English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 30/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.may30.22.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006

Bible Quotations For today
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 12/20-28/:”Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus. ’Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour. ‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say “Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 29-30/2022
Berri Rejects to Engage in ‘Bargains’ in Exchange for His Re-election as Lebanon’s Speaker
Lebanon: Politicians Warn against Total Collapse, Call for Swift Cabinet Formation
Atiyeh still running for deputy speaker, FPM 'won't bargain' with Berri
MP Ghassan Skaf announces his candidacy for 'Deputy House Speaker' post
Lebanon’s Press bids farewell to Rajeh El-Khoury in an official, popular funeral service
One person arrested while trying to smuggle a quantity of Captagon pills to an Arab country
Mawlawi's press office on thwarting of Captagon smuggling attempt through Beirut airport: The arrested is a Saudi residing in...
Hamieh announces from Maghdouche "establishment of ship maintenance, petroleum activities logistics port in Zahrani region"
Abou Faour underlines need for a rescue government, logic of state to prevail
Abiad to hold press conference tomorrow
The list supported by “Al-Mustaqbal” wins in the North Doctors Syndicate
Dr. Youssef Bakhash, President of the Lebanese Doctors Syndicate, with 750 votes

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 29-30/2022
Israeli PM Bennett says Iranian ‘immunity’ is over
Russia Deploys Jets to US-Held Regions in Syria's East
Iranian Police Fire Shots, Teargas to Disperse Protests over Building Collapse
Russia presses battle for eastern Ukraine, claims key city surrounded
'It Destroys Bunkers': Russia Systematically Uses Thermobaric Warheads in Ukraine
Russian Troops Storm City amid Eastern Ukraine Bombardments
Seven Arab States Could Face Food Crisis in Absence of Urgent Solutions
UN Envoy Decries Sudan Violence after 2 Killed in Protests
Turkey Speaks of ‘Additional Steps’ to Improve Ties with Egypt
Visit to al-Aqsa by Israeli lawmaker sparks Jerusalem unrest
Canada/Statement to mark International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 29-30/2022
Europe: Demography Governs Democracy/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/May 29, 2022
What Will Happen Following Khamenei’s Death?/Mojtaba Dehqani/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 29/2022
All Members of Iran’s ‘Quds Force’ are Pursued/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 29/2022
Is a Recession Coming? Beware of This Indicator/Kathryn A. Edwards/Bloomberg/May 29/2022
The Evolution Of Islamic State (ISIS) Views On Attacking The State Of Israel - Part I: Background/Y. Kerman/MEMRI/May 29/2022
Tehran hijacks, abducts and threatens … the US prescribes more diplomacy/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/May 30/2022
Why IRGC issue has become a red line for Iran regime/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/May 29/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 29-30/2022
Berri Rejects to Engage in ‘Bargains’ in Exchange for His Re-election as Lebanon’s Speaker
Beirut - Mohamed ChoucairAsharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 29 May, 2022
Outgoing Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the eldest MP in the new parliament, has called for a parliamentary session on Tuesday to elect the speaker, the deputy speaker and the members of the speaker’s office, to pave the way for the formation of a new government. According to well-informed sources, Berri has called for the session, regardless of the number of deputies who will vote in his favor, in order to reject claims that his non-election would hinder the formation of a new government. According to the sources, Berri was keen to call for holding the session within the constitutional deadlines, because he would not allow suspending the parliamentary process until he secures his re-election by a majority of 65 deputies, i.e. half the number of Parliament members plus one. If the parliamentary majority is not secured in the first two rounds, Berri may be re-elected in a third voting round, provided that the quorum required for its convening is complete. In the absence of any form of compromise, Tuesday’s parliamentary session will inevitably see multiple candidates for the position of deputy speaker, including new faces in the parliament. In this regard, sources close to the deputies representing the change movement told Asharq Al-Awsat that discussions were underway to draw up a unified road map and decide on a stance regarding the election of the parliament speaker. On the other hand, the Democratic Parliamentary Gathering, headed by MP Taymour Walid Jumblatt, said that it would deal “realistically” with the election of the speaker of parliament, as long as there is no candidate running against Berri. Sources close to the Gathering noted that its position on the election of the deputy speaker was currently subject to coordination with the other “sovereign forces.” The Free Patriotic Movement’s Change and Reform bloc decided to nominate MP Elias Bou Saab for the position of deputy speaker. The head of the FPM, MP Gebran Bassil, who rebelled against the will of his ally Hezbollah, stated that he would not support the re-election of Berri unconditionally. Berri, for his part, was quoted as saying that he would not engage in “bargains” in exchange for his election.

Lebanon: Politicians Warn against Total Collapse, Call for Swift Cabinet Formation
Beirut - Asharq Al-AwsatAsharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 29 May, 2022
Lebanese politicians are calling for the adoption of immediate measures to stop the deterioration of the country’s economic and social conditions. The head of the Kataeb Party, MP Sami Gemayel, called for the formation of a government with exceptional features. “We are heading towards collapse because they spent most of the reserves to protect themselves in the elections. If an exceptional government is not formed at an exceptional speed that enjoys exceptional confidence and takes exceptional steps, Lebanon will go into great chaos,” Gemayel wrote on Twitter, calling on everyone to assume their responsibilities. For his part, elected deputy Ashraf Rifi, said on his Twitter account: “The living conditions are no longer bearable... There is an urgent and primary need to support 550,000 Lebanese families, as well as the millions of Lebanese” who are threatened with poverty. He continued: “The rest of the money was spent on futile adventures. Immediate support for the people must be approved, and we will introduce a bill in this regard.” In turn, the elected deputy of the Lebanese Forces party, Ziad Hawat, called for the formation of a productive and effective government. “Have mercy on the people, after poverty and hunger are killing the Lebanese in every sense of the word. Change the approach and speed up the formation of a government, which would translate the results of the elections that expressed the desire for change and sovereignty.” These warnings come with the worsening conditions in various the sectors. The Ministry of Economy announced on Friday an increase in the price of bread, due to “the rapid rise in the exchange rate of the dollar, as well as the significant increase in the price of fuel, which directly affects the price of flour production and the costs of bread and transportation, in addition to the rise in the price of wheat in global markets as a result of the Ukrainian crisis.”

Atiyeh still running for deputy speaker, FPM 'won't bargain' with Berri
Naharnet/May 29/2022
MP Sajih Atiyeh has announced that he is still running for the deputy parliament speaker post and that he will meet Monday with Speaker Nabih Berri along with his Akkar Development bloc. Speaking to Radio All of Lebanon, Atiyeh said he is no longer a "consensual candidate," seeing as the Free Patriotic Movement has nominated MP Elias Bou Saab for the post. Asked whether he has won the endorsement of the Lebanese Forces, Atiyeh said he believes that the LF would choose him over Bou Saab. Bou Saab had visited Berri on Saturday to put him in the picture of his nomination. He left without making a statement. Sources meanwhile told An-Nahar newspaper that "there will be no bargain between the speaker post and the deputy speaker post" and that the FPM "will not vote for Speaker Berri.""Everything that MP Elias Bou Saab is doing, from his nomination to his movement, is based on the initiative of FPM chief MP Jebran Bassil," the sources added. Atiyeh had visited Ain el-Tineh on Thursday، "carrying to Berri the votes of Akkar's MPs," which raises the level of competition between him and Bou Saab, An-Nahar noted.

MP Ghassan Skaf announces his candidacy for 'Deputy House Speaker' post
NNA/May 29/2022
Rashaya - Independent MP, Dr. Ghassan Skaff, announced today his candidacy for the post of Deputy Speaker of Parliament in the session to be held on May 31, 2022, according to the following constants and principles:
- Rapid response to the country’s financial, economic and daily-living collapse from within official institutions, particularly the Parliament
- Respecting the will for change expressed by the Lebanese in the last elections
- Applying Parliament’s internal procedure rules, pledging not to suspend parliament sessions under any circumstances, and emphasizing the adoption of electronic voting
- Confirming the Lebanese state as a reference, represented by its constitutional institutions and security services, especially with regards to the Lebanese defense policy
- Adopting a unified foreign policy issued by the Council of Ministers in line with the constitution
- Adopting exceptional and emergency legislation to secure comprehensive health coverage and old-age pension
Based on the above, Skaf hoped that his nomination will be endorsed by fellow MPs, in wake of the dangerous circumstances prevailing in the country.

Lebanon’s Press bids farewell to Rajeh El-Khoury in an official, popular funeral service
NNA/May 29/2022
The Lebanese press bid final farewell on Sunday to “An-Nahar” News daily writer and journalist, Rajeh El-Khoury, in a funeral service attended by senior officials and a popular crowd. The funeral service was held at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Ascension in Kfarhbab, presided over by Metropolitan of Mount Lebanon, Silwan Moussa, in the presence of MP Nazih Najm representing former PM Saad Hariri; Caretaker Tourism Minister Walid Nassar; member of the “Strong Republic” bloc, MP Melhem Riachy representing Lebanese Forces Party Chief Samir Geagea; MP Ghayath Yazbek; former Minister Freij Sabounjian; Colonel Michel Abdo representing the Army Commander; Editors Syndicate Chief Joseph al-Qoussaifi; Maronite League Head Khalil Karam; Editor-in-chief of “An-Nahar” Newspaper, Nayla Tueni, alongside a delegation from the newspaper’s family; as well as “Independent Movement” Head, Major General Issam Abu Jamra, and other prominent figures. In his homily, Moussa spoke about the merits of the late El-Khoury and his commitment to his homeland by working to spread the word. “Today we can see in death just a coffin in which our life ended, or we can consider that death is a passage to the Heavenly Father to meet Him,” Moussa said. “The Lord works through us and we achieve salvation through our service and the spirit of responsibility and spreading the good word,” he added, considering that the late Rajeh El-Khoury “fulfilled this duty with a clear mind, and carried the good word for Lebanon, worked for it and struggled to spread it, so that Lebanon remains in our hearts.” “We are bound to achieve change one day...even if we work within a small cell, we can achieve a lot like the apostles if we work in solidarity together," Metropolitan Moussa affirmed.
He concluded by expressing deepest condolences to Beirut Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elias Aoudeh, the family of the late El-Khoury, An-Nahar family, and all his colleagues in the press field. It is to note that condolences were accepted prior to the funeral service in the church hall earlier today, and will also be accepted on Monday, May 30, in the church hall, between 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

One person arrested while trying to smuggle a quantity of Captagon pills to an Arab country
NNA/May 29/2022
"National News Agency" correspondent at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport reported that the Internal Security Forces at the airport managed this morning to arrest a person of Arab nationality, who was trying to smuggle a large amount of Captagon pills to an Arab country, noting that investigations are currently underway by the concerned authorities.Meanwhile, security and military services at the airport continue to play their intensive role in detecting individuals and networks that attempt to smuggle or bring in drugs and other contraband.

Mawlawi's press office on thwarting of Captagon smuggling attempt through Beirut airport: The arrested is a Saudi residing in...
NNA /May 29/2022
Caretaker Interior and Municipalities Minister, Judge Bassam Mawlawi's press office stressed, in an issued statement this afternoon, that "the security forces proved, once again, that they are on the lookout for all attempts to smuggle drugs and contraband, as they managed today, in a qualitative operation, to thwart an attempt to smuggle 18.3 kilograms of Captagon pills to the State of Kuwait, through Rafic Hariri International Airport.""Minister Mawlawi disclosed that during the initial investigations, it was found that the arrested Saudi national is residing in Kuwait and possesses Kuwaiti security papers. In light of this, the Interior Minister contacted the concerned Kuwaiti authorities within the framework of coordinating and continuing the necessary investigations," the statement added, denying circulated news of the arrestee being a Saudi security personnel. "Minister Mawlawi affirms that efforts are ongoing to protect our Arab societies from all kinds of harm, while stressing that Lebanon will not be a corridor or platform for the export of evil or smuggling," the statement concluded.

Hamieh announces from Maghdouche "establishment of ship maintenance, petroleum activities logistics port in Zahrani region"
NNA/May 29/2022
Caretaker Minister of Transport and Public Works, Ali Hamieh, announced today a project to establish a port for ship maintenance and logistics services for petroleum activities in the Zahrani region. His words came during a visit to the shrine of "Our Lady of Mantara" in Maghdouche this morning, marking the end of the Marian month. "This project began four months ago, and we visited Cameroon and France in order to benefit from their expertise," Hamieh said, adding that "this project is open for investment to all countries of the world, east and west, with the exception of the Israeli enemy," deeming this project as a means to "keep people deeply-rooted in their land and open thousands of job opportunities.""Lebanon is not a poor country, on the contrary, it enjoys a privileged geographical location on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean that can impose its conditions on the whole world," Hamieh concluded.

Abou Faour underlines need for a rescue government, logic of state to prevail
NNA/May 29/2022
Member of the “Democratic Gathering” bloc, MP Wael Abou Faour, considered that what is actually required of the recent parliamentary elections is to yield a national government and a national president. “A balanced rule is a balanced government and president, a rational government committed to salvation, i.e. a rescue government and a rescue president, away from the political conflict that we experienced when the ruler rendered his personal interests over any other consideration, thus leading to our current dire situation,” Abou Faour said. “The logic of the state must prevail over the statelet, with the acceptance of all the Lebanese of the conditions of a just state based on citizenship and equality,” he asserted. “We do not want to subjugate or defeat anyone, but rather we want to submit all of us, as Lebanese, to the conditions of a just state, at the economic, social and developmental levels,” he affirmed. “We will continue to strive with all political forces, parliamentarians and all concerned to distinguish between political division and social and Lebanese partnership for the sake of this region and the entire country,” pledged Abou Faour. The MP stressed that the new governance must be aware of the importance of Lebanon’s Arab relations, and work to restore Lebanon’s relationship with the Arab countries through real measures, “because the Arabs only ask us to stop the evil of some Lebanese towards them, and this is the prelude to an actual and real economic rescue,” he confirmed. Abou Faour’s words came during a visit to the Bekaa “Al-Azhar” on Sunday, accompanied by senior Druze religious clerics and prominent figures from the region.

Abiad to hold press conference tomorrow
NNA /May 29/2022
Caretaker Public Health Minister Firass Abiad will hold a press conference at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, at the Ministry's conference hall, to give a briefing on the main headlines of his participation in the 75th session of the General Assembly of the World Health Organization in Geneva. Abiad will also announce the results of his meetings with UN officials and counterparts, and the projects emanating from said encounters.

The list supported by “Al-Mustaqbal” wins in the North Doctors Syndicate
National News Agency/May 29/2022
The Information Affairs Authority of the “Future Movement” indicated that “the list supported by the “Future” won the North Doctors Syndicate. In a statement, he said: "The list supported by the "Future Movement" won the elections of the Northern Doctors Syndicate, which took place today, in its first session. Then he won the second round d. Muhammad Safi at the North Doctors Syndicate Center, with the support of the Future Movement.

Dr. Youssef Bakhash, President of the Lebanese Doctors Syndicate, with 750 votes
National News Agency/May 29/2022
Dr. Youssef Bakhash won the position of the Syndicate of Physicians in Lebanon with 750 votes, while Dr. George Haber won 305 votes, and Dr. Ghinwa Al-Daqduqi received 145 votes. It is reported that the vote for the position of captain amounted to 1246 votes.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 29-30/2022
Israeli PM Bennett says Iranian ‘immunity’ is over
Reuters/May 29/2022
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday Iran would not go unpunished for instigating attacks through its proxies, speaking a week after the assassination in Tehran of a Revolutionary Guards colonel that has been blamed on Israel. Hassan Sayad Khodai, accused by Israel of plotting attacks against its citizens worldwide, was shot dead at the wheel of his car by two people on a motorcycle. The tactic echoed previous killings in Iran that focused on nuclear scientists and were widely pinned on Mossad. Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency said members of an Israeli intelligence service network had been discovered and arrested by the Guards immediately after the Tehran shooting. Bennett’s office, which oversees intelligence agency Mossad, has declined to comment on the assassination.However, in broadcast remarks to his ministers on Sunday, Bennett accused Iran of repeatedly targeting Israeli interests. “For decades, the Iranian regime has practiced terrorism against Israel and the region by means of proxies, emissaries, but the head of the octopus, Iran itself, has enjoyed immunity,” Bennett said. “As we have said before, the era of the Iranian regime’s immunity is over. Those who finance terrorists, those who arm terrorists and those who send terrorists will pay the full price,” he added.Iran has promised to retaliate for Khodai’s death and pointed the finger at Israel.

Russia Deploys Jets to US-Held Regions in Syria's East
Ankara, Idlib, Qamishli - Saeed Abdulrazek, Firas Karam and Kamal Sheikho/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 29 May, 2022
The Russian military sent fighter helicopters and jets to Qamishli airport in the region east of the Euphrates River in Syria's east, where American forces and their allies, the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), are deployed. The development took place amid reports that Turkey was preparing to launch an offensive in northeastern Syria. Six Russian helicopters carried out surveillance flights along the Syrian-Turkish border on Saturday. An informed military source from the SDF said the Syrian army and Russian forces have reinforced their positions in the cities of Hasakeh and Qamishli and nearby areas. American forces, meanwhile, deployed patrols in northeastern Syria, inspected the border and listened to the locals' concerns over the possible Turkish operation. Turkey's current and future military operations on its southern borders do not target its neighbors' sovereignty but are necessary for Turkish security, the country's National Security Council (MGK) said on Thursday. The MGK statement followed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's declaration on Monday that Ankara would soon launch new military operations on its southern borders to expand 30-km (20-mile) deep safe zones and combat what he described as terrorist threats there. "Operations being carried out now and in the future to remove the terrorism threat on our southern borders do not target our neighbors' territorial integrity and sovereignty in any way," it said after a three-hour meeting chaired by Erdogan. Any operations were expected to target northern Syria, where Turkey has launched several incursions since 2016, mainly targeting the US-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Erdogan reiterated on Saturday that Turkey was not seeking to undermine the sovereignty of its neighbors, but it will also "not allow anyone to violate Turkish territories."A YPG spokesman said Saturday the forces were taking Turkey's threats seriously and they were ready to defend their gains, forces and people. "We will resist to the end," he vowed. He stressed that the forces have committed to the de-escalation agreements and ceasefire reached between Washington, Moscow and Ankara in 2019. "We withdrew our forces to avoid a war, but are on alert for any attacks," he added. Moreover, he stressed that any Turkish attack on the regions east of the Euphrates would not be possible without the agreement of international forces. "We are in daily contact with Moscow and Washington, but we are relying on our forces instead of international ones," he remarked. Russia and the US are guarantors of the de-escalation agreements with Turkey, so they should assume their responsibilities, he urged.

Iranian Police Fire Shots, Teargas to Disperse Protests over Building Collapse
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 29 May, 2022
Iranian police used tear gas and fired shots in the air to disperse another night of protests over a deadly building collapse in the southwestern city of Abadan that officials are blaming on corruption and lax safety, Fars news agency and reports on social media said.
Officials in the oil producing region of Khuzestan, where Abadan is located, said the death toll had risen to 29 people, and another 37 were injured in Monday's collapse of the 10-storey residential and commercial building. So far 13 people have been arrested for building violations, they said. Authorities investigating the disaster have detained Abadan's current and past mayors and several other municipal employees, amid accusations that safety warnings were ignored. The government announced a day of national mourning on Sunday to honor the victims of the collapse, state media said. Fars agency said that a protest in Abadan on Friday night turned violent when crowds forced their way into the ruins of the building, where rescue operations were continuing. Police fired tear gas and warning shots, it said. Footage on social media showed people running for cover. Screams of "Don't shoot, don't shoot" and the sound of gunfire could be heard. Reuters could not independently authenticate the footage. Unverified video from Khuzestan's port city of Mahshahr showed protesters shouting: "They stole oil and gas, took our blood". Marches in solidarity with the Abadan protests have also been held in several nearby areas in Khuzestan, as well as Shahin Shahr in central Iran and the southern city of Shiraz, according to other unverified postings on social media. First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber told state television on Friday he believed that "widespread corruption" between the builder, contractor and supervising bodies was responsible for the disaster. As during earlier protests over food price rises, residents have reported disrupted internet services, an apparent attempt to stop the use of social media to organize rallies and disseminate videos. Officials deny blocking internet access.

Russia presses battle for eastern Ukraine, claims key city surrounded
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 29 May, 2022
Russian forces engaged in an all-out battle in eastern Ukraine have captured the strategic town of Lyman and surrounded a key industrial center, Moscow has claimed. But a Ukrainian official has denied that the city of Severodonetsk -- the focus of weeks of fierce fighting -- has been encircled, saying government troops had repelled Russian forces from its outskirts. As the battle for Ukraine's industrial heartland raged on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for "direct serious negotiations" between Russian leader Vladmir Putin and his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. The EU leaders also "insisted on an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of Russian troops" in an 80-minute phone call with the Russian leader, the German chancellor's office said. Since failing in its bid to capture the capital Kyiv in the war's early stages, Russia has shifted its focus to the eastern Donbas region as it attempts to consolidate areas under its control. "The situation is very difficult, especially in those areas in the Donbas and Kharkiv regions, where the Russian army is trying to squeeze at least some result for itself," Ukrainian President Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation.
Earlier Saturday, Russia's defense ministry said the "town of Krasny Liman has been entirely liberated from Ukrainian nationalists", using Moscow's name for Lyman. Lyman lies on the road to Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk, which a police official in Lugansk province cited by Russian state media said was "now surrounded". But regional governor Sergiy Gaiday told Ukrainian television "Severodonetsk has not been cut off... there is still the possibility to deliver humanitarian aid."His remarks came as Russia, in another exercise in military muscle-flexing, said it had successfully tested hypersonic missiles in the Arctic.
- Noose tightens -
Inside Severodentsk, where an estimated 15,000 civilians remain, a local official said "constant shelling" made it increasingly difficult to get in or out. "Evacuation is very unsafe, it's isolated cases when we manage to get people out. Now the priority is for the wounded and people who need serious medical assistance," said Oleksandr Stryuk, head of the city's military and civil administration. The water supply was also increasingly tenuous, as a lack of electricity meant the pumps at city wells no longer functioned, he said, adding residents had gone more than two weeks without a cellphone connection. The sole road maintaining contact with the outside world, meanwhile, was expected to be the focus of continued Russian attacks, Lugansk governor Gaiday said Saturday night. "Next week will be very hard, as Russia puts all its resources into seizing Severodonetsk, or cutting off the oblast from communication with Ukraine," he said.
- France, Germany urge talks -
As France and Germany called for talks aimed at ending a war that has created millions of refugees, Saturday's phone call with Putin also focused on a looming global food security crisis.In addition to capturing key port cities such as Mariupol, Russia has used its warships to cut off others still in Ukrainian hands, blocking grain supplies from being transported out.Russia and Ukraine supply about 30 percent of the wheat traded on global markets. Russia has tightened its own exports and Ukraine has vast amounts stuck in storage, driving up prices and cutting availability across the globe. Putin has repeatedly rejected any responsibility, instead blaming Western sanctions. But on Saturday, he told Macron and Scholz that Russia was "ready" to look for ways to allow more wheat onto the global market. "Russia is ready to help find options for the unhindered export of grain, including the export of Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea ports," the Kremlin quoted him as saying. He also called for the lifting of sanctions to allow "an increase in the supply of Russian fertilizers and agricultural products" onto the global market.
Putin warns on weapons -
Urgent calls by Zelensky for more advanced weaponry from Ukraine's Western allies, meanwhile, appear to paying off, with Washington agreeing to send advanced long-range rocket systems, according to US media reports. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby did not confirm the plans to deliver the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System, highly mobile equipment capable of firing up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) that Kyiv has said it badly needs. But he said Washington was "still committed to helping them succeed on the battlefield." In a phone call Saturday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Zelensky his country would continue to help "provide the equipment they need," his office said. But Putin warned Macron and Scholz that ramping up arms supplies to Ukraine would be "dangerous" and risk "further destabilization."He spoke after Russian forces said they had successfully fired one of their Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles some 1,000 kilometers across the Arctic. As Zelensky seeks to ramp up international pressure on Moscow, he will speak to EU leaders at an emergency summit Monday on an embargo on Russian oil. Agreement on the measure is being held up by Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban has close relations with Putin.

'It Destroys Bunkers': Russia Systematically Uses Thermobaric Warheads in Ukraine
Andrew E. Kramer/The New York Times Company/Sun, May 29, 2022
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — Russia has made liberal use of one of its most fearsome conventional weapons in the fighting in eastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian military commanders, medics, British officials and videos from the battlefields. The weapon, a track-mounted rocket artillery system nicknamed Solntsepek, or the Heatwave, fires thermobaric warheads that explode with tremendous force, sending potentially lethal shock waves into bunkers or trenches where soldiers would otherwise be safe. “You feel the ground shake,” said Col. Yevhen Shamataliuk, commander of Ukraine’s 95th Brigade, whose soldiers came under fire from Russia’s Heatwave weapon in fighting this month near the town of Izyum. “It’s very destructive,” Shamataliuk said. “It destroys bunkers. They just collapse over those who are inside.”The United States and other militaries also deploy thermobaric warheads in missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. And Ukraine’s army said April 5 that it had fired Heatwave thermobaric rockets from a captured system back at Russian troops, intending to burn them with their own weapon, in fighting near Izyum. Thermobaric weapons are not banned, and they are not addressed in the Geneva Conventions, a series of international agreements that govern warfare. Russia’s military has deployed the Heatwave weapon in the war in Syria, but its use in Ukraine has become systematic, according to the Ukrainian military and video footage of strikes on towns in eastern Ukraine.
Such explosives, also called fuel-air bombs or vacuum bombs, scatter a flammable mist or powder that is then ignited and burns in the air. The result is a powerful blast followed by a partial vacuum as oxygen is sucked from the air as the fuel burns.
Ukrainian soldiers who have been caught in the explosions and survived suffered a mix of burns and concussions, said Sgt. Anna Federchuk, an ambulance medic based in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, who has treated casualties from Heatwave strikes.
“It’s a mixed diagnosis,” she said of the typical casualty from a Heatwave explosion. “The burns are deep and severe.”The Russian weapon carries a box of rockets atop a tanklike tracked vehicle. It can fire single rockets or a terrifying volley. Still, like many Russian weapons deployed in the Ukraine war, the Heatwave system may not be as effective or decisive in combat as Russian military propaganda suggested it would be. Developed in the 1980s and once viewed as an awesome and feared invention of late-Soviet military prowess, the Heatwave, formally known as a Tos-1 heavy flamethrower, has drawbacks. With a range of only 6 miles, it must be driven close to the front to fire. There, it has been vulnerable to Ukrainian ambushes. In March, a drone video showed Ukrainian soldiers blowing up a Heatwave weapon during an ambush outside the Kyiv suburb of Brovary.
The strike on the vehicle sent its rockets sailing out into the Russians’ own column of armored vehicles, although it was unclear whether any were destroyed. Their use near the front has also allowed Ukraine to capture some of the weapons. Videos have appeared online purporting to show Ukrainian tractor drivers towing captured Heatwave weapons away from the front. Ukrainian soldiers have claimed on social media to have seized five of the weapons systems as trophies. Ukraine’s military has also said that the Russians have suffered friendly fire incidents with the Heatwave as it sprayed out highly destructive but unguided rockets. “The leadership of the 97th Infantry Battalion expresses its satisfaction with the actions of the Russian occupiers,” the Ukrainian military said in a sarcastic statement May 8 after what it said was a friendly fire strike in the Zaporizhzhia region that killed Russian soldiers. “Such actions are positively perceived and supported in every way by the Ukrainian military. We understand there is a tradition of cooking shish kebabs in May.”
© 2022 The New York Times Company

Russian Troops Storm City amid Eastern Ukraine Bombardments
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 29 May, 2022
Russian and Ukrainian troops engaged in close-quarter combat in an eastern Ukraine city Sunday as Moscow’s soldiers, supported by intense shelling, attempted to gain strategic footholds in the region while facing fierce Ukrainian resistance.
Ukrainian regional officials reported that Russian forces were "storming" the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, where the fighting has knocked out power and cellphone services and terrorized civilians who haven’t fled. Sievierodonetsk, a manufacturing center, has emerged as an epicenter of Russia's quest to conquer Ukraine's industrial Donbas region. Russia also stepped up its efforts to take nearby Lysychansk, where Ukrainian officials reported constant shelling. The two cities, with a combined prewar population of around 200,000, are the last major areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk province, which makes up the Donbas together with neighboring Donetsk. Russia is focused on capturing parts of both not already controlled by pro-Moscow separatists. Russian forces made small advances in recent days as bombardments chewed away at Ukrainian positions and kept civilians trapped in basements or desperately trying to get out safely. Attacks to destroy military targets throughout the country also caused casualties in civilian areas. In his Saturday night video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the situation in the east as "very complicated" and "indescribably difficult." The "Russian army is trying to squeeze at least some result" by concentrating its attacks there, he said.. Sievierodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Striuk said there was fighting at the city’s bus station on Saturday. A humanitarian center couldn’t operate due to the danger, Striuk said, and cellphone service and electricity were knocked out. Residents risked exposure to shelling to get water from a half-dozen wells, he said.
Some supply routes were functioning, and evacuations of the wounded were still possible, Striuk said. He estimated that 1,500 civilians in the city, which had a prewar population of around 100,000, have died from the fighting as well as from a lack of medicine and diseases that couldn’t be treated. Haidai, the regional governor, claimed that the Russians had retreated "with losses" around the village of Bobrove, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Sievierodonetsk, but were carrying out airstrikes in a nearby village on the strategic Siverskiy Donetsk river. "The situation in Lysychansk is severe due to constant shelling by the occupiers, there are fatalities and wounded people," he wrote on Telegram, without elaborating. On Saturday, he said, one civilian died and four were injured after a Russian shell hit a high-rise apartment building. A local cinema and 22 more residential buildings were also damaged, he said. The Ukrainian military said Sunday morning that Russian forces were trying to strengthen their positions around Lyman, a small city that serves as a key rail hub in the Donetsk region. "The enemy is reinforcing its units," the Ukrainian armed forces’ General Staff said in an operational update. "It is trying to gain a foothold in the area." Moscow claimed Saturday to have taken Lyman, but there was no acknowledgement of that from Kyiv authorities. The Ukrainian army said that heavy fighting was ongoing around Donetsk, the provincial capital.
It also said that Russia launched an offensive Saturday night around the city of Bakhmut, in the neighboring Luhansk region, but had been pushed back. In the same operational update, the military hinted at high levels of casualties sustained by Moscow, claiming that civilians were no longer admitted to hospitals in Russia-annexed Crimea as beds were needed by injured troops. It was not immediately possible to verify the accuracy of these claims. More widely, Russia launched renewed airstrikes overnight on Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv and Sumy regions, Ukrainian state agencies said. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine emergency service said Sunday morning that Russian shelling caused fires around Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city. Russia has kept up a bombardment of Kharkiv, located in northeastern Ukraine, after Ukrainian fighters pushed its forces back from positions near the city several weeks ago. The Kharkiv regional prosecutors’ office said a Russian shell broke through the room of a house and wounded a 50-year-old man and a 62-year-old woman early Sunday in the town of Zolochiv, around 40 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Kharkiv. The Ukrainian Border Guard Service said border areas in the Sumy region, east of Kharkiv, were hit with six unguided missiles. The agency did not mention reports of any casualties.

Seven Arab States Could Face Food Crisis in Absence of Urgent Solutions
Jeddah – Saeed al-Abyad/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 29 May, 2022
Seven Arab countries are expected to face a stifling food crisis if they don’t address their political and economic crises to face external challenges, topped by the Russian-Ukrainian war and the high cost of shipping from traditional food-exporting countries.
All these outstanding issues and plans to address the food crisis in the Arab world will be presented at a meeting in Tunisia later this month, as part of the activities of the Higher Coordination Committee for Joint Arab Action. The event includes a financing mechanism for many programs that push for developing the agricultural and livestock sector, while expanding the rain-fed agriculture, which is spread in many of the Arab League member states. Prof. Ibrahim Adam El-Dukhiri, the Director General of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD) at the Arab League, said the economic situation in some of the Arab states is the reason behind this threat. In other countries, including oil countries, the political situation and instability are evident and reduce their appropriate utilization of the available resources. The fragile political and security situation in the seven countries, which he didn’t reveal, exacerbates the food security problems and complicates any solution reached in this regard. These problems will not affect the food sector only, Dukhiri noted, but they will rather afflict all their economic activities. He stressed that the internal and foreign investments will decrease as a result of the overall situation in these countries. He suggested resolving these issues as a major step to address the economic challenges, including the food crisis. Dukhiri also pointed out that the climate change and the development level will affect many countries, including those that have rain-fed crops, who will face many troubles at the beginning and end of each season. The senior official affirmed that the impact of the war in Ukraine will not be temporary, expecting that the situation will deteriorate by next year. Dukhiri underscored the need for quick intervention, stressing that inaction will led to food shortages in many countries. He pointed out that the cost of shipping has remarkably increased in various traditional food producing countries, including Argentina, Brazil, and Australia. He shed light on the complexities and political differences that prevail in many European countries. Some ports may refuse to receive specific products, leading to a surge in prices, he said, warning that the situation will become out of control. Commenting on the AOAD’s role to help these countries, Dukhiri said their agricultural ministers are currently developing strategies to avoid this crisis. They requested help from the organization, in terms of training, rehabilitation, studies, and plans, the official said, affirming that it is providing the optimal support. The organization will propose in Tunis a program to address this issue, namely the Arab Sustainable Food Security Program, in which the financing mechanism is clarified and will be available to all. “We will share with the Arab community the organization’s vision and arrangements, which include plans that can be implemented quickly, including Arab investments, and there are programs that need more time to be completed,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat. The strategy includes three main and integrated factors, mainly the restructuring of the prevailing agricultural systems to become more efficient, as well as the hydroponic systems to increase the efficiency of water use. The second factor is the expansion of rain-fed agriculture, especially that there are large areas in the Arab world where reasonable levels of self-sufficiency could be reached. The third factor, according to Dukhiri, is the livestock component, which needs some arrangements in the process of feeding the animals. He affirmed that this factor can reduce the effects of the import crisis.

UN Envoy Decries Sudan Violence after 2 Killed in Protests
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 29 May, 2022
The UN envoy for Sudan on Sunday decried the killing of two people in a violent crackdown against pro-democracy protesters who once against took to the streets of the capital to denounce an October military coup. Hundreds of people marched Saturday in Khartoum, where security forces violently dispersed the crowds and chased them in the streets, according to activists. "I am appalled by the violent death of two young protesters in Khartoum yesterday, Once again: it is time for the violence to stop," said Volker Perthes, the UN envoy, on Twitter. The two were killed in during protests in Khartoum’s Kalakla neighborhood. One was shot dead by security forces and the other suffocated after inhaling tear gas, according to the Sudan Doctors Committee, which is part of the pro-democracy movement. Perthes urged military authorities to lift the state of emergency imposed since the Oct. 25 coup and find a "peaceful way out of the current crisis." Sudan has been plunged into turmoil since the military takeover upended its short-lived transition to democracy after three decades of repressive rule by former strongman Omar al-Bashir. Al-Bashir and his Islamist-backed government were removed by the military in a popular uprising in April 2019. Saturday’s protests were part of relentless demonstrations in the past seven months calling for the military to hand over power to civilians. At least 98 people have been killed and over 4,300 wounded in the government crackdown on anti-coup protests since October, according to the medical group. The protesters demand the removal of the military from power. The generals, however, have said they will only hand over power to an elected administration. They say elections will take place in July 2023 as planned in a constitutional document governing the transition period. The UN, the African Union and the eight-nation east African regional group called the Intergovernmental Authority in Development have been leading concerted efforts to bridge the gab between the two sides and find a way out of the ongoing impasse.

Turkey Speaks of ‘Additional Steps’ to Improve Ties with Egypt
Cairo - Walid Abdul Rahman/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 29 May, 2022
Turkey said it will take “additional steps” to bolster relations with Egypt, in light of efforts to normalize bilateral ties at various levels. “Differences might exist, but severing relations is not good,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a meeting with with UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Friday. “We will work to take additional steps in collaboration with Egypt in this regard,” he added, noting that Ankara wants to improve ties with Egypt and Saudi Arabia. He made his remarks days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was possible to develop the dialogue and normalize relations with Cairo. Dialogue may develop to reach higher levels, he said in April. Egypt and Turkey had held "exploratory" talks in recent months in order to improve their relations. Cairo hosted the second round of talks, which officials described as "frank and deep". They tackled bilateral ties and regional issues. The officials agreed to continue consultations. Erdogan said in December that his country would take steps to improve ties with Egypt and Israel similar to efforts it made with the United Arab Emirates, which led to investments. Egypt’s FM Sameh Shoukry had previously said that Turkey was keen on changing course with Egypt, especially on the security level. He noted Turkish statements that reflect a change in behavior and that it was steering clear of meddling in Egypt's internal affairs or harboring extremists figures that are hostile to Cairo. An informed Egyptian source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Cairo "appreciates Ankara's efforts, but tangible steps are needed to reach a greater understanding to resolve differences."

Visit to al-Aqsa by Israeli lawmaker sparks Jerusalem unrest
Associated Press/Sunday, 29 May, 2022
A far-right Israeli lawmaker, joined by scores of ultranationalist supporters, entered Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque compound early Sunday, prompting a crowd of Palestinians to begin throwing rocks and fireworks toward nearby Israeli police. The unrest erupted ahead of a mass ultranationalist Israeli march planned later Sunday through the heart of the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. Some 3,000 Israeli police were deployed throughout the city ahead of the march. Israel says the march is meant to celebrate Israel's capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital. But Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, see the march as a provocation. Last year, the parade helped trigger an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza militants. Sunday's unrest took place in a contested hilltop compound revered by Jews and Muslims. The compound is home to the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. It also the holiest site for Jews, who call it the Temple Mount and revere it as the home of the biblical Temples. The competing claims to the site lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and have triggered numerous rounds of violence. Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of a small ultranationalist opposition party and a follower of the late racist rabbi, Meir Kahane, entered the compound early Sunday along with dozens of supporters. Palestinians shouted "God is great" as Ben-Gvir, accompanied by Israeli police, shouted "the Jewish people live." Later, a crowd of Palestinians barricaded inside the mosque threw fireworks and stones toward police, who did not immediately respond. Israel's national police chief, Kobi Shabtai, said his forces were prepared for "every scenario" and had taken "immediate and professional" action when needed. "We will not allow any inciter or rioter to sabotage today's events and to disrupt law and order," he said. Sunday's march comes at a time of heightened tensions. Israeli police have repeatedly confronted stone-throwing Palestinian demonstrators in the disputed compound in recent months, often firing rubber bullets and stun grenades.
At the same time, some 19 Israelis have been killed by Palestinian attackers in Israel and the occupied West Bank in recent weeks, while over 35 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank. Many of those killed were Palestinian militants, but several civilians were also among the dead, including Shireen Abu Akleh, a well-known correspondent for the Al Jazeera satellite channel. Jerusalem police were criticized internationally for beating mourners at Abu Akleh's funeral two weeks ago. Under longstanding arrangements known as the "status quo," Jewish pilgrims are allowed to enter the hilltop compound but they are not allowed to pray. In recent years, however, the number of Jewish visitors has grown significantly, including some who have been spotted quietly praying. Such scenes have sparked Palestinian fears that Israel is plotting to take over or divide the area. Israel denies such claims, saying it remains committed to the status quo.

Canada/Statement to mark International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers
May 29, 2022- Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honourable Anita Anand, Minister of National Defence, and the Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety, today issued the following statement:
“On this International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, we honour peacekeepers who are currently serving, or have served, in UN peace operations and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice during their service.
“The theme of this year’s International Day of UN Peacekeepers is “People Peace Progress: The Power of Partnerships.” It reminds us of the essential role UN peacekeepers play in preventing large-scale conflict, protecting civilians from violence and supporting countries in building sustainable peace. Canada has a long history of contributing to UN peace operations, with more than 125,000 peacekeepers deployed since 1948—including personnel of the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and provincial and municipal police forces, as well as Canadian diplomats and civilians. Canadians have served in missions in the Balkans, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Mali, Rwanda and South Sudan, among others. Over the years, peace operations have become increasingly complex and dangerous.
“Peace is why Canada launched the Elsie Initiative for Women in Peace Operations in 2017. People and partnerships are key to ensuring progress to create meaningful change for women in peace operations. Working towards peace and progress, Canada has funded several innovative training projects to increase uniformed women’s meaningful participation in military and police roles. Most recently, Canada renewed its participation in the UN Pre-Selection Assistance and Assessment Team (Pre-SAAT) training for women police officers from Francophone countries to help them succeed in deploying to UN missions.
“Peace is also at the core of the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers, which Canada launched in 2017 to help ensure that children’s rights are always protected at all stages of a conflict and are protected from the threat of becoming child soldiers.
“On this day, we honour our Canadian military, police and civilian personnel deployed around the world, including the thousands of deployed peacekeepers from more than 120 UN member states. We applaud their commitment and dedication as they accept the risks of deployment to provide high-value service, responding to the changing needs of UN peacekeeping and actively working to protect civilian populations around the world.”

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 28-29/2022
Europe: Demography Governs Democracy
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/May 29, 2022
There is a replacement of civilization and the media is not even covering it.
"By 2050, 50 percent of the French population will be mixed." — Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Radio Classique, May 17, 2021.
"The mayor of Grenoble adopts the arguments and rhetorical formulas of the Muslim Brotherhood: talking about freedom to impose sexism". — Céline Pina, Le Figaro, May 4, 2022.
This wokeism talk pretends to be "inclusive" but carefully excludes entire groups on the clearly racist basis of skin color (whites) or ethnicity (Jews). Wokeism, filled with progressive, racist talk, pretends not to be racist but meanwhile is imbued with the syrupy racist ideology of "diversity" -- which advocates replacing a society by immigration. It also promotes political correctness, a deadly virus that paralyzes the vital reflexes of the West. Wokeism is the ideal ground for the debut of political Islam in Europe.
This ever-increasing percentage of Turkish, Bosnian, Kosovar, Iranian and Iraqi politicians in Germany will increasingly influence the choices of the first European power in matters of immigration and multiculturalism.
"What we see in big cities today will be normal for the whole country in the future. In a city like Frankfurt, we will have between 65 percent and 70 percent." — Herbert Brücker, head of migrant research at the Federal Institute for Employment Research, Die Welt, April 11, 2019.
"The massive vote for Mélenchon is proof that the strategy of community victimization that began in the 1990s produced what it was intended to produce in one or two generations. Mélenchon gathered a large part of the Muslim vote, which obviously does not make it a Muslim or Islamist party, but only a 'cuckoo' party. Like the cuckoo hatching its eggs in the nest of a bird of another species, a cuckoo party shelters and protects ideas that are not its own. The Muslim Brothers have a strategy that they expressed in their plans from the 1980s: to form an alliance with the most docile parties to propagate their ideas". — Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, anthropologist, Marianne.net. April 22, 2022.
There is a replacement of civilization in Europe and the media is not even covering it.
There is a replacement of civilization and the media is not even covering it.
Sept pas vers l'enfer ("Seven Steps to Hell"), the new book by Alain Chouet, the former number two of the DGSE, the powerful French counter-intelligence service, is an indictment of the European élites. Chouet recalls:
"I have been invited every year to give a lecture on the problems of the Arab world in Molenbeek, a suburb of Brussels. One day I was there... when Philippe Moureaux, the city's socialist mayor and big boss of the Belgian Socialist Party, took the front row flanked by two imposing bodyguards in djellabas, beards and white berets. To the audience, Moureaux said I was not qualified to discuss the Arab world, as I came from a country that had tortured Muslims in Algeria. His reasoning is significant in the way in which, since the late 1980s, the European left has allowed itself to be taken by the sirens of militant Salafism. The management of Molenbeek is exemplary in this sense: authorizations granted easily and without any control for the opening and functioning of mosques, Islamic private schools, cultural and sports clubs generously subsidized by Saudi Arabia".
25 out of 89 member of the Brussels Regional Parliament are not of European origin.
Chouet continues:
"I accuse political leaders of never wanting to understand the rise of radical Islam and of deliberately ignoring it because of the electorate and 'politically correctness'. I accuse them of allowing several municipalities to develop jihadist radicalism for years, to the point that a socialist official told me: 'We know Molenbeek's problem, but what do you want, it is an electorate that cannot be neglected'".
It now is France's turn. "Is the Muslim vote decisive?" the Algerian writer Kamel Daoud asked in the French weekly Le Point.
The re-election of Emmanuel Macron was predicted. The real shock from the last French presidential election was the resounding boom of the radical left. The candidate of the pro-immigration party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, of "La France Insoumise" ("Rebellious France"), made dramatic progress compared to 2017. He received 22.2% of the vote, just one point behind Marine Le Pen. Notably, he received 69% of Muslim vote.
"Mélenchon," said the French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut in an interview with French television Europe 1 "is betting on the Great Replacement to acquire more power". Finkielkraut had also mentioned the "Great Replacement" in January, when he said that the replacement of the European people by Africans, Asians and Middle Easterners was "obvious."
"This is in fact a fragmentation and yes, this risk does exist and in any event, I think the demographic change of Europe is extremely spectacular. The historical people in certain municipalities and regions are becoming a minority."
France's suburbs and large cities with a high rate of immigration have been the heart of Mélenchon's political project, and where he received 60% of the votes in the elections.[1]
What do these numbers tell us? That many have gotten on the bandwagon of political Islam, and the feeling of communal solidarity has yielded the desired results. Mélenchon, who participated in "marches against Islamophobia" and compared Muslims in 2022 to Jews in 1942, predicted the "creolization" of France: "By 2050, 50 percent of the French population will be mixed".
"I am the only one who defended the Muslims", Mélenchon openly claims . He was heralded in working-class neighborhoods, in particular thanks to the Muslim vote, according to Le Figaro.
Although other candidates had also supported the claims of political Islam, "There is a category in which Jean-Luc Mélenchon is very strong, where he is the strongest", Brice Teinturier (Ipsos) warned. "[T]hese are French Muslims, where he is between 45% and 49%..."
In short, a new national dynamic can be seen: demography governs democracy. The common theme between supporters of these candidates and supporters of Islam appears to be an aversion to Western societies, which, using the progressive language and symbols of "woke", they apparently want to displace -- ostensibly to impose a more "inclusive" and "cosmopolitan" society that would be austere, forbidding and fundamentalist.
When the city of Grenoble, for instance, recently approved wearing burkinis in its public swimming pools, the mayor justified the change as a form of social inclusion. "The mayor of Grenoble", Céline Pina wrote in Le Figaro, "adopts the arguments and rhetorical formulas of the Muslim Brotherhood: talking about freedom to impose sexism."
This wokeism talk pretends to be "inclusive" but carefully excludes entire groups on the clearly racist basis of skin color (whites) or ethnicity (Jews). Wokeism, filled with progressive, racist talk, pretends not to be racist but meanwhile is imbued with the syrupy racist ideology of "diversity" -- which advocates replacing a society by immigration. It also promotes political correctness, a deadly virus that paralyzes the vital reflexes of the West. Wokeism is the ideal ground for the debut of political Islam in Europe.
France Strategy, an autonomous institution accountable to the Prime Minister, published a shocking study last October, which showed that there are 25 cities in France where the percentage of non-European young people is between 70% and 79%. More than 70% reside in four Seine-Saint-Denis cities.[2]
"There is an extraordinary correlation between Mélenchon's vote and the share of immigrants of non-European origin in the Paris region," wrote the analyst Sylvain Catherine.
In Montpellier, "there are more practicing Muslims than practicing Christians, and while the churches are not very crowded, the mosques are full", the Midi Libre newspaper reported. There, Mélenchon found an immense reserve of votes. In Créteil, for instance, a symbolic city of immigration in the Marne Valley, Mélenchon received 40%.
Erwan Seznec, the author of the book Nos élus et l'islam ("Our Elected and Islam"), detailed how so many of the French leadership have allowed Islamism to flourish in these cities. From Denain to Perpignan, sizeable numbers of elected officials have ambiguous relations with their Muslim voters. In exchange for votes, they watch out for their homes, jobs and prayer rooms. Islamist activists, in turn, fight to care for their supportive politicians. Bernard Rougier, author of the book Les territoires conquis de l'islamisme, ("The Territories Conquered by Islamism") cautioned two years ago that "In the next elections, in Mélenchon's party, there will be candidates of this Islamist fabric..."
Mélenchon received 61% percent in centers such as Trappes, a symbol of the Islamization of provincial cities:
"70 percent Muslim, 40-50 different nationalities that take on the appearance of some Lebanese localities, microworlds enclosed in the perimeter of another religious reality and civilization. The ethnic grid of the Balkans is also not far off."
In Roubaix, in a city already 40% Muslim, Mélenchon received 50% of the vote. In Mulhouse, the Alsatian city chosen by Macron to launch a project to contain political Islam, Mélenchon won 36% of the vote. In Nîmes, where Mélenchon effortlessly won, non-European immigration is expanding and, according to Le Monde, "the share of inhabitants born outside Europe rose from 7.3% to 16.3% of the population between 1990 and 2017".
In the second round of the elections, most Mélenchon voters opted for Macron. During Ramadan, the Great Mosque of Paris even organized for Macron's re-election an iftar-dinner. Christophe Castaner, Macron's former interior minister and president of his party, attended it. The votes for Macron rolled in. Trappes voted 74%, for Macron, 20 points above the national average; in Roubaix, 70%; in Grigny, 70%; in La Courneuve, 77%; in Bondy 74%; in Colombes, 80%; in Les Lilas, 83.5%; in Bobigny, 75.5%.... These are the symbolic cities of Saint-Denis.
In the northern districts of Marseille, which had largely voted for Mélenchon in the first round, Macron easily won. Those are the neighborhoods that are home to a large part of the Islamic community -- 30% of the total population of the city and a quarter of all the inhabitants of the city. "The northern districts of Marseille", wrote: Le Figaro, "a 'small city' where communitarianism is a daily reality..."
The same dynamic can also be seen in Germany. Research by MedienDienst Integration noted that 83 parliamentarians in the newly elected German Bundestag -- 11.3% of the total -- have foreign origins. The percentage of German parliamentarians of foreign origin has increased for the third consecutive time since the national elections of 2013 (by 5.9%) and 2017 (by 8%). 18 new Members of Parliament are of Turkish origin, and 24 have Balkan roots.... The number of Social Democratic MPs (the winners of last September's elections) who have an immigrant background went from 10% to 17% in one election.
This ever-increasing percentage of Turkish, Bosnian, Kosovar, Iranian and Iraqi politicians will increasingly influence the choices of the first European power in matters of immigration and multiculturalism. The left-wing party Die Linke has the highest percentage of parliamentarians with an immigrant background: 28.2%. And tomorrow? Herbert Brücker, the head of migrant research at the Federal Institute for Employment Research, told the German newspaper Die Welt:
"Currently a quarter of the people in Germany have an immigrant background. In 20 years, it will be at least 35 percent, but it could also exceed 40 percent... What we see in big cities today will be normal for the whole country in the future. In a city like Frankfurt, we will have between 65 percent and 70 percent".
"The result of the presidential election reveals that Mélenchon's strategy aimed at the Muslim community paid off," noted the anthropologist Florence Bergeaud-Blackler. But with what consequences in the future?
"The massive vote for Mélenchon is proof that the strategy of community victimization that began in the 1990s produced what it was intended to produce in one or two generations. Mélenchon gathered a large part of the Muslim vote, which obviously does not make it a Muslim or Islamist party, but only a 'cuckoo' party. Like the cuckoo hatching its eggs in the nest of a bird of another species, a cuckoo party shelters and protects ideas that are not its own. The Muslim Brotherhood have a strategy that they expressed in their plans from the 1980s: to form an alliance with the most docile parties to propagate their ideas".
What will happen in France in five years with demographics turning upside down? Will there be a scenario as in the novel Submission by Michel Houellebecq, with a "moderate" Muslim Brother elected as president? Or those with similar policies who take the lead thanks to their pact with the Muslim communities?
"Today," the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut reflected, "there are 145 mosques in Seine-Saint-Denis compared to 117 churches." The former are overcrowded, the latter are half-empty.
The future is here already.
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
[1] To be exact, Mélenchon received 61.13% percent in Saint-Denis, 17 points more than in 2017. In Montreuil, Mélenchon collected 55.35%. In Bobigny, 60% of the vote. Across the Seine-Saint-Denis, Mélenchon reached 49.09% -- a dramatic increase compared to 2017, when he gained only 34.02%. In Argenteuil, the third largest city in Île-de-France, he came first with 49.89%. Across Île-de-France, the largest French department which also includes Paris, Mélenchon largely defeated Macron.
In the Islamized Seine-Saint-Denis, Mélenchon won in 37 out of 40 cities. Mélenchon won in Marseille (31%), Le Havre (30%), Lille (40%), Lyon (31%), Montpellier (40%), Saint-Etienne (33%), Toulouse (36%), Strasbourg (35%), Rennes (36%) and Nantes (33% ). In Marseille and Lyon (second and third largest cities of France) Muslims already make up 30% percent of the population, and a quarter of the students of public schools in Strasbourg are Islamic. In Mulhouse the Muslim community is already 25% percent of the population. In Paris, Mélenchon came in second with 29%of the vote. In Aubervilliers there was a plebiscite. "Here the municipality is working with Muslims to build a large mosque", said the panel installed on a piece of land in Rue Saint-Denis in Aubervilliers. Islamic clientelism is in evidence in "9-3", the French department where 30% of the population is now Muslim.
[2] La Courneuve (64%), Villetaneuse (73%), Clichy -sous-Bois (72%), Aubervilliers (70%). In La Courneuve, Mélenchon had 64% of the votes, in Clichy-sous-Bois 60%, and so on.
© 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.

What Will Happen Following Khamenei’s Death?
Mojtaba Dehqani/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 29/2022
Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is now 83 years old and one could see the signs of old age in his face and movements. There are recurrent news and rumors about his chronic conditions and bad health but this has never been based on any evidence nor has it been commented upon by his office or those close to him.
But, soon or late, Khamenei’s death will come and one has to see how ready Iran is for such an eventuality. In his more than three decades of rule, the leader of the Islamic Republic has given shape to a unique network of relations and centers of power and wealth that are in almost total obedience to him. This network works under the command of Khamenei, is present in politics and has placed its political actors in various sectors. Kleptocratic economic-political ties of the regime mostly work around the same centralized command.
Despite all international and economic crises, Khamenei has been able to suppress all dissenting voices and rival centers of power and create a united and obedient regime of power. But what will happen after his departure?
The post-Khamenei era can be assessed from a variety of angles. Will the Islamic Republic fall? If it continues, will it do so as before? Which person or group will come by? What will happen to the first circle of those close to Khamenei?
If we assume that the Islamic Republic will outlive Khamenei, the most important challenge will be the crisis of succession.
A leader out of the Assembly of Experts?
Iran’s political atmosphere today is entirely different from when Khomeini passed away. In 1989, the Islamic Republic had not been consolidated yet. Opposing groups inside the government balanced each other out and bodies such as the Assembly of Experts weren’t as unified as today.
The composition of the Assembly of Experts was such that, before the end of the session for electing the new leader, it wasn’t clear whether there would be a single leader or a council of leadership. Following Khomeini’s death, his son, Ahmad, in union with Khamenei and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, were able to give the leadership to their desired candidate. In the post-Khomeini era, each had a more or less definite role in power. It took many years for Khamenei to build a base of power separate from his two former comrades and eliminate the two figures who had brought him to leadership from the scene of power.
The composition of the 1989 Assembly of Experts, which included forces with unclear tendencies and could have lead to a variety of outcomes, has been totally transformed under Khamenei. Using his military and security levers, Khamenei has engineered the elections to this body and that of other supposedly elected bodies so that he gets to largely determine their composition.
The last elections for the Assembly of Experts were held in 2016. It has 88 members and all candidates must be first vetted and approved by both the Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Department of the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). They should also pass the Guardian Council’s test for their level of knowledge and their tendencies. Ultimately, for anyone to get anywhere close to the assembly, they should first be approved by clerics appointed by Khamenei in the Guardian Council.
This process also existed during Khomeini’s time but the red lines of the first leader were different from those of his successor. Khomeini tried to not enter into the factional bickering of politicians inside the regime. But Khamenei sees his identity and existence rooted in a reading of Islamic governance that is reflected in what was once called the right-wing faction and is now known as the conservative or Osoolgera faction. This is why he has kept the playing field open only to the figures of this political faction.
As such, the current 88 members of the Assembly of Experts are not true players of power in the post-Khamenei era. They are but a rubber-stamp body in thrall to the main centers of power which are outside this group and will probably do whatever they want.
IRGC, commanders without a leader
When Khomeini died, the IRGC was in a fragile shape. The IRGC commanders had had a role in the massive defeats of the last two years of the war with Iraq and losing of the strategic Faw peninsula. Many reports showed how they had prioritized political interests instead of focusing on the war and this had angered Khomeini.
A few days after he accepted the United Nations Security Resolution 598, Khomeini wrote a letter to Ali Razini, then head of the Judicial Department of the Armed Forces and ordered him to, without keeping to excessive regulations, form a special court for violations in the war zones and execute all those “who caused the defeat of the Islamic war or lead to casualties.” The Supreme Leader’s orders explicitly singled out execution as a punishment for violating commanders of the IRGC.
As it happens, the list of those to be tried by this new special court, and possibly get an execution sentence, included Ahmad Vahidi who is currently the interior minister in the government of Ebrahim Raisi and who was the military governor of Kermanshah during the Mersad Operation; and Yahya Rahim Safavi, IRGC’s top commander following Mohsen Rezayi; and many other well-known figures who have been elevated during Khamenei’s reign including Esmayil Kowsari.
On June 2, 1988, Khomeini gave another order to Rafsanjani to finish off the IRGC and merge it into the army. When appointing Rafsanjani as deputy commander in chief, Khomeini’s order specifically pointed out to a plan for merging of all armed forces to increase cohesion.
The order tasked Rafsanjani to act on behalf of the Supreme Leader and form a general staff which would centralize propaganda, military and logistic affairs and “eliminate or merge repetitive and unnecessary organizations and departments.” The order also brought up the need for court-martialing of military commanders on all levels. Rafsanjani had been ordered to use “wartime military court rules” to punish the violators “appropriately and decisively.”
Khomeini died two months after issuing this order and, as leader, Khamenei would go a different way. When Khomeini died, the IRGC had been an organization whose commanders were about to be tried and maybe even executed. As an organization, it was in its twilight days, on its way to be amalgamated into the army. But Khamenei and the IRGC formed a special bond from the outset. Just a few days after he started his reign as leader, Khamenei ordered a stop to the implementation of Khomeini’s order for amalgamation of armed forces. Same with the order for court-martial of IRGC commanders.
Yahya Rahim Safavi, who had been under the risk of execution in 1989, and who is currently a high military advisor to Khamenei, says: “Just a few days after his His Excellency Imam Khomeini passed away and His Excellency zKhamenei started his leadership, the latter ordered for the meetings held for the amalgamation of IRGC and the army to stop. He said he didn’t believe in such amalgamation and saw the army and the IRGC as two armed wings of the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic and that they should remain as such and work together as defined by the constitution.”
Unlike 1989, the IRGC of 2022 is now in charge of almost everything in Iran.
The IRGC’s economic and construction bodies get all the top economic projects, from importing fertilizers to selling oil, from building dams and monuments to smuggling currency, commodities and fuel. Iran’s communication system is controlled by the IRGC whether via the Mobile Telecommunication Company of Iran (MCI) or the Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI.) The IRGC has its own shipyards, airports and border stations. Sixty percent of all provincial governors are from the IRGC and most of the rest are IRGC proxies.
The parliament is controlled by IRGC commanders and the Speaker of the parliament is a senior IRGC commander. The administration of Ebrahim Raisi runs all key ministries with commanders in suits.
The media sphere of the Islamic Republic is almost entirely a fiefdom of the IRGC. Two major news agencies, several news websites, two newspapers, many large publications, the Owj Cinema Organization and Seraj Cyberspace Organization rule over the Iranian media. They are controlled and ran by IRGC’s Cultural Department. The national broadcaster has also been gradually coming under the control of forces close to the IRGC in the last decade.
In addition to all of this, the IRGC has the Quds Force which it has used to run Iran’s foreign policy and its Intelligence Department which it has used to control politics and politicians inside the country.
In his last days of life, Khomeini shook the IRGC by ordering its amalgamation into the army and execution of its top commanders. But Khamenei has instead given the reigns of all affairs to his IRGC acolytes so as to create for himself a parallel government, separate from the official government, as well as parallel intelligence, media and economic organizations. The parallel government is now much more powerful and dominant than the official one.
This monstrous organization, which now dominates over all affairs of the country, is still controlled by Khamenei. When the day of his death comes, the monster might seek to cast itself free. This is why one possible post-Khamenei option might be that the IRGC changes its place: from a monster controlled by the Islamic Republic, it will now become the organization that picks the next leader; a man who will be a mere symbol while the true power will lie with the IRGC.
Mojtaba, a player who keeps himself ready
It’s unlikely for Khamenei not to have thought about the scope of instability following his death and the legacy he leaves.
From the “the best leader” theory to the “hereditary leadership” is a short path; one which is seemingly being considered by the Islamic Republic. The center of this conceptual shift is Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Khamenei.
The Islamic Republic has already did one such conceptual change, in order to pave the way for Ali Khamenei to become leader. The conditions of becoming the Supreme Leader, or the Jurisprudent Guardian, were dialed down from “the best Mujtahid” so that a non-Mujtahid could also become the leader.
Mojtaba Khamenei is the son and pupil of a man who has always likened politics and power to mountain climbing: something that must be done consistently and slowly, with the obstacles being removed one by one and with patience.
For Mojtaba to reach the top job, there are a few existing obstacles. He lacks management experience. To overcome this, stories are being leaked out about his role in running some of the departments controlled by his father, so that he appears as a “shadow manager.”
The second obstacle is that his succession would lead to a a hot debate about the regime of Guardianship of the Jurist turning into a hereditary monarchy. This was also an issue when picking the second leader of the Islamic Republic. Ultimately, Seyed Ahmad Khomeini, who played the same role for his father that Mojtaba Khamenei plays for his father, decided to remain behind the curtain and let Khamenei take center-stage. They perhaps had a deal so that Khamenei would not hold all the power and would share it with Ahmad Khomeini and Rafsanjani.
Before Ebrahim Raisi’s presidency, the Islamic Republic seemed to have one option for a “shadow supreme leader” and that was Raisi himself. Raisi is someone who can be placed on the stage while someone else runs the show. This is how he has been as president. His nine months as president has showed him as a weak and incapable figure who is unlikely to still provide a good candidate for the show of succession.But Mojtaba Khamenei can still, like Ahmad Khomeini, go for the “shadow leader” option. It is likely that one of Khamenei’s concerns is now to find a non-threatening and weak figure for the show of succession. Someone who could listen to Mojtaba Khamenei and, unlike what Khamenei himself end up doing, would not rise up against him. From his father, Mojtaba has learnt that the absolute power of the Supreme Leader does not quite work with "sharing." The man who sits on the chair of power can easily eliminate his partners after he consolidated his own positions; this is just what his father did to his erstwhile partners.

All Members of Iran’s ‘Quds Force’ are Pursued
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 29/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/108997/108997/
Despite all the Iranian propaganda about the power of the “Quds Force” and its expansion in the region, the Revolutionary Guard’s branch is now being chased down by Israel and its members are being assassinated inside Tehran. In football lingo, this means that Israel is now playing with Iran the home game, after Iran’s prolonged playing abroad.
The last of these remarkable operations, and after reports of a US caveat to the Israelis on not targeting Iran’s nuclear scientists, was the assassination of Quds Force’s Col. Sayyad Khudaei.
This operation represents a turning point in the open Israeli war against Iran, by land, air, sea, and even the media, especially after the leaks published by the New York Times that Israel informed US officials of being behind Khudaei’s assassination.
These leaks were met with Israeli anger, which means that some in Washington are opposed to targeting Iran at a time when it appears that the decision to confront Tehran has been made up by Israel and moved to a dangerous stage that may stir a new war.
While it is true that Israel targets Iranian fighters and equipment in Syria, targeting the Quds Force inside Iran means that Israel wants to send a message to Tehran that it will not care about changes in the Russian position in Syria. It also means that Israel’s infiltration into the Iranian interior is real and reached the point of penetrating the Quds Force itself.
Before, Quds Force arrogance, at its height, saw its slain commander Qassem Soleimani sending a famous message to General David Petraeus, which I published here on August 1, 2011, citing the Guardian. “General Petraeus, you should know that I, Qassem Suleimani, control the policy for Iran with respect to Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, and Afghanistan. And indeed, the ambassador in Baghdad is a Quds Force member. The individual who's going to replace him is a Quds Force member,” Soleimani wrote to Petraeus. Today, the situation has turned around, with Israel targeting the Quds Force in Iran. This means the Revolutionary Guards and its affiliated corps losing face and the prestige of the regime, specifically the Iranian Supreme Leader, being undermined.
Khudaei’s assassination did not happen by chance, which indicates other operations to come.
Certainly, hunting down the Quds Force will affect even the morale of the Iranian militias in the region, and all of this may precipitate a fatal mistake that leads to military confrontations that will have a completely different impact on the whole region.
Therefore, we now have nothing but questions. Is Iran willing to sacrifice Gaza by using Hamas to save face? Or sacrifice Lebanon, especially with Hezbollah's crisis in losing its parliamentary majority? Or will Iran seek to escalate through Syrian territory? Certainly, the regime in Damascus is now wondering: if the Quds Force is infiltrated, what will be the state of the Israeli infiltration of the Syrian regime? And what will be the consequences of any military operation in Syria? To sum up, the Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Revolutionary Guards, is being pursued inside Iran itself, and this is a turning point in the ongoing conflict in our region, which may bring us closer to a new war. The question here is: is it a war with calculated consequences?

Is a Recession Coming? Beware of This Indicator
Kathryn A. Edwards/Bloomberg/May 29/2022
Will inflation — or efforts to tame it — lead to a recession in the US? When such fears arise, people start paying a lot of attention to weekly unemployment-insurance claims, as an early indicator of layoffs that could augur a broader slump.
They should be careful. Unemployment claims are a flawed gauge that may be particularly skewed by the pandemic.
Unemployment benefits go only to those who meet certain criteria: They must be jobless through no fault of their own, have sufficient work history, and be willing and able to work. Over the past 70 years, the share of the unemployed who actually receive payments has decreased from about half to about a third, even as the share of job losers (as opposed to quitters) has increased.
Why the decline? As opposed to Social Security, which is run by the federal government, unemployment insurance is administered at the state level. To ensure adequate funds, states must impose a tax that businesses dislike, in part because it increases with the number of former employees who successfully file claims. Reluctant to raise taxes, officials often chose instead to reduce benefits and limit access. Before the pandemic, most unemployed workers never even bothered to apply.
That all changed when the coronavirus arrived, throwing 22 million people out of work. Congress — which had made two failed attempts at reform over the years — quickly passed the Cares Act, expanding eligibility and adding $600 to weekly payments. The year 2020 was like a vast public awareness campaign for unemployment insurance. Unprecedented numbers of furloughed and laid-off workers filed for benefits.
The question now: How will that experience affect people’s likelihood to seek benefits in any new downturn? If they know people who applied successfully in 2020, maybe they’ll be more likely to give it a try, so that a bump in layoffs will generate more claims than economists are used to seeing. Or maybe they’ll be put off by the memory of long lines, futile phone calls, crashed computer systems, interminable appeals, calculation errors and constant uncertainty about the size and duration of benefits — in which case claims will be muted. Or maybe they’ll revert to pre-pandemic habits and assume that they won’t qualify. How many workers, for example, can be expected to parse the minimum earnings requirement, which is different in every state? So don’t read too much into the weekly unemployment-claims data. What they signal depends heavily on how the pandemic affected worker psychology. Their only consistent message is that the program has been allowed to erode far too much over time.

The Evolution Of Islamic State (ISIS) Views On Attacking The State Of Israel - Part I: Background
Y. Kerman*/MEMRI/May 29/2022
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On March 22, 2022, Muhammad Abu Al-Qi'an, a Bedouin citizen of Israel from the Negev region, carried out a car-ramming and stabbing attack in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, killing four Israeli civilians. Abu Al-Qi'an had served a four-year sentence in an Israeli prison after attempting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS) and was released in 2019. Several days later, on March 27, 2022, two residents of the Arab-Israeli city of Umm Al-Fahm killed two Israeli border guards and injured twelve, including civilians, in a shooting attack in the northern Israeli city of Hadera, before being shot dead by undercover officers. Israeli media identified the two attackers as cousins, Ayman Ahmad Ighbariyeh and Ibrahim Hasan Ighbariyeh, and noted that Ibrahim was arrested in 2016 after travelling to Turkey, en route to joining ISIS in Syria, but was apprehended by Turkish police and sent back to Israel.
On March 27, ISIS claimed responsibility for the Hadera attack and identified the perpetrators as "two Islamic State fighters," in addition to posting a video showing the two cousins swearing allegiance to the new ISIS leader, Abu Al-Hasan Al-Hashemi Al-Qurashi, prior to the attack. The ISIS claim also noted that the attack occurred several days after the Beersheba one, which it credited to "the inghimasi Muhammad Abu Al-Qi'an," without stating explicitly that he had carried out the attack on behalf of ISIS. "The unbelieving Jews should know that our promises [to attack them] will reach them sooner or later, Allah willing," the statement threatened.[1]
Above is the A'maq claim for the Hadera attack, showing the two attackers swearing allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Al-Hasan Al-Hashemi Al-Qurashi prior to the attack.
This marks the first time ISIS has made a credible claim that perpetrators of an attack on Israeli soil had acted on behalf of ISIS.
The following series will summarize ISIS' position since its establishment on targeting Israel and the actions it has taken toward that end, based on material released by the organization's official media and reports of attacks perpetrated or planned by ISIS.
The report will be divided into five parts. The first part will provide a brief summary of ISIS' position on the Palestinian issue, from the organization's establishment to the present. The second and third parts will discuss the organization's ideological framework for the Palestinian issue in greater detail – the second one being devoted to ISIS' stance under the command of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, between 2014 and 2019, and the third discussing an apparent focal shift under the command of Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Qurashi. The fourth part will discuss ISIS' position regarding the various Palestinian factions, and the fifth will address attacks on Israel and Israeli targets claimed by ISIS.
Summary Of ISIS' Position On The Palestinian Issue
Waging war on Israel and conquering Palestine[2] has never been an immediate objective for ISIS, although the organization has always asserted that doing so remains an eventual goal, after the elimination of the "apostate" Arab and Muslim regimes which rule the countries surrounding Israel. Furthermore, ISIS considers Palestine to be only one of many countries formerly under Islamic rule but which is now under the control of "unbelievers," given that the organization considers the rulers of every Muslim country to be apostates from Islam who must be fought. Predictably, ISIS strongly rejects the creation of a Palestinian state, as the organization opposes nationalism and the legitimacy of international borders, believing instead that all Muslim countries should join the international ISIS caliphate.
ISIS also does not have a "Palestine Province," although it maintains an official presence in many parts of the Middle East, including Syria, Iraq, the Sinai Peninsula, and Yemen. Although ISIS has claimed attacks against Israel, such operations have been sparse and on a small scale.
Much of the ISIS rhetoric threatening Israel, praising attacks against it, and encouraging supporters to perpetrate such attacks has been issued in reaction to actions against Israel initiated by rival groups, and as a defense against accusations made by opponents of ISIS that the organization ignores the plight of Palestinians and acquiesces to Jewish domination over Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine.
The organization's early leaders, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and Abu Muhammad Al-'Adnani, mentioned Palestine very sparsely and never devoted speeches to the topic. Over time, there has been an escalation in ISIS rhetoric against Israel, although the organization has stressed that its ideological position concerning the struggle against Israel remains unchanged. A significant escalation in the organization's rhetoric threatening Israel occurred in January 2020, a few months after the appointment of ISIS' second leader, Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Qurashi, when the organization's spokesman declared that ISIS had begun a "new stage" in its war against "the Jews," calling on its operatives to target Israel and Israeli interests, and on Muslims everywhere to kill Jews wherever they encounter them.
The uptick in ISIS rhetoric does not seem to have led to an increase in ISIS attacks against Israel and Israeli interests. It is likely that the increasing call to target Israel was due less to a focal shift by ISIS leadership than to a desire to demonstrate the organization's continued relevance despite the killing of its leaders, and efforts to attract new recruits by affirming support for the Palestinian cause. It also appears that loss of ISIS territory in Iraq and Syria led the organization to minimize its calls on Muslims to travel there, and to increase its focus on encouraging them to perpetrate "lone wolf" attacks in their home countries; this resulted in ISIS inciting Palestinians and Arab Israelis to attack inside Israel rather than joining ISIS in other countries.
In March 2022, soon after ISIS appointed its third leader, Abu Al-Hasan Al-Hashemi Al-Qurashi, two attacks were perpetrated inside Israel by Arab Israelis with ties to ISIS. The organization claimed one attack and gave the impression that the second was also perpetrated by an ISIS operative. This raises the question whether the organization has indeed modified its agenda and now sees masterminding attacks on Israel as a priority.
It is possible that ISIS has shifted its focus, perhaps due to the differing priorities of its new leader, and now sees masterminding attacks against Israel as a greater priority than it previously did. However, it is more likely that the perpetrators of these recent attacks acted on their own and that ISIS leadership is not facilitating operations against Israel, other than inciting to them periodically, generally when tensions are high between Israel and Palestinian factions. Thus, it seems probable that ISIS will continue its activity in its various "provinces," targeting government forces and rival militant groups in the Middle East, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa, while attacks against Israel will remain at a minimum. At the same time, there are still ISIS supporters living in Israel and the Palestinian territories, who may decide, under the influence of ISIS propaganda, to instigate attacks in the name of the jihadi organization, which views Israelis and Jews as enemies whom it is meritorious to target, provided that the attack is carried out for the sake of Allah and not out of nationalistic motives.
[1] See MEMRI JTTM Report: ISIS Official Media Claims Responsibility For Terrorist Attack In Hadera, Israel, March 27, 2022.
[2] Throughout this report, the term Palestine is used as a geographic term - as it is used by jihadis - to refer to the territory governed by Israel, as well as the West Bank and Gaza, not as a political term referring to a Palestinian state or the areas governed by the Palestinian Authority.

Tehran hijacks, abducts and threatens … the US prescribes more diplomacy
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/May 30/2022
Just minutes after Tehran threatened “punitive action” against Greece for its involvement in the confiscation of a cargo of smuggled Iranian oil, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces seized two Greek tankers in the Arabian Gulf.
These flagrant acts of piracy last week elicited familiarly feeble statements of “concern” and calls for restraint from Western governments, although they fit a predictable template of Iranian behavior. In 2019 a ship smuggling oil to the Assad regime in Syria was seized in Gibraltar. Iran responded belligerently by seizing a British oil tanker, giving rise to humiliating negotiations, after which the Iranian ship was meekly permitted to go on its way.
The ayatollahs’ regime has frequently attacked Gulf shipping and staged drone and missile strikes against regional oil infrastructure and civilian targets. The world lethargically shrugs.
Iran routinely abducts foreigners and dual nationals to be used as lucrative bargaining chips. Until March this year they included Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, held since 2016 on trumped-up charges. Nazanin endured inhuman treatment for the duration of her abduction, and even after her release from detention Revolutionary Guard sadists forced her to sign a ridiculous confession before she could board a flight home to the UK.
Meanwhile, you could be forgiven for wondering what was happening with the proposed revival of the nuclear deal with Iran. Last week US President Joe Biden’s envoy Robert Malley clarified this for us — the answer is, absolutely nothing.
After a year of meandering negotiations in Vienna, Malley declared himself “not particularly optimistic” about any deal. All the while, Iran has been vigorously installing advanced equipment at nuclear sites and enriching uranium to ever-higher levels of purity.
Astonishingly, the US has no Plan B. Malley doggedly insists that “the only option here is the diplomatic one.” Biden’s administration asserted in February that without a deal “within the next few weeks” Iranian nuclear advances would “make it impossible” to return to the 2015 agreement. Yet here we are nearly four months later with diplomacy powered along by the endless momentum of delusional wishful thinking and strategic drift.
Western strategic paralysis has convinced the ayatollahs that they enjoy absolute impunity for the most egregious violations of international law.
Israel has stepped into the vacuum of American strategic failures. Iran’s Defense Ministry reported an “accident” last week at its top-secret Parchin site, apparently due to Israeli suicide drones. Israel was also responsible for the killing — in central Tehran, in broad daylight — of a senior Revolutionary Guard officer responsible for overseas assassinations. Revolutionary Guard leader Hossein Salami pledged retaliation, warning: “None of the enemy’s evil actions will go unanswered.”
The ayatollahs have exploited such Israeli pinprick attacks as a pretext for accelerating their military programs. When nuclear equipment was sabotaged, Tehran spent millions replacing it with faster, more advanced systems, accelerating the trajectory toward nuclear zero hour.
Have American so-called “strategic planners” considered what happens when a nuclearized Iran, armed to the teeth with ballistic missiles, engages in aggressive brinkmanship in the future? What happens when Iran’s proxies topple a regional government, then it points its nukes at Israel and dares the world to intervene? Or when Tehran invades Bahrain, Azerbaijan or Kuwait? Or when proxies embark on genocidal sectarian cleansing campaigns against Sunnis, Christians and minorities?
A nuclearized Iran would behave exactly as it chooses, acting upon an escalated version of the mafioso playbook it’s already using — abducting, attacking, hijacking, threatening, and subverting regional governance.
If there is no prospect of a nuclear deal, Tehran will act still more belligerently. We should pay close attention to Lebanon and Iraq, where Tehran’s proxies lost elections but refuse to acknowledge defeat. Iraq has gone seven months without progress toward forming a government. This is likely to continue until Iran-backed factions are granted Cabinet seats. We shouldn’t expect Lebanon to play out any differently. Iran-backed factions readily resort to violence to prevent the curbing of their massive political, military and economic power bases.
Malley acknowledged that, in addition to efforts toward nuclear supremacy, Iran was continuing its support for proxy militias, advancing its ballistic program, and attacking Western interests. Yet he claimed that it was “much safer to negotiate” those issues “when we know the nuclear program is under control.”
But where does that leave us if there is negligible prospect of a diplomatic breakthrough? No deal may be better than a bad deal that unfreezes billions in Iranian funds but still does too little to curb Tehran’s drive toward a bomb. However, just as when Donald Trump tore up the 2015 deal, this is only viable if the US possesses a holistic strategy for confronting Iranian malfeasance. The Trump administration didn’t. The Biden administration certainly doesn’t.
Meanwhile, a new avenue for pressuring Iran may be opening up, with Tehran’s oil exports to China falling by nearly a third as Beijing looks to cash in on the Ukraine war with bargain-basement purchases of Russian oil. Iran and Russia, both wracked by sanctions, are discovering that the market for discounted oil from pariah states is limited, and that slashing prices to tempt unprincipled buyers simply reduces profits even more.
The West must set out baseline objectives: Iran will never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon; it will not be allowed to threaten peaceful states with impunity; there must be constraints on Iran’s ballistic program and its ability to distribute missiles to terrorists and militants; it cannot control vast transnational paramilitary armies.
When I confronted Malley about how the world’s greatest superpower was being humiliated by a mediocre basket-case state like Iran, he angrily retorted: “What do you want us to do? Go to war?”
“If that’s what it takes,” I replied. Unless America signals its readiness to use force against theocrats who understand only the language of force, diplomacy has zero prospect of success.
Just as America and its allies impressively awoke to the Ukraine challenge and mobilized a decisive response to Russian aggression, there must also be an urgent worldwide mobilization against the equally far-reaching and multifaceted Iranian threat.
Western strategic paralysis has convinced the ayatollahs that they enjoy absolute impunity for the most egregious violations of international law. America’s disastrously gutless, short-sighted policies are perfectly calibrated to facilitate Iranian nuclear breakout, while reassuring Tehran that it will not be punished when it hijacks ships, abducts foreign nationals and attacks peace-loving states.
Without a decisive change in strategy, we risk witnessing the apocalyptic consequences of appeasing deranged theocrats who genuinely believe there’s nothing they can’t get away with.
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Why IRGC issue has become a red line for Iran regime
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/May 29/2022
When Joe Biden won the US presidential election in November 2020, hopes were high among the advocates of the Iran nuclear deal that the 2015 agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action would soon be revived. After all, the two key players, the Iranian regime and the US, both wanted to resurrect it. But after nearly a year and half of discussions, it has become evident that reaching a nuclear deal with Tehran is more difficult and complicated than ever before.
During the first few rounds of negotiations in Vienna between the Iranian nuclear team and the world powers known as the P5+1 (the UK, China, Russia, France, the US and Germany), the talks appeared to be progressing. That was until Iran put up a major hurdle by adding yet another demand: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps must be removed from America’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
In 2019, former US President Donald Trump added the IRGC to this list. This was the first time Washington had officially designated another country’s military organization as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The State Department said the IRGC was responsible for 17 percent of all deaths of US personnel in Iraq since 2003. It stated: “The IRGC has been directly involved in terrorist plotting; its support for terrorism is foundational and institutional, and it has killed US citizens. It is also responsible for taking hostages and wrongfully detaining numerous US persons, several of whom remain in captivity in Iran today.”
It was intriguing that, when Ebrahim Raisi became president in August last year, his Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian initially stated that Iran was willing to revive the nuclear deal even if the IRGC remained on the terrorist list. But then the regime made this issue a red line. There are several reasons why the Iranian regime has changed its stance and why the removal of the IRGC from the US terror list is critical for its leaders.
First of all, it is important to point out that, if the IRGC remains on the terrorist list, the financial benefits of the nuclear deal will be minimal for the regime. Tehran wants to attract foreign investment in its energy and industrial sectors, but the IRGC has a large stake in almost every sector of Iran’s economy. In other words, many business dealings and transactions with the Iranian regime will most likely have to be directly or indirectly conducted through the IRGC.
As a result, if the IRGC remains designated as a terrorist group, the foreign corporations, firms, European countries and officials who want to deal with Iran will still have to be extremely cautious, as they will risk being sanctioned by the US.
In addition, the IRGC needs more cash in order to ensure the survival of the regime. The regime would have likely collapsed a long time ago if it were not for the iron fist of the IRGC and its paramilitary group, the Basij. It is the backbone of the regime and the main tool the clerical establishment uses to maintain power, achieve its hegemonic ambitions and increase its influence in the region.
If the IRGC remains on America’s terrorist list, the financial benefits of the nuclear deal will be minimal.
Secondly, if the IRGC lacks the financial means, it will be extremely difficult for the Iranian regime to export its revolutionary ideals beyond its borders, as well as fund, arm and support militia and terror groups across the Middle East. The IRGC’s footprints can be seen in many nations and conflicts, specifically through its elite branch, the Quds Force. How can the IRGC assist the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Assad regime in Syria and Shiite militia groups in Iraq if there is a disruption to the flow of cash to its treasury?
Finally, from the perspective of the theocratic establishment, the US, the UK, Germany and France are now desperate to strike a deal. As a result, the Iranian leaders believe they will be willing to give more concessions to Tehran at these critical times.
In summary, if the IRGC remains on the terrorist list, the benefits of the nuclear deal will be significantly lower for the Iranian regime. Removing the IRGC from the US terrorist list is a red line for Tehran due to the fact the IRGC is the backbone of the theocratic establishment, it safeguards and ensures the survival of the regime, it suppresses opposition groups and dissidents, it has significant control over Iran’s economy, and is the patron of many militia and terror groups in the region.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist.
Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh