Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 25-26/2023
British embassy calls for capitalizing on yesterday's calm on Blue Line
Lebanon-Israel border sees low-intensity violations of unofficial truce
'Extension or appointment': Berri says no other options for army chief crisis
UN peacekeeping patrol hit by Israeli gunfire in southern Lebanon
UN force in Lebanon voices concern over exchange of fire along Lebanese-Israeli borders
Lebanon's Foreign Ministry thanks the European Commission for its continued commitment to alleviating the suffering of the poorest social segments
Bou Habib concludes Brussels visit by meeting with Lenarcic, heads to Barcelona to partake in Mediterranean Union Conference
Al-Rahi reviews final legal stage in Patriarch Estephan Al-Duwaihi's beatification file
Foreign Affairs Ministry welcomes EU's decision to aid vulnerable populations with 15 million euros
Al-Makary participates in the opening of International Strategic Communication Summit in Istanbul, visits TRT Television and State Presidential...
Israeli army: Air defenses intercepted suspicious air target infiltrated from Lebanon
Erdogan meets Mikati in Turkey
Jumblatt contacts Raad, offering condolences on the martyrdom of his son
The 16 Days of Activism Campaign against Gender-Based Violence kicks off in Lebanon as the violence increases amid the current multi-layered crisis

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 25-26/2023
BBC Arabic report ‘minimises Hamas atrocities’ included in English version
Israel releases 39 Palestinian prisoners under hostage deal
Hamas is set to release 14 Israeli hostages for 42 Israel-held Palestinians in a second truce swap
Israeli Channel 12: Israel threatens to resume its operations if the hostages are not released by midnight
Iran announces contribution to mediation role in Thai nationals' release in Gaza
Second batch of Israeli prisoners handed over: Hamas source
Presidential file: Qatar's special envoy discusses Lebanese presidential crisis in recent Beirut visit
Hamas delays second hostage release until Israel lets aid into northern Gaza
Palestinian families rejoice over release of minors and women in wartime prisoner swap
Gaza truce enters 2nd day with more hostages to be swapped and vital supplies delivered
Israeli-owned ship hit by suspected Iranian attack in Indian Ocean
Israeli cargo ship hit in attack by Iranian kamikaze drone
Palestinians in Gaza use truce to pick through rubble of homes
Relief as latest set of Hamas hostages released
Israel's liberal use of large US-made bombs accounts for the high civilian casualty toll in Gaza, military experts say: 'It's beyond anything that I've seen in my career'
An Israeli-owned ship was targeted in suspected Iranian attack in Indian Ocean, US official tells AP
Iran says it facilitated Friday's release of 10 Thai hostages
At least 9 people killed in Syrian government shelling of a rebel-held village, the opposition says
China says US destroyer entered its territorial waters without permission
Israel's Palestinian prisoner release a 'window of hope' in West Bank
Egypt president says future Palestinian state could be demilitarised
Palestinian militants kill 2 alleged informers for Israel and mob drags bodies through camp alleys
Pope Francis cancels his activities due to a mild cold
Authorities identify husband and wife killed in a car explosion at US-Canadian border. Here’s what we know about the case
Iran unveils new hypersonic missile ‘capable of beating Israeli defenses’

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 25-26/2023
Opinion/Hamas has just won a major victory over Israel/John Bolton/The Telegraph/November 24, 2023
Iran's Other Willing Accomplice: The European Union/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./November 25, 2023
EU renews its global green leadership with Canada deal/Andrew Hammond/Arab News/November 25, 2023
EU is doubling down on failed migration policies/Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/November 25, 2023
Israeli society has become more hawkish, which is bad news for peace/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/November 25, 2023
Rousing the sleeping giant of climate philanthropy/Badr Jafar/Arab News/November 25, 2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 25-26/2023
British embassy calls for capitalizing on yesterday's calm on Blue Line
Naharnet/November 25, 2023 
The British embassy in Lebanon on Saturday said that "the UK echoes UNIFIL's call for a cessation of hostilities across the Blue Line and for renewed commitment to implementing U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.""Yesterday's calm on the Blue Line offers a chance to refocus on the long term solution for peace," the embassy said in a post on the X platform, formerly Twitter, while reposting a message from UNIFIL's commander.

Lebanon-Israel border sees low-intensity violations of unofficial truce
Naharnet/November 25, 2023
The Israeli army said Saturday that it shot down a surface-to-air missile launched from Lebanese territory at an Israeli military drone. "The drone was not damaged and continued its mission. The missile did not cross into Israeli territory and no alerts were triggered according to policy," the Israeli army added. "In response to the launch, fighter jets of the Air Force attacked a terrorist infrastructure of the Hezbollah terrorist organization a short time ago," the Israeli army said. There were no reports in Lebanon about an Israeli attack on a Hezbollah site but the National News Agency and al-Manar TV reported the explosion of an Israeli interceptor missile that echoed across south Lebanon. A citizen from Kfarkila meanwhile narrowly escaped unharmed after Israeli forces fired five gunshots at his Renault Rapid car on Saturday afternoon. Israeli forces also fired in the air to scare farmers working in their land in the Hounin Valley. Alert sirens meanwhile wailed in northern Israel as the Israeli army said it intercepted a "suspicious aerial target" that allegedly crossed from Lebanon. The Lebanon-Israel border area did not witness any incidents throughout Friday as a four-day truce began in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Hezbollah is not party to the truce agreement but its sources said that the group would abide by the Gaza ceasefire. Lebanese citizens had cautiously started returning to their conflict-hit border towns on Friday. Since October 8, Israeli bombardment has killed more than 100 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters.

'Extension or appointment': Berri says no other options for army chief crisis
Naharnet/November 25, 2023
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri will call for a legislative session next month, during which parliament would discuss extending the term of Army chief General Joseph Aoun, ahead of his planned retirement in January. "I will call for a session during the first half of December," Berri told al-Jadeed TV, assuring that there are only two options, either the extension of Aoun's term or the appointment of a new army chief. "There is no third option and no assignment (of the highest ranking officer)." Berri had hoped for the extension to take place in Cabinet, but promised the Lebanese Forces in a meeting that he would discuss Aoun's term extension in parliament if Cabinet fails to take this step before the end of this month. "If the Lebanese Forces MPs fail to attend it, they'd be contradicting themselves," Berri said, adding that the problem is inter-Christian, as the Free Patriotic Movement refuses the extension of Aoun's term and prefers appointing a new army chief, while the LF party is pushing for the extension. "They get upset with me when I say that the problem is inter-Christian," he sarcastically went on to say.

UN peacekeeping patrol hit by Israeli gunfire in southern Lebanon
Beirut/Jerusalem/(EFE)/November 25, 2023
Israeli Army gunfire hit a United Nations peacekeeping mission patrol in the south of the country on Saturday, the UN agency said, although there were no casualties. “Today at around 12 p.m., a (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) UNIFIL patrol was hit by IDF gunfire in the vicinity of Aitaroun in southern Lebanon,” the agency wrote on the social media app X, formerly Twitter. “No peacekeepers were injured, but the vehicle was damaged. This incident occurred during a period of relative calm along the Blue Line.”The incident occurred in al-Adaysseh, near Marjaayoun, in southern Lebanon, when the UNIFIL patrol was conducting a routine mission. “The attack on peacekeepers, dedicated to reducing tensions and restoring stability in south Lebanon, is deeply troubling, the UN peacekeeping force said. “We condemn this act and underscore the parties’ responsibility to safeguard peacekeepers, preventing unnecessary risks to those striving to establish stability.”The force reminded the parties of their obligations to protect peacekeepers and avoid putting the men and women working to restore stability at risk. The incident comes amid tensions along the border between Lebanon and Israel and after the Israeli military detected an infiltration attempt by a Lebanese group on Wednesday night, prompting the army to launch an operation to thwart it. Israel’s military operation caused a large-scale fire to break out on the Lebanese side near the border, where the Lebanese army also deployed units. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Defense Minister Albert Serhan called the incident a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and Lebanese sovereignty, calling for restraint to prevent any escalation. UNIFIL, deployed along the border between Lebanon and Israel since 1978, aims to prevent the return of hostilities between the two countries. The situation along the border has been tense in recent months, with multiple incidents, including the exchange of fire and cross-border drone flights. UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander LTG Lazaro Friday urged those exchanging fire along the Blue Line to halt the “cycle of violence, strongly reminding everyone that any further escalation could have devastating consequences.”

UN force in Lebanon voices concern over exchange of fire along Lebanese-Israeli borders
NNA /November 24, 2023
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Friday voiced concern over the ongoing exchange of fire between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah group. "I am concerned by the ongoing intensification of the exchanges of fire along the Blue Line that has already claimed too many lives, caused significant damage, and jeopardized livelihoods," Aroldo Lazaro, the head of UNIFIL, said in a statement. The Blue Line is the line set by the UN for the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from Lebanon in 2000. He urged both parties to halt the exchange of fire in order to end what he described as "cycle of violence" across the borderline areas. "Any further escalation in Southern Lebanon could have devastating consequences," he added. The UNIFIL head called on the Israeli and Lebanese sides to abide by the UN Security Council resolution 1701, and to address "underlying causes of conflict."
Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006. The border tension comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The four-day humanitarian pause between the Israeli army and Palestinian group Hamas came into effect on Friday morning in all areas of the Gaza Strip, temporarily stopping attacks for prisoner exchange and aid. Hezbollah said Wednesday that it would abide by the four-day humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas in Gaza even though it was not part of the deal. --- AA

Lebanon's Foreign Ministry thanks the European Commission for its continued commitment to alleviating the suffering of the poorest social segments
NNA/November 24, 2023
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, on Saturday, greatly welcomed the decision of the European Union, represented by Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic, to transfer an additional amount of 15 million euros to help the most needy Lebanese and displaced Syrians, following Lenarcic's meeting with Minister Bou Habib in Brussels yesterday. In an issued statement, the Ministry thanked the European Commission for its “continued commitment to alleviate the suffering of the most underprivileged social segments,” and hoped for “the continuation of dialogue and cooperation to reach sustainable solutions aimed at the safe and rapid return of displaced Syrians to their homes.”

Bou Habib concludes Brussels visit by meeting with Lenarcic, heads to Barcelona to partake in Mediterranean Union Conference
NNA/November 24, 2023
Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Abdallah Bou Habib, concluded his visit to Brussels by meeting with the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic. Both Bou Habib and Lenarcic discussed the issue of Syrian refugees, agreeing that humanitarian aid to the displaced cannot be linked to their residence outside their home country, as they also need assistance to be able to return and restore stability in their homes. Following his visit to Brussels, Bou Habib is scheduled to visit Barcelona to hold meetings with a group of foreign ministers, on the sidelines of participating in the work of the Union for the Mediterranean Conference devoted to the issue of Gaza.

Al-Rahi reviews final legal stage in Patriarch Estephan Al-Duwaihi's beatification file
NNA/November 24, 2023
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi, received today representatives of the Foundation of the Honorable Patriarch Estephan Al-Duwaihi, who briefed him on the final legal stage of the process towards his beatification as the dossier will be submitted and discussed at the Congregation of Saints in Rome in February 2024. As per Al-Rahi's guiding instructions, emphasis was placed on making the new year 2024 the year of the end of the legal stage and the beginning of preparations for the process of beatification of the honorable Patriarch Estephan Al-Duwaihy.
The petitioner for the beatification also focused on “intensifying the prayers so that the Lord may bless us with a great celebration that the Church of Lebanon and the East deserves, through the prayers of the honorable, Patriarch Estephan Al-Duwaihi."

Foreign Affairs Ministry welcomes EU's decision to aid vulnerable populations with 15 million euros
LBCI/November 24, 2023
The Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ministry expressed relief and satisfaction regarding the decision of the European Union, represented by Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič, to allocate an additional amount of 15 million euros to assist the most vulnerable individuals among the Lebanese and Syrian displaced, following his meeting with Minister Abdallah Bou Habib on Friday. In a statement, the ministry thanked the European Commission for "continuing its commitment to alleviate the suffering of the most economically disadvantaged social groups" and hoped for "the continued dialogue and cooperation to reach sustainable solutions aimed at the safe and speedy return of Syrian refugees to their homes."

Al-Makary participates in the opening of International Strategic Communication Summit in Istanbul, visits TRT Television and State Presidential...
NNA/November 24, 2023
Caretaker Minister of Information Ziad Al-Makary, participated in the opening of the International Strategic Communication Summit “Stratcom” in Istanbul, along with the Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the media official in the Turkish Presidency, Fakhr al-Din Altun, and two Turkish officials, in addition to the Lebanese Consul in Istanbul, Mazen Kabbara. The opening session included a video message sent by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the summit and another message from the Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, Melissa Fleming. Minister Al-Makary delivered a speech at the beginning of the second day of the summit in which he condemned “Israel’s killing of Lebanese journalists in the south,” calling for “reducing hate speech and fake news by involving youth, technology, social media, and politicians as well in this process.” In this context, the Minister visited the headquarters of TRT Television, where he was received by the Deputy Director General of the TRT Arabi Network, Omar Farouk Tanriverdi, the Director of TRT Arabi Channel, Ibrahim Kilic, and News Director, Firas Naseer. During the meeting, the minister discussed with conferees the possibility of cooperation at the media level. The Minister of Information toured the center of the Presidential State Archives Directorate, where he was briefed on the Ottoman archives, and touched on the issue of organizing joint exhibitions related to the audiovisual archives within the framework of valuing the archives of the Ministry of Information and Lebanon Television.

Israeli army: Air defenses intercepted suspicious air target infiltrated from Lebanon
LBCI/November 24, 2023
The Israeli army announced on Saturday that its air defenses intercepted a suspicious aerial target that infiltrated from Lebanon.

Erdogan meets Mikati in Turkey
LBCI/November 24, 2023
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Office of the Presidency of the Republic at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul on Saturday.

Jumblatt contacts Raad, offering condolences on the martyrdom of his son
NNA/November 24, 2023
Former Progressive Socialist Party Chief, Walid Jumblatt, made a call this morning to the head of the “Loyalty to the Resistance” parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, offering condolences on the martyrdom of his son, Abbas Raad, as a result of the Israeli aggression targeting southern Lebanon. He also paid trubute to the souls of all the martyrs who died since the beginning of the aggression. Jumblatt, who consulted yesterday with the Russian President's Special Envoy to the Middle East and North Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, conveyed to MP Raad his deepest condolences and sympathy over the martyrdom of Abbas Raad.

The 16 Days of Activism Campaign against Gender-Based Violence kicks off in Lebanon as the violence increases amid the current multi-layered crisis
NNA/November 24, 2023
Beirut, 25 November 2023 – "The United Nations (UN) system in Lebanon in partnership with the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) have come together to kick off the international campaign on 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence to galvanize efforts to prevent and ultimately end the scourge of violence against women and girls, which is escalating amid the current multi-layered crisis. The campaign runs from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, until 10 December, International Human Rights Day.
Violence against women and girls remains one of the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violations in the world. Globally, an estimated 736 million women – almost one in three – have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their life.[3] There are many different forms of violence against women—physical, sexual, psychological and economic. Violence against women has far-reaching consequences for women, their children, and society as a whole. Women who are subjected to gender-based violence suffer a range of health problems, and their ability to earn a living and to participate in public life is diminished. Their children are significantly more at risk of health problems, poor school performance and behavioral disturbances.
In Lebanon, women and girls are increasingly facing gender-based violence (GBV) at home, at work and in the public sphere. In 2020, 43 per cent of women and 30 per cent of men reported witnessing violence or knowing a woman who had experienced violence[4]. Preventing violence against women and girls requires long-term, concerted efforts and a multidisciplinary approach that includes raising awareness on the negative consequences of violence against women; addressing the root causes of the problem by changing discriminatory social norms and gender stereotypes through the engagement of all of society; empowering women and girls in the economic, political and social spheres to enhance their resources and skills and strengthening access to justice for women and girls survivors of violence and ending impunity for perpetrators of violence against women and girls.
This year, the UN, Gender Working Group (GWG), Gender-Based Violence Working Group (GBV WG) and NCLW are propelling the global campaign with a national call to action to address the increased risks of gender-based violence, including in times of crisis. Based on the global theme, UNiTE! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls, it focuses on the importance of financing strategies to stop violence from occurring in the first place.
“This global initiative serves as a powerful reminder that it is our duty to come together and cultivate a safer, more inclusive world for everyone. We are steadfast in our conviction that no individual should ever experience violence or discrimination based on their gender. We are committed to tirelessly working at all levels to guarantee that each woman and girl has the chance to live a life devoid of fear and to never give up in our battle against violence. By joining forces, we can forge a future where hope prevails over despair, and where compassion and unity lay the foundation for a world where every person is cherished and esteemed,” said Claudine Aoun, President of the National Commission for Lebanese Women.
Bearing in mind that GBV services are lifesaving in situations of peace and even more so in times of crisis, the campaign will raise awareness of the struggles of women and girls in these challenging times and draw attention to how the Government of Lebanon and donors can ensure that gender-based violence is prioritized in annual and multi-year planning and funding.
“Gender-based violence is not only a human rights violation but is also damaging to society as a whole,” said UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka. “As Lebanon faces multiple crises, most recently the risk of conflict, women and girls have the right to be safe and protected. Women should also be empowered to use their full potential and to play leading roles in contributing to their country’s wellbeing, peace and security and sustainable development.”
Coordinated by UN Women, the campaign includes social media messaging over the course of the 16 days, with the #NoExcuse and #وقفة_لوقف_العنف hashtags, which aims at drawing attention to the needs of women and girls in all their diversity. The campaign’s main visual will be hanged up on NCLW’s building façade, throughout the 16 days.
The campaign will include a video featuring international Lebanese artist Abeer Nehme and news anchor and university professor Yazbek Wehbe and social media posts calling on national institutions, humanitarian partners and policymakers to prioritize gender and GBV risk-mitigation strategies in ongoing emergency planning and preparedness. It also asks for the support of community leaders and all women, men and girls in advocating for the protection of women and girls from violence, at all times, including in times of conflict and crises.
"As we continue to advocate for peace in these difficult times, we also prioritize gender-based violence in our ongoing emergency preparedness and response plans to help prevent and curb the deliberate violence against women and girls in these times of distress and heightened vulnerability” commented Imran Riza, United Nations Deputy Special Coordinator, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon. “Throughout these 16 days of activism, we call for increased investment in the prevention and protection of women and girls from the scourge of violence. This is crucial to help forge a path where every woman and girl can live free from fear, discrimination, and violence," he stated. The international 16 Days of Activism against GBV campaign originated from the 1991 first Women’s Global Leadership Institute as a means to raise awareness and increase momentum to ending violence against women and girls worldwide. The UNITE to End Violence against Women initiative, launched in 2008 under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General, supports the civil-society-led 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign around the world.
*Press Release - United Nations Information Centre Beirut

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 25-26/2023
BBC Arabic report ‘minimises Hamas atrocities’ included in English version
Patrick Sawer/The Telegraph/November 25, 2023
A BBC journalist has been accused of minimising the Oct 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel in an Arabic-language report that differs greatly from the English version.
Feras Kilani, BBC Arabic’s special correspondent, wrote an English and an Arabic version of an interview with senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk, which contained widely differing accounts of the massacre of 1,400 Israelis by the group’s gunmen. In the interview, published online by BBC News Arabic, Marzouk denied that civilians had been targeted on Oct 7. But while in the English version of the interview Mr Kilani laid out evidence gathered by the BBC and other media outlets showing that Hamas had killed and kidnapped civilians, this was barely mentioned in the Arabic version. In one passage, the English version of the online article states that “a senior Hamas leader has refused to acknowledge that his group killed civilians in Israel, claiming only conscripts were targeted”. It goes on to say that Moussa Abu Marzouk told the BBC that “women, children and civilians were exempt” from Hamas’s attacks, adding: “His claims are in stark contrast to the wealth of evidence of Hamas men shooting unarmed adults and children. The proof includes video from Hamas body cameras and first-hand testimony given to international news networks.”However, the Arabic version of the same passage states merely that “a senior Hamas leader has insisted that his group did not kill civilians in Israel, stressing only conscripts were targeted”. Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk denied that civilians had been targeted on Oct 7 Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk denied that civilians had been targeted on Oct 7 - Kyodo/Newscom/Avalon. While Mr Kilani reports as a claim by Israel that “more than 1,400 people were killed by Hamas in the 7 October attacks, most of them civilians” in the Arabic version, he fails to refer to the “wealth of evidence” gathered independently that Hamas shot civilians, which he mentioned in the English version. The Arabic version also goes on to describe what happened on Oct 7 as the “operation carried out by the movement”. Further on in the English article, Mr Kilani writes “a huge body of evidence has been gathered which documents the range of bloody acts committed by Hamas in Israel on 7 October. “BBC journalists went to the scene of the attacks in their immediate aftermath and saw the bodies of civilians who had been killed. “We have also verified CCTV footage which captured shootings by Hamas. Separately, footage from Hamas body cameras has been shown to the BBC and other journalists by the Israeli government.
“Other international news organisations have also pieced together, and verified, evidence of what happened on the day. “The BBC challenged Mr Marzouk on this, but the leader, whose polished, measured manner during the interview sometimes slipped into irritation, did not answer the question directly.”But this entire passage has been omitted from the Arabic version, which states only that “the BBC challenged Mr Marzouk on the video segments recorded by the body cameras of Hamas warriors, which show firing at unarmed civilians in their cars and homes but the leader did not answer the question directly”.
Headlines differ markedly
The headlines to the two versions also differ markedly, with the English version stating “Hamas leader refuses to acknowledge killing of civilians in Israel”, while the Arabic version reads “Musa Abu Marzouk to BBC: Hamas did not kill civilians in Israel”. The Arabic version of the BBC article was translated for The Telegraph by two separate sources. Jewish and media campaign groups have said that the differing treatment of the interview undermined the BBC’s claim of accurate and impartial journalism. A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The allegation that the BBC is giving different accounts to English speakers and Arabic speakers is extremely serious. The BBC must immediately investigate and provide answers. BBC Arabic risks becoming more of a propaganda outlet than a news service.” Camera Arabic, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, said: “The BBC’s Arabic-speaking audience deserves a better news product than it currently gets, with hard truths, crucial context and impartial terminology regularly spared from it while kept available in English, in an evident BBC Arabic attempt to cater for Hamas fans.”Mr Kilani, 47, began his journalism career in 1995, as a documentary maker with Syrian state TV, before joining Al-Bayan in the United Arab Emirates and then moving to BBC World Service in 2009. A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC operates in 43 languages and our reports are not simply translations of each other but will often differ based on contextual factors such as the knowledge base of each audience, and the other stories or interviews we have published on the subject. “The articles you highlight, published three weeks ago, have both been through our robust editorial processes.”

Israel releases 39 Palestinian prisoners under hostage deal
Brad Dress/Reuters/Fri, November 24, 2023
Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners Friday as part of the first round of exchanges with Hamas, which had earlier freed hostages from Israel, Thailand and the Philippines. The Foreign Ministry of Qatar, which mediated the negotiations on the deal to release detainees, has confirmed the 39 Palestinian prisoners were released Friday. The Palestinians were sent home at around the same time as the 24 hostages held by Hamas crossed into Egypt and then into Israel on Friday. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which is transferring both Israeli and Palestinian prisoners and hostages, said so far 33 Palestinian detainees from the Israeli-run Ofer Prison have arrived in Ramallah, the de facto capitol of the West Bank. The exchange Friday is the first part of what is expected to be the release of a total of 50 hostages held by Hamas and 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jail over four days. Over that period, there will also be a temporary pause in the fighting and the flow of more humanitarian aid into besieged Gaza. The Palestinian prisoners freed Friday were women and children, which Hamas had asked to be released in the first batch. Videos circulating on social media have shown some of the prisoners being greeted by family, friends and supporters. Hamas in turn has released 13 Israeli citizens, 10 Thai and one Filipino, according to Qatar and Israeli authorities. The hostages held by Hamas were safely transferred to Israel and inspected at hospitals without any serious injuries, according to Israel, and they are returning home to their families. Hamas kidnapped around 240 hostages when it launched a deadly surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 Israelis. Israel has faced immense pressure at home to find a way to bring the hostages home and the deal was worked out over weeks of intense negotiations, with the help of the U.S. and Egypt. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

Hamas is set to release 14 Israeli hostages for 42 Israel-held Palestinians in a second truce swap
Sat, November 25, 2023 at 6:41 a.m. EST
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Egyptian officials said Hamas was preparing to release 14 Israeli hostages Saturday for 42 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, as part of an exchange on the second day of a cease-fire that has allowed critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and given civilians their first respite after seven weeks of war. On the first day of the four-day cease-fire, Hamas released 24 of the about 240 hostages taken during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison. Those freed from captivity in Gaza were 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and a Filipino. On Saturday, Hamas provided mediators Egypt and Qatar with a list of 14 hostages to be released, and the list has been passed along to Israel, according to a Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to talk about details of the ongoing negotiations. A second Egyptian official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the details. Under the truce agreement, Hamas will release one Israeli hostage for every three prisoners freed, and Israel's Prison Service had already said earlier Saturday it was preparing 42 prisoners for release.
It was not immediately clear how many non-Israeli captives may also be released. Overall, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israeli hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners during the four-day truce, all woman and minors. Israel has said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed — something United States President Joe Biden said he hoped would come to pass. Separately, a Qatari delegation arrived in Israel on Saturday to coordinate with parties on the ground and “ensure the deal continues to move smoothly,” according to a diplomat briefed on the visit. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to do discuss details with the media. The start of the truce Friday morning brought the first quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians reeling and desperate from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and leveled residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel went silent as well.
For Emad Abu Hajer, a resident of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza City area, the pause meant he could again dig through the rubble of his home, which was flattened in an Israeli attack last week. He found the bodies of a cousin and nephew Friday, bring the death toll in the attack to 19. With his sister and two other relatives still missing, he resumed his digging Saturday. “We want to find them and bury them in dignity,” he said. The United Nations said the pause enabled it to scale up the delivery of food, water, and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of humanitarian aid convoys on Oct. 21. It was also able to deliver 129,000 liters (34,078 gallons) of fuel — just over 10% of the daily pre-war volume — as well as cooking gas, a first time since the war began. In the southern city of Khan Younis on Saturday, a long line of people with gas cans and other containers waited outside a filling station hoping to get some of the newly delivered fuel. As he waited for fuel, Hossam Fayad lamented that the pause in fighting was only for four days. “I wish it could be extended until people's conditions improved,” he said. For the first time in over a month, aid reached northern Gaza, the focus of Israel's ground offensive. The Palestinian Red Crescent said 61 trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies headed to northern Gaza on Saturday, the largest aid convoy to reach the area since the start of the war. The U.N. said it and the Palestinian Red Crescent were also able to evacuate 40 patients and family members from a hospital in Gaza City, where much of the fighting has taken place, to a hospital in Khan Younis. The relief brought by the cease-fire has been tempered, however, for both sides — among Israelis by the fact that not all hostages will be freed and among Palestinians by the brevity of the pause. The short truce leaves Gaza mired in humanitarian crisis and under the threat that fighting could soon resume. Amal Abu Awada, a 40-year-old widow who fled a Gaza City-area camp for Khan Younis with her three children earlier in November, ventured out Friday to a U.N. facility looking for food and water, but said there was none available.“We went back empty handed,” she said. “But at least there are no bombs, and we can try again.”
FIRST HOSTAGES FREED
After nightfall Friday, a line of ambulances emerged from Gaza through the Rafah Crossing into Egypt carrying the freed hostages. The freed Israelis included nine women and four children 9 and under. The released hostages were taken to three Israeli hospitals for observation. The Schneider Children’s Medical Center said it was treating eight Israelis — four children and four women — and that all appeared to be in good physical condition. The center said they were also receiving psychological treatment, adding that “these are sensitive moments” for the families. At a plaza dubbed “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv, a crowd of Israelis celebrated at the news. The hostages included multiple generations. Nine-year-old Ohad Munder-Zichri was freed along with his mother, Keren Munder, and grandmother, Ruti Munder. The fourth-grader was abducted during a holiday visit to his grandparents at the kibbutz where about 80 people — nearly a quarter of all residents of the small community — are believed to have been taken from. The plight of the hostages has raised anger among some families that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to bring them home. Hours later, 24 Palestinian women and 15 teenage boys held in Israeli prisons in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem were freed. In the West Bank town of Beitunia, hundreds of Palestinians poured out of their homes to celebrate, honking horns and setting off fireworks that lit up the night sky. The teenagers had been jailed for minor offenses like throwing stones. The women included several convicted of trying to stab Israeli soldiers, and others who had been arrested at checkpoints in the West Bank. According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group, Israel is currently holding 7,200 Palestinians, including about 2,000 arrested since the start of the war.
A LONGER PEACE?
The war erupted when several thousand Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking scores of hostages, including babies, women and older adults, as well as soldiers. Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Qatar, said the hope is that momentum from the deal will lead to an end to the violence. Qatar served as a mediator along with the U.S. and Egypt. Israeli leaders have said they would resume fighting eventually and not stop until Hamas, which has controlled Gaza for the past 16 years, is crushed. Israel has set the release of all hostages as the second goal of the war, and officials have argued that only military pressure can bring them home. At the same time, the government is under pressure from the families of the hostages to make the release of the remaining captives the top priority, ahead of any efforts to end Hamas control of Gaza.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza government. Women and minors have consistently made up around two-thirds of the dead, though the latest number was not broken down. The figure does not include updated numbers from hospitals in the north, where communications have broken down.

Israeli Channel 12: Israel threatens to resume its operations if the hostages are not released by midnight
LBCI/November 25, 2023
Israeli Channel 12 reported on Saturday that Israel threatened to resume military operations if the hostages held by Hamas were not released by midnight.
The statement comes after Hamas delayed the release of the second batch of hostages as agreed, mentioning that they will release the hostages until Israel allows aid into northern Gaza. Iran's engagement in Gaza conflict: Hezbollah's response hinges on Israel's adherence to truce

Iran announces contribution to mediation role in Thai nationals' release in Gaza
AFP/November 25, 2023
Iran announced on Saturday its contribution to mediation efforts that led to the unexpected release of Thai nationals who Hamas had held in Gaza since the group's surprise attack on Israel last month. On Friday, Hamas unexpectedly released ten Thai nationals and one Filipino, along with 13 Israeli women and children, as part of an agreement reached with Israel that outlined the establishment of a temporary ceasefire.In return, Israel released 39 Palestinian women and children from its prisons. The spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanaani, stated in a press release to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), "Based on the request of the Thai Foreign Minister to facilitate the release of Thai prisoners, the matter was jointly pursued by the Islamic Republic of Iran and the State of Qatar."

Second batch of Israeli prisoners handed over: Hamas source
LBCI/November 25, 2023
A source within Hamas confirmed on Saturday evening the initiation of the "handover of the second batch of hostages" held by the movement since its attack on Israel on October 7. This action is carried out in accordance with the ceasefire agreement with Israel, marking its second day. The source from Hamas stated, "The Al-Qassam Brigades are now commencing the handover of the second batch of Israeli prisoners to the Red Cross in Khan Yunis, totaling 14 detainees."

Presidential file: Qatar's special envoy discusses Lebanese presidential crisis in recent Beirut visit
LBCI/November 25, 2023
Qatar's special envoy, Sheikh Jassim Al Thani, recently visited Beirut with a primary focus on a crucial file that has become the centerpiece of his diplomatic efforts. Unlike previous visits, this time, the Qatari envoy strategically limited his meetings, engaging with MP Ali Hassan Khalil and representatives from Hezbollah, according to LBCI's sources. While touching on the issue of the leadership of the Lebanese Armed Forces and its fate after the tenure of General Joseph Aoun, the key topic for the Qatari side is the Lebanese presidency. LBCI sources suggest that Qatar aims to reinvigorate discussions around the Lebanese presidency, seeking a solution to end the vacuum through these diplomatic initiatives. Despite not presenting any new presidential proposals, the Qatari envoy reiterated a specific candidate during his meetings, the Acting Director-General of the General Security, Brigadier General Elias al-Baysari, as Qatar's potential presidential candidate. The envoy justified this choice based on the lack of opposition to Baysari's candidacy from most political factions, including key figures like Gebran Bassil, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), and the Amal-Hezbollah duo. Qatar's envoy highlighted that the Amal-Hezbollah duo's continued support for the Marada movement head, Sleiman Frangieh, signifies their resistance to any potential breakthrough or solution in the presidential file. This Qatari initiative aligns with French efforts, as Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French special envoy, is expected to visit Beirut next week. The purpose of his visit is to reevaluate the Lebanese file, with a particular focus on the presidential crisis, in an attempt to steer it toward a viable solution.

Hamas delays second hostage release until Israel lets aid into northern Gaza
Reuters/November 25, 2023
The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Saturday that it had decided to delay the second round of hostage releases until Israel is committed to letting aid trucks enter northern Gaza. Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades added that the hostage releases would be delayed if Israel did not adhere to the agreed terms for the release of Palestinian prisoners. In response, an Israeli military spokesperson told French television channel BFM that Israel fully respected the truce. Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, told the Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen TV channel that the suspension was due to violations of the truce committed by Israel "linked to aid (entering Gaza), in addition to shootings and the rising death toll ... Some of (these violations) happened yesterday, and repeated today," Hamdan said. There was no immediate comment from the ICRC on whether the release of hostages and detainees had been delayed.

Palestinian families rejoice over release of minors and women in wartime prisoner swap
Associated Press/November 25, 2023
Over three dozen Palestinian prisoners returned home to a hero's welcome in the occupied West Bank on Friday following their release from Israeli prisons as part of a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. The procession of freed prisoners, some accused of minor offenses and others convicted in attacks, at a checkpoint outside of Jerusalem stoked massive crowds of Palestinians into a chanting, clapping, hand-waving, screaming frenzy.Fifteen dazed young men, all in stained grey prison sweatsuits and looking gaunt with exhaustion, glided through the streets on the shoulders of their teary-eyed fathers as fireworks turned the night sky to blazing color and patriotic Palestinian pop music blared. Some of those released were draped in Palestinian flags, others in the green flags of Hamas. They flashed victory signs as they crowd-surfed. "I have no words, I have no words," said newly released 17-year-old Jamal Brahma, searching for something to say to the hordes of jostling journalists and thousands of chanting Palestinians, many in national dress. "Thank God." Tears fell down his father Khalil Brahma's cheeks as he brought his son down from his shoulders and looked him in the eye for the first time in seven months. Israeli forces had arrested Jamal at his home in the Palestinian city of Jericho last spring and detained him without charge or trial.
"I just want to be his father again," he said.
The release of the Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails came just hours after two dozen hostages, including 13 Israelis, were released from captivity in Gaza in the initial exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners during the four-day cease-fire that started Friday. Under the deal, Hamas is to release at least 50 hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners, over the four days. Israel said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed. Although the atmosphere was festive in the town of Beitunia near Israel's hulking Ofer Prison in the West Bank, people were on edge. The Israeli government has ordered police to shut down celebrations over the release. Israeli security forces at one point unleashed tear gas canisters on the crowds, sending young men, old women and small children sprinting away as they wept and screamed in pain. "The army is trying to take this moment away from us but they can't," Mays Foqaha said as she tumbled into the arms of her newly released 18-year-old friend, Nour al-Taher from Nablus, who was arrested during a protest in September at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. "This is our day of victory."The Palestinian detainees freed Friday included 24 women, some of whom had been sentenced to years-long prison terms over attempted stabbings and other attacks on Israeli security forces. Others had been accused of incitement on social media. There were also the 15 male teenagers, most of them charged with stone-throwing and "supporting terrorism," a broadly defined accusation that underscores Israel's long-running crackdown on young Palestinian men as violence surges in the occupied territory. For families on both sides of the conflict, news of the exchange — perhaps the first hopeful moment in 49 days of war — stirred a bittersweet jumble of joy and anguish.
"As a Palestinian, my heart is broken for my brothers in Gaza, so I can't really celebrate," said Abdulqader Khatib, a U.N. worker whose 17-year-old son, Iyas, was placed last year in "administrative detention," without charges or trial and based on secret evidence. "But I am a father. And deep inside, I am very happy."Israel is now holding an all-time high of 2,200 Palestinians in administrative detention, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, an advocacy group, in a controversial policy that Israel defends as a counter-terrorism measure. Since Oct. 7, when Hamas took roughly 240 Israeli and foreign citizens hostage and allegedly killed 1,200 Israelis in its unprecedented rampage through southern Israel, Palestinians have wondered about the fate of their own prisoners. Israel has a history of agreeing to lopsided exchanges. In 2011, Hamas got Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a single captive Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit.
A prisoner release touches Palestinian society to its core. Almost every Palestinian has a relative in jail – or has been there himself. Human rights groups estimate that over 750,000 Palestinians have passed through Israeli prisons since Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in 1967. Whereas Israel views them as terrorists, Palestinians refer to them by the Arabic word for prisoners of war, and devote a good chunk of public funds to supporting them and their families. Israel and the U.S. have condemned the grants to prisoner families as an incentive for violence.
"These kinds of prisoner exchanges are often the only hope families have to see their sons or fathers released before many years go by," said Amira Khader, international advocacy officer at Addameer, a group supporting Palestinian prisoners. "It's what they live for, it's like a miracle from God." Since the Hamas attack, Israel has escalated a months-long West Bank crackdown on Palestinians suspected of ties to Hamas and other militant groups. Many prisoners are convicted by military courts, which prosecute Palestinians with a conviction rate of more than 99%. Rights groups say Palestinians are often denied due process and forced into confessions. There are now 7,200 Palestinians in Israeli prison, said Qadura Fares, the director of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, with over 2,000 arrested since Oct. 7 alone.
On Friday in Beitunia, a lanky and pimpled 16-year-old, Aban Hammad, stood unmoving, looking shaken by the tumult of tears, hugs and pro-Hamas chants around him. It was his first glimpse of the world after a year in prison for throwing stones in the northern town of Qalqilya. He was freed even though he had eight months of his sentence left to serve. He turned toward his father, wrapping him into a hug. "Look, I'm almost bigger than you now," he said.

Gaza truce enters 2nd day with more hostages to be swapped and vital supplies delivered
Associated Press/November 25, 2023
Hamas was expected to swap more of its hostages Saturday for prisoners held by Israel on the second day of a cease-fire that has allowed critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and given civilians their first respite after seven weeks of war.
On the first day of the four-day cease-fire, Hamas released 24 of the about 240 hostages taken during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison. Those freed from captivity in Gaza were 13 Israelis, 10 Thai nationals and a citizen of the Philippines.
Under the agreement, Hamas will release one Israeli hostage for every three prisoners freed. Israel's Prison Service said Saturday it was preparing 42 prisoners for release, suggesting Hamas would release 14 Israeli hostages. There has been no official Israeli announcement on the number of hostages to be freed Saturday, though Hamas handed a list of names to the authorities late Friday. It was not immediately clear how many non-Israeli captives may also be released. During the four days, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israeli hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners, all woman and minors.
Israel has said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed — something United States President Joe Biden said he hoped would come to pass. The start of the truce Friday morning brought the first quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians reeling and desperate from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and leveled residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel went silent as well. For Emad Abu Hajer, a resident of the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza City area, the pause Friday meant he could again dig through the rubble of his home, which was flattened in an Israeli attack last week. He found the bodies of a cousin and nephew, bring the death toll in the attack to 19. With his sister and two other relatives still missing, he resumed his digging Saturday. "We want to find them and bury them in dignity," he said. The United Nations said the pause enabled it to scale up the delivery of food, water, and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of humanitarian aid convoys on Oct. 21. It was also able to deliver 129,000 liters (34,078 gallons) of fuel — just over 10% of the daily pre-war volume — as well as cooking gas, a first time since the war began. In the southern city of Khan Younis on Saturday, a long line of people with gas cans and other containers waited outside a filling station hoping to get some of the newly delivered fuel. As he waited for fuel, Hossam Fayad lamented that the pause in fighting was only for four days. "I wish it could be extended until people's conditions improved," he said. For the first time in over a month, aid reached northern Gaza, the focus of Israel's ground offensive. A U.N. convoy delivered flour to two facilities sheltering people displaced by fighting. The U.N. said it and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society were also able to evacuate 40 patients and family members from a hospital in Gaza City, where much of the fighting has taken place, to a hospital in Khan Younis. The relief brought by the cease-fire has been tempered, however, for both sides — among Israelis by the fact that not all hostages will be freed and among Palestinians by the brevity of the pause. The short truce leaves Gaza mired in humanitarian crisis and under the threat that fighting could soon resume. Amal Abu Awada, a 40-year-old widow who fled a Gaza City-area camp for Khan Younis with her three children earlier in November, ventured out Friday to a U.N. facility looking for food and water, but said there was none available. "We went back empty handed," she said. "But at least there are no bombs, and we can try again." Israel has vowed to resume its massive offensive once the truce ends. That has clouded hopes that the deal could eventually help wind down the conflict, which has fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East.
FIRST HOSTAGES FREED
After nightfall Friday, a line of ambulances emerged from Gaza through the Rafah Crossing into Egypt carrying the freed hostages. The freed Israelis included nine women and four children 9 and under. The released hostages were taken to three Israeli hospitals for observation. The Schneider Children's Medical Center said it was treating eight Israelis — four children and four women — and that all appeared to be in good physical condition. The center said they were also receiving psychological treatment, adding that "these are sensitive moments" for the families. At a plaza dubbed "Hostages Square" in Tel Aviv, a crowd of Israelis celebrated at the news. The hostages included multiple generations. Nine-year-old Ohad Munder-Zichri was freed along with his mother, Keren Munder, and grandmother, Ruti Munder. The fourth-grader was abducted during a holiday visit to his grandparents at the kibbutz where about 80 people — nearly a quarter of all residents of the small community — are believed to have been taken from. The plight of the hostages has raised anger among some families that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to bring them home. Hours later, 24 Palestinian women and 15 teenage boys held in Israeli prisons in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem were freed. In the West Bank town of Beitunia, hundreds of Palestinians poured out of their homes to celebrate, honking horns and setting off fireworks that lit up the night sky. The teenagers had been jailed for minor offenses like throwing stones. The women included several convicted of trying to stab Israeli soldiers, and others who had been arrested at checkpoints in the West Bank. According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, an advocacy group, Israel is currently holding 7,200 Palestinians, including about 2,000 arrested since the start of the war.
A LONGER PEACE?
The war erupted when several thousand Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, allegedly killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking scores of hostages, including babies, women and older adults, as well as soldiers. Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Qatar, said the hope is that momentum from the deal will lead to an end to the violence. Qatar served as a mediator along with the U.S. and Egypt. But hours before it came into effect, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops that their respite would be short and that the war would resume with intensity for at least two more months. Netanyahu has also vowed to continue the war to destroy Hamas' military capabilities, end its 16-year rule in Gaza and return all the hostages. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza government. Women and minors have consistently made up around two-thirds of the dead, though the latest number was not broken down. The figure does not include updated numbers from hospitals in the north, where communications have broken down. The ministry says some 6,000 people have been reported missing, feared buried under rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its death tolls. Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, without presenting evidence for its count.

Israeli-owned ship hit by suspected Iranian attack in Indian Ocean
Associated Press/November 25, 2023
A container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire came under attack by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean as Israel wages war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an American defense official said Saturday. The attack Friday on the CMA CGM Symi comes as global shipping increasingly finds itself targeted in the weekslong war that threatens to become a wider regional conflict — even as a truce has halted fighting and Hamas exchanges hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The defense official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the Malta-flagged vessel was suspected to have been targeted by a triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying Shahed-136 drone while in international waters. The drone exploded, causing damage to the ship but not injuring any of its crew. "We continue to monitor the situation closely," the official said. The official declined to elaborate on what intelligence the U.S. military gathered to assess Iran was behind the attack. Al-Mayadeen, a pan-Arab satellite channel that is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, reported that an Israeli ship had been targeted in the Indian Ocean. The channel cited anonymous sources for the report, which Iranian media later cited. CMA CGM, a major shipper based in Marseille, France, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the vessel's crew had been behaving as though they believed the ship faced a threat. The ship had its Automatic Identification System tracker switched off since Tuesday when it left Dubai's Jebel Ali port, according to data from MarineTraffic.com analyzed by the AP. Ships are supposed to keep their AIS active for safety reasons, but crews will turn them off if it appears they might be targeted. It had done the same earlier when traveling through the Red Sea past Yemen, home to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. "The attack is likely to have been targeted, due to the vessel's Israeli affiliation through Eastern Pacific Shipping," the private intelligence firm Ambrey told the AP. "The vessel's AIS transmissions were off days prior to the event, indicating this alone does not prevent an attack."The Symi is owned by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, which is a company ultimately controlled by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer. A phone number for Eastern Pacific Shipping in Singapore rang unanswered Saturday, while no one responded to a request for comment sent by email. The Israeli military referred questions to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which did not immediately respond. In November 2022, the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Pacific Zircon, also associated with Eastern Pacific, sustained damage in a suspected Iranian attack off Oman. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. However, Tehran and Israel have been engaged in a yearslong shadow war in the wider Middle East, with some drone attacks targeting Israeli-associated vessels traveling around the region. In the Israel-Hamas war, which began with the militants' Oct. 7 attack, the Houthis seized a vehicle transport ship in the Red Sea off Yemen. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq also have launched attacks on American troops in both Iraq and Syria during the war, though Iran itself has yet to be linked directly to an attack.

Israeli cargo ship hit in attack by Iranian kamikaze drone
The Telegraph/Abbie Cheeseman/November 25, 2023
A container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire has reportedly been damaged in an attack in the Indian Ocean by a drone that the US suspects to be Iranian. An unnamed American defence official was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the Malta-flagged CMA CGM Symi was believed to have been targeted by a Shahed-136 drone while sailing in international waters. The drone exploded, causing damage to the ship but not injuring any of its crew. The apparent attack comes as global shipping routes have emerged as targets in the sprawling war between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas. The Shahed-136 drone is Iranian and has also widely been used across Ukraine by Russian forces. The ship had its automatic identification system (AIS) tracker switched off since Tuesday when it left Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, according to data from MarineTraffic.com.
Houthis vowed to target ships
Ships are supposed to keep their AIS active for safety reasons, but crews will turn them off if it appears they might be targeted. The vessel had done the same earlier when travelling through the Red Sea past Yemen, home to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The Houthis have vowed to target ships with links to Israel, but their attacks usually take place in the Red Sea. The Symi ship is owned by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, which is a company ultimately controlled by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer. The attack appeared to take place just hours before the limited ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began, which Iran’s proxies were mostly expected to abide by despite not being directly involved in the agreement. Neither Israel nor Iran has commented on the incident and it remains unclear where the drone was launched from.

Palestinians in Gaza use truce to pick through rubble of homes
Bassam Massoud/GAZA (Reuters)November 25, 2023
After seven weeks of bombardment stopped in Gaza for a truce, Tahani al-Najjar used the calm on Saturday to return to the ruins of her home, smashed by an Israeli air strike that she said killed seven of her family and forced her into a shelter. More than 24 hours into the four-day pause in fighting, thousands of Gaza residents are making that same difficult journey from communal shelters and makeshift encampments to discover what has become of their homes."Where will we live? Where will we go? We are trying to collect bits of wood to build a tent to shelter us, but to no avail. There is nothing to shelter a family," Najjar said, picking through the rubble and twisted metal of her house. Najjar, a 58-year-old mother of five from Khan Younis in the south of the enclave, said Israel's military had also levelled her house in two previous conflicts in 2008 and 2014. She pulled several miraculously intact cups from the ruins, where a bicycle and dust-caked clothes lay amid the debris. "We will rebuild again," she said. For many of the 2.3 million people who live in the tiny Gaza Strip, the pause in the near-constant air and artillery strikes has offered a first chance to safely move around, take stock of the devastation, and seek access to aid imports. At outdoor markets and aid depots, thousands of people stood queuing for some of the aid that began flowing into Gaza in larger quantities as part of the truce. Since Hamas militants launched their unprecedented attack on Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, Israel's response has been the bloodiest and most destructive offensive ever visited on the 40km-long (25 miles) Gaza enclave.
RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS
Palestinian health officials in the Hamas-run territory say the bombardment has killed more than 14,000 people, 40% of them children, and levelled swathes of residential districts. They have said thousands more bodies may remain under the rubble, still unrecorded in official death tolls.
Israel's military last month told all civilians to leave the north of the strip, where the fighting was heaviest, but it continued to bombard the south where hundreds of thousands fled and where Najjar's home was located. It has said civilians should not return to the north during the truce and many of those who fled south are now seeking information from those who stayed behind. An accompanying blockade has meanwhile added to a humanitarian crisis with little electricity for hospitals, fresh water, fuel for ambulances or food and medicines. At a U.N. agency centre in Khan Younis, people waited for cooking gas. Supplies had begun running short weeks ago and many people were cooking food over open fires fuelled by scavenged wood salvaged from bomb sites. Mohammed Ghandour had been waiting five hours to fill his cylindrical metal canister, after getting up at dawn in the school where he and his family shelter and making the long trip to the depot, but was still too late. "I'm now going home without gas," he said. However, at the Rafah crossing with Egypt, trucks could be seen early on Saturday moving slowly over the border and into Gaza bringing fresh supplies.

Relief as latest set of Hamas hostages released
UK News/Dominic McGrath, PA Political Staff/November 25, 2023
The release of 13 Israelis and four Thai nationals, among them a nine-year-old Irish-Israeli girl, has prompted relief as the temporary truce in Gaza continues to hold. It came as tens of thousands of people gathered once again in central London to demand a permanent ceasefire. Later on Sunday, there will be a 90-minute march in the capital organised by the charity Campaign Against Antisemitism, with around 40,000-50,000 people expected to attend. The gatherings come at a key stage in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, as the two sides exchange hostages and prisoners.
The hostages were transferred to Israel late on Saturday night, after Hamas delayed the release by several hours, accusing Israel of violating the terms of a truce deal. Israel was to free 39 Palestinians later on Saturday as part of the arrangement, with a total of 50 hostages and 150 Palestinian prisoners to be freed during the four-day truce. Nine-year-old Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand was one of those released after being held captive by Hamas in Gaza since the conflict started several weeks ago.
Israel-Hamas conflict
Irish premier Leo Varadkar described it as a “day of enormous joy and relief” for Emily and her family. The march in London was the first major demonstration since the Armistice Day event, which saw scenes of violent disorder after counter-protesters clashed with officers. Hundreds also gathered outside the Egyptian Embassy in Mayfair for a demonstration by Hizb-ut-Tahrir, in the first protest by the group since October 21 after a video emerged showing a man chanting “jihad”. There was a heavy police presence in the capital, with 18 arrests made over the course of the day for a range of alleged offences – including suspicion of inciting racial hatred and suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said: “I would like to acknowledge the overwhelming majority who came into London today and exercised their right to protest lawfully. “Regrettably, there was still a small minority who believed the law did not apply to them. Thanks to the efforts of our CCTV teams and other officers, a number of those are already in custody. “Investigations into other offences are already under way and will continue in the coming days.”Orlando Fraser, the chairman of the Charity Commission, also warned on Sunday that the watchdog will not allow “premises, events or online content to become forums for hate speech”. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he said: “The Charity Commission is aware of a significant number of serious concerns about activities linked to the conflict in Israel and Gaza. “These include charities representing communities across the religious divide, although these, to date, largely concern allegations of anti-Semitic or hate speech. “Charities must not allow their premises, events or online content to become forums for hate speech against any community or unlawful extremism. He said that the body would not “stand by and permit charities to be abused in this way”.

Israel's liberal use of large US-made bombs accounts for the high civilian casualty toll in Gaza, military experts say: 'It's beyond anything that I've seen in my career'
Kenneth Niemeyer/Business Insider/November 25, 2023
Israel's use of US-made bombs is contributing to high Palestinian civilian casualties, experts say. The rate of death in Gaza has outpaced some of the century's "deadliest moments," The New York Times reported. One expert said Israel's use of aerial bombs is "beyond anything that I've seen."Israel's use of large, American-made bombs is contributing to the massive death toll in Gaza, passing some of the deadliest conflicts in recent memory. The killing in Gaza, aided by the use of 2,000-pound US-made bombs, is outpacing many of this century's "deadliest moments," including the United States campaigns in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, according to The New York Times. The massive scale of Israel's attacks along with the use of large, US-made bombs in dense, urban areas have contributed to the massive death toll, according to the report. While it's not entirely possible to calculate the exact number of civilian casualties in Gaza, researchers believe the 10,000 women and children reported dead by the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry to be an approximate, if conservative, estimate of civilian killings, according to the report. The Gaza Health Ministry's most recent death toll released on November 10 included 11,078 deaths, according to the Associated Press. Marc Garlasco, a military adviser for Dutch peace organization PAX and former senior Pentagon intelligence analyst, told The Times that the use of such bombs by Israel is "beyond anything that I've seen in my career." The closest instances Garlasco could point to for a historical comparison, when such large bombs were dropped on such densely populated areas, were "Vietnam, or the Second World War," according to the outlet. According to the report, US military officials often believed that the most common American-made aerial bomb, which weighs 500 pounds, was too large to be used when fighting the Islamic state in Iraq and Syria. In contrast, Israel has been liberally using 2,000-pound bombs, which are also made in America, and are capable of crumbling entire apartment complexes, The Times reported. Brian Castner, an Amnesty International weapons investigator and former US Air Force explosive ordnance disposal officer, told The Times that the bombs used in Gaza are larger than bombs used by the US to fight ISIS in Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. Castner told the outlet that the explosives are more consistent with targeting underground structures such as tunnels. "They are using extremely large weapons in extremely densely populated areas," Castner said. "It is the worst possible combination of factors." Israel has noted that Gaza is a unique battlefield — small and dense with civilians living next to and on top of Hamas-run tunnel networks, The Times reported. Israel acknowledges that women and children have been killed in Gaza, but said the reported death toll in the Hamas-run region can not be trusted, according to The Times. Israel's military did not provide a casualty count of its own, but denied targeting civilians, the newspaper said. "We do a lot in order to prevent and, where possible, minimize the killing or wounding of civilians," Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, told the outlet. "We focus on Hamas." On Friday, Israel agreed to a four day cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas inside Gaza. Hamas released 25 total hostages, 13 Israelis and 11 foreigners, including 10 from Thailand and one from the Philippines, on the same day. The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.

An Israeli-owned ship was targeted in suspected Iranian attack in Indian Ocean, US official tells AP
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)/November 25, 2023
A container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire came under attack by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean as Israel wages war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an American defense official said Saturday.
The attack Friday on the CMA CGM Symi comes as global shipping increasingly finds itself targeted in the weekslong war that threatens to become a wider regional conflict — even as a truce has halted fighting and Hamas exchanges hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The defense official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the Malta-flagged vessel was suspected to have been targeted by a triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying Shahed-136 drone while in international waters. The drone exploded, causing damage to the ship but not injuring any of its crew. “We continue to monitor the situation closely,” the official said. The official declined to elaborate on what intelligence the U.S. military gathered to assess Iran was behind the attack. Al-Mayadeen, a pan-Arab satellite channel that is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, reported that an Israeli ship had been targeted in the Indian Ocean. The channel cited anonymous sources for the report, which Iranian media later cited. CMA CGM, a major shipper based in Marseille, France, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the vessel's crew had been behaving as though they believed the ship faced a threat. The ship had its Automatic Identification System tracker switched off since Tuesday when it left Dubai's Jebel Ali port, according to data from MarineTraffic.com analyzed by the AP. Ships are supposed to keep their AIS active for safety reasons, but crews will turn them off if it appears they might be targeted. It had done the same earlier when traveling through the Red Sea past Yemen, home to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. “The attack is likely to have been targeted, due to the vessel’s Israeli affiliation through Eastern Pacific Shipping,” the private intelligence firm Ambrey told the AP. “The vessel’s AIS transmissions were off days prior to the event, indicating this alone does not prevent an attack.”The Symi is owned by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, which is a company ultimately controlled by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer. A phone number for Eastern Pacific Shipping in Singapore rang unanswered Saturday, while no one responded to a request for comment sent by email. The Israeli military referred questions to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which did not immediately respond. In November 2022, the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Pacific Zircon, also associated with Eastern Pacific, sustained damage in a suspected Iranian attack off Oman. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. However, Tehran and Israel have been engaged in a yearslong shadow war in the wider Middle East, with some drone attacks targeting Israeli-associated vessels traveling around the region. In the Israel-Hamas war, which began with the militants' Oct. 7 attack, the Houthis seized a vehicle transport ship in the Red Sea off Yemen. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq also have launched attacks on American troops in both Iraq and Syria during the war, though Iran itself has yet to be linked directly to an attack.

Iran says it facilitated Friday's release of 10 Thai hostages
BANGKOK (Reuters)/November 25, 2023
Iran facilitated Friday's release of 10 Thai hostages from Gaza, providing a list of names to Palestinian group Hamas after a request to do so by Thailand's Foreign Ministry and parliamentary speaker, Iran's embassy in Thailand said on social media on Saturday. "This request was accepted by Hamas and 10 Thai hostages were released after the ceasefire," it said. A Thai foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters that: "we have provided lists since the beginning to everyone," including Qatar, Egypt, Israel and Iran. "Different actors would have different influence on Hamas," the spokesperson added. A group of Thai Muslim politicians had travelled to Tehran and met senior Hamas officials in October. Thailand's Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-nukara also held talks with senior officials in Cairo and Doha over the release of Thai hostages. Thailand's government says that 20 of its nationals are still being held by Hamas. About 30,000 Thai nationals work in Israel, forming one of its largest groups of migrant workers, many in agriculture.

At least 9 people killed in Syrian government shelling of a rebel-held village, the opposition says
Sat, November 25, 2023 at 6:40 a.m. EST
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government forces' shelling of a northwestern village Saturday killed at least nine people, including six children, as they picked olives, opposition activists said. The shelling of the village of Qawqafeen, in Idlib province, is the latest violation of a truce reached in March 2020 between Russia and Turkey, who back rival sides in Syria’s 12-year conflict that has killed half a million people. Hundreds of people have been killed or wounded over the past years in violations of the truce that ended a monthslong Russian-backed government offensive on the northwestern Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in Syria. The shelling of the farm was reported by the Britain-based opposition war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets. The White Helmets said it treated one woman who was wounded and handed over the bodies of the dead to their families. Idlib is home to more than 4 million people, many of them internally displaced by Syria’s conflict that broke out in March 2011. The war displaced half the country’s prewar population of 23 million and left large parts of Syria destroyed.

China says US destroyer entered its territorial waters without permission
SHANGHAI (Reuters)/November 25, 2023
The Chinese military said on Saturday that American naval destroyer USS Hopper entered China's territorial waters without the approval of the Chinese government.According to a post on the official WeChat account of the Chinese People Liberation Army's Southern Theatre Command, the Chinese military deployed its naval and air forces to "track, monitor and warn away" the vessel. It went on to say that the incident "proves that the United States is an out-and-out 'security risk creator' in the South China Sea."This latest announcement comes days after China accused the Philippines of enlisting "foreign forces" to patrol the South China Sea, referring to joint patrols held since Tuesday by Philippine and U.S. forces. Earlier this month, the United States and China held "candid" talks on maritime issues, including on the contested South China Sea, and the U.S. side underscored its concerns about "dangerous and unlawful" Chinese actions there, the U.S. State Department said.

Israel's Palestinian prisoner release a 'window of hope' in West Bank
Lucy Williamson in the West Bank - BBC News/November 25, 2023
By nightfall, the road in front of the Beitunia checkpoint had the feel of a restive festival, the sting of politics and tear gas mingling in the air.Small campfires flickered in front of a handful of green Hamas flags; there were many more Palestinian ones. The return of 39 Palestinians from Israeli prisons to their homes in the occupied West Bank was never just going to be a family affair.Israel's jailing of large numbers of people on security grounds is widely seen by Palestinians as a tool of the occupation. Charges range from murder and violent attacks on Israelis to stone-throwing. Many Palestinians say Israel is criminalising acts of resistance by an occupied people.A quarter of the population of the West Bank has spent time in an Israeli jail; it is a shared experience. And more than 3,000 people have been arrested since the 7 October attacks - including almost 900 children - according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club president, Abdallah Zughary. Many of these detainees have been placed in administrative detention without charge, he says. "Most of them are civilians, not affiliated with any kind of political party or militant group," Mr Zughary told me."Since 7 October, there have been no visits by families or lawyers to prisoners. And six prisoners have died." He accuses Israel of using the justice system as a "revenge policy".

Israel's Palestinian prisoner release a 'window of hope' in West Bank
Lucy Williamson in the West Bank - BBC News/November 25, 2023
By nightfall, the road in front of the Beitunia checkpoint had the feel of a restive festival, the sting of politics and tear gas mingling in the air.Small campfires flickered in front of a handful of green Hamas flags; there were many more Palestinian ones. The return of 39 Palestinians from Israeli prisons to their homes in the occupied West Bank was never just going to be a family affair.Israel's jailing of large numbers of people on security grounds is widely seen by Palestinians as a tool of the occupation. Charges range from murder and violent attacks on Israelis to stone-throwing. Many Palestinians say Israel is criminalising acts of resistance by an occupied people. A quarter of the population of the West Bank has spent time in an Israeli jail; it is a shared experience. And more than 3,000 people have been arrested since the 7 October attacks - including almost 900 children - according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club president, Abdallah Zughary. Many of these detainees have been placed in administrative detention without charge, he says. "Most of them are civilians, not affiliated with any kind of political party or militant group," Mr Zughary told me. "Since 7 October, there have been no visits by families or lawyers to prisoners. And six prisoners have died." He accuses Israel of using the justice system as a "revenge policy".

Egypt president says future Palestinian state could be demilitarised
CAIRO (Reuters)/November 24, 2023
A future Palestinian state could be demilitarised and have a temporary international security presence to provide guarantees to both it and to Israel, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Friday. "We said that we are ready for this state to be demilitarised, and there can also be guarantees of forces, whether NATO forces, United Nations forces, or Arab or American forces, until we achieve security for both states, the nascent Palestinian state and the Israeli state," Sisi said during a joint news conference in Cairo with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. A political resolution which requires a Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, has remained out of reach, Sisi added. Arab nations have rejected suggestions that an Arab force provide security in the Gaza Strip after the end of Israel's current military operation there against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters in London this week that Arab states would not want to go into a Gaza Strip that could be turned into a "wasteland" by Israel's military offensive. "What are the circumstances under which any of us would want to go and be seen as the enemy and be seen as having come to clean up Israel's mess?" he said.

Palestinian militants kill 2 alleged informers for Israel and mob drags bodies through camp alleys
ISABEL DEBRE/JERUSALEM (AP)/November 25, 2023
Palestinian militants in a West Bank refugee camp shot and killed two alleged collaborators with Israel early Saturday, Palestinian officials said. Mobs then kicked the bloodied corpses and dragged them through alleys before trying to tie them to an electrical tower. The scenes, widely shared on social media, were reminiscent of the chaos in the occupied West Bank during two Palestinian uprisings against Israeli rule that erupted in 1987 and in 2000, respectively, each lasting several years. During these periods of heightened conflict, there were frequent killings of alleged informers, at times with bodies displayed in public.
Saturday's killing in the Tulkarem refugee camp laid bare the pressures tearing at Palestinian society as the Israel-Hamas war worsens what has already been a bloody year for the territory. Deadly Israeli military raids, settler attacks and Palestinian militancy in the West Bank have surged since Israel mounted its devastating offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas' Oct. 7 bloody rampage through southern Israel. Over 230 Palestinian have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank in the past seven weeks alone, most of them during Israeli army raids targeting militants.
A Palestinian security officer said a local militant group in the camp, in the northern town of Tulkarem, accused two Palestinians of helping Israeli security forces target the group in a major army raid that killed three key militants on Nov. 6. The two alleged informers were in their late 20s and early 30s, respectively, and one was from the camp, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. A second Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity for the same reason, confirmed that Palestinian security forces were aware of the incident. The public prosecutor’s office said it would have details in the coming days about a police investigation into the killings. The local militant group — affiliated with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of the secular nationalist Fatah party — posted a cryptic statement just after the two men were reported killed. “We did not wrong them, but they wronged themselves,” it said. The family of one of the accused informers sought to distance itself in a statement Saturday, calling its disgraced relative a “malicious finger that we have cut off without regret." “We affirm our complete innocence,” the family added, “and we won’t allow anyone to blame us for his guilt.”A Palestinian journalist in the camp, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said residents of the camp beat and stomped on the corpses after the two were shot and killed by militants in the streets. Videos show hundreds of Palestinians flocking to the entrance of the camp, gawking and filming with their phones as men try to hang the mutilated corpses from an electrical tower. It apparently proved too difficult and residents ended up tossing the bodies over the walls of a U.N. school in the camp, tying their feet to a chain link fence, the journalist said. They were not taken to the hospital, she said. Purported confession videos surfaced online showing the two men, worn out, their eyes downcast, describing their recent interactions with Israeli intelligence officials who they said paid them thousands of dollars for information. Israel's Shin Bet security service has a long history of pressuring Palestinians to become informers, including by blackmail or by promising work or entry permits for Israel. The Shin Bet did not respond to a request for comment on the killings.

Pope Francis cancels his activities due to a mild cold
NNA/November 24, 2023
The Vatican announced in a brief statement that Pope Francis’ activities scheduled for this morning were canceled due to his “slight cold", according to Agence France-Presse. The statement said, "His Holiness the Pope's meetings scheduled for this morning were canceled due to his contracting a mild cold," without giving further details. The Pope's health has deteriorated in recent months, forcing him to use a wheelchair, which has raised speculation about the possibility of him abandoning the pontificate, similar to what his predecessor Benedict XVI did. Today's announcement comes a week before his scheduled trip to Dubai, where he will participate in the United Nations Climate Conference. Pope Francis, who has made defending the environment one of the pillars of his pontificate, is scheduled to address the Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai on December 2. He is expected to denounce the inaction of concerned countries and urge them to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Authorities identify husband and wife killed in a car explosion at US-Canadian border. Here’s what we know about the case
John Miller, Elizabeth Wolfe and Celina Tebor, CNN/November 24, 2023
Investigators have identified the married couple killed Wednesday in a fiery explosion near the US-Canadian border that prompted a massive law enforcement response.
Kurt P. Villani and his wife Monica Villani, both 53, died in the car crash on the US side of the Rainbow Bridge crossing, the Niagara Falls Police Department said in a news release. The couple lived in Grand Island, New York, the police department said.
Relatives of the couple thanked well-wishers and asked the public for privacy.
“We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all that extended prayers, condolences and well wishes,” family members said in a statement issued through the Erie County Sheriff’s Office. “We are deeply touched. At this point, we are requesting privacy so we may begin the process of healing. Thank you.”
CNN previously reported investigators believed a man was travelling with his wife in a 2022 Bentley at a high rate of speed when the vehicle hit a curb, then a guardrail that sent the vehicle airborne into the secondary screening area of Rainbow Bridge, law enforcement sources told CNN.
Despite initial concerns of a terror attack, the FBI has not found any connection to terrorism, and no explosives were found at the scene, the agency’s Buffalo field office announced Wednesday night. The case was turned over to local police as a traffic investigation.“I want to be very, very clear to Americans and New Yorkers: At this time there is no indication of a terrorist attack,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference Wednesday evening.
Investigators believe the man who died had plans to attend a KISS concert in Canada, but when it was canceled, he went to a casino in the US instead. The crash occurred sometime after the couple left the casino, law enforcement sources said.
The explosion prompted a temporary shutdown of all four bridges between Canada and the US near Niagara Falls on one of the busiest travel days of the year. Three of the bridges reopened later Wednesday, but Rainbow Bridge remained closed overnight. The port reopened at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, US Customs and Border Protection said.
Crash looked ‘surreal,’ governor says
The vehicle was traveling at an “extraordinarily high rate of speed” when it approached the border crossing around 11:30 a.m. and hit a barrier, Hochul said. The impact sent the car soaring several feet into the air before it came crashing down into a Customs and Border Protection booth and burst into flames, Hochul said. She described footage of the incident as “absolutely surreal.”An officer working in the booth was treated for minor injuries, she said. The vehicle was “basically incinerated,” and pieces of the wreckage were scattered across more than a dozen checkpoint booths, the governor said.
Rickie Wilson saw the car flying past him “almost like a movie,” and for a moment, he thought it was a plane, the witness told CNN affiliate WKBW.
 FBI probed blast as possible terrorist threat
In the aftermath of the crash, federal investigators scrambled to determine whether the incident was an act of terrorism. Within hours, officials shared preliminary findings and assured the public they hadn’t found any indication of terrorist motivation. “But we will continue to stay vigilant. We will continue to make sure that the information we have is passed onto the public,” US Attorney Trini Ross of the Western District of New York said in a news conference. The leaders of both the US and Canada were briefed on the incident as the investigation was underway. The initial explosion also triggered heightened security precautions around the region, including the evacuation of local government offices on the US side. Buffalo Niagara International Airport closed to international arriving and departing flights but later lifted the restriction, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration. All cars coming into the airport were also being screened by bomb-detecting dogs, a Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority spokesperson said. And Amtrak temporarily suspended part of its cross-border route connecting New York to Toronto. Officials investigating the crash had been looking into an individual, but working through the Joint Terrorism Task Force did not find any worrisome information, FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia said Wednesday afternoon. By Wednesday night, the FBI announced it had concluded its investigation at the scene and turned the case over to the Niagara Falls Police Department as a traffic investigation.
*CNN’s Zenebou Sylla, Pete Muntean, Raja Razek, Dave Alsup, Josh Campbell, Sabrina Souza and Lauren del Valle contributed to this report.

Iran unveils new hypersonic missile ‘capable of beating Israeli defenses’
Timothy Sigsworth/The Telegraph/November 25, 2023
Iran has unveiled a new hypersonic missile which it claims can fly 15 times faster than the speed of sound and defeat Israeli air defences. The hypersonic Fattah II rocket – which means conqueror in Persian – is an updated version of the original Fattah that was announced in June with a range of 869miles (1,400km). The main innovation of the missile is its ability to evade anti-aircraft fire. It can do so, Tehran claims, because it is fitted with a hypersonic glide vehicle which detaches from the missile itself, and can make sharp manoeuvres to dodge conventional missile defences and travels at hypersonic speed to its target. There has been no official response from the US or Israel to the development. The Pentagon has previously expressed scepticism at Iran’s hypersonic claims. But Bradley Bowman, senior director at the Foundation for Dence of Democracies (FDD), said its missile programmes “are not simply for show” and should not be dismissed out of hand. Supreme Leader Ayatollah and the head of the corps' aerospace division General Amir Ali Hajizadeh inspects missiles “Tehran’s claims about new capabilities should be taken with a heavy grain of salt, but it would be a mistake to shrug at Iran’s growing missile capabilities,” he said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran uses ballistic missiles to attack its neighbours and US troops while proliferating some missiles or related technologies to Tehran’s terror proxies.”Iran has been a major supplier of rockets and other arms to the Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups, both of which have unleashed them on Israel since the Oct 7 attacks. Tehran is also the main backer of Yemen’s Houthi rebels and various militia groups in Iraq whose attacks on American soldiers have increased since the war in Gaza began. Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has previously said it intends to increase the range of its hypersonics from their current maximum of 869miles to 1,242miles (1,400km to 2,000km). That would put the Islamic theocracy’s regional enemy Israel within range of the Ayatollahs’ rockets.
‘Should not be ignored’
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at FDD, said: “The move towards developing a hypersonic glide vehicle should not be ignored.”“Iran has proven it has the capability and intent to develop a more lethal ballistic missile arsenal, one with projectiles it hopes will cause more headaches for American and allied missile defenses.”United Nations restrictions limiting Iran’s development of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles expired in October, although it is believed Tehran had been ignoring them for some time.
Iran first claimed to have developed a hypersonic missile in November 2022. China and Russia are the only countries believed to have deployed hypersonic missiles.

The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 25-26/2023
Opinion/Hamas has just won a major victory over Israel
John Bolton/The Telegraph/November 24, 2023
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference
Beware of terrorists bearing gifts. Compassionate goals and unrelenting war make for a complex mix. While freeing Hamas’s October 7 victims is laudable, there are right and wrong ways to do so. There are costs as well as benefits. Here, Hamas has won a significant victory. Whether the deal sets a definitively negative precedent for Israel remains unclear, but it casts doubt on whether it will attain its legitimate goal of eliminating Hamas’s terrorist threat.
The agreement is fatally defective in many ways, even if it proceeded flawlessly (which it has not). Hamas is set to release 50 terror victims, and Israel will release 150 accused or convicted criminals, a ratio the reverse of what we should consider civilised. Equating innocent victims with law-breakers is morally appalling. One fifteen-year-old “child” Israel listed for possible release was convicted of attempted murder for stabbing a neighbor. Many are male teenagers. You can guess why. A critical argument for this deal now is removing hostages from danger, but it does nothing for those left behind.
The releases are occurring over four days, during which Israeli military activity is “pausing” operations. Undoubtedly, Israel will use the pause to prepare the next phase of hostilities, rotating and resupplying troops and the like. But Hamas terrorists are the real beneficiaries of a cessation of hostilities. They have been pounded by air, and hunted down inside and under Gaza in their extraordinary tunnel networks. Israel’s military campaign is just in its opening phases, but Hamas has been significantly damaged.
Why let up now? Hamas will use the pause to extricate its terrorists from a difficult position, exfiltrate assets and personnel into Egypt and Israel through undiscovered tunnels, and prepare southern Gaza for the next Israeli offensive. How many chances for faster advances or more surprise attacks will Israel lose due to this pause? How many more Israeli soldiers will die because of Hamas’s opportunity to set additional traps and further entrench itself?
If Hamas chooses to release more hostages, the pause will be extended one day for each ten hostages. What conceivable justification is there to allow your enemy to unilaterally determine the length of the pause? And what if “technical difficulties” mean only six hostages are released; does Hamas still get another day of respite? Israel will unfairly bear the onus of resuming hostilities, adding leverage to Hamas propaganda efforts to erase its own October 7 barbarity.
Inexplicably, both Jerusalem and Washington are suspending overhead surveillance of Gaza for six hours a day during the pause. This concession may be more significant than the pause itself because it denies Israel information about Hamas’s activities. Israel has agreed to be “eyeless in Gaza” during these terrorist-friendly time windows.
The White House boasts that the deal means “a massive surge of humanitarian relief” into Gaza, but without adequate assurances the relief will go to those in need. When Herbert Hoover launched America’s first major international relief effort in World War I, he insisted on two conditions: aid must go only to non-combatants, and the donors must distribute or closely monitor its distribution. We have no idea how much will fall into Hamas’s hands, enabling more terrorism.
Israel’s critical military problem is the opportunities it will miss by halting in mid-stream its increasingly successful assault. Hamas’s strategy is to take any pause, however short, and whatever its rationale, and stretch it into a permanent ceasefire. That may not happen on the first try, but the pressure on Israel to succumb will grow.
Israel’s critical political risk is seeing its determination to eliminate Hamas undermined. Even chancier is the strength of US backing, which is already weakening. Biden’s initially robust rhetorical support for Israel has cooled, and his resolve shrinks daily under the assault of the Democratic party’s pro-Palestinian Left-wing. His problems will grow more acute as the 2024 presidential campaign unfolds.
The benefits of freeing hostages are visible now. The much larger costs are on their way.
*John Bolton is a former US national security adviser

Iran's Other Willing Accomplice: The European Union
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./November 25, 2023
Germany is the top European trade partner buying oil and non-oil commodities from Iran.
"UANI [United Against Nuclear Iran] said that research had led to the identification of 2,500 businesses around the world, suspected of having involvement with Iran, with hundreds in Europe. They will publish their names if they do not receive satisfactory answers." — The National, September 22, 2023.
The EU's trade with Iran, increasing the Iranian regime's revenue, is doubtless making it easier for the theocratic establishment to provide weapons to Russia, repress its own people even further, strengthen its military presence in Venezuela and Cuba, help its proxies escalate their goals of trying to annihilate Israel and the Jews, and above all, top off its nuclear weapons program with which to blackmail everyone.
If this is the damage the Iranian is doing without nuclear weapons, just think what it will do with them.
The Europeans' continuing business with Iran repeats the same mistake they made with Nazi Germany: feeding a war machine that will ultimately turn on them. Appeasing anyone will only encourage him to become an even greater threat. Although Europe and the US most probably will not do it, the time has come to stop.
The Europeans' continuing business with Iran repeats the same mistake they made with Nazi Germany: feeding a war machine that will ultimately turn on them.
In spite of the Iran's increasing involvement in the war against Ukraine and against Israel and Jews, the European Union, as well as the US, appear more than happy to continue appeasing the Iran's ruling mullahs. Shouldn't this make them considered accomplices?
Iran and Russia are fast making headway constructing a plant based in Russia that will mass-produce Iranian-designed kamikaze drones, presumably to help Moscow attack Ukrainian targets.
Yet, no sanctions or pressure have been imposed either by the United States or the European Union just on this project, let alone Iran's lethal nuclear program or the 60+ attacks on US troops in Syria and Iraq just since October 17.
According to a recent report by the Institute for Science and International Security:
"Now, not later, is the time for the U.S. government to take the lead, work with partner governments and industry, and use leverage against those less inclined to cooperate, to hinder Alabuga from succeeding in providing the Russian military with thousands of Shahed-136 drones. With winter fast approaching, and Alabuga's Shahed output increasing, Russia can be expected to accelerate its Shahed-136 attacks against Ukraine's vital energy infrastructure, causing brutal living conditions for the civilian population. A key, overdue first step is for the United States and its allies to sanction JSC Alabuga and its associated companies".
The EU continues to trade with Iran -- a move also in violation of the US sanctions. Germany is the top European buyer oil and non-oil commodities from Iran. Tehran Times recently wrote:
"Germany was Iran's fourth source of import during the five-month period....Iran's import of goods in the five months of this year reached 14.4 million tons worth $24.2 billion, indicating a 7.49 percent growth in value and a 2.17 percent increase in weight, year on year...The average customs value of each ton of imported goods was 1,677 dollars in the mentioned five months."
Hundreds of European companies are, in fact, doing business with the Iranian regime. According to The National:
"A pressure group, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), has embarked on a campaign to persuade hundreds of businesses to sever links with Iran and will hold events in European capitals to publicly name companies that do business in the country.
"UANI said that research had led to the identification of 2,500 businesses around the world, suspected of having involvement with Iran, with hundreds in Europe. They will publish their names if they do not receive satisfactory answers.
"The companies have been contacted to seek 'clarification' about their dealings in the country.
"The pressure group has chosen Sweden, which has at least two citizens being held by Iran, to launch its campaign."
The beneficiaries of EU's increased trade with Iran are most likely the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The EU's trade with Iran, increasing the Iranian regime's revenue, is doubtless making it easier for the theocratic establishment to provide weapons to Russia, repress its own people even further, strengthen its military presence in Venezuela and Cuba, help its proxies escalate their goals of trying to annihilate Israel and the Jews, and above all, top off its nuclear weapons program with which to blackmail everyone.
If this is the damage the Iranian is doing without nuclear weapons, just think what it will do with them.
The Iranian regime, probably knowing that the European Union will not take any action against it – a sad example of greed trumping not only moral clarity but national security -- is ratcheting up its construction of a drone factory in Russia, and exporting weapons to Russia. As Sky News reported in March 2023:
"Iran has secretly supplied large quantities of bullets, rockets and mortar shells to Russia for the war in Ukraine and plans to send more, a security source has told Sky News. The source claimed that two Russian-flagged cargo ships, departed an Iranian port in January bound for Russia via the Caspian Sea, carrying approximately 100 million bullets and around 300,000 shells. Ammunition for rocket launchers, mortars and machine guns was allegedly included in the shipments. The source said Moscow paid for the ammunition in cash."
The Europeans' continuing business with Iran repeats the same mistake they made with Nazi Germany: feeding a war machine that will ultimately turn on them. Appeasing anyone will only encourage him to become an even greater threat. Although Europe and the US most probably will not do it, the time has come to stop.
*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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https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20175/iran-accomplice-eu

Rousing the sleeping giant of climate philanthropy
Badr Jafar/Arab News/November 25, 2023
There’s a lot that will be different about COP28 in the UAE, and one of the most prominent innovations will be the inaugural Business & Philanthropy Climate Forum, being held from Dec. 1-2, as part of the World Climate Action Summit. Designed to engage the private sector more effectively in the COP process, the forum will bring 1,000 CEOs and leading philanthropists from all regions of the world together, along with policy heads, to share knowledge, exchange ideas, and agree on better ways of collaborating to address climate change.
The presence of global philanthropists at the forum is not an afterthought. Although a lot has been said in recent decades about the crucial role that government and business must play in the fight against climate change and nature degradation, much less attention has been paid to the increasingly important role that philanthropy plays in this effort. This is despite the fact that well over $1 trillion in philanthropic capital is deployed around the world every single year. To put this in perspective, this equates to 10 times the value of all the climate finance provided last year by richer nations to developing nations, and about the same as total global climate finance flows in 2021/22.
Right now, though, only a fraction of this philanthropic capital is allocated to climate-related causes. In fact, according to a recent analysis by ClimateWorks Foundation, philanthropic giving by individuals and foundations focused on climate change mitigation made up less than 2 percent of global giving in 2022. Encouragingly, the same study showed a broadening appetite among strategic philanthropists for funding more diverse approaches to climate change mitigation, even if the total amount of climate-focused philanthropy remains relatively low.
This is an important trend, because it is not just the quantity of philanthropic capital that makes it a transformative resource in the global response to climate change. Philanthropic capital also has several distinctive characteristics that make it a qualitatively uniquely powerful tool for pushing the boundaries of what is possible and achieving urgently required scale. Among other things, philanthropic funding is often more flexible, risk tolerant and patient than other forms of capital. When strategically deployed at an early stage, de-risking follow-on investments, it can generate a multiplier effect by unlocking even larger pools of government and business capital.
Achieving an equitable climate and nature transition by 2050 is going to require an “all hands on deck” response from every part of the global community
Philanthropy can be a particularly powerful tool in the deployment of nature-based climate interventions — including with reforestation, restoring mangroves, and protecting biodiversity — that may not offer an immediate financial return and have historically struggled to compete for business and government funding. The increasingly recognized reality is that our nature and climate goals are inseparable, with research finding that natural climate solutions could yield one-third of the emissions reductions required to achieve a 1.5 C limit pathway. These reductions will not come cheaply, however. To address biodiversity loss and land degradation alone, it is estimated that nature-positive investments of $8 trillion is needed between now and 2050. Philanthropists could play a pivotal role in filling that gap. Which is why a number of sessions at the COP28 Business & Philanthropy Climate Forum will focus specifically on unleashing the catalytic effect of climate and nature philanthropy.
Of course, there are many things that we should already be doing to ensure more philanthropic capital is channeled towards climate and nature-based outcomes. First and foremost, we need to treat philanthropy with the respect that it deserves, and seek to harness it in ways that takes advantage of its unique strengths. Second, we need to listen to and engage with the growing cadre of strategic philanthropists across the Global South, home to three-quarters of the global population, many of whom are already dealing with the all-too-real effects of climate change. Third, we must not overlook the scale and consistency of faith-based giving, and the significant potential that exists for interfaith collaboration to address the universal threat that climate change poses to humanity. Finally, we need to make a sustained effort to facilitate greater coordination between the sectors of philanthropy, government and business — not just during high-profile moments such as COP28, but also in the precious months and years in between.
Achieving an equitable climate and nature transition by 2050 is going to require an “all hands on deck” response from every part of the global community. For many government stakeholders, that will mean properly raising ambitions and making good on commitments that they and their predecessors have already made. For many business leaders, that will mean making the essential leap from simple pledges and declarations to tangible action and implementation. For many of the world’s philanthropists, that will mean coming off the sidelines and throwing more of their considerable weight and unique attributes behind global efforts to address climate change. More than mere financial donors, I am optimistic that philanthropy can be the glue that binds business, government and civil society together in concerted action to achieve our net zero and nature positive goals.
• Badr Jafar is the COP28 Special Representative for Business & Philanthropy, and CEO of UAE-based Crescent Enterprises

Israeli society has become more hawkish, which is bad news for peace
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/November 25, 2023
Conducting public opinion polls during a war is a risky business that can easily lead to the wrong conclusions. The results invariably reflect the specific, present mood when emotions are running at their highest, and respondents are more interested in expressing their anger and frustration than in being reflective and retrospective.
Hence, while findings that Israeli society has turned more hawkish as a result of Hamas’ murderous attack of last month and the subsequent war should not come as a huge surprise, it might also be the case that by the end of the conflict many will return to their prewar position, or even go further and reconsider the sustainability of pre-Oct. 7 relations with the Palestinians, or of using disproportionate force in response to the Hamas attack. Still, opinion polls provide us with a current and disheartening picture of the long road toward reaching a lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and the level of persuasion that will be required for this to become a realistic possibility.
At present, a mere 24.5 percent of Israeli Jews support peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, a fall from 47.6 percent who were in favor in September, while 66 percent are against engaging in such negotiations. By contrast, among Palestinians living in Israel, an overwhelming 58 percent support peace negotiations with the PA. Much of this attitude can be attributed to the fact that only 7.5 percent of Israeli Jews believe that talks could lead to peace between the two peoples.
This suggests a quite gloomy prospect to bringing the never-ending Israeli–Palestinian conflict to an end, and even if it is not surprising, it cannot and should not be left to fester unaddressed, otherwise it will become even further entrenched. For too long the Israeli public has been fed the notion that relations between their country and the Palestinians are characterised by some sort of uneasy stability and that in any case there is no partner for peace. This has meant continuation of the occupation and creeping annexation of the West Bank; relying on the PA’s security apparatus to cooperate with Israel to ensure its own security; low-intensity conflict and violence; but no intention to enter into negotiations for a peace agreement based on a two-state solution.
Most Israeli Jews believe that Israel’s military is employing too little force.
Equally, this status quo mirage assumed that the blockade of Gaza was sustainable, and there was no danger emanating from Hamas. When these notions collapsed on Oct. 7, especially vis-a-vis Gaza and Hamas, but also before that in the West Bank when militant groups began to challenge the imposed occupation order, Israelis were both shocked and their attitudes to the Palestinians hardened. Their hawkishness is being expressed not only in terms of any future peace solution with the Palestinians, but also by their support for the use of excessive force in Gaza.
At a time when most of the world, with few exceptions and including Israel’s closest allies, is warning Israel that the level of civilian killings is unacceptable, most Israeli Jews believe that Israel’s military is employing too little force, and this view is providing a discredited Israeli government a tailwind for continuing the war, and with full force, even though more than 14,000 Palestinians have already been killed and enormous destruction has been inflicted on the entire Strip.
One of the most detrimental views among Israelis regarding the resumption of peace talks is that they believe there is no Palestinian partner for peace, and that the two-state solution is neither achievable nor desirable. Hence, they resort to the only response they know, despite it being contributory to the current disaster. While options such as a two-state solution, or one bi-national state in which both Jews and Palestinians have equal rights, enjoy little support (14.6 percent for the first and 2.6 percent for the latter), the preferable “solution,” according to the polls, is to continue the current situation; and around 20 percent of Jewish Israelis support an annexation of the Occupied Territories and granting Palestinians limited rights — in other words legitimising and legalizing Israel’s current position as an apartheid state.
It might be too optimistic, almost naive to expect either side to have a vision of peace when both sides have suffered unimaginable losses, and all that they can see is only the worst of one another. However, as history has taught us, in the darkest of times for humanity, there also emerge new ideas from those who can see the light beyond the present darkness, mainly because they refuse to let despair take over.
In the darkest of times for humanity, there also emerge new ideas.
For now, the peace camp in Israel has been decimated, and there is almost no support for a peace and coexistence discourse. Yet, from the ashes and the collective trauma of this war, there must arise, in both societies, new thinking and fresh leadership that is ready to admit that by not advancing peace and by not accepting that only compromise and mutual recognition of everyone’s entitlement to live in security and enjoy the same rights, the extremists have been allowed to hijack and dictate their very existence, and contribute to the implosion we are currently witnessing.
By the end of such extreme bloodshed, an aftermath of fear and anger, even hatred, is inevitable. It would be pointless and unhelpful to dismiss the mutual negative feelings and perceptions, but they can and should be harnessed to become a transformative experience, into a commitment for this to never happen again, and to the introduction of a diametrically opposite vision. To allay their mutual fear and loathing, both sides need reassurance that their concerns for security and wellbeing are being addressed. This will need new leaderships who are not discredited as the current ones, and solid guarantees from the international community of its active support for such a transformation.
Beyond the deaths and the mountains of rubble left by the war, there must be a recognition of the futility of leaving a conflict to fester without resolution, and that security is not achieved merely by acquiring weapons and ammunition, as sophisticated and deadly as they might be, but through finding an inclusive working formula that involves all segments of domestic and international societies, from grassroots to international diplomacy, in order to convince those who are afraid and outraged by what has happened since Oct. 7, and are mainly skeptical about the future, that there is indeed a viable alternative, one that sidelines the militants not by physically eliminating them, but by ensuring there is a prospect of peace based on fairness, justice, and security that will prove them irrelevant.
• Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House.
X: @YMekelberg

EU is doubling down on failed migration policies
Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/November 25, 2023
The spate of controversies surrounding Europe’s migration policies toward North African countries — chiefly Tunisia, the principal sea departure point for refugees and migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe — raises grave questions about the sustainability and ethics of these existing strategies. Worryingly entangled with a precarious political environment and an escalating human rights crisis, the contours of these policies have proven not only ineffectual in curbing the flow of irregular migration but also have significantly contributed to amplifying existing problems — a classic case of doubling down on failing policy, one might argue.
There is no shortage of alarming narratives on flawed migration management in Tunisia, underscoring tactics that veer significantly from the principles of human rights and international law. The assertions of horrific abuses, from indiscriminate expulsions of asylum-seekers to collusion of security forces with smuggling networks, paint a grim picture of a system that is fundamentally flawed on multiple fronts. Over the summer of 2023 alone, about 86 percent of illegally expelled sub-Saharan Africans reportedly experienced physical violence, with an astonishing 85 percent attributing this violence to the hands of security forces — an alarming series of findings that highlights the severity of the situation.
Yet, as accounts of systematic abuses, corruption, and collusion pour in, they consistently fail to perturb the irregular migratory flow, a glaring testament to the gravity of the failure of the EU’s deterrence and externalization policies. Add to these the EU’s strategic attempts to bottle up displacement along, for instance, the Tunisian coastline have spearheaded a grim spiral of human suffering without signaling any significant dent in the fundamental challenges driving human mobility.
Furthermore, the socioeconomic context of Tunisia, battling underdevelopment, poor governance, and regional insecurity, significantly exacerbates this problem. The government’s response, void of any coherent strategy or policy, oscillates between xenophobic rhetoric, abusive practices, and draconian actions.
Can these strategies, backed by the EU and the US, be validly defended when they appear to be guided by a culture of impunity and an utter disregard for the rule of law?
The humanitarian catastrophe gripping Tunisia is, in large part, a self-inflicted wound born from misguided policies. The situation calls for a radical rethink of the stance on migration cooperation with Tunisia, one that prioritizes safeguarding human security by fostering sustainable solutions over knee-jerk reactions and policies rooted in exclusion and deterrence. Anything short of that would only amount to a doubling down on profound policy failure — an untenable proposition at a time when the stakes could not be higher.
Current approaches are not only ineffectual but also unsustainable.
Current approaches are not only ineffectual but also unsustainable and, given the catastrophe they have spawned, highly indefensible. Yet, such assessments appear lost in the fog of Brussels’ dogged pursuit of a problematic agenda, specifically, these border externalization strategies conceived in 2021. Under this axiom, the EU has enthusiastically fostered migration cooperation agreements with at least 14 countries. With a war chest swelling into billions of euros aimed at bolstering border controls, laying siege on people smugglers, and stymieing the flood of asylum-seekers and migrants, the policy has largely been unyielding.
Implementing this strategy was perceived as a preventive measure to thwart the overall movement of migrants — mainly from the Western Balkans, the Middle East, and Africa — before gracing the EU’s external borders. On paper, it seemed a tenable course of action; however, it has not borne the anticipated outcome. Far from slowing migration, the EU’s extravagant spending on border management and fortification has inadvertently expedited the humanitarian crisis.
Even more troubling is the revelations in a letter from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that outlines forthcoming plans to institute “new anti-smuggling operational partnerships” with Tunisia and Egypt. The audaciousness of this plan lies in its blatant neglect of well-documented accounts reporting abuses against migrants in both countries. Such malign neglect punctuates a habitual disregard for the proximal determinants of migration, effectively hampering the development of a targeted approach or strategy.
There is simply no appetite, political capital, or even notable civil society advocacy for measures beyond securitization and deterrence by focusing on systemic changes that address the drivers of irregular migration while channeling dramatic increases in emergency support services for displaced people. Instead, what we have is the perpetuation and institutionalization of unfortunate knee-jerk responses from Brussels, borne out of framing migrant surges as a security and political issue rather than admitting it as the humanitarian crisis that it most certainly is. This simplified understanding of a complex phenomenon effectively glorifies a culture of dismissing evident failures as a mere consequence of insufficient funding or security mobilization.
The vicious cycle of misdiagnosis and mistreatment does more harm than good.
The vicious cycle of misdiagnosis and mistreatment does more harm than good. The conventional wisdom of border controls and migration agreements, while having their place, need to transition toward addressing the root causes that push desperate thousands to risk treacherous journeys, abuse, neglect, and indefinite detention for a chance to make it to Europe. A distinctive tilt toward human-centered policies that underscore key drivers of migration, such as conflict, poverty, and inequality, is not just desirable but an absolute necessity. Until the EU adjusts its stance on this issue, it risks further worsening the humanitarian catastrophe, while simultaneously hemorrhaging resources with trivial, if any, gains to show.
With Europe cannibalizing its budget, diverting development aid and conflict management funding toward building “Fortress Europe,” little is left to fund targeted solutions designed to improve living conditions and stem migratory flows from origin states. It is unlikely the current political environment, which is increasingly skewing to the anti-immigrant right, will ever agree to create legal and safe pathways for asylum-seekers and refugees. Nor will boilerplate messaging about upholding commitments to human rights galvanize sufficient public support for alternative approaches to what is quickly snowballing into Europe’s next biggest crisis — notwithstanding Ukraine.
While some may understand the EU’s bumbling attempts to avert a hybrid crisis, its current approaches are inadequate and, in many ways, counterproductive. What is needed now, more than ever, is a serious course correction in Europe’s migration policies. It can at least begin by ensuring transparency and accountability on migration spending, since the current opacity of funding and lack of precise records make it difficult to assess the cost and efficacy of border externalization.
Beyond that, Europe needs to address a discernible vulnerability in how third countries continue weaponizing desperate migrants, turning them into a tool for leverage and geopolitical gamesmanship. Should that dynamic persist, Europe risks becoming a financier and underwriter for the glaring failures and tragic consequences of its doubling down on failure.
• Hafed Al-Ghwell is a senior fellow and executive director of the North Africa Initiative at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC.
X: @HafedAlGhwell

EU renews its global green leadership with Canada deal
Andrew Hammond/Arab News/November 25, 2023
Since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed last year in Washington, there has been strong focus on the resurgence of US green leadership. However, under the “global radar” also in North America, far less attention is, surprisingly, being paid to Canada’s credentials in this area.
Many miss Canada’s sustainability strengths, but not Europe. Brussels sees in the vast North American country a huge partnership opportunity to help “future proof” its global green leadership as it prepares for the possibility of a second presidency for Donald Trump from 2025 in the US.
No surprise, therefore, that the powers announced a new, stronger green alliance at their annual bilateral summit on Thursday and Friday. It is also no coincidence that the forum was hosted in St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador.
That Canadian province has big plans to establish itself as a hydrogen-producing and exporting powerhouse in the near future, with an eye on European markets, especially Germany, which are key buyers of hydrogen. At the time of writing, the province is considering four major wind hydrogen proposals through its approval process.
These discussions build from a bilateral hydrogen deal that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last year in Newfoundland, the core of what could become a valuable hydrogen energy partnership. Yet, Newfoundland and Labrador are only one of several areas in Atlantic Canada where companies are vying to build large wind-powered hydrogen and ammonia plants. The goal for most is to transport hydrogen, in the form of ammonia, to Europe, where there is a significant market for greener energy.
The ambitious green alliance agreement reached with Canada is based on a template that the EU has pursued with other advanced, industrialized countries, inside and outside Europe, such as Japan and Norway. It has also pushed similar initiatives with key emerging markets, including India.
As COP28 approaches, the new EU-Canadian alliance will give a boost to the climate summit, and also European green leadership. Since the pandemic and the Ukraine war, the EU has doubled down on the green economy to meet global goals, such as the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
The new EU-Canadian alliance will give a boost to the COP28 climate summit.
This has built growing momentum behind the European Green Deal mega-project. One example of this is the more than 50 major sustainability initiatives announced by Brussels since the signature policy agenda was announced by the European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen. The 27-member bloc is looking to refashion itself as a global green superpower, and secure a renewed political lease of life to boot — this after several difficult decades that saw the rise of challenges such as growing euroskepticism, and multiple financial crises.
However, meeting global green goals cannot be achieved simply by announcing endless, major new political initiatives from Brussels. Growing help from the private sector, and also international allies is key in meeting this agenda too. Hence, the importance of the Canadian deal, which also helps with the wider European goal of “de-risking” from the Chinese economy.
Canada is one of the key Western allies with which the EU would like to build stronger green economy supply chains, including critical raw materials, to help ensure secure and sustainable supply of materials for European industry. This would significantly lower the dependency of the 27 member states on imports from single country suppliers, including China.
So, Canada’s attractiveness to the EU on the green front goes well beyond its hydrogen capabilities. There are wider plans, too, for greater cooperation in areas such as carbon pricing and trading.
Take the example of carbon pricing, where both Canada and the EU have a shared interest in rolling out carbon markets internationally. In 2005, Europe became the first power in the world to introduce such a system — the EU Emissions Trading System. Moreover, Brussels has welcomed Canada’s carbon pricing system.
Both Canada and the EU have a shared interest in rolling out carbon markets.
To be sure, the EU and Canada are not fully aligned on all elements of the green agenda, including coal and fossil fuel subsidies. Canada’s federal auditor highlighted in recent days that the nation is not on track to meet its climate targets due to delays in key measures, including methane regulations, and an oil and gas emissions cap.
However, bilateral relations are fundamentally positive, and cooperative and mutual reliance could only grow significantly in the second half of the decade, especially if Trump wins a second term as US president. Canada-EU ties in the green economy build from a series of agreements since the 1970s, and joint membership of bodies such as the G7 and G20.
Underpinning this is a landmark EU-Canada bilateral trade deal, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. This has driven an increase in two-way commerce, including a 15 percent boost in EU exports to Canada in 2020 alone.
CETA, which covers around a fifth of the global economy, and took the best part of a decade to negotiate, was signed in October 2016. It saw about 98 percent of all tariffs on goods traded between the two powers become duty free, and was then billed as “the most ambitious trade agreement the EU has ever concluded.” Most tariffs were removed when the deal came provisionally into force in 2017.
Taken together, the new EU-Canada green alliance will provide only the latest big boost to bilateral ties. Both Brussels and Ottawa are keen to double down on relations, not only to seize the new economic opportunities on the horizon, but also to prepare for the political trauma of a potential second Trump presidency.
• Andrew Hammond is an Associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.