English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 26/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.december26.22.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
Mary’s Song
Luke 1:46-55/ And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 25-26/2022/
Video-Text: Christmas Is A Holy Event For Openness Prayers, Contemplation, & Forgiveness/Elias Bejjani/December 25/2022
Pope’s Lament: Icy Winds of War Buffet Humanity at Christmas
The Meaning of Christmas Thought of the Day: The Meaning of Christmas, our Purpose on Earth through Jesus/Eblan Farris/Face Book/December 25/2022
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi urges Lebanese politicians to stop impeding process of electing president
Al-Rahi says arrogance stopping politicians from holding dialogue
Archbishop Aoudi In his Christmas Mass Homely: How long will the silence go on about obstruction of the state, disregard for duties, silence about the widespread weapons and every crime committed?
Hezbollah hands over suspected killer of UN peacekeeper: security source
Bassil says will launch 'complete' initiative within two weeks
Dubai: Qatar will donate buses used to transport fans during the World Cup to Lebanon to support the country’s transport sector, Lebanese media reported.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 25-26/2022/
Paris Shooting Suspect Expressed ‘Hatred of Foreigners’, Says Prosecutor
Iran’s Guards Arrest 7 People Linked to UK over Protests
3 NGOs Suspend Work in Afghanistan after Taliban Bar Women
Humanitarian Disaster Imminent in NW. Syria if Int’l Aid Stops
Putin Says Russia Ready to Negotiate over Ukraine
Some Ukrainians move Christmas to detach again from Russia
Shells pummel Ukraine's Kherson; 10 dead, 55 wounded
Suspect in Paris shooting transferred to psychiatric unit

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 25-26/2022/
The Death of Christianity in Bethlehem/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/December 25, 2022
UN Envoy: Iraq Stands Excellent Chance of Rapidly Advancing Towards Sustainable Development
Scholarship Programs for Afghan Girls
What Do We Know? What Could We Know? What Will Never Know?
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/December, 25/2022
A Strong Signal That Recession Is Looming/Peter Coy/The New York Times/December, 25/2022
With women taking the lead, Iran’s uprising will only grow/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/December 25, 2022
Brave women an inspiration for humanity/Annalena Baerbock/Arab News/December 25, 2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 25-26/2022/
Video-Text: Christmas Is A Holy Event For Openness Prayers, Contemplation, & Forgiveness
Elias Bejjani/December 25/2022
ذكرى الميلاد هي فرصة مقدسة للصلاة والتأمل والإنفتاح على الغير والمسامحة
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81746/elias-bejjani-christmas-and-the-obligations-of-the-righteous-%d8%b0%d9%83%d8%b1%d9%89-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%8a%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%af-%d9%88%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%ac%d8%a8/
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. (Luke 02/11)
Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 02/14)
The holy birth of Jesus Christ bears numerous blessed vital values and principles including love, giving, redemption, modesty and forgiveness.
Christmas is a role model of love because God, our Father Himself is love.
Accordingly and in a bid to cleanse us from our original sin He came down from heaven, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. (John15/12)
There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John15/13)
Christmas is way of giving …God gave us Himself because He is a caring, generous, forgiving and loving and father.
Christmas embodies all principles of genuine redemption. Jesus Christ redeemed us and for our sake He joyfully was crucified, and tolerated all kinds of torture, humiliation and pain
Christmas is a dignified image of modesty ..Jesus Christ accepted to be born into a manger and to live his life on earth in an extremely simple and humble manner.
Let us continuously remind our selves that when our day comes that could be at any moment, we shall not be able to take any thing that is earthly with us for the Day of judgment except our work and acts, be righteous or evil.
Christmas is a holy act of forgiveness ….God, and because He is a loving and forgiving has Sent His Son Jesus Christ redeem to free us from the bondage of the original sin that Adam and Eve committed.
Christmas requires that we all genuinely pray and pray for those who are hurt, lonely, deserted by their beloved ones, feel betrayed, are enduring pain silently pain, suffer anguish, deprived from happiness, warmth and joy .
Christmas is ought to teach us that it is the duty of every believer to practice his/her faith not only verbally and via routine rituals, but and most importantly through actual deeds of righteousness….
Christmas’ spirit is not only rituals of decorations, festivities, gifts and joyful celebrations…But deeds in all ways and means by helping those who need help in all field and domains.
Christmas’s spirit is a calls to honour and actually abide by all Bible teachings and values.
In this realm we have a Biblical obligation to open our hearts and with love extend our hand to all those who are in need, and we are able to help him remembering always that Almighty God showered on us all sorts of graces and capabilities so we can share them with others.
Christmas is a time to hold to the Ten Commandments, foremost of which is “Honour your father and your mother”.
Christmas is a good time for us to attentively hear and positively respond to our conscience, which is the voice of God within us.
Christmas should revive in our minds and hearts the importance of fighting all kinds temptations so we do not become slaves to earthly wealth, or power of authority.
Christmas for us as patriotic and faithful Lebanese is a time to pray for the safe and dignified return of our Southern people who were forced to take refuge in Israel since the year 2000.
Christmas for each and every loving and caring Lebanese is a holy opportunity for calling loudly on all the Lebanese politicians and clergymen, as well as on the UN for the release of the thousands of Lebanese citizens who are arbitrarily and unjustly imprisoned in Syrian prisons.
Most importantly Christmas is a time for praying and working for the liberation of our dear homeland Lebanon, from the Iranian occupation.
No one should never ever lose sight for a moment or keep a blind eye on the sacrifices of our heroic righteous martyrs who willing sacrificed themselves for our homeland, identity, existence, and dignity. Our prayers goes for them on this Holy Day and for peace in each and every country, especially in the chaotic and troubled Middle East. May God Bless you all and shower upon you, your families, friends, and beloved ones all graces of joy, health, love, forgiveness, meekness and hope.

Video-Text: Christmas Is A Holy Event For Openness Prayers, Contemplation, & Forgiveness
Elias Bejjani/December 25/2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_oPXT3YyYg&t=94s&ab_channel=EliasBejjani

Pope’s Lament: Icy Winds of War Buffet Humanity at Christmas
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 December, 2022
Pope Francis used his Christmas message Sunday to lament the "icy winds of war" buffeting humanity and to make an impassioned plea for an immediate end to the fighting in Ukraine, a 10-month-old conflict he decried as "senseless."
At noon local time, Francis delivered the traditional "Urbi et Orbi'' (Latin for "'to the city and to the world") speech from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. Tens of thousands of tourists, pilgrims and residents of Rome crowded into St. Peter’s Square to listen to the pontiff and to receive his blessing.
Francis also cited long-running conflicts in the Middle East, including in the Holy Land, "where in recent months violence and confrontations have increased, bringing death and injury in their wake." In addition, he prayed for a lasting truce in Yemen and for reconciliation in Iran and Myanmar.
He lamented that on Christmas, the "path of peace" is blocked by social forces that include "attachment to power and money, pride, hypocrisy, falsehood." "Indeed, we must acknowledge with sorrow that, even as the Prince of Peace is given to us, the icy winds of war continue to buffet humanity," Francis said. "If we want it to be Christmas, the birth of Jesus and of peace, let us look to Bethlehem and contemplate the face of the child who is born for us,'' he said. "And in that small and innocent face, let us see the faces of all those children who, everywhere in the world, long for peace." Francis urged the faithful to remember the millions of Ukrainians who were without electricity or heating Sunday because of Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, as well as the millions more living as refugees abroad or displaced within their country since the Feb. 24 invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Let us also see the faces of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, who are experiencing this Christmas in the dark and cold, far from their homes due to the devastation caused by 10 months of war," the pontiff said. The pope prayed that the Lord will "enlighten the minds of those who have the power to silence the thunder of weapons and put an immediate end to this senseless war!" "On this day, as we sit around a well-spread table, may we not avert our gaze from Bethlehem, a town whose name means ‘house of bread,’ but think of all those, especially the children, who go hungry while huge amounts of food daily go to waste and resources are being spent on weapons." "The war in Ukraine has further aggravated this situation, putting entire peoples at risk of famine, especially in Afghanistan and in the countries of the Horn of Africa,'' Francis said. Early in the way, sea mines and a Russian naval blockade of Ukraine's ports choked off shipments from the Black Sea ports of Ukraine, one of the world's largest producers of grain and corn. An agreement brokered by Turkey and the UN has sought to address the problem

The Meaning of Christmas Thought of the Day: The Meaning of Christmas, our Purpose on Earth through Jesus
Eblan Farris/Face Book/December 25/2022
God created humans to have a relationship with Him and to fulfill their unique purpose and potential.
God's ultimate goal for humanity is to bring us into eternal life with him, where we can share in his love and joy forever. God's glory is not something that he seeks for his own benefit, but rather it is a reflection of his goodness and his desire to share his life with us.
It is believed that God's divine plan for the universe is to bring all creation to its full potential and to its ultimate end, which is union with God in heaven. However, sin separated us from God and left us lost and alone, unable to fulfill our purpose and find happiness.
That is why God sent His son, Jesus, into the world. Jesus came to restore the relationship between God and humanity and to reconcile us to Him. Through His death and resurrection, he made it possible for people to be forgiven for their sins and reconciled with God, and made it possible for us to have a personal relationship with Him. This is the meaning of Christmas - the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, who came into the world to save us and restore our relationship with God. It is a celebration of God's love and grace, and a time to reflect on the great gift that He has given us through His son, Jesus.
To fulfill our purpose and potential, we should seek a relationship with God, discover and use our unique gifts, follow Jesus' example, serve others, and trust in God's plan.  As we celebrate Christmas, let us give thanks to God for His love and grace, and let us strive to live in relationship with Him and fulfill our unique purpose and potential. May the joy and hope of Christmas fill our hearts and inspire us to love and serve others as Jesus did.
*Researched for hours and hours and compiled Eblan Farris

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi urges Lebanese politicians to stop impeding process of electing president
Najia Houssari/Arab News/December 25, 2022
Political deadlock reflected in Christmas sermons amid concern over situation
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi has called on Lebanese politicians to help play their part in the election of a new president following 10 failed attempts. He appealed to politicians to stop impeding the process and to help create a situation in which the state’s institutions can resume work to help address the country’s economic crisis. MPs have held 10 failed sessions to elect a president, with Hezbollah and its allies casting blank votes and repeatedly withdrawing from the second round of voting, resulting in a loss of quorum. Al-Rahi said: “Arrogance is stopping the politicians from holding a dialogue to overcome the presidential election crisis, while the wailing of the hungry and grieving people does not reach the ears of their heart and conscience."
SPEEDREAD
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi says he wants an international conference to help resolve the problems in Lebanon, under the auspices of the UN and friendly countries. Al-Rahi, who added that some politicians seemed unconcerned about citizens’ suffering, was speaking at Sunday Mass in Bkirki. His appeal came as Christmas was observed with midnight Masses and Sunday morning services amid strict security measures undertaken by the military and security forces. Al-Rahi asked in his sermon: “How could they forget the face of mercy revealed to us at Christmas?”The presidential deadlock was also referenced by other religious figures.
Armenian Catholic Patriarch Raphael Bedros XXI Minassian said: “We have spent the money of our parents and children and we have left them in a deep hole.” While delivering his own speech, Al-Rahi was moved to the point of crying when stressing the plight of Lebanon’s people. He said the value of the country’s currency was plummeting, and yet no one batted an eyelid. He added that the investigation into the Beirut port blast awaited the judiciary, and the judiciary was awaiting the end of political and sectarian conflicts.
He added: “In Lebanese prisons, there are unsentenced prisoners from all religious sects, and in courts there are cases that have been accumulating for two years. The judiciary is on strike and the politicians are not concerned.”
The Maronite patriarch implicitly accused Hezbollah in his message, saying that the facts indicated that a plan against Lebanon was in place to establish a presidential vacancy in addition to a constitutional vacuum, complicating the election.
He asked: “Didn’t some political groups prevent the formation of a government before the end of Michel Aoun’s term, although they know that the present government is a resigned caretaker cabinet, the role of which will be problematic to determine?”
He said that the election was being obstructed on purpose so Lebanon would remain without any legitimate state.
He added: “They are preventing our state from having a president for personal, sectarian and foreign reasons.
“What do you want? Why are you taking revenge on Lebanon? Why are you destroying the state of Lebanon?
“Whatever the circumstances might be, electing a president remains the top priority. “There’s no country in the world without a president. Those preventing the election of a president for the whole country are preventing the rise of Lebanon.”
He added that the Maronite patriarchate would continue its struggle and endeavors to enable the election to reach its conclusion as soon as possible. He said: “The regional conflict is obstructing these endeavors, because someone wants a president who belongs to them, with a project that belongs to them, not a president for the historical Lebanese project.
“But we will not allow this. The country is not the property of one side without the other.” Al-Rahi said he wanted an international conference to help resolve the problems in the country, under the auspices of the UN and friendly countries.
He added that this would help to “neutralize the country in the face of any military conflict, and the situation would remain under control in this unaccounted for period in the region.”
He said: “We call for this conference because we have lost hope in our politicians.”
Sister Marie Antoinette Saade, mother superior of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family, said: “Our families are not OK. They are being impoverished and they are struggling. “The future of our young people is unknown. They are waiting for their passports and an opportunity to leave this country. “However, and despite everything, we are still able to continue and carry on thanks to the assistance of our families and brothers in the world and the supportive organizations and associations that have been helping us since the outset of the crisis. “But what if this assistance stops? What is our plan to continue? What is our strategy to secure a dignified living for our people? And most importantly, how do we stop ourselves and our people from begging?”

Al-Rahi says arrogance stopping politicians from holding dialogue
Naharnet/December 25/2022
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday lamented that “arrogance is preventing politicians from coming together and holding dialogue to exit the presidential election crisis.”“The wailing of the hungry and grieving people is not reaching their ears, hearts and conscience," al-Rahi decried in his Christmas Day sermon. He added: "Let them stop impeding the election of a president so that normalcy can return to state institutions, the country can exit its lethal economic and financial crises and the people can get out of their poverty, deprivation and agony."

Archbishop Aoudi In his Christmas Mass Homely: How long will the silence go on  about obstruction of the state, disregard for duties, silence about the widespread weapons and every crime committed?
NNA/LCCC/ December 25 / 2022
Where are our officials? Do they not know that what is built on the basis of oppression, and humiliation does not stand firm, but rather collapses? Our country is collapsing and our society is collapsing because selfishness, individualism, and interests overwhelm the souls of those in power. They only see themselves and their needs, and agree on what suits them, while consensus is a blow to democracy.” Politics that is far from virtues is a disaster for society, so our society suffers under the weight of the sterility of politicians' thoughts and actions. Our people have been waiting for a long time for the return of pride, sovereignty, dignity and a comfortable life, and then they witness all forms of humiliation, poverty, disregard for their rights, encroachment on dignities, on private and public property, on relative and stranger, on the constitution and laws, until they despair, become bored and disappointed in all officials, including the deputies who elected them. What the people are now expecting is completion of the election of a president, and they are no longer waiting for the sterile, farcical Thursday sessions. Even Christmas is no longer a source of joy due to the financial hardship, short hand, and the collapse of the lira. As for the political class, which is supposed to be among the elite that improves managing the country, dealing with crises, making the right decisions, and setting an example for citizens, it has become a curse on them, content with watching their suffering. Is there anyone who thinks of families deprived of the slightest means of life, of hungry children, of sick people without medicine, of imprisoned people without trial, of the grieving, and of orphans?" How long will we turn a blind eye to transgressions and be lenient with the infringement of the powers of the state and keep silent about the widespread weapons and about every crime committed? Is this how homelands are built and fortified? And how long will we be silent about the law of the jungle pervading, and everyone implements his plan? And until when is the conspiracy to investigate the port crime, and until when is the investigation disrupted and the truth smuggled out to prevent justice?” He concluded: “Our prayer on this blessed holiday is that God bless everyone with His peace, mercy, and grace, and that He instills patience and hope in the hearts of our beloved people, and enlightens the minds of those responsible.” And he revives what remains of consciences, so that we can all together reach the desired salvation, in this age, and in the coming.”

Hezbollah hands over suspected killer of UN peacekeeper: security source
AFP/December 25, 2022
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah group has handed over a man suspected of killing an Irish United Nations peacekeeper earlier this month, a security official told AFP on Sunday. Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others injured on December 14 when their UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle was attacked near the village of Al-Aqbiya in the country’s south, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group. UNIFIL acts as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel and operates near the border. “The main shooter has been arrested by security forces after Hezbollah handed him over hours ago,” the security official said, declining to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media. It was not immediately clear if the individual arrested was a member of the group. Hezbollah is cooperating in the probe led by Lebanese military intelligence, the official said, adding that “preliminary investigations are nearly complete.”Earlier this week, a judicial official told AFP that Lebanese investigators had identified suspects in the attack, adding that there were “at least two” shooters. A car carrying armed men followed the UNIFIL vehicle, the judicial source had said, citing preliminary findings and calling the attack “premeditated.”Hezbollah has repeatedly denied involvement in the incident, and its security chief Wafic Safa has described the killing as “unintentional.”Witnesses said villagers in the Al-Aqbiya area blocked Rooney’s vehicle after it took a road along the Mediterranean coast not normally used by UNIFIL.
Al-Aqbiya is just outside UNIFIL’s area of operations, the force has said. The three passengers were injured when the vehicle hit a pylon and overturned. Over the years, there have been a number of incidents between Hezbollah supporters and UN peacekeepers but they have rarely escalated. UNIFIL has urged Beirut to ensure a swift investigation into the first violent death of one of its peacekeepers in nearly eight years. The force was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon in reprisal for a Palestinian attack. Israel withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000 but fought a devastating 2006 war with Hezbollah and its allies. Lebanon and Israel remain technically at war.

Bassil says will launch 'complete' initiative within two weeks
Naharnet/December 25/2022
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Sunday said that the FPM will launch a "complete" political initiative within two weeks. "We will work and won't take a vacation," Bassil told MTV's reporter after he took part in Christmas Day mass in Bkirki.
"Within around a week from the beginning of the new year we will have a clear stance about what we will do," he added. "Asked whether the Free Patriotic Movement will announce the name of a certain presidential candidate, Bassil said that there will be a "complete" initiative. "Two weeks should be enough," he went on to say.

Dubai: Qatar will donate buses used to transport fans during the World Cup to Lebanon to support the country’s transport sector, Lebanese media reported.
Gulf News/December 25/2022
Qatar to donate World Cup buses to Lebanon ...Doha had bought around 3,000 vehicles to transport fans
According to sources, Prime Minister Najib Mikati discussed the issue with Qatari officials on the sidelines of the World Cup.The idea was inspired by Doha’s desire to donate some World Cup-related infrastructure to developing countries. The donations will include whole football stadiums, thousands of stadium seats and buses. Qatar had purchased around 3,000 buses, in addition to the 1,000 buses it already has, which were used to transport fans for free during the event. According to some sources, the Qataris offered to provide seats suitable for the sports city in Beirut and some municipal stadiums. However, the Lebanese side raised the possibility of supplying Lebanon with several buses. Al Akhbar newspaper learned that Mikati discussed this with Qatar Foreign Minister Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Bin Jasem Al Thani, who manages the external investment fund for Qatar, in addition to political relations with some countries, including Lebanon. Although the laws allow for such a step, the matter may need to be settled with private companies that own the red plates used by workers in the private transport sector. After announcing its hosting of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar prepared a unique programme to transform the transportation sector into an integrated network. It included a group of projects, including the Doha Metro, the largest mass transit project in cities in the Middle East. It stretches for 75km and includes 37 stations, three lines (red, gold, and green), approximately 18,000 taxis, and over 3,000 electric bicycles.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 25-26/2022/
Paris Shooting Suspect Expressed ‘Hatred of Foreigners’, Says Prosecutor
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 December, 2022
The suspect detained over the killing of three Kurdish people in Paris told investigators of his "hatred of foreigners", the Paris prosecutor said on Sunday. The 69-year-old man was arrested on Friday after shooting dead two men and a woman at a Kurdish cultural center and nearby Kurdish cafe in the 10th district of Paris. The killings stunned a community preparing to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the unresolved murder of three activists and prompted protests that led to clashes with police. The suspect said during questioning that a burglary at his home in 2016 had triggered a "hatred of foreigners that became totally pathological", prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement. The man described himself as depressive and having suicidal tendencies, recounting that he had planned to kill himself with a last bullet after his attack, the prosecutor said. A search at the home of the suspect's parents, where he lived, did not find evidence of any link to extremist ideology, she said, adding that he had first sought potential victims in a suburb of the French capital but abandoned that plan after finding few people in the neighborhood. Kurdish representatives have called for Friday's shooting to be considered a terror attack. The suspect remained in a psychiatric unit on Sunday after his questioning was halted on Saturday on medical grounds, the prosecutor said. Regarding three other people injured in the shooting, two were still in hospital but their lives were not in danger, she added. The prosecutor had previously said that the suspect had been freed from detention recently while awaiting trial for a saber attack on a migrant camp in Paris a year ago.

Iran’s Guards Arrest 7 People Linked to UK over Protests
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 December, 2022
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards arrested seven people on Sunday, including dual nationals linked to the United Kingdom, over anti-government protests that have rocked the country, according to a statement published by state media. "Seven main leaders of the recent protests related to the UK were detained by intelligence services of the IRGC (Revolutionary Guards) including dual nationals who were trying to leave the country," the statement read. The unrest was triggered by the Sept. 16 death in detention of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian who was arrested for wearing "inappropriate attire" under Iran's strict dress code for women.  The protests, in which demonstrators from all walks of life have called for the fall of Iran's ruling theocracy, has posed one of the biggest challenges to the ruling mullahs since the 1979 revolution. The government has blamed the unrest on demonstrators bent on destruction of public property and says they are trained and armed by enemies including the United States and Israel.

3 NGOs Suspend Work in Afghanistan after Taliban Bar Women
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 December, 2022
Foreign aid groups on Sunday suspended their operations in Afghanistan following a decision by the country’s Taliban rulers to ban women from working at international and local non-governmental organizations. Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE, said they cannot effectively reach children, women and men in desperate need in Afghanistan without the women on their workforces. The NGO ban was introduced a day earlier, allegedly because women weren’t wearing the headscarf correctly. "We have complied with all cultural norms and we simply can’t work without our dedicated female staff, who are essential for us to access women who are in desperate need of assistance," Neil Turner, the Norwegian Refugee Council's chief for Afghanistan, told The Associated Press on Sunday. He said the group has 468 female staff in the country. The developments came in response to the Taliban’s latest edict that curtails the rights and freedoms of women since they seized power last year.

Humanitarian Disaster Imminent in NW. Syria if Int’l Aid Stops
Idlib - Firas Karam/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 December, 2022
The Directorate of Health in Idlib and other opposition-held Syrian region warned on Saturday that the failure to renew a United Nations resolution that allows the continued provision of humanitarian and medical assistance from Türkiye into northwest Syria will lead to a humanitarian disaster. Local and international humanitarian organizations called on the UN Security Council to renew and extend the Syria cross-border resolution 2642 for at least 12 months to allow the continuing provision of humanitarian aid into northwest Syria through the Bab al-Hawa crossing. Bab al-Hawa is the only open humanitarian crossing point into Syria on the border with Türkiye. There is no viable alternative to getting vital aid into the area in sight Some 2.5 million people directly benefit from this humanitarian lifeline that secures free medical services provided by UN partner organizations. “About 40 medical facilities, including 17 hospitals, 17 health centers, and three dialysis centers, in addition to a number of centers for thalassemia patients and other centers for tuberculosis control, are all threatened to close if the UN Security Council fails to renew and extend the Syria cross-border resolution,” said an official in the Idlib Health Directorate. Shaza, 20, has been living with kidney failure for four years and undergoes dialysis once or twice a week. She recently heard that the Qah Hospital in northern Idlib will not receive her and dozens of other patients, most of whom are displaced, when an international organization supporting the medical sector in the area stops sending medical and operational materials. Shaza and her family came from the southern countryside of Aleppo. They now live in Al-Amal camp, north of Idlib. “I am scared to hear that the Qah Hospital might stop accepting patients due to the lack of operational resources, medical aid, and medicines, which are provided by international organizations for free,” she said. Shaza revealed that her family lacks the sufficient financial means to buy her medicine and to send her to receive dialysis twice a week. In Idlib, nine dialysis centers that provide related medical services to about 500 patients, most of whom are displaced, are threatened to close if international organizations stop providing aid to the medical sector, warned Doctor Iyad al-Hassan. He said hundreds of children with thalassemia and blood deficiency, as well as patients suffering from serious diseases, such as tuberculosis and cholera, will also be affected. “This means that millions of citizens in northwestern Syria are on the verge of a terrible humanitarian catastrophe if international humanitarian aid and cross-border medical services are not delivered to the area,” al-Hassan warned.
In July, the Security Council renewed the resolution for six months only following numerous rounds of discussions after Russia vetoed a one-year renewal. The resolution will be put to a vote again on January 10. On Saturday, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) called on the United Nations Security Council to renew and extend the resolution. “While we urge for continuous and enhanced support to respond to increasing needs, it is crucial to keep the flow of aid going and stop the enduring humanitarian crisis,” said Francisco Otero y Villar, MSF head of mission for Syria. “Millions of people will have significantly less access to food, water, and healthcare if the Security Council fails to renew the cross-border resolution or renews it for less than 12 months. The failure to maintain this humanitarian lifeline will lead to preventable deaths,” he said.

Putin Says Russia Ready to Negotiate over Ukraine
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 December, 2022
President Vladimir Putin said Russia was ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine but that Kyiv and its Western backers had refused to engage in talks. Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. There is, thus far, little end in sight to the war. The Kremlin says it will fight until all its aims are achieved while Kyiv says it will not rest until every Russian soldier is ejected from all of its territory, including Crimea which Russia annexed in 2014.
"We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them - we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are," Putin told Rossiya 1 state television in an interview aired on Sunday. Putin said Russia was acting in the "right direction" in Ukraine because the West, led by the United States, was trying to cleave Russia apart. "I believe that we are acting in the right direction, we are defending our national interests, the interests of our citizens, our people. And we have no other choice but to protect our citizens," Putin said.

Some Ukrainians move Christmas to detach again from Russia
Associated Press/December 25/2022
Ukrainians usually celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, as do the Russians. But not this year, or at least not all of them.
Some Orthodox Ukrainians have decided to observe Christmas on Dec. 25, like many Christians around the world. Yes, this has to do with the war, and yes, they have the blessing of their local church. The idea of commemorating the birth of Jesus in December was considered radical in Ukraine until recently, but Russia's invasion changed many hearts and minds. In October, the leadership of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which is not aligned with the Russian church and one of two branches of Orthodox Christianity in the country, agreed to allow faithful to celebrate on Dec. 25. The choice of dates has clear political and religious overtones in a nation with rival Orthodox churches and where slight revisions to rituals can carry potent meaning in a culture war that runs parallel to the shooting war. For some people, changing dates represents a separation from Russia, its culture, and religion. People in a village on the outskirts of Kyiv voted recently to move up their Christmas observance. "What began on Feb. 24, the full-scale invasion, is an awakening and an understanding that we can no longer be part of the Russian world," Olena Paliy, a 33-year-old Bobrytsia resident, said. The Russian Orthodox Church, which claims sovereignty over Orthodoxy in Ukraine, and some other Eastern Orthodox churches continue to use the ancient Julian calendar. Christmas falls 13 days later on that calendar,, or Jan. 7, than it does on the Gregorian calendar used by most church and secular groups. The Catholic Church first adopted the modern, more astronomically precise Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, and Protestants and some Orthodox churches have since aligned their own calendars for purposes of calculating Christmas. The Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine decreed in October that local church rectors could choose the date along with their communities, saying the decision followed years of discussion but also resulted from the circumstances of the war. In Bobrytsia, some members of the faith promoted the change within the local church, which recently transitioned to being part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, with no ties to Russia. When a vote was taken last week, 200 out of 204 people said yes to adopting Dec. 25 as the new day to celebrate Christmas. "This is a big step because never in our history have we had the same dates of celebration of Christmas in Ukraine with the whole Christian world. All the time we were separated," said Roman Ivanenko, a local official in Bobrytsia, and one of the promoters of the change. With the switch, he said, they are "breaking this connection" with the Russians. "The church is Ukrainian, and the holidays are Ukrainian," said Oleg Shkula, a member of the volunteer territorial defense force in the district that includes the village. For him, his church doesn't have to be linked to "darkness and gloom and with the anti-christ, which Russia is today." In 2019, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, granted complete independence, or autocephaly, to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Ukrainians who favored recognition for a national church in tandem with Ukraine's political independence from the former Soviet Union had long sought such approval. The Russian Orthodox Church and its leader, Patriarch Kirill, fiercely protested the move, saying Ukraine was not under the jurisdiction of Bartholomew. The other major branch of Orthodoxy in the country, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, remained loyal to Moscow until the outbreak of war. It declared independence in May, though it remains under government scrutiny. That church has traditionally celebrated Christmas on Jan. 7.

Shells pummel Ukraine's Kherson; 10 dead, 55 wounded
Associated Press/December 25/2022
Russian shells have pummeled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55 in the city that Moscow's troops were forced to abandon last month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, just back from his quick trip to Washington, posted photos of the wreckage on his social media accounts. He noted the destruction came as Ukrainians were beginning Christmas celebrations that for many Orthodox Christians will culminate in the traditional celebration Jan. 7. "This is not sensitive content — it's the real life of Kherson," Zelensky tweeted. The images showed cars on fire, bodies on the street and building windows blown out. Yaroslav Yanushevych, the governor of the Kherson region, said in televised remarks that the number of people killed in the latest shelling of the city has risen from seven to 10. He added that 55 people were wounded, 18 of them in grave condition. Yanushevych said scores of others, including a 6-year-old girl, were wounded by Russian shelling a day earlier. Saturday marks 10 months since the start of the Russian invasion. Ukraine has faced a blistering onslaught of Russian artillery fire, missiles, shelling and drone attacks since early October, much of it targeting the energy infrastructure in a bid to cut electricity and heating services as the freezing winter advances. The shelling has been especially intense in Kherson since Russian forces withdrew and Ukraine's army reclaimed the city in November. Earlier Saturday, the Donetsk regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said two people were killed and five wounded in shelling there over the past day. The deaths were in Kurakhove, a town of about 20,000 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of Russian-controlled Donetsk city. About 60 shells hit three communities during the night in the area of Nikopol, said the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor, Valentyn Reznichenko. Stepne, a settlement on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia, was also hit by shelling but there were no details on casualties, according to the governor, Oleksander Starukh, Zelenskyy has returned to Kyiv following his trip to Washington, in which he secured another $1.8 billion military aid package. On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the war would end at the negotiating table once the "special military operation" achieves Russia's goals. He said no reported Ukrainian peace plan can succeed without taking into account "the realities of today that can't be ignored" — a reference to Moscow's demand that Ukraine recognize Russia's sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014, as well as other territorial gains.

Suspect in Paris shooting transferred to psychiatric unit
Agence France Presse/December 25/2022
A French man suspected of killing three people in a "racist" attack at a Kurdish cultural center in Paris has been transferred to a psychiatric unit, prosecutors said, as police and demonstrators clashed in the French capital. Prosecutors said the 69-year-old white suspect had been removed from custody for health reasons on Saturday and taken to a police psychiatric facility. The shots at the cultural center and a nearby hairdressing salon on Friday sparked panic in the city's bustling 10th district, home to several shops and restaurants and a large Kurdish population.
Three others were wounded in the attack that the suspect told investigators was attributable to his being "racist", a source close to the case said. The Paris prosecutor said a doctor examined the suspect's health on Saturday afternoon and deemed it "not compatible with the measure of custody." The man's custody was lifted and he was taken to a police psychiatric unit pending an appearance before an investigation judge as the probe continues, the prosecutor added. The shooting has revived the trauma of three unresolved murders of Kurds in 2013 that many blame on Turkey.
Many in the Kurdish community have expressed anger at the French security services, saying they had done too little to prevent the shooting. The frustration boiled over on Saturday and furious demonstrators clashed with police in central Paris for the second day running after a tribute rally. The capital's police chief Laurent Nunez told BFM television channel 31 officers and one protester were injured in the disturbances, while 11 people were arrested, "mainly for damage". Earlier on Saturday, the Paris prosecutor had extended the suspect's period of detention for 24 hours and gave an extra charge of acting with a "racist motive". He was already being held on suspicion of murder, attempted murder, armed violence and violating weapons legislation. French President Emmanuel Macron has said Kurds in France were "the target of an odious attack" and ordered Nunez to meet with leaders of the Kurdish community on Saturday.
Racist violence
The suspect, who has a history of racist violence, initially targeted the Kurdish cultural centre before entering a hairdressing salon where he was arrested. He was found with a case loaded with a box of at least 25 cartridges and "two or three loaded magazines", the source close to the case said. The weapon was a "much-used" US Army Colt 1911 pistol. Of the three wounded people, one was being given intensive care in hospital and two were treated for serious injuries. According to the Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDK-F), the dead included one woman and two men.
Emine Kara was a leader of the Kurdish Women's Movement in France, the organisation's spokesman Agit Polat said. Her claim for political asylum in France had been rejected. The other victims were Abdulrahman Kizil and Mir Perwer, a political refugee and artist, according to the CDK-F. A police source confirmed Kara and Kizil were among the victims.
'Pain and disbelief'
Thousands of Kurds gathered at Place de la Republique in central Paris on Saturday afternoon where they held a minute of silence for the three killed and those "who died for freedom". "What we feel is pain and disbelief because this is not the first time this has happened," 23-year-old student Esra told AFP. Police fired tear gas after clashes erupted and the demonstrators threw projectiles at officers. AFP journalists at the scene said at least four cars were overturned and one burnt. Over 1,000 people held a similar peaceful rally in the southern port city of Marseille but it ended in clashes with officers and at least two police cars were set on fire. Three Kurdish women activists were killed in 2013 in the same area of Paris and the victims' families have long pointed the finger at Turkey for masterminding the deaths. Despite the suspicions, there appears to be no evidence that Friday's shooting had political motives or was linked to Turkey. Within hours of the attack, security forces fired tear gas to disperse protestors trying to break through a police cordon deployed to protect Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who had arrived at the scene. Darmanin had said Friday that while the attacker "was clearly targeting foreigners", it was "not certain" the man was aiming to kill "Kurds in particular".
'He is crazy'
The suspect -- named as William M. by French media -- is a gun enthusiast with a history of weapons offences who had been released on bail earlier this month. The retired train driver was convicted for armed violence in 2016 by a court in the multicultural Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of Paris, but appealed. A year later he was convicted for illegally possessing a firearm. Last year, he was charged with racist violence after allegedly stabbing migrants and slashing their tents with a sword in a park in eastern Paris. "He is crazy, he's an idiot," his father was quoted as saying by the M6 television channel. Often described as the world's largest people without a state, the Kurds are a Muslim ethnic group spread across Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 25-26/2022/
The Death of Christianity in Bethlehem
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/December 25, 2022
"The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs." — Justus Reid Weiner, International Christian Embassy, Jerusalem, Israel, August 20, 2013.
"There are incidents happening constantly... Most times, it is a case of the Muslim community overpowering the minority, which is the Christian community." — Christian Arab, quoted on condition of anonymity, Israel365News, November 21, 2022.
"[T]he leaders of the Christian community in the West Bank are reluctant to hold the Palestinian Authority and their Muslim neighbors responsible for the attacks. They are afraid of retribution and prefer to toe the official line of holding Israel solely responsible for the misery of the Christian minority." — Khaled Abu Toameh, October 31, 2022.
"The only thing that interests the PA is that events of this kind not be leaked to the media. Fatah regularly exerts heavy pressure on Christians not to report the acts of violence and vandalism from which they frequently suffer, as such publicity could damage the PA's image as an actor capable of protecting the lives and property of the Christian minority under its rule. Even less does the PA want to be depicted as a radical entity that persecutes religious minorities. That image could have negative repercussions for the massive international, and particularly European, aid the PA receives." — Dr Edy Cohen, "The Persecution of Christians in the Palestinian Authority," BESA Center, May 27, 2019.
"The fact that the Palestinian Authority continues to make sure that there is a Christian mayor in Bethlehem is only window dressing... It's a show used to convince the world that Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christianity is still a Christian town. It is not Christian. It is Muslim in every regard." — Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, director of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation, November 21, 2022.
This Christmas, it is important to remember that, due to ongoing but silenced persecution, Christianity is on the verge of disappearing in the place of its birth -- Bethlehem, the scene of the Nativity. It is a silence that gives the Christmas song "Silent Night," an ominous meaning.
Why is the persecution of Christians in Bethlehem and other areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority so unreported or under-reported? "The attacks by Muslims on Christians are often ignored by the international community and media, who seem to speak out only when they can find a way to blame Israel," according to journalist Khaled Abu Toameh. Pictured: The Church of the Nativity in the Bethlehem. (Photo by Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images)
After noting that there "has been a marked uptick in religiously motivated attacks by Palestinian Muslims on Christians in Bethlehem," a report from November 21 offers these examples:
"Just over two weeks ago, a Muslim man was accused of harassing young Christian women at a Forefathers Orthodox Church in Beit Sahour near the city of Bethlehem. Soon after, the church was attacked by a large mob of Palestinian men who hurled rocks at the building while congregants cowered inside. Several of the congregants were injured in the attack.
The Palestinian Authority, responsible for security in the area, did nothing.
In October, unidentified gunmen shot at the Christian-owned Bethlehem Hotel after a video on social media associated the hotel with a display that included cardboard cutouts of a Star of David and a Menorah. ...
No arrests were made in connection with the shooting.
Perhaps the greatest shock to the community came in April when the Palestinian evangelical pastor, Johnny Shahwan, was arrested by the Palestinian Authority security forces on charges of 'promoting normalization' with Israel. ...
In January, a large group of masked men carrying sticks and iron bars attacked Christian brothers, Daoud and Daher Nassar, on their farm near Bethlehem. The Palestinian courts have been working to confiscate the farm that has been owned by the family since the Ottoman Empire."
The persecution of Palestinian Christians is, in fact, a longstanding problem, according to Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, Director of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation:
"Unfortunately, these recent attacks against churches are not new. Christians have been under attack in Bethlehem for many, many years. There have been bombings. There are near-constant physical attacks against Christians. They're going on a regular basis, ever since the Palestinian Authority took over."
According to Kamal Tarazi, a Christian man who fled from the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip in 2007, "The moment they [Hamas] took control [of Gaza], they started persecuting us, ruining our churches and forcing Christians to convert to Islam." Before fleeing, Tarazi tried to resist the Islamist takeover, and called on Muslims and Christians to unite against Hamas. As a result, "I was jailed several times," he said. "Do you know what a Hamas prison is? It is pure torture."
Numbers confirm that Christians living under the Palestinian Authority (PA) are experiencing continual ill-treatment that Muslims do not. In 1947, Christians made up 85% of the population of Bethlehem, an ancient Christian stronghold. By 2016, Christians had declined to only 16% of the population.
"In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving," noted Justus Reid Weiner, a lawyer acquainted with the region.
"The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs."
Incidents of persecution are never reported by international media. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Christian Arab resident of Bethlehem emphasized that all of the most recent instances listed above were underreported even within Israel itself, before adding:
"This needs to be heard for the purpose of educating the Jewish world and the Christian world about the state of Bethlehem. There are incidents happening constantly, whether it be neighbors against each other, or people in the streets, or even organizations and churches. Most times, it is a case of the Muslim community overpowering the minority, which is the Christian community."
Why is the persecution of Christians in Bethlehem and other areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority so unreported or under-reported? Certainly it is not because they experience less persecution than their coreligionists throughout the Muslim world, where the bulk of the world's persecution of Christians occurs.
"The attacks by Muslims on Christians are often ignored by the international community and media, who seem to speak out only when they can find a way to blame Israel," wrote the Muslim journalist Khaled Abu Toameh.
"Another disturbing situation is that the leaders of the Christian community in the West Bank are reluctant to hold the Palestinian Authority and their Muslim neighbors responsible for the attacks. They are afraid of retribution and prefer to toe the official line of holding Israel solely responsible for the misery of the Christian minority."
Open Doors, a human rights organization that follows the persecution of Christians, reports that Palestinian Christians suffer from a "high" level of persecution:
"Those who convert to Christianity from Islam, however, face the worst Christian persecution and it is difficult for them to safely participate in existing churches. In the West Bank they are threatened and put under great pressure, in Gaza their situation is so dangerous that they live their Christian faith in utmost secrecy.... The influence of radical Islamic ideology is rising, and historical churches have to be diplomatic in their approach towards Muslims."
The unique situation of Palestinian Christians -- living in a politically contested arena where "public image" and therefore opinion is everything -- also explains the lack of exposure. A report by Dr. Edy Cohen documents more instances of persecution of Christians. All occurred back-to-back, just before the report's publication, and none of which were reported by so-called "mainstream media":
April 25: "[T]he terrified residents of the Christian village of Jifna near Ramallah ... were attacked by Muslim gunmen ... after a woman from the village submitted a complaint to the police that the son of a prominent, Fatah-affiliated leader had attacked her family. In response, dozens of Fatah gunmen came to the village, fired hundreds of bullets in the air, threw petrol bombs while shouting curses, and caused severe damage to public property. It was a miracle that there were no dead or wounded."
May 13: "Vandals broke into a church of the Maronite community in the center of Bethlehem, desecrated it, and stole expensive equipment belonging to the church, including the security cameras.... [T]his is the sixth time the Maronite church in Bethlehem has been subjected to acts of vandalism and theft, including an arson attack in 2015 that caused considerable damage and forced the church to close for a lengthy period."
May 16: "[I]t was the turn of the Anglican church in the village of Aboud, west of Ramallah. Vandals cut through the fence, broke the windows of the church, and broke in. They desecrated it, looked for valuable items, and stole a great deal of equipment."
These attacks, which occurred over the course of three weeks, fit the same pattern of abuse that Christians in other Muslim majority regions habitually experience. While the desecration and plundering of churches is prevalent, so too are Muslim mob uprisings against Christian minorities -- who tend to be treated as dhimmis, or second-class "citizens" under Islamic governance who supposedly should be grateful to receive any toleration at all. If and when they dare speak up for their rights, as occurred on April 25, "[T]he rioters in [the village of] Jifna, called on the [Christian] residents to pay jizya—a head tax that was levied throughout history on non-Muslim minorities under Islamic rule. The most recent victims of the jizya were the Christian communities of Iraq and Syria under ISIS rule."
Worse, as often happens when Christian minorities are attacked in Muslim majority nations, "Despite the [Christian] residents' cries for help [in Jifna] the PA police did not intervene during the hours of mayhem. They have not arrested any suspects." Similarly, in the two church attacks, "no suspects were arrested".
While Palestinian Christians suffer from the same patterns of persecution as their coreligionists in other Muslim nations, including church attacks, kidnappings and forced conversion, the persecution of Palestinian Christians has "received no coverage in the Palestinian media. In fact," Cohen continues, "a full gag order was imposed in many cases":
"The only thing that interests the PA is that events of this kind not be leaked to the media. Fatah regularly exerts heavy pressure on Christians not to report the acts of violence and vandalism from which they frequently suffer, as such publicity could damage the PA's image as an actor capable of protecting the lives and property of the Christian minority under its rule. Even less does the PA want to be depicted as a radical entity that persecutes religious minorities. That image could have negative repercussions for the massive international, and particularly European, aid the PA receives."
The bread and butter of the PA and its supporters, particularly in the media, is to portray Palestinians in general as victims of unjust aggression and discrimination from Israel. This narrative would be jeopardized if the international community learned that it is Palestinian Muslims who are persecuting their fellow Palestinian Christians—solely on account of religion. It might be hard to muster sympathy for a professedly oppressed people when one realizes that they themselves are doing the oppressing of the minorities in their midst -- and for no other reason than religious bigotry.
Because they are so sensitive to this potential difficulty, "PA officials exert pressure on local Christian[s] to not report such incidents, which threaten to unmask the Palestinian Authority as yet another Middle East regime beholden to a radical Islamic ideology," Cohen concludes.
Certain Palestinian Christians are also complicit. Mitri Rehab, a Palestinian academic and Lutheran clergyman living in Bethlehem, insists in his recent book, The Politics of Persecution, that whatever persecution Christians may experience in the Middle East has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with Western or Israeli actions. In his attempt to lay blame on everything else, he even offers a section in his book on "climate change [which] will take its toll on the Christian community."
Finally, the Palestinian Authority does not merely suppress news of Christian persecution; it actively advertises a false picture. Despite the rapidly dwindling number of Christians in Bethlehem, "The fact that the PA continues to make sure that there is a Christian mayor in Bethlehem is only window dressing," according to Rabbi Wolicki.
"It's a show used to convince the world that Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christianity is still a Christian town. It is not Christian. It is Muslim in every regard."
This Christmas, it is important to remember that, due to ongoing but silenced persecution, Christianity is on the verge of disappearing in the place of its birth -- Bethlehem, the scene of the Nativity. It is a silence that gives the Christmas song "Silent Night," an ominous meaning. "The persecution," the most recent report asserts, "is threatening the existence of the oldest Christian community in the world."
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 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.

UN Envoy: Iraq Stands Excellent Chance of Rapidly Advancing Towards Sustainable Development
Baghdad - Fadhel al-Nashmi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 December, 2022
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, said Baghdad stands an excellent chance of rapidly advancing towards sustainable development if it indeed seizes the opportunities. “As the end of the year approaches, we usually take stock of the past year’s events and what has been achieved. We also look ahead and reflect on what we hope to do better in the year to come,” Plasschaert said in a year-end message on Saturday. “There is no one denying it, 2022 has been a trying year for Iraq,” she stressed. But as the year drew towards its close, she noted that government institutions were able to resume their functions, providing Iraq with a great opportunity to embark on a path towards stability and progress. For the sake of future generations, the UN official called on all parties to work together in 2023, and beyond, to tackle the multiple challenges Iraq faces, while ensuring a public space conducive for dialogue, human rights and fundamental freedoms. The country’s rich cultural, ethnic and religious heritage, as well as its geography and untapped resources, hold considerable potential, she added in her message.
“Buoyed by political stability and steady revenues, and if opportunities are indeed seized, Iraq stands an excellent chance of rapidly advancing towards sustainable development.”
In this case, a promising future awaits the Iraqi people who have triumphed over so many hardships.
Separately, Leader of al-Hal (Solution) Party Jamal al-Karbouli slammed on Saturday Plasschaert and the US ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski and accused them of “corruption.”
The Iraqis are tired of Plasschaert pretending to be mindful through her selective visits, while turning a blind eye towards human rights violations inside prisons and obstructing the return of the displaced to their cities, Karbouli said in a series of tweets.
He also questioned Plasschaert’s role in the reconstruction of destroyed Iraqi cities, stressing that the country fought terrorism on behalf of the world. He also asked: “Why did she remain silent about the flagrant fraud in the elections?”

Scholarship Programs for Afghan Girls
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al Awsat/December, 25/2022
All the condemnations of the Taliban after it banned Afghan women from attending university are not enough, be they international, regional, or Arab, and that includes the statement by the Saudi Foreign Ministry and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar.
What we need now is actions, not statements. Anyone who looks for them can find an immense number of statements, advice, and pleas to the Taliban over the past 40 years. None of them had any impact worth mentioning; all we have seen is more terrorism and backwardness.
What we need is an immediate series of decisions. First of all, we need to stop recognizing, cooperating, and helping the Taliban until it reverses this decision and adjusts the curriculum taught to boys and girls. Secondly, we need to set up a scholarship program for Afghan women students that is cleverly designed. Indeed, good intentions and complacency have helped spread terrorism, and we thus need a scholarship program specially designed for Afghan women and one for the Yemeni women being oppressed by the Houthis. These scholarships would not necessarily imply traveling abroad. Rather, it demands that we design academic programs dedicated to these women. These programs should be varied in their length, and special diplomas should be offered to Afghan women and others suffering like them. They can be taught online from a distance; this can be done through video sessions or even by email. The objective is not to verify that female students attend the classes or that they provide answers. Instead, we must ensure that those who have begun pursuing an education can continue and that all Afghan women access the minimum level of education required for them to become aware of what is going around them and teach it in the future. We can thereby fight backwardness, terrorism, and inhumane ideas. This is an effort everyone must contribute to, the US, the West, and the countries of the regime, particularly the Gulf and Egypt, and above all, Saudi Arabia. We must all contribute because we will all fall victim to terrorism if we do not. The US, meanwhile, has a responsibility to do because of the sin of shamefully withdrawing from Afghanistan and handing power to the Taliban. We must remember that it is being said that Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, and Egypt were complicit in sending youths to Afghanistan to wage what was falsely called “jihad” in coordination with the US and Pakistan to fight the Soviet Union. However, everyone subsequently forgot about Afghanistan, and we all know how the rest of the story.
Today and tomorrow, we should remind everyone that the Gulf state and Egypt are the ones who taught Afghan women. They taught Yemeni women oppressed by the Houthis, and they are one genuinely and practically confronting backwardness in the name of Islam. We must spark the flame of education in Afghanistan before it becomes an open-air terrorist camp and a hub for ideas that destroy our region and the Muslim world. This can be achieved through a program of “teaching the most dangerous region”.
One could ask: what about the costs? The fact is that the costs of such programs are far lower than the cost of sending troops and peacekeepers. They also amount to less money than that being donated, and we don’t even know where this donated money is going. An online scholarship program for Afghan, Yemeni, and other women around the world is the most effective option we have, as well as the most practical and realistic. It demonstrates that we are concerned with improving lives and that is more important than condemnations.

What Do We Know? What Could We Know? What Will Never Know?
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/December, 25/2022
I once watched a movie with a friend who is knee-deep in ideology. It was a police film that began by presenting a rosy image of the police: he helps the oppressed and seeks to uphold justice and apply the law, putting the public interest above his own and any other private interest.
My friend leaned over to me and whispered that wicked Hollywood was doing it again. It presents a man who is nothing more than a small tool for repression as a guardian angel. Is this not Hollywood's function in the final analysis?
A few minutes were enough to make us understand that this was a corrupt policeman who took bribes and that he had been faking his uprightness earlier in the movie to further an ulterior motive. Aware that he would reply with that go-to phrase, “but Hollywood, in the final analysis, is…,” I said nothing to my friend. Indeed, my intention is not to defend Hollywood but to demonstrate a way of thinking that does not hesitate to spread its apriori and absolutist knowledge. Those who follow this line of thinking move towards their goal like an arrow. As “the final analysis” experts, they use another “final analysis” they had readied beforehand if the details fail them. It is a teleology that does not burden itself with the empirical facts of the world around it in the slightest. The Austrian-British philosopher of science, Karl Popper, was among the most prominent critics of this single-minded knowledge whose certainty is not put in doubt under any circumstance. He addresses this phenomenon, which he traces back to ancient Greece, in two of his books, “The Open Society and Its Enemies” and “The Poverty of Historicism,” as well as several of his studies. In ancient Greece, society was “open,” and individuals and citizens were free and responsible for the decisions tied to their lives.
In such a society, individuals account for the fact that they are liable to make mistakes and are thus, always prepared to improve their understanding of the phenomena around them and the experiences they undergo. This vision of the world implants a form of anxiety that tires those who hold it and allows for creativity simultaneously - an anxiety unfamiliar to closed societies that have settled on ready-made answers and collectivities founded on kinship and blood they had been born into.
However, three greats in the history of ideas laid the foundations for a shift in the opposite direction, which, in the modern era, led to totalitarianism.
Plato was the first of these three in Popper’s view. Influenced by the events, pains, and disappointments of his era, from accusations of corrupting the youth leading his teacher Socrates to swallow poison to Sparta conquering Athens after the Peloponnesian War.
As we know, Plato wrote of two worlds in The Republic and what became known as “The Allegory of the Cave”: one of those worlds is that of the physical realm in which we live, where there are false shadows that misrepresent the ideal forms in the second, virtual realm, the “world of forms.” If the latter encompasses the pristine, eternal, and atemporal, the earthly versions are imperfect; they decay and break down, just as our bodies break down and age. This is as true for city-states and their political powers as it is for civilization as a whole.
For Plato, who hates democracy - which he equates to anarchy and claims leads to the tyranny of the commoners - to remedy this decay, we must understand things “holistically,” i.e., that we understand all the component parts of a particular phenomena. Thus, we must bring to power a ruler who has a strong, holistic grasp of all those parts and prevents decay.
Since philosophy and power, action and awareness, come together in this ruler, he is to be a “philosopher king.” And so, the man who inherited power and was raised to undertake this task ascends to the top, as his knowledge of the ideal and essence of things is tried and tested.
After Plato and his “holistic” inclination, Hegel and Marx developed the idea of “historicism,” whereby collective human behavior within a society is necessarily deliberate; it is neither contingent, arbitrary nor unpredictable. According to the two German philosophers, we can understand certain modes of social progress and grasp them. This understanding turns into laws of historical development and human behavior through which we can deduce the direction of the future - a direction that we humans have little to do but push for or accelerate the path towards. We thereby transition from history to the end of history. Once we reach it, all humans will live in unprecedented peace and freedom. This view of the world, according to Popper, impels extremely callous social engineering aimed at preparing the people for this destination and pushing them to accommodate it.
Popper leaves us, without interruption, before a stark distinction between the modest knowledge of scientists and philosophers and what is supposedly the knowledge of prophets. For example, he rebuffs phrases like “history of mankind,” given that we do not have such a comprehensive history in our hands.
As for what he believes is available to us, it is always being less wrong rather than being right. Continuing along this line of thinking, the Austrian-British philosopher makes one of his most significant contributions, establishing the concept of falsifiability, the capacity for an argument to be proven wrong through an experiment or an observation: what distinguishes science from speculation is that the former can be proven wrong; when a hypothesis cannot be proven wrong, it is not a scientific hypothesis.
In another text, Popper examines a phrase that has become classic: “all swans are white.” This “conviction” was prevalent for centuries until 17th century European explorers and travelers saw black swans for the first time.
The fact is, statements like that cited above are necessarily wrong for three reasons: those who saw the swans that have been seen did not see all the swans in the world, meaning they cannot reach such an absolute conclusion. Second, we do not know what kind of swans existed in the past, and finally, we do not know what form swans will take in the future. Language has endowed us with words like “might,” “maybe,” “probable,” and “likely”... We should seek the protection offered by these words and use them more often. As for my friend, he could have done some patience and should have waited for the movie to end.

A Strong Signal That Recession Is Looming
Peter Coy/The New York Times/December, 25/2022
The clearest signal that the US economy is likely to fall into a recession in the next year is coming from interest rates. One of the first people to establish the signaling value of interest rates was Arturo Estrella, then an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. I interviewed him recently about his life, his research and what he foresees for the economy.
Before I get to Estrella, though, let me speak of the chart that has a lot of economists, including him, deeply worried. It shows the path of yields this year on two Treasury securities, the three-month bill and the 10-year note. More than 90 percent of the time the yield on the shorter-term security is lower than the yield on the longer-term security. When the pattern flips, as it did this year, it’s a strong signal that a recession is nigh.
To see why Estrella is so certain, picture a narrow band where short- and long-term rates are roughly equal. Inside that band, it’s hard to say what will happen to the economy. But things are much clearer when there’s a noticeable gap between short- and long-term rates, in either direction.
Estrella has calculated that going back to 1968, every time the long-term rate was at least 0.07 percentage points higher than the short-term rate, the economy escaped recession. And every time the long-term rate became at least 0.07 percentage points lower than the short-term rate, the economy entered a recession within six to 17 months. The average gap so far in December is 0.81 percentage points, which is the biggest since 1981 and deep into recessionary territory.
Why would the “inversion of the yield curve,” as the flipping phenomenon is called, tell us anything about the economic outlook? It’s pretty simple, actually. The Federal Reserve has strong influence over short-term interest rates. When it raises them — usually to snuff out inflation — it makes borrowing more expensive, which often goes too far and causes a recession. At the same time, longer-term rates can decline because of expectations of lower inflation or a decline in the “real” (inflation-adjusted) rate of interest. Those expectations intensify when a recession appears likely.
A 1989 New York Fed research paper by Estrella and Gikas Hardouvelis, later published in The Journal of Finance, established statistically that an inversion of the yield curve predicted recessions. Campbell Harvey of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business produced similar results around the same time. (There’s a long-running disagreement about who was first, which I won’t attempt to adjudicate.) Frederic Mishkin, a Columbia University economist who spent time as Estrella’s boss when Mishkin was the New York Fed’s research director, told me: “Arturo was a top intellect. Boy, he really had the goods.”
Estrella has a story about how he accidentally angered E. Gerald Corrigan, who was the president of the New York Fed at the time. A Fed governor in Washington had put out a request for research on whether there was predictive power in the yield curve and Corrigan put his people to work on it, hoping to show that the answer was no. Not knowing of Corrigan’s preferences, Estrella innocently reported in a big meeting that yes, indeed, his research showed that the yield curve had predictive power. “His reaction was not something you can print in the paper,” Estrella said. “I thought I was going to get fired. A few months later, I was transferred to bank supervision.” (Albeit with a promotion.)
Estrella told me his interest in the predictive power of interest rates dates back to his childhood in San Juan, P.R., where he attended Catholic schools. “My math teacher was a nun,” he said. “She was also in charge of the music program. We hit it off very well.” He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at Columbia with a special interest in Ludwig Wittgenstein, the kind of philosopher beloved by the technically minded. He followed that with master’s degrees in math at the University of Puerto Rico and the University of Michigan and a doctorate in economics at Harvard.
Estrella left the Fed in 2008 and taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., until 2018, when he took emeritus status. I asked him what he thinks of the Fed’s aggressive rate increases. “It’s a very difficult line to draw, whether something is necessary to control inflation or not,” he said. “I don’t know if what they’re doing right now is necessary. My gut feeling is that they’re going too far.”
About three-quarters of occupations in the United States became more “age-friendly” between 1990 and 2020, but a lot of the new jobs were filled by young people, according to a working paper released on the National Bureau of Economic Research website in September. “Many of these age-friendly jobs have been taken up by females and college graduates, as the occupational characterisics preferred by older workers (e.g., flexibility, office work, less strenuous demands, etc.) also appeal to these groups,” wrote Daron Acemoglu of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nicolaj Sondergaard Muhlbach of Aarhus University in Denmark and Andrew J. Scott of London Business School.

With women taking the lead, Iran’s uprising will only grow
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/December 25, 2022
The Iranian regime is facing a persistent domestic crisis, as the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the senior cadre of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seem reluctant to make fundamental changes to their core policies. The nationwide uprising across Iran is now entering its fourth month and shows no signs of abating despite the regime repeatedly stepping up efforts to crack down on dissent. This has been the case ever since the first protests erupted after Mahsa Amini was arrested and fatally beaten by morality police in mid-September for allegedly violating the regime’s dress code.
The regime’s latest escalation took place earlier this month when Mohsen Shekari became the first protester to be executed, followed shortly by Majidreza Rahnavard, who was hanged from a crane in public as a warning to others. That warning was reinforced by state media, which published the names of around two dozen others for whom death sentences were either pending or had already been handed down.
It should come as no surprise that the charges in question are vague in virtually every case. The case against Shekari alleged only that he had wounded a security guard, and although Rahnavard was accused of killing two members of the Basij militia, there is no evidence that either man’s conviction was based on anything other than forced confessions, likely elicited by torture. Among the pending executions, several appear to stem from protesters simply blocking roadways. This is among the most prevalent acts of defiance in the uprising, and its newfound association with the death penalty is clearly intended to terrorize the public. Yet, far from shrinking away from this association, protesters appear to be confronting it head-on. In recent days, photographs and video have gone viral on Iranian social media showing a woman carrying out a mock hanging of herself in Mashhad, the same city where Rahnavard was executed the previous Monday.
The protester’s gender calls attention to the female leadership that has been evident in this uprising since its beginning, setting it apart from other uprisings in recent years.
The role of women in the protests is made all the more remarkable by the fact that it includes teenage girls refusing to wear the veil in school, resisting government authorities who invaded campuses to demand compliance, and destroying images of the regime’s founder and its current supreme leader, the display of which is mandatory in classrooms. The Iranian mullahs seem to be living in a different world and cannot come to grips with the fact that the overwhelming majority of Iranians want them out.
Naturally, university campuses have also been hotbeds of protest over the past three months, with every institution becoming involved at one time or another, and some being subjected to brutal government crackdowns and mass arrests. Similar crackdowns have taken place much more out in the open in the streets of major cities, while the breadth of student participation reflects the overall diversity of the uprising as a whole.
According to information gathered by the Iranian opposition group the National Council of Resistance of Iran, residents of almost 150 cities and towns have become active in the protest movement, which includes all 31 Iranian provinces. Every major ethnic and religious group has been unified behind slogans such as “death to the dictator,” which convey the public’s demand for the ouster of the entire ruling system.
This unity among protesters also spans social classes and three distinct generations, including the 2010s generation, which corresponds to a time when illicit access to unfiltered internet and foreign media was becoming prevalent throughout the country.
Young Iranians have grown up with a strong awareness of what life can be like under a democratic system with ingrained civic freedoms. This has naturally amplified the contempt for religious dictatorship which has been evident among the public since the immediate aftermath of the 1979 revolution. Over the course of four decades, the divide between the people and the ruling elite has become so wide that it can no longer be bridged. The current uprising is the clearest proof of that. Dozens of Western lawmakers, in the US, Canada, UK, Belgium, Italy and Ireland among others, have expressed support for that movement. The dictatorship seems clearly to be on its way out. The Iranian people will see to it. But the international community can help to hasten that outcome by going beyond mere condemnation of the clerical regime, and taking concrete steps to isolate and weaken it at the outset of a fourth month of domestic unrest. Nonetheless, the mullahs seem to be living in a different world and cannot come to grips with the fact that the overwhelming majority of Iranians want them out. Just as there is no reason to suppose that the uprising will recede, there is no reason to suppose that the organized resistance movement will not continue to grow, both at home and abroad.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Brave women an inspiration for humanity
Annalena Baerbock/Arab News/December 25, 2022
How can we be optimistic about 2023? As we enter the new year, a devastating war is raging on the European continent. Russia’s war of aggression has slashed a devastating wound far beyond Europe, exacerbating a food and energy crisis in large parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. More than 800 million men, women and children go to bed hungry every night. The climate emergency is deepening this pain, stirring conflict worldwide and robbing people of their land, their homes and their security.
How can we be optimistic in such frightful times of uncertainty? I strongly believe that, as responsible world leaders, we simply have no other option than to face the next year with a firm sense of confidence that we can drive change to improve people’s lives. Not despite this “perfect storm” of crises — but because of it. Nelson Mandela once described the moments when his faith in humanity was tested, but still he would not give in to despair. “Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward” — that is how he put it.
To look ahead and stay the course, confident in what we are able to achieve if we stand together — that is, to my mind, what should guide us into the new year. And I am not saying this from a position of naive hopefulness. I am saying this with the confidence of a foreign minister who has learned in many, often difficult, instances over the past 12 months how much we can achieve if we let solidarity and humanity guide our actions and if we defend what we believe in.
That is exactly how we responded to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine — united, in Europe, across the Atlantic and worldwide — with our clear stand against the war’s inhumanities, with our support for Ukraine, with sanctions aimed at Russia’s war machine and with investments in our security.
That outstanding unity was not a given. More than 140 states spoke out against Russia’s aggression at the UN General Assembly in March — from north to south, from east to west, all different in our histories, politics and cultures. What unites us is a common cause — to do what our citizens expect from us: To make it unwaveringly clear that, in situations of injustice, we will not be neutral. We will take sides — for justice for the woman raped in Bucha, for the orchestra conductor shot in Kherson, and for the toddler forced from his home in eastern Ukraine.
Because we could be them, and they could be us. And because, if we were to let this war of aggression pass by, no one, anywhere, could sleep peacefully while living in fear of being attacked by a bigger neighbor.
Our strength is in our unity. United for humanity — it is this deep conviction that gives me confidence for the year ahead.
For that, we must be better listeners. That is another crucial lesson I have drawn from the past few months — not just with a view to our partners in Europe, but also in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Near and Middle East.
When discussing Russia’s war with many of these partners, I often heard the following sentiment: “You want us to stand with you now that there is a war in Europe. But where were you in recent years when we were in the throes of conflict?”
I hear these concerns. And I truly believe we should be willing to critically question our own actions and our past engagement in the world. We should also listen closely when our partners tell us how difficult it is to reduce their dependency on Russia — whether militarily, politically or economically.
“Women, life, freedom,” is what the women in Iran have been chanting. Resounding across the world, their chant is an anthem of courage.
This is an immense challenge. In Germany, we are seeing how the cost of overcoming our dependency is weighing on our citizens’ wallets. For many partners, the slashes cut deeper and, for them, setting up multibillion-euro protective shields is simply not possible.
Our partners must know that they can rely on us. A foreign minister colleague recently said to me: “We need committed partners, not partners who just want to please us.” This should be our guiding principle.
Our clear message is that we are not turning our back on the world because there is a war raging in our neighborhood. On the contrary, we are seeing how this very war is driving suffering across the globe because Russia has been curbing access to Ukraine’s grain exports and spreading lies about who is to blame for the shortages.
Our response has been the most effective when it has been the most united. It was the UN, together with our Turkish partners, that negotiated the reopening of Ukrainian grain ports. The G7, which brings together economically strong democracies, committed more than $14 billion by June to help alleviate the pain of those most in need, and Germany remains the second-largest humanitarian donor worldwide. This solidarity gives me confidence. But it is not enough.
The World Food Programme had to reduce food rations to Yemen, Somalia and the Sahel. Every portion cut means another child goes hungry. And if you see your son or daughter starving, you cannot fight for democracy, rights or freedom. That is why, going into the next year, we must not waver in our joint support. At the same time, we will rally partners to tackle one of the most severe underlying causes of the food crisis: The climate emergency. For millions around the world, this crisis is a concrete threat to their lives. I heard from women in northern Mali about how droughts are destroying their harvests, driving farmers from their homes and exacerbating conflicts over land and resources. In Palau, a fisherman took me to his local beach, showing me how the rising sea levels may swallow up his house in less than 10 years’ time, robbing him of his home, his safety and his livelihood.
At the UN climate change conference in Egypt, I met an activist from Chad who told me: “While we are talking, my country is under water, my mother has lost her home, my sister has lost her home, my cousins have lost their homes.”
The climate crisis harms, kills and displaces. It is a direct threat to human life. It is a blatant injustice that countries like Chad and Palau suffer so tremendously from this crisis having contributed next to nothing to its creation.
As industrialized countries that are largely to blame for the crisis, we have a special responsibility to help alleviate it, to reduce emissions and to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius path within reach. Because every tenth of a degree less in global warming means less intense storms, floods and droughts — and thus more security.
That is why it was a crucial step forward that we opened a new chapter for climate justice at COP27. It is now on the big emitters to pay their share for the climate losses and damages they are causing in the most vulnerable states. This is not about charity; it is about justice. It is something small island states in particular have been demanding for decades — and rightly so. This year, we finally sent a clear message: We heard you. We understood. And now, we will act.
In the climate emergency, as well as in other conflicts and crises, it is the most vulnerable who suffer the most: Women, children, the elderly and marginalized groups. I strongly believe that women’s rights are a yardstick for the state of our societies. In autocratic regimes, they are often the first to give. And if they do, that is a sign of worse to come. What autocratic regimes are most afraid of is when women raise their voice.
If half of the population is suppressed, no society or economy can thrive. That is why, for my government, a feminist foreign policy that promotes the equal rights of each and every one of us in our societies is a core issue of hard security. It will figure prominently in the national security strategy that we are currently drafting. “Women are the first victims of war, but only they hold the unique key to peace.” That is how Congolese human rights activist Julienne Lusenge put it.
“Unless women are safe, no one is safe,” courageous women in Ukraine told me.
“Women, life, freedom,” is what the women in Iran have been chanting. Resounding across the world, their chant is an anthem of courage.
If I am to take strength for the year 2023, I take it from brave women like them, whether they hail from the Congo, Iran, Afghanistan or Ukraine.
Their chant is our anthem. Their courage is our yardstick. Their cause is our call — to not only be confident, but to boldly take action, united for humanity.
• Annalena Baerbock is Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany. Twitter: @ABaerbock
Copyright: Project Syndicate