English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 24/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2024/english.December24.24.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006 

Click On The Below Link To Join Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FPF0N7lE5S484LNaSm0MjW
اضغط على الرابط في أعلى للإنضمام لكروب Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group

Elias Bejjani/Click on the below link to subscribe to my youtube channel
الياس بجاني/اضغط على الرابط في أسفل للإشتراك في موقعي ع اليوتيوب
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAOOSioLh1GE3C1hp63Camw

Bible Quotations For today
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 08/12-20: “‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’Then the Pharisees said to him, ‘You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.’Jesus answered, ‘Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgement is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.’Then they said to him, ‘Where is your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 23-24/2024
Text & Video: No Allies for Occupying Forces in Lebanon: Only Mercenaries, Iscariots, Trojan Horses, and Opportunists/Elias Bejjani/December 22, 2024
The Necessity of Banning Any Political or Non-Political Role for Hezbollah and Prosecuting Its Leadership/Engineer Alfred Madi/December 23/2024
On Hezbollah, the Government, and the Emerging Oppositions/Marwan Al-Ameen/Facebook/December 23/2024
Come on Lebanon! We gotta get out of this sewer standard politics/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Face Book/December 23/2024
The Army Takes Over a Former Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Center in Chouf
Statement by the Lebanese Army: Army Unit Takes Over Qusaya Center
Lebanese prime minister calls for Israel to exit south region amid IDF gains of Hezbollah weaponry
Former Israeli spies describe attack using exploding electronic devices against Hezbollah
What did Jumblat discuss with Jolani in Damascus visit?
Hezbollah official says party to back Franjieh as long as he's in presidential race
Ex-Israeli spies explain Hezbollah pager attack
Army takes over PFLP-GC post in Qousaya
Israeli army raises flag in Naqoura, bombards town
Mikati visits military positions in south Lebanon
The Southern Border Town Embraces the Joy of the Season/Rimal Jouni | Nidaa Al Watan/December 24, 2024
Jumblatt, Al-Sharaa, and the Wounds of the Two Assads/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/ December 23, 2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 23-24/2024
Israeli defense minister claims responsibility for first time for Hamas leader Haniyeh's assassination
Some gaps have narrowed in elusive Gaza ceasefire deal, sides say
Gaza official says Israel strikes on hospital ‘terrifying’
Israel says intercepted projectile fired from Yemen
Israel’s Netanyahu orders military to ‘destroy’ Houthis
A new front in the Middle East: Militants battle Palestinian Authority in sprawling refugee camp
New conflict in northeast Syria could bring ‘dramatic consequences’, UN envoy says
A ship sent to evacuate Russian troops from Syria broke down near Portugal, Ukraine intelligence says
UN investigative team says Syria's new authorities `very receptive' to probe of Assad war crimes
Asma al-Assad’s Family Responds to Reports She Is Divorcing Deposed Dictator Hubby
Kremlin dismisses reports of Asma al-Assad's divorce in international media
Khamenei says does not have or need regional proxy forces

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on December 23-24/2024
NGOs Driving Antisemitism in Europe and around the Globe: Part I/Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute./December 23, 2024
Islamophobia vs. History/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream./December 23, 2024
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will to men/Colonel Charbel Barakat/December 24/2024
The fall of Assad is an ‘emperor has no clothes’ moment for Putin/Alexander J. Motyl, opinion contributor/The Hill/December 23, 2024
Things are Terrible in Europe, and They’re Only Going to Get Worse/Anton Jäger and Dries Daniels/The New York Times//December 23, 2024

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 23-24/2024
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: No Allies for Occupying Forces in Lebanon: Only Mercenaries, Iscariots, Trojan Horses, and Opportunists
Elias Bejjani – December 22, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/138233/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSs80S8LAH8&t=606s
Modern Lebanese history is rife with examples embodying treachery, Trojan horse tactics, submissiveness, political opportunism, sectarian exploitation, and trading official positions at the expense of the nation’s interest, identity, sovereignty, independence, and the dignity and rights of its people. These chameleon-like figures, stripped of any sense of self-respect, values, honor, fear of God, or the Day of Judgment, have consistently exploited crises, occupations, and foreign interventions due to their ingratitude and moral bankruptcy. They have always been a poisoned and cancerous dagger in the hands of Palestinian, Syrian, and Iranian occupiers. They were never genuine allies to these forces or convinced by their projects, schemes, and policies. Rather, they were traitors, self-serving narcissists motivated by personal gains and temporary rewards.
Since the entry of Palestinian, Arabist, and leftist terrorist organizations into Lebanon, committing atrocities against the Lebanese and seeking to establish an alternative Palestinian homeland, whose memory still lingers among the Lebanese, to the occupation of Lebanon by the brutal and criminal Assad regime, and finally to Hezbollah's Iranian occupation, these forces never found genuine allies among the Lebanese. Instead, they relied on local tools: mercenaries and hypocrites adept at changing their stances, loyalties, and colors to suit political winds, driven solely by notions of personal profit and loss.
In this context, following the resounding defeat Hezbollah suffered at the hands of Israel and the death of most of its terrorist leaders, who have no connection to Lebanon, coupled with the collapse of Assad's criminal regime, the erosion of its influence in the region, and the exposure of its atrocities, prisons, and human slaughterhouses, these tools—politicians, clergymen, and political activists in Lebanon—began changing their stances blatantly. As we say colloquially, they “turned 180 degrees” and swapped their hats without shame or hesitation.
Examples of Hypocritical Chameleons
Walid Jumblatt is the undisputed master of chameleons in changing stances, alliances, and turnarounds. His record is unparalleled, making him the king of moments of abandonment and epiphany, sitting by riverbanks waiting for the corpses of his enemies to float by.
Meanwhile, Ex-Minister Wiam Wahhab is a living example of this hypocrisy. Wahhab, who was a loud, street-level mouthpiece and media thug for the Assad regime and Hezbollah, as well as the leading cheerleader for the defunct “resistance axis” in its hostility toward Israel, recently began adopting entirely contradictory positions. He called on Lebanese Shiites to recognize the state of Israel. Those familiar with this opportunist and deceptive demagogue were not surprised by his U-turn but had long anticipated it.
The Sunni minister Faisal Karami, filled with hatred, resentment, and stupidity, presents yet another example of political opportunism and duplicity. Until recently, he was praising the Assad regime and Hezbollah, but he has recently turned against the Syrian Assad regime, claiming that it had fought against his father, Omar Karami, and his uncle, Rashid Karami, for years. We remind this hypocrite and those of his ilk with their duplicitous culture that Hezbollah, in one of the cabinet formations, ceded a ministerial position allocated to the Shiite sect and gave it to Faisal Karami to infiltrate the Sunni community through its leaders. MP, Faisal, whose actions continue to be driven by hatred and ignorance, still accuses Dr. Samir Geagea of assassinating his uncle, Prime Minister Rashid Karami, despite his full knowledge and the clear evidence that the Assad regime is the true culprit behind that crime.
Sheikh Hassan Mrad is another example of this opportunistic culture. After praising and glorifying Hezbollah and its false resistance, he has now turned against his stances, justifying his reversal with flimsy and childish excuses. This is the same sheikh accused of forging his academic certificates, with his credibility amounting to zero.
Then there is Mr. Elie Ferzli, a man of the corrupt Assad regime, who is now, renouncing his pro-Assad past and claiming yesterday that his allegiance and support were for the Syrian state, not the regime.
However, the most despicable and vile of all opportunists and traitors who aligned themselves with Hezbollah and the Assad regime are Michel Aoun, his corrupt son-in-law Gebran Bassil, and their cohort of fraudsters, merchants, and opportunists. Aoun, Bassil, and their group have betrayed every stance, slogan, promise, and commitment since signing the 2006 Mar Mikhael Agreement. Bassil and his uncle, former President Michel Aoun, epitomize political opportunism, exploiting Hezbollah, the Assad regime, and the Iranian mullahs' system to achieve personal and political gains. Through this disgraceful alliance, they secured parliamentary and ministerial seats and influential positions in the Lebanese state. In return, they sold out sovereignty and independence, sacrificing Lebanon’s national interests on the altar of their personal ambitions. Today, after Hezbollah’s defeat and the Assad regime's collapse, they shamelessly and brazenly change their loyalties, denying their masters – Hezbollah, Iran, and the Assad regime.
The political hypocrisy of the Aoun-Bassil approach did not stop there. After Hezbollah's humiliating defeat against Israel and the loss of most of its terrorist leaders, Bassil has begun publicly distancing himself from his former ally, attempting to restore his tarnished image among the Lebanese people. Suddenly, he is once again raising the slogans of sovereignty and independence in a desperate attempt to regain the popular support he lost due to his submission to Hezbollah and his association with Iran’s expansionist project.
This blatant political flip-flopping, characteristic of Bassil and Aoun's chameleon-like nature, is a scandalous example of opportunism and hypocrisy. It demonstrates their readiness to change positions, colors, and even their skins to serve their interests, even at the expense of destroying the nation, undermining its principles, and enslaving and humiliating its citizens.
In conclusion,There are no allies for occupying forces in Lebanon, but only mercenaries, Iscariots, Trojan Horses, and Opportunists

The Necessity of Banning Any Political or Non-Political Role for Hezbollah and Prosecuting Its Leadership
Engineer Alfred Madi/December 23/2024
(Free trasnation from Arabic by, Elias Bejjani)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/138280/
Lately, there's been much debate about Hezbollah:
Some advocate for dialogue with it, others dream of restoring its so-called Lebanese identity, while some believe it has learned from past mistakes. Still, others imagine a new Lebanon built in partnership with this terrorist armed Iranian proxy.
To those people, I say:
Hezbollah has no intention of being Lebanese, nor does it believe in Lebanon. On the contrary, it seeks to destroy Lebanon to serve Iran and its "Wilayat al-Faqih" agenda.
Hezbollah's actions today, despite all that has transpired, reveal its unchanged nature. It has learned nothing and remains ready to drag us into another catastrophic experiment. Dialogue with it is not only futile but dangerous—especially after its role in destroying Lebanon and the very communities it claims to represent. Instead, Hezbollah and its corrupt partners must be held accountable for their crimes.
As I have stated before:
For Hezbollah to even claim a Lebanese identity, it must renounce:
Its 1985 founding document.
The 2009 conference document.
All previous declarations by Hassan Nasrallah regarding Lebanon, Wilayat al-Faqih, and Iran.
Naim Qassem's book and its ideological framework.
If it fails to take these steps, Hezbollah must be entirely banned from assuming or practicing any political or non-political role anywhere in Lebanon.
Hezbollah no longer prioritizes resistance against Israel. Instead, it is reorganizing to tighten its grip on Lebanon.
It is imperative for us all to stand with the free Shiites, shatter the barrier of fear, and call on the United Nations to place Lebanon under Chapter VII. This is the only viable path to disarm Hezbollah and eradicate the corrupt political class that enables its stranglehold over our country.

On Hezbollah, the Government, and the Emerging Oppositions
Marwan Al-Ameen/Facebook/December 23/2024
(Free trasnation from Arabic by, Elias Bejjani)
The ceasefire agreement that Hezbollah has accepted grants Israel the right to continue occupying Lebanese land and conducting military operations if Hezbollah engages in any military activity across all Lebanese territories. The agreement explicitly identifies the entities authorized to bear arms in Lebanon—official institutions such as the army, municipal police, and similar bodies. This clear designation was intended to prevent Hezbollah and the government from manipulating the terms.
Hence:
Hezbollah's refusal to dismantle its military structure across Lebanese territories gives Israel the right to maintain its occupation and conduct military operations within Lebanon.
The Lebanese government's alignment with Hezbollah on this issue—emphasizing the need to prioritize ending Israeli occupation and halting its aggressions—effectively positions Prime Minister Mikati and his government as accomplices in granting Israel this right, pushing the country further into chaos.
The so-called "opposition forces" lamenting Israeli occupation and military actions, yet failing to explicitly demand Hezbollah’s dismantling of its military apparatus, are effectively complicit with Hezbollah in legitimizing Israel’s continued occupation and operations.
In the face of this obstinacy, deception, and cowardice, the suffering of Southern Lebanese citizens persists, while Israel continues to score political and strategic gains.

Come on Lebanon! We gotta get out of this sewer standard politics.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Face Book/December 23/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/138282/
In the southern town of Marjaayoun, Lebanese Army Commander Joseph Aoun was treated like Caesar coming back from conquering the world. What has Aoun done to deserve this? Hezbollah remains armed. The country remains at war with Israel. The economy is still in shambles. He has not offered a single statement or vision on how he plans to lead if parliament elects him president on Jan 9. If I didn’t know Lebanon any better, I’d have said the army itself choreographed this photo-op to make him look loved and popular and boost his election chances.
Come on Lebanon! We gotta get out of this sewer standard politics.

The Army Takes Over a Former Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Center in Chouf
Janoubia – December 23, 2024
The Lebanese Army Command – Directorate of Orientation issued the following statement: "As part of the ongoing process of the army taking control of military sites previously occupied by Palestinian factions within Lebanese territories, an army unit has taken over the Naameh-Chouf site formerly belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command. The site includes tunnels associated with it, and the army seized a quantity of weapons, ammunition, and military equipment." The statement concluded, "These operations are conducted within the framework of maintaining security and stability and asserting the state's authority across all regions."

Statement by the Lebanese Army: Army Unit Takes Over Qusaya Center
X Platform – December 23, 2024
As part of the ongoing process of the army taking control of military sites previously occupied by Palestinian factions within Lebanese territories, an army unit has taken over the Qusaya-Zahle site, formerly belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command. The site includes tunnels associated with it, and the army seized a quantity of weapons, ammunition, and military equipment. Specialized units are currently working on detonating landmines planted around the site, dismantling unexploded ordnance, and neutralizing hazardous ammunition. These operations aim to maintain security and stability and assert the state’s authority across all regions.

Lebanese prime minister calls for Israel to exit south region amid IDF gains of Hezbollah weaponry
Chris Benson/UPI/December 23, 2024
Lebanon's leader on Monday toured southern parts of his country amid large Israeli gains of Hezbollah weapons. Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for Israel's military to exit the region after a recent cease-fire agreement.
Mikati toured the eastern sector in the southern part of the country with Army Commander General Joseph Aoun to inspect army units and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon in the town of Khiam, which has been destroyed after recent military campaigns. Mikati announced Lebanon "will definitely" have a reconstruction plan in place for its war-torn parts and said the country will seek help from the World Bank, European Union and other Arab countries to establish a "trust fund" for the effort. Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants are expected to withdraw from the region under the month-old ceasefire agreement that calls for Lebanese troops to deploy in southern Lebanon with Israeli and Hezbollah forces to leave. The IDF in recent days and weeks seized some 86,000 pieces of weaponry in south Lebanon during military operations as part of its broader goal to secure relative calm in northern Israel by siphoning off weapons from the terror syndicate Hezbollah, according to reports. Israeli troops marched in at the end of September in its offensive to push back Hezbollah from the border. On Monday, Mikati, 69, praised the UNIFIL's role after meeting with U.N. force commanders and underscored the need for IDF troops to withdraw out of Lebanon so its own military can carry out its mission. Mikati has lead the Middle Eastern country north of Israel off-and-on since 2005. Officials say the Israeli army previously located warehouses which contained scores of rockets, mortars, explosives and anti-tank missiles the IDF then confiscated. They added some of the uncovered rocket launchers were used to launch attacks at Israeli settlements in the Galilee panhandle region. A large amount of assault rifles and shotguns and communication equipment are shown part of the enormous display of captured Hezbollah arms. Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI A large amount of assault rifles and shotguns and communication equipment are shown part of the enormous display of captured Hezbollah arms. Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI On Sunday, it was likewise announced that Israel military forces uncovered and destroyed a massive underground complex in southern Lebanon. Israeli authorities said the complex was used by Hezbollah and contained a trove of weapons, such as anti-tank missiles, explosives, as well as computers, communication devices and electrical systems. Military forces also located a firing position aimed at Israeli settlements to its north with additional weapons, Israeli authorities said. Meanwhile, Israel has continued its military exercises in the plagued Gaza Strip, too. Medics in Gaza said Monday that Israeli airstrikes killed at least 20 people overnight, Voice of America reported. Current figures indicate more than the 45,200 people have so far been killed in Israel's ongoing war in Gaza, according to the Gaza-run health ministry. However, it does not differentiate between civilians and Hamas fighters in its count. Tom Fletcher, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief, added how Israel continues to strike in densely populated areas, "including on areas where Israeli forces have ordered people to move, causing destruction, displacement and death," he said.

Former Israeli spies describe attack using exploding electronic devices against Hezbollah
Darlene Superville/WASHINGTON (AP)/ December 23, 2024 Two recently retired senior Israeli intelligence agents shared new details about a deadly clandestine operation years in the making that targeted Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and Syria using exploding pagers and walkie talkies three months ago.Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. The agents spoke with CBS “60 Minutes” in a segment aired Sunday night. They wore masks and spoke with altered voices to hide their identities.
One agent said the operation started 10 years ago using walkie-talkies laden with hidden explosives, which Hezbollah didn't realize it was buying from Israel, its enemy. The walkie-talkies were not detonated until September, a day after booby-trapped pagers were set off. “We created a pretend world,” said the officer, who went by the name “Michael.” Phase two of the plan, using the booby-trapped pagers, kicked in in 2022 after Israel's Mossad intelligence agency learned Hezbollah had been buying pagers from a Taiwan-based company, the second officer said. The pagers had to be made slightly larger to accommodate the explosives hidden inside. They were tested on dummies multiple times to find the right amount of explosive that would hurt only the Hezbollah fighter and not anyone else in close proximity. Mossad also tested numerous ring tones to find one that sounded urgent enough to make someone pull the pager out of their pocket. The second agent, who went by the name “Gabriel,” said it took two weeks to convince his director at Mossad to sell the heftier pager, which was advertised in part by using false ads on YouTube promoting the devices as dustproof, waterproof, providing a long battery life and more. He described the use of shell companies, including one based in Hungary, to dupe the Taiwanese firm, Gold Apollo, into unknowingly partnering with the Mossad. Hezbollah also was unaware it was working with Israel. Gabriel compared the ruse to a 1998 psychological film about a man who has no clue that he is living in a false world and his family and friends are actors paid to keep up the illusion. “When they are buying from us, they have zero clue that they are buying from the Mossad,” Gabriel said. “We make like ‘Truman Show,’ everything is controlled by us behind the scene. In their experience, everything is normal. Everything was 100% kosher including businessman, marketing, engineers, showroom, everything.”
By September, Hezbollah militants had 5,000 pagers in their pockets.
Israel triggered the attack on Sept. 17, when pagers all over Lebanon started beeping. The devices would explode even if the person failed to push the buttons to read an incoming encrypted message. The next day, Mossad activated the walkie-talkies, some of which exploded at funerals for some of the approximately 30 people who were killed in the pager attacks. Gabriel said the goal was more about sending a message than actually killing Hezbollah fighters. “If he just dead, so he’s dead. But if he’s wounded, you have to take him to the hospital, take care of him. You need to invest money and efforts,” he said. “And those people without hands and eyes are living proof, walking in Lebanon, of ‘don’t mess with us.’ They are walking proof of our superiority all around the Middle East.” In the days after the attack, Israel's air force hit targets across Lebanon, killing thousands. Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was assassinated when Israel dropped bombs on his bunker. By November, the war between Israel and Hezbollah, a byproduct of the deadly attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, ended with a ceasefire. More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas militants, health officials have said. The agent using the name “Michael” said that the day after the pager explosions, people in Lebanon were afraid to turn on their air conditioners out of fear that they would explode, too. “There is real fear,” he said. Asked if that was intentional, he said, “We want them to feel vulnerable, which they are. We can’t use the pagers again because we already did that. We’ve already moved on to the next thing. And they’ll have to keep on trying to guess what the next thing is.”

What did Jumblat discuss with Jolani in Damascus visit?
Naharnet/December 23/2024 
As he visited Damascus on Saturday, Druze leader Walid Jumblat discussed with Syrian rebel leader Abou Mohammad al-Jolani thirteen points that would help pave the way for a new era in relations. A longtime critic of the old Syrian regime, Jumblat expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations "will return to normal" as he reportedly discussed with Jolani, who now prefers to be called by his real name Ahmad al-Sharaa, many Lebanese-Syrian issues, including the abolition of the Syrian-Lebanese Supreme Council - a joint council supervising a 1992 cooperation and coordination treaty between Syria and Lebanon. The PSP’s al-Anbaa news portal said Monday that Jumblat called for the abolition of the Syrian-Lebanese council, for a land and sea border demarcation between the two countries, for closing illegal crossings to prevent smuggling, and for fair trials against those involved in crimes and assassinations in Lebanon.
Assassinations blamed on Syria -
Jumblat's father, Kamal Jumblat was assassinated in 1977 in his car near Baakline by unidentified gunmen suspected to be members of the pro-Syrian faction of the Lebanese Syrian Social Nationalist Party, in collaboration with the Ba'ath Party.
In 2005, Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated by a bomb in Beirut, blamed on Syria and Hezbollah. His assassination sparked protests that ousted Syrian troops from Lebanon. Following Hariri's killing, several anti-Syrian figures were assassinated, including Samir Qassir, George Hawi, Gebran Tueni, Pierre Amine Gemayel, Antoine Ghanem and Walid Eido. Others escaped assassination attempts including Elias Mur, May Chidiac, and Samir Shehade.
The disputed Shebaa Farms
Jubmlat and Jolani also discussed Saturday the disputed Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, with al-Anbaa reporting that Jumblat told Jolani that he considers the Shebaa Farms a Syrian territory, since they are considered Syrian by the international community.
In 1967, Israel invaded and occupied the Golan and the Shebaa Farms. U.N. resolution 242 issued by the Security Council on November 22, 1967 considered all territories occupied by Israel as Syrian territories. Lebanon says the Farms are Lebanese.

Hezbollah official says party to back Franjieh as long as he's in presidential race
Naharnet/December 23/2024
The deputy head of Hezbollah's political council, Mahmoud Qmati, has said that his party will do everything it can to facilitate the election of a new Lebanese president. "As long as (ex-)minister (Suleiman) Franjieh remains running for president, we will support him and won't give up supporting him for this position. But if he reaches another conclusion, we will then consider other candidates," Qmati added. "We are people of loyalty and commitment and we do not back down," the Hezbollah official said.

Ex-Israeli spies explain Hezbollah pager attack
Associated Press/December 23/2024
Two recently retired senior Israeli intelligence agents shared new details about a deadly clandestine operation years in the making that targeted Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria using exploding pagers and walkie talkies three months ago. Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the Israeli war on Gaza. The agents spoke with CBS "60 Minutes" in a segment aired Sunday night. They wore masks and spoke with altered voices to hide their identities.
One agent said the operation started 10 years ago using walkie-talkies laden with hidden explosives, which Hezbollah didn't realize it was buying from Israel, its enemy. The walkie-talkies were not detonated until September, a day after booby-trapped pagers were set off. "We created a pretend world," said the officer, who went by the name "Michael."Phase two of the plan, using the booby-trapped pagers, kicked in in 2022 after Israel's Mossad intelligence agency learned Hezbollah had been buying pagers from a Taiwan-based company, the second officer said.
The pagers had to be made slightly larger to accommodate the explosives hidden inside. They were tested on dummies multiple times to find the right amount of explosive that would hurt only the Hezbollah fighter and not anyone else in close proximity. Mossad also tested numerous ring tones to find one that sounded urgent enough to make someone pull the pager out of their pocket. The second agent, who went by the name "Gabriel," said it took two weeks to convince Hezbollah to switch to the heftier pager, in part by using false ads on YouTube promoting the devices as dustproof, waterproof, providing a long battery life and more. He described the use of shell companies, including one based in Hungary, to dupe the Taiwanese firm, Gold Apollo, into unknowingly partnering with the Mossad.Hezbollah also was unaware it was working with Israel. Gabriel compared the ruse to a 1998 psychological film about a man who has no clue that he is living in a false world and his family and friends are actors paid to keep up the illusion. "When they are buying from us, they have zero clue that they are buying from the Mossad," Gabriel said. "We make like 'Truman Show,' everything is controlled by us behind the scene. In their experience, everything is normal. Everything was 100% kosher including businessman, marketing, engineers, showroom, everything."
By September, Hezbollah militants had 5,000 pagers in their pockets.
Israel triggered the attack on Sept. 17, when pagers all over Lebanon started beeping. The devices would explode even if the person failed to push the buttons to read an incoming encrypted message.The next day, Mossad activated the walkie-talkies, some of which exploded at funerals for some of the approximately 30 people who were killed in the pager attacks. Gabriel said the goal was more about sending a message than actually killing Hezbollah fighters. "If he just dead, so he's dead. But if he's wounded, you have to take him to the hospital, take care of him. You need to invest money and efforts," he said. "And those people without hands and eyes are living proof, walking in Lebanon, of 'don't mess with us.' They are walking proof of our superiority all around the Middle East." In the days after the attack, Israel's air force hit targets across Lebanon, killing thousands. Hezbollah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, was assassinated. By November, the war ended with a ceasefire. The agent using the name "Michael" said that the day after the pager explosions, people in Lebanon were afraid to turn on their air conditioners out of fear that they would explode, too."There is real fear," he said.
Asked if that was intentional, he said, "We want them to feel vulnerable, which they are. We can't use the pagers again because we already did that. We've already moved on to the next thing. And they'll have to keep on trying to guess what the next thing is."

Army takes over PFLP-GC post in Qousaya
Naharnet/December 23/2024
The Lebanese Army on Monday took over an empty military post that was being used by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, in the Qousaya area near Zahle. The army also seized control of the post's tunnels, confiscating a quantity of arms and ammunition, the Army Command said in a statement. "Specialized units are detonating the landmines planted around the post and dismantling dangerous unexploded ordnance," the army said. The army had taken over several other Palestinian posts over the weekend. A Lebanese security source told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that the development is "not directly linked to the ceasefire agreement" between Israel and Lebanon, but rather to the fall of the Assad regime. "After the fall of the regime in Syria, to which these factions were linked in terms of belonging, equipment and financing, the members who were in the bases fled, leading the army to immediately take over," the source explained.

Israeli army raises flag in Naqoura, bombards town
Naharnet/December 23/2024
Israeli forces on Monday raised the Israeli flag at entrance of the southern Lebanese border town of Naqoura.An Israeli Apache helicopter also fired a missile at the center of the town as artillery shelling targeted several homes.The Israeli moves coincided with a visit to the southern region of Marjayoun by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Army Commander General Joseph Aoun.

Mikati visits military positions in south Lebanon
Associated Press/December 23/2024
Caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati has begun a tour of military positions in Lebanon’s south, almost a month after a ceasefire deal that ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Mikati on Monday was on his first visit to the southern frontlines, where Lebanese soldiers under the U.S.-brokered deal are expected to gradually deploy, with Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops both expected to withdraw by the end of next month. Mikati’s tour comes after the Lebanese government expressed its frustration over ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights in the country. “We have many tasks ahead of us, the most important being the enemy's (Israel's) withdrawal from all the lands it encroached on during its recent aggression,” he said after meeting with army chief Joseph Aoun in a Lebanese military barracks in the southeastern town of Marjayoun. “Then the army can carry out its tasks in full.” The Lebanese military for years has relied on financial aid to stay functional, primarily from the United States and other Western countries. Lebanon’s cash-strapped government is hoping that the war’s end and ceasefire deal will bring about more funding to increase the military’s capacity to deploy in the south, where Hezbollah’s armed units were notably present. Though they were not active combatants, dozens of soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes on their premises or patrolling convoys in the south.

The Southern Border Town Embraces the Joy of the Season
Rimal Jouni | Nidaa Al Watan/December 24, 2024
(Translation by LCCC & Google sites)
South Lebanon – The town of Rmeish has shaken off the dust of war rising around it and unleashed the sounds of joy, far removed from the explosions carried out by the Israeli army in nearby towns such as Yaroun and Aita al-Shaab.
The Christmas market in Rmeish served as a "message of hope amidst destruction." Even more, the Christmas celebration that began in this town, surrounded by many of the war-ravaged villages of Bint Jbeil, was described by Father George Al-Amil, the town’s priest, as a "new resurrection of hope." He emphasized that the aim was to "create an atmosphere of joy among the residents."
In the courtyard of the Transfiguration Church, the market, organized by the Rmeish Cultural Forum in collaboration with Scouts of Lebanon, was set up. The market, which had been canceled last year due to the war, returned this year in its fourth edition, featuring entertainment, musical performances, and food kiosks. This created a new reality for the town, even as Father Al-Amil noted that "the holiday carries a pang of sadness, as the scars of war remain visible in all the surrounding villages."
In past years, Christmas brought festive cheer to towns like Aita al-Shaab and Bint Jbeil, adorned with holiday decorations. But today, war and destruction have taken their toll, according to Father Al-Amil. He viewed the Christmas market in Rmeish as an opportunity for its residents to return and to breathe life back into the town, which had been at a standstill for a year and a half, with all aspects of life disrupted.
The joy was evident on the faces of children who filled the church courtyard. After a year and a half without any sense of celebration, the war had deprived the town of its festive spirit. But now the scene was different, with visitors crowding the church square to experience some holiday joy, even as the sounds of explosions occasionally interrupted the atmosphere in nearby villages.
From craft and cultural activities to artistic performances and children’s games, the Rmeish Christmas celebration offered a wide range of events. "We decided to reclaim some vitality for the town," said Carol Al-Hajj, head of the social committee of the Cultural Forum, adding, "These activities bring joy back to the town and encourage those who have left to return, even if only for a visit."
The market revived the town’s economic movement, helping local merchants regain their footing and bringing life back to normal. Despite being located on the border with Israel and under siege for the past three months, Rmeish is once again bustling. Al-Hajj stressed the importance of their determination, saying, "We insisted on holding the market despite the sorrow we live with, to encourage returns and revive the dormant market of the past year and a half."
In defiance of war, Rmeish embraced the spirit of Christmas. Residents couldn’t believe that life was beginning to return to normal. Al-Hajj noted that the market attracts approximately 1,100 visitors daily, including not only Rmeish residents but also people from neighboring towns like Dibil and Ain Ebel.
She added, "We are trying to bring joy back to the town. We know the situation is unstable, but we are striving to celebrate Christmas in its true spirit, focusing on the children who have been deprived of activities for a year and a half and whose mental health has been affected by the war."
According to Al-Hajj, the Cultural Forum’s vision has been realized. The Christmas market, with its various sections and activities, became a new window to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, symbolizing life itself. This is a declaration of joy from Rmeish’s Christmas gate—a town determined to regain its vitality and cautiously restore its economic and social reality. Everyone aspires for life to return and for peace to prevail in the region, as villages shake off the dust of war, allowing Christmas to herald a new resurrection of life.

Jumblatt, Al-Sharaa, and the Wounds of the Two Assads
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/ December 23, 2024
From faraway Moscow, he looks into Damascus—the city whose keys and destinies of its people he once held. It is only natural that he rubs his eyes in disbelief. The scene is difficult to comprehend, let alone endure. He knows this place line by line. It is the chair his father sat on fifty-four years ago. The same chair he himself occupied twenty-four years ago. A chair whose occupant vowed it would forever remain synonymous with the Assad name and legacy. But history has a way of turning against its tenants when they gamble recklessly, and when their machinery of oppression indulges excessively in cruelty.
How bitter it is to lose the palace, its seals, and its symbols of authority. To watch people storm statues and tear down images. Neither the Tsar intervened to challenge destiny, nor did the Supreme Leader. No ally rushed to rescue him, and he could not save himself. What a devastating scene for the distant observer: Syria without Assad, without Iran, without Hezbollah. Time has made its full circle.
He knows this place line by line. This is Hafez al-Assad’s chair, and after him, Bashar al-Assad’s. Now it is occupied by the person who is described today as “the strong man.” A man who has shed the cloak of “Abu Muhammad al-Jolani,” donned the suit of Ahmed al-Sharaa, and begun distributing reassurances and guarantees. What makes the scene even more striking is the name of the visitor: Walid Jumblatt. The son of Kamal Jumblatt. The companion of Rafik Hariri. The bearer of two coffins and the wounds of two Assads. When Jumblatt shook hands with Al-Sharaa, an entire era on the Beirut-Damascus axis came to an end. For half a century, presidencies and leaderships were shaped along the Beirut-Damascus route. The Damascus political factory produced ministers, parliamentarians, and generals for Lebanon. The prestige of the Lebanese presidency, government, and parliament faded, as the Syrian officer stationed in Anjar held the reins of the lost republic and managed relations between its fractured components.
But Walid Jumblatt’s story is different. The leadership of his family spans four centuries, and it defies submission. Kamal Jumblatt refused to recognize Hafez al-Assad’s claim to control Lebanon’s destiny, subjugate it, and recalibrate its political balances. His presence became an obstacle to Senior Assad’s ability to exercise the mandate he had been granted regionally and internationally to stabilize the turbulent small country. Jumblatt told Mohsen Ibrahim: “I know my fate and will not avoid it. I do not want history to record that I signed Lebanon’s entry into the great prison.” The bullets came swiftly. In March 1977, they pierced Kamal Jumblatt in his mountainous stronghold, and fate summoned his son Walid to don the mantle of leadership. The young man, a lover of life and its bustle, managed to temper his anger and prevent his supporters from seeking vengeance. About forty days after the assassination, he entered Assad’s office, where the Syrian leader noted the striking resemblance between father and son. Walid opted not to drag his sect into a confrontation it could not endure. Preserving its historical existence became his overriding priority. He buried his wound, pretended to forget, but never truly did. His relationship with Assad Senior evolved into an alliance during the “Mountain War” in 1983. Later, Assad tolerated Jumblatt’s unpredictable moods whenever he sought to assert independence, protest, or diverge.
Walid Jumblatt’s relationship with Bashar al-Assad was marked by suspicion and caution, overshadowed by the legacy of Rafik Hariri. Unlike his father, Walid did not recognize Bashar’s authority to control Lebanon. Neither did Hariri. As Hariri would later put it: “I tried to be Bashar’s friend, but he refused. Walid tried too, and the result was the same. From the start, Bashar trusted the whisperers and those who wrote reports.”
Hariri’s assassination in 2005 became a dangerous turning point in Jumblatt’s relationship with Assad’s Syria. Jumblatt took the lead and went far. From Martyrs’ Square in Beirut, he struck at Assad’s image and launched sharp criticisms using the harshest terms.
Jumblatt dances with storms. He charges, retreats, and lies in wait. He exaggerates, apologizes, and recalibrates. He quiets himself, observes the winds, and then resumes his strikes. His veins burned when his mother shared with him a Chinese proverb that advises the wounded: “Sit by the riverbank and wait for your enemy’s corpse to pass.” Jumblatt sat and waited for a long time. He retraced the Beirut-Damascus path after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah managed to subdue Assad’s opponents for a few years.
Yet, no amount of reconciliation and rapprochement could heal what was in the heart. After the Syrian revolution erupted, Jumblatt visited Assad’s office and advised him to prosecute the killers of Hamza al-Khatib, the boy who became a symbol of the revolution. Assad’s response only deepened Jumblatt’s despair. His distance from the regime widened further after he heard a chilling warning from former Syrian army chief Hikmat al-Shihabi: “This boy will lead Syria into civil war and division.”
Even after Russia and Iran succeeded in salvaging Assad’s regime, Jumblatt resolved to “stand on the right side of history,” permanently closing the chapter on meetings with Assad, no matter the cost.
Assad’s absence brought Jumblatt back to the Beirut-Damascus road. Leading a delegation of lawmakers, party members, and clerics, he expressed his hopes for a united, stable Syria that respects diversity and accommodates all its components, including the Kurds, under the rule of law. The composition of the delegation reflected Jumblatt’s enduring concern for safeguarding the Druze community’s place within the Arab and Islamic context, particularly in light of recent moves by Netanyahu. Jumblatt hopes for normal relations between Lebanon and a new Syria, with meaningful cooperation on issues such as refugees, missing persons, border demarcation, and resolving the Shebaa Farms dispute.
The neighbors woke up to a new Syria. Iraq grappled with the implications and potential consequences. Jordan was similarly preoccupied. Questions abounded in Lebanon, especially among those concerned about the severing of the “Soleimani route” between Tehran and Beirut. Israel responded with overwhelming aggression. Only Turkiye appeared unfazed, having played a role in shaping the new reality. Meanwhile, the West began probing the intentions of the man now seated in Assad’s chair. Can Al-Sharaa dispel fears and anxieties both inside and outside Syria? Only time will tell.
Al-Sharaa shook hands with the bearer of two coffins and the wounds of the two Assads. A whole era waved farewell and slipped into history.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 23-24/2024
Israeli defense minister claims responsibility for first time for Hamas leader Haniyeh's assassination
Reuters/Mon, December 23, 2024
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz admitted on Monday for the first time publicly to Israel's killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran in July, further risking tensions between Tehran and its arch-enemy Israel in a region shaken by Israel's war in Gaza and the conflict in Lebanon.
"These days, when the Houthi terrorist organization is firing missiles at Israel, I want to convey a clear message to them at the beginning of my remarks: We have defeated Hamas, we have defeated Hezbollah, we have blinded Iran's defense systems and damaged the production systems, we have toppled the Assad regime in Syria, we have dealt a severe blow to the axis of evil, and we will also deal a severe blow to the Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen, which remains the last to stand," Katz said. Israel will "damage their strategic infrastructure, and we will behead their leaders – just as we did to Haniyeh, Sinwar and Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon – we will do it in Hodeidah and Sana'a," Katz said during an evening honoring defense ministry personnel. The Iran-backed group in Yemen has been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea for more than a year to try to enforce a naval blockade on Israel, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel's year-long war in Gaza. In late July, the political leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas was killed in Tehran in an assassination blamed on Israel by Iranian authorities. There was no direct claim of responsibility by Israel for the killing of Haniyeh at the time. Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, had been the face of Hamas' international diplomacy as the war set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 has raged in Gaza. He had been taking part in internationally brokered indirect talks on reaching a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave. Months after, Israeli forces in Gaza killed Yahya Sinwar, Haniyeh's successor and the mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Some gaps have narrowed in elusive Gaza ceasefire deal, sides say
Reuters/December 23, 2024
CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Gaps between Israel and Hamas over a possible Gaza ceasefire have narrowed, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials’ remarks on Monday, though crucial differences have yet to be resolved.A fresh bid by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States to end the fighting and release Israeli and foreign hostages has gained momentum this month, though no breakthrough has yet been reported. A Palestinian official familiar with the talks said while some sticking points had been resolved, the identity of some of the Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel in return for hostages had yet to be agreed, along with the precise deployment of Israeli troops in Gaza. His remarks corresponded with comments by the Israeli diaspora minister, Amichai Chikli, who said both issues were still being negotiated. Nonetheless, he said, the sides were far closer to reaching agreement than they have been for months. “This ceasefire can last six months or it can last 10 years, it depends on the dynamics that will form on the ground,” Chikli told Israel’s Kan radio. Much hinged on what powers would be running and rehabilitating Gaza once fighting stopped, he said.The duration of the ceasefire has been a fundamental sticking point throughout several rounds of failed negotiations. Hamas wants an end to the war, while Israel wants an end to Hamas’ rule of Gaza first. “The issue of ending the war completely hasn’t yet been resolved,” said the Palestinian official. Israeli minister Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, told Israel’s Army Radio that the aim was to find an agreed framework that would resolve that difference during a second stage of the ceasefire deal.Chikli said the first stage would be a humanitarian phase that will last 42 days and include a hostage release.
HOSPITAL
The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 45,200 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins. At least 11 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, medics said. One of Gaza’s few still partially functioning hospitals, on its northern edge, an area under intense Israeli military pressure for nearly three months, sought urgent help after being hit by Israeli fire.“We are facing a continuous daily threat,” said Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital. “The bombing continues from all directions, affecting the building, the departments, and the staff.”The Israeli military did not immediately comment. On Sunday it said it was supplying fuel and food to the hospital and helping evacuate some patients and staff to safer areas. Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently depopulate northern Gaza to create a buffer zone, which Israel denies. Israel says its operation around the three communities on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip — Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia — is targeting Hamas militants. On Monday, the United Nations’ aid chief, Tom Fletcher, said Israeli forces had hampered efforts to deliver much needed aid in northern Gaza. “North Gaza has been under a near-total siege for more than two months, raising the specter of famine,” he said. “South Gaza is extremely overcrowded, creating horrific living conditions and even greater humanitarian needs as winter sets in.”

Gaza official says Israel strikes on hospital ‘terrifying’
AFP/December 23, 2024
GAZA STRIP: An official from one of only two functioning hospitals in northern Gaza told AFP on Monday that Israeli forces were continuing to target his facility and urged the international community to intervene before “it is too late.”Hossam Abu Safiyeh, director of Kamal Adwan hospital in the city of Beit Lahia, described the situation at the medical facility as “extremely dangerous and terrifying” owing to shelling by Israeli forces. An Israeli military spokesman denied that the hospital was being targeted. “I am unaware of any strikes on Kamal Adwan hospital,” he told AFP. Safiyeh reported that the hospital, which is currently treating 91 patients, had been targeted on Monday by Israeli drones. “This morning, drones dropped bombs in the hospital’s courtyards and on its roof,” said Safiyeh in a statement. “The shelling, which also destroyed nearby houses and buildings, did not stop throughout the night.”The shelling and bombardment have caused extensive damage to the hospital, Safiyeh added. “Bullets hit the intensive care unit, the maternity ward, and the specialized surgery department causing fear among patients,” he said, adding that a generator was also targeted. “The world must understand that our hospital is being targeted with the intent to kill and forcibly displace the people inside. “We face a constant threat every day. The shelling continues from all directions... The situation is extremely critical and requires urgent international intervention before it is too late,” he said.
On Sunday, Safiyeh said he received orders to evacuate the hospital, but the military denied issuing such directives. Located in Beit Lahia, the hospital is one of only two still operational in northern Gaza. The area has been the focus of an intense air and ground campaign by Israeli forces since October 6, aimed at prevent Hamas from regrouping. Most of the dead and injured from the offensive are brought to Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals. The United Nations and other organizations have repeatedly decried the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, particularly in the north, since the latest military offensive began. Rights groups have consistently appealed for hospitals to be protected and for the urgent delivery of medical aid and fuel to keep the facilities running. Israeli officials have accused Hamas militants of using the hospitals as command and control centers to plan attacks against the military. The war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year after Hamas militants launched an attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 45,259 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, figures the UN says are reliable.

Israel says intercepted projectile fired from Yemen
AFP/December 24, 2024
JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said Tuesday it had intercepted a projectile fired from Yemen after air raid sirens sounded in the center and south of Israel. “Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago, a projectile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the Israeli army said on Telegram.“Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling shrapnel from the interception.”Israel’s emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, reported no injuries from the projectile. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday warned the Iran-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen, who last week fired two missiles at Israel, including one that injured 16 people in the commercial hub of Tel Aviv on Saturday. “I have instructed our forces to destroy the infrastructure of Houthis, because anyone who tries to harm us will be struck with full force,” he told lawmakers, “even if it takes time.” Israeli warplanes retaliated against ports and energy infrastructure, which the military said contributed to Houthi rebel operations, after a rebel missile badly damaged an Israeli school last week. The Houthis said the Israeli strikes killed nine people.

Israel’s Netanyahu orders military to ‘destroy’ Houthis
Reuters/December 23, 2024
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister on Monday said that he had ordered the country’s military to destroy the infrastructure of Iran-backed Houthis, after the Yemeni group fired missiles at Israel last week. “I have instructed our forces to destroy the infrastructure of Houthis because anyone who tries to harm us will be struck with full force. We will continue to crush the forces of evil with strength and ingenuity, even if it takes time,” Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament. He added that progress had been made in ongoing hostage negotiations with Hamas in Gaza but that he did not know how much longer it would take to see the results. During a speech in Israel’s Knesset, Netanyahu said Israel had made “great achievements” militarily on several fronts and that military pressure on Hamas had led its leaders to soften their previous demands.The prime minister, in between heckles from opposition members, said Israel had solidified its stance as a “regional power” and that he planned to expand the Abraham Accords together with Israel’s “American ally.”He said the war in Gaza had offered opportunities to sign new peace accords with Arab nations and “dramatically change the face of” the Middle East. “Moderate Arab countries view Israel as a regional power and a potential ally. I intend to seize this opportunity to the fullest. Together with our American friends, I plan to expand the Abraham Accords... and thus change even more dramatically the face of the Middle East,” he said in parliament, referring to agreements which normalized ties between Israel and some Arab states during Donald Trump’s first term as US president. Netanyahu said Israel’s economy was strong and encouraged foreign investors to invest.

A new front in the Middle East: Militants battle Palestinian Authority in sprawling refugee camp
Kareem Khadder, Tim Lister and Nadeen Ibrahim, CNN/December 23, 2024
For more than a week, the sprawling Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank has echoed to the sound of heavy gunfire – with masked snipers on roof tops and muffled explosions within its warren of alleyways. But the combat has not involved the Israeli military, which has launched countless raids in recent years against what it calls terrorists in the camp, a stronghold of resistance to the Israeli occupation. This fight is between Palestinians: the security forces of the Palestinian Authority and militant groups aligned with Hamas who say the PA has sold out to Israel. The authority, which is supported by the West, launched its largest security operation in years to dislodge the militant groups in an attempt to show that it can handle the security situation in the West Bank as it eyes control over a post-war Gaza. But the operation appears only to have stiffened resistance and alienated many of the thousands of civilians who live there. And they have gained little ground, with militants still in control of much of the camp. The authority’s security forces have tried to arrest dozens of men they describe as outlaws trying to “hijack” the camp, which was established for Palestinians uprooted from their homes after Israel’s creation in 1948 and is now a built-up area that is home to some 25,000 people. Hamas describes the fighters in the camp as the “resistance” – a coalition of militant groups that sees the authority and its security forces as doing Israel’s bidding. The militant factions include the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Qassem Brigades, who fight under the banner of the Jenin Battalion. The authority says that its forces have “advanced in very important ways” in the camp. But they have little of the technology and weaponry the Israeli military can bring to bear, and on Sunday a member of the Palestinian Presidential Guard was killed by militants’ gunfire. Then on Monday, a member of the Palestinian Security Forces was killed, according to a spokesperson. A police sergeant was killed by gunfire from “outlaws in Jenin camp,” according to Brigadier General Anwar Rajab.A journalist at the entrance to the camp told CNN that the area was reverberating Monday to the sound of heavy gunfire and explosions.a The PSF had blocked all entrances to the camp, according to the journalist, who added that even paramedics were unable to get into the camp. Social media video showed diggers piling earth across streets leading from the camp. One militant leader was also killed, as have three teenagers, the youngest of them 14. Each side blamed the other for their deaths. The flare in violence caps off a deadly year in the area. Israel conducted a days-long raid in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas, in the northern West Bank, in September, killing at least 39 people and leaving widespread destruction, according to the authority’s health ministry and United Nations. Among them were at least nine militants, according to public statements from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
A litmus test for Gaza
The Palestinian Authority is nominally in charge of security in much of the West Bank under the Oslo Accords, signed in the 1990s with the aim of establishing a Palestinian state. But in the years since, Israel has extended its control of the occupied territory, expanded settlements and carried out frequent raids against militant Palestinian groups.If the authority wants to take on a broader role in administering Palestinian areas or seek a return to Gaza – something that Israeli government has persistently ruled out – Jenin is a litmus test.
One of the militant commanders, Qais al Saa’di, told CNN in an interview deep inside the camp: “Israel is giving the authority a chance in Jenin, essentially saying, ‘If you can prove that you can control Jenin, a small city, then we’ll consider handing you Gaza.’”
Events in Jenin are also a bellwether for Iranian influence among the militants. Al-Sa’adi acknowledged that help was coming from Iran, a growing concern to the Israeli security services. “We receive support from Iran and from anyone willing to help us, but we do not belong to Iran or to any external entity outside Palestine,” he said. The extent and type of Iranian backing for the militants is hard to assess. But the Israeli security forces said in November they recovered large amounts of Iranian-supplied weapons near Jenin. Defense Minister Israel Katz said on a recent visit to the West Bank that “Iran will not succeed in establishing an Iranian ‘octopus’ arm’” in the refugee camps, and a new fence on the border with Jordan would “prevent Iranian plans to smuggle weapons into Israel through Jordan.”A spokesman for the Palestinian security forces, Brigadier General Anwar Rajab, told CNN that by financing the militants, Iran was seeking to spread “chaos and corruption” and weaken the Palestinian Authority, something that serves the interests of its projects in the region.
The Jenin Battalion is entrenched in the camp, the nerve center of a new wave of Palestinian militancy in the occupied territories. The militant group’s growing use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has added a layer of complexity for Israeli and the Palestinian authority’s efforts to combat them. Qais Al-Sa’adi told CNN that IEDs had done severe damage to Israeli military vehicles, and he warned the security forces: “If you come into our area, you’ll face the same fate.”“Urban warfare is our expertise, and it’s a game-changer,” he added. The security forces maintain the militants are endangering innocent lives by planting explosive mines in the streets and in residences. The confrontation in Jenin has polarized Palestinian opinion. Assad Aqel, a 27-year-old fighter who was seriously injured in an Israeli drone attack last year, told CNN that the people of the camp needed protection from the Israeli military – which was not being provided by the Palestinian Authority. Aqel and other Jenin residents said the authority’s security operation had made life much more difficult – and dangerous in the camp, with some suggesting that it amounted to collective punishment. By the end of last week, much of the camp was without water and electricity. Garbage was piling up and children were unable to get to school.The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said last week it had suspended its services to the camp, which include education and healthcare, amid the fighting. The agency condemned the occupation of its health center in Jenin camp by “Palestinian armed actors” last week.Residents of the camp who spoke to CNN blamed the security forces for the latest violence. Umm Hani, 74, who lives in the camp and has a vegetable store, said no one dared to step outside and described the Palestinian Authority as “criminals.” “The gunfire by the Palestinian Authority is random and they fire at everything,” she told CNN, saying she had narrowly missed injury from a bullet. At a small protest against the operation last week, Nour Abdel Hadi, 29, told CNN: “We refuse the idea that the Palestinian Authority should spill the blood of one person. You can’t be a proxy for the occupation against the resistance.”Local resident Ihab Sa’adi urged fresh dialogue between the Palestinian Authority and the militants. Rajab, the security forces’ spokesman, said the Palestinian Authority had tried to negotiate with the factions – but its efforts had been ignored. He said the militants’ action “spreads chaos in the West Bank and aids the Israeli occupation,” he said.Amid the fighting and the sealing of exits from the camp, the mood among residents has grown more desperate. Mahmoud al-Ghoul said his home had not received water for three weeks and was one of several residents to allege that the security forces had shot out water tanks. CNN has reached out to the Palestinian Authority about the claim. “We don’t feel safe here, we can’t walk in the street, and we can’t go on a roof top. Life is almost paralyzed,” he said. Ahmad Tubasi told CNN his children had been locked inside the house for two weeks and were traumatized. He was unable to get medicine for his 60-year-old mother. He added that the authority should “give us the names of the ones you claim are outlaws and the entire camp will hand them over. The outlaws are inside the presidential compound,” referring to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ residence in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Palestinian officials have frequently complained that they don’t have the equipment they need to confront the militants. The authority also appears to have little support in areas like Jenin’s refugee camp which for now remains firmly under the control of the Jenin Battalion.

New conflict in northeast Syria could bring ‘dramatic consequences’, UN envoy says
Reuters/December 24, 2024
BEIRUT: Tensions in northeast Syria between Kurdish-led authorities and Turkish-backed groups should be resolved politically or risk “dramatic consequences” for all of Syria, the United Nations envoy for the country Geir Pedersen told Reuters on Monday. Hostilities have escalated between Syrian rebels backed by Ankara and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast since Bashar Assad was toppled on Dec. 8. Syrian armed groups seized the city of Manbij from the SDF on Dec. 9 and could be preparing to attack the key city of Kobani, or Ayn Al-Arab, on the northern border with Turkiye. “If the situation in the northeast is not handled correctly, it could be a very bad omen for the whole of Syria,” Pedersen said by phone, adding that “if we fail here, it would have dramatic consequences when it comes to new displacement.” The SDF — which is spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG — has proposed to withdraw its forces from the area in exchange for a complete truce. But Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking alongside Syria’s de facto new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Sunday in Damascus, said the YPG should disband totally. Turkiye regards the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought an insurgency against the Turkish state and are deemed terrorists by Ankara, Washington and the European Union. Pedersen said a political solution “would require serious, serious compromises” and should be part of the “transitional phase” led by Syria’s new authorities in Damascus. Fidan said he had discussed the YPG presence with the new Syrian administration and believed Damascus would take steps to ensure Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday the country will remain in close dialogue with Sharaa. Kurdish groups have had autonomy across much of the northeast since Syria’s war began in 2011, but now fear it could be wiped out by the country’s new Islamist rule. Thousands of women rallied on Monday in a northeast city to condemn Turkiye and demand their rights be respected.
Pedersen said Sharaa had told him in meetings in Damascus last week that they were committed to “transitional arrangements that will be inclusive of all.” But he said resolving tensions in the northeast would be a test for a new Syria after more than a half-century of Assad family rule. “The whole question of creating a new, free Syria would be off to a very, extremely ... to put it diplomatically, difficult start,” he said.

A ship sent to evacuate Russian troops from Syria broke down near Portugal, Ukraine intelligence says
Thibault Spirlet/Business Insider/December 23, 2024
Video of Russian naval ship explosion shows a much-needed win for UkraineScroll back up to restore default view. Russia sent a ship to evacuate soldiers from its bases in Syria, Ukrainian intelligence said. But it broke down en route in the open sea near Portugal, Ukraine said. Russia is trying to secure a deal with Syria's new leadership to keep the bases, per reports. A ship sent to evacuate Russian troops and equipment from Syria broke down while in the open sea off Portugal, Ukrainian intelligence said. In a Telegram post on Monday, Ukraine's main intelligence directorate said that the Sparta cargo ship's engine failed and that the crew was trying to fix the problem while the ship was drifting in the high seas. Since the fall of Bashar Assad, Syria's longtime ruler, earlier this month, the future of Russia's two military bases in the country — the Hmeimim air base and the Tartus naval base — has been under threat. Russia struck a 49-year lease with Assad's government for the bases, which it has used since 2017 to project power in the Mediterranean and into Africa. But Syrian rebels, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham overthrew Assad earlier this month after a rapid two-week campaign. Last week, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there were "no final decisions" about Russia's bases in Syria but that Moscow was in contact with "representatives of the forces that currently control the situation" in the country. Earlier this month, Ukraine said the Russian Sparta and Sparta II cargo ships had left Russia and were heading to Tartus to transport military equipment from the Russian base on Syria's Mediterranean coast. The journeys required the ships to sail along stretches of the European coastline to access the Mediterranean. Russian state media said earlier this month that Syrian rebel forces now controlled Latakia, the province where the Russian bases are. Images taken in mid-December by Maxar Technologies showed that Russian aircraft were still present at the base in Hmeimim but that warships were no longer stationed at the nearby naval facility in Tartus. Maxar satellite images captured on December 17, 2024, showed dozens of Russian military vehicles assembled at the Tartus port. Maxar satellite images captured on Tuesday showing dozens of Russian military vehicles assembled at the Tartus port.Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies. Last week, analysts from the Institute for the Study of War said Russia was probably taking this "tentative" stance and removing some assets in case HTS decided to deny Russia a sustained military presence in Syria. Obeida Arnaout, the spokesperson for Syria's new transitional government, told The Associated Press last week that Russia should reconsider its presence and interests in Syria. "Their interests were linked to the criminal Assad regime," he said. "They can reconsider and take the initiatives to reach out to the new administration to show that they have no animosity with the Syrian people," he added, "and that the era of Assad regime is finally over."

UN investigative team says Syria's new authorities `very receptive' to probe of Assad war crimes
EDITH M. LEDERER/UNITED NATIONS (AP)/December 23, 2024
The U.N. organization assisting in investigating the most serious crimes in Syria said Monday the country’s new authorities were “very receptive” to its request for cooperation during a just-concluded visit to Damascus, and it is preparing to deploy. The visit led by Robert Petit, head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria, was the first since the organization was established by the U.N. General Assembly in 2016. It was created to assist in evidence-gathering and prosecution of individuals responsible for possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide since Syria’s civil war began in 2011. Petit highlighted the urgency of preserving documents and other evidence before it is lost. Since the rebel overthrow of Syria’s President Bashar Assad and the rebel opening of prisons and detention facilities there have been rising demands from Syrians for the prosecution of those responsible for atrocities and killings while he was in power. “The fall of the Assad rule is a significant opportunity for us to fulfill our mandate on the ground,” Petit said. “Time is running out. There is a small window of opportunity to secure these sites and the material they hold.” U.N. associate spokesperson Stephane Tremblay said Monday the investigative team “is preparing for an operational deployment as early as possible and as soon as it is authorized to conduct activities on Syrian soil. The spokesperson for the organization, known as the IIIM, who was on the trip with Petit, went further, telling The Associated Press: “We are preparing to deploy on the expectation that we will get authorization.”“The representatives from the caretaker authorities were very receptive to our request for cooperation and are aware of the scale of the task ahead,” the spokesperson said, speaking on condition of not being named. “They emphasized that they will need expertise to help safeguard the newly accessible documentation.” The IIIM did not disclose which officials in the new government it met with or the site that Petit visited afterward.“Even at one facility,” Petit said, “the mountains of government documentation reveal the chilling efficiency of systemizing the regime’s atrocity crimes.” He said that a collective effort by Syrians, civil society organizations and international partners will be needed, as a priority, “ to preserve evidence of the crimes committed, avoid duplication, and ensure that all victims are inclusively represented in the pursuit of justice.”In June 2023, the 193-member General Assembly also established an Independent Institution of Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic to clarify the fate and whereabouts of more than 130,000 people missing as a result of the conflict.

Asma al-Assad’s Family Responds to Reports She Is Divorcing Deposed Dictator Hubby
Sean Craig/The Daily Beast/December 23, 2024
The father of Asma al-Assad, the wife of deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, says his daughter is not seeking a divorce, contrary to reports in the Turkish media. “I am able to confirm that the reports are false,” Dr. Fawaz Akhras told the Daily Beast in an emailed statement. Turkish news sites Habertürk and CNN Türk in recent days suggested Assad was determined to leave Russia, where she and her husband are holed up after being granted asylum. Habertürk also claimed, citing a report that it did not credit on Dec. 19, that Assad wished to travel to London to pursue treatment for leukemia—which she was diagnosed with in May—because “her health condition cannot be adequately monitored in Moscow.” “She is receiving the best treatment possible,” her father told the Daily Beast. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also denied the Turkish reports of a divorce during a media call Monday. Akhras' comment to the Daily Beast marks a direct rebuke from Assad’s immediate family. Peskov also rejected reports that the Assads' movements are restricted to Moscow and that their assets, including several properties in Moscow, had been frozen.Asma al-Assad and her dictator husband fled to the Russian capital after a coalition of rebel groups overthrew his government, ending a half century of Assad family and Ba’ath Party rule. Russian President Vladimir Putin is a longtime ally. President Joe Biden called the fall of Assad’s regime “a fundamental act of justice,” while U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer welcomed the end of his “barbaric regime,” which human rights groups have said killed thousands of civilians during a prolonged civil war, including with chemical weapons. Assad, 49, was born and raised in Britain to Syrian parents, moving to their home country at 25 to marry Bashar shortly after he succeeded his father as president A former investment banker, she was the subject of a breathless 2011 profile in Vogue magazine—since wiped from its website—that described her as a “rose in the desert” and “very freshest and most magnetic of first ladies.”The article, which called the Assads “wildly democratic,” was published weeks after a crackdown on the Arab Spring uprising that saw government forces murder civilians, including via a “shoot-to-kill” order on peaceful demonstrators. Like her husband, she is under sanctions from several countries, including her birth country. Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said earlier this month that Asma al-Assad “is a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK.”.Dr. Akhras, her father, is a London-based cardiologist. The Financial Times reported that he and his wife have joined their daughter in Russia.

Kremlin dismisses reports of Asma al-Assad's divorce in international media
Euronews/December 23, 2024
The Kremlin has denied reports that Asma al-Assad, the wife of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, filed for divorce in Russia. The claims, which were reported by Turkish and Arab media, were dismissed by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov during a news conference, saying, "No, they do not correspond to reality."Peskov also denied reports suggesting that Assad had been confined to Moscow and that his property assets had been frozen. The Assad family fled Syria on 8 December, seeking refuge in Russia's capital after rebels overthrew Assad's long-standing regime. Turkish media reports have claimed that Asma al-Assad, who was born in the UK, sought to end her marriage and leave Russia. Can toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his operatives be brought to justice? Russia played a critical role in supporting Syria during its civil war, which began in 2011, intervening both militarily and diplomatically on several occasions. Although Asma al-Assad holds dual Syrian-British citizenship, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy stated earlier this month during a parliamentary address, "I want it confirmed that she's a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK." He added that he would do "everything I can in my power" to ensure no member of the Assad family "finds a place in the UK."While Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer acknowledged concerns about her actions, he emphasised the need for further legal review before any action could be taken regarding her citizenship.
Turkish media suggested that the former first lady, who was born in London in 1975, wanted to return to London, and that the family is living under strict conditions in the Russian capital. Asma al-Assad, who had a career in banking before marrying Bashar al-Assad in 2000, was once portrayed as a modern, progressive figure. Early in her husband's presidency, she was involved in charity work and reform initiatives. However, her image shifted dramatically as the Syrian Civil War unfolded. Initially seen as a symbol of a more Western-friendly face for the Assad regime, her reputation became tarnished amid the brutal crackdown on opposition movements and widespread human rights abuses. She has remained a prominent public figure, often defending her husband's actions and maintaining loyalty to the regime.

Khamenei says does not have or need regional proxy forces
Associated Press/December 23/2024
Iran's supreme leader denied Sunday that militant groups around the region functioned as Tehran's proxies, warning that if his country chose to "take action", it would not need them anyway. The remarks came after a year in which Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza suffered heavy losses in wars with Israel, and two weeks after the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who had been a key link in Tehran's so-called axis of resistance. Another spoke of that axis, Yemen's Houthi rebels, have been repeatedly targeted by the United States and Britain over their attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes, launched in solidarity with Palestinians. "The Islamic Republic does not have a proxy force. Yemen fights because it has faith. Hezbollah fights because the power of faith draws it into the field. Hamas and (the Islamic) Jihad fight because their beliefs compel them to do so. They do not act as our proxy," supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a group of visitors in Tehran. "They (the Americans) keep saying that the Islamic Republic has lost its proxy forces in the region! This is another mistake," he said, adding: "If one day we want to take action, we do not need a proxy force."
Earlier this month, Syrian rebels' lightning push to Damascus from their strongholds in the northwest ended the decades-long rule of Assad's family, which had been an ally of Tehran. Khamenei predicted "the emergence of a strong, honorable group" in Syria, saying the country's young men had "nothing to lose."Assad had long played a strategic role in Iran's anti-Israel axis of resistance, particularly in facilitating the supply of weapons to Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. The axis of resistance also includes Hamas, the Houthis and smaller Shia militant groups in Iraq. All of the groups are united in their opposition to Israel and its main backer the United States. The supreme leader, who has the final say in major state policies, also accused the United States of trying to create chaos and unrest in Iran. "The Iranian nation will trample under its strong feet anyone who accepts America's mercenary role in this regard," he said.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on December 23-24/2024
NGOs Driving Antisemitism in Europe and around the Globe: Part I
Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute./December 23, 2024
Samidoun ("Steadfast"), a "Vancouver-based terrorist group," was founded in 2012 -- ostensibly to "assist Palestinian prisoners" -- by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization in the United States, European Union and Canada. In practice, Samidoun is a front for the PFLP.
Who funds this terrorist-supporting madness? Samidoun, which does not publish any donor information, has a financial sponsor in the US, the Alliance for Global Justice, a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that reportedly works to bring about a communist revolution through building coalitions of organizations, many involved in pro-Hamas activity, and, according to its own website: "We also act as fiscal sponsor to over 90 economic, social justice and human rights projects around the world that do not have their own tax-exempt status."
Who funds the Alliance for Global Justice? According to Influence Watch, several of the same megadonors that fund the Democratic Party in the US, such as George Soros' Open Society Foundations, and the Tides Foundation.
The Tides Foundation, which was once described as a "charitable money laundering" organization, and was previously supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also sponsors anti-Israeli groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, both of which are active in the ongoing protests. The Alliance for Global Justice also receives funds from the Arca Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Public Welfare Foundation, and the Brightwater Fund.
The support for groups such as Samidoun by the Alliance for Global Justice led to demands to revoke its tax-exempt status.... It is now six months later, and the IRS has done nothing.
Samidoun, a "Vancouver-based terrorist group," was founded in 2012 by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization in the United States, European Union and Canada. In practice, Samidoun is a front for the PFLP. Pictured: An anti-Israel protest by Samidoun in Duisburg, Germany, on October 9, 2023. Antisemitism in the West, which has risen to unprecedented levels since the October 7 attacks on Israel, is being deliberately driven by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with links to Palestinian terrorist organizations.
One of the most active NGOs, Samidoun ("Steadfast"), a "Vancouver-based terrorist group," was founded in 2012 -- ostensibly to "assist Palestinian prisoners" -- by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization in the United States, European Union and Canada. In practice, Samidoun is a front for the PFLP. The PFLP is an active terrorist organization, which participated in the October 7, 2023 atrocities, including in hostage taking, and shared celebratory videos and other material of the massacres online.
Israel designated Samidoun a terrorist organization in 2021, and this October, the U.S. Treasury Department and government of Canada also designated Samidoun, calling it "a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine".
Samidoun has branches throughout the West: In Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and in the United States. Samidoun also has branches in Lebanon, Iran and the West Bank and Gaza.
According to NGO Monitor:
"Samidoun branches, including in Western countries, publicly support and celebrate the PFLP, its actions and its leaders; campaign for the release of jailed PFLP members; and promote anti-Israel campaigns. Moreover, Samidoun advocates for Palestinians' 'natural right to armed resistance.'"
On October 7, as the Hamas invasion and atrocities were unfolding in southern Israel, Samidoun released a long statement celebrating the attack:
"As the morning dawns on 7 October 2023, the resistance is rising throughout occupied Palestine, smashing the siege on Gaza with a comprehensive offensive confronting the occupier by land and air, taking control of Palestinian land, seizing occupation settlers and soldiers and launching thousands of missiles as Palestinian resistance forces fight to advance return and the liberation of Palestine... From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
The first pro-Hamas demonstrations to take to the streets on and after October 7 were not protesting Israel's response to the October 7 atrocities: there were none yet. The demonstrators were celebrating what the terrorists and their European supporters hoped was the beginning of a "Palestine" ethnically cleansed of Jews. Samidoun Netherlands posted to Facebook on October 7, 2023:
""URGENT! ... Come to Rotterdam and show support for the Palestinian resistance during their operation against the Israeli colonial regime. The resistance has successfully broken through the colonial siege in a bold and heroic operation."
Samidoun Spain, on October 7, 2023, shared a poster that said:
"We call for mass assistance in support of the brave and dignified Palestinian resistance that has today proven to be more alive and willing to reclaim the land that has been stripped from them by Israeli colonialism for over 75 years... Our responsibility is to support the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves by all means within their reach from extermination to liberation and return to a free Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. SEE YOU IN THE STREETS!"
Despite the undisguised support for terrorism and ethnic cleansing that Samidoun displayed on October 7, 2023 and since, it was allowed to continue its activities, as it does to this day.
In Amsterdam, Samidoun was involved in the encampment at the University of Amsterdam, where in May 2024, the police stood passively by, as Hamas sympathizers beat Jews and other pro-Israel bystanders with bats.
On November 8, 2024, Samidoun hailed the pogrom in Amsterdam and threatened:
"The people of Amsterdam declared last night that Zionism will not be tolerated here. Amsterdam is a Zionism-free city. And if it isn't already, we'll take care of that."
One month earlier, the Dutch parliament had voted overwhelmingly to call for Samidoun to be designated a terrorist organization.
Samidoun's European coordinator, Mohammed Khatib, resides in Belgium. During a webinar, in which he was joined by Hamas leader Basem Naim, he described October 7, 2023 as a "glorious day" that made him proud.
The Belgian government has confirmed that Hamas operates on its territory through shell companies. At the end of September, in the center of Brussels, Samidoun held a rally inciting violence expressing support for Hamas, with participants chanting: "Hassan [Nasrallah] hit, hit Tel Aviv, Please Sir, in the name of Allah... Hamas we are here for you."
Israel's ambassador to Belgium Idit Rosenzweig-Abu tweeted a video from the rally: "And the only organization flag is #Samidoun. It is always Samidoun."
When Germany banned Samidoun in November 2023, its members reportedly simply fled to Switzerland to avoid charges.
Canada is another central hub for Samidoun. The organization's international leader, Khaled Barakat, also a senior member of the PFLP, has found a haven there. In 2022, Barakat was expelled from Germany for his "violent, antisemitic rhetoric", and his PFLP activities there. Canada, however, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, evidently saw no problem in hosting him, despite the terrorist designation. Barakat's wife, Charlotte Kates, reportedly a communist since the age of 13, co-founded Samidoun in 2011 and is the organization's international coordinator.
Violent antisemitism in Canada has spiked to unprecedented levels, according to a November 4 report from NGO Monitor, titled "The NGO Network Driving Antisemitism in Canada":
"This dangerous spike is concurrent with an increase in activity by an interconnected and coordinated network of NGOs, whose campaigns of anti-Israel demonization, antisemitism, and intimidation create a hostile environment throughout Canada. A number of the leading groups are linked to Palestinian terror organizations and hide their sources of funding....
"This NGO network is responsible for violent public events, student encampments, statements, and legal actions. Ominously, many of these groups have publicly celebrated the Oct. 7th atrocities, and expressed support for Hamas and other Canadian-designated terrorist organizations....
"Samidoun – a Palestinian terror-linked NGO with chapters in Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa – is one of the key groups promoting hate and incitement in Canada through its planning and promotion of numerous antisemitic events and extensive partnerships across the country."
Charlotte Kates has traveled around Canada, inciting hatred against Jews and declaring the October 7 atrocities "heroic." At one October 7, 2024 rally in Vancouver, she declared, "And yes, we are Hezbollah and we are Hamas." At another, she said, "We stand with Palestinian resistance and their heroic action on October 7th... Long live October 7th."
For her efforts, Kates was honored with a "human rights award" from the Iranian regime.
In the United States, Samidoun has been involved in countless events, including marches in Washington, D.C., "All out for Palestine" rallies in New York City, and "Shut it Down for Palestine" in Seattle, among others. Samidoun also held a "Resistance 101" virtual training at Columbia University in March 2024 and helped set up the encampment on its campus.
Who funds this terrorist-supporting madness? Samidoun, which does not publish any donor information, has a financial sponsor in the US, the Alliance for Global Justice, a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that reportedly works to bring about a communist revolution through building coalitions of organizations, many involved in pro-Hamas activity, and, according to its own website:
"We also act as fiscal sponsor to over 90 economic, social justice and human rights projects around the world that do not have their own tax-exempt status."
Who funds the Alliance for Global Justice? According to Influence Watch, several of the same megadonors that fund the Democratic Party in the US, such as George Soros' Open Society Foundations, and the Tides Foundation.
The Tides Foundation, which was once described as a "charitable money laundering" organization, and was previously supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also sponsors anti-Israeli groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, both of which are active in the ongoing protests. The Alliance for Global Justice also receives funds from the Arca Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Public Welfare Foundation, and the Brightwater Fund.
The support for groups such as Samidoun by the Alliance for Global Justice led to demands to revoke its tax-exempt status. US Representative Jim Banks wrote in a June 27, 2024 letter to the IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel:
"[T]he Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) has retained its tax-exempt status despite funding Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a cutout for the designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)... The IRS has previously ruled that organizations that incite civil unrest and violate local ordinances do not qualify as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3)."
It is now six months later, and the IRS has done nothing.
On November 20, 2024 Jason Smith, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee wrote in a letter to Werfel:
"Samidoun was designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control as a 'sham charity' that serves as a fundraiser for terrorist organizations. Despite Samidoun's designation, and the Alliance's financial support of Samidoun, the IRS has yet to revoke the Alliance's tax-exempt status. Given this information and recent developments, it is clear that the Alliance's tax-exempt status should be revoked.
"This case is not complicated, which makes the failure to revoke the Alliance's tax-exempt status both concerning and confusing. As you know, if a nonprofit organization conducts substantial activities that do not further its exempt purposes, such activity may result in the loss of the organization's tax-exempt status."
The continued acceptance of terrorist-affiliated groups such as Samidoun in Western countries inevitably leads to the kinds of outcomes that we have witnessed in recent weeks, such as the pogrom in Amsterdam and the pro-terrorism riots in Montreal. When Western governments do nothing, the situation keeps deteriorating.
*Robert Williams is based in the United States.
© 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.

Islamophobia vs. History
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream./December 23, 2024
On December 12, the White House announced its release of “the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate.”
This document asserts that “Islamophobia” in America is a byproduct of “hate” for and “racism” against Muslims. Thus, the first of the document’s four strategies to counter Islamophobia, is to:
Increase awareness of hatred against Muslims and Arabs and broaden recognition of these communities’ heritages. Muslims and Arab Americans have helped build our country since its founding, but they have also routinely experienced hate, discrimination, and bias due to baseless stereotypes, fearmongering, and prejudice.
Let us for now ignore the demonstrably false claim that Muslims “have helped build our country since its founding” (in reality, Muslims were the first to terrorize our country since its founding), and focus on the assertion that they “have also routinely experienced hate, discrimination, and bias due to baseless stereotypes, fearmongering, and prejudice.”
Focus especially on the italicized phrases: Muslims, according to this formulation, are “routinely experiencing” hate — meaning always and for a long time — but this hate has no foundation other than “baseless stereotypes, fearmongering, and prejudice.”
There are only two ways to understand this: either Americans are extremely dumb or evil, buying into and acting on any meaningless stereotype thrown their way to express their hate; or else what Muslims “routinely experience” is not based on “baseless stereotypes” but rather something else — perhaps reality.
The Biden-Harris administration, to say nothing of the so-called “mainstream” media, argue, even if implicitly, for the first interpretation: They suggest that temporal developments, such as the September 11 and October 7 attacks on America and Israel, respectively, prompted Americans to “baselessly stereotype” Muslims as violent terrorists.
On the other hand, history argues for the second interpretation: that Muslims “routinely experience” aversion from non-Muslims, not because of “baseless stereotypes” but because non-Muslims understand, often from firsthand experience, what Islam is all about.
‘Demon-Possessed Prophet’
The fact is that from the very start, Western peoples, including many of their luminaries, portrayed Islam as a hostile and violent force — often in terms that would make today’s “Islamophobe” blush. There’s a reason for that.
In 628 AD, Muhammad summoned the Christian Roman emperor, Heraclius, to submit to Islam. When the emperor refused, a virulent jihad was unleashed against the Western world. Less than 100 years later, Islam had violently conquered more than two-thirds of Christendom, and was raiding deep into France.
While these far-reaching conquests are often allotted a sanitized sentence, if that, in today’s textbooks, the chroniclers of the time made clear that these were cataclysmic events that had a traumatic impact on Europe.
But it wasn’t just what they personally experienced at the hands of Muslims that developed this ancient “phobia” to Islam. As far back as the seventh century, Islam’s scriptures became available to nearby Christians, such as John of Damascus (b. 675), one of history’s earliest “Islamophobes.” Based solely on these primary sources of Islam, Christians concluded that Muhammad was a (possibly demon-possessed) false prophet who had very obviously concocted a creed to justify the worst depravities of man — for dominion, plunder, cruelty and carnality.
This view prevailed for well over a millennium throughout Europe; and it was augmented by the fact that Muslims were still — well over a millennium after Muhammad — invading Christian territories, plundering them, and abducting their women and children. As mentioned, the United States’ first conflict with Islam — indeed, its first war as a nation — came not after Sept. 11, 2001, but in 1801, as a response to jihadist raids on American ships for booty and slaves.
Common Themes
A miniscule sampling of what Europeans thought of Islam throughout the centuries follows:
Theophanes, important Eastern Roman chronicler (d.818):
He [Muhammad] taught those who gave ear to him that the one slaying the enemy — or being slain by the enemy — entered into paradise [see Koran 9:111]. And he said paradise was carnal and sensual — orgies of eating, drinking, and women. Also, there was a river of wine … and the women were of another sort [hooris], and the duration of sex greatly prolonged and its pleasure long-enduring [e.g., Koran 56: 7-40, 78:31, 55:70-77]. And all sorts of other nonsense.
Thomas Aquinas, one of Christendom’s most influential philosophers and scholastics (d.1274):
He [Muhamad] seduced the people by promises of carnal pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh urges us …. and he gave free rein to carnal pleasure. In all this, as is not unexpected, he was obeyed by carnal men. As for proofs of the truth of his doctrine…. Muhammad said that he was sent in the power of his arms — which are signs not lacking even to robbers and tyrants [i.e., his “proof” that God was with him is that he was able to conquer and plunder others]…. Muhammad forced others to become his followers by the violence of his arms.
Marco Polo, merchant and world traveler (d.1324):
According to their [Muslims’] doctrine, whatever is stolen or plundered from others of a different faith, is properly taken, and the theft is no crime; whilst those who suffer death or injury by the hands of Christians, are considered as martyrs. If, therefore, they were not prohibited and restrained by the [Mongol] powers who now govern them, they would commit many outrages. These principles are common to all Saracens.
When the Mongol khan later discovered the depraved criminality of Achmath (or Ahmed), one of his Muslim governors, Polo writes that the khan’s
attention [went] to the doctrines of the Sect of the Saracens [i.e., Islam], which excuse every crime, yea, even murder itself, when committed on such as are not of their religion. And seeing that this doctrine had led the accursed Achmath and his sons to act as they did without any sense of guilt, the Khan was led to entertain the greatest disgust and abomination for it. So he summoned the Saracens and prohibited their doing many things which their religion enjoined.
Alexis de Tocqueville, French political thinker and philosopher, best known for Democracy in America (d.1859):
I studied the Quran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction that by and large there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad. As far as I can see, it is the principal cause of the decadence so visible today in the Muslim world and, though less absurd than the polytheism of old, its social and political tendencies are in my opinion more to be feared, and I therefore regard it as a form of decadence rather than a form of progress in relation to paganism itself.
Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States and an accomplished student of history (d. 1919):
Christianity was saved in Europe solely because the peoples of Europe fought. If the peoples of Europe in the seventh and eighth centuries, and on up to and including the seventeenth century, had not possessed a military equality with, and gradually a growing superiority over the Mohammedans who invaded Europe, Europe would at this moment be Mohammedan and the Christian religion would be exterminated. Wherever the Mohammedans have had complete sway, wherever the Christians have been unable to resist them by the sword, Christianity has ultimately disappeared.
The Crux of the Matter
At this point, one might argue that these and other historic charges against Islam are mere byproducts of Christian/Western xenophobia and intolerance for the “other.” But if so, how does one explain that many of Islam’s Western critics also praised other non-Western civilizations, as well as what is today called “moderate Muslims”?
Aside from speaking well of the Mongols, Marco Polo also hailed the Brahmins of India as being “most honorable,” possessing a “hatred for cheating or of taking the goods of other persons.” And despite his criticisms of the “sect of the Saracens,” he referred to one Muslim leader as governing “with justice,” and another who “showed himself [to be] a very good lord, and made himself beloved by everybody.”
British statesman Winston Churchill (d. 1965) — who likened religiosity in Muslims to rabies in dogs — well summed up the matter as follows:
Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities — but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.
In short, “Islamophobia” has been the mainstream position among non-Muslims for nearly 1,400 years — ever since Muhammad started attacking, killing, and enslaving non-Muslims (“infidels”) in the name of his god. And it is because his followers continue attacking, killing, and enslaving “infidels” that “Islamophobia” exists to this day.
That which Muslims “routinely experience” — and which Biden’s document dismisses as a product of irrational behavior — has never been due to “baseless stereotypes, fearmongering, and prejudice” but rather reality and self-preservation on the part of the infidel.
**Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and Sword and Scimitar, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will to men”.
Colonel Charbel Barakat/December 24/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/138292/
These were the words of the angels 2024 years ago to simple shepherds sleeping with their flocks in the fields of Bethlehem. So, what has changed over the past two thousand years? What does man aspire for today? Is the longed-for peace a wish for humanity? What has the world added with all that it has invented and created to reach this peace? And how can we live in hope while we seek wars and oppression and sow hatred and evil among people?
Last year passed in Lebanon with the trumpets of war blaring and its leaders boasting of their strength. The terrorist organization Hamas had previously dared to attack villages and residential communities in southern Israel, most of which were established after the agreement with Arafat and his transfer of power in the entire Gaza Strip and the dismantling of the Jewish settlements there so that the cities of the Strip would be free of Israelis. These Palestinians were given an area that could be developed and organized under their direct rule after the Palestine Liberation Organization, which according to the Arab League represented the aspirations of the Palestinians, accepted to recognize the State of Israel and work with it to prepare the areas inhabited by the Palestinians for the establishment of a neighboring state under their direct rule and to adopt what was called the two-state solution, the principles of which had been established by the Oslo Accords and later consecrated between the two parties by the Camp David Accords under the supervision of the United States.
Arafat had lost all Arab sympathy and funding sources through his previous positions. He was the first to support Khomeini in the Iranian revolution, then he was militarily defeated in the Lebanon war which resulted in sending him to Yemen and end up in Tunisia. Later he supported President Saddam Hussein in invading Kuwait, which cut off all Arab assistance to him. However, Assad, who had joined the international coalition to reclaim Kuwait after being given a free hand in Lebanon, did not agree to a solution with Israel during the Madrid talks, in which Rabin was ready to give up the Golan Heights and committed to returning to the 1948 borders. This took place under the supervision of US President Bush. What pushed the Israelis to secretly negotiate with Arafat on peace based on the principle of the two-state solution in exchange for recognizing the State of Israel and giving up the weapons. However, despite his triumphant return to the Palestinian territories and his renewed stardom in the international forums and media, he did not preserve the gains he had achieved, but rather tried to adopt the principle of “take and demand”, where he later allowed the emergence of a new, more fanatical and terrorist jihadist faction, the “Hamas” organization, believing that he was thereby pressuring the Israelis and the world to achieve greater gains, which had always been part of his strategy. But Hamas, which adopted Islamic extremism, similar to what had caused the Arabs to lose large parts of Palestine included in the UN Resolution 181, pushed the Palestinians to stop the understanding with the Israelis regarding the administration of the Palestinian regions and thus started the escalation towards a military confrontation that Iran fueled financially and militarily to reach the so-called “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, where it cost the Palestinians and Israelis alike a war that began on October 7 of last year and has not ended yet.
As for Lebanon, where the Iranian Hezbollah organization controlled and dominated its decisions, thwarted its institutions, destroyed its economy, and prevented the democratic process, especially the election of the president, it did not stop there, but declared war on Israel on October 8, 2023, the second day of Hamas’s operation, which dragged Lebanon into a direct confrontation with Israel that developed from a war of harassment and “support” with missiles to an open all-out war, where the Iranian party, its leadership and fighters, were eliminated in a humiliating manner that the history of wars has never witnessed, and the Israeli forces still occupy villages and sites, and even demand the surrender of its weapons on all Lebanese territories.
The mullahs’ regime in Iran had tried to expand throughout the Middle East under the slogan of Palestine as well. It invaded a number of stable countries and extended its hand to directly control Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. It also created many problems for a number of other countries, of which the events in Bahrain and Saudi Qatif were only a part, opposing the Arabs using military, intelligence and even social means, such as encouraging the smuggling and distribution of drugs in urban areas using the Hezbollah group to do it, but finally it was forced to enter the battle to raise the morale of its group, so its weaknesses appeared, and it was forced to accept the cutting off of some of its arms, and it is still threatened with the complete elimination of its power, while the loyalists of Turkey advanced this time and took control of Syria to cut off the road to any Iranian expansion towards the Mediterranean Sea.
In Syria, despite the fall of Assad and the spread of pro-Turkey forces across the Syrian geography, while trying to appear moderate, the situation is still fragile. Turkey is demanding the dissolution of the "Syrian Democratic Forces" stationed in the northern regions on the Turkish-Syrian border, where the Kurds are present and which they have been defending since the beginning of the events in Syria in coordination with the international coalition forces. Will the "new Sultan" Erdogan dare to attack them and impose his absolute control over Syria? And thus return to playing the role of the Caliph who decides the fate of Muslim countries from Central Asia to the Mediterranean, the Arab countries and North Africa, and after his intervention between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and sending forces of Islamic volunteers to Libya under the slogan of Turkish interests in the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa, especially in the absence of the role of Russia, which is distracted by what is happening in Ukraine and Eastern Europe to accepted to turn off its military bases in northern Syria after the defeat of its ally Assad? Will Erdogan continue to support the Muslim Brotherhood, who failed to control Egypt with Morsi, and are returning now to Syria in sheep's clothing? Or is he still playing within what is permitted by overseeing the Syrian situation in an internationally acceptable manner, thus securing the interests of Turkey, which is a member of the European Market and considered part of NATO, with the minimum internationally recognized principles?
The coming days will still hold many developments in this Middle East. With the arrival of Trump, who promises firmness and understanding, will we move to a new path that ensures calm and stability towards comprehensive peace and a new Middle East that cooperates for good? Or are we still vulnerable to more violence, especially on the issue of the Iranian mullahs on one hand and the ambitions of the Turkish Caliph on the other which could replace the Iranian party in Lebanon with parties loyal to Turkey? Or have the Lebanese become mature and experienced to the point that they will not accept working under any party that seeks to control by violence? Rather, they will firmly reject all the trends and slogans that have
***Colonel Charbel Barakat, a retired Lebanese Army officer, historian, terrorism expert, and author of numerous works on Lebanon, the Iranian regime’s schemes, and jihadist movements, has testified multiple times before the U.S. Congress on critical issues, including Iranian and Syrian terrorism, the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, jihadist threats, and the pursuit of Middle East peace.

The fall of Assad is an ‘emperor has no clothes’ moment for Putin
Alexander J. Motyl, opinion contributor/The Hill/December 23, 2024
What a difference a regime collapse can make!
Now that the regime of Bashar Assad has fallen, analysts and policymakers are discovering that the Syrian dictator’s friend and protector, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, may also be vulnerable.
Fareed Zakaria captures this mood-swing well, writing, “Putin’s Russia now resembles the Soviet Union in the 1970s. While it is still assertive and interventionist abroad, its economy at home is increasingly weak and distorted by its conversion into a wartime operation. But just as the external expansionism and internal mobilization could not mask Soviet decay forever, so today Putin’s bravado should not scare us. Think about it: If Russia were winning in Ukraine, would Putin threaten to use nuclear weapons?”
Implicit in Zakaria’s comparison of Putin’s Russia with Leonid Brezhnev’s Soviet Union is the prediction that the former will, like the latter, collapse — perhaps not immediately, but well-nigh inevitably.
Some experts — and especially critically-minded Russians and Ukrainians — have insisted for months that Putin’s regime is far weaker and more brittle than it appears. As the veteran Russia expert Frederick Starr writes, “Judging by what is being said on Russia’s home front, Putin has already lost the war and the only question is what face-saving measures can be extracted through a settlement.”
Importantly, Putin’s Russian critics have used the same evidence that Zakaria and others now employ to make their case. Minimal battleground gains achieved at horrendous cost in lives and equipment; an economy that is rapidly heading toward what Russian economist Igor Lifsits calls “catastrophe”; and a population that must survive with ever fewer resources in an ever more challenging socio-economic environment do not bespeak a healthy state, society or regime.
But the conventional wisdom in much of the West was that Putin was strong because he insisted he was strong. It took Assad’s regime to fall and Putin to accept it meekly for the West to appreciate that things weren’t all that rosy in Tsar Vladimir’s rotting kingdom.
This means that Putin, who appeared to be the permanent president running a permanent war, may have a political lifespan that is far shorter than his braggadocio suggests. For the reality is that Putin is weak.
No one dare say that publicly in Russia, but everyone knows that he managed to transform a regional superpower with a healthy economy into a military and economic basket case. It will take decades for Russia to win back what it has lost thanks to Putin’s narcissistic pursuit of empire and glory.
The cracks within the elite are already visible, even on Russian television and in the ever-contentious blogosphere. Disagreements tend to be oblique and generally avoid putting the blame for anything on Putin, but it’s obvious to all Russians, especially those versed in reading between the lines, that a vicious power struggle is already taking place, as hardliners and softliners compete for favors while also proposing what they hope are effective policies.
Putin pretends to be above the fray, and, like every dictator whose power rests on balancing contradictory elite forces, he plays groups, factions and clans against one another in the hope that their internal struggles will distract them from the source of the system’s irremediable ills — Putin himself. But that strategy can work only as long as no one says that the emperor has no clothes.
Putin’s age, 72, doesn’t help. Nor does his questionable health. Both factors conspire to make him incapable of adopting innovative solutions to real problems. He is increasingly inclined to put his own political (and physical) survival above the needs of the country. Russia’s degradation, demise and possible collapse are therefore inevitable as long as Putin remains at the helm of his sinking ship.
Under such conditions — a war gone terribly wrong, a miserable economy, increasing poverty, elite dissatisfaction and dictatorial stasis — it would be a miracle if no one within the Russian establishment were not sharpening knives and preparing for the post-Putin age.
That new era could not possibly be worse than Putin’s warmongering, genocide and imperialism. But it could actually be better. Not because enlightened democrats will come to power with the goal of transforming Russia into Switzerland, but because the power struggles that will surely break out will distract and immobilize Russia. If Russian and Soviet history is a guide, they could even produce reformers such as Nikita Khrushchev or Mikhail Gorbachev, who would appreciate that their country is headed for catastrophe and must therefore change.
Starr writes that the dissenting voices within Russia “present a necessary corrective to Putin’s oft-quoted fulminations. In my view, they represent a significant and growing chorus of officials and ordinary Russians who are fearful about their country’s future and do not look to Putin to remove the dark cloud he himself has brought over the land. Their very existence suggests that Putin is operating from weakness, not strength, and that on the home front, his luck is fast running out.”
If the Russians are right, it clearly follows that time is not on Putin’s side and that the wisest strategy for Ukraine, Europe and the incoming Trump administration is not to rush into some half-baked peace agreement that would only prolong Putin’s lifespan. Rather, take things slowly, support Ukraine and wait — for the continued crumbing of his regime, economy, military and power base, and for the inevitable downfall of Assad’s friend in the Kremlin.
Alexander J. Motyl is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolutions, empires and theory, he is the author of 10 books of nonfiction, as well as “Imperial Ends: The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires” and “Why Empires Reemerge: Imperial Collapse and Imperial Revival in Comparative Perspective.”
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Things are Terrible in Europe, and They’re Only Going to Get Worse
Anton Jäger and Dries Daniels/The New York Times//December 23, 2024
Early this year, France’s center-right Republicans decided to move to a new home. After a decade of demoralizing defeats, the party vacated its headquarters for one closer to France’s National Assembly, hoping the move would bring a change in fortune.
It was not to be. June brought disastrous results in European Parliament elections and the prospect of more in a snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron. In response, the president of the Republicans, Éric Ciotti, threw in his lot with the ascendant National Rally, the far-right party of Marine Le Pen. But he did so without consulting the party’s other leaders, to whom the alliance remained anathema. When they tried to remove him from his post, Ciotti simply dismissed the staff and locked the doors.
Ciotti’s lockout is emblematic of the season of political chaos Europeans have lived through this past year. Such collapses and reversals have now become the norm. Within three months of taking office, the French government was painstakingly put together after the election fell apart; the German government soon followed suit. As 2024 draws to a close, the European Union’s founding duo find themselves politically adrift.
Europe’s growing far right, meanwhile, has only entrenched its position. This summer’s European elections were marked by breakout performances for the hard right across the union, and there were major advances on the national level, too. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’s Party for Freedom forged a government coalition; Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s post-fascist prime minister, saw her popularity deepen; and the far-right Alternative for Germany surged to become the country’s second-most-popular party.
Europe’s extreme right has moved past the point of normalization — now a regular force of government, it is becoming almost banal. For Europe, its consolidation caps a year of tumult. Judging from the continent’s parlous economic situation and general social disarray, matters are only going to get worse.
A decade ago, Europe presented a very different face to the world. In Greece, the radical left party Syriza was about to rise to power on the back of resistance to austerity imposed by the so-called Troika of the European Commission, European Central Bank and the Eurogroup. In France, a center-left president, François Hollande, was being hounded by rebels on the left of his party. And in Britain, a socialist backbencher named Jeremy Corbyn was soon to claim the leadership of the Labor Party.
All of this reads like ancient history today. Syriza, which ultimately carried out the austerity it had campaigned against, lost power in 2019 and splintered after a former Goldman Sachs trader was elected as its leader. Corbyn has been kicked out of the party he once led, and the French left has been sidelined by Macron’s penchant for cutting deals with the right. Die Linke, once a credible challenger to the Greens and Social Democrats for leadership on the German left, risks disappearing from parliament altogether in the country’s upcoming elections.
This decline is not the result of a political law of nature. Instead, Europe’s current political constellation owes much to a cohort of politicians and officials who held sway in the 2010s across the continent. Following Angela Merkel’s lead during her 16-year stint as Germany’s chancellor, it was they who set the terms of European politics that have now come back to haunt policymakers. Their response, for instance, to the “euro crisis” — the seemingly never-ending financial troubles that followed the crash of 2008 — was to offer a damaging blend of moralism and technocracy.
Doubling down on punitive austerity measures, Jeroen Dijsselbloem — Merkel’s lieutenant as head of an informal grouping of Eurozone finance ministers — claimed that the debt-ridden governments of Southern Europe had wasted their money on “schnapps and women.” For his part, Jean-Claude Juncker, then chief of the European Commission, admonished Greeks that there was “no need to commit suicide because you are afraid of dying.” Led by Merkel, Europe’s politicians insisted on obeisance to financial markets and European etiquette, no matter the consequences.
Today, the costs of this aggressive aversion to change have become starkly apparent. In the past decade and a half, continental growth indicators have gone from stagnant to concerning. In a recent X-ray of the European economy, Mario Draghi, a former head of the European Central Bank and former prime minister of Italy, sounded a belated alarm as to the grim extent of the decline: lack of innovation, lagging productivity and general economic underperformance. The continent’s economic future looks impossibly bleak.
The wallop has been a long time coming. Occupied with disciplining Europe’s periphery, policymakers in Berlin missed a reckoning with Germany’s economic model. A book published this year by the German commentator Wolfgang Münchau required no more than two syllables to sum up the results of this procrastination: “Kaput.” Münchau’s list of causes for the downturn are familiar: the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which together spurred a global price fever and cut off the usual source of energy on which German factories ran — an inflationary spiral compounded by America’s trade wars. For an economy coasting by, these shocks proved worse than destabilizing.
Germany’s prized export sector especially suffered from such complacency. For years, reports of an impending green revolution in electric vehicle production were dismissed. Now an industrial doomsday is dawning: Germany’s car producers have seen themselves priced out of their trusty Chinese markets, steadily served by Chinese producers. As catastrophic growth forecasts told a story of their own in October, Volkswagen announced it was closing factories in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history, with severe knock-on effects for neighboring economies in Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands.
Economically, the Merkel consensus sowed the seeds of stagnation. Politically, it wound up destroying dissidence to its left while allowing discontent on the right to thrive. As inflation pushes the cost of living skyward and real wages stagnate, European electorates have been left with the sense that the levers of policy are slipping from their grasp. Railing against immigration — long a source of ire for many across the Western world — and engaging in Americanized culture wars at least allow a cathartic release and the illusion of control.
In this environment, far-right forces have predictably prospered, alternately tolerated and co-opted by the political center. In seven out of 27 countries in the European Union, from Finland to Italy, the far right now directly participates in government. In the newly assembled European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen, a key ally of Meloni holds an important vice-presidential position. Rather than the bloc fending off the far right, the prospect seems to be a far-right European Union, in which the mainstream chases the extremes.
To some outsiders this might give off an image of strength. Where foreign policy, military affairs or energy independence are concerned, however, Europe appears more and more rudderless in a stormy world. For a continent that once saw itself as a middle way between the unbridled market capitalism of the United States and the various authoritarians stationed farther east, it’s a bitter irony that it now seems headed for pale imitations of both. And with Donald Trump around the corner, the hard times may have only just begun.