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
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شارل الياس شرتوني/التدمير الإيراني وحرب الضرورة وآفاق السلام الإسرائيلية
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.