English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For January 28/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in
me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear
more fruit.
John 15/01-08/: “I am the true vine, and my Father is
the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch
that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been
cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine,
neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.
Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you
can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and
withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you
abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will
be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and
become my disciples.”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on January 27-28/2023
Question: “What does it mean to love one another?”
Beirut blast probe suspended, restarted, now stalled again
Timeline: Lebanon in dire straits since 2019
Oueidat says his move was to avoid 'bloodshed on the streets'
Opposition, change MPs deplore 'black Wednesday', slam Oueidat moves as
'surreal'
“Change”, Opposition MPs hold meeting at Parliament over current judicial
developments
Ibrahim from Bkerki: My visit to His Beatitude has nothing to do with the
presidency
Sleem tackles national affairs with Rahi, denies dismissal rumors
Report: Jumblat, Shiite Duo promoting presidential exit not opposed by Bkirki
Lebanon ‘following in Venezuela’s footsteps’
Germany supports LAL to improve access to education for all children in Lebanon
Protests across Lebanon, Middle East against Quran burning
Titles For The
Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on January 27-28/2023
At least 7 Israelis killed, 10 wounded in a shooting attack in Jerusalem
Israeli Forces Eliminate Terror Cell Planning Major Attacks
Jerusalem, West Bank on edge after outbreak of violence
U.S. sees urgent need for de-escalation in Israel, West Bank -White House
Jenin incursion leads to mounting escalation between Palestinians, Israelis
Israeli justice reforms spark tech investor flight fears
EU and UK Impose Human Rights Sanction on Iran, but Not on Its President and
Supreme Leader
Azerbaijan strongly protests to Iran after fatal embassy shooting
Russian military chiefs are losing patience with Putin and could soon turn on
him in a coup, former aide predicts
Putin is pardoning thieves, hit men, and murderers so that they can go to fight
in Ukraine, Kremlin admits
U.S. intel chief warns of 'devastating' impact of Russian missile attacks
Germany accuses Russia of twisting minister's war comments for 'propaganda'
Gunman kills security chief at Azerbaijan Embassy in Iran
Ukrainian presidency: 10 killed in latest Russian shelling
Poland to send 60 modernised tanks to Ukraine in addition to Leopards
Ukrainian agent accused of spying for Putin was found with stacks of foreign
cash and Russian SIM cards, officials say
US military kills senior Islamic State official in Somalia
France, Iraq sign comprehensive strategic partnership agreement — Elysee
Canada names Amira Elghawaby country's first anti-Islamophobia representative
Titles For The
Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on January 27-28/2023
‘The Shame of Pakistan’: Blasphemy Accusers…Courageous Christian Woman
Stands Up to Them/Nasir Saeed/Gatestone Institute/January 27, 2023
Iran: Big Replacement Ahead?/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 27/2023
on January 27-28/2023
Question: “What does it mean
to love one another?”
GotQuestions.org/January 27/2023
Answer: In John 13:34 Jesus taught, “A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Then He added, “By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (verse
35). How do we do this? What does it mean to love one another?
The “one another” in these verses is a reference to fellow believers. A
distinguishing mark of being a follower of Christ is a deep, sincere love for
brothers and sisters in Christ. The apostle John reminds us of this fact
elsewhere: “He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love
their brother and sister” (1 John 4:21).
In giving this command, Jesus did something the world had never seen before—He
created a group identified by one thing: love. There are many groups in the
world, and they identify themselves in any number of ways: by skin color, by
uniform, by shared interest, by alma mater, etc. One group has tattoos and
piercings; another group abstains from meat; yet another group wears fezzes—the
ways people categorize themselves are endless. But the church is unique. For the
first and only time in history, Jesus created a group whose identifying factor
is love. Skin color doesn’t matter. Native language doesn’t matter. There are no
rules about diet or uniforms or wearing funny hats. Followers of Christ are
identified by their love for each other.
The early church demonstrated the type of love Jesus was talking about. There
were people in Jerusalem from all over the known world (Acts 2:9–11). Those who
were saved got together and immediately began meeting each other’s needs: “All
the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and
possessions to give to anyone who had need” (Acts 2:44–45). This was love in
action, and you can be sure it made an impression on the people of that city.
Jesus’ statements in John 13:34–35 raise a couple of other questions that may be
good to answer. First, how does Jesus love? He loves unconditionally (Romans
5:8), sacrificially (2 Corinthians 5:21), with forgiveness (Ephesians 4:32), and
eternally (Romans 8:38–39). At the same time, Jesus’ love is holy—characterized
by transcendent moral purity—because He is holy (Hebrews 7:26). The culmination
of Christ’s amazing love for us is His death on the cross, burial, and bodily
resurrection (1 John 4:9–10). Believers are to love each other like that.
Second, how then can the believer in Christ love as Christ loved? The believer
in Christ has the Holy Spirit living within him (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). By
obeying the Spirit, through the Word of God, the believer can love like Christ
does. He shows that unconditional, sacrificial, forgiving love to fellow
believers, but it doesn’t stop there. He also shows the love of Christ to
friends, to family members, to coworkers, etc. (Ephesians 5:18–6:4; Galatians
5:16, 22–23). Even enemies are the recipients of Christ’s love (see Matthew
5:43–48).
Christ’s love displayed through the believer is unlike the “love” generated by
the flesh, which can be selfish, egotistical, unforgiving, and insincere. First
Corinthians 13:4–8 gives a wonderful description of what Christ’s love will be
like in and through the believer who walks in the Spirit.
People don’t naturally love with a 1 Corinthians 13-type love. To love like
that, there must be a change of heart. A person must realize that he is a sinner
before God and understand that Christ died on the cross and rose again to
provide him forgiveness; then he must make the decision to accept Christ as his
personal Savior. At that point he is forgiven by Christ and receives God’s gift
of eternal life—in fact, he becomes a participant in the divine nature (2 Peter
1:4). In Christ he knows that he is genuinely loved by God. The new life the
believer receives includes a new capacity to love like Christ loves, for the
believer now has living within him the unconditional, sacrificial, forgiving,
eternal, and holy love of God (Romans 5:5).
To love one another is to love fellow believers as Christ loves us. Those who
love like Christ in the Holy Spirit’s power will give evidence that they are
disciples, or learners, of Jesus Christ.
Beirut blast probe suspended, restarted, now
stalled again
Agence France Presse/January 27/2023
When a massive explosion killed more than 215 people at Beirut's port in 2020,
Lebanese officials promised a swift investigation that would bring culprits to
justice within days. But more than two years later, the probe has been
repeatedly stalled, with lead investigator Tarek Bitar accused this week of
insubordination for resuming the probe and charging top officials.
What obstacles does the probe face?
The deadly August 4, 2020 blast was one of history's biggest non-nuclear
explosions, destroying much of Beirut's port and surrounding areas and injuring
thousands. Authorities said that tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer
haphazardly stocked in a port warehouse since 2014 had caught fire, causing the
explosion. With Lebanon's long history of political assassinations and impunity
and despite the scale of the destruction, the investigation has been repeatedly
stalled. Since its early days, the probe has faced a
slew of political and legal challenges, with high-level officials who had been
charged in the case filing lawsuits against the judge investigating them. In
December 2020, lead investigator Fadi Sawan had charged former prime minister
Hassan Diab -- who had resigned in the explosion's aftermath -- and three
ex-ministers with negligence. But Sawan was later removed from the case after
mounting political pressure, and the probe was suspended. His successor, Tarek
Bitar, also summoned Diab for questioning and asked parliament, without success,
to lift the immunity of lawmakers who had served as ministers. The interior
ministry has also refused to execute arrest warrants issued by Bitar, further
undermining his quest for accountability. Hezbollah has also launched a campaign
against Bitar, accusing him of bias and demanding his dismissal. Pressure from
Hezbollah and its allies paralyzed government as ministers boycotted cabinet
meeting, and spilt into the street, with a demonstration against Bitar in
October 2021 ending in deadly violence. In December 2021, Bitar was forced to
suspend his probe after a barrage of lawsuits, mainly from politicians he had
summoned on charges of negligence.
Why did Bitar resume work?
Embattled judge Bitar on Monday took Lebanon by surprise and resumed his
investigation after a 13-month hiatus, charging eight new suspects including
high-level security officials and Lebanon's top prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat.
Bitar said he based his decision on a legal review, with a source close to him
telling AFP the judge "is convinced it's crucial to hold officials accountable
and finish his mission". But others in Lebanon point to foreign interference in
the case. A top security official said that the Lebanese judiciary had come
under U.S. pressure to free detainees in the case, including dual Lebanese-U.S.
citizen Ziad al-Ouf. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he
was not allowed to speak to the press, said an American lobby group was pushing
for sanctions against Bitar, Oueidat and another top judge, should they fail to
comply.
The week before reopening the case, Bitar had met with two French judges for
hours about his investigation, a judicial source told AFP at the time. The
delegation suggested Bitar should resume work, arguing that holding suspects in
detention without trial is a human rights violation, the security official told
AFP.
Now what? -
Bitar's surprise move sparked a judicial battle with Prosector General Oueidat,
putting Lebanon's notoriously politicized justice system to yet another test.
Oueidat retaliated by charging the judge with "usurping power" and
insubordination, and slapped Bitar with a travel ban. The prosecutor also
released all detainees in the case and banned them from travel -- including Ouf,
who has left for the United States anyway. But a defiant Bitar told AFP he would
not step down, adding that Oueidat "has no authority" to intervene in the case.
Former justice minister Ibrahim Najjar described the situation as "very
serious and unprecedented". If a third judge is appointed to replace Bitar, "the
investigation might have to start again from scratch," Najjar told AFP.
Timeline: Lebanon in dire straits since 2019
Agence France Presse/January 27/2023
Lebanon, which is in a deep economic, social and political crisis, is also
witnessing a major showdown between a judge investigating a devastating
explosion and the country's top prosecutor.
Here is a recap of events since protests erupted in October 2019:
Oct. 2019: protests begin
Mass protests erupt following a government announcement on October 17, 2019 of a
planned tax on voice calls made over messaging services such as WhatsApp. The
government scraps the tax on the same day. But protests continue over the
ensuing weeks, culminating in calls for the overhaul of a ruling class in place
for decades and accused of systemic corruption. Saad Hariri's government resigns
in late October.
Mar. 2020: first default
Lebanon, with a $92 billion debt burden equivalent to nearly 170 percent of its
gross domestic product, announces in March 2020 that it will default on a
payment for the first time in its history.
In April, after three nights of violent anti-government protests, then-prime
minister Hassan Diab says Lebanon will seek International Monetary Fund help.
But talks with the IMF quickly collapse.
Aug. 2020: catastrophic blast
A massive explosion on August 4, 2020 at Beirut port devastates entire
neighborhoods of the capital, killing more than 215 people and injuring at least
6,500. Revelations that the pile of volatile ammonium nitrate that caused one of
the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded had been left unsecured in a
warehouse for six years enrages the Lebanese public, who blame the political
class. Diab's government resigns in the wake of the blast. Over the following
months, attempts to form a new government fail due to horsetrading between rival
sectarian factions. The powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah and its allies lose
their majority in a May 15 parliamentary election.
Oct. 2022: leaderless
Political deadlock deepens on October 31 when President Michel Aoun's mandate
expires without a successor in place. The divided parliament meets repeatedly in
a bid to elect a new president but each attempt fails. The country is run by the
outgoing government in a caretaker capacity in the meantime but its powers are
limited.
Jan. 2023: battle over port probe
On January 23, 2023, the judge investigating the deadly port blast resumes his
work, after a 13-month halt caused by political pressure.
The next day the judge, Tarek Bitar, charges the prosecutor general and seven
others with probable intent to murder and other crimes.
The legal battle deepens when the prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat, charges the judge
with insubordination and "usurping power" and slaps him with a travel ban. Bitar
stands his ground, saying he will not quit the case.
Oueidat says his move was to avoid 'bloodshed on the
streets'
Naharnet/January 27/2023
State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat has said that his latest controversial
procedures that defied Judge Tarek Bitar’s measures in the port blast case were
aimed at “avoiding bloodshed on the streets.”“I prevented blood on the streets,
but I don’t know if I’ve only postponed it should the situation continue as it
is,” Oueidat said, in remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper published Friday.
Denying that he has “recused” himself from his “jurisdiction,” Oueidat
stressed that he is “the state prosecutor who is in charge of the entire file”
and that his powers are “ultimate.”“I prosecute and I do not get prosecuted,” a
defiant Oueidat added.“As for Judge Tarek Bitar, he has no designation and he is
inept to continue the mission from which he has been recused. How can he stand
in front of the mirror and take a decision with himself?” the prosecutor added,
referring to Bitar’s decision to resume his probe following a legal study that
he himself conducted, in which he defied dozens of recusal requests filed
against him by accused politicians and other parties.
“All those who have been misled must know that Bitar has no right to return to
the file and resume the work that he left 13 months ago except after decisions
are issued by the general commission and the courts of cassation on all the
complaints,” Oueidat went on to say.He added: “This investigative judge now
needs an investigative judge into his violations and this is the mission of the
first president of the Court of Cassation, the Higher Judicial Council chief,
and I hope he will not be late in addressing the issue.”
Oueidat has filed charges against Bitar and ordered the release of all suspects,
after the later resumed his probe, charged eight more suspects in the case and
ordered the release of only five detainees. The Aug.
4, 2020 explosion of hundreds of tons of highly flammable ammonium nitrate, a
material used in fertilizers, killed 218 people, injured over 6,000 and damaged
large parts of Beirut. The release of the port probe
detainees drew protests from family members of those killed in the blast.
Lebanon's highest judicial body, the Higher Judicial Council, was scheduled to
meet Thursday afternoon to discuss the developments. Advocates for Bitar, who
include many of the families of the blast victims, feared the council would
issue a decision to remove Bitar from the probe, but the session was canceled
due to a lack of quorum. Oueidat was in the building but failed to join the
council and stayed in his office guarded by armored security forces, who later
escorted him out amid protests.
Opposition, change MPs deplore 'black Wednesday', slam
Oueidat moves as 'surreal'
Naharnet/January 27/2023
Opposition and change MPs called Friday in a joint statement for the resumption
of the Beirut port blast probe, refusing the appointment of an alternate judge
and urging for an indictment to be issued as soon as possible. MP Waddah al-Sadek
who spoke on behalf of the MPs demanded that Public Prosecutor Judge Ghassan
Oueidat be held accountable over his latest "flagrant violations."The MPs also
called for open-ended parliamentary sessions until the election of a president.
Oueidat had on Wednesday charged Judge Tarek Bitar with "usurping power"
and insubordination, and slapped him with a travel ban, after the latter
decided, in a surprise move, to resume his investigation after a 13-month
hiatus, charging eight new suspects including high-level security officials and
Oueidat. The MPs called it a "black Wednesday" and a judicial coup d'etat and
dubbed Oueidat's decisions as "illegal" and "surreal."The Higher Judicial
Council, was scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss the latest developments in
the inquest. Advocates for Bitar, who include many of the families of the blast
victims, feared the council would issue a decision to remove the maverick judge
from the probe, but the session was canceled under popular pressure. Ahead of
the canceled session, several demonstrators were wounded as police pushed the
crowds back from outside Beirut's historical Palace of Justice, and beat some
people with batons. Chaos also ensued Thursday inside the Justice Palace, after
over a dozen legislators from reformist and traditional opposition parties met
with caretaker Justice Minister Henri Khoury. The
heated meeting about the recent developments in the Beirut port probe led to
scuffles with the minister’s guards who allegedly tried to snatch their phones
as they filmed the meeting. Some of them say they were attacked, and have called
for Khoury to resign. "We condemn the barbaric attack
on the people and their representatives in a way that does not befit justice,"
Sadek said.'
“Change”, Opposition MPs hold meeting at
Parliament over current judicial developments
NNA/January 27/2023
A number of “Change” and opposition MPs on Friday held a wide meeting at the
House of Parliament, during which they discussed the latest judicial
developments. In an issued statement read out by MP Waddah Sadek, they affirmed
that “the Lebanese people have been witnessing since the morning of “Black
Wednesday” a devastating coup that began with the assassination of justice
through decisions and means that are illegitimate and surreal in the face of
justice.”They also stressed that "there is no bargaining over August 4 victims’
blood."They also indicated that "this coup consecrates the power of an
abominable police regime that we will never accept, and we derive our strength
from a collective popular rally to build a state."They pointed out that "what
the judicial investigator in the Beirut Port blast case is being exposed to is
intended to disrupt the course of justice," refusing attempts "to tamper with
his powers."
As they denounced “the assaults on the people and their representatives in a
barbaric scene that is not befitting of justice nor its custodians of
politicians and judges," they called for "opening an investigation to uncover
the circumstances of the attacks that took place, determine the identities of
the perpetrators and their references, and inflict the most severe penalties on
them."They called on the Caretaker Minister of Justice "to be frank with the
people about what happened to the judiciary and how to address the imbalance
that afflicted it."
Ibrahim from Bkerki: My visit to His Beatitude
has nothing to do with the presidency
NNA - Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, on Friday met in
Bkerki with the General Director of Lebanon’s General Security, Abbas Ibrahim.
"My visit to His Beatitude has nothing to do with the presidency," Abbas said on
emerging, adding that he’s ready to carry out any mission that contributes to
the country’s stability. Regarding the judicial chaos involving the Beirut Port
blast probe, Ibrahim affirmed that no measures have been taken that contradict
with the judicial system. As for the issuance of Lebanese passports, Ibrahim
said: "In almost a month, we will cancel the platform. Submitting applications
will become normal again. People’s turnout for issuing passports currently
exceeds our technical ability.”
Sleem tackles national affairs with Rahi, denies dismissal rumors
NNA/January 27/2023
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, on Friday met in
Bkerki with Caretaker Minister of National Defense, Maurice Sleem. “I’ve
discussed with the patriarch an array of national and living affairs, as well as
the conditions of institutions affiliated to the Ministry of Defense. I’ve also
reassured the patriarch that the situation of the military institution is fine,
and that we are keen on preserving its strong role to safeguard our homeland,”
Sleem said on emerging. Moreover, Sleem denied media claims about his dismissal.
“I am a defense minister. I do not make my decisions except according to the
laws, and I do not work according to any political agenda,” he stressed. "My
decision not to participate in cabinet sessions comes within the framework of my
commitment to the constitution,” he added.
Report: Jumblat, Shiite Duo promoting
presidential exit not opposed by Bkirki
Naharnet/January 27/2023
The heated judicial and financial developments in the country are not a
“coincidence” and some parties are orchestrating the events behind the scenes,
prominent political sources said. “The Shiite Duo and
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat are leading strenuous attempts
to break the presidential deadlock,” the sources told ad-Diyar newspaper in
remarks published Friday. “The drive is not promoting
a certain name but is rather seeking to secure general consensus over the
principle (of electing a president with 65 votes), after which the identity of
the new president would be explored,” the sources added, noting that Jumblat is
“seeking to limit the nominations to two candidates who can be promoted as
settlement candidates.”“But it seems that there are domestic and foreign parties
who would be negatively affected by this drive and are working on sabotaging the
current efforts,” the sources said.
Ad-Diyar added that, according to reports, Bkirki is “no longer opposed to such
a scenario, seeing as the president’s legitimacy would be drawn from the
attendance of 86 MPs of the first round” of voting. “This is what Marada
Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh sensed yesterday after his meeting with
Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi,” the daily said. And according to church sources, the
patriarch is seeking to “explore the other Christian opinions” and is “still
mulling some ideas which he might propose with a new format in the coming days.”
Lebanon ‘following in Venezuela’s footsteps’
Najia Houssari/Arab News/January 27, 2023
Economist Jassem Ajaka told Arab News: “We are following in the footsteps of
Venezuela. The central bank’s intervention to stop the local currency from
depreciating this fast will not work as long as there is no government action”
BEIRUT: In less than 24 hours, Lebanon’s currency dropped in value by over
10,000 Lebanese pounds, with the exchange rate nearing 70,000 to the dollar — a
plunge that comes at a time when Lebanese were dreading the exchange rate
reaching 50,000 to the dollar.
Economist Jassem Ajaka told Arab News: “We are following in the footsteps of
Venezuela. The central bank’s intervention to stop the local currency from
depreciating this fast will not work as long as there is no government
action.”Ajaka said he believed that the problem lay in the Lebanese structure,
lack of confidence in politics and judges, and the conflict with the
international community over Lebanon’s failure to pay its debts. To avoid
losses, commercial and service institutions priced their products based on a
much higher exchange rate, in anticipation of further devaluation. Such action
significantly decreased citizens’ purchasing power. The price of a 20-liter
canister of fuel jumped by 147,000 Lebanese pounds within 24 hours, reaching
1,147,000 LBP ($19 based on the exchange rate of 60,000 LBP/USD), which is
equivalent to the salary of a public sector employee. The unstable exchange rate
pushed the owners of grocery stores to either close for the day or stop selling
certain products. More protesters took to the streets in rural Lebanese areas on
Friday, blocking roads with burning tires. The Baalbek International Road was
completely cut off in protest against the economic situation. Protesters also
blocked Al-Minya International Road in northern Lebanon in both directions, in
protest against the deteriorating living conditions. The Ministry of Economy
issued a decision raising the price of a big bundle of Arab bread to 29,000 LBP
(48 cents). With prices soaring, some taxi drivers opted to stay in one region
to avoid wasting fuel in traffic jams, constantly changing their fares depending
on the exchange rate. For the first time ever, the pharmacists’ syndicate in
Lebanon called on its members to close their pharmacies in protest against the
current situation. “Pharmaceutical suppliers and warehouse owners completely
stopped delivering medicines nearly a week ago. The syndicate of pharmaceutical
importers will only deliver medicines now based on a daily issued price list,
similar to gas stations,” the syndicate said in a statement. Joe Salloum, head
of the syndicate, said: “The price differences between the Ministry of Health
index and the exchange rate on the black market are among the reasons that
almost led to the sector completely collapsing.”Robert, a pharmacist in Beirut,
said that he sold a medicine based on the exchange rate of 50,000 LBP/USD,
according to the Ministry of Health index, but the exchange rate on the black
market later reached 61,000 LBP/USD, which means he can no longer buy the same
medicine without incurring losses. “Whatever I sell, I can no longer buy.
Suppliers are barely delivering drugs and the exchange rate is always changing.
Meanwhile, the list of missing medicines keeps getting longer,” he added. Last
week, the hospitals’ syndicate resorted to adopting a procedure that requires
patients registered with the National Fund of Social Security to pay for the
required medicines, because the state is unable to cover their costs for
hospitals due to the unstable exchange rate. Antoine Yammine, head of the
syndicate of owners and investors of domestic gas cylinder filling plants,
warned on Friday of the forced closure of plants due to the insane devaluation
of the Lebanese pound, as the price of a domestic gas cylinder exceeded 730,000
LBP, about $12 (based on the exchange rate of 60,000 LBP/USD).
Yammine said: “Yesterday, the price list was priced according to the exchange
rate of 60,600 LBP/USD, but it jumped to 64,000 LBP/USD on the back market
today, which means that yesterday’s sales were all losses. Our capital is
eroding by the day. The authorities must put an end to this farce.”
Meanwhile, parliamentary blocs are yet to agree on the election of a new
Lebanese president. Opposition MPs met on Friday after they had participated in
Thursday’s protests of the families of the victims of the port explosion in
front of the Ministry of Justice after Public Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat
released all those that Judge Tarek Bitar had had arrested. The MPs issued a
statement, saying: “We support the demand for holding Judge Oueidat accountable
for the flagrant violations he has committed,” expressing their rejection of
removing Judge Bitar and assigning another judge to handle the probe.
They also warned against the dangers created by the presidential vacuum. They
reiterated their call and commitment to the provisions of the constitution,
which stipulate that parliament is an electoral body that convenes regularly
until a president is elected. Judge Bitar is expected to proceed with his
investigations, despite all the judicial objections to the legal study that he
referred to in order to resume his work after a 13-month hiatus. Next week’s
interrogation sessions are scheduled to begin on Feb. 6 with MP Ghazi Zeaiter
and former minister Mohad Al-Machnouk. Members of the Supreme Judicial Council
and its head Judge Suhail Abboud are still at odds over the fate of Bitar, who
is in charge of the probe into the Beirut Port explosion.
Germany supports LAL to improve access to
education for all children in Lebanon
NNA/January 27/2023
The Lebanese Alternative Learning (LAL) is an edtech organization. LAL has
developed a digital learning platform, ‘Tabshoura’ aligned with the learning
objectives of the Lebanese official curriculum and offers a holistic learning
experience as well as a teacher support initiative and website ‘Lalmoudaress’.
Through its partnership with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale
Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ), LAL has not only scaled Tabshoura but
specifically addressed the limited access of students to the internet, due to
frequent power cuts and the worsening economic crisis, by developing an offline
App, the ‘Tabshoura App’ that allows learners to download lesson units and use
them on any device, be it a phone, a tablet or a computer.
With public schools currently being closed, increasing the number of children
with no access to education, we hope that ‘Tabshoura’ would make education more
accessible to all children.
The programs will be downloaded on tablets, which are provided with the
financial support of Germany, and will be distributed to a number of public
schools all over Lebanon. They are also currently accessible via the national
platform Mawaridy, based on an agreement between LAL and the Center of Research
and Development (CRDP). LAL launched its programs through an event, that took
place on Tuesday, January 24th at the Abou Khater amphitheater of the Saint
Joseph University. It is called Al 3elm LAL Kell (Education for All), “Our
journey through digital education”. The event was under the patronage and in the
presence of the Minister of Education and Higher Education (MEHE), Mr. Abbas
Halabi, and in the presence of the German ambassador to Lebanon, Mr. Andreas
Kindl. Were also present, Mr. Imad Achkar, the Director General of Education,
Professor Hiam Ishaak, president of CRDP, Mr. Thomas Mueller, GIZ Lebanon
Country Director, Ms. Lama Zeinoun Tabet, Director of the GIZ SUFA Project in
Lebanon project team, and LAL partners and several representatives of education
institutions, international agencies, public and private schools, and education
centers. Mrs. Nayla Zreik Fahed, CEO of LAL, started by a welcome note and a
presentation of the association and its partnership with GIZ, and announced the
launch of Tabshoura’s offline App and its integration on 60,000 tablets provided
to public schools with the financial support of Germany. She also shed the light
on the collaboration with CRDP and the integration of Tabshoura with Mawaridy
platform “LAL’s mission is to provide free education to all. Digitization must
play a role in education equality, providing an inclusive, free, and
high-quality education. LAL played its role by providing a solution to the
educational crisis that the country is experiencing; today 50,000 students are
using Tabshoura platform, we aim to reach 200,000 students.” She also introduced
the new Lalmoudaress initiative: “more than 500 professors helped us building a
teachers’ support platform. In his speech, Mr. Thomas Mueller, explained that
“Tabshoura App is a wonderful opportunity for students to study remotely and to
educate themselves offline. It’s a great achievement that we all together found
a solution for students, teachers and administrators to make processes more
efficient. Soon the students will receive tablets through which they can access
Tabshoura.”
Mr. Andreas Kindl declared that “education is the key that enables hundreds of
thousands of boys and girls in Lebanon to break through the cycle of
poverty.”Finally, the minister Mr. Halabi thanked the German Embassy and GIZ for
their support and cooperation to help the MEHE, especially in the procurement of
60,000 tablets to be distributed in a number of public schools, and LAL for
their role in education in Lebanon. “It’s pity that during this day of
International education, our schools and administration are closed because of
the strike that I understand, we have reached a new agreement and solution with
the Prime minister to help the teachers in these difficult times, we cannot stop
education, and this is why I ask all teachers to come back to schools in order
not to lose more time.” After the event, the guests were invited to visit LAL
booths and discover all the various programs developed by the association. They
had the opportunity to test Tabshoura platform with its different components
Early Childhood Education, Elementary Cycle and Middle School, in its online and
offline versions, which are available in French, Arabic, and English and to
learn more about the non-formal education programs, and to get acquainted with
other co-curricular projects, Lalmoudaress, a platform dedicated to all Lebanese
teachers and other LAL Digital Solutions that can benefit any institution or
association that works in the educational domain.
Protests across Lebanon, Middle East against Quran burning
Associated Press/January 27/2023
Protests were held on Friday in several predominantly Muslim countries to
denounce the recent desecration of Islam's holy book by far-right activists in
Sweden and the Netherlands. The protest in Lebanon
ended with people dispersing peacefully. In Beirut,
about 200 angry protesters burned the flags of Sweden and the Netherlands
outside the blue-domed Mohammed Al-Amin mosque at Beirut's central Martyrs
Square. Earlier this month, a far-right activist from Denmark received
permission from police to stage a protest outside the Turkish Embassy in
Stockholm where he burned the Quran, Islam's holy book. Days later, Edwin
Wagensveld, Dutch leader of the far-right Pegida movement in the Netherlands,
tore pages out of a copy of the Quran near the Dutch Parliament and stomped on
them. The moves angered millions of Muslims around the world and triggered
protests. Swedish officials have stressed that freedom of expression is
guaranteed by the Swedish Constitution and gives people extensive rights to
express their views publicly, though incitement to violence or hate speech isn't
allowed. Demonstrators must apply to police for a permit for a public gathering.
Police can deny such permits only on exceptional grounds, such as risks to
public safety. Iraq's powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr asked in comments released Friday whether freedom of speech means
offending other people's beliefs. He asked why "doesn't the burning of the gays'
rainbow flag represent freedom of expression."
The cleric added that burning the Quran "will bring divine anger." Hundreds of
his supporters gathered outside a mosque in Baghdad waving copies of the Quran.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on January 27-28/2023
At least 7 Israelis killed, 10
wounded in a shooting attack in Jerusalem
Ynetnews/anuary 27-28/2023
Israeli forces report the assailant, resident of east Jerusalem, was shot dead;
police dispatch special forces to the area of the attack, the Neve Ya'akov
settlement in east Jerusalem
At least seven Israelis were killed and 10 others were wounded in a shooting
attack near a synagogue in Jerusalem, the Magen David Adom medical emergency
services reported Friday. The terror attack is one of deadliest in recent
Israeli history. The assailant was shot dead, and the wounded were taken
to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital. Israel's police said the attack happened at
the Neve Ya'akov settlement in east Jerusalem. The police said the shooter was
driving a car and opened fire on worshippers outside a local synagogue that
lasted "for several minutes." The police said the attacker was a resident of the
east Jerusalem refugee camp of Shuafat. Special security forces were deployed to
the scene to track down any potential helpers of the terrorist. Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he was set to hold an emergency meeting in the
wake of the attack. Defense Minister Yoav Galant said he was returning to Israel
from an official visit following the shooting. MDA paramedic Fadi Dekidek,
who was among the first to arrive at the scene of the attack, said: "We saw a
woman and four men lying on the side of road. They were suffering from gunshot
wounds and had no signs of life. We had to pronounce their deaths on the spot.
Three more wounded, including a boy and a 70-year-old woman, were evacuated in
critical condition."The United States condemned the terrorist attack, U.S. State
Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said. Patel told reporters at a news
briefing that U.S. officials were in touch with their Israeli counterparts and
that he did not expect changes to Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to
Israel next week. The killings took place a day after Israeli troops killed nine
Palestinians in Jenin, in the deadliest West Bank raid in years.
The spokesman for the Hamas terror group called the attack a "heroic action of
revenge for the massacre in Jenin."A senior Islamic Jihad official in the Gaza
Strip praised the attack: "The shooting is a sign that the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip are united against the Israeli enemy."
Israeli Forces Eliminate Terror Cell Planning
Major Attacks
FDD/January 27/2023
Latest Developments
Israeli special forces conducted an unusually complex raid in Jenin on Thursday,
eliminating a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) cell suspected of planning major
attacks. The Palestinian terrorist group responded by issuing threats of
escalation. According to witnesses, the early-morning operation in the West Bank
flashpoint town involved a vanguard of undercover commandos who, posing as milk
delivery men, closed in on a safe house where a PIJ planning meeting was taking
place. The IDF later released drone footage of terrorists attacking Israeli
forces from civilian rooftops during the three-hour clash.
Expert Analysis
“The Jenin operation shows that almost 10 months into Operation Break the Wave,
Israel retains its tactical skills in the face of dogged Palestinian attempts to
pull off a terrorist outrage. There is additional psychological value to the
blow delivered so deep within Jenin where Islamic Jihad had clearly thought it
was sufficiently protected to hatch a new plot unmolested. For all the talk of a
Palestinian national struggle, the gunmen of Jenin and other West Bank trouble
spots are, for all intents and purposes, armed criminal gangs who pose as much
danger to Palestinian civilians as they do to Israel.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO
“IDF arrest operations like the one this morning have a single purpose — to
prevent imminent terrorist attacks. Operation Break the Wave has been
characterized by surgical operations based on precise intelligence. The fact
that this operation is now continuing into its 10th month is a symptom of the
pervasive lawlessness in areas of the West Bank caused by the unraveling of the
Palestinian Authority.” — Enia Krivine, Senior Director of FDD’s Israel Program
and Senior Director of FDD’s National Security Network
IDF Reports Seven Confirmed Terrorists Among Nine Dead
The Associated Press reported nine dead following the operation, including seven
confirmed terrorists: four from Hamas and three from PIJ. AP also cited the
Palestinian Health Ministry reporting that two of the dead were civilians and at
least 20 others were injured.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) accused Israel of a “massacre” in Jenin and
suspended coordination between Palestinian security forces and Israel. The PA
had previously suspended coordination for a six-month period in 2020.
The Palestinian Authority Has Lost Its Grip on Jenin
The PA has little control over events in Jenin and much of the northern West
Bank, which have become hotbeds for Iran-backed terrorist groups such as Hamas
and PIJ. In September, then IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said, “the increase
in terrorism stems from the helplessness of the Palestinian Authority security
forces.” Operation Break the Wave, which the IDF
launched in March 2022, has entailed near-nightly raids in the West Bank.
According to IDF data, the number of Palestinian shooting attacks against
Israelis in the West Bank last year increased from 19 in 2019 to 285 in 2022.
Last year, Israeli security forces made over 2,600 arrests.
Jerusalem, West Bank on edge after outbreak of
violence
Associated Press/Fri, January 27, 2023
Israel's defense minister signaled Friday that the military would stop its
airstrikes if Palestinian militant groups halted rocket attacks, a day after the
deadliest Israeli raid in decades raised the prospect of a major flare-up in
fighting. After a limited exchange of Palestinian rockets and Israeli airstrikes
on Gaza overnight, residents of Jerusalem were on edge Friday morning as they
waited to see what comes next. Israel's defense
minister instructed the military to prepare for new strikes in the Gaza Strip
"if necessary." The bombardments followed an Israeli
raid in the flashpoint Jenin refugee camp, which turned into a gun battle that
killed at least seven militants and a 61-year-old woman and sparked clashes
elsewhere that saw Israeli forces kill a 22-year-old north of Jerusalem.
The escalation in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict created
an early test for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new far-right government,
which came to office as tensions with the Palestinians soared and has vowed to
take a hard line.
The raid also prompted the Palestinian Authority to halt security coordination
with Israel and drew "deep concern" from the State Department just days before
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was expected to visit the region.
So far, the hostilities have followed a familiar pattern that allows both
sides to respond without forcing the other side into a major escalation.
Palestinian militants fired rockets from Gaza toward the south of Israel. Israel
retaliated with nonlethal airstrikes on militant targets in Gaza, such as
training camps and an underground rocket manufacturing site.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed the military dealt a "tough blow"
to Palestinian militants in Gaza and said the army was preparing to strike
"high-quality targets ... until peace is restored to the citizens of Israel."
An uneasy calm prevailed around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, revered by Jews as
Temple Mount. Tensions at the volatile Jerusalem holy site has triggered
violence in the past, including a bloody Gaza war in 2021. The site is
considered both the third-most sacred site in Islam, as well as the site of an
ancient Jewish temple that is the holiest place in Judaism.
Israeli police were out in force at entrances to the limestone alleys
that lead to the sacred compound, apparently bracing for violence as they
searched Palestinian passers-by before weekly noon prayers.
Fadi, a 41-year-old shopkeeper near Al-Aqsa, said he felt the outbreak of
violence had frightened residents and subdued the usual Friday morning shopping
frenzy. He declined to give his last name for fear of reprisals.
"The Old City is empty because of all the problems," he said. "We're just
trying to work and this happens. It's like we're trapped in every way." The
night before, scuffles erupted between young religious Jews and Palestinians at
restaurants and shops in the area.
Tensions have soared since Israel stepped up raids in the West Bank last spring,
following a series of Palestinian attacks. Nearly 150
Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem last year, making
2022 the deadliest in those territories since 2004, according to leading Israeli
rights group B'Tselem. The same year, 30 people were killed in Palestinian
attacks against Israelis. So far this year, 30
Palestinians have been killed, according to a count by The Associated Press.
Israel says most of the dead were militants. But youths protesting the
incursions and others not involved in the confrontations also have been killed.
So far this year, nearly half of the Palestinians killed by Israeli troops or
civilians have been claimed as members of militant groups. At the Damascus Gate
entrance to the Old City, young Palestinians milled around as usual and women
hawked raisins from their fields. News of the nine killed in Jenin and the
overnight rockets blared from phones and radios.
Ibrahim Salameh, a 21-year-old smoking on the steps of Damascus Gate, said he
had never been so scared. Two days ago, he said, his teenage neighbor was killed
as police entered the Shuafat refugee camp to demolish an attacker's home.
"Every day there's more and more fear, more tension," he said. "Somehow I'm
living with this idea that at any moment I could be shot dead."Israel and Hamas
have fought four wars and several smaller skirmishes since the militant group
seized power in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.
In the West Bank, Fatah, the party that controls the Palestinian Authority in
the territory, announced a general strike and most shops were closed in
Palestinian cities. The PA declared Thursday that it would halt the ties that
its security forces maintain with Israel in a shared effort to contain Islamic
militants. Previous threats have been short-lived, in part because of the
benefits the authority enjoys from the relationship, and also due to U.S. and
Israeli pressure. The PA has limited control over
scattered enclaves in the West Bank, and almost none over militant strongholds
like the Jenin camp.
Jenin, a city in the north of the West Bank, was an important a militant
stronghold during the 2000-2005 intifada. Over the last year, it again emerged
as a stronghold of Palestinian militancy and epicenter of Israeli military
operations. Several of the Palestinians who killed Israelis in attacks last
spring were from the Jenin region in the northern West Bank.
Israel says its raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart
attacks. The Palestinians say they further entrench Israel's 55-year, open-ended
occupation of the West Bank, which Israel captured along with east Jerusalem and
the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians claim those territories
for their hoped-for state. Israel has established
dozens of settlements in the West Bank that now house 500,000 people. The
Palestinians and much of the international community view settlements as illegal
and an obstacle to peace, even as talks to end the conflict have been moribund
for over a decade.
U.S. sees urgent need for de-escalation in Israel, West
Bank -White House
WASHINGTON (Reuters)/January 27, 2023
The United States is deeply concerned about recent violence in Israel and the
West Bank and believes there is an urgent need for all parties to de-escalate in
the region, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on
Friday. The United States is aware of reports that at least 10 Palestinians,
including militants, were killed in an Israeli Defense Forces counterterrorism
operation and deeply regrets civilian loss of life, Kirby told reporters. "We
believe there's an urgent need here for all parties to de-escalate, to prevent
the further loss of civilian life and to work together to improve the security
situation in the West Bank," Kirby said. The Israeli operation targeted the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Washington recognizes the security challenges that
Israel, and well as the Palestinian Authority, faces every day, he said, adding
that the United States condemns terrorist groups anywhere who are planning
attacks against civilians. "I also deeply regret the loss of innocent life and
the injuries that that were incurred by civilians," Kirby said. "We're certainly
deeply concerned by this escalating cycle of violence in the West Bank. As well
as by the rockets that had been apparently launched from Gaza."Over the past few
days, the Biden administration has been closely engaged with both the Israelis
and the Palestinian Authority on this recent violence, he said. U.S. Secretary
of State Antony Blinken plans a visit to the region next week, from Sunday
through Tuesday. Kirby said he will discuss a range of issues, including the
need for calm in the West Bank.
Jenin incursion leads to mounting escalation
between Palestinians, Israelis
The Arab Weekly/January 27/2023
Gaza militants fired rockets and Israel carried out air strikes early Friday as
tensions soared following an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank that killed
nine Palestinians, including at least seven militants and a 61-year-old woman.
It was the deadliest single raid in the territory in over two decades. The
flare-up in fighting constitutes a threat to spark a full-blown explosion of
violence. It also casts a shadow on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s
expected trip to the region next week.
Violence has surged since a series of lethal Palestinian street attacks in
Israel last March and April. The attendant diplomatic stalemate has helped rally
Palestinian support for Hamas and Islamic Jihad whose extremist agendas found
ammunition in Netanyahu’s new hard-right government and the provocative moves of
some of its ultranationalist members. Of the five rockets fired at Israel, three
were intercepted, one fell in an open area and another fell short inside Gaza,
the military said. It said the air strikes targeted an underground rocket
manufacturing site for Hamas as well as militant training areas.
The rockets set off air raid sirens in southern Israel but there were no reports
of casualties on either side. Both the Palestinian rockets and Israeli air
strikes seemed limited in order to prevent escalation into a full-blown war.
Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and several smaller skirmishes since the
militant group seized power in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.
Raising the stakes, the Palestinian Authority said it would halt the ties that
its security forces maintain with Israel in a shared effort to contain Islamic
militants. Previous threats have been short-lived, in part because of the
benefits the authority enjoys from the relationship and also due to US and
Israeli pressure to maintain it.
The Palestinian Authority already has limited control over scattered enclaves in
the West Bank and almost none over militant strongholds such as the Jenin camp.
But the announcement could pave the way for Israel to step up operations it says
are needed to prevent attacks.
On Thursday, Israeli forces went on heightened alert as Palestinians filled the
streets across the West Bank, chanting in solidarity with Jenin. President
Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning and in the refugee camp itself,
residents dug a mass grave for the dead. Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil
Abu Rudeineh said Abbas had decided to cut security coordination in “light of
the repeated aggression against our people." He also said the Palestinians
planned to file complaints with the UN Security Council, the International
Criminal Court and other international bodies.
Barbara Leaf, the top US diplomat for the Middle East, said the Biden
administration was deeply concerned about the situation and that civilian
casualties reported in Jenin were “quite regrettable.” But she also said the
Palestinian announcement to suspend security ties and to pursue the matter at
international organisations was a mistake.
Thursday's gun battle that left nine dead and 20 wounded erupted when Israel's
military conducted a rare daytime operation in the Jenin camp, which it said was
meant to prevent an imminent attack on Israelis. The camp, where the Palestinian
Islamic Jihad militant group has a major foothold, has been a focus of
near-nightly Israeli arrest raids. Hamas’ armed wing claimed four of the dead as
members, while Islamic Jihad claimed three others. The Palestinian health
ministry identified the 61-year-old woman killed as Magda Obaid and the Israeli
military said it was looking into reports of her death. The Israeli military
circulated aerial video it said was taken during the battle, showing what
appeared to be Palestinians on rooftops hurling stones and firebombs on Israeli
forces below. Israeli troops in civilian attire initially tried to mount an
operation in the camp before being discovered by Palestinians. As clashes
erupted, at least one Palestinian could be seen in the videos opening fire from
a rooftop. Later in the day, Israeli forces fatally shot a 22-year-old and
wounded two others, the Palestinian health ministry said, as Palestinians
confronted Israeli troops north of Jerusalem to protest Thursday’s raid.
Israel's paramilitary Border Police said they opened fire on Palestinians who
launched fireworks at them from close range.Tensions have soared since Israel
stepped up raids in the West Bank last spring, following a series of Palestinian
attacks.
Gloating
Israel’s new national security minister, far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir,
who seeks to grant legal immunity to Israeli soldiers who shoot Palestinians,
posted a video of himself beaming triumphantly and congratulating security
forces. His gloating was perceived as further provocation by the Palestinians.
The raid left a trail of destruction in Jenin. A two-storey building, apparently
the operation's target, was a charred wreck. The military said it entered the
building to detonate explosives. Palestinian Health Minister May Al-Kaila said
paramedics struggled to reach the wounded during the fighting, while Akram
Rajoub, the governor of Jenin, said the military prevented emergency workers
from evacuating them. Both accused the military of firing tear gas at the
paediatric ward of a hospital, causing children to choke. Video at the hospital
showed women carrying children into a corridor.
The military said forces closed roads to aid the operation, which may have
complicated rescue efforts and that tear gas had likely wafted into the hospital
from nearby clashes. The Israeli rights group B’Tselem said Thursday marked the
single bloodiest West Bank incursion since 2002, at the height of an intense
wave of violence known as the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which
left scars still visible in Jenin. UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said he
was “deeply alarmed and saddened” by the violence. Condemnations came from the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Turkey, which recently re-established
full diplomatic ties with Israel. Neighbouring Jordan, as well as Saudi Arabia,
the UAE and other Gulf countries also condemned the Israeli raid.
The Islamic Jihad branch in Gaza has repeatedly fought against Israel, most
recently in a fierce three-day clash last summer that killed dozens of
Palestinians and disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis.
Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem last
year, making 2022 the deadliest in those territories since 2004, according to
B’Tselem. So far this year, 30 Palestinians have been killed. Israel says most
of the dead were militants. But youths protesting the incursions and others not
involved in the confrontations also have been killed. So far this year, not
including Thursday, only one-third of the Palestinians killed by Israeli troops
or civilians had ties to armed groups. Last year, 30 people were killed in
Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Israel says its raids are meant to
dismantle militant networks and thwart attacks. The Palestinians say they
further entrench Israel’s 55-year, open-ended occupation of the West Bank, which
Israel captured along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast
war. The Palestinians claim those territories for their hoped-for state. Israel
has established dozens of settlements in the West Bank that now house 500,000
people. The Palestinians and much of the international community view the
settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace, even as talks to end the
conflict have been moribund for over a decade.
Israeli justice reforms spark tech investor
flight fears
Steven Scheer and Maayan Lubell/JERUSALEM (Reuters)/Fri, January 27, 2023
Barak Eilam, a former Israeli intelligence officer who now heads cloud-based
software provider NICE, says he has never had problems selling Israel as an
investment destination.
But on a call last week, Eilam sensed this may be changing when major investors
he had partnered with for years began asking pointed questions about a radical
judicial overhaul.
"For now, they're not pulling out any investment but they are kind of watching
it carefully," the 47-year-old said. The proposals by the new right wing
government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strengthen political control
over judicial appointments while weakening the Israeli Supreme Court's ability
to overturn legislation or rule against government action have brought tens of
thousands onto the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities over fears they will
politicize the judiciary and compromise its independence. Yoav Tzruya, general
partner at venture capital fund JVP, said investors were mainly worried about
stability, corruption and a reliable judicial system. "I think there will be
some investors that, given concerns about stability about corruption or whatever
might put more hurdles in front of especially a new fund manager," he said..
Earlier this week, an open letter from a group of more than 270 business and
economy experts, including former central bank officials and Netanyahu advisers,
said the judicial reforms represented "a danger to Israel's economy".
Netanyahu's office did not immediately comment when approached by Reuters on
Friday, but during a meeting with dozens of senior businessmen, he said the
judicial reforms would boost growth while the legal system would remain
independent. "Not only will the reform not harm the economy, it will jumpstart
it," he said in a statement. For Israel's tech companies, an independent legal
system is crucial to protecting their main asset, intellectual property (IP),
with some executives saying they may consider domiciling abroad as a result of
the Netanyahu government's plans. On Thursday, a day after Netanyahu and Finance
Minister Bezalel Smotrich dismissed concerns that the proposals would harm the
economy, Anat Guez CEO of Papaya Global announced she was taking her payroll
systems group's money out of Israel. "Everybody knows Israel is never on safe
ground because of the complicated diplomatic issues," Guez told Reuters. "But
now we're adding this reform which is ultimately emerging as harming democracy,
that's a fatal blow."Netanyahu's administration says the overhaul is needed to
rein in activist judges who it says have encroached into political decision
making. "Nobody will harm intellectual property rights and the honoring of
agreements, values which are sacred to us and which are the critical test,"
Netanyahu said on Wednesday. Hillel Fuld, a start-up marketing adviser, also
dismissed the outcry as "unnecessary hysteria". "We are still building the best
tech in the world. Israeli tech isn't going anywhere. If people pull money then
it's their loss, not ours", he said.
FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY
In a country rife with divisions over the conflict with the Palestinians and
matters of synagogue and state, Israel's tech sector has generally stayed out of
sensitive political debates. But for many in an industry that accounts for 15%
of the country's overall economic output, 10% of its workforce, more than half
of its exports and a quarter of its tax income, the judicial reform proposals
have created palpable alarm. "We worked really, really hard so that Israel is
considered a top place to invest and it's not because of any government policy,
or tax treatment, it was the entrepreneurs themselves," said Adam Fisher, a
partner at investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners. "That can be lost very
quickly," Fisher added. Since 2015, globally-oriented Israeli high-tech firms
have raised some $77 billion, mostly from foreign investors. Of that, $51
billion came between 2020 and 2022, with a record year of $26 billion in 2021.
Fisher said he worried a government that controlled the bench could defy world
opinion, harm Israel's reputation abroad and make life less friendly at home for
those who disagreed with it. There is also a deeper unease about the widening
divisions between liberal Tel Aviv with its fast-paced style and plethora of
tech start ups and the fiercely nationalist tone of the new government and its
pro-settler and religious parties. Netanyahu, who is himself on trial on
corruption charges which he denies, was forced this week by the Supreme Court to
sack the head of one of his coalition partners as interior minister over a tax
conviction. For some of those running tech businesses in Israel the judicial
reforms plans may have tipped the scales. "I care very much about Israel," said
Eilam, explaining the unease which prompted him to write to NICE's 8,500-strong
workforce outlining his fears. But he added: "I have a fiduciary responsibility
to my shareholders.""If needed, we'll assess the situation and decide to do
what's right for the company," Eilam added.
EU and UK Impose Human Rights Sanction on Iran, but Not on
Its President and Supreme Leader
FDD/January 27/2023
Latest Developments
The European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States rolled out
coordinated sanctions against elements of the Islamic Republic’s security
apparatus on Monday, citing the regime’s brutal crackdown on protestors. The EU
imposed sanctions on 18 Iranian officials and 19 organizations, including
elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The UK sanctioned
Iranian Deputy Prosecutor General Ahmad Fazelian, who — along with the
prosecutor general whom the UK sanctioned last week — is “responsible for a
judicial system characterized by unfair trials and egregious punishments.” The
sanctions targeted numerous Iranian political and military officials, but
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi escaped
designation.
Expert Analysis
“London and Brussels shouldn’t give a pass to Iran’s chief human rights abusers,
Khamenei and Raisi. And they shouldn’t cower from IRGC terror threats by
avoiding designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Human rights abusers
and terrorists should be held accountable, not shielded by diplomats
ideologically wedded to a failed nuclear deal.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior
Advisor
“Now is the time for America’s trans-Atlantic partners to set aside the quest to
resurrect the fatally flawed nuclear deal and work to bridge the sanctions gap
that exists between them and Washington. More coordinated measures are needed,
including against the IRGC in its entirety and the upper echelons of the Islamic
Republic’s leadership.” — Behnam Ben Taleblu, FDD Senior Fellow
Sanctioning Khamenei and Raisi Would Send a Strong Message
While the list of sanctioned persons and entities grows, human rights penalties
against Khamenei and Raisi remain glaringly absent. The United States sanctioned
Raisi and Khamenei in 2019, but it did so pursuant to an executive order that
targets Khamenei’s inner circle, not on human rights grounds. Joint human rights
sanctions against Khamenei and Raisi by the EU, UK, and U.S. could send a
powerful message of international unity and resolve to hold accountable the
leaders responsible for systematic abuses, not just the subordinates who carry
out their orders.
IRGC Must Be Designated a Terrorist Organization
Despite the UK’s designation this week of the Basij paramilitary, which is an
arm of the IRGC Ground Forces, neither the UK nor the EU has designated the
entire IRGC as a terrorist organization. London and Brussels should do so
immediately, as their legislatures have recommended.
On January 12, the UK House of Commons unanimously voted in favor of a motion
urging the government to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organization. The MI5
— Great Britain’s equivalent of the FBI — has uncovered IRGC-sponsored terrorist
plots on UK soil.
The European Parliament followed on January 19, voting to recommend the EU
designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Yet EU foreign policy chief
Josep Borrell said on Monday that the European Council cannot move forward on
designating the IRGC until a court of an EU member state finds the IRGC guilty
of terrorism.
Azerbaijan strongly protests to Iran after fatal embassy
shooting
Nailia Bagirova/BAKU (Reuters)/Fri, January 27, 2023
A gunman shot dead a security guard and wounded two other people at Azerbaijan's
embassy in Iran on Friday, in an attack Baku branded an "act of terrorism" that
it said was the result of Tehran failing to heed its calls for improved
security.
Police in Tehran said they had arrested a suspect and Iranian authorities
condemned the incident, but played down talk of any political motive for the
attack. The incident comes amid increased tensions between Azerbaijan and Iran,
which is home to a large ethnic Azeri minority, after Baku appointed its first
ever ambassador to Israel this month. "The attacker broke through the guard
post, killing the head of security with a Kalashnikov assault rifle,"
Azerbaijan's foreign ministry said. Video posted on social media appeared to
show a gunman run past a guard post and force his way into the embassy building,
firing through a door. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, quoted
on a government site, said that based on evidence and initial observations the
gunman's motive was "completely personal". "Necessary security measures have
been taken to continue normal activities at the embassy and diplomats of the
Republic of Azerbaijan in Tehran," he said.
AZERI ANGER
However, the Azeri foreign ministry said it planned shortly to evacuate its
embassy staff from Tehran. It also summoned the Iranian ambassador in Baku to
express its anger and demand justice.
In a strongly worded statement, the ministry said an "anti-Azerbaijani campaign"
in Iran had contributed to the attack, without elaborating, and accused Tehran
of long ignoring its appeals to bolster security at the embassy. "Unfortunately,
the latest bloody terrorist act demonstrates the serious consequences of the
failure to give the necessary attention to our constant appeals in this regard,"
it said. In a separate statement on Twitter, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev
demanded swift punishment for those involved in the "act of terrorism". Aliyev
has complained in the past about Iran's treatment of its Azerbaijani minority,
saying for example that Azeris have no schools where they can study in their own
language. The superintendent of criminal affairs in Tehran, Judge Mohammad
Shahriari, quoted the assailant as saying his wife went to the Azerbaijan
embassy and had never returned home, according to Iran's Tasnim news agency.
When the assailant contacted the embassy he never got an answer and believed his
wife was still inside. Iran's police chief said on television that the man's
wife was from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, a secular Muslim former Soviet republic
which borders Iran, has friendly ties with the United States and Israel and has
had difficult diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic. Azerbaijan
appointed its first ever ambassador to Israel this month. Israel has had an
embassy in Baku since the early 1990s and has been a significant military backer
of Azerbaijan in recent years. It has also provided diplomatic support for Baku
in its standoff with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Iran's
Revolutionary Guards carried out major military drills along the country’s
borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan amid fears of renewed fighting between the
two South Caucasus states last year.
Russian military chiefs are losing patience
with Putin and could soon turn on him in a coup, former aide predicts
Sophia Ankel/Business Insider/January 27, 2023
Putin is losing his reputation as a strong leader, a former speechwriter said on
Thursday. Abbas Gallyamov said that military generals are growing frustrated
with their losses in Ukraine. He said the frustrations could lay the groundwork
for a possible military coup in the country. A military coup in Russia is likely
as President Vladimir Putin is starting to look like a "second-rate dictator,"
his former aide said on Thursday. In an opinion column for the Russian media
outlet Mozhem Obyasnit, Abbas Gallyamov wrote that Russian military generals are
growing increasingly frustrated as their troops continue to suffer defeats on
the Ukrainian front. Gallyamov is a political consultant and ex-speechwriter to
Putin. He has not worked for Putin since 2010 and has been living in exile in
Israel since 2018. "It must be understood that the vast majority of commanders
in the army of an authoritarian nation are not staunch supporters of the
authorities, but run-of-the-mill opportunists," Gallyamov wrote in the column,
according to a translation from The Daily Beast. "As problems pile up in the
country and the army, that the authorities are unable to solve, Putin is more
steadily transforming in people's eyes from a great strategist to an ordinary,
second-rate dictator," he said. Commanders will fight on the side of whoever
seems most likely to win, he predicted. Gallyamov also argued problems on the
battlefield are creating rifts among Russia's military leadership, specifically
with Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose troops fight alongside the
Russian army in Ukraine. "Prigozhin has completely discredited the regime in the
eyes of service members with his rhetoric, and anger at the authorities for
allowing a criminal to walk all over them is growing stronger," Gallyamov said.
"The longer the war drags on, the clearer its pointlessness becomes," he added.
Recent reports from the frontline indicate that some soldiers are refusing to
fight in the war, and in some more extreme cases, even killing their own
commanders. Ukrainian officials claimed this week that more than 6,500 Russian
soldiers have sought to surrender through an "I want to live" hotline they set
up in September, The Guardian reported. Despite this, Putin's grip on power
appears to remain firm, former Western diplomats and government officials told
Reuters in October. Recent reports also indicate that the Russian president is
in the war for the long haul, and is preparing for a new offensive in the
spring.
Gallyamov first worked in Putin's speech-writing team from 2000 to 2001, and
then from 2008 to 2010. Since the start of Putin's invasion last year, Gallyamov
has regularly commented on the state of the war and Russian politics in general.
Last month, the former speechwriter said that Putin likely already has an escape
plan in the event he loses the war in Ukraine, citing unnamed sources. A
spokesperson for the Kremlin did not immediately respond to Insider's request
for comment.
Putin is pardoning thieves, hit men, and
murderers so that they can go to fight in Ukraine, Kremlin admits
Mia Jankowicz/Business Insider/January 27, 2023
The Kremlin admitted on Friday that Putin is giving pardons to convicts who
fight in Ukraine. Murderers and hit men have signed up, and would be released
after fighting for just six months. Wagner Group's founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was
seen congratulating one newly-freed batch in January.
The Kremlin has finally admitted that President Vladimir Putin is pardoning
Russian convicts who agree to fight for a notorious mercenary army in Ukraine.
This comes after months of battlefield setbacks and as the country relies more
and more on mercenary fighters. Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on
Friday that the pardoning procedure is carried out according to Russian law,
reported state-owned news agency TASS. According to multiple accounts, prisoners
at Russian penal colonies have been told they will be pardoned after six months
of fighting for the Wagner Group in Ukraine. The Wagner Group is a private army
run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, and notorious for its brutality. Some of the sentences
being commuted are serious. According to a recent Reuters investigation into
convicts who did not survive their deployment, recruits have ranged from a
contract killer serving a 16-year sentence to a murderer who slashed a woman's
throat in a drunken argument. Others, it said, were petty thieves and robbers.
Under Russian law, only the president has the authority to issue pardons, but
until Peskov's statement the Kremlin had been silent on how the Wagner Group was
securing pardons for its recruits.
The news comes a day after the US Treasury Department designated the group a
transnational criminal organization. It's attached to numerous reports of human
rights violations in conflicts around the world. In September 2022, video
emerged that appeared to show Prigozhin personally recruiting convicts from a
Russian penal colony, promising them freedom in exchange for fighting. He also
issued a threat: "If you arrive in Ukraine and decide it's not for you, we
execute you," he said, according to The Financial Times. In a video that
circulated in early January, Prigozhin can be seen congratulating what he said
was the first group of convicts to be pardoned after fighting in Ukraine. He
advised them to "behave yourselves" and not "rape broads" now they were free.
U.S. intel chief warns of 'devastating' impact
of Russian missile attacks
Michael Isikoff/Yahoo News/January 27, 2023
President Biden’s chief intelligence adviser raised fresh concerns Thursday
night that Russian missile attacks are having a “devastating” impact on the
Ukrainian economy, noting that the war has already reduced the country's gross
domestic product by nearly one-third. Speaking during a question-and-answer
session at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, Director of National
Intelligence Avril Haines said U.S. officials so far “do not see any reduction
in the resolve of the Ukrainians to fight this war.”But at the same time, Haines
seemed to offer a more sobering view of the conflict than most Biden
administration officials have shared to date. She said the “brutal” missile
attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure are taking a far bigger toll than has been
publicly understood. “What we do see is the impact it's having on the economy,”
she added. “The Ukrainian economy has already been devastated during this
conflict. And we're seeing a reduction of about 30% of the GDP. I mean, it's
really — it's brutal, and if [the Russians] take down the [Ukrainian energy]
grid, and if they have the impact that they're looking to have on critical
infrastructure, it will be really challenging.”Haines’s comments came on a day
when the Russians unleashed another barrage of missiles, killing 12 civilians,
as part of a campaign targeting the energy grid with the apparent goal of
leaving the country without power and water during the freezing winter months.
Her carefully couched comments on the difficulties facing Ukraine come during a
crucial period when the Biden administration and Western allies are racing to
step up their military aid to the Kyiv government. Just this week, the White
House announced that the United States will send heavy-duty M1 Abrams battle
tanks to Ukraine — a move that helped persuade Germany to send some of its even
more critically needed Leopard tanks to the country. Haines touted the
administration’s declassification of intelligence last year that revealed
Russia’s intentions to invade Ukraine during a period when European allies were
skeptical that President Vladimir Putin would actually go through with it. And
she said the U.S. has continued to provide important tactical battlefield
intelligence to the Ukrainian military. But she also described the war as having
devolved into a “grinding conflict” where the movements are in “hundreds of
meters.” The frontlines, she noted, have mostly remained “relatively static”
even while the Russians press an offensive in the eastern Donbas region in which
they have made “very incremental progress.”
The occasion for Haines’s appearance was a forum on declassification of
government records sponsored by a little-known federal agency called the Public
Interest Declassification Board. The board has pushed the intelligence community
to address what it views as an alarming explosion in classified records that the
government can’t even keep track of — an issue that has taken on new relevance
with the discovery of classified documents at the homes and offices of former
President Donald Trump, President Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence. On
Wednesday, Haines, citing ongoing special counsel investigations, told the
Senate Intelligence Committee that she could not accede to requests to share
with the panel copies of the documents at issue or even describe them. Her
stance drew criticism from senators on both sides of the aisle. And she entirely
avoided the subject of the Trump, Biden and Pence documents Thursday night, both
in prepared remarks and in a later question-and-answer session with Adam Klein,
the director of the University of Texas’s Strauss Center for International
Security and Law, who never raised the subject. Haines left immediately after
the session without taking questions from journalists. But in her prepared
remarks, she did acknowledge that “overclassification” had become a serious
problem that has proliferated with an explosion in digital data. She promised
new initiatives using technology and artificial intelligence to help reduce the
number of such records, now literally in the tens of millions.“Not only is this
an important issue for our democracy, but it undermines our national security,”
Haines said, adding that overclassification “erodes our basic trust that
citizens have in our government.”“To be clear, just because information is
inconvenient or embarrassing is not a basis for classification,” she said.
Germany accuses Russia of twisting minister's
war comments for 'propaganda'
BERLIN (Reuters)/Fri, January 27, 2023
Russia has twisted comments by Germany's foreign minister about the war in
Ukraine for propaganda purposes, a German foreign ministry spokesperson said on
Friday, stressing Berlin's position that NATO must not become party to the
conflict.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock riled Moscow with comments at an event
in Strasbourg on Tuesday, when, speaking in English, she said that "we are
fighting a war against Russia, and not against each other". She spoke the day
before the German government announced it was arming Ukraine with advanced
Leopard tanks, putting aside earlier reservations about whether such a move
could prompt Moscow to escalate the war. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman
Maria Zakharova, in a post on her Telegram messaging channel cited by state TASS
news agency on Wednesday, seized on Baerbock's comments as evidence the West was
waging a "premeditated war against Russia". While Baerbock has often sounded
more hawkish than other members of the German cabinet about supporting Ukraine,
Berlin has repeatedly stressed that it wants to avoid the NATO alliance becoming
a party to the conflict. This concern was part of the reason for Germany's delay
in agreeing to send the Leopard tanks to Ukraine. "Russian propaganda
continually takes statements, sentences, stances, positions of the government,
our partners and uses them to serve their purposes," said the German foreign
ministry spokesperson.
Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched on Feb.
24 last year, amounts to an unprovoked war of aggression aimed at seizing
territory. Moscow says the West is using Ukraine to weaken Russia's own
security.
Gunman kills security chief at Azerbaijan Embassy in Iran
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)/January 27, 2023
A man armed with a Kalashnikov-style rifle stormed the Azerbaijan Embassy in
Iran's capital Friday, killing the head of security at the diplomatic post and
wounding two guards, authorities said. Tehran's police chief, Gen. Hossein
Rahimi, blamed the attack on “personal and family problems,” according to
Iranian state television. However, the assault comes as tensions have been high
for months between neighboring Azerbaijan and Iran. Azerbaijan's Foreign
Ministry said it would evacuate its diplomatic mission, accusing Iran of not
taking reported threats against it seriously in the past. Meanwhile, Iranian
authorities replaced Rahimi as police chief hours later after footage emerged
that appeared to show a police officer doing nothing to stop the attack. Video
purportedly from the scene of the attack showed an empty diplomatic police post
just near the embassy, with one man apparently wounded in an SUV parked outside.
Inside the embassy past a metal detector, paramedics stood over what appeared to
be a lifeless body in a small office as blood pooled on the floor beneath.
A statement from Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said that “an investigation is
currently underway into this treacherous attack.” The ministry also described
the attacker as destroying a guard post with assault rifle fire before being
stopped by the wounded guards, whom authorities described as being in a
“satisfactory” condition after being shot. However, the ministry said a “recent
anti-Azerbaijani campaign against our country in Iran has encouraged such
attacks against our diplomatic mission.”“There have been attempts to threaten
our diplomatic mission in Iran before, and measures to prevent such situations
and to ensure the safety of our diplomatic missions have been constantly raised
before Iran,” the ministry said. “Unfortunately, the last bloody terrorist
attack demonstrates the serious consequences of not showing proper sensitivity
to our urgent appeals in this direction.”Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev
called the attack a “terrorist act.”“A terrorist attack against diplomatic
missions is unacceptable!” he said in a statement.
Iranian state TV had quoted Rahimi as saying the gunman had entered the embassy
with his two children during the attack. However, surveillance footage from
inside the embassy released in Azerbaijan, which matched details of the other
video of the aftermath and bore a timestamp matching the Azerbaijan Foreign
Ministry's statement, showed the gunmen burst through the embassy's doors alone.
Those inside tried to push through metal detectors to take cover. The man opens
fire with the rifle, its muzzle flashing, as he chases after the men into the
small side office. Another man bursts from a side door and fights the gunman for
the rifle as the footage ends. Another surveillance video from outside the
embassy which also corresponded to the same details showed the gunman slam his
car into another in front of the embassy. The gunman then got out and leveled
his rifle at a figure inside of the Iranian police stand, likely a police guard,
who stood still and did nothing as the man stormed the embassy. Associated Press
journalists saw the embassy's front door pocked with bullet holes after the
attack.
Iranian prosecutor Mohammad Shahriari reportedly said that the gunman's wife had
disappeared in April after a visit to the embassy. The Iranian judiciary's Mizan
news agency quoted Shahriari as saying the gunman believed his wife was still in
the embassy at the time of the attack — even though it was some eight months
later. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, also said his country
strongly condemned the attack, which was under investigation with “high priority
and sensitivity.”Azerbaijan borders Iran's northwest. There have been tensions
between the two countries as Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought over the
Nagorno-Karabakh region. Iran in October launched a military exercise near the
Azerbaijan border, flexing its martial might amid the nationwide protests
rocking the Islamic Republic. Azerbaijan also maintains close ties to Israel,
which Tehran views as its top regional enemy. The Islamic Republic and Israel
are locked in an ongoing shadow war as Iran's nuclear program rapidly enriches
uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. Turkey, which has close ties
to Azerbaijan, condemned the attack, called for the perpetrators to be brought
to justice and for measures to be put in place to prevent similar attacks in the
future. Turkey has backed Azerbaijan against Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Turkey, which has been subjected to similar attacks in the past, deeply shares
the pain of the Azerbaijani people,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said.
“Brotherly Azerbaijan is not alone. Our support to Azerbaijan will continue
without interruption, as it always has.”
Ukrainian presidency: 10 killed in latest Russian shelling
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)/Fri, January 27, 2023
Russian shelling killed at least 10 Ukrainian civilians and wounded 20 others in
a day, the office of Ukraine's president reported Friday as the country worked
to recover from an earlier wave of Russian missile strikes and drone attacks.
The new casualties included the deaths of at least two civilians in the southern
city of Kherson, which Ukrainian troops recaptured in November, and two more in
eastern Ukraine's Donetsk province. The missiles and self-propelled drones
Russian forces fired Thursday hit deeper into Ukrainian territory, killing at
least 11 people. The bombardment followed announcements by the United States and
Germany of plans to ship powerful tanks to help Ukraine defend itself. Other
Western countries said they also would share modern tanks from their stockpiles.
Moscow has bristled at the move, and accused Western nations of entering a new
level of confrontation with Russia. Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko of the eastern Donetsk
region said the Russian military used phosphorus munitions in shelling the
village of Zvanivka. The village is located about 20 kilometers north of Bakhmut,
a city that has become the focus of a grueling battle in recent months. The
shelling also damaged apartment buildings and two schools in the nearby town of
Vuhledar, Kyrylenko said. The governor of the neighboring Luhansk region, Serhii
Haidai, said Ukrainian shelling hit two Russian bases in the occupied towns of
Kreminna and Rubizhne, killing and wounding “dozens” of Russian soldiers. His
claim couldn’t be independently verified. Further south, Russian troops resumed
shelling the town of Nikopol, across the Dnieper from the Russia-held
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, damaging apartment buildings, gas pipelines,
power lines and a bakery, officials said.
Separately Friday, Russian authorities took new steps in their months-long and
widely criticized effort to graft four Ukrainian provinces onto Russia's already
vast territory. They said the illegally annexed provinces would switch from the
time zone that covers Kyiv to the one in Moscow.
The Ukrainian southern and eastern regions that Russia declared as part of its
territory four months ago — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — will
take place “in the near future,” Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade said.
The move comes as part of what the ministry called the “gradual synchronization”
of Russian legislation after the “admission of the four subjects.”Russian
President Vladimir Putin's highly orchestrated announcement of the illegal
annexations came despite widespread international condemnation and the fact that
Russia didn’t fully control the areas it annexed. Russia claims to control
nearly all of Luhansk and about half of Donetsk. Less than 1-1/2 months after
the annexations, Russia lost control of the city of Kherson and broad swaths of
the surrounding territory under the brunt of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Kherson was the only regional capital Russia seized since starting its invasion
on Feb. 24, and its loss dealt a heavy blow to the Kremlin.
Poland to send 60 modernised tanks to Ukraine in addition
to Leopards
WARSAW (Reuters)January 27, 2023
Poland will send an additional 60 tanks to Ukraine on top of the 14 German-made
Leopard 2 tanks it has already pledged, the Polish prime minister said in an
interview with Canadian television on Thursday. Warsaw, which has positioned
itself as one of Kyiv's staunchest allies, had pressed hard for Germany to send
Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and to allow other countries to do so as well, a
demand which Berlin agreed to on Wednesday. "Poland sent 250 tanks as the first
country half a year ago or even more than that," Mateusz Morawiecki told CTV
News. In April last year, two months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Poland said
it had sent tanks to held Kyiv fend off the assault. "Right now, we are ready to
send 60 of our modernised tanks, 30 of them PT-91. And on top of those tanks, 14
tanks, Leopard 2 tanks, from in our possession."The PT-91 is a Polish-made
battle tank that came into service in the 1990s. It was developed from the
Soviet-era T-72 range. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked Poland on
Twitter for the decision to supply the additional tanks. "Together we will
win!", he wrote. Canada on Thursday announced that it would send four Leopard 2
battle tanks to Ukraine. Norway has also said it will send Leopards while Spain
said it was open to providing them. Ukraine has said it needs hundreds of the
Leopards to drive Russia from its territory. On Friday, Polish Deputy Defence
Minister Marcin Ociepa told private broadcaster RMF FM that it would be around
three months before Leopard tanks reached Ukraine. "It depends what country we
are talking about, but I would estimate that we are talking about around a
quarter... until those tanks can really be on Ukrainian territory and go into
battle," he said.
Ukrainian agent accused of spying for Putin was found with
stacks of foreign cash and Russian SIM cards, officials say
Matthew Loh/Business Insider/January 27, 2023
A lieutenant colonel in Ukraine's intelligence service was charged with being a
Russian spy.
Security services said they found stacks of cash and Russian SIM cards in his
home.
The arrest underscores concerns that Ukraine's intelligence may be deeply
infiltrated by Moscow.A high-ranking agent of Ukraine's intelligence service has
been arrested on suspicion of spying for the Kremlin, local authorities said on
Thursday. Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said it detained a lieutenant colonel
from its own agency, and discovered stacks of foreign cash and SIM cards issued
by Russian carriers when searching his home. The lieutenant colonel, who was not
named, used a mobile phone to photograph documents showing the locations of
roadblocks in the Zaporizhzhia region, and sent them to an email registered on a
Russian domain, the SBU said. "Evidence of permanent connections with
representatives of law enforcement and state bodies of the Russian Federation
was also established," the SBU added. "In particular, close relatives of the
traitor are among them."
Photos of items seized in the lieutenant colonel's home also show a knuckle
duster, five identification booklets, and knives. A photo of the lieutenant
colonel's uniform and possessions. The lieutenant colonel's possessions included
multiple identification booklets and a guide for speaking English that was
written in Russian.Security Service of Ukraine . "I advise everyone to realize:
the SBU is not a place for agents of the Kremlin and people who do not believe
in the victory of Ukraine. If someone betrayed the oath and the Ukrainian
people, he must answer according to the law," said Vasyl Malyuk, head of the SBU,
in a statement. Malyuk said that the SBU would need to perform a "self-cleansing
of our ranks from traitors." The lieutenant colonel's arrest comes as Ukraine's
key security services continue to wrestle with the task of eliminating Russian
moles among their ranks. In July, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired his
childhood friend and head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, citing concerns of treason.
Before he was sacked, Bakanov had appointed Oleg Kulinich, another SBU officer,
as head of the agency in Crimea. Kulinich was also arrested in July on charges
of spying for Russia and sending state secrets to the Kremlin, per Ukrainian
reports. Maj Gen. Viktor Yahun, who was deputy head of the SBU until 2015, told
The Guardian that the agency has long held close ties with Russia's Federal
Security Bureau, the main successor to the famed KGB. Yahun said the SBU would
celebrate KGB Day in its offices until as late as 2010, and that pro-Russian
agents are still in the agency, the outlet reported. "Ukraine made a major
mistake in not following the lead of the Baltic nations following independence
in reforming the security services from ground zero," he said, per The Guardian.
The SBU and FSB did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
US military kills senior Islamic State official in Somalia
Associated Press/January 27, 2023
U.S. special operations forces have killed a senior Islamic State group official
and 10 other terrorist operatives in remote northern Somalia, the Biden
administration announced Thursday. The operation carried out on Wednesday
targeted Bilal al-Sudani, a key financial facilitator for the global terrorist
organization, in a mountainous cave complex. "This
action leaves the United States and its partners safer and more secure, and it
reflects our steadfast commitment to protecting Americans from the threat of
terrorism at home and abroad," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a
statement. President Joe Biden was briefed last week about the proposed mission,
which came together after months of planning. He gave final approval to carry
out the operation this week following the recommendation of Austin and the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Mark Milley, according to two
senior Biden administration officials who briefed reporters on the operation on
the condition of anonymity. Al-Sudani, who has been on
the radar for U.S. intelligence officials for years, played a key role in
helping to fund IS operations in Africa as well as the ISIS-K terrorist branch
operating in Afghanistan, Austin said. The U.S. Treasury Department alleged last
year that al-Sudani had worked closely with another IS operative, Abdella
Hussein Abadigga, who had recruited young men in South Africa and sent them to a
weapons training camp. Abadigga, who controlled two
mosques in South Africa, used his position to extort money from members of the
mosques. Al-Sudani considered Abadigga a trusted supporter who could help the IS
supporters in South Africa become better organized and recruit new members,
according to Treasury..Al-Sudani had originally been designated the Treasury
Department in 2012 for his role with al-Shabab, another terrorist organization
operating in Somalia. He helped foreign fighters travel to an al-Shabab training
camp and facilitated financing for violent extremists in Somalia, according to a
senior administration official. No civilians were
injured or killed in the operation, Pentagon officials said. One American
involved in the operation was bitten by a military dog, but was not seriously
injured, according to an administration official.U.S. officials provided scant
details about how the operation was carried out or the circumstances surrounding
al-Sudani's killing. One official said that U.S. forces had intended to capture
al-Sudani but that did not prove to be "feasible" as the operation was carried
out. The operation comes days after Africa Command said it had conducted a
collective self-defense strike northeast of Mogadishu, the capital, near Galcad.
In that incident, Somalia National Army forces were engaged in heavy fighting
following an extended and intense attack by more than 100 al-Shabab fighters.
The U.S. estimated approximately 30 al-Shabab fighters were killed in
that operation. The offensive by Somalian forces against al-Shabab has been
described as the most significant in more than a decade.
Al-Shabab holds a much larger footprint in Somalia than does IS.
France, Iraq sign comprehensive strategic
partnership agreement — Elysee
Reuters/January 27, 2023
French President Emmanuel Macron met with Iraq Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani
on Thursday, the French presidency said, signing a set of strategic agreements
meant to boost Iraq’s economic cooperation with the European country. In the
meeting, France and Iraq signed a treaty that seeks to strengthen bilateral
relations in anti-corruption, security, renewable energy and culture, the Elysee
Palace said on Friday.
Canada names Amira Elghawaby country's first
anti-Islamophobia representative
The National/January 27/2023
Prime Minster Justin Trudeau's appointment comes after recent attacks on
Canada's Muslim community
Canada announced the appointment of its first representative to combat
Islamophobia, systemic racism and religious intolerance after recent attacks
against the Muslim community. Journalist and human rights advocate Amira
Elghawaby will serve as a representative to support Canada's efforts to fight
against Islamophobia, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. “Diversity truly is
one of Canada’s greatest strengths, but for many Muslims, Islamophobia is all
too familiar," Mr Trudeau said. "We need to change that."Ms Elghawaby said the
position will help to generate more diversity and inclusion across Canada.
"It is an honour for me to serve in this role. I want to thank [Mr Trudeau] for
his work in fighting Islamophobia and ensuring that Canadian institutions are
inclusive for Canadian Muslims, and for all people,” she wrote in a tweet.“I
look forward to meeting with elected officials, policymakers, and community
leaders across the country to amplify the voices of Canadian Muslims and work
together to fight discrimination and hate in all its forms,” she said. Ms
Elghawaby's appointment comes before the second National Day of Remembrance for
the Quebec City mosque attack. Six worshippers were fatally shot and 19 others
were wounded in an Islamophobic attack at the Islamic Cultural Centre in 2017.
January 29 was designated as the National Day of Remembrance of the Quebec City
Mosque Attack and Action Against Islamophobia last year to honour the victims of
the 2017 attack and to denounce Islamophobia and all other forms of hate and
religious intolerance. A campaign was launched by Muslim communities in 2020
encouraging people to wear a patch of green fabric from January 25-29 in memory
of the victims. “No one in our country should experience hatred because of their
faith. The appointment of Ms Elghawaby as Canada’s first special representative
on combating Islamophobia is an important step in our fight against Islamophobia
and hatred in all its forms," Mr Trudeau said. As special representative on
combating Islamophobia, Ms Elghawaby will also advise the Canadian government on
developing inclusive policies and programmes. She will also highlight important
contributions to the country made by Muslims. Ms Elghawaby currently leads the
Canadian Race Relations Foundation's strategic communications department. In a
previous communications role at the National Council of Canadian Muslims, Ms
Eldhawaby worked to promote civil liberties of Canadian Muslims. A contributing
columnist for the Toronto Star, Ms Elghawaby began her career with the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation.
The Latest LCCC English analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on January 27-28/2023
تقرير من موقع معهد كايستون يلقي الأضواء على اخطار وظلم
وانتقائية قانون الردة في باكستان حيث تُضطهد الأقليات وتنتهك حقوقها ويعتدى عليها
وتسجن وتقتل
‘The Shame of Pakistan’: Blasphemy Accusers…Courageous Christian Woman Stands Up
to Them
Nasir Saeed/Gatestone Institute/January 27, 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/115288/nasir-saeed-gatestone-institute-the-shame-of-pakistan-blasphemy-accusers-courageous-christian-woman-stands-up-to-them-%d8%aa%d9%82%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d9%85%d9%86-%d9%85%d9%88%d9%82%d8%b9-%d9%85/
“Pakistan was to review its harsh blasphemy laws. It has made
them even harsher…The National Assembly has unanimously passed an amendment to
the laws that widens the net and makes punishment more stringent under these
laws…. The blasphemy laws are often misused in Pakistan to settle personal
scores. It is also used to persecute its small minorities.” [Emphasis in the
original] – Daily O, January 18, 2023.
Those who make false accusations do not care that innocent Christians may end up
dead or in miserable prison conditions for years on end or be forced into hiding
with their entire family, not knowing what will become of them, all the while in
fear for their lives.
Worse, some are prepared to kill under the cover of religion and become — a
hero.
Again and again, we see the victims being treated as criminals by those in
positions of authority while the perpetrators are let off scot-free and even
hailed as heroes. All the while, politicians who actually have the power to
change this state of affairs refuse even to discuss the matter in Parliament.
When people such as M. P. Bhandara and Sherry Rehman dare to speak up, they
receive the inevitable death threats. For Punjab Governor Salman Taseer,
Christian Federal Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and human rights lawyer Rashid Rehman,
these death threats were carried out.
[H]ere we still are with nothing done to change what truly is the shame of
Pakistan. The law still is as it is: innocent people continue to be accused of
blasphemy and killed.
Christians need to be grateful for the way in which [Samina Mushtaq]
courageously brought the truth about blasphemy to the forefront and stirred up a
national debate. We need much more of it. Lawmakers need to change the laws
before more unjust killings.
Nothing has been done to change what truly is the shame of Pakistan: innocent
people continue to be accused of blasphemy and killed. Pictured: A protest in
Karachi, Pakistan on December 4, 2021 denouncing the lynching in the country of
a Sri Lankan factory manager, who was beaten to death and set ablaze by a mob
who accused him of blasphemy.
“Pakistan was to review its harsh blasphemy laws. It has made them even
harsher,” according to a report from this month. “The National Assembly has
unanimously passed an amendment to the laws that widens the net and makes
punishment more stringent under these laws… The blasphemy laws are often misused
in Pakistan to settle personal scores. It is also used to persecute its small
minorities.” [Emphasis in the original]
Recently in Pakistan, however, an encouraging sign emerged: an interesting
uproar on social media about a Christian female security officer who bravely
stood up to a Muslim colleague threatening her with a false accusation of
blasphemy .
Samina Mushtaq was working at her job with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in
Karachi when her colleague insisted that a car be allowed to be parked within
the perimeter.
When she refused on the grounds that he did not have the necessary permission,
he started intimidating and threatening her, and saying that he would accuse her
of committing blasphemy and kill her.
Thankfully, Mushtaq recorded the entire conversation on her smartphone and the
video went viral on January 5. It is likely that her quick thinking saved her
life — and more than that, they have shone an important light on how brazenly
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are misused for personal agendas, even trivial ones.
It is to the CAA’s credit that they are taking action against Mushtaq’s
colleague and have launched an investigation into the incident. This
investigation needs to be thorough, impartial and concluded promptly rather than
be allowed to drag on endlessly and eventually swept under the carpet. The CAA
also needs to have the courage to take any necessary action against the man in
question.
Mushtaq, too, must be brave, because Muslim leaders will no doubt put pressure
on their Christian counterparts to persuade her to pardon her colleague so that
the matter will be dropped and that she will not file a criminal complaint
against him.
Ultimately, it is up to her, but there is a bigger issue at stake than the
goings-on of the CAA and its employees: the constant misuse of the blasphemy
laws against innocent Christians.
As Mushtaq’s case shows, this sword can be wielded at any moment, without
warning, with potentially deadly consequences for the accused. It is not a
laughing matter. The country’s legislators need to take it seriously and bring
forward serious legislation that will finally put a stop to false accusations of
blasphemy. It is not as if we haven’t been here before. Sadly, we have been here
many, many times and it is always the same story. A disgruntled Muslim does not
get his (or her) way, so uses the blasphemy laws to take matters into his own
hands and settle a petty dispute, all because he knows that he can do so with
impunity. Those who make false accusations do not care that innocent Christians
may end up dead or in miserable prison conditions for years on end or be forced
into hiding with their entire family, not knowing what will become of them, all
the while in fear for their lives.
Worse, some are prepared to murder under the cover of religion and become — a
hero. Often such criminals escape the law because their criminal acts are not
just ignored, but supported and hailed by the public and the elites, with very
few if these murderers ever being brought to justice.
This is a scenario that Tabita, a Christian nurse and gospel singer, knows all
too well. She had been working at the Sobhraj Maternity Hospital in Karachi for
nine years when, in 2021, her colleagues tied her up and locked her in a room
after accusing her of blasphemy. Police officers took her into custody and after
investigating, concluded that the charges against her were baseless; simply the
result of a misunderstanding between colleagues. Despite being cleared of all
charges, she was still forced to go into hiding, perhaps for the rest of her
life.
The same year, Christian nurses Maryam Lal and Navish Arooj were accused of
blasphemy for supposedly removing an Islamic sticker from a cupboard in
Faisalabad’s Civil Hospital. Police registered a case against them despite it
being known that the accuser had verbally abused both nurses and attacked Lal
with a knife. Unsurprisingly, the accuser continues to work at the hospital and
has been hailed a hero, while Lal and Arooj live in hiding.
In a similar case, three Christian nurses at the Punjab Institute of Mental
Health in Lahore, were falsely accused of blasphemy. Sakina Bibi, Jessica
Khurram and Treeza Eric were accused after one of the nurses shared a video of
someone speaking about the Islamist Tehreek-e-Labaik Party in a staff WhatsApp
group. Some Muslim nurses reacted by desecrating the hospital chapel, and
threatening to convert it into a mosque. Peace was only restored after local
Muslim and Christian leaders intervened. No action was taken against the Muslim
nurses.
Again and again, we see the victims being treated as criminals by those in
positions of authority while the perpetrators are let off scot-free and even
hailed as heroes. All the while, politicians who actually have the power to
change this state of affairs refuse even to discuss the matter in Parliament.
When people such as M. P. Bhandara and Sherry Rehman dare to speak up, they
receive the inevitable death threats. For Punjab Governor Salman Taseer,
Christian Federal Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and human rights lawyer Rashid Rehman,
these death threats were carried out.
Pakistan was genuinely shaken to the core by the vigilante lynching of Sri
Lankan factory manager Piryantha Kumara in Sialkot over blasphemy allegations.
Even Pakistan’s prime minister at the time, Imran Khan, called the murder
“horrific;” a “day of shame for Pakistan;” promised that he would personally
oversee the investigation, and that those responsible would be “punished with
full severity of the law”. Yet, even though in that case six of the perpetrators
were sentenced to death — a sentence that has not yet been carried out — here we
still are with nothing done to change what truly is the shame of Pakistan. The
law still is as it is: innocent people continue to be accused of blasphemy and
killed.
Going back to Samina Mushtaq, thanks to her quick thinking, she is still with us
and lucky to be alive. Christians need to be grateful for the way in which she
courageously brought the truth about blasphemy to the forefront and stirred up a
national debate. We need much more of it. Lawmakers need to change the laws
before more unjust killings.
© 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.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19336/pakistan-blasphemy-accusers
Iran: Big Replacement Ahead?
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 27/2023
Since 1979, when the mullahs seized power, Iran has topped the list of countries
hit by “brain drain”. However, what was a sectoral hemorrhage may now become a
general bleeding affecting other sectors of the population.
A feature in the official news agency IRNA was headlined; “It’s not only the
Elite who immigrate.”
The daily Javan (Youth), an organ of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
also warns that Iran is losing some if its best-educated people and claims that
mass-emigration by “elite elements” is costing the nation millions of dollars.
Emigration is now attracting Iranians with lower skills or no skills.
According to best semi-official estimates, since 1979, some eight million,
almost 10 percent of the population, have left Iran, including an estimated 4.2
million with higher education and skills.
In the past four years the brain drain has accelerated with an average of 4,000
medical doctors leaving each year.
According to IRNA, right now 30,000 general practitioners and senior nurses are
waiting for “good standing “certificates that developed nations require from
those wishing to emigrate from so-called “developing nations” such as Iran.
A study by two Tehran University researchers, Adel Abdullahi and Maryam Rezai
shows that almost all Iranians who emigrate seek to enter the European Union or
the so-called “Anglosphere” countries such as Britain, Canada, the United State,
New Zealand and Australia.
Only 10 percent of would-be emigrants are ready to go “anywhere else” to get out
of Iran.
There are no applicants for immigration to any Muslim country. The only
exception is Iraq which attracts thousands of Iranian mullahs and students of
theology who head for Najaf and Karbala to escape control of religion by the
government in Tehran.
Would-be immigrants also shun China, India and Russia. The only Asian countries
still attracting Iranians are Malaysia and Japan.
For many would-be immigrants the first port of call is Dubai, Istanbul; Cyprus
or, until recently, Yerevan, where application for visas to desired destinations
are lodged. Some would be immigrants have to wait up to three ears to secure
visas to the EU, Canada and US.
Who is emigrating and why?
Some answers are provided by a three-year study by the Sharif (Aryamehr)
University in Tehran.
According to it, a survey of 17,078 people in all 31 provinces of Iran, shows
that 70 percent of senior managers and highly skilled personnel in the public
sector wish to emigrate.
Among entrepreneurs, and businessmen, 66 percent desire emigration. That figure
falls to 60 percent for medical doctors, nurses and other medical staff.
The study shows that a majority of would-be emigrants are young, highly
educated, unmarried people from urban areas. The higher the education of the
individual the higher his or her desire to leave.
Of those who express “little satisfaction with the present situation”, 43
percent wish to leave the country. That figure falls to 40 percent among those
with “high satisfaction” which means that the desire to leave is deeper than
tangential socio-political concerns.
This is confirmed by other figures in the study.
Of those who “despair of the future in Iran” 42 percent wish to leave, a number
that falls to 38 percent for those who still have some hope for the country’s
future.
The study shows that the desire to flee Iran isn’t caused by economic hardship,
unemployment or inflation. It is not the poor and/or the unemployed that wish to
flee but those who either have or could have well-paid jobs and a seat on the
gravy train of the mullahs and their security-military associates.
The highest numbers of emigrants come from Tehran, Isfahan and Qom provinces
where income per head is 30 percent higher than the national average. Poorer
provinces, such as Sistan-Baluchistan, Boyer-Ahmad & Kohkiluyeh and South
Khorasan come at the bottom of the list for the number of would be emigrants.
The study gives no figures but there is anecdotal evidence that tens of
thousands of emigrants, especially to Canada and the US, come from Islamic
ruling families.
None of the studies we have seen takes notice of another possible magnet for
emigrants: the spectacular success of Iranian emigres across the globe. A study
by Nushin Karami shows that over 200 politicians of Iranian origin now have
senior positions in the political structures of 30 nations including the EU and
“Anglosphere” countries. A further 1,000 Iranians are in senior positions in
global companies while many thousand others are active in media, scientific
research and academia in leading industrial countries. Scores of Iranian
writers, poets, dramatists and film-makers have built successful careers outside
Iran.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Iran is also attracting immigrants from
neighboring Iraq, both Kurdish and Arab-Shiite regions, the enclave of
Nakhichevan, Afghanistan and Pakistan while hosting thousands of theology
students from Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Nigeria. China has also dispatched
hundreds of theology students to Qom. According to official media many of the
students remain in Iran after completing their courses and get married to
Iranians.
All in all, Iran hosts over six million “foreign guests”, including Afghan,
Pakistani and Iraqi refugees. Interestingly, the desire to leave seems to have
reached the “guests” as well. Between March 2021 and March 2022 over half a
million Afghan refugees returned home.
To deal with the consequences of “brain drain” the Islamic Republic has unveiled
a program to attract highly-educated and skilled people from “anywhere in the
world” with a promise of thee-year contracts, good salaries and “all rights
apart from voting”.
An estimated 300,000 fighters who have served under Iranian leadership in
Lebanon, Syria and Yemen are also promised eventual settlement in Iran and the
granting of farmlands to build a new life.
Critics claim that the Khomeinist regime is happy that so many potential
opponents from urban middle class elements are leaving Iran. Iran’s loss of
population could be compensated with new arrivals from poorer Muslims countries
who would appreciate a better living standard under a “truly Islamic” regime.
Other despotic regimes, notably the USSR, Communist China, North Korea, Vietnam
and Cuba benefited from mass emigration by potential middle class enemies,
allowing a “big replacement” scheme to be implemented.
One of IRGC’s big-mouth generals Muhammad-Reza Naqdi puts its like this: Let
those who don’t like us leave the country, making room for those who do.”
*Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from
1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable publications,
published eleven books, and has been a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat since 1987