English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 19/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on
the lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2023/english.november19.23.htm
News Bulletin Achieves
Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since
2006
Click On The Below Link To Join Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group so you get
the LCCC Daily A/E Bulletins every day
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FPF0N7lE5S484LNaSm0MjW
ÇÖÛØ
Úáì ÇáÑÇÈØ Ýí
ÃÚáì ááÅäÖãÇã
áßÑæÈ
Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group
æÐáß
áÅÓÊáÇã äÔÑÇÊí
ÇáÚÑÈíÉ æÇáÅäßáíÒíÉ ÇáíæãíÉ
ÈÇäÊÙÇã
Elias Bejjani/Click
on the below link to subscribe to my youtube channel
ÇáíÇÓ
ÈÌÇäí/ÇÖÛØ
Úáì ÇáÑÇÈØ Ýí
ÃÓÝá ááÅÔÊÑÇß
Ýí ãæÞÚí Ú
ÇáíæÊíæÈ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAOOSioLh1GE3C1hp63Camw
15 ÂÐÇÑ/2023
Bible Quotations For
today
Verses telling the Story of Zechariah the Priest & His
Wife Elizabeth, John the Papist’s Parents
Saint Luke01/01-25/:”Since many have undertaken to set down
an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as
they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses
and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything
carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most
excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things
about which you have been instructed. In the days of King Herod of Judea,
there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of
Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both
of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the
commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children, because
Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years. Once when he was
serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, he was chosen by
lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of
the Lord and offer incense. Now at the time of the incense-offering, the
whole assembly of the people was praying outside. Then there appeared to him
an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. But the
angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been
heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.
You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he
will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong
drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will
turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and
power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to
their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make
ready a people prepared for the Lord.’Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How will
I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in
years.’The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and
I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now,
because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time,
you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.’
Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondered at his delay
in the sanctuary. When he did come out, he could not speak to them, and they
realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to
them and remained unable to speak. When his time of service was ended, he
went to his home. After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for
five months she remained in seclusion. She said, ‘This is what the Lord has
done for me when he looked favourably on me and took away the disgrace I
have endured among my people.’”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published
on November 18-19/2023
Canada/Ontario/Passing of Georges W.
Abou-Faysal/Schedule for
burial ceremony dates and familt acceptance of condolences
Etienne Saqr – Abu Arz: The third axis/A statement issued by the Cedar Guardians
Party – the Lebanese National Movement
Israeli drone fires missiles at aluminum plant in south Lebanon
Residents In S. Lebanon say it is the first strike against outskirts of Nabatieh
since 2006 war
Israel strikes deep in south, Hezbollah downs drone as clashes continue
Israeli airstrike targets Nabatieh for the first time, targeting aluminum
factory in Toul
Appointment or extension? Latest developments in army chief file
Patriarch Al-Rahi advocates Army Commander’s term extension
Geagea says Bassil behavior shameful, FPM accuses him of being a foreign agent
Who is army chief candidate on whom parties have agreed?
MP Hadi Abu al-Hassan to LBCI: It is better to extend the Army Commander's term
MP Alain Aoun to LBCI: Army Commander's issue is turning into a challenge
Fatah's mechanism for unity amidst rising concern in Ain Al-Helweh
Sheikh Al-Aql contacts Patriarch Al-Rahi in solidarity: To join efforts & save
the nation that is on the brink of war
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on November 18-19/2023
U.S., Israel and Hamas reach tentative deal to pause conflict and free
dozens of hostages- WaPo
Biden raises with Qatar 'urgent' need for Hamas to free hostages
Israeli forces order Shifa hospital evacuation in 'next hour'
Fuel enters Gaza as 26 reported killed in Khan Yunis strike
’Significant’ pause in Gaza war if hostages freed: US official
US Says Release of Hostages Would Open Door to More Gaza Aid
Israel set to widen Hamas offensive after air strikes kill dozens
Exeter University professor ‘admires courage’ of Hamas ‘fighters’
Netanyahu opposes return of Palestinian Authority to Gaza
Iraq's Kataeb Hezbollah says attacks aim to 'drain' US, sanctions 'ridiculous'
Russia drone attack hits Ukraine infrastructure
UNRWA condemns 'horrific' bombing of UN schools in Gaza
Scholz urges need to improve humanitarian situation in Gaza
‘Bring them home’: marching for days, families of Gaza hostages reach Jerusalem
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on November 18-19/2023
Biden Administration's $10 Billion Prize to Iran: Just A Small Thank You
for Engineering a War, Wounding 56 US Troops and Trying to Drive the US Out of
The Middle East./Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./November 18, 2023
Iranian Destructiveness, Israel’s War of Necessity and Peace Prospects/Charles
Elias Chartouni/November 18/2023
Where is the world conscious?/Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor/Arab News/November 18/2023
How Russian troops are threatening EU expansion/Luke Coffey/Arab News/November
18/2023
France: A Tale of Two Demos/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/18 November 2023
Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published
on November 18-19/2023
“I am the resurrection and the light.
Whoever believes in me,though he dies, yet shall he live.”
With sadness but with a strong Christian Faith in the Resurrection, we announce
the passing of Georges W. Abou-Faysal
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/124417/124417/
/November 18, 2023
Etienne Saqr – Abu Arz: The third axis/A statement
issued by the Cedar Guardians Party – the Lebanese National Movement
November 18, 2023
The third axis.
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/124435/124435/
Two axes are fighting over Lebanon: the first is the Arab one, which forces us
to belong to the Arab movement, and the second is the Persian axis, which forces
us to join the axis of resistance. Both of them pose a mortal danger to Lebanon.
The first axis brought to Lebanon all Arab problems with their eternal
conflicts, the most dangerous of which was the armed and unarmed Palestinian
occupation, then the Syrian occupation, with its military phase that destroyed
people and stone, and the civil one, that drowned the country in a human flood
of refugees with numbers approaching the number of Lebanese population, and
threatening its existence with the most dire consequences.
The Persian axis, brought us a dark, isolated, and hostile doctrine that
glorifies the culture of death, violence, slapping, and scarring, all that
contradict the nature of the Lebanese, which is based on the culture of life,
joy, openness, and peace…. It has also dragged Lebanon into deadly wars with
Israel, and endless disputes with the Arabs.
After Lebanon experienced voluntary affiliation to the Arabist movement, and
forced affiliation to the axis of resistance, both of which led it to the depths
of hell, today it has nothing left to save itself but to break away from both of
them and adopt the third option, that is, returning to its historical roots and
holding to the axis of the Lebanese nation that is liberated from all
restrictions. An Axis that is open to all the peoples of the region and the
whole world on the basis of common interests and mutual respect…otherwise,
Lebanon the state will continue to suffer of clinical death until further
notice.
Long Live Lebanon
Etienne Saqr. Abu Arz
(free Translation from Arabic by Elias Bejjan)
Israeli drone fires missiles at aluminum plant in south
Lebanon
BEIRUT (AP)/November 18, 2023
An Israeli drone fired two missiles at an aluminum plant outside the southern
Lebanese market town of Nabatiyeh early Saturday, causing a fire and widespread
damage, National News Agency said. There was no word on casualties. The Israeli
strike near the village of Toul is the first to hit the area since the 34-day
war in 2006 between Israel and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, and far from
the border. NNA said firefighters and ambulances rushed to the area, but it did
not mention casualties of the strike that occurred around dawn. Journalists who
tried to reach the factory were prevented by Hezbollah members. There was no
immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike at the factory but it
did say that the Israeli army is currently striking Hezbollah targets. It said
further details will follow. A day after the Oct. 7, attack by the Palestinian
militant Hamas group on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly
civilians, Hezbollah started carrying out attacks on Israeli posts along the
border. Israel’s military has been carrying out artillery shelling and
airstrikes on areas on the Lebanese side of the border over the past weeks.
Earlier Saturday, Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters fired a
surface-to-air missile toward an Israeli Elbit Hermes 450 drone that was flying
over Lebanon. On Friday, Hezbollah said its fighters carried out more than a
dozen attacks at Israeli posts along the border, including one with two suicide
drones on a post in the northern Israeli town of Metula. Israel considers
Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat, estimating it has some 150,000
rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.
Residents In S. Lebanon say it
is the first strike against outskirts of Nabatieh since 2006 war
Arab News/November 18, 2023
BEIRUT: An Israeli drone fired two missiles at an aluminum plant outside the
southern Lebanese market town of Nabatieh on Saturday, causing a fire and
widespread damage. The Israeli strike near the village of Toul is the first to
hit the area since the 34-day war in 2006 between Israel and the Hezbollah. The
drone targeted the factory on the Toul-Kfour road at 4 a.m. It was the first
time an industrial facility had been targeted during the recent violence, a
resident told Arab News. They added: “We woke up at
night to the sound of a big explosion, which turned out to be the result of the
interception of a missile in the southern skies. “Then the factory was targeted,
and the sounds of explosions continued in the border region, causing fear among
people.”Samer, from Nabatieh, said: “People have not yet decided to move from
the area, but those well off have reserved places in areas far from the south in
case they are forced to leave.”The UN Interim Force in Lebanon sounded warning
sirens from its centers close to the shelling sites, in the vicinity of the
towns of Tayr Harfa, Chamaa, and Naqoura. Several
mayors of villages subjected to daily shelling told of the “need to support the
steadfastness of the remaining residents in the towns.”
Meanwhile, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday mourned the death
of Ahmad Bahar, the first deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Bahar was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza, and Berri said: “(He was)
martyred as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.”
He added: “We place this crime with other massacres committed by Israel
in the Gaza Strip before all the free people of the world and their
representatives.
“Is there anyone who will deter Israel and put an end to its machine of
bloodshed and killings?”His comments came as the southern region appeared to
have entered a new phase of military escalation amid the Gaza crisis. The
southern skies have seen flights by Israeli reconnaissance aircraft. Hezbollah
carried out a series of operations on Saturday against Israeli positions,
announcing its support “of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip
and support of their resistance.”It said that it had targeted Israeli soldiers
in the Shtula Forest and troops in Khallet Warde with “appropriate weapons,
causing direct hits.”Hezbollah also announced that it had targeted the Israeli
Ramim Barracks “with missiles and artillery shells.”It also said that it had hit
the Al-Raheb post “with appropriate weapons, causing direct hits, as well as
targeting the new Israeli military command headquarters in Wadi Sasaa with
missile fire, causing confirmed hits.”Hezbollah also reported that an Israeli
Hermes 450 drone had been shot down by a surface-to-air missile, adding that
“its debris was seen falling over the Galilee Panhandle area.”
Israel strikes deep in south, Hezbollah downs drone as
clashes continue
Naharnet/November 18, 2023
An Israeli drone fired two missiles at dawn Saturday at an aluminum factory on
the Toul-Kfour road in south Lebanon, targeting the heart of the Nabatieh
governorate for the first time since the 2006 war, the National News Agency
said. The strike fully burned the factory and its
equipment, NNA added. The development came a few hours
after Hezbollah said it shot down with a surface-to-air missile a Hermes-450
Israeli drone, which is a medium-sized multi-payload unmanned aerial vehicle.
Hezbollah said the UAV’s debris fell into Israel’s Galilee Panhandle area.
Clashes continued in the morning, with Hezbollah attacking the Hadb al-Bustan,
Hadb Yarin and al-Raheb Israeli posts with guided missiles and Israel carrying
out airstrikes on the outskirts of Naqoura, al-Labbouneh and Aita al-Shaab.The
Israeli army also fired artillery shells at the outskirts of several Lebanese
border towns. Israeli shelling later reached Kfartebnit and Choukine near
Nabatieh, according to MTV, after Hezbollah attacked at least four more Israeli
posts.
Israeli airstrike targets Nabatieh for the first time,
targeting aluminum factory in Toul
LBCI/November 18, 2023
An Israeli airstrike has targeted an aluminum factory in Toul, Nabatieh on
Saturday dawn, causing significant losses without recording any injuries. The
civil defense in the Islamic Risala Scout Association worked to extinguish the
fire. Since the outbreak of the clashes on the borders, this is the first time
this area has been targeted.
Appointment or extension? Latest developments in army chief
file
Naharnet/November 18, 2023
It is very likely that a Cabinet session will be held on Monday with the aim of
extending the term of Army chief General Joseph Aoun and the probable
appointment of a new chief of staff, informed sources told al-Joumhouria
newspaper in remarks published Saturday. The Free Patriotic Movement has
meanwhile “rejected participation in Monday’s session, stressing that the
appointment of a new army chief, chief of staff and military council should take
place through roaming decrees signed by all ministers, not through a Cabinet
session, expressing concerns that (General Joseph Aoun’s) retirement could be
postponed regardless of the defense minister’s approval,” the al-Liwaa daily
reported. Sources close to Hezbollah and the Amal Movement meanwhile told
ad-Diyar newspaper that FPM chief Jebran Bassil is likely to accept that a new
army chief be appointed in a Cabinet session that would involve the signatures
of the prime minister and the defense and finance ministers on the decree. The
Nidaa al-Watan newspaper for its part reported that Maronite Patriarch Beshara
al-Rahi is preparing to launch a campaign during his Sunday sermon to demand the
extension of General Aoun’s term. Sources close to al-Rahi meanwhile rejected,
in remarks to the same newspaper, that a new army chief be appointed.
“Appointment represents a strong blow to the presidential post, because
it would then be considered that the country is running without a president and
that major decisions can be taken,” the sources said. Nidaa al-Watan also said
that caretaker PM Najib Mikati is “clinging to extension and will not propose
any appointment if it does not win Bkirki’s approval, seeing as he does not want
to bypass the highest (religious) Christian authority during these delicate
situations.”
Patriarch Al-Rahi advocates Army Commander’s term extension
LBCI/November 18, 2023
Nidaa Al-Watan has learned that Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi is
preparing to launch a campaign in his Sunday sermon, rejecting any interference
with the army leadership and calling for the extension of General Joseph Aoun's
term.
Geagea says Bassil behavior shameful, FPM accuses him of
being a foreign agent
aharnet /November 18, 2023
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday alleged that Free Patriotic
Movement chief Jebran Bassil is “doing the impossible and crossing all red lines
and constitutional limits” in order to “get rid of General Joseph Aoun in the
army chief post for purely personal and opportunist considerations.”
“According to the available information, he is working night and day to appoint
a new army commander. Despite our respect for all the candidates proposed for
this post, he has totally disregarded everything that he had stated in terms of
rejecting the ministerial decrees that have been issued over the past year
because they encroach on the president’s jurisdiction,” Geagea said.
“What MP Bassil is doing in this regard is a shame against the country,
the people, the presidency, the army command and Christians, and this shame is
to be added to his behavior that makes him a shame par excellence in Lebanese
politics,” the LF leader added. The FPM swiftly hit back at Geagea, accusing him
of having committed “a declared and confirmed crime against the constitution and
principles through his submission of a draft law for extending the army chief’s
term.”“He has addressed a virtual and fabricate accusation against the FPM chief
in what resembles a prejudgment of intentions, whereas the FPM leader has not
carried out any action and has not declared what he agrees to and what he
rejects,” the FPM said. “Again and again, it turns out that Samir Geagea’s only
concern is political spite and doing the opposite of what Jebran Bassil does,”
the FPM charged, adding that “the coming days will reveal anew who’s right and
who’s wrong, and who’s principled and who works for a salary for foreign forces
and offers security services,” the FPM added. Media
reports have said that an agreement has been reached on naming a new army
commander and that Intelligence Directorate chief Brig. Gen. Tony Qahwaji is the
leading candidate for the post.
Who is army chief candidate on whom parties have agreed?
Naharnet /November 18, 2023
There are currently three candidates for the army chief post but one of them has
the highest chances, a media report said on Friday.
“His appointment has been settled in principle and he enjoys the acceptance of
all political parties and has close ties to foreign forces,” the Nidaa al-Watan
newspaper quoted informed sources as saying. “A meeting was held Wednesday
evening between parties concerned with the file and an agreement was reached on
naming an army commander instead of postponing the retirement of the incumbent
chief,” the daily added, citing “credible reports.” “The candidate has been
informed of the decision and he has met with (Speaker Nabih) Berri and a number
of officials, who put him in the picture of their deliberations,” the newspaper
said. The candidate was also “one of the military figures who were visited by a
U.S. delegation that discussed the situation of the military institution,” Nidaa
al-Watan added. Al-Akhbar newspaper meanwhile said that the Free Patriotic
Movement has three candidate for the army chief post: Intelligence Directorate
chief Tony Qahwaji, Elie Akl and Maroun Qbayati.
MP Hadi Abu al-Hassan to LBCI: It is better to extend the Army Commander's term
LBCI/November 18, 2023
MP Hadi Abu al-Hassan affirmed that nothing seems conclusive at this moment
regarding the fate of the position of the army commander, indicating that "logic
must prevail in this matter, and logic dictates extending the term of the
current army commander." On LBCI’s “Nharkom Said” TV show, Abu al-Hassan stated:
"It is better today to extend the term of the army commander and appoint the
military council because there is a vacancy in the chief of staff position, and
extension is not possible."He added, "Our stance has been clear from the
beginning, which is to avoid a vacuum and a void. For this reason, we have been
calling for the election of a president and the formation of a government,
whether through the democratic process or consensus and agreement on a unifying
figure.”“We have also been trying to avoid a vacuum in the security
institutions,” he continued. In addition, Abu al-Hassan emphasized that "we have
only one option, which is to extend the term of the army commander, and the
appointment should come after the election of the president and the formation of
the government."
MP Alain Aoun to LBCI: Army Commander's issue is turning
into a challenge
LBCI/November 18, 2023
MP Alain Aoun considered that "extension is the exception, and renewal is the
rule in the reality of all institutions.”He said: “We are in an exceptional
situation, and rejecting or approving the extension for the army commander has
taken on a political background." Speaking on LBCI’s "Nharkom Said" TV show,
Aoun said, "The majority in the government or in the parliament has not yet
formed regarding the issue of the army commander. From now until reaching a
consensus, we will see which blocs will develop their positions to avoid a
vacuum. “The fundamental principle that everyone should adhere to is preventing
a vacuum in the army institution,” he continued.
Additionally, he argued that the issue of army leadership is being turned into a
"challenge" between one faction and another rather than working for what is in
the army's best interest. He emphasized, "to protect the army, we must avoid
personal conflicts, and those who reject the extension should have a logical
justification, and those who advocate for extension should base their argument
on logic rather than dealing with it maliciously." Aoun noted that "the US
ambassador has made contacts to prevent a vacuum in the leadership of the army,
and her inclination was more towards extension." He affirmed that "Raison d'État
is the only thing that makes us overcome the exceptional situation we are in."
Aoun said, "Regarding the presidency, we moved from the 'fridge to the freezer'
because there is a negative internal balance. Externally, friends are interested
in the Gaza issue and the security situation. We were waiting for a political
solution, and now we are waiting for the war situation."He added that in
Lebanon, "the assumption of no war is more significant than any other assumption
now."
Fatah's mechanism for unity amidst rising concern in Ain
Al-Helweh
LBCI/November 18, 2023
The security situation in Ain al-Hilweh remains a concern, unsettling political
forces, the public, and civil society organizations, fearing sudden tension with
the slightest incident. This article was originally published in, translated
from Lebanese newspaper Nidaa Al-Watan
Following the Israeli aggression on Gaza, Fatah movement initiated practical
steps to ease the tension as part of its desire to unify the Palestinian stance
and organize supportive activities for Gaza and its people. Palestinian sources
informed Nidaa Al-Watan that Fatah in Lebanon, led by Ambassador Ashraf Dabbour,
has engaged in communications and meetings with the "Islamic Ansar League." An
agreement has been reached to establish a mechanism for immediate communication
in case of any conflict or the emergence of any complaint to address it.
According to the sources, the bilateral mechanism (leaders from both
sides) has successfully resolved some issues and addressed others based on the
camp's interest, security, stability, and preventing any strife or tension.
The mechanism came especially at a time when the Palestinian cause
requires united efforts to defend it against projects aiming to eliminate it and
abolish the right of return. Simultaneously, a
"Committee for Concord to Preserve the Camps" was announced, consisting of Haj
Mansour Azzam, Haj Abu Khaled Khattab, and activists Aasif Moussa and Ziad
Shihabi. Its goal is to ease tension, enhance national and Islamic unity, and
strengthen cooperation among the camp's residents after the repercussions of the
recent clashes, which created a situation susceptible to tension or explosion at
the slightest incident. Activist Moussa explained to
Nidaa Al-Watan that the committee "consulted with national and Palestinian
Islamic political forces before its announcement, aligning its responsibilities
with the desired goals in the camps, especially Ain al-Hilweh.”“This is crucial
amid the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the West Bank, and all of Palestine,”
emphasizing the need to unify positions and overcome differences. “Lebanese
leaders and references were also involved in the picture," and "it requires
unified efforts from all parties to overcome the danger and delicacy of the
current situation after the repercussions of the recent clashes," he added.
The committee held its first meeting at the residence of Haj Abu Khaled
Khattab in Sidon, with representatives from factions of the Palestine Liberation
Organization, the Palestinian Forces Alliance, Islamic forces, Ansar Allah, the
Reform movement, the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects, and the
People’s Committee. Consultations took place on the action plan, agreeing on a
mechanism to address and ease tensions in Ain al-Hilweh and enhance ties among
its residents. The committee expressed the need to
control the media discourse, halt campaigns that might escalate the situation in
the camp, and focus on supporting the steadfastness of our people in Gaza and
all of Palestine. It called on all camp residents to rally and collaborate with
it to benefit the camp and its people.
Sheikh Al-Aql contacts Patriarch Al-Rahi in solidarity: To
join efforts & save the nation that is on the brink of war
NNA/November 18, 2023
Druze Sheikh Al-Aql, Sami Abi Al-Muna, contacted today Maronite Patriarch,
Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, expressing his solidarity, and denouncing the
recent incitement campaign waged against him in wake of his humanitarian stance
towards southern families. Sheikh Al-Aql stressed, “The nation’s greatest need,
more than ever before, is for internal, national and spiritual solidarity and
for the combined efforts of all believers to preserve our country, which is on
the brink of war, to save it from the grave dangers that threaten its existence
and future, due to the repeated Israeli attacks on it, at a very critical
moment. that Lebanon and the region are passing through...”Abi Al-Muna also
called on “the international community to exert pressure on Israel to stop its
ongoing brutal aggression against Gaza for about a month and a half, which has
abolished all humanitarian, charter and legal prohibitions, committing the most
severe criminal atrocities and human genocides that no mind can imagine..."
Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from
miscellaneous sources published
on November 18-19/2023
U.S., Israel and Hamas reach tentative deal to pause conflict and free
dozens of hostages- WaPo
(Reuters)Sat, November 18, 2023
Israel, the United States and Hamas have reached a tentative agreement to free
dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a five-day
pause in fighting, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing people
familiar with the deal. As part of the detailed, six-page agreement, all parties
would freeze combat operations for at least five days while "an initial 50 or
more hostages are released in smaller groups every 24 hours", the Post reported.
Hamas took about 240 hostages during its Oct. 7 rampage inside Israel that
killed 1,200 people. The newspaper said overhead surveillance would monitor
ground movement to help police the pause, which also is intended to allow in a
significant amount of humanitarian aid. There was no immediate comment from the
White House or the Israeli prime minister's office on the Post report. The
hostage release could begin within the next several days, according to people
familiar with its the agreement.
Biden raises with Qatar 'urgent' need for Hamas to free hostages
Agence France Presse/November 18, 2023
U.S. President Joe Biden has pressed for the immediate release of hostages
seized by Hamas in Israel during talks with the leader of Qatar, which has
relations with the Palestinian movement. Biden, in San Francisco for an
Asia-Pacific summit, in a telephone call with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad
Al-Thani "discussed the urgent need for all hostages held by Hamas to be
released without further delay," a White House statement said. Biden also raised
Israel's decision to let two tankers of diesel each day into the war-torn Gaza
Strip, following pleas from the United States.
Biden and the emir "discussed ongoing efforts to increase the flow of urgently
needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza and Israel's decision to resume fuel
deliveries for life-saving aid," the White House said. Biden two days earlier
had told reporters that he was "mildly hopeful" of reaching a deal to free the
hostages, believed to include about 10 U.S. citizens. Fighters from Hamas, which
controls the Gaza Strip, on October 7 infiltrated Israel and, according to
Israel, killed about 1,200 people most of them civilians while taking about 240
hostages. Israel's subsequent air and ground campaign has killed 12,000 people,
including 5,000 children. Hamas, which is backed by Iran, maintains a political
office in Qatar, which nonetheless is a close U.S. partner. Qatar has in recent
years rejected moves by other Gulf Arab monarchies toward normalizing relations
with Israel.
Israeli forces order Shifa hospital evacuation in 'next
hour'
Agence France Presse/November 18, 2023
Israeli troops ordered the evacuation of Al-Shifa hospital "in the next hour"
over loudspeakers on Saturday, an AFP journalist at the scene reported, as
troops combed the facility for Hamas hideouts. Al-Shifa hospital -- Gaza's
biggest -- has become the focus of the Israel-Hamas war, now entering its
seventh week after the October 7 attacks on southern Israel. Israel claims Hamas
operates a base underneath Al-Shifa, a charge the militants deny. The United
Nations estimated 2,300 patients, staff and displaced Palestinians were
sheltering at Al-Shifa before Israeli troops moved in on Wednesday. The Hamas
health ministry in Gaza has announced dozens of deaths there as a result of
power cuts caused by fuel shortages amid intense combat. Israel has made
repeated calls for the hospital to be evacuated to the south, however medical
professionals say the patients cannot be moved. Hospital director Mohammed Abu
Salmiya told AFP Israeli troops instructed him to ensure "the evacuation of
patients, wounded, the displaced and medical staff, and that they should move on
foot towards the seafront."
Fuel enters Gaza as 26 reported killed in Khan Yunis strike
Agence France Presse/November 18, 2023
A first consignment of fuel has entered Gaza after U.S. pressure on Israel,
allowing communications to resume in the territory, where a hospital director on
Saturday said 26 people had been killed in a strike in Khan Yunis. A two-day
blackout caused by fuel shortages ended after a first delivery arrived from
Egypt late Friday, but U.N. officials continued to plead for a ceasefire,
warning no part of Gaza is safe. On Saturday, the
director of the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis said it had received the bodies of
26 people, as well as 23 people with serious injuries, after an air strike on a
residential building in the southern region's Hamad city.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment
on the report. It has been pressing operations in
Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa in the north of the territory, searching for
the Hamas operations centre it says lies beneath.
Israel has vowed to "crush" Hamas in response to the group's October 7 attack,
which killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw around 240
people taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. The army's air and ground
campaign has since killed 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, according to
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.Israel has imposed a siege on the
territory, allowing just a trickle of aid in from Egypt but barring shipments of
fuel over concerns Hamas could divert supplies for military purposes.
However, on Friday, Israel's war cabinet unanimously agreed to allow two
fuel tankers a day "to run the wastewater treatment facilities... which are
facing collapse due to the lack of electricity", national security adviser
Tzachi Hanegbi said.
"We took that decision to prevent the spread of epidemics," he said.
A senior U.S. official said Washington had exerted huge pressure on Israel for
weeks to allow fuel in. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said 70
percent of residents have no access to clean water in south Gaza, where raw
sewage has begun to flow on the streets. Under the deal, 140,000 litres (37,000
gallons) of fuel will be allowed in every 48 hours, of which 20,000 litres will
be earmarked for generators to restore the phone network, the US official said.
Communications have been down for two days after fuel ran out, and a
first consignment of some 17,000 litres was earmarked for telecommunications
company Paltel. The communications blackout hampered aid deliveries, UNRWA said,
with humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths telling the UN General Assembly that
fuel supplies to the agency so far were "a fraction of what is needed to meet
the minimum of our humanitarian responsibilities". The health ministry in the
Hamas-ruled territory said 24 patients had died in 48 hours due to the lack of
fuel for generators. Israel has come under scrutiny
for operations targeting hospitals in the northern part of Gaza, but says the
facilities are being used by Hamas -- a claim rejected by the group and medical
staff. Several thousand people, including wounded patients and premature babies,
are believed to be sheltering at the Al-Shifa hospital, where Israeli troops
began a raid this week. Israel's military says it found rifles, ammunition,
explosives and the entrance to a tunnel shaft at the hospital complex, claims
that cannot be independently verified. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
said, without providing details, that there were "strong indications" hostages
may have been held at the medical facility. Israel has
not recovered hostages at the hospital but said it found the bodies of two
kidnapped women not far away. The remains of kidnapped woman soldier Noa
Marciano, 19, were found at "a structure adjacent to Al-Shifa hospital" on
Friday, a day after the body of 65-year-old Yehudit Weiss was recovered.
Weiss's son Omer said news of his mother's death had devastated the
family. "The officers knocked on the door and we
immediately understood," he told AFP, his eyes filled with tears. "They handed
us the notice and the world collapsed."Those held hostage range from infants to
octogenarians, and there has been little information on their fate, despite
ongoing negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt to secure releases.
'Civilians face starvation'
In Gaza, more than 1.5 million people have been internally displaced, and
Israel's blockade has left civilians facing the "immediate possibility of
starvation", according to World Food Programme head Cindy McCain. More than half
of Gaza's hospitals are no longer functional due to combat, damage or shortages,
and people are waiting four to six hours for half the normal portion of bread.
Israel has told Palestinians to move south for their safety, but deadly air
strikes continue to hit central and southern Gaza. "They said the south was
safer, so we moved," Azhar al-Rifi told AFP. But her family was caught in
another strike that killed seven relatives, including her five-year-old nephew.
"Two weeks ago, his mother died, so my husband decided that he would live with
us," she said, saying the boy told her: "I can no longer call anyone mom." "I
replied: 'I'm your mother'," she said. "At four in the morning, he was taken
away from us."
West Bank violence -
Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has surged since the conflict, with
Washington urging action to rein in settler attacks on Palestinians. Raids by
Israel's military, which says it is responding to "a significant rise in
terrorist attacks", have also multiplied and the Palestinian death toll has
soared. The Israeli army said Friday it had killed at least seven militants in
two separate confrontations in the West Bank. And overnight, the Red Crescent
said five people were killed in a strike on the headquarters of Palestinian
group Fatah in the West Bank's Balata refugee camp. Israel's military confirmed
"counterterrorism activity" in the area without giving details.
’Significant’ pause in Gaza war if hostages freed: US official
AFP/November 19, 2023
MANAMA: US President Joe Biden’s main adviser on the Middle East said Saturday
there would be a “significant pause” in the Israel-Hamas war if hostages held by
militants in Gaza are freed. Hamas militants seized about 240 hostages on
October 7 when they surged across Gaza’s militarised border into southern Israel
to kill around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.
In response, Israel is carrying out a relentless bombardment and ground
offensive of targets in the Gaza Strip which has so far killed 12,300 people,
according to the Palestinian territory’s Hamas government.
“The surge in humanitarian relief, the surge in fuel, the pause... will come
when hostages are released,” Brett McGurk told a security conference in Bahrain.
Release of a large number of hostages would result in “a significant
pause... and a massive surge of humanitarian relief,” he said. McGurk said Biden
had discussed the issue on Friday evening with the ruler of the Gulf nation of
Qatar, which is leading mediation efforts toward a cease-fire and release of the
captives. The White House said Biden and Qatar’s Emir
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani discussed “the urgent need for all hostages held
by Hamas to be released without further delay.”Two days earlier Biden had said
he was “mildly hopeful” of reaching a deal to free the hostages, believed to
include about 10 US citizens. French President
Emmanuel Macron also discussed the hostages with Al-Thani and Egyptian leader
Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Saturday, his office said.
Macron said immediately freeing the captives, of whom eight are French, was “an
absolute priority for France.” The three leaders also
talked about strengthening their coordination to deliver aid to civilians in
Gaza, Macron’s office said.
So far efforts by Qatar have led to the release of four of the captives. A fifth
hostage, a soldier, was rescued in an Israeli operation.
Israel’s army said this week it had recovered the bodies of two women
hostages in Gaza. McGurk said on Saturday that the situation in the besieged
Palestinian territory was “horrific” and “intolerable.” Israel has refused to
heed calls for a cease-fire before all the hostages are released. Jordanian
Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who also attended the Bahrain conference, said it
was “unacceptable” to link humanitarian pauses to release of hostages. Meanwhile
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell reflected on the future of Gaza, saying,
“Hamas cannot be in control of Gaza anymore.” The
Palestinian Authority, based in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, “told
me they are ready and willing to take this responsibility” with the help of the
international community, said Borrell. He added that Arab countries should also
play a role in any future configuration, both political and economic, for Gaza.
Safadi insisted there would be “no Arab troops” deployed in Gaza.
US Says Release of Hostages Would Open Door to More Gaza
Aid
Bloomberg/November 18, 2023
Hamas must release more hostages to position itself for a significant increase
in aid to Gaza and a pause in fighting, one of the US’s top Middle East envoys
said on Saturday. “The surge in humanitarian relief,
the surge in fuel, the pause in fighting will come when hostages are released,”
said Brett McGurk, who is President Joe Biden’s Coordinator for the Middle East
and North Africa. McGurk, speaking at the IISS Manama Dialogue, a regional
security conference in Bahrain, said the US’s approach has helped hostage
negotiations so far. Hamas, which the US and European Union designate a
terrorist organization, swarmed southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, killing
around 1,200 people and taking 240 back to Gaza as hostages. Israel’s responded
with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive on the enclave, which the
Hamas-run government says have killed more than 12,000 people. Only four of the
hostages have been released, including two American citizens. Israel has freed
another, while a few are known to have died, according to Hamas and Israeli
officials. Hamas has lost contact with groups assigned to guard some of the
hostages, Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, said Saturday. “The
fate of the captives and captors is still unknown,” he said in a statement.
Biden spoke to Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, on Friday
about trying to ensure Hamas lets go of more people. Qatar hosts members of
Hamas’s political leadership and has been key to the hostages negotiations,
acting as a mediator along with other Arab countries such as Egypt.
In a Washington Post op-ed article published Saturday, Biden said “my
team and I are working hour by hour, doing everything we can to get the hostages
released.”The hostage talks have been fraught, with Israel and Hamas blaming
each other for some of them breaking down. More aid has gone into Gaza in recent
weeks, mostly food and medicine via the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Fuel was sent
in on Wednesday for the first time since the conflict erupted. Israel had been
reluctant to allow that, saying Hamas would use it for military operations. But
it has come under more pressure, including from the US, as Gaza’s hospitals and
water plants run out of fuel for generators. The United Nations said the amount
of food and fuel going into Gaza is still nowhere near enough to ease what it
and Palestinian officials say is a humanitarian disaster. “The track we have
pursued led to the release of two Americans, a mother and a daughter, which was
a pilot for what we hope will be a much larger release,” McGurk said. “Such a
release of a large number of hostages would result in a significant pause in
fighting, a significant pause in fighting and a massive surge of humanitarian
relief.”
Jordan’s foreign minister criticized the attempt to link hostage releases to the
humanitarian situation in Gaza. “I just don’t find it acceptable that Israel
links humanitarian aid to the release of hostages,” Ayman Safadi, who’s also
Jordan’s deputy prime minister, said at the same event in Bahrain. “Israel is
taking 2.3 million Palestinians hostage,” he said, referring to Gaza’s
population.
Israel set to widen Hamas offensive after air strikes kill
dozens
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza/JERUSALEM (Reuters)/November 18, 2023
Israel prepared on Sunday to expand its offensive against Hamas militants to
southern Gaza after air strikes killed dozens of Palestinians, including
civilians reported to be sheltering at two schools. After earlier in the week
dropping leaflets, Israel on Saturday again warned civilians in parts of
southern Gaza to relocate as it girds for an onslaught in that part of the small
coastal enclave, after subduing the north. Commissioner-General Philippe
Lazzarini of UNRWA, the U.N. aid organization for Palestinian refugees, said on
social media platform X that Israel bombarded two agency schools in the north.
More than 4,000 civilians were sheltered at one of them, he said.
"Dozens reported killed including children," he said. "Second time in
less than 24 hours schools are not spared. ENOUGH, these horrors must stop."A
spokesperson for Gaza's Hamas authorities said 200 people had been killed or
injured at the school. Israel's military did not comment. Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas, whose government controls parts of the Israeli-occupied
West Bank, on Saturday said, "Hundreds of forcibly displaced people were killed"
at the two schools in Gaza. Israel vowed to destroy
Hamas after the militant group's Oct. 7 rampage into Israel in which its
fighters killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages, according to Israeli
tallies. As the conflict entered its seventh week,
authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip raised their death toll to 12,300,
including 5,000 children. Abbas on Saturday made an appeal to U.S. President Joe
Biden to intervene to stop the Israeli operation in Gaza.
In an address aired by Palestine TV, Abbas said "hundreds of forcibly
displaced people were killed" at the two schools in Gaza and demanded "that you
and world leaders take responsibility to stop this aggression and genocide
against our people."
Biden, who opposes a ceasefire, was looking to the end of the conflict, saying
in a Washington Post opinion article that the Palestinian Authority should
ultimately govern both Gaza and the West Bank. Asked about Biden's proposal,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters in Tel Aviv the
Palestinian Authority in its current form was not capable of being responsible
for Gaza. Israel has not disclosed a strategy for Gaza after the war.
ASSAULT ON SOUTH LOOMS
As Israel's military looked to move southward, Palestinian officials accused the
Israeli army of forcibly evacuating most staff, patients and displaced people
from Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, and abandoning them to perilous journeys
southwards on foot.
Israeli forces denied the accusation, saying evacuations were voluntary.
Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel opened a safe corridor
for civilians who were in the hospital to go south, at the request of the
hospital director.
Israeli forces seized Al Shifa in their offensive across north Gaza earlier in
the week, saying it concealed an underground Hamas command centre. An Israeli
offensive in the south could compel hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who
fled Gaza City in the north to uproot again, along with residents of Khan
Younis, a city of more than 400,000, compounding a dire humanitarian crisis. The
conflict has already displaced around two-thirds of Gaza's population of 2.3
million. An advance into southern Gaza may prove more complicated and deadlier
than in the north, however, with Hamas militants dug into the Khan Younis
region, a senior Israeli source and two top ex-officials said.
AIR STRIKES
Early Saturday, an air strike in a busy residential district of Khan Younis
killed 26 Palestinians and wounded 23, health officials said. Eyad Al-Zaeem told
Reuters he lost his aunt, her children and her grandchildren in the air strike
in Khan Younis. They all had evacuated from northern Gaza on Israeli army orders
only to die where the army told them they could be safe, he said. "All of them
were martyred. They had nothing to do with the (Hamas) resistance," said Zaeem,
standing outside the morgue at Nasser Hospital, where the 26 bodies were laid
out before they were to be carried by loved ones to burials. A few miles (kms)
to the north, six Palestinians were killed when a house was bombed from the air
in the town of Deir Al-Balah, health authorities said.
A third Israeli air strike on Saturday afternoon killed 15 Palestinians in a
house west of Khan Younis, close to a shelter for displaced people, witnesses
and medics said.
Israel says Hamas typically conceals fighters and weaponry in residential and
other civilian buildings, which Hamas denies. An Israeli military statement said
only that over the past 24 hours its air force had hit dozens of Gaza targets
including militants, command centres, rocket launch sites and munitions
factories. Israel said five of its soldiers had been killed in Gaza since
Friday, bringing its losses in the territory to 57.
Exeter University professor ‘admires courage’ of Hamas
‘fighters’
Fiona Parker/The Telegraph/November 18, 2023
A professor at a Russell Group university said in the wake of the Hamas attacks
on Israel on Oct 7 that the terror group “had to act, and quickly so”.
In a separate interview, Prof Ilan Pappé also denied that Hamas, which
killed about 1,200 people and took hundreds of men, women and children hostage,
was a “terrorist” movement. The expatriate Israeli historian is professor of
history and director of the European Centre for Palestinian Studies at the
University of Exeter. It is the latest UK university
to face scrutiny over the views of its staff on the Israel-Hamas war. A student
accused the university of “failing to support” its Jewish community by not
immediately condemning the academic’s comments. In a
comment piece published on the The Palestine Chronicle website on Oct 10, Prof
Pappé, 69, described how it was “challenging to maintain one’s moral compass”
when society “takes the moral high ground and expects you to share with them the
same righteous fury with which they reacted to the events of last Saturday,
October 7”. He added: “It is this moral compass that
led me, and others in our society, to stand by the Palestinian people in every
way possible; and that enables us, at the same time, to admire the courage of
the Palestinian fighters who took over a dozen military bases, overcoming the
strongest army in the Middle East. “Also, people like
me cannot avoid but raise questions about the moral or strategic value of some
of the actions that accompanied this operation.”
When asked to clarify whether he “admired” the courage of the Hamas fighters who
stormed kibbutzim to murder and rape civilians, Prof Pappé stressed that he
“condemned” these attacks “now more than ever before”. He added: “There is a
difference between occupying military bases of an army that maintains the Gaza
Strip as a ghetto and the killing of innocent people, raping and the other
atrocities committed that awful Saturday.” In the same
article, Prof Pappé went on to describe the plight of Palestinian people “at a
time when its oppressors had elected a government, which is hellbent on
accelerating… the elimination of the Palestinian people”. He added: “Hamas had
to act, and quickly so.”The renowned academic also called for “de-Zionised,
liberated and democratic” Palestine “from the river to the sea”.The phrase has
been chanted by Palestinian nationalists and terror groups to assert territorial
claims of an independent Palestinian state. However, Prof Pappé told The
Telegraph that the slogan was for “Jews and Palestinians who believe that the
only solution to the conflict is one democratic state all over Palestine and
Israel” and that if anyone thought it was racist then the problem “lies in their
understanding”.In a separate TV interview with news channel Al Jazeera, Prof
Pappé was asked whether he agreed that Hamas was “not a terrorist movement”?
‘National liberation movement’
In an exchange translated from Arabic, Prof Pappé responded: “No, it is not”
before agreeing that it was “a national liberation and resistance movement”.
The academic told The Telegraph he recognised and “respected” Hamas as a
“prescribed terror organisation under British law”, but added: “I explained that
I understand this is the law but I think it is wrong as an expert.”
Rojin-Sena Cantay, 20, an Exeter student, said she reported the
academic’s comments in the interview to the university after seeing a clip
online. Ms Cantay claimed that Exeter staff told her they would need to look
into it themselves and ensure they had accurate translations of what Prof Pappé
had said and she had not heard anything else since. She said: “I am absolutely
terrified to think of how people around campus who respect this professor will
be influenced by him. “I do feel the university has
failed to support its Jewish community. At the very least they could put out a
statement publicly condemning Hamas as a show of support for us.”Ms Cantay is a
fellow for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis
(Camera). Christina Jones, a spokesperson for Camera UK, said: “It is shocking a
professor at a leading UK university would attempt to downplay the events of Oct
7. “Hamas is a terrorist organisation with no moral compass that openly calls
for the genocide of Jews in its charter and that has acted upon this
edict.”Edward Isaacs, president of the UK and Ireland’s Union of Jewish
Students, said: “It is sickening and completely unacceptable for Prof Pappé to
praise the ‘courage’ of Hamas terrorists on Oct 7.”
‘I explain how Hamas felt’
When asked whether he was justifying the attacks of Oct 7, Prof Pappé said:
“Hamas promised two years ago to act if the Al-Aqsa Mosque was invaded and its
activists continued to be arrested and killed and if the siege continued.
“It had to act according to its own understanding of prestige and
survival. That does not mean that I justify its action; as an expert I explain
how they felt and they felt they had to act.”As part of a lengthy response he
also said it was a “sensitive time” for Palestinians in Britain, as well as
Jews, and that students were “always welcome to talk to him directly”. He added:
“I have taught Jewish, Arab and British students for 15 years in Exeter. Even
Jewish students who disagreed with me felt that they were treated fairly and
found the course professional and illuminating.” A
University of Exeter spokesperson said: “We remain deeply concerned and
distressed by the violence in Israel, Palestine and the Middle East. Our
thoughts are with all those who are suffering as a result, wherever they are in
the world. “The University’s primary role is to ensure
the safety of our students and colleagues, and to safeguard the freedom of
speech and expression and academic freedom for all members of our community. “We
promote a culture of debate within the law, built on the principle of tolerance
of different views and beliefs. We actively promote free discussion and
interrogation of challenging and sometimes controversial ideas, and ensure that
our academic staff are able to undertake teaching and research without hindrance
of their right to freedom of speech beyond the limitations of the law.”
They added: “We received reports of an incident during a student event on
campus. We offered support to the affected students, and investigated the
incident fully. We are unambiguous in our support for all colleagues and
students at this time, and there is no place for hate in our community.”
Netanyahu opposes return of Palestinian Authority to Gaza
Ynetnews/November 18, 2023
PM says won't allow 'any entity that pays terrorists or terror families or
indoctrinates its children to annihilate Israel' to rule enclave
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday implied that the Western-backed
Palestinian Authority (PA) will not return to rule the Gaza Strip once the
Palestinian enclave’s Islamist rulers Hamas have been defeated.
Netanyahu, who did not mention the PA by name, said that he would oppose
Gaza being ruled by “any entity that supports terrorism, pays terrorists or
terror families or indoctrinates its children to annihilate the State of
Israel.” The Israeli leader was referring to stipends
paid by the Palestinian government to Palestinians who attacked Israelis and to
the families of Palestinians slain while attacking Israelis, as well as rampant
antisemitic and anti-Israeli incitement in Palestinian textbooks.
He stated that one of the war's goals is "to ensure that after victory,
Gaza will never again threaten Israeli citizens,” adding that “the IDF will have
complete freedom in Gaza to counter any threat. This is the only way to
guarantee our victory." Netanyahu's statements come
shortly after an op-ed by U.S. President Joe Biden was published in the
Washington Post, in which the Democratic President suggested that "Gaza and the
West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately
under a revitalized Palestinian Authority."
Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas asked Biden to step in to stop the
"humanitarian crisis and mass killing that's already taken the lives of over
42,000 Palestinians, most of them being women and kids." In a speech aired on
Palestinian TV, Abbas directed blame toward Biden, asserting that due to his
global standing and significant influence over Israel, he bears primary
responsibility and needs to take immediate action.
Abbas also stated that "the Palestinian people have the right to live freely and
with dignity on their own land, and they'll stay put until they get their fair
claim to independence and a country with Jerusalem as its capital." IDF named
five soldiers who were killed in action on Saturday. Staff Sergeant Shlomo
Gortovnik, 21, from Modi'in, a combat medic in the 46th Battalion, 401st Brigade
(Iron Trails); Captain Eden Provisor, 21, from Alfei Menashe, a platoon
commander in the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion; Sergeant Adi Malkh
Harav, 19, from Beit Jan, a fighter in the Nahal Brigade in the Paratroopers
Brigade; Sergeant Shachar Friedman, 21, from Jerusalem, a fighter in the 101st
Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade; Warrant Officer Jamal Abbas, 23, from
Pek'in, a platoon commander in the 101st Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade.
The fighting in the Gaza Strip expanded to new areas of the territory’s
northern sector, the IDF said on Saturday. Duvdevan undercover unit troops,
including both regular and reserve soldiers, carried out raids against several
targets in the Gaza Strip, dismantling terrorist infrastructure and eliminating
numerous Hamas fighters in the process. Israeli forces also engaged in combat
with Hamas terrorists inside a high school, where a large quantity of military
equipment and weapons was found.
Meanwhile, a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip struck a house in the southern
city of Sderot on Saturday. The rocket failed to penetrate the safe room's
walls, and there were no casualties reported from the attack.
Earlier, the army said that a terrorist cell that fired rockets from the
Gaza Strip toward central Israel on Friday was eliminated in an Israeli
airstrike. According to the army, reservists from the
Jerusalem Brigade's reconnaissance unit identified the terrorists responsible
for the rocket barrage and directed an airstrike against them, successfully
executing the operation in less than an hour after the rockets were fired. Over
the past day, Israeli fighter jets and helicopters have struck dozens of targets
throughout the Gaza Strip, including terrorists, terror infrastructure,
operational headquarters, rocket launch sites and weapons manufacturing labs.
Meanwhile, several rockets fired from Lebanon crashed in unpopulated
areas around the northern city of Kiryat Shmona. The IDF responded with
artillery fire toward Lebanese territory. In a
separate rocket attack Saturday morning, the IDF said that at least 25 launches
from Lebanon into Israel were detected after sirens were triggered in several
northern Israeli border towns. According to the army, there were no casualties
in the attack and Israeli forces were attacking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in
retaliation. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s public broadcaster
reported that Israel conducted a strike in the al-Nabatieh region of southern
Lebanon on Saturday morning. This was reportedly Israel's first attack in the
area since the Second Lebanon War in 2006. The strike, executed using drones,
involved the firing of two missiles at an aluminum production facility on the
Toul al-Kafour Road, leading to a fire at the site.
The Syrian opposition research institute Nors for Studies reported that an
aluminum factory allegedly attacked Saturday morning by Israel in the
al-Nabatieh area in southern Lebanon is owned by the Lebanese Tallaki Group,
affiliated with Hezbollah. The aluminum produced in Beirut, al-Nabatieh and
Syria is intended for export to Iran and facilitates the funding of Hezbollah's
activities through the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
The head of the orthopedic department at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City
said on Saturday that the IDF had issued an evacuation order for all staff and
patients at the hospital. The IDF denied the reports.
"At no point, did the IDF order the evacuation of patients or medical teams and
in fact proposed that any request for medical evacuation will be facilitated by
the IDF," a statement read.
Iraq's Kataeb Hezbollah says attacks aim to 'drain' US, sanctions 'ridiculous'
BAGHDAD (Reuters)/November 18, 2023
Iraq's Kataeb Hezbollah (KH) militia, a powerful armed faction with close ties
to Iran, brushed off U.S. sanctions on the group over attacks against U.S.
forces in Iraq and Syria and said on Saturday such strikes aimed to "drain the
enemy". The U.S. on Friday issued sanctions against several KH members and
against another Iran-backed Shiite militia and its secretary-general, accusing
them of being involved in attacks against the United States and its partners in
Iraq and Syria. The United States has blamed Iran and
militia groups it supports for the more than 60 attacks since mid-October as
regional tensions soar over the Israel-Hamas war, which began on Oct. 7. At
least 59 U.S. military personnel have been wounded in the attacks, though all
have returned to duty so far. A statement on Telegram
by Abu Ali Al-Askari, a security official in the group, on Saturday dismissed
the sanctions as "ridiculous," and said the measures would not affect the
group's operations. "Well-studied strikes by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq
against enemies, causing losses in their ranks and destroying vehicles or
confusing or distracting them, is going according to a strategy to drain the
enemy," the statement said. Among those linked to
Kataeb Hezbollah targeted on Friday are a member of the group's lead
decision-making body, its foreign affairs chief, and a military commander the
Treasury said has worked with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to train
fighters. The U.S. State Department also designated militia group Kata'ib Sayyid
al-Shuhada and its secretary general, Abu Ala al-Walai, as Specially Designated
Global Terrorists. In a statement posted on Telegram late on Friday, Walai
described the sanctions as "a medal of honour." The sanctions freeze any U.S.
assets of those targeted and generally bar Americans from dealing with them.
Those who engage in certain transactions with them also risk being hit with
sanctions. The United States has 900 troops in Syria, and 2,500 more in
neighboring Iraq, on a mission it says aims to advise and assist local forces
trying to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large
swaths of both countries but was later defeated. Militia groups in Iraq have
linked the recent attacks on U.S. bases to Washington's support for Israel in
its war on Gaza, and say the U.S. should cease backing Israel's assault if it
wants the attacks to stop.
Russia drone attack hits Ukraine infrastructure
LBCI/November 18, 2023
During an overnight attack, infrastructure facilities in Ukraine were targeted
by Russian drones, resulting in power outages in over 400 towns and villages in
the southern, southeastern, and northern regions of the country, as reported by
Ukrainian officials on Saturday.
UNRWA condemns 'horrific' bombing of UN schools in Gaza
LBCI/November 18, 2023
The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, condemned the "horrific"
airstrikes on the organization's schools in the Gaza Strip, which are sheltering
displaced individuals due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Scholz urges need to improve humanitarian situation in Gaza
LBCI/November 18, 2023
During a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasized the "urgent need to improve the
humanitarian situation" in the Gaza Strip.
‘Bring them home’: marching for days, families of Gaza hostages reach Jerusalem
AFP/November 18, 2023
JERUSALEM: Clutching photos of their missing loved ones, hundreds of relatives
of hostages snatched into Gaza on October 7 marched into Jerusalem on Saturday
to demand answers from the Israeli government. The
families, their faces etched with exhaustion and stress, were joined by
thousands of supporters on the march which set out Tuesday from the coastal city
of Tel Aviv, urging action to bring to the release of captives.
Since Hamas militants surged out of Gaza six weeks ago and, according to
Israeli officials, seized some 240 hostages, their families and friends have
waged a determined publicity campaign to secure their freedom.
“Bring them home now!” the marchers chanted as they walked into
Jerusalem, the seat of the Israeli government, many carrying placards with the
faces of the kidnapped. One of the posters read: “Mum
we’re waiting for you. Come back.”Many were draped in blue-and-white Israeli
flags as they walked the final stretch to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
office. The march was organized by Yuval Haran, whose
father was killed and mother kidnapped to Gaza along with six other family
members. Earlier this week, the Israeli army confirmed
finding the bodies of two hostages inside the bombarded Palestinian territory.
“We can’t lose any more people,” Haran told the marchers.
Relatives, who quickly formed the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in
the wake of the attacks, have consistently criticized the government for failing
to keep them informed, and say release efforts should be an absolute priority of
Israel’s military campaign.As they approached Netanyahu’s office, they stopped
briefly to release hundreds of yellow helium balloons into the sky, many
supporters in tears as they gazed into the sky. “I
want the government to bring them home to us,” said Dvora Cohen, 43, whose
brother-in-law and 12-year-old nephew and are both believed held in Gaza.
“I want the world to help us, I want the Red Cross to do its job, to go
into Gaza and see if they are alive, see what they need, if they are getting
medical help,” she told AFP. So far, the Red Cross has
not been able to meet with any of the hostages, Israel’s top diplomat Eli Cohen
said this week, and the families say they have had no news from the Israeli
government about negotiations to secure their release.
“We want answers,” said Ari Levi, 68, who had two family members taken by
Palestinian militants from Nir Oz, a kibbutz community near the Gaza border: his
cousin Ohad, 49, and Ohad’s 12-year-old son Eitan.
Eitan was seen in social media footage from the day of the attack thrown onto
the back of a motorbike and driven away by militants.
“It’s not normal to have children kidnapped for 43 days. We don’t know what the
government is doing, we don’t have any information,” Levi told AFP.
He said rumors which started circulating in recent days that the army had
found more bodies in Gaza have sent anxiety levels through the roof.
“As soon as there’s a rumor like that — how can we sleep? We don’t know
anything. Nobody (from the government) has spoken to us. They say: ‘Yes we’re
with you’, but they don’t give us any information,” he said.
The war began when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing
1,200 people, mostly civilians, Israeli officials say, and kidnapping around 240
others including Israelis and foreigners, women, children and elderly people.
Israel hit back with massive military assault which the Hamas-run
government says has killed 12,300 people in Gaza, mostly civilians.
Four of the hostages have been freed so far by Hamas and another, a
soldier, was rescued in an Israeli operation.
Diplomatic sources this week said Qatar-mediated negotiations were under way to
free some of the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel
and a temporary cease-fire.But the talks have so far yielded no result, and the
families say they have no idea what is being discussed.
“We want our government to make every effort to make a deal, to release
first the children, to do something,” said Levi, his words echoed by many in the
crowd. Michal, 48, who joined part of the march and
did not want to give her surname, said: “As a mother, I’d say if my son or my
daughter was there, even for two minutes, I would literally stop at nothing to
bring them home.”
The Latest English LCCC analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on November 18-19/2023
Biden Administration's $10 Billion Prize to Iran: Just A Small Thank You
for Engineering a War, Wounding 56 US Troops and Trying to Drive the US Out of
The Middle East.
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./November 18, 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/124429/124429/
From the Iranian regime's perspective, annihilating Israel and the Jews would
presumably be a major breakthrough, giving them a dominance over the Muslim
world, even greater than Saudi Arabia's.
The dedicated funds that this new $10 billion will release can now be used to
put the finishing touches on the mullahs' nuclear bomb – to threaten their Sunni
neighbors in the Gulf, Europe, and above all, "The Great Satan, the United
States. Iran's plans for cutting "The Great Satan" (and others) down to size are
already underway in Cuba and throughout South America. Earlier this month,
Israel helped Brazil thwart an attack by the Iran-backed terrorist group
Hizballah on Brazil's Jews.
Sadly, the $10 billion looks suspiciously like a "pretty please" bribe not to
try to drive the US out of the region this year [before the 2024 US election];
instead, wait for next year.
The solution is not to give Iran $10 billion as a prize for practicing extensive
regional aggression and engineering mass-murder. Real solutions would include
cutting the flow of funds by re-imposing -- and enforcing -- primary and
secondary sanctions; incapacitating the port from which Iran sends oil to China;
sending Ayatollah Khamenei and the leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRCG) pictures of their homes; making the ruling mullahs seriously aware
of military options, such as taking out the training bases and leadership of the
IRGC, and employing significant military force when required -- for instance
now.
From the Iranian regime's perspective, annihilating Israel and the Jews would
presumably be a major breakthrough, giving them a dominance over the Muslim
world, even greater than Saudi Arabia's.
Who needs the Nobel Peace Prize when you can have the Biden War Prize? That's
right, the Biden administration announced this week that it plans to give the
Iranian regime another $10 billion in unfrozen assets from Oman, apparently as a
small token of appreciation for launching a savage war in the Middle East and
targeting US troops in the region at least 56 times, wounding at least 56 US
servicemen, many with traumatic brain injury -- in just one month! Where does
everyone sign up?
The total number of attacks on US troops by the Iranian regime since US
President Joe Biden assumed office, is (so far) 139: 83 before March, 56 since.
This new $10 billion comes on top of the earlier "closer to $60 billion" it
already gave the regime by not enforcing sanctions against it.
One fairy tale making the rounds is that the funds will only be used for
"humanitarian purposes." As your pet cat knows, that just frees up other funds
that would have been used for humanitarian purposes to do anything else the
mullahs want– as they already announced about an earlier $6 billion deal that
was reportedly quietly scuttled "for now." The mullahs' priorities no doubt
include further funding their proxy militias -- a sophisticated example of
outsourcing other people to die for you. Their proxies include Hamas, Hizballah,
and the Houthis, all of which since October 7, been ganging up on Israel, while
the mullahs stay home and watch. If a million Palestinians and Israelis die in
the process, to the mullahs, at least it wasn't them. The dedicated funds that
this new $10 billion will release can now be used to put the finishing touches
on the mullahs' nuclear bomb – to threaten their Sunni neighbors in the Gulf,
Europe, and above all, "The Great Satan, the United States. Iran's plans for
cutting "The Great Satan" (and others) down to size are already underway in Cuba
and throughout South America. Earlier this month, Israel helped Brazil thwart an
attack by the Iran-backed terrorist group Hizballah on Brazil's Jews.
As Iranian dissident and Nobel Prize nominee Masih Alinejad reminded the world
this week, "...for the Islamic Republic, eliminating Israel is [a] humanitarian
cause!"
The Biden administration may be hoping to bribe Iran's mullahs not to rock the
Middle East further until after the US presidential election on November 5, 2024
– but so long as the West does not recognize the sad fact that payments,
concessions and appeasement have only emboldened the theocratic establishment of
Iran and its new allies, Russia and especially China, the mullahs will simply
feel more empowered -- and presumably act accordingly, if not on Biden's watch,
on that of the next president. The blackmail price for a short-term, fake peace
goes only one way: up.
The Iranian regime's organizations and the ministry of education have recently
been promoting in their schools a new practice that has now become compulsory:
"Hello Commander." Children are obliged to sing "Hello Commander! Sayyid Ali
[Khamenei] has called his children [to mobilize]!" and they say that they are
prepared to sacrifice their life for the "Commander". In response to this
propaganda, a tweet read: "In his last years, like all other dictators, Hitler
resorted to performance of a 'Hello Commander' song in schools to reassure his
supporters but this didn't save him from defeat because it was too late".
One of the Iranian regime's most non-negotiable and fundamental revolutionary
ideals is exporting its ideology and system of (Velayat e Faqih: Guardianship of
the Islamic Jurist) to other countries. The late founder of the Islamic
Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, introduced a revolutionary notion in
Islamic Shiite thought with the concept, which means an Islamic Shia clergy or
an ayatollah should have custodianship and power over the people across the
world, should rule over people and should be the final decision maker.
The regime calls this core mission, Jihad; it can be achieved only through hard
power and violence, never through peace and negotiations. As the Islamic
Republic's constitution points out: "The Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran
and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ... will be responsible not only for
guarding and preserving the frontiers of the country, but also for fulfilling
the ideological mission of jihad in God's way; that is, extending the
sovereignty of God's law throughout the world."
Ayatollah Khomeini repeated this important Islamic mission on several occasions.
He famously said, "We shall export our revolution to the whole world," he said.
"Until the cry there is no god but Allah resounds over the whole world, there
will be struggle." [Emphasis added.]
From the Iranian regime's perspective, annihilating Israel and the Jews would
presumably be a major breakthrough, giving them a dominance over the Muslim
world, even greater than Saudi Arabia's.
For the revolutionary regime of Iran, all that matters is the triumph of Islam.
"We do not worship Iran," stated the regime's current leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, "we worship Allah. For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say
let this land [Iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam
emerges triumphant in the rest of the world." "Islam," he added, "is politics or
it is nothing."
To achieve this revolutionary ideal of creating one nation under Islam, the
ruling mullahs believe that whoever does not obey them, including other Muslims,
is an infidel and must be eliminated. As Ayatollah Khomeini warned, "If one
permits an infidel to continue in his role as a corrupter of the earth, the
infidel's moral suffering will be all the worse. If one kills the infidel, and
this stops him from perpetrating his misdeeds, his death will be a blessing to
him." He adds, "All those against the revolution must disappear and quickly be
executed."
The regime's key mission is securely incorporated in Iran's current
constitution:
"The constitution provides the necessary basis for ensuring the continuation of
the revolution at home and abroad. In particular, in the development of
international relations, the constitution will strive with other Islamic and
popular movements to prepare the way for the formation of a single world
community."
Iran's predatory, radical regime, whose mission is to "Export the Revolution"
bring Islamist rule to the rest of the world by means of its military and terror
groups, will not stop its Jihad and alter its aims through appeasement. From the
regime's perspective, annihilating Israel and the Jews would be a major
breakthrough, giving them a dominance over the Muslim world, even greater, they
might expect, than Saudi Arabia's.
Sadly, the $10 billion looks suspiciously like a "pretty please" bribe not to
try to drive the US out of the region this year; instead, wait for next year.
In the 1930s, Britain pursued a policy of appeasing Hitler and Nazi Germany in
the hope of avoiding a war. To the contrary, as we know, that view only
empowered Germany to invade and attempt to take over other nations. The policy
of appeasement led to World War ll.
The solution is not to give Iran $10 billion as a prize for practicing extensive
regional aggression and engineering mass-murder. Real solutions would include
cutting the flow of funds by re-imposing -- and enforcing -- primary and
secondary sanctions; incapacitating the port from which Iran sends oil to China;
sending Ayatollah Khamenei and the leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRCG) pictures of their homes; making the ruling mullahs seriously aware
of military options, such as taking out the training bases and leadership of the
IRGC, and employing significant military force when required -- for instance
now.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated
scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and
president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has
authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at
Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
ÔÇÑá ÇáíÇÓ ÔÑÊæäí/ÇáÊÏãíÑ ÇáÅíÑÇäí æÍÑÈ ÇáÖÑæÑÉ æÂÝÇÞ ÇáÓáÇã
ÇáÅÓÑÇÆíáíÉ
Iranian Destructiveness, Israel’s War of Necessity and
Peace Prospects
Charles Elias Chartouni/November 18/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/124445/124445/
The unfolding war tragedies testify to a pattern of war criminality that
characterizes the Iranian politics of destabilization throughout the Middle
East. There isn’t a single country that was spared the destructive outcomes of
Iranian interventionism and its incidence on domestic and regional peace.
The Gaza war is one variant within the conflict spectrum extending between
Yemen, Gulf countries, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories.
This last episode does not depart from the standard conflict template which runs
on the interfaces between internal instability and imploded regional
geopolitics. The same conflict pattern reproduced throughout the Middle East and
its disastrous iterations. What’s appalling is the pliability of regional
countries to Iranian interventionism whose leverage owes mainly to the
well-coordinated destabilization strategy and the systemic weaknesses of an
imploded State order. The same volatility and lethality that defined the
above-listed conflicts are recapitulated in the ongoing conflict between Israel
and Gaza. The evolutions of the current conflict have yielded the following
features:
The conflict dynamics are structured on the intersection between internal and
external variables and cannot be defined away from their mutating
configurations. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict with its centennial legacy and
landmarking sequences is no novelty. However, the Jewish and Israeli
enterprising, despite its ambiguities, was never paralleled on the Palestinian
side. Palestinians have failed to build their moral and operational autonomy and
were constantly swayed by Muslim and Arab power politics. The Palestinian agenda
was never able to distance itself from the instrumentalization of competing
power politics. The Iranian sequence comes at the heels of a long list of power
contenders leveraging the Palestinian platform for their own sake. The very
short interludes of political emancipation were forfeited, when the PLO and its
Lebanese allies worked diligently on sapping the very foundations of Lebanese
Statehood and transformed their camps into extraterritorial enclaves utilized by
international terrorism and competing power axes during the hauled Lebanese
Civil War (1975-1990).
The nihilistic attack on South Israel on October 7, 2023, its flaunted genocidal
nature and disastrous fallouts were a downright declaration of war whose
calculated consequences were minutely pondered by the masterminding Iranian
strategists. The October 7th attack and its cohort of criminality leave no room
for mitigated responses since the security and the strategic and moral
credibility of the State of Israel are at stake, and the magnitude of the Pogrom
is reminiscent of the Holocaust and its gruesome legacy. The Hamas scenario is
no coincidence because it has been tested over time as a blueprint for terrorism
and political subversion all along different theaters. This is a conventional
political script adapted to the meandering idiosyncrasies of the Middle Eastern
landscape.
The choice of the battleground, with its demographic density, urban arcanes,
subterranean military ramps and the human shields strategy is a probed military
scheme amply enforced by guerillas and terrorist groups in asymmetric wars. The
high lethality scenario is an intrinsic part of the subversion plot since it is
readily instrumented in political warfare and antisemitic propaganda. The
volatility of the battlefield, its dire humanitarian costs and political
reverberations are weighing heavily on the ongoings of harsh urban warfare. The
balancing of strategic choices is not predicated on a pre-scripted scenario
despite the Israeli long-term scanning of the Gaza and South Lebanon military
theaters. The mounting civilian casualties, the rising international pressure,
the international and humanitarian law mandates and the simulations of Arab and
Muslim unity should be reckoned with while proceeding with the inevitable
battle. The humanitarian corridors and the relaxation of martial constraints are
meant to dampen civilian casualties, undo the human shields strategy and unravel
the panopticon carefully crafted by a well-worn terror strategy.
Israelis have no choice but to oversee the defeat of Hamas as an overriding
military and political objective while their room for maneuver is beset by
multiple hazards. The Palestinian National Authority has to overhaul itself and
prepare to take over the governance of Gaza as a springboard, to reengage Israel
on the very basis of a new negotiation based on moral reciprocity, mutual
acknowledgment and the trove of international resolutions and peace agreements
finalized between the two people (UN resolution 1947, Camp David 1978, Madrid
Conference 1991, Oslo Accords 1993-1995 and their derivatives, Wye Plantation
1995, Annapolis 2007, Arab Initiative-Beirut 2002, Abraham Accords 2020,
US-Saudi negotiations 2023) and a rich coexistence of 100 years.
The Riyadh Arab-Islamic Summit is a clever and opportune move on the Saudi side
to overcome the swelling anger, contain Iran’s destructive free-roaming and
reengage the United States and the transatlantic community in their endeavors to
reignite the peace process and set the path for a just and sustainable solution.
The very fact that Iran and Turkey joined the conference demonstrates their
tightening room for maneuver, their eagerness to be part of the forthcoming
diplomatic gambit and search for face-saving exits, the irrelevance of Russian
obstructionism and Chinese idle posturing and the fallacy of the bogus notion of
the Global South and its self-defeating contradictions.
Iran’s criminal attempt at backpedaling, reneging on a legacy of international
diplomacy and keeping the Palestinians on the rims of the international
community must end. Palestinians must shed their consecutive statuses as
prisoners of extraneous power politics and the subculture of nihilistic and
belligerent self-pitying that prevailed for decades within their various
constituencies. As for the Israelis, the challenge after this war is not only to
win but to move decisively on a consensual peace plan that puts an end to an
overdue conflict and its deleterious consequences. The Cassandra scenarios are
unwarranted and this whole criminal undertaking is going awry: Hamas is
foredoomed, the Arab countries that have peace treaties with Israel didn’t
backtrack, and the fraudulent scheme of conflict internationalization turned out
to be a self-fulfilling prophecy with no grounds whatsoever. The latest tragic
episode should invite serious examination on both sides and open up a new
horizon for a peaceful settlement.
Where is the world conscious?
Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor/Arab News/November 18/2023
The world was surprised on Nov. 7 by the statement of former US president Barack
Obama in an interview with the “Pod Save America” program about the war in Gaza,
where he said: “We have to admit that no one’s hands are clean from what is
happening (between Hamas and Israel), and that we are all complicit to some
extent.”
This coincided with another surprise; where a group of US Congress members
addressed a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken — despite their
support to the right of Israel in “self-defense” — stressing the importance of
delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the commitment of the Israeli
government to follow international laws in its military operations to prevent
further violence, and to pave the way for intensive diplomatic efforts to reach
a sustainable peace.
Good positions reflecting hope, but when we consider what is happening on the
ground, they remain just talk unaccompanied by action. The American saying “talk
is cheap” is suitable for a temporary title for the unconventional crisis of
violence we are living in.
In reality, “actions speak louder than words.” The positions of the West and the
US are resounding, and their absolute bias toward Israel is unashamed and
unhesitating.
One week following the Al-Aqsa Flood of Hamas on Oct. 7, the US sent two of the
largest and most powerful aircraft carriers in the world, USS Gerald R. Ford and
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, to provide assistance to its first ally, as Associated
Press agency described it. They were joined on Nov. 6 by a nuclear-powered
Ohio-class submarine capable of carrying nuclear warheads, as announced by US
Central Command on social media. These steps were followed by unprecedented
support from the West to Israel. Images from the video of UK Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak arriving in Israel on a military plane carrying weapons and
supporting equipment are still fresh in our mind.
Forty days after the start of the Israeli-led genocide against the Palestinians,
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed, during his recent visit to Tel Aviv on
Tuesday, that his country “has only one place, during the hard times in which
the Jewish state finds itself, and that is alongside Israel.”
We have this war of duality, that we have never seen the likes of before. It
even indicates the extent of the hidden fanaticism of some Westerners against
Arabs and Muslims. It has become a traditional model for winning votes, and even
an optional strategy in America that is employed by Donald Trump, Republican
candidate Ron DeSantis and others. They threaten to prevent Arabs and Muslims
from entering universities and banning them from entering the US.
The security situation in Palestine will fail to stabilize as long as its people
cannot live in dignity, independence and security.
As for Europeans, they are no less obstinate, as a number of Europeans football
players of Arab origin face waves of persecution for their sympathy with the
Palestinian people. The German team Mainz terminated the contract of its player
Anwar El-Ghazi because of his support for the people of Gaza. Politicians in
France called for Karim Benzema’s Ballon d’Or award and French citizenship to be
stripped. Where is the freedom of expression that Europeans and Americans both
call for? Does the West, which sanctifies this right, not believe that the
actions of its governments are now disgusting double standards?
The humanitarian catastrophe that we witness daily in Palestine adds more pain
to these positions in the West. Moreover, many cities and capitals are
witnessing distinguished electoral protests over the policies of their
governments and their absolute support for the actions of the Israeli
government. Does the “self-defense” argument that parties in the international
community use to support Israel also apply here?
The speech by Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, in which he said that a
nuclear strike on Gaza was a “possibility,” was widely condemned by the world.
However, Eliyahu would not have expressed these extremist and brutal statements
if he lacked confidence in gigantic Western support for his country until this
moment. What is the secret of Europe and the US’
“absolute support” for Israel? Have they become affected by historical guilt?
The decades-long campaign that Israel is leading against the Palestinian people
is as brutal as the Holocaust genocide against the Jews during World War II,
under the gaze and strange silence of the West. Chancellor Scholz explained his
country’s position by saying that “Germany’s history and the responsibility it
had for the Holocaust requires us to help maintain the security and existence of
Israel.” But should the Palestinians continue to pay the price for these sins?
We realize that Israel is the first ally of the US and the West and the
protector of its interests in the region, and we witness daily how the world
rises to action against anything that threatens Israel’s security. But no one
denies the existence of the Israeli state. Efforts are intensified daily to live
with Israel’s existence in peace. As the biggest losers in this region, are the
Palestinians forbidden from living in safety and stability in a state with an
independent entity? In the UN, 139 out of 193 member
states have recognized the Palestinian territories as a Palestinian state, while
the US, France and UK have refused to recognize a peaceful state of Palestine
until the conflict with Israel is resolved. Can we deal peacefully between the
two entities with this huge difference in power?The security situation in
Palestine will fail to stabilize as long as its people cannot live in dignity,
independence and security, and while their decision-making power is taken away
from them, and they are practically fighting a giant they cannot even force to
listen to their requests. In the face of this
imbalance between the parties, the US and the West are required to stop this
bloodshed, which has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. They must
supervise Palestinian elections that will result in a government of honest,
patriotic men capable of negotiating with Israel and reaching sustainable peace.
• 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.
How Russian troops are threatening EU expansion
Luke Coffey/Arab News/November 18/2023
The European Commission, the executive branch of the EU, has recommended that
accession talks for EU membership should start for Ukraine and Moldova, and that
Georgia should receive its long awaited EU candidate status. The European
Council is expected to vote to approve this next month, the beginning of what
will be a long but important process. All three states bring an added
complication to EU enlargement: the presence of Russian troops on their
territory.
Russia’s illegal military presence in Ukraine began in 2014. In November 2013,
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, under pressure from the Kremlin, failed
to sign an association agreement and free trade deal with the EU despite
promising to do so. Instead, he agreed to join the Russia- led Eurasian Economic
Union. The Ukrainian people felt betrayed and took to the streets. Months of
street demonstrations led to his removal in early 2014.
Russia responded by sending in unmarked troops to occupy Ukraine’s Crimean
peninsula under the pretext of “protecting the Russian people.” This was
followed by military meddling in eastern Ukraine. After eight years of low
intensity conflict, Russia carried out the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in
February 2022. Last summer, the EU offered candidacy status to Ukraine. This
month, accession talks started — exactly a decade after Yanukovych reneged on
his promise.
Russia’s military presence in Moldova is a legacy of the Soviet Union. When the
USSR was disintegrating, Moldova, at the time part of the Soviet Union, declared
independence. At the same time, the region of Transnistria, which is considered
by the international community to be a part of Moldova, tried declaring
independence. A war broke out between Moldova and the separatists in the early
1990s, with Russia backing the latter. In 1999, Russia agreed to remove all its
troops and weaponry from Moldova by the end of 2002 but never followed through.
Today, 2,000 Russian troops are still based in the breakaway region.
Since the 1990s, Moldova has swayed between pro-Russian and pro-European
governments. However, in recent years, elections have returned decisively
pro-European governments to office. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a
wakeup call for Moldova, and the government has since pursued closer relations
with Europe. Moldova was finally granted EU candidate status last year and will
soon begin accession talks with Brussels. After its
Rose Revolution 20 years ago this month, Georgia has pursued a policy of EU and
NATO memberships. In 2008, after NATO declared that Georgia would join the
alliance at some point without committing to a firm timeline, Russia sensed
indecision and invaded. After a brutal five-day war in August 2008, Russia
continues to occupy about 20 percent of Georgia’s territory.
Russia has developed and perfected a formula to keep its neighbors out of the EU
and NATO: invasion and partial occupation
Since the reemergence of nation states in Eastern Europe after the fall of the
Soviet Union, the enlargement process for the EU has become a topic of debate
across Europe. Some believe the EU enlarged too quickly in the years after the
Cold War, and without the proper institutional reforms needed to accommodate so
many new members.
For example, some policy issues, such as those relating to foreign affairs,
defense, and economic sanctions require unanimity among members before a
decision can be made. This means that just one country out of the 27 can block
major initiatives in foreign and defense policy. Some EU members have called on
this to be changed before new members are brought into the union.
In part, this is why the enlargement process has stalled and a new member
has not been added since Croatia joined in 2013. This is the longest period
without new members since the first round of enlargement in 1973.
There is also a major challenge related to security that is not discussed when
it comes to Ukraine, Moldova or Georgia joining the EU. One of the main reasons
they have not joined NATO is that each country has Russian troops occupying part
of their territory. Because of NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause, which
states that an attack on one is an attack on all, there is a concern that a
country joining NATO,while in a state of war or “frozen conflict” with Russia
would automatically drag the alliance into a war. The EU also has a mutual
defense clause in Article 42.7 of the Treaty of the European Union. The same
concerns about NATO’s Article 5 apply to that. So far there has been no
discussion on how to resolve this issue. Russia has
developed and perfected a formula to keep its neighbors out of the EU and NATO:
invasion and partial occupation. Russia’s actions toward Ukraine, Moldova, and
Georgia in recent years is a great example of this. Without any creative or bold
solution, it is unlikely that any of the three will join the EU while Russian
troops remain on their territory. Of course, Russia knows this.
In the case of Ukraine, the fastest and most direct way to get into the EU (and
NATO) will be a military victory expelling the Russian invaders. The US and
Europe should be arming Ukraine with this goal in mind. If this happens, it is
likely Russia would have little choice but to leave Moldova and Georgia too.
This would also pave the way for their EU (and NATO) membership.
This decision by the European Commission comes at a crucial time in
European security. While it will bring these three countries closer to EU
membership, it will probably be a long process. Russia will not allow it be
easy.
• Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.
France: A Tale of Two Demos
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/18 November 2023
A week after Paris witnessed a march in support of the “Palestinian cause” it
hosted another march, this time against anti-Semitism.
Ostensibly provoked by the ongoing war in Gaza the two marches may persuade the
French to take a closer look at the messages they convey and their impact on
French politics.
Despite denials by its organizers, the leftist and extreme left parties, the
first march, which took part on the right bank of the River Seine, was clearly
anti-Israel, at times with anti-Semitic undertones.
The second march, last Sunday, was organized by Senate President Gerard Larcher
and National Assembly Speaker Yaél Braun-Pivet, both on the right, who insisted
that it was not meant as a show of support for Israel’s war in Gaza but as a
defense of the republic.
Held on the left bank of the Seine, where French café intellectuals have been
discussing the fate of mankind for generations, Sunday’s march which we attended
as a reporter, attracted over 100,000 people, five times larger than the
pro-Palestine demo.
In his typical neither-nor style of centrism, President Emmanuel Macron decided
not to attend either demo, adopting Barack Obama’s style of “ leading from
behind.”
Sunday’s demo was more inclusive than the one on Saturday.
Several leftist figures attended along with two former presidents of the
republic, Francois Hollande and Nicholas Sarkozy, a dozen Cabinet ministers led
by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, and most members of the Senate and National
Assembly.
There were also many Muslim figures including imams of mosques who ignored the
“advice” of the Grand Mosque of Paris not to attend. The Grand Mosque announced
it would prefer a march “against all forms of racism including Islamophobia.”
Implicitly, it regards Judaism and Islam as racial entities rather than
religions. Representatives of other religions of
France, from Buddhism to Judaism and Catholicism, were present.
The hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon boycotted of the demo because it
included the leader of the far-right National Rally. Yet the same Melenchon had
welcomed Mme. Le Pen’s participation in a demo he attended against the reform of
pension laws earlier this year.
In what could be seen as secular fundamentalism, a few left-wing intellectuals
also boycotted the march because they saw Gaza as a war between two rival
religions.
Sunday’s demo included fewer of what the French call “visible minorities” but
more marchers from the provinces. There were also fewer semi-professional
marchers but more celebrities of all kinds. Like the Saturday demo, the one on
Sunday also included figures on a virtue-signaling exercise.
The marchers we talked to in both demos seemed unable to distinguish between
what is a geopolitical issue and what they imagine is a clash of civilizations.
Neither were they prepared to admit that anti-Semitism is an evil whose effects
go beyond transient issues such as the Gaza war or the Israel-Palestine
conflict.
Paralyzed by group-think they couldn’t conceive of a situation in which one may
have two victims hurting each other. To some of them as long as one side had a
legitimate grievance it mattered little how he tried to redress it.
Anti-Semitism has been and remains a live issue in France.
France was the first country to witness a concrete example of anti-Semitism at
the state level with the Dreyfus affair of 1894. In 1936 France signed an
agreement with Nazi Germany that paved the way for later collaboration under
occupation, a collaboration that included arresting thousands of Jews for
deportation to forced labor and eventually death camps in the Nazi empire.
Since then hardly a year has passed in France without some anti-Semitic action
hitting the headlines. Little of that history is related to the Israel-Palestine
issue, although in recent years it has been used by neo-Nazi and/or anti-Israel
activists as an excuse.
The bulk of the French anti-Semitic constituency, as exemplified by the French
Action group, consists of individuals and groups that hate Arabs, Muslims, and
Jews, not to mention blacks, single mothers, and LGBTQ+ people.
The Gaza war has provoked a rise in the number of anti-Semitic incidents, at the
time of this writing over 1300 in a month.
Anti-Semitism isn’t a byproduct of the Israel-Palestine conflict; it is an evil
in its own right and a threat to what even the politically correct Macron says
he upholds as “values of our civilization.”
Some apologists have tried to belittle the threat by presenting anti-Semitism as
another form of altrophobia, or fear of the other and, implicitly at least, a
reaffirmation of sameness or national unity.
That, however, amounts to gift-wrapping raw hatred into a Hegelian
package-intellectual aesthetics trumping ethics.
Paralyzed by petty political postures the United Nations has not only failed to
define anti-Semitism as a threat to “universal values” but has allowed some
members to include anti-Semitic tropes in their discourse.
To think that anti-Semitism concerns only Jews is to miss the point.
You don’t have to be pro-Israel to oppose anti-Semitism. There are some
Christian fundamentalists who are pro-Israel but anti-Semite; just as there are
Jewish sects that are anti-Israel but, obviously, not anti-Semite
Anti-Semitism challenges the fundamentals of what one may call modern
civilization.
It denies the existence of human beings as individuals with inalienable rights
beyond religious, ethnic, racial, and other backgrounds. It dissolves the
concept of citizenship as the basis of the relationship between the individual
and the state.
Anti-Semitism also violates the principle under which guilt by association and
collective punishment could not be accepted. Worse still it rejects the
principle of innocence until proven guilty by a court of one’s peers, thus
sapping the roots of civilized legal systems.
Anti-Semitism reaffirms the barbarian notion of imagined inherited sin under
which, as T.S. Eliot put it, the blood of children must be spilled to atone for
the father’s guilt. It returns us to the ancient Greek concept of the scapegoat
as a symbol of collective sin whose sacrifice purges society and triggers a new
beginning. Christianity destroyed that concept through the rival concept of the
innocent scapegoat.
Sunday’s demo was the largest in France since 1990 and the first to specifically
reject anti-Semitism. National Assembly Speaker Braun-Pivet says the demo was
meant to show that a silent majority exists and sees anti-Semitism as a threat
to the French Republic. She is right.
Sunday’s demo was a good start in treating it as what it is: an evil that
threatens all of us.