English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 11/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory
Saint John 17/24-26/:”Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November10-11/2022
Lebanon's Parliament fails for fifth time to elect a president
Hochstein says Israel to honor Lebanon deal despite Netanyahu win
USAID announces $50 million for higher education in Lebanon
US to give Lebanon $80.5 million in aid amid economic crisis
Mikati lashes out at 'advocates of obstruction'
Stray bullet hits MEA plane landing in Beirut with MP on board
Judge Aoun summoned for interrogation over Berri's libel complaint
Raad says Hezbollah wants president who 'won't stab resistance in back'
Lebanon’s Deputy Speaker Calls for Talks with Syria to Demarcate Maritime Border
Lebanon: Caretaker Minister Says 8 Terror Cells Seized in 2022
L’Oréal-UNESCO ‘For Women in Science’ programme celebrates Achievements of Five Female Scientists from the Levant Region
UNDP, EU support Lebanese Army at north-eastern border through sustainable energy solutions
UN Humanitarian Relief Funds Allocate US$9.5 Million to Contain the Spread of Cholera in Lebanon

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November10-11/2022
Wives of Russian soldiers showed up at Ukraine border and demanded to take their husbands home, report says
100,000 Russians killed, wounded in Ukraine; retreat from Kherson begins: Ukraine updates
Ukraine: West must refuse to negotiate with Putin, says former UK general
Ukraine Boosts Southeast Asia Ties with Peace Accord
Gantz Rules out Attack on Iran
Germany: EU Seeking to Adopt New Iran Sanctions'
No progress' in discussions with Iran, UN nuclear watchdog says
Iranians Strike in Solidarity with Zahedan's ‘Bloody Friday’
Iran Sets up Meeting on IAEA Inquiry as Diplomatic Clash Looms
Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti posts picture without wearing headscarf in support of protests
Poor Access to Safe Water Fuels Cholera Outbreak in Syria
Surge in Starving Children in War-torn Syria
Al-Sudani: Security is a Red Line

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November10-11/2022
Breaking The Crosses' And Other Ills/Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 427/November 10.2022
What the Palestinians Need Now/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/November 10, 2022
How Iran's Morality Police Enforces a Strict Interpretation of Islamic Law/Sanya Mansoor/Time/November 10, 2022
The Arab Media in a Changing World… toward Riyadh/Mohammed Fahad al-Harthi/Asharq Al Awsat/November, 10/ 2022
Iran regime’s apologists want to deny protesters hope/Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/November 10/2022
Why Iranian regime is expanding its ties with Russia/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/November 10/ 2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November10-11/2022
Lebanon's Parliament fails for fifth time to elect a president
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
Lebanon's divided parliament failed Thursday to elect a new president for the fifth time, with the post vacant since the mandate of Michel Aoun expired last month.
Michel Mouawad, whose father Rene Mouawad served as president, was the frontrunner with 44 votes on Thursday, still far short of the two-thirds majority -- or 86 ballots -- needed to win. Out of 108 votes, prominent historian and academic Issam khalifeh won six, former Minister Ziad Baroud garnered one vote and 47 MPs cast a blank vote. Parliament is split between supporters of Hezbollah and its opponents, neither having a clear majority. Hezbollah rejects the candidacy of Mouawad, who is seen as close to the United States, and calls for a "compromise candidate" to be found. "Neither camp can impose a candidate, a compromise must be found and an understanding reached on a candidate acceptable to everyone," deputy speaker Elias Bou Saab told AFP in an interview on Tuesday. A second round was cancelled due to lack of quorum, after some MPs left the session before the second round as they did in the past four sessions. Former candidate for World Bank chief Ziad Hayek garnered one vote in the first round and seven MPS voted "The New Lebanon". One MP voted "For Lebanon" and MP Michel Douaihy, who had announced last month his withdrawal from the Change bloc, voted "Plan B".
Change MPs demanded an open session until the election of a President. "The chamber must be locked, and the Lebanese must rally outside Parliament until a President is elected," Change MP Elias Jradeh said. MP Melhem Khalaf said during and after the session that the constitution says that Parliament must stay convened until a president is elected. So did Kataeb chief MP Sami Gemayel. Both called for an open session even if it lasts for days, citing the Article 49 of the constitution. The Change MPs did not vote for the same candidate in today's session. While some voted for Khalifeh, MP Waddah al-Sadek voted for Mouawad, and MPs Marc Daou and Najat Saliba voted with a slogan, Daou said. Jradeh either voted for Baroud or Hayek. Amal, Hezbollah and the FPM cast again a blank vote. The Lebanese Forces, the Progressive Socialist party and al-Kataeb party endorsed Mouawwad again, along with other independent MPs. Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab had said that he will not cast a blank vote and that the FPM MPs have agreed that "blank ballots are no longer acceptable." FPM MP Alain Aoun said after the session that by casting a blank vote, the FPM is giving a chance for further consultations, as he considered it pointless to vote for a candidate who will only get "twenty votes." After the first round, Speaker Nabih Berri announced that the next session will be held next Thursday. Aoun's own election in 2016 followed a more than two-year vacancy at the presidential palace as lawmakers made 45 failed attempts to reach consensus on a candidate. But this year's vacancy comes as Lebanon is gripped by an unprecedented financial crisis that has pushed much of the population into poverty since 2019. During a vacancy, the powers of the president fall to the cabinet. But since May Lebanon has had only a caretaker government that lacks the authority to push through the sweeping reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund as a condition for releasing billions of dollars in emergency loans.

Hochstein says Israel to honor Lebanon deal despite Netanyahu win
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
U.S. energy mediator Amos Hochstein reassured Thursday that he is confident that Israel will continue to abide by the sea border demarcation agreement with Lebanon despite Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to power. In remarks to Al-Jazeera television, Hochstein added that gas companies will start working in Lebanon and that foreign investments will flow into the country to boost its prosperity. Noting that the agreement does not resolve the pending disputes between Lebanon and Israel and does not end tensions between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, the U.S. mediator boasted that the deal with enhance security in the region. Netanyahu had vowed prior to his electoral win that he would not be bound by the agreement, which was signed by his predecessor and electoral rival Yair Lapid.

USAID announces $50 million for higher education in Lebanon
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power announced Thursday that USAID will provide $50 million for Lebanese and refugee students to attend the American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanese American University (LAU), and Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU). Of the $50 million, $15 million will support 140 full undergraduate scholarships to AUB and LAU for financially disadvantaged yet academically meritorious students, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. "The remainder of the funds will provide partial need-based financial aid for about 3,500 students over the next three years to help students who can no longer afford tuition amidst Lebanon’s economic crisis," the statement went on to say. "Since 2010, USAID has provided more than $156 million in full undergraduate scholarships to more than 1,600 Lebanese and refugee students who might not otherwise be able to attend a university. USAID also works closely with these universities to prepare students with technical and manufacturing skills applicable to emerging sectors, such as solar power," the U.S. Embassy added. The statement concluded that this new funding reflects USAID’s continued commitment to empowering youth to shape Lebanon’s future.

US to give Lebanon $80.5 million in aid amid economic crisis
Associated Press/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
The United States announced Wednesday that it will give $80.5 million in aid for food assistance and solar-powered water pumping stations in the crisis-battered country of Lebanon. The announcement was made by USAID chief Samantha Power during a visit to Lebanon ahead of a trip to Egypt for the COP27 U.N. climate conference. During the visit, Power is set to meet with Lebanese political leaders to push for a resolution to the country's political vacuum and for leaders to carry out a slate of political and economic reforms required by the International Monetary Fund to clinch a $3 billion aid package. The visit comes as Lebanon is in the grip of its worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history. On Oct. 31, the six-year term of President Michel Aoun ended with no replacement elected. Power declined to say, however, whether any U.S. assistance would be contingent on Lebanon taking these measures. "We are not focused on what happens if those reforms don't happen. The reforms have to happen," she told The Associated Press. The prospect of an IMF deal "should be enough to end the infighting and bickering and do what is needed for the sake of the country," Power said. USAID has provided about $260 million to Lebanon in 2022 to date. On Wednesday, Power announced an additional $72 million for food assistance to some 650,000 people over five months as part of a $2 billion global food security initiative. Lebanon, which relies heavily on imported food and has historically imported the majority of its wheat from Ukraine and Russia, has faced increased food security anxieties in the wake of the Russian war in Ukraine. Power also announced $8.5 million to fund 22 new solar-powered pumping stations. Lebanon has been dealing with a crippling electricity crisis that has also led to water shortages due to lack of power at pumping stations. The shortages in public water supply are fueling a cholera outbreak, the first Lebanon has seen in three decades. Most Lebanese now rely on water trucked in by private suppliers, which is often not tested for safety.

Mikati lashes out at 'advocates of obstruction'
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Thursday called on all parties to quickly elect a new president and form a new government in order to "protect the country and preserve the state."“This would end the caretaker state, which in its nature is temporary and limited to the matters that fall under this principle,” Mikati said. “Any other approach toward this major national issue is nothing but narrow and personal political calculations that must not be stopped at during these critical circumstances,” the caretaker PM added. He stressed that what his government is currently doing is “the work that is needed constitutionally and nationally.”“Along with all ministers, we are performing our duties with an alive conscience in order to pass this difficult period pending the election of a president. But it seems that the advocates of obstruction and chance wasting do not even want us to perform this duty, and they are trying to put all obstacles in the way of our clear mission,” Mikati added. “They are now openly announcing their will to obstruct and their efforts to paralyze the government,” he lamented. Warning that “this obstruction and paralysis will only harm the country's affairs and citizens,” Mikati noted that claims that “the government is seeking to replace the president or is working to usurp his powers are disinformation and hypocrisy.” “Those launching these allegations must perform their constitutional duty in electing a president in parliament instead of insisting on blocking the election,” Mikati added.

Stray bullet hits MEA plane landing in Beirut with MP on board
Associated Press/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
A stray bullet hit a Middle East Airlines jet while landing in Beirut on Thursday, causing some material damage. No one among the passengers or crew was hurt, the head of the Lebanese airline company said. The jet was landing on its way back from Jordan when the bullet hit the plane, said Mohamad El-Hout. He told reporters that Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport often faces such incidents, in addition to birds that fly in the area, endangering aviation. The bullet hit the roof of the jet and lodged inside the plane, airport officials said. Legislator Paula Yacoubian was apparently on the plane and tweeted that "illegal weapons" should be banned. She posted a photo from inside the plane showing a bullet hole over the baggage hold, adding that she will give further details during a TV talk show later in the evening. Shooting in the air is common in Lebanon, where people often open fire to celebrate passing schools or university exams, as well as during weddings and funerals. Such shootings also tend to follow when the country's political leaders give speeches. It is also common for Lebanese to have pistols and automatic rifles at home, many of them left over from the country's 1975-90 civil war.

Judge Aoun summoned for interrogation over Berri's libel complaint
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun was on Thursday notified of being summoned to appear before State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat on Mondya over the libel complaint filed against her by Speaker Nabih Berri and his wife Randa, the National News Agency said. Aoun had published Wednesday a list of names of Lebanese officials who have frozen accounts in Switzerland, citing WikiLeaks as a source. She captioned the list with a call for the mentioned politicians to lift secrecy off their accounts, "for the sake of transparency." "I do not know how true this information is, but why don't they disclose their accounts in the Swiss banks," Aoun said. The name of Berri comes fourth in the list with $6.4 billion, in addition to an account for his wife Randa Berri worth $5.7 billion and another for his son Abdallah Berri worth $2 billion. Berri's lawyer Ali Rahhal filed a complaint before Oueidat for "prosecution, investigation and for taking the necessary legal measures."

Raad says Hezbollah wants president who 'won't stab resistance in back'
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, said Thursday that his party wants a new Lebanese president who would not “stab the resistance in its back.”“Let us elect a president. If we want him to protect national sovereignty and preserve his constitutional oath and the interest of the Lebanese, let us agree on a president who would not be a confrontational president,” Raad urged. “We want a president who would not challenge anyone. We want him to know the value of martyrs and the importance of the resistance in preserving Lebanon’s sovereignty and protecting it. His decision must be sovereign and he must not bow to pressures to stab the resistance in its back,” the lawmaker said.

Lebanon’s Deputy Speaker Calls for Talks with Syria to Demarcate Maritime Border
Beirut - Nazeer Rida/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
Lebanon’s Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab has called for communicating “directly and publicly” with Damascus to delineate the maritime border between Lebanon and Syria, following a recent border demarcation agreement with Israel. “The Lebanese government must engage directly and publicly with the Syrian government... and publicly demarcate our sea border,” Bou Saab told AFP in an interview. “Any future government must undertake this task and put Lebanon’s interest first," he stressed, while “leaving regional political conflicts out of this matter.” Bou Saab’s call comes about two weeks after Lebanon and Israel concluded an agreement to demarcate their maritime borders, which allowed Israel to start producing gas from a disputed area, while Lebanon, mired in economic collapse, hopes to start drilling soon. According to Bou Saab, the disputed maritime area between Lebanon and Syria is “perhaps more than 800 square kilometers (310 square miles)."It could be “larger than the disputed area with Israel”, he added. He noted that Lebanon would not be able to begin gas exploration in the northern part of the waters off its Mediterranean coast without first resolving its border dispute with Syria. The Lebanese presidency had announced last month that an official delegation would go to Damascus to discuss the demarcation of the maritime borders, but the visit did not take place. Bou Saab stated that demarcation cannot be done quickly and “suddenly” after years of interruption, adding: “Syria is a country that has its own reservations and demands.” A day after the announcement of the demarcation of the maritime borders with Israel, Lebanon and Cyprus agreed on a joint formula to demarcate the borders between them, without having signed an agreement yet. Bou Saab said: “In a single day, we agreed to change our border with Cyprus," based on the new coordinates with Israel. Under the agreement with Israel, Lebanon gained full rights to operate and explore the Qana or Sidon field. Bou Saab said that French giant TotalEnergies and Italian energy giant Eni have been licensed to explore the field. Russia’s Novatek was initially part of the consortium but later withdrew, with Qatar stepping up to join, Bou Saab said. “Qatar will have a 30 percent stake after an agreement between the three companies, while Eni and Total will each have 35 percent,” he revealed, adding that the companies are expected to start operating in three to four months. He also pointed to the readiness of other Arab and Gulf countries to invest in Lebanon’s oil sector.

Lebanon: Caretaker Minister Says 8 Terror Cells Seized in 2022
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 9 November, 2022
Lebanon’s caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said on Tuesday that the security forces have managed to arrest eight terror cells in 2022, assuring that the country’s security is under control. “The Intelligence Directorate was capable of arresting eight terror cells in 2022. We adhere to the secrecy of our investigations knowing that we only disclose information that appeases the Lebanese. Security forces are on the watch to ensure their safety,” said Mawlawi during the Central Security Council meeting. He said the security situation is “acceptable” compared to the current circumstances that the country is going through. “The crime rate is not growing comparable to the crime rate in 2021,” he said, adding that the problematic security situation in Lebanon’s city of Tripoli has been brought under control. On the attempts to smuggle narcotics, he said the security and military forces are exerting serious efforts to stop that, “our efforts will continue,” he stressed. “The fact that more attempts to smuggle drugs abroad are being stopped indicates how serious the security and military forces are in carrying out their duties,” said Mawlawi. On the situation in the Syrian encampments of refugees, he said that despite the “exceptional circumstances” that the crisis-hit country is going through, the security and military apparatuses are carrying out their duties.

L’Oréal-UNESCO ‘For Women in Science’ programme celebrates Achievements of Five Female Scientists from the Levant Region
NNA/November 10, 2022
Five promising young researchers coming from Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria were honored yesterday, November 09, 2022, during the 9th edition of the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Levant Regional Young Talents Ceremony at Ecole Supérieure des Affaires (ESA) in Beirut.
The award ceremony was held under the patronage and in the presence of His Excellency Mr. Ziad Makary, Minister of Information of Lebanon, and attended by more than 200 guests amongst whom were politicians, diplomats, representatives of academic and scientific institutions, NGOs, and media.
Based on the conviction that the world needs science and science needs women, the Fondation L'Oréal and UNESCO are jointly committed to the promotion of women in science to have them gain visibility, make their talents known, and to create careers’ inspiration for future generations.
Despite the increase of the number of women in scientific careers, reaching just over 33% of researchers worldwide, according to the UNESCO Science Report published in June 2021, this improvement is still very slow.  The Levant program is part of the L’Oréal-UNESCO “For Women in Science” global program that has awarded over 3,900 researchers and 122 Laureates from more than 110 countries since its launch in 1998. Speaking at the ceremony, H.E. Mr. Ziad Makary said: “This annual award crowns the woman on the ‘throne’ of science and knowledge pushing her to offer scientific accomplishments, which constitute solutions to sanitary, environmental and economic challenges.” He also praised the dominant Lebanese impression of this year, since three exceptional Lebanese researchers have won despite the difficult situation. This proves that Lebanon, this small country geographically, is full of great capacities that can move our country forward”. He also added that this L’Oréal-UNESCO ceremony, constitutes a place of hope, creativity, and self-proving, calling on the various medias to dedicate a space for scientific information, shedding light on this initiative, and on the winners and their projects”.
While gender parity is almost reached at the PhD level or at the start of a scientific career, there are still strong disparities to be observed between the countries and the specializations. The glass ceiling remains a tangible reality, whereas the number of female researchers decreases as they access higher levels in their careers due to tremendous obstacles and barriers.
Since its inception in the Levant in 2014, the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Young Talents program has highlighted the achievements of almost 100 outstanding women scientists across the region, providing financial support to help these remarkable young women accelerate their work.
In her delivered word, French Ambassador to Lebanon, Anne Grillo, stressed the importance of this event that is being held in this scientific and academic edifice, and spoke about women's successes and their brilliance in the various scientific and humanitarian fields.
Mrs. Emily Wahab Harb, Managing Director of L’Oréal Lebanon, said: “Our changing world has never been in greater need of women and their discoveries. In a more and more complex, and uncertain world we are determined, to spare no effort in giving women the place they deserve, and encourage their participation in solving the great challenges of our time. She added: “The 5 scientists awarded today exemplify both diversity and excellence. As they overcome obstacles and push boundaries, they are fully participating in finding the solutions we need to create a sustainable future and a beautiful world. “
During her speech, Dr. Tamara El Zein, Secretary General of the National Council for Scientific Research- Lebanon, explained that: “excellence is not an exception. To the contrary, what is exceptional is the conditions under which researches in the Levant region, who despite tragedies and problems, prove one more time that the Arabic women are capable, tough, resilient and innovative, despite the toughest conditions, such as the occupation, the embargo and the degrading security and economic conditions. For a woman to be successful in Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon for example, this simply means that she is capable of achieving miracles in the tracks of life”.  From his end, Professor Mouin Hamzi, President of the Jury, stated that: “Science needs the effort of all social segments, and the mobilization of competences is now vital more than ever before. In addition, the marginalization of the woman’s role in science will immediately reduce our capacity to win the battle”.

UNDP, EU support Lebanese Army at north-eastern border through sustainable energy solutions
NNA - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with funds from the European Union (EU) have worked since 2019 to strengthen the operations of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in the North-Eastern border region of Lebanon as well as cater to their wellbeing through the provision of sustainable energy solutions that increase the LAF’s energy autonomy in the region and shift the LAF into a climate-friendly and more sustainable institution. Lebanon is facing a multi-layered crisis causing immense hardship on the majority of the population including civil servants and armed forces personnel. In particular, the country’s energy crisis has put at risk the daily operations of the majority of public institutions and functions, one of them being the LAF’s border security. Power shortages in the North-Eastern border region meant that the LAF had to depend on expensive diesel to operate genertors so that outposts and barracks could be lit, affecting also personnel’s access to hot water and to heating solutions.
Through renewable energy applications of 24 PV and micro-wind, 38 solar hot water systems, 35 biomass heating systems, 200 solar street lighting poles, 220 fence lighting, 254 lighting solutions, and 2 retro-fitted barracks ; UNDP was able to reduce the electricity and fuel consumption as well as noise interferences in the duty stations and provide a clean source of energy supply to assist in meeting the needs of the station, personnel, and surrounding communities. This package of renewable energy solutions saved around 300,000 USD in energy costs and more than 630 tCO2 emissions per year making this an economical and climate-friendly intervention. Additionally, apart from the installations in 31 different locations, there has been a transfer of knowledge on renewable energy and energy efficiency applications through capacity building and training programs to the Lebanese Army personnel.
The LAF’s commitment to climate action was expressed through their Sustainable Energy Strategy published in 2017, as part of Lebanon’s national Climate Change Commitments., It is a testament to the army’s dedication to contribute to fighting climate change through shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. The strategy defined the LAF baseline and mirrored the government’s target for 2030, which mentions that 20% of the electrical & thermal demand must come from renewable energy sources and 10% of reduction in energy demand must take place.
“The Sustainable Energy for Security project is part of the LAF’s priorities within the framework of its missions, which are not limited to military and security aspects only, but to environmental security as well. This funding is of great importance because it supports the LAF’s efforts to monitor and control borders, and we look forward to more collaborations with UNDP and the EU to implement further projects that serve our common interests”. Deputy Chief of Staff for Equipment, Brigadier General Pilot Ziad Haikal, representing the Armed Forces Commander General Joseph Aoun.
With support from the European Union, UNDP was able to work directly with the LAF to implement key recommendations of the army’s Sustainable Energy Strategy including (1) a reduction in energy consumption and the (2) integration of renewable energy into the existing energy mix for both electricity and thermal energy demand in one particular regiment – the 2nd Land Border Regiment where the Lebanese Armed Forces were deployed after the 2017 war with ISIS.
“The multi-faceted crisis in Lebanon is having a disruptive effect on the country’s overall security. Against all odds, the Lebanese Armed Forces continue to operate and ensure the security of Lebanon and its citizens. I am pleased to see how the assistance of the European Union has helped diversify energy sources for the military installations as how this minimises the energy bill of the army. This in turn contributes to maintaining its readiness to prevent, counter and respond to security threats at any time” Alessandra Viezzer, EU Head of Cooperation. “As the world leaders are gathering in Egypt for United Nations Climate Change Conference, I’m very pleased that here in Lebanon a large institution, such as the Lebanese Armed Forces, is championing the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. This project shows that investing in clean energy is not only the right thing to do for the environment. It also saves on energy costs and is a reliable energy source during the electricity crisis Lebanon is facing at the moment. UNDP considers the integration of environmental and climate considerations into Lebanon’s response to the crisis across all sectors a priority for a grean and sustainable recovery for all people in Lebanon. ” Melanie Hauenstein, UNDP Resident Representative. Since 2004, the EU has been a major partner and supporter of UNDP’s work in Lebanon and worldwide, currently working together in nearly 140 countries. Our partnership is making a difference in the lives of millions, including the most vulnerable. Together, we have been working in Lebanon on electoral assistance, support to municipalities, advancing the anti-corruption agenda, and scaling up on climate action.
UNDP is working in Lebanon since 1986 as a development partner supporting economic recovery, including working with municipalities to deliver basic services to host communities, promoting clean energy and solid waste management, strengthening governance and rule of law, providing support to elections, and working on empowering women and youth

UN Humanitarian Relief Funds Allocate US$9.5 Million to Contain the Spread of Cholera in Lebanon
NNA/November 10, 2022
In response to the cholera outbreak declared on 6 October and which continues to spread across the country, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, Mr. Imran Riza, announced today that the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and Lebanon Humanitarian Fund (LHF) have together allocated a total of US$9.5 million to prevent the spread of cholera. “The US$9.5 million directly targets more than 1,500,000 people across Lebanon - Lebanese, Syrian refugees, Palestine refugees and migrants – at heightened risk of exposure to cholera. CERF and LHF funding will support early containment and rapid response activities critical to prevent loss of life and stop the spread of this disease in high-risk areas.” Mr. Imran Riza said. The United Nations and a wide network of local and international partners on the ground are supporting the implementation of the joint prevention, preparedness and response plan, developed under the leadership of the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).
Fully aligned with this plan, the LHF emergency reserve allocation of US$4.5 million will support NGO-led lifesaving cholera containment and response activities through ensuring water safety in high-risk areas and providing support to cholera stabilization centers at selected primary health care centers.
The CERF Rapid Response allocation of US$5 million will allow for complementary support through WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR and their NGO partners. CERF funded interventions will focus on improving access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene in cholera high-risk areas through support to water and wastewater systems, chlorination of household water tankers, and support to cholera treatment centers units. Activities will also aim at a strengthened and equitable health response through upscaling the cholera vaccination campaign and coverage of hospitalization costs of most seriously affected individuals.
“We are hopeful that the implementation, in close collaboration with the Government, of a well-coordinated set of time-critical interventions, will limit the spread of the disease and mitigate the impact on the population. We count on the donor community to continue support us in this endeavour”, Mr. Riza added.
“At the same time, it is critical that the Government of Lebanon steps up its efforts to ensure the provision of basic services to the population. The responsibility to provide uninterrupted energy for running critical water supply and wastewater management facilities remains with the Government. A comprehensive solution to the ongoing energy crisis will be the only sustainable and efficient way to meaningfully fight the disease and prevent recurring outbreaks in the future.”, Mr. Riza concluded.
This is the first outbreak of cholera in Lebanon since the last case was reported in 1993 with no local transmission documented since then. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Lebanon is the latest phase of a rampaging outbreak that began in Afghanistan in June - then spread to Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Lebanon reported the first confirmed cholera case on 4 October 2022. The MoPH officially declared an outbreak of cholera on 6 October 2022. Since the first case was confirmed, over 3042 suspected and confirmed cases have been reported across the country, including 18 deaths. Children are most at risk from the deadly disease, with those under 14 making up more than 50% of cases. The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund (LHF) are OCHA-managed pooled fund mechanisms used complementarily to facilitate fast, effective and accountable humanitarian response. Established by the UN General Assembly in 2005, CERF enables humanitarian responders to deliver life-saving assistance whenever and wherever crises strike. The LHF is a country-based pooled fund led by the Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon and managed by OCHA. Since its inception in 2014, the LHF has received over US$ 146 million from donors to support the delivery of timely and effective humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable people in Lebanon regardless of their status.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 09-10/2022
Wives of Russian soldiers showed up at Ukraine border and demanded to take their husbands home, report says
Sophia Ankel/Business Insider/November 10, 2022
Wives of Russian soldiers traveled to a military base at the Ukrainian border, The Insider reported. They said their husbands were wounded on the front and demanded they be taken out of the country.One woman said if officials don't help, she would go to the front to rescue the soldiers herself.
The wives of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine showed up at the border and demanded to take their husbands home, the independent Russian news outlet The Insider reported.  A group of around 20 relatives traveled to a military base in the Russian town of Valuiki on Wednesday night, the outlet reported. Valuiki is around 30 miles (50km) from Kharkiv Oblast in Ukraine. The group, which mostly consisted of women, called for their husbands to be taken out of Ukraine, claiming they had been wounded fighting on the frontline, The Insider said. (The Insider is a Russian news outlet and has no affiliation with Insider.) "I'm ready to tear them apart," one of the women told officials at the military base, per The Insider. "They have to do something, they have to make a decision, they have to get them out of there." "We want them to be taken away from there because there are many wounded," she added.
Another relative said that if officials were unable to help them, she will go to the front herself to rescue the soldiers, The Insider reported, citing a separate report published on the Telegram channel of the independent Russian news outlet Verstka. It is unclear whether the women received the answers they were looking for. Verstka reported that officials were helping the women track down their husbands. Insider was unable to independently verify these reports. The report comes after Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu called on his troops to withdraw from Kherson, the first major city and the only regional capital in Ukraine captured by Russia since the beginning of its invasion in February. That announcement marked one of the most significant setbacks for Russia so far in its war in Ukraine. Top US general Mark Milley estimated Wednesday that more than 100,000 Russian soldiers were "killed and wounded" since Russia invaded Ukraine, Reuters reported. It's unclear where he received the figures. Reuters and Insider did not independently verify the numbers.

100,000 Russians killed, wounded in Ukraine; retreat from Kherson begins: Ukraine updates
John Bacon, USA TODAY/November 10, 2022
As many as 40,000 Ukrainian civilians and “well over” 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded since Moscow's invasion began less than nine months ago, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says. The estimate came shortly before the Russian Defense Ministry announced Thursday that its troops had begun withdrawing from Kherson, the crucial Ukrainian port city and only regional capital the Russians had seized during the conflict. Army Gen. Mark Milley, the highest-ranking U.S. military officer, said Russia had amassed up to 30,000 troops in Kherson. A full retreat, he said, could take several weeks. “The initial indicators are they are in fact doing it," Milley said. "I believe they’re doing it in order to preserve their force, to re-establish defensive lines south of the (Dnieper) river, but that remains to be seen.”
Milley said he expected that Ukrainian military casualties were similar to Russia's.“There has been a tremendous amount of suffering, human suffering,” he said at The Economic Club of New York.
Putin to skip Group of 20 Summit
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia next week, an Indonesian government official said Thursday, avoiding a possible confrontation with the United States and its allies over the war. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the chief of support for G-20 events, said Putin’s decision was “the best for all of us.” President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders are to attend the two-day summit that starts next Tuesday. Biden and Xi have announced they plans to meet privately at the event to "discuss efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication between the United States and the PRC, responsibly manage competition, and work together where our interests align, especially on transnational challenges that affect the international community." US reportedly won't supply Ukraine with elite drones. The Biden administration will not provide Ukraine with advanced, Gray Eagle MQ-1C drones because of concerns about escalating the war, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials and other people familiar with the matter. Russia has been pounding Ukraine energy facilities with explosive, Iranian-built drones for weeks. But U.S. officials are hesitant to provide Ukraine with weapons that could hit targets in Russia. Contributing: The Associated Press

Ukraine: West must refuse to negotiate with Putin, says former UK general
Andy Wells/Yahoo News UKYahoo News UK/November 10, 2022
The West must prepare for a second cold war with Russia or face the prospect of a third world war, a former senior British Army officer has warned. On Wednesday, Moscow ordered one of the biggest retreats of of the Ukraine war, as it withdrew its forces from Kherson - the only major city to have fallen to Russian troops. Although Kyiv has remained publicly wary - warning that fleeing Russians could turn Kherson into a "city of death" - the move is being widely regarded as a significant military failures for President Putin. The withdrawal came on the same day that the Russian foreign ministry said it was "open to negotiations" and followed reports that the US has held high level talks with Moscow about the nuclear risk in Ukraine. However, a retired senior British Army officer has urged Western allies to ignore any Russian calls for a peace settlement. Major General Sir Richard Shirreff said the withdrawal does not signal hopes for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine – and warned that the West must not fall into the trap of believing a peace settlement is on the cards. Shirreff told Times Radio: Assuming the Russians are withdrawing… it’s a major humiliation for Putin and it’s a strategic victory for Ukraine…“But make no mistake – Putin’s longer term aims will be to continue the war and to rebuild the Russian empire and wipe Ukraine off the map.” Shirreff said of any proposed negotiations to bring an end to the war: “All it will do is allow Russia... to have another go. We are going to have to fight a second cold war to prevent a third world war. "Any hint of negotiation is exactly what Putin wants." Shirreff has previously stated that a “new cold war” had already started, warning Western leaders to prevent it from escalating. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in March, Shirreff said: “There has to be a recognition that there will be no peace in Europe while Putin is in the Kremlin. “In Ukraine the war has gone hot. “The task for the Nato summit today is to ensure that the necessary measures are put in place to prevent that war going hot in the rest of Europe, so we’re now in a new cold war.”On Wednesday, America's top general, Mark Milley, said that the early refusal to negotiate in World War One had compounded human suffering and led to millions more casualties. "So when there's an opportunity to negotiate, when peace can be achieved ... seize the moment," he said. Putin’s humiliating withdrawal from Kherson, a key Ukrainian city, is expected to be presented by the Kremlin as a humanitarian evacuation rather than a military retreat. But one Western official told the PA news agency that the move will result in “another uptick in pointed criticism of Russian national leadership”. The assessment comes as one former Putin ally – the head of the notorious Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin – stepped up his criticism of the Russian leader. In a statement earlier this week he pointedly praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – who is routinely denounced by Moscow as a neo-Nazi drug addict – as a “strong and confident leader”. Officials said the Russians were running “critically short” of munitions for the war – including artillery shells with additional supplies even being sought from North Korea. “Without the guns and rocket launchers being fired everything else is grinding to a halt,” one official said.

Ukraine Boosts Southeast Asia Ties with Peace Accord
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
Ukraine signed a peace accord Thursday with Southeast Asian nations, a largely symbolic act that comes as Kyiv seeks to shore up international support in isolating Russia. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba signed the “Treaty on Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia” as the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations got underway in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, The Associated Press said. The ASEAN summit kicks off a series of three top-level meetings in Asia, with the Group of 20 summit in Bali to follow and then the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Bangkok. They come as Russia seeks new markets for its energy products to avoid Western sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine. As a group, the ASEAN nations, with a combined population of nearly 700 million, have been reserved in their stance toward the invasion, condemning the war but generally trying to avoid assigning blame. Eight of 10 ASEAN countries did vote in favor of the UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russian aggression, with Vietnam and Laos abstaining.
Member state Singapore has taken the strongest stance, imposing unilateral sanctions on Russia, while Cambodia has been increasingly supportive of Ukraine in its ASEAN chairmanship. In an early November call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen stressed the need for an end to the war “so that Ukraine can regain peace, stability, territorial integrity and development,” according to Hun Sen's office.
“Cambodia is against the aggression, the threat of or use of force over sovereignty and the territorial integrity of an independent state, and does not support the secession or the annexation of territory by other countries," Hun Sen said on the call. The Cambodian leader also pledged to support Ukraine's aspirations to become a “Sectoral Dialogue Partner” with ASEAN, a step toward the full "Dialogue Partnership" the group has with Russia, China, the United States and others.
The “TAC” peace treaty established in 1976 commits parties to “mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity of all nations,” among other things. Ahead of the summit, Daniel Kritenbrink, US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said the inclusion of Ukraine was important, especially since Russia's invasion “has sent shockwaves throughout the Indo-Pacific, including Indo-Pacific economies, as we've seen through rising energy and food prices.” He told a panel hosted by Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies in late October that the US would work with ASEAN to “ensure that Ukraine meaningfully participates and that the partners send a strong message that big countries cannot simply take what they want from smaller neighbors.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova dismissed questions about the significance of Ukraine's presence at the meetings. “This theme in general has nothing to do with us,” she told reporters on Wednesday.
US President Joe Biden is attending the ASEAN and parallel East Asia Summit talks in person, while Russian President Vladimir Putin is not — with Moscow instead sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Indonesia confirmed Thursday that Putin will also not attend the G-20 summit in Bali next week, and it seems unlikely he will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok that follows.
Putin's absence should leave the door open for Ukraine to try to win more support, wrote Susannah Patton, the director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute, in an analysis published Thursday.
“While opinion in Asia about Russia's invasion of Ukraine remains mixed, the summits look likely to be better for Ukraine than Russia, and Putin's absence will undercut talk of a Russian pivot to Asia,” Patton said. ASEAN is made up of Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei and Myanmar. Myanmar’s leaders are not being allowed to participate in the current meetings due to ongoing violence in the country and its lack of effort in implementing the group's peace plan, and Myanmar rejected a proposal to send non-political representatives. Ahead of Friday's opening ceremonies for the ASEAN summit, diplomats were already working on the issue of Myanmar and how to increase pressure on it to follow the peace plan. The plan calls for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among all parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all sides.
Senior ASEAN diplomats met Wednesday in Phnom Penh to try to finalize a set of recommendations to their heads of state aimed at resolving the Myanmar crisis but failed to reach consensus, two Southeast Asian diplomats told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks. The dilemma involved resolving how to increase pressure on Myanmar’s military leadership to comply with the peace plan without resorting to suspending it from ASEAN, the diplomats said. One of the two said there was a proposal to further downgrade Myanmar’s status in other aspects of ASEAN activities beyond just banning its military leaders and their political representatives from attending annual summits and key meetings. Some have suggested that the five-point peace plan should be scrapped, but Kung Phoak, a Foreign Ministry official who is Cambodia's spokesperson for the summit, suggested that option was not on the table. “It is the common position among the ASEAN member states that the five-point consensus should be retained,” he told reporters, adding that leaders were due to discuss the issue on Friday. “Going forward, I think we need something that is concrete in objective, but also practical, and that there's a clear timeline so that everyone can monitor or evaluate whether we are on the right track when it comes to the implementation.”

Gantz Rules out Attack on Iran
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
After his failure in the elections, outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, delivered a speech to sum up his tenure, stressing that Israel “is capable of attacking Iran,” but expects the next prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to act in a balanced manner.
Speaking to military reporters, Gantz said he thinks Netanyahu “will be level-headed” in his dealings with Iran. “Israel has the ability to act in Iran. We have the readiness, development capabilities, and long-term plans we are managing. We need to prepare for this possibility, and we will also need to consider this issue very carefully before carrying it out,” he added. His statements came in parallel with warnings in Tel Aviv, in the wake of the extreme right’s victory in the elections. A number of deputies aspiring to hold high ministerial portfolios, including Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, talked about “changing the reality” at Al-Aqsa Mosque and imposing Israeli sovereignty over the settlements. Military and security experts and journalists have also warned of a security deterioration in the Palestinian territories, leading to a third intifada. Gantz was speaking Wednesday morning in a “farewell meeting” with the military correspondents of the Hebrew media, when news was published of an Israeli bombing of an oil convoy at the Iraqi-Syrian border, which led to the death of 15 people. While he did not touch on the incident, he said: “Iran has been behaving in an excessively daring manner recently,” after strengthening its relations with Russia, and the exacerbation of conflicts between the great powers. He continued: “This… increasing self-confidence will have an impact on the entire Middle East region.” Gantz praised the regional cooperation that Israel maintains with countries in the Middle East, saying: “About 200 meetings have taken place between Israel and officials in the countries of the region, since the signing [of the Abraham Accords].”

Special World Cup flights to carry Israeli and Palestinian fans
Agence France Presse/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
Qatar has agreed to allow special direct flights from Israel carrying Israeli and Palestinian World Cup fans, FIFA announced Thursday. FIFA said in a statement that a deal was brokered between Qatar and Israel, who do not have diplomatic relations, so that flights are "temporarily operated" during the World Cup. The tournament starts November 20.

Germany: EU Seeking to Adopt New Iran Sanctions
Asharq A-Awsat/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
The European Union will seek to adopt new sanctions against Iran next week over Tehran's deadly crackdown on protests, Germany's foreign minister said Wednesday. "We are working flat out on the next package of sanctions," Annalena Baerbock said on Twitter. "We want to adopt it next week.""We won't let up," she added. "We stand with the men and women of Iran, not only today, but as long as it is necessary."EU foreign ministers are due to meet in Brussels on Monday. The bloc had already imposed sanctions in mid-October against Iran's "morality police" and 11 officials including the telecommunications minister. Iran has been rocked by demonstrations over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, following her arrest in Tehran for allegedly flouting the country's strict hijab dress rules for women. The crackdown on nationwide protests since her death has killed at least 304 people, including 41 children and 24 women, says the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR). Meanwhile, the German parliament adopted on Wednesday recommendations made by the three ruling parties, urging the German government to intensify pressure on the Iranian regime over its brutal repression of demonstrators. The recommendations included a call on the government to close the “Hamburg Islamic Center” classified in Germany as an arm of Iran and as directly receiving instructions from the regime in Tehran.

'No progress' in discussions with Iran, UN nuclear watchdog says
Agence France Presse/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
The U.N. nuclear watchdog said Thursday it had seen no progress in discussions with Iran over undeclared nuclear material at three sites, but a new visit to Tehran was planned this month. The issue has been a point of contention during on-off talks between Tehran and world powers to revive a 2015 landmark deal that sought to curb Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. "The director general (Rafael Grossi) is seriously concerned that there has still been no progress in clarifying and resolving the outstanding safeguards issues," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report seen by AFP. Senior agency officials will conduct a technical visit to Tehran before the end of November, the report added. "The agency has reiterated that at this meeting, it expects to start receiving from Iran technically credible explanations on these issues, including access to locations and material, as well as taking the samples as appropriate," it added. The director general "reiterates that these issues... need to be resolved for the agency to be in a position to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful," it added. In an interview with AFP on Thursday on the sidelines of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, Grossi said in meetings with Iranian officials the IAEA had been "trying to help them focus their answers so that we can have something in our hands." The U.N. watchdog has been pressing Iran to give answers on the presence of nuclear material at three undeclared sites, a key sticking point that led to a resolution criticizing Iran being passed at a June meeting of the IAEA's board of governors. The board's next regular meeting takes place next week, with the IAEA's reports on Iran being discussed as usual.
- Increase in enriched uranium -
In a separate report seen by AFP, the IAEA said Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium stood at 3,673.7 kilogrammes as of October 22, a decrease of 267.2 kilos from the last quarterly report. The decrease of the overall stockpile is, however, in part due to an increase of the stockpile of highly enriched uranium since that requires more material. The stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent is now at 62.3 kilos, up from 55.6 kilos. That level of enrichment is much closer to the 90-percent threshold required for use in a weapon. Iran now also has 386.4 kilos of uranium enriched up to 20 percent, up from 331.9 kilos in the last September report. At this level uranium can be used to produce isotopes for medical uses, for example in diagnosing certain cancers. Iran, which insists it is not striving to have a nuclear bomb, has continued enriching uranium to levels well above the 3.67-percent limit in the 2015 deal. The IAEA has also repeatedly warned it has lost its ability to fully monitor Iran's programme since the Islamic republic started to restrict its access last year. "Any future baseline for the... verification and monitoring activities would take a considerable time to establish and would have a degree of uncertainty. The longer the current situation persists, the greater such uncertainty becomes," the agency said. Talks have been under way since April last year to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which started to unravel when the United States withdrew from it in 2018. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken late last month reiterated that he saw little scope to restore the deal, pointing to the clerical leadership's conditions, as major protests roil the country.

Iranians Strike in Solidarity with Zahedan's ‘Bloody Friday’
London - Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
Several Iranian cities went on strike in solidarity with the mourners in Sistan-Baluchistan on the border with Pakistan, commemorating the 40th day since the security forces killed dozens of Baloch nationalists during the "Bloody Friday" in Zahedan, the center of Baluchistan.
On Sept. 30, security forces opened fire on protests that erupted after weekly prayers in Zahedan, killing at least 92 and injuring dozens. Norway-based Hengaw rights group reported widespread strikes were held "in solidarity" with Zahedan in various Kurdish cities. Earlier, the Cooperation Center of the Iranian Kurdistan Political Parties called for strikes in Kurdistan and condemned the killing of Balochs on Bloody Friday. It urged citizens to protest and express their solidarity with the families of the dead and victims in Balochistan. On Tuesday, protesters took to the streets during night marches and chanted against the Supreme Leader and regime.
-Executions and dismissals
The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said that 328 protesters were killed in the protests, including 50 children, in 137 cities and 136 universities. It noted that 14,823 persons were detained, including 431 students. The organization indicated that 38 members of the police forces, Basij forces, and security services had been killed in the campaign. Meanwhile, the Iranian police dismissed the police chief of Balochistan province days after the suppression of protests in Khash, where 16 persons were killed. Iranian media reported that police chief Hossein Ashtari dismissed the police chief in Balochistan province, Ahmad Taheri, and appointed Mohammad Ghanbari. Baloch accuses the Iranian authorities of practicing "sectarian and ethnic discrimination" against them. Over the past years, the Iranian authorities accused the Baloch opposition of being linked to extremist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS, accusations strongly denied by the Baloch opposition.
-Threatening journalists
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Wednesday that the enemies use fabricated warfare to confront a strong and independent Iran. Also, Iranian Intelligence Minister Ismail Khatib warned Britain that it would pay the price for attempts to "destabilize security" in Iran. In an interview with Khamenei's official website, he added that Iran would never sponsor acts of terrorism and insecurity in other countries, as Britain does, but have no obligation to prevent insecurity in those countries either. "Therefore, Britain will pay for its actions aimed at making Iran insecure," the minister warned. Earlier this week, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was accused of threatening two journalists working for the London-based Persian-language Iran International with death. Volant Media, the London-based broadcaster of Iran International TV, said two of its journalists had been notified by the Metropolitan police that the threats "represent an imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and those of their families." Meanwhile, in Paris, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that Iran is systematically trying to silence women's voices, noting that an unprecedented number of female journalists have been arrested since Amini's death. As the Iranian regime continues its crackdown on the protests initiated by Mahsa Amini's death, almost half of all newly arrested journalists are women, including two facing the death penalty. The organization called for immediate action to secure their unconditional release. It indicated that since the start of the protests, at least 42 journalists have been arrested throughout Iran. So far, eight have been released, and 34 are still detained, among them 15 women journalists.

Iran Sets up Meeting on IAEA Inquiry as Diplomatic Clash Looms
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
Iran has agreed to a visit by the UN nuclear watchdog this month to start giving answers the agency and its 35-nation board have long called for on the origin of uranium particles found at three sites, an IAEA report on Thursday seen by Reuters said. Iran has yet to provide new material, however, and its offer came before next week's quarterly meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors at which diplomats say they expect Western powers to push for a resolution calling on Iran to cooperate, a move that Tehran usually bristles at. Many diplomats see Iran's offer as a thinly veiled attempt to reduce support for another resolution after a similar one was passed in June, though in the absence of tangible progress there is little to suggest Tehran's move would scupper a push to formally criticize it at the board. "(IAEA chief Rafael Grossi) takes note of Iran's proposal to hold a further technical meeting with senior Agency officials in Tehran before the end of the month, but stresses that this meeting should be aimed at effectively clarifying and resolving those issues," one of two confidential IAEA reports on Iran sent to member states on Thursday ahead of the board meeting said. The IAEA "expects to start receiving from Iran technically credible explanations on these issues, including access to locations and material, as well as the taking of samples as appropriate", it added. A senior diplomat said the Vienna-based agency hoped the meeting would be the start of a process leading to answers but concrete progress was also needed at the meeting itself. Grossi told Reuters on Wednesday the meeting would be "in a couple of weeks". The issue has become an obstacle in wider talks to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, since Tehran has demanded a closure of the IAEA's investigation in those talks. The IAEA has said it will not yield to political pressure and its job is to account for all nuclear material. The fact material that has not been accounted for appears to have been present at these sites is therefore an issue it must keep looking into until it is resolved. "You can see the pattern of Iran is always similar. Every board there is something they try to do just before the board. Historically you see a pattern," the senior diplomat said when asked about the planned meeting in Tehran, pointing to previous meetings and offers preceding Board of Governors sessions.
Rumbling on
The 2015 deal restricted Iran's atomic activities in exchange for sanctions relief. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump ordered a US withdrawal from the deal, reimposing US sanctions against Tehran. Iran responded by breaching and going well beyond the deal's restrictions. Iran has recently installed hundreds more advanced centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium, at its underground plants at Natanz and Fordow. The move increases the pace at which it can enrich. The 2015 deal only lets Iran produce enriched uranium with more basic, first-generation centrifuges. The other IAEA report, issued on Thursday and also seen by Reuters, showed Iran's stock of enriched uranium had shrunk slightly, decreasing by around 267 kg to an estimated 3,673.7 kg, still far beyond the 202.8 kg allowed by the deal. Its stock of uranium enriched to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, grew by an estimated 6.7 kg to more than 62 kg. That is more than enough, if refined further, for one nuclear bomb. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, saying its nuclear technology is solely for civil purposes.

Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti posts picture without wearing headscarf in support of protests
Sky News/November 10, 2022
A well-known Iranian actress has posted a picture of herself on Instagram without a headscarf to express support for nationwide anti-government demonstrations. Taraneh Alidoosti, best known for her role in the Oscar-winning 2016 film The Salesman, holds up a sign in the photo which reads "Woman, Life, Freedom" in Kurdish - a popular slogan in the demonstrations. The move marks another sign that the protest movement in Iran is gaining support from all layers of society. Nationwide demonstrations have been taking place following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in September, after being detained for alleged violations of the country's strict dress code. Ms Alidoosti, who is not Kurdish, wrote a poem to accompany the Instagram picture. She wrote: "Your final absence, the migration of singing birds, is not the end of this rebellion." The 38-year-old pro-reform artist has posted a number of Instagram posts condemning the clerical establishment in the past. At least five female Iranian actresses have shared pictures of themselves online without the compulsory hijab in solidarity with the women demonstrating across the country. The city of Zahedan, located in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province, bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan on the Gulf of Oman, has seen the deadliest violence so far in the weeks of protests. Revolutionary Guards chief warns 'today is the last day of demonstrations' after 'two more killed' Iran protests: The secret police carrying out daylight abductions Iranian officials, who have blamed Ms Amini's death on pre-existing medical problems, claim the unrest has been fuelled by foreign enemies including the US, and have accused armed separatists of perpetrating violence. The country has a theocratic government, meaning its ruling systems are based on religious laws and precepts. The protests have become the greatest threat to the Iranian government since the 2009 Green Movement demonstrations. International pressure is also being applied to the government, over its treatment of protesters. Rallies have evolved from focusing on women's rights and the state-mandated headscarf, to calls to oust Shiite clerics who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Poor Access to Safe Water Fuels Cholera Outbreak in Syria
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
Poor access to safe water has exacerbated a cholera outbreak rampaging across Syria's war-battered provinces, where local authorities are struggling to contain the spread with chlorine tablets and vaccines. More than 35,000 suspected cases of cholera have been reported across the country, according to the United Nations’ children's agency. UNICEF said only approximately 2,500 have been tested, of which nearly half were confirmed positive. "Finding a single case of cholera means you've got an outbreak," said Zuhair al-Sahwi, the head of communicable and chronic diseases at the Syrian health ministry.
He said the curve had largely flattened, with a slowdown in the number of confirmed new cases daily. Sahwi said the ministry had recorded 46 deaths as a result of delays in accessing medical care and had requested cholera vaccines from the World Health Organization. According to the WHO, Syria’s cases are linked to a rampaging outbreak that began in Afghanistan in June - then spread to Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, then Syria and Lebanon. Cholera is typically spread through contaminated water, food or sewage. It can cause severe diarrhoea and dehydration – which can kill if left untreated. Syria's water pipes and pumping stations have been ravaged by more than a decade of war and a drought this year left levels in its main river, the Euphrates, particularly low. Nabbough al-Awwa, an eye, nose, and throat doctor in Damascus, said that dumping solid waste into stagnant waters had contributed to the spread. "If the river is running, it’s fine. But when the water levels got low because of the rising temperatures in a lot of countries in the world, these bacteria started to proliferate and spread," Awwa told Reuters. With farmers relying on untreated river water, vegetables quickly became contaminated and the virus spread to the cities, he said. Shops and restaurants in the capital have tweaked their menus to protect their customers. "We stopped using leafy greens for the sake of public health," said Maher, who runs a falafel shop in Damascus. The capital remains relatively shielded, according to WHO data, with the highest case numbers recorded in the vast desert province of Deir Ezzor in the east and Raqqa and Aleppo in the north – which rely on the Euphrates the most. United Nations agencies have mostly been trucking water to affected communities and disbursing sterilization tablets. But to keep up their efforts, the UN children's agency says it still needs around $9 million in funds to get it to the end of the year.

Surge in Starving Children in War-torn Syria
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 November, 2022
The number of malnourished children starving in northeastern Syria, an area ravaged by more than a decade of conflict, has risen by 150 percent, aid group Save the Children said Thursday. "Every day we have to deal with more malnourished children than the day before," the aid agency said, in an urgent appeal to donors. "Malnutrition is life threating to children. Poverty and the inability to afford food are the main reasons families are giving for this increase."From April to September, the aid agency recorded more than 10,000 malnourished children, compared to 6,650 in the previous six months, said AFP. On top of conflict, Syria is mired in its worst economic crisis since war erupted in 2011 when the government brutally repressed pro-democracy protests, resulting in nearly half a million people killed. The UN estimates 90 percent of the 18 million people in Syria are living in poverty, with the economy hit by conflict, drought and the Covid pandemic as well as the fallout from the financial crash in neighboring Lebanon. The situation appears to be extreme in areas outside the control of the Damascus government. "While the average family income has not increased, food prices skyrocketed by almost 800 percent between 2019 and 2021, and continue to rise in 2022," the charity added. "This massive price hike is forcing an ever-increasing number of people to go hungry." The key Al-Yarubiyah crossing to northeast Syria from Iraq was shut in 2020 after Russia and China vetoed UN Security Council resolutions authorizing it to remain open, limiting aid access to the region. Since then, aid to these areas controlled by Kurdish forces requires the approval of Damascus, an ally of Moscow. "After almost 12 years of conflict in Syria, the worsening economic situation has become the main driver of needs, despite continued armed conflict in many parts of the country," said Beat Rohr, Save the Children chief in Syria. "At least 60 percent of the population is currently food insecure, and the situation is getting worse by the day."

Al-Sudani: Security is a Red Line
Baghdad - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 November, 2022 -
Iraqi authorities continue investigations to uncover the circumstances of the killing of an American aid worker in the center of Baghdad on Monday, while Prime Minister Mohammad Al-Sudani warned that his country’s security was a “red line”. The Iraqi premier, who considered that the “timing of the murder of the US citizen in Baghdad raises question marks,” pledged to pursue the perpetrators. The leader of the Wisdom Movement, Ammar al-Hakim, warned of the repercussions of the assassination of Stephen Edward Troll on the “safe environment” in Iraq. “The assassination of American citizen Stephen Troll in central Baghdad is a condemned and deplorable act,” he said on Twitter, expressing “deep regret” for the incident. Al-Hakim urged the concerned security authorities to uncover the circumstances of the crime and clarify whether its motives were criminal or political, stressing that the assassination should not reflect negatively “on the safe environment that prevails in Iraq or on the country’s foreign relations.”Washington, which seemed eager to start a new page of relations with the Iraqi government – where the majority of ministers belong to the forces of the Shiite Coordination Framework - has so far acted, according to political observers in Baghdad, with caution and anticipation without any threatening tone. While these observers believe that it is difficult for any of the forces of the Coordination Framework to be involved in the assassination, suspicions remain about parallel parties who do not want Al-Sudani to go far in the relationship with the United States, especially following a series of recent meetings he held with US ambassador Alina Romanowski. Meanwhile, Romanowski expressed her thanks to “the Iraqi people for their supportive messages following the brutal murder of Steven Troll last night in Baghdad.”In a tweet on Tuesday, she said: “He was here in a private capacity doing what he loved – working (with) the Iraqi people. My deepest condolences to his wife and young children.”A US State Department spokesperson said that US officials “stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance” following the incident. Retired Major General Dr. Imad Aalo, head of the Etimad Center for Security and Strategic Studies, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The assassination of an American citizen in Baghdad will certainly have repercussions on the prime minister’s handling of the security file in general and the uncontrolled weapons in particular.”“What happened is a message from parties who do not want to see relations improve between Baghdad and Washington…” he added.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November10-11/2022
Breaking The Crosses' And Other Ills
Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 427/November 10.2022
Issue 15 of the ISIS English-language magazine Dabiq from 2016 was titled "Breaking the Cross" by the terrorist organization. It was mostly an anti-Christian edition featuring theological arguments expanding on the much more succinct ISIS threat to the West that they would "break your crosses, take your women, and paint the White House black."[1]
The Islamic State's dreams of world conquest turned out to be a pipe dream, although the group is very much alive in the corners of the world and boosts its body count numbers these days mostly by killing African Christian civilians. But the dream of "breaking the crosses" is not limited to jihadists.
In preparation for the recent G-7 meeting in Munster, Germany's Foreign Ministry removed a 482-year-old crucifix from the city's historic town hall where the Peace of Westphalia was signed in 1648.[2] Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, a Green Party member of Germany's ruling leftist coalition, regretted that the cross had been removed by her ministry but could not really explain why it happened. Meanwhile in Spain, the country's ruling leftist (Socialists plus the Communists of Unidas Podemos) and anti-clerical allies are wrestling how or whether to take down the tallest (150-meter or 500 feet) cross in the world, built by the Franco regime in Spain's Valle de los Caidos ("Valley of the Fallen").[3] The complex was finished in 1958. Facing tough political and economic headwinds, the ruling leftist parties are eager to be seen as zealously anti-Franco although the dictator has been dead for almost 50 years.[4]
Elsewhere in Europe, a Tory majority Parliament endorsed a ban on silent prayer too close to abortion clinics[5] while the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled unanimously in favor a topless abortion activist who entered La Madeleine church in Paris and simulated aborting baby Jesus using a bloody calf's liver in front of the main altar just days before Christmas. The tribunal overturned the ruling against the activist and ordered the French state to pay her 9,800 Euros (2,000 for "moral damages" and 7,800 for costs and expenses).[6]
All of these actions in Europe were in the service of the increasingly dominant ideology of the age, not Christianity of course, but a successor faith that elevates as dogma certain views about gender, race, abortion, and immigration and that is often either skeptical if not hostile toward traditional religion and traditional families and the nation state. Most flags, except perhaps the rainbow flag or the Ukrainian one, make the new faith's clerisy uncomfortable.
The partisans of the Islamic State were terrorists and revolutionaries but today much change, radical ideological change included, comes from above and not from below, not from revolutionary regimes or from populist insurrectionists but from entrenched permanent bureaucracies. These bureaucracies, often coupled with powerful NGO networks boosted with government money and a mostly left-leaning social media and academic infrastructure, act as ideological enforcers of the new dogma. Indeed, in Europe these enforcers target governments – Hungary, Poland, and possibly Meloni's Italy – seen as fallen from the pure progressive faith. Farther afield, an increasingly rightist nationalist democracy like Israel also makes them uneasy. These Western enforcers decide what constitute the new sacred cows, the new blasphemies. A Barcelona hate crimes prosecutor just sentenced a Twitter user to 15 months in jail and a 1,600-Euro fine for racist, anti-immigrant tweets.[7]
While the United States is still different than Europe in many ways (certainly on free speech issues), the combination of bureaucracy plus the activist/academic community plus compliant media is also a powerful progressive tool on these shores. It is perhaps not surprising that the French abortion activist at La Madeleine later praised the influence of American "intersectional" Critical Race Theory (CRT) ideologues had on her thinking.[8]
Despite talk about a global confrontation between democracy and authoritarianism, the new orthodoxy being steadily but surely imposed on the West has parallels in, of all places, those authoritarian regimes in the East.
Certainly, in the Arab world, authoritarian regimes have often embraced political Islam or Islamist narratives for their own reasons, enabling Islamist and jihadist action (while at times fighting it). Sudan's leftist dictator Nimeiry turned to Islamism as his popularity waned. Baathist Syria channeled jihadist fighters into Iraq to kill Americans. Baathist Saddam Hussein's late Islam Campaign enabled the education of a pious young man who would become "ISIS Caliph" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. All of this came from above.
While Saudi Arabia was once the chief promoter of Islamism in the region, they have stopped and the slack has been taken up by Qatar and Turkey. Probably almost as dangerous a model is in ostensibly anti-Islamist Egypt. There the national security state zealously pursues the banned Islamist Muslim Brotherhood while allowing other forms of Islamism to flourish. The narratives often seen on Egyptian media, which is deeply penetrated by Egyptian security services, are replete with conspiracy theories, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and anti-Americanism.[9] Rather than a refutation of an extreme ideology, they complement and reinforce it. The Egyptian government is zealous in the policing of its own "sacred cows," including the power to prosecute religious blasphemy. These charges fall heaviest on the marginalized: secular or heterodox Muslims, atheists, Shias and, of course, Coptic Christians.
There is indeed in the region Islamist and jihadist grassroots, extremist subversion, and terrorism, but much of the space given to the larger Islamist narrative is provided by regimes, as in Egypt, for their own reasons, the main reason being to stay in power and distract populations from other, less popular, topics. If in democratic Spain, the Socialists would rather talk about long-dead Franco than sky high prices, in Egypt the regime can talk about immorality and blasphemy rather than deal with corruption or inflation. The power to punish "transgressors," whether they are freethinkers in the East or populists, rightists, or Christians in the West, is the ultimate demonstration of entrenched power by ruling elites.
Ironically, despite the fierce competition and incendiary rhetoric we often here about "us and them," the powerful share some characteristics. Whether in dictatorships or in ostensible democracies, raw power is being used from above to enforce conformity among the dissenters.
*Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI.
[1] Acct.nl/publication/dabiq-issue-15-a-call-to-islamic-states-enemies-as-the-caliphate-crumbles, August 4, 2016.
[2] Msn.com/en-xl/news/other/germanys-foreign-office-removes-historic-cross-for-g7-summit/ar-AA13KaPs, accessed November 10, 2022.
[3] Blogs.publico.es/otrasmiradas/65382/volar-la-cruz-del-valle-de-los-caido-una-imprescindible-iconoclasia-laica,
October 27, 2022.
[4] Actuall.com/historia/la-obsesion-patologica-de-la-izquierda-con-franco, November 11, 2020.
[5] Cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2022/november/uk-bans-prayers-near-abortion-clinics-even-silent-ones-when-did-it-
become-against-the-law-to-pray, November 1, 2022.
[6] Businessinsider.co.za/france-catholic-church-topless-slut-protester-wins-human-rights-case-2022-10?
fbclid=IwAR2UlJWslAwAZaLo8s26C9THMsogY1Qvg0pBLoJkHy8fg3E5fd-sQXP6nuk, October 22, 2022.
[7] Thespainreport.substack.com/p/spanish-supremacist-twitter-user, accessed November 10, 2022.
[8] Cafebabel.com/en/article/eloise-bouton-liberated-after-femen-5ae009e4f723b35a145e5997, accessed November 10, 2022.
[9] See MEMRI TV Clip No. 9844, Egyptian TV Host Muhammad Musa: Freemasonry Aims To Establish A New World Order, Turn Arab States Into Zionist Lebensraum; The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion Contains Plots To Spread Deviant Entertainment, September 16, 2022.
https://www.memri.org/reports/breaking-crosses-and-other-ills

What the Palestinians Need Now
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/November 10, 2022
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip live under two regimes that crack down on critics, and imprison and intimidate journalists, human rights activists and political opponents. Those who dare to criticize the Palestinian Authority or Hamas often face various forms of punishment, including torture and incarceration. The situation under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is not any better. There, Palestinian security forces continue to arrest, harass and intimidate political activists, university students and academics.
In the past week, the Palestinian Authority security forces arrested and threatened a number of Palestinian political activists who called for reforms.
There are two reasons why, under the current circumstances, the Palestinians cannot hold elections.
First, the split between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing dispute between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. The PA fears that Hamas will not allow a free election in the Gaza Strip, especially in light of Hamas' crackdown on its opponents there. Similarly, Hamas fears that the PA will not allow a free election in the West Bank, especially in light of the continued security crackdown on Hamas members there.
Second, the high probability that Hamas would win.
While one can understand why it is not a good idea to hold elections that would help Hamas extend its control to the West Bank, there is no reason why Palestinians should be arrested and intimidated for demanding freedom of expression and an end to corruption.
Unsurprisingly, violations committed by Palestinians against Palestinians are virtually always ignored by the Western media and the international community. Such abuses are of no interest to Westerners because they cannot be blamed on Israel. By turning a blind eye to the violations, the international community and media effectively incentivize the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to continue their repressive measures against their own people.
Sadly, it does not look as if the Palestinians are coming any closer to freedom of speech or freedom of assembly -- unless it is to denounce Israel. Rather, as their corrupt and incompetent leaders clearly do not care about their well-being, it looks as if they are going in exactly the opposite direction.
While, literally across the street, the Israelis have free debate in newspapers, quarrelsome programs on television and protests, the Palestinians continue to find themselves arrested, silenced and terrorized for daring to demand the freedoms they see every day next door.
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip live under two regimes that crack down on critics, and imprison and intimidate journalists, human rights activists and political opponents. Those who dare to criticize the Palestinian Authority or Hamas often face various forms of punishment, including torture and incarceration. Pictured: A bleeding protester scuffles with PA security forces during a demonstration in Ramallah on June 24, 2021, following the beating death in police custody of human rights activist Nizar Banat.
Under the kleptocratic Palestinian Authority (PA) and the theocratic Hamas regimes, Palestinians have no freedom of speech and no independent or free media.
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip live under two regimes that crack down on critics, and imprison and intimidate journalists, human rights activists and political opponents. Those who dare to criticize the Palestinian Authority or Hamas often face various forms of punishment, including torture and incarceration. Take, for example, the case of legal expert Dr. Mohammed al-Talbani, who was forced to sign a pledge not to offend Hamas or its government on social media. The move came after he criticized death sentences issued by Hamas courts in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Talbani told the Palestinian news website Amad:
"I received a call in which they [Hamas] asked me to come to the Shejaiya police station - the Cybercrime Investigation Department. There was a complaint against me for comments I made on my Facebook page about executions in the Gaza Strip. They had taken took a screenshot of these comments, and considered them as a mockery against Hamas."
Al-Talbani said that the interrogators also delivered a "veiled threat": He had better not write anything against Hamas or else he would be summoned again.
"They asked me to sign a pledge so that the complaint would not be transferred to the Public Prosecution and become an official case," he recounted. "I agreed to sign the pledge that I will respect the Palestinian law and not offend the [Hamas] movement and the government."
In another incident in the Gaza Strip last May, Hamas security forces questioned songwriter and composer Massoud al-Draimli and five other people after they produced a video clip without receiving prior permission from the authorities. The video clip included a female singer -- Hamas was furious.
Al-Draimli and his friends were forced to delete the song and sign a pledge not to perform any lyrical work without the approval of Hamas. Al-Dreimli later said:
"I posted the video of the song on Facebook on Thursday, and an hour later, the [Hamas] General Investigation Service called me and ordered me to delete the video. They summoned me for interrogation about the participation of a girl in singing. They said that this is forbidden and that I did not obtain a permit to film the song."
The situation under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is not any better. There, Palestinian security forces continue to arrest, harass and intimidate political activists, university students and academics.
In the past week, the PA security forces arrested and threatened a number of Palestinian political activists who called for reforms.
On November 7, Palestinian security officers broke up a press conference held by the activists in Ramallah.
Palestinian activist Omar Assaf said that the security officers cut off the electricity to stop the conference, and then used force to prevent him and his friends them from completing it.
Fakhri Jaradat, another activist said:
"The security forces raided the headquarters of the People's Alliance for Change when the press conference started. They cut off the electricity, detained some participants. They also forced the journalists to stop covering the event."
A few days earlier, the Palestinian Authority security forces banned several activists from participating in a video conference organized by a group called the Palestinian Popular Conference (PPC) to protest against PA President Mahmoud Abbas's hegemony over the Palestinian leadership and refusal to share powers.
Omar Assaf, the political activist, was arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces while he was on his way to prepare for the conference.
The Palestinian security services subsequently arrested another activist, Bashar Takrouri and confiscated the mobile phone of a third activist, Jamileh Abed. A number of journalists who came to cover the event were also detained by the security officers.
The PCC said that the crackdown is aiming to "silence the voices calling for the reform of the PLO." It condemned the detention of the political activists and journalists and remarked that the crackdown "reinforces the national need to rebuild the PLO on democratic foundations to allow the revival of the Palestinian political system and preserve the rights and dignity of the Palestinians away from the hegemony of the security services."
The Palestinian NGO Network and the Council of Human Rights Organizations also denounced the Palestinian Authority crackdown and said that peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are rights guaranteed in the Palestinian Basic Law.
"The principle of the rule of law is the basis of governance in Palestine, and all authorities, agencies, bodies, institutions and persons are subject to the law," the two groups said.
"We consider that prohibiting and preventing the holding of peaceful activities and gatherings, especially those calling for reforming the Palestinian political system, is a very dangerous step for the future of the existing Palestinian political system and for the social fabric. The continued restrictions on peaceful activities and assemblies harm the image of Palestine at the international level, and place Palestine in the company of violators of human rights."
The Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) condemned the crackdown, as well:
"The commission considers that storming a closed meeting and depriving attendees of completing their press conference constitutes a violation of the citizens' right to express their opinions freely, a violation of their right to political participation and to hold private meetings...
"The commission again calls on law enforcement and official authorities to respect freedom of expression, and to stop prosecuting or harassing opponents for expressing their opinions."
For the fifth time since 2019, Israelis, on November 1, voted in yet another national election. Their Palestinian neighbors in the West Bank and Gaza Strip can only watch with envy as Israelis practice a basic democratic right to elect their own leaders.
There are two reasons why, under the current circumstances, the Palestinians cannot hold elections.
First, the split between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing dispute between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. The PA fears that Hamas will not allow a free election in the Gaza Strip, especially in light of Hamas' crackdown on its opponents there. Similarly, Hamas fears that the PA will not allow a free election in the West Bank, especially in light of the continued security crackdown on Hamas members there.
Second, the high probability that Hamas would win.
The last Palestinian presidential election took place in 2005, when Mahmoud Abbas was elected for a four-year term to succeed Yasser Arafat. Nearly two decades later, the 87-year-old Abbas remains in power -- although his term in office expired in 2009.
During this period, Abbas saw nine Israeli prime ministers and presidents come and go through free and democratic elections.
The last Palestinian parliamentary election was held in 2006. It resulted in a victory for Abbas's rivals in the Islamist movement Hamas.
A year later, Hamas expelled Abbas's Palestinian Authority from the Gaza Strip through a violent coup. Since then, the Palestinian parliament, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), has been paralyzed due to the (ongoing) dispute between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
By contrast, Israelis have since 2006 held nine elections for their parliament, the Knesset.
Just when it seemed that the Palestinians were finally headed toward holding parliamentary and presidential elections last year, Abbas decided to call off the vote.
Although he cited Israel's alleged refusal to allow the Palestinians to include Jerusalem in the electoral process, it is widely believed that the real reason behind the decision was his fear that his corruption-riddled and fragmented Fatah faction would, as widely predicted, lose the elections to Hamas.
While one can understand why it is not a good idea to hold elections that would help Hamas extend its control to the West Bank, there is no reason why Palestinians should be arrested and intimidated for demanding freedom of expression and an end to corruption.
Unsurprisingly, violations committed by Palestinians against Palestinians are virtually always ignored by the Western media and the international community. Such abuses are of no interest to Westerners because they cannot be blamed on Israel. By turning a blind eye to the violations, the international community and media effectively incentivize the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to continue their repressive measures against their own people.
Sadly, it does not look as if the Palestinians are coming any closer to freedom of speech or freedom of assembly -- unless it is to denounce Israel. Rather, as their corrupt and incompetent leaders clearly do not care about their well-being, it looks as if they are going in exactly the opposite direction.
While, literally across the street, the Israelis have free debate in newspapers, quarrelsome programs on television and protests, the Palestinians continue to find themselves arrested, silenced and terrorized for daring to demand the freedoms they see every day next door.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
© 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.

How Iran's Morality Police Enforces a Strict Interpretation of Islamic Law
Sanya Mansoor/Time/November 10, 2022
https://time.com/6230535/iran-morality-police-mahsa-amini-hijab/
In 2007, Pardis Mahdavi was 13 minutes into her lecture at a university in Tehran about gender and sexuality in post-revolutionary Iran when the morality police stormed through the auditorium doors.
“Pandemonium erupted. I was…pulled off stage. I was frozen in a state of suspended animation and…turned to look at one of them who had raised a hand and then I blacked out,” Mahdavi says. Iranian authorities charged Mahdavi, who is provost of the University of Montana, with trying to foment a revolution. She was under house arrest for 33 days.
Much of Mahdavi’s research has focused on sexual politics in Iran, a large part of which entails the morality police, an entity that has faced increasing international scrutiny over their role in the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. (The E.U. and U.S. imposed sanctions on the morality police following Amini’s death and subsequent crackdowns on anti-government protests.) Amini died in state custody after being arrested for “improper hijab.” Her death sparked a sweeping movement in which many women and girls took their hijabs off and cut their hair.
Many Iranians believe that the morality police is a part of the state’s way of ensuring control.
“This has nothing to do with morality or with policing,” says Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of New-York based Center for Human Rights in Iran. “These are state security forces who are assigned… to harass and subjugate women and thereby show a constant demonstration of force.”
What does the morality police focus on?
Iran’s morality police, also known as Gasht-e-Ershad (guidance patrol), primarily enforces laws tied to regulating Islamic dress. While that entails ensuring women are wearing the hijab, it’s not the only aspect of appearance they’re observing. “If [clothing] is too tight, if the body shows too much, if your sleeves are up, if your jeans are torn,” says Assal Rad, research director at the National Iranian American Council. “They will take you to a detention center…until someone comes and brings you the [appropriate clothes].”
Dress often remains the focus as it can be the most obvious issue to police, experts note. But they can also arrest and detain individuals for alcohol consumption, or for attending mixed gatherings of males and females not related to each other. “It’s about interfering in people’s personal life,” Ghaemi says.
Part of why Amini’s death triggered such an emotive response was that she was punished for having some of her hair showing. “It’s the fact that it could have been anybody; millions of Iranian women wear this hijab loosely. This has almost become standard practice,” Rad says.
The morality police sees itself as responsible for “upholding right and forbidding wrong,” Mahdavi says. “That leaves a lot of room for interpretation.” They are often more strict around religious holidays, summer and election time, she adds.
When was Iran’s morality police created?
The morality police did not officially become a separate force until after the Iran-Iraq war in the 90s, says Roxane Farmanfarmaian, who teaches international politics of the Middle East and North Africa at the University of Cambridge.
However, harassment of women in public spaces for their dress choices has taken place since the beginning of the revolution. Iran has mandated head coverings for women since 1979.
Iran’s efforts to enforce these rules became even more organized in the mid-2000s after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president, experts say. “Raisi did exactly the same thing as soon as he got into power this spring; he decided to beef up the presence of the morality police,” Ghaemi says.
Their heavy-handedness also depends on the strictness of the ruling administration and political climate. “The Raisi administration has come in with a hardline view; Iran is already a country that has extreme social and political limitations and…this administration wants to take it further,” Rad says.
What other countries have a morality police?
Iran is not the only country to have employed morality police. In Saudi Arabia, the Mutawa used to be particularly harsh in punishing men and women for mingling with the opposite sex or consuming alcohol. But since 2016, the institution has largely been sidelined as some restrictions on women have been eased.
In Sudan, a new police squad has raised fears that the country will return to its strict morality policing. The notorious Public Order Police that functioned under Omar Al Bashir’s dictatorship scrutinized women for dress and socialization with the opposite gender.
In Malaysia, religious officers can arrest those engaging in eating during fasting hours in Ramadan along with those in mixed gatherings. Crimes are tried in sharia courts.
How have Iranian women protested the morality police?
While not always overtly breaking the law, many Iranian women have consistently pushed the boundaries in their everyday lives, participating in acts of subtle resistance. They may wear their hijab loosely, veil their body but wear a form-fitting outfit, or don bright red lipsticks. Some acts of protest have been more obvious and risky. In 2017, Iranian activist Masih Alinejad began the “white Wednesdays” movement in which women discarded their headscarves and wore white to protest the hijab mandate. Alinejad has since been exiled from Iran. In July, women protested by taking off their hijabs as part of a female-led campaign called “hijab-bi-hijab.” And in 2016, a group of Iranians came up with a mobile app called Gershad to help avoid checkpoints manned by the morality police by using crowd-sourced data. While protesters have criticized the morality police, Ghaemi says it’s important to recognize that protesters’ demands go far beyond the particular institution. “[The movement] is about young people refusing to live under the Islamic Republic and all of its institutions because they don’t see a future anymore. The morality police is just one symbol of it,” he explains-simply reforming or disbanding the morality police would not be enough.

The Arab Media in a Changing World… toward Riyadh
Mohammed Fahad al-Harthi/Asharq Al Awsat/November, 10/ 2022
No one following developments in the Arab world can miss the transformative progress being made. This progress was accompanied by some ambiguity in the vision for it and an array of changes and formations that have become a hallmark of our era. The media scene has not been isolated from these changes, both the positive and the negative.
Given the interconnectedness of these developments and the many changes that have defined the state of affairs we now find ourselves in, those behind the Arab media must take a stand. They must determine how to contextualize the prestigious Arab media, which always strives for excellence both regionally and internationally. The contemporary media in a changing world thus became the most prominent topic at the Twenty-Second edition of the Arab Radio and Television Festival. The Festival scheduled for November will be held in Riyadh, the first city outside of Tunisia to host it.
This capital is open to the world, and it does not merely want to elevate Saudi Arabia’s standing but that of the entire Arab world. Indeed, Riyadh has become a global capital for entrepreneurship and leadership in all fields, political, economic, cultural, artistic, technological, environmental and media, which is the focus of this article.
Observers are awaiting the twenty-second edition of the Festival, which is considered a genuinely massive media event. It will shed light on the Arab media and how to develop it by enhancing communication and sharing expertise, elevating the quality of production across the region such that it keeps up with the progress being made elsewhere in the world. The Festival will do so by focusing on the most consequential matters that can enhance the communication between committees and media outlets, be it among the members of the Arab States Broadcasting Union or between these countries and committees of other institutions and bodies.
Over 1000 men and women journalists will take part in the Festival. They work for several of the world’s and the region’s most prominent media outlets, and they have been invited to achieve several important strategic goals. Realizing these objectives will enhance and develop joint action in the Arab media. The most important among them are contributing to the development and monitoring of new, serious trends in Arab radio and television production; facilitating communication, cooperation, and exchange of expertise among the participants; and encouraging producers to meet the demands of listeners and viewers and to raise awareness on cultural, scientific, and aesthetic matters in their productions. The Festival will also focus on encouraging Arab radio and television productions that strive to shed light on Arab and Islamic history, as well as the contemporary Arab and Muslim worlds.
Over four days, specialists and those interested in the Arab media will be offered the chance to attend a diverse array of events. We have ensured that these events will rise to the expectations of those in the field. We have also taken care to ensure that they cover the most important topics and issues in contemporary Arab media by holding several workshops and lectures that will shed light on everything new in the media scene. This will be achieved through the exchange of expertise, as well as going over successes from across the globe and what modern technology has done for the media, especially social media, which has prevailed in the modern media age.
The Future of Media Exhibition, one of the biggest on the topic, will also be held in parallel. It covers the latest experiences with media production, and it will see broad participation from production, marketing, advertising, music, communications, and technology companies and institutions. Indeed, the exhibition aims to invigorate radio and television productions, as well as lay the groundwork for the exchange of ideas and debate over the latest developments and innovations in modern communication technology.
In conclusion, we are about to hold this massive media event. We are full of hope and driven by passion, as we want to ensure that this edition is a success and that we will present reliable and thoughtful content that the efforts made in this regard deserve. We want to project a clear image of what contemporary Arab media should look like, emphasizing that we are determined to continue to pursue our strategic goals, which would guarantee the creation of excellent media work distinguished by its inspiration from the past, loyalty to the present, and hope in the future in a world the is changing and taking form rapidly.

Iran regime’s apologists want to deny protesters hope
Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/November 10/2022
The Iran regime’s apologists in the US and Europe have been forced to keep shifting their stands. When the ongoing protests erupted in Iran, they first chose silence. Then, when their silence became too obvious, they focused on excesses in violence by the Basij forces. This was a clever way of acknowledging the protests and condemning violence, but without standing up to the regime or supporting the Iranian people.
Now they have shifted to a new phase, which is to push their analysis of the protests in Iran into the greater Middle East region and even the world. So, what they are simply trying to do is no longer focus on the repression of a theocratic regime but shift it into a global protest movement. It is about trying to drown the situation in Iran in a regional if not global social, political and economic problem. Indeed, some even linked it to protests in Europe and the rest of the world that are mainly due to the economic situation.
This technique has always been used by the mullahs. The Lebanese, who are used to listening to Hezbollah’s media, know how it works. This time, as the regime is cornered by its own people, the only way out is to use its global network of apologists to shift the storytelling of the situation in Iran into a global phenomenon. The mission is to convey to friendly policymakers that this is absolutely not an Iranian movement, but rather is something that is happening all over the world.
These mullah apologists have been operating for decades and they are the ones who worked on legitimizing the regime. They provided the color to show that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the mullahs are resistance fighters against every single oppressor in the world. Ultimately, these apologists are as much a creation of the mullahs and the IRGC as they are of the policymakers in Washington and Europe that need them. Ultimately, policymakers choose to believe these lies because it fits their agenda and purpose.
The regime’s only way out is to use its global network of apologists to shift the storytelling of the situation
These apologists’ voices were needed to push for a nuclear deal that gave the regime billions and also opened an untapped market. And now, despite the violence, many politicians choose silence toward this situation. They need voices that can change the storyline from Iran. And here comes the “Islamic Apologists Guard Corps” that is ready to do this and shift it into a movement of global protests. The main objective is to let the mullahs off the hook. They need to be able to engage and they need an acceptable counterpart if they are to continue negotiating. And so, if it is a global movement, then the mullahs cannot be blamed for it. Hence, they can still negotiate to revive the nuclear deal.
There is, nevertheless, a more vicious twist, which is the obvious focus on the Middle East. There is a mix of these apologists pushing for a new kind of “Arab Spring,” starting on the streets of Iran. At the same time, the regime is threatening and becoming more aggressive. One should watch closely the changes in Iraq on that matter.
Well, I humbly tell them to go sell crazy somewhere else. It is simply the other way round — the change that is taking place in the Middle East has, in part, sparked a demand for change in Iran. There is something in people’s consciousness and seeing how the Middle East has become a land of hope, even attracting immigration for the first time, has struck at the core of the Iranian youth.
Indeed, despite our geopolitical deadlocks, confrontations and COVID-19, the Middle East has brought a revolution of hope and optimism. And revolutions like what the protests in Iran are starting to look more and more like only happen when there is hope, not in its absence. Thankfully, we can see that the new generation of Arabs, Turks and Israelis truly want to live in peace and prosper. And we can see this change happening before our eyes.
Let me start with this: Venture capital activity in the Middle East in the first half of 2022 rose 44 percent to $1.8 billion. World Bank economists have forecast that the Middle East and North Africa region will grow by 5.5 percent in 2022 (the fastest rate since 2016) and by 3.5 percent in 2023. Tourism is growing by more than 150 percent in many countries in the Middle East. Bilateral relations within the region are enhancing and becoming more constructive. And government investments in their own countries are at an all-time high. All of this offers hope.
On the other hand, a great country such as Iran is closing up and the regime’s billions are going to Hezbollah, the Houthis and a dangerous nuclear program. It is all about financing chaos to bring misery and destruction to the region. There is nothing to build and develop. This is what their apologists will never state: the violence and destruction this regime has brought upon the region and the fact that the youth of Iran want a real change. They will lie and state the opposite.
And so, the streets of Iran are witness to the battle of hope against chaos. And by hearing the lies of the regime’s apologists, the protesters understand the viciousness of the situation. Simply because it takes two to tango.
*Khaled Abou Zahr is CEO of Eurabia, a media and tech company. He is also the editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.

Why Iranian regime is expanding its ties with Russia
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/November 10/ 2022
The Iranian regime’s increasing involvement in the Russian-Ukrainian war could have severe repercussions for global peace and security due to Tehran’s military adventurism, ballistic missile program and its increasing nuclear threat.
One of the reasons behind the regime’s decision to support Russia in the war is most likely linked to its nuclear ambitions, as it has long sought assistance from Moscow in order to bolster its nuclear program.
This is probably why Iran has gradually escalated its engagement in the conflict. On March 2, Iran abstained in the UN General Assembly vote on condemning Russia’s invasion and demanding its withdrawal from Ukraine. Tehran then voted against an UNGA resolution that suspended Russia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council. In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a visit to the Islamic Republic, where he received huge support from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Following the Russian president’s visit to Tehran, Iran’s supply of kamikaze drones to Russia became the first instance of military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. In September, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stripped Iran’s ambassador in Kyiv of his accreditation and reduced the embassy’s diplomatic staff. One of the problems with the West’s response to the Iranian regime’s aggression is that it did not act forcefully, most likely in order to not completely scuttle the prospect of reviving the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic. Despite Tehran’s military escalation, the EU would not initially admit that the regime was entrenched in the war on Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell last month said that he wanted further proof. “We will look for concrete evidence about the participation (of Iran in the Ukraine war)," he told reporters.
One of the problems with the West’s response to the regime’s aggression is that it did not act forcefully
Ultimately, the EU acknowledged that the Iranian regime was indeed providing “military support for Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine,” via the “development and delivery of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Russia.”
In the next phase, the Iranian regime — now apparently even more emboldened — began sending troops to Crimea to assist Russia in its attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilian population by helping to increase the effectiveness of the suicide drones. The White House admitted on Oct. 20 that it had evidence that Iranian troops were “directly engaged on the ground” in Crimea. “The systems themselves were suffering failures and not performing to the standards that apparently the customers expected. So, the Iranians decided to move in some trainers and some technical support to help the Russians use them with better lethality,” said US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
The Iranian regime is now further increasing its involvement as it will reportedly be providing ballistic missiles to Russia, in addition to the drones. The regime is likely attempting to reassert itself as an important global player.
The theocratic establishment of Iran has the largest and most diverse ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East. And Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said: “Ukraine currently doesn’t have effective air defense systems against ballistic missiles. Iran will likely supply those (to Russia), unless the world finds a way to stop it.” The Iranian leaders who are involved must be held accountable. Several top generals are directly involved in the war against Ukraine and they most likely receive their orders from the supreme leader.
Maj. Gen. Mohammed Hossein Bagheri, who is the chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces and supervises the country’s military drone program, is a key player in the military cooperation with Moscow. According to the EU, he is “involved in the expansion of Iranian-made UAVs abroad; in this capacity, he inaugurated an assembly line in Tajikistan destined for the export of Ababil-2 drones. He also participated in the development of Mohajer-6 drones and their supply to the Russian Federation for their use in the war of aggression against Ukraine.”
In addition, Brig. Gen. Saeed Aghajani, who is commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force UAV Command “oversees and directs the planning, equipment and training for Iran’s UAV operations, which include also the supply of drones to international allies of Iran, including the Russian Federation.”
And Gen. Sayed Hojatollah Qureishi, who is in charge of the Supply, Research and Industrial Affairs Division at the Iranian Ministry of Defense, negotiated “the agreement with the Russian Federation in relation to the supply of Iranian-made Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for their use in the war of aggression against Ukraine.”UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly noted in a statement: “These cowardly drone strikes are an act of desperation. By enabling these strikes, these individuals and a manufacturer have caused the people of Ukraine untold suffering.”
In a nutshell, the West ought to closely monitor the Iranian regime’s expanding ties with Russia, particularly when it comes to Tehran’s military adventurism and nuclear program advancement.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh