English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For January 23/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Jesus said to the Sick man, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk
Saint John 05/01-16/:"After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids blind, lame, and paralysed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’ But he answered them, ‘The man who made me well said to me, "Take up your mat and walk." ’They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, "Take it up and walk"?’Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.’ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 22-23/2023
Al-Raei Anyone who thinks that he can kidnap the presidency of the Lebanese Republic and take it hostage and demand a ransom for its release is mistaken. We are not a people of ransoms, but we are a people of redemption
Al-Raei to MPs and ministers: You are responsible for the new stigma attached to Lebanon through your unacceptable performance and Lebanon's loss of the right to vote in the United Nations
Al Raei: The farce of the election sessions continues
Bishop Aoudi: The people become impoverished and die so that the officials can get rich and live
Syriac Union Party in Syria denounces prosecution of USUP President Ibrahim Mrad
Hezbollah militia and Lebanese Shiites eye Christian property, activists warn of demographic change through government actions
Geagea: All political options on table to liberate country
Israeli movements on the borders.. and a wide spread of the army!

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 22-23/2023
LA mass shooting suspect kills 10 near Lunar New Year fest
Israel envoy to Canada signals resignation over 'different policy' under Netanyahu
Israel PM Netanyahu fires minister in compliance with Supreme Court order
Israelis press on with protests against new government
Passport woes: Arab residents of Golan Heights reject Israeli citizenship
Russia official warns West of destruction for arming Ukraine
Russia pushing towards two towns in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region
Boris Johnson visits Ukraine amid fresh sleaze allegations
Ukraine is raising funds to build a strike force of 1,000 kamikaze drones to help defeat Russia
Iran warns EU of 'reciprocal' response to Guards terror label vote
Four months on, protests continue to challenge Iranian regime despite crackdown
Iranian Currency Falls to Record Low
Iran’s Raisi Pledges to Tackle Inflation
Iran Probes Sexual Assault Allegations on Teens

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 22-23/2023
Genocide in Nigeria, Armenia and Syria: The Persecution of Christians, December 2022/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/January 22/ 2023
We Have Crossed the Edge of Militarised Diplomacy and Reached the Brink in the Ukraine War/Raghida Dergham/Raghida Dergham/January 22, 2023
White House should declare IRGC terrorists/Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/January 22, 2023
Iran regime should be punished for its nuclear defiance/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/January 22, 2023
Riyadh Season and Nasrallah!/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/January, 22/2023
Organization of Nickel Exporting Countries?/Najib Saab/Asharq Al-Awsat/January, 22/2023

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 22-23/2023
Al-Raei Anyone who thinks that he can kidnap the presidency of the Lebanese Republic and take it hostage and demand a ransom for its release is mistaken. We are not a people of ransoms, but we are a people of redemption
Al-Raei to MPs and ministers: You are responsible for the new stigma attached to Lebanon through your unacceptable performance and Lebanon's loss of the right to vote in the United Nations
LCCC/NNA/January 22/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/115154/115154/
Patriarch Al Rahi in his homely today asked all the MPs and ministers, Aren't you ashamed of yourselves, occupants of the House of Representatives and the Council of Ministers, before the United Nations and its achievements in favor of Lebanon? His beatitude continued to say, The UN has established a center in Lebanon for a number of affiliated organizations and institutions, has adopted permanent delegations to find out the needs of Lebanon,  issued no less than forty UN resolutions regarding it, including the adoption of the “Baabda Declaration” and the formation of the “International Support Group for Lebanon.” Meanwhile, Since 1978, international peacekeeping forces have been sent to southern Lebanon based on Resolutions 425 and 426 in order to secure the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the south, and to create conditions on the ground for the Lebanese state alone to extend its authority over all of its territory. Then its mission was modified after the 1982 war and after the 2006 war on the basis of Resolution 1701, which is still without proper implementation. Currently, 3,800 international officers and soldiers, representing 48 countries, serve in Lebanon amid daily dangers, the latest of which was the assassination of the Irish soldier in the town of Al-Aqibiya in the south. How can the Lebanese state, in this situation, beg for renewal of the international forces in the south and not pay its dues to the United Nations? And how can the Lebanese state, after today, file complaints before the United Nations and demand that it implement its decisions related to Lebanon without the right to vote? How do we appeal to it to complete its mission in the bilateral agreement between Lebanon and Israel on energy and the demarcation of the southern borders? How do we demand that it continue to provide humanitarian, living and educational aid? How can we ask  the UN for this and others and not pay our dues to her? At this time, the presidential vacancy continues, and internal and international efforts have not led to actual progress towards electing a new president. Rather, we see that stances between the internal axes with an external extension diverge more and more, and distract public opinion with the issue of government. We have said since the first day of the end of the era, that this government is resigned and its task is to conduct business. Its  duty to reach an understanding on the interpretation of the conduct of business, so as not to create problems that we do not need or want. Its work is limited to preserving the minimum level of management of the citizens' pressing affairs and preventing the final fall of the state, especially since the farce of the sessions to elect a president of the republic is still going on, and the decision to hold them in accordance with the constitution is stolen. All of this is accompanied by a flagrant collapse of the currency exchange rate, as the price of the dollar exceeded fifty thousand Lebanese pounds. The price of Al-Nazeen newspaper was nearly a million pounds, and the prices of foodstuffs and medical supplies have multiplied tens of times. How will our people live? How will they eat, drink, feed their families, work, receive his wages, and receive medical treatment? You rulers do you feel these difficulties when you are entrusted with responsibility? Our fear is that you are aware of all these difficulties, but you want the people  to suffer this misery for a purpose in your souls! Despite this disastrous status, the political forces are still fighting each other for the presidential election and refraining from electing a new president who will withstand the difficulties, reject dictates, and preserve the Lebanese privacy. Our fear is not that the identity of the President of the Maronite Republic and his sect will change, but rather that his policy and principles will change and he will join the policies, axes and countries that strive day and night to control the country and turn it into one of their regions. However, this matter is impossible, because the decision to confront changing the identity of the president and the entity of Lebanon is taken in advance, regardless of the sacrifices. And let no one think that he is capable of changing this historical heritage and this national specificity. Anyone who thinks that he can kidnap the presidency of the Lebanese Republic, take it hostage, and demand a ransom for its release is mistaken. We are not the people of ransoms, but rather we are the people of redemption.. In this context, the sovereign national forces, whether Christian or Muslim, are called upon to unite and form a joint body to defend Lebanon, so that the world will be sure that the people of Lebanon are determined to live together. These are our wishes, we entrust them to the providence of God Almighty, to Him be glory and thanksgiving now and forever, Amen.

Al Raei: The farce of the election sessions continues
NNA/January 22/ 2023 
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/115154/115154/
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi, strongly criticized the nature of the presidential election sessions, describing the scene in Parliament as a "continuing farce.""The farce of the election sessions continues, officials must take a stand of conscience before the oppressed people and the condition of the state that is disintegrating," Patriarch Al-Rahi said. During his homily on Sunday, the Patriarch held ministers and MPs responsible for the stigma attached to Lebanon by making it lose its right to vote in the United Nations. "The dollar has exceeded fifty thousand, and the gasoline is hitting one million soon, so how will the people live?" he questioned.

Bishop Aoudi: The people become impoverished and die so that the officials can get rich and live
LCCC/NNA/January 22/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/115154/115154/
Bishop Aoudi in his today's homely said, "This week, we witnessed another episode of the drama about electing a president, and the sad thing is that those who did not fully fulfill their duty complain and feel disgusted at the repetition of the farce. Isn't it better for them to do something that gets the parliament out of this deadly stalemate? Don't they know how to form the authorities in a democratic regime, how to conduct elections, how do the unemployed justify to their constituents their failure to perform their constitutional and patriotic duty, how do they justify putting their interests ahead of the public interest, and putting their narrow accounts before every account? How can they laugh and mock while their people weep and cry? And that the world only thinks of them? What a farce? A little humility and realism.
 Aren't those who claim to be responsible for what the country and its people have brought to it? Aren't they ashamed of themselves when they talk about dignity, sovereignty, and rights? Their sleeping consciences awaken, and a large number of deputies join their comrades who are sitting inside the parliament, demanding that an electoral session be held that will not be closed except with the election of a president. To carry out their duty to separate powers, instead of confusing them and bypassing the constitution. And he concluded: “Our call today is to seek the meeting of the Savior, no matter how difficult the circumstances may be, and not to despair, neither from our sins, nor from the obstacles that encounter us in the path of salvation. 27: 8-9)..

Syriac Union Party in Syria denounces prosecution of USUP President Ibrahim Mrad
SyriacPress/January 22/2023
SYRIA ꟷ After this week’s summoning to court of Universal Syriac Union (USUP) President Ibrahim Mrad by Lebanese judicial authorities following his public criticism of Hezbollah’s control over the Lebanon, the Syriac Union Party in Syria issued a statement denouncing Mrad’s arbitrary questioning by the authorities. Such judicial attempts only aim to undermine social freedoms and especially repress the freedom of expression. What happened to Ibrahim Mrad strikes at the heart of the democratic system, the Syriac Union Party in Syria stated
It added that Ibrahim Mrad’s criticism and national demands come from his sense of national responsibility and his practice of working in public affairs for years through the presidency of his party. Mrad advocates and clearly expresses the orientations of our Lebanese Syriac people and all the Lebanese through his sincere and just national demands. The statement warned of the consequences of persisting in such illegal practices, and stressed that actions on the ground should be taken in all countries of Syriac presence to defend the freedoms of the people.

Hezbollah militia and Lebanese Shiites eye Christian property, activists warn of demographic change through government actions
SyriacPress/January 22/2023
LEBANON ꟷ In an article for the newspaper Nidaa Al-Watan, journalist Tony Karam has highlighted the troubling issue of land and property sales in predominantly Christian areas which regularly come back to the table. Karam reports that social activists have shed light on government plans to transfer community assets in Christian villages in Mount Lebanon to the state in preparation for public sale. With the exacerbation of the financial crisis in the country and the collapse of the banking sector, the Lebanese government is in high need of funds to pay off Central Bank debts and handle cash deposit withdrawals.
Activists such as Dr. Amine Jules Iskandar and Dr. Fouad Abu Nader warn of systematic encroachment schemes and purchases of land and property in Christian areas which are bringing about demographic change and alter the demographic identity of those areas, in favor of certain partisan parties not least the Shiite Hezbollah militia and its followers. These partisan actors desire geographical expansion whether through repeated encroachments on land and commons or through the systematic purchase of Christian property. A recent example is the sale by the abbot of the Monastery of Saint Anthony, who sold Antonine Order land in the town of Al-Hadat – Baabda to parties allegedly operating in Hezbollah’s orbit. Residential real estate will be built on the land. Tony Karam reports on other land encroachments that may be taking place in the town of Andaqet in northern Lebanon, in Aqoura and on Church lands in Afqa and Lassa (Jbeil outskirts). The reports of the sale of monastery property and construction of residential properties come weeks after some Beirut MPs warned that a bank will sell part of its real estate portfolio near Sassine Square – Ashrafieh, to “foreign” buyers who, allegedly, are close to or belong to Hezbollah. Such individual property sales in Beirut and other sectarian and Christian areas are difficult to track down. Tony Karam points out that such systematic purchasing schemes open the door to manipulation and jeopardize the stability of the real estate sector. And it poses an equal if not greater risk than the risks associated with the economic and financial collapse of Lebanese society, officials declare. In his article, Tony Karam cites activists such as Dr. Amine Jules Iskandar, Dr. Fouad Abu Nader, MP Jihad Pakradouni, and Talal Douaihy. They say that the property of Christians in Mount Lebanon, Beirut and other Lebanese countries is a point of great interest to the Hezbollah militia and Lebanese Shiites. They therefore call for the protection of the commons of Christian villages and the preservation of their properties and a greater effort to protect the Christian presence in Lebanon and the region.

Geagea: All political options on table to liberate country
Naharnet/January 22/ 2023 
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Sunday announced that “all political options are on the table to liberate the country and the people from the hegemony of Hezbollah and its allies.”“We will never accept any fait accompli and we will continue the struggle until we manage to build a fair and strong state under which we would all live freely,” Geagea said in a meeting in Maarab with an industrial delegation from the Bekaa. “Accordingly, we have said and we will keep saying that we will not bow to any pressures and that all political options are on the table to liberate the country and the people from the hegemony of Hezbollah and its allies, or the Axis of Defiance which has led us into the inferno that we are in today,” Geagea added. Moreover, the LF leader said that the political problem in the country is “clear.”“Some are putting the interests of the Axis (of Defiance) above the national interests, some are putting their personal interests above the interests of the people and some lack experience and knowledge, and even courage sometimes, to do what needs to be done,” Geagea went on to say. He was apparently referring to Hezbollah, Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil and the Change parliamentary bloc, respectively. “The solution to this problem would be the election of a sovereign, reformist president who would put the national interest first and work on the formation of a sovereign and reformist government that would work on approving reforms, rectifying the work of public institutions and combating all forms of corruption in them,” Geagea added. The LF leader had recently said that the country’s “political structure” should be changed if Hezbollah manages to impose the president it wants, prompting the Iran-backed party and some political forces to accuse him of seeking the country’s partitioning, a charge that has been denied by Geagea and the LF.

Israeli movements on the borders.. and a wide spread of the army!
Agencies/January 22/2023
The Lebanese army deployed widely in front of the Israeli movements in the Hunin Valley, to prevent any breach of the Blue Line, after an Israeli army bulldozer crossed the technical fence in that area, while carrying out engineering works, supported by the Poklin excavator, without crossing the Blue Line, with the protection of an armored vehicle. and an Israeli infantry force. A paramilitary force from UNIFIL, the international observer team, and the liaison committee attended, which contacted both sides to calm the situation and restore things to what they were. In the context, the international forces operating in the south confirmed that “the border situation in the south is calm,” and soldiers Peacekeepers are on the ground, and contacts are constant with both parties, to contain any tension that may arise.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 22-23/2023
LA mass shooting suspect kills 10 near Lunar New Year fest
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (AP)/January 22/ 2023
A gunman opened fire at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance studio following a Lunar New Year celebration, killing 10 people and setting off a manhunt for the suspect in the nation's fifth mass killing this month. Another 10 people were wounded and were taken to hospitals, where their conditions ranged from stable to critical, Capt. Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said Sunday. The scene unfolded late Saturday in Monterey Park, a city of about 60,000 people on the eastern edge of Los Angeles that is composed mostly of Asian immigrants from China or first-generation Asian Americans. When officers arrived at the studio around 10:30 p.m., people were “pouring out of the location screaming,” Meyer said. He said officers then went into the ballroom and found victims as firefighters treated the wounded. Meyer gave no description of the male suspect or the weapon he used and offered no explanation for why police gave no information on the shooting for hours while the assailant apparently remained on the run. He said it was too early in the investigation to know if the gunman knew anyone at the ballroom or if it was a hate crime.
“We will look at every angle,” Meyer said. The shooting happened in the heart of downtown Monterey Park where red lanterns decorated the streets for the Lunar New Year festivities. A police car was parked near a large banner that proclaimed “Happy Year of the Rabbit!” The celebration in Monterey Park is one of California’s largest and had attracted tens of thousands throughout the day. Two days of festivities, which have been attended by as many as 100,000 people in past years, were planned. But officials canceled Sunday’s events following the shooting. Tony Lai, 35, of Monterey Park was stunned when he came out for his early morning walk to learn that the noises he heard in the night were gunshots.
“I thought maybe it was fireworks. I thought maybe it had something to do with Lunar New Year,” he said. “And we don’t even get a lot of fireworks here. It’s weird to see this. It’s really safe here. We’re right in the middle of the city, but it’s really safe.” The tragedy marked not just the fifth mass killing in the U.S. since the start of the year but also the deadliest since May 24, when 21 people were killed in a school in Uvalde, Texas, according to The Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the U.S. The database also shows that 2022 was also one of the nation's worst years in terms of mass killings, with 42 such attacks — the second-highest number since the creation of the tracker in 2006. The database defines a mass killing as four people killed not including the perpetrator. The latest violence comes two months after five people were killed at a Colorado Springs nightclub. The White House said President Joe Biden was briefed on the situation by Homeland Security Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall. Attorney General Merrick Garland was also briefed, Justice Department spokesperson Dena Iverson said.
The shooting occurred at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, a few blocks from city hall on Monterey Park's main thoroughfare of Garvey Avenue, which is dotted with strip malls of small businesses whose signs are in both English and Chinese. Cantonese and Mandarin are both widely spoken, Chinese holidays are celebrated, and Chinese films are screened regularly in the city. The business offered dance lessons from Tango to Rumba to the Fox Trot, and rented its space for events. On Saturday, its website said it was hosting an event called “Star Night” from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.. Seung Won Choi, who owns the Clam House seafood barbecue restaurant across the street from where the shooting happened, told The Los Angeles Times that three people rushed into his business and told him to lock the door. The people said to Choi that there was a shooter with a gun who had multiple rounds of ammunition on him. Wong Wei, who lives nearby, told The Los Angeles Times that his friend was in a bathroom at the dance studio when the shooting started. When she came out, he said, she saw a gunman and three bodies. The friend then fled to Wei's home at around 11 p.m., he said, adding that his friends told him that the shooter appeared to fire indiscriminately with a long gun. Police were investigating another incident in the nearby city of Alhambra, where a similar business, the Lai Lai Ballroom, had police tape across its front door and an officer guarding it. Detectives could be seen working near the open back door, where a woman wearing gloves was carefully examining the door handle as though checking for prints. Officials gave no details on what had happened and it was unclear whether the incident was connected to the Monterey Park shooting.
*Associated Press writer Julie Watson in San Diego contributed to this report.

Israel envoy to Canada signals resignation over 'different policy' under Netanyahu
The Canadian Press/January 22, 2023
OTTAWA — Israel's ambassador to Canada says he intends to leave his post early after a change in government back at home as protests mount in Tel Aviv over controversial new policies. Ronen Hoffman said on Twitter late Saturday that he is making the move due to a change in direction under the new government. "With the transition to the new government and to different policy in Israel, my personal and professional integrity has compelled me to request to shorten my post and return to Israel this summer," the envoy said in a tweet. "I will continue serving the State of Israel here in Canada with the same passion and pleasure until a replacement is appointed later this year."Hoffman, who was appointed to the role just over a year ago, did not elaborate on what he meant by "different policy." A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Ottawa said on Sunday that he had no further information to add. His decision comes after Yael German, Israel's ambassador to France, announced in late December that she was resigning in protest of the incoming administration led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has returned to power with a governing coalition described as the farthest to the right in the nation's history. Shimon Fogel, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, called Hoffman an "outstanding individual" who is ultimately unable to reconcile his personal views with those advanced by the government he's supposed to represent. "He comes from a different political tradition and he would be consistent with those who express concern about the direction that the government’s going in," Fogel said. He added that Hoffman's was a political appointment by a previous government of a different stripe, and that it is not unusual for such envoys to resign following national elections. That's typically what happens with United States ambassadors to Canada, too, he said.
"The fact that he's staying until the end of the summer, however, indicates that there is some level of mutual respect," Fogel said. "That's an indication that there isn't a level of acrimony that characterizes this decision."Joe Roberts, who chairs the board of JSpaceCanada, said that Hoffman's statement was "diplomatic but clear.""I think given the deepening and more and more complex relationship between Israel and Canada, this is significant," said Roberts, whose organization describes itself as a Canadian voice for progressive Jewish values and Israeli-Palestinian peace.
"I think that this should be a clear message to the Canadian Jewish community that if someone who is serving as Israel's ambassador is willing to step down and say that this goes against their integrity, then that means that as Jews, with our relationship to the state of Israel, it's time for us to speak up as well."Roberts said he is calling on the Canadian government to commit to not pursuing official relationships with the most "extreme elements" of the governing coalition. Asked about whether Ottawa should make such a commitment, Fogel said that Canada's relationship is with Israel and not the particular government, and that besides, the members of the coalition that "people have expressed most concern about" wouldn't naturally fall into the bilateral dynamic with Canada. "So it's a bit of a moot point. But you know, we don't get to choose who our interlocutors from another democracy are," he said, again pointing south of the border. Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to protest plans by Netanyahu’s new government to overhaul the judicial system, measures that opponents say imperil the country's democratic foundation. Israeli media, citing police, said some 100,000 people were out protesting. The protest followed another demonstration last week that also drew tens of thousands in an early challenge to Netanyahu and his ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox coalition government. The government says a power imbalance has given judges and government legal advisers too much sway over lawmaking and governance. Netanyahu has pledged to press on with the changes despite the opposition. In addition to the protests, the new government has faced mounting pressure after the country's attorney general asked Netanyahu to fire a key cabinet ally, following a Supreme Court ruling that disqualified him from holding a government post because of a conviction of tax offences. Netanyahu, who himself remains on trial for corruption, fired the minister on Sunday in a move expected to deepen the rift over the power of the courts.
*This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2023.
— With files from The Associated Press.
Marie-Danielle Smith, The Canadian Press

Israel PM Netanyahu fires minister in compliance with Supreme Court order
Reuters/January 22, 2023
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed a senior cabinet member with a criminal record on Sunday, complying with a Supreme Court ruling even as he pursues contested judicial reforms that would curb its powers. Pledging to find “every legal means” of keeping Aryeh Deri in public office in future, Netanyahu told him during a weekly cabinet session he was being removed from the interior and health ministries, according to an official transcript. A Deri confidant, Barak Seri, told Army Radio earlier on Sunday that the portfolios would be kept by other members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish party Shas as it remains in the coalition. The Supreme Court last week ordered Netanyahu to dismiss Deri, citing his 2022 plea-bargain conviction for tax fraud. That ruling stoked a stormy debate in Israel — accompanied by nationwide protests — over reform proposals that Netanyahu says will restore balance between the branches of government but that critics say will undermine judicial independence. A poll in Israel Hayom newspaper found 35 percent support for Netanyahu’s bid to shake up the system for bench appointments, with 45 percent of respondents opposed. There was just 26 percent support for his government’s bid to enable parliament, with a one-vote majority, to override some Supreme Court decisions. In his cabinet statement, Netanyahu described the Deri ruling as “regrettable” and “indifferent to the public will.”
Settler outpost
The less than month-old religious-nationalist coalition creaked elsewhere as a far-right partner boycotted the cabinet session in protest at the demolition on Friday of a small settler outpost that had been erected in the occupied West Bank. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, a member of Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party, ordered the outpost to be razed as it had no building permit — over the objections of the Religious Zionist party, which had sought to delay the decision. The incident pitted Galant against Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich, who wields some cabinet responsibilities for West Bank settlements under a coalition deal with Netanyahu. A group of settlers tried on Sunday to rebuild the outpost but they were blocked by Israeli security forces. Seven people were detained, said a border police spokesman. “This (settlements) is a capstone issue for our participation in the government,” National Missions Minister Orit Strock of Religious Zionism told Israel’s Kan radio. She declined to elaborate on what steps the party might take next. In solidarity with Religious Zionism, fellow far-right coalition party Jewish Power said it would demand that Israel implement a long-delayed evacuation of Khan Al-Ahmar, a Bedouin Palestinian encampment in a key West Bank area near Jerusalem. World powers have urged Israel not to demolish Khan Al-Ahmar, worrying about another potential blow to efforts to negotiate the creation of Palestinian state alongside Israel. Most countries deem Israel’s West Bank settlements illegal.

Israelis press on with protests against new government
Associated Press/January 22, 2023
Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to protest plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government to overhaul the judicial system, measures that opponents say imperil Israel's "democratic" foundation. Israeli media, citing police, said some 100,000 people were out protesting. The protest followed another demonstration last week that also drew tens of thousands in an early challenge to Netanyahu and his ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox government — the most right-wing in Israeli history. The government says a power imbalance has given judges and government legal advisers too much sway over lawmaking and governance. Netanyahu has pledged to press on with the changes despite the opposition. Protesters filled central streets in the seaside metropolis, raising Israeli flags and banners that read "Our Children will not Live in a Dictatorship" and "Israel, We Have A Problem." "This is a protest to defend the country," said opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who joined the protest. "People came here today to protect their democracy.""All generations are concerned. This is not a joke," said Lior Student, a protester. "This is a complete redefinition of democracy."Other protests took place in the cities of Jerusalem, Haifa and Beersheba. In addition to the protests, pressure has built up on Netanyahu's government after Israel's attorney general asked Netanyahu to fire a key Cabinet ally following a Supreme Court ruling that disqualified him from holding a government post because of a conviction of tax offenses. While Netanyahu was expected to heed the court ruling, it only deepened the rift in Israel over the judicial system and the power of the courts. Earlier this week, Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, vowed to continue with the judicial overhaul plans despite the protests. Opponents say the changes could help Netanyahu evade conviction in his corruption trial, or make the court case disappear altogether. On Friday, Netanyahu's coalition was put for a new test after a disagreement between Cabinet members over the dismantling of an unauthorized settlement outpost in the West Bank. Defense Minister Yoav Galant, a member of Netanyahu's Likud party, ordered the removal of the outpost, upsetting a pro-settlement Cabinet member who had issued a directive to postpone the eviction pending further discussions.

Passport woes: Arab residents of Golan Heights reject Israeli citizenship
Mohammad Najib/Arab News/January 22, 2023
RAMALLAH: Residents of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights have called on Arab states and the international community to drop Israeli citizenship requirements for travel. Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 in a move that was condemned internationally. The 30,000 residents of the Golan Heights bear Israeli identity cards similar to those held by citizens of East Jerusalem, where their status is described as residents and non-citizens. Ayman Abu Jabal, one of the prominent leaders of the Golan community, told Arab News: “The lack of a passport for the residents makes them live in a cultural, political, social and economic siege, separating them from their Arab depth.” Egypt recently agreed to a request from the Syrian Golan Heights community to end the need for Israeli citizenship to visit the country. Young people in the community are seeking to work in Arab countries in light of poor economic conditions in the Golan Heights, a community statement said. But the requirement to hold Israeli citizenship prevents many from relocating abroad, the statement added. After canceling the Israeli citizenship requirement, Egypt also condemned the occupation of the Golan Heights and praised the adherence of the area’s occupants to their Syrian Arab identity. Egypt said it would welcome visitors from the Golan Heights with transit documents and visas. Abu Jabal from the Golan community praised the Egyptian move, describing it as “strengthening the position of the people of the Golan that they live in an occupied land.”
He added: “Unfortunately, a large portion of the people of the Golan were forced to obtain Israeli citizenship to complete their education or to move around in countries of the world that do not recognize the Israeli document granted to them.”Israeli authorities have exploited the situation to force Golan Heights residents to seek Israeli citizenship, he warned. Egyptian authorities informed Golan Heights residents that they could visit Taba and Sharm El-Sheikh without visas.
The move has raised hopes that other Arab countries will follow suit and end the Israeli citizenship requirement for residents of the Golan Heights. Community leaders are also working with the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to encourage similar moves by Arab countries.
“We demand the Syrian national state redouble its efforts in communicating with the countries of the world to remove this condition for visiting by the residents of the occupied Syrian Golan,” said a community statement. “At the same time, we turn to our young men and women in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights not to fall into the trap of temptations to visit this or that country, with the price being to obtain Israeli citizenship. “With patience and a little steadfastness, we can bypass and remove those conditions for visiting those countries,” the statement added. Meanwhile, in a previous conversation with Arab News, farming community leaders in the Golan Heights complained about the refusal of several Arab countries to import apples due to administrative concerns. In contrast, apples produced in the Israeli settlements of the Golan Heights have been exported. Successive Israeli governments have sought to increase the number of Israeli settlers living in 32 settlements across the occupied Golan Heights. About 30,000 Arabs from the occupied Syrian Golan live in major villages: Majdal Shams, Bqatha, Masada and Ein Qinya and Ghajar, which is close to the Shebaa Farms. Former US President Donald Trump officially recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights in March 2019 in a move that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised as “historic.” Syria has long insisted that it will refuse a peace agreement with Israel unless it withdraws from the Golan Heights. The last direct peace talks sponsored by the US collapsed in 2000, while Turkiye mediated indirect talks in 2008.

Russia official warns West of destruction for arming Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) //January 22, 2023
The speaker of the lower house of Russia's parliament warned Sunday that countries supplying Ukraine with more powerful weapons risked their own destruction, a message that followed new pledges of armored vehicles, air defense systems and other equipment but not the battle tanks Kyiv requested. Ukraine's supporters pledged billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine on Friday, though the new commitments were overshadowed by defense leaders failing at an international meeting in the Ramstein air base in Germany, to agree on Ukraine's urgent request for German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks. State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said that governments giving more powerful weapons to Ukraine could cause a “global tragedy that would destroy their countries.” “Supplies of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime would lead to a global catastrophe,” he said. “If Washington and NATO supply weapons that would be used for striking peaceful cities and making attempts to seize our territory as they threaten to do, it would trigger a retaliation with more powerful weapons.”Germany is one of the main donors of weapons to Ukraine, and it ordered a review of its Leopard 2 stocks in preparation for a possible green light. Nonetheless, the government in Berlin has shown caution at each step of increasing its commitments to Ukraine, a hesitancy seen as rooted in its history and political culture. France and Germany committed to show “unwavering support” to Ukraine during ceremonies and talks Sunday celebrating the 60th anniversary of their post-World War II friendship treaty. In a joint declaration, the countries said they would “stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”Germany's tentativeness has drawn heavy criticism, particularly from Poland and the Baltic states, countries on NATO's eastern flank controlled by Moscow in the past and which feel especially threatened by Russia's renewed imperial ambitions. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that if Germany does not consent to transferring Leopard tanks to Ukraine, his country was prepared to build a “smaller coalition” of countries that would send theirs anyway.
“Almost a year had passed since the outbreak of war," Morawiecki said in an interview with Polish state news agency PAP published Sunday. "Evidence of the Russian army’s war crimes can be seen on television and on YouTube. What more does Germany need to open its eyes and start to act in line with the potential of the German state?”“Above all, Berlin should not weaken or sabotage the activities of other countries,” Morawiecki said. In Washington, two leading lawmakers urged the U.S. on Sunday to send some of its Abrams tanks to Ukraine, in the interests of overcoming Germany’s reluctance to share its own, more suitable Leopard 2 tanks.
“If we announced we were giving an Abrams tank, just one, that would unleash” the flow of tanks from Germany, Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told ABC’s “This Week on Sunday.” “What I hear is that Germany’s waiting on us to take the lead.”Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat who is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and considered close to President Joe Biden, also spoke up for the U.S. sending Abrams. “I am concerned that Russia is rearming and preparing for a spring offensive," Coons, said. "If it requires our sending some Abrams tanks in order to unlock getting the Leopard tanks from Germany, from Poland, from other allies, I would support that.”Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, said the meeting in Ramstein “left no doubt that our enemies will try to exhaust or better destroy us,” adding that “they have enough weapons” to achieve the purpose. Medvedev, a former Russian president, warned on his messaging app channel that Russia could seek to form a military alliance with foes of the United States. He didn’t name the nations he had in mind, but Russia has defense cooperation with Iran and Venezuela, an existing military alliance with Belarus and strong ties with North Korea.. Since invading Ukraine, Russia also has increased both the scope and the number of its joint military drills with China. “In case of a protracted conflict, a new military alliance will emerge that will include the nations that are fed up with the Americans and a pack of their castrated dogs," Medvedev said. Ukraine is asking for more weapons as it anticipates Russia's forces launching a new offensive in the spring.
Oleksii Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s Security and Defense Council, warned that Russia may try to intensify its attacks in the south and in the east and to cut supply channels of Western weapons, while conquering Kyiv “remains the main dream” in President Vladimir Putin’s "fantasies,” he said. In a column published by online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda. he described the Kremlin’s goal in the conflict as a “total and absolute genocide, a total war of destruction" Among those calling for more arms for Ukraine was the former British prime minister, Boris Johnson, who made a surprise trip to Ukraine on Sunday. “This is the moment to double down and to give the Ukrainians all the tools they need to finish the job. The sooner Putin fails, the better for Ukraine and for the whole world,” Johnson said in a statement. Johnson, who faces fresh questions at home over his personal finances, was pictured in the Kyiv region town of Borodyanka. He said he traveled to Ukraine at the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The last week was especially tragic for Ukraine even by the standards of a brutal war that has gone on for nearly a year, killing tens of thousands of people, uprooting millions more and creating vast destruction of Ukrainian cities. A barrage of Russian missiles struck an apartment complex in the southeastern city of Dnipro on Jan. 14, killing at least 45 civilians, including six children. On Wednesday, a government helicopter carrying the interior minister and other officials crashed into a building housing a kindergarten in a suburb of Kyiv. The minister and a child on the ground were among the 14 people killed. Zelenskyy, who on Saturday mourned the victims of the helicopter crash, vowed Sunday that Ukraine would prevail in the war. “We are united because we are strong. We are strong because we are united," the Ukrainian leader said in a video address as he marked Ukraine Unity Day, which commemorates the day in 1919 when East and West Ukraine were united.

Russia pushing towards two towns in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region
Agence France Presse/January 22, 2023
Moscow's forces are pushing towards two towns in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, where fighting intensified this week after several months of a stagnant front, Russian state media reported Sunday. Russian-installed official in the region Vladimir Rogov said offensive actions were concentrated around two towns: Orikhiv, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Ukrainian-controlled regional capital Zaporizhzhia, and Hulyaipole, further east. "The front is mobile, especially in two directions: Orikhiv and Hulyaipole," Rogov was quoted as saying by the Ria Novosti news agency. He said there was active fighting in those areas, according to the agency. "The initiative is in our hands." In its daily report on Sunday, the Ukrainian army said "more than 15 settlements were affected by artillery fire" in Zaporizhzhia. Earlier this week, Rogov announced a "local offensive" around Orikhiv and said the Russian army had taken control of the village of Lobkove, near the Dnipro river. He also said this week that fighting has "sharply increased" in the southern region. On Saturday, the Russian army said its troops held "offensive actions" in the Zaporizhzhia region and claimed to have "taken more advantageous lines and positions."
The front in southern Ukraine has been considerably quieter recently than in the east, with Moscow withdrawing from the major city of Kherson in November. Russia claims to have annexed the Zaporizhzhia region along with three other Ukrainian regions, but does not control it in its entirety.
While Moscow controls large swathes of the southern part of the region, its main city Zaporizhzhia and northern part did not fall to Russian forces. Russia has vowed to push Ukrainian forces out of them.

Boris Johnson visits Ukraine amid fresh sleaze allegations
Sophie Wingate, PA Political Correspondent/PA Media: UK News/January 22, 2023
Boris Johnson has made a surprise visit to Ukraine, saying it was a “privilege” to be there to show solidarity with the war-torn nation. The former prime minister, who is facing fresh questions over his personal finances, said President Volodymyr Zelensky had invited him to travel to Kyiv once again. Rishi Sunak is “supportive” of his predecessor-but-one’s visit, Downing Street indicated, after claims it could undermine the Prime Minister’s authority. Footage showed Mr Johnson meeting the Ukrainian president, warmly shaking hands and telling him “it’s an absolute honour to be here again”. “Honour for us,” Mr Zelensky replied. In a statement, Mr Johnson said: “It is a privilege to visit Ukraine at the invitation of President Zelensky. “The suffering of the people of Ukraine has gone on for too long. “The only way to end this war is for Ukraine to win – and to win as fast as possible. This is the moment to double down and to give the Ukrainians all the tools they need to finish the job. “The sooner Putin fails, the better for Ukraine and for the whole world.” A spokesperson for Mr Johnson added that he fully supports UK Government policy on Ukraine, including the recent decision to send Challenger 2 tanks. His visit demonstrates solidarity with the people of Ukraine, they said. Mr Sunak’s press secretary said he is “always supportive of all colleagues showing that the UK is behind Ukraine and will continue to support them”.The ex-premier pitched himself as a key ally of Kyiv during his time in No 10, providing support and calling on Western allies to follow suit in the early days of Russia’s invasion last February. As his scandal-plagued premiership unravelled, Mr Johnson was accused of using trips to Ukraine or phone calls with Mr Zelensky as a distraction for crises at home. This trip comes as the Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP is facing accusations that he allegedly recommended Richard Sharp for the BBC chairman job weeks after Mr Sharp helped him secure a loan of up to £800,000 while he was still in Downing Street. As a former prime minister, Mr Johnson’s security protection for overseas trips is funded by UK taxpayers. Asked who is stumping up for his trip, his spokesperson said they could not get into specifics “for security reasons”. The Guardian reported on Mr Johnson’s plans to travel to Ukraine earlier in January. Senior Tories raised concerns about the plans, with Commons defence select committee chairman Tobias Ellwood telling the newspaper that Mr Johnson should “not interfere with the messaging or the official lines of communication” between London and Kyiv. Mr Sunak has followed in the footsteps of Mr Johnson and Liz Truss in being a vocal supporter of Kyiv. The Prime Minister visited Ukraine in November, pledging continued British support to the country in the fight against Moscow’s forces. So far among the Nato allies, only the UK has heeded Mr Zelensky’s call to send tanks, in the form of 14 British Army Challenger 2s. Earlier this week, Mr Johnson spoke in a panel discussion on Ukraine at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he was introduced as a “legendary figure” in Ukraine. Mr Sunak, meanwhile, steered clear of the annual gathering in the exclusive Swiss ski resort.

Ukraine is raising funds to build a strike force of 1,000 kamikaze drones to help defeat Russia
Sam Tabahriti/Business Insider/January 22, 2023
The unit said it's creating a strike force of first-person-view drones to use as "snipers." Both Ukrainian and Russian forces have made extensive use of suicide drones in the conflict. Ukraine is raising funds to create a strike force of kamikaze drones, its defense ministry announced on Friday.
The "Kryla," part of Ukraine's military intelligence service, wants a fleet of 1,000 so-called first-person-view drones to help defend its front line against Russian forces. The defense ministry said such drones can collect intelligence information and be used as snipers from a distance of about six miles. Funds are being raised through the "Starlife-Charity" foundation, which has helped Ukrainian forces since Russia invaded last February. The defense ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider. In May last year, President Volodymyr Zelenksyy and vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced the start of a new fundraising project called UNITED24, saying the donations would go toward costs incurred by fighting Russia. Fedorov announced last summer that he aimed to amass an "army of drones" to help repel Putin's forces. Donations helped buy more than 1,400 drones, according to UNITED24's website. Both Ukrainian and Russian forces have made extensive use of suicide drones, with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones responsible for much of Russia's bombardment of civilian areas and energy infrastructure. In November, Ukraine pleaded with the US for more powerful drones and anti-drone missiles that cost about $10 million each, Reuters reported. The US has extended almost $20 billion of military aid to Ukraine since the war started, according to the State Department. Ukraine's National Guard issued a video in late December showing what appear to be the last moments of several "suicide" drones as they hit Russian armored vehicles in a devastating attack. Ukraine said on January 16 that it used a drone to steal a radio from a dead Russian fighter in December, allowing it to listen in on the enemy's plans for several days.

Iran warns EU of 'reciprocal' response to Guards terror label vote
Agence France Presse/January 22, 2023
Iran on Sunday warned the European Union it would take "reciprocal" measures after the European Parliament voted to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group. "The parliament (of Iran) is working to place elements of European countries' armies on the terrorist list," Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Twitter. Members of the European Parliament voted on Wednesday to include the Guards on the 27-nation bloc's terror list in "light of its terrorist activity, the repression of protesters and its supplying of drones to Russia." The vote is non-binding but comes with EU foreign ministers already due to discuss tightening sanctions on the Islamic republic next week. Amir-Abdollahian and Guards chief Major General Hossein Salami attended a closed-door parliament session on Sunday morning to discuss the European Parliament's move. "The European Parliament shot itself in the foot," Iran's top diplomat said, adding that the response would be "reciprocal."Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf similarly announced on Sunday that the legislature "will retaliate immediately and decisively against any action that would mean putting the Revolutionary Guards on the sanctions list or the list of terrorist groups". Ghalibaf, who is himself a former commander of the Guards air force, added that parliament would "recognise the armies of the European countries... as terrorist groups". The Guards oversee the volunteer Basij paramilitary force, which has been deployed against protests since mid-September triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest for allegedly violating Iran's dress code for women. Authorities in Iran say hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed and thousands arrested in the unrest. The Guards, formed shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, answer to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and boast their own ground, naval and air forces. The United States has already placed both the Guards and its foreign arm, the Quds Force, on its list of "foreign terrorist organizations."

Four months on, protests continue to challenge Iranian regime despite crackdown
AFP/The Arab Weekly/January 22/2023
Despite a slackening of street activity in the face of a brutal crackdown, Iranian protesters are still challenging the Islamic theocratic regime four months into their movement, analysts say. There have been fewer daily street protests nationwide since November as the authorities seek to quell the protests with methods including capital punishment, which has already seen four protest-related executions. But the anger unleashed by the death in mid-September of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for violating the Islamic republic's strict dress rules, has not subsided and at a time of economic crisis still poses a potential threat to the Iranian regime. Meanwhile protests have taken on different forms, notably including strikes. Mass street actions continue in some regions and there have been tentative signs of division within the regime. "With the number of protests diminishing since mid-November 2022, it appears that a stalemate has set in, with neither the regime nor the protesters' side being able to overwhelm the other," said Ali Fathollah-Nejad, Iran expert with the American University of Beirut's Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs. "Despite the relative decline in the number of protests ever since, it is worth recalling that revolutionary processes usually entail phases of both relative calm and uproar. "Now, with a dramatic loss of the value of the Iranian currency since the turn of year, economy-driven protests could be expected, which as past shows could quickly turn political," he told AFP. The enqelab.info site, which monitors the extent of protest activity, said while the number of street protests has decreased the number of strikes and other acts of dissent, such as writing slogans or damaging governmental banners, has increased. "The nationwide uprising is alive, though the manner through which people are expressing their dissent has transformed due to the authorities' lethal crackdown during the fall," it said in a statement.
'Protests not over'
According to Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights, at least 481 people have been killed in the crackdown and at least 109 people are facing execution in protest-related cases, in addition to the four already put to death. The protests began as a movement against the obligatory hijab rule for women but rapidly became a challenge to the entire system, calling for an end to the Islamic republic created after the 1979 ousting of the shah. "Protests have not stopped in the face of the violent crackdown," said Roya Boroumand, co-founder of the US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center rights group.
"They have certainly subsided... We are also seeing cases of extrajudicial killings and, naturally, citizens are more cautious." But she said nonetheless actions were continuing including regular street protests in the vast but impoverished southeastern region of Sistan-Baluchistan, strikes by oil workers and protests marking death anniversaries of protesters. One notable example was a protest this month outside the walls of Rajaishar prison in Karaj near Tehran when rumours emerged that inmates Mohammad Ghobadlou and Mohammad Boroghani were about to be hanged over the protests. Both men are still alive."These protests, whether they subside or not in the short term, are not over," said Boroumand. "They have changed the narrative that the Islamic republic has imposed over several decades regarding who Iranians are and what they want."In the face of the challenge there has been little sign the leadership under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is ready to offer meaningful concessions and it could yet ratchet up the repression further.
'Distrust among insiders'
Khamenei, in a widely commented move this month, named former Tehran police chief Ahmad Reza Radan to be commander of the national police force. Radan is a hardline figure seen as having played a key role in the suppression of 2009 protests over disputed elections.
Meanwhile, the crackdown on the protest movement has only increased Iran's isolation from the West, with talks on reviving the 2015 deal on its nuclear programme in deep freeze. Iran is also furious that the UN, at the instigation of Western countries, has launched a fact-finding mission into the crackdown. Simultaneously, Iran has been increasingly running into the arms of Vladimir Putin's Russia, similarly isolated by the West over its invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv and the West accuse Tehran of supplying Moscow with plentiful cheap drones to use in attacks on Ukrainian territory. But some analysts detect the very first signs of fissures emerging over how to handle the protests within the regime, which despite all the bloodshed has yet to employ its full arsenal of repression. In an extraordinary development many observers are still at a loss to fully explain, Iran this month executed former deputy defence minister Alireza Akbari, who had gained British nationality after leaving his post, on charges of spying for the UK. Cornelius Adebahr, non-resident fellow at Carnegie Europe, said the "unexpected verdict" may point to a "power struggle" within the elite over how to deal with the protests. Akbari was seen by analysts as close to Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani and other figures who have argued for some moves to address protesters' grievances. "Although no apparent cracks dividing the establishment could be observed four months into the protests, there are signs of fissures," said Fathollah-Nejad, describing the execution as "another sign that distrust has set in among regime insiders".

Iranian Currency Falls to Record Low
London - Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 January, 2023
Iran's troubled currency fell to a record low against the US dollar on Saturday amid the country's increasing isolation and possible Europe Union sanctions against Tehran's Revolutionary Guards or some of its members. Ties between the EU and Tehran have deteriorated in recent months as efforts to revive nuclear talks have stalled. Iran has detained several European nationals and the bloc has become increasingly critical of the violent treatment of protesters and the use of executions.
The EU is discussing a fourth round of sanctions against Iran and diplomatic sources have said members of the Revolutionary Guards will be added to the bloc's sanctions list next week. But some EU member states want to go further and classify the Guards as a whole as a terrorist organization, Reuters reported. The dollar was selling for as much as 447,000 rials on Iran's unofficial market on Saturday, compared with 430,500 the previous day, according to the foreign exchange site Bonbast.com. The rial has lost 29% of its value since nationwide protests following the death in police custody of a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, on Sept. 16.

Iran’s Raisi Pledges to Tackle Inflation
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 January, 2023
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday set the tackling of galloping inflation and currency devaluation as priorities for the 2023-2024 budget presented to parliament. The pledge came as the rial touched a new low. Addressing MPs, Raisi tried to reassure Iranians over the economy which faces a serious crisis due primarily to US sanctions, mainly on oil exports. These were reimposed after Washington's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. "Transparency, improving people's livelihoods... controlling inflation and costs and supporting the stock market" are the budget priorities for the year starting on March 21, Raisi said. At the end of December, the governor of the central bank resigned after the rial lost around 30 percent of its value in two months, falling from 330,000 to 430,000 per US dollar. On Sunday, the national currency traded at around 450,000 rials per dollar, a new all-time low. At the same time, inflation reached 45 percent at the end of December. "Know that the prices of (foreign) currencies and gold, as well as the prices of many expensive things in the country will decrease," the president promised, without explaining in detail the strategy of the government to achieve this. Iran's economy has been subject to increasing pressure with fresh sanctions imposed by Western countries over the authorities’ response to protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini. Iran has been gripped by the protests since the September 16 death in custody of Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian, for an alleged violation of the country's strict dress code for women. Western countries have also imposed sanctions on Iran over providing Russia with drones they say are used in the Ukraine war. Tehran had repeatedly denied supplying weapons "to be used" in the war, but later admitted sending drones to Russia before the invasion began in February. "The enemy is trying to impose difficult conditions and despair on the people" but "the government and parliament must give people hope," Raisi said. He assured that the government has "a short and long-term strategy" to support activity in the sectors of housing, health, food and transport.
Parliament on Sunday approved the budget which relied on projected exports of 1.4 million barrels of crude per day at an average price of $85 per barrel, state news agency IRNA reported.

Iran Probes Sexual Assault Allegations on Teens
London - Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 January, 2023
Iran's sports minister has ordered a probe into allegations of sexual assault targeting teenagers at a football academy in the country's northeast, state media reported Saturday. "A former media manager for the Shahr Khodro football team has claimed on social media that the parents of 15 players from this club and its academy have filed a complaint against the club and its coaches for sexually assaulting their children," state news agency IRNA reported. Shahr Khodro football club is based in the shrine city of Mashhad, Iran's second largest city. "Minister of Sports Hamid Sajadi two weeks ago ordered an investigation into reports of assault at a football academy for teenagers in Mashhad," IRNA added. Sajadi called for a "firm response" against those responsible for the incident, the agency added. On Friday, the local newspaper Shahrara reported on its website that the families of players from the club had gathered outside the headquarters of the provincial football organization to protest the "tragedy". The families decided to bring the matter to the media when their protest failed to elicit a response, the daily added. Meanwhile, Iran's judiciary is to rule on whether to release celebrated filmmaker Jafar Panahi on bail after his conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court, his lawyer said Saturday. Panahi, 62, who has won a string of awards at European film festivals, was arrested on July 11 and had been due to serve a six-year sentence handed down in 2010 after his conviction for "propaganda against the system". But on October 15, the Supreme Court quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial. "Early this morning, judicial officials told me that they will make a decision about Panahi by the end of the week," his lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, told AFP. "Panahi's case had remained blocked in the courts since mid-October, but it was finally sent to the Court of Appeal on Monday to launch the legal proceedings. “By law, he should immediately be released on bail and his case reviewed again," the lawyer said.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 22-23/2023
ريمون إبراهيم من معهد جيتستون : قائمة بأحداث اضطهاد المسيحيين خلال شهر كانون الأول/2022/إبادة جماعية في نيجيريا وأرمينيا وسوريا
Genocide in Nigeria, Armenia and Syria: The Persecution of Christians, December 2022
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/January 22/ 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/115163/raymond-ibrahim-gatestone-institute-genocide-in-nigeria-armenia-and-syria-the-persecution-of-christians-december-2022-%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%85%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%a5%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%87%d9%8a%d9%85/
“These military attacks by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime are part of a wider Turkish policy of annihilation of the Kurdish and Assyrian [Christian] people in northern Syria and Iraq. Turkey has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including bombing, shelling, abduction, torture, and extrajudicial killings. The attacks are part of Turkey’s genocidal policies towards Kurds, Christians, and Ezidis.” — Genocide Watch, December 7, 2022, Turkey.
“As scholars who study the process of genocide, we believe that the actions of the Azerbaijani government constitute a risk of genocide for the Armenians of the region. We urge international agencies and governments to ensure the free access of people and goods to Nagorno-Karabakh.” — genocideprevention.am, December 13, 2022, Azerbaijan.
“Let it be put on record that in the hundreds of attacks [on Christians] that have…killed thousands since 2014, we have not seen anyone arrested and brought to book over these heinous crimes against humanity. Instead, it is southern Kaduna traditional leaders, clergy and human right activists that do get arrested and put in prison over trumped-up allegations of ‘incitement.'” — Luka Biniyat, spokesman for the Southern Kaduna People’s Union, Morning Star News, December 23, 2022, Nigeria.
On Dec. 17, a high-level Muslim official promulgated a new law saying that Christians could not celebrate Christmas without first obtaining a governmental permit. — Morning Star News, December 23, 2022, Indonesia.
Until 2017, when a new government came to power, churches had few problems. Since then, the authorities have capriciously shut down 20 churches, so that only 11 now remain open in the entire nation, with ongoing threats that they too might be shut down. — mnonline.org, December 1, 2022, Algeria.
“The persecution of Egypt’s Christian Copts is the longest ongoing persecution in the history of mankind, from 642, to today, 2022. Through all this time, maybe 70 years under British occupation were peaceful and good—the ‘golden era’ for Copts in all this duration…. I know of no group that has been persecuted for nearly 1400 years—with still no light at the end of the tunnel.” — Magdi Khalil, author who specializes in the situation of minorities in the Middle East, copticsolidarity.org, December 12, 2022, Egypt.
“After converting to Christianity… five days later, I started receiving threatening messages on my phone of risking being killed for leaving Islam. Please pray for us, for God to heal us quickly to enable us look for where to go.” — Abdu Muyinga, Morning Star News, December 18, 2022, Uganda.
Muslims on social media slammed a popular Liverpool soccer player, Mohamed “Mo” Salah, after he posted a picture of his family by a Christmas tree captioned with “#MerryChristmas.” One Muslim wrote: “I shall be unfollowing you and stop supporting Liverpool because you are celebrating Christmas with the Christians.” (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
The following are among the murders and abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians throughout the month of December 2022:
Genocidal Jihad against Christians
Turkey: Between November 20-25, 2022, Turkey launched 2,500 attacks—air, mortar, drone, artillery, etc.—several miles deep across Syria’s northern border. Governed by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), this is also where most of Syria’s religious minorities—Christians, Yazidis and Kurds — live, who were earlier persecuted by the Islamic State (“ISIS”). At least 48 people were killed and dozens wounded. The assault also destroyed or damaged 2,300 civilian homes and buildings, including a children’s hospital, a health center, an electrical power station, essential oil and gas processing facilities, critical grain towers, and a major bakery. Lethal Turkish attacks have continued, prompting Genocide Watch to issue a Genocide Emergency Alert on December 7, 2022:
“These military attacks by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime are part of a wider Turkish policy of annihilation of the Kurdish and Assyrian [Christian] people in northern Syria and Iraq. Turkey has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including bombing, shelling, abduction, torture, and extrajudicial killings. The attacks are part of Turkey’s genocidal policies towards Kurds, Christians, and Ezidis.”
During a Dec. 15 webinar titled, “Is it Genocide? Turkey Targets Syria’s Christians, Yazidis & Kurds,” an expert panel underscored these points (summarized here). Turkey’s stated purpose for its aggression against northern Syria—to create a “safe zone” along its southern border with Syria—is a pretext and excuse for its true motivation: “to remove religious and ethnic minorities,” said Charmaine Hedding, president of the Shai Fund.
Erdoğan’s ground forces include former ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Tahrir al-Shams jihadists, Hedding added, who “are committing massive human rights abuses and have an agenda to create a caliphate, and they will eradicate the religious minorities in this area.”
Gregory Stanton, president of Genocide Watch, said:
“Turkey is a genocidal society… Turkey has conducted so many genocides in history… Going back many centuries, it [Turkey] has been anti-Christian, and has tried to slaughter as many Christians as possible.”
Kino Gabriel, a Christian Assyrian, stressed that the war on Christians in Syria has taken many forms over the years, and, in the modern era, traces back to ruling al-Assad dynasty’s implementation of Arabization, which saw Christians go from 25 percent of Syria in 1950 to 12 percent in 2010, with that number only getting smaller following ISIS, and now Turkey, which he reminded viewers is “a big supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and even those most radical factions.”
Azerbaijan: The Muslim nation’s actions against the Christian Armenians of Artsakh carry the risk of genocide, said a group of genocide experts in the following joint statement:
“We, the undersigned international genocide studies scholars and educators, condemn the actions of the Azerbaijani government in creating a humanitarian crisis for Nagorno-Karabakh by closing of the Goris-Stepanakert corridor on Dec. 12, 2022 and cutting gas supplies to the Armenian population. As scholars who study the process of genocide, we believe that the actions of the Azerbaijani government constitute a risk of genocide for the Armenians of the region. We urge international agencies and governments to ensure the free access of people and goods to Nagorno-Karabakh. These concerns are being raised in the context of our participation in the International Global Forum against the Crime of Genocide during which we learned of these acts of aggression against the civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Nigeria: The genocide of Christians in the West African nation continued unabated with several lethal attacks launched on Christian villages by Muslim Fulani herdsmen. Between Dec. 18-21 alone, the Fulani butchered 46 Christians during several coordinated attacks. Discussing the worst of these raids, Luka Biniyat, spokesman of the Southern Kaduna People’s Union said:
“It is with heavy heart and deep sense of loss that we announce the gruesome, mass murder of not less that 38 harmless, unarmed villagers. The killings, which lasted long, started around 11 p.m. Sunday night. Not only were these poor innocent citizens killed, not less than 100 houses were razed, with some victims burned alive.”
After saying that there had been plenty of warning that the attack would occur, Biniyat asserted that “the security forces deployed there did nothing under this glaring potential threat to security”:
“Let it be put on record that in the hundreds of attacks [on Christians] that have put many parts of southern Kaduna into ruins and killed thousands since 2014, we have not seen anyone arrested and brought to book over these heinous crimes against humanity. Instead, it is southern Kaduna traditional leaders, clergy and human right activists that do get arrested and put in prison over trumped-up allegations of ‘incitement.'”
Also discussing these ongoing raids, Nigerian Bishop Yakubu Kundi said,
“The motivation for these attacks as far as we know is that it’s a deliberate plan to unleash evil and to terrify our people because we do not profess the same religion or because we oppose their violent activities on our land.”
Christmas-Related Hate and Violence
France: On Dec. 14, around 1 pm, a Muslim man carrying several tools proceeded to saw down a Christmas tree that had been erected by the officials of Lormont. According to a report:
“A local resident who could no longer bear the tree that stood in front of the residence where he lives, simply decided to cut it down. The gesture was accompanied by a shout: ‘Allahu akbar’. Neighbors heard and saw it and raised the alarm.”
Spain: A video posted on Dec. 17 shows a Muslim migrant, in broad daylight with dogs barking in the background, bludgeoning and destroying a public Nativity scene with a hammer in Calahorra.
United Kingdom: Muslims on social media slammed a popular Liverpool soccer player, Mohamed “Mo” Salah, after he posted a picture of his family by a Christmas tree captioned with “#MerryChristmas.” One Muslim wrote: “I shall be unfollowing you and stop supporting Liverpool because you are celebrating Christmas with the Christians.” Another said:
“I’ve been a Liverpool fan since I was born but I will stop supporting the club because you are celebrating Christmas with the Christians. You’ve just lost me as a fan Mo Salah. Goodbye!”
According to the report:
“Others claim Salah’s annual Christmas post is a curse on Liverpool. After he put a similar picture on social media in 2020, the Reds failed to win a game at Anfield for eight matches in a row.”
Bangladesh: On Christmas Day, a young Muslim man tried to foment violence and riots against Christians by leaving a copy of the Koran into a church. According to the Dec. 25 report,
“Police claimed that the arrested youth kept the holy Quran inside the church with a view to destroy the communal harmony ahead of Christmas, the biggest religious festival of the country’s Christian community…. The police commissioner said at about 6:40am today (Sunday), an unidentified person left a bag wrapping with a red cloth at the altar secretly. Sister Shanti of the church saw the bag. As the sister became suspicious, she had opened the bag and found a copy of holy Quran inside it. Then the church authorities informed police.”
Indonesia: On Dec. 17, a high-level Muslim official promulgated a new law saying that Christians could not celebrate Christmas without first obtaining a governmental permit. According to one report:
“The agreement effectively bans religious Christmas celebrations in Java Island’s Maja District, Banten Province as strict requirements and bureaucratic opposition make obtaining official worship permits impossible for small fellowships. The announcement comes despite lack of any national-level restrictions on religious Christmas and New Year’s celebrations in the Muslim-majority country.”
Separately, on Christmas Day, Muslims in West Java stopped a church congregation from celebrating Christmas in a home by surrounding and forcibly preventing celebrants from entering the house. In a video of the incident, a woman from the church can be heard pleading with the Muslims:
“Come on, many of you insult us, are tyrannizing us. Please, the worship service is only a few minutes, so it’s up to you to talk about [relenting]. Please, come on.”
Onlookers, police officers and soldiers present made no response to the Christian woman’s pleas.
Burkina Faso: On Christmas Day, a passenger bus exploded after it hit a landmine. At least 10 people were killed. According to Reuters:
“No one has claimed responsibility, but the attack occurred in an area where the government is battling insurgents linked to al Qaeda in north Africa and Islamic State fighters.”
Attacks on Churches
Sudan: On Dec. 16, a Muslim man serving in Sudan’s armed forces, torched a church to the ground. According to the report:
“The 20-year-old building of a 100-member Sudanese Church of Christ congregation in El Daoka, Al Qadarif state was set ablaze by a suspected member of the Sudanese Armed Forces, church sources said… The suspect is a local man who opposed the presence of the church in the area, said the sources, who declined to name him. He was under investigation, said a church attorney, who described the attack as a criminal act that violated religious freedom and was punishable by two to five years of prison.”
Algeria: According to a Dec. 1 report, following “intense pressure,” governing authorities sent police to shut down another church, in Aït-Atelli. This is the most recent of many churches to be shut down in the North African nation. Until 2017, when a new government came to power, churches had few problems. Since then, the authorities have capriciously shut down 20 churches, so that only 11 now remain open in the entire nation, with ongoing threats that they too might be shut down. Discussing all of these closures, one pastor said:
“In 2017, when the new government came to power, they started this persecution…. The government [says], ‘Oh, we are [a] Muslim country. We don’t want any other religion or faith [to be] practiced besides Islam.'”
Egypt: On Dec. 24, Muslims rioted and attacked a church. Two years earlier, the roof of the Church of the Virgin and Anba Samuel Church had begun to crumble and fall through the building, injuring congregants. After two years of appeals to the authorities for a permit to fix the roof, the church finally received approval. Because this is the only church in an area covering several villages and hamlets, it serves some 600 Christian families. Built in 1979, it is already severely overcrowded (and therefore a “safety hazard,” like many churches that recently “caught fire” in Egypt.)
Accordingly, during the application process, the Christians had also requested approval to enlarge the church. The authorities refused, granting only approval to fix the roof— yet even this was too much for the local Muslim populace, who rioted and hurled stones at the church, at the Copts, and at the roof workers. They also set fire to a Christian farmhouse adjacent to the church. Police eventually arrived and quelled the riot. Christians were told they could resume roof repairs.
The following day, however, the local district governor came to “inspect” it, and quickly decided that the roof repairs must halt — immediately and indefinitely — even though more than a third of the work had already been completed. When the Christians present at the site pleaded, “How can we pray when the roof is in such a condition, especially when it’s raining?” the Muslim governor replied, “Cover it with a tarp!” In fact, this is not an option: the partial repairs make it difficult to erect a tarp. If the congregants did not comply, and continued to work on the roof, the governor angrily threatened to completely “demolish” the church.
When asked to explain his decision, or at least tell them what they needed to do to resume repairs, the governor gave no answer, and left the site. All the cement mixers and trucks that the church had hired left on the governor’s orders, resulting in a monetary loss of some 100,000 Egyptian pounds (roughly $3,400) that the church had paid to repair the roof.
Also in December, Egypt’s Ministry of Endowments announced a new record: an additional 1,200 new mosques were opened in 2022. Egyptian-born Magdi Khalil, an author and public debater who specializes in citizenship rights, civil society, and the situation of minorities in the Middle East, responded to these statistics in an interview by underscoring Egypt’s double standards when it comes to churches.
He said that, whereas there are about 120,000 mosques and more than one million prayer halls in Egypt, there are only about 5,200 churches. Considering that Copts of all denominations make up, at the very least, 10% of Egypt’s population of 104 million, this means that there is one mosque or prayer hall for every 83 Muslims, but only one church for every 2,000 Christians.
The government also completely subsidizes a great many, if not most, of Egypt’s mosques. More than 4 billion Egyptian pounds [around $134,300,000] are paid annually by the state to subsidize the Ministry of Islamic Endowments, which is charged with affairs related to mosques and Islamic da’wa (propaganda).
Conversely, not only does Egypt make it immensely hard for Christians to open or maintain churches, but the government does not contribute a “single penny” to their survival, said Khalil. Churches are required to pay their utility bills, which no mosque in Egypt does: the government picks up their bills. Aside from the obvious discrimination and legal obstacles that the government of Egypt has set up against churches, Khalil also said that “close to one thousand churches have been attacked or torched by mobs in the last five decades [since the 1970s] in Egypt.” He closed by saying:
“The persecution of Egypt’s Christian Copts is the longest ongoing persecution in the history of mankind, from 642, to today, 2022. Through all this time, maybe 70 years under British occupation were peaceful and good—the ‘golden era’ for Copts in all this duration. Then [during the colonial era] there was much more diversity in the government, including some Coptic ministers, etc. But the overwhelming majority of the time witnessed the Copts’ persecution…. I know of no group that has been persecuted for nearly 1400 years—with still no light at the end of the tunnel.”
Uganda: The Jihad on Apostates and Evangelists
The following incidents all took place in the Christian-majority nation of Uganda.
Muslims sprayed a Christian pastor’s face with acid, causing him to lose most of his vision. After preaching an evening service, a Muslim man pretending to be a Christian congregant approached Pastor Frank Mutabaazi and asked for a ride home. The pastor agreed. The pastor recalled from his hospital bed:
“… three men dressed in Islamic attire appeared and pulled out a bottle and started spraying on me through the window while shouting and mentioning that I am an enemy of their religion as well as a deceiver who is not worthy to live. From that time on, I did not know what happened, only to find myself at a nearby clinic in Namunghona after five hours.”
Now he can only dimly see from one eye, and has difficulties talking and eating due to severe acid burns.
Muslims forced poison down the throats of a pastor and a Christian couple, recent converts from Islam. The pastor, Francis Kutekereza, 51, was holding a prayer meeting in the couple’s home when seven Muslims barged in and tried to force them to eat cooked bananas laced with a fungicide that causes ptomaine poisoning. According to the husband:
“It was a real struggle in the house. Three men held the pastor, and the remaining four were on our necks. We took [ate] some little pieces of bananas before escaping, but the pastor could not escape.”
Due to all the noise, which alerted neighbors, the Muslim assailants eventually fled, “after having kicked and beaten the pastor” some more. According to the report:
“Within three hours, Pastor Kutekereza was suffering nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea. The husband and his wife, 23, had the same symptoms after five hours… The couple received treatment at a Kigorobya health clinic for three weeks and were released on Dec. 14, but the pastor remains in critical condition.”
Muslims “caned” two brothers—Arafah Senyange, 28, and his brother Zulufa Hajati Nakimuli, 43—for converting to Christianity. According to a Dec. 4 report,
“The two brothers were studying the Bible under a mango tree outside their father’s home after returning from a Sunday service in Busembatia when one of their brothers, mosque leader Hamuza Lubega, arrived shouting the jihadist slogan, ‘Allah Akbar [Allah is the greatest],’ he said. Lubega seized their Bible and began tearing its pages, then called their brothers Shafiki Kato and Ahmad Sewanyana, Nakimuli said.”
Nakimuli continued:
“We were accused of bringing an unholy, corrupted book into the home of a Muslim family and following Issa [Jesus] as the Son of God, which is blasphemy in Islam. Shafiki was sent to get some more family members with cane[s] to use on us. As they arrived, they started beating us with it.”
When a large group of Christians passed by and saw what was happening, the Muslims told them to mind their own business and move along, “as they were disciplining their family members who had left their family religion of Allah,” Nakimuli said, but the Christians managed to rescue the two brothers and take them to a nearby clinic. Both brothers suffered severe wounds and cuts. Senyange’s wife, fearing trouble from her Muslim in-laws, took their three children ages 2, 3 and 7, after the attack and went to live with her Muslim relatives.
Muslims burned down a home where a Christian cell fellowship of 23 had formed and met. Earlier, according to their leader, Nicholas Mugume, “The Muslims have been accusing us of making noise and also converting Muslims to Christianity.” So a local mosque leader sent four Muslims to the home, where Nicholas and his wife were having a meal.
“After a heated discussion, complaints and accusations of us converting Muslims, they poured petrol into the charcoal stove, and immediately fire spread and caught the entire house as the assailants left.”
The home was reduced to ashes.
Muslims angered with the conversions to Christianity of Abdu Muyinga and his 23-year-old son, Hamisi Sentongo, viciously beat them. Late on Dec. 10, a group of seven Muslims forced their way into the Christians’ home. Only the mother was present; they threatened her to call her husband and ask him to return by saying that she felt very ill. She did. On arriving they found men dressed in white clothes, which they mistook for police or health officials. According to Abdu:
“I stopped and one hit me with a stick on my shoulder, the back, the head and left leg, and I fell unconscious. My son sustained slight injuries in the mouth, and his right wrist and hand suffered a fracture, making it very stiff. The attackers left us half-dead and half-naked.”
Passersby found and took them to a nearby clinic, where the father regained consciousness. Abdu continued:
“We were attacked and beaten for leaving Islam, as the sharia [Islamic law] instructs Muslims to kill anyone who leaves Islam. We survived being killed by the grace of the Lord Jesus…. After converting to Christianity, the story about our conversion circulated countrywide, and five days later, I started receiving threatening messages on my phone of risking being killed for leaving Islam. Please pray for us, for God to heal us quickly to enable us look for where to go.”
Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and a Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19338/genocide-nigeria-armenia-syria
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.
*Follow Raymond Ibrahim on Twitter and Facebook
© 2023 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.

We Have Crossed the Edge of Militarised Diplomacy and Reached the Brink in the Ukraine War
Raghida Dergham/Raghida Dergham/January 22, 2023
The confrontation between NATO and Russia is increasing in intensity, and fast approaching a turning point that could change the entire equation and render it much more dangerous. The escalation is following a military trajectory, underscored by the meetings convened this week by top generals from NATO and Ukraine, amid terrifying remarks coming from Russian leaders about ‘nuclear options’ should developments dictate it. Today, close to the one-year anniversary of the start of the Russian war on Ukraine, there are no signs of hope for a political solution on the horizon. Rather, there appears to be a countdown to the transformation of the proxy war raging between Russia and the US-led NATO alliance into a direct war, with all that this may entail. Each side is seeking to back the other into the corner of defeat in their respective military strategies. Worse, though, and more dangerous still, is that both sides have backed themselves into a corner, making it impossible for either side to back down if the other side doesn’t do it first.
Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, said it in a horrifying bluntness: “The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war”. Commenting on NATO support for the Ukrainian armed forces, he added: “Nuclear powers have never lost major conflicts on which their fate depends”. The Kremlin confirmed that Medvedev’s remarks were consistent with Moscow’s nuclear doctrine.
Western leaders have previously mocked such remarks by Medvedev, who is also a former president of Russia. They could mock even more the remarks of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who is participating alongside Russia in the war in Ukraine, who said: “Russia will never allow itself to lose in any confrontation, and it can press the button, and peace be upon you,” referring to using nuclear weapons.
Indeed, Western leaders seem confident – in varying degrees – that the Russian President Vladimir Putin would not dare use nuclear weapons in the war, believing this would hasten his end and bring about the defeat of the entire Russian army. They are confident that Putin will back down. But the problem continues to lie in how to read this man. Putin doesn’t know how to back down and will never accept defeat. In other words, what if Western leaders are mistaken?
Why is the current round of escalation more dangerous than before? First, there is the collective Western pledge to seek unprecedented aid for Ukraine, including tanks, missiles, and military hardware that could enable Ukraine to launch attacks on Russian territory. Moscow has said it views these weapons deliveries as provocative, saying they would escalate the conflict past a new threshold, especially long-range weapons that could strike deep inside Russia.
Washington has also now added Crimea into the military equation with Russia, knowing fully well that this would rile up the Kremlin, which believes the annexation of Crimea to be its crowning achievement. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed his country is seeking to restore Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Addressing the West, he said: “Our objective is to liberate all of our territories… Give us your weapons and we will bring our land back”. Washington agrees and believes Crimea would change the dynamics of the war and has urged new weapons shipments to Ukraine to this end.
Britain, through its defense secretary and military intelligence has not only pledged to send armoured vehicle and thousands of missiles and ammunition to Ukraine, but also revealed efforts by NATO states to train Ukrainian soldiers. Britain also revealed that Russia is deploying new T-14 Armata battle tanks but, perhaps as part of psychological warfare, said that this decision was associated with risks for Russia in terms of production delays and the size and heavy weight of these tanks.
Russia was likely aiming to launch a major offensive in Ukraine by mid-February, while Ukraine was likely planning its own offensive for the second half of March. NATO’s strategic push for huge logistical support for Ukraine now marks an existential challenge for Russia, especially in relation to empowering Ukraine to retake Crimea. Moreover, by mid-March, Ukrainian soldiers will have completed their training in Western countries like the United States, Britain, Germany, Poland, and elsewhere. They will return with new equipment and strategies that impose a new situation for the Russian army. In addition, the Ukrainian parliament has this month passed legislation allowing foreign citizens to fight alongside the Ukrainian army against Russia.
Russian circles are speaking about taking preventive measures as the war enters a new phase that Moscow sees as a fateful turning point. The NATO summit of chiefs of staffs has brought a combination of panicked alarm and renewed belligerence in the Russian political and military ranks. Both political and military establishments in Russia are aware of Russia’s weaknesses and understand that NATO and its US leadership have decided that a Western defeat in Ukraine is unacceptable.
Because Russia will face a qualitatively new situation, serious consideration of ‘preventive strikes’ – meaning the nuclear option – has started. And the talk here is no longer restricted to tactical nuclear strikes exclusively in Ukraine. Rather, both the geography and scale of Russian nuclear options have expanded. According to a source familiar with the matter, the recent Russian remarks about the Poseidon super torpedo are no coincidence here.
Some say these nuclear-capable torpedoes can generate tsunamis once they hit NATO countries like the United States and Britain, even sink countries like the latter to the bottom of the sea. Putin had first revealed these torpedoes in 2018, claiming they were a new type of strategic nuclear weapons that no defense system in the world could intercept. They have also been described as doomsday weapons. Last week, Moscow announced production of a first batch of these weapons to be deployed on board the submarine the Belgorod. But is this a bluff to exaggerate Russia’s capabilities, or is it really a step in the direction of executing a nuclear preventive strategy?
Interestingly, the United States and the rest of NATO members are no longer spooked by the prospect of direct conflict with Russia, including its nuclear risks. Western leaders appear to be betting on Putin’s fear of the consequences that could be devastating for him and for Russia. What’s terrifying here, however, is that such scenarios are a true pandora’s box; where if turns out to be a nuclear box, the surprise will be the end of all surprises.
All this escalation could also be just a new peak in the war, to be followed by ceasefire negotiations and political settlements. Today, this scenario appears unlikely, as the space for negotiations narrow and the space for warfare expands. Diplomacy has been dangerously militarised perhaps to the point of no return. That is, unless military leaders are developing new scenarios, measures, and vocabulary for a new kind of brinkmanship.
Western leaders do not underestimate the capabilities of Russia and its allies, led by Belarus, Chechnya, and Iran. They are also factoring in the regional actions of Russia and its allies, not just Russia’s ‘preventive’ nuclear measures.
For this reason, US diplomatic movements in the Middle East this week included efforts to hedge against Iranian adventures and Israeli initiatives and sought to ensure the situation remains calm in countries like Iraq.
According to a statement by the White House, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan discussed with the leaders of Israel “Ukraine, as well as the burgeoning defense partnership between Russia and Iran and its implications for security in the Middle East region,” with Sullivan stressing the United States would never allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
For his part, US Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk led a large US delegation to Iraq, holding the first meeting of its kind with the new Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who despite being backed by Iran recently stated his country needed continued US troops presence in Iraq. Bear in mind that the Coordination Framework, the ruling coalition in Iraq behind him, has a different position that echoes Iran’s call for US troops to leave Iraq, underscoring the importance of Sudani’s diverging position. The US delegation did not hesitate to call for stopping Iraqi funds from being diverted to Iran, which Washington today is seeking to isolate economically, politically, as well as on the nuclear level.
All surprises are possible in the Ukrainian Pandora’s Box. This war has changed the features of the world and portends further non-traditional ‘pre-emptive’ and ‘preventive’ strategies, which until recently were not in anyone’s calculations.

White House should declare IRGC terrorists
Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/January 22, 2023
The US decided to designate the Russian private military company, the Wagner Group, as a “significant transnational criminal organization” for its role in the war between Russia and Ukraine. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the group had been committing widespread atrocities and human rights abuses. “In coordination with this designation, we will also impose additional sanctions next week against Wagner and its support network across multiple continents. These actions recognize the transcontinental threat that Wagner poses, including through its ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity,” Kirby said. The White House believes the mercenary group has become a rival to the Russian regular military forces. When the group transfers weapons from North Korea to other countries, such as Russia, it becomes a problem for the administration. Kirby confirmed that US intelligence photographs showed Russian rail cars entering North Korea and picking up rockets and missiles for later use by Wagner forces.
While the American interest in Wagner’s mercenaries rises, the EU countries are trying to highlight the very significant global threat, posed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. On Thursday, the European parliament approved a resolution calling on the bloc to consider designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, a terrorist organization. The Iranian leadership threatened the EU with repercussions inside Iran, in the region, and Europe if the EU took this decision. An ultra-conservative Iranian lawmaker warned Germany, France and the UK that the parliament would add them to Iran’s terror list if the EU resolution goes any further. Mohammed Nabavi said that if Europe endangers Iranian interests around the world, the interests of EU member states, their supporters, and their companies, “will be threatened no matter where they are located.”The Iranian regime’s strong reaction, by raising the bar of its direct threats, reflects the vital role of the IRGC in maintaining the regime’s existence and empowering its dangerous regional influence.The European countries have realized that focusing on Ukraine is not enough to win the bigger war; therefore, Iran should be confronted.
What would it take to convince US President Joe Biden that Iran is still a clear and present danger? The Iranian threat to US national security is far more significant than the Wagner group is.
It is the right time for the US to pull the plug and put the final nail in the coffin of the Iranian regime.
The White House should be reminded that the Iranians are the ones that have been targeting American citizens, even on its own soil. The question is not whether the Wagner group should be designated a terrorist organization but rather why the more severe threat to the American people did not come before that, and what the US Department of State is waiting for. The IRGC has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy, and air units under the command of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Quds Force is an elite clandestine wing of the IRGC, responsible for its foreign operations, such as in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. It has been proven by US intelligence that the IRGC delivered Iranian drones to the Russians. And the IRGC has made attempts in the past to assassinate foreign officials on US soil. Aren’t these reasons serious enough to convince Biden that the rising threat from this terrorist organization should be dealt with immediately to protect Americans and their interests everywhere? The White House needs to back the EU decision to designate the IRGC as it is, a terrorist group, and take more strict measures against the organization for its role in killing and torturing Iranian protesters. The leader of the free world should stand by the oppressed and confront the oppressor. It is the right time for the US to pull the plug and put the final nail in the coffin of the Iranian regime while the people of Iran decide their own future.
• Dalia Al-Aqidi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy.
Twitter: @DaliaAlAqidi

Iran regime should be punished for its nuclear defiance
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/January 22, 2023
The Iranian regime continues to defy the international community, particularly the International Atomic Energy Agency, with the ongoing advancement of its nuclear program. The world must pressure the regime into relinquishing its nuclear ambitions and halting its nuclear program. The theocratic establishment recently made a significant advancement by tripling its capacity to enrich uranium to 60 percent purity, which is basically a short technical step away from the 90 percent purity required to build a nuclear weapon. This is a threat to the stability and security of the region.
Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir accurately stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week: “I believe that Iran has an obligation to give up its nuclear program. I believe that Iran must be in compliance with the terms of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran, if it wants to be a member in good standing of the international community, needs to respect international law, needs to respect international order.”
Enriching uranium to 60 percent is way beyond what was permitted under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal. Under that agreement, Iran’s uranium enrichment was restricted to only 3.67 percent, which is the level generally used for a civilian nuclear energy program.
As the head of the IAEA Rafael Grossi pointed out at a press conference in Rome last month: “This is not banal. This is something that has consequences. It gives them an inventory of nuclear material for which it cannot be excluded … that there might be another use. We need to go. We need to verify.”
France, Germany and the UK also warned in a statement in November that: “This step (increased enrichment), which carries significant proliferation-related risks, has no credible civilian justification.” Earlier last year, the European trio stated that the Iranian government’s actions were “further reducing the time Iran would take to break out toward a first nuclear weapon and … fueling distrust as to Iran’s intentions.”
One of the critical issues is that the IAEA has been having difficulty monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities. The theocratic establishment has been restricting the ability of the agency’s inspectors to monitor its nuclear sites. In 2021, the regime deactivated many cameras that helped the IAEA monitor Tehran’s nuclear activity. It is important to point out that the Iranian regime’s violations come at a crucial time, as it was revealed last year that Tehran is building an underground nuclear facility in Natanz that is reportedly extremely difficult to bomb. Even Israel apparently does not have the military capability to take out this underground nuclear site. The president of the Institute for Science and International Security, David Albright, said: “Fordow is already viewed as so deeply buried that it would be difficult to destroy via aerial attack. The new Natanz site may be even harder to destroy.”
The theocratic establishment has been restricting the ability of IAEA inspectors to monitor its nuclear sites.
One of the reasons that the regime has halted its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog is most likely because Tehran does not want to provide any explanation for its undeclared nuclear sites. Clandestine operations were previously identified by the IAEA at three undeclared locations in Iran. As Grossi warned last June: “We have to sit down, urgently if possible, to see how we continue with this. Iran has not provided explanations that are technically credible in relation to the agency’s findings at three undeclared locations in Iran.”
Another possibility is that the Iranian regime may have decided to begin enriching uranium to 90 percent, the level that is required for the production of nuclear weapons. Zohar Palti, the former head of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s political-military bureau and former Mossad intelligence director, last month stated that Iran is only weeks away from enriching uranium to military-grade levels. He said that Iran “is at a more advanced level than I can ever remember when it comes to uranium enrichment … They are days or weeks away from enriching uranium to 90 percent, which is military-grade.”
In addition, Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva pointed to the notion that Tehran had made “significant progress” toward producing 90 percent-enriched uranium. He said: “The moment is coming when the greatest test of the international community will come to light, when Iran entertains (the idea of) enrichment at 90 percent, even if only symbolically.”
In a nutshell, the Iranian regime should not be allowed to advance its nuclear program, refuse to cooperate with the IAEA and defy international rules without facing any consequences. It is necessary that the international community act before it is too late.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist.
Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Riyadh Season and Nasrallah!
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/January, 22/2023
Hassan Nasrallah came out with a televised address in which he tried to incite his followers and Lebanese people against Saudi Arabia by saying Riyadh could pay a sum of money to help Lebanon out of its crisis, the same way it spends on the Saudi national football league or bring in players like Cristiano Ronaldo to Al-Nassr. Nasrallah’s statements are evidence that he has not realized the changes taking place around him, He believes that the region, specifically Saudi Arabia, is still affected by populist speech. Meanwhile, everyone, including the Lebanese people, sense the change and can see them with their own eyes along with other peoples of the region, along with the Iranians. What Nasrallah and his like fail to realize is that yes, football is more important, because it means that there exists a complete economic, political, social and health system that is working for the interest of the citizen and the nation. It is a system of life, work, investment and wellbeing, not a system of backwardness followed by Nasrallah and Iran’s supporters. Football, through the Iraq-hosted Gulf Cup, reminded us of and introduced young generations to Iraqis who long for their Gulf surroundings. The Iraqis are generous and hospitable people. Everyone who has seen videos pouring in from Basra cannot but show love for Iraq and the Iraqis. What we have seen from the Iraqis, specifically from Basra, has touched the hearts and minds in spite of two decades of extremist rhetoric by militias and parties seeking to stoke sectarian strife, most notably the Iranian media machine, whose most important branch lies in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahieh, where Nasrallah resides.
The truth is that Nasrallah’s statements remind the Lebanese people and others that we are following the right path. The enemy has realized this even before the friend. Saudi Arabia has managed to win hearts and minds through internal reforms. Saudi Arabia has managed to grab the attention of the world through hard work, social and economic reforms and wise political leadership. All this success has culminated in the establishment of a complete system that is founded on developing the country and not being distracted by foreign factors and affairs. Therefore, the Riyadh Season football match, which brought together the stars of the Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr clubs with Paris Saint Germain, shifted the attention of the world’s youth to Riyadh. This was achieved through football, not politics. This is a product of the leadership’s focus on developing the country. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah told Davos that by confronting economic challenges and investing in their countries by focusing on development, Saudi Arabia and others in the region, especially the Gulf Cooperation Council, are sending a strong signal to Iran and others in the region that there is a way to overcome traditional conflicts and move towards joint prosperity.
Based on this rational and very correct Saudi statement, I advise Nasrallah to first, continue to enjoy Riyadh Season and the Saudi league and second, you can help Lebanon without paying a single dollar or beg for a hundred million.
Everything Nasrallah – and Hezbollah by extension - has to do is allow the election of a president that falls in Lebanon's favor, not just the party or Iran, and facilitate the process of choosing a prime minister. Only then will you see how stability will bring money to Lebanon and restore the authority of the state.

Organization of Nickel Exporting Countries?
Najib Saab/Asharq Al-Awsat/January, 22/2023
The Future Minerals Forum, recently held in Riyadh, carries important connotations in a capital that usually hosts energy conferences, as the largest oil exporting country in the world. In addition to being another proof of the seriousness in implementing policies to diversify the economy, this landmark event is a sign of proactive planning, after the importance of strategic minerals in the energy markets became evident. The conference discussed building a responsible global mineral sector that invests in natural resources for the benefit of development, while protecting the environment and ensuring sustainability, based on cooperation among countries, organizations and the private sector. The event has added importance because Saudi Arabia itself amasses promising mineral wealth.
This goes in hand with Saudi Arabia's involvement in playing a pivotal role in clean and renewable energy markets, from scientific research and development to global operation and marketing. This involves enhancing efficiency measures and carbon capture and storage, besides investments in the sun and wind as primary sources of renewable energy, and hydrogen as a reliable means to carry and store energy. Whereas in the past response to everything related to developments in energy sources outside the realm of oil and gas was suspicious and reserved, Saudi Arabia has now turned to engaging in new technologies and energy markets as a major player and strong competitor.
Shortly after the conclusion of the ministerial meeting that accompanied the Minerals Forum, the UAE hosted for the fifteenth time the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and the World Future Energy Summit. In addition to presenting the most important developments in energy transition, those assembled in Abu Dhabi discussed preparations for the upcoming climate summit (COP 28), which will be held at the end of the year in Dubai, and ways to reach practical results that go beyond wishes and good intentions. Simultaneously in Abu Dhabi, the thirteenth session of the General Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) convened last week, bringing together 1,500 officials from governments, organizations and companies, to review the progress made in the transition to clean energy, and to develop a technological and financial roadmap for the future. If interest in clean and renewable energy is normal these days, within the scope of programs to reduce carbon emissions to fight climate change, what is the role of minerals in this regard?
Minerals are a key component in the manufacture of solar panels and wind turbines, as well as batteries that electric cars rely on. It is expected that nickel will be more used than steel in cars in 2040, in addition to lithium, cobalt, graphite and copper. As for silicon, it will remain the main metal component for the manufacture of solar photovoltaic panels, until alternatives similar in efficiency are developed. While the production of other strategic minerals is divided among several countries, in varying proportions, China controls the silicon market today, as it produces more than half of the global total, followed by Russia, the United States, Norway and Brazil, in much smaller quantities. The results of what was announced last week in Sweden, about the discovery of the largest deposit of rare earth metals in the north of the country, are not expected to show before ten years. The outcome may reduce Europe's dependence on China as a source of about 98 percent of its needs for strategic minerals, on which the future world economy will depend, for long. This is because renewable energy equipment and electric cars will need many times more minerals than conventional power plants. This explains the World Bank's projections that the production of strategic minerals will increase 500 times by 2050.
Reserves of nickel, the most important metal for manufacturing batteries, are concentrated in Indonesia and Australia, followed to a much less extent by the Philippines, Canada and Russia. As for the lithium reserves, which is as important as nickel in the manufacture of batteries, they are concentrated in South American countries led by Chile, followed by Australia, Argentina, China, the United States, Zimbabwe, Brazil and Portugal, in smaller quantities.
Indonesia has been working for years to protect nickel prices, by limiting the quantities extracted and exported, especially as rich consuming countries are still controlling the markets for this important metal, through multinational companies. These multinationals get nickel from source countries at low prices, and sell it on world markets at many folds higher. Indonesia is seeking to establish an Organization of Nickel Exporting Countries (ONEC), similar to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), just as South American countries are also aspiring to establish a union for lithium producers, to protect their interests in the market and to prevent the exploitation of their natural resources at the lowest prices. However, the task of the two parties will not be easy, because nickel and lithium mining is still dominated by private companies that have exclusive long-term monopoly, rather than in the hands of the governments themselves, as in the case of OPEC countries. However, it is only natural for countries that produce strategic minerals, primarily nickel and lithium, to continue working to protect their national rights, either by not renewing concessions or resorting to international courts.
It is true that the minerals used to make batteries and solar panels are of strategic importance in energy security, but the monopoly of certain countries and companies, and the depletion of stocks, is not an inevitable destiny, because technological discoveries promise to provide alternatives in various fields, the first of which is the batteries. Experiments on sodium, which is extracted from seawater and land in form of rock salt, have reached impressive results because it is used as major alternative, not just an auxiliary element for storing electricity in batteries, especially those used for electric cars. Besides the fact that there would be no fear of sea water, the largest source of sodium, being depleted. Metals used in solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries will, to varying degrees, remain essential components of the clean energy sector. Therefore, we should not be surprised if we ever hear, for example, of the establishment of the 'Organization of Nickel Exporting Countries', and our ears may have to get used to the sound of 'ONEC'. Oil exporting countries would do well to take these developments into account soon, as did Saudi Arabia in the case of the Riyadh conference on rare minerals. This is the best path which secures for those countries the role of major players, rather than being mere spectators from the sidelines.
*Najib Saab is Secretary General of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development- AFED and Editor-in-Chief of Environment & Development magazine.