Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 11-12/2024
With solemn reverence and a profound sense of loss, the sovereign and free Holy Lebanon bids farewell today to the esteemed martyr Pascal Suleiman/Elias Bejjani/April 12, 2024
South Lebanon: Israeli Raids and Reconnaissance Flights
Nadim Gemayel: 1559 to Achieve Security
Syrian Migrants: Mikati Announces New Plan
Mawlawi Calling for Implementation of the Law
Two Syrians Kidnapped in Baalbeck-Hermel
Lebanon: Crisis of Syrian Refugees Back to Forefront
Why the killing of a Lebanese party official has raised the specter of new sectarian strife
SSNP ambulance torched in Bayssour after Jdita incident
Catholic Schools Closing Friday in Day of Prayer for Lebanon’s Salvation
Turkey arrests Lebanese-Venezuelan boss of int'l cocaine gang
Lebanese Sources Accuse Mossad of Killing Hezbollah-Linked Money Changer
Order of Engineers Elections: Political Stakes and Financial Challenges
What Is the Price of War?
Art Under Siege: The Wajdi Mouawad Controversy in Lebanon
John Achkar on World Tour: Interactive Engagement With the Audience
Danger knocking on the door of Lebanon’s Christians once again/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Arab News/April 11/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 11-12/2024
Another Church ‘Catches Fire’ in ‘Radical’ Region of Egypt/Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity/April 11, 2024
Netanyahu Says Israel Preparing for Scenarios in Other Areas than Gaza
Mideast on Alert for Iranian Attack as Lufthansa Suspends Tehran Flights
Russia Tells Citizens to Refrain from Travel to Middle East
Israel on alert after Iranian threat as Gaza war grinds on
Haniyeh says no change in truce position after sons killed
Why are Gaza Ceasefire Negotiations Stuck
Israelis living near Gaza border 'terrified' of aerial attack from Iran
A Million Dollar Middle East Peace Plan
More aid is supposed to be entering the Gaza Strip. Why isn’t it helping?
US-Iran Tensions Increase With Warning of Imminent Attack
US Shoots Down 11 Houthi Drones in Red Sea
Russia Launches One of Its Largest Aerial Attacks on Ukraine
US, Japan Upgrade Defense Ties During Washington State Visit
UN Mission to Sudan Calls For End to Civil War
Biden says US support for Philippines, Japan defense 'ironclad' amid growing China provocations

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on April 11-12/2024
Defining Jihadism/Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi/Gatestone Institute/April 11, 2024
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Praises Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, Who Glorified Hamas' October 7 Massacre: 'His Permanent Engagement To Foster Peace And Solidarity Must Be An Example To All'/MEMRI/April 11, 2024
The consulate attack: Iranian empire will not strike back/Makram Rabah/Alarabia/April 11/2024
What Does Sudan Have Left from its ‘Spring/Osman Mirghani/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 11/2024
Where Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism Collide/Michelle Goldberg/The New York Times/April 11/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 11-12/2024
With solemn reverence and a profound sense of loss, the sovereign and free Holy Lebanon bids farewell today to the esteemed martyr Pascal Suleiman.
Elias Bejjani/April 12, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/128720/128720/
With heavy hearts, yet fortified by the promise of resurrection, we lay to rest today our revered martyr Pascal Suleiman, as he ascends to join the esteemed company of Lebanon's heroes and martyrs who sacrificed selflessly for our nation. Our prayers are offered for the eternal peace of his soul, and for the souls of all our valiant martyrs. In our faith, we hold steadfast to the belief that the believer transcends death, journeying from this life into everlasting existence.

South Lebanon: Israeli Raids and Reconnaissance Flights
This is Beirut/April 11/2024
Despite threats of escalation which were recently conveyed by UNIFIL Commander General Stefano Del Col, the southern Lebanese borders seem to be somewhat calmer at the outset of Eid al-Fitr, with temporary breaches by the Israeli MK monitoring spy drone followed by minor raids. Del Col had previously stated that “The current situation along the Blue Line, between Lebanon and Israel is worrisome, with a real risk of escalation.” In this context, MK drones were continuously spying on low altitude, over eastern, middle, and coastal southern regions, namely Hasbaya-Mount Hermon, Nabatiyeh, and Tyr. At around 1:47 pm, it was reported that an Israeli airstrike targeting an open land in the upper-Dhayra village resulted in injuring a woman. Moreover, raids were ongoing at Jebbayn and Teir Harfa without any reported injuries or casualties.

Nadim Gemayel: 1559 to Achieve Security
This is Beirut/April 11/2024
MP Nadim Gemayel emphasized that Pascal Sleiman’s case was due to negligence, regardless of the narrative and truth of what happened. After offering condolences to the family of the deceased, Thursday at a church in Downtown Beirut, Gemayel reiterated that chaos in Lebanon is a result of “security zones,” calling for the implementation of Resolution 1559. “Nothing will protect us except the disarming of illegal weapons. We do not want to start trouble, and we are keen on our country’s security,” Gemayel asserted.

Syrian Migrants: Mikati Announces New Plan
This is Beirut/April 11/2024
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that he is working on a solution for the issue of displaced Syrians that will be revealed at the end of April. He pointed out in an interview with local TV Al-Jadeed that he had previously suggested plans and solutions regarding this dossier, none of which have been applied. “Today, solutions are meant to be implemented,” he said.

Mawlawi Calling for Implementation of the Law
This is Beirut/April 11/2024
In light of recent events and turmoil surrounding the issue of Syrian migrants in Lebanon, caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi insisted that the government does not incite against Syrian migrants, but calls for the implementation of the law for all residents of the Lebanese territory. He pointed out, in an interview with Al-Hadath, that there are areas in Syria that have become safe, highlighting at the same time that “Lebanon is committed to human rights and legitimately protects everyone on Lebanese soil,” calling on “everyone to calm down and not act against each other.”

Two Syrians Kidnapped in Baalbeck-Hermel
This is Beirut/April 11/2024
Armed men in a black Prado jeep with tinted windows and no license plates abducted two Syrians in Baalbeck-Hermel in northeastern Lebanon. The two were on their way to Homs, north of Damascus. They were in a cab on the Chtoura-Baalbeck-Qaa road when their vehicle was intercepted by the kidnappers near the village of Chaath, in Baalbeck-Hermel. The cab driver managed to escape. An investigation has been opened.

Lebanon: Crisis of Syrian Refugees Back to Forefront
Asharq Al Awsat/April 11/2024 
The kidnapping crime and killing of a political official from the Lebanese Forces party in the Jbeil area earlier this week, brought back to the forefront the crisis of Syrian refugees and their expanding presence in Lebanon. The Central Security Council held an emergency meeting on Wednesday headed by caretaker Minister of Interior and Municipalities Bassem Mawlawi, in the presence of the Public Prosecutor Judge Jamal el-Hajjar, and security agency leaders. Mawlawi stressed in a statement that the “Syrian presence in Lebanon can no longer be tolerated and is unacceptable. We see that many crimes are being committed by Syrians. "We emphasized to the security forces the necessity of strict enforcement of Lebanese laws on Syrian refugees," added Mawlawi revealing that "the percentage of Syrian detainees in Lebanese prisons has reached approximately 35 percent”. Warnings against Exploiting the Crime for Incitement against Refugees. However, some warn against the haphazard exploitation of the refugee crisis to incite hatred. Ziyad Al-Sayegh, a researcher in public policies, refugee affairs, and migration, believes that "the displacement crisis cannot continue without radical intervention, meaning that we need to deeply consider facilitating their return to their homeland in stages”. He explained that "most of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon are loyal to the Syrian regime, and they are in Lebanon for economic reasons rather than security ones, so they have lost their refugee status." In remarks to Asharq al-Awsat, Sayegh warned against “exploiting the kidnapping and murder of Pascal Sleiman (a coordinator in the Jbeil area north of Beirut for the Lebanese Forces) to stir public opinion in Lebanon, especially among Christians, against refugees. This manipulation is undertaken by (Hezbollah) and its allies with the aim of creating a fundamental problem, which is to divert attention from its kidnapping of the state and seizing its decision-making power”.
Sayegh: The Country Must Not Be Plunged into a Bloodbath
The return of refugees to their homeland is a priority for the majority of Lebanese people, but there is also a great fear of internal strife created by unacceptable reactions towards them. "The issue of displacement must be addressed with high responsibility, not by plunging the country into a bloodbath, nor by resorting to the self-security that Hezbollah desires”, said Sayegh. Anti-Syrian sentiment has soared following the Sunday disappearance and death of Pascal Sleiman, of the LF, a Christian party opposed to the Syrian government and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanese researcher at Human Rights Watch stressed in telephone remarks with AFP on Tuesday the necessity for “"comprehensive and transparent” investigations. He added: "Attempting to make refugees as scapegoats threatens to fuel ongoing violence against Syrians who have been subjected to heinous discriminatory practices and rights violations in Lebanon for years”. Ahdab: No, to Involving the Lebanese in a Confrontation with the Refugees. Former MP Mosbah al-Ahdab said in a statement that some are trying to involve the Lebanese and Lebanon’s military institutions in a confrontation with over a million Syrian refugees residing in Lebanon. He said the solution begins with Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the areas it occupies inside Syria, which would facilitate the return of over 200 thousand Syrian refugees.
“What is happening today is a recipe for reigniting a civil war, is it reasonable to repeat it?" he asked.

Why the killing of a Lebanese party official has raised the specter of new sectarian strife
NAJIA HOUSARI/Arab News/April 11, 2024
BEIRUT: Almost five decades since the Lebanese civil war of 1975-1990 began, reactions to the kidnap and subsequent murder this week of Pascal Suleiman, an official of the Lebanese Forces, show the country’s fragile peace remains on a knife edge. Suleiman, a political coordinator in the Byblos area, also known as Jbeil, north of Beirut, was killed in what the Lebanese army said was a carjacking by Syrian gang members, who then took his body to Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitor of the country’s civil war, said that Suleiman’s body was dumped in a border area where Hezbollah holds sway, adding that he “was wrapped in a blanket and had been hit on the head and chest with a hard object.”Even though a formal investigation into the circumstances of Suleiman’s death is still ongoing, the Lebanese Forces — a Christian political party and former militia opposed to the Syrian government and its ally Hezbollah — has already branded it a “political assassination.”In a statement, the Lebanese Forces said that Hezbollah, Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed Shiite militia and political movement, “has impeded the state’s role and its effectiveness, paving the way for weapons-bearing gangs.”
The Phalange Party and the Free Patriotic Movement issued statements in solidarity with the Lebanese Forces, currently the biggest party in parliament, blaming “uncontrolled weapons and uncontrolled security” for Suleiman’s death. “The information leaked from the investigation continues to cause more speculation,” Mona Fayad, a Lebanese academic and a prominent Shiite opponent of Hezbollah, told Arab News. “Suleiman’s murder was initially thought to be car theft, although it took place on a remote road where cars rarely pass.
Pascal Suleiman was killed in what the Lebanese army said was a carjacking by Syrian gang members, who then took his body to Syria. (Supplied)
“Suleiman’s political affiliations also come into play, and the fact that the killers took him to an area controlled by Hezbollah on the Lebanese-Syrian border. The perpetrators were able to sneak past all official security points without anyone suspecting them.” Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general, responded to the allegations of his group’s involvement by accusing the Lebanese Forces, the Phalange Party, “and those who orbit them,” of being “owners of chaos looking for a civil war.” Sectarian tensions are rife in Lebanon. Suleiman was from Byblos, a Christian-majority town surrounded by Shiite-majority settlements, where disputes between the communities have previously spilled over into armed clashes. In a country already fraught with political divisions, economic woes and the prospect of another potentially devastating war with Israel, many fear the killing could provoke an escalation reminiscent of the civil war. “The security situation in Lebanon has deteriorated since the beginning of the economic crisis,” Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy director for research at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, told Arab News. “It is likely to deteriorate further as a result of the widespread increase in crime and the weakness of the security forces as part of the military turned into part-timers to compensate for their income after declines in salaries.” Indeed, even if Suleiman’s death was in fact the result of a carjacking, as the Lebanese army suspect, the incident reflects Lebanon’s institutional decline, growing insecurity, and the collapse of the rule of law.

SSNP ambulance torched in Bayssour after Jdita incident
Naharnet/April 11/2024 
A parked ambulance belonging to the Syrian Social Nationalist Party has been torched in the Aley district town of Bayssour, a day after gunmen fired shots at the party’s office in Bekaa’s Jdita, where they also hung a Lebanese Forces flag. The Progressive Socialist Party and other parties condemned the Bayssour incident and warned of attempts to stir strife in the country amid the tensions that followed the murder of LF official Pascal Sleiman in the Jbeil district. The SSNP pointed the finger at the Lebanese Forces in the Jdita attack, but the LF denied its involvement in the incident and condemned it. “Confronting the sedition that is moving from one Lebanese region to another has become the duty of us all. Our approach in political action does not involve the use of arms and we’re among the fiercest opponents of the approach of weapons,” the LF said in a statement.

Catholic Schools Closing Friday in Day of Prayer for Lebanon’s Salvation
This Is Beirut/April 11/2024 
The General Secretariat of Catholic Schools called for closing all Catholic schools across Lebanon tomorrow Friday, and to consider it “a day of prayer for Lebanon’s salvation,” following the murder of Lebanese Forces coordinator in Jbeil district Pascal Sleiman. In a statement issued on Thursday, the General Secretariat affirmed its adherence to “the preservation of the dignity of the human being and the right to a dignified life,” strongly condemning the killings that are being committed and the violations of human dignity. The statement also denounced the insecurity in Lebanon and called on the government and security apparatuses to “assume their national responsibilities by promoting security and stability.”Sleiman was kidnapped on Sunday in the area of Jbeil. His body was found a day later in Syria. A gang of Syrian car thieves is believed to be behind his killing after attempting to steal his car.

Turkey arrests Lebanese-Venezuelan boss of int'l cocaine gang
Associated Press/April 11/2024
Turkish police have seized the third largest haul of cocaine in the country's history, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced Thursday, as groups monitoring organized crime warned that the country was becoming an entry point for drugs reaching Europe. Some 608 kilograms (1,340 pounds) of cocaine, most of it in liquid form, were confiscated in an operation across three provinces, Yerlikaya posted on the social media platform X. Nearly 830 kilograms (1,830 pounds) of precursor chemicals used to process the drug were also seized. Yerlikaya said the police operation targeted an international gang allegedly led by a Lebanese-Venezuelan national, who was among four foreign members of the "organized crime group" detained, along with nine Turks. "The amount of cocaine seized in the … operation was the third largest amount of cocaine seized at one time in Turkey," the minister added. Groups monitoring organized crime say Turkey is growing as a transit hub for cocaine coming from South America to Europe as security at ports such as Rotterdam in the Netherlands becomes tighter. In a report dated October last year, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime said a 44% rise in cocaine seizures in Turkey between 2021 and 2022 was not reflected in data on domestic consumption, "suggesting that the country is likely to serve as a drug corridor."Officials made Turkey's largest seizure - 1.1 tons of cocaine hidden in a consignment of bananas from Ecuador - at the Mediterranean port of Mersin in 2021. Since coming to office in June last year, Yerlikaya has overseen a clampdown on organized crime in Turkey to counter claims the country has become a haven for foreign gangsters. He regularly posts details of the latest police operation to target drug traffickers, fraudsters and other criminals. Thursday's social media post included a video, overlaid with dramatic music, showing apparent surveillance footage, large plastic containers and a pressing machine. The operation was led by anti-narcotics officers based in Kocaeli, which lies southeast of Istanbul, but also included investigations in Tekirdag to Istanbul's northwest and in the Mediterranean province of Antalya. The gang used vineyards in Tekirdag and Antalya to store chemicals and process the cocaine, which had been disguised in fertilizer, according to Yerlikaya. A shotgun was also recovered by police, he added. "We will not tolerate poison traffickers, organized crime groups and gangs, whether national or international," the minister wrote.

Lebanese Sources Accuse Mossad of Killing Hezbollah-Linked Money Changer
Asharq Al Awsat/April 11/2024
Lebanese sources are accusing Israel’s Mossad of killing a Lebanese man associated with Hezbollah. He has been on the US sanctions list since 2019 for allegedly moving money from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to Hamas. The victim, Mohammad Surur, was found dead in Beirut two days after he went missing. Investigators suspect Mossad’s involvement. Surur was lured to a rented villa by an unidentified woman. The body of Surur was discovered Tuesday, murdered in the Mansourieh area in the Metn district north of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. His body showed signs of torture before being shot.
Surur, who worked for Hezbollah-linked financial institutions, was shot multiple times while carrying a large sum of money. A security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the case is highly dangerous, and what has been revealed so far is just the tip of the iceberg.”Asserting that it was “not a robbery,” the source revealed that the signs of torture on the victim’s body indicate he was subjected to interrogation before being killed.Security agencies and forensic evidence teams have initiated investigations to uncover the circumstances of the crime following the forensic examination of the body.A Lebanese security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that preliminary forensic investigations revealed Surur was shot three times, but another forensic doctor was tasked due to conflicting information. Forensic evidence teams are working to identify the type of weapon used and the exact time of death, the source affirmed.
Moreover, the source pointed out that the data suggests the crime was executed professionally by skilled individuals recruited through specific channels who meticulously monitored and tracked Surur. Surur’s family is demanding the truth and accountability. They had lost contact with him a week before his death.
Lebanese MPs urged authorities to find the culprits. The US sanctioned Surur for allegedly transferring money from Iran to Hamas via Hezbollah. US officials recently visited Beirut, urging Lebanon to stop money transfers to Hamas.

Order of Engineers Elections: Political Stakes and Financial Challenges
Alissar Boulos/This is Beirut/April 11/2024
On Sunday, April 14, the Order of Engineers in Beirut is set to elect a third of its council and its new president, who will succeed Aref Yassine. This year, and as per tradition, the position of president is reserved for a Christian. The principle of alternation, between Christians and Sunni Muslims, has been in effect since the foundation of the Order in 1951. However, Aref Yassine, elected in 2021, is of Shiite faith, a first in the history of the Order.
More than a dozen candidates are in the running, including:
Pierre Geara, a former cadre of the National Liberal Party, now independent, but enjoying official support so far from the Future Movement and unofficially from the Lebanese Forces (LF) and the Kataeb party.
Fadi Hanna, officially supported by the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Hezbollah.
Georges Ghanem, an independent candidate who appears to have the support of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).
Joseph Mechayleh, currently vice president of the Order’s council declared independent, but part of the “The Union is Rising” movement stemming from the October 17, 2019 protest movement.
Roy Dagher, supported by the left-wing civil society, the Communist Party, and some independent engineers.
Nicolas Chikhani, an engineer and economist, supported by the right-wing civil society and a large number of independents. It should be noted that Chikhani’s candidacy had been blocked by the decision of the Order’s council (due to an issue with dues), but a court decision validated his candidacy.*
The battle seems to be heading towards what was once called the division between March 8 and March 14 camps, but it also risks being marked by a scattering of votes, unless last-minute alliances and withdrawals occur by Sunday. According to some sources, the withdrawal of certain candidates will largely depend on the support provided by the Amal movement to one or the other.
Election Procedures
The Order of Engineers in Beirut is divided into seven sections (civil, agronomist, mechanical, entrepreneurs, electrical, architect, public sector), which constitute the plenary assembly. One member of each specialty sits on the council in addition to eight others, including the president. The first phase of the elections took place on March 10, focusing on the elections of civil and agronomist engineers. Five members from each section were elected, and one president of each section will be elected on April 14 from among these five, in addition to the election of the president and council members of the Order. The elections in the first phase were won by the FPM/Amal/Hezbollah alliance. During this same first phase, nearly 250 engineers were elected to the assembly of delegates. According to a source on the Order’s council interviewed by Ici Beyrouth, this assembly can be somewhat compared to the parliament, which oversees the council’s actions. And the council, with the same metaphor, can in turn be compared to the government, in charge of the executive. As for the elections on April 14, five members of the Order’s council will need to be elected, according to the principle of one-third renewal (every year five new members are elected to the Order’s council). This group will then elect a president of the Order for a three-year term. The performance of the current president, Aref Yassine, from the protest movement, has been criticized by many engineers, even those from the October 17 movement, due to poor management and lack of teamwork. This dissatisfaction may have favored the return of traditional parties to the arena. Nearly 3,000 engineers participated in the first phase of the elections, while sources from the Order expect nearly 10,000 to participate in Sunday’s vote.
The president of the Order is elected for a three-year term, along with five other council members. Their role is crucial in the decisions made by the council. Although they cannot make unilateral decisions, they have a tie-breaking role in which their vote is decisive in a tie.
The president of the Order also sits on the urban planning board and the National Education Council. It is also important to note that any building permit in Lebanese territory must be validated by the Order (of Beirut or Tripoli).
A Financial Challenge
However, the most important issue or challenge of the election is related to the funds available for the Order and the issue of medical insurance.
The Order of Engineers has about 50,000 members (figures vary depending on the sources interviewed). Unlike a union or a professional association, membership in the Order is mandatory for professionals in the represented sections. They must register to practice their profession.
Contributions are therefore significant. According to sources who requested anonymity, the amount of funds available to the Order remains a mystery, but the crisis that has hit Lebanon since 2020 has extended to this professional body. Contributions have been collected in Lebanese pounds from the beginning of the crisis until the end of 2023, with all the uncertainties that the fluctuation of the national currency has caused in funding. The elected president will also inherit the issue of the pension fund, which has caused disturbances, as retired engineers receive only one to two hundred US dollars per month, according to sources interviewed, as well as the issue of medical coverage.Membership in the Order allows an engineer to insure family members, spouses, parents, parents of spouses, etc. Insured individuals are subject to preferential rates issued by the insurance company, which is required to cover subscribers, regardless of their pre-existing medical conditions. Based on a rough calculation that each member of the Order is part of an average family of four, the number of people covered by the insurance is 200,000.
(*) The court’s decision to allow Chikhani to run for election will also affect the number of voters. According to the internal regulations, an engineer who has not paid the full amount of their dues has neither the right to vote nor to run for election. However, at the end of 2023, the Order required the payment of dues in dollars, which created confusion, with nearly 8,000 members who did not pay the full set amount. If the court’s decision is enforced, the electoral lists will need to be amended before April 14. As a reminder: elections will also be held on April 14 at the Order of Engineers in Tripoli.

What Is the Price of War?
Nicolas Sbeih/This is Beirut/April 11/2024
Houses continue to crumble, people are succumbing beneath the rubble, and the olive fields, a lifelong toil, are turning to ash. No one cares, except the Minister of Economy who reduced it all to abstract figures: damages, he claims, are estimated between 7 and 10 billion dollars. But the minister who aims to be the Great Vizier, did not dare see the cause-and-effect correlation between these damages and the madness of Hezbollah. In fact, the minister has no clue; he just wants to justify his title. And he is not the only one. No one is quantifying the daily damages or even visiting the sites targeted by the latest missiles. Besides, the figures seem excessive, almost reaching half of the GDP, which is absurd. In any case, it does not elicit unanimity; occasionally, other far-fetched estimates, around 2 billion, emerge out of nowhere. That being said, war-related losses represent a significant matter which is far more complex and enduring than it may seem. For the sake of clarity, we will try to categorize them: First category: human losses, whether deadly or resulting in a major handicap. In each case, the anticipated or planned lifetime productivity is lost. Decades of productive output are wiped out, inherently challenging to assess. These losses could even extend to the next generation; the children of those who die prematurely may lack the means for a comprehensive education, resulting in reduced productivity in adulthood. Second category: the evident physical damages, comprising buildings and land on one side, and infrastructure on the other. For residential properties, the damage is calculated based on the cost of reconstruction. However, for livelihood sources such as factories, stores, workshops, and agricultural land, among others, one must also add the complete loss of income during the latency period, which could span for months, years, or indefinitely. Regarding infrastructure like water and electricity networks, etc., the rehabilitation cost should also encompass the additional expenses for acquiring alternatives such as water tanks or generators.
Third category: the slowdown of economic activity in general, which is heavily disrupted in targeted areas and somewhat diminished in other regions of the country. This translates to fewer tourists, decreased investment, reduced consumption, and production. As the war persists, irreversible decisions may unfold: an entrepreneur abandoning a planned project; the owner of a factory in fire may, in desperation, be reluctant to rebuild; families opting to emigrate… each choice represents a permanent loss for the national economy. This would happen especially when we grasp Hezbollah’s destructive logic. One can’t help but fear that tomorrow, they might strike again in other occasions: if the Houthis are attacked, if Iran is threatened, if Syria faces heightened pressure, if settlers encroach upon the West Bank, if Bahraini Shiites suffer oppression, if Uighurs are detained in China… the opportunities for divine struggle are abundant. Or, if they find no outlet for their aggression and feel a strong urge to act, they may resort to invading Ain el-Remmaneh or elsewhere as a Sunday morning pastime. Some may retort that a catch-up phenomenon normally follows the end of a war: those who postponed purchases or projects would have to resume them. Moreover, reconstruction works themselves involve a stronger economic activity. All of that is true. However, this will never be dynamic enough to fully compensate for all past losses. Merely rebuilding homes, replanting land, or even overcrowding the airport arrival hall won’t suffice to make up for anything. Let’s examine a concrete case. In 1974, Lebanon’s per capita GDP was on par with that of Cyprus at the time, hovering around $1,700. However, the war persisted for 15 years. After peace was restored, Lebanon experienced a quarter-century of reconstruction and continuous growth. Yet, the result is undeniable: by 2018, Lebanon’s per capita GDP stood at only one-third of that of Cyprus. The losses incurred by war are NEVER fully recovered. Hence, those in positions of power, who bury their heads in the muck and pretend to exist, will not have to pick between cowardice and perfidy. They will embody both.

Art Under Siege: The Wajdi Mouawad Controversy in Lebanon
Bélinda Ibrahim/This is Beirut/April 11/2024
Amidst political pressure, intimidation and blackmail related to “normalization” with Israel, many Lebanese artists find their freedom of expression threatened. Despite being a cultural jewel of the Middle East, the Land of the Cedars seems to be sinking into a repressive spiral aimed at silencing any critical or dissenting voice. This dangerous slide into obscurantism threatens to ultimately suffocate one of the region’s most dynamic and committed artistic scenes. Lebanon, the land of Khalil Gibran, Ounsi el-Hajj and Feyrouz, has always been a hub of vibrant creativity and intellectual fervor in the Middle East. But behind its image as a cultural beacon lies a darker reality. Many artists in the Land of the Cedars face pressure, intimidation and smear campaigns, often under the guise of combating normalization with the Israeli enemy. The latest episode is the Wajdi Mouawad affair. In April 2024, the playwright had to cancel at the last minute the world premiere of his new play Wedding Day at the Cro-Magnons at the Monnot Theatre in Beirut. The reason cited by his detractors: alleged funding from Israel for his previous shows. These serious accusations were made without concrete evidence by entities claiming to be part of “the resistance.” Mouawad, who has always denied receiving Israeli funds, saw a complaint for collusion with the enemy filed against him in military court. Facing threats to his troupe and the theater, Mouawad opted to throw in the towel and return to France, where he directs the La Colline theater.
His case is far from isolated. In 2017, director Ziad Doueiri found himself in turmoil just before the release of his film The Insult in Lebanon for having shot some scenes of his previous feature The Attack in Israel in 2012—regardless of the fact that the film’s topic, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, required for scenes to be shot on location. Arrested upon his arrival in Beirut, he was dragged before a military tribunal for “collaboration with the enemy,” a “crime” punishable by prison, before the proceedings were eventually dropped due to procedural flaws. The Mouawad and Doueiri cases are not the only ones of their kind in the Land of the Cedars. In recent years, the number of artists targeted has increased, blurring the line between the “red line” not to be crossed and sheer obscurantism. In such a context, many artists end up self-censoring, refraining from addressing the most sensitive subjects for fear of reprisal. A terrible waste for Lebanon, which thus deprives itself of its vital forces when it needs critical perspectives and imaginations to envisage its future the most. Behind the noble motives brandished by their accusers often lie personal vendettas, petty jealousies or dark political calculations. By waving the flag of anti-normalization, some are actually seeking to silence any dissenting or critical voice. An identitarian reflex all the more absurd as many of these artists make the country proud abroad and contribute to its cultural influence.Meanwhile, Lebanese artists continue to create and hope for better days, despite the leaden cloak. Because they know that without freedom of expression, the whole society slowly suffocates.

John Achkar on World Tour: Interactive Engagement With the Audience
Fabienne Touma/This is Beirut/April 11/2024
John Achkar, a standout figure in Lebanese stand-up comedy, is gearing up for a global tour starting April 14. This Is Beirut caught up with him for an exclusive interview. Initially focusing on entrepreneurship, particularly as a leadership and communication coach, while showcasing his talent on stage, John Achkar saw a pivotal shift in his artistic career in 2022. Since then, he has fully immersed himself in stand-up comedy while continuing his original entrepreneurial endeavors. As an unconventional artist and versatile entrepreneur, Achkar has captivated audiences not only with his sharp wit but also with his commitment to tackling sensitive topics and fostering dialogue. His upcoming tour promises hilarious moments filled with interactive exchanges, offering an extraordinary performance experience. Interactivity is at the heart of Achkar’s artistic approach. For him, stand-up is not just about delivering jokes but engaging in an exchange that builds trust with his audience, enabling him to delve deeper into subjects and create a space for free expression. He emphasizes the importance of establishing this trust, whether on stage or on television, like in his segment on LBCI where he aims to address delicate issues in the same vein as his stand-up routines. However, Achkar is aware of the difference between connecting with television viewers and live stand-up audiences. This is why the topics for his LBCI segments are carefully chosen by the show’s team. “The disappointments we’ve faced are significant, so it’s the right time to open this dialogue space. Social media alone is not enough,” he asserts. This world tour, kicking off on April 14 in Doha, is particularly significant, providing Achkar an opportunity to connect with the Lebanese diaspora globally. Maintaining a strong link with this community is crucial for him. He notes that he strives to stay connected to his roots while slightly adjusting his discourse to the diverse experiences he encounters. “With the expatriates, my discourse doesn’t really change. After all, I am an expatriate myself. I just set the ideas in a way for them not to be disconnected, and I adjust slightly,” he explained to This Is Beirut.
To deepen the interaction-focused relationship he aims to build both on stage and on television, Achkar is presenting his show Chou Zake on this tour with increased maturity and perspective. He explores his new relationship with the corporate world, blending professional and personal experiences. “The most important thing is that for this show, I’ve matured a bit more on stage, finding a new way to convey various messages that the audience can identify with and respond to,” he told This Is Beirut.
The tour will start on April 14 in Arab countries, followed by Europe and then Canada. For more information, visit https://www.johnachkar.com/tour-2024-1

Danger knocking on the door of Lebanon’s Christians once again
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Arab News/April 11/2024
“Crimes have increased as a result of the economic crisis and the burden of Syrian refugees and the transformation of the Lebanese economy into cash money, which encourages the exploitation of people,” Hage Ali said.
Suspicions about the genuine cause of death remain, however. Suleiman’s case has parallels with the death of Elias Al-Hasrouni, another Lebanese Forces coordinator, who was killed in what was dubbed a “planned” accident in a Hezbollah-controlled area. Although the investigation into Suleiman’s death is still ongoing, his killing has provoked widespread condemnation across the political and religious spectrum, with parties and faith leaders branding it “unacceptable, neither legally, nor morally, nor humanely.”
Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, called on all factions to “exercise self-control, exercise wisdom, and not be drawn into rumors and emotions” while the investigation is underway. Another example of just how fragile Lebanon’s peace has become of late was the Tayouneh incident of Oct. 14, 2021, when Hezbollah and the Amal Movement came under attack by unidentified gunmen allegedly associated with the Lebanese Forces, sparking clashes.
The violence erupted outside the Justice Palace during a protest organized by Hezbollah and its allies against Tarek Bitar, the lead judge probing the August 2020 Beirut port blast, as they accuse him of being partisan. The potential for similar clashes remains.
“The problem in Lebanon is that there is a lack of political horizon and there is a feeling of loss of hope from the political class, which leads to accepting that this reality will be permanent and raises the level of tensions,” Hage Ali said.
“Since the beginning of the economic collapse, we have seen manifestations of self-security. The matter has become a lived reality, meaning that hybrid security is met with armed militia forces in the regions.
“Any crime that occurs is followed by a state of shock, which is what happened today as a result of Suleiman’s murder, but I believe that after a year, for example, crime will become a part of daily life. “Lebanon has become a mixture of the Argentinian situation in terms of economic collapse and the Colombian situation in terms of the extent of crime which will cause more trouble for Hezbollah.”
As Suleiman was allegedly killed by Syrian nationals, some of whom have reportedly been arrested by the Lebanese security services, the incident has raised the prospect of further hostility against Lebanon’s substantial Syrian refugee community.
Just hours after Suleiman’s death was announced, the Lebanese Forces called for restraint after several of its supporters began attacking Syrians and evicting them from their homes in Beirut and other regions.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, says that more than 800,000 Syrian refugees are registered with the body in Lebanon, noting registrations have been suspended since 2015 following a government ruling. In a press conference following Suleiman’s murder, Lebanon’s acting interior minister, Bassam Mawlawi, said that security forces had been instructed “to strictly enforce Lebanese laws on Syrian refugees.
“We will become stricter in granting residency permits and dealing with those (Syrians) residing in Lebanon illegally,” he said, calling for measures “limiting the presence of Syrians” in the country, without saying how.
The scapegoating of Syrian refugees for Lebanon’s ills has become commonplace, with policies designed to hamper their integration into Lebanese society and compel them to return to Syria, even if that means facing persecution at the hands of the Bashar Assad regime. However, in this context of exclusion and economic crisis, a section of the Syrian refugee community has resorted to criminality. Indeed, according to Mawlawi, some 35 percent of the country’s prison population is made up of Syrians. “Everyone in Lebanon avoided addressing the Syrian refugee crisis, but was content with reactions to every incident,” Hage Ali said. “The Syrian asylum issue has turned into a taboo, so has the issue of illegal crossings. Populist talk is of no use. There is a marginalized group within the Syrian presence in Lebanon that will grow with time and will benefit, including organized crime.”
To make matters worse, Lebanon’s economic meltdown, which began in late 2019, and its continuing political deadlock have paralyzed the criminal justice system and institutional structures designed to keep the fragile peace.
Hage Ali believes Lebanon has “accumulated crimes during the last two decades without a minimum level of justice. Its amnesty system, to turn the page on the past, has turned into a system that perpetuates violence and injustice.
“Almost 50 years have passed since the outbreak of the civil war. Time was supposed to have taught the Lebanese that the approach to war should be different from the previous ones, but Lebanon is still within the ongoing cycle of violence.”
Once considered an oasis of calm in a region otherwise fraught with turmoil, Lebanon has again been brought to the brink of conflict. Many fear an incident such as the death of Suleiman could light the touchpaper of a new period of sectarian strife.
Melhem Khalaf, an independent member of parliament and former head of the Beirut Bar Association, told Arab News that Lebanese citizens will not stand by and allow their hard won peace and unity to be broken once again.
“We are just days away from the fateful anniversary of April 13 (the start of the Lebanese civil war), a memory that is full of fear and pain, and that is something we have worked so hard for years to avoid, to solidify peace and bring about reassurance and stability,” Khalaf said. “There is trouble that is once again rearing its head from the Byblos region, which throughout the senseless and ill-fated war maintained its national cohesion with a clear and solid will.
“It is a real warning that requires all of us to take action, to take the initiative and eliminate any strife that might take our society back to bygone and painful days. The dangers surrounding us from all sides are enough. We don’t want it, neither for our youth, nor for our people, nor for our country.”Khalaf believes what is happening now is “the decomposition of the state and a sign of its continuing weakness.
“What we require today, with absolute speed, is to rally around each other to restore the state of truth and the rule of law. To have a state that guarantees coexistence, as well as presidential elections which will be the gateway to order.”
Although sectarian and intercommunal tensions are high, and public anger at the entrenched political elite continues to simmer, the elephant in the room today is the war in Gaza and the potential for a repeat of Lebanon’s devastating 2006 war with Israel.
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, which triggered Israel’s military assault on the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian militant group’s Hezbollah ally has traded fire with Israeli forces along the Lebanese border, raising fears of an expanding regional war.
As a result, Lebanese academic Fayad believes a return to the civil strife of decades past will likely be tempered by Hezbollah’s need to concentrate on the far greater existential threat of war with Israel. “There are different definitions of strife in Lebanon,” Fayad said. “There is a vertical political division and sectarian polarization, but so far it has not turned into an armed war because the strong party in it is Hezbollah, and it is not in its interest to frighten others. “Rather it must convince them to stand by its side, especially in its war in southern Lebanon against Israel.”

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 11-12/2024
Another Church ‘Catches Fire’ in ‘Radical’ Region of Egypt
Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity/April 11, 2024
Another St. George church that was set aflame by ‘radicals’ in another region of Sohag in 2013. Yet another Coptic church recently “caught fire” in Muslim Egypt. On Sunday, Mar. 24, 2024, a fire broke out in the Church of St. George in Akhmim, Sohag governorate. With the help of church youth and locals, civil authorities managed to quench the blaze. Mass was held in the church earlier that day, and the building was empty when the conflagration began. As a result, no one was hurt. The fire did, however, destroy the structure, air conditioning units, pews, icons and electrical appliances of the second floor.
Initial reporting said the cause of fire was unknown. Although it could have been—and likely will be officially deemed—an “accident,” there are several reasons to suspect arson. For starters, arson attacks on churches in Egypt are commonplace. According to one researcher, Magdi Khalil, “close to one thousand churches have been attacked or torched by mobs in the last five decades [since the 1970s] in Egypt.” More recently, churches continue to burn, though these are increasingly being dismissed as accidents—including 11 churches that mysteriously “caught fire” in one month alone (Aug. 2022). It’s worth noting that “accidental” fires in mosques in Egypt—which outnumber churches by a ratio of 40 to 1—are almost unheard of. Either the “radicals” have become more sophisticated and clandestine in their attacks on churches—in one instance, surveillance cameras caught a votary candle suddenly and randomly exploding and creating a fire—or else Coptic Christians have, for some inexplicable reason, become so much more prone to causing fires inside their own churches than all other peoples combined—even though, in reality, they are especially careful with their churches, precisely because they are so few and widely suppressed and under attack in Egypt. Sohag governorate, it’s worth adding, is also another hotbed (along with Minya) of anti-church and anti-Christian activities—that is, another hotbed of “radicalism.” The following are some of the many other incidents to occur in Sohag governorate:
Rioting Muslim Brotherhood supporters torched several churches following the ousting of Muhammad Morsi in 2013. Muslims have on several occasions risen in violence against Christians on the mere rumor that a church was being built. After burning their temporary worship tent, Christians were forced to celebrate one Easter in the streets (pictures here). A Muslim man randomly attacked and killed a Christian with a meat cleaver. Coptic girls have “disappeared” off the streets with police shrugging their shoulders. Christians have been abducted and held for ransom—and sometimes still killed after their ransom was payed. A school principal in Sohag openly refused the enrollment of Christian students, unabashedly declaring that “As long as I am present in the school, no Christian pupils will be accepted in this school.”
As such, Egypt’s Christians might be excused for suspecting foul play in this, the latest torching of one of their churches.

Netanyahu Says Israel Preparing for Scenarios in Other Areas than Gaza
Asharq Al Awsat/April 11, 2024
Israel is keeping up its war in Gaza but is also preparing for scenarios in other areas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. "Whoever harms us, we will harm them. We are prepared to meet all of the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively," he said in comments released by his office following a visit to the Tel Nof air force base in southern Israel. Israel has been bracing for possible Iranian retaliation for the killing of a senior general and six other Iranian officers in an airstrike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus on April 1. Israel has not said it was responsible but Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday Israel "must be punished and it shall be" for the attack. Netanyahu made his comments as Israeli troops and warplanes started an operation in central Gaza overnight which the military said was aimed at destroying infrastructure of armed Palestinian groups. Most Israeli troops have been pulled out of Gaza, in preparation for an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering, but fighting has continued in various areas of the enclave. Israeli military strikes killed 63 Palestinians and wounded 45 others in the past 24 hours, the Gaza Health Ministry said. At least 33,545 Palestinians have now been killed since the Israeli offensive began, the ministry said, with most of the 2.3 million population displaced and much of the enclave laid to waste.

Mideast on Alert for Iranian Attack as Lufthansa Suspends Tehran Flights
Asharq Al Awsat/April 11, 2024
The German airline Lufthansa on Thursday extended the suspension of its flights to Tehran due to the situation in the Middle East, which is on alert for Iranian retaliation for a suspected Israeli air strike on Iran's embassy in Syria. An Iranian news agency had published an Arabic report on the social media platform X saying all airspace over Tehran had been closed for military drills, but then removed the report and denied issuing such news. The region and the United States have been on alert for a retaliatory attack by Iran since April 1, when Israeli warplanes were suspected of bombing the Iranian embassy compound in Syria. Lufthansa on Thursday said it had suspended flights to and from Tehran until probably April 13, extending its suspension by two days. A spokesperson said it had decided not to operate a flight from Frankfurt to Tehran last weekend to avoid the crew having to disembark to spend the night in Tehran.
Lufthansa and its subsidiary Austrian Airlines are the only two Western carriers flying into Tehran, which is mostly served by Turkish and Middle Eastern airlines. Austrian Airlines, which is owned by Lufthansa and flies from Vienna to Tehran six times a week, said it was still planning to fly on Thursday but was adjusting timings to avoid an overnight layover. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Israel "must be punished and it shall be" for the strike, which killed seven members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, among them a senior commander in its elite overseas unit, the Quds Force. Israel, which launched a war in the Gaza Strip six months ago against Iran-backed Hamas, has not confirmed it was behind the strike on Damascus, but the Pentagon has said it was.

Russia Tells Citizens to Refrain from Travel to Middle East
Moscow: Asharq Al Awsat/April 11, 2024
Russia's foreign ministry told citizens on Thursday that they should refrain from travelling to the Middle East, especially to Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. "The tense situation in the Middle East region persists," said the foreign ministry, which first issued such travel advice in October when it urged Russians not to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories after Hamas attacked Israel. "The situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone, as well as in the area of the 'Blue Line' between Lebanon and Israel, remains unstable." "We strongly recommend that Russian citizens refrain from traveling to the region, especially to Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, except in cases of extreme necessity," it said. Russia said the security situation in Jordan remained stable. The United States and its allies believe major missile or drone strikes by Iran or its proxies against military and government targets in Israel are imminent, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing US and Israeli security sources.

Israel on alert after Iranian threat as Gaza war grinds on
Agence France Presse/April 11, 2024
Israel was on alert Thursday after its arch foe Iran threatened reprisals over a strike in Syria this month that killed two Iranian generals, and as the war against Hamas ground on in Gaza. Days after Israel strengthened its air defences and paused leave for combat units, the United States also warned of the risk of an attack by Iran or its allied groups at a time when Middle East tensions have soared. Iran is "threatening to launch a significant attack on Israel," U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday, pledging "ironclad" support for its top regional ally despite diplomatic tensions over Israel's military conduct in Gaza. Israel was widely blamed for an April 1 attack that destroyed Iran's consulate building in Damascus and killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including two generals. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Wednesday warned that Israel "must be punished and will be punished", days after one of his advisors had said that Israeli embassies are "no longer safe."Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz swiftly replied to Khamenei on social media site X that "if Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack Iran." Biden said later Wednesday that he had told Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that "our commitment to Israel's security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad." "Let me say it again -- ironclad. We're going to do all we can to protect Israel's security." The Axios news site reported that U.S. Central Command chief Michael Kurilla was set to visit Israel to discuss the situation with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. German airline Lufthansa said it had suspended flights to and from Tehran, probably until Thursday, "due to the current situation in the Middle East". And Russia warned its citizens to refrain from traveling to Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Israel and the United States have long faced off against Iran and the so-called "Axis of Resistance" coalition of militant groups based in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The Syria strike killed Iranian IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who led the foreign operations wing the Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon.
Gaza truce talks
Regional tensions have been stoked by the Gaza war which broke out after Hamas launched their October 7 attack against Israel, which allegedly left 1,170 people dead according to Israeli figures. Palestinian militants also took about 250 hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli army says are dead. Iran has said it had no advance knowledge of the October 7 attack but has hailed the assault against its decades-old enemy. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,482 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The Israeli military reported overnight operations in central Gaza which had also involved its navy and air force "to eliminate terrorist operatives". Much of the long blockaded territory has been reduced to a bomb-cratered wasteland of destroyed buildings with yet more bodies feared under the mountains of rubble. An Israeli siege has deprived Gaza's 2.4 million people of most food, water, fuel, medicines and other basic supplies, the dire shortages only alleviate by sporadic aid deliveries. Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz said on Wednesday that "Hamas is defeated" militarily but pledged to keep fighting "what remains of it" in the years to come. An Israeli air strike on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas's Qatar-based leader Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh's brother Nahed told AFP inside Gaza that their family are "in the same situation" as other Gazans. "There is no difference between the sons of leaders and the sons of the people," he said. Haniyeh insisted that his sons' deaths would not influence the group's position in ongoing talks in Cairo on a possible temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal. Those talks, which started Sunday, have brought no signs of a breakthrough on a plan presented by U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators, which Hamas said it was studying. A framework being circulated would halt fighting for six weeks and see the exchange of about 40 hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, as well as more aid deliveries. Biden said that "it's now up to Hamas, they need to move on the proposal that's been made."
'Destabilizing Middle East'
Washington has also ramped up pressure on Netanyahu to agree to a truce, increase aid flows and abandon plans to invade the territory's far-southern city of Rafah.
About 1.5 million civilians are sheltering in Rafah, the last Gazan city yet to face a ground incursion. Biden labelled Netanyahu's handling of the war a "mistake" in an interview broadcast on Tuesday. Washington's tougher line has brought some results, the U.S. Agency for International Development said. Recent days had seen a "sea change" in aid deliveries, said USAID administrator Samantha Power, although she insisted Israel needs to do more. Gallant promised Israel would "flood Gaza with aid", using a crossing point on its border with Gaza, streamlined checks and two new routes organised with Jordan. He said they expected to hit 500 aid trucks entering Gaza a day, the average pre-war level. Israel has faced a chorus of international criticism over its handling of the war. Spain is among several Western nations, including Ireland and Australia, to have suggested they would recognise a Palestinian state in the near future as a starting point for wider peace talks. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that Israel's "disproportionate response" in Gaza risked "destabilising the Middle East and, as a consequence, the entire world." Israel's foreign ministry slammed Ireland's new prime minister Simon Harris for not mentioning the hostages held in Gaza during a speech to parliament. The ministry charged that "after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust... there are those in Ireland who persist on being on the wrong side of history."

Haniyeh says no change in truce position after sons killed
Agence France Presse/April 11, 2024
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh insisted that the death of three of his sons in an Israeli air strike would not influence truce talks in Gaza, as bombardments on Thursday rocked the Palestinian territory. Israel confirmed the killings, which came as talks in Cairo for a temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal drag on without signs of a breakthrough. Speaking to Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, Haniyeh suggested that the strike, which also killed four of his grandchildren, was an attempt to shift Hamas's negotiating stance."If they think that this will force Hamas to change its positions, they are delusional," he said. US President Joe Biden said Hamas "needs to move" on the latest truce proposal, which the militant group has said it is studying. Israel's main international ally the United States has also been ramping up pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a truce, increase the amount of aid flowing into the besieged Gaza Strip and abandon plans to invade the southern city of Rafah. Biden labelled Netanyahu's handling of the war a "mistake" in an interview broadcast on Tuesday, before warning on Wednesday that Israel has not allowed enough aid into the territory. Despite calls for a ceasefire, Israel carried out strikes early Thursday in the Gaza Strip, particularly in the south of the territory, witnesses said. The war broke out with Hamas' October 7 attack against Israel, which allegedly resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people according to Israeli figures. Palestinian militants also took about 250 hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli army says are dead. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,482 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
Hamas 'studying' truce
Talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have been ongoing since Sunday. Hamas spokesman in Doha Hossam Badran told AFP: "Hamas is studying the offer presented... It has not responded yet." A framework being circulated would halt fighting for six weeks and see the exchange of about 40 hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Biden, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, said: "It's now up to Hamas, they need to move on the proposal that's been made". There has been a growing chorus of international criticism aimed at Israel's handling of the war and the paucity of aid entering the territory. On Wednesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that what he called Israel's "disproportionate response" in Gaza risked "destabilising the Middle East, and as a consequence, the entire world". Spain is among several Western nations, including Ireland and Australia, to have suggested they would recognise a Palestinian state in the near future as a starting point for wider peace talks.
'Mistake'
Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz said that militarily "Hamas is defeated" but pledged to continue fighting "what remains of it", including in the years to come. He also echoed Netanyahu's vows to enter the southern city Rafah, despite growing international concern for the civilians there. "We will enter Rafah. We will return to Khan Yunis," he said. More than 1.5 million civilians are sheltering from the war in Rafah, the last Gazan city yet to face an Israeli ground incursion. The United States has repeatedly warned against an attack on Rafah. Evidencing his growing frustration with the hawkish Netanyahu, Biden has issued some of his sternest criticism yet of the war. "I think what he's doing is a mistake," Biden told the US network Univision in an interview that aired on Tuesday night. He urged Netanyahu to "just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into" Gaza. Washington's tougher line on aid has brought some results, the US Agency for International Development said. Recent days had seen a "sea change" in aid deliveries, said USAID administrator Samantha Power, although she insisted Israel needs to do more. On Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would "flood Gaza with aid", using a new crossing point on its northern border, streamlined checks and two new routes organised with Jordan. He said they expected to hit 500 aid trucks entering Gaza a day, which would match the average level of aid and commercial trucks reaching the territory before the war.
Iran threatens Israel
The war in Gaza has raised fears that conflict could engulf the wider region. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel on Wednesday that it "must be punished and will be punished" for a strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus last week that Tehran has blamed on Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz replied with a Persian-language post saying: "If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack Iran".In response to Iran's threats, Biden on Wednesday promised "ironclad" support to Israel. "As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel's security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad," Biden said. German airline Lufthansa on Wednesday announced it had suspended flights to and from Tehran, probably until Thursday, saying it was "due to the current situation in the Middle East."

Why are Gaza Ceasefire Negotiations Stuck
Menahem KAHANA, AFP)/This Is Beirut/April 11, 2024
They set themselves a 48-hour deadline earlier this week, but on Thursday neither Hamas nor Israel had shown any signs of agreeing to a truce in Gaza despite pressure from international mediators. The United States, Egypt and Qatar put together a framework for a deal that would include a halt in fighting for six weeks and the exchange of about 40 hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. It would also see increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza and many displaced people returning to their homes. The proposals ultimately aim to secure the release of all 129 hostages believed to still be alive in Gaza, along with the eventual exit of all Israeli troops. But now “negotiations are at an impasse,” said Hasni Abidi of the Geneva-based Centre for Studies and Research for the Arab and Mediterranean World. Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, which at this stage is unacceptable to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to “eliminate” all Hamas battalions. He said four battalions continue to operate in Rafah, the last stronghold of Hamas in southern Gaza, where some 1.5 million Palestinians have taken refuge.
Netanyahu has vowed to launch a ground invasion of Rafah, ignoring an international outcry against it, including from the United States, Israel’s strongest ally.
Tactical truce
Analysts feel that Israel would benefit from a truce, even if it was just a tactical move, given that it has lost 260 soldiers inside Gaza already with thousands more injured. On Sunday, Israel said it had withdrawn all its troops from southern Gaza, but had one brigade holding a central strip running across the territory.
Daniel Byman of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service said pulling out those soldiers, including from the city of Khan Younes, was all about preparing for an assault on Rafah. As Israel is increasingly isolated diplomatically over the high civilian casualties in Gaza, Abidi said, the drawdown gives it much needed breathing space, especially when it comes to handling Washington, which it “has failed to convince” when it comes to its war strategy. While Washington is working to avoid an escalation in Lebanon, Syria and Iran, an April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that was widely blamed on Israel risks “shattering” this strategy, he said. An exasperated US President Joe Biden has vowed to continue supporting Israel, but this is dependent on its military restraint and improvement in humanitarian assistance to Gazans. Netanyahu is also under immense pressure from desperate and angry families of the hostages still being held in Gaza. Some 250 Israelis and foreigners were seized during the October 7 attack by Palestinian militants, of whom 129 are still being held. The military says 34 of them are dead.
Catching its breath
However, a truce could “shatter” the ruling Israeli coalition because of opposition from its far-right members to any concessions to Hamas, said Byman. This is a real dilemma “for someone like Netanyahu who is not known for putting the country before his political ambition,” he said. Abidi said “I don’t see how Netanyahu could claim victory if none of the top” Hamas operatives in Gaza are captured or killed. Israeli officials are particularly targeting Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, and Mohammed Deif, the military leader of the group there. Sinwar has been accused of being the mastermind of the October 7 attack. But for Hamas a truce would be a symbolic victory. It would also allow it “to reorganise and carry out ambushes against the (Israeli) army,” said Omer Dostri of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. “Hamas’s goal is to catch its breath in the hope that international pressure will eventually bring about an end to the war,” he said. A truce would also make Hamas look better in the eyes of the battered and hungry population of Gaza, said Abidi. He said that even if Netanyahu promises a future without Hamas in the small coastal territory, the Islamist movement is already preparing “for the day after.”
**Gaël Branchereau, with AFP

Israelis living near Gaza border 'terrified' of aerial attack from Iran
Sky News/Thu, April 11, 2024
In Ashkelon, an Israeli city on the border of Gaza, they are used to living under rockets from Hamas but they are worried about where this conflict is going and an aerial attack from an even bigger foe. Along the seafront, on the promenade, a few walkers and runners are out trying to enjoy the warming weather. Others are attempting to celebrate. At a bar mitzvah on the terrace of a local restaurant, there are drinks and jokes but the talk is of war and security. Middle East latest: Cameron 'deeply concerned' by Iran's vow to retaliate against Israel Korin Peretz tells me her fears about the future, saying: "I hope there is nothing happening from Iran. It's very terrifying. "Today we celebrate the bar mitzvah of my son. I couldn't sleep at night, always worrying about this situation and I hope it's all over. It's not comfortable. It doesn't feel very good. "Our life here in Israel is not safe right now but there is no other place." For years, Israel and Iran have been enemies, but the shadow war that's been fought between them is now threatening to burst into the open. There's no doubt Israel is in a dangerous region and since its creation in 1948, it's had to deal with a number of existential threats. But the trauma of the 7 October Hamas attack has left this nation feeling especially vulnerable. Iran is vowing retaliation after two generals were killed in an airstrike on the consulate in Damascus, Syria. The US is warning an Iranian missile attack on Israeli soil could be imminent - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the country is prepared for every eventuality. "We are in challenging times," he said. "We are in the middle of the war in Gaza which continues in full force, at the same time we continue our non-stop efforts to return our hostages, but we are also preparing for scenarios of challenges from other arenas. "We established a simple principle - whoever hurts us, we hurt him. We are preparing to meet the security needs of the state of Israel both in defence and in attack."Israel's number one ally America is hoping security guarantees will act as a deterrent, with President Joe Biden stating they are a warning to Tehran.
"We also want to address the Iranian threat to launch a signal that they're threatening to launch a significant attack on Israel," he said. "As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel's security against these threats from Iran and proxies is ironclad. We say it again, ironclad. We're going to do all we can to protect Israel's security."Israelis know an Iranian attack will bring a response from the IDF - and with it the chance of a much wider regional war. Victor Natanzon Baldi is out walking but his mind is on the events that are threatening the country. "I'm always worried, until we have elements like Iran, the entire world needs to be worried," he says. "I'm not looking for big fights or big wars. I personally think that we need to look for peaceful solutions, but we need to choose the right people that we talk to." Listen above then tap here to follow the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts. So after six months of fighting, Israelis are weary but there are still many threats and people are wondering when this will ever end.

A Million Dollar Middle East Peace Plan
Kai Bird/Time/April 11, 2024
One night at the dinner table in the American Colony—the lovely boutique watering hole in East Jerusalem—I overheard an elderly American heiress proclaiming that she would give a million dollars to anyone who could solve the Arab-Israeli conflict. It was 1956, and I was just five-years-old, but I tugged my father’s sleeve, and said, “Daddy, we have to win this prize.”I spent my entire childhood in the Middle East, the son of an American diplomat. It was nothing exceptional—except that Zelig-like, I lived through all the wars of the Arab-Israeli conflict. And then as a young man I married the only daughter of two survivors of the Shoah. I have always worked hard to see both sides of this tragic, seemingly intractable conflict. But I am now fed up with these bad actors and their tribal bloodbaths. All these many years later, the ‘troubles’ in the ‘dangerous neighborhood persist. Indeed, things have gotten worse. Just look at the horrifying atrocities of October 7, 2023 when some 1,200 Israelis were butchered. And just look at the indiscriminate killing of over 30,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians in Gaza in the current war. Alarming incidents of blatant anti-Semitism and Islamaphobia fuel a toxic atmosphere across much of the globe. The tide of extremism on all sides has risen, and civil society voices of moderation are largely deemed irrelevant.
Short-sighted leaders on both sides are fueling a new generation of violence and hatred. Hamas’s bloody terrorism is bad enough, but I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow the current war expands to Lebanon or Iran—or if a radiation ‘dirty’ bomb explodes in Tel Aviv, making parts of the city uninhabitable. The only good news is that the political careers of both Bibi Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas are clearly coming to an end. Both of these deplorable leaders have led their peoples to a dead end. This conflict is so dangerous that the time has come for the international community to impose a solution. Here is what needs to be done. First, a six-month cease-fire needs to be imposed whereby Hamas releases all their remaining hostages and Israel amnesties hundreds of long-term Palestinian prisoners—including the popular Fatah leader (and convicted murderer), Marwan Barghouti. Second, and simultaneously, convene a Geneva peace conference. Invite all the parties to a one-month, time-limited negotiation in which diplomats iron out a comprehensive political compromise, broadly based on a two-state peace treaty. It should be modeled on the one-page, six-point program drafted in 2002 by Ami Ayalon, the former Israeli intelligence chief, and Sari Nusseibeh, a Palestinian Oxford-trained philosopher. It envisions two-states with borders based on the 1967 Green Line with some territorial adjustments and with East Jerusalem as the capital of a demilitarized Palestinian state.
It is a brilliant document—simple and obvious. Skeptics will say that the hardliners on both sides won’t show up at Geneva. The international community, led by the Biden Administration, can make it clear that any party not showing up at Geneva will be penalized with financial and legal sanctions. Israeli political leaders will have to come. Non-state actors will also be invited, including representatives of the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, Hamas and members of Palestinian civil society groups. They too will face financial and legal sanctions if they fail to show up. A conversation will take place in which all parties are heard. But the American, European and other international diplomats invited to Geneva will be responsible for the actual drafting of a peace treaty. Yes, this will be an imposed peace because the global stakes are too high.
But the resulting Geneva treaty will then be submitted to a referendum in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. I hope that a clear majority of both Israelis and Palestinians will approve the treaty. Ordinary people on both sides should realize that the alternative is endless war. An imposed, internationally sanctioned referendum will encourage the politicians to stop catering to their respective hardliners. The prospect of a real peace based on simple compromise will suddenly seem practical and economically beneficial to everyone. The fog of endless war will lift and common sense will prevail. And when that happens, can someone please send me that check for a million dollars?

More aid is supposed to be entering the Gaza Strip. Why isn’t it helping?
JERUSALEM (AP)/April 11, 2024
Under heavy U.S. pressure, Israel has promised to ramp up aid to Gaza dramatically, saying last week it would open another cargo crossing and surge more trucks than ever before into the besieged enclave. But days later, there are few signs of those promises materializing and international officials say starvation is widespread in hard-hit northern Gaza. Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said this week she accepted “credible” reports that famine is now occurring in the area and urged Israel to take further steps to expedite humanitarian aid shipments. Power's remarks echoed those of U.S. President Joe Biden, who said on Wednesday that Israeli efforts to increase aid were “not enough.”While Israel says it has dramatically increased the number of aid trucks entering the territory, U.N. workers report only a slight uptick — possibly because they count trucks differently. Here’s what we know about the aid entering Gaza, and why discrepancies in reporting persist:
HOW MUCH AID IS ENTERING GAZA?
Israel says that since Sunday it has transported an average of 400 trucks a day into Gaza and that aid is now piling up on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, one of two major crossings into the territory. But Juliette Touma, communications director for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said that while aid workers have noticed a slight increase in the amount of aid entering Gaza, it’s nothing close to the surge Israel is claiming. On Monday, UNRWA says 223 trucks of aid passed. On Tuesday, that number hit 246. On Wednesday, it was down to 141.Meanwhile, only trickles of aid are reaching northern Gaza.
WHAT HAS ISRAEL PROMISED?
After Biden said last week that future American support for the war in Gaza depends on Israel doing more to protect civilians and aid workers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a series of steps. Biden spoke out after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers delivering food to the strip. Netanyahu pledged to immediately re-open Israel's Erez crossing into northern Gaza — a pedestrian crossing destroyed by Hamas militants when they stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7. Netanyahu also said he would allow Israel’s port in Ashdod to process aid shipments and increase Jordanian aid packages through another land crossing. But Israeli officials this week dropped the plan to open Erez. Instead, they say a new crossing will be built, though it is unclear when it will open. The Ashdod port, meanwhile, is not yet accepting aid shipments and Gaza aid groups report no significant increase in trucks received at their warehouses. Before the latest Israel-Hamas war, some 500 trucks carrying food, fuel and other supplies entered Gaza daily. That was supplemented by fish and produce farmed within the territory.
Even that was barely enough in a crowded territory whose economy has been battered by a 17-year blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt. The blockade, meant to keep Hamas from arming, restricted the flow of goods in and out of Gaza and contributed to widespread poverty and unemployment. Scott Anderson, the acting director of UNRWA in Gaza, said the low levels of aid since the war started have compounded an existing, pre-war nutrition deficit in the territory. “You have to remember, this was not a nutrition-rich environment before the war. The resilience was not there," said Anderson.
WHY IS THERE A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THE UN AND ISRAEL’S NUMBERS?
Israel and the U.N. count trucks arriving in Gaza differently. Israel counts every truck it inspects and allows to pass into Gaza, according to Shimon Freedman, a spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli defense body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs. At the Kerem Shalom crossing, once the trucks pass into Gaza, the pallets of aid they are carrying are deposited in a 1-kilometer-long (a half-mile) zone for Palestinian drivers to pick up. UNRWA only counts the trucks, driven by a Palestinian contractor, returning from that zone, Anderson said. He also said that sometimes the trucks arriving from Israel are not fully loaded. Palestinian drivers on the Gaza side of the crossing load their trucks fully before passing through the gate — something that could further account for truck count differences.
WHAT IS SLOWING AID TRANSFER?
Getting from Israeli inspection, through the corridor and past the gate into Gaza takes time — and is made more arduous by the way Israel uses the Kerem Shalom crossing, Anderson said. Since the war began, Israel has kept the crossing partially closed, Anderson said. Palestinian drivers must also wait for the incoming trucks to be unloaded — further narrowing the window of time allowed for pickup. Aid inspected by Israel sometimes sits overnight, awaiting pickup. The U.N. says it stops all operations at 4:30 p.m. for safety purposes due to a breakdown in public order and airstrikes at night. UNRWA says they used to use local Palestinian police to escort aid convoys, but many refused to continue serving after airstrikes killed at least eight police officers in Rafah. Israel says armed Hamas militants have tried to siphon off aid. COGAT denied allegations that they restrict the crossing's hours or limit movement of trucks to pick up aid and blamed the U.N. for the backup, saying the agency does not have enough workers to move aid to warehouses for timely distribution.
WHAT HAPPENS MOVING FORWARD?
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday night that increasing aid efforts is a top priority.“We plan to flood Gaza with aid and we are expecting to reach 500 trucks per day,” said Gallant. He did not specify a time frame for reaching that goal. But even if Israel meets its goal, slowdowns at the crossings and convoy safety concerns may continue to hamper distribution. The U.N. has called for a return to prewar procedures — with additional terminals open and a significant amount of commercial goods, in addition to humanitarian aid, able to pass through.
“Gaza has become very quickly dependent on relief handouts,” Touma said. “The market has been forced to shut. This is not sustainable.”

US-Iran Tensions Increase With Warning of Imminent Attack
Thomas Coex, AFP/This Is Beirut/April 11, 2024
US officials warned about an “imminent” Iranian attack on Wednesday, as they did not rule out the possibility of a joint strike on Iran with Israel, while Biden promised ironclad support for Israel, calling on regional players to pressure Iran to de-escalate. US officials voiced alarm on Wednesday over the prospect of an imminent strike against Israeli interests after Israel on April 1 destroyed the Iranian consulate building, killing seven members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, including two generals. According to Bloomberg, US intelligence predicts an “imminent massive attack” by Iran and its allied groups against Israel. The question is no longer “if” this attack will take place, but “when,” an unnamed source close to US intelligence told the agency. US Central Command (CENTCOM) top general Erik Kurilla is expected in Israel this Thursday, April 11, to assess the situation, according to US media outlet Axios. He’s expected to meet Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli army officers.
US Not Ruling Out Direct Action Against Iran
A senior US official told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the US is not ruling out the possibility of launching a joint attack on Iran with Israel—if the Islamic Republic responds to the assassination of a senior IRGC general earlier this month by attacking Israel. US President Joe Biden the same day promised “ironclad” support for Israel as Iran threatens reprisals over a strike that leveled an Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed two generals. Biden’s promise comes despite his public criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the toll on civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas, especially after a strike killed seven aid workers. Iran is “threatening to launch a significant attack on Israel,” Biden told a news conference. “As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” Biden said. “Let me say it again—ironclad. We’re going to do all we can to protect Israel’s security,” said Biden.
Flights Canceled
The US Middle East envoy, Brett McGurk, called the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iraq to ask them to deliver a message to Iran urging it to lower tensions with Israel, a source with knowledge of the situation said. Iran’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Iraq spoke on the phone with Iran’s foreign minister and discussed regional tensions. Amid the heightened risks, German airline Lufthansa on Wednesday announced it had suspended flights to and from Tehran, probably until Thursday, saying it was “due to the current situation in the Middle East.” Turkish Airlines has also suspended scheduled flights between Istanbul and Tehran. And in the wake of this, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on his country’s citizens to “refrain from traveling to the Middle East, especially Lebanon and Israel, unless absolutely necessary.”Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned in a speech Wednesday that the “evil regime” of Israel “must be punished and will be punished.”Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz swiftly riposted, in a Persian-language statement on social media site X, “If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack Iran.”Iran’s clerical state supports Hamas, which on October 7 launched the deadliest attack against Israel in the country’s history, triggering a relentless six-month Israeli military operation inside the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The United States since the start of the war has sought to prevent it from spreading, including to Lebanon, where Iran supports Hezbollah. The United States has been tight-lipped in its public reaction to the April 1 strike, saying it has not determined whether Israel struck a diplomatic facility, which would breach international agreements on the inviolability of embassies and consulates.
*With AFP

US Shoots Down 11 Houthi Drones in Red Sea
AFP/This Is Beirut/April 11, 2024
The United States military said Thursday it had shot down 11 drones belonging to Yemen’s Houthis, after the group claimed it had targeted Israeli and American ships off the Gulf of Aden. The US Central Command said on X, formerly Twitter, that its forces had shot down three drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas on Wednesday morning, and eight drones later the same day. “It was determined the UAVs presented an imminent threat to US, coalition and merchant vessels in the region,” the statement said, using the acronym for unmanned aerial vehicles.
The latest Houthi attacks targeted two Israeli ships as well as an American commercial vessel and a US warship, the Houthis said in a statement. “The ships were targeted with a number of suitable naval missiles and drones,” the statement said. Houthi rebels have launched dozens of missile and drone attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November, leading to retaliatory strikes by the United States against Houthi targets in Yemen. The rebels say their actions are in solidarity with Palestinians during Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s main ally the United States formed a multinational coalition in December to protect maritime traffic, but has so far failed to prevent the attacks.
*With AFP

Russia Launches One of Its Largest Aerial Attacks on Ukraine
SERGEY BOBOK /AFP/This Is Beirut
Russia launched one of the largest missile and drone attacks of the Ukraine war, on Thursday, while the Ukrainian parliament approved a new controversial mobilization bill. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Russia fired more than 40 missiles and 40 drones at Ukraine overnight, again hitting the city of Kharkiv and targeting “critical infrastructure” throughout the country.Kyiv reported a “massive” attack on the country’s major facilities, but said that so far nobody has been reported killed. “Overnight, Russia fired more than 40 missiles and 40 drones at Ukraine,” Zelensky said on X. “Some missiles and ‘Shahed’ drones were successfully shot down. Unfortunately, only a part of them,” he added. Zelensky said infrastructure facilities were also targeted in Kyiv, the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Odesa in the South and the western city of Lviv, near the Polish border.
Energy Supply Problems
Moscow has heavily attacked Ukraine’s energy facilities over recent months, launching some of its biggest aerial strikes of the two-year war. Zelensky called on Ukraine’s Western partners not to “turn a blind eye” and to provide more air defense systems. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said hundreds of rescuers had been deployed at sites across the country after “massive shelling.”The mayor of Kharkiv warned that “problems with energy supply are possible” in the city, Ukraine’s second-largest. The head of the Lviv region, Maksym Kozytsky, said Russia attacked a gas distribution facility and an electric substation with “cruise missiles of various classes and drones.”Russia, meanwhile, said it had destroyed 12 Ukrainian drones overnight, including three as far east as the Mordovia Republic. Others were destroyed over the Kursk, Tambov, Belgorod, Bryansk and Lipetsk regions, it said. Ukraine has been attacking Russia with drones for months.
Controversial Mobilization Bill
Ukrainian lawmakers approved Thursday an army mobilization bill that will not allow long-serving soldiers to be discharged from the army, angering many troops and their families. “The bill on mobilization was adopted as a whole,” MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak said in a post on Telegram, adding that 283 deputies of the 450-member parliament voted in favor. This comes as Zelensky arrived in Lithuania for talks with Central and Eastern European leaders on support for his war-torn country. “The main thing now is to do everything to strengthen our air defense, to meet the urgent needs of the defense forces of Ukraine, as well as to consolidate international support,” Zelensky said on social media.
*With AFP

US, Japan Upgrade Defense Ties During Washington State Visit
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/This Is Beirut/April 11, 2024
The US and Japan announced their biggest upgrade to defense ties, during a Washington state visit, in which the leaders agreed that a Japanese astronaut will be the first non-American to walk on the Moon. US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida unveiled their countries’ biggest ever upgrade in defense ties Wednesday during a White House state visit focused on countering a resurgent China. Biden rolled out the red carpet for Kishida with a lavish dinner, plus music by US singer Paul Simon, as he underscored Japan’s importance as a key ally against Beijing in the Asia-Pacific region. The two leaders even agreed that a Japanese astronaut will be the first non-American to walk on the Moon, as they sought to take the alliance to new heights. “This is the most significant upgrade in our alliance since it was first established,” Biden, 81, told a press conference with Kishida in the White House Rose Garden. The two leaders unveiled plans to restructure the US military command in Japan, the biggest such change since the 1960s. The move is aimed at making US and Japanese forces more nimble in the event of threats, such as a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The United States, Japan and Australia would also launch a joint air defense network, while Britain would take part in military exercises with Washington and Tokyo.
‘Peace and Stability’
For his part, Kishida hailed the Japan-US alliance as crucial for upholding peace and democracy in the region, where China has been increasingly assertive. He called for “peace and stability” across the Taiwan Strait—but also took aim at Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. “Ukraine today, maybe East Asia tomorrow,” he said. Biden insisted that the military upgrade in China’s backyard was “purely defensive” but has made no bones about his desire to create alliances to counter China. On Thursday, he will host the first trilateral summit between Japan, the Philippines and the United States, to support Manila amid tensions with China in the South China Sea. The pomp-filled state visit for Kishida was however also meant to underscore the broader cultural and economic relations between two allied nations who were at war 80 years ago. Biden announced that a Japanese person will be the first non-American to walk on the Moon, flying on a US mission due to take place in a few years’ time. The leaders also announced deals for technology, including artificial intelligence and the economy. ‘Boldly Go’ The rest of the day was dedicated to extravagant hosting of 66-year-old Kishida and his wife Yuko. Guests at the White House state dinner included actor Robert DeNiro, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, Apple chief Tim Cook and former President Bill Clinton and ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the White House said. Biden led the room in a toast “to our alliance, to our friendship.”Kishida is the first Japanese leader to get a US state visit since Shinzo Abe in 2015, and only the fifth world leader to receive one since Biden took office in 2021. Four of those have been Asian leaders, reflecting Biden’s strategic priorities even as he wrestles with wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Staunchly pacifist for decades, Japan has in recent years made “some of the most significant, momentous changes” since World War II, US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said ahead of the visit. Beijing said the United States and Japan had “smeared and attacked” China during the Washington summit. “Ignoring China’s grave concerns, the US and Japan have smeared and attacked China on Taiwan and maritime issues, grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs and seriously violated the basic norms governing international relations,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular press conference.
*Danny Kemp, with AFP

UN Mission to Sudan Calls For End to Civil War
AFP/This Is Beirut/April 11, 2024
The UN Fact-Finding Mission to Sudan, on Thursday, called for an immediate ceasefire, the end of attacks on civilians, and full access for humanitarian aid. The Sudanese people have had enough of the devastating conflict raging inside the country, UN investigators said Thursday as the fighting rolls on into a second year. Sudan’s warring parties must commit to an immediate ceasefire, end attacks on civilians and ensure unimpeded access to humanitarian aid, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan insisted. “It’s beyond time for this devastating war to stop,” said Mohammed Chande Othman, the mission’s chair. “The Sudanese people have endured enough. The warring parties must find a path for peace and respect for human rights.”Fighting in Sudan erupted on April 15 last year between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has killed thousands and sparked a humanitarian disaster. In October, the UN Human Rights Council established a fact-finding mission to probe all alleged human rights and international humanitarian law violations in the conflict. Othman, a former chief justice of Tanzania, said the Sudanese army and the paramilitaries had shown little regard for protecting civilians, and the mission was investigating reports of repeated attacks on non-combatants, schools and hospitals. Attacks on aid convoys have also been reported, the mission said in a statement. The mission also raised concerns about poor harvests, soaring grain prices and the risk of a food catastrophe. They called on the two sides to commit to a comprehensive peace process. More than 8.5 million people have fled their homes since the fighting broke out, with nearly 1.8 million having escaped across the country’s borders. The UN refugee agency said Tuesday that thousands of people were still fleeing the country daily. An international humanitarian conference for Sudan and its neighbors will be held in Paris on Monday’s anniversary. Co-hosted by France, Germany and the European Union, it aims to address the shortfall in funding, with only six percent of the estimated $2.7 billion needed to address the crisis having been raised so far.

Biden says US support for Philippines, Japan defense 'ironclad' amid growing China provocations
WASHINGTON (AP)/Thu, April 11, 2024
President Joe Biden is meeting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House on Thursday as the three nations use their first-ever trilateral summit to try to show they are in lockstep about countering China's military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. The leaders are expected to announce that their coast guards will hold a joint patrol in the Indo-Pacific this year, a follow-up on law enforcement drills carried out last year by the allies in waters near the disputed South China Sea. The U.S. Coast Guard will also welcome Filipino and Japanese coast guard members onto a U.S. Coast Guard vessel during the patrol for training, according to senior Biden administration officials who insisted on anonymity to preview the talks. The summit comes a day after Biden held one-on-one talks with Kishida and feted the Japanese premier with a glitzy state dinner at the White House, a diplomatic honor meant to recognize Tokyo's growing clout on the global stage. It was also designed to send a clear signal that the Democratic administration remains determined to build what it calls a “latticework” of alliances in the Indo-Pacific even as it grapples with the Israel-Hamas war and Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Biden also was hosting Marcos for a private meeting at the White House ahead of the scheduled three-way talks. Biden on Wednesday reflected on the fact that Japan, once a fierce U.S. enemy, has become one of the closest American partners and an indispensable ally in a shared push for peace, security and prosperity in the Pacific and beyond. “Just a few generations ago, our two nations were locked in a devastating conflict,” Biden said with Kishida by his side for a pomp-filled arrival ceremony at the White House. “It would have been easy to say we remain adversaries. Instead, we made a far better choice: We became the closest of friends.”Thursday's three-way summit will also have a large economic component with several major U.S.-based companies — including Meta, UPS and Greenbrier Energy — announcing investments in the Philippines, administration officials said. The new deals come after Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo visited Manila last month to announce more than $1 billion in new investment by American companies in the Philippines.
The United States, the United Kingdom and Japan on Wednesday announced joint military exercises in the Indo-Pacific in 2025. That followed the Pentagon revealing earlier this week that the U.S., the U.K. and Australia were considering including Japan in the AUKUS partnership, a grouping launched in 2021 that aims to equip Australia with nuclear-powered and conventionally armed submarines. Kishida visited Capitol Hill on Thursday for an address to U.S. lawmakers that focused on the need to strengthen the partnership between the U.S. and Japan at a time of tension in the Asia-Pacific and skepticism in Congress about U.S. involvement abroad. He offered concern about “the undercurrent of self-doubt among some Americans about what your role in the world should be.”Administration officials have acknowledged growing concern about provocative Chinese action in the Pacific, which will be a large focus of the leaders' talks. The White House sees the summit as countering China’s attempts at “intimidation” and sending a message that China is "the outlier in the neighborhood,” according to an administration official. Relations between China and the Philippines have been repeatedly tested by skirmishes involving the two nations’ coast guard vessels in the disputed South China Sea. Chinese coast guard ships also regularly approach disputed Japanese-controlled East China Sea islands near Taiwan. The so-called “gray-zone” harassment by China has included shining military-grade lasers at the Philippine Coast Guard, firing water cannons at vessels and ramming into Philippine ships near the Second Thomas Shoal, which both Manila and Beijing claim. In 1999, Manila intentionally ran the World War II–era ship aground on the shoal, establishing a permanent military presence there.
Biden, in a wide-ranging phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, raised concerns about China’s operations in the South China Sea, including efforts to impede the Philippines, which the U.S. is treaty-obligated to defend, from resupplying its forces on the Second Thomas Shoal. “The main intent of this trilateral agreement is for us to be able to continue to flourish, to be able to help one another, and ... to keep the peace in the South China Sea and the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea,” Marcos told reporters before departing for Washington on Wednesday. Chinese officials have bristled at criticism over their action in the South China Sea and blamed the U.S. for exacerbating tensions. “No one should violate China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and China remains steadfast in safeguarding our lawful rights," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Thursday.
Biden has made improving relations with the Philippines a priority since Marcos became the country's president in June 2022. The relationship has had ups and downs over the years and was in a difficult place when Marcos took office. Human rights groups said Marcos’ predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte's “war on drugs” resulted in thousands of extrajudicial killings. Marcos, the son and namesake of the country’s former dictator, as a candidate said he would look to pursue closer ties with China. But he's increasingly drifted toward Washington amid concerns about China’s coercive action. Biden hosted him for talks at the White House last year, the first Washington visit by a Philippine president in more than a decade. Biden also met him on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly soon after Marcos took office, and dispatched Vice President Kamala Harris to Manila in 2022 to meet him.
Last year, the Philippines agreed to give the U.S. access to four more bases on the islands.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 11-12/2024
Defining Jihadism
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi/Gatestone Institute/April 11, 2024
There is no need, therefore, to abandon the terms jihadism and jihadist out of political correctness or fear of offending Muslims. When appropriately defined, those terms are helpful in grasping the terrorist and insurgent threats and challenges posed by al-Qa'ida, the Islamic State and similar groups -- far more so than khawarij, a term that does not have immediately clear meaning for wider audiences, is historically inaccurate, and sounds like a sneaky effort to cloud a very real threat.
There is no need to abandon the terms jihadism and jihadist out of political correctness or fear of offending Muslims. When appropriately defined, those terms are helpful in grasping the terrorist and insurgent threats and challenges posed by al-Qa'ida, the Islamic State and similar groups. (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
Recently, the Daily Wire revealed that an internal newsletter from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence featured an article arguing for "changing terminology related to counterterrorism," because "certain phrases to identify international terrorism... are hurtful to Muslim-Americans." One of the supposedly "problematic phrases" is the term "jihadist." An alternative suggestion given in the newsletter to denote jihadists is the word khawarij.[1]
If one wanted to find stereotypical "woke" discourse and political correctness, one would be hard pressed to find a better example than this. Unfortunately, the suggested change in terminology only creates more obstacles to an accurate understanding of contemporary terrorism and insurgent activity associated with the Islamic State (ISIS) and al-Qa'ida.
For a start, the term khawarij (which can be translated in the broadest sense as "outsiders") is not immediately understandable to broader audiences or those without knowledge of historical and present-day usage of the term in Arabic-language and Islamic discourse. In this regard, the use of the term recalls the British government's official adoption of the derisive Arabic acronym "Da'esh'"(standing for "the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham") to refer to the Islamic State -- an acronym that is by now familiar to Arabic-speakers but is meaningless to most English-speakers.
Within Islamic discourse today, the term khawarij is often thrown at those who are deemed too extreme in their beliefs. It may be as an insult, for example, against the Islamic State by al-Qa'ida, or from other Sunni Muslims against the Islamic State and al-Qa'ida. Even the Islamic State uses the term khawarij to describe groups it deems too extreme: most notably, the faction dubbed Jama'at Ahl al-Sunna lil-Da'wa wa al-Jihad, which broke off from the Islamic State in the West Africa region and continues to fight against the Islamic State.
The historical and present-day baggage of the term khawarij means that using the term in an attempt to delegitimise groups such as al-Qa'ida and Islamic State is unlikely to prove fruitful. Worse, it impedes proper understanding among the general public regarding the beliefs of these groups and makes it seem as though non-Muslim governments have the authority to arbitrate on what constitutes the proper "middle" path of Islam and who are the supposed deviants going too far in their beliefs.
However, this discussion does raise the issue of definitions of jihadism and its associated term jihadist.[2]
It is also not helpful to apply the terms jihadism and jihadist to any use of the term jihad by Muslims. Some Muslims do insist that "greater jihad" should be defined as some personal or spiritual struggle, far removed from the idea of taking up arms. Others speak of jihad ("lesser jihad") in the sense of an armed struggle.
One of the most useful ways of looking at this issue might be through the lens of "extremism" as developed by JM Berger, utilising social identity theory. People often define themselves in terms of in-groups (such as a religious community) and corresponding out-groups (such as individuals and groups who do not share the religious identity of the in-group). In-groups and their corresponding out-groups may simply co-exist or perhaps compete to win adherents while not necessarily being hostile to each other. For Berger, "extremism" is when an in-group sees its survival and success as unable to be separated from hostility to an out-group — ranging from defamation to discrimination, to genocide at the worst.
For groups conventionally seen as jihadist, there is an eternal conflict between believers/Muslims (in-group) and disbelievers/non-Muslims (out-group). It is a conflict that is religious in nature. The Muslim ummah is portrayed as facing an immediate crisis: supposed degradation, humiliation and subjugation at the hands of the disbelievers. The solution to this immediate crisis is to wage jihad (violent hostile action) to expel the non-Muslim "invaders" or "apostate" entities, such as those that have supposedly abandoned Islam because they do not implement Islamic law in its totality and supposedly collaborate with the non-Muslims.
Ultimately, however, there is the broader "crisis" of the existence of disbelievers and their exercise of any sovereignty or power on any part of the Earth. Thus, the jihad continues against them until they convert to Islam, are subjugated as second-class dhimmis (an option for Jews, Christians and certain other non-Muslims) or are killed.
Islamic State, for instance, in Issue 15 of its English-language magazine, Dabiq, (published in 2016) carried an article addressed to the West, "Why We Hate You and Fight You." The foremost reason, in the words of the article, is "because you are disbelievers," and then elaborating:
"Just as your disbelief is the primary reason we hate you, your disbelief is the primary reason we fight you, as we have been commanded to fight the disbelievers until they submit to the authority of Islam, either by becoming Muslims, or by paying jizyah – for those afforded this option – and living in humiliation under the rule of the Muslims. "
The article then mentions grievances of "crimes against Muslims" such as bombing raids that "kill, and maim our people around the world," the West's "puppets in the usurped lands of the Muslims [that] oppress, torture, and wage war against anyone who calls to the truth," and the invasion of Muslim lands. Expelling the Western presence from Muslim lands and deposing their "puppets" may be the more immediate objectives, but they are derivative of the broader crisis of the existence of disbelievers and the impediment they present to the ability of Islamic State to exercise its sovereignty anywhere on Earth.
The same basic worldview is articulated by al-Qa'ida. An interview, entitled "Questions and Answers Regarding al-Aqsa Flood and its Repercussions," from October 2023, shows differences between al-Qa'ida and the Islamic State. Most notably, whereas al-Qa'ida was effusive in its praise for the Hamas-led "al-Aqsa Flood" attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the Islamic State could not bring itself to praise the operation because, unlike al-Qa'ida, it considers Hamas in all its forms to be an "apostate" movement for reasons such as its alliance with Iran and failure to implement Islamic law in its entirety.
Nonetheless, the same basic jihadist worldview came through when the late leader of Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Khaled Batarfi, was asked about how he viewed the reactions of rulers of Muslim lands to Israel's military campaign in Gaza, as well as his message to the broader Muslim masses. For Batarfi, those rulers' policies apparently indicated the hollowness of their words of condemnation against Israel's actions: he asked for God to grant Muslims a "caliphate" to replace these rulers. Batarfi subsequently explained that the conflict with "the Jews and Crusaders" is a "religious battle."
No one, he continued, should be deceived "that we fight the Jews only because they are occupying the Muslims' land or [we fight the Americans] only because the Americans occupy the Muslims' land and wield power over us." Rather, the other crucial reason is that "they have disbelieved in God Almighty." He elaborated:
"For the Prophet (SAWS), when he came and was sent, said: 'I was sent with the sword before the hour, so that God Alone should be worshipped with no partner besides Him... I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no deity but God and that I am the Messenger of God, and perform prayer and give zakat. If they do that, they have secured sacrosanctity of their blood and wealth from me....'
"These hadiths show that we are fighting them as part of a religious war, fighting whereby they either convert to Islam, pay the jizya by hand while they feel subdued, so we fight them so that religion should belong entirely to God. This is at the time in which we repel them from our land and repel them from our holy sites. Then we fight them as part of offensive fighting and jihad. As for today, our jihad against these people is defensive jihad. We repel them from our religion, our holy sites, our land and resources. Today, oh Muslims, all the Ummah is occupied. It is all controlled by the enemies: either the external enemies who attack us in our abodes, or via the internal enemies who are these rulers who replace the law of God and those loyal to the disbelievers and those who wage war on the Muslims. Oh servants of God, look and see how they fight and wage a religious war against us."
Thus, while serious disagreements arise between jihadist groups to the point that they often fight each other in interminable, internecine warfare, the basic worldview remains the same.
It is possible to define jihadism concisely as follows: "Jihadism is a worldview in which the survival and success of Muslims can never be separated from waging armed jihad against disbelievers of various kinds. The solution to the broader crisis posed by disbelief entails continuous jihad that should first reunite Muslim lands under one caliphate and then seek to conquer the entire world for Islam."
The definition does not purport to say whether this worldview constitutes the correct interpretation of Islam. Rather, it only notes the necessary centrality of armed jihad to that worldview.
Additionally, defining jihadism in this way also leads to a better appreciation of distinctions between Islamic groups. One corollary of the definition is jihadism's hostility to the current global system of nation-states.
There is no need, therefore, to abandon the terms jihadism and jihadist out of political correctness or fear of offending Muslims. When appropriately defined, those terms are helpful in grasping the terrorist and insurgent threats and challenges posed by al-Qa'ida, the Islamic State and similar groups -- far more so than khawarij, a term that does not have immediately clear meaning for wider audiences, is historically inaccurate, and sounds like a sneaky effort to cloud a very real threat.
Dr. Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a Milstein Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum and an Associate of the Royal Schools of Music. He recently completed a PhD at Swansea University on historical narratives in Islamic State propaganda. Follow him on his website and on X at @ajaltamimi.
[1] Those described as the first khawarij in Islamic sources are recorded as having opposed the rule of Ali bin Abi Talib, who served as the fourth successor (caliph) to rule over the Muslim community after the death of Islam's founder, Muhammad. In fact, like other Sunni Muslims, al-Qa'ida and the Islamic State accept Ali as one of the "rightly-guided" caliphs who represented the ideal system of governance they seek to create: that is, the theocratic polity of the caliphate that unites the global Muslim community.
Also, a number of specific beliefs are ascribed to historical groups deemed Khawarij such as declaring other Muslims to be non-Muslims on the mere basis of committing grave sins like fornication and drinking alcohol. These beliefs are rejected by al-Qa'ida and the Islamic State.
[2] On the broadest level, while the term jihad is most readily associated with Islam, it also occurs in Arabic-language Christian discourse in a positive sense to denote a spiritual struggle and willingness to suffer persecution and die for one's faith.
For example, a liturgy book of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church (an autonomous church within the Catholic Church, based mainly in the Levant region and using Greek and Arabic as its liturgical languages) uses the term jihad to describe the death of Isidore of Chios, commemorated by the church as a martyr who died during the Roman persecution of Christians in the third century. As recorded in the liturgy book:
"Your martyr, oh Lord: by his jihad he obtained the crown of eternity, from you, oh our God. For he obtained Your power, and thus vanquished the persecutors, and destroyed the feeble tyranny of the devils. So by his supplications, oh Christ our God, save our souls."
This sort of language is similar to the imagery that can be found in Latin Christian writings about martyrdom.
© 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.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20561/defining-jihadism

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Praises Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, Who Glorified Hamas' October 7 Massacre: 'His Permanent Engagement To Foster Peace And Solidarity Must Be An Example To All'
MEMRI/April 11, 2024
Palestinians | Special Dispatch No. 11269
https://www.memri.org/reports/un-secretary-general-antonio-guterres-praises-al-azhar-sheikh-ahmad-al-tayyeb-who-glorified
As part of a Middle East tour on the occasion of Ramadan, on March 24, 2024 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met in Cairo with the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the supreme religious authority in the Sunni Muslim world. In a post on his X account after the meeting, Guterres praised Al-Tayyeb, saying that "his permanent engagement to foster peace and solidarity must be an example to all." This is despite the unreserved support expressed by Al-Tayyeb and by the institute he heads for the Hamas terror organization. Immediately after Hamas' October 7 terror attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 240 were taken hostage, Al-Azhar issued a statement declaring that the institution "salutes with utmost pride the resistance efforts of the proud Palestinian people."[1] In another statement several days later, Al-Azhar again saluted the steadfastness of the Palestinians in Gaza in their struggle against Israel and their willingness to be martyred on its soil.[2] Moreover, since October 7 other Al-Azhar officials have frequently incited against Israel and the U.S. while using virulently antisemitic rhetoric, calling the Jews "the descendants of apes and pigs," "killers of the prophets" and "enemies of humanity" and hoping for their demise. The dean of the Islamic and Arabic Studies faculty at Al-Azhar University, Muhammad Omar Al-Qady, blasted the U.S., calling it "the greatest Satan" and a "global mafia."
It should be noted that Ahmad Al-Tayyeb is known for his extremist positions and support for terrorism and terrorist organizations, and refuses to promote moderate religious discourse as part of the fight against extremism. This is despite his frequent participation in interfaith dialogue and although he signed the Document on Human Fraternity along with Pope Francis in 2019. In the past he stated, for example, that martyrdom attacks by Palestinians against Israeli targets are legitimate acts of self-defense, because, as long as Israel, the "barbaric enemy," continues to attack the Palestinians with Western and American backing, the Palestinians are entitled "to blow up whatever they want." He also said that there was no proof that Osama bin Laden was responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks and hinted that Israelis may have been behind them. On another occasion he claimed that fundamentalist terrorist groups are the product of imperialism in the service of global Zionism. Moreover, Al-Azhar under Al-Tayyeb refuses to accuse Muslim terrorists of heresy – which would have deprived them of religious justification for their violent actions – thus undermining the efforts of Egyptian President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi to promote moderate religious discourse.[3]
This report reviews the recent meeting between UN Secretary-General Guterres and Al-Azhar Sheikh Al-Tayyeb and the positions expressed by the latter and by the institution he heads in praise of Hamas and against Israel since October 7.
Guterres About Al-Tayyeb: His Commitment To Peace Is An Example To All
As stated, on March 24, 2024, despite the support expressed by Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyeb and by other officials in his institution for Hamas and for its October 7 massacre, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres chose to visit Al-Tayyeb in his Cairo headquarters, along with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini and UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt Elena Panova. According to Al-Azhar, during the meeting Guterres said to Al-Tayyeb: "I am honored to meet you. We appreciate your persistent effort to foster peace and solidarity; you are an example to all. I wish to convey our appreciation for Al-Azhar, which is as a strong voice defending and supporting the Palestinian people."[4]
Al-Tayyeb, for his part, praised Guterres' position on the war in Gaza and warned that, if the present situation in Gaza persists, " we will witness an unprecedented spread of crime, hatred, destruction, wars and violence across the world, which will impact the West and the U.S." He also warned that the Gaza war threatens "the efforts of rapprochement between East and West."
During the meeting Al-Tayyeb presented Guterres with a shield from the Muslim Council of Elders as a token of appreciation from Al-Azhar for his courageous stance on the conflict in Gaza and efforts to combat Islamophobia. The Council of Elders, headed by Al-Tayyeb himself, comprises Islamic scholars and was founded by the UAE to promote tolerance and dialogue with the West.
Following the meeting, Guterres posted a picture of it on his X account and wrote: " A major moment of my Ramadan solidarity mission was being received by the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar @alimamaltayeb in Cairo. His permanent engagement to foster peace & solidarity must be an example to all - now more than ever."[5]
Guterres' tweet
Al-Azhar "Salutes" Hamas' October 7 Terror Attack
As stated, since October 7, Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyeb and other members of this institution have praised the attack, saluting the attack and the Palestinians' "courage" and "steadfastness," and glorifying the many who have "attained martyrdom."
On October 7 itself, Al-Azhar issued a statement thanking the Palestinians for "giving hope" to the Muslims. Among other things, the statement said: "Al-Azhar conveys its heartfelt condolences for our martyrs, the martyrs of the Islamic and Arab nation, the martyrs of proud Palestine, who attained martyrdom for the sake of defending their homeland, their nation and their cause, [which is also] our cause and the cause of all honorable people in the world: the Palestinian cause. Al-Azhar prays to Allah to grant the Palestinian people steadfastness in the face of the Zionist tyranny and terror.
"Al-Azhar salutes with utmost pride the resistance efforts of the proud Palestinian people, and demands that the civilized world and the international community examine in a spirit of rationality and wisdom the Zionist occupation of Palestine, which is the most prolonged occupation in modern history. This occupation is a stain on the forehead of humanity and the international community, which practices discrimination and knows only a double standard when it comes to the Palestinian issue.
"Al-Azhar supports the hearts and hands of the proud Palestinian people who have imbued us with spirit and faith and restored us to life, after we thought that would never happen, and prays that Allah grant them steadfastness, peace of mind and strength. It stresses that every occupation disappears sooner or later, whether this takes a long time or a short time."[6]
On October 11, 2023, Al-Azhar issued another statement saluting the Palestinians in Gaza for their steadfastness, saying: "You are better off dying on your land as knights, heroes and martyrs than abandoning it and leaving it to the usurping imperialists. Know that abandoning your land means the death of your and our [Palestinian] cause and its elimination forever."[7]
Al-Azhar Fatwa: " The Occupying Entity Will Perish And The Lives Of The Martyrs Will Be Longer Than Those Of Their Murderers"
Following its unreserved support for Hamas' October 7 terror attack, Al-Azhar and its members issued inciting statements in which they hoped for Israel's demise, called the U.S. "the greatest Satan" and used virulently antisemitic rhetoric.[8] For example, On October 18, 2023, Al-Azhar's "Global Center for Online Fatwas" posted a fatwa (religious ruling) on its Facebook page stating that "the term 'civilians' does not apply to the Zionist settlers of the occupied land," which can be read as religious permission to target them. The fatwa also encouraged Israeli Arabs to join the struggle against Israel, calling it "a cancer in the heart of the Islamic Arab nation," destined to perish. The fatwa said: "…In their steadfastness, resistance and persistent adherence to their land, the Palestinian people continue to present a model of heroism, despite the danger of the arbitrary Zionist bombardment... The world deliberately ignores the fact that the occupying Zionist entity is a cancer in the heart of the Islamic and Arab nation. According to international conventions and laws, occupying forces have no right to the land, the resources and the holy sites [they are occupying], and their aggression must necessarily be met with resistance against their usurpation, oppression and tyranny.
"The current resistance activity is a new link in the ongoing chain of the Palestinian people's struggle against the terrorism of the occupying and usurping Zionist entity…
"The Palestinian interior [i.e., the Israeli Arabs] must join ranks against this despicable occupier and cleave to their just [Palestinian] cause, without fearing the occupation's vicious means and ways… which are destined to disappear…
"Oh proud Palestine and our blessed Jerusalem… in times of distress, Allah will provide succor. The occupying entity will perish and the lives of the martyrs will be longer than those of their murderers. Allah's promise is truth and His victory will come…"[9]
Faculty Dean At Al-Al-Azhar University: May Allah Bring Perdition Upon The "Cursed," "Treacherous" Jews, "The Descendants Of Apes And Pigs"
Addressing Hamas' October 7 attack in a series of posts on his personal Facebook account, Muhammad Omar Al-Qady, dean of the Faculty for Islamic and Arabic Studies at Al-Azhar University, praised Hamas' attack and wished for the demise of the Jews, whom he called "the descendants of apes and pigs." He wrote: "[When I say] resistance I mean the jihad fighters in Palestine, who defend their honor and land, those who fight against their enemy and ours, namely the Jews… I ask Allah to strengthen His soldiers and His camp and grant our brothers in Gaza, in Palestine and in the rest of the Muslim countries victory over their enemy and ours, the enemy of Allah and humanity, the cursed descendants of apes and pigs [i.e., the Jews]."[10]
In another post Al-Qady wrote: "Allah, bring perdition upon the cursed and treacherous [Jews], the murderers of prophets, of rulers and of decent people, and on whoever helped them and agreed to their deeds…"[11]
In a post headed "The Greatest Satan!," Al-Qady slammed the U.S., writing: "It is naïve and foolish to expect victory or justice from [the U.S.] – a state whose forefathers were criminals, murderers, thieves, rapists, robbers and villains, riffraff from all over the world that Columbus released from the prisons of Europe – or from the mother of that Satan, [namely] Britain. [Columbus] brought them to the American continent and they murdered its people and exterminated its owners, the Indians. Then they established a state that is more like a gang of criminals or a global mafia, which became the thug of the world and the greatest Satan, and the countries of Europe became its gangs… After World War II this country reached the peak of fabrication and usurpation. Today they have increased their tyranny [even more], while exploiting the fear of other countries, which follow them like sheep. We saw their drunken president, Biden, arrogantly and wantonly extending absolute support to the usurping and immoral state of the descendants of apes and pigs [i.e., the Jews], and giving them permission to complete the extermination of the wretched people of Gaza…"[12]
Other Extremist Positions Expressed By Ahmad Al-Tayyeb
Al-Tayyeb's public statements on various topics over the years, many of which were translated and published by MEMRI, included additional extremist pronouncements. For example, he said that there is no proof that Osama bin Laden was responsible for the 9/11 attacks and hinted that Israelis may have been involved in them. He said further that the Muslims had initially condemned the attacks, but since then their feelings have changed, and the U.S. has exploited them to harm Muslims. [13] On another occasion he said that the fundamentalist terror movements are a new product created by imperialism in the service of global Zionism.[14]
He has said that "martyrdom operations, in which the Palestinians blow up targets of the Israeli occupation, are actions that are 100% permitted according to Islamic religious law," that suicide attacks by Palestinians against Israeli targets are a legitimate form of self-defense, and that as long as "the barbaric enemy" Israel continues to attack them with Western and American backing, the Palestinians are entitled "to blow up whatever they want."[15] He also stated that there is Islamophobia in the West and that it is a result of "modern colonialism" and a desire to take over the Muslims' resources.[16]
Al-Tayyeb, who today often participates in interfaith dialogue, and even meets with Pope Francis, spoke against such dialogue in the past, called Christians "infidels,"[17] and stated that a non-Muslim cannot head a Muslim country because this contravenes the religion, common sense, and democracy.[18] He has also declared that unrepentant apostates should be killed.[19]
In addition to calling sexual freedom and homosexuality in the West diseases,[20] he has also condemned what he called the West's efforts to force Muslims to accept the "perversion" of homosexuality in the guise of promoting human rights, and added that the West will be punished like Sodom and Gomorrah for allowing same-sex marriage. On wife-beating in Islam, he said that it applies only to "rebellious women" and that "it's not really beating, it's more like punching... It's like shoving or poking her."[21]
[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10834 – Egypt's Al-Azhar Salutes Hamas Terror Attack In Which Over 600 Israelis Were Killed, Over 100 Were Kidnapped, And Over 2,000 Were Wounded, October 8, 2023.
[2] Facebook.com/OfficialAzharEg, October 11, 2023.
[3] See MEMRI reports and clips: Special Dispatch No. 7598, Egypt's Al-Azhar Sheikh Al-Tayyeb, In Official U.K. Visit, Meets With Queen, Archbishop Of Canterbury, Discusses Interfaith Coexistence: Al-Tayyeb's Antisemitic, Anti-Christian, Anti-Shi'ite, Anti-Gay Statements From The MEMRI Archives, July 31, 2018; Inquiry and Analysis Series No. 1326 - In Egypt, Clashes Between The Institution Of The Presidency And The Institution Of Al-Azhar – August 21, 2017. Clip No. 4488, Sheik of Al-Azhar: Global Zionism Behind Islamist Terror Organizations, September 8, 2014; Special Dispatch No. 7376 - Egyptian Religious Establishment Continues To Refuse To Accuse Islamic Terrorist Organization Activists Of Heresy – March 9, 2018; Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1505, Dispute At Al-Azhar's 'International Conference On The Renewal Of Islamic Thought' Reflects Institution's Long-Standing Rejection Of Religious Reforms In Egypt, March 20, 2020; Special Dispatch No. 5910 - Al-Azhar: The Islamic State (ISIS) Is A Terrorist Organization, But It Must Not Be Accused Of Heresy – December 21, 2014.
[4] Facebook.com/OfficialAzharEg, March 24, 2024.
[5] Twitter.com/antonioguterres, March 24, 2024.
[6] See MEMRI report: Special Dispatch No. 10834 – Egypt's Al-Azhar Salutes Hamas Terror Attack In Which Over 600 Israelis Were Killed, Over 100 Were Kidnapped, And Over 2,000 Were Wounded, October 8, 2023.
[7] Facebook.com/OfficialAzharEg, October 11, 2023.
[8] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10952, Virulent Incitement By Al-Azhar: Praise For Palestinian Jihad Fighters; Israel Is Destined To Perish; U.S. Is The Greatest Satan; Jews Are Descendants Of Apes And Pigs, November 10, 2023.
[9] Facebook.com/fatwacenter, October 18, 2023.
[10] Facebook.com/drmalqady, October 17, 2023.
[11] Facebook.com/drmalqady, October 18, 2023.
[12] Facebook.com/drmalqady, October 18, 2023.
[13] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 2868, President Mubarak Appoints Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayyeb as the New Al-Azhar Sheikh; In a 2002 Interview from MEMRI Archives, Dr. Al-Tayyeb Said: 'We Condemned the September 11 Attacks – But Since Then Our Feelings Have Changed', March 19, 2010.
[14] See MEMRI TV Clip No. 4488, Sheik of Al-Azhar: Global Zionism Behind Islamist Terror Organizations, Sept 8, 2014.
[15] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 7598, Egypt's Al-Azhar Sheikh Al-Tayyeb, In Official U.K. Visit, Meets With Queen, Archbishop Of Canterbury, Discusses Interfaith Coexistence: Al-Tayyeb's Antisemitic, Anti-Christian, Anti-Shi'ite, Anti-Gay Statements From The MEMRI Archives, July 31, 2018.
[16] Special Dispatch No. 7297 - Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayyeb: Islamophobia Took Root in the West Because of " Modern Colonialism," Barbaric Policies, Coveting of Arab Resources, June 2, 2019.
[17] Fath-news.com, December 19, 2016; Youtube.com/watch?v=MFmXsgUPaOE, December 17, 2016; see also MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 3158, Al-Azhar Sheikh: The West Isn't Really Working For Peace in the Middle East, Interfaith Dialogue Is Futile; Al-Azhar Clerics Oppose Ground Zero Mosque; Al-Aqsa Research Academy Member Dr. Abd Al-Mu'ti Bayumi: Mosque Is a 'Zionist Plot' That Could Link Islam to 9/11 August 11, 2010
[18] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 2933, New Sheikh of Al-Azhar Warns Against Shi'itization of Sunni Societies, States: A Copt Cannot Become Leader of Egypt, May 1, 2010.
[19] See MEMRI TV Clip. No. 5527, Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayyeb: In Islam, Unrepentant Apostates Should Be Killed, Homosexuality Is a Disease, June 16, 2016.
[20] See MEMRI TV Clip. No. 5527, Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayyeb: In Islam, Unrepentant Apostates Should Be Killed, Homosexuality Is a Disease, June 16, 2016.
[21] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 8119 - Sheikh Of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayyeb: The West Will Be Punished For Gay Marriage Sooner Or Later, Like Sodom And Gomorrah; Islam Only Permits Wife-beating In Rare Cases, It Is Much Worse In The West, June 16, 2019; Special Dispatch No. 2868, President Mubarak Appoints Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayyeb as the New Al-Azhar Sheikh; In a 2002 Interview from MEMRI Archives, Dr. Al-Tayyeb Said: 'We Condemned the September 11 Attacks – But Since Then Our Feelings Have Changed', March 19, 2010; MEMRI TV Clip No. 1478, President Of Al-Azhar University And Former Mufti Of Egypt Ahmad Al-Tayyeb Explains Wife Beating In Islam, May 25, 2007.

The consulate attack: Iranian empire will not strike back
Makram Rabah/Alarabia/April 11/2024
This year’s April Fool’s Day, internationally recognized for its practical jokes and harmless trickery, unfolded under a different light for the residents of Damascus and the Almaza district. A significant explosion shook the neighborhood, targeting an annex of the Iranian embassy in Syria. This Israeli strike on the Iranian compound resulted in the complete demolition of the building where senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leaders were holding a meeting. The attack led to the death of Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.
The strike against the IRGC in Damascus was, to many, a provocation that could have dragged the Iranian regime into a full-scale war. Yet, over one week has passed without any retaliatory action from Iran. This inaction, following the Israeli strike that decimated the operational command of the IRGC in the Levant, highlights several critical facts that both the regional populace and the international community continue to overlook. These facts reaffirm Iran’s relative weakness compared to the West’s assumptions or the image it wishes to project to the region.
While the Biden administration and the Iranian regime have disassociated themselves from the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Zahedi and his team—given their titles and job descriptions—were pivotal in orchestrating Iran’s network of non-state actors or militias. Their role in enhancing the capabilities, training, and funding of Hamas and similar groups was clearly articulated in the eulogies published following their deaths.
Zahedi and his companions were not employees of an international NGO working to alleviate the plight of refugees or the disenfranchised. Instead, they were directly responsible for the chaos and destruction wrought by the IRGC across the region, including the sinister use of barrel bombs and chemical weapons alongside the Assad regime.
Thus, portraying Zahedi and the IRGC as champions of regional peoples and Palestinians is not only unfounded but also offensive. The IRGC and its proxies, equipped solely for suppressing and persecuting local Arab opponents, have proven ineffective against technologically superior armies. The confrontation between the Israeli army and Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, exemplifies this. Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian crisis and its transformation into a regular army have made it more vulnerable to Israeli actions, moving away from the guerrilla tactics that marked its inception.
Despite expectations of retaliation from Iran or the IRGC for the loss of their commanders, such a response seems improbable, given the reality on the ground and historical precedents. While Zahedi was significant to Iran, his importance did not match that of his predecessor, Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force assassinated by the United States on January 3, 2020. Iran’s subsequent actions did not match the gravity of Soleimani’s loss, and the accidental downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 turned the IRGC into an object of ridicule. Both Iran and its proxies have vowed retribution. Yet, their actions suggest a preference for perceived restraint over actual courage, to the point where Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has been mockingly referred to as “Mr. Patience” by critics.
In reality, contrary to its leadership’s threats, the IRGC lacks the capability to fulfill its grandiose claims against Israel or support the Palestinians amid ongoing strife in Gaza. Iran’s restraint is not a reflection of strategic wisdom but a manifestation of its inability to live up to the narrative constructed by the West, particularly the United States, as a formidable adversary or more sinisterly as a rational being that can be contained and normalized. The notion of the “Iranian Empire” striking back is a misnomer. Iran is not an empire but a rogue state led by aging warlords masquerading as tacticians. Ultimately, plotting mayhem from a consulate does not confer diplomatic immunity, nor does proclaiming to champion the rights of the Palestinian people while actively undermining their cause.

What Does Sudan Have Left from its ‘Spring’
Osman Mirghani/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 11/2024
Several anniversaries overlap in Sudan during the month of April, which is associated with pivotal events that have left their mark on the country's journey and the lives of its people. It began with the uprising of April 1985; then came the 2018 revolution and the sit-in at the General Command headquarter. Next, there was the overthrow of former President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, and finally this April will mark the first anniversary of the April 15 war. This overlap between the most recent revolution and the current war means that this month stirs contradictory sentiments among the Sudanese. However, the tragedy of this war and its repercussions on the country and its people dominate. Its wounds will not be easily removed from the collective memory of the Sudanese people.
Where is the revolution now?
Five years on, the Sudanese revolution seems to be faltering, just like the other "Arab Spring" revolutions. Sudan has joined the club of the miserable countries where revolutions ended in war. No freedom, no peace, and no justice, only a devastating war that has deepened Sudan’s divisions and wounds. It has destroyed the country and displaced millions of Sudanese, both internally and externally, and left two-thirds of the population on the brink of hunger. Even amid this bleak state of affairs, some are trying to exploit the revolution and its slogans for their own ends. One does not know whether to laugh or cry as we see those who killed the youths in the September (September) 2013 uprising, suppressed the 2018 revolution in its early stages, and played a role in the massacre that broke up the sit-in at the General Command headquarters, now claiming to fight in the name of the revolution and to being working to achieve its objectives. A faction that committed genocide in Darfur, which the youths of the revolution condemned with their chant "Oh arrogant racists... the whole country is Darfur" - now claim to stand up for the revolution's objectives, wave its flags, and fight for freedom, justice, and the marginalized. These delusional figures think they can fool the people by talking about the revolution and pretending that they had been behind it and its hope for democracy. Meanwhile, reality bears witness to the gravity of the human rights violations they have committed and the destruction they have caused.
It is cruelly ironic that those who did not take part in the revolution and are not known for struggling in its name when the old regime was at the height of power, those who said and did nothing when the youths were being repressed Bashir's regime in the squares and universities, are now filling the world with their condemnation, as though they were the architects of the revolution and on its frontlines.
Many did not join the revolution's marches until they were certain that it would succeed after having seen the previous regime stumble. They then rushed to join the celebrations, raising their voices louder than any other. You don't know whether to laugh or cry when you hear them trying to mention the revolution in every sentence they utter. These marchants exploiting the revolution have become an obstacle with their baseless claims to heroism. They have intensified conflicts and disputes, paralyzing the revolution and lighting the fuse of war.
Where are the youths of the revolution, who had been the ones to fuel it and sacrifice for it? The youths of the revolution, along with their families, have been displaced by the war. Their education has been suspended, their ambitions have been stymied, their dreams have been disrupted, and their future is now uncertain. Their priority is for the war to end, for universities and schools to reopen, and for life to go back to normal. The dreams they had had during the revolution have been crushed by the conflicts of figures who jumped on the bandwagon and vied for the spoils of power.
Many of those who tried to bolster their image in the name of the revolution brought its demise. Some parties sought a lengthy transitional period, thinking that early elections would not grant them a share of power or a seat at the table. They betrayed the revolution when they rushed to sign a partnership with the military through the Constitutional Charter. They then breached its stipulations as they rushed to take up positions in the government and delayed the formation of a legislative council, which was supposed to oversee the executive and broaden the participation of revolutionary forces and youths. They then agreed to extend the transitional period after signing the Juba Peace Agreement.
A lack of rationality and political flexibility has led various forces to engage in a nihilistic, exclusionary struggle that left the revolution deviating from its goals, undermined it, and fed into the charged climate that set the stage for war. Sadly, many of those who lead the scene have not learned from this difficult experience. Conflicts remain acrimonious, polarization is at its peak, and exclusionary rhetoric has prevailed. At this juncture, Sudan does not need slogans that exploit the revolution. I need a bold and courageous stand that recognizes the priority for the people today is the war and its escalating consequences and dangers. The imperative now is to move to another stage, lest Sudan be lost. The various players, including the Forces of Freedom and Change and the Sudanese Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces, need to reconsider their positions. The needed shift can be seen in the reform memorandum submitted by the National Umma Party, especially regarding its stance on the war. The more this review is delayed, the more difficult the situation becomes and the slimmer the chances of coming to an agreement on a national project that can save the country from a grim future and endless conflicts.
As the French poet, writer, and philosopher Paul Valery said, "The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up." The Sudanese have been cruelly awakened to a new state of affairs with this war, which has overshadowed what had remained of their revolutionary dreams, changed their priorities, and imposed new considerations.

Where Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism Collide
Michelle Goldberg/The New York Times/April 11/2024
Every time I write, as I did last week, that I don’t think anti-Zionism is necessarily antisemitic, I get emails from Jewish readers that are angry, disappointed or sometimes simply baffled. “Israel is the political entity through which the Jewish people exercises its natural right of self-determination and control over its own fate,” said one typical recent message. “How is singling out the Jewish people to deprive it of those rights not antisemitic?”
To answer this question fully would take more than a single column, but I want to make a brief attempt, because lately, in reaction to the grotesque suffering in Gaza, two ugly, intertwined trends are gaining steam. Well-intentioned opponents of Jewish nationalism, some Jewish themselves, are being falsely smeared as antisemites. At the same time, antisemitism is cloaking itself in anti-Zionism, with people spitting out the word “Zionist” when they really seem to mean “Jew.”
My own views on Zionism are ambivalent and conflicted. I think the idea of Israel as a colonial entity that will eventually be dismantled is a malign fantasy — most Jewish Israelis don’t have anywhere else to go — but I also recognize that the country’s creation can’t be disentangled from the dispossession of the Palestinians. Yes, as Zionists often point out, Palestinians were far from the only people made refugees as maps were redrawn in the wake of World War II. After Israel’s creation, more Jews were uprooted from Arab and Muslim countries than Arabs expelled from their homes in historic Palestine. It is not Israel’s fault that some of its neighbors kept displaced Palestinians as stateless refugees rather than integrating them as full citizens. But I could never blame a Palestinian for thinking it obscenely unfair that I have a right to “return” to a country to which I have no family connection, while Palestinians who lost their homes in 1948 do not. I also understand why many Jews, the survivors of millenniums of attempts to destroy them as a people, put their need for national self-determination above other, competing values. But one needn’t hate Jews to make a different moral calculus.
Right now, the relentless growth of settlements in the West Bank has created a one-state reality on the ground, although one in which people have very different rights and freedoms depending on their ethnic and religious background. There are people of good will who think the way out of this insupportable situation lies in the fight for equal democratic rights in a single state for everyone living in the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. “It is time for liberal Zionists to abandon the goal of Jewish-Palestinian separation and embrace the goal of Jewish-Palestinian equality,” Peter Beinart wrote in Jewish Currents in 2020. The idea of a binational state appeals to my belief in democracy and multiculturalism, but in practice I fear it would be a disaster that would devolve into a horrific civil war. Yet as long as the status quo is intolerable and the two-state solution favored by liberals like me seems far out of reach, it is understandable that idealists will grope for an alternative.
That said, I can’t fault Jews who see, in the mounting demonization of Zionism, the replay of an old and terrifying story. After all, anti-Zionism isn’t always antisemitism, but sometimes it is. And right now, some opponents of Israel seem to be trying to prove that the mainstream Jewish community is right to conflate them. Plenty of leftists will swear up and down that they’re not being antisemitic when they use “Zionist” as the most contemptuous of epithets.
But the vast majority of Jews disagree, and the longing for a return to Israel is deeply intertwined with Jewish religious practice; rituals for the two most important Jewish holidays, Passover and Yom Kippur, culminate with the words “next year in Jerusalem.” There is a long history of Jews being asked to excise what they see as crucial parts of their identity as a condition of acceptance. There is an equally long history of such acceptance, if it’s granted at all, being fleeting.
As I write this, the literary magazine Guernica is having a meltdown over a searching essay written by Joanna Chen, a British Israeli translator of Hebrew and Arabic poetry, about trying, after Oct. 7, to “tread the line of empathy, to feel passion for both sides,” and finding meaning in driving Palestinian children to Israeli hospitals. Nothing in Chen’s writing suggests anything but horror at the carnage being visited on civilians in Gaza, but the piece nevertheless occasioned mass resignations from Guernica’s all-volunteer staff; the magazine’s former co-publisher called it “a hand-wringing apologia for Zionism.”
In a cowardly move, Guernica retracted the essay and issued regrets for having published it. On parts of the left, at this fanatically Manichaean moment, Jews, especially Israeli Jews, are allowed their humanity only if they’re willing to explicitly reject the collective. Few other peoples are subject to similar expectations. There’s nothing wrong with opposing the authority of religious law or criticizing how Shariah is applied in parts of the Muslim world. But treating Muslims as suspect if they won’t break with their own traditions is obviously Islamophobic.
After years of arguing that the intention behind offensive words matters less than their effects, leftists should be equipped to bring a bit of subtlety and sensitivity to discussions of Jews and Zionism. Refusing to do so does nothing to help Palestinians. It just convinces too many Jews that cries for Palestinian liberation are a threat.