Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 08-09/2023
There is no difference between who calls for throwing Israel into the sea and chants death to Israel and America, and who advocates for dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza/Elias Bejjani/November 05/2023
Israel, Lebanon ignore US envoy’s plea for calm
G7 calls on Iran to stop supporting Hezbollah and Hamas
Hochstein holds 'good' talks with Berri
Diplomatic efforts intensify after Ainata massacre, Hezbollah response
Israel says Brazil foiled Iran-backed Hezbollah attack on Israelis, Jews
Hezbollah strikes Israeli infantry units in Shomera and Dovev
FPM rejects anew extension of army chief term
Miraculous survival: Syrian families escape Israeli airstrike's imminent death on south Lebanon
Hezbollah's Sheikh Nabil Kaouk: Palestinians rely on resistance, not Arab, Islamic summits
LBCI sources deny rumors of a lunch gathering between Jumblatt and Frangieh
Hezbollah's anti-ship missiles bolster its threat to US navy

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 08-09/2023
US launches airstrike on site in Syria in response to attacks by Iranian-backed militias
Saudi Arabia to host summits of Arab, Islamic nations on Israel-Hamas war
G7 nations announce unified stance on Israel-Hamas war
3-day ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war 'nearly reached'
Palestinians flee on foot as Israeli troops battle inside Gaza City
Report: US promises to convince Israel to accept brief humanitarian truce
Qatar negotiating release of 10-15 hostages for Gaza ceasefire
Man involved in confrontation with Jewish protester who died called 911, cooperated with police
21 Syrian pro-government militiamen killed in overnight ambush by IS group
Top Chinese military official visits Moscow for talks on expanding ties
Ukraine gets good news about EU membership
Palestinian sources reveal US efforts for Gaza ceasefire
Houthis Confirm Downing of US Drone off the Coast of Yemen
At least 19 Palestinians killed in latest Jabalia attack: Interior Ministry
US 2024 presidential elections: The Gaza war's impact on the public opinion
Post-war scenarios: Eliminating Hamas from Gaza with Israel navigating new leadership in the Strip
Bella Hadid's commitment to Palestinian cause: An end to her Dior career
Rise in antisemitic, Islamophobic threats has Canadians 'scared in our own streets,' Canadian PM says
International reaction to Gaza siege has exposed the growing rift between the West and the Global South
Israel says it does not intend to 'reoccupy' Gaza or control it for long time

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 08-09/2023
Palestinian civilian deaths are at the heart of Hamas’s strategy/Jake Wallis Simons/The Telegraph/November 08/2023
How Iran is Retaliating to The War on Gaza/Nadim Koteich//Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/November 08/2023
And Now… Gaza’s Fate/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/November 08/2023
How do we protect the Arab world from the dangers it faces/Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor/Arab News/November 08, 2023
The cost of this war will not only be felt in Gaza/Ghassan Khatib/Arab News/November 08, 2023
House censures Rashida Tlaib as she defends comments over Israel: 'Palestinian people are not disposable'/Ken Tran, USA TODAY/November 8, 2023
Terrorists and Saboteurs Are Surging into America/Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone Institute/November 08/2023
Pope Francis Defends Islam as ‘Religion of Peace’ in New Book/Raymond Ibrahim/November 8, 2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on on November 08-09/2023
There is no difference between who calls for throwing Israel into the sea and chants death to Israel and America, and who advocates for dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza.
Elias Bejjani/November 05/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/123949/123949/
It is essential and a moral duty to condemn the bizarre statement of the Israeli Minister of Heritage, Amihai Eliyahu, in which he called for dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza. This unethical and criminal statement raises significant and serious concerns due to the dangerous ideas and kind of hostile culture it represents and advocates for, as well as its negative impact on peace, stability, and the acceptance of the different other in the Middle East region.
Meanwhile, we must focus on this provocative and blind hostile rhetoric from its cultural and ethical aspects, and everything related to human dignity and the right to a free and dignified life for each and every person all over the world
First, it must be pointed out that the use of nuclear weapons is an inhumane and criminal option and is irresponsible, with potentially dire consequences for civilians and the environment, and because it direly violates human values and principles. This makes it imperative that security and defense strategies in all countries of the world be cautious, moderate, and far from such an option, which necessitates a continuous search for diplomatic and peaceful solutions in a bid to resolve conflicts, especially the complex Arab-Israeli conflict.
Second, the elements of fanaticism, recklessness, hatred, and the desire to kill the different other are qualities that do not foster the necessary constructive components of dialogue and understanding required to resolve conflicts in the Middle East countries. Therefore, it is necessary for leaders and officials in Arab countries, Israel, and the rest of the free world to work on achieving communication and opening channels of dialogue with all relevant parties to avoid wars, violence, and to promote peace and stability.
Third, it is vital not to view any such atrocity with one eye, and focus solely on criticizing the inhumane statement of the Israeli minister, which, in practice and reality, is not significantly different from the barbarism, hostility, and fundamentalism of those who adopt and promote slogans calling for “death to America and Israel”, and openly call for the annihilating of Israel and throwing it into the sea, as is evident in the discourse and culture of the Iranian regime and its proxy armed-terrorist militias in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Gaza, Iraq, and many other third-world countries. As well as the fundamentalist, Jihadist, and political Islamic groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Boko Haram, and dozens of alike terrorist organizations that share the same Jihadist Iranian-Mullahs’ culture and agenda.
In conclusion, there is no credibility in any criticism of the extremist and fundamentalist statement of the Israeli minister, while ignoring the culture and depravity of those who call for throwing Israel into the sea, view America and Israel as demons, and openly expressing their hatred and hostility towards them.
It is worth mentioning, that the language of violence and killing the different other does not serve the interests of any party, and does not help in resolving conflicts, in a civilized, peaceful, and constructive manner, whether large or small.

Israel, Lebanon ignore US envoy’s plea for calm
Arab News/November 08, 2023
BEIRUT: Clashes between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Israeli army have shown no sign of easing following an appeal by US envoy Amos Hochstein for calm along Lebanon’s southern border. Hochstein told Lebanese officials that the US wants to stop the war in the Gaza Strip spreading, and that restoring calm along the country’s southern border “must be the highest priority for both Lebanon and Israel.”However, military operations appeared to intensify late on Tuesday after the envoy’s departure from Beirut, with at least 10 Israeli air raids on Lebanese border areas targeting the Marjayoun Plain. MP Hadi Abu Al-Hassan from the Progressive Socialist Party told Arab News that the message that Hochstein carried to Lebanon “should have been directed to the Israeli enemy and not to Lebanon.” Israel should be told to stop its daily bombing and violation of Lebanese sovereignty, he added.
Abu Al-Hassan said his party’s communication with Hezbollah and other groups is aimed at avoiding war. “Things are under control so far within certain rules,” he said. According to leaks to the Lebanese media, Hochstein told Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri that Washington is prepared to settle the dispute over land border points between Lebanon and Israel when the fighting ends. The US envoy informed Lebanese officials that “the White House is keen to keep Lebanon away from the Gaza war, and the discussion is currently focused on a truce in the (Lebanese) south similar to the truce being discussed for the Gaza Strip.”He underlined US support for the Lebanese army and the need to prevent rockets being launched from the UNIFIL forces’ area of operation. The US Embassy said in a statement that Hochstein emphasized Washington’s “deep concern for Lebanon and its people during this difficult time.”
He also offered his condolences for the civilian lives lost. On Wednesday, Hezbollah launched missile attacks on Israeli military locations, including the Al-Bayyad and Al-Asi sites. The Israeli army retaliated with shelling of villages and towns. Israeli forces continued to use fragmentation bombs to set fire to forests on the outskirts of the towns of Halta and Kfar Shuba. Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, a member of Hezbollah’s Central Council, said that the group will respond to any attack on civilians “in a more severe and harsh manner without hesitation or delay.” Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to deliver a second speech within a week on Saturday. In his first address, he linked the escalation of Hezbollah’s involvement in the war to the course of the military operation in Gaza and Israeli army actions directed at Lebanon. However, 48 hours after the first speech, Israel targeted paramedics inside two ambulances, injuring four people. On the evening of the same day, a drone strike destroyed two civilian cars, killing three children and their grandmother, and seriously wounding their mother, who was driving one of the vehicles. More than 60 Hezbollah fighters have died since Oct. 8, while the number of civilian deaths has reached 10. Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army Intelligence Service’s Tripoli Port Security Office said on Wednesday that a shipment of military equipment originating in Turkiye had been seized and one person arrested.

G7 calls on Iran to stop supporting Hezbollah and Hamas
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/November 08/2023
G7 foreign ministers called Wednesday on Iran to refrain from providing support for Hamas and Hezbollah, and to use its influence to de-escalate regional tensions. "We call on Iran to refrain from providing support for Hamas and taking further actions that destabilize the Middle East, including support for Lebanese Hezbollah and other non-state actors, and to use its influence with those groups to de-escalate regional tensions," the ministers said in a joint statement after talks in Japan. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy noted that the G7 is "working intensively to prevent the conflict from escalating further and spreading more widely."

Hochstein holds 'good' talks with Berri
Naharnet/November 08/2023
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein’s held a “good” meeting Tuesday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, parliamentary sources informed on the talks said. “This is reflected in the course that the Americans are taking and the efforts that they are exerting to prevent an expansion of the conflict,” the sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Wednesday. “All indications on the Lebanese side confirm that things are still under control, but we cannot guarantee Israel,” the sources added. Annahar newspaper meanwhile reported that Hochstein told Berri that Washington is willing, once the battles stop, to help resolve the land border dispute between Lebanon and Israel. Hochstein on Tuesday urged for calm to return to Lebanon's southern border with Israel, after weeks of skirmishes following the start of the Israel-Hamas war. "The United States does not want to see conflict in Gaza escalating and expanding into Lebanon," Hochstein told a press conference in Beirut. Since Hamas militants launched a shock October 7 attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon's southern border has seen intensifying tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian group, stoking fears of a broader conflagration.

Diplomatic efforts intensify after Ainata massacre, Hezbollah response
Naharnet/November 08/2023
After an Israeli airstrike killed a grandmother and her three grandchildren in Lebanon’s Ainata and Hezbollah’s retaliatory shelling of Kiryat Shmona, U.S. and European diplomatic efforts intensified in a bid to contain the situation and avoid an all-out war between Lebanon and Israel, media reports said. U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein’s surprise visit to Beirut is “part of this inclination,” al-Binaa newspaper reported on Wednesday. “Despite the Israeli escalation on Sunday and the resistance’s reaction, things are still under control in terms of avoiding the targeting of civilians and two sides’ avoidance of an all-out war,” the daily quoted sources as saying.Informed sources meanwhile told the newspaper that “the Americans felt that the firing of rockets from Lebanon at Kiryat Shmona and Haifa meant that Hezbollah would expand the rules of engagement to a big extent that might draw major Israeli responses that would descend into a broad war.”

Israel says Brazil foiled Iran-backed Hezbollah attack on Israelis, Jews
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/November 08/2023
Security forces in Brazil, in collaboration with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and its partners within the Israeli security community, as well as other international security and law enforcement agencies, have successfully foiled a planned attack by Hezbollah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday. The alleged foiled attack was “orchestrated and financed by the Iranian regime,” Netanyahu’s office said, adding that “this disruption targets a vast network that extends to several other nations globally.”"Mossad expresses gratitude to the Brazilian security forces for their role in detaining a terrorist cell operating under Hezbollah's directives, which intended to execute an attack against Israeli and Jewish targets within Brazil," the office added. It said that amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza with the Hamas Palestinian movement, Hezbollah and Tehran “persist in their global efforts to orchestrate attacks against Israeli, Jewish, and Western targets.” Brazil’s Federal Police meanwhile said that “terrorist plans” were foiled when two people were arrested in Sao Paulo state. The two suspects were recruited and financed by Hezbollah and planned to target buildings tied to the Jewish community, according to an official with information about the plans but who was not authorized to speak publicly. The police statement did not give details about the suspects. It said police also executed 11 search warrants in Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and the Federal District that were aimed at obtaining proof of possible recruitment of Brazilians for carrying out extremist acts in the country, adding that it was targeting both recruits and recruiters. Brazilian news site UOL said the alleged targets for the attacks were synagogues and other buildings linked to Brazil's Jewish community, which numbers around 107,000 people. Local paper O Globo reported that police arrested one of the two suspects when they returned to the international airport in Sao Paulo, with information in hand to carry out the attack. There are two additional targets for arrest in Lebanon, the paper reported, without saying how it obtained that information. The Brazilian Israelite Confederation celebrated the police operation on X, formerly Twitter. “We congratulate the Federal Police, the public prosecutor’s office and the justice ministry for their preventive action," said the group, known by its acronym Conib. “The tragic conflicts in the Middle East cannot be imported into our country, where different communities live peacefully, harmoniously and without fear of terrorism," the group said. Brazil has one of the world's largest Lebanese populations; most estimates put their total well above that of Lebanon itself.

Hezbollah strikes Israeli infantry units in Shomera and Dovev
Naharnet/November 08/2023
Israeli artillery shelling targeted Wednesday Ramia, Beit Leef, and the outskirts of the border towns of al-Labbouneh, al-Naqoura, Rmeish, Aita al-Shaab, Halta and al-Mari, after three rockets landed in Zarit and Shtula, in the Israeli upper western Galilee. Israel also shelled the outskirts of Mays al-Jabal, Blida, Houla, Mhaibib and Yaroun after the Israeli posts of al-Assi, al-Bayyad, Brket Risha, Yiftah, al-Jerdah and Dovev were targeted from Lebanon. The football pitch in the border town of Houla was also targeted with three missiles, as Israel fired shells that didn't explode at a house and a car. Hezbollah for its part confirmed casualties among Israeli soldiers after its fighters targeted an Israeli infantry force near Shomera and another one near Dovev. Hezbollah said it was in response to the Israeli attack on an ambulance in Lebanon on Sunday. An Israeli military spokesman said two soldiers were wounded in the anti-tank missile attack on Dovev. An Israeli drone had struck Sunday near two ambulances on their way to pick up casualties from an overnight strikes in southern Lebanon, wounding four paramedics. Israel had targeted overnight al-Khiyam, Kfakela, Yater, Kafra, and al-Khardali. Israeli and Hezbollah have been exchanging daily cross-border fire since October 7. The clashes along the border have intensified since Israel launched a ground incursion into Gaza.

FPM rejects anew extension of army chief term
Naharnet/November 08/2023
The parliamentary bloc of the Free Patriotic Movement has reiterated its objection to the extension of the term of Army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun ahead of his planned retirement in January, considering it "unconstitutional.""There are legal solutions to avoid the vacancy," the Strong Lebanon bloc said in a statement Tuesday. "There won't be a void," the statement said, adding that "vacancy is not possible at all in institutions with military ranks."

Miraculous survival: Syrian families escape Israeli airstrike's imminent death on south Lebanon
LBCI/November 08/2023
These children, women, and men miraculously survived imminent death. Three Syrian families, totaling more than 22 individuals, have not yet comprehended how they escaped an Israeli airstrike on the building they inhabit in the town of Yater. To learn how they miraculously survived, you must enter the building. The rubble and the aftermath of the airstrike are evident. Missiles penetrated water tanks and the rooftop room, even reaching the second floor. The belongings of the children and families are also visible. Points of impact and missile penetration are visible when examining the building. This is another strike on the outskirts of Kfarkela, one of the airstrikes that targeted the southern region on Tuesday evening. The images indicate two large craters, the targeting of a farm, and the scattering of hay sacks on the site. Smoke was still rising even after hours into Wednesday afternoon. Airstrikes also targeted the outskirts of Shebaa, the surroundings of Aita al-Shaab, and reached the Ras al-Naqoura area in the western sector, near a shooting range for the Lebanese Army.

Hezbollah's Sheikh Nabil Kaouk: Palestinians rely on resistance, not Arab, Islamic summits
LBCI/November 08/2023
Sheikh Nabil Kaouk, a member of Hezbollah's Central Council, believes that Palestinians do not rely on the emergency Arab summit but rather on the strategy of the resistance - and its rockets - in Gaza. Kaouk considered that Israel does not fear Arab or Islamic summits but rather fears the resistance in Gaza and Lebanon. He emphasized that the "eye of the resistance" in Lebanon is on the south to protect the homeland and civilians, as any attack on civilians is met with a harsh response without hesitation. He also stated that the "other eye" is on Gaza to support it because the victory in Gaza is a victory for resistance in Lebanon, the region, and the nation. Kaouk described the continued economic, security, and military relations of some normalization countries with Israel as a "dagger in the heart of the Palestinian people and a clear betrayal."

LBCI sources deny rumors of a lunch gathering between Jumblatt and Frangieh
LBCI/November 08/2023
LBCI sources confirmed that there is no lunch on Wednesday that brings together the former leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, with the leader of the Marada Movement, Sleiman Frangieh. It added that the information that has spread about the matter is not accurate.

Hezbollah's anti-ship missiles bolster its threat to US navy
Laila Bassam and Tom Perry/BEIRUT (Reuters)/November 08/2023
Powerful Russian anti-ship missiles acquired by Hezbollah give it the means to deliver on its leader's veiled threat against U.S. warships and underline the grave risks of any regional war, sources familiar with the group's arsenal say.Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Washington last week his group had something in store for the U.S. vessels deployed to the region since war erupted last month between the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel, shaking the wider Middle East. Two sources in Lebanon familiar with the Iran-backed group's arsenal say he was referring to Hezbollah's greatly enhanced anti-ship missile capabilities, including the Russian-made Yakhont missile with a range of 300 km (186 miles). Reports by media and analysts have for years indicated that Hezbollah acquired Yakhont missiles in Syria after deploying there more than a decade ago to help President Bashar al-Assad fight a civil war. Hezbollah has never confirmed possessing the weapon. The Shi'ite group's media office did not immediately respond when reached for comment for this story. Washington says its Mediterranean naval deployment - comprising two aircraft carriers and their supporting ships - aims to prevent the conflict from spreading by deterring Iran, which backs groups including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Hezbollah perceives the U.S. warships as a direct threat because of their ability to hit the group and its allies. Nasrallah said in a speech on Friday that the U.S. warships in the Mediterranean "do not scare us, and will not scare us"."We have prepared for the fleets with which you threaten us," he said. The White House said after Nasrallah delivered his Friday speech that Hezbollah must not exploit the Hamas-Israel war, and the United States did not want to see the conflict expand into Lebanon. One of the sources said Hezbollah's anti-ship capabilities had developed enormously since 2006, when the group first demonstrated it could strike a vessel at sea by hitting an Israeli warship in the Mediterranean during a war with Israel. "There's the Yakhont, and of course there are other things besides it," the source said, without elaborating. The source added that use of this weapon by Hezbollah against hostile warships would indicate the conflict had escalated into a major regional war.
PAYING ATTENTION
Three current and one former U.S. official said Hezbollah has built an impressive array of weapons, including anti-ship missiles. "We're obviously paying a lot of attention to that... and we're taking what capabilities they have seriously," one official said, without commenting directly on whether the group had the Yakhont missile.The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment candidly about Hezbollah's capabilities. The U.S. officials added that the U.S. naval power recently deployed to the region includes defenses against incoming missiles. They did not elaborate. The Pentagon has deployed warships to the eastern Mediterranean since Oct. 7, when Hamas gunmen stormed Israel from the Gaza Strip in an attack Israel says killed 1,400 people. Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed more than 10,000 Palestinians since then, Palestinian officials say. Nasrallah on Friday warned Washington that preventing a regional war depended on halting the Israeli assault. Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israeli forces at the Lebanese border since Oct. 8. That marks the most serious escalation there since the 2006 war. But Hezbollah has so far used only a fraction of its arsenal and the violence has mostly been contained to the border area. Other Iran-aligned groups such as Yemen's Houthis have also fired drones towards Israel while Iran-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias have fired at U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. The ground-launched Yakhont approaches its target at low altitude - 10 to 15 metres (yards) off the ground - to avoid detection, according to a report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The Yakhont, a variant of the P-800 Oniks missile first developed in 1993, was developed in 1999 for export by a Russian defence firm and can be launched from the air, the ground or submarines, CSIS said. Asked about the sources' accounts of Hezbollah having acquired Yakhont missiles, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "First of all, this is news without any confirmation at all. We do not know if it is true or not.""Secondly, we do not have such information." The Russian defence ministry did not reply to a written request for comment. The Syrian information ministry did not immediately reply to emailed questions from Reuters.
'PREPARED AND READY'
Nasrallah's Friday speech marked one of his strongest warnings yet to the United States, which holds his group responsible for a suicide attack that destroyed U.S. Marines headquarters in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 servicemen, and for a suicide attack on the U.S. embassy the same year that killed 63 people. While Hezbollah has denied being behind those attacks, Nasrallah indirectly referred to them in his speech, saying those who defeated the United States in Lebanon in the early 1980s were "still alive". Nasser Qandil, a Lebanese political analyst close to Hezbollah, explained how the Yakhont missiles in the group's arsenal could be used against U.S. warships, in remarks on his private Youtube channel posted last month. He described the missile as "the most important prize" of Hezbollah's involvement in the war in Syria, where the group helped turn the tide of the civil war in Assad's favour. "Yes, Hezbollah is prepared and ready," Qandil said. The two sources who spoke to Reuters said Hezbollah obtained the weapon from Syria whilst fighting in support of Assad, whose military has long been armed by Russia. Hezbollah keeps its arsenal and how it is sourced shrouded in secrecy. In rare comments on the topic in 2021, Nasrallah explained how the group had obtained Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missiles via Syria. In an interview with the Lebanese, Iran-aligned broadcaster al-Mayadeen, he said the Syrian defence ministry had purchased the weapons from Russia for Syrian use, and Hezbollah had later taken them as a form of "support" to defend Lebanon. Hezbollah used the weapon extensively in the 2006 war. Moscow said in 2010 it had signed a deal to send anti-ship cruise missiles including a version of the Yakhont to Damascus.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 08-09/2023
US launches airstrike on site in Syria in response to attacks by Iranian-backed militias
WASHINGTON (AP)/Wed, November 8, 2023
The U.S. launched an airstrike on a facility in eastern Syria linked to Iranian-backed militias, in retaliation for what has been a growing number of attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in the region for the past several weeks, the Pentagon said. The strike by two U.S. F-15 fighter jets was on a weapons storage facility linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard. “The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. This is the second time in less than two weeks that the U.S. has bombed facilities used by the militant groups, many operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which U.S. officials say have carried out at least 40 such attacks since Oct. 17.
That was the day a powerful explosion rocked a Gaza hospital, killing hundreds and triggering protests in a number of Muslim nations. The Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza in retaliation for the devastating Hamas rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel denied responsibility for the al-Ahli hospital blast, and the U.S. has said its intelligence assessment found that Tel Aviv was not to blame. But the Israeli military has continued a ferocious assault on Hamas, with ground troops now deep inside Gaza City in a war that has a staggering death toll of more than 10,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run territory. The latest U.S. strike was designed to take out supplies, weapons and ammunition in an effort to erode the abilities of the Iranian-backed militants to attack Americans based in Iraq and Syria. And it reflects the Biden administration’s determination to maintain a delicate balance. The U.S. wants to hit Iranian-backed groups suspected of targeting the U.S. as strongly as possible to deter future aggression, possibly fueled by Israel’s war against Hamas, while also working to avoid further inflaming the region and provoking a wider conflict. Similar U.S. airstrikes on Oct. 27 also targeted facilities in Syria, and officials at the time said the two sites were affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. When asked why those locations in Syria were chosen — since many of the attacks have happened in Iraq — officials said the U.S. went after storage sites for munitions that could be linked to the strikes on U.S. personnel. The U.S. has often avoided bombing sites in Iraq in order to lessen the chances of killing Iraqis or angering Iraq’s leaders. While officials have said the strikes are meant to deter further attacks, they have not had that effect. Rocket and drone attacks have occurred almost daily, although in nearly all cases they have resulted in little damage and few injuries. According to the Pentagon, a total of 45 personnel have been injured and all of those were in attacks on Oct. 17 and 18. Of those, 32 were at al-Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria, with a mix of minor injuries and traumatic brain injuries, and 13 were at al-Asad air base in western Iraq, with four cases of traumatic brain injury and nine of minor injury. One person was injured at Irbil air base in Iraq. The Pentagon has faced repeated questions about whether deterrence against Iran and its proxies is working because the attacks have only increased. At the same time, the department has moved a number of air defense systems into the region to beef up protection for U.S. forces. And on multiple occasions, the systems have intercepted incoming strikes.
*Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press

Saudi Arabia to host summits of Arab, Islamic nations on Israel-Hamas war
Reuters/November 08, 2023
Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, Khalid Al-Falih said: “We will see, this week, in the next few days Saudi Arabia convening an emergency Arab summit in Riyadh. In a few days you will see Saudi Arabia convening an Islamic summit,” he added. The minister’s comments referred to an earlier announcement by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to hold a meeting on Sunday on the Gaza conflict. On Tuesday, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement that said a third meeting which had been set for the weekend, bringing Arab League and African Union leaders together, would be postponed to focus on the other two summits. “In the short term, the objective of bringing these three summits and other gatherings under the leadership of Saudi Arabia would be to drive toward peaceful resolution of the conflict,” Al-Falih said. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will travel to Saudi Arabia for the OIC summit, Etemadonline news reported. Al-Falih noted that Saudi Arabia would convene a summit with African nations, but he did not specify a date.

G7 nations announce unified stance on Israel-Hamas war
Associated Press/November 08, 2023
Top diplomats from the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies announced a unified stance on the Israel-Hamas war on Wednesday after intensive meetings in Tokyo, condemning Hamas, supporting Israel's right to self-defense and calling for "humanitarian pauses" to speed aid to desperate civilians in the Gaza Strip. In a statement following two days of talks, the nations sought to balance unequivocal criticism of Hamas' attacks against Israel and "the need for urgent action" to help civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave. "All parties must allow unimpeded humanitarian support for civilians, including food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter, and access for humanitarian workers," said the statement, hammered out by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy. "We support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and the release of hostages."The G7 meeting was, in part, an attempt to contain the worsening humanitarian crisis while also keeping broader differences on Gaza from deepening. The ministers noted that the G7 is "working intensively to prevent the conflict from escalating further and spreading more widely," and also using sanctions and other measures "to deny Hamas the ability to raise and use funds to carry out atrocities." They also condemned "the rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians," which they said is "unacceptable, undermines security in the West Bank, and threatens prospects for a lasting peace."
As the diplomats met in downtown Tokyo, a U.N. agency said that thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are fleeing south on foot with only what they can carry after running out of food and water in the north. Israel said its troops were battling Hamas militants deep inside Gaza City, which was home to some 650,000 people before the war and where the Israel military says Hamas has its central command and a vast labyrinth of tunnels. The growing numbers making their way south point to an increasingly desperate situation in and around Gaza's largest city, which has come under heavy Israeli bombardment.
The monthlong conflict in Gaza, which followed Hamas' Oct. 7 attack in Israel in which militants killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and captured 242, topped the agenda in Tokyo. But the G7 envoys also dealt with a flurry of other crises, including Russia's war in Ukraine, North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and China's growing aggression in territorial disputes with its neighbors. There has also been a push for cooperation to combat pandemics, synthetic opioids, and threats from the misuse of artificial intelligence. Since before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the G7 has held together in defense of the international order that originally emerged after the destruction of World War II. Despite some fraying around the edges, the group has preserved a unified front in condemning and opposing Russia's invasion. "Our steadfast commitment to supporting Ukraine's fight for its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity will never waver," the statement said. It also condemned "Russia's irresponsible nuclear rhetoric" and demanded Moscow "cease its aggression." The ministers said they "remain seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas, strongly opposing any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion." Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa raised worries about North Korea, according to a Japanese government readout. The G7 foreign ministers "strongly condemned North Korea's repeated ballistic missile launches as well as arms transfers from North Korea to Russia, which directly violate relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions."
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier said that "the unity of G7 is needed more than ever with the situation in Israel and Palestine, the situation in Ukraine, and the challenges in the Indo-Pacific region." German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that "as G7 countries, we are making clear that Israel has the right and the duty to protect its population and its people in the framework of international law." She said that she has been discussing with many partners "how we can finally get humanitarian cease-fires off the ground, in terms of time and also geographically."Blinken has been pushing to significantly expand the amount of humanitarian aid being sent to Gaza, getting Israel to agree to "pauses" in its military operation to allow that assistance to get in and more civilians to get out, a beginning in planning for a post-conflict governance and security structure in the territory and to prevent the war from spreading. Blinken earlier described these efforts as "a work in progress" and acknowledged deep divisions over the pause concept. Israel remains unconvinced and Arab and Muslim nations are demanding an immediate full cease-fire, something the United States opposes. There has also been resistance to discussing Gaza's future, with the Arab states insisting that the immediate humanitarian crisis must be addressed first.
There have been some small cracks in the G7 over Gaza, which has inflamed international public opinion. Democracies are not immune from intense passions that have manifested themselves in massive pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel demonstrations in G7 capitals and elsewhere. Last month in the U.N. Security Council, France voted in favor of a resolution calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza that was vetoed by the United States because it didn't go far enough in condemning Hamas' attack on Israel which ignited the war. Britain abstained in that vote.
Several days later in the U.N. General Assembly, a non-binding U.S.-Canadian resolution that would have condemned Hamas failed, while a separate resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire overwhelmingly passed. The U.S. voted against the second resolution while France voted in favor. Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan all abstained. Blinken arrived in Tokyo from Turkey, the last stop on a four-day whirlwind tour of the Middle East that began with visits to Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, Cyprus and Iraq. From Japan, he will travel to South Korea and then on to India.

3-day ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war 'nearly reached'
Agence France Presse/November 08, 2023
Israel and Hamas are on the verge of reaching a three-day ceasefire agreement, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reported on Wednesday. Egyptian sources meanwhile said that Cairo is about to achieve a humanitarian truce in Gaza involving the exchange of hostages and captives. A source close to Hamas meanwhile said that negotiations are underway for the release of a dozen hostages held by Hamas, including six Americans, in return for a three-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. "Talks revolve around the release of 12 hostages, half of them Americans, in exchange for a three-day humanitarian pause, to enable Hamas to release the hostages and to enable Egypt an extended (period of time) to deliver humanitarian aid," the source said. "There's disagreement around the time period and around the north (of the Gaza Strip), which is witnessing extensive combat operations," the source said.
"Qatar is awaiting an Israeli response," they added.
Earlier Wednesday, a separate source briefed on the talks said Qatar was mediating negotiations in coordination with the U.S. to free "10-15 hostages in exchange for a one- to two-day ceasefire."Fighting has raged in Gaza for over a month following Hamas' shock October 7 attack that allegedly killed more than 1,400 Israelis and took more than 240 hostages. In Gaza, 10,569 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel's retaliatory military campaign to destroy Hamas. Qatar has been engaged in intense diplomacy to secure the release of those held by Hamas, negotiating the handover of four hostages -- two Israelis and two Americans -- in recent weeks.
Families welcome every release -
Following reports on the latest negotiations, the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum said it welcomed "the return of each and every hostage."However, "any move toward a ceasefire should include the release of all hostages from Gaza," the group said in a statement. Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, also hosts the political office of Hamas and is the main residence of its self-exiled leader Ismail Haniyeh. The wealthy Gulf emirate has been a fierce supporter of the Palestinian cause and has open channels of communication with Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza.
Amid repeated calls for a ceasefire, Qatar has lamented the escalating violence visited on Gaza and its 2.4 million inhabitants, saying Israeli bombing undermines mediation efforts and de-escalation. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said the Gulf state was "determined to continue its mediation," despite difficulties "caused by the actions of the Israeli occupation." The G7 grouping of economically advanced nations called on Wednesday for "humanitarian pauses and corridors" in the conflict but refrained from calling for a ceasefire during talks in Japan.

Palestinians flee on foot as Israeli troops battle inside Gaza City
Associated Press/November 08, 2023
Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing south on foot with only what they can carry after running out of food and water in the north, a U.N. agency said Wednesday, as Israel said its troops were battling Hamas militants deep inside Gaza City. Over 70% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have already fled their homes, but the growing numbers making their way south point to an increasingly desperate situation in and around Gaza's largest city, which has come under heavy Israeli bombardment. The war triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 assault inside Israel has entered a second month, with an increasingly dire humanitarian situation inside the besieged Palestinian enclave and no end in sight. Israel has said its war to end Hamas' rule and crush its military capabilities will be long and difficult, and that it will maintain some form of control over the coastal enclave indefinitely. Support for the war remains strong inside Israel, where the focus has been on the plight of the more than 240 hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups. About 15,000 people fled northern Gaza on Tuesday, triple the number that left Monday, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. They are using Gaza's main north-south highway during a daily four-hour window announced by Israel. Those fleeing include children, the elderly and people with disabilities, and most walked with minimal belongings, the U.N. agency said. Some say they had to cross Israeli checkpoints, where they saw people being arrested, while others held their hands in the air and raised white flags while passing Israeli tanks.
Residents reported loud explosions overnight into Wednesday across Gaza City and in its Shati refugee camp, which houses Palestinian families who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its establishment.
"The bombings were heavy and close," said Mohamed Abed, who lives in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. He said residents panicked when they heard the news late Tuesday that Israeli ground forces were fighting deep inside the city.
The Israeli military said it killed one of Hamas' leading developers of rockets and other weapons, without saying where he was killed. Hamas has denied that Israeli troops have made any significant gains or entered Gaza City. It was not possible to independently confirm battlefield claims from either side.
Israel is focusing its operations on Gaza City, which was home to some 650,000 people before the war and where the military says Hamas has its central command and a vast labyrinth of tunnels. Hundreds of thousands have heeded Israeli orders to flee the north in recent weeks, even though Israel also routinely strikes what it says are militant targets in the south, often killing civilians. Tens of thousands of Palestinians remain in the north, many sheltering at hospitals or U.N. schools. The north has been without running water for weeks, and the U.N. agency said the last functioning bakeries shut down on Tuesday for lack of fuel, water and flour. Hospitals running low on supplies are performing surgeries — including amputations — without anesthesia, it said. Majed Haroun, who lives in Gaza City, said women and children go door to door asking for food, while those in shelters rely on local donations. "They should allow aid for those children," he said. The situation is little better in the south, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are packed into U.N.-run schools and other facilities. At one packed shelter, 600 people must share a single toilet, according to the U.N. office.
A month of relentless bombardment in Gaza since the Hamas attack has killed more than 10,300 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory, whose figures have largely held up under scrutiny after previous wars. More than 2,300 are believed to have been buried by strikes that in some cases have demolished entire city blocks. In the Oct. 7 incursion, Hamas militants killed over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and captured 242, including men, women, children and older adults. Israel says 30 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground offensive began, and Palestinian militants have continued to fire rockets into Israel on a daily basis. The death toll on both sides is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Israeli officials say thousands of Palestinian militants have been killed, and blame civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in residential areas. Gaza's Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that Israel would maintain "overall security responsibility" in Gaza for an "indefinite period" after defeating Hamas.
Israel's main ally, the United States, is opposed to any reoccupation of the territory, from which Israel removed soldiers and settlers in 2005. The U.S. has suggested that a revitalized Palestinian Authority could govern Gaza. But the internationally recognized PA, whose forces were driven out of Gaza by Hamas 16 years ago, says it would only do so as part of a solution to the conflict that creates a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem — territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel's government was staunchly opposed to Palestinian statehood even before the Oct. 7 attack. Along with Egypt, it has maintained a crippling blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power in 2007. Hundreds of trucks carrying aid have been allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt since Oct. 21. But humanitarian workers say the aid is far short of mounting needs. Egypt's Rafah crossing has also opened to allow hundreds of foreign passport holders and medical patients to leave Gaza. The war has stoked wider tensions, with Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group trading fire along the border. More than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the war began, mainly during violent protests and gunbattles with Israeli forces during arrest raids. Some 250,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate from communities along the borders with Gaza and Lebanon.

Report: US promises to convince Israel to accept brief humanitarian truce
Naharnet/November 08, 2023
The U.S. has promised to convince Israel’s government to agree to a brief humanitarian truce in the war on Gaza and the discussions are now revolving around what can be done during the proposed pause, informed Palestinian sources quoted Arab and regional capitals as saying. “The discussions are focusing on an incomplete exchange of civilian captives held by the resistance forces in Gaza in return for the entry of a large quantity of aid into Gaza, including fuel, and helping in addressing the file of those trapped under the rubble,” the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.
“The Ezzeddine al-Qassam Brigades told the movement’s political leadership and others that they will not release any captive soldier unless it is in return for the release of captives from Israeli prisons,” the sources added. U.S. President Biden meanwhile urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their call on Monday to agree to a three-day pause in the fighting to allow progress in releasing some of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, two U.S. and Israeli officials told U.S. news portal Axios. “According to a proposal that is being discussed between the U.S., Israel and Qatar, Hamas would release 10-15 hostages and use the three-day pause to verify the identities of all the hostages and deliver a list of names of the people it is holding,” a U.S. official said. Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that it was ready to release 12 foreign nationals it is holding hostage, but it couldn't because of Israel's airstrikes and ground operation. The two U.S. and Israeli officials said Netanyahu told Biden he doesn't trust Hamas' intentions and doesn't believe they are ready to agree to a deal regarding the hostages. He also said that Israel could lose the current international support it has for the operation if the fighting stops for three days, the officials said. The Israeli official told Axios that part of Netanyahu's reservation is because Hamas attacked a group of Israeli soldiers, kidnapped one of them, and killed several others during a humanitarian pause during the 2014 war. Biden told reporters later Tuesday that he asked Netanyahu for a pause during their phone call on Monday.

Qatar negotiating release of 10-15 hostages for Gaza ceasefire
Naharnet/November 08, 2023
Qatar is mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas for the potential release of 10-15 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a ceasefire of one or two days, a source briefed on the talks told AFP Wednesday."Negotiations mediated by the Qataris in coordination with the U.S. are ongoing to secure the release of 10-15 hostages in exchange for a one- to two-day ceasefire," the informed source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Man involved in confrontation with Jewish protester who died called 911, cooperated with police
Associated Press/November 08, 2023
Southern California authorities investigating the death of a Jewish man following a confrontation with a pro-Palestinian demonstrator over the Israel-Hamas war haven't determined whether a crime occurred and on Tuesday asked for the public's help to unravel what happened. Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said deputies determined that Paul Kessler, 69, who died early Monday at a hospital, had fallen backward and struck his head on the ground at a pro-Palestinian demonstration Sunday afternoon in Thousands Oaks, a suburb northwest of Los Angeles. The pro-Palestinian demonstrator stayed at the scene and told deputies he had called 911, Fryhoff said. Fryhoff said investigators were getting conflicting information from witnesses on both sides about what took place before the fall and had not ruled out the possibility of a hate crime. No arrests have been made, and officials were asking for people to provide video footage if they have any. "What exactly transpired prior to Mr. Kessler falling backward isn't crystal clear right now," Fryhoff said, adding that it's also unclear how many people were involved. He cautioned people to not jump to conclusions, and "refrain from spreading rumors or spreading misinformation on social media or other platforms, as that can not only hinder our investigation, but it can cause unnecessary panic in our community." Demonstrations have been widespread and tensions are escalating in the United States as the death toll rises in the Israel-Hamas war. Last month a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy was stabbed 26 times by his landlord in what authorities have said was in response to escalating right-wing rhetoric on the conflict. In Ventura County alone there have been 21 demonstrations since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Fryhoff said. Kessler was among a group of pro-Israel demonstrators who showed up at the event that was advertised as a peaceful gathering to support Palestinians, Fryhoff said. About 75 people in total were there and patrols in the area reported seeing no indication of violence 15 minutes before the altercation happened, Fryhoff said. Deputies found Kessler bleeding from the head and mouth and he was conscious as he was transported to the hospital, Fryhoff said. A pro-Palestinian demonstrator stayed to tell deputies he had been involved in the confrontation with Kessler and had called 911 after he fell, Fryhoff said. The pro-Palestinian protester is 50 years old and resides in the nearby city of Moorpark, Fryhoff said, adding that officials were not releasing his name at this time. He was detained briefly for questioning and authorities have searched his home. Ventura County Medical Examiner Dr. Christopher Young said at the news conference Tuesday that an autopsy found Kessler died from a blunt force head trauma, and that the injuries were consistent with a fall. Kessler also had injuries that "could be consistent" with a blow to the face, but it's unclear what caused his fall, Young said. Kessler was injured on the left side of his face and back of his head. He had skull fractures and swelling and bruising of the brain, Young said. Kessler's death has been listed as a homicide, a medical determination that does not indicate a crime was committed, Young said. The sheriff was asked if a megaphone was used to strike Kessler. "I've heard that, and I think the medical examiner has said the injuries on the face could have been caused by a megaphone," Fryhoff said. "But I don't have the information of what he had on him at the time."Additional patrols have been assigned to synagogues and mosques in the area, he said. Rabbi Michael Barclay of Temple Ner Simcha in Westlake Village, near Thousand Oaks, also urged people to wait for investigators to determine what happened, writing on X, formerly Twitter to "not let this become a spark that starts an inferno." The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement calling Kessler's death a "tragic and shocking loss."
"While we strongly support the right of political debate, CAIR-LA and the Muslim community stand with the Jewish community in rejecting any and all violence, antisemitism, Islamophobia, or incitement of hatred," the statement said.

21 Syrian pro-government militiamen killed in overnight ambush by IS group
Associated Press/November 08, 2023
The Islamic State group ambushed pro-government militiamen in an overnight attack in eastern Syria, killing at least 21 fighters, pro-government media and an opposition war monitor said Wednesday. Sham FM radio reported that the militiamen from the pro-government National Defense Places were ambushed in the village of al-Kawm in the central Syrian desert, between the government-held city of Homs and south of the city of Raqqa, which is under control of U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces. British-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also blamed IS for the attack but gave a higher death toll, saying there were 34 militiamen killed. Different casualty figures are common in the aftermath of such attacks. Syrian officials did not immediately comment on the attack, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility from IS. The attack comes as violence is rising elsewhere in Syria. The opposition-held enclave in the country's northwest has witnessed intense shelling and airstrikes by the Syrian army and Russian allies over the past month, and an Iran-backed Iraqi militant group regularly launches attacks on U.S. bases in eastern and southern Syria. Neighboring Israel has been mired in war in the blockaded Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, following the deadly incursion by the Palestinian militant group into southern Israel. Israel has also continued to strike government-held parts of Syria, including numerous attacks on the international airports in the city of Aleppo and the capital, Damascus.

Top Chinese military official visits Moscow for talks on expanding ties
Associated Press/November 08, 2023
A senior Chinese military official held talks in Moscow Wednesday, praising strong ties between the countries during a visit that underlined growing cooperation between them. Gen. Zhang Youxia, China's second-ranking military official and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that relations between Russia and China are "at the highest level in the new epoch." He said they "invariably support each other on issues of fundamental interest and key concerns." Beijing declared last year that it had a "no-limits" friendship with Russia. China has denounced Western sanctions against Moscow, and accused NATO and the United States of provoking Russia's military action in Ukraine even as it tried to project itself as neutral in the Ukrainian conflict. Russia, in turn, has continuously voiced support for Beijing on issues related to Taiwan. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Moscow in March to further cement ties and Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Beijing last month for a summit of China's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. Putin is set to meet with Zhang later Wednesday, according to the Kremlin. Speaking during the talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Zhang hailed a "model of strategic trust and mutually beneficial cooperation" between Moscow and Beijing, and noted that his visit is intended to help further promote military cooperation. Shoigu said that defense ties between Russia and China aren't aimed at third countries. "Unlike certain aggressive Western countries, we are not creating a military bloc," he said, adding that mutual ties "set an example of strategic interaction based on trust and respect.""We hold regular operational and combat exercises on land, in the air and at sea, and successfully accomplish combat training missions of various levels of complexity shoulder-to-shoulder," Shoigu said. "All those actions do not target third countries and are taken exclusively in each other's interests." He invited Zhang to discuss "further steps to expand cooperation in the sphere of defense and international issues."

Ukraine gets good news about EU membership
Associated Press/November 08, 2023
Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia received positive news on Wednesday about their quests to join the European Union but countries in the volatile Balkans region that have waited years longer to become members of the world's biggest trading bloc appeared to slip back in the queue. In a series of reports, the EU's executive branch recommended that war-ravaged Ukraine should be permitted to open membership talks, once it's addressed some shortfalls. The European Commission lauded Ukraine, which Russian troops invaded last year, saying that the government "has shown a remarkable level of institutional strength, determination and ability to function." But it said that talks should only start once it has addressed corruption, lobbying concerns, and a law on national minorities. Ukraine's neighbor Moldova was delivered a similar message. Georgia was told that it should officially be named as a candidate to join once it addresses shortcomings, including in the fight against corruption and election deficiencies. This does not mean that it will start accession talks soon. The country will have to clear more reform hurdles before that can happen. The commission's proposals, outlined in annual progress reports, mostly provide technical guidance to the 27 EU member states on how much progress countries have made in aligning their laws and standards with those of the bloc. EU leaders are expected to decide whether to endorse those recommendations at a summit in Brussels on Dec. 14-15. There is no guarantee that they will agree unanimously to do so. Hungary and Slovakia are notably cool about Ukraine's aspirations, for example. For 20 years, the prospect of EU membership has been a powerful driver of pro-democratic reform in countries wanting to join. But those in the Balkans – Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo – have become discouraged by the bloc's failure to live up to its lofty membership promises.
On the other hand, some aspirants appear to be treading water.
Bosnia remains plagued by ethnic divisions that make reform an almost impossible challenge. The commission said that it should only start membership talks after more progress is made. It expressed concern about the justice system and other rights failures in the Bosnian Serb part of the country. Serbia and Kosovo refuse to normalize their relations, and stand last in the EU's line. After one of the worst cross-border attacks in northern Kosovo in recent years, their leaders can't tolerate being in the same room. In the days before the recommendations were announced, commission President Ursula von der Leyen toured the Balkans to promote an economic growth plan containing 6-billion-euro ($6.4-billion) worth of free European loans and other support in exchange for more reforms. Last month, a senior EU official said that some Balkans countries "continue to see themselves as the center of our attention, and refuse to accept or admit that actually it's Ukraine." The senior official requested anonymity to speak frankly about the politically sensitive issue. He said the consensus among many EU officials working with Ukraine is that Kyiv "is demonstrating everything that we are missing in the Balkans: energy, commitment, enthusiasm." He said the commission's enlargement reports would be "the objective indicator of the situation."Meanwhile, Turkey's hopes of joining appear to be at a standstill. The country started its EU membership talks in 2005 but they have barely advanced in recent years. Ankara's progress report made for grim reading, despite the bloc's reliance on Turkey to prevent migrants from coming to Europe. The commission noted "serious deficiencies in the functioning of Turkey's democratic institutions." It said that "democratic backsliding continued." Human rights standards declined and no progress could be found in the fight against corruption.

Palestinian sources reveal US efforts for Gaza ceasefire
LBCI/November 08, 2023
Palestinian sources stated that they have received information from Arab and regional capitals that the United States has promised to convince the Israeli government to agree to a short humanitarian ceasefire.
This article was originally published in, translated from the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.
Discussions are ongoing about what can be done during this ceasefire. The sources indicated that the focus of the discussions is on an incomplete exchange between civilian detainees held by the resistance forces in Gaza and the introduction of a large quantity of aid to the sector, including fuel, and assisting in dealing with the issue of those trapped under the rubble. The Al-Qassam Brigades leadership informed the political leadership of the movement and others that they would not release any soldier detained except in exchange for the release of detainees from Israeli prisons. They are prepared to complete a comprehensive deal if all detainees are released. However, what was reported by the Axios website about US and Israeli officials was striking. The report mentioned that US President Joe Biden urged the enemy's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "halt the fighting for three days to advance the release of hostages."The report also said there is "discussion between the United States, Israel, and Qatar to discuss a proposal for Hamas to release 10 to 15 hostages, with a condition to use the truce to verify the identities of all hostages and provide a list of them." In addition, the website quoted Israeli officials as saying that Hamas is holding about 180 prisoners, while the Islamic Jihad movement is holding about 40, and others are holding about 20 others. According to the website, Netanyahu told Biden "Of his concern about losing international support if the fighting stopped for three days, and that he does not trust Hamas's intentions or its acceptance of a deal regarding the hostages."However, CNN reported a statement by Netanyahu's chief advisors, saying, "The best way to ensure the release of the hostages is to increase pressure on Hamas."On the other hand, Palestinian sources reiterated that Israel wants a ceasefire for just a few hours that does not exceed one day and that it intends to release a large number of prisoners in exchange for aid only. This is unacceptable to the resistance because the release of any Israeli civilian or military personnel must be in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and the 24-hour period is not enough at all to ensure the process of counting. In addition, several prisoners who were killed are still under the rubble, and the search operations for them require more time. Hamas also wants medical teams to come help treat the wounded inside the sector, not just medical supplies. Meanwhile, the United States Presidential Advisor, Amos Hochstein, arrived in Beirut suddenly and held a series of meetings, including meetings with Speaker Nabih Berri, Najib Mikati, Amry Chief General Joseph Aoun, and other officials. However, Hochstein stated that he came to invite Lebanon not to get involved in the war and to pressure Hezbollah to do so.But sources told Al-Akhbar that Hochstein's visit is not related to everything he stated or to what his visitors conveyed. The sources mentioned that he arrived in Beirut as part of a special mission assigned to him by the US administration, which is related to matters concerning what is happening in the Gaza Strip. Additionally, the sources refused to discuss the details of this mission. Still, they indicated it is part of a significant operation between Washington and other capitals involved in the ongoing conflict. Those who met with Hochstein said he reiterated warnings that Lebanon's engagement in the war against Israel "will have destructive consequences for both countries." Moreover, in some meetings, he asked about what could prevent the situation in Lebanon from escalating, and he was told that it was "in the hands of Israel." When he asked what could prevent Hezbollah from getting involved in the war, the answer was "a ceasefire in Gaza." However, sources stressed that the US stance "has become more flexible than it was previously," suggesting that there seems to be something resembling internal variation within the US administration regarding the best approach to the rapidly evolving developments in the region.

Houthis Confirm Downing of US Drone off the Coast of Yemen
AFP/November 08, 2023
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels announced on Wednesday, that they successfully downed a US drone off the coast of Yemen, claiming it was operating as part of US military support for Israel. 'Our air defenses intercepted and downed a MQ9 US drone engaged in hostile activities, surveillance, and espionage in the Yemeni regional waters, as part of US military support for the Israeli entity,' the Houthis said in a statement. The US military has yet to comment on the matter.

At least 19 Palestinians killed in latest Jabalia attack: Interior Ministry
LBCI/November 08, 2023
The interior ministry said an Israeli air attack targeted an “inhabited home, near al-Yemen al-Saeed hospital” in the middle of the refugee camp in northern Gaza. It also reported several injuries in a separate attack in Jabalia.

US 2024 presidential elections: The Gaza war's impact on the public opinion
LBCI/November 08, 2023
In the face of official American support for Israel, a significant portion of the American population has expressed their opposition to this backing in various ways. Demonstrations have resonated with the people, finding an echo in the voices of top Democratic officials within the White House, particularly among Democratic representatives from Michigan, a state home to over 300,000 Arab-Americans and Muslims. For many who voted for Biden in the 2020 elections, recent events have prompted a reevaluation of their stance due to his administration's handling of the Gaza war. Such sentiments are not limited to one state; instead, they seem part of a broader national trend, reflected in opinion polls. Surprisingly, support for Biden appears to be diminishing in the lead-up to the upcoming elections, with even polling numbers indicating a lead for his Republican opponent, Donald Trump, in five of the six crucial states that saw closely contested votes in the last presidential election.
The current statistics reveal:
- Nevada favored Trump with 52% of the vote compared to Biden's 41%.
-Georgia and Arizona allocated 49% of their votes to Trump, while Michigan and Pennsylvania provided Trump with 48% of the votes.
-In contrast, Biden's support ranged between 41% and 45% in most cases, except in Wisconsin, where he led by 47% to Trump's 45%.
The former Trump administration made efforts to counter the backlash by launching the nation's first-ever strategy to combat Islamophobia while emphasizing the protection of civilians in Gaza. On the other side of the globe, the Israeli leadership remains somewhat removed from these developments. However, a recent article from Tel Aviv University noted that American support for Israel is seen as a fleeting moment, liable to end due to various factors, most notably domestic reactions to Biden's stance. The irony is that these six states played a pivotal role in securing Biden's 2020 victory, raising questions about whether these states might cause his potential loss in 2024.

Post-war scenarios: Eliminating Hamas from Gaza with Israel navigating new leadership in the Strip
LBCI/November 08, 2023
Intensification of attacks on Gaza and continuous implementation of Operation Swords of Iron will ensure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, the elimination of the movement, and ensure Israeli security afterward. This is the message that more than one Israeli political and military official attempted to convey as they justified Tel Aviv's repeated rejection of the US President's proposal for a three-day ceasefire in Gaza. Israel is also considering the ceasefire, with the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) discussing it along with the hostages file and ways to exert pressure to prevent the escalation from spreading to the region.According to the US demand, if the ceasefire is approved, humanitarian aid will be delivered to the Gaza population during these days. It will also allow foreign nationals to leave the Strip. In return, Hamas will release 10 to 15 prisoners and provide a list of Israeli prisoners in its custody. Data indicates that Hamas holds 180 Israelis, Islamic Jihad holds 40, and unknown civilians have 20 Israelis. The ongoing US pressure on Israel also includes shaping the next days' image of the war.
While Washington announced its rejection of any Israeli control over Gaza, it is working on formulating a proposal that includes continued Palestinian control there, with Hamas excluded from Gaza. However, amid the ongoing internal Palestinian conflict and the tense relations between Fatah, led by Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas, Palestinians are circulating several scenarios for the post-war period, which are also being discussed among Israelis. Among these scenarios is the return of Mohammad Dahlan to Gaza, one of Abu Mazen's biggest rivals within Fatah, or handing over affairs to Salam Fayyad, the former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.The name of Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, whom Israel has imprisoned for 21 years, is also being raised. He is also a rival of Abu Mazen but acceptable to Hamas, provided he is released in the expected prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel.
Until now, there are various scenarios and plans, but one thing remains constant in the Israeli mindset: The war continues.

Bella Hadid's commitment to Palestinian cause: An end to her Dior career
LBCI/November 08, 2023
From Palestine to Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Greece, and the United States, Mohammed Hadid lived through various stages of his life, eventually becoming the father of two of the world's most famous models: Bella and Gigi Hadid. Over the years, Bella never hesitated to express her support for the Palestinian cause. In August 2022, she made it clear that she was not afraid to give up her career if it meant continuing her unwavering support for the Palestinian issue. On October 26, amid the turmoil surrounding the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, Bella once again made her voice heard. She wrote, "Forgive me for my silence. I have yet to find the ideal words for what has happened. But I can not be silenced any longer. Fear is not an option. The people and children of Palestine, especially in Gaza, cannot afford our silence. We are not brave; they are. I mourn with all the mothers who have lost their children and the children who cry alone."

Rise in antisemitic, Islamophobic threats has Canadians 'scared in our own streets,' Canadian PM says
CBC/November 08/2023
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling out what he describes as a "terrifying" rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia across the country as the Israel-Hamas war grinds on. Trudeau also repeated his call for a humanitarian pause in the conflict so that hostages can be freed, foreign nationals can leave and much-needed aid can be delivered to the residents of Gaza. "We're seeing right now a rise in antisemitism that is terrifying. Molotov cocktails thrown at synagogues," Trudeau said on his way into a caucus meeting in Ottawa Wednesday. "Horrific threats of violence threatening Jewish businesses, targeting Jewish daycares with hate. "This needs to stop. This is not who we are as Canadians. This is something that is not acceptable in Canada, period." Trudeau said eruptions of antisemitism and Islamophobia have left Canadians "scared in our own streets." "The expression of hate against Muslims, against Palestinians, against anyone waving a Palestinian flag, is unacceptable," he said. "This is a time where we need to lead … That's the responsibility of every single Canadian, to see how we are recognizing each other's pain and fear and move forward on it. "And if Canada can't figure this out, tell me what corner of the world is going to figure this out."
A humanitarian pause
Israel has pounded Gaza from the air and used ground troops to divide the narrow coastal strip in two, following the Hamas raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7, when gunmen killed 1,400 people, including several Canadians, and took some 240 hostages.
The Canadian government has designated Hamas a terrorist organization. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack killed 1,400 people, including several Canadians, and saw some 240 people taken hostage. Over the past month, the Israeli bombardment has killed more than 10,568 Palestinians, around 40 per cent of them children, according to counts by health officials in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Trudeau said that every day since the attacks "against innocent lives in Israel," the world has been inundated with images of violence against children and the elderly. He said a humanitarian pause in hostilities is necessary to deliver aid and calm tensions. "A humanitarian pause is going to allow all the hostages to be released, allow us to continue doing the world of getting all foreign nationals out of Gaza," he said. "A pause long enough to … begin doing the work of de-escalating the situation." Trudeau said the world must return to "imagining what the long-term future of a viable Palestinian state looks like: safe, secure, beside a safe, secure, viable and successful Israeli state."
Senate report on Islamophobia says urgent action needed to reverse rising tide of hate
Ottawa rabbi details threatening call that led to hate crime arrest
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who is Jewish, told reporters Wednesday that many Jewish Canadians feel unsafe in Canada now. "What I would say right now is I've never seen a time when Jewish Canadians have felt as scared, as angry, as frustrated in a country that we've been part of since before Confederation," he said on his way into the Liberal caucus meeting. Housefather said that while condemnation of extremist activity is important, "it's very important for police across this country to watch when demonstrators cross a line and speak hate speech and call for genocide against people and call for killing of people or harming of people." Jewish community centre hit with Molotov cocktail. The Montreal police arson squad and hate crimes unit investigators are investigating after a Jewish community centre in the city was hit by Molotov cocktails earlier this week.
Investigators on the scene Tuesday morning found pieces of a glass bottle and charred markings on the front door of the synagogue, Congregation Beth Tikvah, where a small fire had burned.
No one was injured and the damage was minor, a Montreal police spokesperson said. Since Oct. 7, Montreal police have recorded 48 reported hate crimes and hate incidents against the Jewish community and 17 against the Arab-Muslim community. In 2022, Montreal police recorded 72 hate crimes and incidents against all groups for the entire year.Rabbi Idan Scher, the senior rabbi of Congregation Machzikei Hadas in Ottawa, called Ottawa police after receiving a threatening phone call that resulted in a 29-year-old man being arrested and charged with several offences. A recent Senate report on Islamophobia warned that urgent action needs to be taken to reverse the rising tide of hate against Muslims in the country. The report said "incidents of Islamophobia are a daily reality for many Muslims." "I think the report is really a confirmation of what we have been seeing over many years, but particularly over the last few weeks, since October 7," said Uthman Quick, director of communications for the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM).

International reaction to Gaza siege has exposed the growing rift between the West and the Global South
Jorge Heine, Boston University/The Conversation/November 08/2023
The lopsidedness was stark: 120 countries voted in favor of a resolution before the United Nations on Oct. 26, 2023, calling for a “humanitarian truce” in the war in Gaza. A mere 14 countries voted against it. But the numbers tell only half the story; equally significant was the way the votes fell. Those voting against the resolution included the United States and four members of the European Union. Meanwhile, about 45 members abstained – including 15 members of the EU, plus the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Japan.
Seldom has the isolation of the West been so apparent.
As a scholar who has written on the rise of the Global South – countries mainly, but not exclusively, in the Southern Hemisphere that are sometimes described as “developing,” “less developed” or “underdeveloped” – what strikes me is the degree to which this major fault line between the political North and South has risen again to the fore. It reflects long-in-the-making forces in world affairs. While the leaders of countries like the U.S., the U.K. and Germany have been among the most strident supporters of Israel during the crisis, the same is not true for non-Western nations. Key rising powers from the Global South have been among the most adamant nations outside the Arab world in their criticism of this unwavering Western support of Israel. Indonesia and Turkey – both with large Muslim populations – have both been heavily critical of Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza, a response to 1,400 Israelis being killed by Hamas militants on Oct. 7. But they have been joined by the leaders of Brazil, South Africa and other Global South nations in taking a firm stand. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil went as far as to label the campaign in Gaza a “genocide” – a comment echoed by South Africa’s government when, on Nov. 6, 2023, it recalled its ambassador to Israel in protest. While the U.S. has used the word genocide in relation to Russia’s action in Ukraine, the Biden administration has pointedly said the term doesn’t apply to current events in Gaza.
The Global South’s coming of age
The international reaction to the war in Gaza reflects a deeper, long-standing trend in world politics that has seen the fracturing of the established U.S.-dominated, rules-based order. The growing influence of China and the fallout of the war in Ukraine – in which many Global South countries have remained neutral – has upended international relations. Many analysts point to an emerging multipolar world in which members of the Global South have, as I have written, forged a new active nonaligment path. Some of this is structural. In August, Johannesburg hosted a summit of the BRICS group – a bloc that consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – during which 21 countries from across the Global South applied to join. Six were invited to do so: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – and they will formally join in January 2024. This 11-strong BRICS+ group will represent 46% of the world’s population and 38% of the world’s gross domestic product. In contrast, the Group of Seven leading economies, or G7, represents less than 10% of the world’s population and 30% of the global economy. On Nov. 7, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his G7 counterparts in an attempt to forge a consensus on how to deal with the crisis in the Middle East. Speaking in Japan, he urged that the Western-dominated G7 speak with “one clear voice” on the Middle East crisis. The question is, can the BRICS+ – and more generally the Global South – do likewise given that it includes an array of countries with very different political and economic systems?
Latin America’s pushback
The reaction to the Israel-Hamas violence suggests to me that the Global South is able to speak with, if not one voice, at least a chorus that is not discordant. Historically, many African and Asian nations have tended to support the Palestinian cause – Indonesia does not even recognize the state of Israel. But perhaps more surprising has been the strong reaction in Latin America to Israel’s actions in Gaza. In short order, Bolivia broke diplomatic relations with Israel, and Chile and Colombia called their ambassadors from Jerusalem for consultations – an established diplomatic tool to indicate disapproval of a country’s conduct. Brazil, in its capacity as current chair of the United Nations Security Council, introduced the resolution supporting a cease-fire in Gaza. Mexico’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Alicia Buenrostro, called for the “occupying power” of Israel to cease its claim to the Palestinian territories.
Western denialism
The question is: If the Global South is speaking this way on the issue, is the West listening? The voting patterns of Western representatives at the U.N. suggest the answer is “no.”In turn, this only adds to the general discontent across the developing world with the current structure of the U.N. Security Council and its lack of representativeness. The fact that no country from Africa or Latin America is among the permanent members that enjoy veto power – compared with Western Europe, which is represented by both France and the U.K. – has long been a source of irritation in the Global South. So, too, is the perceived “double standard” being applied by the West to conflicts around the world. Whereas in Ukraine much is made of the humanitarian suffering being inflicted on the Ukrainian people, the same does not seem to apply to what is happening in Gaza, where Palestinian health authorities report more than 10,000 people have been killed in less than a month, 40% of them children. More generally, there appears to be a degree of denial in the West over the tectonic shift in world order toward a more assertive Global South. Western commentators and analysts from think tanks in London and Washington even contend that the very term “Global South” should not be used – with much of the criticism against the term directed at its alleged imprecision, but also because it would contribute to greater international polarization. Yet, the term was never meant to be geographical. Rather, it is a geopolitical and geohistorical one – and one that is coming into its own with great verve as the Global South provides an alternative voice to the West, first over the conflict in Ukraine and now over Gaza. And no amount of Western denialism will be able to block it. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world.

Israel says it does not intend to 'reoccupy' Gaza or control it for long time
Matt Spetalnick/Reuters/November 08/2023
Israel does not intend to "reoccupy" Gaza or control it for a long time, a senior Israeli official said in Washington, as Israeli forces pressed their offensive against Hamas militants in the Palestinian coastal enclave. "We assess that our current operations are effective and successful, and we'll continue to push," the Israeli official told reporters late on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's not unlimited or forever," the official added, without giving a specific timeframe. Israel has so far been vague about its long-term plans for the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, should it succeed in its air, land, and sea operation to vanquish Hamas following a deadly Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel by the Islamist militants.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC news earlier this week that Israel would seek to have security responsibility for Gaza "for an indefinite period". That prompted U.S. officials to caution against an Israeli "reoccupation." "It's not Israel's intention to reoccupy Gaza or control it for a long time," the senior Israeli official said, adding that "our operation is not open-ended.""The idea behind Israel going in militarily is to destroy Hamas' ability to threaten us," the official said. "We understand that will take time and that, even if we complete this phase of our military operation, we'll still have to take some action against their remaining military infrastructure." (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 08-09/2023
Palestinian civilian deaths are at the heart of Hamas’s strategy
Jake Wallis Simons/The Telegraph/November 08/2023
Whenever Israel goes to war, two struggles play out in parallel. The first is the military operation itself; the second is the war of public opinion that plays out in the media and online. In some ways, the second is even more important than the first. The sooner the world turns against the Jewish state, the quicker political support is eroded. And the quicker political support is eroded, the narrower the window in which Israel’s armed forces can win security for its citizens.
The two American aircraft carrier strike groups currently in the Eastern Mediterranean are helping deter Hezbollah and Iran, giving Israel a chance to finish off Hamas without having to worry about a northern front. But President Biden is under growing domestic pressure. The Democratic Left is restive when it comes to his support for Israel and with an election coming, he cannot afford to allow his party to fracture under pressure of mounting street protests. Aside from fighter planes, Israel can produce all the weapons it needs domestically, but nevertheless the withdrawal of American support would be a blow. How much time does the Jewish state have on the clock? Will it be enough?
The same dynamic is playing out in Britain. While the Tories are generally unified behind the Prime Minister’s stance on Israel, this is not true of the opposition. If Sir Keir Starmer wishes to be taken seriously as a future leader, he knows he must uphold the centrist alliance with the democracies and resist pressure from the radicals in his party to side instead with a supposed axis of resistance. But with a front-bench resignation threatening to precipitate a domino effect, and hundreds of thousands poised to bring London to a standstill on Saturday, how long can the man hold out?
Which brings me to the manipulation of civilian casualties to turn western hearts and minds against our own values. Take a step back, and most people instinctively understand that a democracy must act against a gang of jihadi fanatics who murder their citizens in the most appalling ways imaginable. After all, we have our own experience of such atrocities, not least in the bombing of the Manchester Arena. Add constant media coverage of Palestinian deaths into the mix, however, all filtered through the propaganda lens of Hamas, and our emotion starts to cloud our sense of proportion.
War is hell. And a just and defensive war is as hellish as any other. That may not make a difference to a Gazan woman whose child has perished in an Israeli strike on a Hamas cell nearby, but – without downplaying the importance of human compassion – it should make a difference to our judgment. During the Second World War, many times more Germans died than Britons. Did that make our campaign immoral? Of course not. But these are the common-sense conclusions that are obscured by the weight of propaganda.
Understandably distressed by the constant coverage of dead babies, people become inclined to overlook the obvious fact that a genocidal terror group may also, on occasion, lie. They believe Hamas’s inflated death tolls, which are produced instantly without time for investigation and validation. They believe Hamas’s presentation of the deaths as entirely civilian, without asking any questions about whether any terrorists have perhaps been killed. They don’t even question the allegation that Israel has cut off Gaza’s water supply entirely for a month, even though a human being cannot survive in such conditions for longer than three days. And when the Israeli army points out the lengths it goes to in order to protect innocent life, and points out Hamas’s use of human shields, the Israelophobic public scoffs and turns away.
Take our own campaign against the Islamic State. From one point of view, the similarities are striking. The foes we faced are ideological cousins. They may not be identical, but Hamas and Islamic State both have their roots in the fanaticism of the Egyptian Brotherhood. Both seek a caliphate; both relish hyper-sadism, burning victims alive, and blowing them up with suicide bombs. The Israelis began their military campaign when acts of depraved jihadi violence claimed 1,400 lives; after the decapitations of British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning and other atrocities, we went to war in Iraq and Syria.
The battle of Mosul, which took place in 2016 and 2017, closely resembled the current Israeli offensive in Gaza. This was a city of a million inhabitants in which Islamic State terrorists were embedded, using them as human shields. First it was besieged and pounded from the air by the United States Air Force and the RAF. After that, Iraqi and Kurdish ground troops advanced, engaging in savage urban warfare. By the end, Mosul was flattened and 11,000 innocents lay dead.
Going by percentages, the civilian death toll was higher than that in Gaza (Israel’s track record of civilian-to-combatant casualty ratio has long been better than those of Britain or America in theatres of war). The aggression was carried out partly by our own servicemen and women, making it closer to home. You’d have thought there would be a domestic outcry. But how many marches did we see through London demanding a ceasefire? How many allegations of war crimes were levelled at Britain and our allies in the halls of the United Nations? On the contrary: when Islamic State was vanquished, we breathed a sigh of relief and broke open the bubbles. Nobody spared a thought for civilians.
The deaths of Iraqi civilians in the city were no less gruesome than those suffered by Gazans today. Does an Iraqi life matter less than a Palestinian one? Given that nobody took to the streets when Assad barrel bombed Palestinians in Yarmouk during the civilian civil war, it seems that both are normally viewed with equal indifference by the British public. But not when the perpetrators are Jews. And not when the terror group mounts an effective propaganda campaign, which is amplified gratuitously by both mainstream and social media.
Unlike Islamic State, Hamas knows this and builds its strategy around it. It values the lives of its own civilians little higher than those of Jews, seeing them not as people in need of protection but as living weapons of war. Despite investing hundreds of millions in building terror tunnels, it has failed to build a single bomb shelter for its people in Gaza. The tunnels wind under civilian towns and villages, with operation rooms under hospitals.
Hamas likes nothing better than an Israeli strike that kills civilians. That is why it has reportedly been preventing its people from fleeing the war zone, sometimes by force. They seemingly want Palestinian casualties to pile high, in full view of the world’s media. The BBC and others beam footage of the horror of war around the world to people who have lost touch with the reality of armed conflict. Hamas want people in the West to take to the streets in outrage, forgetting that even a just and defensive war is hell. They know this will help them win.
So do their allies. The Telegraph reported that Russian agents intent on destabilising Europe may be involved in the alleged anti-Semitic campaign that has seen Stars of David daubed on buildings in Paris. Iran possesses famously committed troll factories; it is certain that they have been heavily deployed in pumping scenes of Gazan devastation onto social media, as well as anti-Israel disinformation. All of this finds a depressingly easy foothold in the conscience of the gullible western public, which has become all too accustomed to the narcissistic habit of feeling without thinking.
One of the most telling moments of the past few days came mid-way though the speech by Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, on Friday, when he saluted the hundreds of thousands of activists rallying on the streets of western capitals. Surely, this should have given these people pause. Surely, they should have asked: Are our emotions being manipulated? Are we playing into the hands of jihadis? Are we becoming the bad guys? But no such introspection was in evidence. Doubtless to the deep satisfaction of Nasrallah, this Saturday London expects a bigger march than ever.
One of the marks of anti-Semitism, George Orwell observed, is an ability to believe stories that could not possibly be true. In recent days, hoards of people across the west have swallowed and regurgitated the propaganda of Hamas, even though it is at best devoid of context and a sense of proportion, and at worst demonstrably false. Citizens of democracies around the world, including the great British public, are becoming part of a jihadi campaign against Israel.
**Jake Wallis Simons is the editor of the Jewish Chronicle and author of Israelophobia: The newest version of the oldest hatred and what to do about it

How Iran is Retaliating to The War on Gaza
Nadim Koteich//Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/November 08/2023
Everyone who was expecting the Iranians to see the war in Gaza as their chance to erase Israel after constantly threatening to do so, was shocked by the degree of restraint the Iranians have shown and the regime's capacity to digest the shame felt by its hardliners at home and allies in full view of their adversaries.
So far, it seems that Iran will not enter a direct regional war in response to the unprecedented Israeli offensive in Gaza after the Hamas assault on October 7. Simply put, Iran is not interested in engaging in this conflict militarily. Its primary focus is leveraging the war to consolidate its influence within the Middle East.
Setting aside the fiery rhetoric of Iranian officials and leaders of allied militias, we find that the reality on the ground points to a more calibrated Iranian strategy. Iran’s aim is to enhance Tehran's control over its sphere of influence, particularly in Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen, while avoiding the perils of a full-scale war.
While the observers turned their attention to the speech of Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, the more significant development unfolded in Iraq. Abdulaziz al-Mohammadawi, also known as "Abu Fadak," the Chief of Staff for the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) announced that PMF units were put on maximum alert within the last Thursday, "in preparation for any incidents in the days to come."
His announcement sidestepped the chairman of the PMF, Faleh al-Fayyad, disregarding the military and administrative hierarchy that ties the PMF to the Iraqi Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani. In fact, Abu Fadak proclaimed, “We are a state,” in his address to the PMF commanders. This phrase encapsulates every facet of the struggle between Iraqi state institutions and the Iranian-backed militias striving to enhance their legitimacy within the regime and reinforce their total dominance over the state’s decisions, not accepting even Iran’s friends as partners.
In tandem with the PMF's alarming and unprecedented rhetoric, the Iraqi Prime Minister dismissed the head of the Counter-Terrorism Service, Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi, and the Baghdad Operations Commander, Lieutenant General Ahmed Salim. He appointed Lieutenant General Karim Abboud Muhammad (who is known to be close to Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, led by Qais Khazali) as the new head of the Counter-Terrorism Service, and Major General Walid Khalifa Majeed (an affiliate of the Hezbollah Brigades) as the Baghdad Operations Commander.
Iraqi observers and former officials believe that the recent developments in Iraq leave no room for doubt that Iran's strategy for the post-Gaza conflict period is to take its influence in Iraq to new heights and promote figures whose allegiance to Iran is beyond doubt.
Yemen is the second arena that Iran has turned its attention to amid the war in Gaza. The Iranians' aim is to demonstrate the balance of power and impose geopolitical realities on the ground that it wants to see become the foundation of any future political solutions to the Yemen crisis. The missiles and drones supposedly launched in support of Gaza from Yemen, which were intercepted by US ships in the Gulf, do not pose a genuine threat to Israel; rather, they were launched to boost the morale and prestige of the Houthi militia, elevate their standing within Yemen, and amplify their strategic significant in the region. These actions are also a signal to the Gulf states, intended to pressure them to accept that the Houthi militia is not what it had been in the past.
By presenting the Houthis as defenders of the Palestinian cause, Iran seeks to turn the militia from a group embroiled in a domestic struggle to a key player on today's emotionally charged Arab stage. The goal is to erase the image of the Houthis as mere rebels locked in a power struggle and cast them as heroes struggling for a cause that resonates deeply with the Yemeni people and the wider Muslim community.
Iran is aware that the few missiles and drones the Houthis have in their possession are not effective against Israel, but will find their way to the headlines of international media outlets faster than the immense political efforts of the Kingdom to resolve the Gaza conflict through political and diplomatic channels. Through this strategy, Iran seeks to draw the Kingdom into a complex public opinion battle by embellishing reality. Iran wants to change the narrative around the crisis. Instead of a struggle between the sovereign state of Saudi Arabia and belligerent Houthi militias, it wants the conflict to be framed as a conflict between Saudi Arabia and the “resistance” against Israel.
This development poses a multifaceted challenge to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. They are now not only required to defend their territory from Houthi threats but also to do so without being portrayed as opposing the “resistance,” or weakening factions who “are standing up to Israel.”
In Lebanon, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's recent speech made clear that the militia intends to leverage the Gaza war to bolster the narrative around its arsenal domestically and the role this arsenal plays in protecting Lebanese citizens. Nasrallah explicitly stated that Israel is deterred by Lebanon because of Hezbollah's arms. This suggests that he will ramp up the pressure for the establishment of a political framework in Lebanon that safeguards these arms and prevents "squandering them to benefit Israel." All the criticism leveled at the party for its inaction amid the war in Gaza can be digested in pursuit of its primary objective: reinforcing the legitimacy of Hezbollah’s arms within Lebanon. In this sense, the Gaza conflict, amid Lebanon’s presidential vacuum and interim government, presents Iran with a golden opportunity to tighten its grip over Lebanon through Hezbollah, by reformulating the country's authorities such that they are either aligned with the resistance or more controlled by it. This is Iran’s retaliation to the Gaza conflict. The blood being shed in Gaza seems to be the glue Iran is using to bind the components of its axis together, consolidating their unity and reinforcing Iranian hegemony over the states where it has a presence.
The long-term consequences of this strategy are significant. The goal is nothing short of reshaping power dynamics in the Middle East, giving rise to a new framework for the conflict in which the battlefield is as political and ideological as it is material.

And Now… Gaza’s Fate
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/November 08/2023
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would assume “overall security responsibility” in the Gaza Strip after the war indefinitely. Netanyahu told ABC News that Gaza should be governed by “those who don't want to continue the way of Hamas."
This is the clearest statement regarding Israel’s intentions and its plan for this war. After Netanyahu’s announcement the future of Gaza and who will rule it has become a matter of concern in the region as a whole and even the countries from other parts of the world that are involved.
It is no secret that the debate discussion of ideas and names had already begun. However, Netanyahu’s announcement will now render it the ultimate topic of conversation. The first to sense this were Tehran and Hamas. It reiterated, after Haniyeh had announced that he wanted to initiate a political track towards a two-state solution, that there is no alternative to Hamas.
Several Hamas officials have also stated that no future in Gaza could be negotiated without it. That is why we saw Ismail Haniyeh head to Tehran, and that is why we see Iranian officials everywhere in the region searching for a role and opportunities to prevent the exclusion of Hamas from Gaza.
I do not believe that any of the parties keen on protecting Hamas can afford to pay the costs needed to do so, especially since in the battle between Hamas and Netanyahu, whoever flinches first will meet a dire political end. This is the fault of the operation and its timing, and this is the end of Israeli extremism.
Thus, the question is: What can Hamas and its allies do to end the war and protect the movement? Will Hamas sacrifice field commanders in the hope that leaders could seek exile abroad and survive? Indeed, the leaders on the ground, Yahya Sinwar in particular, had removed Meshaal and forced Haniyeh to leave the Gaza Strip. In this regard, it is worth noting the statements and nods, in the Western press, about Sinwar’s “brutality” compared to other Hamas political officials. The most prominent example is the profile of Sinwar published by the Financial Times.
Based on interviews with anonymous sources, it reports that the moderate Palestinians are aware that Sinwar has taken them back “to the Stone Age” with the October 7 operation. Sources close to Sinwar informed the FT that Sinwar gained a reputation for “cruelty and violence” as he rose through the ranks of Hamas. The newspaper quoted a “non-Israeli” source as saying that there is a difference between how Hamas officials behave in the presence of Sinwar and when they are alone. The source, who has been dealing with Sinwar for years, said Sinwar runs his ship through terror: “It is fear... they are afraid of him.”
The same source also claims that Sinwar is not a modest person, and “he has an enormous ego and sees himself as if on some sort of mission in this world. He’s a sociopath. I don’t mean this as an insult. He would think nothing of sacrificing tens of thousands of lives, and more, to achieve his goals.”
From Netanyahu's statement, Hamas’s statements, and the information being leaked about Sinwar, it is clear that everyone involved is thinking about the future of Gaza, even Hamas. The question will certainly be decided on the ground. That means that everyone sees the big picture now and that more innocent victims, unfortunately, will die.

How do we protect the Arab world from the dangers it faces?
Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor/Arab News/November 08, 2023
The Arab world, with its rich history and diverse cultures, has faced a range of challenges and dangers throughout the ages. From the shining days of the Islamic Golden Age, when the region was at the forefront of human civilization, to today's complex geopolitical landscape, our region has been on a turbulent path.  Many threats and conspiracies have surrounded the Arab world since its golden age, the most prominent of which was the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This led to the division of Arab countries between France and the UK as if they were pieces of cake, rearranging the borders of the Middle East and separating members of clans and even individual families. I have a feeling that we, as Arabs, deal with various parties with a transparency that is not reciprocal, while sometimes being oblivious to the questionable alliances that are being hatched against us that stem from the old saying, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” What are the ways to protect the future of the Arab nation? How can we benefit from and draw lessons from these complex dynamics?
We cannot help but feel proud when mentioning the historical achievements of the Arab world during the Islamic Golden Age, as they had a significant impact on human civilization and its renaissance. Arab scholars, philosophers and artists made invaluable contributions to human knowledge and culture. Unfortunately, we failed to preserve this stage of enlightenment and progress and benefit from it to protect the region from conspiracies and intrigues. Famed historian Bernard Lewis once wrote: “The Golden Age of Islam was not without challenges, as internal divisions and external pressures often tested the resilience of Arab societies. The Crusades and Mongol invasions stand as a harsh reminder of the dangers the Arab world faced. It was during these tumultuous times that the concept of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ often comes up.”
These external threats set the stage for subsequent centuries of geopolitical conflicts and power shifts. Indeed, our world today navigates a complex web of alliances and animosities, with controversial alliances being formed over the future stability of our region, including strange dynamics between the West, Iran and Israel. Despite the declared hostility between these various parties, we find their actions often contradict their official positions, as they serve the interests of their declared enemies at the expense of the Arab countries that suffer from both. This is through militias that are spread across a large number of Arab countries whose declared goal is hostility to Israel and an Islamic resistance, while their essence is to keep the Middle East in a state of permanent instability and to mobilize to defend their faith, identity and sanctities.
This was confirmed by John Mearsheimer, a prominent researcher in international relations, when he expressed his concerns about the questionable alliance between the West and Iran. He wrote: “The West’s alignment with Iran in various geopolitical theaters raises astonishment. While seeking to achieve its interests in the Middle East, the West was turning a blind eye.”
Throughout my articles over the past two decades, I have always called on the Arab world, especially the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, to beware of losing Arab capitals one after another to the clutches of Iran. Iranian officials do not hide their pride at this expansion. Heider Moslehi, a minister of intelligence in the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stated in 2015: “Iran controls four Arab capitals.” Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei also bragged in a statement in November 2022 about the expansion of Iran’s arms into Arab capitals, celebrating “the success of Iran’s vision in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.”
Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon have all fallen under the control of the mullahs in Tehran and the greatest fear is that Iran’s expansionist ambitions may affect our sanctities and the remaining countries of the Middle East.
Likewise, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains a central issue in the region. Rashid Khalidi, a distinguished historian of the Arab-Israeli conflict, points out that “the ongoing Israeli occupation and settlement expansion continues to threaten peace in the Arab world. The plight of the Arab nation cannot be fully addressed without a just solution to this conflict.” It is as if Arab solidarity, stability and unity constitute a threat to Western countries and their partners, whose dangers we do not realize. Here it is permissible to ask: Is it in the interest of America, the West and Israel to unite with Iran to prevent the Arab world from seeing further progress and prosperity and restoring its golden age?
It is as if Arab solidarity, stability and unity constitute a threat to Western countries and their partners. In light of all the dangers surrounding the Arab world, it is necessary to chart a path toward protecting its future, giving priority to unity and cooperation and investing in education, innovation, research and empowering our children, the natives of this land, which will help to fortify the Arab world and restore its historical importance. Collective action, at the regional and international levels, is crucial to addressing the complex issues facing us. Arab countries must work together to confront common challenges, such as political instability, economic development and security threats. Initiatives such as the Arab League, if their role is activated, can serve as platforms for cooperation and conflict resolution. Priority can be given to resolving regional conflicts, at the forefront of which is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and bringing an end to the ambitions of Iranian expansion. The history of the Arab world is testimony to its resilience and lasting contributions to human civilization. Although it has faced conspiracies and challenges since its golden age, it has the ability to overcome the dangers of the modern era. By strengthening unity, clarity and cooperation, the Arab nation can chart a course toward a brighter future, one in which it regains its position as a beacon of culture, knowledge and progress on the global stage.
*Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor is a prominent UAE businessman and public figure. He is renowned for his views on international political affairs, his philanthropic activity, and his efforts to promote peace. He has long acted as an unofficial ambassador for his country abroad.

The cost of this war will not only be felt in Gaza
Ghassan Khatib/Arab News/November 08, 2023
We can neither process nor prevent the horrific loss of civilian lives and fierce confrontations that began on Oct. 7 without understanding their political context. UN Secretary-General António Guterres was correct when he said that the events of that day did not happen in a vacuum.
What we are witnessing now in Gaza, as the death toll exceeds 10,000, is Israel resorting to the tired security logic that it uses to solve all its problems. However this approach has not worked — and will never work — precisely because it neglects the political context: decades of occupation. That’s why, when this war ends — regardless of its military outcome — the ideas that drive Hamas, which combines religious belief with armed resistance to occupation, will be stronger and more popular. Hamas ascended in an environment of increasing oppression and the failure of the promises of the two-state solution.
But Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip have never stopped their resistance to the occupation, moving from one form to another. All the violence that has been used to suppress us, including the commonplace killing of civilians, demolition of homes, and theft of our land has not deterred Palestinians from standing steadfast in opposition to that occupation. And those figures in our history and present day who are most revered are those who resisted occupation, using protests, steadfastness, or the tools available.
The great losses that Palestinians have felt as a result only served to set the stage for the next revolt. Many Palestinians are posting on social media a proverb illustrating the failure of Israel’s suppression: “They tried to bury us, but they did not know we are seeds.”
In the days after this war in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority will be even weaker, less popular, and less relevant. It has almost no role in these developments that concern its people. Indeed, at some stage in the war, one can expect that a campaign of blame will be directed at it, the weakest actor.
The day after will have no place for the two-state solution, due to the radicalizing effect of the war on both Israeli and Palestinian societies and polities. This is not a dramatic change in any case because Israel has now departed the arena of territorial compromise to one of irreversible existential steps. The sudden focus by American and European politicians on reviving the two-state talks is ridiculous and far too late. For years, they have born witness to Israel killing that vision but chose instead to ignore Israel’s settlement expansion and belittle Palestinians who championed a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Another casualty of this war is Europe’s remaining credibility in the Middle East and beyond. The values that major European countries claim to champion — democracy, human rights, free media and expression — fell like paper tigers as those same states continued to allow the indiscriminate and repeated targeting of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinians are exchanging via social media videos of European and American politicians shedding tears for civilian casualties in Ukraine, with a split screen of them defending Israeli actions as its “right to self-defense.”
In the days after, Israel’s “big brothers,” the US and large European countries, will face some important strategic questions. What is behind the deterioration in internal Israeli politics and society, and is there a relationship between that and Israel’s vulnerability to the attack on Oct. 7? Can Israel maintain or restore its strategic importance to the West in the Middle East? Do these big brothers want to continue with the approach of spoiling Israel by uncoupling their unlimited support for the state from those policies that they find harmful and dangerous to their own interests?
After this war, going back to the old rhetoric and paradigm of an “agreed-upon solution,” “a negotiated two-state solution,” or “bringing the parties back to the table,” will be an invitation for the next round of violent confrontations. These words have become synonymous with giving the stronger party, Israel, veto power over the outcome. Israel owes its creation, survival, and superiority to the US and its European allies: those allies also bear a share of responsibility in this deep deterioration.
It is time — as we witness unchecked before us some of the worst international crimes in our lifetimes — for these countries to stop treating Israel as a state above international law, and convince, cajole, or force Israel to end its occupation. The alternative is already clear: a combination of apartheid, continued rounds of increasingly brutal confrontations, and a deterioration in their own standing in the world.
*Ghassan Khatib is a lecturer in international studies at Birzeit University, and held several positions in the Palestinian Authority. He also founded and directed the Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre, where this article first appeared.

House censures Rashida Tlaib as she defends comments over Israel: 'Palestinian people are not disposable'
Ken Tran, USA TODAY/November 8, 2023
WASHINGTON – The House voted Tuesday night to censure the only Palestinian American in Congress, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., over her remarks on the Israel-Hamas war. The move to censure Tlaib in a resolution introduced by Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., was approved in the House by a vote of 234-188. Most House Republicans voted in favor of the measure along with a handful of House Democrats. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., who is Jewish and one of the Democrats who voted to censure Tlaib, said the resolution was not perfect "in its language or form" in a statement but said he thought there was "no other recourse but to vote to censure her.""It is the only vehicle available to formally rebuke the dangerous disinformation and aspersions that Rep. Tlaib continues to use and defend," he said.
House Republicans successfully defeated a Democratic attempt to set aside the resolution – in a procedural move known as a motion to table – earlier on Tuesday afternoon. Following the motion to table, Tlaib, surrounded by her fellow progressive colleagues, delivered an impassioned speech on the House floor while holding back tears. “I can't believe I have to say this but Palestinian people are not disposable. We are human beings,” Tlaib said Tuesday afternoon, holding up a framed picture of her grandmother. “Just like my grandmother, like all Palestinians, who just wants to live her life with the freedom and human dignity we all deserve."The resolution targeted Tlaib’s public statements about the Israel-Hamas war and accused her of “promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”
Among Tlaib’s comments that have caused the most controversy in Congress is her use of the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a pro-Palestinian slogan that Israel’s supporters say is antisemitic and a call to destroy the state of Israel.
Tlaib got more pushback from her colleagues after saying in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the phrase is “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate.”
On the House floor, Tlaib emphasized her comments on the war are aimed exclusively at the Israeli government and not Jewish people. She has called for a ceasefire in the conflict as Israel continues its bombing of Gaza which threatens Palestinian civilians.
“My criticism has always been of the Israeli government and (President Benjamin) Netanyahu’s actions,” Tlaib said. “Speaking up to save lives, Mr. Chair, no matter faith, no matter ethnicity should not be controversial in this chamber. The cries of Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me,” she added. “What I don’t understand is why the cries of Palestinians sounds different to you all.” Tlaib survived a previous attempt last week by conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to censure her also over her comments on the war. Those efforts were killed in a motion to table mainly due to Greene’s language in her resolution which called a pro-Palestinian protest that occupied a House office building an “illegal insurrection.”
After McCormick introduced his resolution on Monday, Greene also brought forth another push to censure Tlaib, this time modifying the language to call the protest an “illegal occupation” instead.

Terrorists and Saboteurs Are Surging into America
Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone Institute/November 08/2023
Those who want to cross the U.S. southern border and do not live in this hemisphere usually fly to Quito because Ecuador allows visa-free entry to Chinese and others, such as those from the Middle East and the Central Asian "stans."
At the end of last month, 17 Chinese nationals landed at Key Largo from Cuba.
Venezuela's regime has been using migration as a weapon against the United States. [Joseph] Humire terms it "Strategic Engineered Migration."
"It took only 19 terrorists to carry out 9/11," Humire points out. "America is likely heading toward an era of increased terrorist attacks in the homeland."
And Biden is welcoming the attackers onto American soil.
A caravan of some 7,000 migrants, one of the largest ever, is now making its way to America's southern border. The most confrontational of the groups in the caravan are military-aged Syrian males. The U.S. Border Patrol has apprehended migrants with explosive devices that were, in the words of Sen. John Barrasso, "tailored for terrorism." Pictured: Migrants, headed for the U.S., travel through the jungle in Darien Province, Panama, on October 13, 2022. (Photo by Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images)
"The migration is going into hyperdrive," Anthony Rubin, owner of investigative journalist site Muckraker.com, told Gatestone this week. He was referring to individuals traveling by foot, boat and truck to America's southern border.
A caravan of some 7,000 people, one of the largest ever, is now making its way to the U.S. During the last few weeks, Rubin has been reporting on this mass movement of humanity as it surges toward America.
Those who want to cross the U.S. southern border and do not live in this hemisphere usually fly to Quito because Ecuador allows visa-free entry to Chinese and others, such as those from the Middle East and the Central Asian "stans."
Migrants cross from Ecuador into Colombia and from there take one of three routes into the Darien Gap, a strip of jungle about 70 miles long, covering northern Colombia and southern Panama. The Pan-American Highway does not run through the Gap, which separates Central America from South America.
As Rubin reports, the Chinese use the most expensive and the safest of the routes. He just traveled it with the migrants.
Chinese migrants usually start in Necocli, on the east side of the Gulf of Uraba, an inlet at the southern end of the Caribbean Sea. They take a boat to Acandi or Capurgana, on the other side of the gulf but still in Colombia. From there, they are smuggled by boat into Panama, landing at Carreto.
Recently, Rubin saw 300 to 400 people at Carreto, the majority of them Chinese.
From Carreto, the Chinese migrants trek west across the Darien jungle to Canaan Membrillo. At Canaan Membrillo, they board a piragua boat to Puerto Limon, where the trekkers hop on open-air trucks, each holding about 60 tightly packed people. The trucks take them to a staging center, the end of the dangerous portion of the trip. From the staging center they catch a bus to the San Vicente Camp along Highway 1. The Biden administration has been funding the camp to facilitate migration to the U.S.
Migrants leave San Vicente for quick rides to and through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. The migrants cross each country illegally.
Some Chinese migrants are almost certainly members of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA). U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN.), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said at a press conference in June that, based on his conversation with a U.S. Border Patrol sector chief, some of the Chinese migrants at the southern border have "known ties to the PLA."
As Rubin notes, the Chinese are by no means the scariest in the caravan. He said that in fact he felt safest with the individuals from China.
The Chinese, after all, are not waging jihad.
Who is? The most confrontational of the groups in the caravan are military-aged Syrian males. Rubin also saw South Americans with markings indicating gang affiliations.
"I see aliens from over a hundred countries," war correspondent Michael Yon, who is currently near the Darien Gap, told Gatestone, "including growing rivers of Chinese, Arabs of many sorts, Afghans of various sorts, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Iranians, Venezuelans, and on and on." By far, most are military-aged men unencumbered by impulse control or political correctness."
There are definitely "people of interest" coming through. Some appear desperate to leave their homelands. Others, however, look as if they have malign intentions. When asked where they are going, for instance, they clam up.
At the southern border, the U.S. Border Patrol has apprehended migrants with explosive devices that were, in the words of Sen. John Barrasso, "tailored for terrorism.""In the first three years of the Biden administration, there have been at least 264 apprehensions on the U.S. southern border of persons on a terror watchlist," Joseph Humire of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for a Secure Free Society informed Gatestone. "This is a drastic increase from the four years of the Trump administration, when only 11 terror-watch list apprehensions took place on the southern border."
As Humire, who spends time in Latin America, notes, these figures do not include terrorists who are potentially part of the 1.5 million known "gotaways" at the southern border in the last three years. The Department of Homeland Security has a classification for irregular migrants coming from a terror-prone country: Special Interest Aliens. The Border Patrol has encountered larger numbers of SIAs from, for instance, Syria.
Terrorists may now be entering the U.S. through another route. At the end of last month, 17 Chinese nationals landed at Key Largo from Cuba.
"I don't know who they are, why they're here, or what they were doing," U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, who represents the Florida Keys, said to London's Daily Mail. He thinks that this was the first time migrants from China had tried to enter the U.S. through the Keys.
Gimenez, who sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security, told the British paper that Cuba may be working with the Chinese migrants to smuggle them into U.S. He is undoubtedly right. It is unlikely that individuals from China could organize a boat and head north to Florida without Havana's help.
Cuba is not the only party facilitating migration to America. Venezuela's regime has been using migration as a weapon against the United States. Humire terms it "Strategic Engineered Migration.""It took only 19 terrorists to carry out 9/11," Humire points out. "America is likely heading toward an era of increased terrorist attacks in the homeland."
And Biden is welcoming the attackers onto American soil.
**Gordon G. Chang is the author of The Coming Collapse of China, a Gatestone Institute distinguished senior fellow, and a member of its Advisory Board.
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Pope Francis Defends Islam as ‘Religion of Peace’ in New Book
Raymond Ibrahim/November 8, 2023
Pope Francis is at it again, relativizing about Muslim violence, suggesting that it has no ideological component, but is a “perversion” of true Islam, which is peace.
In his new book, Non Sei Solo: Sfide, Risposte, Speranze (“You Are Not Alone: Challenges, Answers, Hopes”), which was published in Italian and released on Tuesday [Oct. 24, 2023], Francis calls on Europeans to be more open to Muslim migrants, insisting that “radical Islam is a problem and represents a perversion of religiosity because Islam, in truth, is a religion of peace and the majority of its members are peaceful…. As they say, either you are a terrorist or you are a Muslim. Then, by the way, we find fundamentalism in all religions. Radical Islam is a perversion because it is a religion that talks about peace.”
The pontiff is certainly consistent; he has been making these relativistic claims for years, no matter the circumstances. For instance, after Fr. Jacques Hamel, an 85-year-old priest, had his throat slit by “Allahu Akbar” shouting Muslims who stormed his church during morning mass in France, 2016, a journalist suggested in an interview with Francis that the octogenarian priest was “killed in the name of Islam.” To this Francis replied:
I don’t like to speak of Islamic violence, because every day, when I browse the newspapers, I see violence, here in Italy… this one who has murdered his girlfriend, another who has murdered the mother-in-law… and these are baptized Catholics! There are violent Catholics! If I speak of Islamic violence, I must speak of Catholic violence . . . and no, not all Muslims are violent, not all Catholics are violent. It is like a fruit salad; there’s everything.
Is the Pope really that dense? Is he incapable of distinguishing between violence committed in the name of a religion, and violence committed in contradiction of a religion?
Yes, Catholics—and people of all religions, sects, creeds—commit violence. That is because humans are prone to violence (or, to use Christian language, humans are fallen creatures). And yes, the Catholics that Francis cites do not commit crimes—murdering girlfriends and mother-in-laws—because of any teaching contained in Christianity or Catholicism; on the contrary, Christian teachings of mercy and forgiveness are meant to counter such impulses.
On the other hand, the violence that Muslims are committing around the world is, indeed, contained in and a product of Islam—and has been from day one.
As for Francis’s claim in his new book that “we find fundamentalism in all religions,” this too he has been consistent on from the start. After acknowledging in his 2016 interview that there are “violent persons of this religion [Islam],” he immediately added that “in pretty much every religion there is always a small group of fundamentalists. Fundamentalists. We have them.”
This is another sloppy generalization. Sure, “in pretty much every religion there is always a small group of fundamentalists,” but that which is fundamental to them widely differs. One may say that Muslim and Christian fundamentalists adhere to a literalist/strict reading of their scriptures. While that statement may be true, left unsaid by those who think the issue is hereby settled is: what do the Bible and Koran actually teach?
It is because of this all-important (but unpursued question) that the Christian fundamentalist will find himself compelled to pray for his persecutors, and, depending on the situation, maybe even turning the other cheek. Conversely, the Muslim fundamentalist will find himself attacking, subjugating, plundering, enslaving, and slaughtering non-Muslims. In both cases, the scriptures—Bible and Koran—say so.
Take a few examples: The New Testament preaches peace, brotherly love, tolerance, and forgiveness — for all humans, believers and non-believers alike. Conversely, the Koran and Hadithcall for war, or jihad, against all non-Muslims, until they either convert, accept subjugation and discrimination (dhimmi status), or die (e.g., Koran 9:5, 9:29, etc.).
The New Testament prescribes no punishment for the apostate from Christianity. Conversely, Islam’s prophet himself decreedthat “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.”
The New Testament teaches monogamy, one husband and one wife, thereby dignifying the woman. The Koran allows polygamy — up to four wives — and the possession of concubines, or sex-slaves. More literalist readings treat women as possessions.
The New Testament discourages lying (e.g., Col. 3:9). The Koran permits it. The prophet himself often deceived others, and allowedhis followers to lie, including to their wives.
Clearly, not all “fundamentalists” are the same. As for Pope Francis, when it comes to the question of whether Islam promotes violence against non-Muslims, surely he falls within the ranks of those Western leaders who are either fools or liars—or a little bit of both.