English LCCC Newsbulletin For Le

English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 24/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Jesus Appears to The 12 When Thomas Was With Them: Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.
John20/14-29/Now Thomas (also known as Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 23-24/2022
Boat carrying 60 migrants capsizes off north Lebanon
Hezbollah establishes weapons workshops in Homs countryside under the supervision of the Revolutionary Guards, and these depots are "considered the second largest arms depots in Syria."
Lebanon banking group rejects latest draft of financial recovery plan
Jumblat says it's time to dismiss 'wanderer' Fayyad
Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn: ‘Am I guilty or innocent? Let’s finish this ordeal’
Gerrymandering around only makes a laughing stock of Lebanon’s election/Makram Rabah/Al Arabiya/April 23/2022

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 23-24/2022
Iran, Saudi Arabia resume key talks in Iraq
Blinken calls on Iran to release detained American
Biden to nominate Michael Ratney as US envoy to Saudi Arabia
Gunmen kill bodyguard of Iran Guards general: state media
Israel closes crossing to Gazans after new rocket attacks
Hopes wane for Ukraine Easter truce as Russia presses campaign

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 23-24/2022
Why Is the Biden Administration Determined to Help Terrorist Iran Get a Bomb?/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./April 23, 2022
Biden’s bizarre presidency limps toward electoral shellacking/Dr. John C. Hulsman/Arab News/April 23/2022
The ‘legitimacy’s’ military option is key to peace in Yemen/Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/April 23/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 23-24/2022
Boat carrying 60 migrants capsizes off north Lebanon
Agencies/April 24, 2022
BEIRUT: A boat carrying 60 migrants capsized Saturday night off the Lebanese coast, the Lebanese Red Cross said. It was not immediately clear if there were any deaths. The Red Cross said it sent 10 ambulances to the port of the northern city of Tripoli in case there were casualties. Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s office said the boast capsized shortly after leaving the northern coastal town of Qalamoun near Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city. Mikati’s office said the Lebanese army and authorities were on high alert following the case. An AFP correspondent in northern Lebanon said the army had closed off the port, allowing entry only to ambulances which were zipping in and out. Families of some of the passengers started gathering to check on their loves ones but they too were denied access. The fate of the passengers was not immediately clear. For many years Lebanon was a country that took in refugees, but since the country’s economic meltdown began in October 2019, thousands of people have left on boats heading to Europe. Lebanon, a small Mediterranean nation of 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, is in the grip of the worst economic crisis in the country’s modern history. The economic meltdown has put more three-quarters of the country’s population into poverty. The UN refugee agency says at least 1,570 people, 186 of them Lebanese, left or tried to leave illegally by sea from Lebanon between January and November 2021. Most were hoping to reach European Union member Cyprus, an island 175 kilometers (110 miles) away. This is up from 270 passengers, including 40 Lebanese, in 2019. Most of those trying to leave Lebanon by sea are Syrian refugees, but Lebanese have increasingly joined their ranks. (With AFP and AP)

Hezbollah establishes weapons workshops in Homs countryside under the supervision of the Revolutionary Guards, and these depots are "considered the second largest arms depots in Syria."
Dubai - Alarabiya.net/23 April/2022
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said today, Saturday, that the Lebanese Hezbollah has recently set up workshops to manufacture weapons of all kinds in the countryside of Homs, under the supervision of experts from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. The observatory stated that Hezbollah had established workshops for the manufacture of artillery and missile shells, mines and maintenance of drones "within the fortified arms and ammunition depots in the strategic Mahin area in the southeastern countryside of Homs." He pointed out that these depots "are considered the second largest arms depots in Syria."
According to the sources of the Syrian Observatory, a large number of people from the town of Mahin in Homs countryside are now working in the ranks of the local militias loyal to Iran, after the regime and Iranian militias took control of the area in early 2017, with Russian air support.
It is worth noting that in November 2013, opposition and Islamist factions took control of the Mahin military warehouses, where the control at that time led to the factions seizing large quantities of light, medium and heavy weapons and ammunition.
In October 2015, ISIS took control of the town of Mahin and its warehouses in the countryside of Homs after an attack with booby-trapped vehicles that targeted a checkpoint of the regime in the vicinity of the area, before the latter regained control of Mahin and its warehouses in early 2017 with Russian air cover and support from Iranian militias on the ground. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights indicated on April 21 that the Russian forces withdrew completely from the Palmyra military airport in the eastern countryside of Homs, as all the Russian elements left the airport via a military helicopter before the Russian forces withdrew their helicopters from the airport as well, for unknown reasons. According to the sources, the Russian helicopters and the forces that left Palmyra Airport headed to T-4 Airport in Homs countryside, thus making Palmyra Military Airport under the control of the Lebanese "Hezbollah" and the Afghan "Fatimiyoun" militia loyal to Iran, in addition to the presence of some elements and officers of the regime inside the airport.

Lebanon banking group rejects latest draft of financial recovery plan
Reuters, Beirut/23 April ,2022
The Association of Banks in Lebanon said on Saturday it “completely rejects” the government’s latest draft of a financial recovery plan meant to pull the country out of an economic meltdown. In a statement shared with Reuters, the ABL called the plan “disastrous” and said it would leave banks and depositors shouldering the “major portion” of losses. The government estimates that the financial sector’s losses amount to $72 billion. “ABL has assigned its legal advisers to examine and present a range of judicial measures that will allow the preservation and recovery of the rights of the banks and the depositors,” the association said. Lebanon’s banks have been a major lender to the government for decades, helping to finance a wasteful and corrupt state that went into financial meltdown in 2019. The collapse has resulted in depositors being shut out of their savings and the local currency losing more than 90 percent of its value. The banking association rejected an earlier draft of the plan in February, saying it would cause a loss of confidence in the financial sector. The ABL’s approval is not required for the government to begin implementing a plan, but experts say support from the banking sector could contribute to solving the crisis. The current draft lays out a series of financial reforms, including an overhaul of the banking sector and caps on how much depositors would be able to recover from their accounts. Earlier this month, Lebanon signed a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a 46-month extended fund facility, under which Lebanon has requested access to the equivalent of around $3 billion. But access to those funds is contingent on enacting a slew of economic reforms and financial sector restructuring.

Jumblat says it's time to dismiss 'wanderer' Fayyad
Naharnet/April 23, 2022
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat asked Saturday for the dismissal of Energy Minister Walid Fayyad. In a tweet Jumblat said "it is time to dismiss the minister", sarcastically accusing him of wandering through capitals, restaurants and nightclubs. The PSP chief said the ministry is ruled by the Free Patriotic Movement party, slamming the presidency and the "son-in-law," FPM chief Jebran Bassil."Isn't it time for the Prime Minister to reveal that there won't be any Jordanian electricity or any World Bank funding, unless a radical reform is made at the ministry of energy," Jumblat asked. The World Bank still hasn't financed a Lebanon’s U.S.-backed plan for importing gas and electricity from Egypt and Jordan via Syria. "It is still studying the plan’s political feasibility," Fayyad said, adding that “the ball is now in the court of the U.S. administration and the bank.” Meanwhile, the cash-strapped state is struggling to purchase fuel for its power stations. With state power effectively non-existent, many rely on private generators, but prices have increased after the government lifted fuel subsidies.

Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn: ‘Am I guilty or innocent? Let’s finish this ordeal’
Sarah Sfeir/Arab News/April 23, 2022
PARIS: Carlos Ghosn first heard about the international warrant issued by France for his arrest while reading a newspaper, the fugitive former automobile executive has told Arab News.
Speaking to Arab News after the arrest warrant issued by France made the headlines worldwide today, Carlos Ghosn told us that he knew about the warrant like everyone else, while reading the newspaper. “I thought that in the French system at least the investigating judge would have the courtesy to alert you first before, you read it in the newspaper. Neither my advocates, my lawyers nor myself were informed and, until now, we don't have any official information about the arrest warrant.”
Ghosn, who has been awaiting trial for several years now, on charges that he understated his compensation in Nissan’s financial statements confirmed that the arrest warrant is a totally normal step for France at this level, so that they can close the investigating part of the process. “This is not a verdict” he said.
The arrest warrant was not surprising to Ghosn and his lawyer “The arrest warrant is the beginning of the real judicial process, which consists in to going to trial... What was surprising is the timing; it's happening at a moment that is very politically charged in France”, he told Arab News, stating that he is not yet officially informed me about it. Given the Red Notice that was requested by Japan, Ghosn cannot leave Lebanon and go to France, so he believes that the transmission of the files to Lebanon where he could face the trial is the only way forward to finish what they have begun ( the trial). As per Ghosn, he, and his lawyers should be granted the access to the documents of the investigating judge, which the Japanese authorities are basing their charges on.
Ghosn explained to Arab News that the accusation of the French investigating judge are based on documents that have been transmitted by the Japanese prosecutor, and specified that most of these documents were unlawfully taken from his house in Lebanon by Nissan employees. “There is a criminal investigation in Lebanon about how these documents have been taken from Lebanon, and I'm waiting eagerly for the conclusion,” he highlighted, adding that the prosecution did not even challenge the integrity of these documents.
“He ( the prosecutor) didn't even challenge if they (the documents) have been truncated, manipulated, added, distorted”.
He was surprised when he left Japan to Lebanon, that the file of his trial was transferred to France and not to Lebanon, saying that until now, he couldn’t get hold of the file. “The Lebanese authority have requested many times the file to the Japanese authority, they refused to hand them the file” he said.
As per Ghosn, the Lebanese authorities are going to ask the French ones to transfer the file, so that they bring him to trial on all the accusations.
It has been a very long process for Ghosn. “Now we are in a position where we can defend ourself, obviously we need to know exactly what are the accusation, as you know, we just try to guess them, through the interrogation I've been through, all through the leaks to the press,” he said, “I have been, in a certain way, kept in Lebanon now for two years and a half, without any possibility to finish this ordeal so it's about time that it happens.”
“Am I guilty or I am or am I innocent? and let's finish the story, that has, frankly, lasted too long to my detriment, obviously, but also to the detriment of Renault and Nissan because as you've seen the results of the two companies for the last three years has been dismal and really far from what these two companies have shown, under my leadership for the many years before my arrest,” he concluded.

Gerrymandering around only makes a laughing stock of Lebanon’s election
Makram Rabah/Al Arabiya/April 23/2022
The gloomy streets of Lebanon and its capital Beirut are slowly starting to transform into a democracy jubilee, as all sides are ramping up their campaigns to secure the votes in the parliamentary elections slated for May 15.
Despite all the signs indicating that the elections will take place, a sense of pessimism and skepticism shrouds the country with an insipid aura which, when examined in depth, reveals the existential crisis Lebanon is undergoing. It is one which cannot be resolved at the ballot box.
In practical terms it is interesting that many of those running in the elections are my friends, and the majority of them share the same view where they cannot commit to confirming or denying that the elections will take place. While they are openly asking for people to vote for them, they themselves are not actually convinced that they might win, and if they do, they are unsure that the ruling establishment will allow them to carry out their supposed reform plans.
Essentially, for any election to serve its purpose, it has to be fair, genuine and transparent. In Lebanon these principals are alien to the political culture and the establishment which has dominated the country for decades. Genuine change under the present conditions is difficult (with some saying impossible) and this is largely due to a number of factors which renders change through elections futile. Chiefly amongst them is the proportional representation law which these elections are to be conducted under.
By gerrymandering districts and abusing its power, the Lebanese political establishment has the ability to control the final elections result, leaving May 15 to become an intermural sports event between the ruling elite themselves who stand to gain or lose a few seats.
In real terms, expecting fairness and equality from such an election law is similar to going to a casino with rigged slot machines and expecting to win. It is something that happens only when the house and, in this case, the ruling establishment, allows.
Consequently, under this law the forces of change from those born from the October 17 2019 public protests have no chance of winning in the upcoming elections. Mainly, this is because they lack the logistical depth to garner the vote, but more importantly they have failed to convince the wider Lebanese that they are a credible substitute to the ruling establishment.
In a typical revolutionary fashion, the forces of opposition believe that their anti-establishment status and their supposed commitment to reform is enough to get the masses to vote for them. In fact, they have failed to grasp that their murky stand on Hezbollah and its Iranian weapons are the only things that can muster enough cross-sectarian support to make an impact at the polls. While this might not be enough to win a big block in parliament, it will concentrate the focus on the cancerous nature of the unholy alliance between Hezbollah’s weapons and the corrupt politicians it protects.
As it stands many groups who brand themselves as progressive, have for the sake of unity accepted alliances with figures and groups that view Hezbollah as a resistance movement, going as far as to deny the militia’s involvement in any of the corrupt dealings which bankrupted the state.
Such cardinal sins have secured the fate of these elections before the ballots are cast. By accepting to run in the elections under such conditions the opposition gullibly thinks that reform is possible in a state whose sovereignty is desecrated by an Iranian proxy who has deployed its fighters in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, all in the service of Tehran and its expansionist project.
Ballots alone cannot reform a political system which is willing to kill and steal to stay in power. Many of those candidates that are asking for people’s vote have failed to understand this. While some have bravely named Hezbollah as a source of menace, they did not take that extra step to form a national front to adopt a single policy agenda: Sovereignty as a gateway to reform.
Be that as it may, the real burden of responsibility does not fall on the opposition, but on the political establishment that has used and abused power and bankrupted a once prosperous country, while insolently claiming to serve and protect their sects and parties.
Moreover, while the Lebanese who choose not to vote on May 15 might have their reasons, their failure to hold those accountable for their many crimes makes them willing accomplices and allows for Hezbollah and the political elite to claim false legitimacy.
As long as the people have doubts that this election or any future democratic events might be postponed, such as the presidential elections in October, then their country is not doing well. As long as the populous think that their votes do not count then they are helping perpetuate a tragedy of their own making.
May 15 is not simply a day for casting ballots, but is the opportunity to start a long and arduous fight to reclaim Lebanon’s true sovereignty from its enemies, both domestic and foreign.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 23-24/2022
Iran, Saudi Arabia resume key talks in Iraq
The Arab Weekly/April 23/2022
Regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia have resumed key talks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad after negotiations were suspended last month, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. “Talks resumed last Thursday in Baghdad,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, and without giving further details. Iran’s Nour news agency confirmed a meeting attended by “senior officials from the secretariat of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and the head of the Saudi intelligence service.” Shia-majority Iran and the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia support rival sides in several conflict zones across the region, including in Yemen, where the Houthi militias are backed by Tehran, and Riyadh leads a military coalition supporting the government. In 2016, Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran after the kingdom executed revered Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Riyadh responded by cutting ties with Tehran. The talks in Iraq — which borders both Iran and Saudi Arabia — are the fifth round of meetings in the country in the past year between Tehran and Riyadh aimed at restoring ties. “It is expected that a joint meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries will be held in the near future,” Nour said, describing what it called the “positive atmosphere of the recent meeting, which raised the hopes of a resumption of bilateral relations.” In March, Iranian media reported that Tehran had suspended participation in talks after Saudi Arabia announced it had executed in just one day a record 81 people convicted of various crimes related to “terrorism,” including men linked to Yemen’s Houthi militias. But in early March, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz said his country and Iran were “neighbours forever,” and that it was “better for both of us to work it out and to look for ways in which we can coexist”. The comments were welcomed by Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. “We have different views and approaches on some issues in the region, but the management of differences by the sides can serve the interests of the two nations,” Amir-Abdollahian said at the time.

Blinken calls on Iran to release detained American
AFP, Washington/23 April ,2022
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Iran on Saturday to release an American citizen he said has been held for years as a “political pawn,” as the nations inch toward restoration of a nuclear deal. Emad Sharghi was sentenced to 10 years in prison on spying charges, Iranian media reported in January 2021, saying he was detained trying to flee the country. Blinken said the Iranian-American venture capitalist has been held for four years, and that the “family has waited anxiously for the Iranian government to release Emad.”“Like too many other families, their loved one has been treated as a political pawn,” the top US diplomat said in a post on Twitter. “We call on Iran to stop this inhumane practice and release Emad.” Robert Malley, the US special envoy for Iran, said on Saturday that Sharghi was arrested exactly four years ago. “He was cleared of all charges, but then convicted in absentia, rearrested, and has now spent over 500 days in Evin Prison,” Malley said. “Emad, the Namazis, and Morad Tahbaz must all be allowed to come home now.”More than a dozen citizens of Western countries are being held in Iran, even after Tehran allowed two British citizens to return home last month after years of detention and another to leave prison. Those who remain behind bars, under house arrest or unable to leave Iran face an agonizing wait to see if a possible deal on the Iranian nuclear program will help their prospects. In 2015, Washington and five other world powers inked a landmark agreement with Tehran to rein in Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Under the presidency of Donald Trump, the United States quit the deal in 2018 and reinstated economic sanctions against Tehran, which in response shrugged off restrictions imposed on its nuclear efforts. Months of negotiations in the Austrian capital Vienna aim to return Washington to the deal, including through the lifting of sanctions, and to ensure Tehran’s full compliance with its commitments. Negotiators say they are close to a conclusion, but have yet to finalize all points.

Biden to nominate Michael Ratney as US envoy to Saudi Arabia
The Arab Weekly/April 23/2022
President Joe Biden intends to nominate career diplomat Michael Ratney to be US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, the White House said on Friday, amid strained relations between Washington and its traditional Gulf allies. If confirmed by the Senate, Ratney, who was previously the charge d’affaires at the US Embassy in Jerusalem and the US special envoy for Syria, would be the first career diplomat to serve as ambassador to Riyadh in three decades. The US did not have an ambassador in Saudi Arabia for two years after former President Donald Trump took office. He then picked John Abizaid to be the envoy. The post has been vacant since he left in January 2021. US-Saudi ties have been strained by Biden’s decisions last year to curtail US support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen and to publish intelligence on an operation that led to the capture and killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
The Saudi government has denied any involvement in the murder of Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote opinion columns for the Washington Post critical of Riyadh. Relations between the United States and the world’s largest oil exporter have also been frayed by Biden’s efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which US allies in the Gulf argue does too little to prevent Tehran from getting an atomic bomb. Washington has also been trying, so far without success, to persuade Saudi Arabia to pump more oil beyond the small increase it has agreed within the OPEC+ production group to offset potential losses in Russian supplies after Moscow was sanctioned by the West over its invasion of Ukraine. But efforts have been made to bolster ties between Riyadh and Washington, and earlier this week, an official at the Saudi Embassy in Washington said the relationship was “historic and remains strong.”Also, this week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterated the importance of US-Saudi bilateral ties during a virtual meeting with her Saudi counterpart. Ratney, whose official biography says he speaks Arabic and French, has previously been deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Doha and has had tours in Mexico City, Baghdad, Beirut, Casablanca, Bridgetown, and Washington.

Gunmen kill bodyguard of Iran Guards general: state media
AFP/April 23, 2022 08:28
TEHRAN: Gunmen killed the bodyguard of a general from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Saturday in an attack on a checkpoint in the country’s restive southeast, state media said. IRNA news agency said the shooting occurred in Sistan-Baluchistan, a province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan that is often the scene of attacks or clashes between security forces and armed groups. The slain bodyguard was identified as Mahmoud Absalan, the son of General Parviz Absalan, a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the region. State television said “criminals” had opened fire at the checkpoint, located at the entrance to the provincial capital of Zahedan. IRNA said the security forces arrested those behind the attack. Poverty-stricken Sistan-Baluchistan is a flashpoint for clashes with smuggling gangs, as well as separatists from the Baluchi minority and extremist militant groups. In January, state media said three Guard members were among nine people killed in a clash with “armed criminals” in the same region. And in November, IRNA said three members of the security forces were killed in similar circumstances also in Sistan-Baluchistan.Saturday’s deadly shooting comes two days after Iran announced the arrest in Sistan-Baluchistan of three people it said were linked to Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Israel closes crossing to Gazans after new rocket attacks
AFP/April 23, 2022
JERUSALEM: Israel said it will close its only crossing from the Gaza Strip for workers on Sunday in response to overnight rocket fire, stopping short of conducting retaliatory strikes in an apparent bid to ease tensions. The rocket attacks on Friday night and Saturday morning followed days of clashes at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound and a month of deadly violence. The unrest — which comes as the Jewish festival of Passover overlaps with the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan — has sparked international fears of conflict, one year after similar violence led to an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza-based militants. “Following the rockets fired toward Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip last night, it was decided that crossings into Israel for Gazan merchants and workers through the Erez Crossing will not be permitted this upcoming Sunday,” COGAT, a unit of the Israeli defense ministry responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, said in a statement on Saturday. Two rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel on Friday night, one of them hitting the Jewish state and the other falling short and striking near a residential building in northern Gaza, Palestinian and Israeli sources said. A third rocket was fired at Israel on Saturday morning, the army said, with no air raid sirens activated for any of the launches. They followed rocket attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, and came as Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters at Al-Aqsa mosque, leaving at least one man hospitalized in serious condition. Israel had retaliated against those attacks with air strikes, but in an apparent desire to prevent further violence, shifted its response this time to the painful economic measure of closing Erez, implying that further rockets would extend the penalty. “The re-opening of the crossing will be decided in accordance with a security situational assessment,” COGAT added in its statement. More than 200 people, mostly Palestinians, have been hurt in clashes in and around Al-Aqsa in the past week. Palestinians have been outraged by massive Israeli police deployment and repeated visits by Jews to the holy site.
Early on Friday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said 57 people were wounded after police stormed the compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem’s Old City when Palestinians began hurling stones toward the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray. And after midday prayers, some Muslim worshippers chanted “incitement” and tried to damage a police post, police said, using a drone to spray tear gas from the air, AFP reporters said. Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third-holiest site, and the most sacred site in Judaism where it is known as the Temple Mount. By long-standing convention, Jews are allowed to visit under certain conditions but are not allowed to pray there. The escalating unrest prompted concern at the United Nations, which on Thursday demanded a probe into the Israeli police actions. “The use of force by Israeli police resulting in widespread injuries among worshippers and staff in and around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound must be promptly, impartially, independently and transparently investigated,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Hopes wane for Ukraine Easter truce as Russia presses campaign
Associated Press/April 23, 2022
Hopes for a weekend truce in Ukraine to celebrate the Orthodox Easter faded with talks between Moscow and Kyiv stalled as Russia said it aimed to take full control over the east and south of its neighbor. The war enters its third month on Sunday but a senior Russian military officer said "the second phase of the special operation" -- as Moscow terms its invasion of Ukraine -- had just begun. "One of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine," Major General Rustam Minnekaev said on Friday. Russian forces, which withdrew from around Kyiv and the north of Ukraine after being frustrated in their attempts to take over the capital, already occupy much of the eastern Donbas region and the south. Minnekaev said their focus was now to "provide a land corridor to Crimea," which Russia annexed in 2014, and towards a breakaway pro-Russian region of Moldova, Transnistria, where the general claimed Russian-speaking people were "being oppressed". Ukrainian authorities have vowed to fight on and drive the Russian troops from their land, but they also sought an Easter pause. "Unfortunately, Russia rejected the proposal to establish an Easter truce," President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday.In his regular Friday night address, Zelensky said the Russian general's comments were a clear articulation of Moscow's goals. "This only confirms what I have already said multiple times: Russia's invasion of Ukraine was intended only as a beginning," he said. "We will defend ourselves as long as possible... but all the nations who, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us."Ukraine's government, emboldened by an influx of Western weaponry, said its beleaguered forces were still holding out inside a sprawling steelworks in the razed port city of Mariupol. The Kremlin has claimed the "liberation" of Mariupol, which is pivotal to its war plans nearly two months after President Vladimir Putin ordered the shock invasion of Russia's Western-leaning neighbor.
Humanitarian appeal
In a phone call to Putin, EU chief Charles Michel appealed for humanitarian access to Mariupol, which has been largely destroyed by weeks of intense Russian bombardment. "Strongly urged for immediate humanitarian access and safe passage from Mariupol and other besieged cities all the more on the occasion of Orthodox Easter," Michel tweeted. Putin however accused Kyiv of refusing to allow its troops to surrender in Mariupol. "All servicemen of the Ukrainian armed forces, militants of the national battalions and foreign mercenaries who laid down their arms are guaranteed life," Putin told Michel, the Kremlin said.
"But the Kyiv regime is not allowing for this opportunity to be used." Ukraine says hundreds of its forces and civilians are holed up inside the sprawling Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, and Kyiv has repeatedly called for a ceasefire to allow women, children and the elderly to safely exit the shattered city. Russia's defence ministry earlier said it was ready to observe a humanitarian pause if Kyiv's troops surrendered. "The enemy's offensive operation in the south hinges on Mariupol. The enemy is trying to focus all its efforts on it," Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the eastern region of Donetsk, told AFP. An aide to Zelensky, Oleksiy Arestovych, vowed late Friday that Ukraine's "counter-attack on Mariupol will be 101 percent" as soon as the general staff decides, according to Ukrainian media. The flag ship of Russia's Black Sea fleet which played a key role in the siege of Mariupol sank last week, with Kyiv and Washington saying it was hit by Ukrainian missiles, which Moscow denies. In its first admission of losses following the sinking of the missile cruiser Moskva, Russia said Friday one crew member died and 27 were missing, after earlier claiming all the crew were evacuated. Moscow had previously refused to reveal any details about casualties despite calls from parents concerned about their missing children. It has also intensified efforts to muzzle independent media and government critics at home. Russian authorities on Friday declared opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza a "foreign agent" and ordered his pre-trial detention for allegedly spreading false information about the army.
Summary executions -
Russia's change of strategic focus to southern and eastern Ukraine saw invading forces leave behind a trail of indiscriminate destruction and civilian bodies around Kyiv, including in the commuter town of Bucha. A United Nations mission to Bucha documented "the unlawful killing, including by summary execution, of some 50 civilians there", the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said. Its spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said Russian forces had "indiscriminately shelled and bombed populated areas, killing civilians and wrecking hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, actions that may amount to war crimes". The UN mission was sent on April 9, a week after an AFP team found bodies of people dressed in civilian clothing lining the streets of Bucha, after the town had been under Russian occupation for over a month. Ukrainian officials say the bodies of more than 1,000 civilians have been retrieved from areas around Kyiv. Forensic experts are now examining the bodies, said Oleksandr Pavliuk, head of the Kyiv regional military administration. "But what we saw was hands tied behind the back, their legs tied and shot through the limbs and in the back of the head," he told reporters. On Thursday, US satellite imagery company Maxar released photos it assessed showed a "mass grave" on the northwestern edge of Mangush, west of Mariupol. Ukraine's leader also welcomed the latest promises of Western military aid, including howitzers, armoured vehicles and tactical drones from the United States. The UK government said Ukrainian soldiers had travelled to Britain for training in operating UK-supplied armoured vehicles. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Britain was joining other European countries in reopening its embassy in Kyiv, but he warned that the conflict could drag on until the end of next year.
Seeking a way to end the bloodshed, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres will meet Putin in Moscow next week, and could also visit Zelensky in Kyiv, the UN announced.

Israel closes crossing to Gazans after new rocket attacks
AFP/April 23/2022
This comes after militants in the Palestinian enclave fired three rockets at the Jewish state
JERUSALEM: Israel said it will close its only crossing from the Gaza Strip for workers on Sunday in response to overnight rocket fire, stopping short of conducting retaliatory strikes in an apparent bid to ease tensions.
The rocket attacks on Friday night and Saturday morning followed days of clashes at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound and a month of deadly violence. The unrest — which comes as the Jewish festival of Passover overlaps with the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan — has sparked international fears of conflict, one year after similar violence led to an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza-based militants.
“Following the rockets fired toward Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip last night, it was decided that crossings into Israel for Gazan merchants and workers through the Erez Crossing will not be permitted this upcoming Sunday,” COGAT, a unit of the Israeli defense ministry responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, said in a statement on Saturday.
Two rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel on Friday night, one of them hitting the Jewish state and the other falling short and striking near a residential building in northern Gaza, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.
A third rocket was fired at Israel on Saturday morning, the army said, with no air raid sirens activated for any of the launches.
They followed rocket attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, and came as Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters at Al-Aqsa mosque, leaving at least one man hospitalized in serious condition.
Israel had retaliated against those attacks with air strikes, but in an apparent desire to prevent further violence, shifted its response this time to the painful economic measure of closing Erez, implying that further rockets would extend the penalty.
“The re-opening of the crossing will be decided in accordance with a security situational assessment,” COGAT added in its statement.
More than 200 people, mostly Palestinians, have been hurt in clashes in and around Al-Aqsa in the past week.
Palestinians have been outraged by massive Israeli police deployment and repeated visits by Jews to the holy site.
Early on Friday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said 57 people were wounded after police stormed the compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem’s Old City when Palestinians began hurling stones toward the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray.
And after midday prayers, some Muslim worshippers chanted “incitement” and tried to damage a police post, police said, using a drone to spray tear gas from the air, AFP reporters said.
Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third-holiest site, and the most sacred site in Judaism where it is known as the Temple Mount.
By long-standing convention, Jews are allowed to visit under certain conditions but are not allowed to pray there.
The escalating unrest prompted concern at the United Nations, which on Thursday demanded a probe into the Israeli police actions.
“The use of force by Israeli police resulting in widespread injuries among worshippers and staff in and around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound must be promptly, impartially, independently and transparently investigated,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 23-24/2022
د. ماجد رفي زاده / معهد جيتستون: لماذا إدارة بايدن مصممة على مساعدة إيران الإرهابية في الحصول على قنبلة ذرية؟
Why Is the Biden Administration Determined to Help Terrorist Iran Get a Bomb?
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./April 23, 2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/108119/dr-majid-rafizadeh-gatestone-institute-why-is-the-biden-administration-determined-to-help-terrorist-iran-get-a-bomb%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%ac%d8%af-%d8%b1%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%af-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%87/
Why would any administration in its right mind permit an official state sponsor of terrorism, the Islamic Republic of Iran, to have nuclear weapons, as well as billions of dollars that will assuredly not be used for a “GI Bill for returning members of the Revolutionary Guard”?
Just this week, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called Iran, a “sponsor of terrorism.”
With Biden’s deal, restrictions on the regime’s nuclear program would be lifted only two years after the agreement is signed, permitting the regime to enrich uranium at any level it desires and spin as many uranium enrichment centrifuges as it wants.
Astonishingly, Russia will be trusted to be the country that stores Iran’s enriched uranium, and Moscow will get paid for this mission. More uranium for Russia? How nifty: maybe Putin can use it for his next “Ukraine” — in Poland, Sweden or France?
The new deal will not address Iran’s ballistic missile program, meaning that the Tehran regime will continue attacking other nations with its ballistic missiles, provide missiles to its proxy militias in other countries, and advance the range of its intercontinental ballistic missiles to reach the US territories. Iran could even use shorter-range ballistic missiles to reach the US, perhaps launched from Venezuela or Cuba, where Iran is already deeply entrenched.
To meet the Iranian leaders’ demands, the new deal will most likely include removal from the terrorist list of the IRGC, which has killed countless Americans, both on American soil and off.
The Islamic Republic of Iran began murdering Americans in Beirut in 1983, and also had a hand in the 9/11 attacks.
The Biden administration, if it actually cares about peace in the region — a subject that seems open to question — would do well to listen to the warnings of these many US military leaders and Congressmen, and refuse to revive the disastrous nuclear deal. It will only a make even more dangerous a country that the US State Department itself has called “the world’s worst sponsor of state terrorism,” as well as frankly creating an unnecessary security threat in the region, Europe and the US.
Just this week, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called Iran, a “sponsor of terrorism.”
Calls and warnings against reviving the 2015 nuclear, however, seem to be falling on deaf ears, as the Biden administration appears determined to reach a deal that would enable a state that has been trying to take over the entire Middle East for decades — and already controls Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq — to have nuclear weapons, the ballistic missiles to deliver them, and billions of dollars to further its well-documented terrorism.
Last week, 45 retired US Generals and Admirals sent an entreaty, titled “Open Letter from U.S. Military Leaders Opposing Iran Nuclear Deal”, to the Biden administration, warning against reviving of the nuclear deal. They wrote:
“In Ukraine, we are bearing witness to the horrors of a country ruthlessly attacking its neighbor and, by brandishing its nuclear weapons, forcing the rest of the world largely to stand on the sidelines.
“The new Iran deal currently being negotiated, which Russia has played a central role in crafting, will enable the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism to cast its own nuclear shadow over the Middle East.
“As retired American military leaders who devoted their lives to the defense of our nation, we oppose this emerging deal that is poised to instantly fuel explosive Iranian aggression and pave Iran’s path to become a nuclear power, threatening the American homeland and the very existence of America’s regional allies.”
While the Biden administration is indefatigably trying to appease the ruling mullahs by lifting sanctions against the Iranian regime, the Islamic Republic has been ratcheting up its threats and attacks against the US bases and its allies, presumably as a nudge.
In addition, the head Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, recently commended “Palestinian martyrs” and threatened Israel as well:
“We are in the middle of the battlefield. The Islamic Republic of Iran is at the forefront of the scene against global arrogance and international Zionism, and we will continue on the path of their honor and greatness, thanks to the martyrs.”
Qaani also boasted about the Houthis’ access to weapons:
“Today, the heroes of Yemen and the new sons of the revolution are building the major weapons they use inside their country… they build missiles with a range of over 1,000 kilometers and drones with a range of over 1,500 kilometers, and all of these operations are carried out using tools and facilities in tunnels and basements, under enemy bombardment…”
The Biden administration is not only empowering the ruling mullahs of Iran and its militia groups, but grievously alienating US allies in the region. As the retired American US Generals and Admirals accurately stated in their letter:
“America’s closest regional partners, attacked regularly by Iran, already strongly oppose the proposed deal. If we will not help protect them against Iran, we cannot expect their help addressing threats like Russia and China. We instead support diplomacy that would genuinely end the threat posed by Iran’s military nuclear program and counter Iran’s regional aggression, backed up by credibly drawn and enforced redlines against Iranian nuclear and regional escalation.”
Worse, the Biden administration’s new deal with the Iranian regime is much weaker than Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal. With Biden’s deal, restrictions on the regime’s nuclear program would be lifted only two years after the agreement is signed, permitting the regime to enrich uranium at any level it desires and spin as many uranium enrichment centrifuges as it wants.
The new deal will not force the Iranian regime to reveal its past nuclear activities, which had military dimensions.
Astonishingly, Russia will be trusted to be the country that stores Iran’s enriched uranium, and Moscow will get paid for this mission. More uranium for Russia? How nifty: maybe Putin can use it for his next “Ukraine” — in Poland, Sweden or France?
The new deal will not address Iran’s ballistic missile program, meaning that the Tehran regime will continue attacking other nations with its ballistic missiles, provide missiles to its proxy militias in other countries, and advance the range of its intercontinental ballistic missiles to reach the US territories. Iran could even use shorter-range ballistic missiles to reach the US, perhaps launched from Venezuela or Cuba, where Iran is already deeply entrenched.
To meet the Iranian leaders’ demands, the new deal will most likely include removal from the terrorist list of the IRGC, which has killed countless Americans, both on American soil and off.
The Islamic Republic of Iran began murdering Americans in Beirut in 1983, and also had a hand in the 9/11 attacks.
Last but not least, economic sanctions will be lifted against the Iranian regime will facilitate the flow of billions of dollars to the ruling mullahs. This will further assist the terrorist regime of Iran to destabilize the region, target and attacks US allies, and continue arming, funding and sponsoring its militia and terror groups across the world.
The Biden administration, if it actually cares about peace in the region — a subject that seems open to question — would do well to listen to the warnings of these many US military leaders and Congressmen, and refuse to revive the disastrous nuclear deal. It will only a make even more dangerous a country that the US State Department itself has called “the world’s worst sponsor of state terrorism,” as well as frankly creating an unnecessary security threat in the region, Europe and the US.
*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
© 2022 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.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18452/help-terrorist-iran-bomb

Biden’s bizarre presidency limps toward electoral shellacking
Dr. John C. Hulsman/Arab News/April 23/2022
As Richard Adams, the author of the beloved children’s book Watership Down, put it: “Bunnies ... are like human beings in many ways.” This quotation popped into my head last week during the latest bizarre episode in the increasingly bizarre presidency of Joe Biden.
Fulfilling the ceremonial side of his job —the president is both head of state (like the British queen) and head of government (like the prime minister) —Biden was called upon to officiate at the annual Easter egg roll, a tradition in which children push an egg along the White House lawn with a long-handled spoon. Festivities include appearances by the president and the first lady, staffers dressed up in Easter Bunny costumes, and exhibits of elaborately decorated eggs. This would seem to be a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, and certainly not any public relations danger. However, such a seemingly placid event failed to reckon with this administration’s painful and growing disarray.
For, as we have said here before, Biden has lost an intellectual step since the time I knew him during his frequent visits to Europe as both a senator and vice president. Stiff gaited, peering off into the horizon, and perpetually distracted, the president is a public relations disaster always waiting to happen. In this case, reporters started quizzing him about foreign policy, even as the president and the first lady were standing somewhat uncomfortably with a 6ft rabbit, supposedly a White House press aide, dancing next to them. While the rabbit and the children were raising their arms and dancing, Jill Biden whispered to the president to do the same. Bewildered, he followed her orders.
The result looks set to be somewhere between a decisive defeat for the Democrats and an outright political tsunami
But even worse was to come. While officiating over the Easter egg roll, the president was asked questions about foreign policy by the White House press corps. Confused, he began to talk off the cuff about Afghanistan and Pakistan ... only to be firmly led away by the rabbit, who may have forgotten what he was wearing but not his role as press aide — above all, do not let the president attempt to answer unscripted questions.
Writing this seems cruel, but it is surely not so. Rather, it confirms for many the fears that Biden is not up to the job. Worse, he wants to run for another term. The president, now 79, would be 82 at the time of his next inauguration should he win re-election. Nevertheless, acording to The Hill, the venerable newspaper of record for those around Congress, re-election is precisely what Biden is aiming at. They have gone on record with two sources saying the president told his former boss, Barack Obama, that he is indeed planning to run again in 2022, a prospect that sent shudders up the spine of much of the country.
The Real Clear Politics average of polling finds the president with a current job approval rating of only 41 percent, while a majority 52 percent disapprove of his performance. Given that the president’s job performance is the most reliable indicator to the outcome of the mid-term elections in November, the result looks set to be somewhere between a decisive defeat for the Democrats and an outright political tsunami.
Historically, first term mid-terms are always a trial for the White House, as the voters tend to experience a severe case of buyers’ remorse. For example, the Clinton administration lost a net 54 House seats in 1994, while even more Democrats (63 in net terms) lost seats at the 2010 mid-terms during the Obama administration. Given the carved-out safe districts put in place for both parties since, there is no chance the absolute numbers will be as bad for the Biden White House this time around.
Saying this, I have yet to find a single political operative who privately thinks the Democrats will retain control of the House, while the Senate (to my eyes) also looks like it will end up with slim Republican control. Loss of both chambers of Congress would surely signal the definitive end of the Biden administration’s domestic agenda in early 2023.
Of the many issues working against him, dramatically rising inflation is the most important issue to most Americans, putting the administration behind the policy eight ball. Rising to a stratospheric 8.5 percent in March, inflation is at its highest level since faraway 1981. Nor do the White House’s feeble efforts to blame price rises on Vladimir Putin seem to be working; significant increases were already in the works before the Ukraine war, which began only in late February.
Rather, the simple, unvarnished truth is that, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, the administration miscalculated how quickly the resilient US economy would bounce back — over-egging the economy with an additional, gargantuan 15 percent in federal spending, even as the economy quickly returned to normal. The math is simply the math. Vast new federal spending is to blame for raging inflation. Despite his recent familiarity with bunnies, Biden will not be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat here; his mid-term electoral shellacking awaits.
• John C. Hulsman is the president and managing partner of John C. Hulsman Enterprises, a prominent global political risk consulting firm. He is also a senior columnist for City AM, the newspaper of the City of London. He can be contacted via johnhulsman.substack.com.

The ‘legitimacy’s’ military option is key to peace in Yemen
Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/April 23/2022
Aden, the capital of south Yemen, currently hosts the new pillars of the country’s “legitimate government”. It is a “legitimacy” that emerged from the Riyadh conference, which culminated in the removal of interim President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, with all that he and those surrounding him represented in terms of perpetuating the stalemate.
It was important for the new “legitimacy” pillars led by Rashad Al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council to come to Aden, in order to obtain the vote of confidence of the House of Representatives.
Undoubtedly, the presence of the “legitimacy” government on Yemeni soil provides reason for hope. But the question that will arise sooner or later is whether the Houthis, who are directed by Iran, will be willing to sit at the negotiating table. Such a development cannot be achieved with the existing balance of power that the new “legitimacy” is supposed to radically change. Is this possible so as to break the years of deadlock?
In clearer terms, is the military option available to the Presidential Leadership Council ? Can this body convince the Houthis that they have no choice but to negotiate, from the perspective of being part of the Yemeni fabric first and foremost and not to posture as another “legitimacy” with residence in Sana’a ?
It is useful to remember that Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi began his presidency, it was supposed to be temporary, that is, for only two years, during which a new constitution was to be approved and presidential elections held, along with the Yemeni armed forces being re-organised. But he simply worked to transform the Yemeni army into a headless body. All he did was to serve the Houthi project.
The interim president had only one goal, simply to eliminate any influence of the former Yemeni president Ali Abdallah Saleh within the military. What he did in fact doomed the military option in dealing with the Houthis and non-Houthi parties and replaced it with sterile political manoeuvres.
The two years that followed Abed Rabbo’s assumption of power can be overlooked and his actions may be explained by the suffocating pressures he suffered at the hands of his predecessor. But what cannot be understood is the role he played in facilitating the Houthis’ arrival in Sana’a after refusing to use the remaining army to confront them in the Amran governorate while they were on their way to the capital.
He thought the Houthis were working in his favour and that he could use them to balance the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood represented by the Yemeni Congress for Reform. The Brotherhood had their own accounts to settle. Their perspective has never changed since the winter of 2011 when they played the primary role in getting rid of Ali Abdullah Saleh in order to replace him.
In fact, all the calculations of the interim president, who was stripped of his powers at the Riyadh conference, only served the Houthis (Ansar Allah group) and the Iranian project in Yemen. This is the project that Hadi claimed he was fighting and warning against.
It was necessary to get rid of “legitimacy,” which turned into a two-headed “legitimacy,” made up of the interim president and his deputy, Ali Mohsen Saleh al-Ahmar, after the Houthis took control of Sana’a on September 21, 2014. The Gulf stakeholders directly concerned with the Yemeni situation wasted precious time before dealing with a “legitimacy” which has lost all semblance of legitimacy.
After all these wasted years have passed, it is now possible to talk about a new phase in Yemen, in light of two major developments. The first is the current two-month armistice and the second is the possibility of putting the military option back on the table in any negotiations that might take place with the Houthis.
There is a new legitimacy under the Presidential Leadership Council. Rashad Al-Alimi did not hesitate to describe Hadi as the “former president.” Most important of all, the council includes personalities that possess effective and proven military competence. Among these forces are those that fought on the Hodeidah front and the Giants Brigades that recaptured the strategically-important Shabwa governorate districts from the Houthis in January. The Giants Brigades, a force composed mostly of southerners, has shown that it is possible to defeat the Houthis. Yemen has entered a new phase. The Presidential Leadership Council will find itself obliged to adopt the military option in order to convince the Houthis that they have no choice but to negotiate in order to reach a new political formula for a country that, to say the least, is utterly divided.
In the end, much will depend on whether Iran is ready to be responsive in Yemen and whether the Houthis are finally convinced that their political project in Yemen, which is an Iranian project, has no future for reasons related to military balance, nothing more, nothing less.
Written By Khairallah Khairallah
*Khairallah Khairallah is a Lebanese writer.