English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 28/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.november28.22.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty
Saint Luke 01/46-55/:”Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the
Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on
the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me
blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown
strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their
hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the
lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the
promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on November
27-28/2022
Helpless, But Hopeful/Elias Bejjani/November 27/2022
The Parliament cannot continue to manipulate and deliberately delay the election
of the president..Why is the House speakeris elected in one session, and the
governmentis assigned immediately after consultations? Are they more important
than the head of state? Reveal your intentions, you who are aborting sessions to
elect the president
Archbishop Elias Aoudi: The heresy of obstruction is a crime against the
homeland and the voter who sent the deputy to carry out his duty
Assad vows to 'continue backing Hezbollah'
Beirut ‘neighborhood watch’ echoes troubled past
Abdallah: Annual tax evasion is between one & two billion dollars
Bou Habib partakes in Mediterranean Union meeting in Barcelona: Lebanon faces
many challenges, donor countries must help
Hajj Hassan patronizes an agricultural conference in Baalbek: We need to
activate agricultural work & we are open to any partnership with our Arab...
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on November
27-28/2022
Pope Francis concerned about escalation of tension between Palestinians &
Israelis
Niece of Iran's Supreme Leader urges world to cut ties with Tehran over unrest
Iran releases footballer, prominent dissident on bail
Iran Bank Manager Fired for Serving Unveiled Woman
IRGC-Affiliated News Agency Hit by Cyberattack
Iranian Rapper Toomaj Salehi Risks Death Penalty
Iran complains to Fifa after US Soccer removes Islamic emblem from its flag
Europe's ban on Russian oil cargoes is just weeks away. Here's what's happening
– and how it will bedevil Moscow's exports elsewhere.
Pockets of shelling across Ukraine as wintry warfare looms
Russia to bar foreigners from using its surrogate mothers - lawmaker
Ukraine sees less than 3 million tonnes of grain leaving in November - minister
Russia planning new strikes, says Ukraine's Zelenskiy
Italy to Declare State of Emergency After Deadly Landslide in Ischia
Belgium fans riot on streets of Brussels after World Cup defeat by Morocco
Two Rockets Target US Base in Eastern Syria
Israel’s Army Suspends Soldiers for Attacking Activists in Hebron
Titles For The
Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on November
27-28/2022
“The Kafirs [Unbelievers] Should Be Killed, All of Them”: The Persecution of
Christians, October 2022/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/November 27, 2022
Racism, Not Freedom!/Tariq Al-Homayed/ Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/November, 2022
The Popular Embrace of Certain Myths/Anand Giridharadas/The New York
Times/November, 27/2022
Israel’s attempt to check Iranian expansion in Syria/Ghassan Ibrahim/Arab
News/November 27, 2022
Hold the Iranian regime accountable for human rights violations/Dr. Majid
Rafizadeh/Arab News/November 27, 2022
on November
27-28/2022
Helpless, But Hopeful
Elias Bejjani/November 27/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/10506/elias-bejjanii-am-weak-and-helpless-but-hopeful/
It is true I am helpless in seeing positives changes in the life
of a person that I dearly love and care about.
It is true that I am helpless in giving this person a hand to pull him out from
tons of his devastating self inflicted problems, because he does not want help,
and does not seek it, and does not accept it.
It is true too that all other involved persons who love this individual and care
much about him did all give up, and demand constantly that I do the same.
It is true that I might not be able to save this person from himself not now or
in any time in the future.
But in spite of all these sad, traumatic, disappointing and unfortunate actual
facts, I am still hopeful positive and solidly believe that Al Mighty God, our
loving father is hearing my genuine prayers and He one day shall save this
person and shower on him His generous graces of love, faith, forgiveness and
wisdom.
The Holy Bible teaches us that when we pray with confidence, faith and believe
in God’s mercy and love, He definitely hears our prayers and responds. But His
response might be unseen or unidentified by us due to the fact His Wisdom and
His ways are very different from ours.
I strongly believe that this sick person will be cured one day, and that
Almighty God is listening to my prayers and to the prayers of all those who
share my concerns, pains, agony and my heavy burden.
I am more than sure that Our Father, Almighty God shall help this sick person
and take him out off the evil traps of temptation to which currently he a prey.
Jesus Christ teaches us that the righteous can not and must not lose hope no
matter what the hardships are. How could they lose hope while they are still
breathing and full of life?
The righteous live on hope even when they pass away and physically depart this
earthly world and sleep on the hope of resurrection.
In God’s Love and Mercy I believe, on His shoulders I lay my burdens, and in His
hand I leave all my problems.
Amen
The Parliament cannot continue to manipulate and
deliberately delay the election of the president..Why is the House speakeris
elected in one session, and the governmentis
assigned immediately after consultations? Are they more important than the head
of state? Reveal your intentions, you who are aborting
sessions to elect the president
NNA/November 27/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/113682/%d9%86%d8%b5-%d8%b9%d8%b8%d8%aa%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%b7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%83-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%b9%d9%8a-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b7%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%af%d8%a9-15/
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi, presided over a
festive mass at the Maronite Pontifical Institute in Rome on Sunday. In his
sermon, the Patriarch hoped to elect a president for the sake of stability in
Lebanon and to find solutions to the political, economic, social and daily
living crises.
The Patriarch stressed that the essence of the Lebanese system is based on
cultural and religious pluralism in the unity of coexistence, and participation
in governance and administration, in the spirit of the National Pact and the
Constitution. In this context, Al-Rahi called on the deputies to elect a
president capable of uniting the Lebanese around him and around the state
project, one who abides by the constitution, legitimacy, Lebanese laws and
international decisions. "We pray together for Lebanon, so that God will bring
it out of the darkness of its crises into the light of its liberation and the
continuation of its mission," he concluded.
Archbishop Elias Aoudi: The
heresy of obstruction is a crime against the homeland and the voter who sent the
deputy to carry out his duty
LCCC/November 27/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/113682/%d9%86%d8%b5-%d8%b9%d8%b8%d8%aa%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%b7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%83-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%b9%d9%8a-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b7%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%af%d8%a9-15/
This year's Independence Day passed sadly. Neither the country's
president nor the government nor the people hold accountable a political class
that has clung to the political decision for a long time, obstructing reform,
obstructing the judiciary, and preventing any accountability and accountability,
and emptiness for it is better than finding solutions, and than bringing a
president who steers the ship of the nation." Along with a government working to
lift a drowned people, floundering among the waves of greed and irresponsibility
of officials.Lebanon lost a few days ago, Romeo Lahoud, one of the men of
culture, art and creativity, who lived Lebanon's beautiful past and contributed
to its brilliance, and perhaps he passed away on the anniversary of independence
in disgust, pain and protest. On the sitcom whose chapters follow weekly, and it
does not seem to have an end, because its heroes ignore the rules of the
democratic system, or want it to be suspended as they made the constitution
absent. And they cannot elect a president except after difficult labor, wasted
time, retreat, dissolution and collapse? President of the country? As for the
heresy of obstruction, it is a crime against the nation and the right of the
voter who directed the representative to carry out his duty. There is no
discretionary authority for the representative to carry out his constitutional
duty, otherwise he would betray the trust of the people and harm their interest.
The state of the country is tragic, and the deputies are playing around,
boycotting, disrupting the quorum, and preventing the election of a president.
Some of them are not ashamed to admit that the outside has a say in this
national matter that concerns the inside. Do we lack the ability and competence
to manage our affairs ourselves and block the way for any interference, or do
external interventions suit the interests?” And he said: “We heard in the text
of today’s message: “The cornerstone is Jesus Christ Himself, through whom the
whole building is coordinated and grows as a holy temple in the Lord.” Officials
have forgotten that they are not the cornerstones, and that the country is not
built on them or for them, but rather they are just workers in the field of the
homeland, toiling and succeeding until it flourishes for the sake of all its
people. So when is the time for farming? Is it when the soil hardens and there
is no room for planting? That is, when hatred and distances increase between the
people of the same land, or when the country is emptied of its children? Wake up
from your drunkenness as St. James the Persian woke up from the drunkenness of
his sins, and repent that you may mend what you have corrupted.
He concluded, "Our call today is to remove all sins from our souls, and to
purify ourselves with warm tears of repentance, so that we may deserve the
salvation that will come towards us through the birth of the Lord of glory."
Assad vows to 'continue backing Hezbollah'
Naharnet/November 27/2022
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has pledged that Damascus will continue to back
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah. “We have supported Hezbollah, we are still
supporting it and we will continue to support it, because it is a strategic ally
for us,” Assad repotedly said in an interview with a number of journalists.
Moreover, Assad voiced conern over Lebanon and its future amid the current
situation, describing the neighboring country as “Syria’s main flank.”
“Stability in it is very important for Syria,” Assad added.
Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to bolster Assad’s forces in the
face of the revolt that erupted in 2011. The Syrian leader’s remarks coincide
with remarks by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said Saturday
that “Iran’s active policy in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq led to foiling America’s
plot in these countries.”“We will continue our support for the resistance forces
in the region, Lebanon and Palestine,” Khamenei added.
Beirut ‘neighborhood watch’ echoes troubled past
Reuters/November 27, 2022
BEIRUT: In the darkness of Beirut’s unlit streets, men wielding batons and
torches are taking security into their own hands in an initiative they hope will
keep neighborhoods safe but critics see as a worrying echo of Lebanon’s troubled
past. The neighborhood watch, launched earlier this
month in some of Beirut’s most salubrious streets, is the latest symptom of the
crisis that has afflicted Lebanon since its economy collapsed in 2019,
paralyzing much of the state and fueling poverty in the worst shock since the
1975-90 civil war. To supporters of the scheme — the
idea of Christian politician Nadim Gemayel and organized by a civil society
group he founded — the men deployed in the city’s Ashrafieh district offer
reassurance to residents worried about crime. But
among critics, their appearance has evoked parallels with the civil war when the
state collapsed, militias controlled the streets and Beirut split into cantons.
The mayor has expressed concern it could prompt others to follow suit.
Such criticisms are rejected by Gemayel, a lawmaker in the Kataeb Party whose
father, Bashir, led the main Christian militia in the civil war until he was
assassinated in 1982 after being elected president.
“We are not a militia, we are not armed, we don’t have rockets or drones,” he
said, referring to the heavily armed, Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah.
“The big problem we are suffering today in Beirut and all Lebanon is that
there’s no electricity, there’s no security, no feeling of reassurance, and all
the streets are dark,” he said, describing the state as “absent.”
“If they had done their duty and lit the streets, we would not have been
forced to light the streets, and if they ... had not allowed the country to
collapse, we would not be forced today to stand in the streets to reassure our
people,” he said. The initiative — which currently has
98 recruits — was launched in coordination with the security services and aimed
to complement their work, Gemayel said, adding the security forces were
suffering a manpower shortfall due to the crisis.
Lebanon’s security services, like the rest of the state, have been hit hard by a
95 percent currency collapse which has destroyed the value of wages paid to
soldiers and police. The United States is buttressing
them with aid, including salary support. A spokesman for the Internal Security
Forces (ISF) did not respond to a request for comment.
The crisis has driven a spike in crimes, including armed robberies, carjackings,
handbag snatches and thefts of Internet and telephone cables. Still, army chief
General Joseph Aoun said the army, the backbone of civil peace in Lebanon, was
able to maintain order. “The security situation is under control... we have not
previously accepted any violation of security and stability, and we will not
accept it today,” he said. Beirut Mayor Jamal Itani
said he learnt about the initiative on the news, and was worried it could cause
tension.
“Say they catch a thief from one party or people intervene with guns, then
things could get out of hand,” he said.
“My second fear is that other areas will also ask for this and then each area
will have a group for itself managing security in their area.” Lebanon’s
sectarian parties disarmed at the end of the war, bar Hezbollah, which kept its
arsenal to fight Israel. Their pervasive influence is never far from the surface
and tensions are common in a country awash with guns.
Supporters of different groups fought deadly clashes in Beirut as recently as
last year. Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center said the
initiative was a clear example of security being organized locally under a
political umbrella, adding that this trend had surfaced earlier in the crisis
and was unfolding less visibly elsewhere. Security, like electricity, would
increasingly be enjoyed by those who could afford it, he added.
Gemayel said the finance came from local donors, with logistics organized
by a security company. Recruits earn $200 a month for a six-hour shift — much
needed income for many. He expects expansion.
Shopkeeper George Samaha welcomed it. “We were more
assured because nothing is guaranteed given this bad situation we’re living,”
said Samaha, 51. But lawmaker Paula Yacoubian called it “short-sighted.” “Are we
back to the time of militias?” she said. “This country is disintegrating and
falling apart, and this is one of the things that will contribute to the fall of
the country and the state.”
Abdallah: Annual tax evasion is between one & two
billion dollars
NNA/November 27, 2022
MP Bilal Abdallah wrote today on Twitter: "The extent of annual tax evasion, in
other words, what is denied to the treasury by the savage capitalist junta that
crosses regions, sects and borders, is estimated at an amount ranging between
one billion to two billion dollars...and with the estimated billion amount of
customs evasion, it becomes clear that a huge gap in our economy is being
obscured, and no treatments are being developed for it...!"
Bou Habib partakes in Mediterranean Union meeting in
Barcelona: Lebanon faces many challenges, donor countries must help
NNA/November 27, 2022
Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Abdallah Bou Habib,
participated in the meetings of the annual Forum of the Union for the
Mediterranean in Barcelona, where he delivered a speech in which he touched
on the issue of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and the need to find a solution
to the Palestinian cause as a main and necessary prelude for security and
stability in the Middle East. He also addressed the Syrian displacement issue,
pointing out that "Lebanon hosts 2 million displaced persons, equivalent to half
of the number of Lebanese, which threatens the Lebanese model," adding that "the
displacement began about 11 years ago, and the displaced Syrians are not
political refugees, but rather economic refugees who benefit from aid provided
by donor countries, pending a political solution..." Bou Habib stressed the need
to develop a serious road map, especially in light of the reduction in resources
allocated by donor countries for crises in the Middle East in general and the
Syrian crisis in particular, as a result of the world's preoccupation with new
crises. He underlined that Lebanon faces many challenges, and donor countries
and the international community must help it preserve the Lebanese model by
sharing burdens and understanding the need to find solutions commensurate with
the Lebanese will. On the sidelines of the forum, Minister Bou Habib held
bilateral meetings with the European Commissioner for the Neighborhood, Oliver
Varhelyi, and the Foreign Ministers of Hungary, Luxembourg and Malta. He also
met Irish Minister of State for Community Development and Charities Joe O'Brien,
German State Minister Katja Cowell and Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pavel
Jablonski. During the meetings, European officials expressed their understanding
of Lebanon's serious repercussions incurred due to the Syrian displacement,
expressing their readiness to continue talks with the Lebanese side to discuss
possible solutions to the displacement crisis in a way that preserves the
interest of Lebanon and its people. European officials also stressed the
necessity of electing a new president for the republic, forming a government
with full powers as soon as possible, and starting the necessary reforms in
preparation for signing a final agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
They also affirmed that the international community, especially the European
Union, is ready to provide support and aid to Lebanon as soon as the agreement
is reached with the International Monetary Fund.
Hajj Hassan patronizes an agricultural conference in
Baalbek: We need to activate agricultural work & we are open to any partnership
with our Arab...
NNA/November 27, 2022
Baalbek – Caretaker Minister of Agriculture, Abbas Hajj Hassan, considered that
the agricultural sector is undoubtedly hindered by many problems and past
obstacles. However, he considered that it is no longer sufficient to continue
describing these impediments without proposing short and long-term solutions.
“In a quick review of the reality of agriculture and what is expected, it seems
clearly evident that we need to activate traditional and modern agricultural
work, by matching what is available with what is required, in order to reach a
promising productivity that would help the national economy,” Hajj Hassan
indicated. His words came during his patronization of the activities of the
"First Scientific Conference on Agricultural Research and Policies", which was
held at a hall nearby the ancient Baalbek Citadel, organized by the "Dialogue
Platform for Baalbek-Hermel Intellectuals".
Hajj Hassan referred to one main goal on which his Ministry’s agricultural
strategy is set, namely raising productivity, reducing costs, activating
rationing and partnership between the public and private sectors. “This is a
current and future vision that we keep pace with in the various internal fields,
by updating laws and introducing what is missing, and setting up control
mechanisms for agricultural work, as well as uniting efforts in order to raise
the level of cooperative and union work to bring the link between producer and
consumer closer,” he said, reminding also of the need to open to foreign markets
and update agreements for the benefit of Lebanese farmers. Hajj Hassan stressed
on commitment to international treaties and agreements with friendly and
brotherly countries as “an affirmation of Lebanon's keenness on an untainted
partnership.”“We are open to any partnership with the Arab brothers, and allow
me to praise the cooperation with the League of Arab States through the Arab
Organization for Agricultural Development and the ACSAD Organization, and we
also communicate with brotherly and friendly countries on a daily basis, in
order to facilitate the entry of our products and the import of what we need
from these countries,” Hajj Hassan maintained.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on November
27-28/2022
Pope Francis concerned about escalation of tension between Palestinians &
Israelis
NNA/November 27, 2022
Pope Francis expressed his concern about the
growing tension between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and called on the two
sides to hold dialogue, according to “Russia Today”.
The Pope said during his traditional speech on Sunday in St. Peter's Square: "I
am following with concern the high frequency of violence and clashes between the
Palestinians and the Israelis, as violence kills the future and eliminates hope
for peace... I call on both sides to hold dialogue and work to build mutual
trust, without which peace will not prevail in the Holy Land.”
Niece of Iran's Supreme Leader urges world
to cut ties with Tehran over unrest
DUBAI (Reuters)/November 27, 2022
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's niece, a well known rights
activist, has called on foreign governments to cut all ties with Tehran over its
violent crackdown on popular unrest kindled by the death in police custody of a
young woman. A video of a statement by Farideh Moradkhani, an engineer whose
late father was a prominent opposition figure married to Khamenei's sister, was
being widely shared online after what activist news agency HRANA said was her
arrest on Nov. 23. "O free people, be with us and tell your governments to stop
supporting this murderous and child-killing regime," Moradkhani said in the
video. "This regime is not loyal to any of its religious principles and does not
know any rules except force and maintaining power."Khamenei's office did not
immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. HRANA said 450 protesters
had been killed in more than two months of nationwide unrest as of Nov. 26,
including 63 minors. It said 60 members of the security forces had been killed,
and 18,173 protesters detained. The protests, sparked by the death of young
Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini after her arrest for "inappropriate attire",
pose one of the strongest challenges to the country's clerical establishment
since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Challenging the Islamic Republic’s
legitimacy, protesters from all walks of life have burned pictures of Khamenei
and called for the downfall of Iran's Shi'ite Muslim theocracy. The video was
shared on YouTube on Friday by her brother, France-based Mahmoud Moradkhani, who
presents himself as "an opponent of the Islamic Republic" on his Twitter
account, and then by prominent Iranian rights activists. On Nov. 23, Mahmoud
Moradkhani reported her sister's arrest as she was heeding a court order to
appear at the Tehran prosecutor's office. Farideh had been arrested earlier this
year by Iran's Intelligence Ministry and later released on bail. HRANA said she
was in Tehran's Evin security prison. Moradkhani, it said, had earlier faced a
15-year prison sentence on unspecified charges. Her father, Ali Moradkhani
Arangeh, was a Shi'ite cleric married to Khamenei's sister and recently passed
away in Tehran following years of isolation due to his stance against the
Islamic Republic, according to his website. Farideh Moradkhani added in her
video: "Now is the time for all free and democratic countries to recall their
representatives from Iran as a symbolic gesture and to expel the representatives
of this brutal regime from their countries."On Thursday, the United Nations top
human rights body decided by a comfortable margin to establish a new
investigative mission to look into Tehran's violent security crackdown on the
anti-government protests. Criticism of the Islamic Republic by relatives of top
officials is not unprecedented. In 2012, Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, the daughter
of late former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was sentenced to jail for
"anti-state propaganda".
(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Iran releases footballer, prominent dissident on bail
Agence France Presse/November 27, 2022
Iranian authorities have released on bail former international footballer Voria
Ghafouri and prominent dissident Hossein Ronaghi, two of the most prominent
figures detained in the crackdown on the protests over the death of Mahsa Amini,
reports said. The arrest on Thursday of Ghafouri, who is Kurdish and had spoken
out in support of the protests, had sparked an outcry as the Iranian team plays
in the World Cup in Doha. Ronaghi, meanwhile, had been
detained since shortly after the protests started in mid-September, and concern
had been growing about his health after he mounted a hunger strike lasting two
months. "Voria Ghafouri and Hossein Ronaghi were released on bail," Iran's Fars
news agency said on its social media accounts. The
Iranian newspaper Shargh also said that Ghafouri had been released following his
arrest during a training session on Thursday. "Hossein was released tonight on
bail to undergo treatment," Hossein Ronaghi's brother Hassan wrote on Twitter.
Their father Ahmad posted a picture of Hossein in hospital, saying he had
been released after a hunger strike that lasted 64 days.
According to the UN, around 14,000 people have been arrested in the
crackdown on the protests that erupted after the death of Amini who had been
arrested by the Tehran morality police. Among those
detained are dozens of prominent journalists, cultural figures, lawyers and also
sportspeople .Ghafouri, an outspoken figure who appeared 28 times for Iran up
until 2019, was arrested after a club training session over accusations that he
spread "propaganda" against the Islamic republic, Fars said on Thursday.
Originally from the Kurdish-populated city of Sanandaj in western Iran,
Ghafouri had been particularly critical of the crackdown in Kurdish-populated
areas of western Iran where activists say dozens have been killed in the last 10
days.
Ronaghi, 37, a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, has for years been one of
the most fearless critics of the Islamic republic still living in the country.
Ronaghi was taken to Evin prison after his arrest on September 24. His
family had said he risks dying due to a kidney condition.
Other prominent figures remain in detention in the crackdown on the protests,
which are seen as the biggest challenge to the Islamic republic since the 1979
revolution. They include the prominent dissidents
Arash Sadeghi and Majid Tavakoli as well as journalists Niloufar Hamedi and
Elahe Mohammadi who helped expose the Amini case.
Renowned Iranian film-makers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof were meanwhile
detained this year even before the current protest wave began.
Iran Bank Manager Fired for Serving Unveiled Woman
Asharq Al-Awsat/27 November, 2022
An Iranian bank manager who served an unveiled woman has been fired, local media
reported on Sunday. Since 1979 , Iranian law requires all women to wear a hijab
that covers the head and neck. Mehr news agency reported that the bank manager
in Qom province, near the capital Tehran, “had provided bank services on
Thursday to an unveiled woman.” As a result, he was “removed from his position
by order of the governor,” Mehr quoted deputy governor Ahmad Hajizadeh as
saying. This comes after the September 16 death in morality police custody of
Mahsa Amini, 22, for allegedly breaching the dress code rules, sparked
nationwide demonstrations. Mehr said video of the unveiled woman “elicited a lot
of reaction on social media.”In Iran most banks are state-controlled and
Hajizadeh said it is the responsibility of managers in such institutions to
implement the hijab law. Dozens of people, mainly protesters but also members of
the security forces, have been killed during the demonstrations.
IRGC-Affiliated News Agency Hit by Cyberattack
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 27 November, 2022
A news agency affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was hacked
late Friday in line with protests over Mahsa Amini’s death, local media
reported.
The IRGC’s Tasnim news agency said on Friday evening that hackers have disrupted
the work of Iran’s Fars news agency for few minutes. According to AFP, the
government-affiliated agency is one of the main sources of news disseminated by
the state during the protests, which the agency describes as “riots.”
Fars said that its website had been disrupted late Friday by a “complex hacking
and cyberattack operation.”“Cyberattacks against Fars news agency are carried
out almost daily from different countries, including the occupied territories
(Israel),” it added in a statement posted Saturday on its Telegram channel,
without elaborating. On October 21, a group called Black Reward said it had
obtained documents related to Iran's nuclear program and demanded the release of
all political prisoners and people arrested during the protests. After its
24-hour ultimatum expired, material on social media said to be released by the
group included a short clip from a purported nuclear site in Iran, as well as
documents. On November 23, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran acknowledged
that one of its subsidiaries had been targeted by “a specific foreign country,”
while downplaying the importance of the documents in question.
Iranian Rapper Toomaj Salehi Risks Death Penalty
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 27 November, 2022
The family of an Iranian rapper detained for supporting protests over Mahsa
Amini's death said his life was at risk after he went on trial behind closed
doors on Saturday. Iran has intensified a crackdown on the protests sparked by
the September 16 death of Amini after her arrest in Tehran for allegedly
breaching the country's strict dress code for women.
Toomaj Salehi, well known on Iran's rap scene, was arrested late last month
after denouncing the regime and showing support for the protests, human rights
groups said. “Dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi had the
first day of his so-called ‘trial’ on Saturday in Tehran without a lawyer of his
choice,” the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said on Twitter.
His family tweeted that his “life is at serious risk right now” as he
faced charges of “enmity against God” and “corruption on earth” --
sharia-related charges that are capital crimes in Tehran.
Salehi had disappeared at the end of October before appearing in a video
published on November 2 by Iran’s state-run media. The
video claimed to show the first images of Salehi after his arrest. It depicted a
blindfold man who introduced himself as Toomaj Salehi and said he made a
mistake, AFP reported.
Activists condemned the recording as a forced confession extracted under duress.
Salehi is one of a number of prominent figures to be arrested in a mass
crackdown that has seen dozens of journalists, lawyers, civil society and
cultural figures arrested. His detention came shortly after he gave an interview
highly critical of the regime to the Canadian Broadcasting Cooperation (CNN).
“You are dealing with a mafia that is ready to kill the entire nation...
in order to keep its power, money and weapons,” Salehi said in the interview.
Iranian state media claim Salehi was arrested while trying to cross one of the
country’s western borders, but his family have denied this saying he was in the
southwestern province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari at the time.
Iran complains to Fifa after US Soccer removes Islamic emblem from its flag
Bevan Hurley/The Independent/November 27, 2022
Iran’s football federation has lodged an official complaint with Fifa after the
US Soccer Federation removed the Islamic Republic’s emblem from its flag in
social media posts. The US men’s team’s social media accounts displayed a banner
with the squad’s Group B matches on Sunday with the Iranian flag only showing
its green, white and red colours.The USSF said in a statement to the Associated
Press on Sunday the decision to remove the official flag on was to show “support
for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights,” where hundreds have died
protesting the theocratic regime. The social media banners were changed a few
hours later with the Islamic Republic’s emblem reinstated. Iran’s state news
agency IRNA called the move an “unprofessional act” and said the Iran Football
Federation had demanded Fifa “issue a serious warning” to its US counterpart.
Iranian state television accused the US of removing Allah’s name from its flag,
according to the Associated Press. An Iranian Football
Federation adviser was quoted in a local news agency as saying the “measures
taken regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran flag are against the law” of FIFA
competitions. “They must be held responsible,”
Safiollah Fagahanpour was quoted as saying in the ISNA news agency. “Obviously
they want to affect Iran’s performance against the US by doing this.”On social
media, outraged Iranian fans called for the USA to be kicked out of the Qatar
World Cup, the first to be held in the Middle East. USSF spokesman Neil Buethe
refused to say whether the decision to post the altered flag had been cleared by
its President Cindy Parlow Cone. In a statement, the
federation said: “We wanted to show our support for the women in Iran with our
graphic for 24 hours.”US men’s team defender Walker Zimmerman said the players
were unaware of the controversy. “We didn’t know anything about the posts but we
are supporters of women’s rights,” he said in comments to the Associated Press.
“I think it’s such a focused group on the task but at the same time we empathise
and we are firm believers in women’s rights and support them.”More than 450
people have died and thousands have been imprisoned during widespread protests
in Iran since the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini on 16 September.
Officials in Tehran have accused the US of inflaming the protests.
Tuesday’s Group B clash will determine whether either side progresses to the
knockout stages of the tournament.
Europe's ban on Russian oil cargoes is just weeks away.
Here's what's happening – and how it will bedevil Moscow's exports elsewhere.
Zahra Tayeb/Business Insider/November 27, 2022
A forthcoming EU ban on Russian oil is likely to complicate the movement of
Moscow's exports.That's because Russia will likely lean harder on Asia to sell
its oil, meaning longer trade routes. Here's what the EU embargo entails – and
how it will impact Russian oil exports elsewhere.
The European Union's ban on Russian seaborne crude is just two weeks away – and
it's set to complicate Moscow's energy exports. The embargo has already forced
Russia to divert more shipments to Asia in an effort to make up for the
impending loss of its biggest buyer, Europe. That means a raft of potential
disruptions from longer shipping routes and a squeeze on tanker demand to higher
freight and crude costs. Such risks have pressed Russia to seek shorter routes
via the Arctic Circle to send oil to Asia. The ban, aimed at punishing Moscow
for its invasion of Ukraine, will take effect on December 5. It will bar EU
tankers from transporting, insuring and financing Russian oil shipments, meaning
deliveries to alternative buyers in India, for example, could take 10 times as
long. Here's how the EU embargo could impact Russian oil exports elsewhere.
Russia turns to Asia
Moscow has been scrambling to find alternative buyers after crude shipments to
northern Europe fell by 92% in the four weeks to November 18, signaling
continental importers are already slashing their dependence on Russian oil. To
make up for lost demand, Russia is now exporting record volumes to Asian
nations, including to India and China. The country has surpassed Saudi Arabia
and Iraq to become India's top crude supplier, while its energy exports to China
soared 22% on-year in September. "One thing that we can be almost certain of is
that Russia's pivot towards Asia will become more and more evident," Viktor
Katona, a Kpler analyst told Insider. "Once Russia will no longer be allowed to
transport its crude into the Mediterranean (exports into northwest Europe are
already tangibly lower), the Asia-bound flows will only get bigger," he added.
Longer shipping routes
Russia's increased dependence on Asian buyers means a recalibration of shipping
dynamics. Oil cargoes heading to India and China must travel thousands of miles
more compared to the routine voyage to Europe. "With more Asian discharges for
Russian crude and products, the average voyage length will inevitably increase.
Whilst a Russia Baltic-Rotterdam voyage took some 6-7 days, a trip from the same
Russian port to India would be 35-40 days," Katona said.
Tanker demand
That means increased demand for long-range tankers, which could squeeze the
availability of such vessels and raise more logistical hurdles for Russia. "It
could easily be five or six times the distance and that means that you'll need
much more ships to transport the same volume that you imported previously,"
Anders Redigh Karlsen, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux, told Bloomberg. "That is
going to drive demand for product tankers."The effects of tight tanker demand
are already being felt in the industry through surging freight rates. Bloomberg
reported that earnings on the shipping industry's benchmark trade route breached
$100,000 a day earlier this week, the highest since early 2020. Such challenges
have prompted Russia to seek shorter shipping routes to Asia. Earlier this week,
President Vladimir Putin touted the country's "Arctic power" with the launch of
two nuclear-powered icebreakers that will benefit trade with Asia.
Just this month, it sent an ice-breaker tanker of oil to China via the Arctic
Circle in what is the shortest route between Europe and east Asia. That comes at
a pivotal time for oil markets as OPEC+ reportedly mulls a crude output increase
of 500,000 barrels. However, Saudi Arabia has denied the claim.
Crude prices have dipped over the past five months as recession fears and
China's COVID-19 policies weighed on demand. That's despite OPEC+ cutting
production in a bid to support prices. Since mid-October when the oil group made
the announcement, Brent crude has fallen about 9%.
Pockets of shelling across Ukraine as wintry warfare looms
KHERSON, Ukraine (AP)/November 27, 2022
Shelling by Russian forces struck several areas in eastern and southern Ukraine
overnight as utility crews continued a scramble to restore power, water and
heating following widespread strikes in recent weeks, officials said Sunday.
With persistent snowfall blanketing the capital, Kyiv, Sunday, analysts
predicted that wintry weather — bringing with it frozen terrain and grueling
fighting conditions — could have an increasing impact on the direction of the
conflict that has raged since Russian forces invaded Ukraine more than nine
months ago. But for the moment, both sides were bogged down by heavy rain and
muddy battlefield conditions in some areas, experts said. After a blistering
barrage of Russian artillery strikes on at least two occasions over the past two
weeks, infrastructure teams in Ukraine were fanning out in around-the-clock
deployments to restore key basic services as many Ukrainians dealt with only a
few hours of electricity per day — if any. Ukrenergo, the state power grid
operator, said Sunday that electricity producers are now supplying about 80% of
demand. That’s an improvement from Saturday’s 75%, the company says. The
Institute for the Study of War, a think tank that has been closely monitoring
developments in Ukraine, said reporting from both sides indicated that heavy
rain and mud have had an impact — but wider freezing expected along the front
lines in coming days could play a role. “It is unclear if either side is
actively planning or preparing to resume major offensive or counter-offensive
operations at that time, but the meteorological factors that have been hindering
such operations will begin lifting,” it said in a note published Saturday. ISW
said Russian forces were digging in further east of the city of Kherson, from
which they were expelled by Ukrainian forces more than two weeks ago, and
continued “routine artillery fire” across the Dnipro River. In the eastern
Donetsk region, five people were killed in shelling over the past day, according
to governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. Overnight shelling was reported by regional leaders
in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk areas to the west. Kharkiv governor Oleh
Syniehubov said one person was killed and three wounded in the northeastern
region. A day earlier, a long column of cars, vans and trucks caravanned away
from the recently liberated city of Kherson after intense shelling in recent
days and amid concerns more pummeling from the Russian forces nearby could loom
again in coming days. Galina Lugova, head of the city’s military administration,
said in an interview Sunday that evacuation trains had been lined up and bomb
shelters set up in all city districts with stoves, beds, first aid kits and fire
extinguishers. “Everything you need,” she said.
“We are preparing for a winter in difficult conditions, but we will do
everything to make people safe,” Lugova said. Her biggest worry, she said, was
“shelling that intensifies every day. Shelling, shelling and shelling again.” On
the roads out of the city, some residents felt they had no choice but to leave.
“The day before yesterday, artillery hit our house. Four flats burned down.
Windows shattered,” said Vitaliy Nadochiy, driving out with a terrier on his lap
and a Ukrainian flag dangling from a sun visor. “We can’t be there. There is no
electricity, no water, heating. So we are leaving to go to my brother.”
Keaten reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.
Russia to bar foreigners from using its surrogate mothers -
lawmaker
(Reuters)/November 27, 2022
Russia will soon adopt a law barring foreigners from using Russian surrogate
mothers, Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house of parliament said
on Sunday, the nation's Mother's Day. Paid surrogacy is legal in Russia, but the
practice has been criticised by religious groups as commercializing the birth of
children. "Everything must be done to protect children by prohibiting foreigners
from using the surrogacy service," Volodin said on the Telegram messaging app.
"We will make this decision at the beginning of December."He said some 45,000
babies born by surrogate mothers have been taken abroad in the past few years.
"Child trafficking is unacceptable," he added. Russian lawmakers passed the bill
nearly unanimously in its first reading in May. If passed in the final third
reading, it will be reviewed by the upper house of parliament and signed into
law by President Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian government says Russia has
forcibly deported more than 12,000 Ukrainian children since invading its
neighbour in February, while 440 have died in the war and hundreds are missing.
Russia denies forced deportations, saying the movement of people into Russia
from Ukraine has been to protect civilians from Ukrainian soldiers. Putin met on
Friday with a carefully selected group of mothers of Russian soldiers sent to
fight in Ukraine telling them their sons had not died in vain.
Ukraine sees less than 3 million tonnes of grain leaving in
November - minister
(Reuters)November 27, 2022
Exports of Ukraine's grain will not reach 3 million tonnes in November as Russia
tries to limit ship inspections at ports, Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister
Oleksandr Kubrakov said late on Sunday. In October, some 4.2 million tonnes of
grain left Ukrainian ports, Kubrakov said on his Facebook page.
"It was the custom to conduct 40 inspections a day, now, due to Russia's
position, there are five times fewer checks," he said.
A deal aimed at easing global food shortages by helping Ukraine export its
agricultural products and protecting the transit corridor from three Black Sea
ports that was originally reached in July was extended for four months in
mid-November. Ukraine and Russia are major global
grain exporters. They agreed that teams would check the vessels to ensure no
barred people or goods were arriving at or departing from Ukrainian ports.
But Ukraine's exports have gotten off to a slower start with Kyiv putting the
blame on Russia's reluctance to speed up ship inspections. Kubrakov said 77
ships were queuing to pass the inspection in Turkey while the three Black Sea
ports use up to only 50% of their capacity. Russia's President Vladimir Putin
said in September that Russia and the developing world had been "cheated" by the
UN-brokered Ukrainian grain export deal, delivering the grain to its own states.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hosted a summit in Kyiv
with allied nations to launch a plan to export $150 million worth of grain to
countries most vulnerable to famine and drought.
Russia planning new strikes, says Ukraine's Zelenskiy
(Reuters)November 27, 2022
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Russia would surely
launch new missile attacks on his country, and warned defence forces and
citizens should be prepared to work together to withstand the consequences.
"We understand that the terrorists are planing new strikes. We know this for a
fact," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. "And as long as they have
missiles, they, unfortunately, will not calm down." Zelenskiy said the week to
come could well be as difficult as the previous week, when attacks on
electricity infrastructure subjected Ukrainians to the most acute power cuts
since Russian troops invaded in February. "Our defence forces are getting ready.
The entire country is getting ready," he said. "We have worked out all the
scenarios, including with our partners."
Italy to Declare State of Emergency After Deadly Landslide
in Ischia
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 27 November, 2022
Rescuers dug through mud for a second day Sunday in the search for people
believed lost in an enormous landslide on the Italian resort island of Ischia.
One body was recovered on Saturday and two families with children
remained among the 11 missing in the port town of Casamicciola, feared buried
under mud and debris that firefighters said was six meters (20 feet) deep in
some places. “Mud and water tend to fill every
space,'' the spokesman for Italian firefighter, Luca Cari, told RAI state TV.
”Our teams are searching with hope, even if it is very difficult."“Our biggest
hope is that people identified as missing have found refuge with relatives and
friends and have not advised of their position,” he added.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni convened a Cabinet meeting for later
Sunday to declare a state of emergency on the island.
“The government expresses its closeness to the citizens, mayors and towns of the
island of Ischia, and thanks the rescue workers searching for the victims,"
Meloni said in a statement. “We are continuing the
search with our hearts broken, because among the missing are also minors,"
Giacomo Pascale, the mayor of the neighboring town of Lacco Ameno, told RAI. The
island received 126 millimeters (nearly five inches) of rain in six hours, the
heaviest rainfall in 20 years, according to officials. Experts said the disaster
was exacerbated by building in areas of high risk on the mountainous island.
“There is territory that cannot be occupied. You cannot change the use of a zone
where there is water. The course of the water created this disaster," geologist
Riccardo Caniparoli told RAI. “There are norms and laws that were not
respected.”
Belgium fans riot on streets of Brussels after World Cup
defeat by Morocco
Alex Pattle/The Independent/November 27, 2022
Belgium’s shock World Cup defeat by Morocco on Sunday led to riots on the
streets of Brussels, with photos and videos showing cars being smashed and
upturned, and fires being started.The incidents in the Belgian capital, which
saw riot police deployed, followed the national football team’s surprise 2-0
loss to Morocco in Group F, a result that puts Roberto Martinez’s side on the
brink of an early exit from the competition in Qatar.
This edition of the World Cup is seen as a ‘golden generation’ of players’ final
shot at claiming Belgium’s first major trophy, and their Qatar campaign began
with a 1-0 win against Canada on Wednesday. Striker Michy Batsuayi scored the
only goal of that game after Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois saved a penalty
early on, but Martinez’s side generally played poorly.
They followed that match with another poor performance on Sunday (27 November),
as Morocco pulled off an upset, with Courtois at fault for the first goal.
It means Belgium go into their final group-stage game, against Croatia,
realistically needing a win if they are to reach the knockout stages. Belgium
would, however, go through with a draw coupled with a heavy goal-difference
swing in the match between Morocco and the already-eliminated Canada.
And Belgium’s loss to Morocco was received poorly by some fans in
Brussels, who took to the streets to engage in violent riots, which led to the
deployment of riot police. Photos and video footage
show cars and other property being vandalised in the streets of the Belgian
capital, with fires also lit in the roads.
Two Rockets Target US Base in Eastern Syria
London - Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsa/Sunday, 27 November, 2022
Two rockets targeted international coalition forces at the US patrol base in
northeastern Syria, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a
statement late Friday. The attack at its base in
al-Shaddadi was the third of its kind in a week but resulted in no injuries or
damage to the base or coalition property. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic
Forces (SDF) visited the rocket origin site and found a third unfired rocket,
the statement added. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an
opposition war monitor, in an earlier report about the Friday night rocket
attack said “the area has been witnessing attacks by ISIS cells.” It later said
that Iran-backed militias “are responsible for Friday’s rocket fire.”Such groups
have significant influence in the Syria-Iraq border region, the war monitor
noted, according to AFP. “Attacks of this kind place coalition forces and the
civilian populace at risk and undermine the hard-earned stability and security
of Syria and the region,” said Col. Joe Buccino, CENTCOM spokesman. On Nov17,
rockets targeted the coalition's Green Village base, which is in Syria's largest
oil field, Al-Omar, near the Iraqi border, CENTCOM said at the time. There were
no injuries.
Israel’s Army Suspends Soldiers for Attacking Activists in
Hebron
Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 27 November, 2022
The Israeli army on Friday suspended two soldiers who physically assaulted and
taunted left-wing activists in Hebron. It said in a statement that the incidents
would be investigated by the commander of the Central Command, Maj. Gen. Yehuda
Fuchs. “The soldiers involved were suspended from operational activity until the
end of the investigation,” the army added. In footage
shared by Breaking the Silence, a non-governmental organization that collects
and publicizes mostly anonymous testimony by former Israeli soldiers about
alleged human rights violations against Palestinians, soldiers can be seen
confronting Palestinian and Israeli left-wing activists and assaulting them.
They also boasted about far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir, who is set to
become Israel’s next national security minister - an expanded public security
minister role. “Ben Gvir is going to sort things out in this place,” one soldier
said. “That’s it, you guys have lost … the fun is over,” he added.Asked by the
filming activist, “Why? Am I doing something illegal?” the soldier replies,
“Everything you do is illegal. I am the law,” and orders the activist to step
back. In another footage, a soldier was seen knocking an activist to the ground
and punching him. The soldier was wearing a patch attached to the back of his
military vest that read, “One shot. One kill. No remorse. I decide.”The group of
activists had traveled to Hebron to meet with local Palestinian families as an
act of solidarity after Israelis visiting the city in an annual pilgrimage
initiated clashes with them last week.
“We can already see the effects of Ben Gvir’s appointment on the ground,” read a
subsequent statement issued by Breaking the Silence. Military chief Aviv Kohavi
condemned the soldiers’ actions, saying they were “extremely serious and
contrary to the values of the Israeli army.” “The regulations and procedures
allow soldiers freedom of action to carry out their mission, but they are not
allowed to use force unnecessarily and they are not allowed to act violently,”
Kohavi said in a statement. The army affirmed that patches other than those
showing the logo of a military unit or an Israeli flag are against military
regulations.
The Latest LCCC English analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on November
27-28/2022
ريموند إبراهيم من موقع معهد كايتستون: تقرير بقائمة احداث اضطهاد المسيحيين
خلال شهر تشرين الأول لعام 2022 … يجب قتل كل الكفار
“The Kafirs [Unbelievers] Should Be Killed,
All of Them”: The Persecution of Christians, October 2022
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/November 27, 2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/113670/raymond-ibrahim-gatestone-institute-the-kafirs-unbelievers-should-be-killed-all-of-them-the-persecution-of-christians-october-2022-%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%85%d9%88%d9%86%d8%af-%d8%a5%d8%a8%d8%b1/
“I heard them. They were shouting in Arabic and Swahili, saying that the kafirs
[unbelievers] should be killed, all of them, and make Congo an Islamic state.
Shoot all of them. Kill all of them, and burn their houses, these notorious
Christians.” — International Christian Concern, October 10, 2022, Democratic
Republic of Congo.
“The ADF rebels attacked the village, and more precisely the hospital. They
looted everything they could find, taking medicines, and at the end they set
fire to the building. A nun, who is also a doctor and was on night duty, was
burned alive, along with a patient…. [Once the hospital was destroyed] the
rebels continued on their way and set fire to another hospital nearby.” — Father
Marcelo Oliveira, Aid to the Church in Need, October 22, 2022, Democratic
Republic of Congo.
“When they were all gathered, they started asking who is Muslim and who is
Christian. Those who identified as Christian, they started tying their hands
behind their back and they cut their throats.” — Bishop Alberto Vera Aréjula of
Nacala, Aid to the Church in Need, October 5, 2022, Mozambique.
Before long, the video went viral on social media, and was even broadcast as
“breaking news” by TV9, which referred to James [falsely accused of blasphemy]
as a “sanitary worker” — code in Pakistan for both Christians and the lowest of
the low. In James’ own words, “I knew the sensitivity of this news; it was a
death warrant against me.” — Voice of the Martyrs, October 12, 2022, Pakistan.
“[It is] an easy way to settle personal scores against someone. People don’t
even think twice before using this law against someone, as victims of this law
have to spend 8-11 years in prison to prove themselves innocent….” — Nasir Saeed,
Director of Centre for Legal Aid & Assistance, Voice of the Martyrs, October 22,
2022, Pakistan.
The president of Cairo University, Muhammad Uthman al-Khosht, assigned 31 new
directors, deputy directors, managers, and researchers to head a number of
departments, including those of agriculture, medicine, engineering, nursing,
dentistry, statistical research, and African Studies. Although the Copts—Egypt’s
indigenous, Christian, people—make up anywhere from 10-20% of its population,
notable among these new Cairo University hires is that not a single one of them
is Christian. All are Muslim.
Earlier this year, 98 female judges took the legal oath in preparation for
assuming judicial roles in Egypt’s State Council…. [S]ince its inception 75
years earlier, not a single woman had sat on the podium of the State Council
court—and now 98 are. Yet, not one of them is a Christian… at the very least 10
of the 98 should have, for proper representation, been Christian.
Earlier this year, 98 female judges were appointed to judicial roles in Egypt’s
State Council. Since its inception 75 years earlier, no woman had sat on the
podium of the State Council court — and now 98 are. Yet, not one of them is a
Christian, despite the fact that the Christian Copts account for between 10-20%
of the nation’s population. Pictured: Judge Radwa Helmi Ahmad, the first woman
on the bench of Egypt’s State Council, sits on her first hearing in Cairo, on
March 5, 2022. (Photo by Samer Abdallah/AFP via Getty Images)
The following are among the murders and abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians
throughout the month of October 2022:
The Muslim Slaughter of Christians
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): On Oct. 1, machete-wielding militants of the
so-called “Allied Democratic Forces” (ADF), a wing of the Islamic State,
slaughtered 14 men and women in a surprise attack on a village in the Christian
nation (96% Christian, 1% Muslim). According to another report, the bodies of
those hacked to death “were found bearing signs of torture.” Before leaving, the
militants had torched the village, destroying the survivors’ livelihoods, and
had abducted two children.
Again, on Oct. 5, the jihadists slaughtered between 10 and 20 Christians,
including a pastor, during a raid on another village, which they also torched
before leaving. An additional 20 villagers were also reported missing. According
to a survivor:
“I heard them. They were shouting in Arabic and Swahili, saying that the kafirs
[unbelievers] should be killed, all of them, and make Congo an Islamic state.
Shoot all of them. Kill all of them, and burn their houses, these notorious
Christians.”
On Oct. 19, during a raid on another village, the jihadists burned two people
alive, one of whom was a nun, Sister Marie-Sylvie Kavuke Vakatsuraki, of the
Little Sisters of the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple, from Butembo.
Discussing the “terror” of that midnight assault, Father Marcelo Oliveira, the
Portuguese-born head of the Comboni Missionaries in the DR Congo, said,
e ADF rebels attacked the village, and more precisely the hospital. They looted
everything they could find, taking medicines, and at the end they set fire to
the building. A nun, who is also a doctor and was on night duty, was burned
alive, along with a patient….. [Once the hospital was destroyed] the rebels
continued on their way and set fire to another hospital nearby.”
The report adds: “As soon as she realized that they were under attack, Sister
Marie-Sylvie called the local parish so that the priests and religious could
flee. Otherwise, the situation could have been even more tragic. Besides the two
victims, there are many people still unaccounted for and who were likely taken
by the jihadists to carry the looted goods.”
“The terror continues,” Father Marcelo concluded. “The people are afraid,
everybody tries to escape. This is a hidden war, silent—or silenced—so that
nobody does anything, and the population continues to suffer.”
Discussing the ongoing terrorization of the DRC, one human rights group said:
“These predominantly Christian communities are attacked by an Islamic extremist
group with a clear Islamic expansionist agenda…. It is a reminder of what is
happening in other parts of the central Sahel region – groups like Boko Haram in
northeast Nigeria, for example. The ideology, the agenda of establishing a
‘caliphate’ in the region, and the way they operate is the same, and we can see
how they afflict terrible suffering on innocent people.”
An Oct. 5 report offers still more details on the current situation: “The ADF—which
the Islamic State group claims as its Central African offshoot—is among the most
violent of more than 120 armed groups active in eastern volatile DRC. It has
been accused of slaughtering thousands of Congolese civilians and carrying out
bomb attacks in neighbouring Uganda. The DRC and Uganda launched a joint
offensive against the ADF in November 2021, but the militia continues to wreak
havoc across swathes of territory.”
Nigeria: Some of the genocidal assaults on the West African nation’s Christian
population throughout the month of October 2022, follow:
On October 4, Muslims connected to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)
raided a village where they killed three Christians and wounded dozens of
others. One resident related that “ISWAP terrorists also set fire to six houses
and looted five shops belonging to Christians in the village, and afterward
burned down the shops.”
After an Oct. 8 night raid on his village, Peter Ahemba said: “Ten corpses of
Christians killed during the attack on Gidan Sule community were recovered on
the morning of Sunday, Oct. 9, by survivors in the community. The attackers, who
we strongly believe are herdsmen and terrorists, shot sporadically on Christians
who were sleeping in their houses.”
Most of the Christians killed were women, children and the elderly, unable to
escape.
On Sunday, Oct. 16: two gunmen stormed and opened fire on Celestial Church
during worship service. A Christian woman and her young daughter were killed and
several others hospitalized. According to a survivor: “when they entered, they
started shooting at every one outside the church. I now went and hid inside a
cassava farm. What I saw yesterday was like an action film in a movie. Kogi is
no longer safe.”
“It looked like it was organized against that particular church, because their
altar was burned with petrol they went with,” said Jerry Omodara, a security
official.
On Oct 18, Muslim Fulani herdsmen raided three Christian villages in central
Nigeria, where they slaughtered more than 70 Christians.
During an Oct. 21 late night raid on a Christian village, Muslim Fulani herdsmen
slaughtered two Christians. A resident recalled:
“A Christian woman … was injured when the herdsmen cut off one of her breasts.
The herdsmen during the invasion of our village shot randomly at our people who
were sleeping in their houses.”
Mozambique: More details were revealed concerning a fatal terror attack on a
Catholic mission where one of the nuns, Maria De Coppi, 83, was shot in the head
and killed as she ran towards a burning dormitory to assist the few remaining
students hiding there. Bishop Alberto Vera Aréjula of Nacala reported: “This was
told to us by one of the brothers of one of the victims. He said the terrorists
were dressed in military uniform, they gathered the population, and they said it
was because they were here to save them. When they were all gathered, they
started asking who is Muslim and who is Christian. Those who identified as
Christian, they started tying their hands behind their back and they cut their
throats. One Christian managed to flee and he is the one who told the story.
This is what happened on the night of Sept. 6 and the following day—11 people
were murdered in total and they left a trail of destruction and a lot of fear.”
Of the 83-year-old nun, Sister Maria, Bishop Alberto said: “I knew her, and she
was the image of a mother, she was really helping everyone with simple love and
humility…. Sister Maria de Coppi was a nurse who would help malnourished
children in a little room where there was milk and flour, and they destroyed
that room as well. The Sister they murdered worked with malnourished babies and
children, [and] they are telling us very clearly that they don’t want us there.
For now, we won’t return there, but we will work with the mission in another
way.”
Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches
West Bank: On Friday night, Oct. 28—Friday being the one day of the week Muslims
meet in mosques and can often get riled up against infidels—dozens of Muslim men
surrounded and hurled stones at a church in Beit Sahur, near Bethlehem, that is
affiliated with the patriarchate of Jerusalem. Several people were injured. The
attack came after a “quarrel between some young men,” a statement from church
leadership said, adding, “We condemn this attack and demand that the Palestinian
Authority bring the attackers to trial as soon as possible.”
Indonesia: On Friday, Oct. 7, an unknown person in the world’s most populous
Muslim nation attacked the Jesus Shepherd Congregation, a Pentecostal church.
Described as a “terror act,” the perpetrator arrived at the church by motorbike,
barged through the gate and into the courtyard “while shouting.” The police
noted: “After that, the perpetrator broke the glass and the headlight of the
pastor’s car. The perpetrator also kicked the trash can and broke the window
glass of the pastor’s residence before fleeing.”
Bongga Lasarus, the head of Kendari city, where the incident occurred, urged
Christians to be calm, “Because whether it is violence, attack, radicalism, or
other acts of intolerance that interfere with the life of our nation, we must
fight and persevere together.”
Pakistan: A group of Muslims forcibly appropriated a Christian community center
and savagely beat Christians who dared to protest. The Oct. 31 report relates:
“A Christian Community Hall was locked by the son of [a] Muslim man who later
claimed ownership without authority. Christians were kept out of their own
building for 24 hours after police refused to take action.”
A few days after they eventually got the police to respond and return their
property, the Muslim father, Shehzad Goga, came and defaced the Christian
property by splattering graffiti on the pillars of the main gate, including the
phrases “Oh Allah, Oh Muhammad,” and similar words claiming the property for
Islam. According to eyewitness, George Choudhary: “He was hurling abuses at the
Christian community while spraying this message in broad daylight. He threatened
Christians of dire consequences, if someone tried to remove it. It felt as if
Muslims were planning to ensnare us under false blasphemy charges, or would burn
our houses like they have done to other Christians before. The community was
terrified [and] many fled their homes again fearing an attack.”
The report continued that soon thereafter,
“[A] gang of Muslim youth … attacked the church building. They pulled down the
fence and main gate of the community hall and stamped over the cross emblem on
the gate in an act of defiance and hate. When Ashraf Masih a local Christian
asked them not damage the property, the men attacked Ashraf Masih who ran into
his home for safety. The gang broke into and entered his house where they beat
him with clubs and kicks and also slapped and intimidated his wife Shaheen Bibi
(45 yrs) and his sister-in-law married to his brother who was present in the
shared home. They tore their clothes during the violence which the whole street
witnessed. The frightened Christian community neither retaliated nor helped the
beleaguered family that was attacked before them. They were all fearful that
they would become the next targets and froze on the spot.”
Muslim Attacks on Christian Blasphemers and Evangelists
Pakistan: Since Oct. 5, when he was falsely accused of blasphemy, the life of
James Masih, a 42-year-old Christian husband and father, has been in constant
jeopardy. On that day, a Muslim woman named Nazia arrived at the hospital where
James for a medical checkup. She inexplicably began yelling at and accusing
James of committing blasphemy against the prophet Muhammad. James, knowing the
danger of this, rushed to his supervisor, who intervened, and, after talking
with Nazia on the side, determined that James had not, in fact, blasphemed.
Despite Nazia’s confession to the supervisor, someone attending her had secretly
recorded her berating James for his supposed blasphemy. Before long, the video
went viral on social media, and was even broadcast as “breaking news” by TV9,
which referred to James as a “sanitary worker”—code in Pakistan for both
Christians and the lowest of the low. In James’ own words:
“I knew the sensitivity of this news; it was a death warrant against me. That
same night, we decided to move somewhere safe for myself and my family. Since
then, I have been hiding at an unknown place. I am very concerned about my
safety and that of my family, and don’t know how we can continue living here.
[Blasphemy] is a very sensitive matter, and in such cases, people become very
emotional. They could kill me on the spot, as normally happens in such cases.
There are a number of examples where innocent people have been killed based on
one person’s accusations.”
According to James’ wife, Shumaila, who is acquainted with Nazia, this is simply
the Muslim woman’s way of avenging herself on the Christian family a few days
after a monetary dispute that had nothing to do with religion:
“Nazia accused my husband of committing blasphemy. The matter was brought to the
attention of the hospital’s medical superintendent who involved the police
superintendent and assistant superintendent. James was found not guilty, and the
matter was resolved. But this didn’t satisfy Nazia, and she wanted to teach us a
lesson. This time, she has involved the media. Her false accusations have
endangered our whole family’s lives, and if this matter is not resolved we have
no future. My children have already stopped going to school, and we have no
permanent place to live but are moving from one place to another to stay safe.”
Discussing Pakistan’s blasphemy laws in the context of this case, Nasir Saeed,
Director of CLAAS-UK (Centre for Legal Aid & Assistance) said:
“[It is] an easy way to settle personal scores against someone. People don’t
even think twice before using this law against someone, as victims of this law
have to spend 8-11 years in prison to prove themselves innocent…. It is a
hanging sword over the head of Christians and other religious minorities,
because when someone is accused of committing blasphemy it is not against a
single person, but the whole community comes under threat. Nearly 100 people,
including women, have been extra-judicially killed, and hundreds more languish
in jail for years for their fate to be decided. False accusers are never brought
to justice, and this continues to encourage people to take the law into their
own hands and make false accusations against other persons to settle their
personal scores.”
Uganda: On Oct. 7, Muslims attached, beat, and slashed with knives two Christian
evangelists. According to Wilberforce Mutenga, 38, a father of two, he and
Robert Okia, a 43-year-old father of six children, “were beaten because of
taking the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the purely Muslim
community of Ikule village. We didn’t know that Muslims in this place had heard
about our successful mission in Busakira village.” Before long, a Muslim mob had
surrounded them:
“One shouted the Islamic slogan of ‘Allah Akbar [Allah is the greatest]’ three
times, and everyone began to get hold of sticks and started beating us
badly….After beating us, they carried and threw us near the swamp that separates
Busakira and Kigandaalo, where a herdsman saw both of us bleeding and screaming
for help. The man rushed and called local authorities, who took us to a nearby
clinic for treatment.”
Wilberforce suffered a knife wound to his head, a dislocated knee, and other
injuries to his legs. Robert suffered knife stabs to the knee and ribs, as well
as hand injuries, swelling to his mouth and face and body pain throughout, all
of which required he be transferred to a separate hospital for more specialized
treatment.
In a separate but similar incident reported on Oct. 7, two other evangelists,
Andrew Dikusooka, 35, and Ronald Musasizi, 26 “sustained deep knife wounds after
leading several Muslims to Christ at debates on Islam and Christianity.” During
one particularly fiery debate, more than usual numbers of Muslims embraced
Christ. “The conversion of these people angered Muslims who began shouting to
disrupt the occasion,” Andrew said from a hospital bed. Afterwards, on their way
home, a group of Muslims blocked them near a railroad crossing. “They are the
ones—beat them, beat them,” the Christians heard. “They then started beating us
with blunt objects,” Andrew continued. One of the Muslims “hit me with a sharp
knife right on my head,” while another knife-wielding Muslim “struck my friend
in the belly and hands.” Both Muslim assailants were among the Muslims the
Christians had just debated.
“Both of us fell down as a bright light flashed from a coming vehicle that
appeared from the opposite direction. From that time onwards, we did not know
what happened. We only found ourselves in the hospital in Iganga town with deep
wounds.”
General Hostility for and Discrimination against Christians
Iran: In the Islamic Republic, “Simply being a Christian is enough to get you
arrested,” was one of the findings of a UK governmental report detailing the
horrific persecution Iran’s Christian minorities experience. It states, among
other thngs:
“In general, a person who is found to have converted to Christianity and who
seeks to openly practice their faith in Iran, are [sic] likely to be subject to
treatment or discrimination by the state that is sufficiently serious, by its
nature or repetition, to amount to persecution….. We do not however find it safe
to assume that ‘ordinary’ Christians [as opposed to Muslim converts], that is to
say individuals with no role beyond attending collective worship at house
churches, escape the attention of the authorities. On a general level the
language used by the sources indicates that to the contrary, simply being a
Christian is enough to get you arrested: ‘authorities continued to arrest
members of unrecognized churches’, ‘many arrests reportedly took place during
police raids on religious gatherings’, ‘Christians, particularly evangelicals
and converts from Islam, continued to experience disproportionate levels of
arrests and detention.'”
Egypt: The president of Cairo University, Muhammad Uthman al-Khosht, assigned 31
new directors, deputy directors, managers, and researchers to head a number of
departments, including those of agriculture, medicine, engineering, nursing,
dentistry, statistical research, and African Studies. Although the Copts —
Egypt’s indigenous, Christian, people — make up anywhere from 10-20% of its
population, notable among these new Cairo University hires is that not a single
one of them is Christian. All are Muslim.
This is just the latest instance of overt discrimination. Earlier this year, 98
female judges took the legal oath in preparation for assuming judicial roles in
Egypt’s State Council. This was considered a major and unprecedented
development; since its inception 75 years earlier, not a single woman had sat on
the podium of the State Council court—and now 98 are. Yet, not one of them is a
Christian — again, despite the fact that the Copts account for between 10-20% of
the nation’s population, suggesting that at the very least 10 of the 98 should
have, for proper representation, been Christian. (More examples of Egyptian
discrimination are available here.)
Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Defenders of the West: The Christian
Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the
Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and
a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by
extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but
rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or
location. It includes incidents that take place during, or are reported on, any
given month.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19158/persecution-of-christians-october
Racism, Not Freedom!
Tariq Al-Homayed/ Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/November, 2022
What we are witnessing today of attempts to impose “values” and ideas on the
whole world and to involve politics in sports is nothing but racism, not
freedom, as some claim to be the case. It reaches the point of barbarism in
various fields.
What is known and simple is that your freedom ends where the freedom of others
begins. What we are witnessing today is an infringement and an attack on
customs, values, and beliefs. All this is being done in the name of freedom!
Suddenly, after the war in Ukraine, it became acceptable to involve politics in
sports, and today attempts are being made to do so with the FIFA World Cup. The
question here is what if an Arab football team or player decided to express
themselves?
What if a team or player wears a badge that reads “Don't Forget Palestine,” “No
to anti-Muslims,” or “Do not transgress on my religion” ... Would this be
acceptable in the West? Will it be considered a right of expression? It
certainly won't be allowed.
Today, we are witnessing a blatant abuse of the notion of freedom by
extortionary political campaigns, which have turned to racism used by the media
and some legislators. This is what we witnessed from some members of Congress
after the OPEC+ decision to reduce production.
At that time, we saw campaigns of hatred and demonization of others without
accountability or supervision. Dealing with different values, customs, and
traditions in the world was done with “insults” and accusations prepared to
distort the image of societies and peoples.
What we are witnessing today against the backdrop of the FIFA World Cup is a
different level of descent in attacking cultures, customs, traditions, and
countries that do not necessarily have the exact resemblance to the West or the
United States.
As we have said, it is unfortunate that these campaigns, carried out in the name
of freedom and values, took on the nature of blackmail and racism. An example of
this is what happened when Newcastle United F.C. was bought.
It is both strange and surprising that those who lecture us about freedoms and
values forget that they are the ones who were behind the invasion of our
countries. The best example is Iraq, where hundreds of thousands were killed. To
date, Iraq is still suffering from that occupation. Despite all this, we hear
lame phrases about freedom, values, and respect for human rights.
In the name of freedom and human rights, we saw how Twitter, for example, tried
to be the guardian of values before Elon Musk bought it. At that time, it
reached the limit of prevention and censorship by people who can only be
described as crazy.
There is a story that I have personally witnessed. There was a specific event
back when Twitter was in the hands of the so-called guardians of virtue. In
front of me, a user responded to a fake campaign about an event. Their story had
a legal dimension and was based on the law.
In less than two minutes, they received a message warning that if their tweet
were not deleted, their account would be suspended, while everything offensive
and misleading remained.
We are not facing a campaign to defend freedom. Instead, it is a racist campaign
in its language and violation of laws. Moreover, it is a selective campaign that
ignores the victims in Iran, for example, and focuses on other regions. It
claims to protect the climate but destroys art treasures. Unfortunately, we are
facing a crazy campaign that lacks all the foundations of rationality and
respect for others.
The Popular Embrace of Certain Myths
Anand Giridharadas/The New York Times/November, 27/2022
In recent years, a swelling chorus of Americans has grown critical of the
nation’s billionaires. But in the extraordinary week gone by, that chorus was
drowned out by a far louder and more urgent case against them. It was made by
the billionaires themselves.
One after another, four of our best-known billionaires laid waste to the image
of benevolent saviors carefully cultivated by their class. It is a commendable
sacrifice on their part, because billionaires, remember, exist at our collective
pleasure. If enough of us decided to, we could enact labor, tax, antitrust and
regulatory policies to make it hard for anyone to amass that much wealth while
so many beg for scraps. It is not only the vast political power of billionaires
that keeps us keeping them around, it’s also the popular embrace of certain
myths — about the generosity, the genius, the renegade spirit, the above-it-ness
of billionaires, to name a few.
As of this writing, Elon Musk is running Twitter into the ground, with much of
the company’s staff fired or quitting, outages spiking and everyone on my
timeline hurrying to tell the app the things they have been meaning to say
before it departs for app heaven (or hell?).
In tweeting through one of the most extraordinary corporate meltdowns in
history, Mr. Musk has been performing a vital public service: shredding the myth
of the billionaire genius.
His particular pretension of benevolence is that his uncontainable genius can
solve any challenge. Now he is lavishing his mind and time on electronic money,
now on colonizing Mars, now on electric cars and solar panels, now on saving
Thai soccer players trapped in a cave, now on liberating speech from its liberal
oppressors. Mr. Musk’s genius pose has long been
undermined by his actual record, which is defined by claiming credit for what
others have built and is shot through with complaints of discrimination,
mismanagement and fraud.
But it wasn’t until Mr. Musk took over Twitter that his claim of infinitely
transferable genius truly fell apart. That what Mr. Musk has called the global
town square can be eviscerated in a time period somewhere between a Scaramucci
and a Truss makes one wonder if we should be more skeptical of all the other
billionaire geniuses with ideas for our schools, public health systems and
politics. For example, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who this week was
doing his part to undermine another pretension of billionaire benevolence: the
generosity pose.
He has made a big splash when CNN released an interview in which he announced
that he was giving the great bulk of his more than $120 billion fortune away,
with a focus on fighting climate change and promoting unity.
That sure sounds impressive, but his gesture wasn’t about generosity any more
than Herschel Walker’s Senate candidacy in Georgia is for the children. After
all, the money Mr. Bezos is now so magnanimously distributing was made through
his dehumanizing labor practices, his tax avoidance, his influence peddling, his
monopolistic power and other tactics that make him a cause of the problems of
modern American life rather than a swashbuckling solution.
It’s too soon to tell if Mr. Bezos’s philanthropy will help others, but what’s
certain is that it will help Mr. Bezos a lot. Mega-philanthropists of his ilk
tend to give through foundations, which they establish in ways that save them an
immense amount in taxes, sometimes merely by moving the money from one of their
own accounts to another. Giving will also burnish Mr. Bezos’s reputation, in
that way preserving and protecting his opportunity to earn yet more money — and
to do more social damage.
And it will increase his already gigantic power over public life. For plutocrats
like Mr. Bezos, that may be the biggest payoff of all. Their wealth is so vast
that by distributing even a small fraction of it, they skew the public agenda
toward the kind of social change they can stomach — the kind that doesn’t
threaten them or their class. Shortly before his big announcement, Mr. Bezos
gave Dolly Parton a $100 million “Courage and Civility Award” to spend on her
chosen causes. Ms. Parton is indeed courageous and civil, but so are the workers
fighting to unionize Amazon facilities, and I don’t see anyone offering them
nine-digit thank-you bonuses. But once again, instead
of the usual critics having to make this case, Mr. Bezos took the wheel. Just
minutes after his philanthropy announcement on CNN, news broke that Amazon would
be laying off thousands of workers, reminding everyone of what was really going
on.
At first glance, the two stories might seem like matter and antimatter, or at
least two opposite realities. But they are the same story: The system that
treats human beings as disposable commodities upholds and reproduces itself by
sprinkling some fairy dust and hoping that we will forget the injustice that
paid for it.
Israel’s attempt to check Iranian expansion in Syria
Ghassan Ibrahim/Arab News/November 27, 2022
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps announced on Wednesday the death of Col.
Daoud Jafari, who was a senior adviser to the Iranian Air Force in Syria.
According to Iranian media, Israelis killed him in a blast near Damascus.
The killing indicates Israel's elaborate plan to counter any Iranian military
presence in Syria and is an attempt to diminish Iranian military capabilities,
which pose a threat to Israel's national security. Israel appears to be
expanding its tactics by targeted killings of Iranian individuals and airstrikes
against Iranian militias in Syria. The assassination of Col. Jafari was
carefully planned and carried out by attaching an explosive to his vehicle. This
operation required a new kind of logistical preparation and intelligence on the
ground. It is worth noting that the killing took place near the town of Sayyidah
Zaynab (Sitt Zaynab), south of the capital Damascus. This town was turned into
the headquarters of Iranian militias during the Syrian war.
Despite the significant military presence, Israel managed to infiltrate
Iran's security in order to carry out the assassination.
However, what happened raises questions. How was Israel able to build
intelligence "sleeper cells" in the most fortified areas that are the command
center for Iranian militants and their non-Syrian loyalists? Moreover, has the
Syrian regime become so weak that it cannot protect its Iranian allies on its
own soil?
This inability to respond to Israeli military operations has diminished support
for the Assad regime in the eyes of its remaining Syrian loyalists. Israel has
carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian militias in Syria in recent
years, especially Lebanese Hezbollah, which is considered Tehran's arm in the
region. It seems that the killing of the Iranian general in Syria is a
continuation of the aerial bombing operations targeting the Iranian military
headquarters in Syria, but in a more complex and thorough manner. Israel has
previously targeted people associated with Iran, but with airstrikes, not
explosives on the ground.
On March 19, 2015, Israel orchestrated the assassination of Samir Kuntar, a
senior Hezbollah member who was killed in Damascus after Israeli warplanes
bombed an apartment building where Kuntar was staying at the time. Another
example is the assassination of Jihad Imad Mughniyeh, the leader of Lebanese
Hezbollah, and son of Imad Mughniyeh, one of the party's senior military
commanders. He was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his convoy in Quneitra,
southwestern Syria, on Jan. 18, 2018. It is clear that the assassination of Col.
Jafari cannot be separated from recent Israeli operations in Iranian territory.
On June 12, Iranian media close to the Revolutionary Guards reported that Ali
Kamani and Mohammed Abdous, two members of the Revolutionary Guards air space
unit, were killed in the cities of Khamen and Semnan. Kamani and Abdous had
worked on developing and producing weapons for Lebanese Hezbollah. Iran blamed
Israel for both killings. As long as Iranian militias
remain on Syrian soil, there will be no stability in Syria nor in the entire
region.
Another case is the assassination of Ayoub Waitari, who specialized in
developing missiles and drones for the Revolutionary Guards. According to
Iranian sources, he died of deliberate food poisoning. A similar case of death
by food poisoning was the murder of Kamran Aqa Mollaei, an Iranian geologist who
worked for the Iranian regime. Iran accused Israel of
orchestrating the poisoning in both cases. Iran
appears weaker than it claims, as Tehran has so far been unable to respond to
Israeli military operations against it. The main
reason for Israeli attacks on Iranian units in Syria is a change in the nature
of Iran's presence in Syria from an alleged mission to save the Assad regime to
an attempt to turn Syria into an advanced military platform that could threaten
Israel’s safety and put pressure on Western countries.
In recent years, Iran has been working consistently to build military
infrastructure in Syria that includes permanent bases and small airfields for
the Revolutionary Guards.
In addition, it has set up facilities for its military industry in Syria so as
to avoid Israeli bombing of supply convoys from Tehran to Damascus.
Despite Iran's efforts, Israeli airstrikes continue to this day on a
regular basis. The Ukrainian war also significantly
impacted decisions made in Iran and Israel. Iran was
frightened by Russia's gradual withdrawal from Syria toward Ukraine, which
prompted it to strengthen its military presence.
Israel, on the other hand, began to fear losing the Russian green light that had
allowed it to attack military points in Syrian territory.
However, from the beginning of the Ukrainian war, it became clear that
Israel intended to continue its airstrikes, while Iran could not take advantage
of the growing Russian vacuum in Syria. Tensions
between Israel and Iran have continued to escalate and threaten to turn Syria
into the scene of an undeclared war between the two countries.
As long as Iranian militias remain on Syrian soil, there will be no
stability in Syria nor in the entire region. • Ghassan
Ibrahim is a British-Syrian journalist and researcher on issues regarding the
Middle East, most notably Turkiye, Syria and Iran. He can be reached at
www.ghassanibrahim.com.
Hold the Iranian regime accountable for human rights
violations
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/November 27, 2022
The Iranian regime shows no sign of backing down on its lethal crackdown on
protesters. Instead, the regime appears to believe that employing more brutal
force is the only approach to silence demonstrators.
The continuation of protests against the Iranian rulers has called into question
the legitimacy of the regime and challenged its hold on power. Nevertheless, it
seems that from the perspective of the Iranian leaders, protests are a good
opportunity to unleash a sweeping crackdown on their opponents. For example,
during the 2018 protests, more than 7,000 people were arrested, and soon after
the regime silenced the protesters with brute force.
One of the most egregious human rights violations committed by the Iranian
authorities is the targeting of children and unarmed university students who
voice their opposition to the theocratic establishment. As UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights Volker Turk recently pointed out: “I’m alarmed by reports that
even children suspected of having participated in protests are being arrested at
school, hundreds of university students have been summoned for questioning,
threatened or suspended in part from entering university campuses. I urge those
holding power in Iran to fully respect the fundamental freedoms of expression,
association and assembly. No society can be calcified or fossilized as it may
stand at a single point in time. To attempt to do so, against the will of its
people, is futile.” He added: “We have received reports that injured protesters
fear going to the hospital for risk of being arrested by security forces.”
Many people in Iran are calling the government the “child-killing regime” or
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei the “Child-Killing Khamenei.” So far, 35 children
killed by the Iranian regime’s security forces have been identified, including a
two-year-old boy in Zahedan, Kian Pirfalak, a 10-year-old boy, and two teenage
girls, Nika Shakamari and Sarina Esmailzadeh, who were reportedly beaten to
death by the regime’s security forces for protesting.
Human rights activists in Iran have reported that 46 boys and 12 girls under 18
have so far been killed. Amnesty International posted in a tweet: “As the
world’s attention is turned to the #ENGIRN game, let’s remember the faces of
children killed by Iran’s security forces during the popular uprising since
September. Let’s use #WorldCup2022 to amplify the voices from Iran calling for a
better future.”
The regime is ratcheting up its arrests as nearly 14,000 people, including
children, have so far been detained.
The regime’s security forces have also been resorting to rape and sexual
assaults to quell protesters, particularly women. As the slogan “Women, Life,
Freedom” continues to reverberate across the nation, female detainees have
reported rape and sexual assaults while in the custody of the regime’s security
forces. Several medical staff have leaked information about such rapes. A member
of the medical staff wrote in one of the messages to CNN about one of the female
detainees: “When she first came in, (the officers) said she was hemorrhaging
from her rectum ... due to repeated rape. The plainclothes men insisted that the
doctor write it as rape prior to arrest ... After the truth became obvious to
all, they changed the whole script ... To make it short, they screwed up ...
They screwed up and they don’t know how to put it together again.”
The Iranian regime has kept many families in the dark about their loved ones who
have been arrested. Iranian leaders continue to decline to report on exactly how
many people have been arrested and killed during these protests. This is a
classic strategy employed by the authorities to hide the scope of the crackdown
and to impose fear on society.
The regime is ratcheting up its arrests as nearly 14,000 people, including
children, have so far been detained. It is worth noting that 227 lawmakers from
Iran’s 290-seat parliament voted for using capital punishment, the death
penalty, against protesters. The lawmakers wrote in a statement: “We ask the
judiciary to deal decisively with the perpetrators of these crimes and with all
those who assisted in the crimes and provoked rioters.”This is a regime known
for committing the 1988 massacre — cleansing prisons of thousands of dissidents
and opposition activists, and carrying out mass secret executions and dumping
bodies in unmarked mass graves. Ultimately, an estimated 30,000 people lost
their lives in that brutal massacre. Amnesty International released a
comprehensive report on the slaughter. The 200-page report says that the
disappeared “were mostly young men and women, some just teenagers, unjustly
imprisoned because of their political opinions and nonviolent political
activities.”It is critical that the international community hold the Iranian
regime accountable for its crimes against humanity and egregious human rights
violations — especially against children and women.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political
scientist.
Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh