Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 08-09/2023
Thanks Giving Day: Pray & Be Grateful To Almighty God/Elias Bejjani/October 09/15
Now Missiles From Lebanon Threaten to Blow up Wider Israel War
Israeli drone fires missile on S. Lebanon after drone from Lebanon intercepted
Safieddine calls on Israel to understand Shebaa Farms 'message'
Israeli forces shell Lebanese towns, civilian injuries reported
UN Special Coordinator voices deep concern over Blue Line exchange of fire
Hezbollah's response: reestablishing tent targeted by Israel
Security concerns rise: UNIFIL in communication with both sides of the Blue Line
Lebanese on Israel border say they don't fear escalation
Israel bombs South after Hezbollah stages 'solidarity' attack in Shebaa Farms
The day will come when Palestine and its sanctities will return to their Arab owners: Jumblatt
Daou: Neither Hezbollah nor Iran has the right to plunge Lebanon into a fierce war to serve a regional
Camille Chamoun: We hope that Hezbollah will not plunge Lebanon into a senseless war
Bassil: Logic of force that Israel used against us since 1948 has begun to be used against it, this is the major transformation we will experience in...
Siniora: Not to involve Lebanon in any clash with the Israeli enemy, for its ability to endure has been exhausted/October 08/2023
American Mideast Coalition for Democracy (AICD) Condemns Hamas Attack on Israel
The Hamas war, the Iranian Regime, the Rewilding and the Chaos Strategy: a Synopsis/Charles Elias Chartouni/October 08/2023

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 08-09/2023
Pope Francis calls for an end to armed attacks in Israel and Palestine
Israel declares war and bombards Gaza as fighting rages for second day after Hamas attack
Iranian security forces ‘helped plan Hamas attack on Israel’
Photos show fear, death and destruction in battle scenes from Israel and the Gaza Strip
The US is sending its most advanced aircraft carrier and its heavily armed strike group to Israel's coast and will supply the country with more weapons and ammo
Disturbing video shows a 25-year-old woman begging Hamas fighters not to kill her as she's taken hostage and driven into Gaza on a motorbike
'We fear what the coming days will bring': Canadians respond as Israel declares 'state of war' after Hamas attack
Policeman in Egypt kills 2 Israelis and 1 Egyptian at tourist site
Hamas is no resistance movement – it is an anti-Semitic, misogynist terror cult
As Israel Attacked by Hamas, Oil Traders Are Focused on Iran
An astonishing unravelling of a situation that's long been forgotten, ignored, or tolerated. What next?
Why are the usual suspects still making excuses for Hamas? They are anti-Semitic murderers

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 08-09/2023
Britain must now confront its relationship with Iran – and stand by Israel/David Frost/The Telegraph/October 08/ 2023
Immigration: Europe's New Wedge Issue/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 8, 2023
When Politicians Lose Track of Who Is the Adversary/Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute/October 8, 2023
Toward a New Approach to the Syrian Refugee Crisis: The Onus is on Antonio Guterres and European Governments/Raghida Dergham/The National/October 08/2023
Why the Iran Deal Matters/Lee Smith/The Tablet/October 08/2023
Ronald Reagan's Warning/Lawrence Kadish/Gatestone Institute./October 08/2023
Gaza and a Senseless War!/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Aoust/October 08/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 08-09/2023
Thanks Giving Day: Pray & Be Grateful To Almighty God
Elias Bejjani/October 09/15
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/67920/elias-bejjani-thanks-giving-day-obligations-prayers-wishes-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%a8%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%b9%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d9%83%d8%b1-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d9%83%d9%86/
Today while in Canada we are celebrating the Thanks Giving Day, gratitude and faith necessitates that each and every one of us with humility and faith thank Almighty God for all that we have no matter what.
To appreciate what we have it is a must to look wisely around and observe the millions and millions of people all over the world who are totally deprived from almost every thing that is basic and needed for securing a descent life.
Let us be grateful and thank Almighty God genuinely and with full reverence.
On this special day we have to focus on praying and combine both faith and acts together.
We need to train ourselves to witness for the truth and to be humble and generous in giving what we can to all those who are in need.
We must recognize and understand with no shed of doubt that the only weapons that a peaceful believer can use to fight hardships of all sorts are faith, honesty, self trust, righteousness and praying.
Let us all pray and ask Almighty God for what ever we are in need for ourselves, for others and for our beloved both countries, Canada and Lebanon.
Almighty God definitely will hear and respond in case we are genuine in our prayers and praying with confidence, faith and trust, but His responses shall be mostly beyond our understanding or grasping.
Let us Pray for on going peace and prosperity in the hospitable and great Canada that gave us a home when we needed it.
Let us pray for peace in our beloved original country, Lebanon and for freedom of its persecuted and impoverished people.
Let us pray for the souls of Lebanon's martyrs that fell on October 13/1990 while defending Lebanon's dignity and independence.
Let us pray that Jesus Christ shall grant, our mother country, Lebanon, the Land Of the Holy Cedars with faithful clergymen and brave political leaders who fear him and count for His Day Of Judgment.
Let us pray for peace and tranquility all over the world.

Now Missiles From Lebanon Threaten to Blow up Wider Israel War
Nico Hines/The Daily Beast/October 8, 2023
Guided missiles and artillery shells from Lebanon pounded targets in Israel Sunday morning as war in the Middle East threatened to spin out of control. The militant group Hezbollah—which is also a powerful political party in Lebanon—claimed responsibility for the attacks on a disputed territory in the north of Israel. Fighting continued in eight pockets in the south of the country on Sunday where the Israeli security forces were struggling to end the worst incursion into the country in 50 years. More than 600 people are dead on both sides with thousands more injured after an invasion launched by fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who blew up border fences and poured into Israel on Saturday on motorbikes, boats and motorized paragliders after launching thousands of rocket and drone attacks. The invaders gunned down hundreds of Israeli soldiers, civilians and even revellers at a peace festival before snatching dozens of hostages and taking them back to Gaza. Hamas has reportedly claimed that more than 150 hostages were seized but that number is not confirmed. What is known is that whole families, women and children were among those being held on Sunday as terrified relatives begged and cried for their release in heart-wrenching social media posts and television interviews.
The Day Israel Changed Forever
Israel’s initial military response was slow—with reduced numbers on shift for a major Jewish holiday—but by Saturday night and into Sunday morning Gaza was being pounded by revenge strikes which have killed more than 300. Sunday morning brought more attacks on Israel with Hezbollah firing dozens of missiles at Israeli military outposts in Shebaa Farms, a disputed region captured by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. Hezbollah’s attack signified their support for the Hamas uprising and raised fears that the militant group, which is backed by Iran, may return to full hostilities against Israel. The Lebanon war between the two forces in 2006 killed more than 1,000 Lebanese people and 165 Israelis. The Israel Defense Force (IDF) responded to the Hezbollah attacks with armed drone strikes that hit targets in another disputed region near the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria.Israeli military insiders told The Daily Beast earlier this year that co-ordination between Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah was growing and risked spilling over into a war on Israeli soil. “Israel is on the brink and facing the abyss,” said Assaf Orion, a Brigadier-General in the IDF reserves, in May. Sources warned that Israel’s treatment of Muslims and their holy sites was sparking increased low-level attacks which were being co-ordinated between the militant groups and other Iranian proxies to an unprecedented extent.
New Anti-Israel Axis Pushes Netanyahu to ‘Brink’ of War
In April, rockets were launched from Lebanon in response to the brutal invasion of Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque. Israeli security forces stormed into the mosque—which is considered the third most holy site in Islam—and beat worshippers.
Hamas called Saturday’s assault on Israel “Operation Al Aqsa Storm.”The Israeli authorities and security forces are under huge pressure for allowing hundreds of fighters to march in from Gaza on Saturday largely unopposed. Israeli critics have asked why Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition was unaware that Hamas was preparing the most significant co-ordinated attack on Israel for decades. Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli army spokesman, was pressed on how the IDF could have been caught so catastrophically off guard, he repied: “That's a good question.”

Israeli drone fires missile on S. Lebanon after drone from Lebanon intercepted
Naharnet/October 08/2023
An Israeli drone fired a missile Sunday on the al-Khraibeh area in Rashaya al-Fukhar's outskirts, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. Israel’s Patriot air defense system had earlier fired a missile at a drone that crossed from Lebanon, Israeli media outlets said.
The developments follow a Hezbollah attack in the morning on the occupied Shebaa Farms that was followed by Israeli retaliatory fire. The Israeli shelling wounded two civilians in south Lebanon.

Safieddine calls on Israel to understand Shebaa Farms 'message'
Naharnet/October 08/2023
Senior Hezbollah official Sayyed Hashem Safieddine on Sunday warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “this battle is not only Gaza’s battle,” hours after Hezbollah attacked Israeli military posts in the occupied Shebaa Farms.
“The responsibility obliges all the sons of our nation not to be neutral and we are not neutral,” Safieddine said during a pro-Palestine rally in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
“The resistance sent a message this morning in Kfarshouba to say that it is our right to target the enemy that is still occupying our land and the Israelis must read this message well,” he added, referring to the Shebaa Farms attack. “There is a message to the Americans and Israelis that what happened in Gaza means that your protracted foolishness and underestimation have led you to the Al-Aqsa Flood (Operation), and if you go further today you will witness the flood of the entire nation, not only al-Aqsa,” Safieddine cautioned. He also warned that “the scene of the storming of settlements around Gaza coupled with rocket shelling will one day be repeated dozens-fold stronger, from Lebanon and from all the areas that are adjacent to occupied Palestine.”

Israeli forces shell Lebanese towns, civilian injuries reported
LBCI/October 08/2023
The Army Command - Directorate of Orientation announced that on 8/10/2023, military units affiliated with the Israeli enemy shelled the outskirts of the towns of Shebaa, Halta, Kfarchouba, and Al-Hibbariyah with artillery and tanks. This comes following the firing of shells and rockets from one of the southern areas towards the positions of the Israeli enemy in the occupied Lebanese territories. The hostile shelling resulted in injuries among the civilians who were transported to hospitals for treatment. In parallel, the Lebanese Army has been deploying in border areas since 7/10/2023, conducting patrols and closely monitoring the situation in coordination with the UNIFIL.

UN Special Coordinator voices deep concern over Blue Line exchange of fire
LBCI/October 08/2023
The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, expressed on the X platform, "I am deeply concerned about the exchange of fire across the Blue Line this morning." She added: "It is more important than ever to abide by the cessation of hostilities and the full implementation of Resolution 1701 to shield Lebanon and its people from further conflagration." She affirmed: "UNSCOL, in coordination with UNIFIL, will continue to do all it can and support efforts to safeguard Lebanon's security and stability."

Hezbollah's response: reestablishing tent targeted by Israel
LBCI/October 08/2023
In response to the Israeli targeting of Hezbollah's tents as a retaliation for the targeting of Israeli sites, LBCI has learned, citing sources close to Hezbollah, that the tent that Israel struck on Sunday morning has been reinstalled and set up by Hezbollah, with its members present inside.

Security concerns rise: UNIFIL in communication with both sides of the Blue Line
LBCI/October 08/2023
The official spokesperson for UNIFIL, Andrea Tenenti, announced that in the early hours of Sunday morning, peacekeeping troops affiliated with UNIFIL observed the firing of several rockets from southeastern Lebanon towards the Israeli-occupied territories in the Kfarchouba area. Israel also responded with artillery fire towards Lebanon in retaliation.
He added, "We are in contact with authorities on both sides of the Blue Line, at all levels, to contain the situation and avoid further escalation." Tenenti noted that "UNIFIL peacekeepers are in their positions, carrying out their tasks, and continuing their work, including taking shelter to ensure their safety." He further stated, "We urge everyone to exercise restraint and use the communication and coordination mechanisms available to UNIFIL to de-escalate the situation and prevent a rapid deterioration of the security situation."

Lebanese on Israel border say they don't fear escalation
Agence France Presse/October 08/2023
Smoking shisha on a balcony overlooking where Hezbollah and Israel exchanged fire only hours before, Lebanese villager Abu Rami brushes it off, saying he is now used to such confrontations. In an attack it said had been carried out "in solidarity" with Hamas, which launched a surprise assault on Israel the day before, Hezbollah fired on Israeli positions in the contested Shebaa Farms border area. Israel said it retaliated and warned the Iran-backed movement against getting involved in the fight on its southern flank with the Palestinian Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip. Despite the escalation, people in the village of Kfarshouba, which overlooks Shebaa Farms, said they were not afraid of war and that they supported Hezbollah and Palestinian militants. "We are no longer afraid; we taught our children that this a country of resistance," said Abu Rami from the village of Kfarshouba. "Our lives at the border are unstable... we're used to this," said the man in his 40s who did not give his full name. The tough conditions in southern Lebanon -- which endured the 1975-1990 civil war and decades of Israeli occupation followed by intermittent unrest -- has forced many people to leave Kfarshouba. Palestinian militants had taken up base in the border areas in the 1970s, frequently exchanging fire with Israel, which had occupied the village for 22 years. In 2006, Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war that left more than 1,200 dead in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 in Israel, mostly soldiers. The two countries remain technically at war.
Speaking at a Hezbollah rally in support of Hamas' offensive, senior official Sayyed Hashem Safieddine said the group's strikes were "a message" to Israel that "it's our right and duty to target the enemy so long as it occupies our land."
'Lived through all the wars'
With his back turned to the green hills that Hezbollah targeted earlier in the morning, Abu Rami said the Lebanese villagers backed the Palestinians. "We support Palestine... and we sympathize with the resistance (Hezbollah) because we live on the border," said the municipality worker. "We are not afraid of anything because we have no infrastructure, no electricity, no food, nothing," he said. Lebanon has been battered by four years of gruelling economic crisis, which the World Bank said was one of the worst in recent world history. Its currency, the pound, has lost more than 95 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar and power cuts lasting longer than 20 hours have become common, as cash-strapped state institutions fall in disrepair. Lebanon's National News Agency said a baby and another child were injured by flying shards of glass caused by the Israeli strikes on Sunday. Ismail Abdel Aal, a former Lebanese soldier, said people were carrying on with their lives in Kfarshouba despite the violence. "Life in the village is normal. We are not scared," the retiree now in his 70s told AFP while taking a stroll outside. "We have lived through all the wars here in Kfarshouba," he added.

Israel bombs South after Hezbollah stages 'solidarity' attack in Shebaa Farms
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/October 08/2023
Hezbollah on Sunday said it fired “a large number of artillery shells and guided missiles” at three Israeli military posts in the occupied Shebaa Farms as part of "liberating what's left of occupied Lebanese land and in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance."
Israel responded by firing artillery shells at areas in south Lebanon as one of its drones struck “Hezbollah infrastructure” in the Shebaa Farms area in response to the early morning attack. The "infrastructure" turned out to be the tent that Hezbollah had erected in the summer in the disputed area. The move had sparked months of tensions with Israel and the U.N. has been working to persuade Hezbollah to remove the tent. Hezbollah fighters quickly set up another tent in the area on Sunday to replace the destroyed one. Israel responded by firing three shells but Hezbollah's militants remained in the area according to Hezbollah media outlets. Reports that the shelling followed another Hezbollah attack on the Shebaa Farms turned out to be baseless. In an English-language statement, the Israeli army said it “has taken preparational measures" to confront attacks from Lebanon amid its ongoing and unprecedented war with the Palestinian Hamas movement. “We will continue to operate in all regions and at any time necessary to ensure the safety of the Israeli civilians,” it vowed. Lebanese residents near the border area told AFP they had heard a dozen rockets being fired towards Israel in the morning.
An AFP photographer reported that Israeli surveillance drones flew over the border region. Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said the shelling wounded two Lebanese citizens in the Kfarshouba area. Israel warned Hezbollah against being involved in the fighting. "We recommend Hezbollah not to come into this. If they come we are ready," army spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters. The U.N. peacekeeping force deployed along Lebanon’s southern border, UNIFIL, called for “everyone to exercise restraint” and make use of the force's “liaison and coordination mechanisms to de-escalate” and prevent a fast deterioration of the security situation. It said it had detected several rockets fired from southeast Lebanon toward “Israeli-occupied territory,” followed by artillery fire from Israel toward Lebanon. UNIFIL added that it is in contact with authorities on both sides of the border at all levels “to contain the situation and avoid a more serious escalation.”There are 13 points of dispute along the so-called Blue Line, the frontier demarcated by the U.N. in 2000 after Israeli troops withdrew from southern Lebanon. In 2006 Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war that left more than 1,200 dead in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 in Israel, mostly soldiers. The two countries remain technically at war. On Saturday, Hezbollah had praised Hamas for its "heroic operation" and said its leadership was following the developments and "in direct contact with the leadership of the Palestinian resistance at home and abroad."

The day will come when Palestine and its sanctities will return to their Arab owners: Jumblatt
LBCI/October 08/2023
Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt wrote on X platform on Sunday, "To the forced conscripts from the Arab Druze in the Israeli army in occupied Palestine, beware of participating in the war against the fighters of Hamas and the Palestinian people. The march of history, no matter how long it takes, goes hand in hand with the freedom of peoples, and the day will come when Palestine and its sanctities will return to their Arab owners."

Daou: Neither Hezbollah nor Iran has the right to plunge Lebanon into a fierce war to serve a regional
NNA/October 08/2023
MP Mark Daou wrote today on platform “X”: “First, protecting Lebanon from any attack is the absolute priority. Neither Hezbollah nor Iran have any right to plunge Lebanon into a brutal war in the service of a regional agenda." He added, "Secondly, yesterday, today and tomorrow, we are with the Palestinian people, their rights, and their state with Jerusalem as their capital, and with the right of the Palestinian people to self-defense until a just and comprehensive peace is achieved. The Palestinian people have proven over time that they are steadfast and fighters, no matter how adverse the circumstances..."Daou went on, "Thirdly, there is no stability and peace in the region without a final solution to the Palestinian issue, and there is no victory over all religious extremism and armed attacks on civilians and places of worship without a just and comprehensive solution that grants the Palestinians their rights."He added, "Fourth, every oppressor has a day, no matter how much he thinks his weapon protects him, and his arrogance is a deterrent force against a people who have the right to life, to a state, to dignity, and sovereignty in any state."
"Finally, Lebanon is able to support Palestine to the extent of the strength of its state. Hence, if the state becomes weak and Lebanon turns into an undermined arena, then the cause will lose a supportive state, only to find an armed arena with militias fighting its people more than it stands with Palestine and voices slogans from a time that has ended with no return.”

Camille Chamoun: We hope that Hezbollah will not plunge Lebanon into a senseless war
NNA /October 08/2023
MP Camille Chamoun said in a statement on Sunday, “What we see today in terms of developments in the occupied Palestinian territories is nothing but a reaction to all the provocations that occurred in the past, because the Hebrew state does not want to adapt to the Palestinian people in any way, and the solutions that were proposed in the Camp David Accords and then the Oslo Accords should have been followed up to create two states, the first Palestine and the second Israel..."He added, "What we see today is an ongoing crisis, and the problem can only be solved with good intentions on both sides.”
Chamoun went on, "Here we hope that there will be no reaction from us in Lebanon because the country can no longer bear any kind of crisis, and we are no longer able to be a battlefield for others. This is unacceptable and the people of the camps must understand it." He hoped that Hezbollah would not plunge Lebanon into a senseless war that would cost so much and that we would be unable to endure..."The July 2006 war cost Lebanon a lot, just as it cost our Arab brothers, and today we cannot afford more wars. Rather, we look forward to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East as soon as possible," Chamoun underlined.

Bassil: Logic of force that Israel used against us since 1948 has begun to be used against it, this is the major transformation we will experience in...
NNA/October 08/2023
Free Patriotic Movement Chief, MP Gebran Bassil, commented on the unfolding events in occupied Palestine, considering that the logic of force adopted by Israel is now being used against it. He said: “The logic of force that Israel has used against us since 1948 has begun to be used against it, and this is the great transformation that we will experience in the region, and we must see how it can be approached in Lebanon with a unified position that protects and preserves our country so that it remains a champion of the causes of truth.”assil’s words came during his visit today to the town of Baskinta in the Metn region, where he had a closer look at its developmental needs.
Following a Mass service held at St. Joseph Church in the town, Bassil met with a popular crowd from the region, where he touched on Lebanon’s economic and daily-living crises and the serious issue of Syrian displacement and migration of Lebanese citizens. Touching on the arising events in occupied Palestine, Bassil said: “This makes us confirm that the logic of force does not lead us to peace,” noting that Israel only used force with Lebanon and occupied its land and attacked the Lebanese, and all this did not stop until the resistance imposed a “power equation”.
“This is the status quo, and either Lebanon benefits from it to build a state, develop society, and prosper the economy, or we continue to use it in endless wars,” he added.
“It is no secret to anyone that there are three types of people in Lebanon: those who believe in the unity of the fronts and arenas, and therefore we open all fields against Israel to destroy it...There are also those who support the right of the Palestinians to regain their land and state, and we are amongst this group and we support what is happening and rejoice in the victory of any Arab against the Israeli...As for the last group, it includes those who rejoice for Israel’s victory and are saddened by the victory of the resistance,” Bassil continued to explain. He considered that in terms of the unity of the arenas and the right of the Palestinians to recover their land, there is a one goal but a different approach and different priorities. “There are those who want the disappearance of the Israeli entity, but our priority is the establishment of the Lebanese state because without it, neither we nor the homeland would persist,” he underlined. “The FPM touched yesterday on how to follow a policy that preserves the homeland without giving up the elements of power in it and obtain our rights, as in the case of oil and gas extraction, so that we were able to impose a power equation on the borders from both sides,” recalled Bassil. “This happened through the laws that we prepared and the work we did at the Ministry of Energy for years, and the resistance force came to balance the power of science to create this equation and impose on Israel that if it wants to extract oil, then we must also extract from Qana,” stressing that “this is how we must make the policies that render Lebanon a priority.”

Siniora: Not to involve Lebanon in any clash with the Israeli enemy, for its ability to endure has been exhausted/October 08/2023
Siniora stressed "the necessity of not involving Lebanon in any clash with the Israeli enemy because its capacity for endurance has been exhausted due to being immersed in three major crises that render the situation extremely fragile and weak."
He added, "Lebanon has its sufficient share of the worsening political crisis, where its regime and state stand on the brink of collapse due to the presidential vacuum and the collapse of its state’s authority, in addition to its financial, economic, and daily-living crisis.” “We urge all concerned parties in Lebanon, and we also urge the Lebanese government to exercise the highest levels of foresight and wisdom, communicate with everyone, and provide greater coordination to avoid the looming serious problems and shocks," Siniora concluded.

American Mideast Coalition for Democracy (AICD) Condemns Hamas Attack on Israel
October 08/2023
Coming on the anniversary of the start of the Yom Kipper War in 1973, Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel has already taken dozens of lives and caused hundreds of civilian casualties. In addition to launching some 5,000 rockets into Israel’s civilian areas, Hamas sent numerous fighters from Gaza into Israel using boats and paragliders. These terrorists are going street to street and house to house killing and kidnapping Israeli civilians. Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu has declared war on Hamas. Israel is bombing targets in Gaza and IDF forces have been deployed to clear out the terrorist infiltrators.
The Biden administration released funds to the Palestinians in Hamas-controlled Gaza early in the administration knowing that at least some of those funds would sponsor terror. They just recently released 6 billion dollars of frozen funds to the world’s largest terror sponsor – Iran.
Iran is the major financier of both Hezbollah and Hamas. The mullahs may have green-lighted this attack in retaliation for Israel and Saudi Arabia normalizing relations. Hezbollah has issued a statement praising Hamas for this attack.
Hezbollah and Hamas maintain direct contact with each other. Hezbollah has been stockpiling rockets in South Lebanon. We wait to see if they join in the attack. The American Mideast coalition for Democracy fully condemns this Hamas attack and hold Iran’s regime responsible for undermining the expected peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Iranian regime is responsible for this war.

The Hamas war, the Iranian Regime, the Rewilding and the Chaos Strategy: a Synopsis
Charles Elias Chartouni/October 08/2023
The Hamas attack on Southern Israeli border raises several questions related to the failure of Israeli intelligence to preempt the attacks, the defaulting controls of the borders, the unpreparedness of the IDF Southern command, the vulnerability of inner civilian areas, the coordinated attacks, the consequences of Israeli political discords on national security and their repercussions on the ongoing US-Saudi negotiations, and the finalization of the Abrahamic accords with an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty. These questions are clearly divided between intelligence, military and technical issues and their impact on the ongoing political dynamics. The security failures await thorough investigations to understand how the security system was swayed by several attacks targeting various strategic nodes: Aerial, terrestrial and maritime borderlines, civilian security, intelligence blindspots, and IDF alertness deficits. The critical review of the compounded failures, their high loaded hazards and deleterious political consequences are mandated, while the military counteroffensive is peremptory to redress the transient imbalances, restore the military and moral credibility and address the Southern border security issues.
Otherwise, the first and foremost political questions relate to the correlations between the major security blunders, and the subterranean dynamics that lurk behind them. The review of the strategic landscape points to the interests of various actors which intersect around the following objectives: the spiking of the US-Saudi negotiations (Iran, China, Russia, Turkey and their domestic acolytes, Hezbollah, Syrian regime, Hamas and various Islamic radicalisms…), the weakening of the Palestinian Authority at a critical juncture in its troubled life course (Iran, Hamas and PLO dissidents, Syrian regime…), the deflection of pressure on Russia and the new Cold War actors through proliferating stases and major strategic disruptions (Russia, China, Turkey and their domestic epigones). Nonetheless, the mapping of the chain of causality points to the immediate correlation between Hamas and its Iranian mentor and provider. What’s stunning in the unfolding events is their predictability, since the open conflict between Israel and Iran is no mystery, and the dynamics are operating all along at different intensities, and make observers wonder how IDF was caught off guard?
Reckoning with all the enlisted factors, there is no reason to believe that Israeli intelligence (Mossad, Shin Bet) were not alert to the looming security hazards, the failure lies elsewhere, in the poisoned domestic political environment, its self referentiality, and obfuscated ordering of priorities. The internal political environment was highly corrosive to an extent that downgraded security issues to a nadir, while exacerbated political polarization was blindfolded by strident cultural and institutional wars, and the underestimation of security threats. The highly coordinated attack was based on close monitoring of the Israeli political scenery, the urgency to sabotage the US-Saudi plan and its congruence with the Russian and Chinese derailment interests. This frontal assault is meant to upend the overall political dynamic in the region, shrink the Saudi room of maneuvering and reduce its scope, while broadening the spectrum of strategic sabotaging of the Iranian regime.
This military event is a major turnaround be it in Israel, amongst Palestinians and throughout the region:
1/ Israel has no other choice but to destroy the political and military infrastructure of Hamas, since the low intensity conflicts, adopted so far, have proven ineffective and strategically counterproductive. This strategy is going to lead, tendentially, to a direct confrontation with Iran and its regional surrogate Hezbollah and its allies, and has to address the incidence of these events on overall regional dynamics. The partial accommodation is totally irrelevant at this stage, and the region has to deal with the rise to the extremes and its concatenated strategic and political scenarios.
2/ Israel cannot condone its political divisions and the urge for a national coalition is imperative. Its retorsion strategy has to cope with a double bind, the liberation of the hostages and the need to balance it with the need to safeguard the peace dynamics triggered by the US-Saudi negotiations. The calibrated movements are critical to avoid the pitfalls of understated and egregious retaliation. In both cases, the Iranian regime should be stymied at both ends, since the disruption dynamics are part of it ideological playbook and strategic objectives. 3/ The Israeli-Palestinian engagement should move unto another plane and tempo in order to adjudicate the lingering differences, and superintend the completion of the targeted peace dynamic. The Abrahamic accords are unlikely to sustain unless the Israeli-Palestinian chapter is addressed per se, and in complementarity with the previous peace accords (Camp David and Oslo, 1979, 1993 and their derivatives) and their preliminary ruling: Mutual recognition and Two States solution. Meanwhile, the destruction of Hamas and the internationalization of Gaza status is preliminary to any normalization scenario and transition strategy. The tragic turn of events is unlikely to be tackled unless we come to terms with their strategic scope, unremitting momentum, underlying ideological and strategic subtexts. The unfolding military operations and their political sequels are quite decisive insofar as the future political evolutions and their defining feature

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 08-09/2023
Pope Francis calls for an end to armed attacks in Israel and Palestine
NNA /October 08/2023
Pope Francis called on Sunday for an end to “armed attacks” in Israel after the Hamas attack, stressing the need for “peace to come to Israel and Palestine,” according to “Agence France-Presse.”The Supreme Pontiff said after the Angelus prayer: “I follow with concern and pain what is happening in Israel and Palestine, where violence has erupted again at a rapid pace, causing hundreds of deaths and injuries.”He added: "I express my closeness to the families of the victims. I pray for them and for all those who live hours of terror and anxiety. May the armed attacks stop!"The Pope stressed that "terrorism and war do not lead to any solution, but rather to the death and suffering of many innocent people. War is a defeat. Every war is a defeat. Let us pray for peace in Israel and Palestine."

Israel declares war and bombards Gaza as fighting rages for second day after Hamas attack
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)/October 8, 2023
The Israeli government formally declared war Sunday and gave the green light for “significant military steps” to retaliate against Hamas for its surprise attack, as the military tried to crush fighters still in southern towns and intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The toll passed 1,100 dead and thousands wounded on both sides. More than 24 hours after Hamas launched its unprecedented incursion out of Gaza, Israeli forces were still battling with militants holed up in several locations. At least 700 people have reportedly been killed in Israel — a staggering toll on a scale the country has not experienced in decades — and more than 400 have been killed in Gaza. The declaration of war portended greater fighting ahead, and a major question was whether Israel would launch a ground assault into Gaza, a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties.
Meanwhile, Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group claimed to have taken captive more than 130 people from inside Israel and brought them into Gaza, saying they would be traded for the release of thousands of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The announcement, though unconfirmed, was the first sign of the scope of abductions. The captives are known to include soldiers and civilians, including women, children and elderly — mostly Israelis but also some other nationalities. The Israeli military said only that the number of captives is “significant.”
As many as 1,000 Hamas fighters were involved in Saturday morning’s assault, according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking on ABC’s “This Week.” The high figure underscored the extent of planning by the militant group ruling Gaza, which has said it launched the attack in response to mounting Palestinian suffering under Israel's occupation and blockade of Gaza.
The gunmen rampaged for hours, gunning down civilians and snatching people in towns, along highways and at a techno music festival attended by thousands in the desert near Gaza. The rescue service Zaka said it removed about 260 bodies from the festival, and that number was expected to rise. It was not clear how many of those bodies were already included in Israel’s toll. In response, Israel hit more than 800 targets in Gaza so far, its military said, including airstrikes that leveled much of the town of Beit Hanoun in the enclave’s northeast corner. Israeli Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters Hamas was using the town as a staging ground for attacks. There was no immediate word on casualties, and most of the community’s population of tens of thousands of people likely fled before the bombardment. “We will continue to attack in this way, with this force, continuously, on all gathering (places) and routes” used by Hamas, Hagari said. Civilians on both sides were already paying a high price. The Israeli military was evacuating at least five towns close to Gaza. A line of Israelis snaked outside a central Israel police station to supply DNA samples and other means that could help identify missing family members. Mayyan Zin, a divorced mother of two, said she learned that her two daughters had been abducted when a relative sent her photos from a Telegram group showing them sitting on mattresses in captivity. She then found online videos of a chilling scene in her ex-husband’s home in the town of Nahal Oz: Gunmen who had broken in speak to him, his leg bleeding, in the living room near the two terrified, weeping daughters, Dafna, 15, and Ella, 8. Another video showed the father being taken across the border into Gaza.
“Just bring my daughters home and to their family. All the people,” Zin said.
In Gaza, the tiny enclave of 2.3 million people sealed off by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade for 16 years since the Hamas takeover, residents feared an intensified onslaught. Israeli strikes flattened some residential buildings. Nasser Abu Quta said 19 members of his family including his wife were killed when an airstrike hit their home, where they were huddling on the ground floor in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. There were no militants in his building, he insisted. “This is a safe house, with children and women,” the 57-year-old Abu Quta said by telephone. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the strike. Some 74,000 displaced Gazans were staying in 64 shelters. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said a school sheltering more than 225 people took a direct hit. It did not say where the fire came from.
Several Israeli media outlets, citing rescue service officials, said at least 700 people have been killed in Israel, including 44 soldiers. The Gaza Health Ministry said 413 people, including 78 children and 41 women, were killed in the territory. Some 2,000 people have been wounded on each side. An Israeli official said security forces have killed 400 militants and captured dozens more.
Elsewhere, six Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers Sunday around the West Bank. In northern Israel, a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group fanned fears that the fighting could expand into a wider regional war. Hezbollah fired rockets and shells Sunday at Israeli positions in a disputed area along the border, and the Israeli military fired back using armed drones. The Israeli military said the situation was calm after the exchange. The declaration of war on Hamas announced by Israel’s Security Cabinet was largely symbolic, said Yohanan Plesner, the head of the Israel Democracy Institute, a local think tank. But it “demonstrates that the government thinks we are entering a more lengthy, intense and significant period of war.”Israel has carried out major military campaigns over the past four decades in Lebanon and Gaza that it portrayed as wars, but without a formal declaration.
The Security Cabinet also approved “significant military steps.” The steps were not defined, but the declaration appears to give the military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a wide mandate.Speaking on national television Saturday, Netanyahu vowed that Hamas “will pay an unprecedented price.” He further warned: “This war will take time. It will be difficult.”In a statement, his office said the aim will be the destruction of Hamas’ “military and governing capabilities” to an extent that prevents it from threatening Israelis “for many years.”Israelis were still reeling from the breadth, ferocity and surprise of the Hamas assault. The group’s fighters broke through Israel’s security fence surrounding the Gaza Strip early Saturday. Using motorcycles and pickup trucks, even paragliders and speedboats on the coast, they moved into nearby Israeli communities — as many as 22 locations.
The high death toll and slow response to the onslaught pointed to a major intelligence failure and undermined the long-held perception that Israel has eyes and ears everywhere in the small, densely populated territory it has controlled for decades. The presence of hostages in Gaza complicates Israel’s response. Israel has a history of making heavily lopsided exchanges to bring captive Israelis home. An Egyptian official said Israel sought help from Cairo to ensure the safety of the hostages. Egypt also spoke with both sides about a potential cease-fire, but Israel was not open to a truce “at this stage,” according to the official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to brief media. The shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, said the assault, named “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm,” was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza, the Israeli occupation and a series of recent incidents that have brought Israeli-Palestinian tensions to a fever pitch. Over the past year, Israel’s far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared around the Al-Aqsa mosque, a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.

Iranian security forces ‘helped plan Hamas attack on Israel’
Tony Diver/The Telegraph/October 8, 2023
President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a news conference,
Iranian security forces helped plan Hamas’s attack on Israel and gave approval for it to take place, according to reports. Two members of the terrorist groups Hamas and Hisbollah told the Wall Street Journal that Saturday’s deadly attack, which has killed 700 people, was planned in meetings with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from August. The newspaper said a final go-ahead was given by Iranian officials at a meeting in Beirut last Monday with representatives from Hamas, Hisbollah and a Lebanese political faction. Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, has said American officials have not yet seen evidence that Iran was behind the attacks, but the country has long been an enemy of Israel and a supporter of jihadi groups in the region. Mahmoud Mirdawi, a senior Hamas official, said the attack was a “Palestinian and Hamas decision”, but other officials from Syria and Europe said Iran had been involved. The news comes after the president of Iran urged Muslim countries to join the attacks on Israel. Ebrahim Raisi, who spoke to Hamas on Sunday, said that Iran supports Gaza’s right to self-defence and called for Israel to be held accountable for endangering the region. “The Zionist regime and its supporters are responsible for endangering the security of nations in the region, and they must be held accountable in this matter,” he said. He urged Muslim governments to “support the Palestinian nation”, while praising “resistance” efforts by Hamas and Islamic Jihad as well as in countries including Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. His calls will further inflame tensions between Iran and Western allies, including the United States, where Joe Biden has been criticised for signing a prisoner swap deal that included the release of frozen Iranian funds. The attack has already prompted debates on Capitol Hill about the US’s Middle East policy, with Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, suggesting on Sunday that a rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia may have motivated Saturday’s attack. “It wouldn’t be a surprise that part of the motivation may have been to disrupt efforts to bring Saudi Arabia and Israel together, along with other countries that may be interested in normalising relations with Israel,” Mr Blinken told CNN. He added that there was not yet any evidence seen by the United States of Iran being behind the latest attack in Israel, but he noted the long-standing ties between Iran and Hamas. The US has been supportive of attempts to bring Israel and Saudi Arabia closer together in recent months. But in a statement following the attack, the Saudi foreign ministry denounced Israeli “occupation forces” and said Hamas’s actions were the “result of the continued occupation and deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights”.
Iran’s call for other countries to join attacks against Israel came after skirmishes on the country’s Lebanese border.
Scholz warns of ‘consequences’
On Sunday morning, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack along the Golan heights, where the borders of Lebanon, Israel and Syria meet. Israel responded with drones and claimed to have hit a Hezbollah position. Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, warned of violence spreading like wildfire “with incalculable consequences for the whole region” if tensions cannot be kept under control. “The security of Israel is Germany’s reason of state and we will act accordingly,” he said. The chancellor was referring to Germany’s perceived historic duty towards Israel given its responsibility for the Holocaust, echoing a statement made earlier in the day by the leaders of all three parties in his centre-Left coalition as well as the opposition conservatives. The situation prompted further attacks on the Biden administration by Republicans, who argue that his policy in the Middle East has prompted the violence. Donald Trump, the GOP’s 2024 presidential frontrunner, said: “The horrible attack on Israel, much like the attack on Ukraine, would never have happened if I were president. Zero chance.”
But Mr Trump’s opponents responded by blaming Republican support for isolationist foreign policy for the attacks.

Photos show fear, death and destruction in battle scenes from Israel and the Gaza Strip
Associated Press/October 8, 2023
In Israel, a frightened woman runs down the street cradling a young girl in her arms as a car behind her is engulfed in a ball of flames from an unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas militants. In Gaza City, an anguished Palestinian woman embraces the head of a dead man carried by a crowd through the streets after he was killed in retaliation by Israeli forces. The images are just two of hundreds by Associated Press photographers that show the destruction, terror and sadness on both sides of the conflict — and the triumph by some Palestinians who see the attack as a victory. Hundreds have been killed on both sides of the border in fighting that continued Sunday. In Saturday’s early morning assault, a photo shows the smoky trail of rockets from Gaza arcing through the sky against the backdrop of a rising sun. Rockets that struck a parking lot next to a residential building in the Israeli city of Ashkelon torched cars and sent thick black plumes skyward. Israeli security forces used a table like a stretcher to rescue a woman who lay in tattered, bloody clothes. Men in Gaza stood atop a burning Israeli tank with their arms raised in victory. On Sunday, a Palestinian man sat alone in front of the rubble of a destroyed apartment building that was tilted on its side behind him, exposing partial rooms still intact and laundry that had been hanging on balconies now covered in dirt and rubble.

The US is sending its most advanced aircraft carrier and its heavily armed strike group to Israel's coast and will supply the country with more weapons and ammo
Charles R. Davis,Jake Epstein/Business Insider/October 8, 2023
The US is moving one of its carrier strike groups to the coastal waters of Israel.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford to the Eastern Mediterranean. Austin said the US will also provide Israel more "equipment and resources, including munitions."The US is deploying an aircraft carrier and other vessels capable of firing guided missiles off the coast of Israel, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Sunday, as part of a show of strength in the wake of a shock attack by Hamas that killed more than 600 people. "I have directed the movement of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean," Austin said in a statement, adding that the United States was also taking steps to build up its squadron of fighter jets in the region. "In addition, the United States government will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions," Austin said. The first such assistance will arrive in the country in the coming days, he said. Israel, the top recipient of US military aid, began heavily bombarding alleged Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after the Palestinian militant group launched a raid in southern Israel and killed hundreds of people, mostly civilians. According to Gaza health authorities, more than 300 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory so far in retaliatory strikes. On Sunday, the Israeli government formally declared war on Hamas with a stated goal of seizing power over the entire Gaza Strip, which is home to roughly 2 million people. As Insider reported Saturday, an extended war could further increase demand for the same NATO-standard artillery shells used by Ukraine. The US has a stockpile of that ammunition in Israel. The redirecting of US firepower to the eastern Mediterranean includes the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which is the Navy's most advanced carrier, the guided missile cruiser USS Normandy, and the guided missile destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the military has "taken steps to augment" F-15, F-16, and A-10 fighter aircraft squadrons that are already in the area. The US "maintains ready forces globally to further reinforce this posture if required," CENTCOM said in a statement. An IDF spokesperson said on Sunday that Israel is working closely with CENTCOM, and top military leadership is in close communication. "Strengthening our joint force posture, in addition to the materiel support that we will rapidly provide to Israel, underscores the United States' ironclad support for the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli people," Austin said on Sunday. "My team and I will continue to be in close contact with our Israeli counterparts to ensure they have what they need to protect their citizens and defend themselves against these heinous terrorist attacks."

Disturbing video shows a 25-year-old woman begging Hamas fighters not to kill her as she's taken hostage and driven into Gaza on a motorbike
Maria Noyen/Business Insider/October 8, 2023
Palestinians ride on an Israeli military vehicle taken by an army base overrun by Hamas militants near the Gaza Strip fence on October 7, 2023.She and her boyfriend were at an outdoor music festival when armed Hamas fighter arrived. Footage circulating on social media shows the moment an Israeli woman begged for her life as she was separated from her partner and driven away by Hamas fighters into Gaza. Twenty-five-year-old Noa Argamani and her partner Avi Natan were attending an outdoor music festival on Saturday when armed Hamas fighters suddenly arrived and began taking hostages.
Argamani and Natan were identified by their family members as the subjects of the disturbing video, according to The Times of Israel. In the clip, Argamani can be heard begging her captors: "Don't kill me," per the report. Argamani and Natan were also reported missing by his brother, Moshe Or, who told Israel's Channel 12 News that he only discovered they were taken hostage when the footage went viral, Israel National News reported. "We were worried and tried to call. His phone was unavailable and so was hers," Moshe said. "After a few hours, emergency teams contacted us and told us that they saw a video of my brother and his girlfriend Noa as they were kidnapped and taken towards the Gaza Strip."Moshe said he quickly found the video after looking through a few Telegram groups. "I saw Noa looking scared and frightened in the video. I can't imagine what's going through her mind – screaming in panic, when some scumbags are holding her and not letting her go," he said. "My brother who is a big guy, two meters, trains four times a week, a really strong guy. They held him maybe four or five of them, and just led them towards the Strip I guess." The Israeli military has confirmed Hamas kidnapped both civilians and soldiers during the attack, CNN reported. Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricus told CNN that the number of Israeli nationals captured by Hamas was "unprecedented." "These are numbers that we have never, ever seen before and these are, they're unprecedented, and they will force an unprecedented response from Israel," Conricus said. Israel declared a "state of war" after a surprise attack from Hamas on Saturday. Authorities say at least 250 Israeli citizens have been killed so far, and more than 1,500 have been wounded.

'We fear what the coming days will bring': Canadians respond as Israel declares 'state of war' after Hamas attack
Corné van Hoepen·Contributor, Yahoo News Canada/October 8, 2023
Israel's prime minister says the country 'is at war' on Saturday after a surprise attack led by Palestinian militant group Hamas saw a barrage of rockets being fired into Israeli territory that is resulting in hundreds of deaths, and thousands more injured.
Dubbed as “Al-Aqsa Storm,” the Hamas military commander Muhammad Al-Deif said in a recorded message that the group “targeted the enemy positions, airports and military positions with 5,000 rockets” and that the assault on Israel is the response to the the desecration of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and the ongoing siege of Gaza. “If you have a gun, get it out. This is the time to use it – get out with trucks, cars, axes, today the best and most honorable history starts,” Al-Deif adds in the recording. Israel has since responded in a wave of attacks from air, land and sea — an operation they have since dubbed "Operation Iron Swords."Gaza health ministries are reporting a total of 232 deaths and 1,700 injured so far on Saturday.
Canada reacts
As Canadians awoke to news of the attacks in the Middle East Saturday morning, Canadian officials and organizations were quick to release statements condemning the attacks. "These acts of violence are completely unacceptable," reads a statement posted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to X, formerly known as Twitter. Canadians appear to be reacting strongly to the prime minister pledging his support to Israel. "We must stand firm in our support of Israel and its right to defend itself against violence," reads a statement shared by Ontario Premier Doug Ford shared to the social platform early Saturday. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also shared a statement over social media on Saturday which reads, "We fear what the coming days will bring. Terrorism and violence solve nothing."As a large number of Israeli diaspora call Toronto their home, the mayor issued a response over social media saying that she too, condemns the attacks, and that "Toronto police are not aware of threats to Jewish communities in Toronto and are working to ensure the safety of Jewish communities in the city."I unequivocally condemn Hamas’ horrific attacks on Israeli civilians. At this time, Toronto Police are not aware of threats to Jewish communities in Toronto and are working to ensure the safety of Jewish communities in the city. Toronto's police chief also offered a statement that the police force is monitoring the situation closely. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland offered a response to the attacks, calling them "barbaric."Newly-elected Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew also offered up his condemnation of the attacks, saying he had been in touch with members of the Jewish population in the province to express solidarity. Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly also issued a social media statement saying, "My heart is with the victims and all those affected by these attacks." Demonstrations are reportedly being held in Toronto that appear to celebrate the Hamas-led invasion of Israel. The Centre for Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East also released a statement that calls on the Prime Minister to demand action on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to prevent further bloodshed. The executive director of UNICEF Canada released a statement saying, "I am deeply concerned for the wellbeing of children in Israel and the State of Palestine."National flag carrier Air Canada has also issued a statement saying it has temporarily halted all service to Israel citing civil unrest, and it has implemented its goodwill policy to enable passengers with existing reservations to get home safely.

Policeman in Egypt kills 2 Israelis and 1 Egyptian at tourist site
MOSCOW (Reuters)/October 8, 2023
Arab League Chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit headed to Moscow on Sunday for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the situation in Gaza after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years. Aboul Gheit, who served as Egypt’s foreign minister during the final seven years of Hosni Mubarak’s rule, will discuss the "ongoing escalation in the Gaza Strip," said a spokesman for the Cairo-based league of Arab states. After Hamas's attack on Saturday, Russia expressed grave concern, calling on both Palestinian and Israeli sides to cease violence and blamed the West for blocking the Middle East Quartet. Moscow said that a proper negotiation was necessary to provide for the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the borders of 1967 with a capital in East Jerusalem. "We regard the current large-scale escalation as another extremely dangerous manifestation of a vicious circle of violence resulting from chronic failure to comply with the corresponding resolutions of the UN and its Security Council and the blocking by the West of the work of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators made up of Russia, the United States, the EU and the UN," Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said..

Hamas is no resistance movement – it is an anti-Semitic, misogynist terror cult
Martin Bright/The Telegraph/October 8, 2023
Rallying to flags of hatred: Hezbollah's standard flatters at a pro-Hamas demonstration in southern Beirut today. The following statement should be uncontroversial. An organisation that kidnaps unarmed women, children and old people then parades the naked bodies of its dead victims should not be considered as a resistance movement. Hamas is what Hamas does: it is a violent Islamist terror cult. It has shown itself, in its actions in Southern Israel over the Jewish sabbath in its true anti-Semitic, misogynist colours. You are waiting for a qualification, perhaps? This is not a time for “buts”. No rhetoric about the biggest prison camp on earth or the Israeli Apartheid state or the fascists in Netanyahu’s government can justify or explain the brutality of those men with guns on motorbikes and pickups. They were driven by the hatred of Jews and the hatred of women, which lie explicitly, transparently at the heart of Hamas ideology. It is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Truth may be the first victim of war, but empathy is the second. When I posted my views on Hamas on social media, the reaction to the massacres and rapes and kidnappings was an exercise in equivocation and moral relativism. I was schooled that anything goes in war and told that I should compare what happened to Dresden, Hiroshima and Vietnam (but not the Holocaust funnily enough). Both sides abuse women and children and pretend it’s for a cause, apparently. Could the “lovely old lady” depicted in one Hamas kidnap video actually be a settler who is actively stealing land and livelihoods from Palestinians.? The Israeli Defence Force has been doing the same as Hamas for years. Examine the records of post-war Jewish terrorist organisations Irgun and the Haganah. How many pieces of silver had I taken I taken?
One person suggested my comments were the final proof that the free speech organisation for which I work, Index on Censorship, is a “neo-con cut-out” (translation from the hard-left jargon: CIA front organisation). I wouldn’t mention this slew of poison if it weren’t so prevalent and consistent.
There is no correct way to react to atrocities of this kind, but this is surely the moment to show our common humanity. As the historian Anthony Glees, who advised the Thatcher government on Nazi war criminals wrote: “Few who have seen the picture of SS officers ‘interrogating’ an elderly Jewish woman with whips during WW2 will ever forget it. Same here.”
This is not the time for “buts”. There will come a time for a reckoning within Israel about the intelligence failings that led to this catastrophe. The support of any Israeli government depends on its ability to keep its people safe from harm in a hostile neighbourhood and in that Netanyahu has ostensibly and catastrophically failed. Many of these atrocities took place at a music festival for peace in the desert. What greater cultural symbol of progressive, inclusive Israel could there be? What greater symbol of everything Hamas despises. Dozens of young Israeli men and women held hostage in Gaza is Israel’s greatest nightmare. Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant has promised a robust response to Hamas. It was Gallant himself who warned Netanyahu in July that tensions within the country’s military over plans to overhaul Israel’s judicial system could damage the country’s national security. Thousands of reservists said they would not serve in response to the proposed reforms. Now the mass protests against the Netanyahu government have been cancelled and the declaration of war means that reservists are being called up. In the weeks to come, Netanyahu’s recent decisions will be scrutinsed closely by the Israeli people: bringing extreme-Right Jewish supremacists into government, undermining the fundamental checks and balances of Israeli democracy, playing into the hands of those who believe Israel is an apartheid state. It will be for them to decide his political fate and what October 9 2023 will mean for his legacy.
Israel is already attacking Hamas in Gaza and many innocent Palestinians will suffer. International opinion will judge whether the response is “proportionate”. But one thing will not change: Hamas alone is responsible for the kidnapping, rape and murder that happened in Southern Israel this week. Israel will demand a terrible price, but it is not the Palestinian people’s worst enemy: that prize goes to the Islamist, anti-Semitic misogynists of Hamas.

As Israel Attacked by Hamas, Oil Traders Are Focused on Iran
Grant Smith/(Bloomberg)October 8, 2023
As oil traders prepare for the market to open after the sudden eruption of war in Israel, one question is key: will the conflict spread to the rest of the region?
Crude traders don’t expect a massive price surge as there’s no immediate threat to supply. But all eyes are on Iran, a major oil producer and key backer of the Hamas group that launched this weekend’s offensive on Israel. A retaliatory strike against the Islamic Republic would inflame fears over the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping artery which Tehran has previously threatened to close. There’s also the prospect of the US cracking down again on a resurgent flow of Iranian oil exports.
“Iran remains a very big wild card,” said Helima Croft, chief commodities strategist at RBC Capital Markets and a former CIA analyst. “Israel will escalate its long-running shadow war against Iran” and “what is unpredictable is how Iran would respond to such an intensification.”Threat of a Mideast conflict has emerged just as global crude supplies have been depleted by months of sharp production cutbacks by Saudi Arabia and Russia. Last month their supply constraints briefly pushed Brent futures to almost $100 a barrel.
“It is unlikely to impact oil supply in the short term,” said hedge fund trader Pierre Andurand, founder of Andurand Capital Management LLP. “But it could eventually have an impact on supply and prices.”
The onslaught comes almost exactly 50 years after the Arab oil embargo, when Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers choked off flows to the west in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which also involved Israel. No one expects Riyadh — which has been negotiating with Washington over normalizing relations with Israel — to turn off the taps in solidarity with the Palestinians now. At worst, the conflict may derail the normalization talks and scupper any additional Saudi oil flows that may have resulted.
The energy minister of the United Arab Emirates, a key OPEC member, was clear on Sunday that the conflict wouldn’t affect the group’s decision-making.
“We do not engage in politics; we govern by supply and demand, and we do not consider what each country has done,” Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told reporters in Riyadh. For its part, Iran, also an OPEC member, has expressed support for the Palestinian attack.
If Israel responds by striking any Iranian infrastructure, “crude prices would immediately spike on the perceived risk of a disruption,” said Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group and a former White House official. For now, that looks unlikely, he said.
Iranian oil has become increasingly important to the market as shipments have rebounded to a five-year high. That has come with Washington’s tacit blessing as the two sides have engaged in tentative diplomacy to re-establish limits on Tehran’s nuclear program.
This weekend’s hostilities could prompt President Joe Biden’s administration to deal more aggressively with those cargo flows, which mostly go to China. “I think this development will mean stronger enforcement of Iranian sanctions, so less Iranian oil going forward,” said Andurand. “And then who knows what the domino effect will be in the region?”
In a more extreme scenario, Iran could respond to any direct provocation by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a nautical choke-point just north of the Arabian Sea.
Tankers haul nearly 17 million barrels of crude and condensate each day through the waterway, which at its narrowest point is just 21 miles wide. Tehran threatened to close the strait when sanctions were imposed on the country in 2011, but ultimately backed off.
The swelling tide of Iranian barrels has helped to moderate fuel prices this year while the Saudis and Vladimir Putin’s Russia squeeze supplies. The joint Riyadh-Moscow action is draining oil inventories at the fastest pace in years, installing a hefty price premium on prompt supplies known in the industry as backwardation. The “crude market is very tight” as “physical markets are screaming, with backwardation heading higher, dragging the flat price higher,”said Gary Ross, a veteran oil consultant turned hedge fund manager at Black Gold Investors LLC.
Last week brought signs that the push toward $100 had gone too far, as Brent slumped 11% to just under $85 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. Production cuts by the Saudis and Russia may have juiced prices too high, exacerbating jitters over the economy and bolstering the risk of higher interest rates.
On the other hand, slashing output to about 9 million barrels a day has given Riyadh an immense buffer of spare production capacity that could be deployed if the current crisis leads to a disruption. The kingdom has about 3 million barrels day in reserve, and neighboring United Arab Emirates has another 1 million, according to Bloomberg estimates. That prodigious safety cushion of idle capacity is another reason traders don’t expect an immediate price surge when markets reopen. Still, the events may restore some of the geopolitical risk premium that had melted away in recent years.
“The Hamas strike and Israeli response raises the geopolitical temperature,” said Richard Bronze, head of geopolitics at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd.

An astonishing unravelling of a situation that's long been forgotten, ignored, or tolerated. What next?
Sky News/October 8, 2023
It was 2.30am in Washington DC when White House officials were first alerted to a situation which will come to represent a truly bloody turning point. Throughout the remainder of the night, the phone lines were hot. Israel's most important ally was in constant contact with military officials in Tel Aviv and the political leaders in Jerusalem trying to determine what was unfolding. By 7am, America's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was speaking by phone to his Israeli counterpart. By just after 8am, the full national security team including the secretary of state, the defence secretary, the CIA chief and others were talking to President Biden relaying the unprecedented gravity of the situation. The president then called Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and made clear his total commitment and full unequivocal support for Israel. By mid-morning, US time, as the attacks in Israel continued, President Biden spoke to King Abdullah of Jordan, a key conduit for all sides in this long conflict now taking a new alarming twist. In parallel, US secretary of state Anthony Blinken was on the phone to his counterparts in the UK, Germany and Italy as well as key calls to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and to Palestinian Authority President Mahmood Abbas in the West Bank. This was a Saturday morning of high diplomatic tension to reflect an astonishing unravelling of a situation that's been forgotten, ignored, or tolerated by too many for too long. There is no question that this multi-layered Palestinian attack represents a huge Israeli intelligence failure. Israel has been too consumed in its internal political meltdown. It reflects badly on the intelligence capabilities of America too. They didn't have Israel's back. But does it also reflect failure of diplomacy too? A rush to cement the Abraham Accords (a hugely significant Trump-era normalisation deal between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain) by expanding it to include Saudi Arabia.
American officials insist they have been central in keeping the Palestinians a key part of the conversation. True, maybe, for West Bank Palestinians. But as always, the Palestinian Gaza situation was a nettle no one would, or could, grasp. Short term, we can predict what will happen. The civilian loss of life will be huge. The consequence of Saturday's terrorism against Israel will be truly terrifying for the people of Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu's overnight statement spelt out with characteristic blunt clarity what it will look like. "We will destroy [Hamas] and we will forcefully avenge this dark day..." he said, adding "As Bialik [a Jewish poet] wrote: 'Revenge for the blood of a little child has yet been devised by Satan'."To the residents of Gaza, he said: "Leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere."The problem is, where do they go? They cannot leave the Gaza Strip. Could Egypt open its Rafah border crossing? Would they allow nearly a million people across? This is a key question which American officials are trying to answer. A presidential call between Joe Biden and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt is likely. Through previous iterations of this long conflict, Western unequivocal support for Israel becomes more nuanced as the civilian casualties mount. This Saturday, the Israeli civilian casualties have been unprecedented. We can expect the Israeli response to be equally unprecedented. On this point, an American administration official said: "I am not going to comment on what the Israelis might do, might not do, should do, should not do. I am just not going to get into that tonight."You can bet though that they will want to know precisely what the Israelis will do. To what extent will the West Bank be drawn into the conflict? The Palestinian Authority which runs the West Bank (and cooperates with Israel) is distinct from Hamas who run Gaza. But across the West Bank, hopelessness has pushed people away from the moderation of their own leaders to the extremism of Hamas. To the north, how will Hezbollah in Lebanon respond? Their well-rehearsed opportunist tactics are to attack from the north, to pressure Israel on another front. Lebanon's broken politics and economy make things even more dangerous. Then there is Iran. How will Israel respond to their conviction that all this is, in the end, an Iran problem? The potential for spillover in the Israel-Palestinian conflict is always there. It's just got so much more real.

Why are the usual suspects still making excuses for Hamas? They are anti-Semitic murderers
Zoe Strimpel/The Telegraph/October 8, 2023
Yesterday we woke up to the kind of news in Israel that should make decent people sick with loathing, fear and fury. For many of us, there is an added current of horror: family and friends, right there in the thick of it. On Sunday, my 70-year old mother flew out from Boston to visit my brother, who lives within earshot and sight of a band of Arab villages in the Jerusalem suburbs. Within 24 hours of her landing, she and he were huddled at dawn watching Hamas rockets rain on Jewish homes. They sat frightened in a stairwell as sirens blared after discovering his building’s shelter was clogged with the possessions of neighbours. I rang my elderly relatives who were born in Palestine before it became Israel – lovely, caring people who worked for the Israeli airforce and as a nurse. They didn’t have electricity when we spoke, and noted the important targets in the towns on either side of them. “We don’t know what’s going on,” said Michal, the former nurse, who is in her mid-80s, adding, “but unfortunately, we’re used to it.”
But then there was the second source of dread: the reactions here. And while there have been important shows of support – nothing yet like Berlin’s illumination of the Brandenburg Gate with the Israeli flag – the verminous yet somehow respectable, sayable reactions people like me dreaded have, true to form, flooded the airwaves. Among an elite and widespread crew, anti-Semitism is both religion and vogue. In these enormous circles, Hamas – Hitler-loving sadists fuelled by an orgiastic love of violence and a psychotic hatred of Jews – is heralded as brave. They are portrayed as freedom fighters against an imperialist Jewish oppressor. There are the obvious and predictable displays on the street: while lefties bleat about Islamophobia, Jews like me look askance at the chanting and cheering in Muslim communities in response to Hamas’s murder of hundreds of Israelis.
This kneejerk support remains frighteningly common despite actions such as dragging the naked body of a dead girl, a German citizen, through the streets, to jeers and cheers, and the kidnapping and hostage-taking of dozens, including an old lady, mothers, daughters, children. Migrants in a Greek refugee centre threw parties and celebrated. There will be more. Much more. The Met are on high alert for attacks against Jews and Jewish buildings in London.
Then there are the individuals. Rivkah Brown is a Jewish Cambridge graduate with a pout and hipster apparel who appears to live to hate Israel. She was the founder editor of Vashti, a news outlet for anti-Israel young left-wing Jews and a reliable source of bile, and is now a commissioning editor at Novara Media. “Today should be a day of celebration for supporters of democracy and human rights worldwide,” declared Brown yesterday, “as Gazans break out of their open-air prison and Hamas fighters cross into their colonisers’ territory. The struggle for freedom is rarely bloodless and we shouldn’t apologise for it.” Her compadres among the privileged Gen-Z Left, installed in PhDs at Columbia and other such places, are flooding the Internet with similar comments.
The usual suspects in the media and charity sectors have performed like clockwork, laying bare their loathing of Jews, which is so great that they will bend over backwards to make protecting Islamist Nazis respectable. The Israelis cowering in shelters, or who have just seen their children kidnapped or murdered by armed bandits, see it rather differently. Amnesty International – once noble – lost no time in blaming Israel for Hamas’s invasion. Instead of outrage at Hamas’s killing spree, its Secretary General Agnes Callamard tweeted: “The Israeli government must refrain from inciting violence and tensions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem”. To me, it is the equivalent of telling Jews after a pogrom not to “incite” the violence against them by existing. The bile rises in the throat. I take heart in the newfound clarity of some left wingers’ views. “It sickens me that I used to believe ‘solidarity with Palestine’ was righteous, rather than a thin cover for cheering the murder of Jews,” tweeted Kathleen Hayes, who describes herself as a “politically homeless Leftie. “I wish I could do more on this terrible day. But I stand with you, people of Israel.”If more people in Western positions of power shared this attitude, the bloodshed we’ve seen over the last two days could never have happened, for Israel’s enemies, including Iran, would never have been so indulged. Hamas’s stormtroopers would not be denoted as “militants”: they would be accurately described as “terrorists” and “murderers”.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 08-09/2023
Britain must now confront its relationship with Iran – and stand by Israel
David Frost/The Telegraph/October 08/ 2023
As I write, we don’t yet know the full extent of the horror and devastation visited by Hamas upon innocent Israelis in Saturday’s appalling events. But it is already clear that hundreds have been killed and injured in the most shocking terror attack in Israel for many years. These scenes are a reminder – we shouldn’t need it, though it seems that many do - of the threat that Israel must live with every day, and why it cannot let its guard drop. Obviously the IDF will master the situation within Israel and strike back at those responsible for these attacks. But it’s still the biggest Israeli security failure since the 1973 Yom Kippur war, and the Israeli intelligence establishment will have to investigate their seeming failure to spot such a large-scale assault coming.
That is for Israel to address. But Western politicians and commentators will be offering their advice soon enough, for Israel must live with external scrutiny that few other countries face. (One can’t help contrasting, for example, the general indifference to the flight of tens of thousands of Armenians from their Nagorno-Karabakh homeland in recent days.) For now, the sheer outrage of the Hamas attacks has dissuaded many European politicians from doing what they usually do, which is to give ritual condemnation, to call for calm, and to engage in moral equivalence between terrorist attackers and Israel defending itself. But it won’t last, and the weak words of Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar already show that old habits die hard.
Here, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have both been commendably robust. In part this reflects the increasingly close UK-Israeli relationship of recent years. British ministers are now less focused on preaching and more interested in the economic and commercial relationship – and rightly so: let’s not forget that, according to the IMF, Israel overtook this country in GDP per head in 2018 and has since opened up a gap of nearly $10,000 per person. So British politicians generally get the big moments right. But there is still a broader reluctance among British policy-makers to see Israel’s situation with the necessary moral clarity. Iran and its allies do not accept Israel’s right to exist. We don’t have full visibility of the diplomacy behind Israel’s rapprochement with its neighbours, notably the Saudis, but plainly Iran has every interest in disrupting it, and no doubt its hand is ultimately behind Saturday’s attacks. Yet Britain is still bafflingly attached to the Iran relationship, still seeking the fantasy of a reliable deal over the Iranian nuclear programme, and seemingly oblivious of the fact that rehabilitating Iran just makes it easier for them to finance and export terror and mayhem in the wider region. We have still not designated the IRGC, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, as a terrorist group, and indeed James Cleverly rejected doing so as recently as July. I read that part of the reason was that it would have effectively labelled the entire Tehran government as a terrorist group because the IRGC is so central to the regime’s structure. But doesn’t that tell you everything you need to know about it? Israel is a successful, modern, and wealthy country. Like every country, it has a right to coexist peacefully with its friends, and to go after and defeat its enemies when attacked. Israel is a friend, an ally, an outpost of Western values in a difficult region. If it is defeated, so is the West. So let’s stand by Israel – not just in its deep grief today, not just through the difficulties that will surely come tomorrow, but out into the future.

Immigration: Europe's New Wedge Issue
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 8, 2023
Immigration is one of those wedge issues designed to split the electorate into conflictual constituencies while diverting attention from the here-and-now problems for which an increasingly clueless ruling elite seems to have no solutions. The deficit in actual public support is compensated by the enthusiasm of those who fight for wedge issues with something like religious zeal. The final outcome [of wedge issues] is often an ersatz solution or a set of bogus promises like the Paris Agreement, which everyone accepted and, with the exception of Gambia, no nation has implemented.
While talking about "curbing immigration" is fashionable, the European Union has just established a new record in attracting immigrants. Playing cheap political games with the issue could reproduce the experience we have had with other wedge issues which, in this case, could mean more immigrants than needed and more of the wrong kind, while fomenting an air of suspicion, hatred, and chauvinism amid immense suffering for those who risk their lives to reach Europe to offer it what it needs: more working hands. "This could lead to the dissolution of the European Union!" The "this" in Josep Borrell's jeremiad is the issue of immigration, which the man in charge of the EU's foreign policy identifies as an existential threat. Immigration is one of those wedge issues designed to split the electorate into conflictual constituencies while diverting attention from the here-and-now problems for which an increasingly clueless ruling elite seems to have no solutions. Wedge issues work well in most Western democracies, of which many have adopted the proportional representation system that allows political parties and pressure groups to gain a toehold in parliaments with five percent of the votes cast. Since turnout in most elections is around 50 percent, in practice a wedge issue program could win a hearing with as little as two or three percent of the votes.
The deficit in actual public support is compensated by the enthusiasm of those who fight for wedge issues with something like religious zeal. Last year in London, the "save the planet" movement provided a dramatic example. Hundreds of men and women from all over England converged on the capital to block bridges and roads and prevent millions of people from going about their normal lives, costing the economy over a billion pounds within days. Wedge issues could be counterproductive for those who use them to mobilize a small number of ardent supporters.
The "save the planet" show in London, for example, provided a cover for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to backtrack on some of his environmental promises under the so-called Paris Agreement, knowing that, angered by the fanaticism of eco-warriors a larger part of the public will grin and bear his pirouette. The wedging tactic prevents the sober, dispassionate, not to say a clinical examination of issues that merit proper attention. It reduces those issues to slogans and violent moves on symbols of society. That, in turn, helps the ruling elites to counter the wedging tactic with their own fudging strategy. The final outcome is often an ersatz solution or a set of bogus promises like the Paris Agreement, which everyone accepted and, with the exception of Gambia, no nation has implemented. Wedge issues are not new. In the 1950s it was "peace" that provided the wedge. Needless to say, the promised reign of eternal peace never happened. Since then, the world has experienced over 100 wars of different dimensions. In the 1960s and 1970s, "ban the bomb" was the à la mode wedge issue. When it was launched, only three countries had the nuclear bomb. Almost seven decades later, that number is nine while at least another 20 are developing the capacities needed to reach the threshold stage of building the bomb. Let us return to Borrell's jeremiad, which is destined to bestow credence on the latest à la mode wedge issue.
Almost all EU nations face a medium-term demographic deficit which, because of cultural, social and economic factors that have made the making of babies less popular, could only be corrected through immigration.
Yet, mention the word in any EU country and you are likely to raise a lynch mob against you.
The irony in all this is that Europe has always depended on immigration. Without going back centuries when people moved in all directions, a brief glance at European history confirms this. After the 1870 debacle in the Battle of Sedan with Prussia, France was obsessed with what was known as the "2 to 3" malaise, because Germany's population was one-third larger than that of France. France tried to correct that by attracting millions of immigrants from Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, and even French-speaking Canada.
Great Britain did something similar by attracting settlers from Ireland and, later, the Indian Subcontinent and Yemen. After World War I, the attempt at correcting the demographic deficit caused by huge losses on the battlefields forced France and Britain to try to prevent citizens emigrating to the New World while bringing in settlers from their "overseas possessions". Germany looked to "Volga Germans" and other Germanic groups in Central Europe, not to mention Turkey, to find new citizens. Once a source of mass immigration to the Americas, Italy suffered a severe demographic shock in the 1960s and now faces theoretical disappearance.
To correct the demographic deficit, in the 1990s, Italy reached an agreement to import 100,000 Iranian workers over a 10-year period.
The agreement was never implemented because of opposition from pressure groups that claimed that Tehran would send militants to accelerate what journalist Oriana Fallaci called "the Islamization of Europe."
A Swiss writer even warned that Europe was already on the way to becoming "Eurabia". The key factor in the failure of the scheme was Iran's own demographic problem caused by the largest brain drain in history plus the lowest birth rate the nation has experienced in centuries.
But here is the real irony. While immigration is being used as a wedge issue by ultra-right groups, more recently with the Alternative or Germany Party, all EU countries are facing a chronic shortage of labor and are looking for ways of addressing the demographic deficit. Poland used the Brexit brouhaha to coax many of its citizens and their descendants back home from Great Britain. In some cases, the would-be returnees had never been to Poland and didn't speak Polish. Bulgaria is paying its citizens money not to emigrate.
In her last year as Chancellor, Angela Merkel issued an invitation to "European Youth" to come and settle in Germany.
Hit by a demographic deficit, the United Kingdom has quietly decided to continue with facilities granted to EU citizens until the end of 2025, hoping to persuade more EU citizens to remain in the UK and demand permanent settlement status. Amazingly, those who remain will continue to have the right to vote in British local elections.
Even Giorgia Meloni, Italy's radical anti-immigration prime minister, has just approved the admission of 136,000 new immigrants each year while her government says the number needed is 350,000.
While talking about "curbing immigration" is fashionable, the European Union has just established a new record in attracting immigrants. In the past decade or so, Germany alone has absorbed over five million immigrants, mostly from the Balkans, Syria, Afghanistan, the Kurdish parts of Turkey and Iraq, and, more recently, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus.
The best figures available show that the EU and Britain now absorb over 1.2 million new immigrants each year. In some cases, EU members are "stealing" manpower from each other. Even then, to cope with the demographic deficit, the continent needs at least twice as many new immigrants a year. Instead of using the wedge issue of immigration as a means of burying it under a fog of fake emotion and ersatz nationalism, the EU needs to face and tell the truth on the subject and develop a common policy to share both the challenge and the advantages of what has always been and is destined to remain a major element in shaping and reshaping Europe.
Playing cheap political games with the issue could reproduce the experience we have had with other wedge issues which, in this case, could mean more immigrants than needed and more of the wrong kind, while fomenting an air of suspicion, hatred, and chauvinism amid immense suffering for those who risk their lives to reach Europe to offer it what it needs: more working hands.

When Politicians Lose Track of Who Is the Adversary
Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute/October 8, 2023
As a former House Republican Congressman, I would describe it as treacherous....
These eight Republicans [who voted to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy] forgot that politics is a team sport, and voters across the country had come together in November 2022 to entrust Republicans to govern and control the House of Representatives.
Now, after only nine months in office, these eight Republican members of the House made the choice to align themselves with the Democrats.
Did they bring their grievances to other Republicans in the Conference and demand an internal vote on whether the Conference still supported the Speaker? No....
Some call the eight brave and heroic. They are anything but.
[Then Speaker Newt] Gingrich's leadership and focus was always on us being a team. We succeeded or failed as a team — not individually. The eight who acted and voted to take down McCarthy established a new precedent for the House Republican Conference that any single or personal grievance is enough to turn your back on the Conference and go solo or rogue.
Heaven help this Republican Conference electing a new Speaker if this self-centered mentality takes hold.
We all have to be concerned about where the Republican Conference is at this point. Collectively they have demonstrated an inability to govern the House of Representatives. They have focused on the deficiencies as they see it among their Republican colleagues rather than the multitude of challenges facing the nation under Biden's leadership, including the southern border, crime, the budget deficit and national debt, and the threat from adversaries such as China, Russia North Korea and Iran, among many other pressing issues.
The GOP will meet this week to select a new candidate for Speaker, though at this point, it is not clear who can get the magic number of 218 votes to take the gavel. Even more unclear is how that person succeeds in the top spot given that only a handful of Republicans working in concert with Democrats — who are the primary beneficiaries of all the GOP chaos — can take them out over minor disagreements.
The eight Republicans who voted to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy forgot that politics is a team sport, and voters across the country had come together in November 2022 to entrust Republicans to govern and control the House of Representatives. Pictured: McCarthy walks from the House Chamber after he was ousted as Speaker, on October 3, 2023. (Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
There are many terms that can be used to describe the results of the October 3 motion to vacate the chair by the U.S. House of Representatives that removed then Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. It is undoubtedly unprecedented, in fact, it is historic! It is the first time in history that the House Speaker has been removed in this manner. Comments called into C-Span from viewers described the move as foolish, grandstanding and a clown show.
As a former House Republican Congressman, I would describe it as treacherous — akin to "impeachment light." It is more than ironic that for all of the Republicans' impeachment talk, it was not President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, or Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas who got impeached; it was eight Republicans who chose to move implacably forward with the short-sighted own goal of throwing their own leader out.
What actually happened? The vote to vacate the chair was brought forward and approved by the House by a vote of 216 yeas to 210 nays. Every Democrat voted for the motion to vacate, joined by just eight Republicans, while 210 Republicans voted against it.
In effect, based on the whims of eight Republicans, joined by all voting House Democrats, the highest-ranking Republican leader in the U.S. government was removed. These eight Republicans forgot that politics is a team sport, and voters across the country had come together in November 2022 to entrust Republicans to govern and control the House of Representatives. The Republican Conference then selected Rep. Kevin McCarthy to be its candidate for Speaker, and after a whopping 15 separate votes in January 2023, he was finally elected as Speaker.
Now, after only nine months in office, these eight Republican members of the House made the choice to align themselves with the Democrats.
Did they bring their grievances to other Republicans in the Conference and demand an internal vote on whether the Conference still supported the Speaker? No, they went directly to the floor of the House to air their grievances and demanded and successfully passed the motion that ousted the Speaker.
Some call the eight brave and heroic. They are anything but. Their average winning percentage in the 2022 election was a collective 59 percent. It is highly unlikely that any one of them will face serious electoral consequences for their treacherous actions. Reps. Matt Gaetz and Matt Rosendale actually may see their votes help propel them to other elected offices, including governor or the U.S. Senate. One could even make the argument that some of the eight cast votes for personal gain by raising their public profiles. After all, it is often said by Republicans in Washington that the fastest way to get on television is to attack other Republicans.
While it seems like ancient history now, House Republicans have faced these types of internal fractures before. In November 1998, Newt Gingrich resigned as Speaker of the House. This followed disappointing results in the November elections that saw House Republicans losing seats when it was expected Republicans would gain seats. Rather than a ragtag group going to the floor and making a motion to vacate the chair, all the internal GOP dynamics played out behind closed doors. This is exactly what should have happened on October 3, 2023. Be successful in conference or go home.
Seeing all the divisions amongst the House GOP, Gingrich voluntarily resigned his position as Speaker for the good of the Conference. The Conference then moved through the internal mechanics to select a new leader. I was there, and it was painful. Gingrich had led a diverse Republican Conference. In 1994, he led the GOP Conference to its first majority in 40 years based on the Contract with America. In governing and leading the House, Gingrich had provided the leadership that resulted in four consecutive balanced budgets, tax cuts and a historic reform of entitlement programs. He would be the first to credit the Republican Conference for the success we achieved, but we all know his leadership was instrumental.
Gingrich's leadership and focus was always on us being a team. We succeeded or failed as a team — not individually. The eight who acted and voted to take down McCarthy this month established a new precedent for the House Republican Conference that any single or personal grievance is enough to turn your back on the Conference and go solo or rogue.
This is already playing out. One member already has publicly stated that she will vote only for a new Speaker who is committed to the impeachment of Biden. Does that put her at odds with Rep. Ken Buck, who voted to get rid of McCarthy and opposes the impeachment inquiry? Buck will be the only person able to say to this other member, I respect your viewpoint and understand that if the nominee for Speaker doesn't support impeachment, they will have my vote but not yours. Heaven help this Republican Conference electing a new Speaker if this self-centered mentality takes hold.
We all have to be concerned about where the Republican Conference is at this point. Collectively they have demonstrated an inability to govern the House of Representatives. They have focused on the deficiencies as they see it among their Republican colleagues rather than the multitude of challenges facing the nation under Biden's leadership, including the southern border, crime, the budget deficit and national debt, and the threat from adversaries such as China, Russia North Korea and Iran, among many other pressing issues.
Where this all ends, few seem to know. The GOP will meet this week to select a new candidate for Speaker, though at this point, it is not clear who can get the magic number of 218 votes to take the gavel. Even more unclear is how that person succeeds in the top spot given that only a handful of Republicans working in concert with Democrats — who are the primary beneficiaries of all the GOP chaos — can take them out over minor disagreements. It really is something that the first successful "impeachment" in this Congress was caused by a very small group of Republicans voting with Democrats to effectively remove from office the Republican Speaker of the House.
*Peter Hoekstra is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute. He was US Ambassador to the Netherlands during the Trump administration. He also served 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the Second District of Michigan and served as Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee.
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Toward a New Approach to the Syrian Refugee Crisis: The Onus is on Antonio Guterres and European Governments
Raghida Dergham/The National/October 08/2023
To His Excellency, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, who served as UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015 and is currently aspiring for a second term, this warning is directed at you: What you and your commission are doing in Lebanon regarding Syrian refugees is dangerous, suspicious, and warrants a red flag against you in your official and former capacities. Descend a bit from your perch on the thirty-eighth floor and scrutinize the security and sovereignty implications of your misguided policies that contradict the ethical leadership entrusted to the Secretary-General. It is neither permissible nor justified for you, the European Union leadership, and European nations to have double standards in human rights and continue forcing Syria's neighbors, notably Lebanon and Jordan, to absorb Syrian refugees, who constitute 42% of Lebanon's population and continue to flow into it in alarming numbers. Your Excellency, you are the main person responsible because, along with the UN refugee agency, which attributes its success to you, you are violating Lebanese sovereignty and becoming a party to its security breakdown. The General Directorate of General Security (GDGS) and the Ministry of Interior have begun adopting legal measures that may affect you, your employees, and your envoys in Lebanon. So take heed and reconsider your position.
The same warning is directed to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, elected by the UN General Assembly for two terms from 2016 to 2025: Put an end to the arrogance of your representatives in Lebanon and carefully listen to the warning of the Jordanian King Abdullah in New York. Indeed, what you are doing is ensuring that Syrian refugees do not come to Europe by stranding in Jordan and Lebanon.
This impression is becoming clear to all amid a dangerous and tense Lebanese-Syrian mobilization against the UNHCR and NGOs working in the Syrian refugee response, both of which have earned a terrible reputation due to their shameful conduct, blatant interference, and practices that encourage the corrupt political class in Lebanon to engage in further subservience and sectarian incitement. Enough of this toxic arrogance. It is time to fundamentally reconsider their tasks and conduct to establish a new strategy that respects official positions and popular sentiments in Lebanon toward the UNHCR and the NGOs, which roam freely in Lebanon without scrutiny or accountability. You and your delegates in Lebanon could pay a heavy price if you do not wake up and reconsider, Mr. Grandi.
Talk is rife about a "grand conspiracy" involving Lebanese leaders, including Hezbollah, and Syrians from the regime and opposition, coinciding with discussions about an "international conspiracy" under the protection of international organizations and UN agencies that encourage the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Entire villages now have Syrian majorities amid Lebanese resentment toward the "scammers" in NGOs and the audacity of the UNHCR, which channels aid to refugees rather than to host countries—Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey—despite them bearing the brunt of the exorbitant costs of hosting them.
The cost of the Syrian displacement on the Lebanese people now approaches $45 billion, and the number of refugees hosted by Syria's neighbors since 2012 is close to 12 million. Lebanon does not have a complete count of Syrians on its territory because the UNHCR has vehemently resisted providing official data and has not yet handed the official numbers to the Lebanese government despite repeated requests. After arduous negotiations with the UNHCR, which imposed impossible, and in the face of the Lebanese authorities' insistence on transferring complete data without conditions, the commission finally promised to fulfill the request two months ago, with completion expected within three months.
Needless to say, the Lebanese government is responsible for Lebanon's ordeal because it refused to build camps for Syrian refugees, leading to informal camps that are outside the law. Refugees dispersed into Lebanese villages, cities, and the capital. Yet despite the chaos, Lebanese political divisions, and the mismanagement of the Syrian refugee issue, the UNHCR has no right to classify who is a refugee or displaced to Lebanon, nor should it be the party that manages Lebanon's response.
This is a sovereign right for Lebanon, regardless of the differences among ministers or the one-upmanship of political parties and leaders. However, all ministries, from the interior to justice to foreign affairs and those responsible for refugee affairs, must develop a comprehensive strategy executed by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) under General Joseph Aoun and the Acting Director-General of the GDGS, General Elias Baysari.
The tragedy of Syrian refugees is undoubtedly a humanitarian issue. Still, there is a new wave of displacement indicating coordination between official Syrian authorities and Lebanese entities such as Hezbollah to facilitate their illegal crossing through the permeable borders. Talk is rife about rampant corruption, including in the Lebanese judiciary, enabling the smugglers. Lebanese elements are undoubtedly benefiting from and are complicit in the illegal infiltration.
Part of the new displacement wave is triggered by economic factors, encouraged by the UNHCR and NGOs, given the kind of assistance Syrian refugees receive in Lebanon, while the Lebanese citizen suffers from shortages and increasing poverty. Syrian refugees have become relatively wealthier than the Lebanese due to aid received -- at the expense of the Lebanese.
The 370 km-long Lebanese-Syrian border is difficult to control, especially as the LAF is involved in various tasks in different locations in the country. There is neither funding for the technological development of border control nor political agreement on the demarcation of borders between Lebanon and Syria, rejected by both sides for their own selfish reasons.
The regime in Damascus does not want the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland and deliberately fails to provide a secure environment for them; instead, it has driven a million and a half people into displacement because it wants to get rid of them. The regime wants to compensate for the Caesar Act sanctions, and finds an opportunity in Lebanon to plant cells to sabotage its security, making it possible to use it as a bargaining chip. In the face of this, the conduct of the international community vis-a-vis the issue of Syrian refugees ranges from witlessness to outright collusion.
The European countries play a significant role in conspiring against Syria's neighboring countries, directly and through the UNHCR and NGOs that work beyond their claimed humanitarianism. There are 7,500 active NGOs, 280 of which are registered, assisting refugees. Between 2011 and 2019, 35% of these associations were established in conjunction with the Syrian war. The Acting Director-General of the GDGS, General Baysari, provided these figures and cautioned about the prevalent "culture" of not registering the births of displaced persons. Syrian refugees don't settle for having one or two children; instead, they establish families of 6 to 8 individuals, encouraged by the UNHCR and NGOs that support every Syrian child born in Lebanon.
One of the critical points General Baysari raised in his interview with Marcel Ghanem, in response to a question about what he could do in the face of the proliferation of associations and international agencies, is that the GDGS has the "right" to "decide on the presence of foreigners in Lebanon." This is a crucial statement that the UN, its agencies, and European countries and their representatives, who often take on political roles while pretending to be humanitarian organizations, need to note well.
European countries and the European Union have blundered in their handling of the Syrian refugee issue, provoking the Lebanese and treating them with conceit, even after acknowledging that Lebanese hospitality was distinctive at the beginning of the war and displacement. Today, there is widespread anger, alarm, tension, and suspicion about the intentions of the Europeans. Direct accusations are being made against them that they are using the humanitarian issue as a pretext to impose resettlement of Syrians in Lebanon.
Today, there are increasing calls to close UN offices for overstepping the powers of the state, and many are urging the opening of the shores for Syrian refugees to cross into Europe, which claims to speak the language of human rights and humanity. Europe, terrified by the influx of Syrian refugees, relies on Lebanon as a host country, despite Lebanon's protests that it is a transit country, as stated by Interior Minister Judge Bassam Mawlawi. Mawlawi issued crucial instructions to local municipalities to control the security situation and prevent infractions by Syrian refugees.
What should be done? Controlling the borders is essential, but even this simple principle falls victim to political and sectarian polarization in this fragmented country, deliberately so in the case of some of its parties. Hezbollah, for instance, has succeeded in dismantling the Lebanese state bit by bit and has not expressed any desire to stop the process—its interests demand a weaker state. Therefore, demarcating the borders between Lebanon and Syria is unlikely to happen soon. The laxity of the border serves smuggling operations—weapons and Captagon trafficking-- under the Syrian government's protection of professional smuggling organizations on both sides of the Syrian-Lebanese and Syrian-Jordanian borders.
It is worthwhile and necessary to build on the dual approach of both the Jordanian and Lebanese tracks regarding the issue of Syrian refugees, as raised by King Abdullah. At the UN recently, the king urged the international community to stop burying their heads in the sand and called for a fair and transparent approach to Syria's neighboring countries— Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.
These nations should collectively address the UN through its General Secretariat, the Security Council, and the General Assembly in New York, as well as the Human Rights Council, the UNHCR, and the European Union in Brussels, to firmly present the issue of Syrian refugees, raise the alarm, and issue an ultimatum. The title of the warning should be clear, and diplomatic threats of action should be accompanied by measures proving the seriousness of their new approach. Yet this must be free of racism against Syrian refugees and should be presented to demonstrate its ultimate benefit to them.
It is crucial to send parliamentary delegations to meet with Secretary-General Guterres, carrying due diligence files that illustrate the danger of upcoming developments and the shortcomings of the UNHCR's policies. These delegations should demand specific and precise measures. Importantly, they should be accompanied by smart media campaigns rather than airing grievances.
It would be beneficial for the three countries neighbouring Syria to also address the UN Security Council with carefully crafted draft resolutions, both in humanitarian and political terms. These resolutions should serve as a tool to pressure the Syrian regime into taking serious actions to ensure the safe return of displaced individuals instead of making unserious proposals.
The three countries can adopt a unified stance regarding the impact of refugees on their economic situation. They should send delegations not only to the Security Council but also to the headquarters of specialized UN agencies in Vienna and Geneva. They should approach the General Assembly to broaden the humanitarian scope and address host countries' financial and humanitarian needs through political and practical measures that reassure refugees of a safe return.
Ultimately, successfully addressing the crisis of refugees and displaced persons requires a global partnership with host countries to tackle the problem at its roots based on a security situation that allows the safe return of refugees, with shared responsibilities. This should be part of a resolution presented in the Security Council, accompanied by a financial mechanism enabling the relocation of refugees either back to their home country or to a third country.
Let the international community act rationally, intelligently, and with responsibility. Syria's neighbouring countries cannot alone bear the responsibility of the refugee crisis. This is also the responsibility of the UN and the European Union. The guilt complex towards Syrians does not justify the international community's infractions and interference in Lebanon, accelerating its destruction.

Why the Iran Deal Matters
Lee Smith/The Tablet/October 08/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/122985/122985/
It was the first in a series of hugely consequential lies that will shape our country as much as the Middle East.
The current state of affairs began when Joe Biden’s former boss Barack Obama legalized a terror state’s nuclear weapons program.
Despite what its publicists claimed, the purpose of the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was never to stop Iran from getting the bomb. Rather, the tens of billions of dollars that Obama paid the clerical regime, which included planeloads of cash, was to facilitate construction of the nuclear weapons program under the protective umbrella of an international agreement backed by the United States. Even a cursory glance at the agreement’s clauses restricting Iranian nuclear and other activities reveals the truth—they are called “sunset clauses” because they were designed to expire. And once they expired, Iran’s industrial-size nuclear weapons program would be entirely legal under the continuing protection of the United States.
No, no, say JCPOA advocates and defenders—the Iran deal was constructed to prevent Iran from ever getting a bomb. And at the time that Obama proposed his plan, it seemed inconceivable that the president would mislead Americans about something as serious as legalizing the nuclear weapons program of a terror state that has been killing Americans since its inception in 1979. Surely, Obama had some more conventional idea of arms control in mind. His critics must be conspiracy theorists, projecting their own pyromania onto the righteous president, probably because they were racists, or Zionists, or both. The Iranian emigres and Saudi analysts who expressed their shock at the idea of giving Iran the bomb must have their own local axes to grind.
Nearly a decade after the selling of the Iran deal, it’s much easier now for Americans to see that it was the origin point in a series of hugely consequential lies that have shaped our country at home as surely as they have shaped the lives of people in the Middle East. They lied about Obama’s successor being a Russian spy to delegitimize the government and divide the country, in the hope of removing an elected president from office. They lied about an “insurrection” on Jan. 6, 2021, to justify designating one half of the country as domestic terrorists, in order to put their political opponents in jail. They’ve lied about so many things because they’re certain that their communications infrastructure—where intelligence officers direct big tech and censor what was once America’s independent press—will shape the “information space” on their behalf, effectively controlling what we see, hear, and read. They first built their echo chamber to sell the idea that the Iran deal would stop Iran from getting a bomb; now the echo chamber is everywhere—a high-tech version of how the press is run in countries like Egypt, or Iran.
Obama wanted to give Iran the bomb in the context of a larger realignment of U.S. interests with those of the Islamic Republic. If you’ve seen any of the videos on social media of Hamas operatives dragging Jews out of their homes and shooting them, you can see what that means. Obama admired Hamas’ Iranian patron Qassem Soleimani, who ran Iran’s expeditionary unit, the Quds Force, until the Trump administration killed him. Obama told Gulf Arab U.S. allies they should get their own Quds Force, but they didn’t, which is partly why Obama downgraded relations with America’s traditional Arab allies and moved Iran into the top slot. He wanted Iran’s hard men and their terror assets to manage U.S. regional interests, so that the United States could leave the Middle East and “pivot” to Asia—though as it turned out, China and its friends in Washington had their own ideas about American dominance there.
But there was also an important domestic reason to get Iran the bomb, which was to normalize pathology. If you treat a nation-state that embodies Jew-hatred as an ally and arm it with a bomb, you are legitimizing Jew-hatred, which is perhaps the dominant form that psychopathy takes in modern global politics. To believe that Jews secretly rule the world, that the invisible hand of the “elders of Zion” tilts the world like gravity in favor of the Jews, and that mankind’s dignity can only be restored if the Jews are disempowered, or eliminated, is a pathological belief—one that is shared by billions of people around the globe, as well as by a stunning assortment of psychopaths with designs on power.
Obama rejected that characterization, acknowledging that the regime was antisemitic. But antisemitism, as he told a journalist, “doesn’t preclude you from being rational about the need to keep your economy afloat; it doesn’t preclude you from making strategic decisions about how you stay in power.”
That’s just your average high-stakes undergraduate bull session answer, in which the winning move is to rationalize Jew hatred through the backdoor: You can be an antisemite and still be rational. But then Obama went a step further, and suggested that maybe antisemitism could itself be rational. He talked about the Iranians using “antisemitic rhetoric as an organizing tool.”
The latter part of Obama’s answer was incredibly revealing. Of course, antisemites don’t see antisemitism as an “organizing tool”—meaning, as a rational device to achieve a rational end. Antisemitism is many things—a conspiracy theory, a passion—but rationality is not one of its characteristics.
The Iran deal was more than a foreign policy blunder, or a bad deal. It was the device that Obama consciously used to transform America.
The antisemites you come across on social media aren’t trying to win followers or “organize people”; they just hate Jews. They are proud of their beliefs, and eager to tell the whole world. No, the kind of person who sees antisemitism as an “organizing tool” is someone who would use it that way. In other words, Obama’s comment was revealing because he wasn’t speaking about the Iranian regime. He was talking about himself.
It’s hard to look into another’s heart to discern their true feelings about others. But we know that Obama believes antisemitism to be a useful organizing tool, because he said so himself.
The Iran deal was more than a foreign policy blunder, or a bad deal. It was the device that Obama consciously used to transform America. It unleashed the Iranians and their terror assets abroad; at home it sidelined the Jews, pushing them out of the places they had carved out for themselves in American life and relegating them to second-class status in the Democratic Party—where, in order to belong, they would now have to pledge allegiance to the idea of gifting nuclear weapons to a country that pledged to exterminate them.
In turn, the reason that Obama had to push out the Jews is because they are one of the touchstones of American exceptionalism. Like Israel, like the Jews, America is a nation built since its founding on the idea of a covenant with God. Just as Christians have no evidence that Jesus is real or that God acts in history without the historical reality of the Jews, America grounds its unique self-conception in history through Israel. Like the Jews, we are one of a kind, with a unique, God-given destiny.
Obama’s transformation of America was to remake it in his own image, by junking the idea that America is exceptional and dissolving the country’s borders with the rest of the world. America is not unique. It is as sinful as any other nation, he was effectively arguing, and possibly worse. What better way to make that point than by throwing Israel overboard, and replacing it with Iran—a country that preaches God’s retribution against America.
Now that the Israel part of Obama’s dream has been achieved, we should all be prepared for the other shoe to drop. The violence he unleashed in Israel will be coming to these shores now.
*Lee Smith is the author of The Permanent Coup: How Enemies Foreign and Domestic Targeted the American President (2020).
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/why-iran-deal-matters

Ronald Reagan's Warning
Lawrence Kadish/Gatestone Institute./October 08/2023
The free-fall that is now the Republican majority in the House of Representatives is a needless self-inflicted political wound that only serves to distract the GOP caucus, and the nation at large, from the very real crises facing America.
Rather than focus on the open borders that are transforming our nation's cities into migrant camps and threats from foreign adversaries such as the Chinese Communist Party, we are engaged in recriminations and intraparty personal feuds. Rather than tackle a crippling debt of nearly $33 trillion, we are witnessing a political drama associated with selecting a new Speaker of the House. Rather than advance American energy independence, we are parsing possible votes for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's replacement. And instead of confronting those who would seek to steal the results of the next presidential election, we are engaged in recriminations and arguments about who and what sparked the historic firing of the Speaker.
These actions will not protect the integrity of the ballot box any more than chaos will rescue a democracy that is under cyber-assault and intellectual property theft by foreign states hostile to our role as leader of the free world.
This is distraction from the genuine challenges that will determine America's standing in this century.
In the middle of this muddle is a Democrat-Progressive coalition content to watch that descent into political turmoil. It works to their advantage. The coalition may well be thinking -- not without justification -- that if Republicans are engaged in a needless ideological food-fight among themselves, the GOP is bound to lose focus on the truly important issues that will chart our future, thereby allowing us to set the agenda and win more Congressional seats in 2024.
What House Republicans have forgotten is the primary instruction offered by President Ronald Reagan:, "Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican." They also seem not to remember a California colleague of Reagan, Gaylord Parkinson, who served as that state's GOP Chairman, who warned, "Henceforth, if any Republican has a grievance against another, that grievance is not to be bared publicly."
If America is to have a proud and dynamic future worthy of our forefathers, House Republicans would do well to recognize that the real threat to their majority, the future of the next White House occupant, and America's greatness is taking place around them. They may be "preoccupied" but our enemies, both foreign and domestic, certainly see that they have been presented with an opportunity to redirect history.
*Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20031/ronald-reagan-warning

Gaza and a Senseless War!
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Aoust/October 08/2023
Here we are, facing yet another senseless war in Gaza following the operation "Al-Aqsa Storm," which was carried out by Hamas and other militant factions. I believe these wars are senseless because there is no strategic objective. Rather, it is being fought to serve the interests of particular factions, and behind them, Iran and its subordinates.
These are wars of merchants, as the militants behind this operation have no plan or project. Could this operation lead to an Israeli withdrawal? No! Do the factions have a negotiating strategy for when it ends? The answer is also: No!
The truth is that "Al-Aqsa Storm" is akin to hijacking a commercial flight. It guarantees 24-hour coverage of Hamas and the factions, and it will certainly end with devastating repercussions and immense suffering for the Palestinians over the next few decades.
If some believe that the images of the "Al-Aqsa Storm" might "mend hearts," its consequences will break them. Innocent Palestinians will be the victims, as usual, while the leadership of Hamas and the other factions watch on from the comfort of their luxurious hotels.
I also believe that the war this operation has brought to Gaza is a war of merchants because of its dubious timing. It will achieve nothing for the Palestinians. No regional or international political actor sees getting involved in this misadventure as a possibility.
The timing is dubious because it was launched amid Saudi-American negotiations for a peace deal with Israel that would ensure better living conditions for the Palestinians. The timing is also suspect because of the domestic divisions around Netanyahu within Israel. In addition, Egypt is on the verge of holding elections, and the US elections are not far off.
What I mean by dubious timing is that this operation is part of an Iranian conspiracy, while it is also the result of Hamas and the factions' lack of political foresight. They have also taken this approach, in every war that has broken out in Gaza, and they are taking it now.
The absence of a sound political assessment is obvious, especially as this operation comes at a time when the Palestinian cause has been receiving unprecedented support from the Democrats in the United States. It had been said that President Biden would be the Democratic president last to be sympathetic to Israel, and even he was openly adversarial to Netanyahu.
The Palestinian cause is also garnering sympathy from Europe countries and organizations, and receiving stronger support from the Western left than ever before. All of this will recede as images and videos of this operation come out. Now, no one will dare to criticize Israel.
With this background in mind, it is clear that Iran does not want to see real peace, particularly not between Saudi Arabia and Israel, as Such a peace deal would change the face of the region. Hamas and the other factions understand that any peace would end their profiteering and bring the Palestinian Authority back to the forefront, reviving the prospects for a genuine peace process.
Moreover, if such a peace deal were concluded, the lives of the Palestinians would change, and their suffering would be assuaged. This, in turn, would weaken Hamas and the other factions, as well as broaden our horizons and our understanding of peace in the region.
In conclusion, this new war of merchants will buttress Iran's destructive strategy in the region, as well as allowing the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and the other factions to reposition themselves and go back to the game of intermediaries. The certain loser: the cause and the Palestinians.
No matter how much the populist applause and cheering rise they receive for their actions, such attacks will not change the equation. Our region has tried them for decades, and they failed. In fact, they backfired and have devastating implications