English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For August 19/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
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Bible Quotations For today
I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 15/03-07/:"Jesus told them this parable: ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost."Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 18-19/2024
Three peacekeepers injured in explosion in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL says
Hezbollah’s escalation strategy: Threats without full-scale war
A phone call led Hezbollah's Fuad Shukr to his death, says Hezbollah official - WSJ
Israeli Drone Targets Motorcycle, Kills One in Shebaa
Israeli Strikes on South Lebanon Leave One Dead, Three Injured
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai Unveils What Citizens in Southern Lebanon Sent to Him in Letters
Bishop Elias Audi: Leaders Must Rally Around the State and Build It
Lebanon: Mikati Asks Lammy to Pressure Israel to Stop Escalation
A "killer" call took Shukr's life.. Who asked the "ghost" to move to facilitate his assassination?
Algeria to Supply Lebanon with Fuel for Power Stations
The Last to Leave Switches the Lights Off…
Sunday thought of the Day: Saint Joseph of Cupertino/Eblan Farris/Face Book/August 18, 2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 18-19/2024
Hamas says new Gaza proposal too close to Israel’s demands
Hamas rejects proposed cease-fire plan that drew hope deal is near as Netanyahu digs in
Blinken arrives in Middle East to renew push for Gaza ceasefire
Israel police investigating deadly blast in Tel Aviv
Israeli man killed in attack in West Bank settlement: hospital
Netanyahu Urges More Pressure on ‘Obstinate’ Hamas
Quintuplets among Gaza's dead as Blinken visits the region to seek a cease-fire deal
Aftermath of an attack by Israeli settlers on a Palestinian village: Reporter's notebook
Saudi FM and Secretary Blinken discuss Gaza war, Yemen and Sudan
Pro-Palestinian delegates to Democratic convention to push for Israel arms embargo
Foreign Secretary David Lammy Warns Risk Of 'Full-Scale Regional War' In Middle East Is Rising
Thousands of activists expected in Chicago for Democratic convention to call for Gaza ceasefire
Putin arrives in Azerbaijan for state visit
Russia Facing 'Costliest' Period Of War Yet With More Than 1,000 Casualties Per Day, UK Says
Ukrainian troops have struck 2 key bridges in Russia. Could it mean they're there to stay?
Iraqi Parliament Set to Legalize Child Marriage
Famine looms in 4 Yemeni districts as hunger surges among children

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on August 18-19/2024
Iran's Mullahs and Their Deadly Serious Plan: The Total Annihilation of Israel and the US/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./August 18, 2024
How Do We Organize for Revolution?': U.S. Funding, Running Cover/Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute/August 18, 2024
The IDF’s Boot Is on Hamas’ Throat/Andrew Fox/The Tablet/August 18/2024
Ceasefire sticking points indicate Hamas's plans to return to power - analysis/Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/August 18/2024
Iran’s barbarity has no modern equal, and it goes largely unpunished - opinion/Shmuley Botecah//Jerusalem Post/August 18/2024
Aid workers deserve better protection/Alistair Burt/Arab News/August 18, 2024
Iran-Israel cyberwar grows as military tensions mount/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/August 18, 2024
Tensions in the Middle East fuel growing global ‘polycrisis’/Andrew Hammond/Arab News/August 18/ 2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 18-19/2024
Three peacekeepers injured in explosion in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL says
AFP/August 18, 2024
BEIRUT: Three United Nations peacekeepers suffered light injuries Sunday, the UN said, after a blast near their vehicle close to Lebanon’s southern border, where Hezbollah and Israel have traded near-daily fire. The Iran-backed Hezbollah group has exchanged cross-border fire with the Israeli army in support of ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war. “Earlier today, three peacekeepers on patrol were lightly injured when an explosion occurred near their clearly marked UN vehicle in the vicinity of Yarine, in south Lebanon,” the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement. “All peacekeepers in the patrol returned safely to their base. We are looking into the incident,” it added. Earlier Sunday, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency had reported that “Israeli enemy warplanes” struck the village of Dhayra, about one kilometer (0.6 miles) from Yarine, “resulting in injuries.” A UNIFIL source told AFP the explosion that injured the peacekeepers was probably a nearby air strike, but “not a direct hit.” Earlier in August, Under Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix told AFP that UNIFIL was today “more important than ever” amid the ongoing cross-border clashes, because it was “the only liaison channel between the Israeli side and the Lebanese side in all its components, such as Hezbollah.” In April, a judicial official told AFP that an ongoing Lebanese army investigation determined that a land mine wounded three UN military observers and a translator the previous month, while Israel implicated Hezbollah. UNIFIL’s mandate, which expires at the end of the month, is set to be renewed by the UN Security Council for another year. The cross-border violence has killed 582 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but including at least 128 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 22 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to army figures.

Hezbollah’s escalation strategy: Threats without full-scale war
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/August 18/2024
Hezbollah's recent threats against Israel are part of a strategic approach to escalate tensions without triggering a full-scale war by keeping Israel on high alert and expanding its attacks. For two weeks, Hezbollah has been threatening to widen the war with Israel. Hezbollah joined Iran in this endeavor, hoping to prepare the way for a possible escalation against Israel. However, Hezbollah has learned that threatening Israel with escalation, may be as good as the escalation itself. This is because it creates a sense of alert in Israel, and Hezbollah doesn’t have to lose anything or spend any capital in return.
In Lebanon there is concern of economic crises. The country is on edge and its electric grid and health sector is already stretched thin. This means that Hezbollah dragging Lebanon into a wider war could deeply harm parts of Lebanon that do not sympathize with Hezbollah and that could lead to Hezbollah losing its clout and influence in Beirut. Hezbollah and Iran have the same calculations here. Both Hezbollah and Iran have profited over the last decade. They used the war on ISIS to achieve new influence in the region and they have even benefited from US sanctions, at least that is their claim in their own media.
7,500 Hezbollah rockets already launched
Hezbollah has already fired 7,500 rockets at Israel and also launched 200 UAVs, according to reports. In recent days it increased the range and sectors of its attacks to threaten Shamir and Ayelet HaShachar in Israel, two communities it had refrained from targeting in this past. Hezbollah is thus escalating without causing a larger war. Meanwhile Hezbollah’s officials say that it reserves the right to carry out a larger attack on Israel. It says this is separate from its backing of Gaza. It basically argues it has an open account with Israel and it can chose a time and place to escalate into a wider war. Pro-Iran media openly crows about how much this keeps Israel on alert, with stories about drone threats and other incidents. The recent Hezbollah video of the Imad 4 tunnel complex was part of this psychological war. Understanding how Hezbollah has conducted this psychosocial war since late July is important to understanding how it wants to incrementally escalate without risking a larger war. That is the policy of Hezbollah currently. The group wants to preserve its forces as mostly intact and it knows Israel is also wary of a larger war. Therefore it thinks it is winning so long as it can increase threats slowly and not receive a stronger response from Israel.

A phone call led Hezbollah's Fuad Shukr to his death, says Hezbollah official - WSJ
Jerusalem Post/August 18/2024
The call that urged Shukr to move to the seventh floor likely came from an individual who had infiltrated Hezbollah’s communications network. On the last day of Fuad Shukr’s life, he was in his office on the second floor of a Beirut residential building, when that evening, Shukr received a phone call at 7 p.m. in which he was told to go to his apartment on the seventh floor where he was shortly thereafter killed, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a Hezbollah official. The explosion also killed his wife, two other women, and two children, and 70 individuals were wounded, according to Lebanon’s Hezbollah-run health ministry. The call that urged Shukr to move to the seventh floor of the building likely came from an individual who had infiltrated Hezbollah’s internal communications network, the WSJ reported, citing the Hezbollah official.  Hezbollah and Iran are still investigating the intelligence failure, however, the official believes that it came down to the fact that Israel's technology and hacking were better than Hezbollah’s countersurveillance. Shukr had lived a secretive life, according to the WSJ, and hardly anyone ever saw him. He lived in and worked in the same building in the southern Beirut neighborhood of Dahiyeh, so he would not need to move around outside. Just hours before his death, he had been in touch with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Nasrallah said in his eulogy to Shukr, the WSJ reported.
Shukr's notoriety
Shukr gained notoriety for planning the hijacking of a plane in 1985 in order to release 700 prisoners in Israeli prisons. On June 14, 1985, a group of hijackers seized TWA Flight 847 after takeoff from Athens and flew the plane back and forth between Beirut and Algiers for three days. After orchestrating this terror operation, he went into hiding. After October 7, when Hezbollah began attacking Israel again, Israeli strikes killed approximately 400 of the group’s operatives, including key commanders. As a result, Nasrallah told Hezbollah fighters and their families to “Abandon your phone, disable it, bury it, lock it in a metal box,” he said. To prevent Israeli spying, Hezbollah began using coded language on open channels and on their internal communications network as well, the Hezbollah official told the WSJ. On the day he was killed, Hezbollah sent out orders for high-ranking commanders to disperse amid concerns they were at risk, the Hezbollah official said.  After he was killed, his neighbor said, “We’d heard his name, but we never saw him. He was like a ghost.”

Israeli Drone Targets Motorcycle, Kills One in Shebaa
This Is Beirut/August 18, 2024
A fighter in the ranks of the Hezbollah-affiliated Saraya Al Muqawama (Resistance Brigades), Fadi Kassem Kanaan, was killed Sunday morning in an Israeli drone attack targeting a motorcycle in the Jannam area, on the outskirts of the town of Shebaa, in the Hasbaya district in southern Lebanon.
The Public Health Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health issued a statement announcing that the Israeli army’s drone strike on a motorcycle killed a citizen and injured another person, who is in stable condition. Moreover, Israeli warplanes attacked a house in the town of Dhayra, injuring a number of people. A soldier from the Ghanaian contingent of UNIFIL was also wounded in an air strike that targeted a house on the Dhayra highway. The air strike targeted a house that had been bombed yesterday and the patrol was passing by at the same time. Israeli reconnaissance and drone aircraft intensified their flights from last night until the early morning hours of Sunday over the border villages adjacent to the Blue Line in the western and central sectors, reaching the outskirts of the Litani River and the coastal area. Additionally, the outskirts of the towns of Aita al-Shaab and Ramya were targeted by Israeli shelling after midnight, with the Israelis launching flares over the villages in the districts of Tyre and Bint Jbeil. Hezbollah claimed an attack on the Marj site this morning. From the Israeli side, Channel 12 Israeli media reported that three rockets were launched from Lebanon towards Margaliot in the Upper Galilee, without causing any injuries. Moreover, Israeli media had previously indicated that sirens were heard in several northern settlements. Furthermore, the newspaper Israel Hayom reported “suspicions that Hezbollah launched a reconnaissance drone to film the area around Netanyahu’s private residence in Caesarea.” “Fighter jets were dispatched to the area, but they were unable to locate the drone,” the newspaper added. Israel Hayom also quoted the Israeli army as saying that “the suspicion of a drone near Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea was likely a false alarm.”

Israeli Strikes on South Lebanon Leave One Dead, Three Injured
This Is Beirut/August 18, 2024
In a statement on Sunday afternoon, the Ministry of Public Health’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center stated that the Israeli army’s strike on a motorcycle in Shebaa killed one person and injured another, who is now in stable condition. The deceased individual was Fadi Kassem Kanaan, born in 1985 in Shebaa, whose death was mourned by the Lebanese Resistance Brigades (Saraya Al Muqawama) in a statement.Additionally, the Lebanese Health Emergency Center announced in a statement that an Israeli airstrike on Aita al-Shaab wounded two civilians. On the Lebanese side, Hezbollah announced that it shelled the al-Sahil Brigade headquarters in Beit Hillel barracks and targeted the Zabdin position in the Shebaa Farms with rockets, achieving direct hits. Furthermore, Hezbollah targeted spy equipment in Rweissat al-Alam and Malkiya with artillery, as well as the Maskaf Am site, “successfully hitting the intended targets”.Israeli aircraft also conducted airstrikes on several locations, including the town of Jebbayn in the western sector of the Tyre district and the outskirts of Qabrikha in southern Lebanon while Israeli media stated that Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in Qabrikha used in an attack on the Upper Galilee.Those media also reported that five rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Shlomi in western Galilee.

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai Unveils What Citizens in Southern Lebanon Sent to Him in Letters
This Is Beirut/August 18, 2024
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai stated, “We have received letters from (inhabitants of) southern Lebanon describing their catastrophic situation due to the war. In front of this dark tunnel, our people are divided: some have been forced to flee, while others have remained on their land to preserve their livelihoods, and this group challenges all difficulties.” In his Sunday sermon from Diman, the Maronite Patriarch pointed out that “the events we are experiencing, including conflicts, wars, and the maltreatment of Christians, raise many questions,” highlighting “the role of the Church and Christians in preserving the image of Christ in every person.” Rai also asserted that “at a time when talks are taking place in the region, it is essential to elect a president of the Republic, especially since the Parliament has lost its power of legislation.”

Bishop Elias Audi: Leaders Must Rally Around the State and Build It
This Is Beirut/August 18, 2024
The Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut, Elias Audi, pointed out that the leaders “must rally around the idea of the State and work towards building it, putting the welfare and salvation of Lebanon as their primary goal.” During the Sunday Mass at the Saint George Cathedral in Beirut, he considered that if the leaders love their country and are loyal to their people, they must “embrace love, humility, honesty, integrity, and respect for others.”

Lebanon: Mikati Asks Lammy to Pressure Israel to Stop Escalation
Asharq Al-Awsat/August18/2024
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in a phone call on Saturday to prevent Israel from further military escalation in southern Lebanon warning of “severe consequences”. “In their telephone call, the talks between Mikati and Lammy focused on the security developments in southern Lebanon and the need to intensify efforts to stop the spiraling violence”, Mikati’s press office said in a statement. The Lebanese PM emphasized the "necessity of pressuring the Israeli enemy to stop its direct targeting of towns and villages in the south, leading to casualties, injuries, and severe destruction”. Mikati expressed concerns that "the current cycle of violence could lead to a dangerous escalation." Lammy, for his part, assured that he would intensify his diplomatic efforts to halt the rising risk of a broader deterioration.
Message of Defiance
Hezbollah MP, Hasan Ezzedine, noted that a new video released by the party showcasing an underground military facility "Imad 4" and an extensive tunnel network is in itself a “challenge” to Israel. He said Israel should take the “capabilities” of the “Resistance” very seriously. During a commemorative celebration, Ezzedine stated that Israel must not misinterpret the Resistance’s “self-restraint and silence” as a “sign of weakness”, noting that the party is “prepared for any foolish act” although it “does not seek a broader war”. He concluded saying that the response of the Resistance and that of Iran are “inevitable” and “independent” of the ongoing ceasefire negotiations in Qatar and their potential outcomes. Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire since the Gaza war started. An Israeli strike Saturday killed at least 10 Syrians, including a woman and her two children, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. Israel said it targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot. Truce talks are set to resume in Cairo in the coming days. US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have said negotiations to clinch a ceasefire in the more than 10-month-old war were making progress, and US President Joe Biden said "we are closer than we have ever been".

A "killer" call took Shukr's life.. Who asked the "ghost" to move to facilitate his assassination?
Janoubia/August 18, 2024
The mystery of the assassination of Hezbollah's most hidden leader, Fouad Shukr, is still unclear until now. The party itself is still trying to solve the riddles of this mystery. What is new today is a strange call asking Shukr to go up to a certain floor in the building that Israel bombed on July 30 in Haret Hreik, in order to facilitate his assassination. In the details, the Wall Street Journal revealed on Sunday more details about the assassination of the "ghost" as it described him, who was "one of the most important figures in Hezbollah's history, but he lived an almost invisible life." However, the party completely denied the report, describing it as "a story full of lies and completely baseless."
The last day before the assassination
According to the newspaper, Fouad Shukr did not move around much due to the heavy security precautions he was taking. To this end, he spent his last day on the second floor of the building that the occupation had bombed. In order to avoid moving around too much, the Wall Street Journal says that he lived on the seventh floor of the same building. The appearance of the “ghost” was never frequent. The man appeared rarely at small party gatherings with senior officials. Earlier this year, “Shukr attended the funeral of his nephew who was killed during the confrontations with Israel, although he only participated in the ceremony for a few minutes,” an acquaintance of his told the newspaper. Also, Shukr’s face was so unknown that the Lebanese media published fake photos of him after his death. The Mysterious Contact The newspaper quotes what it called a “Hezbollah official” as saying that on the night of the assassination, Shukr received a call from someone asking him to go to his apartment on the seventh floor. At around 7 p.m., Israeli missiles fell on the same apartment and the three floors below it, killing Shukr, his wife, two other women and two children. More than 70 people were injured, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. “The call to drag Shukr to the seventh floor, where it would be easier to target him amidst the surrounding buildings, likely came from someone who had hacked into Hezbollah’s internal communications network,” the party official said. The official said Hezbollah and Iran are continuing to investigate the intelligence failure, but believe Israel has overpowered the party’s technology and managed to hack into its communications network. “Hezbollah: None of the three newspaper correspondents who put their names to the aforementioned article have ever met with any Hezbollah officials”
Last contact between him and Nasrallah
The identities of the people who called Shukr shortly before the assassination have not been revealed, but one of them is Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah himself. Nasrallah revealed that he spoke to Shukr only an hour or less before the assassination, contrary to what the Wall Street Journal reported that he spoke to him “a few hours before.” Nasrallah specifically said on the one-week anniversary of his assassination on August 7: “In the Al-Aqsa flood, since the first day of the flood, meaning the morning when the news broke, we communicated. It is true that we started the operations on October 8, not the 7th, but from the 7th he started, prepared, and arranged, and from October 8th until the last moments before his martyrdom, meaning the phone call between me and him was until six o’clock, less than an hour before his martyrdom or about an hour.” This text is according to the literal transmission of the party’s “Al-Manar” channel. One of Shukr’s neighbors, a young man who was sitting on the sidewalk near the building where he was assassinated, told the American newspaper: “We heard his name, but we never saw him. He was like a ghost.” Hezbollah denies Hezbollah denied the report in a statement by its media relations. The statement read: “The media department categorically denies the fabricated story reported by the Wall Street Journal about the martyrdom of the jihadist leader Sayyed Fouad Shukr. It is a story full of lies and has no basis in truth whatsoever.” The media department revealed that “none of the three newspaper correspondents who put their names on the aforementioned article ever met any Hezbollah officials at all. Therefore, the false story from its foundation and the source attributed to it are nothing more than the imagination of its writers and have no goal other than promoting and propaganda for the Zionist enemy. This is what the aforementioned newspaper and a number of Lebanese and Arab media outlets have been accustomed to doing, as they published this false story without any review or scrutiny and based their positions on it in the service of the Zionist project.”

Algeria to Supply Lebanon with Fuel for Power Stations
Asharq Al-Awsat/August18/2024
Algeria will immediately begin supplying Lebanon with fuel for its power plants, Algerian state radio said in a statement on Sunday, after Lebanon's electricity company said the day before its supplies were exhausted. Lebanon has not had round-the-clock power since the 1990s and cash transfers to Lebanon's state electricity company, Electricité du Liban (EDL) to cover chronic losses have contributed tens of billions of dollars to the country's huge public debt. EDL on Saturday announced a complete nationwide power outage, including at critical facilities such as the airport. It said then power supply would resume gradually once new fuel supplies were secured, either through a swap agreement with Iraq or other sources. The Algerian state radio statement did not give any detail.

The Last to Leave Switches the Lights Off…
Marc Saikali/This Is BeirutAugust 18, 2024
This sentence was once scrawled along the road to Buenos Aires airport. At that time, amid a crisis, Argentina was experiencing a massive wave of emigration. In Lebanon, innovation is in full swing. While the last Lebanese hasn’t quite left yet (but we’re getting there), the power has been shut off. Today, the state’s electricity, or “dawleh” as the Lebanese call it, has become a thing of the past. At this stage, one should be entitled to raise some pertinent questions. So, where did the $45 billion allocated for electricity go? Since 2010, a series of Energy ministers have cycled through, all closely affiliated with the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM). Yet another stellar achievement for the FPM, alongside their alliance with Hezbollah, which has pushed the country into a deadlock on every front. Today, the party is getting a “makeover.” Some of its most prominent and brilliant members have either left or been ousted. Their sin? Thinking. What an absurd notion! The FPM is like a baby walker: it staggers in every direction and bumps into every wall. The important thing is to stay on track. But which track? The party’s strategy is so dizzying and erratic – presidential elections, war, Syrian refugees, reforms – that it’s difficult to keep up. Aside from a few insiders, no one seems to understand it. Meanwhile, with the country plunged into darkness due to the power outage, in the dark, all cats are gray. Unless this is a clever ploy to keep the Israelis from hitting their targets. A country without infrastructure is tough to destroy. That said, there seems to be plenty of electricity in the massive tunnels showcased by Hezbollah – at least, that’s what the videos suggest! If we add some air conditioning, the population would be ecstatically happy. Here’s a thought: Why would Iran, one of the largest producers of hydrocarbons, be keeping this precious fuel out of view? A drop in tiny Lebanon’s tank could make a big difference. Could the Ayatollahs really be so stingy as to refuse to help their “friends” in the axis of resistance? Over the years, the Lebanese have had so many “brothers” – Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians, and now Iranians. But, as the saying goes, you can choose your friends, but not your family.

Sunday thought of the Day: Saint Joseph of Cupertino
Eblan Farris/Face Book/August 18, 2024
Saint Joseph of Cupertino was born Giuseppe Maria Desa in 1603 in the village of Cupertino, in the Kingdom of Naples (now part of Italy). Joseph felt a strong calling to religious life and eventually joined the Franciscan Order.
Joseph of Cupertino is most famous for his miraculous levitations, which were witnessed by numerous people during his lifetime. These levitations occurred during moments of deep religious ecstasy, often when he was praying or celebrating Mass. The first recorded incident happened when Joseph was about 25 years old, during a procession in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Overcome with devotion, Joseph suddenly rose several feet into the air and remained suspended for some time before gently returning to the ground.
This event was not an isolated occurrence. Joseph's levitations became so frequent that they were observed on more than 70 different occasions, according to documented reports. These levitations were often triggered by hearing sacred music, seeing religious images, or being in the presence of the Eucharist. During these episodes, Joseph would become so enraptured in prayer and love for God that he would defy the laws of gravity, sometimes floating high above the ground or even soaring to the tops of trees and altars.
Joseph's miraculous levitations drew both awe and suspicion. While many people saw them as a sign of divine favor, others, including some members of the Church, were skeptical and feared the supernatural nature of these events. The Inquisition, which was responsible for investigating cases of heresy and unusual phenomena, took an interest in Joseph, and he was subjected to several investigations. Despite this scrutiny, Joseph remained humble and obedient, always attributing the miracles to God's will rather than any personal merit. He endured the investigations and the restrictions placed upon him with patience, and his levitations continued until the end of his life. Saint Joseph of Cupertino died on September 18, 1663, at the age of 60. He was beatified in 1753 by Pope Benedict XIV, canonized in 1767 by Pope Clement XIII. His feast day is on September 18.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 18-19/2024
Hamas says new Gaza proposal too close to Israel’s demands
Reuters/August 18, 2024
CAIRO: Hamas said on Sunday that a new proposal meant to bridge the gaps between Israel and the armed group over a Gaza ceasefire were too close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent positions. Hamas’ statement came only hours after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Israel in a bid to secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, dimming hopes for an imminent breakthrough in negotiations. Hamas received the new proposal from mediators, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, following a two-day round of talks in Doha. It said that the new proposal was aligned with Netanyahu, who refuses to end the war and withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza, including from the border with Egypt, two conditions the group sees as the basis for any agreement. “We hold Netanyahu fully responsible for thwarting the mediators’ efforts, delaying the agreement, and for the lives of his prisoners who are exposed to the same danger as our people due to his ongoing aggression and systematic targeting of all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip,” said Hamas. “We call on the mediators to assume their responsibilities and compel the occupation to implement what was agreed upon,” Hamas said, adding that it was fully committed to the previous July proposal.

Hamas rejects proposed cease-fire plan that drew hope deal is near as Netanyahu digs in
John Bacon, USA TODAY/August 18, 2024
Hamas leaders on Sunday rejected a proposed cease-fire agreement hammered out in talks last week that had drawn optimism from U.S., Egypt and Qatar mediators suggesting a deal could be close. "After being briefed by the mediators about what happened in the last round of talks in Doha, we once again came to the conclusion that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is still putting obstacles in the way of reaching an agreement," Hamas said in a statement. The statement accused the Israeli prime minister of "setting new conditions and demands with the aim of undermining the mediators' efforts and prolonging the war." The Biden administration is trying to bridge gaps between Israeli and Hamas on control of border crossings, the number and identity of Israeli hostages and security prisoners that would be freed and future governance of the embattled enclave. On Friday, President Joe Biden said the parties were "closer than we've ever been" to an agreement. Netanyahu has consistently demanded that the remnants of the battered Hamas militant group play no role in the future of Gaza, a demand oft-rejected by Hamas. Any movement by Netanyahu away from that stand would jeopardize his fragile alliance with Israel's far-right and could threaten his hold on the prime minister's office. The Hamas statement said the new proposal reflects Netanyahu's conditions rejecting a permanent cease-fire and a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu also set new conditions in the prisoner exchange plan, the statement said. Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu warned that Israel was standing firm on some of its demands. "We are negotiating, not giving and giving," Netanyahu said in a social media post. Family and friends of Romi Gonen, a hostage kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7 attack and still being held in Gaza, celebrate what they call her "vibrant spirit" to mark her 24th birthday in Tel Aviv on Aug. 18, 2024. Family and friends of Romi Gonen, a hostage kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7 attack and still being held in Gaza, celebrate what they call her "vibrant spirit" to mark her 24th birthday in Tel Aviv on Aug. 18, 2024.
Developments:
∎ Netanyahu blamed Hamas for refusing to negotiate, noting that it did not send a representative to Doha. International pressure for a deal should be directed at Hamas, not at the Israeli government, he said. ∎ The prime minister warned Iran and Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which have pledged to respond to recent assassinations in Tehran and Beirut, that Israel is prepared for every threat and will "extract a very heavy price from any enemy that dares to attack us."
Blinken pitching deal aimed at truce
Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to Israel on Sunday armed with a "bridging proposal" aimed at establishing a cease-fire in Gaza, securing the release of all hostages, ensuring humanitarian assistance is distributed throughout Gaza and creating the conditions for broader regional stability. The Times of Israel, citing officials it said was familiar with the talks, said the proposal does not provide for an ongoing Israeli presence along the Gaza-Egypt border or a path to fully preventing the return of armed Hamas forces in Gaza, two key issues Netanyahu has demanded. Israel's Channel 12 reported that Hamas has told negotiators it would not agree to a deal that includes those demands. Blinken also will underscore the critical need for all parties in the region to avoid escalation or any other actions that could undermine the ability to finalize an agreement, his office said in a statement.

Blinken arrives in Middle East to renew push for Gaza ceasefire
Reuters/August 18, 2024
TEL AVIV: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday on a Middle East tour aimed at intensifying diplomatic pressure to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza this week to end the bloodshed between Israel and Hamas. On his 10th trip to the region since the war began in October, Blinken will meet on Monday with senior Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a senior State Department official said. After Israel, Blinken will continue onto Egypt. The talks to strike a deal for a truce and return of hostages held in Gaza were now at an “inflection point”, a senior Biden administration official told reporters en route to Tel Aviv, adding Blinken was going to stress to all parties the importance of getting this deal over the finish line. “We think this is a critical time,” the official said. The mediating countries — Qatar, the United States and Egypt — have so far failed to reach a deal in months of on-off negotiations, and bloodshed continued unabated in Gaza on Sunday. A strike killed at least 21 people including six children in Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian health authorities said. The children and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the central town of Deir Al-Balah, health officials said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The military said it destroyed rocket launchers used to hit Israel from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the scene of intense fighting in recent weeks, and killed 20 Palestinian militants. The talks toward a ceasefire are set to continue this week in Cairo, following a two-day meeting in Doha last week. Blinken will try to reach a breakthrough after the US put forward bridging proposals that the mediating countries believe would close gaps between the warring parties. There has been increased urgency to reach a ceasefire deal amid fears of escalation across the wider region. Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.
Mourning at hospital
At Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, relatives gathered around the bodies of the mother and her six children, who were wrapped in white shrouds bearing their names. The youngest was aged 18 months, their grandfather Mohammed Khattab told Reuters at the funeral. “What was their crime? ... Did they kill a Jew? Did they shoot at the Jews? Did they launch rockets at the Jews? Did they destroy the state of Israel? What did they do? What did they do to deserve this?” said Khattab. Israel has denied targeting civilians as it hunts down Hamas militants, accusing the group of operating from civilian facilities including schools and hospitals. Hamas denies this. After 10 months of war, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are living in constant desperation to find a safe place. “We are tired of displacement. People are being pushed into narrow areas in Deir Al-Balah and Al-Mawasi, which have become pressure cookers,” Tamer Al-Burai, who lives in Deir Al-Balah with several relatives, told Reuters via a chat app. Tanks were just 1.5 km (0.9 miles) away, Burai added. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday’s orders, which included other parts of Gaza outside the humanitarian zones, had reduced the size of the “humanitarian area” designated as safe by Israeli forces to about 11 percent of the total area of the territory.
“Complex talks”
The war erupted on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants rampaged into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent military campaign has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and reduced much of Gaza to rubble. Israel says it has killed 17,000 Hamas combatants. Netanyahu’s office described the ceasefire talks as “complex” and said it was “conducting negotiations, not giving way in negotiations.” Israel remained firmly committed to principles established for its security in the May 27 outline proposals, the office said in a statement following a meeting of the cabinet. “I would like to emphasize: We are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give,” Netanyahu told the meeting. “There are things we can be flexible on and... things that we cannot be flexible on, which we will insist on. “Strong military and diplomatic pressure are the way to secure the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said. Hamas said that optimistic US comments were “deceptive” and accused Netanyahu of making new conditions in an attempt to “blow up” the negotiation. While details of the negotiations have not been made public, there have been differences over several key issues. Disagreements include whether Israeli troops should remain present in Gaza after the fighting ends, notably along the so-called Philadelphi corridor on the border with Egypt, and over checks on people going into northern Gaza from the south which Israel says is needed to stop armed militants. Hamas has pushed for a ceasefire deal to end the war, while Israel has not been willing to agree to go beyond a temporary pause in the fighting.

Israel police investigating deadly blast in Tel Aviv
Reuters/August 18, 2024
JERUSALEM: Israel police are investigating an explosion that killed one person in Tel Aviv on Sunday, a spokesperson said, appearing to suggest the incident could have been a militant attack. “It has been confirmed as a bomb explosion,” the police spokesperson said. “As a result of the explosion, one person, whose identity is still unknown, was killed, and another person was moderately injured.” “All investigative avenues are being explored,” the spokesperson added.

Israeli man killed in attack in West Bank settlement: hospital
AFP/August 18, 2024
JERUSALEM: An attack at a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank on Sunday killed an Israeli man, a hospital said, three days after a deadly raid by settlers on a nearby Palestinian village. “After several attempts to save his life, doctors had to declare the death of a man who was fatally wounded in an attack in Samaria (occupied West Bank),” the Beilinson Hospital said in a statement. The Israeli military said a “terrorist” had “attacked a civilian, stole his weapon and made his escape” in the Kedumim settlement, in the northern West Bank. Local officials identified the victim as a resident of the settlement which is close to the village of Jit, which was attacked by Jewish settlers on August 15. According to the Palestinian health ministry, a 23-year-old Palestinian man was killed and another wounded in the attack. Residents said about 100 settlers armed with knives and firearms set fire to cars and homes in the attack strongly condemned by Israeli officials as well as the United States, United Nations and European countries. Since Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, violence has flared in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 and separated geographically from Gaza by Israeli territory.
Settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law. Since October 7, at least 635 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers, according to an AFP count based on Palestinian official figures. During the same period, at least 19 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks, according to Israeli official figures.

Netanyahu Urges More Pressure on ‘Obstinate’ Hamas
This Is Beirut / AFP/August 18, 2024
Israel’s prime minister on Sunday accused Hamas of being an obstacle in negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire deal and called for more pressure on the Palestinian militants ahead of a new round of talks later this week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments came with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken set to arrive in Israel later on Sunday to push for a deal that could help avert a wider conflagration. “Hamas, up to this moment, remains obstinate. It did not even send a representative to the talks in Doha. Therefore, the pressure should be directed at Hamas and (Yahya) Sinwar, not at the Israeli government,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting, referring to the newly appointed Hamas chief. Western ally Jordan, hostage supporters protesting in Israel, and Hamas itself have called for pressure on Netanyahu in order that an agreement be reached. On Thursday, Hamas official Osama Hamdan told AFP the movement informed mediators it would participate in the Doha talks, which took place Thursday and Friday, if they were “to set a timetable for the implementation” of what Hamas had already agreed to.Hamas also announced its opposition to what it called “new conditions” from Israel. Netanyahu, however, told the cabinet that “we are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give. There are things we can be flexible on, and there are things that we cannot be flexible on, which we will insist on.” He said “enormous efforts” are being made to bring home the hostages. “We firmly stand by the principles we have set, which are essential for Israel’s security,” Netanyahu said, calling for “strong military pressure and strong diplomatic pressure” on Hamas to reach a deal. Making his ninth trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, Blinken is due to meet Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders on Monday before truce talks resume in Cairo later in the week.

Quintuplets among Gaza's dead as Blinken visits the region to seek a cease-fire deal
Wafaa Shurafa And Samy Magdy/DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP)/ August 18, 2024
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 29 people including young quintuplets overnight and into Sunday, health officials said, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel to try to seal a cease-fire deal that could help ease soaring regional tensions.
The U.S. and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar have said they were closing in on a deal after two days of talks in Doha, with Israeli officials expressing cautious optimism. But Hamas in a statement Sunday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of setting new conditions, including his refusal of a complete withdrawal of forces from Gaza. The evolving proposal calls for a three-phase process in which Hamas would release all hostages abducted during its Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the deadliest war fought between Israelis and Palestinians. In exchange, Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners. The war has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced the vast majority of the territory's 2.3 million residents and led experts to warn of famine and the outbreak of diseases like polio. "It is as if we live a primitive life,” said Sanaa Akela, a displaced Palestinian in the central town of Deir al-Balah, where sewage flooded some streets. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted around 250. Of those, some 110 are still believed to be in Gaza, though Israeli authorities say around a third are dead. More than 100 hostages were released in November during a weeklong cease-fire.  The latest Israeli bombardment included a strike on a home in Deir al-Balah that killed a woman and her six children, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. An Associated Press reporter there counted the bodies. Mohammed Awad Khatab, the children's grandfather, said his daughter was a teacher, and the youngest child was 18 months. The others were 10-year-old quintuplets, the hospital said. “The six children have become body parts. They were placed in a single bag,” Khatab told reporters. “What did they do? Did they kill any of the Jews? ... Will this provide security to Israel?” Another strike east of Deir al-Balah killed at least four people, according to an AP journalist at the hospital. A strike in the northern town of Jabaliya hit two apartments, killing two men, a woman and her daughter, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Another two strikes in central Gaza killed nine people, according to Al-Awda Hospital. A strike in Nuseirat killed one person, the hospital said.
Late Saturday, a strike near the southern city of Khan Younis killed four people from the same family, including two women, according to Nasser Hospital.
Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the group places fighters, weapons, tunnels and rockets in residential areas. But the Israeli bombardment has wiped out entire extended families and orphaned thousands of children. Israel says ‘cautious optimism’ about talks
Mediation efforts gained new urgency after the targeted killing of two top militants last month, both attributed to Israel, brought vows of revenge from Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah, raising fears of all-out war across the Middle East.
An American official said Friday that mediators were beginning preparations for implementing the latest cease-fire proposal, and Netanyahu's office expressed “cautious optimism” a deal could be reached.
An Israeli delegation was traveling to Cairo on Sunday for further talks, and Blinken will meet with Netanyahu on Monday. Blinken will travel to Egypt on Tuesday for meetings with officials there, the State Department said, and may stop in at least one other regional country. Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting there are areas where Israel can be flexible and unspecified areas where it won’t be. “We are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give,” he said. Hamas has cast doubt on whether an agreement is near, saying the latest proposal diverged significantly from a previous iteration it accepted in principle. Hamas has rejected Israel’s demands for a lasting military presence along the Gaza-Egypt border and a line bisecting Gaza where Israeli forces would search Palestinians returning to their homes. Israel says both are needed to prevent militants from rearming and returning to the north.
Israel showed flexibility on retreating from the border corridor, and a meeting between Egyptian and Israeli military officials was scheduled for the week ahead to agree on a withdrawal mechanism, according to two Egyptian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private negotiations. Vice President Kamala Harris, asked Sunday whether she thinks Netanyahu is ready for a cease-fire deal, said: “I will not speak for him, but I will tell you that these conversations are ongoing and we are not giving up, and we are going to continue to work very hard on this. We’ve got to get a cease-fire and we got to get those hostages out.” Blast wounds peacekeepers in Lebanon
In Lebanon, three U.N. peacekeepers were lightly wounded when an explosion struck their vehicle near the southern village of Yarin. The peacekeeping mission said the incident was under investigation. Hezbollah began launching near-daily drone and rocket attacks along the border after the war in Gaza began, drawing Israeli retaliation in a cycle of violence that has steadily escalated. A bomb explosion on a Tel Aviv street Sunday night killed one person and police were investigating the circumstances. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which has also seen a surge of violence, gunmen marched in a funeral procession for two Hamas commanders killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jenin the day before.

Aftermath of an attack by Israeli settlers on a Palestinian village: Reporter's notebook
TOM SOUFI BURRIDGE and LATIFEH ABDELLATIF/ABC News/August 18, 2024
When a mob of Israeli settlers started attacking their village in the West Bank, Moaweya Seddeh said his two daughters, aged 6 and 2, were sitting in the front room, drinking juice, doing what young kids do. As the assault began, in a moment of paternal instinct, Moaweya quickly rushed his girls to safety. Seconds later, he told us, a settler threw a Molotov cocktail through the front window, landing in the spot where, just moments before, his 2-year-old had been. When we visited that scene, the carton of juice his 6-year-old had been drinking was still sitting on the table. But the plastic seat the girl had been sitting in was partially melted from the burning bomb the settlers had thrown into the room. The area where his 2-year-old had been was, today, a blackened mess of shattered glass and burnt-out couches. Although Moaweya's family home was badly damaged in the attack, it could have been way worse. We visited several other homes in the West Bank village of Jit and each time we saw similar scenes; charred and blackened properties, burnt-out vehicles. Surveillance cameras and the videos caught some of those attacks, and have been verified by ABC News. The Israel Defense Forces said it acted quickly to quell the violence once it received reports of the attack. However, villagers told a different story; they said IDF troops in the area had the chance to stop the settlers from accessing the village and failed to act. We saw blood on the pavement where, we were told, a 23-year-old Palestinian villager was shot dead by an Israeli settler. And this is not a one-off incident. There has been a spike in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched a surprise terror attack on southern Israel. One villager, Ahmad Seddeh called the violence on Jit a "savage attack."Seddeh said the attack was completely unprovoked. "They just came and attack us for nothing, [for] no reason," he said. Asked how recent attacks on Palestinian communities by Israeli settlers in the West Bank make him feel about the future, he replied, "we have no future."
Months ago, the Biden administration announced it was placing sanctions on a number of high-profile settlers who stand accused of perpetrating this type of violence. On Friday, United States Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew said the attacks "must stop," and the Israeli government also condemned the violence. But even at this volatile moment, Israeli officials seem unable or unwilling to protect Palestinian communities from this type of mob violence. Israeli Police, under the command of far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, stand accused of protecting the settlers, not the victims of their attacks. Since Oct. 7, 2023, 633 Palestinians, including 147 children, have died and more than 5,400 have been injured across the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health.

Saudi FM and Secretary Blinken discuss Gaza war, Yemen and Sudan
Arab News/August 18, 2024
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister discussed with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ending the war in Gaza and developments in Sudan and Yemen during a phone call on Sunday, the Kingdom’s foreign ministry said. The call between Prince Faisal bin Farhan and the top US diplomat came as Blinken arrived in Israel on Sunday on a Middle East tour aimed at pushing parties involved in the Gaza conflict to agree to a ceasefire deal. He will meet with senior Israeli officials on Monday, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a senior State Department official said. Following his trip to Israel, Blinken will continue onto Egypt.

Pro-Palestinian delegates to Democratic convention to push for Israel arms embargo
Andrea Shalal/CHICAGO (Reuters) / August 18, 2024
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Dozens of Muslim delegates and their allies, angry at U.S. support for Israel's offensive in Gaza, are seeking changes in the Democratic platform and plan to press for an arms embargo this week, putting the party on guard for disruptions to high-profile speeches at its national convention in Chicago. Calling itself "Delegates Against Genocide," the pro-Palestinian group says it will exercise its freedom of speech rights during main events at the four-day Democratic National Convention convening on Monday to formally nominate Vice President Kamala Harris for president in the Nov. 5 election against Republican former President Donald Trump. Group organizers declined to give details, but said they would offer amendments to the party platform and use their rights as delegates to speak on the convention floor. President Joe Biden is due to speak on Monday and Harris on Thursday. Pro-Palestinian delegates say they deserve a bigger role in the writing of the party platform. The convention takes place in Chicago, which has the largest Palestinian American population of any U.S. city. The group wants to include language backing enforcement of laws that ban giving military aid to individuals or security forces that commit gross violations of human rights. "We're going to make our voices heard," said Liano Sharon, a business consultant and delegate who signed an alternative platform along with 34 other delegates. "Freedom of expression necessarily includes the right to stand up and be heard even when the authority in the room says to shut up."
The Harris campaign declined to comment.
BIDEN SEEKS A CEASEFIRE
The party's draft platform released in mid-July calls for "an immediate and lasting ceasefire" in the war and the release of remaining hostages taken to Gaza during an Oct. 7 attack by Islamist militant Hamas fighters in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed. The platform does not mention the more than 40,000 people that Palestinian health authorities in Gaza say have been killed in Israel's subsequent offensive. Nor does it mention any plans to curtail U.S. arms shipments to Israel. The United States approved $20 billion in additional arms sales to Israel on Tuesday. Mediators including the U.S. have sought to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza, based on a plan Biden put forward in May but so far have not succeeded. The Israel-Hamas war, now in its 11th month, reduced support for Democrats among Muslim and Arab-American voters, who represent crucial votes in election battleground states like Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania. While the activists make up a tiny fraction of convention delegates, disruptions inside the hall and large protests outside could mar the party's plan to unify Democrats around Harris after Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 under pressure from fellow Democrats.
'I WILL NOT BE SILENT,' HARRIS SAYS
Pro-Palestinian activists say Harris has been more sympathetic to Gazans than Biden has been. Her national security adviser said on X this month that she does not support an arms embargo on Israel. But after meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month, Harris told reporters not only that Israel had a right to defend itself but also in reference to Gaza: "We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent.” Some 40,000 protesters are expected to gather outside the convention on Monday to demonstrate against the Biden administration's position on Israel. Organizers say the number could swell to over 100,000. Nadia Ahmad, a law professor at Florida's Barry University and a delegate, said there were about 60 Muslim delegates, a fraction of the 5,000 overall. But their concerns were shared by others, she said. The Uncommitted National Movement, a separate effort pushing Democrats to change policy on Israel that won over 30 delegates in primary elections, also wants an arms embargo. But it has focused, unsuccessfully so far, on winning a main-stage speaking slot for a Palestinian American or Gaza humanitarian worker. Late on Saturday, convention organizers added a daytime panel discussion on Arab and Palestinian issues to Monday's agenda and one on antisemitism. Jewish Americans, traditionally Democratic voters, have voiced concern about rising anti-Jewish activity and Muslims have denounced rising American Islamophobia. Layla Elabed, the Uncommitted National co-chair, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Muslim ally of Biden's, and a doctor who has worked on the Gaza frontlines will be speakers on the first panel, sources said. Uncommitted, which said it is not planning to disrupt the convention proceedings, is pressing Harris to make a statement about the use of U.S. weapons to kill Palestinians.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy Warns Risk Of 'Full-Scale Regional War' In Middle East Is Rising
Kate Nicholson/HuffPost UK/August 18, 2024
David Lammy has warned the “risks of a full-scale regional war are rising” in the Middle East. Writing in The Observer with his his French counterpart Stephane Sejourne, the foreign secretary discussed the ongoing efforts to negotiate a lasting ceasefire between Hamas and Israel before Iran strikes out, and possibly pulls the whole region into a wider conflict. Tehran has warned it may retaliate against Israel after two senior militia figures – one in Hamas and one in Hezbollah – were assassinated in recent weeks. Israel also launched an airstrike into the south of Lebanon on Saturday, killing at least 10 Syrian nationals. Israel claimed it was targeting a Hezbollah weapons depot. Iran chooses to escalate and hit out at Israel, its allied militia in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen could join in. In a piece published on Saturday evening, Lammy and Sejourne wrote: “Fighting between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah has intensified. “Iranian threats of further escalation mean the risks of a full-scale regional war are rising.”They continued: “We are witnessing a destructive cycle of violence. One miscalculation, and the situation risks spiralling into an even deeper and more intractable conflict.
“This cycle, with its tendency towards escalation, is making progress towards a political solution harder.”The pair spoke about their first joint UK-France visit in more than a decade to the Middle East last week, explaining that it showed “our commitment to working even more closely together”. They met with Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, and the Palestinian Authority’s prime minister, Mohammad Mustafa during their trip. While the latest round of ceasefire talks in Doha, Qatar, ended on Friday without any agreement, more negotiations are scheduled for next week.
Despite optimism from the US, Qatar and Egypt about the ceasefire agreements, Hamas are less confident. Hamas’ political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP news agency that it was an “illusion” to say a deal is approaching, saying: “We are not facing a deal or real negotiations but rather the imposing of American diktats.”
In their piece, Lammy and Sejourne called for further ceasefire talks, for the remaining hostages held by Hamas to be freed and for both sides to work towards a two-state solution. They said the toll of the conflict is “unacceptable”, and pointing out the Gaza has reported its first case of polio in 25 years, added: “Brave healthcare workers across humanitarian organisations are racing to prevent an all-out polio outbreak but they can only start vaccinating if it’s safe to do so.” They added that it was “never too late for peace”, and an all-out conflict across the region “is in nobody’s interest”, while calling for diplomacy. “Any Iranian attack would have devastating consequences, not least in the undermining current Gaza ceasefire negotiations,” the ministers said. “There can be no delays or excuses. We must all come together.”“Only a political solution can deliver the peace we so desperately need,” the pair added. “That’s why we want not just a ceasefire in Gaza but why we are urging Israel, Hezbollah and Lebanon to engage with the US-led discussions to resolve their tensions diplomatically, based on the principles set out by UN security council resolution 1701.”Their warning comes as US secretary of state Antony Blinken has flown to Israel to support a ceasefire deal. The West has been nervously watching the Middle East ever since the Iran-backed militants of Hamas killed 1,200 people on Israeli soil and took 250 others hostage in October. Israel immediately declared war, put a blockade on aid going into the Palestinian territory of Gaza and invaded the land.
Hamas-run authorities in Gaza say the death toll for Palestinians is now exceeding 40,000.

Thousands of activists expected in Chicago for Democratic convention to call for Gaza ceasefire
AP/August 18, 2024
CHICAGO: Thousands of activists are expected to converge on Chicago this week for the Democratic National Convention, hoping to call attention to abortion rights, economic injustice and the war in Gaza. While Vice President Kamala Harris has energized crowds of supporters as she prepares to accept the Democratic nomination, progressive activists maintain their mission remains the same. Activists say they learned lessons from last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and are predicting bigger crowds and more robust demonstrations in Chicago, a city with deep social activism roots.
Who is pro testing?
Demonstrations are expected every day of the convention and, while their agendas vary, many activists agree an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war is the priority. Things are set to kick off Sunday on the convention’s eve with an abortion rights march along iconic Michigan Avenue. Organizer Linda Loew said even though Democrats have pushed to safeguard reproductive rights at home, the issue is international. They will march in solidarity with people everywhere who struggle for the right to control what happens to their bodies, as well as to protest the money the US spends to back wars that could be used for health care, she said. “We believe that the billions of dollars that continue to flow to the state of Israel and the flow of weapons are having an inordinate and horrific impact, but in particular on women, children and the unborn,” she said. “All of these things are tied together.”The largest group, the Coalition to March on the DNC, has planned demonstrations on the first and last days of the convention. Organizers say they expect at least 20,000 activists, including students who protested the war on college campuses. “The people with power are going to be there,” said Liz Rathburn, a University of Illinois Chicago student organizer. “People inside the United Center are the people who are going to be deciding our foreign policy in one way or another.”
Where are they protesting?
Activists sued the city earlier this year, saying restrictions over where they can demonstrate violate their constitutional rights. Chicago leaders rejected their requests for permits to protest near United Center on the city’s West Side, where the convention is taking place, offering instead a lakefront park more than 3 miles (5 kilometers) away. Later, the city agreed to allow demonstrations at a park and a march route closer to the United Center. A federal judge recently signed off on the group’s roughly 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) route. Coalition to March on the DNC spokesman Hatem Abudayyeh said the group is pleased it won the right to protest closer to the convention, but he believes its preferred 2-mile (3-kilometer) march would be safer for larger crowds. The group is chartering buses for activists from about half a dozen states. “We’re going forward, full speed ahead,” he said. The city has designated a park about a block from United Center for a speakers’ stage. Those who sign up get 45 minutes. The Philadelphia-based Poor People’s Army, which advocates for economic justice, plans to set up at Humboldt Park on the city’s Northwest Side and will feature events with third-party candidates Jill Stein and Cornel West, plus a 3-mile (5 kilometer) march Monday to the United Center. Some group members have spent the last few weeks marching the more than 80 miles (130 kilometers) from Milwaukee, where they protested during the Republican convention. “Poor and homeless people are being brutalized, with tents and encampments destroyed and bulldozed away, from San Francisco to Philadelphia to Gaza and the West Bank,” spokesperson Cheri Honkala said in a statement as the group reached Illinois. “These preventable human rights violations are being committed by Democratic and Republican leaders alike.”
How does a new nominee change things?
Many activists believe nothing much will change because Harris is part of the Biden administration. “The demands haven’t changed. I haven’t seen any policy changes,” said Erica Bentley, an activist with Mamas Activating Movements for Abolition and Solidarity. “If you’re going to be here, you’re going to have to listen to what’s important to us.”Pro-Palestinian protesters in Chicago have been highly visible, shutting down roads to the airport and staging sit-ins at congressional offices. Some are planning their own one-day convention Sunday with third-party candidates. “Regardless of who the nominee is, we’re marching against the Democrats and their vicious policies that have allowed Israel to kill over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza,” said Fayaani Aboma Mijana, an organizer with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. It’s unclear if the convention will draw far-right extremists who ardently support former President Donald Trump. Secret Service Deputy Special Agent in Charge Derek Mayer said last week there are no known specific security threats against the convention.
Is Chicago ready?
The convention will draw an estimated 50,000 people to the nation’s third-largest city, including delegates, activists and journalists. The city says it has made necessary preparations with police and the Secret Service. Security will be tight, with street closures around the convention center. To combat traffic concerns, city leaders are touting a new $80 million train station steps from the United Center. They also have tried to beautify the city with freshly planted flowers and new signs. City leaders also cleared a nearby homeless encampment. Police have undergone training on constitutional policing, county courts say they are opening more space in anticipation of mass arrests and hospitals near the security zone are beefing up emergency preparedness. Authorities and leaders in the state have said people who vandalize the city or are violent will be arrested. “We’re going to make sure that people have their First Amendment rights protected, that they can do that in a safe way,” Mayor Brandon Johnson told The Associated Press in a recent interview. But some have lingering safety concerns, worried that protests could become unpredictable or devolve into chaos. Activist Hy Thurman protested and was arrested at the infamous 1968 convention. The 74-year-old now lives in Alabama but plans to come to Chicago to protest the war in Gaza. “It’s extremely personal for me,” he said. “I see parallels.”Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has said that he expects peaceful protests. “We intend to protect the protesters’ First Amendment rights, and also the residents of the city of Chicago and the visitors to Chicago at the same time,” Pritzker told the AP in a recent interview.

Putin arrives in Azerbaijan for state visit
AFP/August 18, 2024
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on Sunday for a two-day state visit, Russian news agencies reported. Russian television broadcast images of the Russian president’s plane as it arrived in Baku in the evening. His visit to the Caucasus country, a close partner of both Moscow and Turkiye but also a major energy supplier to Western countries, comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented Ukrainian military offensive on Russian soil. Putin is due to hold talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on bilateral relations and “international and regional problems,” the Kremlin said. The two leaders are dining Sunday evening at the Azerbaijani president’s official residence, local official news agency Asertac said. On Monday, Aliyev and Putin will sign joint documents and make statements to the press, said Russian agency Ria Novosti. Putin will also lay a wreath on the tomb of Heydar Aliyev, father of the current leader, who was president from 1993 to 2003. Earlier, the Kremlin said they would also discuss “the question of settling (the conflict) between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”Azerbaijan reconquered the mountainous enclave in September 2023 from the Armenian separatists who had held it for three decades. Armenia accused Russia of inadequate support in its conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Since then, Armenia has sought to deepen its ties with Western countries, especially the United States, much to the annoyance of Moscow, which considers both former Soviet republics to be in its sphere of influence. Azerbaijan is a major producer of natural gas, to whom many European countries turned to make up for the sharp reduction in Russian deliveries after the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022. It is also hosting the COP29 climate conference in November. Putin’s last visit to Azerbaijan was in September 2018. Putin has been under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court since March 2023 for the “deportation” of Ukrainian children to Russia, an accusation the Kremlin denies. While the threat of arrest has limited Putin’s travels abroad, Azerbaijan is not a signatory to the Rome Statute treaty that established the ICC.

Russia Facing 'Costliest' Period Of War Yet With More Than 1,000 Casualties Per Day, UK Says
Kate Nicholson/HuffPost UK/August 18, 2024
There have been more than 1,000 Russian casualties per day among the troops fighting against Ukraine over the last three months, according to UK intelligence. The ministry of defence reported over the weekend that “poorly trained Russian soldiers are being used as cannon fodder in an attempt to overwhelm strong Ukrainian forces”. More than 1,000 soldiers have been killed or wounded soldiers each day on average throughout the summer, the British department claimed, meaning the last three months has become “the costliest” period for Russian forces since the war began. The MoD tracked the losses going back to March 2022, shortly after Russia first invaded Ukraine in a land grab. Throughout the first year of war, Russian losses averaged at under 550 per day. In 2023, the average increased to just under 800 per day. The MoD speculated that more than 56,250 Russian personnel are likely to have been wounded or killed over the past three months. Moscow rarely reveals how many casualties have been caused by the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June that the ratio of “irretrievable losses” between the warring countries was one to five in favour of Moscow, but did not offer exact figures. In April, the BBC reported 50,000 Russian soldiers have died since the invasion in 2022. The MoD update comes shortly after Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia earlier this month, which has infuriated the Kremlin. Kyiv has now taken 445 square miles (1,150 sq kilometres) of Russian land – a fraction of the whopping 42,000 sq miles (109,000 sq kilometres) of Ukrainian land Moscow has illegally annexed. According to the UK’s MoD though, Russia has been cracking down on access to information for its own population to limit criticism over its invasion. Moscow has limited WhatsApp and YouTube use by “deliberately slowing traffic” and increasing state control of communications and media. YouTube may be blocked completely by autumn, the MoD predicted.

Ukrainian troops have struck 2 key bridges in Russia. Could it mean they're there to stay?
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)/August 18, 2024
Ukraine has destroyed a key bridge in Russia's Kursk region and struck a second one nearby, less than two weeks into its stunning cross-border incursion, disrupting Russian supply routes and possibly signaling that its troops are planning to dig in. Russia’s pro-Kremlin military bloggers have acknowledged that the destruction of the first bridge, which spanned the Seim River near the town of Glushkovo, will impede deliveries of supplies to Russian forces repelling Ukraine’s incursion, although Moscow could still use pontoons and smaller bridges in the area. Ukraine’s air force chief, Lt. Mykola Oleshchuk, on Friday released a video of a Ukrainian airstrike that split the bridge in two. Less than two days later, Ukrainian troops hit a second bridge in Russia, according to Oleshchuk and the Russian regional governor, Alexei Smirnov.
As of Sunday morning, there were no official reports on where exactly the second bridge attack took place. Russian Telegram channels claimed that a second bridge over the Seim, in the village of Zvannoe, had been struck.
According to Russia’s Mash news site, the attacks left the area with just one intact bridge. The Associated Press could not immediately verify these claims — but if confirmed, the Ukrainian strikes would further complicate Moscow's attempts to replenish its forces in Kursk and evacuate civilians.
Glushkovo lies some 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north of the Ukrainian border, and approximately 16 kilometers (10 miles) northwest of the main battle zone in Kursk. Zvannoe is located a further 8 kilometers (5 miles) northeast.
Ukraine may try to hold ground seized in Russia's Kursk
Kyiv has been tight-lipped about the planned scope and goals of its lightning push into Russia, the largest attack on the country since World War II, which took the Kremlin by surprise and saw scores of villages and hundreds of prisoners fall into Ukrainian hands.
The Ukrainians drove deep into the Kursk region in several directions, facing little resistance and sowing chaos and panic. Ukraine’s Commander in Chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi claimed last week that his forces had advanced across 1,000 square kilometers (390 square miles) of the Kursk region, although it was not possible to independently verify what exactly Ukrainian forces effectively control.
But the strikes on bridges, apparently aimed to stymie a Russian counterpush in Kursk, could mean that Kyiv intends to seek a foothold in the region — or at least signal to Moscow that it plans to do so. Analysts say that although Ukraine could try to consolidate its gains within Russia, it would be a risky maneuver given Kyiv’s limited resources, because supply lines extending deep into Kursk would be vulnerable to Russian strikes. The incursion has already boosted Ukraine’s morale, sapped by a failed counteroffensive last summer and months of grinding Russian gains in the eastern Donbas region, and proven its ability to seize initiative. It has resembled Ukraine’s lightning operation from September 2022, led by Syrskyi, in which its forces reclaimed control of the northeastern Kharkiv region after taking advantage of Russian manpower shortages and a lack of field fortifications.
Zelenskyy seeks permission to strike deeper into Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy late on Saturday urged Kyiv’s allies to lift the remaining restrictions on using Western weapons to strike targets deeper in Russia, including in Kursk, saying that his troops could deprive Moscow “of any ability to advance and cause destruction” if granted sufficient long-range capabilities.“It is crucial that our partners remove barriers that hinder us from weakening Russian positions in the way this war demands. … The bravery of our soldiers and the resilience of our combat brigades compensate for the lack of essential decisions from our partners,” Zelenskyy said in a post on the social platform X. Russia's Foreign Ministry and pro-Kremlin bloggers have alleged that U.S.-made HIMARS launchers have been used to destroy bridges on the Seim. These claims could not be independently verified. Ukraine’s leaders have repeatedly sought authorization for long-range strikes on Russian air bases and other infrastructure used to pummel Ukraine’s energy facilities and other civilian targets, including with retrofitted Soviet-era “glide bombs” that have laid waste to the country’s industrial east in recent months. Moscow also appears to have dialed up attacks on Kyiv, targeting it with ballistic missiles for a third time this month early on Sunday, according to the head of the municipal military administration. Serhii Popko said in a Telegram post that the “almost identical” August strikes on the capital “most likely used” KN-23 missiles supplied by North Korea. A further attempt to target Kyiv followed around 7 a.m, Popko said, this time launching Islander cruise missiles. He said Ukrainian air defenses struck down all targets fired in both attacks on the city on Sunday morning.

Iraqi Parliament Set to Legalize Child Marriage
This Is Beirut/August 18, 2024
The Iraqi Parliament is set to legalize child marriage, a major setback for the rights of women and girls in the country. The move follows a controversial bill passed on August 16, 2024, which would lower the legal age of marriage to 13 for girls and 16 for boys.
The new legislation is a revision of the current Personal Status Law, which currently sets the minimum legal age for marriage at 18. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has issued a statement condemning a draft personal status law that effectively legalizes child marriage in Iraq. The bill, which was approved by the Iraqi Council of Ministers in July, now awaits parliamentary approval. “The Iraqi Parliament is poised to legalize what amounts to child marriage, which is a gross violation of the rights of women and girls in the country,” said Adam Coogle, Middle East researcher at HRW. “Married girls face increased risks to their health and education and are often victims of domestic violence.” Human rights advocates and child protection groups have condemned the decision, saying it would endanger the lives and well-being of thousands of minors by exposing them to forced marriage, exploitation, and health risks from early pregnancy.
Opponents of the bill also claim that it would reinforce patriarchal social norms and undermine ongoing efforts to promote girls’ education, empowerment, and equal participation in Iraqi society. The proposal sparked protests across Iraq, with many citizens expressing outrage at what they saw as a flagrant violation of human rights and a regression in child protection. Human rights activists now fear that this decision will encourage other countries in the region to follow suit and weaken legal protections for children. Human rights organizations continue to lobby against this measure and urge the Iraqi government to respect its international commitments to children’s rights and gender equality. The international community is watching the situation closely, fearing that this decision will have devastating consequences for future generations of Iraqi children. Opponents of the bill have used the hashtag #No_To_Child_Marriage on social media to express their anger and disappointment at the possibility of the law being passed. They are calling on the Iraqi Parliament to reject the bill and protect the rights and future of girls in Iraq.

Famine looms in 4 Yemeni districts as hunger surges among children
AP/August 18, 2024
CAIRO: Famine is looming in four Yemeni districts after instances of hunger have rapidly surged among children in areas controlled by the internationally recognized government, a report by international experts said. All 117 districts in government-controlled areas are expected to suffer from “serious” levels of acute malnutrition. Among them, the four districts — Mawza and Mocha in Taiz province, and Hays and Khawkhah in Hodeida province — are projected to slip into famine between July and October this year, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC. The report reflects the worsening food insecurity in the poorest Arab nation that plunged into civil war in 2014, when Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis took control of the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north, forcing the government to flee to the south. About half of the country’s population — or 18.2 million people — are in need of humanitarian aid this year, according to the United Nations. The number of acutely malnourished children has increased by 34 percent compared to last year, the report said. They include more than 18,500 children under 5 who are projected to be severely malnourished by the end of this year, it said. Additionally, the report found about 223,000 pregnant and lactating women are expected to be malnourished in 2024. “The report confirms an alarming trend of acute malnutrition for children in southern Yemen,” said the UNICEF representative to Yemen, Peter Hawkins. “To protect the most vulnerable women, girls and boys, an investment in and scale-up of prevention and treatment efforts are more critical than ever.”The report attributed the sharp rise of malnutrition to the combined effects of cholera and measles outbreaks, high food insecurity, limited access to safe drinking water, economic decline and inadequate humanitarian aid — all are direct and indirect results of the decade-old war. The IPC is a global partnership of 15 UN agencies and humanitarian organizations working in Yemen and funded by the European Union, the US and the UK A famine is declared in an area when one in five people or households severely lack food and face starvation and destitution that would ultimately lead to critical levels of acute malnutrition and death. “These findings should be a wake-up call that lives are at stake,” said Pierre Honnorat, the World Food Program director in Yemen. “It is critical to step up support to the most vulnerable who could sink deeper into food insecurity and malnutrition if current low levels of humanitarian funding persist.” The report didn’t address hunger conditions in the Houthi-controlled area apparently because of a lack of access. The militia have in recent months launched a crackdown on United Nations agencies and aid groups, detaining dozens of workers. Addressing the UN Security Council earlier this month, Lisa Doughten, a senior UN humanitarian official, said the Houthi measures negatively impacted aid operations in areas under their control. “The environment in these areas is growing more constrained at a time when humanitarians are already struggling to meet the needs of millions of people across the country,” she said.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on August 18-19/2024
Iran's Mullahs and Their Deadly Serious Plan: The Total Annihilation of Israel and the US
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./August 18, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/08/133376/
This conflict is a battle for survival not only for Israel but for the region, and ultimately for Europe and the United States.
Israel understands the stakes: Iran's belligerency requires an unequivocally committed response from the United States. In that part of the world, wishy-washy means a green light, open season. The consequences are assumed to vary from minimal to non-existent – and often even a profit!
Iran has no interest in becoming a sand dune. That is why it has proxies, so that they will do the attacking and take the incoming retaliation, ensuring that their devoted patron, Iran, will not have to. Iran's proxies are its human shields.
"Now, ask yourself, which country ultimately stands in the way of Iran's maniacal plans to impose radical Islam on the world? And the answer is clear: It's America, the guardian of Western civilization and the world's greatest power. That's why Iran sees America as its greatest enemy.... That's why the mobs in Tehran chant 'Death to Israel' before they chant 'Death to America.' For Iran Israel is first, America is next.... When Israel acts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.... [that] threaten every American city.... we're not only protecting ourselves. We're protecting you." — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Address to US Congress, July 25, 2024.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei... has gone as far as proclaiming to the youth of Iran that they will soon witness the downfall of both Israel and American civilization.
Has anyone noticed how Russian President Vladimir Putin's threat of using nuclear weapons succeeded in intimidating the Biden-Harris administration? Why wasn't the Biden-Harris administration intimidating Putin?
As [General Hossein] Salami [chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] boasted, Iran has empowered its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, to such an extent that it now has the capability to "wipe out Israel" on its own. — timesofisrael.com, January 28, 2019.
The US should make it unequivocally clear that any entity that attacks Israel will face costs it cannot even imagine.
The Iranian regime and its proxies appear to believe they have the perfect opportunity to eradicate Israel. They perceive a weak administration in the United States under President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris: the US has released billions of dollars that mainly assist Iran in arming its proxies.
The stakes could not be higher. The United States must prevent Iran's unfathomably dangerous prophecy from becoming a lethal reality.
This conflict is a battle for survival not only for Israel but for the region, and ultimately for Europe and the United States. (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
The war initiated against Israel on October 7 by the Iranian regime, along with its proxies and terrorist groups — Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Iraqi Shia militias — is far more than a minor skirmish or an isolated act of aggression.
The conflict appears to be a meticulously orchestrated campaign aimed at the total annihilation, at this point, of the Jewish state.
The Biden-Harris administration does not yet seem aware of the real gravity of the situation. Although it has recently provided much extremely welcome support to Israel, it has not shown until last week the unwavering support that would have acted as a real deterrent. That is what would have caused the Iranian regime to have second thoughts, stopped them dead in their tracks.
This conflict is a battle for survival not only for Israel but for the region, and ultimately for Europe and the United States.
Israel understands the stakes: Iran's belligerency requires an unequivocally committed response from the United States. In that part of the world, wishy-washy means a green light, open season. The consequences are assumed to vary from minimal to non-existent – and often even a profit!
Apart from extremely generous supply ships and materiel, rhetorically there has been just another unelectrifying "Don't." Where is the message that if Iran or any of its sidekicks goes anywhere near Israel -- or anyone else -- what a shame it would be if a country as magnificent as the Islamic Republic of Iran, along with its distinguished regime, were actually to be returned to the seventh century?
Iran has no interest in becoming a sand dune. That is why it has proxies, so that they will do the attacking and take the incoming retaliation, ensuring that their devoted patron, Iran, will not have to. Iran's proxies are its human shields.
The Gaza war, was, after all, started by Hamas, with the direct support from Iran. Hamas, with funding from Qatar, the consigliere of all Islamic terrorist groups, and orchestrated by Iran, brazenly invaded a sovereign nation. This was not just a military operation, but a brutal campaign of torturing, mutilating, raping, murdering and kidnapping innocent civilians — not only Israelis but people from other countries. The war was initiated by unprovoked, bloodthirsty acts of violence that disregarded the very foundations of international law and human rights. Its aim seemed only to express psychopathic behavior and reap as large a ransom as one could dream up.
The war has since evolved into a dangerous seven-front jihad against Israel, conducted by an array of militias and terrorist organizations, directed and funded by Iran. And this is the hospitality Iran is offering before it has nuclear weapons.
The Iranian regime, since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, has made its goal unmistakably clear: the complete destruction of the State of Israel. The objective is not merely political, but deeply rooted in the Islamist ideology that drives the regime's actions. From the founder of Iran's Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, to the current Supreme Guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, there has been a consistent prophecy, demanding first the eradication of Israel, then of the United States. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "the Churchill of the Middle East," reminded the US Congress:
"In the Middle East, Iran is virtually behind all the terrorism, all the turmoil, all the chaos, all the killing..... When he founded the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini pledged, 'We will export our revolution to the entire world. We will export the Islamic revolution to the entire world.' Now, ask yourself, which country ultimately stands in the way of Iran's maniacal plans to impose radical Islam on the world? And the answer is clear: It's America, the guardian of Western civilization and the world's greatest power. That's why Iran sees America as its greatest enemy.
Last month, I heard a revealing comment... from the foreign minister of Iran's proxy, Hezbollah, and he said this: 'This is not a war with Israel. Israel,' he said, 'is merely a tool. The main war, the real war, is with America....'
"But Iran understands that to truly challenge America, it must first conquer the Middle East. And for this it uses its many proxies, including the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas....
"That's why the mobs in Tehran chant 'Death to Israel' before they chant 'Death to America.' For Iran Israel is first, America is next. So, when Israel fights Hamas, we're fighting Iran. When we fight Hezbollah, we're fighting Iran. When we fight the Houthis, we're fighting Iran. And when we fight Iran, we're fighting the most radical and murderous enemy of the United States of America.
"And one more thing. When Israel acts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons that could destroy Israel and threaten every American city, every city that you come from, we're not only protecting ourselves. We're protecting you."
The US might scoff, but to Iran's leaders, the plan is a deadly serious one that shapes Iran's foreign policy to this day.
It must have just as easy to think that Hitler could not really have wanted to exterminate the Jews. Does anyone imagine that if Hitler had acquired nuclear weapons, he would not have used them? He would not even have had to use them; he could just have reminded everyone of the threat. Has anyone noticed how Russian President Vladimir Putin's threat of using nuclear weapons succeeded in intimidating the Biden-Harris administration? Why wasn't the Biden-Harris administration intimidating Putin?
General Hossein Salami, the chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), openly articulated the regime's aggressive stance. "Our strategy is to erase Israel from the global political map," he declared on Iran's state-controlled Channel 2 TV in 2019. If that was insufficiently convincing, try Khamenei's 416-page roadmap to destroying Israel, Palestine. The book emphasizes the regime's unwavering dedication to its goal in the future where Israel ceases to exist.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds the ultimate authority over all of Iran's domestic and foreign policies, has gone as far as proclaiming to the youth of Iran that they will soon witness the downfall of both Israel and American civilization. His statement is a helpful reminder of the regime's long-term ambitions:
"You young people should be assured that you will witness the demise of the enemies of humanity, meaning the degenerate American civilization, and the demise of Israel."
One of the key objectives of Iran's sponsorship, training, and arming of proxies is the targeting of Israel. As Salami boasted, Iran has empowered its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, to such an extent that it now has the capability to "wipe out Israel" on its own.
The Iranian regime and its proxies appear to believe they have the perfect opportunity to eradicate Israel. They perceive a weak administration in the United States under President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris: the US has released billions of dollars that mainly assist Iran in arming its proxies. The Biden administration has been purposefully lax in enforcing sanctions, by allowing Iran to sell oil at record highs, which in turn also funds its terrorist activities. The lack of full military and political support behind Israel, until a few days ago, has only emboldens Iran and its allies, and created a dangerous vacuum that Tehran would be only too happy to exploit.
The Biden-Harris administration has taken action to provide Israel with the ammunition, political backing, and military assistance it needs to defend itself against this existential threat. Israel may need more. The US should make it unequivocally clear that any entity that attacks Israel will face costs it cannot even imagine. Sanctions should be enforced rigorously, and financial lifelines cut off the that enable Iran and its proxies to continue their war efforts. The time for half-measures is over; the U.S. must stand firmly with Israel and the Free World to ensure their survival in the face of what will otherwise be a never-ending onslaught.
The Iranian regime seems to believe that it has found an opportune moment, with the window possibly closing, to fulfill its Islamist and fundamentalist prophecy of first annihilating the low-hanging fruit: "the little Satan," Israel. The stakes could not be higher. The United States must prevent Iran's unfathomably dangerous prophecy from becoming a lethal reality.
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 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.

How Do We Organize for Revolution?': U.S. Funding, Running Cover
Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute/August 18, 2024
Iran has made no secret of the immense importance it places on the US protests – as a way to export its Islamic Revolution. They have been making it clear that the regime sees the protesters at US campuses as an Iranian fifth column in America to be used in the future....
According to the analysts, "60 percent of Pro-Palestine campus protestors were not authentic online users...." — XPOZ analyst, iranintel.com, August 2, 2024.
At UCLA, "Those who occupied encampments on the university's property disallowed Jews from passing through the quad unless they would disavow Israel and, by extension, their Jewish faith. UCLA's position had been that the encampments preventing Jewish students from accessing certain areas of campus were not its responsibility." — August 14, 2024 according to National Review.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines was not particularly forthcoming about exactly where and how Iran is peddling its influence on US campuses. Haines's only suggestion was to warn Americans to be "more vigilant". How does one go about being "more vigilant" if one is not given a clue what to be vigilant about?
Why are Haines and Kirby deliberately misleading the public about the nature of these protests, which are anything but organic?
Protests were apparently planned well in advance of October 7. One of the lead organizers of the campus protests, the Hamas-affiliated Students for Justice in Palestine had a toolkit ready for a "Day of Resistance" just days after the massacre. While Haines and Kirby claim that the protests are "organic" and "in good faith," Hamas, an Iranian proxy, had been organizing protests on US campuses.
Other foreign powers are also involved in stirring up the pro-Hamas protests: China is connected by means of an organization named Code Pink....
Significantly, the People's Forum was behind the three-day conference in Detroit, "People's Conference for Palestine." At the conference, the People's Forum's executive director Manolo De Los Santos -- to great applause -- called for the complete destruction of the United States....
According to NGO Monitor, Answer Coalition, along with a multitude of pro-Hamas organizations, including CODEPINK, Palestinian Feminist Collective, Students for Justice in Palestine Chicago, American Muslims for Palestine Chicago, National Lawyers Guild -Task Force on the Americas/San Francisco Bay Area chapter, ANSWER Coalition – Chicago, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Jewish Voice for Peace Chicago, U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), and National Students for Justice in Palestine are planning to "March on the DNC" on August 19-22, when the Democratic Party is scheduled to host its convention in Chicago.
"Pro-Palestinian protesters are backed by a surprising source: Biden's biggest donors," Politico revealed in May. "The donors include some of the biggest names in Democratic circles: Soros, Rockefeller and Pritzker..."
Finally, the Biden-Harris administration itself, and therefore taxpayer money, is funding the protests, through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)... "a $50 million grant was awarded from the EPA through the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to 'Climate Justice Alliance,' a group that engages in pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic activities." — US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, May 21, 2024.
US officials shamefully use disinformation to confuse the American public.
Iran has made no secret of the immense importance it places on the US protests – as a way to export its Islamic Revolution. They have been making it clear that the regime sees the protesters at US campuses as an Iranian fifth column in America to be used in the future.
The Iranian regime's significant role in the ongoing pro-Hamas protests in the US was finally acknowledged on July 9 by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
"In recent weeks, Iranian government actors have sought to opportunistically take advantage of ongoing protests regarding the war in Gaza, using a playbook we've seen other actors use over the years. We have observed actors tied to Iran's government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters."
Haines made it sound as if the Iranian regime had been sitting on its hands until "recent weeks," but apparently Iranian government agents have been active all along in stoking the protests, including in Ivy League universities such as Harvard and Princeton.
According to Jason M. Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute's Iran Program:
"Iran's Foreign Ministry cultivates relationships with media outlets and think tanks in the United States and Europe, to influence policymaking in directions that serve its interests....
"Tehran has also been actively engaged in, at the minimum, encouraging American and European protest activity after the October 7 massacre—both physically and online. Iran's Intelligence Ministry (MOIS) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization dominate this space. Months before Haines' statement, this could be seen in reports from the United Kingdom that counterterrorism police had identified individuals linked to Iran's regime present on the fringes of anti-Israel rallies there. In advance of demonstrations, a memo allegedly written by an IRGC intelligence official, urged 'significant support measures for April 15 and other rallies with the aim to achieve [Israel's] political isolation.'"
Iran has made no secret of the immense importance it places on the US protests – as a way to export its Islamic Revolution. They have been making it clear that the regime sees the protesters at US campuses as an Iranian fifth column in America to be used in the future. American-educated Tehran University Professor Foad Izadi, a mouthpiece for the Iranian regime and considered by some as one of Iran's main experts on the U.S., said on April 26, 2024:
"We are watching the demonstrations, and we like what we see, but it should not end with this...These protestors are our people and will support Iran in an Iran-U.S. confrontation; Iran can repeat in the U.S. what it did in Lebanon but on a grander scale because the 'Hizbullah -style' groups in the U.S. are 'much larger' than in Lebanon."
Iran's Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, thanked US students in May for their efforts on behalf of the Iranian cause:
"Dear university students in the United States of America, this message is an expression of our empathy and solidarity with you. As the page of history is turning, you are standing on the right side of it. You have now formed a branch of the Resistance Front and have begun an honorable struggle in the face of your government's ruthless pressure—a government which openly supports the usurper and brutal Zionist regime."
Iran was also behind the campus protests at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and possibly also other universities, Iran International found.
An analysis by the American cybersecurity company XPOZ, also cited by Iran International, showed "a high percentage of inauthentic accounts primarily written in Farsi, coming from Iranians inside Iran linked to the regime and IRGC, fueling the campus protests at McGill."
"The primary takeaway is that there is a massive activity, funded, coordinated and organized by a foreign government that is influencing Canadians in Canada and driving incitement to violence and real-world activity," one of the XPOZ analysts said.
According to the analysts:
"... 60 percent of Pro-Palestine campus protestors were not authentic online users. The data indicates the presence of coordinated Farsi-speaking accounts, suggesting a targeted campaign. By comparison, 75% of commentators critical of the encampment were authentic....
"XPOZ analysts said their data demonstrate that Canada is subject to the use of deceptive mass influence campaigns coordinated by foreign governments, like Iran, to target Canadian society through proxies to deepen divides and threaten national security."
According to official statistics, antisemitism accounted for about 70% of religiously-motivated hate crimes in Canada in 2023, although Jews only account for less than one percent of the nation's population. Canada has seen an unprecedented rise in violent and other antisemitic attacks. So far, the Iranian effort has occasioned an extreme increase in antisemitic crime with shooting attacks against Jewish schools, fire bombings of Jewish institutions, boycotts and vandalism against businesses owned by Jews, and Islamic imams inciting and telling their congregations that Jews are "vermin". Of course there are also the constant marches of pro-Hamas activists chanting "long live the intifada" and "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" -- a euphemism for the destruction of Israel. On campuses in Canada, pro-Palestinian protesters at encampments have been heard chanting: "Go back to Poland", "Say it loud, say it clear, we don't want no Zionist here", and "Intifada, revolution — from the river to the sea."
If this is the kind of influence Iran wields at Canadian universities, what kind of influence does it have on universities in the US?
Avril Haines was not particularly forthcoming about exactly where and how Iran is peddling its influence on US campuses. Haines's only suggestion was to warn Americans to be "more vigilant". How does one go about being "more vigilant" if one is not given a clue what to be vigilant about? What are Jewish students supposed to do with such advice? For the better part of the last academic year, there were literally "Jew-free" zones on US university campuses – the "encampments' – where Jewish students were not allowed to pass.
National Review described the situation at UCLA:
"Those who occupied encampments on the university's property disallowed Jews from passing through the quad unless they would disavow Israel and, by extension, their Jewish faith. UCLA's position had been that the encampments preventing Jewish students from accessing certain areas of campus were not its responsibility."
Jewish students all over the US have been told to "go back to the gas chambers" and attacked being Jewish -- while police would not intervene. Now that it is clear that a state that is the enemy of the US is behind much of this, the best that US intelligence can do is tell people to be "more vigilant"?
Haines was also not entirely truthful when, immediately after mentioning Iran's role in the protests she claimed:
"I want to be clear that I know Americans who participate in protests are, in good faith, expressing their views on the conflict in Gaza – this intelligence does not indicate otherwise."
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby later repeated Haines's claim:
"We do not believe that all the protest activity out there on a daily basis is being fully funded by Iran. There is a lot of organic concern out there in the American people about what's going on in the Middle East and most of the protests are formed and fashioned in that regard."
Why are Haines and Kirby deliberately misleading the public about the nature of these protests, which are anything but organic? It hardly needs to be said that all protests need not be funded by Iran in order for them to be orchestrated by other hostile agents and organizations, a fact that Kirby and Haines appear deliberately to ignore.
Protests were apparently planned well in advance of October 7. One of the lead organizers of the campus protests, the Hamas-affiliated Students for Justice in Palestine had a toolkit ready for a "Day of Resistance" just days after the massacre. While Haines and Kirby claim that the protests are "organic" and "in good faith," Hamas, an Iranian proxy, had been organizing protests on US campuses.
Other foreign powers are also involved in stirring up the pro-Hamas protests: China is connected by means of an organization named Code Pink, which has been highly active in demonstrations, sit-ins and harassment of members of the pro-Israel camp and is connected to American millionaire Neville Roy Singham, who, according to the New York Times, "works closely with the Chinese government media machine and is financing its propaganda worldwide." He does so through a web of organizations and in a mix of "progressive advocacy with Chinese government talking points."
The New York Times has described how Code Pink went from criticizing China's human rights violations to defending its reportedly genocidal treatment of Muslim Uyghurs after Singham, in 2017, married Jodie Evans, the co-founder of Code Pink. Singham, a long-time admirer of Mao Zedong, lives in Shanghai, where he helps promote the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while his wife defends China. "If the U.S. crushes China," she said in 2021, it "would cut off hope for the human race and life on Earth." Code Pink is currently under investigation for its ties to the CCP by the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Singham is also the primary sponsor of the People's Forum, an organization advocating and educating for a Communist revolution in the US. The People's Forum has also helped to organize many anti-Israel protests, including walkouts from New York City public schools where students were told to chant a slogan that advocates the destruction of Israel: "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
Significantly, the People's Forum was behind the three-day conference in Detroit, "People's Conference for Palestine." At the conference, the People's Forum's executive director Manolo De Los Santos -- to great applause -- called for the complete destruction of the United States:
"We have to bring down this empire with one million cuts, and those one million cuts have to come from every sector of struggle in this room. I know all of you in this movement are exhausted... but it is not about gathering and talking. It is about transforming that work into action."
From July 9 to August 15, emboldened by previous protests, the People's Forum organized a "summer school" teaching students, organizers and would-be revolutionaries and protesters to fight for the destruction of the US, which it decribed as:
"An unprecedented mass movement for Palestine has taken the world by storm, igniting a profound shift in the consciousness of millions, while the US ruling class, desperate to maintain its hegemony, struggles to fulfill its imperialist agenda amidst serious political crisis... How do we organize for revolution? Bi-weekly classroom sessions, discussion, and revolutionary study. A chance to meet new friends and comrades, study, discuss, debate, and then put theory into practice!"
The People's Forum closely coordinates with other radical and revolutionary organizations such as Answer Coalition – whose director Brian Becker gave a class at the summer school – which was behind a violent demonstration in Washington, D.C. in July, during which "rioters burned American flags, defaced the Columbus monument, and assaulted U.S. Park Police officers."
According to NGO Monitor, Answer Coalition, along with a multitude of pro-Hamas organizations, including CODEPINK, Palestinian Feminist Collective, Students for Justice in Palestine Chicago, American Muslims for Palestine Chicago, National Lawyers Guild -Task Force on the Americas/San Francisco Bay Area chapter, ANSWER Coalition – Chicago, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Jewish Voice for Peace Chicago, U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), and National Students for Justice in Palestine are planning to "March on the DNC" on August 19-22, when the Democratic Party is scheduled to host its convention in Chicago.
Pro-Hamas protests in the US are also lavishly funded by a multitude of other donors, many of whom, it appears, are the very same ones that bankroll the democratic presidential campaign.
"Pro-Palestinian protesters are backed by a surprising source: Biden's biggest donors," Politico revealed in May. "The donors include some of the biggest names in Democratic circles: Soros, Rockefeller and Pritzker..."
Finally, the Biden-Harris administration itself, and therefore taxpayer money, is funding the protests, through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
"U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee... discussed oversight findings from the EPW Committee that revealed a $50 million grant was awarded from the EPA through the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to 'Climate Justice Alliance,' a group that engages in pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic activities."
No wonder that the Biden-Harris administration and the politicized agencies of US intelligence are trying to cover the whole thing up by pretending that most protests, in the words of John Kirby, are "organic" and in "good faith." They are not – they are used by a multitude of actors seeking the overthrow of the United States -- and by extension the West, to galvanize new cohorts of student revolutionaries to destroy the US. Nothing less. And they are making no secret about it. They are blaring it all out on social media, while US officials shamefully use disinformation to confuse the American public. It is time for Congress and the rest of America finally to wake up.
*Robert Williams is a researcher based in the United States.
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The IDF’s Boot Is on Hamas’ Throat
Andrew Fox/The Tablet/August 18/2024
At this point, the only obstacle to an Israeli military victory in Gaza is Washington
There is desperation in Western media to declare Israel’s campaign in Gaza, Operation Swords of Iron, a failure. Over the past several months, there has been a steady supply of analysis beating the same drum: Israel is not winning. Hamas remains intact. The Israeli government has no plan. The very notion of a military victory is illusory. And so on. It’s a genre unto itself—one which, unsurprisingly, tracks precisely with the official talking points of the Biden-Harris administration and other Western governments that have been trying to bend Israel’s operation against Hamas to fit their own failed paradigms.
The latest installment came in last week, courtesy of CNN. An acme of the genre, the article cast aspersions on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim, which he made in his address before Congress last month, that “victory is in sight.” Instead, CNN claimed that of 24 Hamas battalions, only three are considered “destroyed” and another eight are combat effective, with 13 having only a “moderate” reduction in their fighting capability.
CNN was merely repeating talking points from months ago. In December, The Washington Post ran an article titled “Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas. Yet the group remains largely intact,” and NBC News published “Israel says it has degraded 10 out of 24 Hamas battalions and killed thousands of fighters. But Hamas is still fighting and its top leaders are still alive.” In May, CNN itself claimed that Israel’s military strategy was failing because the IDF had renewed fighting in northern Gaza, which raised “doubts about whether Israel’s goal to eradicate the group in the enclave is realistic.”
Never mind the veracity of such claims that demolished Hamas battalions are in fact still operational. The IDF, for what it’s worth, has dismissed them as false. The more important fact is that they are irrelevant.
The IDF’s way of war is not the West’s way of war. It is not designed to carry out protracted campaigns of attrition. It is a raiding army.
The goals of the IDF operation are to dismantle Hamas’ administrative and fighting capabilities, which are almost entirely contingent on Gaza’s network of underground tunnels. The tunnels are the main focus of IDF ground-holding operations along the Philadelphi Corridor in Rafah, while IDF maneuver brigades strike Hamas wherever they coalesce. The IDF is having to fight a determined enemy that hides among and weaponizes the civilian infrastructure and population as human shields—all with the eyes of the world ready to condemn the slightest Israeli error. This takes time. It’s a long war against a consolidated and tenacious terror army. IDF sources I spoke to predicted another six to 18 months to finish the job, assuming no cease-fire is agreed.
This is not, and never has been, a counterinsurgency or counterterrorism operation—It is a conventional urban war against an irregular but fully formed terror army, with their own underground citadel. Yet many Western analysts are incapable of seeing the conflict through anything but the lens of post-9/11 operations. The refrain, echoing official Biden-Harris administration talking points, is that Israel should be doing what the West tried and failed to do in Iraq and Afghanistan. In other words, Israel needs to make sure it follows our lead and lose.
The IDF’s way of war is not the West’s way of war. It is not designed, either operationally or logistically, to carry out protracted campaigns of attrition. It is a raiding army, and that is what its operational design reflects. It is not articulated in sequential phases in the way a Western planner would articulate a concept of operations. Rather, many of the following have occurred simultaneously:
Phase A was defense against Hamas’ incursion on Oct. 7; airstrikes; and evacuation of Gaza’s civilian population from combat zones.
Phases B1 and B2 were the Gaza City break-in. The IDF assessed this location as the Hamas center of gravity, which Clausewitz defined as “the hub of all power and movement, on which everything depends.” Gaza City was Hamas’ power base, and the IDF plan was to destroy what Hamas capability it found.
Phase B3 was the first cease-fire and hostage return.
Phases B4 and B5 saw continued operations in Khan Yunis and northern Gaza, focusing on Hamas’ central battalions, and undertaking the Rafah operation to seize and clear the Philadelphi Corridor of Hamas tunnels. This is still ongoing.
Phase C will be to continue to dismantle Hamas’ administrative and military capabilities in those areas through intelligence-led raids. The second Shifa hospital raid in March was an example of this, which aims to create the conditions for administrative alternatives to Hamas. It is fair to say that this has not yet happened, and indeed, as I wrote in Tablet in May, may not happen at all.
Phase D will be to stabilize an alternative governance structure and maintain IDF freedom of operation within the Gaza Strip.
Each of these stages is underpinned by maintenance of operational freedom; humanitarian efforts; protection and return of the hostages (the IDF have a “no strike” policy where there may be hostages in any location in Gaza); and eliminating Hamas’ leadership where they are not using the hostages as their own human version of Iron Dome.
During a visit to Israel last month, the IDF Southern Command showed me designs for the whole Gaza operation. It is truly impressive: Hamas defensive positions were oriented from west to east, and the IDF operational plan outflanked them by coming in from the north, along the coast, and then turning east to hit Hamas from behind. In military terms, Hamas was completely dislocated.
Operations are, of course, severely hampered by the IDF’s remarkable efforts at civilian protection—a factor that condescending international media analysis either ignores or cynically uses as further evidence for the need to end the operation in line with Washington’s demands. The IDF has moved hundreds of thousands of people out of harm’s way, and it has sacrificed surprise to ensure civilians are protected. Of course Hamas fighters have moved to humanitarian zones along with the civilians. This is why they are “safer zones” rather than “safe zones”: The IDF reserve the right to strike Hamas fighters where they reasonably and proportionally can. It is unquestionable that the IDF’s extraordinary efforts to protect civilians have made the war far more difficult to fight. These are the actions of a moral army. The constant disruption and interference by a U.S. administration seeking a quick end to the operation have prolonged both the war and the suffering of the people of Gaza.
Hamas, by contrast, is a terror army, with well-dug-in and planned defensive positions among the population, a clear command structure, and a motivated and well-trained fighting force. The war has only been ongoing for nine full months. No other army in recent history has confronted an enemy of this nature. It is ludicrous and unrealistic to expect the IDF to fully dismantle Gaza’s government and military of 20 years in a few short months.
It is also worth noting that Hamas, whether it still has cohesive battalions or not, has been unable to land a decisive blow against the IDF since the start of ground maneuver operations. The IDF has killed some 17,000 Hamas fighters, and Hamas’ senior leadership has taken significant casualties, including the group’s former head, Ismail Haniyeh, and before that, its top military commander Muhammad Deif. Those who are still alive are in hiding. The group’s battalion command structure is badly damaged. Their weapons manufacturing capability is diminished. They cannot launch a repeat of Oct. 7. The Philadelphi Corridor has been seized and the tunnels to Egypt are being dismantled. Importantly, Netanyahu’s office has stressed that Israel has no plans to cede control of the corridor.
At the start of the war, Western analysts and government officials told us that none of this could be done. In less than 10 months, this is an impressive achievement by the IDF, given the remarkable built-in defensive capabilities of Hamas. Finishing the job will take longer still.
What’s more, IDF combat operations in Gaza have led to an astonishing degree of operational freedom. The IDF’s 162nd Division, which led the charge in Gaza City and Rafah, has only lost four armored vehicles in nine months of fighting; 2,831 vehicles have been damaged by enemy action, but every single one has returned to the front lines. In the second Shifa hospital raid—a masterpiece of operational design—the IDF was on objective within 15 minutes of the start of the mission. It deployed Special Forces and killed 200 members of Hamas, and captured 600 more. Interestingly, the reason so many Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters were present in the first place is that the IDF applied both pressure and deception to encourage them back into the hospital, thinking it was safe.
The impact of IDF operations on the behavior of Hamas’ leadership has also been noteworthy, because the destruction of the tunnels is beginning to force them above ground. At the start of the war, senior commanders stayed inside underground; as of this writing, the 162nd Division alone has destroyed 1,635 tunnel shafts and 90 kilometers of tunnel network. The tunnels’ dwindling viability forces Hamas commanders to hide in the humanitarian zones aboveground instead, presenting the IDF with opportunities for high-value targeting—this is how Deif was killed—despite the difficulties of operating against the human shield strategy. The IDF will continue to strike in these zones when circumstances require it.
Hamas will fight for as long as its commanders remain in control. The IDF’s operational plan at this point is to force them to crack when they understand their own lives are in danger. The IDF has its boot on Hamas’ throat and will keep pressing until it quits.
This, in turn, is why Washington’s unrelenting campaign to force a cease-fire is so pernicious: It attempts to ensure Hamas will survive and have a vote in the outcome of the war. So far, Netanyahu has resisted the pressure, allowing the IDF to continue tightening the vise until Hamas is forced to agree to Israel’s terms for a cease-fire. Israel does not accept the artificial Western separation of diplomacy from military force, as if they were opposite tools with conflicting objectives. It is leveraging both toward the same goal.
The IDF is only midway through a gargantuan task. The job is far from finished, but it is making progress. At this point, the only thing that can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and ensure the survival of the Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist group on Israel’s border, is Washington.
Andrew Fox served as an officer in the British Army from 2005-21, retiring with the rank of Major. He completed three tours in Afghanistan, including one attached to U.S. Army Special Forces. He also served in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, and the Middle East. He is a Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Ceasefire sticking points indicate Hamas's plans to return to power - analysis
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/August 18/2024
The ceasefire deal sees Hamas seeking control over Gaza's Netzarim and Philadelphi Corridors, while Israel worries about Hamas regaining power in Gaza if IDF presence is reduced.
Updated: AUGUST 18, 2024 19:18 The current ceasefire discussions, which are based on parameters that framed the talks since January, have several sticking points. Recent reports point to several key issues in the talks that could either derail them again or lead to an agreement. At issue are several key demands of Hamas: it wants Israel to leave the Netzarim Corridor, which separates Gaza City from central Gaza, and the Philadelphi Corridor, which separates Gaza from Egypt.
The Hamas demands – to be able to return armed fighters to northern Gaza through dismantling the IDF’s presence in Netzarim and to return to smuggling along the Egyptian border by ejecting Israel from the corridor – represent the grand plan to return to power in Gaza, part of the terror group’s larger grand strategy of using October 7 to take over the West Bank.
Hamas is already on the march in the West Bank, as evidenced by recent IDF airstrikes in the Tubas region and Jenin against key Hamas operatives; its demands in Gaza are step one in its next stage of operations.These demands, which have been reported in numerous media in the region, may not only be Hamas’s. Other countries involved in the talks, such as Qatar and Egypt, may also have interests in Gaza and Hamas returning to control these areas. Iran, which supports Hamas, has likely advised it that it needs to find a way to return to control the Netzarim corridor and the border with Egypt.
Hamas negotiation efforts boosted by its major regional supporters
According to reports in The Washington Post, Doha was in contact with Tehran about Iran’s threats to attack Israel over the last two weeks.
Why was Doha talking to Tehran? Presumably, the goal was to delay the purported Iranian assault, enabling the continuation of the ceasefire negotiations. Iran would have wanted something in return. It is likely that Iran, along with other regional players like Turkey, which also supports Hamas, is actively advising Hamas on key points to maintain during the ceasefire talks.
Hamas is focusing on reducing its presence in the Philadelphi Corridor and may be open to the Palestinian Authority playing a role on the Egyptian border. Why does Hamas not mind the PA being there? Hamas has a long-term goal of taking over the PA, so it sees these forces as simply its own forces in waiting. Hamas has already been working with Beijing to create a unity deal for 14 Palestinian factions that would allow it to be in the PA. It is quietly backed by the PFLP, and the Palestinian National Initiative among other groups, and has received increasing backing by armed groups in Tulkarm, Kalkilya, Jenin, Tubas, and other areas in the northern West Bank.Hamas’s main goal is to get rid of the main areas that Israel still controls in Gaza: Netzarim and Philadelphi. Israel has adopted a strategy in Gaza of clearing areas of Hamas and then leaving. Israel uses the corridors to quickly move forces into areas of Gaza. Israeli forces never remain for more than a few weeks, while Israel controls the two corridors across Gaza to monitor northern and southern Gaza.
Hamas in charge of around eighty percent of Gaza
IN GENERAL, Israel’s campaign in Gaza since October has left Hamas in control of the central camps – Maghazi, Nuseirat, Deir al-Balah, and Bureij – and Israel has left Hamas in charge of around 80% of Gaza in total. However, the IDF uses raids to reduce the Hamas presence in northern and southern Gaza. If there is a ceasefire deal, the raids will stop. Hamas will then regrow its power in northern and southern Gaza by using its current bases in Nuseirat, Bureij, and Deir al-Balah to move forces around. Many of the forces Hamas has in Khan Yunis, for example, moved there after the IDF left in April and after the Rafah operation began in May.
Israel is concerned that Hamas could move armed men from Nuseirat across the Netzarim corridor into northern Gaza. Hamas has already stepped up operations against the IDF in the corridor. The terror group has attempted sniper attacks and also attacks using explosive devices. The goal of the Hamas campaign is low-level harassment of the IDF. Hamas and other groups do the same thing, targeting the IDF in areas near Rafah. We know this because Hamas openly brags about it to pro-Iranian media. Hamas publishes daily details about its threats to IDF forces in Netzarim and southern Gaza. Every day that Hamas crouches in the ruins of parts of Gaza, it potentially grows stronger, and every day that the IDF is forced to sit and wait, it could potentially become a target. However, if the IDF leaves these areas, Hamas will take control and rapidly return in force to northern and southern Gaza. This has already been done by Hamas after IDF ground operations.The key sticking points in the ceasefire talks are evidence of the Hamas plan to return to Gaza. It wants to move armed men to northern Gaza and reestablish itself in southern Gaza. The corridors prevent this. If the IDF presence is reduced or the IDF leaves, then Hamas will return. It has already returned to much of Gaza and shown that it can rapidly regrow its networks.

Iran’s barbarity has no modern equal, and it goes largely unpunished - opinion
Shmuley Botecah//Jerusalem Post/August 18/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/08/133373/
As Iran's threats loom larger and its role in global terrorism intensifies, the specter of conflict with the U.S. seems increasingly inevitable.
A US war with Iran is becoming inevitable.
My father was born in Isfahan, the ancient capital of Iran, rated by UNESCO as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Although he left Iran in his youth, in the 1950s, Iran never left him.
He played Persian music and we loved Persian cuisine. Even my Ashkenazi wife, Debbie learned to cook Persian dishes such as ghormei sabzi, which endeared her to my father.
However, from the age of my bar mitzvah, I began to hate Iran.
It was 1979, and I watched a wobbly and irresolute US president Jimmy Carter unable to provide a credible response to the millions of people, chanting “Death to America” on the streets of Tehran, as they toppled a foremost American ally.
I remember the day the Shah’s palace was finally overrun by Islamist extremists. Within weeks, the American Embassy, too, was overrun and our country endured 444 harrowing days, not completely dissimilar to what Israel and American Jewry are enduring now with the hostages held by Hamas. Two things are under no doubt. First, the shah was no saint, but compared to the brutality of Khomeini and the mullahs, he was a benevolent autocrat who raised his nation from poverty. And second, Carter’s abandonment of the shah led to the rise of Islamist fundamentalism from which Muslims and non-Muslims alike suffer to this day. Historians estimate that the shah’s SAVAK internal security service may have killed a maximum of 3,000 Iranian dissidents. This is an unforgivable number but a decimal point compared to the hundreds of thousands who would die under Khomeini and his successor Khamenei’s reigns of brutality. This doesn’t even factor in the tens of thousands of innocents they have murdered the world over in terror attacks, including thousands of Americans in Lebanon, Iraq, Argentina, and Europe.
A few years back, my wife and I spent an evening with empress of Iran Farah Diba Pahlavi. It was a surreal experience. On the piano were photos of her, her husband, and her children, as if they were any ordinary immigrant American family. She is a woman of noble bearing, who remains popular in Iran until today. I asked her how her husband had lost power. Not that I would endorse immoral behavior – I was a public champion of the failed Arab Spring – but why didn’t he repress the rebellion with greater force?
I will never forget her answer, which she spoke with the sincerity of truth. “His generals begged him, but he told them he refused to slaughter his own people.”
Today, the shah’s reputation remains mixed, at best. His son, crown prince Reza Pahlavi – whom our organization, The World Values Network, honored at a New York City gala for friendship with the Jewish people – supports the complete democratization of Iran rather than any return to a royal prerogative.
Four decades later, the Iranian government, run by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is easily and undeniably the most evil on earth.
What else can be said of a government that works toward a second Holocaust, hangs gays from cranes, and tortures and stones women to death for showing strands of hair in public? This is aside from the terrorism it sows throughout the world and its trajectory toward nuclear armament with which to either blow up the world or, at a minimum, keep it terrorized for the next century.
Iran barbarity unmatched
In short, Iran’s barbarity has no modern equal. This has gone on for half a century with Iran rarely being punished.
On Tisha B’Av, the most mournful day on the Jewish calendar, Israel was waiting for Iran to attack it again.
In a briefing, IDF Chief International Spokesman (Res.), Col. Jonathan Conricus – who we brought to Times Square to speak to thousands of people at a pro-IDF rally – was clear: Any belief that Iran’s initial attack in April was just a feint is preposterous. Its aim was to murder as many Israelis as possible, firing missiles the size of school buses and using state-of-the-art drones.
Why is Israel just sitting around waiting to be attacked? Is that how Israel achieved victory in 1967, by waiting for Nasser, who promised to push the Jews into the sea, or by using his threat to strike first and destroy all his air forces?
A week ago, US Attorney-General Merrick Garland confirmed in a press conference that Iranian agents had hired assassins in the United States to murder President Donald Trump. Luckily, those hired were undercover American law enforcement agents. Seriously? Iran is planning to murder a former American president and Republican nominee, and there is no American response?
Three years ago, on the first yahrzeit of my father of blessed memory, we hosted then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo with a crowd of 1,000 on the streets of Manhattan in what constituted a reopening of sorts after COVID-19. Although Pompeo had left office four months earlier, he arrived with a hundred agents to protect him. The size of the security cordon perplexed me until I read that Iran was actively trying to murder him and Trump’s former security advisor John Bolton, on American soil, in retaliation for the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the terrorist head of the IRGC.
'Death to America'
When the Islamic Republic of Iran chants “Death to America,” in addition to riling up its populace and terror proxies to target American servicemen and women and civilians, it is threatening the elimination of our nation’s top leaders.
Has America fallen so low that we’re allowing terrorists to decapitate our government possibly?
Can you imagine what the United States or Britain would have done to Japan or Germany if they had tried to assassinate president Franklin Roosevelt or prime minister Winston Churchill during the war?
I hate war, particularly as my two sons are combat soldiers in the IDF in special forces units. I wish the war in Gaza would end this moment, so my sons can come home in peace.
But I also recognize that failure to destroy Hamas utterly will see Israelis die well into the next generation. In truth, there would be no Hamas, there would be no Hezbollah, and there would be no Houthis without Iran to back them.
The head of the snake has one name and one name only: Iran.
Americans are understandably in an isolationist mood, knowing how the patriotic rhetoric that we heard during the Bush years ended with 10,000 dead American heroes in Afghanistan and Iraq, $2 trillion dollars down the toilet, and nothing to show for it. Afghanistan is ruled by the same misogynist knuckle-draggers, the Taliban, that we dislodged two decades ago, and Iraq is one of the most vocal governments supporting Hamas.
From former president Donald Trump to President Joe Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris to my friend Sen. Bobby Kennedy, every leading American candidate for the presidency has been opposed to the “forever wars” in the Middle East. And yet, when it comes to Iran, it’s time to ask an uncomfortable question. What alternative is there?
Appeasing the West's biggest hater
Former president Barack Obama sought to appease Iran and, in an act of stupidity, actually thought to grant it not only $150 billion but essential hegemony over the Middle East, in the hope that it would civilize.
Then, Donald Trump, in an act of great political courage, threw out the JCPOA Iran deal and nearly bankrupted the mullahs, a policy that the United States must continue regardless of criticism. Yet even that did not fully bankrupt the mullahs, as China rushed to Iran’s aid and bought their oil illegally, which leads us to one conclusion. Whoever occupies the White House may face no choice but this: a military campaign against Iran, joined with all our NATO, EU, and international allies – and every nation that wants to see a civilized Earth – finally disarming Iran, destroying its nuclear capability, and offering the long-suffering people of Iran an opportunity at liberation.
*The writer is the international best-selling author of the newly published guide to fighting back for Israel: The Israel Warrior. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @RabbiShmuley.

Aid workers deserve better protection
Alistair Burt/Arab News/August 18, 2024
Two pertinent anniversaries for our times fall this month. On Aug. 12, the world marked the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Geneva Conventions, which are the cornerstone of international humanitarian law. And Aug. 19 is World Humanitarian Day, which honors all those who work selflessly in the aftermath of disasters or during conflicts. This date was chosen to recognize the sacrifice of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 others who died in the bombing of the Canal Hotel in Baghdad in 2003. In London, a nonreligious service will be held at Westminster Abbey to honor all those who demonstrate the best of humanitarian traditions and principles — humanity, independence and impartiality.
It is a day that deserves notice, not least throughout the Middle East, which has seen so many of the conflicts and natural disasters that have called upon the best of human responses in the midst of the greatest difficulty. But it should also cause shame and reflection among us all as to why evidence suggests that only lip service is now being paid to the protection of aid workers offered by the Geneva Conventions, which aims to keep them “free from violence to life.”
UN figures show that the number of aid workers killed worldwide in 2023 — 261 — was more than double the year before. And this is in addition to the 274 who were kidnapped or wounded. Information from the Aid Worker Security Database shows how depressingly widespread the risk of danger is, as it details the significant 2023 incidents that affected aid workers in Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Myanmar, Palestine, Syria and Ukraine.
There should be no hierarchy in such figures — each life lost or affected is important. But if the horrors of the conflict in Gaza do not focus the attention of those responsible for conflict and peacemaking, it is hard to imagine what would. The Aid Worker Security Database had documented, by early May this year, 234 aid worker deaths stemming from 308 incidents of them being targeted in Gaza. This is simply the latest and most graphic evidence that the Geneva Conventions’ effectiveness is being challenged in conflicts across the globe.
If this continues, with aid workers being driven away from their roles as a result, it would add another layer of catastrophe to the lives of many innocent civilians. The UN estimates some 53.8 million people in the Middle East require assistance, mostly as a result of conflict. Aid workers help these people by providing shelter and delivering food, water and medicines to combat malnutrition, disease and the destruction of economies and livelihoods.
Evidence suggests that only lip service is now being paid to the protection of aid workers offered by the Geneva Conventions.
But who are they? Who puts their life on the line to go to the aid of those in difficulty, when they could easily turn away and find something else to do with their time? They are more than just statistics and deserve pages of personal coverage.
There is sometimes a sense in the West that aid agencies are staffed largely by international personnel, selflessly working beyond their own comfortable boundaries to help those who are less fortunate. And indeed there are many, such as the remarkable Australian woman Zomi Frankcom. She had joined World Central Kitchen in 2018, working to cook and deliver food during floods in Bangladesh and Pakistan, earthquakes in Morocco, COVID-19 among the Navajo Nation and amid food shortages in Venezuela, before her life was taken by an Israeli missile in April this year in Gaza. She was a woman “curious and inquisitive about other cultures and who nourished the spirits she served,” according to World Central Kitchen.
But the vast majority of aid workers — and the casualties — are locals responding to the plight of those around them and they deserve notice. Of the 595 aid worker victims of violence in 2023, 569 were local nationals and only 26 were international. Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha was killed along with Frankcom. He was Palestinian and had graduated from university in the UAE. World Central Kitchen reported that he had returned to Gaza to work in business with his father at the Great Arab Mills Company before the conflict began. There are hundreds more worldwide like Abutaha, locals who are driven to serve for the benefit of their own people when they are caught up in strife. What lives they could have had.
So, what is to be done? A concerted series of ceasefires and resolutions to conflicts would be best for all. States should recognize their obligations under the Geneva Conventions and know that any breaches are war crimes for which there is no escape or impunity. However, in the likely event of neither of the above happening, then aid support to the most vulnerable should not stop. One anonymous female Afghan aid worker is this week publicly pleading against the cutting of aid and support for those working with her among women in Afghanistan. She says aid cuts are a “punishment felt most keenly by women who are already suffering from persecution.”
We will honor aid workers at Westminster Abbey on Monday. But the best way to show how much we value them is to ensure that there are no more aid worker victims at all.
**Alistair Burt is a former UK Member of Parliament who has twice held ministerial positions in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office — as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State from 2010 to 2013 and as Minister of State for the Middle East from 2017 to 2019. X: @AlistairBurtUK

Iran-Israel cyberwar grows as military tensions mount
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/August 18, 2024
While the military standoff between Iran and Israel has gained significant attention, less focus has been placed on the growing conflict between the two nations in the digital realm. The frequency of cyberattacks exchanged between Iran and Israel has surged dramatically as military tensions have intensified. Gaby Portnoy, the director general of the Israel National Cyber Directorate, revealed at the Cybertech Global Conference in Tel Aviv in April that the intensity of cyberattacks had tripled since the beginning of the current Gaza conflict. He also pointed out that the hacker group known as Black Shadow, which operates under the facade of a private enterprise in Tehran but is reportedly linked to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, has been particularly active in these attacks. One cyberattack late last year targeted Safed’s Ziv Medical Center. Hackers managed to infiltrate the hospital’s systems and access sensitive patient data, which was subsequently leaked online. The Israel National Cyber Directorate attributed this attack to Iran and Hezbollah. Additionally, a malicious email allegedly containing “citizen safety” guidelines from the Israel Defense Forces was sent to Israeli citizens on Aug. 4, demonstrating the sophisticated attempts of Iranian cyber attackers. Another of the known Iranian hacking groups is MuddyWater, which is famous for its strategic online espionage operations. MuddyWater is affiliated with the Iranian government and has been involved in numerous sophisticated cyberattacks, targeting various entities across the globe. Its strategy often involves infiltrating systems to gather intelligence and disrupt operations, making it a significant player in Iran’s cyberwarfare arsenal.
Iran has also been the target of substantial cyberattacks. One notable incident involved a major attack on Iran’s largest bank, resulting in the theft of account holders’ information. In another attack, Iran’s fuel infrastructure was severely disrupted, with Tehran blaming Israel for the breach.
Cyberattacks pose a severe threat to almost every sector, from healthcare and banking to tourism and transportation. The damage inflicted by such attacks can be profound, paralyzing essential services, releasing sensitive information and causing widespread panic. For instance, in the healthcare industry, a cyberattack could lead to the exposure of patients’ private medical records, the disruption of hospital operations and even the endangering of lives.
In the financial sector, breaches can lead to the theft of massive amounts of money, identity fraud and a loss of public trust in the banking system. Cyberattacks on transport systems can cripple logistics, delay critical supplies and cause chaos. The tourism industry can also be severely impacted, with attacks leading to the leaking of personal data and disruptions to travel. The cumulative effect of such widespread attacks can destabilize a nation, causing long-term economic damage as well as eroding public confidence. Cyberattacks pose a severe threat to almost every sector, from healthcare and banking to tourism and transportation. It is important to point out that the cyber conflict between Iran and Israel is not a new phenomenon; it has roots that stretch back nearly two decades. The conflict in cyberspace began in the early 2000s, when both Iran and Israel recognized that such capabilities could give them an edge.
One of the earliest and most significant events was the Stuxnet attack of 2010. Stuxnet, a sophisticated computer worm, was reportedly developed by the US and Israel to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, specifically the centrifuges at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant. The attack set Iran’s nuclear program back by several years, demonstrating the power of cyber weaponry. Following this event, the Iranian government began to invest heavily in its cyber capabilities, leading to a series of retaliatory attacks on Israeli infrastructure, banks and critical systems. Over the years, the two nations have engaged in tit-for-tat attacks, each trying to outmaneuver the other with ever more sophisticated and damaging cyberattacks. Israel and Iran’s preference for cyberwarfare over direct military confrontation can be attributed to several factors. First of all, cyberwarfare is significantly less costly than traditional military operations. The financial and human costs associated with deploying troops, maintaining equipment and engaging in prolonged battles are far greater than those involved in conducting cyberattacks. Cyber operations can be carried out by small, skilled teams using relatively inexpensive tools, making them an attractive option.
Secondly, cyberwarfare offers a level of deniability that conventional military actions do not have. When a cyberattack is launched, it can be challenging to immediately attribute it to a specific nation or group. This ambiguity allows states to engage in aggressive actions without triggering a full-scale military response. For example, Iran can deny involvement in a cyberattack on Israel, instead attributing it to independent hackers or rogue groups, thereby avoiding a direct confrontation while still causing damage. Finally, cyberwarfare has the ability to target specific systems and sectors with precision, causing maximum disruption with minimal collateral damage. Unlike traditional warfare, which often results in widespread destruction and civilian casualties, cyberattacks can be tailored to disrupt critical infrastructure, steal sensitive information or sabotage military operations without physical violence. This precision makes cyberwarfare a preferred tool for nations seeking to weaken their enemies without engaging in open conflict. In conclusion, as military tensions between Iran and Israel continue to rise, the cyber front has emerged as an equally intense battleground, if not even more so. The correlation between escalating military conflicts and an increase in cyberattacks suggests that this digital warfare will likely intensify in parallel with traditional confrontations.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian American political scientist. X: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Tensions in the Middle East fuel growing global ‘polycrisis’
Andrew Hammond/Arab News/August 18/ 2024
Geopolitics was not widely viewed as a key trigger for the turmoil in international financial markets this month. However, several potential political fissures might yet emerge in 2024, including in the Middle East, bringing greater economic disequilibrium in their wake. Take, for example, the conflict in Gaza, which could yet descend into a full-scale regional war involving Israel and Iran. The most immediate context to this is Tehran’s pondering of a response to the recent assassinations of Hamas political chief in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said this week that Iran might carry out imminent retaliatory military operations against Israel. He warned that “we have to be prepared for what could be a significant set of attacks” potentially greater than the assault in April in which Iran targeted Israel with 300 missiles and armed drones. As the US builds up its military assets in the region, there are not only growing doubts about the possibility of securing a long sought ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, despite continuing peace talks in Qatar, there is certainly a growing, real possibility of a wider regional war. With Iran’s religious leadership under heavy internal pressure to respond with force, traditional assumptions long made about Tehran’s military posture might have become more fragile.
One of these assumptions is that Iran prefers to fight its wars via proxies. However, the regime might now be positioning itself for a confrontation that is more hands-on and does not only rely on proxy forces such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad or the Houthis to carry out its strategic aims. As Tehran contemplates its next step, a key risk for all sides is miscalculation. This in a region in which geopolitics have been upended since Hamas perpetrated a major terrorist attack in October last year that was Israel’s worst intelligence failure for decades.
Despite recent rises in crude oil prices, there has still not been any extensive discussion of the possibility of an oil shock of the kind experienced in 1973-1974, in which prices nearly quadrupled in less than a year after Arab oil-producing nations imposed an embargo in response to US support for Israel during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. The risks in the Middle East are only one ingredient in a larger cocktail of potential global fissures. The macro context for this is that for decades there has been a long cycle of globalization and geopolitical stability, but now a new, riskier era appears to have dawned — so much so that experts increasingly predict a broader “polycrisis” emerging as a result of the growing number of overlapping challenges.
Such an assessment suggests we are living in an era of successive, interconnected disruptions in which a permanent sense of crisis is the new normal. This has implications not only for politics but for financial markets as well. Further significant volatility could be on the horizon.
We are living in an era of successive, interconnected disruptions in which a permanent sense of crisis is the new normal. The global fractures right now include health risks in the post-pandemic landscape, technological challenges such as the global information technology meltdown last month, the climate crisis, and economic inequality. Security challenges include the ongoing war in Ukraine, the continuing threat from international terrorism, and North Korea having acquired nuclear weapons.
While some in the financial markets appear not to have geopolitical risks foremost in their minds right now, such international turbulence has been a recurrent feature for a number of years. Several market commentators have been asserting for some time, at least since about 2016, that geopolitical risks are at a post-Cold War high. That was, of course, the year in which anti-establishment populism, fueled by an anti-globalization mood, might have reached its apotheosis, so far, with the election of Donald Trump as US president, and the UK voting to leave the EU.
What was so striking about both of those events was that the actions of two countries previously known for political stability, and as traditional rule makers in the international order, caused the world to become more uncertain.
In this landscape, there might not be any easy answers to efforts to address the present array of crises. But it is sometimes forgotten that there have been some successes.
One example is the global climate change deal in Paris in 2015. While the agreement was far from perfect, it nonetheless represented a welcome shot in the arm for efforts to tackle global warming and, crucially, a new, post-Kyoto treaty framework was put in place. Moreover, the review framework of the agreement means that countries can toughen their responses to climate change, especially if the political and public will to tackle the problem increases.
So Paris was a potentially very important stepping stone and what is now needed is for well-informed lawmakers from across the political spectrum to help ensure effective implementation of the agreement and hold governments to account so that it truly delivers.
In terms of potential solutions to the emerging polycrisis, there is inevitably much focus on whether or not the US will step up to the plate. However, China, one of the countries that is a bystander to several current crises, could also have a big bearing on whether things get better or worse. Beijing’s rise to power has the potential to be either a growing source of tension with Washington and the wider West or, just possibly, the start of a more fruitful partnership. A growing bilateral rivalry is certainly the most likely scenario for future relations, rather than an increasingly cooperative relationship. However, there remains an outside chance that a different future might be possible in which there is more cooperation on softer issues, such as climate change, and less tension generated by harder issues, such as security. The trajectory of this bilateral relationship will therefore perhaps be the single most important uncertainty in the late-2020s. While the prospect of greater Western collaboration with China is widely dismissed, the outside chance of a more cooperative relationship might yet offer the prospect for a different global future.
*Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.