English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 16/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.november16.21.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 09/09-13/:”As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 15-16/2021
Colombia Says Monitoring Hizbullah over 'Criminal' Acts
Two Hezbollah members arrested in Colombia, says defense minister
Saudi FM Urges Lebanese Leaders to End Hizbullah’s ‘Hegemony’
Aoun: Efforts Underway to Address Lebanon-KSA Situation
Berri Calls for 'Rescuing' Port Probe along with Presidential Term
Reports: ‘Scenario’ to Dismiss Bitar, Sack Kordahi
Bassil Asks Why Salameh Not Prosecuted in Lebanon
Lebanese government in ‘fantasy land’ amid crisis, UN envoy says
'Iran must be made to understand military option is on the table'/Yaakov Lappin , JNS and ILH Staff /Israel Hayom/November 15/2021
Deals and migrants/Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/Novembre 15/2021
Le Hezbollah, la coalition oligarchique et la politique de l’omission délibérée/Charles Elias Chartouni/Novembre 15/2021
Statement on Hezbollah's weapons
Manifeste sur les armes du Hezbollah
Say no and join the Resistance/Jean-Marie Kassab/Novembre 15/2021
The TASK FORCE LEBANON/Jean-Marie Kassab/Novembre 15/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 15-16/2021
UK Police Says Blast Outside Hospital Was Terrorist Incident
EU Imposes Sanctions on 4 New Syria Government Ministers
Rights Group: Israeli Settler Violence Tool to Seize Land
Women Travelers to Sue Qatar over 'Invasive' Body Searches
Kuwaiti Emir Transfers Some Duties to Crown Prince
EU Moves to Add Airlines, Others to Belarus Sanctions List
2 Strong Quakes Jolt Southern Iran, 1 Dead
Egypt Announces Clinical Trials of Its Own COVID-19 Vaccine

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 15-16/2021
Israel loses patience with Iranian entrenchment in Syria/Ben Caspit/Al-Monitor/November 15/2021
Why Palestinians Are Fleeing the Gaza Strip/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./November 15/ 2021
Yes, But’: Exposing the Heart of Islamic Apologetics/Raymond Ibrahim./November 15/ 2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 15-16/2021
Colombia Says Monitoring Hizbullah over 'Criminal' Acts
Agence France Presse/November 15/2021
Colombia has said it is monitoring the activities there of the pro-Iranian group Hizbullah, accusing it of having conducted criminal activities. "Two months ago we had to deal with a situation where we had to organize an operation to capture and expel two criminals commissioned by Hizbullah with the intention of committing a criminal act in Colombia," Defense Minister Diego Molano said in an interview with the daily El Tiempo. He provided no details of the government operation.  But the newspaper, citing sources in Colombia's military intelligence services, said the Lebanese Shiite movement was spying on American and Israeli businessmen in Colombia. Colombia has a sizable Lebanese community. Hizbullah has been reported to have a presence in Venezuela and other Latin American countries. Molano said there was a "risk with Hizbullah in Venezuela and what its links to drug traffic or terrorist groups on the Venezuelan side (of the border) could generate for national security."  Colombia has accused neighboring Venezuela of sheltering and supporting guerrillas fighting against Bogota. Relations between the two are tense, and the common border has been largely closed since 2015. On November 8, while accompanying President Ivan Duque on an official visit to Israel, Molano said the two countries had a "common enemy in Iran and Hizbullah," which he said not only operated against Israel but supported the leftist regime in Venezuela. But on Sunday, Molano said he had spoken "hastily." His remarks in Israel were sharply criticized in Iran -- with which Colombia has had diplomatic relations since 1975 -- and by its ambassador to Bogota, Mohammad Ali Ziaei, who said "the destruction of this relationship does not profit the people."Duque later said that "Colombia does not use the word 'enemy' to designate a country," while adding, "that does not mean that we don't have divergences on specific questions with Iran."

Two Hezbollah members arrested in Colombia, says defense minister
Jerusalem Post/November 15/2021
Two members of the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist organization were arrested in Colombia two months ago, Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano revealed in an interview with the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo on Sunday. Molano stated that in several meetings Colombian officials have held with different intelligence agencies, "there are concerns about the presence of Hezbollah in Venezuela and its relationship with terrorist groups and their financing," according to El Tiempo. Concerning the two Hezbollah-backed criminals who were arrested and deported from Colombia, Molano said that they intended to commit a "criminal act" in the country. Molano stated during the interview that his statement calling Iran an enemy of Colombia during a visit to Israel was "hasty," saying that "Colombia does not use the word enemy to refer to any nation." The defense minister clarified, however, Iran's enrichment of uranium and support for the Maduro regime in Venezuela sparked "concerns."El Tiempo additionally reported on Sunday that a former intelligence agent, who had been assigned until recently to the Israeli diplomatic team in Colombia, realized he was being spied on by Hezbollah in Bogota, with information collected by foreign agents, including the Mossad, indicating that the terrorist group had been spying on the agent throughout his daily routine. Colombian authorities were notified that there were indications that the agent, who had opened an import and marketing company for surveillance cameras and technology, was a target for assassination. The agent was evacuated to Tel Aviv in a secret operation, according to El Tiempo, with the report on the incident stating that he wasn't the only individual being monitored by Hezbollah. A number of high-profile foreigners in the country were reportedly potential targets for the group. According to the Colombian newspaper, the attempted assassination was part of the reason for the statements against Iran by Molano. Last year, Colombia designated Hezbollah as a terrorist group. The reported assassination attempt comes about a month after a similar assassination plot backed by Iran targeting Israelis was reported in Cyprus. Last week, Cypriot daily Politis reported that six suspects have been charged for allegedly trying to carry out the plot in Cyprus.

Saudi FM Urges Lebanese Leaders to End Hizbullah’s ‘Hegemony’
Naharnet/November 15/2021
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has urged the Lebanese political class to put an end to Hizbullah’s “hegemony.”Bin Farhan affirmed that KSA is not willing to communicate with the Lebanese government “for the time being.”He added that the political class should take the necessary measures to “liberate Lebanon from Hizbullah and Iran.” For his part, former head of Saudi Intelligence Prince Turki al-Faisal, considered that “what’s happening in Lebanon is sad” and that the Lebanese, including the Shiites, are “paying the price.”“Not all Shiites there want Hizbullah's dominance," al-Faisal said. He added that the solution is in the “hands of the people of Lebanon,” praising the Lebanese October revolution “against the situation and Hizbullah.”Meanwhile, former Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Abdulaziz Khoja revealed that he had survived “3 assassination attempts” while working in Lebanon. He did not accuse “any specific party.”He added that he had never imagined the ties to be cut between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. “KSA has helped Lebanon as a neighboring Arab country,” Khoja stressed, adding that Saudi Arabia has donated “more than $72 billion to Lebanon since 1990.”“The Lebanese have had enough of Hizbullah’s dominance over Lebanon,” he said.

Aoun: Efforts Underway to Address Lebanon-KSA Situation
Naharnet/November 15/2021
President Michel Aoun on Monday said “efforts are underway to address the situation that erupted between Lebanon, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a number of Gulf countries.”He added that the efforts are based on “Lebanon’s keenness to establish the best relations with the brotherly Arab countries, especially KSA and the Gulf nations.”Aoun voiced his remarks in a meeting with Lebanon’s ambassadors to KSA, Bahrain and Kuwait – Fawzi Kabbara, Milad Nammour and Hadi Hashem. The Presidency said the three envoys briefed the President on “the developments related to the Lebanese ties with the three countries in light of the latest events and the measures that these countries resorted to after recalling their ambassadors from Beirut and asking the Lebanese ambassadors to leave.”The three envoys also put Aoun in the picture of the situations of Lebanese expats in the three aforementioned countries.

Berri Calls for 'Rescuing' Port Probe along with Presidential Term
Naharnet/November 15/2021
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has reportedly called on the political parties to show unity in order to “rescue” the port blast probe as well as President Michel Aoun’s tenure and the whole country. “Let them vote for the formation of a (parliamentary) panel of inquiry, which would solve 80% of Lebanon’s current problem, and this is what the parliament speaker told to the Maronite patriarch, who expressed his delight and support,” sources close to Berri told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Monday. Criticizing investigative judge Tarek Bitar, the sources said the judge must “work according to the law and the constitution, not more and not less.” “The President made an oath to preserve the constitution, whereas the judge who was appointed by them has violated four articles of this constitution,” the sources charged.Bitar “acknowledged the judiciary’s jurisdiction to hold the accused judges accountable, but at the same time he does not want to recognize the powers of parliament,” the sources added.

Reports: ‘Scenario’ to Dismiss Bitar, Sack Kordahi
Naharnet/November 15/2021
A “scenario” is being prepared to dismiss port blast lead investigator Judge Tarek Bitar, MTV said. The TV channel learned that to dismiss Bitar, Prime Minister Najib Miqati is relying on two lawsuits against the state filed by ex-PM Hassan Diab and ex-minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq. “The government will return to the political stage once Bitar is dismissed and Information Minister George Kordahi is sacked,” MTV added. Sources close to Miqati told the channel that Miqati “won’t chair a Cabinet session as long as Information Minister George Kordahi will read its decisions.”

Bassil Asks Why Salameh Not Prosecuted in Lebanon
Naharnet/November 15/2021
Head of the Free Patriotic Movement Jebran Bassil asked Monday why Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh hasn’t been prosecuted in Lebanon yet. “Is it acceptable for Salameh to be prosecuted and interrogated in many European countries but not in Lebanon?” Bassil questioned in a tweet. “He is the person most involved in serious money laundering crimes,” he said. “Is this how we restore confidence in the Lebanese pound?” Bassil decried.

Lebanese government in ‘fantasy land’ amid crisis, UN envoy says
Reuters/November 15/2021
Lebanese government officials have no sense of urgency and are not taking responsibility for an economic crisis that has "brutally impoverished" the population, an independent United Nations envoy told Reuters in an interview.
"I'm very struck by the fact that this is a state that, if it is not failed yet, is failing and that the needs of the population are still not addressed," Olivier De Schutter, U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said at the end of a two-week mission studying poverty in Lebanon.
"They are in a fantasy land," De Schutter said. "It doesn't bode well for the future of the country."
De Schutter met with top officials including nine ministers, the prime minister and parliament speaker during his visit.
An official source at Prime Minister's Najib Mikati's office did not comment on his view but pointed to the fact that Mikati had a productive meeting this week with another U.N. official, World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley.
The United Nations says nearly three-quarters of the formerly middle-income nation's population now suffer from poverty, which has increased during an economic crisis rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement.
Banks imposed informal controls on withdrawals and the currency lost more than 90% of its value since 2019 in what the World Bank has labelled a "deliberate depression" and one of one of the worst financial crashes in the world since 1850.
"This is a huge country-wide loss of wealth that is almost unprecedented," De Schutter said, noting losses in Lebanon's banking sector, estimated in a 2020 government plan at around $83 billion, should be borne by bank shareholders and large depositors, not average people.
Western nations have offered aid in return for reforms, but Lebanon was without a permanent government for 13 months in the wake of the deadly August 2020 Beirut blast, and a new cabinet formed in September has not met in a month amid a political row.
De Schutter said he would recommend the immediate implementation of social protection programmes held up for months, an increase to the minimum wage and a wealth tax to combat world-leading inequality rates.
His final report will be published in early 2022.
De Schutter said that, while Pope John Paul II once referred to Lebanon as a "message" of sectarian coexistence, it had since become "a warning for the world" on the outcomes of "a very unhealthy alliance between very wealthy businessmen and political elites".

ياكون لابين: على إيران تعلم بأن الخيار العسكري هو على الطاولة
'Iran must be made to understand military option is on the table'
Yaakov Lappin , JNS and ILH Staff /Israel Hayom/November 15/2021
https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/11/14/iran-must-be-made-to-understands-a-military-option-is-on-the-table/
As Iran speeds up progress on uranium enrichment, Israel bolsters its own military strike contingencies. But experts warn that nuclear weapons would make Iran feel immune enough to destabilize the Middle East with even greater intensity, as it would free it from having to worry about US retaliation.
The year 2022 is set to be the year that the Israeli Air Forces places its long-range strike capabilities against Iran's nuclear program sites at the top of its priority list.
Recent years have seen the IAF focus on its ability to strike regional Iranian entrenchment activities, particularly in Syria, as well as prepare attack plans against Hezbollah in Lebanon based on the concept of unleashing of thousands of guided munitions per day, while also engaging in frequent Gaza escalations. Now, however, the IAF's planners have set their sights on targets Iranian soil.
Iran's nuclear sites – the most famous of which are the Natanz and Fordow uranium enrichment sites – are not only far away but also heavily fortified by advanced air-defense systems. In Fordow's case, the facility is built deep inside a mountain.
Assessing the progress being made by Iran's nuclear program is complex. On the one hand, the threshold for triggering an attack has obviously not been triggered, and for its part, Iran has announced a return to nuclear talks in Vienna with the United States and world powers.
But it's not yet clear whether those talks will lead to an actual agreement. Even if they do, a return to the 2015 nuclear deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – would represent a very poor development for the region due to its short-term sunset clauses built into the arrangement, which would soon expire and pave the path for Iran to become a nuclear threshold state with full international legitimacy.
A better, longer deal does not seem to be on the table at this stage.
While Iran appears to have frozen parts of its nuclear infrastructure that it would need to break through to the nuclear weapon – developing an explosive mechanism and working to place that mechanism on a missile warhead – it has made alarming progress on the most challenging aspect of building a nuclear weapon: amassing sufficient fissile material.
Israel's sped-up military preparations are therefore a direct reflection of Iran's own speeding up of its nuclear program. Iran enriched more than 120 kilograms of uranium to the 20 percent level in October, according to the IAEA – a major jump from the 84 kilograms that Iran had previously enriched a month earlier. Iran is also openly enriching other, albeit smaller quantities of uranium to the 60 percent level, something no non-nuclear state would do.
Assessments of how long Iran would need to break through to an actual weapon range from between 18 months to two years. That's not a long time in strategic terms.
Negotiations in Vienna over the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the existing Iran nuclear deal, May 2021. Source: Enrique Mora/European External Action Service/Twitter.
'We are working on these things'
The original 2015 nuclear deal, despite its many holes, did temporarily delay Iran's nuclear progress, allowing the IAF to invest its resources in other missions and plans.
In 2018, after the Trump administration withdrew from the nuclear deal and placed crippling sanctions on Iran, Tehran faced severe economic crises. Nevertheless, the regime began speeding up its uranium-enrichment activities in order to, as former Israeli National Security Adviser Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror put it, "make clear to the world what the cost of the US's exit from the agreement will be."
Now, as the Biden administration seeks to draw Iran back to that very same deal, any delay that the JCPOA would cause Iran's nuclear program would be very short-lived. Alternatively, Iran, which has found new ways to export its oil around the world and ways to survive sanctions, could be tempted to do away with any return to an agreement and secure its status as a breakout state instead.
One must hope, therefore, that the United States and Israel are quietly hammering out a side deal between them that would stipulate what actions would be taken if Iran approaches the breakout zone, in addition to ensuring that no one gets in Israel's way should the hour arise for confrontation.
When IAF planners look at the challenge of reaching Iran, they must consider an enormous undertaking, requiring the most detailed planning, intelligence, ammunition selections, aerial platforms and refueling capabilities. There is no resemblance between such an operation and a short-range operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Such preparations take considerable time.
Israel's defense establishment is increasingly vocal about those preparations. In September, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, told Walla news: "We have greatly sped up our preparations for activities in Iran."
He added that a "substantial part of the enlarged defense budget, as just recently summarized, is earmarked for this. This is highly complex work, requiring a great deal of intelligence and many operational capabilities. It requires many more ammunitions. We are working on these things."
These comments reflect the true scope of the force build-up program needed specifically for a strike mission on Iran's nuclear program. They also suggest that whatever plans the IAF had in place for such a mission in 2021 will be different from the plans that will be put in place in 2022.
Such strategizing, in and of itself, isn't new. Israel first began developing its military capabilities for stopping Iran's nuclear program in 2004 – hasn't stopped. As time goes by, the chances of Israel needing to deploy these capabilities appear to have risen, even if there is no immediate trigger for such action tomorrow.
The year 2022, with Iran's progress, and pending decision on whether or not to engage in diplomacy could prove to be a critical junction.
'A military option is on the table'
To be sure, a strike would represent the very last resort from Israel's perspective. Not least of which, this is due to the fact that a strike could see Iran quickly activate Hezbollah – its heavily armed proxy in Lebanon that is 20 times more powerful today than it was on the eve of the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Hezbollah's arsenal of more than 150,000 surface-to-surface projectiles is designed to deter Israel from launching the very strike for which the IAF is currently preparing contingencies.
Iran's Shiite proxies in Syria and Iraq could also join the fray after an attack, setting the scene for a major Mideast war. Such a scenario is not inevitable and the nature of warfare is unpredictable, but it must be factored into any strike contingency.
The enlarged Israeli defense budget for the year 2021 – some 62.3 billion shekels (and 60 billion shekels for 2022) – represents a sizable increase from 2020's 57.5 billion shekels expenditure on defense.
Ultimately, it is vital that Iran understands that a military option is on the table, and since the American strategic focus has clearly shifted to the Far East, it falls to Israel to carry out this function.
In the past, Iran has taken military threats to its nuclear sites seriously, as is visible in the length that the Islamic Republic has gone to in protecting its nuclear infrastructure with air-defense systems and installing parts of it underground.
In 2003, when Iran saw American forces on its borders in Afghanistan and Iraq, it froze its nuclear program to avoid military action. Today, however, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, does not appear to be taking military threats from anyone very seriously.
The placing of a credible and imminent military threat is therefore critical at this junction.
For Israel, this means also having to be ready for the full-scale conflict that could follow with Iran's proxies such a strike.
Plans by Israel to unleash devastating firepower on Hezbollah – combined with a rapid ground offensive – would mean that it would take Lebanon years to recover from such a war.
The timing of these potential scenarios is not around the corner, but their relevancy is growing with time.
At the tactical level, it appears as if Israel's growing fleet of F-35 fighter jets will have leading roles in such scenarios with their stealth capabilities, and ability to infiltrate deep into enemy air space and gather enormous amounts of intelligence, which can be sent back to fourth-generation F-15 and F-16 fighter jets to attack.
In some ways, the IAF is still coming to terms with the full range of capabilities possessed by the F-35 and how these can be combined with roles for F-16 and F-15 jets, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
There are some who question whether it is even possible to really stop Iran on its patient, calculated nuclear march. Some argue that even if Iran becomes armed with nuclear weapons, it would not use them against Israel, and that the threat of retaliation and global reaction would kick in.
Such arguments are effectively dealt with by an examination of Iran's likely strategy once it becomes nuclear; this would probably center on providing a nuclear umbrella for its ever-more confident proxies in the Middle East.
As Amidror, the former national security adviser, recently stated in a paper for the IDF's Dado think tank, "even if the Iranians do not use nuclear weapons to destroy Israel," the nuclear umbrella in their possession "would make it easier for them to realize their dream of regional hegemony and beyond. With nuclear weapons in their hands, they could act against regional states, foremost among them, Israel, with far less concern regarding possible responses. It is fair to assume that they believe that when they possess nuclear weapons, Israel, too, will be deterred from acting against Iranian interests, even if Iran's efforts will go towards nourishing the stranglehold mechanism that they wish to place around the Jewish state in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq."
Amidror warned that nuclear weapons would make Iran feel immune enough to destabilize the Middle East with much greater intensity than it does today, without having to worry about American retaliation or the threat of a Libya-style war for regime change.
*Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

Deals and migrants
Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/Novembre 15/2021
Kuwait has announced it was limiting visas for Lebanese citizens as the row between Beirut and the Gulf states deepens.
If one would describe last week’s events in one witty meme/tweet, it would go like this: A Criminal Court of Caen in western France sentenced last Monday in absentia Lebanese Maronite priest Mansour Labaki to 15 years of prison for child rape and sexual assault. The case was filed in 2013 by one of the victims who was abused at the age of 13. “We were able to count that 50 people were subjected to sexual abuse or rape as part of the investigation (in France),” Solange Douminic, the victim’s lawyer, told Anadolu agency. “We can easily imagine that this number is double in Lebanon.”
An international arrest warrant was issued against Labaki by Interpol in 2016. No action, however, was taken against him in Lebanon. The priest denies the charges and his family has called on the Maronite Church to intervene in favor of his appeal.
Europe reaching out on migration
The European Union will hit the Belarusian regime with new sanctions this week. Brussels accuses the Belarusian authorities of “human trafficking” by luring in thousands of migrants and sending them to try and cross into the EU. It is seen as a tactic in retaliation for previous EU sanctions.
“At the beginning of next week, there will be a widening of the sanctions,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said during a visit to Washington. EU member state Poland has lashed out at Minsk for “state terrorism” as fears grow for more than 2,000 migrants trapped in freezing weather on its border with Belarus. A commissioner in Beirut: Vice President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas was in Beirut last Thursday as part of an effort to convince Middle Eastern countries to stop flights to Minsk, and possibly, to repatriate people who already traveled to Belarus. His entire statement after the visit to Beirut is here. Can the EU take a subtle hint? President Michel Aoun told Schinas that Lebanon has “suspicions” that some “forces” are seeking to “keep” Syrian refugees in Lebanon. “Lebanon, which is taking measures to prevent illegal migration from its territory, hopes it will be treated reciprocally by world nations, especially European countries because it can no longer bear further burdens.”I guess, unlike Iraq, Lebanon will not be organizing those repatriation flights. Cyprus has had enough: Cyprus said Wednesday it would seek to suspend asylum applications to cope with an influx of irregular migrants entering the eastern Mediterranean island, blaming the new wave of migration on Turkey.
And it investigates: Cyprus police have suspended one officer and 11 constables after launching an investigation into how a boat loaded with migrants gave them the slip and continued its journey to Italy after docking at a local harbor. Police said in a statement Friday that the boat carrying 61 people was intercepted early Wednesday off the Mediterranean island’s southern coast and escorted to port in the resort town of Paphos. The boat had initially set sail from Tripoli, Lebanon, and was headed to Italy, but had to stop in Cyprus due to weather conditions.
Poverty, a matter of human rights
The Lebanese government is letting down its people, the UN envoy on extreme poverty Olivier De Schutter says, warning that the country is on course to becoming a failed state. Not yet there, but close: “Lebanon is not a failed state yet, but it is a failing state, with a government failing its population,” he told a press conference in Beirut at the end of a 12-day visit to Lebanon. One just needed to look: “I saw scenes in Lebanon that I never imagined I would see in a middle-income country,” he also said.
So have we. Every day. Read De Shutter’s whole statement on what he’s seen in Lebanon in 12 days here.
A Gulf of sorrow (II)
Overreacting: Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah slammed Saudi’s “exaggerated” response to remarks made by Lebanese Information minister George Kordahi on the Yemen war that sparked a diplomatic row between Lebanon and Gulf Arab states. Nasrallah spoke on Thursday afternoon to mark the party’s Martyr Day. Maybe, maybe not: Kordahi said on Friday that he would consider resigning if diplomatic measures taken against his country are dropped. “I haven’t heard yet of any guarantees, not from domestic nor external powers, but if these guarantees come in… then I am ready,” Kordahi told reporters when asked about his possible resignation.
Well, if you frame things that way…
Kuwait limits visas: Kuwait is to limit the number of visas it issues for Lebanese nationals. “A verbal decision has been taken to be stricter in granting tourist and business visas to Lebanese,” the source told AFP, asking not to be identified. The source stressed that no official decision had been made and that visas for visitors from Lebanon have not been suspended.
In other news
A march in Baalbeck: Hezbollah fighters marched on Saturday during a military parade commemorating their “Martyr’s Day” in the city of Baalbek in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa valley. Two men in Colombia: Colombian Defense minister Diego Molano told daily El Tiempo that the government was monitoring the activities of Hezbollah in the country, which contains a large Lebanese diaspora. “Two months ago we had to deal with a situation where we had to organize an operation to capture and expel two criminals commissioned by Hezbollah with the intention of committing a criminal act in Colombia,” Molano said. El Tiempo also followed up (paywall) with an investigation, uncovering that the targets of the plot were Israeli diplomats in Bogota.
A portrait of the politician:
Lebanon +:
Gas through Syria: A very interesting and “optimistic” snippet of an interview on CNBC with Amos Hochstein, Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs who leads the Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) at the U.S. Department of State, made the rounds last week on the Lebanese Twittersphere. He says he is optimistic that the plan to transfer gas from Egypt to Lebanon through Jordan and Syria, avoiding the sanctions imposed on Damascus through the Caesar Act, is going to take place with minimum trouble. Gas cannot be siphoned like fuel, he said. He also said that if there are indications that the gas doesn’t reach Lebanon in its entirety, the deal is off and “the Lebanese people will be suffering”.
Podcasts:
Our weekly columnist Ronnie Chatah released a short 12-minute episode on Saturday night, discussing tyranny within the regime and the vanity of politicians everywhere, including the civil society, who jump from group to group in order to keep their access to authority. But an interesting point – at about 7:30 – is whether the new names in Lebanese politics should be running for elections in 2022 knowing that they may lose (for various reasons, including lack of organization of their political parties and a hostile electoral law).
Sarde after dinner has Daizy Gedeon, a Lebanese Australian award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and the director of the award-winning documentary “Enough! Lebanon’s Darkest Hour” which explores how Lebanon has ended up in a state of complete catastrophe by exposing the country’s dark underbelly.
Jad Ghosn speaks to political scientist Wissam al-Lahham. “The problem [in Lebanon] is not sectarianism, but leaders who are above the state and the law,” Lahham says. A dense and interesting conversation, if you can follow Arabic. The podcast doesn’t have subtitles, although it most definitely should.
Agenda:
On Tuesday, Lebanon plays in Sidon against the UAE in the World Cup Qualifiers, after it lost against Iran last Thursday. A US Congress delegation made of members of Lebanese origin is set to arrive in Beirut this coming week. The cabinet may or may not be able to hold a meeting. The proposed deal may be at the moment to exchange Beirut blast chief investigator Tarek Bitar’s dismissal for Kordahi’s resignation.
A change of weather is in the forecast for the weekend, after a “partly cloudy” week, a sign that the cold season is upon us. With the generator bills taking most of our monthly paychecks, we have to brace up for a cold one.

شارل الياس شرتوني: حزب الله، الائتلاف الأوليغارشي وسياسة الإغفال المتعمد
Le Hezbollah, la coalition oligarchique et la politique de l’omission délibérée
Charles Elias Chartouni/Novembre 15/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/104120/charles-elias-chartouni-the-hezbollah-the-oligarchic-coalition-and-the-policy-of-the-deliberate-omission-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a/
Olivier de Schutter, juriste belge et rapporteur spécial des Nations Unies sur l’extrême pauvreté et les droits de l’homme, au terme d’une mission de 12 jours dans notre pays, prend acte de "l’inaction" des oligarques libanais face à "l’appauvrissement rapide de la société libanaise". Ce constat répercute ce que des générations d’experts internationaux et d’ONG n’ont cessé de dire et redire depuis trois décennies. Loin de s’employer à résoudre les problèmes humanitaires qui n’ont cessé de proliférer depuis le début de la crise financière, en s’interdisant les réformes financières qui étaient censées mettre fin aux cercles concentriques de la dévaluation monétaire, de la stagflation, de la montée exponentielle du chômage et de la paupérisation, ou de tisser des filets de sécurité sociale intermodale, la coalition oligarchique au pouvoir, s’est cantonnée dans un attentisme qui atteste une volonté délibérée de précipiter l’effondrement de l’État libanais, déjà éprouvé par des décennies d’incurie, de corruption, de clientélisme et de découpage patrimonial des ressources publiques, et de subordination aux instances de tutelle régionale.
Le constat d’Olivier de Schutter entérine, une fois de plus, l’hypothèse d’un sabotage intentionnel de toutes sortes d’entreprises réformistes, et de prise en charge des dossiers sociaux, de reconstruction et de solidarité inter-sectorielle et transversale que les implosions financière, sociale et sécuritaire ont induits. Les moindres obligations qui devaient échoir à un État de droit ont été non seulement écartées, mais elles ont été subverties au bénéfice d’une stratégie communautaire de domination montée par le Hezbollah et ses acolytes, et amplement attestée par la politique de suzeraineté à l’endroit de l’Iran et la mutation criminelle d’un État prédateur, et les intérêts oligarchiques qui ont pactisé avec la stratégie de tétanisation du Hezbollah en vue de sanctuariser les acquis d’une fraude monumentale. Nous sommes véritablement devant un crime qui porte atteinte aux droits de l’homme, au concept même de l’État de droit, et aux droits fondamentaux d’un peuple spolié de ses ressources publique et privée et menacé dans sa survie, alors que les soi-disant dirigeants assistent impassiblement à cet effondrement et sont coupables de meurtre prémédité.
Ce constat est doublé d’une volonté de destruction du capital social (éducatif,sanitaire,social, entrepreneurial…), alors que l’économie criminelle et souterraine avance au détriment des équilibres homéostatique et dynamique d’une société en phase avec la modernité depuis plus de cent ans. Les libanais ont exprimé, à travers la rébellion civique, leur refus et leur détermination à casser les verrouillages oligarchiques imposés au croisement de l’intérieur et de l’extérieur, et leur opposition au Hezbollah qui cherche à les exploiter à des fins de domination et de subversion à géométrie variable. L’échéance électorale à venir (Assemblée nationale et Présidence de la République) saurait elle venir à bout de cet état de blocage et paver la voie à une transition démocratique, rien n’est moins sûr, surtout que la paix civile est remise en question, la viabilité des institutions démocratiques est à la merci d’une politique de subversion adroitement orchestrée par le Hezbollah, et la gouvernance intérimaire relève de la gesticulation et de la simulation sans autre forme de procès. Entre-temps les libanais sont expropriés, affamés, soumis à des régimes variables de servilité et voués au feu des incendies d’un pays aux incandescences multiples.

Statement on Hezbollah's weapons
November 15/2021
In 1989, leaders of Lebanese militias and political movements met in the city of Taif in Saudi Arabia. With the support of an Arab and international consensus, they agreed to put an end to the country's internal wars and to dissolve all armed militias, without exception, a decision violated by the authoritarian Syrian regime, in addition to other key components of this Taif Agreement such as the withdrawal of its troops to Bekaa by 1992.
Following the ejection of Israel's occupying army by the Lebanese people on May 25, 2000, Hezbollah's weapons remained, in violation of national and international law; the militia turned them into a tool to subdue the will of the Lebanese people, to assassinate the symbols of a free Lebanon, and to invade our capital, Beirut, by force on May 7, 2008.
To serve the Iranian government’s interests, an objective Hezbollah openly adheres to, this militia pushed Lebanon into conflict with Arab countries, committed acts of war both inside and outside Lebanon, and steadily set our Government in an express violation of international resolutions, especially UN Security Council Resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701.
For this and many other reasons that led to Lebanon’s collapse under the presidency of Michel Aoun, Hezbollah’s ally and enabler:
We reiterate our firm position that Hezbollah must immediately surrender its weapons to the Lebanese army, and we reject any civil or official interaction with the party before it declares that it has disarmed in accordance with basic tenets of national sovereignty and democracy in a State, and in line with international resolutions.
We do not and will not accept a representation of Hezbollah in Government, and we do not see any legitimacy for its participation in any elections as long as it does not surrender its extensive armaments that undermine the freedom of the Lebanese people and the expression of their electoral will which, against all odds, remains undiminished in the face of threats, attacks and murder.
Despite being in the midst of an unprecedented, deadly pandemic, we therefore request of all international organizations and States friendly to Lebanon to bypass the Ministry of health, which is controlled by Hezbollah, to enable medical aid, especially the vaccine, to reach everyone in Lebanon as soon as possible, rather than allow it to fall into the hands of an armed and out lawed militia.
Further:
We affirm our conviction that the collapse of Lebanon is primarily due to Hezbollah's control of the country and its protection of institutionalized criminality and corruption;
We affirm our resolve to restore Lebanon’s full independence and sovereignty over its entire national territory, with a Government exclusively entitled to declare war and peace, to the necessary exclusion of the existence any armed militia and weapons outside of State control;
We affirm that we will build a country where freedom and independence is enjoyed by all persons across the whole of Lebanon; a country that treats its daughters and sons equally before the law, without gender or any other form of discrimination;
We recognize that strength can only come through unity, and affirm the need to join hands and raise our voice to form a broad national front that takes upon itself the need to confront the de facto Iranian occupation and tutelage effected through its Lebanese tools in the shape of an armed militia and its collaborators.
Accordingly, we invite all individuals, sovereign groups and national gatherings under all denominations to join us in word and deed for the formation of a broad practical framework that will secure the liberation of Lebanon, and ensure its transformation from a failed republic to a free, sovereign and independent State over the entirety of its territory.

Manifeste sur les armes du Hezbollah
Novembre 15/2021
Fin 1989 les différents acteurs de la guerre civile libanaise, appuyés par un consensus arabe et international, se sont réunis dans la ville de Taef en Arabie Saoudite. Ils ont décidé de mettre fin au conflit et de dissoudre toutes les milices armées sans exception. Le régime syrien despotique a empêché l'application de cette clause ainsi que celles d’autres dispositions, dont le retrait de la Béqaa avant 1992.
Malgré le retrait de l’armée d’occupation le 25 mai 2000, obtenu grâce à la détermination du peuple libanais, le Hezbollah a enfreint la loi et gardé son arsenal militaire. Cet armement est devenu un instrument pour faire plier les Libanais, assassiner les figures éminentes parmi eux, et envahir leur capitale Beyrouth le 7 mai 2008. Ce même armement nous a entraînés dans des conflits avec des pays arabes pour servir les intérêts de l’Iran; il nous a soustraits au droit international, bafouant constamment les résolutions internationales, notamment les résolutions 1559, 1680 et 1701.
Pour cette raison et bien d’autres qui ont causé l’effondrement du Liban sous le mandat de Michel Aoun, nous rappelons nos positions inchangées : la restitution immédiate de l’arsenal militaire du Hezbollah à l’armée libanaise ; le boycott de ce parti tant qu’il n’a pas déposé son arsenal militaire, conformément au principe de souveraineté nationale qui interdit l’armement illégal, et conformément aux dispositions internationales.
Cela signifie également que nous refusons que le Hezbollah puisse disposer d’un portefeuille ministériel. De même, nous considérons illégale sa participation aux prochaines élections tant qu’il n’a pas renoncé aux armes. Celles-ci menacent la liberté des Libanais et particulièrement leur droit à voter librement car ils faisant face à des intimidations et des menaces de mort. Aussi, devant l’épreuve de la pandémie mortelle actuelle, nous demandons aux organisations mondiales et pays amis du Liban de ne pas passer par le ministère de la Santé pour leurs aides, ledit ministère étant aux mains du Hezbollah. C’est la seule manière de nous assurer que les aides médicales et les vaccins tant attendus seront distribués équitablement à tous les Libanais, le plus rapidement possible, hors de l'influence d’un parti délégitimé à l’intérieur comme à l’extérieur.
Nous sommes convaincus que l’effondrement du pays est dû en premier lieu à la mainmise du Hezbollah sur le destin du pays. Nous œuvrons pour que le Liban retrouve son indépendance complète, qu’il étende sa souveraineté sur l’ensemble du territoire national, que le droit de déclarer la guerre et de conclure la paix soient exclusivement limités à l’exécutif libanais, et que les armes soient détenues uniquement par l’armée et des forces de police légales.
Ce communiqué exprime aussi notre détermination à nous unir: nous appelons haut et fort à la constitution d’un large ralliement national, pour faire face à l’occupation et la tutelle iraniennes via son bras armé au Liban, afin d’aboutir à un Etat libre et indépendant, dont la souveraineté s’étend sur tout son territoire, et dans lequel les Libanaises et les Libanais sont, sans discrimination, à égalité devant la loi.
Nous appelons ainsi tous les groupes indépendants, les personnalités publiques et les regroupements nationaux dans la diversité de leurs appellations, à s’associer à nous pour mettre en place un cadre d’action opérationnel afin de libérer le Liban et de le faire passer du statut d'État failli à celui d'État libre.
(Individual) signatures (individuelles)
Hussen Ali Ataya, David Abdl Ahad, Stephanie Abou Assi, Malek Abi Nader, Haytham Rachid Al Hayek, Hussein Ali Ataya, Nada Awad, Khaled Awad, Abdel Rahaman Awad, Paul Awad, Sakhr Abbas Aarb, Nadia Aad, Maher Asmar, Ali Mosbah Al Cheikh, Nada Abou Fadel, Rime Al Choubasi, Oussama Al Samad, Mohamad Al Sayed, Moussa Al Dandash, Tarek Al Khal, Imad Al Tawil, Ahmad Akari, Khaled El Asmar, Azzam Al Soussa, Mohamad Al Kurdi, Mohamad Al Omar, Ahmad Al Cheikh, Alaa’ Al Cheikh, Walid Ahmad, Walid Akoumeh, Mohamad Assaf, Bilal Assaf, Mohamad Abdo, Ahmad Al Sorri, Sayyed Hassan Al Amine, Micheline Abou Khater, Moufid Abou Saad, Nahida Mounir Al Aaref, Rabih Al Atar, Sabah Abdallah Al Ouch, Khaled Mahmoud Al Gharbi, Said Al Natour, Mahmoud Moslim Abou Khalil, Ali Mohamad Amine, Atef Abou Lteif, Moussa Ajami, Moustapha Allouch, Claude Asfar, Raphael Assad, Lina Ayash, Ahmad Bakich, Nadine Abdallah Bamo, Samar Bassil, Habib Bzeih, Oula Beyrouthi, Nasri Bejjani, Eduardo Bughosen, Chantal Chamoun, Cesar Chamoun, Toni Chamoun, Michel Chehadé, Sergio Jalil Celibal, Richard Chamoun, Nicole Chemaly, Rita Chidiac, Adel Dabbas, Zouheir Daabousi, Julie Daccache, Hassan Ahmad Dib, Lina Daher, Isabelle Eddé, Nawal El Meouchi, Omar El Baba, Assaad El Rai, Jeanne-d’Arc El Khoury, Toni El Hajj, Farid Fakhreddine, Mounif Faraj, Farès Sassine, Farès Soueid, Maged Fattal, Georges Ghanem, Soulaf Hage, Michel Hajji Georgiou, Jamil Abdo Ghossoub, Elias Guillermina, Mohamad Ghiyyeh, Ahmad Ghiyyeh, Khaled Ghiyyeh, Oussama Hawa, Abdel Menhem Hawad, Mohamad Halil, Fadi Hayek, Malek Halabi, Maha Halabi, Amid Hamoud, Marie-Michèle Hayek, Zakaria Hochar, Mohamad Hochar, Malek Hadchiti, Samira Helo Helo, Majd Boutros Harb, Khalil Hitti, Chawkat Houalla, Khaled Ismail, Ahmad Ibrahim, Hovik Julian, Hana Jaber, Philippe Jabre, Nicolas Khairallah, Samir Khalaf, Habib Karch, Nelly Kandil, Gisèle Khoury, Paul Khoury, Karine Khoury, Maria Khoury, Rima Khoury, Mark Khoury, Mahmoud Khdour, Khaled Kdour, Regina Kantara, Hassan Kotob, Hussein Ali Kassem, Wadad Lahd, Maha Laurens, Andrée Maarawy, Amal Maarawy, Raymond Mitri, Elise Moukarzel, Ibrahim Moukarzel, Paul Moukarzel,Rita Moukarzel, Adriana Moukarzel, Roy Moukarzel, Nehme Mahfoud, Paul Massoud, Elise Massoud, Boutros Moawad, Maher Mimi Mroueh, Cheikh Hassan Mcheimech, Chibli Mallat, Janane Mallat, Kamal Mallat, Sélim Mouzannar, Raymond Mouzannar, Dina-Sue Mussallam, Hala Namel, Georges Nassar, Ahmad Norkmani, Anwar Nammour, Jamal Nammour, Fadi Nohra, Rawad Othman, Assaad Raphael, Jamal Samsin, Marie Semaan, Daad Saad, Ahmad Samtar, Wajih Mohamad Sabbagh, Zeina Jamil Sayyah, Josiane Sassine, Manal Sabri, Chucri Sader, Philip Salem, Susan Serbey, Madeleine Sultan, Talal Tohmeh, Toros Torossian, Marguaritta Torossian, Nasser Taleb, Wael Taleb, Khaled Taleb, Ali Traboulsi, Ali Ahmad Tah, Sandy Tannous, Elias Tannous, Maria Tarabay, Farah Yaghi, Nabil Yazbeck, Karine Younes, Cheikh Abbas Yazbeck, Pierre Yammine, Nathalie Yacoub, Leila Yacoub, Pierre Yacoub, Oussama Zakaria, Ayman Zakaria, Ghassan Salim Zeidan, Kamal Zoukan Zeineddine, Danielle Zakher.
Tmtlebanon.com

Say no and join the Resistance.
Jean-Marie Kassab/Novembre 15/2021
I am mad at you. Yes you , the Lebanese citizen. I am angry with you. Totally. You take a minute to read my notes or somebody else's then you switch back to your normal life. If normal for it is for to live under occupation and within a ruined economy, then shame on you.
I really cannot understand what's wrong with you. Don"t care about politics? Fuck politics. This is your life I am talking about. Can't you see that your life style has changed ? That your dreams are gone with the wind? That your own identity is about to change ? That your country is about to collapse? That your liberty is at stake?
What is wrong with you people ? Has the Thawra polluted your brain with its pointless and useless noise? Do you think that a parade or a watsap group will kick the Iranians out ? Do you think that remaining in your bubble will protect you from the evil surrounding you? Do you believe that your comfort zone will remain intact?
Stand up and fight , with your pencil, with your attitude, with your honor, with weapons if necessary. Just stand up and fight back.
Lebanon is occupied by Iran.
Lebanon is about to collapse.
Say no and join the Resistance.
Join the TASK FORCE LEBANON.
Vive la Résistance.
Vive le LIBAN.
Jean-Marie Kassab.

The TASK FORCE LEBANON
Jean-Marie Kassab/Novembre 15/2021
Hello. We are TASK FORCE LEBANON/ CELLULE DE CRISE solely dedicated to fight by all means available and necessary the Iranian occupation of lebanon. This Task Force will ignore any electoral projects and stay away from them in order to maintain its integrity and focus on the real problem , that is the Iranian occupation.
It is NOT a new coalition or political front. It is an active, proactive RESISTANCE operation that will self-dissolve when Iran will be out.
If you agree with this proposal, have time on your hands, resources of all kinds , as well as contacts, friendly circles , local as well as international , then join me, join the fight before all is lost. We need dedicated people from all sides , ALL COMMUNITIES , all levels and professions, all backgrounds.
Drop me a word if you want in or need further details.
The TASK FORCE LEBANON

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 15-16/2021
UK Police Says Blast Outside Hospital Was Terrorist Incident
Associated Press/November 15/2021
British police say an explosion in a taxi outside a hospital that killed a man is being treated as a terrorist incident, but the motive remains unclear. Russ Jackson, the head of Counterterrorism Policing in northwest England, said the blast on Sunday at Liverpool Women's Hospital involved an improvised explosive device. He said "enquiries will now continue to seek to understand how the device was built, the motivation for the incident and to understand if anyone else was involved in it."The male passenger in the taxi died in the explosion, and the taxi driver was injured. Three men in their 20s have been arrested under the Terrorism Act. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below. LONDON (AP) — British police and intelligence services were working Monday to determine whether a taxi explosion outside a Liverpool hospital was a deliberate attack, as the city's mayor said the cab driver's quick actions had averted a potential disaster. The male occupant of a taxi was killed and its driver injured when the vehicle burst into flames outside the Liverpool Women's Hospital on Sunday morning. Counterterrorism police officers are leading the investigation, but have not yet declared it a terrorist incident. Three men in their 20s were arrested Sunday at an address in the northwest England city under the Terrorism Act and remain in custody. Suspicions have been aroused by the timing of the explosion — just before 11 a.m. on Remembrance Sunday, the moment people across Britain hold services in memory of those killed in wars. Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson said the taxi driver locked the doors of his cab so the passenger couldn't leave. "The taxi driver, in his heroic efforts, has managed to divert what could have been an absolutely awful disaster at the hospital," she told the BBC.
The cabbie, whose name has not been released, is being treated in hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Britain's interior minister, Home Secretary Priti Patel, said she was "being kept regularly updated on the awful incident." Nick Aldworth, a former senior terrorism investigator in Britain, said it was unclear whether the incident was terrorism. He said the taxi had sustained "a lot of fire damage with very little blast damage." He said that "whatever was in that vehicle was either a low yield or didn't work properly, or possibly an incendiary. So I think it's very much open to debate at the moment about what has happened." Britain's official threat level from terrorism stands at "substantial," the middle rung on a five-point scale, meaning an attack is likely. The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre sets the threat level based on intelligence about international terrorism at home and overseas.

EU Imposes Sanctions on 4 New Syria Government Ministers
Associated Press/November 15/2021
The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on four ministers recently appointed to the Syrian government, blaming them for playing a role in the continued repression on civilians in the war-torn country. Asset freezes and travel bans in Europe were imposed on the four, who include the ministers for internal trade, information and labor. The four ministers were accused of sharing "responsibility for the Syrian regime's violent repression of the civilian population," the EU said. The new sanctions bring the number of people in Syria targeted by EU measures to 287. A further 70 "entities," including organizations, banks and companies, are also on the blacklist, typically for benefiting from their ties with the regime. The EU first started imposing the sanctions in 2011. The measures also include a ban on oil imports, investment restrictions, a freeze on central bank assets held in the EU, and export limits on equipment and technology that could be used to crack down on civilians or monitoring their phones and internet.

Rights Group: Israeli Settler Violence Tool to Seize Land
Associated Press/November 15/2021
Israel has been using settler violence as a "major informal tool" to drive Palestinians from farming and pasture lands in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli rights group said. A report by the group B'Tselem detailed the takeover of nearly 11 square miles (30 square kilometers) of farm and pasture land in the territory by settlers over the past five years. That's an area around half the size of the island of Manhattan. B'Tselem also challenged repeated claims by the government that violence against Palestinians is carried out by a violent fringe among the settlers and security forces are doing their best to stop it. Recent months have seen a steep increase in violence committed by Jewish settlers in the West Bank against Palestinians. Last week, a group of Israeli settlers vandalized dozens of cars in a town near Ramallah, and in September, dozens of Israeli settlers attacked a Bedouin village in the southern West Bank, leaving several injured, including a Palestinian toddler. B'Tselem said the military "does not prevent the attacks, and in some cases, soldiers even participate in them." It says that law enforcement does little to take action against settlers who commit violent acts against Palestinians "and whitewashes the few cases it is called upon to address." "When the violence occurs with permission and assistance from the Israeli authorities and under its auspices, it is state violence. The settlers are not defying the state; they are doing its bidding," the organization said in its report. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war. In the decades since, it has built dozens of settlements — now home to nearly 500,000 Israelis — that most of the international community considers illegal and an obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, as part of their future state. On Friday, a group of Jewish settlers attacked Palestinians harvesting olives who were accompanied by Israeli activists. Two Israelis, including a prominent rabbi and peace activist, were injured in the incident. Neta Ben Porat, one of the injured activists, said she suffered injuries to her head and arm. She said the entire area is video monitored by the army, and soldiers chose not to come to their aid. The military said in a statement to Army Radio that troops "separated between the sides and dispersed the confrontation" and arrested three settlers. Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel said in a statement Friday that "the state and its enforcement agencies are failing time after time to ensure the safety of farmers and activists in the harvest, and the blood spilled today is also on their hands."Last month, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz called on the military to combat rising settler attacks against Palestinians and Israeli troops in the West Bank to react "systematically, aggressively and uncompromisingly" to such behavior.

Women Travelers to Sue Qatar over 'Invasive' Body Searches
Associated Press/November 15/2021
A group of seven Australia-based women plan to sue Qatar's government for being forced to undergo invasive gynecological examinations at Doha's international airport after an abandoned newborn was found in a trash can there last year, their lawyer said on Monday.
The Australian government at the time condemned Qatari authorities' treatment of the women who were subjected to the examinations at Hamad International Airport on Oct. 2, 2020, after Qatar Airways Flight 908 to Sydney was delayed. The seven were among 13 women on the flight who were "invasively examined" on the tarmac, said their lawyer Damian Sturzaker, from Sydney-based Marque Lawyers. "What they want is first of all compensation for the fact that they were effected at the time and continue to suffer," Sturzaker said. "They have problems dealing with what was a very traumatic episode."
Nine or 10 other flights out of Doha were similarly delayed while women passengers were searched, he added. Sturzaker said he was not aware of passengers on other flights taking legal action against the Qataris over the episode, for which the Qatar government has apologized.
"They want an apology from the Qatar government for their treatment and what they want and have been asking for quite a long time is that procedures are put in place so that this won't happen again," Sturzaker added. The women, aged from their early 30s to late 50s, would likely initiate legal action in the New South Wales state Supreme Court within a few weeks, the lawyer said.The women have not specified the amount of compensation that they are seeking. The Qatar government, the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority, as well as the state-owned airline and airport, have been forwarded legal advice that Australian courts had jurisdiction to hear the case and that the claimants were likely to win, Sturzaker said. The Qatar government declined to comment, but pointed to its previous statements on the incident in which it offered its "sincerest apology" and said that "those responsible for these violations and illegal actions" had been referred to prosecutors. Australian Federal Police informed the complainants last week that a single airport police officer had been fined and given a six-month suspended prison sentence for enforcing the examinations, Sturzaker said. Th airline has denied liability while the Qatar government said it was considering the women's claim, Sturzaker said. We don't hold out much hope in relation to anything other than a rejection of the claim," Sturzaker said, meaning the claim would go to trial. In Qatar, like much of the Middle East, sex and childbirth outside of marriage are criminalized. Migrant workers in the past have hidden pregnancies and tried to travel abroad to give birth, and others have abandoned their babies anonymously to avoid imprisonment. Qatar, a small, energy-rich state on the Arabian Peninsula, will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Kuwaiti Emir Transfers Some Duties to Crown Prince
Associated Press/November 15/2021
Kuwait has temporarily handed its crown prince some of the ruling emir's constitutional duties, the royal family's secretariat announced on Monday, without explaining why the transfer was necessary. The brief statement published by the state-run KUNA news agency said only that the government had issued an order for the crown prince to assume some duties of the 84-year-old ruling emir Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah. In the past, the royal office has made the move due to a ruler's poor health. Last year, when the late Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah underwent surgery, the oil-rich nation's crown prince took on some of his powers temporarily. Kuwait's Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Given Sheikh Nawaf's age, the move raises concerns about his health. State-run news previously reported that he traveled to the United States for unspecified medical checks in March. The health of Kuwait's leaders remains a sensitive matter in the tiny Mideast nation that has seen internal power struggles behind palace doors.The decree comes at a delicate time for the sheikhdom. The government resigned last week as tensions escalated between the Parliament and Cabinet. The emir issued a long-awaited pardon for scores of self-exiled dissidents. Kuwait, a nation home to 4.1 million people that's slightly smaller than the U.S. state of New Jersey, has the world's sixth-largest known oil reserves. It has been a staunch U.S. ally since the 1991 Gulf War expelled the occupying Iraqi forces of Saddam Hussein.

EU Moves to Add Airlines, Others to Belarus Sanctions List
Associated Press/November 15/2021
The European Union on Monday ratcheted up pressure on Belarus by agreeing to slap new sanctions on President Alexander Lukashenko's regime and others accused of helping him wage a "hybrid attack" against the bloc using migrants. The 27-country EU has already imposed four sets of sanctions on the Belarus authorities and senior officials over the disputed election in August last year that returned Lukashenko to office and the security crackdown on peaceful protesters that followed. But as tensions mount on the Belarus border with EU members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, the bloc's foreign ministers extended those measures to add airlines, travel agents and others accused of helping to bring migrants to Minsk. "Today's decision reflects the determination by the European Union to stand up to the instrumentalization of migrants for political purposes. We are pushing back on this inhuman and illegal practice," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.
EU headquarters said the bloc "will now be able to target individuals and entities organizing or contributing to activities by the Lukashenko regime that facilitate illegal crossing of the EU's external borders." A list of those to be hit by the asset freezes and travel bans is expected to be finalized in coming days.
The EU believes Lukashenko began luring migrants to Belarus in recent months as part of a retaliatory attack meant to destabilize the bloc. The EU has been deeply divided over how to manage migrants since well over 1 million people entered in 2015.
A few thousand migrants are stuck in makeshift camps in freezing weather after Poland reinforced its border with 15,000 soldiers, in addition to border guards and police. At least nine have died. Many people want to head further west, often to Germany.
Lukashenko brushed aside the threat of fresh EU measures. "We will defend ourselves. That's it, there's nowhere to retreat further," he was quoted as saying by the state news agency Belta. Lukashenko also denied that his government has organized the migrant influx, saying that "it isn't worth the effort," and he insisted that the people involved are resisting Belarusian efforts to encourage them to return to their home countries.
"These people, I must say, are very stubborn: no one wants to return. And understandably so: They have nowhere to come back to. They have no place to live there, they know there's nothing to feed their children with. Moreover, some are simply afraid for their lives," he said.
Asked about the danger that more sanctions might only make things worse, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said: "I don't have the impression that Belarus behaves constructively without sanctions. That wasn't the case in the past.""We are far from the end of the spiral of sanctions," Maas added.
Belarus flag carrier Belavia is among the airlines likely to be hit, and Maas warned other companies to follow the example of Turkish Airlines by restricting flights to the Belarus capital. "Those that don't must expect tough sanctions. The situation is so dramatic that I can no longer rule out the denial of overflight rights or landing permission in the European area," he said. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said "we need to make Minsk airport a no-fly zone." He said the EU must ensure that planes likely to be bringing in migrants bound for Europe "wouldn't land in Minsk, or actually any Belarusian airport. It is very crucial to do that."The EU says that the authoritarian Belarusian regime has for months invited migrants to Minsk, many of them Iraqis and Syrians, with the promise of help to get them across the borders of the three countries, which form the eastern flank of both the 27-nation EU and NATO.
In response, the three are beefing up their borders. In an interview Sunday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he and his two Baltic counterparts are discussing whether to call for emergency consultations at the NATO military alliance.Numerous clashes and attempted crossings have been reported at the border, but under a state of emergency in Poland only the security forces have access, and the incidents are impossible to independently verify.

2 Strong Quakes Jolt Southern Iran, 1 Dead
Associated Pres/November 15/2021s
At least one person has died after two strong earthquakes struck the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan, state TV reported. State TV quoted Azizollah Konari, the Bandar Abbas governor, as saying a 22-year-old man died when an electric pole fell on his head as a result of the earthquake.
Iran's Seismological Center said that the quakes struck Qeshm island in the Strait of Hormuz in midafternoon, about 1000 kilometers (640 miles) south of the Iranian capital of Tehran. It said the magnitudes were 6.4 and 6.3 and the heaviest temblor struck at a depth of 18 kilometers (about 11 miles). The epicenter is located some 60 kilometers (some 36 miles) southwest of Bandar Abbas port in Hormozgan province. The USGS report set the earthquakes at magnitudes of 6 and 6.3. The area was jolted by several aftershocks, one at a magnitude of 4.5. Fear of the quake sent fearful residents running into the streets. State TV said the quake was felt in Kerman and Fars provinces, both located in the north of Hormozgan province. Mehdi Dousti, governor of Hormozgan province said that "we do not ask people to stay at their home because of the number of aftershocks."
Dousti added that police are providing security for people who are staying away from their homes. State TV said that the number of injured people rose to 47. Thirty-nine of them were released but 7 hospitalized.  The spokesman for the country's emergency department, Mojtaba Khaledi, asked people to be cautious for at least two days. The report said President Ebrahim Raisi ordered his senior vice-president, Mohammad Mokhber, to visit Hormozgan province as soon as possible. Raisi also urged all responsible bodies to take care people who suffered injuries and damages. The report said assessment teams had deployed to analyze the situation. Iranian social media carried photos of damage from the quakes, including one of a wall that had collapsed on a car. Iran lies on major seismic faults and experiences one earthquake a day on average. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake flattened the historic city of Bam, killing 26,000 people. A magnitude 7 earthquake that struck western Iran in 2017 killed more than 600 people and injured more than 9,000.

Egypt Announces Clinical Trials of Its Own COVID-19 Vaccine
Associated Press/November 15/2021
Egypt's national research body has said that it will start clinical trials for a domestically made coronavirus vaccine. The country's acting health minister, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, told reporters at a press conference that it is launching clinical trials of the new vaccine. He said the trial for the vaccine, named 'COVI VAX' will start with tens, then hundreds, and will eventually include thousands of people. Sunday's announcement in Cairo was the first indication that researchers there had moved from producing the vaccine and early testing to injecting people who are the subjects of the trial. The World Health Organization has previously recognized the Egyptian vaccine as one of hundreds of formulas around the world that are in development. It works by including proteins from the original virus to provoke an immune response. "It's a very important strategic situation, that there is an Egyptian vaccine that we can rely on in the coming period," said Ghaffar, who is also the minister of higher education and the head of the national research institute in the country. The government has been trying to encourage more of its population to get vaccinated as case numbers have risen in recent weeks. Starting Nov. 15, all government employees are expected to show proof of vaccination to enter their workplaces. Egypt has vaccinated more than 14% of its population, according to government officials. It's been almost entirely reliant on shipments of vaccines from other countries, many through the international COVAX initiative that is meant to provide shots to developing countries. According to a daily updated tally of coronavirus cases from the country's ministry of health, 19,435 people have died from the virus in Egypt since the pandemic started and 343,026 have been confirmed to have been infected. The true number is believed to be much higher.

The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 15-16/2021
Israel loses patience with Iranian entrenchment in Syria
Ben Caspit/Al-Monitor/November 15/2021
Is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad starting to change his mind about the long dominance of Iran and Russia in his country? Several intelligence analysts have assessed recently that with Assad’s regime stabilized, the Iranian presence in his country might no be longer an asset but a liability for the Syrian leader. As long as the Iranians remain entrenched in his back yard, the attacks on them attributed to Israel are likely to continue — and have already escalated.
“If it were up to him, the Iranians would no longer be there,” a senior Israeli military source told Al-Monitor a few weeks ago on condition of anonymity. “Assad is now seeking calm and stability. He is making his way back into the fold of the Arab world and his leadership is enjoying renewed legitimacy. A war between Israel and Iran in his territory is the last thing he wants.”
This week’s reports in the Saudi media that Assad was responsible for the departure or expulsion of Iranian Quds Force Commander Jawad Ghafari set off significant buzz in the region. Assad reportedly asked the Iranian regime to recall Ghafari due to the "overactivity" of the Quds Force in his country — meaning the deepening Iranian entrenchment in Syria and its efforts to make the country a platform for war on Israel’s northern borders. Assad seems not to like the idea of having to report to Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and is starting to display signs of impatience, according to various intelligence sources.
The truth is apparently far more complex. “We will probably not be seeing columns of Shiite militias in the service of Iran moving to the east, crossing the Syrian-Iraqi border and returning home anytime soon,” a senior Israeli security source told Al-Monitor this week on condition of anonymity. “Assad continues to give the Iranians almost complete access to every corner of the country and his military’s emergency storage facilities continue to be at Hezbollah’s disposal, just as they were prior to the outbreak of the civil war.” Asked whether anything had changed, the source answered, “Assad understands the situation and is trying to maneuver within its bounds, while undertaking damage control. The Iranians are currently more of a liability than an asset, but he is far from being able shake off this burden.”
The Russians, too, need to be factored into this complex equation. The Oct. 22 Sochi summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was described as particularly successful, lasting almost five hours. Since then, several massive attacks on Iranian targets in Syria have been attributed by foreign outlets to Israel. The two most recent ones were said to be unusual, with one taking place in broad daylight and both of them in areas with a significant Russian presence. None of the strikes prompted condemnation or any comment from Moscow.
According to diplomatic and political sources in the region, the Russian silence attests to Putin’s growing impatience with Iran’s involvement in Syria. Bennett has reportedly updated a deconfliction mechanism designed to avoid friction between Russians and Israelis in Syria, perhaps enabling alleged Israeli strikes in regions with a heavy Russian presence. The Russians, who fought shoulder to shoulder with the Iranians against the Islamic State organization and the rebels in Syria, now find themselves competing with the Iranians over the same regional economic interests. Putin apparently does not like this turn of events.
Israel, for its part, has identified an opening and is surging forward. “The new government,” a very senior Israeli diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “has intensified its activity against Iran’s entrenchment in Syria.” He declined to elaborate. The increased Israeli activity could stem from frustration at Israel’s failure to mobilize US and international support for mounting a credible military threat to Iran’s nuclear program, but it's more likely prompted by Iranian escalation.
According to various intelligence sources in the Middle East, the Iranians have been deploying anti-aircraft missile batteries at strategic locations and supplying “suicide” drones and explosive-laden gliders to their allies in the region to protect their positions, especially in case of a possible future clash with Israel. According to Israel’s Kan 11 public broadcaster, Hezbollah activists such as Ali Assaf, a Lebanese former Hezbollah member currently serving in the Iranian Quds force, are also engaged in similar activities.
Israel has also identified an Iranian effort to shift its delivery of advanced weapons from Tehran to Beirut to supply routes adjacent to Russian military bases or concentrations in Syria in order to deter Israeli bombings. This effort has clearly failed, considering Israel’s latest air raids and Russia’s silence.
Observers are asking where this increasing escalation is headed, whether both sides have a new red line and how willing the Iranians are to risk their people and proxies in Syria and elsewhere at such a critical stage of the discussions on renewing negotiations with world powers. Israel clearly has no intention of allowing Iran to continue its efforts to turn Lebanon and now Syria, too, into a launching pad for hundreds or thousands of precision missiles at strategic Israeli targets.
“What we are actually looking at is the fuse of a detonator on a powerful remote-controlled bomb,” a senior diplomatic source in the region told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “It has been burning slowly, advancing toward the detonator. Right now, there is no knowing when exactly it will explode, but once it does, everyone will know.”

Why Palestinians Are Fleeing the Gaza Strip
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./November 15/ 2021
Referring to the lavish lifestyle led by most Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip and abroad, many Palestinians complained that while the fish are eating the poor emigrants, Hamas leaders continue to enjoy the best fish and seafood on offer in Qatar and the Gaza Strip.
Apparently, the two million Palestinians living under the rule of Hamas have reached the conclusion that it is Hamas, and not Israel, that is responsible for their misery.
"During the past 15 years, Hamas has taken Gaza from bad to worse. Gazans are a people under a brutal Islamist regime who are held hostage to stagnant policies that only serve the interests of Hamas and their global Islamist allies. If the international community could help liberate Gaza from such forces, they could help Gazans create a Dubai on the Med or a new Singapore." — Ghanem Nusseibeh, a Palestinian Muslim belonging to the oldest Arab family in Jerusalem, Al-Arab News, May 29, 2021.
Blaming Israel for everything wrong in the Gaza Strip may fool many in the US, Canada and the UK. But the Palestinians fleeing Gaza and their families who remain behind know the truth -- that it is Hamas that has brought them to the abyss, including the sea in which they are now drowning.
At least three Palestinians who fled the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip recently by boat went missing, apparently after they capsized off the shores of Greece and Turkey. Reacting to the tragedy, many Palestinians complained that while the fish are eating the poor emigrants, Hamas leaders leading a lavish lifestyle continue to enjoy the best fish and seafood on offer in Qatar and the Gaza Strip. Pictured: Two Gazans pull a boat along a beach in Khan Yunis, in the Gaza Strip, on September 22, 2021.
A tragedy that recently hit the Gaza Strip has again exposed the extent of the suffering of Palestinians under the rule of the Iranian-backed group, Hamas.
The tragedy also serves as a reminder of the double standards of the international community in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially the obsession with Israel and the tendency to ignore any wrongdoing on the Palestinian side.
According to reports from the Gaza Strip, at least three Palestinians who fled the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave went missing, apparently after their boat capsized off the shores of Greece and Turkey. The three were among dozens of Palestinians seeking a better life away from the repression and corruption of Hamas.One of the victims was identified as 25-year-old Anas Abu Rajileh; another was Nasrallah al-Farra.
The incident attracted extensive attention among Palestinians because of an audio recording by one of the Palestinian emigrants on the boat. In the recording -- a voice message he sent his mother in the Gaza Strip -- the young man is telling his mother that one of his friends has drowned. He asks her to notify the friend's family. "Mother," the man is heard saying, "we are drowning and the fish are eating us."
Many young people from the Gaza Strip who are able to save or secure enough money have in recent years been fleeing to other countries through Turkey and Greece. They reportedly pay thousands of dollars in bribes to Hamas officials, Egyptian border guards and smugglers to help them leave the Gaza Strip to start a new life in Europe and other countries.
A public opinion poll conducted by Al-Aqsa University in the Gaza Strip last year showed that 51% of young people living in Gaza would willingly migrate if they were given the opportunity to do so.
More than 80% explained that the main reason they want to leave the Gaza Strip is economic factors.
Notably, the poll found that 73% of respondents believe that if Hamas and its rivals in the ruling Fatah faction, headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, stopped warring with each other, the young Palestinians would not consider emigration.
Hamas and Fatah have been at war with each other since 2007. Then, Hamas staged a violent coup against the PA, threw PA officials to their deaths from the top floors of high buildings, and seized control of the Gaza Strip.
It is not clear how many Palestinians have fled the Gaza Strip in recent years. Some reports estimate that more than 40,000 Palestinians managed to leave between 2014 and 2020. Other reports put the figure at more than 70,000.
Palestinians in the poll expressed concern that many of the emigrants include university graduates and professionals, especially medical doctors who prefer to work and live in European countries, and not under Hamas.
"The drowning incidents of young men during the emigration trips make the families of the immigrants anxious," the pan-Arab Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper reported. "At the same time, the drowning shows the extent of the tragedy experienced by the residents of the Gaza Strip, which pushes the best of its sons to emigrate."The latest incident sparked a wave of protests by many Palestinians, who took to various social media platforms to express shock and disbelief over the tragedy and denounce Hamas leaders for their failure to improve the living conditions of their people.
Referring to the lavish lifestyle led by most Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip and abroad, many Palestinians complained that while the fish are eating the poor emigrants, Hamas leaders continue to enjoy the best fish and seafood on offer in Qatar and the Gaza Strip.
Upon learning about the tragedy, other Palestinians launched a hashtag on Twitter, titled "We Want to Live," in which they too held Hamas responsible for the high rate of unemployment and poverty in the Gaza Strip.
Some social media users also blamed Abbas's Fatah faction for their continued misery, because of its ongoing rivalry with Hamas.
"The [Hamas] government is doing nothing to change the human lives there," wrote Palestinian journalist Walid Mahmoud. "Add to that that the media is not talking about this, and I believe they won't talk about this." Mahmoud, who is from the Gaza Strip, explained that the hashtag "We Want to Live" reflects the extent to which the population of Gaza has been outraged by "the stupidity of the ruling [Hamas] administration."
Referring to the corruption and apathy of Hamas leaders towards the suffering of their people, some Palestinians revealed that the sons of Hamas leaders were giving each other tickets to the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm a-Sheikh as gifts.
A Palestinian man from the Gaza Strip, who did not reveal his name, posted a video in which he launched a scathing attack on the Hamas leaders, accusing them of destroying the future of young people.
"If our leaders do not care about us, this is a disaster... The people are dying; they are starving. The people's lives have been destroyed. The young men are dying, and the fish are eating them. The [Hamas] leaders and their sons are not better than me and my children."
Apparently, the two million Palestinians living under the rule of Hamas have reached the conclusion that it is Hamas, and not Israel, that is responsible for their misery.
Judging from the reactions of Palestinians to the latest tragedy involving the would-be-emigrants, it is obvious that many Palestinians understand what most anti-Israel activists fail to grasp -- that Hamas prioritizes manufacturing and smuggling weapons over providing jobs to the unemployed and assisting those living in poverty. Hamas could have turned the Gaza Strip into the Singapore of the Middle East. Instead, Hamas chose to turn the Gaza Strip into a center for jihad (holy war) against Israel.
Ghanem Nusseibeh, a Palestinian Muslim belonging to the oldest Arab family in Jerusalem, commented:
"During the past 15 years, Hamas has taken Gaza from bad to worse. Gazans are a people under a brutal Islamist regime who are held hostage to stagnant policies that only serve the interests of Hamas and their global Islamist allies. If the international community could help liberate Gaza from such forces, they could help Gazans create a Dubai on the Med or a new Singapore."If the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are indeed so desperate, it would behoove them to overthrow Hamas and end its iron-fisted rule over the Gaza Strip.
Yet, Hamas continues to crush dissent and intimidate its critics. In addition, Hamas continues to enjoy popularity among many Palestinians not only in the Gaza Strip, but even in the West Bank. The reason Hamas is so popular is that many Palestinians support its call for the elimination of Israel.
It would be more helpful if the Palestinians fleeing the Gaza Strip remained home and devoted their energies to removing Hamas from power, even if that removal came at a heavy price. This is the one and only way to solve the problems of Gaza.
Blaming Israel for everything wrong in the Gaza Strip may fool many in the US, Canada, Europe and the UK. But the Palestinians fleeing Gaza and their families who remain behind know the truth -- that it is Hamas that has brought them to the abyss, including the sea in which they are now drowning.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
© 2021 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.

Yes, But’: Exposing the Heart of Islamic Apologetics
Raymond Ibrahim./November 15/ 2021
“Yes, but…” This has come to represent the heart of all Muslim apologetics. Whenever an Islamic doctrine or principle is accused of promoting hatred, violence, misogyny, etc., its defenders rush to argue that, “Yes, a few Muslims twist this teaching for their ends, but the doctrine is really teaching something else.”
For instance, in his defense of the Islamic doctrine of taqiyya, which permits deception—under limited or broad circumstances being the point of contention—Muslim cleric Usama Hasan offered the following “yes, but” explanation:
It is true that hardened islamist terrorists, such as the Al-Qaeda & ISIS supporter Usman Khan who murdered two people at Fishmongers’ Hall [after pretending to have been “rehabilitated”], do misuse the principle of taqiyyah in order to further their cause. However, the charge that all Muslims are generally religiously obligated to lie, and do so routinely, is both dangerous and untrue.
But how is the infidel to know which Muslim is and isn’t “misusing the principle of taqiyyah,” particularly since not a few Muslims are convinced that Islam allows them to lie and deceive—so long as doing so can be seen as helping further the cause of Islam (based on their prophet’s own employment of deceit)? In other words, the real problem isn’t that “hardened Islamist terrorists … misuse” this or that Muslim doctrine, but rather that such teachings are fundamentally unethical and, as such, have always, from the very beginnings of Islam, lent themselves to being “misused.”
Consider, for example, this Arabic-language video of a Muslim cleric in Egypt addressing how terrorists “misuse” Islamic scriptures to justify killing non-Muslims. He was specifically addressing the bombing of Coptic Orthodox churches, which in recent years have left dozens of Christian worshippers dead in Egypt.
During his sermon, Sheikh Samir Hashish said that those Muslims who bomb churches and kill infidels often cite a sahih hadith (a statement attributed to Muhammad and deemed authentic), where the prophet said, “A Muslim must not be killed on account of a kafir [a non-Muslim, or infidel].” After saying that the hadith does not justify the outright slaughter of non-Muslims, Hashish elaborated:
The hadith itself is of course authentic… However, the hadith does not mean that whoever, without cause, kills any of the People of the Book [Christians and Jews] has done rightly. Not at all—the hadith did not say this; it did not say those who do this are right. The hadith simply excludes the death penalty from among the possible punishments. In other words, the Muslim who kills a non-Muslim without cause—is he wrong or not? He’s wrong. Is he to be penalized or not? He is to be penalized—but without the death penalty. Let him be judged any which way, but do not kill him. Why? Because of what the hadith says. The prophet said, “a Muslim must not be killed on account of a kafir [infidel].” Why? Because their blood is not equal. The blood of the Muslim is superior. Call it racism or whatever you want, but of course the blood of the Muslim is superior. This is not open to debate. [Translation my own.]
Note how that, while the sheikh claims that radicals are twisting the hadith to say something it is not—that any Muslim who kills an infidel is exempt from any punishment—what the hadith is really saying—that the life of a Muslim is more precious than the life of a non-Muslim—is little better and possibly worse.
Or consider how yet another learned Muslim scholar sought to put a gloss on the enslavement and rape of non-Muslim women. While discussing Koran 4:3, which refers to infidel prisoners of war as “possessions,” Suad Saleh, a female professor of Islamic doctrine at Al Azhar university in Egypt, correctly explained that “female prisoners of wars are ‘those whom you own.’ In order to humiliate them, they become the property of the army commander, or of a Muslim, and he can have sex with them just like he has sex with his wives.”
But then the Al Azhar professor proceeded to speak as if the real problem is not Islam’s institutionalization of sex slavery but rather how some Muslims misuse it to the detriment of Islam’s image. She said:
Some [Muslim] opportunists and extremists, who only harm Islam, say: “I will bring a woman from East Asia, [as a sex slave] under the status of ‘right hand possessions.’ And with the consent of my wife, I will allocate this woman a room in the house, and will have sex with her as a slave girl.” This is nonsense. This is not prescribed by Islam at all. Islam says that a woman is either a wife or a slave girl. Legitimately-owned slaves come from among prisoners of war.
What Egypt’s Professor Saleh, Sheikh Hashih, and many other scholars apparently fail to understand is that inherently unjust laws—ones that permit the sexual enslavement of women simply because they are non-Muslims, or that operate on the assumption that the value of human lives is based on their Muslim or non-Muslim status—will always be “abused.”
For instance, Koran 2:256 says there is no coercion in Islam. Yet, because other Koran verses call on Muslims to hate and war on Christians and Jews (60:4, 3:28, 9:29), it is only natural that, past and present, forced conversions have been common. After all, pressuring hell-bound, socially-disenfranchised infidels to embrace Islam can be rationalized as an altruistic act. Moreover, it helps empower Islam, which is always a good thing. As one human rights report explained while discussing the rampant sexual abuse and forced conversion of Christian girls in Pakistan:
The dark side of the forced conversion to Islam is not restricted only to the religious Muslim groups but also involves the criminal elements who are engaged in rape and abduction and then justify their heinous crimes by forcing the victims to convert to Islam. The Muslim fundamentalists are happy to offer these criminals shelter and use the excuse that they are providing a great service to their sacred cause of increasing the population of Muslims (emphasis added).
Similarly, Koran 9:29 says that war on People of the Book can only end when the latter agree to pay tribute (jizya) to their Muslim overlords. And pay they did, for well over a millennium, until the practice was formally abolished thanks to European pressure during the colonial era. Apologists say that Koran 9:29 means that Christians and Jews must pay jizya to representatives of the Islamic state, not just any Muslim. Today, however, criminals from Muslim backgrounds who are acquainted with the basics of 9:29—that infidels are to be warred on until they pay up—see Christian and other minorities in their midst as piggy banks: they are free game for robbing, plundering, and kidnapping for ransom—sometimes even being killed after ransom is paid—as Egypt’s Coptic Christians can attest.
As one Muslim cleric and welfare recipient in the UK who referred to British taxpayers as “slaves” once explained:
We take the jizya, which is our haq [Arabic for “due” or “right”], anyway. The normal situation by the way is to take money from the kafir [infidel], isn’t it? So this is the normal situation. They give us the money—you work, give us the money, Allahu Akbar. We take the money.
In short, the problem is less that some Muslims “misuse” the doctrine of taqiyya—bur rather that a doctrine that sacralizes lies and deception exists in the first place; the problem is less that some Muslims mistakenly believe that they deserve no punishment whenever they kill “inferior” infidels—but rather that Islamic scriptures teach that Muslim blood is “superior” to non-Muslim blood in the first place; the problem is less that some Muslims are not strictly following Islam’s rules concerning the sexual enslavement of infidel women—but rather that the Koran allows non-Muslim women to be enslaved in the first place; the problem is less that some Muslims are ignoring the Koran’s mandate that there be no compulsion in religion—but rather that it calls for enmity and war on non-Muslims in the first place; the problem is less that some Muslims are not strictly following Islam’s rules concerning who has the right to collect jizya from infidels—but rather that it allows the fiscal extortion of non-Muslims in the first place.
It is no solace to learn that Islamic scriptures are being misinterpreted to promote this injustice, when their true interpretation actually permits that injustice.