Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 06-07/2024
Israeli raids on the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon
An Israeli escalation claims 7 martyrs after Nasrallah’s speech...and a “tactical discrepancy” between Biden and Netanyahu over Gaza!
The southern front is on fire... continuous targeting and missiles!
8 Hezbollah, Amal fighters killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon
3 Amal fighters killed in Israeli strike on Marjeyoun
Is Hezbollah “Unable to Sustain” Its Southern Front Battle?
An Israeli Drone Shot Down in Southern Lebanon
Bassil says Hezbollah delusional if it thinks it can beat Israel while 'controlling' other citizens
Waste sorting plant: Beirut and Mount Lebanon set to revive Karantina plant
Security Forces: Seizing of a large quantity of cocaine worth millions of dollars hidden in a banana shipment at Beirut Port
A Potential Full-Scale War, Aid Conditional on Resolution 1701/Bassam Abou Zeid/This is Beirut/April 06/2024
Money Supply Breaks New Record in Lebanon/Christiane Tager/April 06/2024
Campaign Accuses Wajdi Mouawad of Normalization with Israel
Sexual Violence in Schools: Taboos and Protection Strategies/Sana Richa Choucair/This is Beirut/April 06/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 06-07/2024
Washington sends a warning to Tehran regarding its expected response to the consulate attack in Damascus
Hamas says delegation to go to Cairo on April 7 for Gaza ceasefire talks
Negotiators expected in Cairo as Israel-Hamas war nears six-month mark
Gaza truce talks on, after aid worker death outcry
UN humanitarian chief calls Gaza war ‘betrayal of humanity’
Royal Navy ship deployed in Gaza aid effort amid £9.7m funding
Their schools ruined, Gaza’s children face long road to healing
Hamas says refuses to ‘back down’ on Gaza ceasefire demands
For families of hostages, it’s a race against time as Israel’s war reaches six-month mark
‘Show must go on’ for Iranian journalist stabbed in London
Iran arrests three suspected IS group jihadists
New York rattled by small earthquake, aftershock
Blast kills 7 children in southern Syria: state media
Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv kill 6 and wound 11
Kuwait’s prime minister submits Cabinet resignation to Kuwaiti Emir - KUNA

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on April 06-07/2024
Is Israel deterring Iran — or provoking it?/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/April 06, 2024
The Obama and Biden Administrations' Betrayal of America's Closest Ally in the Middle East: Israel/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/April 6, 2024
Iran and Israel: Is the Denial Game Over?/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 06/2024
The Word’s Conscience is in Crisis/Dr. Amal Moussa/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 06/2024
Mass Tech Layoffs? Just Another Day in the Corporate Blender./Ashley Goodall/The New York Times/April 06/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 06-07/2024
Israeli raids on the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon
Sky News Arabia/April 7, 2024
Two Lebanese security sources told Reuters that Israel carried out raids on the Lebanese Bekaa region late on Saturday, a few hours after an Israeli drone was shot down over Lebanon. The two sources added that the Israeli attack targeted a Hezbollah training camp in the village of Jinta, near the border with Syria. The two sources explained that one of the strikes targeted the town of Al-Safari, near the city of Baalbek in the east of the country.

An Israeli escalation claims 7 martyrs after Nasrallah’s speech...and a “tactical discrepancy” between Biden and Netanyahu over Gaza!
Janoubia/06 April 2024 (google translation from Arabic)
The Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, confirmed in his speech on International Jerusalem Day yesterday that the strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus will not pass, but rather a response from Tehran, and that the response is inevitably coming. This was met with a bloody Israeli escalation last night, which affected 3 southern villages, causing To 7 martyrs, 4 for “Hezbollah” and 3 for “Amal Movement.” Hezbollah mourned the four martyrs: Ali Nasser Abd Ali from the town of Aytit, Bilal Haidar Halal from the town of Qana, Ahmed Ali Hamad 1992 from the town of Toura, and Abbas Deeb Daibes from the town of Mays al-Jabal. While the “Amal Movement” mourned the three martyrs: Musa Abdel Karim al-Musawi from the town of Nabi Sheet in the Bekaa, Muhammad Daoud Sheet from the town of Kafr Kila, and Muhammad Ali Wahbi from the town of Khiam. Janoubiya field sources believe that the “studied” escalation is still a feature of the stage while awaiting the Iranian response, which is supposed to be qualitative and in proportion to the size of the loss suffered by the Revolutionary Guard, which to date has lost 17 of its senior officers with the rank of brigadier general and major general! She pointed out that the Iranian response can only be major and earth-shattering, otherwise Tehran will no longer preserve its face before its audience and its axis from Lebanon to Yemen. Meanwhile, it seems that America and Israel are convinced that Iran does not want war and that it is fighting with proxies far from its land, so it will not risk a response. Currently changing equations. On the “Hezbollah” front, the sources believe that despite Nasrallah’s loud tone, the latter will not risk expanding the war with Israel unless Tehran wants to, and it does not seem that Iran is ready for a wide and comprehensive war after the battle of Gaza, which does not seem to end without heavy costs for Iran, Hamas, and The entire axis of resistance!
American expectations of an Iranian strike!
CNN quoted a senior American official as saying, “Washington is on high alert and is preparing for a major Iranian attack within the next week,” in response to the Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus. In this context, American officials indicated, according to what was reported by NBC, that “the Biden administration is concerned that Iran is planning to strike targets inside Israel,” explaining that “any Iranian retaliation inside Israel will target military or intelligence sites.”

The southern front is on fire... continuous targeting and missiles!
Al kalima on line/April 06/2024 (google translation from Arabic)
The southern front is still burning between Hezbollah and Israel. 3 missiles were fired from southern Lebanon towards an Israeli position in the Western Galilee. In parallel, Israeli Army Radio reported that sirens sounded in Shlomi in the Western Galilee. A representative of the National News Agency reported that a house was hit by an Israeli drone missile in the town of Shebaa. He also reported that a Merkava tank directly targeted a house in the town of Yarin al-Fawqa in the western sector. The Israeli warplanes launched raids targeting Labouneh in the outskirts of Naqoura, Tayr Harfa and Aita al-Shaab. The vicinity of the town of Naqoura was also subjected to artillery shelling. The National News Agency reported that the raid on Tayr Harfa targeted a house belonging to the Youssef family, and the Civil Defense is in the process of removing the rubble and no casualties have been reported so far. In the evening, intermittent shelling was recorded on Jabal Al-Alam in the vicinity of the town of Alma Al-Shaab. In turn, Hezbollah announced that it had bombed the Al-Malikiyah and Jal Al-Alam sites, and the deployment of Israeli soldiers between the site and the Shlomi settlement, with “Burkan” missiles, and the Zibdin barracks in Shebaa Farms and the Zaoura farm in the Golan, and they were directly hit. In the evening, the party announced that it had targeted the drone jamming system in the Al-Asi site with a swooping attack march. In this context, MTV Information reported that the "Amal Movement" targeted the Admit barracks and the Elon and Jurin settlements with missile weapons, in response to the Israeli army's attacks on southern villages and the killing of 3 of its members in a raid on Marjayoun. Earlier, the National News Agency reported that the southern front with Israel flared up yesterday evening after its attacks and raids on Marjayoun and Mays al-Jabal and the fall of a number of members of the Amal movement and Hezbollah. The attacks continued and artillery bombarded the outskirts of the towns of Al-Bustan, Al-Dhahira and Alma Al-Shaab. Which led to the paralysis of the region in the western and central sectors. An Israeli raid was reported on the outskirts of Yammar-Shaqif, and ambulances headed to the site of the raid.

8 Hezbollah, Amal fighters killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/April 06, 2024
BEIRUT: Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed eight members of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement on Saturday. A civil defense paramedic also died of his wounds after being shot in the head by Israeli forces several days ago. Burkan rockets launched by Hezbollah hit an Israeli military site in the Western Galilee region. Israeli military reconnaissance aircraft flew over the villages of the western and central sectors throughout Friday night into Saturday, reaching the outskirts of the city of Tyre. The Israeli army also fired flash bombs over the border villages adjacent to the Blue Line in the western and central sectors. At dawn, Israeli forces fired weapons toward the outskirts of the towns of Ramyah and Aita Al-Shaab from their positions. Saturday was marked by intensive Israeli airstrikes on targets in southern Lebanon. Jets raided a courtyard near Beaufort Castle in the Nabatieh area, north of the Litani Line, targeting an abandoned room.The town of Marjayoun was hit by Israeli airstrikes on Friday night for the first time since the start of hostilities on Oct. 8, targeting a center affiliated with the Amal Movement, a Hezbollah ally. Hezbollah, a close ally of the Palestinian group Hamas, says its campaign aims to pressure Israel to end its war in Gaza. The town of Khiam was hit by intense artillery and phosphorus shelling in the early morning. Israeli jets also attacked a house in the town of Tayr Harfa, without causing casualties. Another airstrike targeted the town of Labbouneh on the outskirts of Naqoura. Lebanon’s civil defense crews worked throughout Friday night to recover the bodies of two victims from under the rubble of a destroyed home in Mays Al-Jabal, which was targeted by Israeli airstikes. Israeli Army Radio said that warning sirens sounded in the town of Shlomi in the Western Galilee. Hezbollah said that it targeted a group of Israeli soldiers near the military site of Ramya with artillery fire. It also announced the targeting of the Israeli military site of Malikiya with “a precision missile strike.”Hezbollah also targeted the Israeli site of Jal Al-Alam in the Western Galilee. According to the government displacement crisis management committee in Lebanon, hostile operations have resulted in 331 deaths and about 1,000 injuries. Additionally, 75 public and private schools in border and background towns have been closed since the start of the war. About 790 hectares of agricultural land has been damaged and 340,000 livestock killed. A recent government survey conducted in tandem with international organizations found that about 140,000 people have been displaced in Lebanese border towns. Of these, about 93,000 have registered with municipalities while 60,000 remain in conflict areas.

3 Amal fighters killed in Israeli strike on Marjeyoun
Associated Press/April 06, 2024
An Israeli airstrike on a house in southern Lebanon has killed three Amal Movement fighters, the Hezbollah-allied movement said. Israel said warplanes bombed what it described as an Amal military compound and said the group was planning an attack against Israel. The military statement said its jets also struck several locations used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and a jet attacked a person doing "drone observation activity" near the border.Friday's violence comes as Israel has been trading fire almost daily with Hezbollah and other Lebanese militant groups for months. The attack on Amal was the first Israeli attack on Marjeyoun, a large town in southeastern Lebanon, since the latest round of cross-border clashes began on Oct. 8. Hezbollah, a close ally to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, says the clashes aim to pressure Israel to end its war in Gaza. Fears of the Israel-Hamas war spilling over into other Mideast countries worsened this week after an Israeli airstrike hit the Iranian Consulate building in Syria.

Is Hezbollah “Unable to Sustain” Its Southern Front Battle?
This Is Beirut/April 06/2024
Hezbollah is reportedly “unable to sustain” its fight against Israel on the southern front, as per information obtained by This is Beirut, leaked by Hezbollah officials. According to these sources, the pro-Iranian party is also leaning towards the American diplomatic initiative for a settlement on the Lebanese-Israeli border, “in exchange for Israel’s commitment not to violate UN Resolution 1701.”The American proposal, akin to the one presented by France, is said to entail the withdrawal of Hezbollah beyond the Litani River, along with other planned measures, including a significant deployment of the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon. US special envoy Amos Hochstein conveyed these proposals to Lebanese officials during his recent visits to Beirut. Several related sources suggest that the concern about Hezbollah’s weapons stands apart from the implementation of Resolution 1701, “contrary to the belief that it is part of the overall settlement” on the Lebanese-Israeli border. Indeed, “foreign and local parties oppose the withdrawal of Hezbollah weapons beyond the Litani River, insisting on the implementation of UN Resolution 1559.” The latter calls for the limitation of weapons to “legitimate” (state) hands. These remarks come amidst ongoing military operations in Gaza and clashes on Lebanese territory, despite the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2728 on March 25, which called for an immediate ceasefire. Against this backdrop, negotiations between mediators are underway in Doha and Cairo to implement a cessation of hostilities and an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

An Israeli Drone Shot Down in Southern Lebanon
This is Beirut/April 06/2024
Hezbollah announced in a statement on Saturday evening that it had shot down an armed Israeli army Elbit Hermes 450 drone over Lebanese territory. This information was confirmed later that evening by the Israeli army, which stated that the pro-Iranian formation had used a surface-to-air missile.
Additionally, a civilian who was injured in a raid on Yarin on Tuesday has passed away. Tensions remained high on the southern front from Friday through Saturday evening. According to local channel MTV, the Amal Movement has retaliated against the Israeli army’s attacks on southern villages and the killing of three of its members in the Marjayoun raid by targeting, with rockets, the Adamit barracks as well as the settlements of Eilon and Goren. However, Amal did not officially claim any attack.During the day, a Merkava tank directly targeted a house in Yarine al-Fawqa in the western sector. Around noon on Saturday, Israeli warplanes conducted a raid near Qal’at al-Shaqif, hitting it with two missiles and causing an explosion that echoed throughout Nabatieh. Reports suggested that the raid targeted a house in Nabatieh, resulting in no casualties. The outskirts of Yahmar al-Shaqif were also targeted. Israeli warplanes also raided Tayr Harfa and fired two missiles, targeting a house in al-Yousef, with no reported casualties. Additionally, an airstrike targeted the Labbouneh area, while Wadi Hamoul-al-Naqoura and Rmeish faced artillery shelling. At dawn, the town of Khiam faced heavy artillery and phosphorus shelling, while the Hammames Hill and the Marjayoun plain were also targeted with artillery shelling. Israeli forces opened heavy machine gun fire towards the outskirts of the towns of Ramya and Aita al-Shaab from their positions adjacent to Aita al-Shaab. In response, Hezbollah announced in a statement that it had targeted a gathering of soldiers near the Shomera and Shtula barracks. The pro-Iranian group also targeted the Malkiya position with a Burkan missile, along with the Jal al-Alam post. Furthermore, soldiers positioned between the site and the Shlomi settlement were hit with Burkan missiles.

Bassil says Hezbollah delusional if it thinks it can beat Israel while 'controlling' other citizens
Naharnet/April 6, 2024 
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has hurled a new jab at Hezbollah in connection with the ongoing conflict with Israel, saying “delusional are those who think that they can control the rest of the citizens and still defeat Israel.”“It should go without saying that we should preserve our national unity and our state and its institutions, and that we should have a president so that he be the first resistance fighter in the face of any attack, occupation or violation, whether it comes from terrorism or from the Israeli enemy,” Bassil said during an iftar banquet in Jbeil. “When a war erupts on our border, our priority must be to elect a president and not to await the end of the Gaza war,” Bassil added. “What we’re doing to our country is wrong and it is wrong to think that Lebanon can triumph through the rifle alone, regardless of its important and necessity whenever someone brandishes it against us. Before anything else, Lebanon triumphs throught its diverse culture,” Bassil went on to say. Reiteraing that all Lebanese “do not want a war in Lebanon,” the FPM chief noted that the U.S. and Iran also do not want a war in Lebanon. “Only (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu wants it, so are we supposed to give it to him so that he kills and destroys further? Or should we adopt a policy that separates Lebanon from Gaza by calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon?” Bassil added. “We are not obliged to remain entangled in a war in Gaza that we don’t know when it will end nor its impact and consequences for Lebanon,” the FPM chief urged

Waste sorting plant: Beirut and Mount Lebanon set to revive Karantina plant
LBCI/April 06/2024
Residents of Beirut and Mount Lebanon will soon witness a significant turnaround in waste management. The waste sorting plant at the Karantina facility, destroyed after the August 4 explosion, is slated to resume operations. The revival of this facility brings hope to those grappling with daily waste disposal dilemmas. It will alleviate the burden on landfills in Jdeideh, which can no longer accommodate additional quantities of waste.The Karantina plant, equipped to handle various types of waste, is expected to start operating within 12 months of preparation. It will process 1,000 tons daily, with 450 tons from Beirut and 550 tons from Mount Lebanon. With three sorting lines initially operational out of six, it does not only promise environmental benefits but also economic gains, with both residents and municipalities poised to profit.Furthermore, the plant will be purely Lebanese. The impending revival of the waste sorting plant offers hope in Lebanon's waste crisis, emphasizing the potential for substantial gains with concerted efforts and determination.

Security Forces: Seizing of a large quantity of cocaine worth millions of dollars hidden in a banana shipment at Beirut Port
NNA/April 06/2024 
The Internal Security Forces Directorate General’s Public Relations Division issued a statement this afternoon, indicating that as part of its continuous pursuit and arrest of drug smuggling networks in the country, orders were given to the relevant units to intensify their investigative efforts to uncover drug smuggling operations to and from Lebanese territory and to identify and arrest all those involved in said operations. “As a result of the investigations, the Information Division reached confirmed data that an international network smuggled a large quantity of cocaine from Ecuador to Lebanon, by hiding it inside a shipment of bananas...After diligent follow-up, the Division was able to determine the location of the container upon its arrival at the port of Beirut, where a patrol unit worked to seize it and upon careful inspection, 25.6 kilograms of cocaine worth millions of dollars were found professionally hidden inside the metal structure of the container,” the statement added. “The legal requirements have been carried out concerning the seized shipment, and efforts are still underway to arrest the smuggling network members involved in the aforementioned operation,” the ISF statement concluded.

A Potential Full-Scale War, Aid Conditional on Resolution 1701
Bassam Abou Zeid/This is Beirut/April 06/2024
According to diplomatic sources, tension along the Lebanese-Israeli front has markedly intensified, and the likelihood of further escalation in the war is now unmistakably real and no longer considered improbable. This follows the recent Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which resulted in the tragic loss of seven Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials. Moreover, the subsequent Iranian threats, in which Hezbollah played a part, led the Israelis to ramp up military pressure against the party and to escalate interference, specifically targeting GPS systems, despite the collateral damage inflicted on Israeli society as well. Furthermore, despite the escalating military tensions, efforts exerted by certain countries persist unabated to prevent a full-scale war in Lebanon. However, these efforts have yet to yield any notable progress and continue to face obstacles from both the Israelis and Hezbollah. There are currently no indications of envoys arriving in Lebanon to engage in the follow-up of these efforts on the ground. As such, US envoy Amos Hochstein is monitoring the situation from a distance and does not currently have plans to travel to Beirut any time soon. Similarly, the French envoy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and the French presidency recognize the interconnection between the presidential election and the situation of the war in the region. In Lebanon’s context, the toll of losses stemming from the southern war on various fronts shall rise on various levels. Moreover, if the war were to escalate, the resulting catastrophe would be staggering. With current damages already totaling billions of dollars, Lebanon would find it impossible to manage. Furthermore, this figure could soar to tens of billions of dollars if attacks extended across all Lebanese territories, and the widespread destruction and casualties resulting from these attacks would leave Lebanon devastated and collapsed, with scant resources for recovery. In addition, Hezbollah’s lack of awareness of this reality may be due to potential assurances of financial aid from the Islamic Republic of Iran to cover losses, or the party thinks it can pressure the state to compensate from Lebanon’s dwindling reserves in the central bank (BDL), even if it means accessing part of the gold reserves. According to the same diplomatic sources, the responsibility of those in power, particularly within the government and parliament, is underscored in preventing this destructive path from unfolding, especially if it becomes imminent.
The diplomatic sources mocked the government’s attempt to solicit humanitarian and non-humanitarian aid in connection with the southern war. They insisted that any assistance should hinge on Hezbollah’s cessation of the war it initiated against Israel and the genuine implementation of Resolution 1701. This, they stressed, is vital for establishing sustainable calm in the region and averting future threats.

Money Supply Breaks New Record in Lebanon
Christiane Tager/April 06/2024 
The money supply experienced phenomenal growth in Lebanon within one month, increasing by 439% between December 2023 and January 2024. What are the reasons for this, and what does it signify? A recently published report revealed that Lebanon has experienced a significant increase in the circulating money supply, which multiplied by more than five times in just one month. Accordingly, the M4 measure of currency in circulation and bank accounts in the country increased by 439% in January 2024 compared to December 2023, where it had increased by 0.1%, according to data from the Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL). The money supply corresponds to the volume of currency (both physical and digital) circulating in an economy at a given time. In Lebanon, this supply is evaluated and regulated by the BDL. The money supply is assessed, among other factors, by consolidating the balance sheets of the central bank, credit institutions, and financial institutions. This data contributes to compiling a monetary balance sheet, updated every month. According to Fouad Zmokhol, President of the International Movement of Lebanese Enterprises (MIDEL) and Dean of the Faculty of Management at USJ, this increase in the money supply is “very normal with the salary increases granted to the public sector,” not to mention “the implementation of the new budget, the officialization of the exchange rate of the dollar against the Lebanese pound at 89,500, and the conversion rate of taxes and duties to 89,500 pounds.”
On the other hand, Nassib Ghobril, Chief Economist at Byblos Bank, believes that “all this fuss about the money supply is not justified.” According to him, since the BDL changed the exchange rate from 15,000 pounds to 89,500 pounds for a dollar since the end of January 2024, all official balances have changed and increased. The BDL’s balance sheet and the consolidated balance sheets of commercial banks have increased proportionally to the exchange rate hike. “It’s the same for the money supply,” he explains. The economist believes that none of these considerations about the reasons for this increase are in line with reality. He recalls that the BDL issued a circular stating that the balances of all companies and institutions should be calculated at the exchange rate of 89,500 pounds from the figures of January 2024. “This also applies to the figures that the BDL publishes regarding the currency in circulation,” he says. The only reason for this increase, according to him, is the increase in the exchange rate, emphasizing that “this will not affect the stability of the exchange rate in the parallel market.” Will this lead to inflation? “No,” he answers, “since inflation is already very high.” He assured us that this increase in the money supply is purely technical. “These are figures that have changed, not a modification of economic activity,” Ghobril concluded.

Campaign Accuses Wajdi Mouawad of Normalization with Israel
This is Beirut/April 06/2024
https://thisisbeirut.com.lb/lebanon/242425
The Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon accused Lebanese-Canadian playwright Wajdi Mouawad of “normalization with Israel,” in a statement published on April 3 and picked up by the Hezbollah-affiliated daily al-Akhbar.
According to information provided to This Is Beirut, the smear campaign against Mouawad is also affecting the Lebanese production team, particularly the actors, who are receiving threats, being targeted by defamatory language on social media and being accused of treason.
A person close to the organization talked to This Is Beirut about the issue. They wished to remain anonymous for security reasons and stressed that the boycott call some made against him is “unfair and unjustified.” They pointed out that the play Journée de Noces chez les Cromagnons (Wedding Day at the Cro-Magnons), presented in Beirut in its world premiere, “has absolutely nothing to do with Israel.”
“Wajdi Mouawad is the director and playwright, but the organizers are collaborating with the Colline Theater which is a public theater subsidized by the French Ministry of Culture,” they added.
Mouawad is mainly criticized for his collaboration with Israeli actors in his play Tous des Oiseaux (All Birds), performed in France in 2017 and then in Tel Aviv in 2018. A play supported by the Israeli Embassy in Paris as part of the “Saison culturelle croisée France-Israël” (France-Israel Cross-Cultural Season), organized by the French Ministry of Culture.
It should be noted that this work, the actions of which take place against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was banned in Germany for being considered anti-Semitic.
The Boycott Campaign “has sent direct notification to the relevant authorities to put an end” to the theatrical performance project in Beirut, calling on the artists involved in the work “to withdraw from the production.”
“Lebanon will not allow normalization with Israel, nor will it accept becoming the theater for the laundering of the enemy’s crimes,” the statement read.
The organization’s close associate called for “clarity and honesty, recognition that Wajdi Mouawad, who is considered today as one of the most important playwrights in the world, is in no way hostile to the Palestinian cause, and that he practices his craft with conscience, professionalism and independence, in collaboration with local artists and Lebanese playwrights.”
They added, “The Lebanese public, which is sufficiently mature and capable of discernment, is looking forward to the premiere of this show, whose cast is made up of Lebanese from all walks of life.” The play will take place in early May at the Monnot Theater.
It’s worth noting that plays by Wajdi Mouawad have already been presented in Lebanon, including Incendies (Scorched) at the Al-Madina Theater and Seuls (The Lonely Ones) at the Monnot Theater.
Wajdi Mouawad’s play Journée de noces chez les Cromagnons (Wedding Day at the Cro-Magnons) is scheduled to run at the Monnot Theater from April 30 to May 19. This tragi-comic work tells the story of a family who, despite being bombarded, prepares for the wedding of their eldest daughter to her fiancé… who doesn’t exist.
Author, director, playwright, actor and filmmaker, Wajdi Mouawad, 55, is recognized as one of the most unifying artists in contemporary theater.
He spent his childhood in Lebanon, his adolescence in France and his young adult years in Quebec before settling in France. Trained at the National Theatre School of Canada, he has directed several theater companies in Canada and France.
He was Artistic Director of the National Arts Centre French Theatre in Ottawa from 2007 to 2012. He has been the director of the Colline National Theatre in Paris since 2016. His mandate was recently renewed until 2027.

Sexual Violence in Schools: Taboos and Protection Strategies
Sana Richa Choucair/This is Beirut/April 06/2024
Sexual violence, especially in schools, remains a delicate and often concealed issue. What initiatives have been implemented in Lebanon to promote awareness, prevention, and intervention against this scourge? Who among us hasn’t heard rumors about children falling victim to sexual abuse by adults in Lebanese schools? If these cases of abuse, often proven, aren’t widely publicized, it’s mainly to preserve the reputation of the educational institution and protect the victims. Some instances have still been exposed by the media. We can mention the case of the young teacher who, in 2012, committed acts of pedophilia in one of the private schools in Mount Lebanon. At the time, his victims were aged 8 and 9. With the help of social media, a public school teacher in North Lebanon was denounced in 2021 by some young girls for harassment and inappropriate behavior. Other cases are constantly reported to the relevant authorities without much media attention. However, it’s important to note that abuse isn’t only committed in schools; children can also fall victim to sexual violence within their families. While these cases are mostly handled discreetly, primarily to protect the victims, they highlight the importance of proactive work to prevent them and raise awareness among various stakeholders about the signs that should alert them and the tools available for intervention. It’s crucial to teach children to protect themselves from any form of violence they might face from adults, particularly in the school environment where they spend most of their time. What are the strategies for raising awareness, prevention, and intervention implemented in Lebanon, where challenges abound and where acceptance of violence isn’t necessarily the same for everyone, especially considering that sexual abuse remains a taboo subject for many?
A National Policy
It’s worth mentioning that Lebanon started taking this issue seriously in 2010 through local NGOs before the authorities also got involved. The local strategy operates at two levels: official, through the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Internal Security Forces, and social, through NGOs focusing on child protection. This concerted effort is beginning to yield results, especially as approaches have become more standardized over the years. Society is gradually aligning with the norms of behavior and common attitudes advocated by various stakeholders, although there’s still much work to be done. “The outcome is relatively positive, in the sense that taboos are gradually being broken, giving victims more courage to speak up. Confidentiality rules reassure them,” explains Amina Hamade, coordinator of the prevention program at Himaya, an NGO fighting child abuse.
On May 11, 2018, the Ministry of Education launched the national policy for the protection of students in schools with the support of UNICEF. “The methodology implemented in schools relies on four steps: observation, characterization, corresponding measures, and appropriate follow-up,” explains Hilda Khoury, director of the department of pedagogical and school counseling at the ministry. The official strategy was developed by the department operating under the General Directorate of Education within the ministry. Also involved in the project were the Center for Educational Research and Development (CRDP), the Lebanese University, and the Lebanese School of Social Formation at Université Saint-Joseph. The protocol for identifying and addressing cases of violence includes standardized referral processes and branches into two types of measures: internal within the Ministry of Education and external, involving the intervention of other agencies outside the ministry.
In case of suspected harassment by an adult against a student at school, administrative investigations are immediately conducted, followed, if necessary, by referral to the judicial authorities. “Although these cases aren’t publicized, they’re treated with strict confidentiality and the utmost seriousness, not to preserve the institution’s reputation, but rather to protect the integrity of those involved,” says Khoury. For example, a case of sexual violence perpetrated by a family member against a student was identified in a school. “Our department went to the school to meet with the affected student and provide appropriate psychosocial support,” she says. “At the same time, the case was reported to the Ministry of Justice to ensure the protection of the minor and initiate a thorough investigation into the incident,” she explains. “The educational counselor intensified visits to the school until the competent external services took over.”The Ministry of Justice is a crucial partner in this process, as Law 422, promulgated in June 2002, defines the legal framework for the protection of minors at risk. It provides for judicial and social procedural measures to protect children, up to the age of 18, from any type of aggression.
A guide has been developed by the Ministry of Justice’s Department of Minors, with technical assistance from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), for any adult in contact with children, especially educational staff. The aim of this document is to present intervention strategies for children who are victims of criminal offenses and to familiarize the general public with judicial protection procedures.
The Internal Security Forces, Always Vigilant
Another awareness-raising mission in Lebanese schools against abuse towards students of all ages is also carried out by the ISF and is not a recent initiative. “It started more than ten years ago, but over time, an increasing number of schools have been requesting interventions from the Cybercrime Bureau*,” explains an informed ISF source to This Is Beirut. “Our teams, composed of specialized officers, conduct weekly interventions in schools, focusing mainly on cybersecurity, as children are increasingly exposed to social media at a younger age,” says the same source, explaining why a growing number of schools are requesting the Cybercrime Bureau for interventions on this phenomenon and the associated risks. A booklet on cyber threat awareness is also available in three languages from the official ISF website. This guide aims “to raise awareness among all members of society about the most important cyber threats and crimes, and to strengthen the protection and privacy” of internet users. This document includes “preventive measures and good practices to follow.”
Individual and Organizational Initiatives
Long before the development of the national policy for the protection of schoolchildren, some individuals had already been working in this field alongside NGOs, starting in 2010. Roula Lebbos, a social worker by profession, a consultant, and a juvenile protection trainer, carried out pioneering work in this regard. Having developed a child protection policy, she worked on its implementation in about ten Lebanese schools from 2010 to 2017. The overall goal of any child protection policy, as explained by Lebbos, is to establish a common language regarding violence, its nature, and its typology, in order to disseminate a culture of non-violence. “Violence in adults can be unintentional,” Lebbos continues; “it can stem from certain behaviors that aren’t perceived as violent by society, especially in the presence of stereotypes associated with the teaching profession or the educational system in general.” For Lebbos, the foundation of this approach is familiarity with Law 422 on child protection in Lebanon, which allows the child, school personnel, and parents to know their rights and duties. Therefore, she believes that any successful child protection approach should combine psychosocial and legal aspects. On the NGO side, This is Beirut spoke with Kafa and Himaya, which have been working on this issue since 2009–2010.
The approach developed by Roula Lebbos and those practiced by these NGOs converge in their holistic nature. Interventions in schools include the development of a child protection charter, alongside training sessions for learners, school staff (administrative and teaching), and parents.
Three main axes are addressed: types of violence (physical, psychological, and sexual, in addition to neglect); attitudes and behaviors to adopt; and the legal aspect. The institution should also commit to updating the adopted strategy, which is of paramount importance to Lebbos. “The goal is to integrate new factors that should be taken into consideration and to train new personnel joining the institution,” she emphasizes. These interventions also aim to create a child protection unit within the school or any other reference structure that includes qualified specialized personnel, also referred to as “security agents.” These individuals are authorized to detect, report, refer, and follow up on cases of student victims of violence. “Each school decides on the executive measures to adopt to ensure the implementation of the protection charter,” explains Maria Semaan, head of the child protection unit at Kafa. “Some institutions appoint protection agents, others establish a complaints office or train specialized personnel already working, such as social workers or psychologists.”As part of the prevention program, Himaya offers “a peer education approach, which is particularly effective,” Hamade says. “Among the children who attended the training sessions, groups are selected to organize, in turn, awareness and education activities on protection against violence, addressed to children of their age, such as skits, videos, or posters,” she explains.
Impact on Society?
The efforts made over the years have fortunately made a difference in the lives of thousands of children in Lebanon. In this regard, Hamade notes that “an increasing number of cases, especially online harassment, are reported through the ISF assistance hotline.”“The demand from private schools is also on the rise, particularly in the areas of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, but also in Baalbeck, where an increasing number of private sector establishments are turning to Himaya to implement an awareness and prevention program,” she continues. However, some institutions, where topics like harassment or sexual assaults are taboo, remain resistant, Semaan deplores, while others, Hamade notes, “go as far as denying cases reported to the NGO through other channels.” Nevertheless, “the impact of education on a culture of non-violent communication isn’t always visible or measurable by numbers,” as highlighted by Rebecca Wakim, a graduate in social work specializing in social animation. “After three to five awareness sessions in schools, a spectacular impact occurs when students’ voices are heard. Cases of abuse come to light, and children feel safe to talk about them and start the process of seeking help,” she says, emphasizing “the snowball effect of this phenomenon: when one child breaks the barrier of fear, others are encouraged.”
* The ISF’s Cybercrime Bureau registers complaints through its assistance hotline (01/293293) and its online reporting service, which can be accessed on the ISF’s official website.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 06-07/2024
Washington sends a warning to Tehran regarding its expected response to the consulate attack in Damascus
NNA/April 6, 2024
The United States warned Iran against using the Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus as a “pretext to target its interests,” according to CNN, citing a US State Department spokesman. The spokesman said that the warning came in response to a message from Iran, and did not provide details about its content, nor about the American response or how it was conveyed to Iran. The official added that the United States is on "high alert and is actively preparing for a major attack by Iran that may occur as soon as next week," targeting Israeli or American interests in the region in response to the attack in which prominent leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were killed. Israeli officials have confirmed that they have intelligence information indicating that Iran may attack Israel from its territory using long-range ballistic missiles or cruise missiles or drones, according to "Russia Today".

Hamas says delegation to go to Cairo on April 7 for Gaza ceasefire talks
CAIRO (Reuters)/April 6, 2024
A Hamas delegation headed by the group's deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, will go to Cairo on April 7 for Gaza ceasefire talks, in response to an invitation extended by Egyptian mediators, the group said in a statement on Saturday.
U.S. CIA Director Bill Burns arrived in Cairo on Saturday evening to attend Sunday's talks, sources at Cairo airport told Reuters. Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and an Israeli delegation were expected to take part in the talks as well, Egypt's Al Qahera news reported on Saturday. Hamas reiterated its demands issued in a March 14 proposal prior to a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that was passed on March 25. The demands include a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a return of the displaced, and a "serious" exchange deal of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, the statement said.

Negotiators expected in Cairo as Israel-Hamas war nears six-month mark
Agence France Presse/April 6, 2024
American and Israeli negotiators were expected in Cairo over the weekend for a renewed push to reach a ceasefire-hostage deal in a war that has raged for nearly half a year. Ahead of the talks, U.S. President Joe Biden wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar urging them to dial up pressure on Hamas to "agree to and abide by a deal," a senior administration official told AFP on Friday night. The United States, Qatar and Egypt have engaged for months in behind-the-scenes talks to broker a ceasefire and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, but have made no headway since a week-long truce in November.
The White House confirmed that negotiations would occur this weekend in Cairo, but would not comment on U.Sm media reports that CIA Director Bill Burns would be attending, along with Israel spy chief David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel. Israel and Hamas, which negotiate through intermediaries, have traded blame for the lack of progress. "This basic fact remains true: There would be a ceasefire in Gaza today had Hamas simply agreed to release this vulnerable category of hostages -- the sick, wounded, elderly, and young women," the senior Biden administration official said. Hamas officials and Qatari mediator Al-Thani have previously accused Israel of stymying the truce with objections over the return of displaced Gazan civilians and the ratio of prisoners to hostages. During a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, Biden pushed him to "fully empower" his negotiators to reach a deal. A staunch backer of Israel, Biden's patience with the immense toll inflicted by the war on Gaza appears to be waning, especially after the killing of seven aid workers. With both international and domestic outrage mounting, Biden has warned of a reassessment of U.S. support if more is not done to protect civilians. Allies have been pressing Biden to leverage the billions of dollars in US military aid to Israel. More than three dozen U.S. lawmakers on Friday signed a letter to Biden urging him to reconsider the "recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel, and to withhold this and any future offensive arms transfers until a full investigation into the airstrike is completed."
'Inhumane ferocity'
The Israeli army announced it was firing two officers after finding a series of "grave mistakes" led to the drone strikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers on Monday. It was a rare admission of wrongdoing by Israel in its campaign to root the militant group Hamas out of the Gaza Strip, where the health ministry says more than 33,091 people, mostly women and children, have been killed. In response to the Israeli army's preliminary findings on the strike, Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Saturday it was "not sufficient."World Central Kitchen said Israel "cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza", noting that its staff was attacked despite having "followed all proper communications procedures." WCK said its operations in Gaza remain suspended after the attack, while top global aid groups said relief work has become almost impossible. "In its speed, scale and inhumane ferocity, the war in Gaza is the deadliest of conflicts -– for civilians, for aid workers, for journalists, for health workers and for our own (U.N.) colleagues," U.N. chief Antonio Guterres told a U.N. Security Council briefing on Friday. At the same briefing, Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan insisted the "only reason" aid fails to reach Gazan civilians "is because Hamas loots it and the U.N. is incapable of handling the capacity of supplies". Following the Biden-Netanyahu call, Israel said it would allow "temporary" deliveries through additional aid routes, without specifying when that would begin. For the 2.4 million Gazans, simply procuring food and water in the relentlessly bombarded strip has become a torturous struggle. Since January, Palestinians in famine-threatened northern Gaza have eaten an average of just 245 calories per day -- less than a can of beans -- since January, according to Oxfam. "Living in tents is difficult, everything is hard. Securing water and food is difficult," said Gazan Siham Ashour, who like more than a million others has been displaced to the sprawling encampment in the strip's southernmost city Rafah.

Gaza truce talks on, after aid worker death outcry
AFP/April 06, 2024
GAZA: American, Israeli and Hamas negotiators are expected in Cairo over the weekend in a renewed push for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in a war that reaches the half-year mark on Sunday. Egypt’s Al-Qahera News said CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani would join Egyptian mediators for Sunday’s indirect talks between the Israeli and Hamas delegations. Ahead of the talks Hamas, confirmed its core demands — a complete ceasefire in Gaza and withdrawal of Israeli forces. The ceasefire attempt comes after Israel’s military made a rare admission of wrongdoing and said it was firing two officers over the killing of seven aid workers in Gaza where humanitarians say famine is imminent. The admission did not quell calls for an independent probe, however. The deaths of the workers from US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) on April 1 led to a tense call between US President Joe Biden and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden urged an “immediate ceasefire” and for the first time hinted at conditioning US support for Israel on curtailing the killing of civilians and improving humanitarian conditions. The bloodiest-ever Gaza war began on October 7 with an unprecedented attack from Gaza by Hamas militants resulting in the death of 1,170 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show. Palestinian militants also took around 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, about 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including more than 30 the army says are dead. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has relentlessly bombarded the territory, killing at least 33,137 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths decried Israel’s war against Hamas and called for a “collective determination that there be a reckoning for this betrayal of humanity.”Fears that the war could spread intensified after Iran vowed retaliation after seven Revolutionary Guards were killed in an air strike Monday on the consular annex of its embassy in Damascus. Ahead of the weekend talks, Biden wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar urging them to secure commitments from Hamas to “agree to and abide by a deal,” a senior administration official told AFP. Stop-start talks have made no headway since a week-long truce in November saw some hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel. The White House confirmed negotiations would occur this weekend in Cairo, and Hamas said its delegation would head there on Sunday. But Hamas also restated its key demands.
“Hamas confirms its adherence to the position it presented on March 14 ... and we will not back down from this position,” a statement said.
“The demands ... are complete ceasefire, withdrawal of the occupation forces from Gaza, the return of the displaced to their residential areas, freedom of movement of the people, offering them aid and shelter, and a serious hostage exchange deal,” it said. Biden’s Thursday call with Netanyahu included discussions on “empowering his negotiators” to reach a deal, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. Washington blames the lack of a deal on Hamas’s refusal to release sick and other vulnerable hostages. Qatar has said Israeli objections to the return of displaced Gazans are the main holdup.
Biden is under pressure over massive US military aid to Israel which, so far, Washington has not leveraged despite increasingly critical comments about Israel’s conduct of the war. The Israeli military announced it was firing two officers after finding a series of errors led to the drone strikes that killed the WCK workers. WCK said its Gaza operations remain suspended after the attack, while other global aid groups said relief work in the territory has become almost impossible. The army said a commander “mistakenly assumed” Hamas had seized the aid vehicles, which were moving at night.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Saturday Canberra had “not yet received sufficient information” from Israel about the death of Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom and the other aid workers. “It cannot be brushed aside and it cannot be covered over,” Wong said.
WCK said Israel “cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza.” Britain called for a “wholly independent review,” while Poland sought a “criminal” probe. Hours after Biden and Netanyahu spoke, Israel announced it would allow “temporary” aid deliveries through Ashdod port and the Erez border crossing.
UN chief Antonio Guterres called for a “paradigm shift” rather than “scattered measures.” Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense agency, told AFP on Saturday that aid reaching Gaza is “absolutely not sufficient” for its 2.4 million people, with basic necessities “extremely scarce” particularly in the north. “Children are dying from hunger” there, he said.
Around 1.5 million Gazans are sheltering in the territory’s far south, in Rafah. “We are ordinary citizens and human beings,” Siham Achur, 50, said in the tent that is now her family’s home. “Why did they bomb our house?“They had lived in Khan Yunis for 30 years, Achur said, but those memories “have become dust.”On Saturday, Israel’s military said warplanes had killed Akram Salamah, a “senior” militant it said held several positions including Hamas’s deputy chief for Khan Yunis. Troops also recovered from Khan Yunis the body of Elad Katzir, who was abducted on October 7 and “murdered in captivity” by Islamic Jihad, a group fighting alongside Hamas, the army said. The Israeli ambassador to Warsaw, Yacov Livne, said on social media that Katzir had dual citizenship with Poland. The Polish foreign ministry said it had received news of his death with “sadness.”
His sister Carmit Palty Katzir blamed the Israeli authorities for Elad’s death, saying he would have returned alive had the authorities agreed to a new truce.

UN humanitarian chief calls Gaza war ‘betrayal of humanity’
AFP/April 06, 2024
UNITED NATIONS: Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has escalated into a “betrayal of humanity,” the United Nations’ humanitarian chief said Saturday. In a statement on the eve of the six-month anniversary of the war, Martin Griffiths, the outgoing under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, called for a “collective determination that there be a reckoning for this betrayal of humanity.”“Each day, this war claims more civilian victims,” said Griffiths, who will leave his post at the end of June due to health reasons. “Every second that it continues sows the seeds of a future so deeply obscured by this relentless conflict.”The war began on October 7 with an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants resulting in the death of 1,170 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show. Palestinian militants also took around 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, about 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including more than 30 the army says are dead. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has relentlessly bombarded the territory by air, land and sea, killing at least 33,137 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Griffiths lamented “the unconscionable prospect of further escalation in Gaza, where no one is safe and there is nowhere safe to go.” He added that “an already fragile aid operation continues to be undermined by bombardments, insecurity and denials of access.”“On this day, my heart goes out to the families of those killed, injured or taken hostage, and to those who face the particular suffering of not knowing the plight of their loved ones,” he said in the statement.

Royal Navy ship deployed in Gaza aid effort amid £9.7m funding
David Lynch, PA Political Staff/April 6, 2024
A Royal Navy ship will be deployed to help get more aid into Gaza, the UK has announced. Alongside the vessel, which is not being named for security, the Government announced a £9.7 million package for aid deliveries, logistical expertise and equipment support for a humanitarian corridor in the eastern Mediterranean between Cyprus and Gaza. Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron said the UK and its allies needed to “explore all options” including sea and air deliveries to “ease the desperate plight of some of the world’s most vulnerable people” in the territory. News of the UK’s support for the international aid effort came as Israel marked six months since the October 7 attacks in which Hamas killed more than 1,100 people and kidnapped about 250. It is also nearly a week since an Israel Defence Forces air strike killed three British aid workers in Gaza, in an attack the IDF later admitted was a “grave mistake”. The UK Government continues to call for further safety measures to protect aid workers on the ground in Gaza from being caught up in the fighting. Lord Cameron said: “The situation in Gaza is dire and the prospect of famine is real. We remain committed to getting aid to those who so desperately need it. “Along with the US, Cyprus and other partners, we are setting up a new temporary pier off the coast of Gaza to get aid in as quickly and securely as possible. “Land access remains crucial to deliver aid at the scale now required. The opening of Erez and the Port of Ashdod is hugely welcome and something the UK has long been calling for. “Israel has also agreed to increase the number of aid trucks entering Gaza to a minimum of 500 a day. “But we need to continue to explore all options, including by sea and air, to ease the desperate plight of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.” The British armed forces have dropped 40 tonnes of aid into Gaza in recent weeks to tackle the bottleneck in supplies reaching Palestinians. The five air drops have seen supplies including water, flour and baby formula parachuted into the territory. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the RAF had played a “central role” in delivering aid. He added: “We are now going further, working with international partners to set up a humanitarian maritime corridor from Cyprus to Gaza. “A new temporary pier on the coast of Gaza will be critical to supporting these efforts, by hosting cargo ships to deliver aid by sea.”

Their schools ruined, Gaza’s children face long road to healing
AFP/April 07, 2024
UNICEF says, but it is the psychological damage the war has done to the territory’s nearly 1.2 million children that has experts worried. “To be able to learn, you need to be in a safe space. Most kids in Gaza at the moment have brains that are functioning under trauma,” said child psychiatrist Audrey McMahon of Doctors Without Borders. Younger children could develop lifelong cognitive disabilities from malnutrition, while teenagers are likely to feel anger at the injustice they have suffered, she said. “The challenges they will face are immense and will take a long time to heal.” To be able to learn, you need to be in a safe space. Most kids in Gaza at the moment have brains that are functioning under trauma.
Audrey McMahon, Child psychiatrist
David Skinner of Save The Children said rebuilding the “schools is massively complicated ... but it’s straightforward compared to the education loss.”“What’s often lost about the coverage of Gaza is that this is a catastrophe for children. “These are children who have been bereaved, who have lost people, who are sick and malnourished,” he said. Small children whose brains are still developing are particularly at risk from mental health and cognitive damage, Skinner said. The UN child welfare agency estimates that 620,000 children in Gaza are out of school. Skinner said getting them back into class and rebuilding their schools were only the first steps. The true challenge will be healing displaced and traumatized young Gazans so that they can learn to learn again. Fighting has ravaged Gaza since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack resulted in 1,170 deaths in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Israel has responded with a relentless offensive against Hamas that has killed at least 33,037 Palestinians. When the war broke out, schools immediately stopped classes, and the majority were turned into shelters for families fleeing air strikes. Nearly half of the Palestinian territory’s population is under 18, and its education system was already struggling after five wars in 20 years. So far in this war, at least 53 of Gaza’s 563 school buildings have been destroyed, according to UNICEF. According to a report by aid agencies, including UNICEF, based on satellite imagery and on-the-ground reporting, more than eight out of 10 schools have been damaged, and 67 percent took direct hits. “This is an unprecedented situation,” said Juliette Touma of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, which helps educate 300,000 Gazan children. “Colleagues who have been here the longest remember maybe one school being hit” in previous conflicts, she said. Majd Halawa didn’t have to wait for the bombs to destroy his school in Gaza City to realize his dreams of becoming a lawyer would have to be put on hold. Two weeks after the war began, the Israeli army gave him and his family three minutes to leave their apartment block in the north of Gaza. “I left all my books, thinking it wouldn’t take long to return, but it didn’t happen,” the 16-year-old said. An airstrike flattened their home. Makeshift schools have been set up in tents in the southern city of Rafah, where half of the territory’s population has fled. In one tent, Hiba Halaweh was teaching 30 children to learn to read their first words. “The children are happy to get back into it,” said the teacher, who lacks even “textbooks and pens.” The Hamas-run education ministry plans 25,000 such temporary schools. Elsewhere in the world, many children who have lived through wars never return to school. In Iraq, six years after the government declared victory over the Daesh group, tens of thousands are still out of school. According to the World Bank, thousands of destroyed school buildings have yet to be rebuilt. But for Majd, whose family managed to get him out to Canada, it is not just about having a school to go to again. “No one can get over all the memories of what happened, not in 100 years.”

Hamas says refuses to ‘back down’ on Gaza ceasefire demands
AFP/April 06, 2024
CAIRO: Palestinian movement Hamas refused to “back down” on Saturday from its demands for a Gaza ceasefire, but agreed to send a delegation for renewed talks in Cairo over the weekend. “Hamas confirms its adherence to the position it presented on March 14 ... and we will not back down from this position,” a statement said, referring to the group’s demands that include a complete ceasefire in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territory.

For families of hostages, it’s a race against time as Israel’s war reaches six-month mark
AP/April 06, 2024
JERUSALEM: It’s the last wish of a dying mother, to be with her daughter once more. But six months into Israel’s war against Hamas, time is running out for Liora Argamani, who hopes to stay alive long enough to see her kidnapped daughter come home. “I want to see her one more time. Talk to her one more time,” said Argamani, 61, who has stage four brain cancer. “I don’t have a lot of time left in this world.”Noa Argamani was abducted from a music festival Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage. The video of her abduction was among the first to surface, images of her horrified face widely shared — Noa detained between two men on a motorcycle, one arm outstretched and the other held down as she screams “Don’t kill me!”There’s been little news about Noa, 26. But in mid-January, Hamas released a video of her in captivity. She appears gaunt and under duress, speaking about other hostages killed in airstrikes and frantically calling on Israel to bring her and others home. Half a year into Israel’s war, agonized families such as the Argamanis are in a race against time. In November, a weeklong ceasefire deal saw the release of more than 100 hostages. But the war is dragging on, with no end in sight and no serious hostage deal on the table. Israel says more than 130 hostages remain, with about a quarter of those believed dead, and divisions are deepening in the country over the best way to bring them home. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas and bring all the hostages back, but he’s made little progress. He faces pressure to resign, and the US has threatened to scale back its support over the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Israelis are divided into two main camps: those who want the government to put the war on hold and free the hostages, and others who think the hostages are an unfortunate price to pay for eradicating Hamas. “They have these two goals and the assessment of the type of risk they’re willing to take to get the hostages back — this is where you see divisions,” said Shmuel Rosner, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute and analyst for Israeli public television station Kan News. On-and-off negotiations mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt have yielded little. If a viable deal emerges, decisions will become harder and the divisions sharper, Rosner said. But for most families and friends whose loved ones are in captivity, there is no choice but to bring them home. Many are concerned in particular about the women held in Gaza and say, based on testimonies from freed hostages, they fear those remaining could be suffering from sexual abuse. Before a recent parliamentary committee meeting, attendees held posters showing the hostages. Yarden Gonen, whose 23-year-old sister, Romi, also was taken from the Oct. 7 music festival, criticized what she said was the government’s inaction. “What are we fighting for?” she said. “What is more important than this?”
Outside an art installation mimicking the Gaza tunnels where some hostages are believed to be held, Romi’s mother said she can’t believe it’s been half a year, with much of the world wanting to forget or ignore such a horrible situation.“We are doing everything we can so the world will not forget,” Merav Leshem Gonen said. “Every day we wake up and take a big breath, deep breath, and continue walking, continue doing the things that will bring her back.” When Yonatan Levi saw the video of his friend Noa Argamani in captivity, he said he could barely recognize the smart, free spirit of the woman who loved parties and traveling and was studying computer science. “When I saw that video, I thought maybe she’s living physically but has died inside,” said Levi, who met Argamani during a diving course in the southern Israeli city of Eilat.A few months before her abduction, Argamani asked Levi to help navigate insurance issues for her mom, he said. As an only child, she was a big part of her mother’s life and care, and she seemed hopeful she would be OK, Levi said. But Liora Argamani’s cancer has worsened, according to a video released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
In it, Liora and her husband tearfully thumb through childhood photos of Noa. From her wheelchair, Liora addresses the camera — and US President Joe Biden directly. Behind her rests an enlarged photo of Noa’s pained face as she’s dragged into Gaza, on a posterboard with her words overtop: “DON’T KILL ME!”
“My heart really hurts,” Liora, a Chinese immigrant, says slowly in accented Hebrew. “I am asking you, President Joe Biden. ... I am really begging you.”The stress of missing a loved one like Noa is hard on the healthiest of people, and it will only exacerbate a condition like cancer, said Ofrit Shapira Berman, a psychoanalyst who heads a group of health professionals treating freed hostages, families and survivors. “The fact that so much of her psychic energy is invested in her daughter’s trauma leaves her lesser chance to survive,” Berman said. In the video, Noa’s father, Yaakov Argamami, strokes the family photo albums and chokes back tears. “I miss everything about her,” he says. “Her hug. The hug I wanted to ...”Unable to finish, he simply nods and the camera cuts away.

‘Show must go on’ for Iranian journalist stabbed in London
AFP/April 06, 2024
LONDON: A journalist for an independent Iranian media outlet in London stabbed outside his home last week has returned to work, saying “the show must go on.” Pouria Zeraati, a presenter for Iran International, needed hospital treatment for leg wounds suffered in the March 29 attack. The 36-year-old said the stabbing was a “warning shot.” “The fact that they just stopped in my leg was their choice,” he told ITV News. “They had the opportunity to kill me because the way the second person was holding me and the first person took the knife out, they had the opportunity to stop anywhere they wanted,” he added. Zeraati said he had returned to work on Friday, adding: “Whatever the motive was, the show must go on.”London’s Metropolitan Police say the two suspects went straight from the scene in southwest London to Heathrow Airport and left the UK “within a few hours.”
Detectives were considering whether “the victim’s occupation as a journalist at a Persian-language media organization based in the UK” could have prompted the assault. Iran’s charge d’affaires in the UK, Mehdi Hosseini Matin, however, said Tehran denied “any link.”The Met has previously disrupted what it has called plots in the UK to kidnap or even kill British or Britain-based individuals perceived as enemies of Tehran. The Iranian government has declared Iran International a terrorist organization. The UK government last year unveiled a tougher sanctions regime against Iran over alleged human rights violations and hostile actions against its opponents on UK soil.

Iran arrests three suspected IS group jihadists
Agence France Presse/April 06, 2024
Iranian police have arrested three suspected members of the Islamic State group who were plotting attacks at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, state media reported Saturday. Those arrested in the city of Karaj in the northwestern province of Alborz included Mohammed Zaker who was identified as "a senior member" of the group, according to the official IRNA news agency. "The police in Alborz province arrested three members of the Islamic State group who were planning a suicide attack during the end of Ramadan celebrations," IRNA said. It was not immediately clear when the arrests took place or whether they included foreign nationals. IRNA also reported the arrest of eight other "accomplices", but without elaborating. Local media on Tuesday reported the arrest of two alleged IS members in the holy city of Qom. In January, IS claimed responsibility for twin bombings in the southern Iranian city of Kerman that killed more than 90 people. The attacks took place at a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the death of Qasem Soleimani, a top Revolutionary Guards general killed in a US drone strike in Iraq in 2020. Iran has been battling jihadist and other militant groups for years. On Saturday, IRNA reported that the number of "martyrs" killed in recent attacks by jihadists near the border with Pakistan had risen to 15, without elaborating. State media had earlier reported that 10 security personnel and 18 members of the Jaish al-Adl jihadist group were killed in the clashes.
The Sunni Muslim rebel group Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 and is listed by both Iran and the United States as a "terrorist" organisation.

New York rattled by small earthquake, aftershock
Agence France Presse/April 06, 2024
U.N. Security Council diplomats were shaken in their chairs, planes got briefly grounded, and furniture rattled across New York Friday when an earthquake jolted the city that never sleeps. No one was hurt, though, and New York's iconic skyline remained intact. "I AM FINE," reported the Empire State Building on its X account. The tremor had a 4.8 magnitude, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Near the epicenter in Lebanon, New Jersey, Dominika Uniejewska, a 50-year-old retail worker, said "I'm still shaking" after being woken up by the quake. "I've never experienced such a strong earthquake. I did experience some before, but it was nothing compared to that. The whole house was really shaking. The bed was shaking, the house was making rumbling noises," she said. "I ran to check on my dog. The dog was okay." In Brooklyn, buildings shook, rattling cupboard doors and fixtures, an AFP correspondent reported. "I'm nervous, I'm shaking. Many people are scared right now," said Brooklyn resident Ana Villagran, 62. Shortly before 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) the region was shaken by an aftershock which the USGS said was 4.0 magnitude. "I AM STILL FINE," the Empire State building wrote on X. At the United Nations, which has its headquarters in New York, a Security Council meeting on the situation in Gaza was temporarily paused after the initial tremor. "Is that an earthquake?" said Save the Children representative Janti Soeripto who was speaking at the time. One diplomat joked: "One for the memoirs."
'Under control'
A short time later many diplomats' cell phones blared with the sound of the emergency alert system confirming the quake. "Residents are advised to remain indoors and to call 911 if injured," the emergency alert said. Flight operations were halted at several airports in the region including New York's La Guardia, Newark in New Jersey and in Philadelphia. "Air traffic operations are resuming as quickly as possible," the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. Social media users reported feeling the earthquake from Philadelphia up to New York and eastward along Long Island. Several users posted images of knocked over garden furniture captioned, "we will rebuild." "Earthquakes are uncommon but not unheard of along the Atlantic Coast, a zone one study called a 'passive-aggressive margin' because there's no active plate boundary between the Atlantic and North American plates," the USGS wrote on X. Moderately damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the urban corridor roughly twice a century, and smaller earthquakes are felt roughly every two to three years, USGS said. U.S. President Joe Biden was briefed on the situation, spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said. Social media users jokingly questioned whether an earthquake coming days before the April 8 solar eclipse, which will be visible across swaths of the northeastern United States, heralded the end of the world. New York Governor Kathy Hochul acknowledged New Yorkers were "not accustomed" to earthquakes and –- at a hastily convened press briefing -- warned residents to be wary of any possible aftershocks.

Blast kills 7 children in southern Syria: state media
AFP/April 06, 2024
DAMACUS: Seven children were killed in southern Syria’s Daraa province on Saturday when an “explosive device” detonated, state media reported. “Seven children” were killed “and two other people were injured, one of them a woman, when an explosive device planted by terrorists” went off in the city of Sanamayn, state news agency SANA reported, quoting a police source. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor gave a different toll, saying that “eight children of different ages were killed and another was wounded” in the blast. The Britain-based monitor said militias were accused of planting the device in order to target an unidentified person in the area. Daraa was the cradle of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad’s rule but it was returned to government control in 2018 under a ceasefire deal backed by Russia. The province has since been plagued by killings, clashes and dire living conditions. Syria’s war, which escalated into a deadly conflict that pulled in jihadists and foreign armies, has killed more than 507,000 people, displaced millions and battered the country’s infrastructure and industry.

Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv kill 6 and wound 11
 KYIV/06 April 2024
Russian forces overnight attacked Ukraine with drones and missiles, killing at least six people and wounding 11 more in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, officials said Saturday. Governor of the Kharkiv region Oleh Syniehubov said missile strikes on the city damaged residential buildings, a gas station, a kindergarten, a cafe, a shop and cars. Overall, Russia fired 32 Iranian-made Shahed drones and six missiles at Ukraine overnight, according to the air force commander. Ukrainian air defense forces shot down three cruise missiles and 28 drones, Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk said in a statement. “Russian killers continue to terrorize Ukrainians and attack Kharkiv and other peaceful cities,” he said. The Russian military has not commented on the strikes, but said that Ukraine on Saturday morning fired Vampire rockets at Russia. All 10 of them were shot down over Russia’s border region of Belgorod by air defense systems, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Battles on the ground
On the ground in Ukraine, Russian forces were advancing, and pushing back against them was “difficult,” said Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s armed forces. Syrksyi said the situation in the Bakhmut area in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region was particularly challenging. He said Russian forces are carrying out offensive operations day and night, using assault groups with the support of armored vehicles, as well as assaults on foot. Fierce battles are taking place east of the town of Chasiv Yar, which Ukraine still controls, and which is located near the occupied city of Bakhmut. Russian forces are trying to break through defensive lines there, Syrskyi said on the messaging app Telegram, adding that “Chasiv Yar remains under our control, all enemy attempts to break through to the settlement have failed.” Near Avdiivka, another city in the Donetsk region held by the Russians, the fiercest battles were occurring in Pervomaiskyi and Vodyanyi, according to the official. He also said the situation is tense on the southern and northeastern parts of the front line.

Kuwait’s prime minister submits Cabinet resignation to Kuwaiti Emir - KUNA
ARAB NEWS/April 06, 2024
DUBAI: The prime minister of Kuwait has submitted the Cabinet’s resignation to Kuwait Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, state news agency KUNA said Saturday.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 06-07/2024
Is Israel deterring Iran — or provoking it?
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/April 06, 2024
As such, it is no surprise when Israel carries out airstrikes, either in Lebanon or Syria, and even beyond, since it has been engaging in such operations for years in what the Israeli military calls the “campaign between wars,” aimed at containing what it sees as Iran’s aspirations to regional hegemony.
In most cases, these airstrikes, or other clandestine operations, directly target Iran or its proxies across the Middle East, mainly the Lebanese Hezbollah. This campaign has now been conducted for over a decade, but the assassination on Monday of Brig. Gen. Mohammed Reza Zahedi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon, and the rather safe assumption that Israel is behind it, was a step-up in what is already a volatile and fragile regional instability, much of it caused by the war in Gaza.
Tehran’s immediate response of vowing retaliation at a time, place, and scope of its choosing was not surprising, but it brings Israel and Iran closer to direct confrontation, potentially embroiling the wider Middle East to an even greater degree.
The concept of the “campaign between wars” is one of low-intensity, integrated, and pre-emptive warfare aimed at keeping Iran and its proxies guessing and unsettled, and permanently on the defensive. Yet, over the past six months the circumstances have changed radically and, consequently, there is a real danger of war by miscalculation, as every move by any of the actors involved is perceived as part of a grand plan for eliminating the other side. It makes an unintentional escalation, and even a full-blown confrontation a real possibility, one that could drag the entire region into war and chaos.
Both its main target, Zahedi, and the location of the attack, Iran’s consulate in Damascus, make this attack different from past incidents in its implications. It suggests that at this point Israel is putting a premium on deterring Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, and is prepared to take the risk of edging closer to escalating its current hostilities with Hezbollah along its border with Lebanon and to a possible direct confrontation with Iran.
On the other hand, Israel might be deliberately provoking Tehran in the hope that Hezbollah will retaliate and thereby give it a pretext to launch a massive attack on the militia group, a scenario favored by quite a few of Israel’s political leaders and military commanders, who see the militant organization as a much greater existential threat to Israel than Hamas in Gaza. And judging by how Israel is conducting its war in Gaza, one can only imagine how intense and lethal a war in Lebanon would be. Washington is seeking to distance itself from this Israeli military operation.
Israel’s attack on an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus is legally a direct strike on Iran’s sovereignty. Moreover, considering that Zahedi was the highest-ranking Iranian military commander to be killed since Qassem Soleimani, who led Iran’s IRGC operations in two of the most crucial countries for Iran in the region, died in a 2020 US drone strike, the fear of the situation getting out of hand is genuine.
In response to the attack, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has promised revenge and declared that “the evil Zionist regime will be punished at the hands of our brave men. We will make them regret this crime and the other ones.” For Iran the loss of Zahedi must be disruptive of its operations in Lebanon and Syria, but equally also of its sense of pride. Whether Tehran is capable of once more swallowing its pride and thus avoiding a possible direct confrontation with Israel and then with the US as a result, remains to be seen, but there are growing voices within the regime calling for immediate and forceful retaliation. It has also become apparent that Washington is seeking to distance itself from this Israeli military operation. According to the US-based news website Axios, it has told Iran that “it had no involvement or advanced knowledge of an Israeli strike on a diplomatic compound in Syria.” This is clearly a US attempt to prevent the incident from escalating, by almost suggesting that at least in this case Israel has gone rogue. Israel, by not sharing its intentions before embarking on such a sensitive operation — one with much wider implications for the US, too — is helping Washington by not implicating the US.
On the other hand, its action can only further anger a Biden administration that appears to be losing its ability to influence Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. By testing Tehran’s patience, but not coordinating such a significant operation with the Americans, Israel tests theirs, too, especially as relations between the two allies are more strained than ever as a result of the war in Gaza, and Israel’s ignoring calls for a truce, and preventing further humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza.
What is most baffling about the attack in Damascus is to decipher what Israel is trying to achieve by blatantly exacerbating another front when it is already deep in the quagmire of the war in Gaza and has lost most of the international support it enjoyed only six months ago. Israel is increasingly falling into a pattern of open-ended conflicts with no clear endgame, which rather than serving its interests, or those of any of its allies, is only helping to unnecessarily prolong its wars, which gives Netanyahu an excuse, albeit a flimsy one, to remain in power.
Iran’s hegemonic aspirations are a source of instability in the region and are hardly in question. Its support of Hamas and Hezbollah poses a threat to Israel, to which the latter must respond. However, Israel has no means to militarily eliminate this threat altogether, and as the war in Gaza has proven, even a lesser military force such as Hamas cannot be eradicated. Military deterrence is an important element of dealing with the Iranian threat, but more importantly Israel needs astute political and diplomatic cooperation and coordination with its regional and international allies who are equally concerned about Iran’s adventurism, without provoking or humiliating Tehran. To humiliate Iran rather than defeat it might give Israel some short-lived satisfaction, but it might also open another front, and this time while the international community is less sympathetic. And as past experience has made clear, whenever one senior Iranian figure is assassinated, a replacement is quickly found, while the root causes of the conflict remain and are further aggravated.
**Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Program at international affairs think tank Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg

The Obama and Biden Administrations' Betrayal of America's Closest Ally in the Middle East: Israel
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/April 6, 2024
What onlookers see, including terrorists and America's enemies and adversaries – when they also factor in the open US southern border across which millions of illegal immigrants have recently poured, including 46,000 Chinese, many of whom are military-aged men possibly "building an army from within" – is that the Biden administration is perfectly content to welcome and support terrorists. The White House actions have bolstered America's adversaries and pretty much extinguished America's credibility as an ally. The universal "optics" are that if America will throw its closest ally, Israel, under the bus, what chance has anyone else got? Many people in Israel call to "Bring the Hostages Home." The request is wrong, because it is addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been doing his best to do free the hostages, while preventing Hamas ever to be able to strike Israel again – and standing up to US pressure, as he did during the fraudulent Iran nuclear deal. But the hostages are not his to bring home. The cry should be: "Release the Hostages" -- addressed, as well as calls for a ceasefire -- to the people who are holding them: Hamas, Qatar and Iran.
The US administration would clearly like to replace Netanyahu with new US-handpicked prime minister who would do whatever they tell him to, and appears to have launched a plan to do just that, using Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as its mouthpiece. The Israelis must not fall for it. If they want to preserve Israel, preserve Netanyahu.
The Palestinian state, even if it were officially "demilitarized," would, of course, be free to enter into military alliances with any countries it wished -- perhaps Russia, China, Iran, North Korea? Israel's new US puppet prime minister would presumably be happy to have Qatar – a country that has supported virtually every Islamic terrorist group -- including Hamas, ISIS, Hizballah, the Taliban, the al Nusra Front and Al Shabaab -- "operate" the Gaza pier now being built to bring "humanitarian aid" and Heaven knows what else into Gaza. Above all, of course, the new puppet would presumably agree to Iran being armed to the teeth with nuclear bombs. The Biden administration would do far better, especially for November 5, instead of aligning itself with the terrorist groups and the countries that support them -- such as Hamas, Qatar and Iran -- to align itself with those in the Free World, fighting for freedom, human rights and civilization. The White House actions have bolstered America's adversaries and pretty much extinguished America's credibility as an ally. The universal "optics" are that if America will throw its closest ally, Israel, under the bus, what chance has anyone else got?
The Biden administration persists in granting victories to Hamas and its primary supporters, Qatar and Iran, and in a way that only strengthens their positions in support of terrorism. On March 25, the Biden administration declined to exercise its veto power at the United Nations Security Council, effectively betraying Israel and aligning itself with Hamas. This decision was perceived by Israel's enemies in Iran, Qatar, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Iraq as the United States finally having abandoned Israel. The American abstention looked as if the US had adopted Hamas's position at long last -- and during the height of the conflict! The Biden administration, throughout its term, of course, has also been providing, mostly in sanctions waivers, "closer $60 billion" to Iran, topped off by another $10 billion that looked as if it were a reward to Iran and its proxies for having killed three US service members, after attacking American troops in the region more than 150 times just since October.
The Iranian regime has undoubtedly has used this windfall not only to strengthen its own Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which trained Hamas for its atrocities on October 7, but also, to further enrich its uranium -- now, admittedly at 84% purity, close to the 90% purity needed for nuclear weapons-grade material -- to put the finishing touches on its eagerly anticipated nuclear bombs. The Biden administration has therefore been funding both sides of two major wars it effectively ignited. The first war, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, was enabled by Biden's hobbling US energy production his first days on the job, causing the price of oil on the world market to triple – from $40 a barrel at the end of 2020, to $120 a barrel in 2022 -- making Russia rich enough to launch a Ukraine. The US has also been funding Ukraine – which must defeat Russia -- but the entire Russian expedition would not have been possible without this catastrophic US policy. The second war, Iranian-backed aggression in the Middle East, was enabled by the Biden administration's sanctions waivers to Iran, which, as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, had been in 2020, comfortably for everyone else, destitute. The Biden administration's sanctions waivers gifted Iran the use of up to $100 billion, at least some of which undoubtedly went into training at least 500 Hamas terrorists to attack Israel.
Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton, mincing no words in his condemnation of the Biden administration's stance, labeled it "confused" and "dangerous." He pointed out the dangerous precedent the Biden administration had set by allowing Hamas to wield a "terrorist veto" over Israel of the right to defend itself — a move that not only undermines Israel's security but also seriously weakens global counterterrorism efforts. Senator Bill Hagerty further denounced the administration's actions as a betrayal of both Israel and the American citizens still held hostage by Hamas terrorists.
The apparent willingness by the Biden administration to appease the sponsors of Hamas — Qatar and Iran — at the expense of strategic alliances, underscores a troubling shift in US foreign policy priorities, one that seems to value winning votes in Michigan on November 5 over longstanding geostrategic alliances.
The Biden administration's actions at the UN Security Council additionally dealt a severe blow to efforts aimed at securing the release of hostages held by Hamas. By separating Hamas's demands from the release of hostages, Resolution 2728 significantly worsened the situation for those held captive -- including six remaining Americans -- an outcome that Israel rightly saw as a breach of trust.
Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman drew parallels between the Biden administration's actions and the infamous UNSC Resolution 2334 during the Obama administration — a move that similarly undermined Israel's position on the international stage and encouraged terrorists worldwide.
By failing to condemn Hamas and failing to condition a ceasefire on the release of hostages, the Biden administration handed Hamas and other terrorist groups a monumental diplomatic victory. What onlookers see, including terrorists and America's enemies and adversaries – when they also factor in the open US southern border across which millions of illegal immigrants have recently poured, including 46,000 Chinese, many of whom are military-aged men possibly "building an army from within" – is that the Biden administration is perfectly content to welcome and support terrorists.
The White House actions have bolstered America's adversaries and pretty much extinguished America's credibility as an ally. The universal "optics" are that if America will throw its closest ally, Israel, under the bus, what chance has anyone else got?
The Iranian regime last month celebrated what appeared a weakening of Israel's position, as an opportunity to advance its own agenda in the region. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei held meetings with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders, reinforcing Iran's support for their "world war" in Gaza. The elaborate reception aimed to intimidate adversaries and enhance Iran's image as a steadfast supporter of Hamas, as if to say, "Want to see what loyalty looks like? Watch this!"
Hamas leaders expressed gratitude for Iran's backing since the October 7 attack. Ismail Haniyeh, chair of Hamas's political bureau, thanked Iran for its support, positioning the country as a champion: "Iran stands at the forefront of supporting the cause and people of Palestine," said Haniyeh, he extending his appreciation to Iran's leadership and its people.
Sadly, the Biden administration's Middle East policy appears to have disastrous from the start, beginning with President Barack Obama's illegitimate and lethal Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or "nuclear deal" in 2015, which permitted Iran to have as many nuclear weapons as it liked presumably, according to Obama, so long as "Iran will not get a nuclear weapon on my watch."
As the columnist Amir Taheri wrote in 2018:
"To start with the 'deal' isn't legally binding because it was negotiated by the P5+1, an informal group with no legal existence, no mission statement and answerable to no one. They produced a press release, titled 'Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action' (JCPOA) in 176 pages, in three different versions, which was neither signed by anyone nor approved by any legislative authority in any of the countries concerned."
The previously year, Taheri wrote:
"A vague text was established, fudging the issue, and declaring victory for both sides. The participants in the game agreed to keep the text away from their respective legislatures so as not to risk scrutiny of the witches' brew they had cooked...
"Legally speaking, the so-called deal doesn't exist and thus cannot be 'torn up' by anybody...
It was not formally and legally appointed by anybody, had no written mission statement, implied no legal commitment for members and was answerable to no one."
To set the record straight, if someone were to brutally attack your family or community, resulting in the deaths of several members, the rape of others, and the abduction of hostages, would you decide to empower them to strike again? It was Hamas that initiated the attack on October 7th, launching a barrage of rockets at Israel while approximately 3,000 terrorists crossed the Gaza-Israel barrier and assaulted Israeli military bases and civilian communities. This onslaught resulted in the murder of approximately 1,200 people in Israel; Jews, Muslims, Christians; Israelis, tourists and foreign workers. The horrific atrocities included Hamas's sustained gang rape and torture of men, women and children, and included babies beheaded and burned alive, and the seizure of 240 hostages who were abducted and taken to Hamas's tunnels in Gaza.
Now Israel finds itself embroiled in a multi-front conflict against Iran and its proxies, fighting for its very survival.
Israel has the right to self-defense, to once and for all eradicate the threat of 20 more years of attacks from Hamas terrorists. This defense entails defeating the four Hamas battalions that remain in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. There are rumors that Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza – not, like the other Hamas leaders, living as billionaires in 5-star hotels in Qatar -- has surrounded himself with many of the remaining hostages, being used as human shields to protect him.
Many people in Israel call to "Bring the Hostages Home." The request is wrong, because it is addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been doing his best to do free the hostages, while preventing Hamas ever to be able to strike Israel again – and standing up to US pressure, as he did during the fraudulent Iran nuclear deal. But the hostages are not his to bring home. The cry should be: "Release the Hostages" -- addressed, as well as calls for a ceasefire -- to the people who are holding them: Hamas, Qatar and Iran.
The US has failed to put any pressure whatever on Hamas, Qatar or Iran to demand that the hostages be immediately released. The Biden administrations seems to be all about protecting Iran and Qatar, who are protecting Hamas. Instead of being pressured, Iran is being paid billions of dollars – probably as a bribe not to make trouble before the US presidential election November 5. When several members of Iran's IRGC were killed in a pinpoint Israeli airstrike in Syria last week, the Biden administration rushed to tell the Iranians that it wasn't the US that did it, and please not to attack US assets.
Qatar was invited to operate the Gaza pier; how is that for pressure? The US administration would clearly like to replace Netanyahu with new US-handpicked prime minister who would do whatever they tell him to, and appears to have launched a plan to do just that, using Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as its mouthpiece. The Israelis must not fall for it. If they want to preserve Israel, preserve Netanyahu.
The US seems, for the moment at least to have selected a former defense minister, Benny Gantz, who was invited on an unauthorized visit to Washington last month and has now called for "September elections." The new US puppet, in exchange for the job promotion and its concomitant limelight, would presumably be happy to do whatever the US orders him to, allowing a terrorist Palestinian state to be established next door to Israel, ruled by the people who have already vowed to attack Israel time and again until it is annihilated. The Palestinian state, even if it were officially "demilitarized," would, of course, be free to enter into military alliances with any countries it wished -- perhaps Russia, China, Iran, North Korea?
Israel's new US puppet prime minister would presumably be happy to have Qatar – a country that has supported virtually every Islamic terrorist group -- including Hamas, ISIS, Hizballah, the Taliban, the al Nusra Front and Al Shabaab -- "operate" the Gaza pier now being built to bring "humanitarian aid" and Heaven knows what else into Gaza. Above all, of course, the new puppet would presumably agree to Iran being armed to the teeth with nuclear bombs.
Netanyahu enjoys support from Israel's public, who realize that he has the brass to stand up to the US administration, as he has before.
The Biden administration would do far better, especially for November 5, instead of aligning itself with the terrorist groups and the countries that support them -- such as Hamas, Qatar and Iran -- to align itself with those in the Free World, fighting for freedom, human rights and civilization.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Iran and Israel: Is the Denial Game Over?
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 06/2024
The body bags contain the mortal remains of 13 Iranian diplomatic and military officers including two senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Grad Corps Gen. Muhammad-Reza Zahedi (alias Abu Mahdi) and Gen. Muhammad-Hadi Haj-Rahimi killed in an Israeli air raid on what was presented as a consular building in the Syrian capital. To be sure this is not the first time that Israelis take out IRGC officers and Lebanese, Iraqi, Syrian, Pakistan, and Afghan mercenaries in Syria. The take-out operation started in 2015 and reached a peak in 2020. The last time an Islamic Republic official organ provided figures was in 2018 when The Foundation for Martyrs and Self-Sacrificers put Iran’s losses at around 5,000. The figures didn’t show how many were Iranian officers or mercenaries. In the first three years of this deadly cycle, Tehran used the transfer of body bags from Damascus as a propaganda ploy and organized mass rallies on the burial day of its “heroes of Islam.” Later, when Tehran’s losses grew the propaganda aspect was forgotten, and “heroes of Islam” were quietly buried in their native hometowns and villages. Over time, partly thanks to the influence of late Gen. Qassem Soleimani Tehran decided to swallow the bitter pill and brag about “taking revenge” but not retaliate. Soleimani would do everything to avoid a direct clash with either Israel or the US forces in the region. In fact, he may have established a channel of communication with the Israelis through his correspondence with Gen. David Petraeus, then the top US commander in the region. In line with that tacit agreement Israel never officially admitted its more than 40 attacks spread over six years. Tehran reciprocated by not directly blaming Israel, using the euphemism “enemies of Islamic Revolution” instead. Even when Israelis killed Gen. Hussein Hamadani, one of “Supreme Guide” Ayatollah Khamenei’s favorite commanders, Tehran decided not to implement its threat of “taking hard revenge.” Similarly, the assassination of six top IRGC scientists in Iran itself went unpunished. Soleimani’s strategy was to fight Israel and the US through proxies while dangling the promise of reining them in as a card in his deadly poker game with the “Great Satan” and the “Zionist entity.”
Has that fragile balance of terror come to its end?
Vibes from Tehran suggest that it has.
One reason is that there is no personality with Soleimani’s charisma and access to huge financial resources to continue marketing his idea of “kill the enemy with a thousand cuts” and the use of mercenaries as human shields. Another reason is that this time around Israel has bombastically admitted having carried out a punitive attack against the Islamic Republic. More importantly, perhaps, this is the first time that Israel has attacked a building flying the Islamic Republic’s official flag. All previous attacks were on bases and buildings where Iranian officers and mercenaries were located as “advisers” to the official Syrian army. Tehran could pretend that those attacks were against the Syrian Republic which had the responsibility to respond. This time the attack was against the Iranian consulate and the adjacent residence of the ambassador, both flying the Islamic Republic flag. In international law and diplomatic norms, an attack on an embassy or consulate is a casus belli (a cause for war). Another factor that might force Khamenei to respond differently this time is genuine anger among his followers, already uneasy about his refusal to back Hamas in the Gaza war. “How much longer should we wait for the promised hard revenge to happen?” demands Ibrahim Azizi vice-chair of the National Security Committee in the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis). Announcing the sending of a special mission to Damascus to “see what happened” Majlis spokesman Nizameddin Mussawi says “taking revenge is a national demand that cannot be ignored.”
The official news agency IRNA echoed that sentiment with the headline” The Whole Nation Demands Revenge”. In an editorial on Tuesday IRNA suggested that “embassies and consulates of the Zionist enemy in several countries are ready targets for revenge.” Ominously, it added: “the balance of terror must be restored”. The official TV’s chief strategic analyst Mahdi Kharratian surprised viewers by saying “If we do nothing this time, we ought to be prepared for the assassination of the highest officials in Tehran.”The “enough is enough” message is echoed in sermons by some of the most radical mullahs. Ayatollah Hashem Husseini says “As the center of resistance, the Islamic Republic cannot show weakness especially now that Palestinian resistance is rubbing the Zionist nose in the dust.”Ayatollah Pour-Khaqani says Israel attacked the Islamic diplomatic mission in Damascus to hide its humiliation by Palestinians.
IRNA echoes that theme by claiming that “Netanyahu has failed in his three objectives: Freeing Israeli captives, killing Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Dhif, and destroying the Gaza tunnels.” Kamal Sajjadi, spokesman for The Followers of the Imam Movement suggests that the forthcoming Quds (Jerusalem) Day could be a proper time for revenge. Newly elected Majlis member Hojat al-Islam Ali-Reza Panahyan says the Islamic Republic must maintain its military presence in Syria and this requires assuring the safety of “our Islamic heroes”.
The fact that Ayatollah Khamenei ordered a full session of the High Council of National Security, the first in more than two years, shows his concern about dissent in his core constituency and the perception that his “strategic patience” is a pretense for lack of resolve.
Seen from his angle there is a growing danger that the radical elements in his camp will see him as an indecisive leader, and blame him for Israeli “audacity.” Interior Minister Gen. Ahmad Wahidi says “Israel should expect a suitable answer” but adds that “the decision must come from the Leader of the Revolution” i.e. Khamenei.Islamic President Ayatollah Dr. Ibrahim Raisi, too, has promised “crushing revenge” but insists that the decision must come from Khamenei. The “Supreme Leader” is in a delicate situation. Israel has broken the tacit agreement that allowed both sides to cite plausible deniability about attacks against each other. If he does nothing he could anger his core supporters. If he orders attacks on Israeli and/or Jewish targets he won’t be able to cite plausible deniability. And that, as the Islamic TV analyst suggests, could give Israel an excuse for attacks on big targets in Tehran itself.

The Word’s Conscience is in Crisis
Dr. Amal Moussa/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 06/2024
Today, April 5th, is the "International Day of Conscience," which was officially declared as a global day of awareness in 2019, making it relatively new. The United Nations General Assembly invited all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system and other international and regional organizations, as well as the private sector and civil society, including non-governmental organizations and individuals, to build a culture of peace with love and conscience that is in accordance with the culture and other appropriate circumstances or customs of their local, national and regional communities, including through quality education and public awareness-raising activities, thereby fostering sustainable development. In reality, the occasion brings several themes and subjects to mind. Firstly, the fact that this awareness day exists suggests that the world is without conscience or that, at the very least, there is something problematic about its conscience. It could also be inferred or presumed that, in 2019, global elites became aware that this lack of conscience is an obstacle to the realization of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Indeed, its existence amounts to an explicit public acknowledgment that no goals can be achieved without an active, honest, and vigilant conscience. The world cannot eradicate hunger and poverty if its conscience is deep asleep. Quality education and high standards of living cannot be secured if we do not act in accordance with our conscience. It is clear to anyone who reads them that the SDGs support the marginalized of the world and the victims of its new order, since those who are lagging behind often fail to catch up for material reasons. In other words, the promise to "Leave No One Behind" cannot be achieved or advanced if the world has no conscience. Without it, the world will remain as it is.
This conclusion linking sustainable development, stability, and a culture of peace, elevates the conscience to a prerequisite. It renders having a global conscience the foundation of global security. Here, we arrive at the heart of the matter and the root of the problem. Indeed, the question is: how do we build a culture of conscience, and how can we convince those who yield power around the world of the importance of conscious and sustainable development?
Thus, we believe that today’s commemoration of the International Day of Conscience will put many in an awkward position. It is an occasion that affirms the weakness of their conscience. All the global actors who have no conscience will be exposed: How can we claim to have a conscience after over 33,000 martyrs, half of whom are women and children, fell in Gaza? It is good to commemorate the International Day of Conscience. It is an opportunity to note and remember that humans have something no other living beings possess, a conscience.
It is a day in which we can advocate for a more moral world. Those who believe that this is an idealistic and pursuit discourse are mistaken. Nothing attests to this more emphatically than terrorism. Do terrorist networks not feed on the marginalized people of the world who have been pushed out of the economy, that is, those suffering from poverty and unemployment? This clearly means that global security, even that of those who have no conscience, is under threat. The conscience, here, becomes a safeguard. It creates a bulwark against the approach centered on profit and spoils, developing one that accounts for security, without which money and property become worthless. One thing we can be certain of is that bitterness can be seen on the faces of the words’ nations. It is the result of an accumulation of developments precipitated by the absence of human conscience. There has always been a struggle between good and evil, between those who have a conscience and those who do not. What has changed is that those who advocate acting on it are now without influence or power. That is terrifying, as it allows for global ruin.

Mass Tech Layoffs? Just Another Day in the Corporate Blender.
Ashley Goodall/The New York Times/April 06/2024
Silicon Valley, home of so many technological and workplace innovations, is rolling out another one: the unnecessary layoff.
After shedding over 260,000 jobs last year, the greatest carnage since the dot-com meltdown more than two decades ago, the major tech companies show little sign of letting up in 2024 despite being mostly profitable, in some cases handsomely so. In their words, the tech companies are letting people go to further the continuing process of aligning their structure to their key priorities, or “transformation” or becoming “future ready.” Behind these generalities, however, some tech companies are using what has hitherto been an extreme measure in order to engineer a short-term bump in market sentiment.
Investors are indeed thrilled. Meta’s shares are up over 170 percent amid its downsizing talk. And where stock prices go, chief executives will generally follow, which means it is not likely to be long before the unnecessary layoff makes its appearance at another publicly traded company near you.
These layoffs are part of a tide of disruption that is continually churning the work days in corporations everywhere. If you’ve spent any amount of time working at a company of pretty much any size, you’ll be familiar with what I call the resulting “life in the blender”: the unrelenting uncertainty and the upheaval that have become constant features of business life today. A new leader comes in, promptly begins a reorganization and upends the reporting relationships you’re familiar with. Or a consultant suggests a new strategy, which takes up everyone’s time and attention for months until it’s back to business as usual, only with a new mission statement and slideware. Or, everyone’s favorite: A merger is announced and leads to all of these and more.
Now, no business prospers by standing still, and there is no improvement without change. Course corrections, re-orgs and strategic pivots are all necessary from time to time. Technological changes continue to demand the restructuring of major industries. But over the last quarter-century or so, the idea of disruption has also metastasized into a sort of cult, the credo of which holds that everything is to be disrupted, all the time, and that if you’re not changing everything, you’re losing.
You can take courses in disruption at the business schools of Stanford, Cornell, Columbia and Harvard. You can read, on the cover of a leading business magazine, about how to “Build a Leadership Team for Transformation: Your Organization’s Future Depends on It.” And if it is the catechism of chaos you’re after, you can buy the inspirational posters and chant the slogans: Fail fast; disrupt or be disrupted; move fast and break things. Part of this, of course, is a product of the hubris of the Silicon Valley technologists. But part, too, is the belief that the fundamental task of a leader is to instigate change. It is hard to remember a time when there was any other idea about how to manage a company.
Moreover, because a majority of corporate executives — together with the consultants and bankers who advise them, the activist investors who spur them on and the financial analysts who evaluate their efforts — have been raised according to this change credo, the constant churn becomes a sort of flywheel. A leader instigates some change, because that’s what a leader does. The advisers and investors and analysts respond positively, because they’ve been taught that change is always good. There’s a quick uptick in reputation or stock price or both, the executives — paid, remember, mostly in stock — feel they have been appropriately rewarded for maximizing shareholder value, and then everyone moves on to the next change.
But it’s hardly clear that this is having the desired result. Studies of merger and acquisition activity have pegged the rate at which they destroy — rather than increase — shareholder value at something between 60 and 90 percent; a Stanford business school professor, Jeffrey Pfeffer, has argued that layoffs seldom result in lower costs, increased productivity or a remedy for the underlying problems in a business; and few of us who have lived through re-orgs remember them as the occasion for a sudden blossoming of productivity and creativity.
Seen through the eyes of the people on the front lines, the reason for this gap between intent and outcome comes into tighter focus. After all, when the people around you are being “transitioned out,” or when you find yourself suddenly working for a new boss who has yet to be convinced of your competence, it’s a stretch to persuade yourself that all this change and disruption is leading to much improvement at all.
“It’s exhausting,” one person I spoke to about change at work told me. “It’s soul-sucking,” said another. One person told me that after the combination of two departments, his people were like deer in the headlights, unsure of what they should be working on.
Of the dozens of people I spoke to, every single one had some sort of change-gone-bad story to share. And these sorts of reactions are about more than simple frustration or discontent. They are rooted in the psychological response we humans experience when our sense of stability is shattered and our future feels uncertain, and indeed the scientific literature has much light to shed on exactly why life in the blender is so hard on us.
Experimenters have found, for example, that our stress is greatest when uncertainty, not discomfort, is at its peak — and uncertainty is the calling card of change at work.
But while the essential response of the human animal to uncertainty and disruption is hard-wired, the degree of change we introduce into our workplaces isn’t. It’s often a choice. We’ve reached this point because the business world seems to have decided that change is an unalloyed good, and so there is no amount of it that is too much, and no cost of it that is too great.
Were more leaders to be guided by the science of change, or by the stories that people on the front lines share, they would quickly discover that it is stability that is the foundation of improvement. Only once we begin to honor people’s psychological needs at work, by thinking twice before launching into the next shiny change initiative and by paying more heed to the rituals and relationships that allow all of us to point our efforts in a useful direction, can we begin to do justice to the idea that a company must be, first, a platform for human contribution if it is to be anything else at all.