kuwaiti Red Crescent for the
assistance provided to Lebanon, especially in this difficult period”.
Congratulation to the Newly-Elected Iranian President:
President Aoun also sent a congratulation telegram to the newly-elected Iranian
President, Sayed Ibrahim Raaisi. President Aoun wished President Raaisi success
in his new responsibilities, and emphasized the friendly relations between
Lebanon and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Congratulation to the UN
Secretary-General:
The President also sent a cable to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres,
congratulating him on his re-election as UN Secretary-General.
President Aoun asserted the development in relations between Lebanon and all
international organizations.-- Presidency Press Office
Statement by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers on
the current crisis
NNA/June 21/2021
The Presidency of the Council of Ministers’ Press Office has issued the
following statement:
No sane person would accept this political impotence, the interruption of the
meaningful dialogue among relevant parties, and the disruption of all ways out
that would lead to a settlement with regard to forming an effective government
capable of addressing the severe financial, economic, social and living crises,
so as to stop the downfall caused by decades-long accumulated wrong financial
policies, and which is currently deepened by the sharp political division that
has been preventing the formation of the government for more than ten months,
and is causing the collapse of the national currency.
The serious crisis that the country has reached, requires collective
consciousness to reverse the comprehensive collapse that increases the suffering
of the Lebanese and cuts off the path to any rescue plan, after personal
accounts had “masked facts” and put the government’s recovery plan on hold for
more than a year now. Had the plan been implemented, Lebanon and the Lebanese
would have been spared manylosses.
But ironically, some are trying to hide theirpolitical impotence behind smoke
bombs, and to hold the caretaker government responsible for their impotence,
through calls to "reinstate" and "reactivate" the caretaker government, pushing
it to violate the Constitution.
In view of these facts, we recall and emphasize the following:
1- The priority remains, always and forever, theformation of a new Cabinet to
end the political division that is pushing the country towards a devastating
collision at all levels.
2- The formation of the government is a national responsibility, and under the
current circumstances, it is considered a sacred mission for which all concerned
parties are supposed to mobilize. Since the delay in government formation
constitutes a slam to the homeland and citizens, and causes the orchestrated
fluctuation in the US dollar exchange rate, which is the root of all problems.
In fact, the dollar exchange ratehas doubled since the resignation of the
government, together with the shortage of medicine and fuel, and the aggravation
of electricity and hospital crises.
3- The hidden and visible pursuit of the resigned government’s “reinstatement”
and “reactivation” is not based on any constitutional provision; thus, it is an
attempt to bypass constitutional facts represented by the resignation of the
government and the binding parliamentary consultations that have led to the
designation of a new prime minister.
4- The Constitution explicitly equates the government’s mandate before the vote
ofconfidence with the government’s powers after its resignation. The government
is entitled, after its formation and before gaining confidence, with exactly the
same powers granted to the resigned government. Article 64 (2) stipulates the
following: "... The government shall not exercise its powers before it gains
confidence nor after it has resigned or is considered resigned, except in the
narrow sense of a care-taker government." Any interpretation of this text is
contrary to what is stipulated and applicable since the drafting of the
Constitution, which was previously confirmed by the Parliament.
5- The calls to “reinstate” and “reactivate” the resigned government constitute
an acknowledgment of the failure, and an attempt to circumvent the main goal of
forming a new government, which means conceding to the vacuum that should never
be surrendered to.
6- The exceptional, difficult and historical circumstances that Lebanon is going
through call for a national mobilization and concessions from all parties, to
form a government that has the authority to resume negotiations with the
International Monetary Fund, on the basis of the recovery plan elaborated by the
resigned government.
7- In light of the increasing financial and social pressures on citizens due to
the delay in forming the government, some political forces are trying to evade
their responsibilities and blame the caretaker government for their failure and
inability to forge an understanding on the future government. Some of these
forces, while being directly responsible for the current deadlock, are even
trying to hold the caretaker government accountable for their practices and
impotence.
8- The resigned government bore, with great and historical responsibility, the
burden of the wrong policies that brought the country to a state of collapse,
and developed a transparent and objective plan to address this collapse, which
was commended by the International Monetary Fund and several international
bodies. If it were not for the waste of time by politicians, economists and
financial experts, who tried to resist that plan in an attempt to disrupt it and
plunge the country into a state of financial and economic chaos, the recovery
would have started a year ago.
9- The resigned government carried out its duties in full over the course of six
months in its capacity as a full-fledged government; and after its resignation,
it continued to carry out its dutiesas a caretaker government, with the highest
degree of national responsibility; it has deployedthe utmost effort, and its
president and ministershave been following up, daily and around the clock, all
files. They have been striving to address the chronic and urgent problems, and
they did not fail in dealing with all files and tasks. Had it not been for this
continuous effort, the problems would have been much greater. Consequently, this
government, which faced the greatest challenges in Lebanon’s history, exerted
its utmost efforts, abiding by national principlesand scientific standards,
since its formation over a period of six months, and after its resignation for
more than ten months now.
10- Doing things quietly is the characteristic of this government, and it did
not try to capitalizeon the individual and collective efforts exerted by its
president and ministers, for political or electoral purposes, because the main
concern is a national rather than a personal one, and as the priority is for
people, not politics.
11- The resigned government has completed the financing card draft, as well as
the World Bank loan program to help vulnerable families. It has developed many
formulas to rationalize subsidies, which are awaiting approval of the financing
card by the Parliament to determine the appropriate one. The government is also
addressing the various life, living and social affairs of citizens, and is
seeking to mitigate the repercussions of the BdL’s decision to stop financing
the import of gasoline, diesel, medicine and fuel for electricity, which we did
not agree to without the financing card.
The Presidency of the Council of Ministersassures that it will not fail to put
forth its best effort to alleviate the impact of the crisis and conduct state
affairs in the sense of a caretaker government, in the hope that political
forces will assume their responsibilities in expediting the formation of a new
government, so that crossing the dark tunnel does not take long.-- Caretaker PM
Press office
Lebanon ‘sliding into the abyss’ as politicians fail to
break impasse
Steve Sweeney/Morning star On Line/June 21/2021
CRIPPLING United States sanctions, bringing shortages of fuel and medicine
across Lebanon, are killing its people, with one citizen telling the Morning
Star that they are “not human beings any more.”As the deepening economic crisis
pushes people into poverty, with the currency losing 90 per cent of its value in
just 18 months, the hotel worker said that the people of Lebanon “can’t take
much more.“We have no electricity, no benzine [fuel], no medicine; pharmacies
are closed, hospitals will close, the cost of basic food is rising. “We are
dying. We are not human beings any more. Animals live better than people in this
country. They [politicians] are killing us,” she said. Leading Lebanese
newspaper the Daily Star reported that the country was “sliding into the abyss”
today as influential MP Gebran Bassil rebuffed a proposal by parliament speaker
Nabih Berri to form a 24-member non-partisan cabinet.
With President Michel Aoun and prime minister-designate Saad Hariri also at
loggerheads, efforts to break the deadlock over the formation of a new
government appear to be at an impasse. Mr Bassil, the leader of the Free
Patriotic Movement, said that Mr Berri’s proposal, which was tabled last week,
“exposed a more dangerous and deeper crisis,” insisting it posed a threat to
Christian rights in the Lebanese government. He accused political leaders of
betraying the 1989 Taif Accord, which ended the country’s devastating civil war
and ensured equal power sharing between Christians and Muslims.
On Sunday Mr Bassil reiterated his support for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah,
a key ally of Mr Aoun, and sought his help as an “arbitrator” regarding the
formation of a new cabinet.
‘I trust him, his honesty, and I entrust him with the issue of [Christian]
rights,” he said in a televised speech, describing the Shia leader as “a
friend.” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who held a series of
meetings in Lebanon on Sunday, warned that the economic bloc was considering
imposing sanctions on politicians responsible for the crisis. He called on
politicians to break the deadlock and form a government which he urged to reach
a deal with the International Monetary Fund, a move that previous governments
have been reluctant to make. Many Lebanese people blame the US’s Caesar Act for
their predicament. Introduced last year, its sanctions were supposed to put
“maximum pressure” on the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and
also target Hezbollah. Mr Nasrallah insists that the measures are aimed at
“starving the Lebanese and Syrian people,” claiming it is an act of desperation
after Washington failed to win the military war in Syria.
US weighs options as Lebanon’s allies move to assist military
Jared Szuba/Al-Monitor/June 21/2021
The Pentagon and State Department are exploring "creative ways" to help the
Lebanese armed forces offset their costs amid financial crisis.
The State Department notified Congress last week of a plan to grant the Lebanese
armed forces an additional $15 million in foreign military funding, bringing the
fiscal year's total to $120 million. The funds, to be drawn from the overseas
contingencies operations budget, will cover spare parts to maintain US-made
military equipment as well as longer-term support for Lebanon's border security
and counterterrorism operations. But US aid alone may not be enough. The
Lebanese military's top commander, Gen. Joseph Aoun, has been sounding the alarm
for months about the army’s inability to adequately pay the more than 80,000
troops under his command. Lebanon’s currency has lost 90% of its value since
late 2019, leaving the country with worsening food, fuel and electricity
shortages from which the armed forces are not exempt. The country’s financial
implosion is likely to be among the worst the world has seen in 150 years, the
World Bank said earlier this month. The increase in US support was discussed
during a mostly virtual meeting between Aoun and Pentagon and State Department
officials in Beirut last month.
Led by C.S. Eliot Kang, the State Department’s top official for arms control and
international security, the US side laid out a five-year plan to build up the
Lebanese military, borrowing from the policy playbook for Egypt and Jordan. For
the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the needs are urgent: spare parts, tires, food,
gasoline and other basic necessities. Aoun publicly warned in March that his
soldiers were “suffering and hungry” and spoke of growing discontent in army’s
ranks after the government slashed the Lebanese military's funding. “What do you
plan to do? ... Do you want the army or not?” Aoun admonished Lebanon's
political leaders, who have been unable to form a government. The Lebanese armed
forces have pushed back on reports of desertions, but fears that its ranks may
soon begin fracturing — as they did during the civil war that began in 1975 —
have added to the urgency of the moment.
A year ago, Lebanon's military announced it would stop serving meat to its
personnel amid food shortages. Monthly salaries have dropped eightfold to
roughly $100 for soldiers, while many officers now earn roughly $400 per month.
Aoun said Tuesday that he was ready to “go to the ends of the earth” to obtain
assistance from governments abroad “so that the army can remain on its
feet.”Meanwhile, Lebanon’s allies increasingly view the country's armed forces
as the sole institution with broad enough popular legitimacy to prevent state
collapse. The Biden administration is weighing options that could help the
Lebanese military pay its troops’ salaries, according to an official who
requested anonymity to discuss the matter. Experts say the aid cannot come fast
enough. “There needs to be some sort of cash assistance,” said Randa Slim,
director of the conflict resolution program at the Middle East Institute in
Washington.
Despite support from some in the Pentagon and an apparent green light from
congressional Democrats last month, Washington’s ability to directly fund the
Lebanese armed forces remains limited by the Arms Export Controls Act and other
legislative restrictions. The Pentagon “is working closely with interagency and
international partners exploring ways to provide additional emergency support”
to the Lebanese armed forces, spokeswoman Cmdr. Jessica McNulty told Al-Monitor
via email. “The Defense Department and Department of State are exploring whether
there are creative ways to help the Lebanese Armed Forces offset the costs … of
salaries,” she wrote. She said one way of doing this could be by supporting some
of the Lebanese military's other operational costs. With no end in sight to the
political wrangling preventing a potential International Monetary Fund bailout
for Lebanon, the US administration has turned to allies to keep Aoun’s forces
afloat for now, encouraging Gulf states to engage with Beirut and urging
Israel’s new government to be more flexible in its maritime hydrocarbon dispute
with its neighbor to the north. On Thursday, France’s Defense Ministry convened
a virtual donors’ conference of the International Support Group for Lebanon,
including the United States, Russia, China and a number of Gulf states in hopes
of raising tens of millions of dollars to prop up the Lebanese armed forces.
While the outcome of the meeting remains unclear, France, Egypt, Oman and
Morocco have already sent tons of food to the Lebanese military.
MoPH: 46 new coronavirus infections, 3 deaths
NNAJune 22/ 2021
Lebanon has recorded 46 new coronavirus cases and three deaths in the last 24
hours, as reported by the Ministry of Public Health on Monday.
Health Minister to hold health cooperation talks in Turkey
NNA/June 22/ 2021
Caretaker Minister of Public Health, Dr. Hamad Hassan, will head to Turkey at
dawn on Tuesday, on a three-day visit, during which he will meet and discuss
health cooperation with his Turkish counterpart, Fahrettin Koca. Hassan is also
scheduled to visit pharmaceutical and medical supplies’ factories and will be
briefed about the Turkish medical tourism strategy. “The aim of the visit is to
strengthen bilateral cooperation in the health field, especially that Turkish
medicines and medical supplies meet in their quality and prices the Lebanese
scientific standards. Cooperation in this field is a substantial support for the
health and pharmaceutical sector in Lebanon, especially amid the delicate and
sensitive conditions that the country endures,” he added.
Aoun Says ‘No Despair’ on Solutions
Naharnet/June 22/ 2021
President Michel Aoun asserted that he “did not despair” on the success of
initiatives aimed at easing the cabinet hurdles, the National News Agency
reported on Monday.
He said despite everything that is happening, he “did not despair on the
initiatives for reaching a solution with the presence of sane people, provided
that the constitution and powers entrusted by constitutional authorities,
primarily the presidency, are not violated”.
Aoun’s position was conveyed by MP, Maj. Gen. Jamil el-Sayed after a meeting
between the two at Baabda Palace. NNA said the two men discussed the current
political developments at the government level, and the parties' positions in
that regard.
Berri Says Bassil Agreed to 'Half' of His Initiative
Naharnet/June 22/ 2021
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has said that Free Patriotic Movement chief
Jebran Bassil has agreed to only “half” of his initiative for resolving the
government formation crisis. “Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri agreed to the
initiative that I proposed while MP Jebran Bassil agreed to half of it,” Berri
told Annahar newspaper in an interview to be published in full Tuesday. He also
stressed that Hariri “was named by the lawmakers, not by us.”Separately, the
Speaker said that it is the caretaker cabinet’s “duty” to convene to approve the
state budget. He also said that “oil wells can generate billions” and that
Lebanon is “not bankrupt.” Bassil had on Sunday said that Berri has not been an
"impartial mediator" in his latest efforts to find a solution to the deadlock,
urging Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to step in as a "friend" and
"referee."
Premiership Slams Calls for Activating Caretaker Cabinet
Naharnet/June 22/ 2021
The Premiership on Monday criticized calls by politicians for “activating” the
caretaker cabinet over the delay in forming a new government, saying the
solution to the country’s multiple crises lies in putting together a new
cabinet. “Some of this political impotence is trying to hide behind smoke bombs
and to burden the caretaker cabinet… through the slogans of ‘floating’ and
‘activation,’” the Premiership said in a statement, accusing some political
forces of seeking to push the caretaker cabinet to “violate the
constitution.”Reminding that “binding parliamentary consultations had produced a
PM-designate,” the Premiership warned that “the delay in the formation of a new
government represents a stab against the country and the citizens.”“It is
causing this premeditated chaos in the U.S. dollar exchange rate, which is the
core of all problems,” the Premiership added, noting that the procrastination is
also behind “the medicine and fuel shortages and the aggravation of the
electricity and hospitals crises.”“The extraordinary, difficult and historic
circumstances that Lebanon is going through require national mobilization and
concessions from all the parties, in order to form a government that has the
jurisdiction to resume the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund,
after they were launched by the (Hassan Diab) government,” the Premiership
urged.
Oueidat Refers Judge Ghada Aoun to Judicial Inspection
Naharnet/June 22/ 2021
State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat on Monday referred Mount Lebanon Attorney
General Judge Ghada Aoun to judicial inspection for “preventing Attorney General
Judge Samer Lichaa from removing the red wax seals from the offices of the
Mecattaf money transfer firm,” the National News Agency said.Lichaa had been
informed by Aoun that she was still conducting investigations into the file and
that she would not remove the seals before the end of the probe. The firm’s
lawyer Alexander Najjar had earlier filed a request for removing the seals with
Judge Lichaa, who in turn referred the request to the public prosecution.
Judge Orders Prosecution of Stations Withholding Fuel from Consumers
Naharnet/June 22/ 2021
Mount Lebanon Attorney General Judge Samer Lichaa on Monday ordered the
prosecution of gas stations withholding fuel from citizens, state-run National
News Agency said. NNA said Lichaa sent memos to State Security chief Maj. Gen.
Tony Saliba and Judicial Police head Brig. Gen. Maher al-Halabi, tasking them
with enforcing a circular issued by State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat, which had
ordered legal measures against the owners of gas stations that refuse to sell
fuel to citizens. “Judge Lichaa requested carrying out the necessary
investigations and reopening gas stations that are violating Article 8 of Decree
73/83,” the agency added. Noting that the aforementioned stations have “large
quantities” of fuel, Lichaa ordered the summoning and interrogation of owners so
that he can take the “necessary measures against them.”
Hassan to Travel to Turkey to Boost Medical Cooperation
Naharnet/June 22/ 2021
Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan will travel at dawn Tuesday to Turkey for
an official visit that will last three days, the National News Agency said.
During the visit, Hassan will meet with his Turkish counterpart Fahrettin Koca
and will visit factories that manufacture medicine and medical equipment, NNA
added. He will also look into “the strategy of Turkish medical tourism,” the
agency said. In remarks carried by NNA, Hassan said the visit aims to
“strengthen cooperation in the health sector,” noting that “the quality and
prices of Turkish medicines and medical equipment meet the Lebanese scientific
standards.”“Cooperation in this field represents important support for the
health and pharmaceutical sector in Lebanon amid the delicate and critical
circumstances of the current phase,” the minister added.
Masnaa Road Blocked over Efforts to Curb Smuggling to Syria
Associated Press/June 22/ 2021
Demonstrators blocked a highway connecting Lebanon and Syria on Monday with
burned tires and metal bars, protesting a decision by Lebanese authorities aimed
at curbing smuggling into Syria, Lebanon's official news agency reported. The
outcry was particularly striking because it comes amid a worsening fuel shortage
in Lebanon that many blame on increased smuggling into Syria from the tiny
country. Lebanon's cash-strapped government, which has dwindling foreign
reserves, is struggling to secure fuel and subsidizing imports that include most
of the country's basic goods and medicine. Customs authorities in Lebanon's
eastern Bekaa region announced they will strictly enforce permit requirements
for vehicles going into Syria to limit smuggling of fuel. The National News
Agency said dozens of protesters on the Masnaa international highway demanded
the decision be applied to all those crossing into Syria or be scrapped.
Powerful smuggling cartels have operated across the porous borders for years,
particularly during the civil war over the last decade in Syria, where economic
conditions and shortages are also increasing. But Lebanon has been experiencing
a crippling economic and financial crisis since late 2019. The crisis is rooted
in years of corruption and mismanagement, but many also blame smuggling into
Syria for now depriving Lebanon's economy of much needed basics. With worsening
living conditions in Lebanon, some are filling up their cars with goods and fuel
and traveling into Syria through the Masnaa crossing to sell them on the other
side. A shortage of fuel is the latest grievance for the the Lebanese
population, who are quickly sinking into new depths of poverty. Long lines have
formed outside gas stations in cities and towns in Lebanon, choking traffic.
Motorists line up for hours to fill up but only receive rationed amounts of
fuel. Nerves have frayed in the long waits and in a number of incidents, angry
drivers have fired guns in the air to jump the line or demand more fuel. Power
outages have also increased. Generator operators, who typically have made up for
a patchy national power grid, are also beginning to ration their services --
leaving neighborhoods in total darkness for hours.
Report: Military Says Number of Soldiers Fleeing Army over Crisis 'Exaggerated'
Agence France Presse/June 22/ 2021
Military reports affirmed that the number of soldiers deserting the Lebanese
army over a severe financial crisis is very “limited,” Nidaa al-Watan newspaper
reported on Monday. There are a number of soldiers who reportedly applied for
dismissal, some for travel purposes and others in search for another job,
military reports told the daily. The army at the present exceptional economic
times in crisis-hit Lebanon, tolerates the fact that some soldiers are working
in second jobs to have enough to live on, according to the report. In addition,
some brigades and units have begun to agriculturally invest the lands
surrounding their centers to distribute their production to the military. The
Army leadership has begun placing special emphasis on healthcare to compensate
for deteriorating value of military salaries. Some of those who had submitted
requests for discharge from the army, reconsidered their move by submitting
requests for mercy because they found it difficult to secure medical care
outside the military institution, added the report. Since 2019, Lebanon has been
wrangling with an unprecedented economic and financial crisis that has eaten
away at the value of soldiers’ salaries and slashed the military’s budget for
maintenance and equipment. Last week, twenty nations during an international
support group meeting for Lebanon including France, the US, several EU member
states, Gulf countries, Russia and China, agreed to provide emergency aid to the
ailing military.
Israeli Forces Fire at Municipality Vehicle
Naharnet/June 22/ 2021
Israeli troops opened gunfire towards the Lebanese territories near the southern
town of Adaisseh on Monday, the National News Agency reported. They fired four
gunshots at a vehicle belonging to the municipality of Adaisseh. The vehicle was
concurrently watering the trees alongside the barrier wall between Lebanon and
Palestinian territories, said NNA.
Health Minister to hold health cooperation talks in Turkey
NNA/June 22/ 2021
Caretaker Minister of Public Health, Dr. Hamad Hassan, will head to Turkey at
dawn on Tuesday, on a three-day visit, during which he will meet and discuss
health cooperation with his Turkish counterpart, Fahrettin Koca. Hassan is also
scheduled to visit pharmaceutical and medical supplies’ factories and will be
briefed about the Turkish medical tourism strategy. “The aim of the visit is to
strengthen bilateral cooperation in the health field, especially that Turkish
medicines and medical supplies meet in their quality and prices the Lebanese
scientific standards. Cooperation in this field is a substantial support for the
health and pharmaceutical sector in Lebanon, especially amid the delicate and
sensitive conditions that the country endures,” he added.
LCC: To a Rescue Transitional Phase, and a Pivotal
Diaspora Role
June 22/ 2021
The Lebanese Civic Coalition board (LCC) formed by CNF, Pyramid and Our New
Lebanon, held its periodic meeting, and discussed the progress work of the
follow-up committees and organizational issues, as well as the developments at
the political, financial, economic, social, health, and diplomatic crisis. The
members emphasize the following:
1-The corrupt and murderous ruling regime that is committing a cold-blooded
genocide against the Lebanese people, must realize that its fall is inevitable,
and it will be resounding. The revolution's transition to an institutionalized
opposition and civic resistance with a clear sovereign vision, and an integrated
national rescue program indicates that an alternative exists, and that the
consolidation of its popular and constitutional legitimacy, is an irreversible
path.
2-The cumulative failures in all vital financial, economic, social and health
sectors, stand as a proof to the systematic destruction of the institutions in
charge of with these sectors. The widening nepotism-based strategies require
from the Lebanese people to show human solidarity and increase steadfastness to
liberate themselves from the bondage inflicted upon them by the corrupt and
murderous ruling regime.
3-The invitation of His Holiness Pope Francis to a day of contemplation and
prayer for Lebanon in the Vatican on the 1st of July, indicates that the Holy
See is sensitive to the threat surrounding the identity and entity of Lebanon,
and requires from the Lebanese people to continue their struggle relentlessly,
to achieve the desired historical change, where no place for the minorities
alliances but a solid policies towards establishing a Civil State in which the
inclusive Citizenship will prevail.
4-The support of the military and security forces, as pledged by the
International Support Group for Lebanon (ISGL) and expressed during a public
conference held last Thursday, together with the mobilization of humanitarian
aid to support the steadfastness of the Lebanese people, prove that the friends
of Lebanon in the free world refuse to destroy the entity of Lebanon, or to
change its civilized identity; they accompany the October 17 revolution in its
struggle to restore sovereignty and liberate the national decision, build a
civil state, implement structural reforms towards a good governance, and bring
Lebanon back to Arab and international legitimacy, and he is a founding member
of the League of Arab States and the United Nations.
5-The mock-protest of the ruling regime, and its puppet trade union and economic
platforms demonstration express a resounding bankruptcy, and require a
revolution to reconfigure the legitimacy of these platforms.
6-The Lebanese diaspora international weight, is fundamental to liberate Lebanon
from the criminal, corrupt and murderous ruling regime, and therefore it must be
met with a systematic internal work and with the widest alliance to the
opposition, to earn credibility and effectiveness among the decision makers in
the world.
The Lebanese Civic Coalition (LCC), as it aspires to achieve structural change in
all national joints, calls on the Lebanese people to show steadfastness despite
all the difficulties; there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it features
an inevitable rescue transitional period.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous
Reports And News published on June
21-22/2021
Lapid to be first-ever Israeli minister to visit UAE
next week
Lahav Harkov/Jerusalem Post/June 21/2021
No Israeli cabinet ministers visited the UAE or Bahrain since the Abraham
Accords were announced. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid plans to visit the United
Arab Emirates next week, making him the first Israeli minister on an official
visit to the country that made peace with Israel last year. Lapid, on his first
trip in his new role, will be the guest of UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin
Zayed in Abu Dhabi next Tuesday and Wednesday, and he will dedicate the Israeli
embassy in the Emirati capital, as well as the consulate in Dubai. “Israel-UAE
ties are an important relationship whose fruit is enjoyed not only by the
citizens of the two countries, but of the entire Middle East,” Lapid’s spokesman
said on Monday. Israel and the UAE announced a peace and normalization
agreement, facilitated by the US and called the Abraham Accords, in August 2020.
Bahrain joined soon after, and then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the
foreign ministers of the two Gulf states signed the accords at the White House
the following month. In the ensuing months, Sudan and Morocco announced
normalization with Israel, as well. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett tweeted a
message of support after Lapid’s announcement.
“This is an important historic event,” Bennett wrote. “Israeli-Emirates
relations are an important part of Israel’s foreign policy and we will work to
deepen them. “Good luck Yair,” he added, along with emoji of the Israeli and
Emirati flags. No Israeli cabinet ministers have visited the UAE or Bahrain
since the Abraham Accords were announced. Netanyahu had to postpone several
planned trips due to coronavirus lockdowns, and because one was too close to
this year’s election and the UAE did not want the relationship to be
politicized. Netanyahu would not allow other ministers to travel to the Gulf
before he did, and former foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi and tourism minister
Orit Farkash-Hacohen, now science and technology minister, had to cancel planned
trips. Ashkenazi met with his Emirati counterpart in Berlin, and Bahrain Foreign
Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani visited Israel. National Security
Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat visited Abu Dhabi with a large professional delegation
two weeks after the Abraham Accords were announced. Knesset Foreign Affairs and
Defense Committee chairman Ram Ben-Barak spoke with his Emirati counterpart Ali
Rashid al-Nuaimi, who is an outspoken supporter of the Abraham Accords.
Ben-Barak said that “peace between Israel and the UAE is an important strategic
asset in promoting stability and peace in the Middle East... The conversation
between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi is a dream come true for me, and adds another
level to the cooperation and peace between nations.”The chairmen discussed
national and regional security, foreign relations, and bilateral relations
between the committees, parliaments and countries. Nuaimi suggested establishing
a joint parliamentary delegation, along with members of other legislatures in
the Middle East, to travel to the US and other countries to encourage peace and
cooperation across the region.
Ben-Barak said he supports the idea.
Hamas' Growing Closeness To Iran And Rapprochement With
Assad Regime Enrages Syrian Opposition
MEMRI/June 21, 2021
The recent Hamas-Israel conflict brought into focus the years-long close
relationship between Hamas and Iran. During the operation, Hamas leaders were in
constant contact with Iranian offsssicials, and each side fulsomely praised the
other. Both stressed Iran's contribution to the development of Hamas' military
capabilities.
As part of its achievements in the conflict, Hamas sought also to revive its
relations with the Syrian regime, that had been disrupted with the outbreak of
the civil war there in 2011 following the organization's alignment with the
Syrian opposition and criticism of the regime's violent repression of the
protests.[1] In this endeavor, Hamas consulted with Iran and Hizbullah, and
Hizbullah deputy secretary-general Na'im Qassim declared, several times, that
there was progress towards a revival of relations between the sides.[2]
While the Syrian regime has not yet officially spoken about this, Palestinian
elements who met with President Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus on May 20 stated
that he had sent his blessing through them to the Palestinian factions,
including Hamas.
Hamas's rapprochement with the Syrian regime and its close relationship with
Iran have brought harsh criticism from the Syrian opposition. Various opposition
elements see expressions of support for Iran and for Assad as betrayal of the
Syrian people, and argue that it will have serious ramifications for Hamas.
Gaza billboard presents Iranian Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani as a
"martyr for Jerusalem" (Source: Manartv.com/lb, January 2, 2021).
This report will review Hamas's increasingly close relationships with Iran and
the Syrian regime, and the Syrian opposition's reactions to them.
Hamas Thanks Iran For Its Support, Expresses Desire For Rapprochement With Assad
Regime
Even prior to the recent Gaza conflict, senior Hamas officials spoke frequently
about the importance of Iran's aid to the organization and its contribution to
its increased military might and improved missile capabilities. Boasts about
Iran's contribution to Hamas's military development came also from many Iranian
officials.[3] During the conflict, there were many phone conversations between
Hamas leaders and Iranian officials, in which Iran promised its support for the
Palestinians,[4] and in a speech at the end of the conflict, Hamas political
bureau head Isma'il Haniya thanked Iran for the financial and military aid it
had provided.[5] Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar also expressed his thanks to
Iran.[6]
At the same time, there was a flurry of reports about mediation by Iran and
Hizbullah in order to facilitate a rapprochement between Hamas and the Syrian
regime. Hizbullah deputy secretary-general Qassim said on May 28: "The issue of
the Syria-Hamas relationship has been monitored in previous months, and there
has been progress, including in the possibility of a renewal of relations
between them. What happened in the honorable Sword of Jerusalem battle [Hamas'
name for the recent Israel-Gaza conflict] accellerated these steps."[7] A member
of the Hamas leadership said that the organization would soon consult with
Hizbullah and Iran in order to "take the pulse of the Syrians in the matter of
renewing relations with [our] organization," and assessed that the Syrian
reactions to this would be positive. [8] The Lebanese website Almarkazia.com
reports that Esmail Qaani, commander of the Qods Force in Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), visited Beirut to coordinate with Hizbullah
on the issue of Hamas' return to Syria and Lebanon.[9]
Against this backdrop, it was pointed out that on May 20 a meeting was held in
Damascus between Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and commanders and
representatives of Palestinian factions, not including Hamas. According to one
participant – Talal Naji, an aide to the secretary general of the PFLP–GC –
Assad in this meeting "conveyed his blessings to the Hamas and Palestinian
[Islamic] Jihad fighters and to all the resistance factions in Palestine." PFLP
deputy secretary-general Abu Ahmad Fuad, also a participant, said that Assad had
stressed that "the doors of Syria are open to all the resistance factions,
whatever their names may be."[10] In response, Hamas commander Osama Hamdan
said: "We will respond to anyone who blesses us with [even] better words... It
is natural for relations with Damascus to return to what they once were."[11]
Syrian Oppositionists: Hamas' Support For Iran And The Assad Regime Is A
Betrayal We Will Not Forget
The Hamas officials' expressions of gratitude to Iran, and the apparent
rapprochement between this organization and the Assad regime, hurt and angered
elements in the Syrian opposition, which often expresses support for the
Palestinians and did so especially during the recent round of fighting in Gaza.
Syrian oppositionists, who see points of similarity between their struggle
against the regime and the Palestinians' struggle against Israel, found it
difficult to accept the Hamas officials' support for the Syrian regime and its
ally Iran, whom they accuse of perpetrating crimes against the Syrian people.
Nasser Al-Hariri, chair of the Syrian National Coalition of Opposition and
Revolutionary Forces, took a fairly moderate tone, saying: "The untypical
statements we sometimes hear from certain [Palestinian] factions regarding the
criminal [Syrian] regime and regarding Iran, which have killed and expelled
[both] Syrians and Palestinians, are reprehensible statements that do not
represent the Palestinian people and will naturally not affect our position and
our strong ties with our brothers in Palestine… During the last war [in Gaza] we
saw all the world's free peoples acting to assist Palestine, while the paper
[tigers] and the boasters of the so-called resistance axis all vanished and were
as silent as the grave… For 50 years they have been exploiting [the cause of]
liberating Palestine, and have been oppressing people using this hollow claim as
a pretext. All they have done for Palestine and the [Muslim] nation is to reject
freedom and the independence of the peoples, while oppressing, killing and
expelling free people. Their conduct is no less hideous than that of the Israeli
occupation…"[12]
Abu Barzan Al-Sultani, the commander of "Division 20," an opposition militia
close to Turkey, had harsher words for Hamas. He tweeted: "Nobody ascribes more
importance to the Palestinian cause than the Syrians, Yemenis and Iraqis, yet
Hamas ignored the [spilled] blood of these peoples and praised their killers.
This will have significant consequences in the future, and Hamas must mend this
mistake and apologize. We support Gaza and Palestine and will sacrifice our
lives for them, but the blood of our martyrs is [also] dear to us."[13]
Syrian social media activist Mahmoud Talha also rebuked Hamas, saying: "The
[Syrian] rebels are united in their support for the Palestinian people. However,
there is controversy over the positions published by some leaders of the
Palestinian resistance, which hurt the Syrians. These included lavish praise for
Iran and Qassem Soleimani, commander of [the IRGC] Qods Force [who was killed in
2020]… The number of Syrians killed by Soleimani in the name of religious and
sectarian slogans is probably equal to the number of Palestinians killed by the
Israeli enemy… It is saddening that the positions of the leaders of the
Palestinian resistance ignore this and present him as a martyr [who died] for
Jerusalem…[14] We will never forget this stab in the back."[15]
Syrian Journalist: Anyone Who Expresses Gratitude To The Syrian Regime And Iran
Is Our Enemy
In an article on the opposition website Orient-news.net, Syrian journalist
Mahmoud Rahil slammed the Hamas leaders, saying that their words of praise for
Iran and the Assad regime cannot be justified. He wrote: "Syrians around the
world followed the deadly events in Gaza and Jerusalem and expressed their full
support for their Palestinian brothers and their rejection of the Zionist
occupation, its settlement activities and its killing of innocent people… But
what sparked condemnations from many activists was the statements of some Hamas
leaders, who thanked Iran for helping the resistance with money and weapons and
declared their willingness to renew relations with the regime of the criminal
Bashar Al-Assad, after congratulating him and praising the Palestinian factions
that met with him… These stupid statements – bereft of any respect for the
feelings of the Syrians, whom the Iranian and Syrian regimes have murdered –
prompted condemnation and censure of Hamas for supporting murderers and
criminals.
"Anyone who expresses gratitude to Iran, its militias and all its servants in
the Syrian regime and Hizbullah, and who declares his desire to renew relations
with them, is our enemy. He is an enemy of the millions of Syrians who
sacrificed [their lives]. He [is like someone who] sees with only one eye, [for]
he notices the hand that gives him money but not the other hand that murders his
brothers. Our hostility towards Iran exceeds our hostility towards the Israeli
occupier, for the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli occupation against the
people of Gaza in this entire war are equal to the crimes perpetrated by the
Iranian occupier against the Syrians in just a few minutes…
"Some might say that the resistance has no choice but to support Iran,
especially after being abandoned by all the Arabs and Muslims. [They might ask:]
If you expect Hamas not to collaborate with Iran, what is the alternative? My
answer is that one does not need the help of a criminal and murderer who kills
one's brothers. Hamas is a resistance movement which presumably believes in
Allah, and knows that all its weapons and abilities are useless without Allah's
help. This [divine] help requires no alternatives, and whoever [relies on it]
does not need to beg for the aid of criminals and murderers. All he needs is
certainty and sincere faith [in Allah], and to cooperate with loyal and
honorable people in preparing and gearing up for war. The money Iran gives Hamas
is stolen from Arab countries, and the weapons it sends Hamas, if any, were
tested on the Syrians before being transferred to Hamas.
"Someone else might say: Hamas does express implicit support for the Syrian
revolution, and its statements [in praise of Iran and Assad] are only
meaningless polite words, uttered for media purposes – so why don't we ignore
them? My answer is: Who says that media [statements] are meaningless? Isn't the
media one of the major sources of support for the Palestinian cause? Were it not
for the media, all of Palestine would have been lost. Iran… is fully aware what
impact words like 'we thank the Islamic Republic of Iran' have when said by a
representative of the resistance into the receptive ears of 1.5 billion Muslims.
It is fully aware what it means when the resistance is willing to renew its ties
with a criminal regime that has killed over a million of its own people. It
knows very well that the words and statements of these people at this time have
a role in confirming Iran's false theory that it is defending Jerusalem and
Palestine, and that they will confirm [Iran's] claim that the road to Jerusalem
passes through Idlib, Aleppo and Homs, [thus] prompting [Iran] to perpetrate
more crimes and killings.
"Let's reverse the picture and imagine that the commanders of the Syrian
revolution decided to normalize their relations with Israel, God forbid, so as
to receive military and financial aid in order to fight the Assad regime. [What
if we decided that] we do not intervene in other countries, such as Palestine,
and [therefore] don't care what the Israeli occupation is doing there?… How
would our brothers in Palestine, or the families of the [Palestinians] who have
been martyred or expelled, react to this? Would they condemn our actions,
protest against us and be hostile towards us, or would they welcome our actions
over the dead bodies of their victims?
"Finally, let me say that, throughout their history, Iran, the Assad regime,
Hizbullah and the Iranian militias have brought [us] nothing but destruction,
killing, expulsion, poverty and attempts at demographic engineering. These
criminals cannot be expected to bring liberation or liberty. [Receiving] any
support from them will have a negative impact on Arab peoples, including on
Palestine and Gaza. These provocative statements by the Hamas leaders, in return
for feeble support, which is conditional upon these words of praise for the
murderers, will cause [the Palestinians] to lose the support of the Arab
peoples, who are oppressed by Iran. We all know that no will or force is greater
than the will and force of the peoples – especially of the oppressed peoples who
curse Iran and its supporters."[16]
[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 4104 - Reflecting Possible Change in Hamas
Stance, Movements' Columnists Attack Assad: You Will Meet Same Fate as Ousted
Tyrants – August 29, 2011.
[2] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), June 1, 2021.
[3] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 9330 - Hamas, Islamic Jihad Officials: Iran
Provides Our Missiles, Weapons, Funds, And Food, Our Gunmen 'Were Trained By Our
Brothers In The IRGC'; Without Iran's Assistance, We Wouldn't Be Able To Fire
Rockets At Tel Aviv; Qassem Soleimani Personally Oversaw Transfer Of Rockets To
Gaza – May 12, 2021; Inquiry and Analysis No. 1577 – Destruction Of Israel By
The Sword Or By Referendum – Part I: On Qods Day 2021, Iranian Supreme Leader
Khamenei Calls On Palestinians To Rise Up Against Israel, May 24, 2021.
[4] Isna.ir, May 11, 16, 2021; palinfo.com, May 15, 2021.
[5] Al-Sharq (Qatar), May 21, 2021. For excerpts from Haniya's statements, see
MEMRI TV Clip No. 8866, "Iranian TV Highlights Clip Of Hamas Leader Ismail
Haniyeh Thanking Iran For Providing Hamas With Money, Weapons, And Technical
Support," May 21, 2021.
[6] Palinfo.com, May 26, 2021. For excerpts from Sinwar's statements, see MEMRI
TV Clip No. 8905, "Hamas Leader In Gaza Yahya Sinwar: We Received Money From
Iran In The Last Few Days; We Are In The Process Of Moving Our Headquarters Out
Of Residential Areas," June 5, 2021.
[7] Alahednews.com.lb, May 28, 2021.
[8] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), May 22, 2021.
[9] Almarkazia.com, June 18, 2021.
[10] Almayadeen.net, May 20, 2021.
[11] Almayadeen.net, May 20, 2021.
[12] Stepagency-sy.net, May 23, 2021.
[13] Twitter.com/abu_brzan20, May 22, 2021.
[14] Hamas leader Isma'il Haniya described Soleimani in these terms in the
eulogy he delivered at his funeral.
[15] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), May 17, 2021.
[16] Orient-news.net, May 26, 2021.
Iran’s president-elect says he won’t meet Biden
NNA/AP/June 21, 2021
Iran’s president-elect said Monday he would not meet with President Joe Biden or
negotiate over Tehran’s ballistic missile program and its support of regional
militias, sticking to a hard-line position following his landslide victory in
last week’s election.
Judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi also described himself as a “defender of human
rights” when asked about his involvement in the 1988 mass execution of about
5,000 people. It marked the first time he’s been put on the spot on live
television over that dark moment in Iranian history at the end of the Iran-Iraq
war.
“The U.S. is obliged to lift all oppressive sanctions against Iran,” Raisi said
at his first news conference after Friday’s election, a contest widely seen as a
coronation after his strongest competition found themselves barred from running.
Asked about Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support of regional
militias, Raisi described the issues as “nonnegotiable.” On a possible meeting
with Biden, Raisi curtly answered: “No.” His moderate competitor in the
election, Abdolnasser Hemmati, had suggested during campaigning that he might be
willing to meet Biden. The White House did not immediately respond to Raisi’s
statements. Raisi will become the first serving Iranian president sanctioned by
the U.S. government even before entering office, in part over his time as the
head of Iran’s internationally criticized judiciary. Raisi’s victory has raised
concerns that it could complicate a possible return to the nuclear agreement. In
his remarks Monday, Raisi called sanctions relief as “central to our foreign
policy” and exhorted the U.S. to “return and implement your commitments” in the
deal. “No matter the timing, a U.S.-Iran agreement in Vienna leaves unanswered
whether the United States can achieve a broader rapprochement with an Iran led
by an avowed proponent of the core tenets of Iran’s Islamic Revolution,” the New
York-based Soufan Center said in an analysis Monday. On Sunday, Iran’s sole
nuclear plant at Bushehr underwent an unexplained emergency shutdown.
Previously, Iranian officials had warned that U.S. sanctions affected their
ability to get parts for the facility. On Saudi Arabia, which has recently
started secret talks with Iran in Baghdad over several points of contention
between the regional heavyweights, Raisi said that Iran would have “no problem”
with a possible reopening of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and that the
“restoration of relations faces no barrier.” The embassy was closed in 2016 as
relations deteriorated. Raisi struck a defiant tone, however, when asked about
the 1988 executions, which saw sham retrials of political prisoners, militants
and others that would become known as “death commissions.” After Iran’s
then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accepted a U.N.-brokered
cease-fire, members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, heavily
armed by Saddam Hussein, stormed across the Iranian border from Iraq in a
surprise attack. Iran ultimately blunted their assault.
The trials began around that time, with defendants asked to identify themselves.
Those who responded “mujahedeen” were sent to their deaths, while others were
questioned about their willingness to “clear minefields for the army of the
Islamic Republic,” according to a 1990 Amnesty International report.
International rights groups estimate that as many as 5,000 people were executed.
Raisi served on the commissions. “I am proud of being a defender of human rights
and of people’s security and comfort as a prosecutor wherever I was,” he said.
“All actions I carried out during my office were always in the direction of
defending human rights.”He added: “Today in the presidential post, I feel
obliged to defend human rights.
Iran's President-elect Defends Himself over 1988
Executions
Agence France Presse/June 21, 2021
Iran's president-elect has called himself "a defender of human rights" after
being asked directly about his involvement in the 1988 mass executions of some
5,000 people. Ebrahim Raisi made the comment Monday in a news conference with
journalists, his first since winning Friday's election in a landslide. Raisi was
part of a so-called "death panel" that sentenced political prisoners to death at
the end of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.
Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Plant Shut Down over 'Technical
Fault'
Agence France Presse/June 21/2021
Iran's southern Bushehr nuclear power plant has been temporarily shut down over
a "technical fault", the country's atomic energy body said in a statement.
"Following a technical fault at Bushehr power plant, and after a one-day notice
to the energy ministry, the plant was temporarily shut down and taken off the
power grid," Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said on its website around
Sunday midnight.
Hamas Denounces 'No Signs' of Helping Gaza Aid Crisis
Agence France Presse/June 21, 2021
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said talks Monday with U.N. diplomats
supporting a fragile month-old ceasefire had gone badly, accusing Israel of a
lack of will to end the humanitarian crisis. The crowded Mediterranean
territory, home to around two million Palestinians under an Israeli blockade
since 2007, was devastated by 11 days of conflict. U.N. Middle East peace envoy
Tor Wennesland arrived in Gaza on Monday for talks with Hamas leaders, one month
on since a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel came into force. But a source in
Hamas, who asked not to be identified, said the U.N. envoy had also delivered a
"negative message" from Israel to Hamas, without giving further details. "The
meeting was bad, it was not at all positive," the head of Hamas' political wing,
Yahya Sinwar told reporters. "They listened to us attentively, but there are no
signs that there are intentions towards solving the humanitarian crisis in the
Gaza Strip," Sinwar added. The U.N. declined to comment. Sinwar said leaders in
Gaza would meet in "the coming hours" to decide their next step. Israel said it
had allowed Monday the "limited export" of farm produce from Gaza to begin
Monday, as well as trucks carrying clothes and fabrics to leave. But Sinwar said
it did nothing to change the situation in Gaza, saying Israel continued to block
international aid, as well as critical fuel deliveries needed for the
electricity plant, and restrict movement including fishermen in the
Mediterranean.
"It is clear that the occupation (Israel) continues to practice its policies
against us and our people in the Gaza Strip," Sinwar said. "We told the
representatives of the United Nations that we will not accept this matter." The
ceasefire went into effect May 21, ending the bloodiest fighting between Israel
and Hamas since 2014. The conflict killed 260 Palestinians including some
fighters, according to Gaza authorities. In Israel, 13 people were killed,
including a soldier, by rockets fired from Gaza, the police and army said. Last
week, ceasefire violations included Palestinian militants setting off incendiary
balloons to spark fires in farm land -- and Israel responding with two rounds of
air strikes.
Germany Arrests Russian Scientist for 'Spying' for
Moscow
Agence France Presse/June 21, 2021
German federal prosecutors said Monday they had arrested a Russian scientist
accused of passing sensitive information from a German university to Moscow in
return for cash.They said in a statement the suspect, identified only as Ilnur
N., had been taken into custody on Friday on suspicion of "working for a Russian
secret service since early October 2020 at the latest".
US Navy tests warship's metal with megablast
NNA/AFP/June 21, 2021
The US Navy has started a series of tests on its newest and most advanced
aircraft carrier by detonating powerful explosions to determine whether the ship
is ready for war. The first of the tests, which are known as Full Ship Shock
Trials, occurred Friday when the Navy set off a giant explosive event near the
USS Gerald R. Ford, according to a statement. Images and video footage showed an
enormous burst of water shoot from the ocean as a result of what US media called
a 40,000-pound (18,144-kilogram) explosion. The US Geological Survey said the
explosion, which occurred in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast,
registered as a 3.9 magnitude earthquake. The Navy "conducts shock trials of new
ship designs using live explosives to confirm that our warships can continue to
meet demanding mission requirements under harsh conditions they might encounter
in battle," it said in the statement.
After the trials, the warship will undergo maintenance and repairs. The tests
are being conducted "within a narrow schedule that complies with environmental
mitigation requirements, respecting known migration patterns of marine life in
the test area," the Navy added.
Afghan Leader Ghani to Visit White House as Withdrawal
Nears
Agence France Presse/June 21, 2021
Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani and the head of the country's peace process will meet
President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday, as the planned American
military withdrawal accelerates. Biden has ordered the withdrawal of all US
forces from Afghanistan by this year's 20th anniversary of the September 11
attacks that triggered the invasion. In moving to end America's longest war, the
president said he believes that no more can be achieved. "The visit by President
Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah will highlight the enduring partnership between
the United States and Afghanistan as the military drawdown continues,"
spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement on Sunday. As the US military presses
ahead to meet the September 11 deadline, the Taliban have fought daily battles
with government forces and claim to have captured 40 districts. The growing fear
and uncertainty about the future have left many Afghans desperate to leave,
including thousands of men and women who fear reprisals because they worked with
foreign forces. The Taliban said Sunday they remain committed to peace talks but
insisted a "genuine Islamic system" in Afghanistan was the only way to end the
war and ensure rights -- including for women. Talks between the militants and
the Afghan government have been deadlocked for months and violence has surged
across the country since May when the US military began its final withdrawal.
U.S. Envoy Offers to Meet North Korea 'Anywhere Anytime'
Agence France Presse/June 21, 2021
The US special representative for North Korea on Monday offered to meet with
Pyongyang "anywhere, anytime, without preconditions", with no public contact so
far between the Biden administration and the nuclear-armed nation. Sung Kim's
remarks came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week gave his first
reaction to Washington's recent review of its approach to his isolated country,
saying Pyongyang must prepare for both "dialogue and confrontation". The Biden
administration has previously promised a "practical, calibrated approach",
including diplomatic efforts, to persuade the impoverished North to give up its
banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. "We continue to hope
that the DPRK will respond positively to our outreach, and our offer to meet
anywhere anytime without preconditions," US envoy Kim said during a five-day
visit to Washington's ally South Korea, referring to the North by its official
name. Last week, Kim Jong Un said the country's food situation was "tense",
sounding the alarm in a country with a moribund agricultural sector that has
long struggled to feed itself and is now under self-imposed isolation to try to
protect itself against the coronavirus pandemic. Pyongyang's state-run KCTV on
Sunday reported leader Kim and top officials had discussed "emergency measures"
to tackle the country's "current food crisis". North Korea has long insisted
that it has had no cases of the virus -- a claim that analysts doubt -- but it
has paid a heavy economic price for its self-imposed blockade. Trade with China,
its economic lifeline, has slowed to a trickle, while all international aid work
faces tight restrictions. Envoy Kim on Monday urged UN security council members
-- a group which includes China -- to fully implement resolutions against
Pyongyang, which limit North Korean imports of oil and its exports of coal,
textiles and fish, among other things. "We will continue to implement all UN
Security Council resolutions addressing the DPRK," he said, using the North's
official name. "We also urge UN member states, especially UN Security Council
members, to do the same to address the threat posed to the international
community by the DPRK."
Joint Statement by Canada, the European Union, United
Kingdom, and United States on the announcement of new sanctions against Belarus
June 21, 2021 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs
Canada
We are united in our deep concern regarding the Lukashenko regime’s continuing
attacks on human rights, fundamental freedoms, and international law.
Today, we have taken coordinated sanctions action in response to the May 23rd
forced landing of a commercial Ryanair flight between two EU member states and
the politically motivated arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich and his
companion Sofia Sapega, as well as to the continuing attack on human rights and
fundamental freedoms. We are committed to support the long-suppressed democratic
aspirations of the people of Belarus and we stand together to impose costs on
the regime for its blatant disregard of international commitments.
We are united in calling for the regime to end its repressive practices against
its own people. We are disappointed the regime has opted to walk away from its
human rights obligations, adherence to democratic principles, and engagement
with the international community. We are further united in our call for the
Lukashenko regime to: cooperate fully with international investigations into the
events of May 23rd; immediately release all political prisoners; implement all
recommendations of the independent expert mission under the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Moscow Mechanism; and enter into a
comprehensive and genuine political dialogue between the authorities and
representatives of the democratic opposition and civil society, facilitated by
the OSCE.
Canada imposes additional sanctions on Belarusian
individuals and entities over attacks on human rights and fundamental freedoms
June 21, 2021 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced new
sanctions against 17 individuals and 5 entities under the Special Economic
Measures Act (SEMA) in response to gross and systematic violations of human
rights occurring in Belarus. These measures are being taken in coordination with
the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
On May 23, 2021, the Belarusian regime yet again demonstrated its clear distain
for fundamental human rights—and media freedom in particular. On the pretext of
a dubious and still unverified bomb threat, the Belarusian regime diverted
Ryanair Flight 4978 from its planned course in order to land in Minsk. Upon
landing, Belarusian journalist, Roman Protasevich, and his companion, Sofia
Sapega, were detained by Belarusian authorities.
In addition to being a flagrant attack on freedom of expression, this reckless,
brazen act by the Belarusian regime jeopardized the safety of the flight’s other
passengers and constitutes serious interference in the fundamental principles
and international rules that ensure civil aviation safety around the world.
Once again, side by side with the United States, the United Kingdom and the
European Union, Canada is maintaining pressure on the Belarusian regime to end
its repeated assault on the human rights and dignity of the Belarusian people.
Quote
“The detention of Mr. Protasevich and Ms. Sapega is an attack on all who believe
in the freedom of expression. Canada and its partners will continue to maintain
pressure on the Belarusian regime due to its crackdown on human rights, and
Canada continues to call for an impartial investigation of all allegations of
torture and other cruel and inhumane treatment in Belarus.”
- Marc Garneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Related product
Backgrounder - Sanctions related to Belarus
Link to joint statement with EU, US, and UK
Quick facts
To date, Canada has sanctioned 72 Belarusian individuals and 5 entities under
SEMA due to the ongoing disregard for human rights demonstrated by the
Belarusian regime.
Associated links
Canada condemns Belarus’s diversion of Ryanair Flight 4978
Canadian sanctions related to Belarus
The Latest The Latest LCCC English
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June
21-22/2021
Taliban enters Kunduz City, seizes control of 16 districts
Bill Roggio/ FDD's Long War Journal/June 21/2021
The Taliban continues to drive Afghan security forces from districts throughout
Afghanistan and has entered a northern city as Afghan forces are either
surrendering or withdrawing from key administrative centers and security
outposts. Sixteen districts in 9 provinces have fallen under Taliban control
between June 18 and June 20, while Taliban forces have entered Kunduz City.
The Afghan security forces have so far been unable to halt the onslaught,
particularly in the north, where the Taliban has the momentum and is dictating
the pace of the fighting. Afghan military and police units are either abandoning
the district centers, and in some cases military bases, or are surrendering them
to the Taliban. Afghan forces have only been able to retake control of three
districts since May 1.
The Taliban’s offensive in the north is especially troubling, as these provinces
are home to many important Afghan government power brokers. If northern
provincial capitals remain under Taliban threat and entire provinces are left in
danger of falling to the Taliban, the Afghan government will be forced to
redeploy forces from the south and east, or risk losing large regions in the
north.
In Kunduz province, the Taliban “seized the [Kunduz City’s] entrance before
dispersing throughout its neighborhoods,” while fighting has been reported
throughout the city, The New York Times reported. The Taliban overran Kunduz
City in 2015 and 2016, and held it for a short period of time, before U.S.
airpower and special forces played a key role in helping the Afghan military
eject the Taliban from the city. This weekend, Taliban also captured the
district of Dasht-i-Archi in Kunduz province.
In one northern province, Takhar, the Taliban seized 8 districts – Baharak,
Bangi, Chal, Hazar Somch, Khwaja Bahawuddin, Khuwaja Ghar, Namak Ab, and Yangi
Qala – over the course of two days. Afghan forces were able to drive the Taliban
from Bangi and Khuwaja Ghar on June 21. Fighting has been reported outside of
Taloqan, Takhar’s provincial capital, as well as Maimana, the capital of the
troubled Faryab province.
In Takhar’s district of Baharak, “Around 110 members of police, army & members
of local uprisings surrendered to the Taliban” after being surrounded for three
days, Bilal Sawary, an independent Afghan journalist reported. The Taliban
executed the district head of the National Directorate of Security, which is
hated by the Taliban, and the “commander of local uprisings,” or tribal fighters
that organize to fight the jihadists. In Khwaja Bahauddin district, the Taliban
overran “a large base and all its facilities,” according to Tariq Ghazniwal, a
local Afghan journalist.
Also in northern Afghanistan, the Taliban took control of Chahar Bolak district
in Balkh province, Dahan-e-Ghori in Baghlan province, Dara-e-Suf Bala in
Samangan province, and Faizabad and Khanaqa in Jawzjan province.
In eastern Afghanistan, the Taliban seized Kharwar in Logar province, and in the
southwest, the Taliban took Khash Rod in Nimroz.
The Taliban has seized control of more than 50 districts since the U.S.
announced in mid-April it would withdrawal from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021.
The U.S. military is no longer providing air support for Afghan forces as it
focuses its efforts on withdrawing from the country. Many of the districts that
have been taken by the Taliban were previously contested, however, a handful of
the districts were previously under Afghan government control (including three
districts this weekend).
The Taliban currently controls 116 of Afghanistan’s 407 districts, while 192
districts are contested, according to FDD’s Long War Journal’s study of the
security situation in Afghanistan [See Mapping Taliban Contested and Controlled
Districts in Afghanistan].
Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and
the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.
Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research
benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting
and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for
reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
Biden should use Raisi election for Iran course change
John Bolton/The Washington Examiner/June 21/2021
Iran’s hard-line mullahs left nothing to chance in Friday’s presidential
election.
The man they wanted to win, Ebrahim Raisi, did so handily against a carefully
limited field of rivals. In 2017, Raisi lost to outgoing President Hassan
Rouhani, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was obviously determined to
correct that mistake. Western media call Raisi a "hard-liner," as if conveying
important information.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, however, the spectrum of Tehran’s leadership
has ranged broadly all the way from "hard-liner" to "extreme hard-liner." Raisi
falls in the latter category. Rouhani fell in the former, but it pleased many
Westerners to consider him a "moderate," essential to enacting the 2015 Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal.
Yet, in 2005, as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Rouhani mocked those very
admirers. The New York Times, no less, reported that "in a remarkable admission,
Mr. Rouhani suggested … that Iran had used negotiations with the Europeans to
dupe them. ... 'While we were talking with the Europeans in Tehran, we were
installing equipment … in Isfahan. ... By creating a calm environment, we were
able to complete the work on Isfahan.'"
Some things never change. Those who portrayed the "moderate" Rouhani as Iran’s
real boss should contemplate whether the term "supreme leader" means what it
says. It does have a certain ring to it.
Khamenei is only the second to hold the title, succeeding Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini in 1989. Raisi is widely believed to become the third supreme leader;
he is unlikely to forget the power of those two mellifluous words. Now facing a
weekslong presidential transition period in Tehran, the Biden administration
will undoubtedly worry most about whether it can beg its way back into the JCPOA,
from which Washington withdrew in May 2018.
Resurrecting this deal is a near-religious priority for the Biden team, many of
whose key figures were intimately involved (or at least entirely supportive) of
President Barack Obama’s efforts to negotiate it. Although few specifics are
publicly known, there is little doubt that the only limiting constraints on what
Biden is prepared to give away to the mullahs are the negative domestic
political consequences for surrendering. And make no mistake, those domestic
U.S. political consequences could be enormous. Whatever minor modifications may
occur to the deal, Iran will insist that key provisions and understandings
remain unchanged. For example, there will be no renewed efforts to get the facts
on the benignly termed "possible military dimensions" of Iran’s nuclear program.
In 2015, Iran made this concession a precondition to any deal. And don’t expect
international inspectors to get any more access than the inadequate levels they
now enjoy. Most importantly of all, Biden isn’t even contemplating clawing back
Obama’s critical concession that Iran be allowed to enrich uranium to
reactor-grade levels, a giveaway without which Iran would have rejected any
deal. President Lyndon Johnson once termed an analogous provision "more loophole
than law." Once a country can enrich to reactor-grade levels of U-235, it is
nearly 70% of the way to weapons-grade enriched uranium. Going from 3-to-5% to
20%, or even 60%, enrichment levels merely marginally worsen the original,
fundamental mistake of allowing enrichment at all. The pattern is clear: Obama
accepted Iran’s insistence on even debilitating concessions because he was so
determined to "succeed" and achieve a deal, any deal.
During Biden’s first five months, no one in the White House has pretended that
Iran has made a fundamental strategic decision to abandon pursuing nuclear
weapons. With good reason. All the available evidence shows that Iran continues
to do whatever it takes to possess deliverable nuclear weapons as soon as
feasible. Of course, Iran wants the United States back in the deal. Without
that, Tehran will not get relief from America’s devastating sanctions, far more
effective than any of the 2015 negotiators ever envisaged. The sanctions have
created enormous public dissatisfaction inside Iran, but Biden seems blind to
the leverage thereby provided, so zealous is he to rejoin. Nor is there any
visible effort by Biden’s advisers to design or justify a "larger" deal to
replace the failed JCPOA. If sanctions are lifted, and substantial economic
benefits flow again, Iran will even more actively pursue nuclear weapons and
ballistic missile programs; support for terrorism in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria; and
increased conventional military activity across the Middle East. Whether U.S.
reentry happens before or after Raisi is inaugurated is immaterial. If there is
any chance whatever Biden might be dissuaded from his crusade, Raisi’s election
provides him a face-saving excuse to back away. Don’t hold your breath over he
will avail himself of the opportunity.
Iran Stops Pretending
Karim Sadjadpour/The Atlantic/June 21/2021
The rigged “election” of Ebrahim Raisi as Iran’s next president has the
potential to be a turning point for the country. But its significance will be
fully understood only in hindsight.
Tipping points in the fortunes of opaque, authoritarian regimes are often
predicted but never predictable. The rigged “election” of Ebrahim Raisi, an
uncharismatic, 60-year-old hard-line cleric, as Iran’s next president has the
potential to be such a moment, although its significance will be fully
understood only in hindsight. Will Raisi’s anointment be remembered, as some
historians have asserted, as a brazen authoritarian overreach that destroyed the
Islamic Republic’s remaining legitimacy and hastened its demise? Or will it be
just another milestone in the life cycle of a theocracy that has defied
predictions of reform and collapse, potentially paving the way for Raisi to
succeed his patron, 82-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s next Supreme
Leader?
For the United States, Raisi’s election, viewed through the prism of ongoing
nuclear negotiations with Iran, heightens the Biden administration’s sense of
urgency to conclude a deal before an inevitably more rigid Iranian
administration is inaugurated on August 8. Although power in Iran will remain in
the hands of the Supreme Leader and Revolutionary Guards, Raisi’s presidency
will further complicate the Biden administration’s stated goal of negotiating a
“longer and stronger” follow-on deal with Tehran.
For many inhabitants of the Middle East, though, Raisi’s selection is important
for reasons that go beyond its impact on Tehran’s nuclear program. In the
aftermath of September 11, 2001, scholars and policy makers debated whether the
road to peace in the Middle East went through Jerusalem or Baghdad. Today it is
clear to many liberals in the Middle East that the politics of Tehran are
inextricably linked to the politics of Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad, Sanaa, and
beyond. Although the malaise of the modern Middle East has many fathers, as long
as Iran, one of the region’s largest and wealthiest nations, is ruled by a
theocracy that actively uses its sizable energy revenue to fund and train armed
militias that espouse its intolerant revolutionary ideology, a more stable,
tolerant, prosperous region will remain a distant dream.
Raisi’s subdued personality and criminal record bring to life Hannah Arendt’s
observation about the banal nature of evil. He’s been a national figure in Iran
since 2017, when he ran against incumbent President Hassan Rouhani in the
country’s presidential elections, losing by a two-to-one margin. Although state
media have unduly given him the elevated title of ayatollah—a senior Shiite
scholar—his most important qualification is being a trusted acolyte of Khamenei,
who appointed him the head of the country’s largest religious foundation and
later the head of the judiciary.
For many Iranians, Raisi is most well-known for his actions as one of the four
judges who oversaw the torture and mass execution of approximately 5,000 members
of an Iranian opposition group—including women and children—in the summer of
1988. Like a gang recruit who earns his stripes by committing wanton violence,
Raisi, a hanging judge at 28 years old, cemented his revolutionary credentials.
Raisi argues that he was simply following orders, and appears both unapologetic
for and oblivious to the heartbreak he wrought. An elderly couple whom I
interviewed years ago in Tehran tearfully recounted to me how they had been
forced to pay for the bullet used to execute their daughter—a 21-year-old
medical student—in order to retrieve her body and give her a proper burial.
(Such “bullet fees” have grown as high as $3,000 in recent years.)
In contrast to previous elections, when Iran would showcase to the global media
its tightly controlled electoral pageantry, the few foreign journalists visiting
Tehran this time reported a combination of apathy and anger. Perhaps the most
authentic expression of Iranian popular indignation—familiar to anyone who has
lived in Iran—was inadvertently aired by NPR, whose reporter asked an elderly
woman in a Tehran park whom she favored. NPR’s translator softened her comments,
claiming she said of the mullahs, “They can go to hell.” Persian speakers heard
something considerably more obscene: “Fuck those mullahs. They’ve been lying to
us for 40 years! I’m voting for my cock.”
Despite the media fanfare of Iranian elections, Raisi, like all Iranian
presidents, will play a negligible role in shaping the country’s foreign policy.
Under Khamenei’s leadership, the Islamic Republic’s identity will continue to be
premised on opposition to America and Israel, and Tehran will continue to arm
and fund its proxies and allies in the failing states—including Syria, Lebanon,
Yemen, Iraq, and Venezuela—that constitute its so-called Axis of Resistance.
The greatest benefactors of Raisi’s election will be the external opponents of
the Iranian regime and the Iran nuclear deal, most prominently the Republican
Party and the government of Israel. The talking points write themselves. “Iran’s
new president,” tweeted Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, “known as the
Butcher of Tehran, is an extremist responsible for the deaths of thousands of
Iranians. He is committed to the regime’s nuclear ambitions and to its campaign
of global terror.”
Karim Sadjadpour: How to win the Cold War with Iran
Yet Raisi’s election appears unlikely to seriously jeopardize the Biden
administration’s ability to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which Donald Trump
exited in 2018. Because Iran’s economic decline cannot be reversed absent a
removal of U.S. sanctions, it would make sense—although it is not a foregone
conclusion—for Tehran to revive the deal before Raisi is inaugurated on August
8. This would allow the regime to blame the deal’s shortcomings on outgoing
President Rouhani while allowing Raisi to reap the economic benefits of
sanctions relief.
Beyond a return to the 2015 agreement, however, Raisi’s selection signals that
Iran will resist the Biden administration’s desire to negotiate a follow-on
agreement that also addresses Tehran’s missile program and regional ambitions.
This could create a conundrum for Biden: If the U.S. tries to coerce Iran with
new sanctions, Tehran could respond by resuming its nuclear activities and
attacking—via its proxies—U.S. interests and allies in the Middle East, mindful
that the Biden administration seeks to reduce America’s regional presence.
Hubris is the achilles’ heel of virtually all dictatorships; the iron will that
once fueled an authoritarian regime’s consolidation of power invariably morphs
into greed and entitlement. Although Khamenei’s will to stay in power remains
strong, he is afflicted with a combination of insecurity and overconfidence: He
was mindful enough to know that his heir apparent had no chance of winning a
competitive election, yet he was confident enough to believe that he could get
away with engineering his victory.
Khamenei’s health—he’s 82 and widely believed to have prostate cancer—is one of
Iran’s most tightly held state secrets, yet he has outlived younger men who were
once thought to be his successors. Although Khamenei may want Raisi to succeed
him, handovers of power in authoritarian states are inherently unpredictable.
Raisi’s already limited popularity—evidenced by record-low voter turnout—will
probably diminish further once he takes office and is held responsible for a
broken economy that he is incapable of fixing, and political and social
repression that he will intensify.
Tom Nichols: Iran’s smart strategy
One of the keys to Khamenei’s longevity—he’s been ruling since 1989—has been his
ability to use Iran’s unelected institutions to bolster his power while at the
same time using Iran’s “elected” institutions to avoid accountability. He can
outsource political repression and crackdowns to the Revolutionary Guards while
also holding Iran’s president responsible for the country’s failing economy. Yet
engineering the election of his mentee, Raisi, will make it difficult for
Khamenei to continue scapegoating Iran’s president for his own failures.
Another unknown is whether the Revolutionary Guard—which long ago eclipsed the
clergy as Iran’s most powerful institution—will continue to defer to aging
clerics as their commanders in chief, or whether they will seek more overt
control. Given Iran’s young and increasingly irreligious polity, an Iranian
version of Vladimir Putin—a military or intelligence officer who replaces Shiite
nationalism with Persian nationalism—appears more likely to rule future Iranian
generations than another geriatric cleric.
“The essence of oligarchical rule,” George Orwell wrote in 1984, “is the
persistence of a certain world-view and a certain way of life, imposed by the
dead upon the living. A ruling group is a ruling group so long as it can
nominate its successors.” Modern-day Iranians are living inside the theocratic
experiment of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the 1979 revolution,
who believed that Islam was a cure-all and economics was “for donkeys.” Just as
Khamenei was chosen to be the custodian for Khomeini’s vision, he sees in Raisi
a trusted disciple to carry Khomeini’s mantle.
Every decade, a new generation of disillusioned Iranians reaches the conclusion
that the Islamic Republic cannot be reformed via the ballot box. Rather than
stay behind and risk their lives as dissidents, those who can afford it choose
to leave. Iran’s former minister of science and technology once estimated that
brain drain costs the country $150 billion annually—more than its oil revenue.
Raisi’s election is a reminder that Iranians’ aspirations for a better life are
at odds with a regime that currently appears unreformable and unbreakable. As
long as Iran’s security forces remain united and willing to kill en masse, and
Iran’s society remains disunited and unwilling to die en masse, the tipping
points will continue to tip in the regime’s favor.
*Karim Sadjadpour is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, where he focuses on Iran and U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East.
He is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.
Is Egypt back in the Arab driver’s seat? - analysis
Elie Podeh/Jerusalem Post/June 21/2021
The Gaza operation also resulted in a warming of Egyptian-Israeli relations.
Egypt disappeared from the Middle East after the 2011 Arab Spring. Well, the
term “disappeared” is perhaps too strong, but it certainly adopted a lower
profile. Anyone accustomed to Egypt’s leading role in the Arab world, not just
under Gamal Abdel Nasser, was forced to accept the fact that Egypt had become
just another actor, while the rich oil-producing Gulf countries assumed leading
regional roles. From an Egyptian standpoint, it was frustrating to see small
Gulf states stealing the show from Umm al-Dunya, “Mother of the World,” as the
Egyptians call their country.
It’s hard to pinpoint when that shift began, but a possible turning point was
the February 2019 establishment of the Cairo-based regional gas forum comprised
of Egypt, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.
Israel’s May 2021 military operation in Gaza provided Egypt with yet another
opportunity to bolster its standing in the region by mediating with Hamas. Egypt
had always played a key role in Israel-Hamas mediation, even under president
Morsi, providing Israel with leeway when it wanted to, for example, during the
2014 Operation Protective Edge, and reining it in when it sought a speedy end to
the fighting. Either way, Egypt was instrumental in achieving ceasefires and
humanitarian aid.
Egypt’s involvement in Gaza is understandable. First, because the enclave lies
along its border and is a potential powder keg threatening the stability of the
region, in general, and specifically of Egypt. Second, it allows the
administration to portray itself as a regional leader on a key Middle Eastern
issue. Just as important, the mediation provides Sisi with a seal of approval in
Washington, where the Biden administration is intent on reining in regimes
violating human rights. Two phone calls by Biden to Sisi during the fighting in
Gaza made him flavor of the month. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also
conducted visits to Cairo, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Amman. Egypt continued to
lead the mediation with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visiting Amman and
Ramallah, whereas the head of military intelligence, Abbas Kamel, is actively
trying to paper over differences among Israel, the PA and Hamas.
The Gaza operation also resulted in a warming of Egyptian-Israeli relations. Not
only did it strengthen bilateral security ties, it also raised the diplomatic
relationship to a new level with a visit by Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, the
first by an Israeli foreign minister in 13 years.
THE GAZA operation also prompted a surprising warming of Egypt’s relations with
Qatar. Back in January, Egypt, along with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia
and Jordan lifted its three-and-a-half year boycott of Qatar and renewed
diplomatic ties with the monarchy. The crisis in Gaza provided an opportunity to
dispatch Qatar’s foreign minister to Egypt to discuss his country’s future role
in Gaza, not before he pledged a variety of investments in Egypt.
Sisi was also honored with an invitation by Qatar’s ruler to visit his country.
The operation in Gaza and the Egyptian mediation thus provided Egypt with an
opportunity to renew its active role in the Gulf arena. In light of Qatar’s
continued support to the Muslim Brotherhood, it still remains to be seen whether
an Egyptian-Qatari full rapprochement is in the offing.
While Gaza took up most of the headlines, Egyptian foreign policy has also
become more pronounced in other arenas. One arena is Libya. Egypt supported Gen.
Khalifa Haftar and his government in Tobruk, but since the government of
national unity was established in Tripoli with UN support, Egypt has shifted its
support and even hosted the new prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh. From now
on, Libyan forces backed by Turkey and Qatar will no longer constitute a threat
on Egypt’s western border. The recent opening between Turkey and Egypt also
signals agreements and understandings on several contentious issues that soured
their relationship: Libya and the attitude toward the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egypt’s growing activity in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea arena is just as
interesting. Ethiopia’s construction of the Renaissance Dam prompted Egypt to
warm its ties with Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Tanzania and recently
even with Djibouti. In fact, Sisi visited tiny Djibouti on May 27. Egypt has
also signed defense agreements with the Nile River countries: Uganda, Kenya,
Burundi and Sudan. In November 2020, it joined the Red Sea Council representing
Djibouti, Eritrea, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. All these
moves were designed not only to challenge Ethiopia’s regional ambitions, but
also to demonstrate Egypt’s standing in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Does the Egyptian activism signal a sea change? It is too soon to tell. One must
not forget that regional leadership is acquired with political, economic,
military and demographic capital. Egypt has in recent years built a large army,
although the extent of its readiness is in doubt judging by its handling of the
Islamic State challenge in the Sinai. Egypt’s economy is in tatters following
the coronavirus pandemic and absence of tourism, whereas demographic growth
poses a heavy economic burden. All these factors do not augur success for Egypt
in resuming its historic regional standing, but its renewed energies could turn
it into what the late Egyptian journalist Hassanein Heikal once termed a “key
state.”
The writer is a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Department of
Islamic and Middle East Studies, and a board member of Mitvim.
The US-Backed Palestinian Human Rights Violations
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/June 21/2021
Abbas appears to be emboldened by the Biden administration's decision to resume
unconditional financial aid to the Palestinians. This no-strings-attached money
is being supplied without even a stipulation that the PA put an end to human
rights violations and assaults on public freedoms.
Lawyers for Justice said in a separate statement ... that the forms of torture
in the PA-controlled Jericho Prison included hanging detainees from the
ceilings, beatings and verbal abuse... and electric shocks.
"The Future List calls on all electoral lists approved by the Central Elections
Committee, all human rights bodies and all honorable people of this country to
form a united front to confront the arbitrary political arrests that aim to
silence every free voice that rises in the face of tyranny and corruption
practiced by the Palestinian Authority." — The Future List, Shfanews.com, May
26, 2021.
It seems clear that the diplomats care little if the PA is arresting, torturing
and intimidating social media users and political activists.
These diplomats and Western journalists do raise their voices -- and loudly --
when they have something damning to say about Israel. The silence of the
international community and the Biden administration's blind and unqualified
support for the PA only encourage the Palestinian leadership to step up its
repressive measures against Palestinians.
When Palestinians despair of any improvement in the PA leadership, they move
towards Hamas and other terrorist groups that are seen by many Palestinians as a
better alternative to Abbas and his Fatah faction.
It is hardly surprising, then, that the most recent public opinion poll showed a
dramatic surge in the popularity of Hamas among Palestinians. What should be
surprising -- and disturbing -- is that the Western world is directly aiding and
abetting this bloody shift of allegiance.
Did the Biden administration give the Palestinian Authority (PA) a green light
to resume its security crackdown on social media users, political activists and
rivals in the West Bank? Since Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit in May
to Ramallah, PA security forces have arrested or summoned dozens of Palestinians
for interrogation. The Palestinian human rights group Lawyers for Justice
revealed that some of the detainees confirmed that they were beaten and tortured
in the PA-controlled Jericho Prison. Did the Biden administration give the
Palestinian Authority (PA) a green light to resume its security crackdown on
social media users, political activists and rivals in the West Bank?
Since US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit in late May to Ramallah, the
de facto capital of the Palestinians, PA security forces have arrested or
summoned dozens of Palestinians for interrogation. Many of these Palestinians
were accused of "insulting" Palestinian leaders on social media platforms or
expressing support for the PA's rivals in Hamas and other Palestinian factions.
Abbas appears to be emboldened by the Biden administration's decision to resume
unconditional financial aid to the Palestinians. This no-strings-attached money
is being supplied without even a stipulation that the PA put an end to human
rights violations and assaults on public freedoms. The Biden administration, in
short, seems to be sending a message to the Palestinians that the US supports
Arab dictatorships that suppress and imprison political activists and opponents
and that block the emergence of new and young leaders. The Biden administration
is also telling the Palestinians indirectly that the US will continue to support
an Arab leader who has denied them the chance to hold long overdue elections for
the Palestinian parliament and presidency.
The Palestinian human rights group Lawyers for Justice said in a statement
published on June 5 that "the campaign of political arrests and summonses...
affected many citizens on different backgrounds, including arrests based on
political affiliation and arrests for exercising freedom of opinion and
expression on social media or participating in popular activities after the [May
21] ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas.
The group revealed that some of the detainees confirmed that they were beaten
and tortured in the Palestinian detention center of the PA's Security Committee
in Jericho. The group wrote:
"Lawyers for Justice believes that the continued detention of the aforementioned
detainees without actual evidence or justification allows their continued
detention and involves prejudice to their rights and a derogation from their
guarantees in obtaining all the fair trial guarantees... Which is considered a
violation of personal freedoms, freedom of expression, and freedom of political
affiliation... their arrest and detention were carried out according to invalid
procedures..."
Tariq Khudairi, a political activist from Ramallah, was arrested by the PA
security forces on charges of cursing former PLO leader Yasser Arafat during a
demonstration in Ramallah. Khudairi was charged with "stirring up sectarian
strife," a charge regularly made by the PA against anyone who dares to criticize
PA President Mahmoud Abbas or other senior officials.
Lawyers for Justice said in a separate statement on May 29 that the forms of
torture in the PA-controlled Jericho Prison included hanging detainees from the
ceilings, beatings and verbal abuse. "Among the detainees was Mahdi Abu Awad,
who confirmed that he was subjected to torture during his interrogation by the
Jericho Prosecutor's Office," the group said. "[T]he Lawyers for Justice group
requests the Palestinian government... prevent security services from continuing
to infringe on the rights and freedoms of people..."
Yassin Sabah, a political activist who was arrested last month by the PA
security forces on charges of participating in a demonstration in solidarity
with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, told his brother that he was brutally
tortured. The torture, he disclosed, included electric shocks and other forms of
physical abuse. "Because of the torture and harsh conditions in prison, Yassin's
weight dropped from 85 to 50 kilograms," according to the brother. "In addition,
the PA has prevented human rights activists from seeing him in prison." On June
16, the PA's Preventive Security Force detained 16-year-old Amir Abu Sharar
because of a comment he published on Facebook during the fighting between Israel
and Hamas. Abu Sharar suffers from diabetes and needs two injections of insulin
a day. "We will not accept this injustice," the teenager's cousin, journalist
Salam Abu Sharar, wrote on Twitter. "We will not be silent about it, even if he
is detained for 15 minutes. He is a sick child."
Palestinian businessman Badran Jbara said that he was forced to go into hiding
last week because the PA security services wanted to arrest him due to a
Facebook post in which he criticized the Palestinian leadership. Jbara, 59, who
is a citizen of Panama, arrived in the West Bank to attend the wedding of his
daughter. A few days later, several PA security officers raided his home in the
town of Turmus Ayya, north of Ramallah, in an attempt to arrest him. Fortunately
for Jbara, he was not at home during the raid.
The PA security crackdown has also affected supporters of Mohammed Dahlan, an
arch-rival of Abbas who lives in the United Arab Emirates. Dahlan, a former PA
security commander, fled the West Bank in 2011 after a fallout with Abbas.
In the past few weeks, the PA arrested or summoned for interrogation dozens of
Palestinians who served as volunteers with the Dahlan-affiliated Al-Mustaqbal
("The Future") electoral list that was supposed to participate in the
Palestinian parliamentary election. In April, Abbas called off the election,
which was scheduled to take place on May 22. "We condemn the illegal arrests
carried out by President Mahmoud Abbas's security services against volunteers in
the Future List election campaign," the list said in a statement.
"The Future List considers that the repressive apparatus of President Abbas took
advantage of the media's preoccupation with the visit of US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken [to Ramallah] to carry out a campaign of intimidation by
arresting patriotic, law-abiding citizens. It has become clear that the
repressive apparatus of President Abbas is afraid of the opposition. The Future
List calls on all electoral lists approved by the Central Elections Committee,
all human rights bodies and all honorable people of this country to form a
united front to confront the arbitrary political arrests that aim to silence
every free voice that rises in the face of tyranny and corruption practiced by
the Palestinian Authority."
Earlier this month, Palestinian professor Sari Nusseibeh, who was running as a
candidate on the Future List, called on Western diplomats to pressure Abbas to
halt the crackdown on political activists and rivals. "The situation of the
Palestinians does not bear such arbitrary measures," Nusseibeh cautioned.
It is not known whether the Western diplomats indeed raised the issue with Abbas
or other senior Palestinian leaders. However, it seems clear that the diplomats
care little if the PA is arresting, torturing and intimidating social media
users and political activists.
These diplomats and Western journalists do raise their voices, and loudly --
when they have something damning to say about Israel. The silence of the
international community and the Biden administration's blind and unqualified
support for the PA encourages the Palestinian leadership to step up its
repressive measures against Palestinians.
When Palestinians despair of any improvement in the PA leadership, they move
towards Hamas and other terrorist groups that are seen by many Palestinians as a
better alternative to Abbas and his Fatah faction.
It is hardly surprising, then, that the most recent public opinion poll showed a
dramatic surge in the popularity of Hamas among Palestinians. What should be
surprising -- and disturbing -- is that the Western world is directly aiding and
abetting this bloody shift of allegiance.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
© 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.