English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 02/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today

By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God not the result of works, so that no one may boast
Letter to the Ephesians 02/01-10/:”You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 01- 02/2021

Health Ministry: 930 new Corona cases, 24 deaths
Health Ministry warns of the danger of consuming fish of unknown sources
Tonnes of fish wash up on shore of polluted lake in Lebanon
Lebanon Observes 3-day Total Lockdown for Easter
President Salutes Workers on Labor Day
Patriarch Rahi, meet in Bkirki former PM Fouad Siniora.
Israeli Foot Patrol Violates Blue Line
French FM to Reportedly Visit Lebanon Next Week
Germany Prepares to Ferry 'Hazardous Materials' out of Beirut port

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 01- 02/2021

Pope Francis embarks on prayer ‘marathon’ against COVID-19
Diplomats from five nations resuming Iran nuclear talks
Iran expects US sanctions on oil, banks to be lifted
Iran nuclear talks make steady progress and will resume Friday, Russia says
18 Iraqis Killed in Multiple Night-time Jihadist Raids
Afghan Retreat: U.S. Formally Withdrawing from Its Longest War
US commander warns against attacks on troops in Afghanistan as deadline passes
Istanbul Police Detain over 200 Defying May Day Protest Ban
US citizens among fatalities in Israel religious festival stampede
Postponing vote saves Abbas from the jaws of unavoidable defeat
No Pandemic End in Sight with Raging Outbreaks in India, Brazil
 

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 01- 02/2021

US talks with Iran on nuclear deal are bound to sink - opinion/Lenny Ben David/Jerusalem Post/May 01/2021
Israel and the US are learning to manage JCPOA disagreements - analysis/Omri Nahmias/Jerusalem Post/May 01/2021
John Kerry treachery: How far US officials fight Israel's Iran campaign/David M. Weienberg/Jerusalem Post/May 01/2021
John Kerry’s anti-Israel stance speaks for itself - opinion/Ruthie Blum/Jerusalem Post/May 01/2021
Biden Administration Needs to Halt Talks with Iran’s Mullahs/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/May 01/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 01- 02/2021

Health Ministry: 930 new Corona cases, 24 deaths
NNA/01 May ,2021 
The Ministry of Public Health announced, on Saturday, the registration of 930 new Corona infections, thus raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 527,508. It added that 24 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

Health Ministry warns of the danger of consuming fish of unknown sources
NNA/01 May ,2021 
In an issued statement on Saturday, the Ministry of Public Health cautioned citizens against the risk of consuming fish of unknown origin in wake of the large number of dead fish in Lake Qaraoun, whereby it has become evident that some are attempting to sell these dead fish in violation of the laws and conditions of public safety rules & regulations. The Ministry stressed that it is pursuing the matter closely, asking citizens not to hesitate to report any sickness symptoms they feel after consuming fish, so as to follow-up on their conditions through specialists and to ascertain whether or not these symptoms are related to the Qaroun Lake dead fish phenomenon. It also urged all municipalities and the Consumer Protection Authority to "work to protect the Lebanese market from those who take advantage of the situation to reap illegal profits at the expense of citizens' health."

Tonnes of fish wash up on shore of polluted lake in Lebanon
The Arab Weekly/May 01/2021
QARAOUN, Lebanon – Tonnes of dead fish have washed up on the shore of a highly-polluted lake in eastern Lebanon over the past few days, an official said Thursday. It was not immediately clear what caused the fish kill in Lake Qaraoun on the Litani River, which several local fishermen said was unprecedented in scale. A preliminary report said a virus had killed only carp in the lake, but a veteran water expert said their deaths could also have been caused by pollution.
Unprecedented disaster
Hundreds of fish of all sizes lay dead on the banks of the more than five kilometre (three mile) long lake Thursday and the stench of their rotting flesh clung to the air. Men shovelled carcasses into a wheelbarrow, as a mechanical digger scooped up more into the back of a truck. “It’s our third day here picking up dead fish,” said Nassrallah el-Hajj, from the Litani River Authority, dressed in fishing waders, adding they had so far “carried away around 40 tonnes.”On the water’s edge, 61-year-old fisherman Mahmoud Afif said it was a “disaster.”“In my life I’ve never seen anything like it,” said the father-of-two. The Qaraoun Lake was built as a reservoir on the Litani River in 1959 to produce hydropower and provide water for irrigation. But in recent years experts have warned huge quantities of wastewater, industrial waste and agricultural runoff containing pesticides and fertiliser flooding into it have made it increasingly toxic.
Unsafe for consumption
Since 2018 fishing has been forbidden in the reservoir as the fish there was declared unfit for human consumption, though fish from the lake have continued to appear in several markets. The Litani River Authority and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon on Friday warned of a “viral epidemic,” and called for fishing to be forbidden in the Litani as well as in the lake. It said the likely disease had only affected carp, while four other types of fish appeared to be unaffected. Kamal Slim, a water expert who has been taking samples of water from the lake for the past 15 years, said pollution could also be the cause. “Without analysis, we cannot be decisive,” said the researcher. But the lake is also home to cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, and in warmer months the excess nutrients from pollution have caused the bacteria to erupt into bright green blooms that release toxins. “Right now there is a cyanobacteria bloom, though less thick than last year,” he said. That or another bacteria could be responsible for harming the fish, especially since they are weaker during the reproduction season. “Another possibility is very toxic ammonium,” he said. In July 2016, Lebanese media reported that tonnes of fish floated to the surface overnight in the Qaraoun Lake. Slim said that that had been due to a toxic bloom and oxygen depletion.
 

Lebanon Observes 3-day Total Lockdown for Easter
Naharnet/01 May ,2021
Lebanon observes another three-day total lockdown on Saturday over Orthodox Easter in a move to control the spread of coronavirus cases during the holidays. The measures will include around the clock curfew, and urgent movement permissions via the electronic platform while worshipers will have to use the platform to attend Easter mass in churches. Authorities in Lebanon decided to lock the country for three consecutive days during holidays to control gatherings and counter the spread of COVID-19 infections. In the beginning of April, Lebanon imposed a full lockdown during the Western Easter holiday. The country will go under a similar lockdown on Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy months of Ramdan. Lebanon witnessed a sharp increase in virus cases after the New Year and Christmas holidays. The lockdown in place begins on May 1 and ends on May 3. Lebanon recorded 1,001 cases and 29 deaths on Friday.
 

President Salutes Workers on Labor Day
Naharnet/01 May ,2021
President Michel Aoun on Saturday saluted “all the workers in Lebanon” on Labor Day, as the country slides deeper in an unprecedented economic crisis. “You are the cornerstone of the promised awakening, and your sacrifices will inevitably bear fruit from the stifling distress experienced by our people,” said Aoun in a tweet. The President vowed to “make every possible effort to achieve reform and hold accountable those who have corrupted the state’s finances, so that you can return to your rights and your decent life.”More Lebanese are sliding into poverty amid a crippling economic crisis, a steep depreciation of the Lebanese pound along with unemployment that have eroded purchasing power and fueled anger among the population.

Patriarch Rahi, meet in Bkirki former PM Fouad Siniora.
NNA/01 May ,2021 
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Beshara Boutros Rahi, met Saturday in Bkirki with former PM Fouad Siniora. The pair discussed an array of local, regional, and international affairs. On emerging, Siniora said the visit was an occasion to convey to His Eminence the greetings of his colleagues and former prime ministers, including Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, expressing their support for the national efforts undertaken by his Beatitude in order to preserve Lebanon and restore respect for the Lebanese state, its freedom, sovereignty, independence and judiciary. Siniora also highlighted the need to resort to the constitution and adhere to forming an effective government of independent specialists that will work to restore the confidence of the Lebanese citizens and Arab societies and states.

Israeli Foot Patrol Violates Blue Line
Naharnet/01 May ,2021
The Lebanese Army Command - Orientation Directorate issued a communiqué on Saturday, in which it indicated that an Israeli enemy foot patrol violated the "Blue Line" in the locality of Khirbet Sheaib. Israeli troops crossed the line marching an approximate 45 meters distance into Lebanese territories. The stayed for an interval of 10 minutes before returning back to the Palestinian territories. The breach will be followed up in coordination with the UN Interim Force in South Lebanon, the communiqué added.
 

French FM to Reportedly Visit Lebanon Next Week
Naharnet/01 May ,2021
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will arrive in Beirut in the middle of next week on a two-day visit, Lebanese TV networks reported on Friday. The reports come only a few hours after Le Drian said France had begun imposing entry restrictions on certain Lebanese figures as a sanction for their role in Lebanon's political crisis or corruption. "We reserve the right to adopt additional measures against all those preventing an exit from the crisis, and we will do so in coordination with our international partners," Le Drian added, without naming the figures the measure targeted. He said discussions were already underway with France's European partners on what "instruments" could be used to increase pressure on Lebanese political figures who are "obstructing a way out of the crisis." "Those responsible for the blockage must understand that we will not stand still," he added. French President Emmanuel Macron called for radical reform in Lebanon after the deadly Beirut port blast and has expressed exasperation at the lack of change in the former French mandate territory. Lebanon's prime minister-designate Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun have failed repeatedly to agree on a new government cabinet after months of deadlock, as the country sinks deeper into economic crisis.
 

Germany Prepares to Ferry 'Hazardous Materials' out of Beirut port
Agence France Presse/01 May ,2021
A ship prepared Friday to ferry dozens of containers of hazardous materials from Lebanon's capital to Germany, managers of a cleanup project said, months after disaster struck on the dockside. German firm Combi Lift was tasked with removing dangerous substances from the port after the explosion of hundreds of tonnes of fertiliser there on August 4 last year killed more than 200 people and ravaged large parts of Beirut. The last of 59 containers was lifted onto the ship on Friday. Heiko Felderhoff, CEO of Combi Lift, said they would be disposed of in Germany. "The ship is here and so on the weekend we are leaving" for Germany, he said at a ceremony on the docks. Elias Assouad, the head of the Lebanese-German Business Council, said the project had cleared the port of "all toxic, cancerous, flammable and highly reactive chemicals that have been stored here for decades". The German firm had been expected "to deal with only 49 containers of hazardous material," he said. But they ended up "handling more than 75, of which 59 will be shipped". He said 15 others would be "disposed of within safe and environmentally sound procedures in situ", without providing more details. A chemical expert managing the operation told AFP after finishing the job in February that Beirut only avoided a second chemical inferno by chance. Michael Wentler said he had "never seen a situation like this before" in his life, describing festering chemical mixtures so corrosive they burned gaping holes right through massive shipping containers. Hydrochloric acid, a corrosive and toxic substance, made up 60 percent of the chemicals Combi Lift came across, he said.
 

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 01- 02/2021

Pope Francis embarks on prayer ‘marathon’ against COVID-19
AFP/02 May ,2021
Pope Francis on Saturday launched a month-long prayer marathon to hasten the end of the coronavirus pandemic with a prayer at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican before some 150 believers. The Argentinian pontiff gave the inaugural rosary prayer to kick off a series which will be streamed live each day this month at 1600 GMT from different Catholic shrines across the world. They range from Fatima in Portugal and Lourdes in France to shrines in Poland, Nigeria, Cuba and South Korea as well as the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Francis, who said he was praying for “wounded humanity,” will conclude the series at a Vatican Gardens chapel on May 31. The choice of the rosary prayer comes with May traditionally being the month the Catholic Church dedicates to the Virgin Mary. Those participating in the cycle of prayer are urged to pray for an end to the pandemic and for society to return to normal. Francis lamented the “dramatic current situation, charged with suffering and anxiety,” some 16 months after the virus first surfaced in China before swiftly spreading across the globe, killing more than three million to date and wreaking massive economic destruction. The pope urged protection for those left bereaved after losing loved ones “buried sometimes in a manner which wounds the soul” given the restrictions of social distancing. He hailed “the heroic fatigue” of doctors and nurses and other medical personnel putting their own lives on the line to aid those suffering. The pontiff called on the Virgin Mary to “illuminate the spirits of men and women of science so they may find good solutions to defeat this virus” and “touch consciences so that the enormous sums used to develop and perfect” those solutions” allow the prevention of such catastrophes in future.”

Diplomats from five nations resuming Iran nuclear talks
The Associated Press/01 May ,2021
High-ranking diplomats from China, Germany, France, Russia and Britain are set to resume talks Saturday focused on bringing the US back into their landmark nuclear deal with Iran. The US will not have a representative at the table when the diplomats meet in Vienna because former President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the country out of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018. Trump also restored and augmented sanctions to try to force Iran into renegotiating the pact with more concessions. US President Joe Biden wants to rejoin the deal, however, and a US delegation in Vienna is taking part in indirect talks with Iran, with diplomats from the other world powers acting as go-betweens. The Biden administration is considering a rollback of some of the most stringent Trump-era sanctions in a bid to get Iran to come back into compliance with the terms of the nuclear agreement, according to information from current and former US officials and others familiar with the matter earlier this week. Ahead of the main talks, Russia’s top representative Mikhail Ulyanov said JCPOA members met on the side with officials from the US delegation but that the Iranian delegation was not ready to meet with US diplomats. “JCPOA participants held today informal consultations with the US delegation at the Vienna talks on full restoration of the nuclear deal,” Ulyanov tweeted. “Without Iran who is still not ready to meet with US diplomats.”The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, promised Iran economic incentives in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. The reimposition of US sanctions has left the Islamic Republic’s economy reeling. Tehran has responded by steadily increasing its violations of the restrictions of the deal, such as increasing the purity of uranium it enriches and its stockpiles, in a thus-far unsuccessful effort to pressure the other countries to provide relief. The ultimate goal of the deal is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, something it insists it doesn’t want to do. Iran now has enough enriched uranium to make a bomb, but nowhere near the amount it had before the nuclear deal was signed. The Vienna talks began in early April and have included several rounds of high-level discussions. Expert groups also have been working on proposals on how to resolve the issues around American sanctions and Iranian compliance, as well as the “possible sequencing” of the US return.

Iran expects US sanctions on oil, banks to be lifted
Reuters/01 May ,2021
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator said on Saturday Tehran expects US sanctions on oil, banks and other sectors and on most individuals and institutions to be lifted based on agreements reached so far at talks in Vienna, Iranian state media reported. Russia and Western European powers meanwhile gave contrasting accounts of the task ahead in the talks to bring Iran and the US fully back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, as the talks adjourned for six days. “Sanctions...on Iran’s energy sector, which include oil and gas, or those on the automotive industry, financial, banking and port sanctions, all should be lifted based on agreements reached so far,” Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted as saying by Iranian state media. Araqchi did not say under which mechanism sanctions would be lifted or refer to how Tehran would meet Washington’s demands and return to its commitments under the deal. “We will negotiate until the two sides’ positions come closer and our demands are met,” he said. “If they are met there will be an agreement, if not there will naturally be no agreement.”The US State Department had no immediate comment on Araqchi’s remarks. President Joe Biden is seeking to return to the deal after Washington pulled out in 2018 under then President Donald Trump and reimposed sanctions against Tehran. Iran responded as of 2019 by breaching many of the deal’s limits on its nuclear activities. The talks began last month in Vienna with the remaining parties to the deal - Iran, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - meeting in the basement of a luxury hotel, and the US based in another hotel across the street. Iran has refused to hold direct meetings with US officials. “We have much work, and little time, left. Against that background, we would have hoped for more progress this week,” senior diplomats from the so-called E3 - France, Britain and Germany - said in a statement. Officials have said they hope to reach a deal by May 21, when an agreement between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog on continued monitoring of some Iranian nuclear activities is due to expire. “We have yet to come to an understanding on the most critical points. Success is by no means guaranteed, but not impossible,” they added.
‘Unclear place’
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday the talks were in “an unclear place”, meaning it was uncertain whether they would lead to an agreement. “We should not expect breakthroughs in the days to come,” Russia’s ambassador to the UN nuclear watchdog, Mikhail Ulyanov, told reporters after a meeting of the remaining parties that wrapped up the third round of talks, adding the talks would reconvene on Friday. “We need simply to continue diplomatic, day-to-day work, and we have all the reasons to expect that the outcome, (the) final outcome, will be successful and it will come quite soon, in a few weeks,” said Ulyanov, who is one of the more optimistic voices at the talks. The break in talks was widely expected as diplomats said officials from several countries are also involved in the Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting in London that begins on Monday and ends on Wednesday. In his remarks, Araqchi said that “There are individuals and institutions that have been specifically sanctioned and their (the US) list is long. Talks on the list are still ongoing”. He added that under what had been agreed so far, more than a majority of the list would have the sanctions lifted.

Iran nuclear talks make steady progress and will resume Friday, Russia says
Reuters/01 May ,2021
Indirect talks between Iran and the United States on bringing both sides fully back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal are making steady progress and will resume on Friday, the head of Russia’s delegation said on Saturday. The talks began last month in Vienna with the remaining parties to the deal - Iran, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - meeting in the basement of a luxury hotel, and the United States based in another hotel across the street. Iran has refused to hold direct meetings with US officials. Washington pulled out of the deal in 2018 under President Donald Trump and reimposed sanctions against Tehran. Iran responded as of 2019 by breaching many of the deal’s limits on its nuclear activities. “We should not expect breakthroughs in the days to come,” Russia’s ambassador to the UN nuclear watchdog, Mikhail Ulyanov, told reporters after a meeting of the remaining parties that wrapped up the third round of talks. He was the only official to address reporters. “We need simply to continue diplomatic, day-to-day work, and we have all the reasons to expect that the outcome, (the) final outcome, will be successful and it will come quite soon, in a few weeks,” he said, adding that talks will reconvene on Friday. The break in talks was widely expected as diplomats said officials from several countries are also involved in the Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting in London that begins on Monday and ends on Wednesday. Russia is generally one of the more optimistic voices at the talks. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday the talks were in “an unclear place,” meaning it was uncertain whether they would lead to an agreement.

18 Iraqis Killed in Multiple Night-time Jihadist Raids
Agence France Presse/01 May ,2021
Eighteen Iraqis, the majority military personnel, were killed overnight Friday to Saturday in separate jihadist attacks mainly in the greater Baghdad area, security sources told AFP. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but they are in line with the modus operandi of the Islamic State group, which still has sleeper cells in Iraq despite its territorial defeat in 2017. One attack targeted troops in Tarmiya, an agricultural suburb 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the Iraqi capital. "IS fighters attacked an Iraqi army convoy at night and killed two officers and two soldiers," a security official said, on condition of anonymity.  Reinforcements were dispatched to the area but also came under fire, with "an officer and two soldiers" killed, the source said. A member of tribal fighters integrated into the regular forces that were then deployed to the scene was also killed, "along with a civilian caught in the crossfire", the source added. Further north, in the central Alton Kubre region, "six peshmerga (Kurdish fighters) were killed when Islamic State group jihadists attacked their military position with light arms", another security official told AFP. Alton Kubre is a disputed area claimed by both the federal government in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan authorities. Another attack took place in the western desert bordering Syria, a third security source said. "An officer and a soldier were killed in a bomb explosion while an army convoy was en route to Akashat," he said. A soldier was also killed in a bomb blast in Diyala province, which borders Baghdad to the east, according to another official, who added that two other fighters were also wounded in a separate attack. Iraq in late 2017 declared victory over IS, which had overrun swathes of the country and neighbouring Syria three years earlier. However, sleeper cells holed up in mountains and deserts continue to carry out deadly attacks across the country, often at night in remote areas and with light weapons. Following the latest attacks, Iraqi President Barham Saleh called in a tweet for continued "effective international support to eradicate terror across the region". A US-led military coalition has been in Iraq since 2014 to help fight IS but a vote in parliament last year called for the departure of all foreign troops from the country.

Afghan Retreat: U.S. Formally Withdrawing from Its Longest War
Agence France Presse/01 May ,2021
The United States formally begins withdrawing its last troops from Afghanistan Saturday, bringing its longest war nearer to an end but also heralding an uncertain future for a country in the tightening grip of an emboldened Taliban. US officials on the ground say the withdrawal is already a work in progress -- and May 1 is just a continuation -- but Washington has made an issue of the date because it is a deadline agreed with the Taliban in 2020 to complete the pullout. The skies above Kabul and nearby Bagram airbase have been buzzing with more US helicopter activity than usual as the pullout gears up, following the start Thursday of a concurrent NATO withdrawal. Afghan security forces were on high alert Saturday for any possible attacks on retreating US troops. "The Americans will formally begin their withdrawal from Afghanistan starting May 1 and the Taliban might increase the violence," Acting Interior Minister Hayatullah Hayat told top police commanders late on Friday, according to an audio clip given to reporters. "I order all of you to increase the checkpoints in cities and carry out search operations on entry gates."The prospect of an end of 20 years of US presence comes despite fighting raging across the countryside in the absence of a peace deal. A stark reminder of what remains came late Friday with a car bomb in Pul-e-Alam, south of the capital, killing at least 24 people and wounding 110 more. US President Joe Biden is determined to end what he called "the forever war", announcing last month that the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 American forces would be complete by the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. "A horrific attack 20 years ago... cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021," he said. Since the US withdrawal deal was struck the Taliban have not directly engaged foreign troops, but insurgents have mercilessly attacked government forces in the countryside and waged a terror campaign in urban areas. The exit of US forces has only exacerbated the fear felt by ordinary Afghans. "Everyone is scared that we might go back to the dark days of the Taliban era," said Mena Nowrozi, who works at a private radio station in Kabul. "The Taliban are still the same; they have not changed. The US should have extended their presence by at least a year or two," she told AFP. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani insists that government forces -- who for months have carried out most of the ground fighting against the Taliban -- are "fully capable" of keeping the insurgents at bay. He said the pullout also means the Taliban have no reason to fight. "Who are you killing? What are you destroying? Your pretext of fighting the foreigners is now over," Ghani said in a speech this week.
Worst-case analysis
Still, General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has not ruled out total chaos. "On the worst-case analysis, you have a potential collapse of the government, a potential collapse of the military," he said earlier this week. "You have a civil war and all the humanitarian catastrophe that goes with it."
Police officer Abdul Malik from the former insurgent bastion of Kandahar said they were prepared. "We have to take care of our homeland... We will do our best to defend our soil," he told AFP. The US-led military onslaught in Afghanistan began in October 2001 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
Two decades later, and after the death of almost 2,400 Americans and tens of thousands of Afghans, Biden says the final withdrawal was justified as US forces had now made sure the country cannot again become a base for foreign jihadists to plot against the West. Concerns are high that the Taliban might yet strike at retreating US forces, and in the southern province of Kandahar -- where the foes used to clash regularly -- security sources say several areas are laden with explosives planted by the insurgents. "If the Taliban attack retreating US or allied forces, it would be to bloody the nose of a defeated enemy and to humiliate it further," said Afghanistan specialist Nishank Motwani. Andrew Watkins, of the International Crisis Group, said the coming months would see the situation become a more purely local conflict. "The United States and its NATO partners are stepping back and giving the two primary sides of this conflict... their first instance to fight with and assess their opponents without the extra factor of the United States," he said.

US commander warns against attacks on troops in Afghanistan as deadline passes
Reuters/01 May ,2021
The commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan warned on Saturday it would be a mistake for insurgents to attack foreign troops still present in the country after the passing of a May 1 deadline for withdrawal agreed last year with Taliban militants. US Army General Scott Miller’s comments followed what a US forces spokesman described as “ineffective indirect fire” at an airfield in Kandahar that had caused no injuries or damage. The Taliban did not immediately respond to request for comment on whether it was involved in the incident. Under a February 2020 deal between former US President Donald Trump’s administration and the Taliban, foreign forces were to withdraw from the country by May 1 while the hardline Islamist group held off on attacking foreign troops and bases. But US President Joe Biden announced last month after reviewing the situation that forces would stay in the country for months beyond May, withdrawing by Sept. 11. Kabul was braced on Saturday for a reaction from the Taliban, with a visibly increased military presence and security at checkpoints. A security source said the Afghan capital was on “high alert,” while military patrols and security were being increased in main cities around the country.
In a video posted to Twitter by a spokesman for US Forces in Afghanistan following Saturday’s incident in Kandahar, General Miller said it would be a mistake to move towards attacking foreign troops. “Make no mistake, we have the military means to respond forcefully to any type of attacks against the coalition and the military means to support the (Afghan) security forces,” he said. Violence against Afghans has escalated in recent weeks, with more than a hundred Afghan security forces personnel killed. On Friday, a huge blast in eastern Logar killed dozens as they broke their fast during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan. It was not clear who was behind the attack, but the government blamed the Taliban who said they were looking into the matter. The Taliban responded to the Biden administration’s move with fiery rhetoric and threatened consequences, boycotting a crucial conference in Turkey planned for last month to help jump-start stalling Afghan peace talks. Official and Taliban sources say contacts have been maintained to try to get the Taliban back to the negotiating table and agree to the extended foreign troop presence but no announcement on an extension had been made by Saturday.
Threats serious
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted on Saturday that the passing deadline meant “this violation in principle has opened the way for (Taliban fighters) to take every counter-action it deems appropriate against the occupying forces.”But he added that fighters were waiting on the decision of Taliban leadership. Earlier in the week Mujahid told Reuters conversations were continuing, saying: “Discussions between the US and Taliban and ... within the Taliban’s leadership are under way whether to extend that or not.”Washington has also warned that if foreign forces were attacked while carrying out the withdrawal they would defend themselves “with all the tools at our disposal.” Experts said the Taliban threats should be taken seriously, but a number of factors meant that full-scale attacks against foreign targets could be averted, as the Taliban continued negotiations. “We can’t rule out attacks,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. “That said, the Taliban is less likely to attack foreign forces now that it knows there is a specific date when they will be leaving.”
Negotiations ongoing
In the lead up to May 1, sources said there was a flurry of meetings as negotiations with the Taliban over the deadline extension continued. The US special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, had met with the Taliban’s head of political office, Mullah Baradar, in Doha, a Taliban spokesman said on Friday. Also on Friday, the eve of the agreed deadline, envoys from Russia, China, Pakistan and the United States held meetings with Taliban officials and Afghan government negotiators in the Qatari capital. The Taliban said they discussed the peace process and their request that Taliban leaders be removed from sanctions lists. Sources also said a delegation of Taliban political leaders had been in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad this week. Two Taliban sources and one official source said negotiations had revolved around the proposed deadline extension in exchange for the United States not getting involved in Afghan military operations against the Taliban; getting the Taliban to commit to re-joining the Turkey conference if they were provided with an agenda on what would be discussed there; and possibly declaring a ceasefire over the upcoming Eid holiday.
Pakistan’s foreign office did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Istanbul Police Detain over 200 Defying May Day Protest Ban
Agence France Presse/01 May ,2021
Turkish police detained more than 200 people who were trying to hold a May Day rally in Istanbul on Saturday in defiance of a ban related to the coronavirus pandemic. They were caught as they tried to walk to Taksim Square, a traditional area of protest, AFP correspondents said, and in other areas nearby including the popular Istiklal Avenue. The Istanbul governor's office later on Saturday said 212 people were detained. Police officers pushed a crowd back forcefully using their shields, while other officers dragged protesters away, a correspondent said.
Turkey has been under a full lockdown since April 29 with a third wave of the virus causing record numbers of daily deaths. Some 394 people died of Covid-19 in Turkey on Friday, official data showed. There are often detentions during the annual May 1 workers' holiday. Taksim has been a flashpoint on May Day with frequent clashes since 34 people were killed there on May 1, 1977 during an unstable period in modern Turkey's history. A small group led by the Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions attended an officially-approved event at Taksim Square. At least 11 people were also detained in Ankara after trying to hold May Day demonstrations, local media reported.

US citizens among fatalities in Israel religious festival stampede
Neil Murphy/The National/May01/2021
Anger mounts following disaster on the slopes of Mount Meron.
US citizens are among the dozens killed and injured in a stampede at a religious festival in Israel, the US Embassy said on Saturday, as criticism mounted in the wake of one of the biggest civilian disasters in the country's history. At least 45 people were crushed to death and more than 100 injured at the ultra-Orthodox Jewish festival on the slopes of Israel's Mount Meron, held overnight between Thursday and Friday. The exact cause of the disaster is still not clear but witness accounts and videos posted on social media suggested that some people had fallen down stairs leading out of a narrow passageway packed by hundreds of worshippers trying to exit the site, as a surge of people came down upon those ahead of them who had fallen, being trampled and asphyxiated. One witness described seeing a pyramid of people piling up one on top of the other. Authorities said there were children among those hurt. Avigdor Hayut, injured in the crush, lost his 13-year-old son. He said they were caught under a mass of people. "I was on the floor. Twenty seconds stood between me being with him now, no more. I was already numb and my vision was blurred," he told reporters before he was released from hospital to attend his son's funeral. "My son was screaming to me 'daddy I'm going to die,'" Hayut said. "They got me out at the last minute."The Health Ministry said 32 of the dead had been identified by late Friday. The identification process paused for 24 hours in observance of the Jewish Sabbath and resumed on Saturday evening as families prepared for burials. Around 20 of the people injured were still in hospital by Friday night. More than 2,000 Israelis across the country responded to an emergency call for blood donations, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's ambulance service. A US Embassy spokesperson said: "We can confirm that multiple US citizens were among the casualties". Those included both dead and injured. The US Embassy was trying to verify if any more US citizens were involved and is providing all possible consular support to affected U.S. citizens, the spokesperson said, declining to comment further. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Friday that consulate officials in New York were in contact with four families of victims and the Israeli embassy in Argentina was in contact with one family. US media have identified some of the dead, including a 19-year-old American citizen who was in Israel on a gap year. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that two Canadians were killed in the disaster. Condolences poured in from leaders around the world, including US President Joe Biden and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
SAFETY CONCERNS
The Justice Ministry said investigators would look into whether there had been any police misconduct connected to the tragedy and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a thorough investigation to ensure it did not happen again. Public Security Minister Amir Ohana and the Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai both said on Saturday they will co-operate fully with any probe. A dozen people protested outside Ohana's home in Tel Aviv, spelling out the word "shame" with lit candles. There had been concern for years about safety risks at the annual event, held at the tomb of a 2nd-century Jewish sage in the Galilee.
Anger has mounted at the government and the police for allowing the event to go ahead despite its size far exceeding the coronavirus restrictions on gatherings. An estimated 100,000 packed the festival. Some critics said politicians had caved to pressures of ultra-Orthodox leaders who are presently allied with Netanyahu but have flouted the state's authority for years. "The government wouldn't consider any restrictions for fear of its Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) partners. And as far as physical safety was concerned, this year wasn’t any different from previous ones. Warnings of a potential disaster have been heard many times before, including from members of the Haredi community, but the traditions must not be changed," wrote Anshel Pfeffer, an analyst for the left-wing Haaretz newspaper.

Postponing vote saves Abbas from the jaws of unavoidable defeat
The Arab Weekly/May 01/2021
RAMALLAH - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas broke his commitment to elections that could have removed him along, with the currently dominant Fatah, from office, by announcing the indefinite postponement of the vote. But the decision is not without likely repercussions, as it not only threaten to perpetuate the division among Palestinians but will also undermine Abbas’s credibility with the international community, especially European partners.The Palestinian president announced late Thursday night the postponement of Palestinian elections until it could be ensured that the Israeli authorities allow voting in Jerusalem. Abbas said at the conclusion of a Palestinian leadership meeting, at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah in the West Bank, that the decision “came after the failure of all international efforts to persuade Israel to allow the inclusion of Jerusalem in the elections.”He declared that elections will not be held without East Jerusalem. Abbas’s decision was expected, especially after the divisions which have shaken Fatah, had generated three legislative slates. Among these was the “Freedom” list, which was formed on the basis of an alliance between ousted Fatah figure Nasser al-Qudwa and detained Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti serving time in Israeli jails. According to recent opinion polls, the list was expected to lead in the elections.
There is widespread belief among Palestinians, as well as among the international community, that the East Jerusalem voting issue was an excuse for Abbas to renege on his commitment to hold elections. Making a new voting date conditional on a change in Tel Aviv’s position will only mean that the Palestinians will likely wait for a long time, perhaps for many years, before being able to cast their ballot in an election. The postponement is in fact generally viewed as an outright cancellation of the vote under the pretext that Israel did not allow it to proceed in East Jerusalem. Observers believe that Abbas views the postponement as an “achievement,” not only because it saved him from a resounding defeat, but also because it will allow him to use the elections as a bargaining chip in the future. The decision angered the Palestinian factions and provoked the resentment of the European Union, which quickly issued a statement expressing deep disappointment and called for a new date for the vote to be set without delay.
EU High Representative Josep Borrell said, “The decision to postpone the planned Palestinian elections, including the legislative elections originally scheduled for 22 May, is deeply disappointing.” He added, “We strongly encourage all Palestinian actors to resume efforts to build on the successful talks between the factions over recent months. A new date for elections should be set without delay.” France, Germany, Italy and Spain also said Friday they were disappointed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision and urged him to set new election dates quickly. “We call upon the Palestinian Authority to put forward a new electoral calendar as soon as possible,” the four major European Union countries said in a joint statement. “We call on Israel to facilitate the holding of such elections across all of the Palestinian territory, including in East Jerusalem, on the basis of past agreements,” they added. The European Union has consistently supported the elections with the aim of renewing the Palestinian political mandates in preparation for the resumption of negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
The EU worked hard to overcome the difficulties facing the vote, but Abbas’s calculations and the influence of the narrow circle surrounding him prevented that.
Political analysts believe that the stance taken by the European Union reflects a level of anger that may affect the nature of the relationship between the EU and the Palestinian Authority. The analysts do not rule out that the Europeans will reverse their supportive stance towards the Palestinian Authority, which will negatively affect the Palestinian cause as a whole. Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in Gaza on Friday to denounce Abbas’s announcement. The demonstrations took place at the initiative of Hamas in different parts of the Strip. During a demonstration in northern Gaza, Hamas leader Mushir al-Masry said President Abbas had turned against the elections before they were even held, accusing him of using Jerusalem as an excuse to evade his commitments. Masry described the decision to postpone as “criminal” because it was taken just “to escape defeat.”The Palestinian Central Elections Commission announced the suspension of the electoral process, starting from Friday morning, carrying out the leadership’s decision. On Friday, the United Nations warned of a “worsening of the situation” in the Palestinian territories following the vote postponement. The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Thor Winsland, said, “We fully understand the disappointment of the Palestinians.”
He added that setting a new and timely date for the elections would be an important step to reassure the Palestinian people that their voices will be heard. Gaza analyst Talal Okal said that the postponement caused great disappointment among the Palestinians, most of whom had felt that the time was right for change. 85-year old Abbas has been in power since 2005 and has ruled by decree for more than a decade. Political analyst Abdul Majeed Swailem expected the Abbas decision to exacerbate Palestinian divisions, and said, “The Palestinian people are heading in the near future towards more division after the decision to postpone the elections, unless there is a different political will.”
Writer Sharhabeel al-Gharib considered that “the decision will complicate the internal Palestinian landscape. The Palestinian people”, she said, “will face a new political rift, and perhaps the Palestinian people will enter a dark tunnel after it was believed that these elections would constitute a great glimmer of hope for them, in order to reform the political system and address the repercussions of their divisions.”At the end of last year, President Abbas was enthusiastic about holding elections as he tried to present himself to the Joe Biden administration in Washington as a democratically-committed leader who believes in peaceful change and seeks peace with Israel. In January, he announced that the legislative elections would be held this May, to be followed by a presidential elections. His expressed enthusiasm soon began to wane as the Biden administration showed that resolving the Palestinian issue was not among its top priorities, despite its emphasis on the need for a two-state solution. For Abbas, the situation became more complicated with the escalation of disagreements within Fatah and the emergence of calls among leading figures favouring fundamental change. There was, for instance, the decision of leading figure Nasser al-Qudwa to form a list independent of Fatah, which resulted in his dismissal from the movement. There was also the decision of detained leader Marwan Barghouti to join Qudwa’s list on the condition that the latter supports him in the race for president. This proviso sealed Abbas’s decision about the necessity of postponing the vote. He is said to have reached the conclusion that this was the lesser of two evils.

No Pandemic End in Sight with Raging Outbreaks in India, Brazil
Agence France Presse/01 May ,2021
Fresh coronavirus waves showed no sign of abating Saturday as devastating surges in India and Brazil pushed daily infections and deaths to record levels. Despite the rollout of vaccines in many countries, Covid-19 is still wreaking destruction around the world, with close to 3.2 million lives lost and known infections soaring past 150 million. Asia has recorded the bulk of new cases, driven largely by the surge in India. The crushing outbreak, which now accounts for more than 40 percent of the world's new infections, has overwhelmed the South Asian nation's healthcare system and depleted critical oxygen supplies.
Authorities on Saturday opened India's massive vaccination programme to all adults, but many states do not have enough doses to meet demand despite a freeze on exports of shots produced locally. "There are so many people that are getting sick... we just wanted to be here as soon as possible," said Aadya Mehta, 25, who joined a queue of around 100 people outside a hospital in the capital New Delhi. India reported more than 400,000 cases in 24 hours on Saturday, a global record, but experts say the official infection and death figures fall far short of the true picture. More than 40 countries have committed to sending medical aid. A US military aircraft carrying more than 400 oxygen cylinders, other hospital equipment and nearly one million rapid coronavirus tests arrived in New Delhi on Friday. But the crisis has also prompted travel warnings and flight bans with governments fearful of the outbreak spreading to their shores. Australia on Saturday warned those breaking its India travel ban could face five years in jail.
'They died without the slightest dignity'
Another vast nation struggling to inoculate as many people as possible in the face of a destructive spike is Brazil, which has one of the world's highest mortality rates at 189 deaths per 100,000 people. It reported nearly 2,600 new coronavirus deaths on Friday, bringing the total for April to 82,266 -- the second consecutive monthly record and a sharp rise from March. The surge has pushed Brazil's hospitals to the brink of collapse in many areas as the country's overall death toll crossed 400,000 this week. Demonstrators from the human rights group Rio de Paz lowered Brazilian flags and mock body bags into symbolic graves at Rio de Janeiro's famous Copacabana beach on Friday, protesting the government's handling of the crisis. "Those body bags represent the Brazilians who had to be buried in shallow graves," said Antonio Carlos Costa, the NGO's president.
"They died without the slightest dignity." Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was widely criticised for downplaying the threat of the virus, and for fighting stay-at-home measures. The far-right president has defended his pandemic policies, telling supporters: "I was wrong about nothing." The outbreak in neighbouring Argentina also continued to worry the government, which on Friday extended by three weeks a nightly coronavirus curfew for the capital Buenos Aires.
US vaccine milestone -
In terms of total Covid-19 deaths, Brazil is behind only the United States, where the situation has taken a turn for the better in recent months with a successful vaccine rollout. The White House said Friday that 100 million people in the country had been fully vaccinated, and more than 55 percent of American adults had received at least one dose. The huge effort has meant coronavirus restrictions in many parts of the United States can be eased. Fans wearing Mickey Mouse ears lined up at Disneyland in California as it finally reopened Friday, more than 400 days after the pandemic forced its closure. "It is the greatest feeling ever," said Momi Young-Wilkins, a 55-year-old mother as she brought her children to the world-famous park near Los Angeles. Thanks to vaccinations, some European governments have also eased or are considering relaxing coronavirus restrictions, including France and Belgium. But the hugely uneven distribution of vaccines around the world has led to calls for greater access in poor nations and waivers for patent protections to help boost access. A US trade official said Friday that Washington was working with World Trade Organization members to ensure "equitable" access to vaccines but stopped short of signalling a commitment to waiving patent protections.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 01- 02/2021

US talks with Iran on nuclear deal are bound to sink - opinion

Lenny Ben David/Jerusalem Post/May 01/2021
Fool me once, shame on me. Twice? Also shame on me.
Nuclear alarm bells should have sounded after the New York Times’s editorial board published on April 23 its paean to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“Why the Past Haunts Talks with Iran”).
“Nuclear talks in Vienna... are said to be making progress, which is good news,” the newspaper heralded. It was difficult for the Times editorial writers to understand why Americans opposed Iran’s “technological advancement.” After all, “under the Iran nuclear deal struck in 2015, Iran took steps to assure the world that it would not develop weapons, including pouring cement into the core of a heavy-water reactor.”
The heavy water reactor at Arak was slated to produce weapons-grade plutonium. American negotiators on the Iran deal were ecstatic after securing Iran’s promise to put the reactor out of commission. In January 2016, then-US secretary of state John Kerry announced, “just yesterday, the foreign minister (of Iran) reported to me that the calandria [core] of the plutonium nuclear reactor is now out and in the next hours it will be filled with concrete and destroyed.” According to a Reuters report, “The removal of the calandria is a key part of last year’s Iran nuclear deal.”
The Times reported on January 12, 2016, that a senior nuclear official denied that the reactor core had been decommissioned. The story was “baseless,” according to Iran’s deputy nuclear chief. The Times’s correspondent, Thomas Erdbrink, however, came to the rescue of Iran’s credibility. “Analysts cautioned,” he wrote, “that the denial did not necessarily mean that the actions, which are required by the nuclear deal reached in Vienna, will not be taken.”
More testimony on the cement and the fate of the plutonium reactor at Arak was provided by “Nuclear Nonproliferation Experts on the Iran Deal,” in a September 2017 declaration, signed, among others, by Robert Malley, former Iran deal negotiator and today the US special representative for Iran, and Colin Kahl, another former negotiator and today the US under secretary of defense for policy.
One month later, Malley briefed members of Americans for Peace Now on the JCPOA in a video session: “concrete has been poured into the only reactor that’s capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium [Arak]. It’s now permanently inoperable.”
The American spokespeople were parroting Behrouz Kamalvandi, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization spokesperson, who said in January 2016: “The core vessel of the Arak reactor has been removed... and IAEA inspectors will visit the site to verify it and report it to the IAEA... We are ready for the implementation day of the deal [signed with international powers in July 2015].” Kamalvandi added that the core would be filled with concrete to make it unusable. This photoshopped version was remarkably amateurish. See, for instance, the man with the wheelbarrow on the bottom left who was pasted into the picture. Fool me once, shame on me. Twice? Also shame on me.
The Times’s repeating last week the report that Iran decommissioned its Arak reactor with cement. The claim is audaciously false, considering that the act was even denied by the highest nuclear official in Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief. In January 2019, Salehi told an Iranian Mojahedin TV interview that the calandria core was not filled with cement. The proof Iran presented was a “photoshopped” version. Moreover, while narrow tubes were blocked by cement, another set of identical tubes were purchased to replace the decommissioned ones, Salehi explained with amusement.
US negotiators to the JCPOA walked out of the 2015 Vienna negotiations stripped bare – no decommissioned Arak reactor, no negotiations on ballistic missiles, no attempt to stop regional terrorism or to extend the “sunset” obligations. Even without the leak of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamad Javad Zarif’s interview to show us, the negotiators’ misfeasance, gullibility, malfeasance prove that the next attempt at a deal is bound to sink.

Israel and the US are learning to manage JCPOA disagreements - analysis

Omri Nahmias/Jerusalem Post/May 01/2021
According to the Israeli official, the Israeli delegation told the US delegation that there is no point negotiating specific details at this moment of the “longer and stronger” deal
WASHINGTON – The atmosphere at the Israel Embassy in Washington was positive on Tuesday. Ambassador Gilad Erdan, together with his staff, waited at the entrance gate when Jake Sullivan, Barbara Leaf, and Brett McGurk of the NSC stepped out of the car. A professional photographer arrived to take pictures. Ahead of the meeting, Erdan gave a short statement to the media at the embassy. But instead of focusing on the possible return of the US to the JCPOA, he noted that the Iran deal is just one topic that the sides will discuss.
“We are having a broad range of discussions, not only about the Vienna talks,” Ambassador Erdan said ahead of the meeting. “We made clear our opposition to the return to the JCPOA. We said that it is a flawed and bad agreement, and returning to the same deal makes it less likely to reach a better one in the future. We also made our position clear about maintaining Israel’s freedom of operation in any scenario.”
“But with that being said, we share the same goal: preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. However, our conversation today is not only about Iran, but also about regional issues such as Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinians.”
There were many smiles around the table, but at the end of the day, the bottom line remained the same: the US and Israel disagree about the return to the JCPOA, and the negotiations in Vienna are moving forward.
“We came with the perception that we have many issues to discuss, and it was important for us to hedge the disagreements,” an Israeli official told the Jerusalem Post. “In addition to discussing the subject that we disagree about – returning to the JCPOA – we wanted to go ahead and speak about other regional issues in which we can enhance our cooperation. “It is not as if we swept the nuclear deal under the rug. We made our point very clear: we expressed our disagreement with returning to the original 2015 nuclear deal. Our position was that getting back to the original deal today would weaken the US leverage to negotiate a ‘longer and stronger’ agreement.” The official noted that one of the reasons for the disagreement to returning to the 2015 JCPOA is that “it legitimizes Iran’s path to the bomb, and eventually under that agreement all restrictions on the Iranian nuclear program will be lifted.”
According to the Israeli official, the Israeli delegation told the US delegation that there is no point negotiating specific details at this moment of the “longer and stronger” deal, given that the US and Iran are negotiating a “full compliance for full compliance deal” in which both sides would rejoin the original 2015 deal.
“We told our counterparts that if the sides will negotiate the longer agreement in the future, then we would certainly voice our opinion about how it should look, and then we will be part of that conversation,” the official said. “We don’t intend to discuss it now and legitimize the return to the original JCPOA.”
The official said that the Israeli delegation was satisfied that the sides agreed to establish a working group to counter Iranian drones and missiles. “We also made it clear that Israel’s freedom of operation would be kept in any scenario,” the official said. “The objective is not to reach a crisis that would hurt the shared efforts to counter Iran. The fact that we don’t agree doesn’t mean we can’t discuss other issues.”
Meanwhile, the conversations with the US are ongoing. Erdan and Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen met on Thursday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and deputy secretary Wendy Sherman. As of press time, the sides did not provide additional information about the meeting.
“There is the music and there is the message,” said David Makovsky, director of the Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations at the Washington Institute. “When it comes to the music, the Biden Administration is seeking to avoid public fights with Israel over Iran by having high-level consultations. After Covid, this is the first in-person exchange, and I expect this will deepen the conversation. When it comes to the message, it was a good sign the parties agreed publicly to a working group on precision-guided weapon systems of Iran in Lebanon and Syria, as this is a high-priority of Israel.
“Yet the biggest question is whether a key policy gap can be closed when it comes to the Iranian nuclear issue,” Makovsky continued. “Specifically, I think Israel needs to be convinced that the US is very serious about a follow-on agreement, JCPOA 2.0. If the US is able to convey that it is and it has ample economic leverage to get there, I think it will create a new context for the differences over JCPOA 1.0. If Israel thinks 2.0 is merely aspirational, it will view the return to JCPOA in a far more negative light – as a way to put an issue in the box while the US tackles other priorities around the globe. US officials insist they are very serious about 2.0, but the question is whether they have convinced their Israeli counterparts.”

John Kerry treachery: How far US officials fight Israel's Iran campaign

David M. Weienberg/Jerusalem Post/May 01/2021
It is plausible, alas, because deviousness characterizes Kerry and he has been willing to curry favor with adversaries to prove his own mighty wisdom, while punishing Israel. We were hit this week with revelations that former US Secretary of State John Kerry shared intelligence about Israel’s anti-Iran covert operations with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. According to audiotapes of an oral history project conducted in Iran last year that were obtained by the UK-based Iran International news channel and then published by The New York Times, Zarif says that Kerry informed him about “at least” 200 Israeli strikes against Iranian targets in Syria. “You did not know?” the interviewer asks twice. To which Zarif responded, “No, no,” on both occasions. Unfortunately, this report about Kerry divulging security secrets to Zarif is downright believable. Whether or not Zarif is telling the truth, and whether this happened before Israel’s strikes were public knowledge (which would make Kerry’s actions treasonous) or only afterwards – the story stinks. It is plausible, alas, because deviousness characterizes Kerry and he has been willing to curry favor with adversaries to prove his own mighty wisdom, while punishing Israel.
When he first became Secretary of State, the view from Jerusalem was that John Kerry was a naïve nice guy. His ardent enthusiasm for basically impossible peace talks between Israel and the corrupt, extremist Palestinian Authority was viewed as stop-gap diplomacy or a fool’s errand.
But in a 2013 television interview to Israeli and Palestinian television reporters a different Kerry appeared: nasty, threatening, one-sided, blind to the malfeasance and unreliability of Palestinian leaders, and dangerously oblique to the explosive situation he himself was creating.
He warned about the “coming isolation” of Israel and of a third intifada unless Israel quickly allowed the emergence of a “whole Palestine” and ended its “perpetual military occupation” of Judea and Samaria. This was not just unfriendly pressure. Kerry basically laid out the Obama administration’s acceptance of the campaign to delegitimize and isolate Israel. He was trading treacherously in ugly self-fulfilling prophecy, giving Palestinians an excuse for violence and for renewal of their “lawfare” against Israel in international forums.
Of course, Kerry had no similar warning for the Palestinians. He made no effort to disabuse the Palestinians of the notion that they can fall back on bogus, maximalist demands as their uncompromising bottom line. He made no effort to press the Palestinian Authority to close the “peace gap” by accepting the historic ties of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and the legitimacy of Israel’s existence in the Middle East as a Jewish state, or to end its glorification of Palestinian suicide-bombers against Israel’s civilian population.
Instead, Kerry chose to launch a full-bore attack on Netanyahu, and on all Israelis who (in Kerry’s words) pigheadedly “feel safe today” and “feel they’re doing pretty well economically.” He laid out the consequences for Israel of disobeying America – no safety and no prosperity – but laid out no similar consequences for the Palestinians if they remain intransigent. In fact, Kerry and his boss then-US President Barack Obama were responsible for shaping the broader inflammatory context that spawned the 2014 wave of Palestinian terror against Israel. Essentially, they encouraged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the latter’s campaign of brazen lies, violent confrontation and diplomatic assault against Israel.
Kerry callously remarked that he “wasn’t going to get into assigning blame for the cycle of violence” in the region, and that “both sides” were posing “challenges” to the two-state solution. He then cravenly suggested that there was justification for Palestinian attacks, explaining that “You have this violence because there’s a frustration that is growing among Palestinians who don’t see any diplomatic movement.”
KERRY HAD no critical comment when Abbas suggested that “filthy Israeli feet” were “desecrating” the mosques on the Temple Mount or when Abbas denied the Temples of ancient Israel as a historical fact.
In 2014, Kerry returned to the “oy-vey-Israel-is-going-to-be-boycotted” theme, once again feigning concern for Israel’s Jewish and democratic character, and then threatening its economic prosperity.
“Absolutely to a certainty, I promise you 100%, today’s status quo cannot be maintained. It is not sustainable. It is illusionary,” Kerry warned apocalyptically. “You see for Israel there is an increasing delegitimization campaign that has been building up. People are very sensitive to it, there is talk of boycott and other kinds of things.”By contrast, Kerry never once publicly warned Palestinian leadership that this was their last chance for a Palestinian state. He never warned Abbas that the PA would forfeit its international largess and “economic prosperity” if he – Abbas – did not “demonstrate leadership” by accepting Kerry’s proposals. And in the end, Kerry blamed Netanyahu and Israeli settlements for scuttling his heroic efforts at peacemaking. Right down to his dying hours in office, he screamed bloody murder about Judea and Samaria, insolently referencing a non-existent “massive and illegal” Israeli construction surge in the biblical cradle of Jewish civilization. To cap it all off, Kerry arrogantly added that “there will be no advanced and separate peace with the Arab world without the Palestinian process and Palestinian peace. Everybody needs to understand that. That is the hard reality.”
“I’ve heard several prominent politicians in Israel sometimes saying, well, the Arab world is in a different place now, we just have to reach out to them, and we can work some things with the Arab world, and we’ll deal (later) with the Palestinians. No, no, no and no,” concluded Kerry with his usual pompous self-assuredness. When he was (thankfully!) out of office, Kerry warned that the Middle East would “explode” if the Trump administration moved the US embassy to Jerusalem. Then he warned that Trump’s assassination of IRGC leader Qasem Soleimani would cause “an absolute explosion throughout the region,” too. Kerry was wrong on all counts: that rejecting his peace proposals would lead to Israel’s international isolation; that Abbas was ready for peace while Netanyahu wasn’t; that no Arab country would make peace with Israel before establishment of a Palestinian state; that the Mideast would “explode” if a US embassy was opened in Jerusalem; and that “outright war” would result from the strike on terrorist mastermind Soleimani. But this has not chilled Kerry’s ridiculous self-regard as a moral oracle and political prophet.

KERRY’S BADLY broken diplomatic compass and his pretentiousness also played a role in selling Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran (the JCPOA). “There is no better deal with Iran,” Kerry swore in 2015, after being bamboozled by his negotiating counterpart, Zarif. “The deal has eliminated the threat of an Iran with a nuclear weapon,” he ostentatiously declared. Like Obama, he then libelously tarred opponents of the deal, such as Netanyahu, as “warmongers.” Later, Kerry went on an international campaign to drum-up big business for the mullahs of Tehran. He crisscrossed America and Europe in his official government jet to persuade the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies to invest in Iran; to make sure that Iran got its “peace” dividends, aside from the billion of dollars in Iranian assets that Obama released to the coffers of the regime. Once out of office, Kerry was caught colluding with Zarif again. In a series of meetings in 2018, Kerry advised Zarif to wait-out Trump and hope for more pliant Democrats to be elected in 2020. And then arrives the new story, suggesting that years ago Kerry tipped-off the Iranians about covert Israeli operations. Again, this may not be true. But one must ask: What other secrets, American or Israeli, might Kerry have spilled to the Iranians? Worse still, this week’s revelation fits a pattern of Obama administration callousness, and now Biden administration coldness, towards Israel. It comes in the context of growing tensions between Washington and Jerusalem over (supposedly Israeli) sabotage of the Iranian nuclear program and strikes on IRGC targets in Syria and the Red Sea; strikes that seem to have been outed by the administration. One must also ask: How much farther will Biden appointees go to undercut Israel’s diplomatic and military efforts against Iran? Out of pique with Israel, might the Biden administration – in which John Kerry serves as climate envoy with cabinet rank, and Kerry’s protégés oversee Iran policy – “punish” Israel for its resolute stance against Tehran by withholding diplomatic support for Israel on other fronts? Might the administration apply linkage between Iran policy and, for example, US support for Israel at the ICC and other international forums where Israel is or might become under attack?
*The writer is vice president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, jiss.org.il. His personal site is davidmweinberg.com.

John Kerry’s anti-Israel stance speaks for itself - opinion

Ruthie Blum/Jerusalem Post/May 01/2021
Kerry might very well be telling the truth. But he would do well to reflect on why accusations surrounding his attempts to undermine Israel, not to mention the US, are completely plausible. An audiotape of an “off-the-record” interview in March with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, conducted by regime-aligned journalist and economist Saeed Leylaz, has been causing a global stir. The three-hour recording, which was leaked to London-based Persian TV channel Iran International and subsequently reported on by The New York Times, has been examined from different angles. These include questioning whether the conversation was digitally doctored, and pondering the veracity of, or motive behind, Zarif’s claims. One ostensibly jarring revelation that Iran’s top diplomat is heard making concerns his subordinate role to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The only surprising aspect of this self-evident morsel is Zarif’s verbal acknowledgment of it. In every other respect, it’s old news. Khamenei is Tehran’s figurative puppet-master, and the IRGC calls the literal shots. Nevertheless, Iranian theologian and former Islamic Republic vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi compared the leak of the tape to Israel’s 2018 seizure of a trove of nuclear documents from a warehouse in Tehran. While perhaps a bit overly dramatic, the analogy is apt when viewed in the context of another of Zarif’s allegations; one involving former US secretary of state John Kerry, currently the White House’s climate czar.
According to Zarif, “Kerry informed me that Israel attacked [Iranian positions] 200 times in Syria.”
Leylaz then asked, “You didn’t know?”
Zarif replied, “No, no.”
Though the likelihood that Zarif was unaware of Israeli operations in Syria is slim to nil – and despite it being unclear from the interview when the conversation with Kerry was supposed to have taken place – prominent American Republicans are up in arms. Some have called for him to resign; others are suggesting that he committed treason. Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley tweeted on Monday, “This is disgusting on many levels. [President Joe] Biden and Kerry have to answer for why Kerry would be tipping off Iran, the number one sponsor of terror, while stabbing one of our greatest partners, Israel, in the back.”Kerry countered the accusations in a post of his own, tweeting, “I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened – either when I was secretary of state or since.”Given that the Iranian foreign minister is a liar and part of a deceitful government, Kerry might very well be telling the truth. But he would do well to reflect on why accusations surrounding his attempts to undermine Israel, not to mention the United States, are completely plausible. LET’S NOT forget that this is the same Kerry who became the leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War after his discharge from the US Army, recounting to Congress in 1971 that his comrades had “personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads... razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan.”Aside from there having been suspicions about his military service in general, some of which have been proven false and others about which there are still questions, many stories on which Kerry based his congressional testimony were found to be false. During the decades that passed, Kerry’s record was cleansed, partly due to the public’s short memory. But his dim view of American power, and by extension, of the might of its allies, never wavered.
This brings us to his openly hostile behavior toward Israel, which he summed up on December 28, 2016, in a farewell speech at the State Department.
Laying out his “vision for Middle East peace,” he lied about the role that the US played in advancing UN Resolution 2334, adopted by the Security Council five days earlier. He then defended his administration’s decision to abstain, rather than veto the vote, on the grounds that the resolution was “in accordance with American values.”
It’s an interesting way for an ally to categorize a decision that – in the words of the UN press department – “Israel’s establishment of settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including east Jerusalem, had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two states living side-by-side in peace and security, within internationally recognized borders.” Kerry proceeded to raise his voice when insisting that during the tenure of his boss, then-president Barack Obama, the US never permitted the delegitimization of or boycotts against Israel. He conveniently failed to mention that these types of moves are precisely what the resolution aimed to enable and promote. Luckily, the Palestinians did it for him, lauding the resolution for paving the way for boycotts, divestment and lawsuits against Israel at the International Criminal Court.
In any case, the underlying message of Kerry’s tirade was that the stalemate in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians was the fault of the “extremist” right-wing government in Jerusalem – not the terror-masters in Ramallah and Gaza. He also warned that Israel could not remain both Jewish and democratic without returning to the 1967 borders and sharing its capital with the Palestinian state that would have been established by now had it not been for settlements.
He promptly exhibited his true colors by saying that while Israelis celebrate Independence Day each year, the Palestinians mourn the “Nakba” – the catastrophe of the founding of the Jewish state in 1948. This is precisely what the Palestinian leadership has been saying all along: That the problem is not the “occupation” of territories that Arab states lost in the Six Day War, but rather the existence of Jews on any inch of the Land of Israel.
THIS DIATRIBE had echoes of remarks he made earlier in the month at the 13th Annual Saban Forum in Washington, DC, where he delivered the keynote address. On the last day of the conference, titled “Challenges for the Trump Administration in the Middle East,” he reiterated a position that has since become the butt of jokes – thanks to the Abraham Accords.
“There will be no separate peace between Israel and the Arab world,” he told The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg in an onstage interview. “I’ve heard several prominent politicians in Israel sometimes saying, ‘Well, the Arab world’s in a different place now. We just have to reach out to them, and... then we’ll deal with the Palestinians. No. No, no and no. There will be no advance and separate peace with the Arab world without the Palestinian process and without the Palestinian peace.”
Perhaps even more telling is his interview with Goldberg in The Atlantic on August 5, 2015, three weeks after Iran and the P5+1 powers reached the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement. In view of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s serious efforts against the JCPOA, in light of Tehran’s flagrant violations of it from the minute that it was adopted and taking into account the Biden administration’s rush to enter into another deal with the devil, the following excerpts are chilling.
“Do you believe that Iranian leaders sincerely seek the elimination of the Jewish state?” asked Goldberg.  Kerry replied, “I think they have a fundamental ideological confrontation with Israel at this particular moment. Whether or not that translates into active steps to, quote, ‘Wipe it,’ you know... ”
“Off the map,” said Goldberg, finishing Kerry’s sentence. “I don’t know the answer to that,” Kerry said. “I haven’t seen anything that says to me they’ve got 80,000 rockets in Hezbollah pointed at Israel, and any number of choices could have been made. They didn’t make the bomb when they had enough material for 10 to 12. They’ve signed on to an agreement where they say they’ll never try and make one, and we have a mechanism in place where we can prove that. So I don’t want to get locked into that debate. I think it’s a waste of time here.”
Later on, Kerry stressed, “Let me put this in very precise terms. Look, I’ve gone through this backwards and forwards a hundred times and I’m telling you, this deal is as pro-Israel, as pro-Israel’s security, as it gets. And I believe that just saying no to this is, in fact, reckless.”
IN AN ANALYSIS on Tuesday, Jerusalem Post diplomatic correspondent and senior contributing editor Lahav Harkov noted that though there are plenty of reasons to criticize Kerry, “he probably doesn’t deserve the wrath he’s attracting” over the leaked tape. Rather, she argued, “It’s Zarif and his smooth-talking to cover for Iran’s genocidal regime that deserve our ire.” Harkov’s point about Zarif is spot on. She may also be right about Kerry. But responsibility for his not being given the benefit of the doubt lies squarely on his own shoulders.

Biden Administration Needs to Halt Talks with Iran’s Mullahs
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/May 01/2021
مجيد رافيزادا/معهد كايتستون: مطلوب من إدارة الرئيس بايدن وقف المحادثات مع ملالي إيران
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/98409/majid-rafizadeh-gatestone-institute-biden-administration-needs-to-halt-talks-with-irans-mullahs%d9%85%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a7-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%87%d8%af/
The Biden administration seems more determined than ever, however, to “reward” Iran’s dangerous and predatory regime by returning to a deal that has sunset clauses, as well as an expiration date after which the mullahs can enrich uranium, spin centrifuges at any level they desire, and make as many nuclear weapons as they like.
A return to the 2025 deal would help to lift all major sanctions against Iran — sanctions it took years to put in place. The deal would enable Iran’s military sites to be exempt from inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The deal would allow Iran to rejoin the global financial system with full legitimacy, so that billions of dollars could begin flowing into the treasury of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its expanding militias across the Middle East.
Finally, amid the talks to revive the “nuclear deal,” Iran’s leaders signed a 25-year strategic deal with China. In addition, the Iranian authorities are also engaged in high-level talks with Russia, “in order to help establish stability and combat American interventions.”
The Biden administration’s silence in the wake of Iran’s increasing threats and nuclear defiance will only embolden and empower this predatory regime. The Iranian regime clearly believes it can get away with its violations. Instead of “rewarding” this dangerous Islamist regime, the Biden administration needs to take a firm stance and hold the ruling mullahs accountable.
The Iranian regime recently announced that it will be activating more centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear site. Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s chief negotiator, said that Iran would activate 1,000 advanced centrifuge machines. Pictured: The Natanz nuclear enrichment facility in Iran.
Amid talks — between the Iranian regime and France, the United Kingdom, China, Russia, plus Germany as well as indirect talks between the US and Iran — the ruling mullahs of Iran continue to ratchet up their threats and nuclear defiance.
Last week, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, announced that Iran would be enriching uranium to 60 percent — a level of enrichment that has no civilian purpose. Now the Iranian regime has begun enriching uranium to its highest level ever, 60 percent, close to weapons-grade level.
Iranian leaders also began boasting about this development. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament wrote:
“The young and God-believing Iranian scientists managed to achieve a 60% enriched uranium product… I congratulate the brave nation of Islamic Iran on this success. The Iranian nation’s willpower is miraculous and can defuse any conspiracy.”
The Iranian regime also announced that it will be activating more centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear site. Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s chief negotiator at the talks, said that Iran would activate 1,000 advanced centrifuge machines.
Now, instead of halting talks amid Iran’s defiance, the Biden administration appears happy that Iran is engaged in discussions. President Joe Biden told reporters in Washington during a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga:
“We are, though, nonetheless pleased that Iran has continued to agree to engage in discussions — indirect discussions — with us and with our partners on how we move forward and what is needed to allow us to move back into the [nuclear deal]…”.
The Biden administration seems more determined than ever, however, to “reward” Iran’s dangerous and predatory regime by returning to a deal that has sunset clauses, as well as an expiration date after which the mullahs can enrich uranium, spin centrifuges at any level they desire, and make as many nuclear weapons as they like.
A return to the 2025 deal would help to lift all major sanctions against Iran — sanctions it took years to put in place. The deal would enable Iran’s military sites to be exempt from inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The deal would allow Iran to rejoin the global financial system with full legitimacy, so that billions of dollars could begin flowing into the treasury of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its expanding militias across the Middle East.
The deal also disregards that the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) has placed the Iranian regime on the terrorism financing blacklist. The FATF pointed out in its report:
“[G]iven Iran’s failure to enact the Palermo and Terrorist Financing Conventions in line with the FATF Standards, the FATF fully lifts the suspension of counter-measures and calls on its members and urges all jurisdictions to apply effective counter-measures…”
Ever since President Biden declared that he wanted to resurrect the nuclear deal — which, incidentally, Iran never signed — the Iranian regime has been ratcheting up its threats and nuclear defiance in order to get more “rewards” — evidently for non-compliance — from the Biden administration.
First, Iran began increasing uranium enrichment to 20% in January 2021. Then on January 4, in a move that apparently alarmed the US State Department, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized a South Korean-flagged ship carrying thousands of tons of ethanol in the Persian Gulf, according to Fars News. A US State Department spokesperson noted at the time:
“The (Iranian) regime continues to threaten navigational rights and freedoms in the Persian Gulf as part of a clear attempt to extort the international community into relieving the pressure of sanctions. We join the Republic of Korea’s call for Iran to immediately release the tanker.”
Later, on January 9, the Iranian parliament passed a law requiring the government to expel the International Atomic Energy Agency’s nuclear inspectors.
This week, according to the US Navy, “Revolutionary Guard fast-boats swarmed U.S. Coast Guard vessels in [the] Persian Gulf.”
Last September, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told a forum organized by New York’s Council on Foreign Relations that Iran wants more money. “A sign of good faith is not to try to renegotiate what has already been negotiated,” he said, adding in the same speech that the US must “compensate us for our losses.” Iran’s top judicial body had already demanded that the US pay $130 billion in “damages.” And now the regime is enriching uranium at its highest level ever.
The Biden administration has reportedly agreed in principle to the Iranian regime’s demand for compensation over the “economic damage”.
Unnamed Israeli diplomats unofficially expressed disappointment over the nuclear negotiations and characterized the talks as “complete American capitulation” to Iran’s leaders. Israeli leaders are apparently seriously concerned that the Biden administration wants to revive the Iran nuclear deal “at all costs”.
Finally, amid the talks to revive the “nuclear deal,” Iran’s leaders signed a 25-year strategic deal with China. In addition, the Iranian authorities are also engaged in high-level talks with Russia, “in order to help establish stability and combat American interventions.”
The Biden administration’s silence in the wake of Iran’s increasing threats and nuclear defiance will only embolden and empower this predatory regime. The Iranian regime clearly believes it can get away with its violations. Instead of “rewarding” this dangerous Islamist regime, the Biden administration needs to take a firm stance and hold the ruling mullahs accountable.
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
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