Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 01-02/2024
Elias Bejjani-Video: Resolutions For the new year of 2024
Video-Text: Resolutions For the new year of 2024/Elias Bejjani/January 01/2024
Elias Bejjani-Video: Resolutions For the new year of 2024
Video-Text: Resolutions For the new year of 2024/Elias Bejjani/January 01/2024
Cautions From Occult Practices
Patriarch Rai Criticizes Linking Presidential Election to Final Ceasefire in Gaza in New Year's Mass
Metropolitan Elias Aoudi presided over the divine liturgy at the Saint George
Hezbollah says four of its fighters killed in southern Lebanon
Israeli airstrikes and shells target southern Lebanese border areas
Hezbollah says Israel 'not in a position' to impose Lebanon border 'options'
UN chief closes tribunal founded to probe Rafik Hariri's assassination
UNIFIL Mission Could Become Very Dangerous" - French Minister Issues Stark Warning
Comprehensive War Looms Over Lebanon" - Israel Issues Warning!
Haaretz Reports on "14 Israeli Towns" on the Lebanon Border!
Unprecedented Tragedy on the First Day of 2024: Three Paramedics Martyred as Destruction Aligns with the Invasion Scene
Anticipated Visit by High-Level Diplomat to Lebanon
The Unending Travails of a Calamitous Fallacy /Charles Chartouni/This is Beirut/January 01/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 01-02/2024
Israeli army says Gaza war will continue throughout 2024
Israel pulls 5 brigades from Gaza, marking new phase of Hamas war
Israel plans to bring in more foreign workers for construction sector - report
US carrier sent to Mediterranean after Hamas attack to return to base
Israel's Supreme Court overturns a key component of Netanyahu's polarizing judicial overhaul
Hunger hits animals and people alike at Gaza zoo
US helicopters kill several Houthi rebels in latest Red Sea shipping attack
Iraqi Militias Launch Drone Strikes on US Base in Eastern Syria
More Americans think foreign policy should be a top US priority for 2024, an AP-NORC poll finds
Russia launches record number of drones in Ukraine, and Putin says Moscow will intensify its attacks
Liberation of Crimea could shield Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa from Russian attacks – ISW
Russian official, who previously fought against Ukraine, killed in Belgorod explosions – military intel
Putin says Russia will 'intensify' attacks on Ukraine
Six killed in disputed region bordering Sudan, South Sudan
Japan issues tsunami warnings after very strong earthquakes
N. Korea's Kim says army should 'thoroughly annihilate' US, S. Korea if provoked
Powerful quake rocks Japan, 6 dead and nearly 100,000 residents ordered to evacuate

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on January 01-02/2024
Hamas in London/Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute/January 01, 2024
Gaza: What went wrong and how to fix it/Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/January 01/2024
Iranian authorities failing to tackle suicide crisis/Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/January 01/2024
NATO expansion in the hands of Turkiye’s parliament/Zaid M. Belbagi/Arab News/January 01/2024
Diplomacy is Best Conducted at the Dinner Table/Alex Prud’homme/The New York Times/January 01/2024
The Last Bullet/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 01/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials publishedon January 01-02/2024
Elias Bejjani-Video: Resolutions For the new year of 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-ie8v8GOE4&t=13s
January 01/2024

Video-Text: Resolutions For the new year of 2024
Elias Bejjani/January 01/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81879/elias-bejjani-resolutions-for-the-new-year-of-2020/
Video-Text: Resolutions For the new year of 2024
Elias Bejjani/January 01/2024
How healthy and fruitful would it be if each and every one of us is fully ready to welcome the new year of 2024 with a clear conscience and a joyful reconciliation with himself/herself, as well and with all others, especially those who are the beloved ones, e.g, parents, family members, friends, etc.
How self gratifying would be for any faithful and wise person to enter the new year of 2024 and he/she is completely free from all past heavy and worrying loads of hostility, hatred, enmities, grudges, strives and jealousy.
And because our life is very short on this mortal-perishable earthly world.
And due to the fact that, Our Heavenly Father, Almighty God may at any moment take back His Gift of life from any one of us.
Because of all these solid facts and realities, we are ought to leave behind all the 2023 hardships, pains and disappointments with no regrets at all.
We are ought to happily welcome and enter the 2024 new year with a totally empty page of our lives….ready for a new start.
Hopefully, every wise, loving, caring and faithful person would feel better in striving to begin this new year of 2024with love, forgiveness, faith, hope, extended hands, open heart, and self-confidence.
I wish every one a Happy, Happy new Year that hopefully will carry with it all that is love, forgiveness, faith, hope, extended hands, open hearts, and self-confidence

Cautions From Occult Practices
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/70666/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%a8%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a-%d9%83%d8%b0%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%86%d8%ac%d9%85%d9%88%d9%86-%d9%88%d9%84%d9%88-%d8%b5%d8%af%d9%82%d9%88%d8%a7/
Deuteronomy 18/9-22/When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God.
The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.

Patriarch Rai Criticizes Linking Presidential Election to Final Ceasefire in Gaza in New Year's Mass
NNA/LCCC/January 01/2023
Beirut - Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi presided over the New Year's Mass at Our Lady's Church in the Patriarchal Seat in Bkerke, assisted by Bishops Hanna Alwan and Antoine Awkar, the Patriarch's Secretary Father Hadi Zou, in the presence of the head of the Maronite League, Ambassador Dr. Khalil Karam, and a gathering of dignitaries and believers.
Following the Holy Gospel, Patriarch al-Rahi delivered a sermon titled "Call Him Jesus" (Luke 2:21), in which he stated: Peace is built on four corners like a building—truth, justice, love, and the freedom of God's children. There is no peace where there is falsehood, injustice, hatred, or bondage. Peace is not a concept for us; it is a person, Jesus Christ, as Apostle Paul says: "For he himself is our peace" (Ephesians 2:14).
He continued: "Building peace is a highly honorable task, elevating its builder to the status of God's children. As Jesus affirmed in the Sermon on the Mount: 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God' (Matthew 5:9). Peacebuilding is heroic and victorious, while war and conflicts represent weakness and defeat." Paul the Apostle advises the Christians in Rome: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:17, 18, 21).
Patriarch al-Rahi emphasized Lebanon's unique role in promoting peace, rooted in its peaceful culture and political system with three key principles:
The Covenant of Coexistence in Unity (1943)
This covenant, reaffirmed by the Taif Agreement (1989), makes Lebanon a shared Christian-Muslim homeland, based on the acceptance of others and the right of others to differ.
The President of the Republic is the "Head of State" (Article 49 of the Constitution)
The President of the Republic guarantees the common interest (res publica). Regardless of the level of integration and solidarity among Lebanon's 18 sects, the presidency is indispensable for the proper functioning of the state.
Lebanon's Neutrality is its Fundamental Identity
Neutrality in regional and international conflicts is embedded in the 1943 Covenant, the Charter of the Arab League, Lebanon's official foreign policy since 1943, all United Nations resolutions, and ministerial statements since independence.
Patriarch al-Rahi concluded: "The failure to elect a president and the insistence on unacceptable and baseless conditions, such as linking the president's election to a final ceasefire in Gaza, undermine the three principles we mentioned. This is condemned and entirely unacceptable. We reiterate that it is the duty of the parliament, if it truly represents itself, to convene and elect a president, as the candidates are known and excellent. As for what the obstructionists are hiding, it has become clear from the consequences of the vacuum. We ask God to overcome the intentions of war, evil, killing, destruction, and obstruction with His enduring peace, for You, O Lord, are the strongest. Yours is the glory and praise, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen."
After the Mass, Patriarch al-Rahi received the participating believers to congratulate them on the holidays.

Metropolitan Elias Aoudi presided over the divine liturgy at the Saint George
NNA/LCCC/January 01/2023
Cathedral in Martyrs' Square on the occasion of the circumcision of Jesus Christ and the New Year. After reading the Holy Gospel, Aoudi delivered a sermon in which he emphasized the wisdom of electing a president for the country to address all shortcomings.He stated, "Today, we enter a new earthly year, bidding farewell to a bloody year that witnessed many painful events on the national and global levels. The major crisis in this country is the habitual vacuum in the presidency position, which persists year after year. The absence of a compliant official adhering to the constitution, standing against the prevailing current, and advocating for the rule of law has turned the constitution itself into a mere formality."Audi continued, "The failure to implement the country's constitution has made it a constitution in and of itself, enforced by some sectarian groups physically only on this land. Meanwhile, their minds, hearts, and interests are entangled with external ideologies, far from the land wounded by divisions, battered by conflicts, and tarnished by scandals. Our hope is that the year 2024 will be a year of deliverance for Lebanon from all its wounds and scars, a year that opens a new chapter in its history, embracing only the love of its people and those working for the well-being of every particle of its soil and every aspect of its constitution and population."He added, "It is said that power lies in will, and this is true because a person who intends or decides to do something must be able to carry it out. When the parliament wanted to extend the service period of the army commander to ensure the stability of the military institution and security, it gathered, voted, and succeeded in what it wanted. Why doesn't this council decide to elect a president, convene, and elect a president for the stability of the entire country, filling every vacancy and managing the work of every administration? This means there is no will for that; otherwise, we would have had a president for over a year, maintaining political stability in the time determined by the constitution."He concluded, "We pray today for the new year to be a year of goodness, peace, and blessings, carrying hope, health, and joy for everyone. We also pray for our brethren in the southern villages and Palestine who are still under bombardment and inhumane conditions, asking for their safety. On this holiday, we cannot forget the victims of the Beirut Port explosion and their families, as well as all those who were injured in their bodies or possessions and have not yet received the due justice towards them and Beirut. May God bless your days, making them days of repentance, salvation, and a pre-taste of the Kingdom, Amen."

Hezbollah says four of its fighters killed in southern Lebanon
REUTERS/January 02, 2024
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said on its Telegram account on Monday that four of its fighters were killed in southern Lebanon. The statement gave no detail about how the four were killed but said they “were martyred on the road to (liberate) Jerusalem.”Hezbollah initially said three were killed before updating the number to four later in the day. Security sources said the first three were killed in an Israeli raid on two houses in the Lebanese village of Kafr Kila near the border where Hezbollah maintains security control. Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israel across Lebanon’s southern frontier since the eruption of the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza in early October. The Israeli military said on Monday it struck a series of targets in Lebanon, including “military sites” where Hezbollah was operating. Israeli air strikes and shelling have killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters and nearly two dozen civilians, including children, elderly and several journalists, according to Hezbollah and security sources.

Israeli airstrikes and shells target southern Lebanese border areas
Naharnet/January 01/2024
Israel carried out several airstrikes in south Lebanon on Sunday as its artillery struck some border towns. Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli warplanes and drones bombed a house and a gas station in the border town of Kfarkila in two separate raids. Israeli warplanes also fired several missiles on the al-Labbouneh forests between Naqoura and Alma al-Shaab, as a drone bombed an empty house in Maroun al-Ras. Artillery shelling meanwhile targeted Maroun al-Ras and the outskirts of Tayr Harfa and Majdal Zoun. Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath TV channel meanwhile reported that a drone coming from Lebanon was shot down over northern Israel. The Israel-Lebanon border has been rocked by escalating exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7. Since the hostilities began, more than 160 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah combatants but including more than 20 civilians, three of them journalists. On the Israeli side, at least five civilians and nine soldiers have been killed, according to the military.
Hezbollah has claimed daily attacks on Israeli troops and positions, saying its actions are in support of the Palestinians in Gaza, while Israel has been striking south Lebanon.

Hezbollah says Israel 'not in a position' to impose Lebanon border 'options'
Agence France Presse/January 01/2024
The deputy leader of Hezbollah has said that Israel is "not in a position" to impose its preferences over the group's presence in the Lebanese border area while its war in Gaza rages. The Israel-Lebanon border has been rocked by escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Iran-backed Hezbollah, since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, raising fears of a broader conflict. The Israeli army has evacuated thousands of civilians from the border area, and Israel has been pushing for Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers north of the frontier. Hezbollah number two Sheikh Naim Qassem said Israel was putting forward proposals and "trying to show that it has options" to help return displaced Israeli residents and push Hezbollah from the border area. "Israel is not in a position to impose its options," Qassem said in a speech, warning that Israel "first must stop the Gaza war in order for the war in Lebanon to stop.""The persistent bombing of civilians in Lebanon means the response will be stronger and proportionate to the Israeli aggression," Qassem added. Since the cross-border hostilities began, more than 160 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah combatants but including more than 20 civilians, three of them journalists, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, at least five civilians and nine soldiers have been killed, according to the military. Hezbollah has claimed repeated attacks on Israeli troops and positions, including on Sunday, saying its actions are in support of its ally Hamas, while Israel has been striking south Lebanon. The Israeli army said on Sunday that "fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and military structures" in the Ramyeh area of south Lebanon. It accused the militant group of "operating from behind the civilian population" in Ramyeh and using it as "a center for its terrorist activity." Hezbollah has not had a visible military presence on Lebanon's southern border since the end of a 2006 war with Israel, but has maintained large influence in the country's south, where it has built hideouts and tunnels.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 conflict, called for all armed personnel to pull back north of the Litani River, except for United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanese state security forces. The Israeli army statement said that Hezbollah attacks "violate U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701." This month, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Lebanon was ready to implement international resolutions if Israel also complied and withdrew from disputed territory.

UN chief closes tribunal founded to probe Rafik Hariri's assassination
Associated Press/LCCC/January 01/2024
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has closed an international tribunal that was created to investigate the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the U.N. chief's spokesperson said. Over the years, the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon held in absentia proceedings and found three members of Hezbollah guilty in connection with Hariri's death in a massive Feb. 14, 2005 truck bombing. The tribunal based in The Hague, Netherlands, sentenced the three -- Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi -- to five concurrent sentences of life imprisonment. Hezbollah officials have repeatedly denied that members of the group were involved in the suicide attack and refused to deal with the tribunal. The bombing killed Hariri and 21 others, and wounded 226. The trial judges had said there was no evidence Hezbollah's leadership or Syria were involved in the attack but noted the assassination happened as Hariri and his political allies were discussing whether to call for Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement Sunday that the Special Tribunal was established to try those responsible for the attack following the adoption of a 2007 Security Council resolution. The tribunal's jurisdiction also extended to other attacks that were judicially determined to be "connected" to Hariri's assassination. At the beginning of 2023, Guterres extended the panel's mandate until Dec. 31 "for the limited purpose of completion of the non-judicial residual functions" and "for the orderly closure of the Special Tribunal." The secretary-general noted Sunday that those tasks had been accomplished and the tribunal shut down. "The secretary-general expresses his deep appreciation for the dedication and hard work of the judges and staff at the Special Tribunal throughout the years," Dujarric said. He added that Guterres also appreciated the support provided by the Lebanese government, the government of the Netherlands as the host state, and member states that participated in the tribunal's management committee.

UNIFIL Mission Could Become Very Dangerous" - French Minister Issues Stark Warning
AFP/January 01/LCCC/2024
French Minister of Defense, Sébastien Lecornu, visited the Deir Kifa base in southern Lebanon on Monday for talks with the Chief of Staff and French soldiers deployed as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), according to Agence France-Presse. Addressing 700 soldiers before sharing a New Year's dinner with them, Lecornu stated that "this mission could become very dangerous." He added under a tent set up at the base, approximately ten kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon border, "Our path will be fraught with suspicions in the coming weeks and days." The exchange of gunfire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in Lebanon has resulted in the death of over 100 of its members since October 8. Hezbollah claims to intervene in support of its ally, Hamas, in Gaza. Lecornu and Lebanese Army Chief General Joseph Aoun discussed UNIFIL's mission and "how to continue the mission in light of deteriorating conditions and how to protect Lebanese army soldiers and UNIFIL elements in their tasks." Lecornu commented on the situation in the Middle East, stating, "We are still sinking into the abyss." Before leaving for Paris, the French minister plans to meet with General Aoun again on Tuesday to discuss the assistance proposed by France for the Lebanese Armed Forces, including the delivery of several armored vehicles.

Comprehensive War Looms Over Lebanon" - Israel Issues Warning!
Al-Kalima Online/LCCC/January 1, 2024
Israel has warned that some forces withdrawing from Gaza in the south will be ready to rotate on the northern border with Lebanon. An Israeli official stated, "We will not allow the situation on the Lebanese front to persist, and the next six months are a critical moment. Israel will convey a similar message to U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who is undertaking shuttle missions to Beirut." Israel cautioned that if Hezbollah does not withdraw beyond the borders, a comprehensive war looms on the horizon in Lebanon.

Haaretz Reports on "14 Israeli Towns" on the Lebanon Border!
Al-Kalima Online/LCCC/January 1, 2024
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that 14 Israeli towns in the northern part of the country have filed a request with the Supreme Court to evacuate or compensate them for accumulated damages since the start of the war on October 7. The report explained that "seven of these settlements, located 5 kilometers from the Lebanese border, are on the list of towns to be evacuated by Defense Minister Yoav Galant, but they have not been evacuated yet." It further noted that "the other seven towns, located 5 to 8 kilometers from the border, have been severely affected in their daily lives, similar to many towns evacuated by the state." It remains unclear whether the Supreme Court will consider the plea or if the Israeli government will offer solutions to the residents of these towns. Israel evacuated dozens of towns in the north at the onset of the war due to rocket launches from Lebanon by Hezbollah and Palestinian factions.

Unprecedented Tragedy on the First Day of 2024: Three Paramedics Martyred as Destruction Aligns with the Invasion Scene
Hussein Saad/Janoubia/LCCC//January 1, 2024
On the first day of the new year, scenes of destruction in southern towns, caused by Israeli enemy aircraft, resemble the scenes of invasion in terms of the magnitude of destruction and billowing smoke. The town of Kfar Kila in the district of Marjayoun, warned by Israeli media yesterday, became the stage for an Israeli evening aggression. The teams of paramedics and civil defense were not spared as a result, with three martyrs from the Islamic Health Association, affiliated with Hezbollah, falling victim to a major airstrike on a house in the town. The martyrs were the brothers Jihad and Moussa Sheet, and Hussein Yehia. They are the first casualties among humanitarian and paramedic teams, following civilian casualties, journalists, Hezbollah members, and Palestinian organizations. Hezbollah later mourned the three martyrs. The airstrikes and artillery shelling did not stop at Kfar Kila, adjacent to the border. Direct artillery shelling reached the courtyard of the government-run Mays al-Jabal Hospital, with shell fragments penetrating the emergency room. Divine intervention prevented injuries as the fragments damaged the emergency room's furnishings and equipment. The warplanes targeted a house in the town of Hula, owned by the late Dr. Bassam Qatish, causing significant damage. The airstrikes also hit Maroun al-Ras and Markaba. Meanwhile, the occupation forces renewed their artillery shelling on the city of Bint Jbeil, Al-Shab'a, and Naqoura – Al-Lubnaneh and Dahieh, and Aytat al-Shaab. In contrast, Hezbollah targeted Kiryat Shmona settlement, Hidab al-Bustan, and the Yara military base with rockets. Field sources in the south reported that the Israeli fire line is advancing further into the southern cities, especially Bint Jbeil, which symbolizes great resilience since the July aggression. The enemy aims to retaliate against it, as well as other border towns, to pressure the remaining inhabitants to evacuate northward and completely empty them. The year 2024 has opened with significant fire, and the fear of its escalation to other areas is still distant from the enemy's airstrikes. Hezbollah will undoubtedly resort to a response and escalation commensurate with Israeli escalation, deep into the settlements.

Anticipated Visit by High-Level Diplomat to Lebanon
Al-Anbaa Online/LCCC/Monday, January 1, 2024
Lebanese citizens are expecting renewed moves on the Lebanon front by influential countries such as France, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Envoys may return to Lebanon, such as the French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian or the Qatari envoy. However, current international attention is focused on the Gaza war. As the war continues in Gaza and the southern front, Israel persists in its aggression, while Hezbollah continues its response. It is not expected that the war will cease in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, the eyes of the Lebanese will turn towards external efforts, especially those of the United States, to halt the war and achieve a mini-settlement for Lebanon. In this context, there are talks of a visit by senior White House advisors, such as Amos Hochstein, to Lebanon to propose a ceasefire and implement UN Resolution 1701, which has entered a critical phase of attention. There are also suggestions regarding Israel's commitment to a ceasefire in exchange for Hezbollah's withdrawal from the southern borders. However, Hezbollah openly rejects these ideas. These discussions align with statements from Israeli government officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, issuing warnings to Hezbollah about the "necessity to move away from the borders and respond to diplomatic efforts; otherwise, Israel will force the party to do so."

The Unending Travails of a Calamitous Fallacy /
متاعب مغالطة كارثية لا تنتهي
Charles Chartouni/This is Beirut/January 01/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/125704/125704/
The life cycle of this war is near ending, but not the illusions and deceitfulness of its instigators, who are still adamant about pursuing it with no qualms about its disastrous consequences. Their bets on expanding its radius were belied at the onset, but the actors are still bent on continuing what seems to be a criminal undertaking driven by false calculations, moral callousness and an unchallenged power drive.
The state of unaccountability seems to continue to be perpetuated so long as there is no defeat and no constituencies capable of questioning war incumbents, putting an end to the moral usurpation and stemming the unfolding tragedies. Hamas and associates are enacting their final scenes without giving further thought to the aftermath, the way they did when they planned and executed this reckless and criminal war. Obviously, they are fighting at this stage for their survival, the perpetuation of their fallacy and their iconic stature.
The ongoing battles have logged an outstanding achievement: the destruction of Gaza and the intentional victimization of civilians who were literally discounted and relegated to political irrelevance. The survival of the group is deemed more important than the disastrous outcomes of the criminal undertaking which frames this war from end to end. Capitulation is being totally averted, and the human shields strategy is pursuing its devastating course with no sense of moral and strategic irrelevance. Accountability is nonexistent and civilians have been reduced to disposable aggregates with no moral dignity, and the reign of terror that prevailed over Gaza has cowed Palestinians into silence and submission. One wonders what’s going to be left after this ravaging war, and what the chances are of rebuilding a functioning political entity and effective governance. The Israeli objectives are quite clear: the demilitarization of Gaza, the negotiations over its transition governance and the finalization of its future status. Ironically, the continuing bloodshed is wedded to the firmly established illusion of the ultimate victory. Otherwise, Israelis are bound to reach a consensus over their strategic goals and overcome their differences insofar as their future relationships with the Palestinians. Their overall security, political and moral concerns are at stake, while they also deal with the thorny issues of the ongoing war and their impact on their democratic institutions. The balancing of different considerations and priorities is not an easy task when facing up to existential challenges.
The conflated Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi and Yemeni operational platforms are the basic mainstays of the Iranian destabilization strategy in the region, instrumentalizing the power vacuums in Syria, the Iraqi systemic dislocations, the Yemeni inroads into the Red Sea and the control of the Lebanese State by Hezbollah, which coordinates various insurgencies throughout the region, challenges Israeli security and deflects the pressure on Iranian power politics, nuclear militarization and bargaining leverage with the United States. The state of strategic ambivalence is part of the political plot whose aim is to expand Iranian maneuvering room and navigate the hazardous course to full-fledged nuclear militarization with the least drawbacks.
The auxiliary status of Hezbollah, while catering to the Iranian expansion strategy, was quite adept at using leveraging political and military platforms to consolidate its controls over society and politics through political terror, tactical alliances, organized crime and manipulation of State institutions. Its religious proselytizing and attempts at infiltrating various Christian denominations and Islamic communities have instrumented political, security and financial resources and Shari’a jurisprudence to ratify its meandering domination politics. Hezbollah’s takeover has succeeded in its usurpation strategy while transforming Lebanese institutions into mere appendages to domination politics.
Its legal and political extraterritoriality has sheltered behind sham constitutionality, diverted its formal steering course and forced its way while tampering with the mandates of UN resolutions 1701, 1680 and 1559 regarding Lebanese territorial integrity, the control of “all Lebanese territory by the government of Lebanon,” the adherence to the 1949 armistice stipulations and the “full respect of the Blue Line.” Paradoxically enough, none of these clauses are respected or taken into consideration whenever the domination and priorities of Hezbollah and its Iranian mentor are questioned.
These enumerated facts are to be taken into consideration when it comes to the assessment of war evolution and the search for sustainable political solutions. Overlooking the hard facts of the terrain and sticking to wishful thinking and moralistic gossip doesn’t help much when striving for genuine peacemaking. When a war is deliberately declared, the outcome of battles has the final say over its denouement. The visualization of the overlapping political and military dynamics and the competing power centers is quite essential in post-war scenarios when it comes to defining alternative peace courses, identifying peace partners and setting the coordinates of a new strategic landscape. Reshuffling the political scenery and its narrative are central if we are to oversee the rise of a new imaginary that sets the values and the rules of the future apart from those of the past.

.Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 01-02/2024
Israeli army says Gaza war will continue throughout 2024
Agence France Presse/January 01/2024
Israel warned its war against Hamas will continue throughout 2024 as unrelenting strikes killed two dozen people in Gaza and the Palestinian militant group fired a rocket barrage at the stroke of midnight. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a New Year's message that some of the 300,000 army reservists would get a break from the war, in order to prepare for the "prolonged fighting" ahead. The army "must plan ahead, understanding that we will be required for additional tasks and warfare throughout this year," Hagari said as the conflict sparked by the October 7 Hamas attacks raged on. Heavy artillery fire again pounded targets in Hamas-run Gaza, killing at least 24 people, health ministry officials there said, with attacks reported across the length of the territory. In the besieged Gaza Strip, where the UN says 85 percent of the population has been displaced, 20-year-old Hamdan Abu Arab said he hoped "2024 will be better". "We used to go out and enjoy our time on the last day of the year," he recalled. "But this New Year's Eve, there are only missiles and the remains of people." Hamas marked the start of the year by firing a rocket barrage at Israel in what it called a "response to the massacres of civilians". AFP journalists in Tel Aviv witnessed missile defence systems intercept rockets overhead as some revellers ran for cover and others kept up the party with a shrug. "My heart was pounding," said one, Gabriel Zemelman, 26, shortly after the rocket fire. "It's terrifying. You just saw the life we live, it's crazy."The bloodiest ever Gaza war was triggered by Hamas' October 7 attacks in south Israel, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The militants also took around 250 people hostage that day, more than half of whom remain in Gaza, according to Israeli officials. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and launched a punishing offensive that has reduced vast areas of Gaza to a ruined wasteland and killed at least 21,822 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory's health ministry. The Israeli army says 172 of its soldiers have been killed inside Gaza in the battle against the Islamist militant group which Israel, the United States and European Union have designated a "terrorist" organisation.
'We live like animals'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Saturday that the fighting would last "many months until Hamas is eliminated and the hostages are returned". Hagari said "we are also currently adapting the planning of the force deployment in Gaza and the reserve system. Some of the reservists will return to their families and employment this week. "This will significantly ease the burden on the economy and allow them to gather strength for the upcoming activities in the next year, as the fighting will continue and they will still be required." Since Israel imposed a siege at the outset of the war, Gazans have been facing dire shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine. UN chief Antonio Guterres has condemned the "epic human suffering" and "collective punishment" of Palestinian civilians, while the WHO has warned of the risk of hunger and infectious disease. "We are exhausted... We were displaced five times during this war," said 29-year-old Bassam Hana. "We hope things improve in 2024 and that we live just like any other human being. Currently, we live like animals." At least 48 Palestinians were killed in strikes on Gaza City over the weekend, the territory's health ministry said, with many still buried under the rubble. "After the explosion we arrived at the scene of the strike and saw martyrs everywhere," said one resident after a building was hit. "Children are still missing, we can't find them."Hagari, in a briefing on Sunday, said several militants "were killed and subdued during the battles in Khan Yunis", the main southern city, earlier in the day. "We are continuing to handle the underground tunnels and to strike the rocket launching array, in order to reduce rocket fire into the State of Israel," he said, adding that "dozens of aircrafts are in the skies of Gaza at any given moment".
Regional fears
International mediators have continued efforts toward a new pause in fighting.
A Hamas delegation from Qatar visited Cairo on Friday to discuss an Egyptian three-phase plan proposing renewable ceasefires, a staggered release of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and ultimately an end to the war, sources close to Hamas said. Their allies Islamic Jihad said on Saturday that Palestinian factions were evaluating the proposal and would give a response "within days." The war in Gaza has raised fears of a broader regional conflict, with hostilities flaring with mostly Iran-backed militant groups in nearby countries who say they are acting in support of Hamas. The Israeli army announced Sunday night having intercepted two "hostile aircraft" launched from Syria towards northern Israel. Earlier it had reported launches toward Israeli territory from Lebanon, where it has fought Hezbollah. "Throughout the day, IDF (military) tanks and helicopters targeted three terrorist squads operating in Lebanon," the army said in a statement. And in the Red Sea, the U.S. military said Sunday that Navy helicopters had fired at Iran-backed Huthi rebel boats off Yemen that were attacking a cargo ship, with Yemeni sources reporting 10 rebels killed.

Israel pulls 5 brigades from Gaza, marking new phase of Hamas war
Clyde Hughes/UPI/January 01/2024
Displaced Palestinians take refuge at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on Sunday as attacks by Israeli forces continued. Israel said it is removing five brigades from the Gaza Strip but will remain in Khan Yunis. The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday the move is part of their third phase of operations in Gaza, in which they expect fighting to continue during the new year. The IDF said overall, there are seven brigades still fighting in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. Officials said they are keeping maximum forces fighting in southern Gaza, maintaining its forces to deal with central Gaza. The 162nd Division continued its activity in Daraj and Tuffah, which are parts of Gaza City, on Sunday while the 36th Division battled Hamas in central Gaza's al-Bureij. The 98th, 99th and Gaza divisions are set up in the Khan Younis, in Gaza's south. In the third phase, the IDF said it will only need enough forces to keep Hamas from reconstituting in areas it once dominated. Once Phase 3 has fully transitioned into place, the military expects fighting to continue from three to nine months. "The objectives of the war require prolonged fighting, and we are preparing accordingly," Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters on Monday, pointing out that the withdrawal simply means a shift in tactics and not a decrease in the intensity of fighting. The announcement comes after Hamas launched a fresh rocket attack on Tel Aviv overnight on New Year's Day. IDF's Iron Dome anti-missile system, however, intercepted most of the rockets and no injuries were reported. Despite the attack, the IDF said they are cautiously optimistic with the consistent decrease in the number of missile launches from Gaza in the last month -- including to the area surrounding Gaza.

Israel plans to bring in more foreign workers for construction sector - report
JERUSALEM (Reuters)/January 1, 2024
Israel plans to bring in around 70,000 foreign workers from China, India and elsewhere to boost its construction sector, which has been largely frozen since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, a newspaper reported on Monday, citing a government official. Yehuda Morgenstern, director general of the Construction and Housing ministry, told the Calcalist financial daily that a plan to increase the quota of foreign construction workers to 70,000 from 50,000 would be approved by the government in the coming days. The quota in November was boosted to 50,000 from 30,000 to help the housing sector, which is suffering from labour shortages since around 80,000 Palestinian construction workers were barred from entering Israel in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel. "There's a shortage in the manpower sector. That's why the pace of construction per building in Israel has risen to 34 months from 30 in 2021 and 27 months in 2014," said Morgenstern. About 20,000 foreign workers, Morgenstern said, would be brought in without bilateral agreements with homeland countries. In all, workers will come from China, India, Sri Lanka and Moldova, he said, with around 10,000 expected to arrive in the first quarter. Morgenstern added that even if the 80,000 Palestinian workers now absent come back, it would be beneficial to the housing sector to have the additional foreign workers since the time to build homes continues to rise. The ministry, he said, has also recommended the admission of about 10,000 Palestinians for infrastructure projects outside Israeli cities and in coordination with the mayors.

US carrier sent to Mediterranean after Hamas attack to return to base
AFP/January 02, 2024
WASHINGTON: The US aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, deployed to the eastern Mediterranean after the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas in October, will return to the United States “in the coming days,” the Navy said Monday. Sent to “contribute to our regional deterrence and defense posture,” the carrier will “redeploy to its home port as scheduled to prepare for future deployments,” the Navy said in a statement. “The Department of Defense continually evaluates force posture globally and will retain extensive capability both in the Mediterranean and across the Middle East,” the statement added. The Navy said it was “collaborating with Allies and partners to bolster maritime security in the region.” It noted that the Defense Department will continue to rely on the presence of its forces in the region — including the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group — “to deter any state or non-state actor from escalating this crisis beyond Gaza.”A new generation aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford is a 100,000-ton nuclear-powered ship equipped with new technologies. After Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel on October 7, Washington provided military support to Israel and reinforced its forces in the region, including the USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships.

Israel's Supreme Court overturns a key component of Netanyahu's polarizing judicial overhaul
JERUSALEM (AP)/January 1, 2024
Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday struck down a key component of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul, a decision that threatens to reopen the fissures in Israeli society that preceded the country’s ongoing war against Hamas. Those divisions were largely put aside while the country focuses on the war in Gaza, which was triggered by a bloody cross-border attack by Hamas. Monday’s court decision could reignite those tensions, which sparked months of mass protests against the government and had rattled the cohesion of the powerful military.
There was no immediate reaction from Netanyahu. In Monday’s decision, the court narrowly voted to overturn a law passed in July that prevents judges from striking down government decisions they deem “unreasonable.” Opponents had argued that Netanyahu’s efforts to remove the standard of reasonability opens the door to corruption and improper appointments of unqualified cronies to important positions. The law was the first in a planned overhaul of the Israeli justice system. The overhaul was put on hold after Hamas militants carried out their Oct. 7 attack, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 240 others. Israel immediately declared war, and is pressing forward with an offensive that Palestinian health officials say has killed nearly 22,000 people in Gaza. In an 8-7 decision, the Supreme Court justices struck down the law because of the “severe and unprecedented harm to the core character of the State of Israel as a democratic country.” The justices also voted 12-3 that they had the authority to overturn so-called “Basic Laws,” major pieces of legislation that serve as a sort of constitution for Israel.
It was a significant blow to Netanyahu and his hard-line allies, who claimed the national legislature, not the high court, should have the final word over the legality of legislation and other key decisions. The justices said the Knesset, or parliament, does not have “omnipotent” power. Netanyahu and his allies announced their sweeping overhaul plan shortly after taking office a year ago. It calls for curbing the power of the judges, from limiting the Supreme Court’s ability to review parliamentary decisions to changing the way judges are appointed. Netanyahu and his allies said the changes aim to strengthen democracy by limiting the authority of unelected judges and turning over more powers to elected officials. But opponents see the overhaul as a power grab by Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, and an assault on a key watchdog. Before the war, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in weekly protests against the government. Among the demonstrators were military reservists, including fighter pilots and members of other elite units, who said they would stop reporting for duty if the overhaul was passed. The reservists make up the backbone of the military. While the reservists quickly returned to duty after the Oct. 7 attacks in a show of unity, it remains unclear what will happen if the overhaul efforts are revived. A resumption of the protests could undermine national unity and affect the military’s readiness if soldiers refuse to report for duty.
Under the Israeli system, the prime minister governs through a majority coalition in parliament — in effect giving him control over the executive and legislative branches of government. As a result, the Supreme Court plays a critical oversight role. Critics say that by seeking to weaken the judiciary, Netanyahu and his allies are trying to erode the country’s checks and balances and consolidate power over the third, independent branch of government. Netanyahu’s allies include an array of ultranationalist and religious parties with a list of grievances against the court. His allies have called for increased West Bank settlement construction, annexation of the occupied territory, perpetuating military draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men, and limiting the rights of LGBTQ+ people and Palestinians. The U.S. had previously urged Netanyahu to put the plans on hold and seek a broad consensus across the political spectrum. The court issued its decision because its outgoing president, Esther Hayut, is retiring and Monday was her last day on the job.

Hunger hits animals and people alike at Gaza zoo
Mohammed Salem and Bassam Masoud/Reuters/January 01/2024
In Rafah zoo, dozens of destitute Gazans are camping between the cages where starving monkeys, parrots and lions cry out for food 12 weeks into Israel's offensive. Nearly all Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes under a bombardment that has reduced much of the territory to rubble. Many now cram the southern city of Rafah, their shelters packing street corners and empty lots. In the private zoo, run by the Gomaa family, a line of plastic tents stood near the animal pens and washing hung from lines between palm trees. Nearby a worker tried to feed a weak monkey tomato slices by hand.
Many of those sheltering at the zoo are members of the extended Gomaa family who were living in different parts of the enclave before the conflict smashed their homes. "There are many families who have been completely wiped out. Now all our family is staying in this zoo," said Adel Gomaa, who fled Gaza City. "Living among the animals is more merciful than what we get from the war planes in the sky." Four monkeys have already died and a fifth is now so weak it cannot even feed itself when food is available, zoo owner Ahmed Gomaa said. He also fears for his two lion cubs. "We feed them dry bread soaked in water just to keep them alive. The situation is tragic really." The cubs' mother has lost half her weight since the conflict started, going from daily meals of chicken to weekly servings of bread, he added. A U.N.-backed report last week warned that Gaza was at risk of famine with the entire population facing crisis levels of hunger. Israel stopped all food, medicine, power and fuel imports into Gaza at the start of the war. Though it now permits aid to enter the enclave, security checks, delivery bottlenecks and the difficulty of moving through the rubble of a warzone have hindered supplies. Many Palestinians there say they do not eat every day. At the zoo, the lioness and her cubs lay listlessly in their cage while children played nearby. Animals were dying and falling ill every day, said Sofian Abdeen, a vet who has worked at the zoo. "Cases of starvation, weakness, anaemia. These problems are widespread. There is no food."

US helicopters kill several Houthi rebels in latest Red Sea shipping attack
Associated Press/January 01/2024
The U.S. military said that its forces opened fire on Houthi rebels after they attacked a cargo ship in the Red Sea, killing several of them in an escalation of the maritime conflict linked to the war in Gaza. "We're going to act in a self-defense going forward," a White House official said. In a series of statements, the U.S. Central Command said the crew of the USS Gravely destroyer first shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired at the Singapore-flagged Maersk Hangzhou late Saturday, after the vessel reported getting hit by a missile earlier that evening as it sailed through the Southern Red Sea. Four small boats then attacked the same cargo ship with small arms fire early Sunday and rebels tried to board the vessel, the U.S. Navy said. Next, the USS Gravely and helicopters from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier responded to the Maersk Hangzhou's distress call and issued verbal warnings to the attackers, who responded by firing on the helicopters. "The U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire in self-defense," sinking three of the four boats and killing the people on board while the fourth boat fled the area, the U.S. Central Command said. No harm to U.S. personnel or equipment, or casualties from the cargo ship, were reported. The Houthis acknowledged that 10 of their fighters were killed in the confrontation and warned of consequences. In Washington, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council sidestepped a question about the possibility of a preemptive strike against the Houthis to safeguard commercial shipping in the vital waterway. "I won't say what's on or off the table right now," John Kirby told ABC's "Good Morning America," adding, "We're going to do what we have to do to protect shipping." He said the United States has "significant national security interests in the region" and "we're going to put the kind of forces we need in the region to protect those interests and we're going to act in self-defense going forward."
He said the U.S. has made it clear to the Houthis that "we take these threats seriously and we're going to make the right decisions going forward." The events surrounding the Maersk Hangzhou represented the 23rd illegal attack by the Houthis on international shipping since Nov. 19, the Central Command said. It was the first time the U.S. Navy said its personnel had killed Houthi fighters since the Red Sea attacks started. For over a month, Iran-backed Houthis have claimed attacks on ships in the Red Sea that they say are either linked to Israel or heading to Israeli ports. They say their attacks aim to end the Israeli air-and-ground offensive in the Gaza Strip that was triggered by the Palestinian militant group Hamas' Oct.7 attack in southern Israel. However, the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee called on President Joe Biden "to look at what actions need to be taken in Yemen to be able to prevent the Houthis to continue to put commercial and military vessels at risk." Noting Iran's support for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, told ABC's ``This Week" that the Biden administration should be more aggressive "in responding to escalation by Iran.'' The Denmark-based shipping giant Maersk, owner of Maersk Hangzhou, said Sunday it would suspend shipping through the Red Sea again after the two attacks on its freighter. "In light of the (most recent) incident — and to give time to investigate the details of the incident and assess the security situation further — it has been decided that all transits through the area will be postponed for the next 48 hours," Maersk was quoted as saying by the Danish public broadcaster DR. On Saturday, the top commander of U.S. naval forces in the Middle East said Houthi rebels have shown no signs of ending their "reckless" attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea even as more nations join the international maritime mission to protect vessels in the vital waterway and trade traffic begins to pick up.
Earlier this month, Washington announced the establishment of a new international coalition to protect vessels traveling through the waterway. The United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain are also part of the new maritime security mission. Since the Pentagon announced Operation Prosperity Guardian to counter the attacks just over 10 days ago, 1,200 merchant ships have traveled through the Red Sea region, and none had been hit by drone or missile strikes, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper told The Associated Press in an interview on Saturday.

Iraqi Militias Launch Drone Strikes on US Base in Eastern Syria
Baghdad: Asharq Al Awsat/January 01/2024
A group calling itself the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq" launched drone strikes on the US Rumailan base in Syria’s Hasakah after 25 militants were killed in Israeli airstrikes against alleged pro-Iran militia sites. The militia revealed in a statement that the attack was in response to "Israeli massacres against the people in Gaza" and as part of its "resistance against the US occupation in Iraq and the region."Iranian-backed groups have launched over 100 attacks on US military bases in Iraq and Syria. Explosions were heard at the American Kharab Al-Jir base in Rumailan countryside, eastern Syria, as a result of an attack with two successive batches of drones and missiles. The American forces downed some of the drones; however, no causalities were reported as fighter jets of the international coalition to combat ISIS flew over the area, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The Observatory documented 67 attacks against US bases in Syria since October 19. At least 25 Iran-backed fighters were killed in air strikes on Friday night in eastern Syria, the Observatory added. SOHR suggested that Israel may be behind the attack. Headquartered in London, the war monitor said that the raids targeted posts of the Iranian militias in the Iranian security zone, posts in the 47th Regiment in the desert of al-Bukamal, a convoy belonging to the militias after entering the Syrian territory coming from Iraq, headquarters, a military shipment, an ammunition warehouse, and vehicles in al-Bukamal and its countryside near the Syrian-Iraqi border. SOHR noted that Israel targeted Syrian territories 45 times since the war on Gaza in October, where it documented 28 attacks: 28 airstrikes and 17 rocket attacks by ground forces. Those attacks destroyed 28 targets and left 77 combatants and two civilians dead. Israel often targets sites in Syria to prevent Iran from strengthening its military presence in the region through its militias. The US bases in SDF-controlled northeastern Syria have been targeted daily by rocket shells and drones since Israel declared war on Gaza. There are nine US bases in Syria: one in al-Tanf, two in Deir Ezzor's countryside, and six in Hasakah.

More Americans think foreign policy should be a top US priority for 2024, an AP-NORC poll finds
WASHINGTON (AP)/January 1, 2024
In this time of war overseas, more Americans think foreign policy should be a top focus for the U.S. government in 2024, with a new poll showing international concerns and immigration rising in importance with the public. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults named foreign policy topics in an open-ended question that asked people to share up to five issues for the government to work on in the next year, according to a December poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s about twice as many who mentioned the topic in the AP-NORC poll conducted last year. Long-standing economic worries still overshadow other issues. But the new poll's findings point to increased concern about U.S. involvement overseas — 20% voiced that sentiment in the poll, versus 5% a year ago. It also shows that the Israeli-Hamas war is feeding public anxiety. The conflict was mentioned by 5%, while almost no one cited it a year ago. The issue has dominated geopolitics since Israel declared war on Hamas in Gaza after that group's Oct. 7 attack on Israeli soil. Four percent of U.S. adults mentioned the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as something for their government to focus on this year. That’s similar to the 6% who mentioned it at the end of 2022. Foreign policy has gained importance among respondents from both parties. Some 46% of Republicans named it, up from 23% last year. And 34% of Democrats list foreign policy as a focal point, compared with 16% a year ago.
Warren E. Capito, a Republican from Gordonsville, Virginia, worries China could soon invade Taiwan, creating a third major potential source of global conflict for the U.S. "They would love to have us split three ways,” he said of China, and "we're already spread so thin.” Immigration is also a rising bipartisan concern. Overall, the poll found that concerns about immigration climbed to 35% from 27% last year. Most Republicans, 55%, say the government needs to focus on immigration in 2024, while 22% of Democrats listed immigration as a priority. That's up from 45% and 14%, respectively, compared with December 2022. Janet Brewer has lived all her life in San Diego, across from Tijuana, Mexico, and said the situation on the border has deteriorated in recent years. “It’s a disaster,” said Brewer, 69, who works part time after running a secretarial and legal and medical transcription small business. “It's crazy.”
The politics of foreign military aid and immigration policy are entangled, with President Joe Biden 's administration promoting a $110 billion package that includes aid for Ukraine and Israel that remains stalled in Congress while Republicans push for a deal allowing major changes in immigration policy and stricter enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border. Brewer said she wouldn't vote for Biden or a Republican for president in 2024, and may opt for independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But she also questions whether a change in the White House would necessarily improve immigration policy. As for foreign aid, she said: “I know that we need to help. But come on. We’ve done enough.”
Even as immigration and foreign policy rose as concerns, those issues were no match for worries about the economy. Inflation has fallen, unemployment is low and the U.S. has repeatedly defied predictions of a recession — yet this poll adds to a string of them showing a gloomy outlook on the economy. Some 76% of U.S. adults said this time that they want the government to work on issues related to the economy in 2024, nearly the same as the 75% who said so at this point in 2022.
About 85% of Republicans and 65% of Democrats name the economy as a top issue. But Republicans are more likely than Democrats to want the government to address some specific economic issues: on inflation 41% vs. 22% and on government spending or debt, 22% vs. 7%. Meanwhile, 3 in 10 U.S. adults listed inflation as an issue that the government should focus on, unchanged from 2022. The economy is a top issue mentioned by 18- to 29-year-olds (84%), followed by inflation specifically (39%), personal finances issues (38%) and foreign policy (34%). In the same age bracket, 32% mentioned education or school loans as something for the government to address in 2024. That's despite the Biden administration trying new, more modest efforts to cancel debts after the Supreme Court struck down its larger original push. Among those 30 and older, only 19% mention student loans. But Travis Brown, a 32-year-old forklift operator in Las Vegas, noted that he's back to getting calls seeking payment of his student loans. “Right now, with the economy, wages are not matching,” Brown said. “Blue collar’s going away and I don’t see how that’s going to boost an economy. An economy thrives off the working class. Not off the rich.”Brown also suggested that the U.S. is too focused on shipping aid to its overseas allies. “I care about others, I do,” he said. “But when you sit here and say, ‘I just sent $50 million over to Israel’ and then I go outside and I see half a neighborhood rundown … you’ve got to take care of home.”
One possible sign that larger sentiments on the economy could be improving slightly is that overall mentions of personal financial issues declined some, with 30% mentioning them now compared with 37% last year. Drops occurred for Democrats, 27% vs. 33%, and among Republicans, falling to 30% compared with 37% in 2022. One-quarter of U.S. adults say 2024 will be a better year than 2023 for them personally, and 24% expect it will be a worse year. Some 37% of Republicans expect it’ll be a worse year for them, compared with 20% of independents and 13% of Democrats. Just 5% of U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” confident that the federal government can make progress on the important problems and issues facing the country in 2024, with 7% of Democrats and 11% of independents being optimistic, compared with 1% of Republicans.
Brown is a Democrat but said he was disillusioned enough to perhaps sit out the presidential election — especially if it proves to be a 2020 rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump, who has built a commanding early lead in the 2024 Republican primary. “I don’t think I will participate and maybe that’s bad,” Brown said. “But, it’s like, you’re losing faith.”
*The poll of 1,074 adults was conducted Nov. 30–Dec. 4, 2023, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
Will Weissert And Linley Sanders, The Associated Press

Russia launches record number of drones in Ukraine, and Putin says Moscow will intensify its attacks
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)/January 1, 2024
Russia launched a record 90 Shahed-type drones across Ukraine during the early hours of the new year, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country would “intensify” its attacks on its neighbor. Speaking during a New Year's Day visit to a military hospital, Putin said Ukraine could expect more such strikes after shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod that killed more than two dozen people and wounded more than 100 others. “They want to intimidate us and create uncertainty within our country. We will intensify strikes. Not a single crime against our civilian population will go unpunished,” the Russian leader said, describing the barrage of Belgorod as a “terrorist act.”Russia has blamed Ukraine for Saturday's attack, which was one of the deadliest to take place on Russian soil since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine started more than 22 months ago. Russian officials said the death toll stood at 25 as of Monday, including five children. Cities across western Russia regularly have come under drone attacks since May, although Ukrainian officials never acknowledge responsibility for strikes on Russian territory or the Crimean Peninsula. Putin accused Western nations of using Ukraine to try and “put Russia in its place.” While vowing retribution, he insisted Russia would only target military infrastructure in Ukraine. “Of course, we can hit public squares in Kyiv and in any other Ukrainian city,” he said. “I understand — I’m boiling with rage — but do we need to hit civilians? No. We are hitting military targets, and that’s what we will keep doing.”Both Ukraine and Russia have relied extensively on explosive droves during the war. The wave of Russian attacks in Ukraine continued throughout the day Monday. A 15-year-old boy was killed and seven people wounded after falling debris from one of 87 downed drones hit a residential building in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa, the head of the region’s military administration, Oleh Kiper, said. Debris also sparked a number of small fires, including at the city’s port. Drone strikes and artillery fire also killed three people in Ukraine’s Kherson, Kharkiv and Sumy regions, including a 73-year-old woman. In the western city of Lviv, Russian attacks severely damaged a museum dedicated to Roman Shukhevych, a controversial Ukrainian nationalist and military commander who fought for Ukrainian independence during World War II. University buildings in the town of Dubliany were also damaged, although no casualties were reported. Writing on social media, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi described the strike as “a war for our history” that was “symbolic and cynical.”Meanwhile, four people were killed and 13 more wounded following Ukrainian shelling on Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk, according to the region’s Kremlin-installed leader, Denis Pushilin. Russian state media reported that a journalist was among the victims, but provided no further details. One person was also killed and another wounded in shelling on the Russian border town of Shebekino, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Liberation of Crimea could shield Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa from Russian attacks – ISW
The New Voice of Ukraine/January 1, 2024
If Ukraine liberates the Russian-occupied Crimea and southern territories it will protect Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa from direct attacks by the Russian military, while the threat to Melitopol will be significantly reduced. That’s according to the latest report by the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War published on Dec. 31.Ukraine's defense spending and challenges will also change dramatically if Ukrainian troops manage to de-occupy Crimea, the ISW experts said. Mariupol currently remains the only major frontline city in the south, which complicates the defense of the region and requires a high level of training and partially or fully mobilized Ukrainian Defense Forces, the analysts noted. The liberation of Crimea would largely eliminate the threat of Russian landing operations on Ukraine's southwestern coast, as well as the Russian missile threat to ships trying to pass through the western part of the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s spy chief Kyrylo Budanov said on Sept. 30 that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would enter Crimea by the end of spring. However, U.S. news website Politico reported on Feb. 2, citing four senior U.S. Defense Department officials, that the Pentagon does not believe that Ukraine has or will soon have the ability to push Russian troops out of Crimea. Ukraine has already carried out commando raids on the peninsula, however. An air battle took place in Crimea on Aug. 24. Explosions were heard near the village of Mayak on Cape Tarkhankut. This is the location of Russian radar stations, where air defense positions have been installed along the perimeter. Media reports suggested that units of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine landed on the territory of Russian-occupied Crimea. This was a special operation in cooperation with the Navy.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the special operation, saying that it was too early to talk about the liberation of the peninsula. Ukrainian intelligence said in December that the forecast that Ukrainian troops would enter occupied Crimea in the summer of 2023 had come true, as the Defense Forces did indeed conduct a raid on the peninsula. We’re bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Russian official, who previously fought against Ukraine, killed in Belgorod explosions – military intel
New Voice of Ukraine/January 01, 2024
An officer of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Konopitsyn, was killed when a series of explosions hit the Russian city of Belgorod on Dec. 30, Russian media and Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence reported. Konopitsyn was sent to Belgorod to work as part of the military investigation department of the Investigative Committee of Russia in November 2023. Before that, Konopitsyn fought against Ukraine as an anti-tank missile platoon commander. Explosions rocked the Russian border city of Belgorod on Dec. 30. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that the regional center had come under fire from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Ukrainian media, citing a source in the special services, reported that the Ukrainian Security and Defense Forces had launched a missile attack on military facilities in Belgorod, but that due to "unprofessional actions of Russian air defense" and "planned provocations,” debris from downed missiles fell in the city center. The Russian authorities claimed 24 people had been killed. We’re bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Putin says Russia will 'intensify' attacks on Ukraine
Agence France Presse/January 01, 2024
President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Moscow will intensify strikes on military targets in Ukraine after an unprecedented attack over the weekend on the Russian city of Belgorod. "We're going to intensify the strikes, no crime against civilians will rest unpunished, that's for certain," Putin said during a visit to a military hospital, adding they would target "military installations."

Six killed in disputed region bordering Sudan, South Sudan
JUBA (Reuters)/January 1, 2024
Six people including a senior local administrator were killed in an ambush by armed men in the Abyei region claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, local officials said. The oil-rich region experiences frequent bouts of violence, where rival factions of the Dinka ethnic group - Twic Dinka from South Sudan's neighbouring Warrap State, and Ngok Dinka from Abyei - are locked in a dispute over the location of an administrative boundary. Abyei Deputy Chief Administrator Noon Deng and his team came under attack along the road from Abyei to Aneet town when they were returning from an official visit to Rummamer county, where they were celebrating the New Year, government officials said. "His driver and two bodyguards plus two people of national security were all killed," Tereza Chol, a South Sudanese lawmaker, told Reuters. Bulis Koch, the information minister for Abyei Administrative Area, blamed the Sunday evening attack on armed youth from Twic County of Warrap State, and said the bodies had not been retrieved as of Monday morning. His counterpart in the Warrap State William Wol said it was still early "to point fingers". The incident is the latest in a region where dozens were killed in ethnic clashes in November. Straddling an ill-defined border between Sudan and South Sudan, Abyei has been claimed by both countries since Juba declared independence from Khartoum in 2011. It has a special administrative status, governed by an administration comprising officials appointed by both countries. South Sudan erupted into civil war shortly after independence, which pitted President Salva Kiir and his allies against his Vice President Riek Machar. A peace agreement signed in 2018 is largely holding, but the transitional government has been slow to unify the various factions of the military.

Japan issues tsunami warnings after very strong earthquakes
Associated Press/January 01/2024
Japan issued tsunami alerts and ordered evacuations following a series of earthquakes on Monday that started a fire and trapped people under rubble on the west coast of its main island. The Japan Meterological Agency reported more than a dozen quakes off the coast of Ishikawa and nearby prefectures shortly after 4 p.m., one of them with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6. The agency issued a major tsunami warning for Ishikawa and lower-level tsunami warnings or advisories for the rest of the western coast of the island of Honshu, as well as the northernmost of its main islands, Hokkaido. Japanese public broadcaster NHK TV warned torrents of water could reach as high as 5 meters (16.5 feet) and urged people to flee to high land or the top of a nearby building as quickly as possible. NHK said the tsunami waves could keep returning, and warnings were continuing to be aired hours after the initial alert. Several aftershocks also rocked the region. Government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said it was critical for people in coastal areas to get away from the oncoming tsunami. "Every minute counts. Please evacuate to a safe area immediately," he said. A tsunami of about 3 meters (about 10 feet) high was expected to hit Niigata and other prefectures on the western coast of Japan, and the waves were confirmed to have reached parts of the coastline. At least six homes were damaged by the quakes, with people trapped inside. A fire has broken out in Wajima city, Ishikawa Prefecture, and electricity is out for more than 30,000 households, Hayashi said. He said no reports of deaths or injuries had been confirmed, saying the situation was still unclear. Japan's military was taking part in the rescue efforts, he said.
Japanese media footage showed people running through the streets, and red smoke spewing from a fire in a residential neighborhood. Photos showed a crowd of people, including a woman with a baby on her back, standing by huge cracks that had ripped through the pavement. Bullet trains in the area were halted. Parts of the highway were also closed, and water pipes had burst, according to NHK. Some cell phone services in the region weren't working. The Meteorological Agency said in a nationally broadcast news conference that more major quakes could hit the area over the next week, especially in the next two or three days. More than a dozen strong quakes had been detected in the region, with risks of setting off landslides and houses collapsing, according to the agency. Takashi Wakabayashi, a worker at a convenience store in Ishikawa Prefecture, said some items had tumbled from the shelves, but the biggest problem was the huge crowd of people who had shown up to stock up on bottled water, rice balls and bread. "We have customers at three times the level of usual," he said. Tsunami warnings were also issued for parts of North Korea and Russia. Russian officials issued a tsunami alert for the island of Sakhalin, warning that areas across the island's west coast could be affected by the waves. In nearby South Korea, the weather agency urged residents in some eastern coastal towns to watch for possible changes in sea levels. Tsunami waves that hit later later can be bigger than the initial ones. The Japanese government has set up a special emergency center to gather information on the quakes and tsunami and relay them speedily to residents to ensure safety, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters. He reiterated the warning for immediate evacuation in affected areas. Japan is an extremely quake-prone nation. In March 2011, a major quake and tsunami caused meltdowns at a nuclear plant. Government spokesman Hayashi told reporters that nuclear plants in the affected area had not reported any irregularities on Monday.

N. Korea's Kim says army should 'thoroughly annihilate' US, S. Korea if provoked
Associated Press/January 01, 2024
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his military should "thoroughly annihilate" the United States and South Korea if provoked, state media reported Monday, after he vowed to boost national defense to cope with what he called an unprecedented U.S.-led confrontation. North Korea has increased its warlike rhetoric in recent months in response to an expansion of U.S.-South Korean military drills. Experts expect Kim will continue to escalate his rhetoric and weapons tests because he likely believes he can use heightened tensions to wrest U.S. concessions if former President Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election in November. In a five-day major ruling party meeting last week, Kim said he will launch three more military spy satellites, produce more nuclear materials and develop attack drones this year in what observers say is an attempt to increase his leverage in future diplomacy with the U.S. In a meeting Sunday with commanding army officers, Kim said it is urgent to sharpen "the treasured sword" to safeguard national security, an apparent reference to his country's nuclear weapons program. He cited "the U.S. and other hostile forces' military confrontation moves," according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Kim stressed that "our army should deal a deadly blow to thoroughly annihilate them by mobilizing all the toughest means and potentialities without moment's hesitation" if they opt for military confrontation and provocations against North Korea, KCNA said. In his New Year's Day address Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he will strengthen his military's preemptive strike, missile defense and retaliatory capabilities in response to the North Korean nuclear threat. "The Republic of Korea is building genuine, lasting peace through strength, not a submissive peace that is dependent on the goodwill of the adversary," Yoon said, using South Korea's official name. At the party meeting, Kim called South Korea "a hemiplegic malformation and colonial subordinate state" whose society is "tainted by Yankee culture." He said his military must use all available means including nuclear weapons to "suppress the whole territory of South Korea" in the event of a conflict. South Korea's Defense Ministry warned in response Sunday that if North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, South Korean and U.S. forces will punish it overwhelmingly, resulting in the end of the Kim government.
KCNA said North Korean officials held talks on Monday to implement an order by Kim to disband or reform organizations handling relations with South Korea to fundamentally change the principle and direction of the North's struggle against the South. There was no immediate explanation of how that might alter inter-Korean relations, which have been stalled for an extended period. Experts say small-scale military clashes between North and South Korea could happen this year along their heavily armed border. They say North Korea is also expected to test-launch intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the mainland U.S. and other major new weapons. In 2018-19, Kim met Trump in three rounds of talks on North Korea's expanding nuclear arsenal. The diplomacy fell apart after the U.S. rejected Kim's offer to dismantle his main nuclear complex, a limited step, in exchange for extensive reductions in U.S.-led sanctions. Since 2022, North Korea has conducted more than 100 missile tests, prompting the U.S. and South Korea to expand their joint military exercises. North Korea has also tried to strengthen its relationships with China and Russia, which blocked efforts by the U.S. and its partners in the U.N. Security Council to toughen U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its weapons tests. KCNA said Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged New Year's Day messages on Monday on bolstering bilateral ties. North Korea faces suspicions that it has supplied conventional arms for Russia's war in Ukraine in return for sophisticated Russian technologies to enhance the North's military programs. Estimates of the size of North Korea's nuclear arsenal vary, ranging from about 20-30 bombs to more than 100. Many foreign experts say North Korea still has some technological hurdles to overcome to produce functioning nuclear-armed ICBMs, though its shorter-range nuclear-capable missiles can reach South Korea and Japan.

Powerful quake rocks Japan, 6 dead and nearly 100,000 residents ordered to evacuate
REUTERS/January 01, 2024
TOKYO: The powerful earthquake that hit central Japan on New Year’s Day killed at least six people, as police and local authorities early on Tuesday reported cases of bodies being pulled from the rubble of collapsed buildings. The quake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 struck in the middle of the afternoon on Monday, destroying buildings, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and prompting residents in some coastal areas to flee to higher ground. It also triggered waves about 1 meter (3.3 ft) high along Japan’s long western seaboard as well as in neighboring South Korea. Army personnel were dispatched to help with rescue operations, while one local airport remained shut down after the quake tore open cracks in the runway. The extent of the damage as well as the toll remained unclear a day after the disaster, with major roads to the worst-affected areas badly damaged, hindering rescue efforts.
Public broadcaster NHK reported doctors were unable to reach the hospital in the hard-hit town of Suzu. It said the hospital was relying on a back up generator because of a power outage. A man in his 90s was pronounced dead after a building collapse in Shika Town in Ishikawa prefecture, broadcaster NTV reported citing local police. Kyodo News reported four deaths in Ishikawa, citing the Prefectural Crisis Management Team, including a man and woman in their 50s, a young boy, and a man in his 70s. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters late on Monday search and rescue teams were struggling to reach the worst affected areas due to blocked roads. President Joe Biden said in a statement the United States was ready to provide any necessary help to Japan after the earthquake. “As close allies, the United States and Japan share a deep bond of friendship that unites our people. Our thoughts are with the Japanese people during this difficult time,” he said. The Japanese government said as of Monday night it had ordered more than 97,000 people in nine prefectures on the western coast of main island Honshu to evacuate. They were spending the night in sports halls and school gymnasiums, commonly used as evacuation centers in emergencies. Almost 33,000 households remained without power in Ishikawa prefecture early on Tuesday morning, according to Hokuriku Electric Power’s website. The Imperial Household Agency said it would cancel Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako’s slated New Year appearance on Tuesday following the disaster.
NUCLEAR PLANTS
The quake comes at a sensitive time for Japan’s nuclear industry, which has faced fierce opposition from some locals since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima. Whole towns were devastated in that disaster. The Nuclear Regulation Authority said no irregularities were found at nuclear plants along the Sea of Japan, including five active reactors at Kansai Electric Power’s Ohi and Takahama plants in Fukui Prefecture. Hokuriku Electric’s Shika plant, the closest to the epicenter, had already halted its two reactors before the quake for regular inspections and saw no impact from the quake, the agency said.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 01-02/2024
Hamas in London
Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute/January 01, 2024
At least four groups with links to Hamas are reportedly behind several of the marches: The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), the Palestinian Forum for Britain, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and the Friends of al-Aqsa.
"[M]embership of the Muslim Brotherhood remained (and still remains) a secret." — UK government report, "Muslim Brotherhood Review: Main Findings," December 17, 2015
Too often, unfortunately, those many propaganda goals evidently correspond to what the organizations behind the never-ending pro-Hamas protests in London -- and around the world -- seek to obtain: Creating sympathy for Hamas and the Gazans, demonizing Israel, which is fighting terrorism for all of us so that we will not have to, and increasing pressure for a permanent ceasefire that will enable Hamas to survive.
"Unfortunately, Hamas's bloodlust is not limited to Israel and Jews but also extends to Europe and Christians. I want to remind you that in the past, Hamas members expressed the Islamic intention to conquer Europe." — Israel's Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, in a letter sent to about 20 European leaders warning of "a massive network of Hams operatives and the growing activism of Hamas across Europe," December 2023. Uprooting Hamas in the UK anytime in the near future, given the lack of enthusiasm that the Met Police have shown in the wake of the pro-Hamas demonstrations, sadly seems unlikely. The pro-Hamas protests in London are not, apparently, as organic and spontaneous as their organizers would like them to seem. At least four groups with links to Hamas are reportedly behind several of the marches: The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), the Palestinian Forum for Britain, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and the Friends of al-Aqsa. The same groups were behind the largest protest so far, on November 11 in London, where it is estimated that around 300,000 people participated.
Supporting Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organization in the UK, could lead to up to 14 years in prison.
The MAB was co-founded and directed for almost a decade by Muhammad Kathem Sawalha, who in the late 1980s was a Hamas leader in Samaria in the West Bank, where he reportedly "masterminded" Hamas's terrorist strategy. He fled to the UK in the late 1990s and, incredibly, obtained British citizenship, despite being on Israel's most-wanted list.
The US Department of Justice named Sawalha as a co-conspirator in the 2004 indictment of Hamas recruiter and financer Muhammad Salah, "for allegedly participating in a 15-year racketeering conspiracy in the United States and abroad to illegally finance terrorist activities in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including providing money for the purchase of weapons... "
"All three defendants allegedly used bank accounts in the United States to launder millions of dollars for disbursement to support Hamas, which has publicly claimed credit for engaging in suicide bombings that resulted in the deaths of Israeli military personnel and civilians, as well as American and other foreign nationals in Israel and the West Bank."
According to Israeli authorities, his son, Obada Sawalha, is now the MAB's vice-president.
The Muslim Association of Britain has links to the Muslim Brotherhood -- of which Hamas is also an offshoot. A 2015 UK government review of the Muslim Brotherhood reported:
"In the 1990s the Muslim Brotherhood and their associates established public facing and apparently national organisations in the UK to promote their views. None were openly identified with the Muslim Brotherhood and membership of the Muslim Brotherhood remained (and still remains) a secret. But for some years the Muslim Brotherhood shaped the new Islamic Society of Britain (ISB), dominated the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) and played an important role in establishing and then running the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). MAB became politically active, notably in connection with Palestine and Iraq, and promoted candidates in national and local elections."
According to the Telegraph:
"Another of the Muslim Association of Britain's three directors, Dr Anas Altikriti, co-founded a group called the British Muslim Initiative with a senior commander in Hamas, Mohammed Sawalha, and Azzam Tamimi who has been described as a Hamas 'special envoy' in Britain."
Another group behind the protest, the Palestinian Forum for Britain, is led by Zaher Birawi, who was designated by Israel as a terrorist in 2013. The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center described Birawi as a "Hamas-affiliated Palestinian" in 2017, when Birawi was in charge of the so-called flotillas to Gaza, which he oversaw as part of Hamas' propaganda effort.
The Meir Amit Center wrote in 2017:
"Birawi was recently interviewed by Felesteen, Hamas' daily newspaper. He discussed, among other things, the many current difficulties in dispatching flotillas to the Gaza Strip, but tried to minimize their significance and importance. He said the flotillas' main goal is propaganda aimed at keeping the Palestinians, the Gaza Strip and the 'siege' as 'live' topics in international public discourse. According to Birawi, the objectives of the flotillas are to defame Israel, and to increase the effect of the political and media campaigns accompanying the flotillas...
"[T]he real aim of the Mavi Marmara was not to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, but rather for propaganda and political capital: to demonstrate support for Hamas, to exert pressure on Israel to unilaterally change its policy of closure on the Gaza Strip; to create sympathy in the media for the suffering of the Palestinians resulting from the 'siege' and to deepen Israel's isolation."
Birawi met Ismail Haniyeh and other leaders of the terror group in Gaza in 2012.
The real reason for the Mavi Marmara flotilla, of course -- the reason Israel stopped it -- was not propaganda. Turkey's supposedly humanitarian relief organization, the IHH, turned out to be secretly carrying weapons to Gaza. Israel had first offered the flotilla to dock in the port of Ashdod for inspection. There appear to be propaganda counter-efforts to suppress information about the attempted arms transfer.
Too often, unfortunately, those many propaganda goals evidently correspond to what the organizations behind the never-ending pro-Hamas protests in London -- and around the world -- seek to obtain: Creating sympathy for Hamas and the Gazans, demonizing Israel, which is fighting terrorism for all of us so that we will not have to, and increasing pressure for a permanent ceasefire that will enable Hamas to survive.
Two former leaders of the third group behind the protest, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, reportedly met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza in 2012.
The fourth group behind the protests, is the Friends of al-Aqsa (FOA). According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center:
"Is an anti-Israeli NGO established in Britain in 1997... the FOA qualifies Israel's policy as 'apartheid', supports Hamas and the 'resistance' (i.e., terrorism), and seeks to put an end to Israel's existence as the state of the Jewish people under the title of 'liberation of Palestine'. Similarly to other organizations taking part in the delegitimization effort, the FOA attempts to conceal and play down its real objectives by fine-tuning its rhetoric for Western ears and using such terms as 'peace in Palestine', 'respect for international law', 'respect for human rights, and 'implementation of UN resolutions.'"
FOA's leader, Ismail Patel, has met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza.
All of the above prompted critics to demand that the protests be cancelled. According to Sky News, half of all Britons wanted the march that took place on Remembrance Day, November 11, to be banned. Sir Mark Rowley, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, however, apparently saw no grounds to ban it.This extremely lax relationship of the British police towards Hamas-affiliated groups in Britain is dangerous to the UK itself.
At the beginning of December, Israel sent personal letters to about 20 European leaders, including the UK, that included evidence of the terrorist activity of Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in European cities. The letter stated:
"Since the [October 7] massacre, calls for violence against Jews worldwide have increased by 120% - a shocking statistic. Unfortunately, Hamas's bloodlust is not limited to Israel and Jews but also extends to Europe and Christians. I want to remind you that in the past, Hamas members expressed the Islamic intention to conquer Europe..."
Tzur Bar-Oz, Head of the Research and Foreign Relations Division at the Diaspora Affairs Ministry, added in the letter:
"Hamas has been operating for many years worldwide, mainly through covert humanitarian donations. It is a complex network of hatred operating in many countries, including Western and highly democratic ones. This phenomenon must be uprooted and eradicated as soon as possible."
Uprooting Hamas in the UK anytime in the near future, given the lack of enthusiasm that the Met Police have shown in the wake of the pro-Hamas demonstrations, sadly seems unlikely.
"Speeches at pro-Palestinian rallies in the UK might have glorified terrorism" according to the UK government's independent reviewer of terrorism.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, to his immense credit, as soon as the pro-Hamas demonstrations began in the UK, said:
"Inciting violence, racial hatred, is illegal. People who are acting in an abusive or threatening manner causing distress are breaking the law. The police have the power and the tools that they need to ensure they can stop that from happening and you will see that in full force in the coming days to make sure anyone who breaks the law meets the full force of that law."While the Met Police have made some arrests, they have overall allowed the chanting of terrorist slogans to continue at the many weekly protests. On one occasion, police even tried to explain away the meaning of chants of "jihad" that had occurred at one Hizb-ut Tahrir protest:
"The individual has not been arrested with the Met saying the word jihad has 'a number of meanings', and specialist counter-terrorism officers had not identified any offences arising from it. Instead, officers spoke to the man to 'discourage any repeat of similar chanting.'"
In London, it is still appeasement time.
*Robert Williams is a researcher 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.

Gaza: What went wrong and how to fix it
Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/January 01/2024
As we reflect on some of the tragic events of 2023 and how they could have been averted, one cannot help but remember a quote by the late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. This is because he was spot on when he said: “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they have tried everything else.”The ongoing catastrophe in Gaza is a case in point. Rather than listening to the advice of its long-standing friends and partners in the region, the US administration opted to go with biased, bottomless support for Israel, which many politicians and observers are accusing of committing genocide. The conflict has now been raging for almost three months and more than 21,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly civilians and particularly women and children. Meanwhile, the majority of Israeli hostages are unreleased and the Hamas leadership remains at large.
Needless to say, this whole conflict could have been avoided if Washington had just listened to the repeated Saudi advice. This was highlighted in the first Ministry of Foreign Affairs communique following Oct. 7. It stated that this explosion of violence was precisely what Riyadh predicted would happen as a result of the continued illegal occupation of Palestinian land and intimidation of the Palestinian people, especially by the current far-right Israeli government.
Also, had a two-state solution — an initiative led by the Kingdom since the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991 — been reached, then we might have averted the current crisis. Critics will say “but if anyone is to be blamed, it is the Palestinians,” adding the cliched — although somewhat true — statements of “they (Palestinians) never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” and “how can Israel negotiate with them if the Palestinians themselves are divided?”
Fair enough, but the Israelis are not innocent either. The constant building of illegal settlements and violations of international law every time negotiations were ongoing did not help. Not to mention the now open secret of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s survival policy of torpedoing any attempt to negotiate a Palestinian state by constantly undermining the legitimate Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and empowering Hamas, an entity it declares a terror group, in Gaza to further the internal Palestinian rifts and support the tainting of the just Palestinian cause with an extremist ideology.
So, where did the Americans go wrong? It started with the abominable early declaration that there were no red lines for Israel and the vetoing of a UN Security Council ceasefire resolution. Putting aside the horrific civilian death toll in Gaza, the massive humanitarian crisis and the severe devastation these positions have caused, the US administration has now contributed, if not absolutely guaranteed, that extremism and hatred will breed for generations to come. Not just in Gaza, but around the world.
The conflict could have been avoided if the US had just listened to repeated Saudi advice.
After all, how do you expect a child who lost a parent, or both, a limb or his/her family to feel when they grow up? For all they know, they were out playing when the house they lived in was bombed indiscriminately.
Should Hamas not bear the responsibility for that, critics will ask, while adding that, if they (Hamas) did not do what they did on Oct. 7, this war might have not erupted. That could be an argument, but that child will certainly not engage in it. After all, the child did not see Hamas killing his or her parents. The child saw an Israeli plane dropping a bomb on his/her home, on a hospital and the local school. And then he/she would be told that, had Israel not been occupying Palestinian lands, Hamas would not have existed.
Then you have what my colleague Mina Al-Oraibi recently described, in an Arabic Asharq Al-Awsat column, as “the freefall of Western ideals.” This could not be any more obvious than when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized Israel for not doing more to avoid targeting civilians, while in the month that followed the State Department itself bypassed Congress twice to ensure more weapons sales to Israel.
Then, when the Houthis (whose slogan has always been “Death to America … curse the Jews”) started attacking ships in the Red Sea as retaliation for what is going in Gaza, all of a sudden the US woke up to that threat. Even though the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen had been warning of it for eight years. Most recently, Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak told Asharq Al-Awsat’s Badr Al-Qahtani that “we have repeatedly warned of the danger of allowing an armed ideological group to undermine security and stability and threaten international navigation.”
It is ironic that the same legislators who removed the Houthis from terror lists and banned the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia and criticized it for a war waged at the request of the legitimate, UN-backed government of Yemen are now wanting the Kingdom to join its Red Sea coalition. Alas, that ship has sailed. The hopes in the Kingdom are now focused on the ongoing truce in Yemen and the hope that it might turn into a permanent peace deal in the near future.
So, what next? Obviously, one wishes the advice was taken seriously at an earlier stage. Particularly because, as early as last September, there were serious talks of a Saudi-Israeli normalization deal that would have guaranteed the rights of Palestinians to their state. The longer the war continues and the higher the death count rises, the harder it becomes to achieve regional peace (let us not forget that Saudi Arabia also brings its Muslim and Arab League clout). This is because, naturally, the Palestinian demands will change and the cost to Israel is going to increase.
The immediate advice is for the Biden administration to listen to Thomas Friedman, who says America should give Israel some tough love. The White House should realize that the only person benefiting from the prolonging of the war is Netanyahu. This is a politician who I believe belongs behind bars, whether he is found guilty of corruption or held accountable for the undisputed crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.
A ceasefire must be agreed, hostages must be freed and an international aid effort to rebuild and treat the wounded in Gaza must be mobilized immediately. After that, there might still be hope for talks to continue. The Palestinians must also play ball and form a unified government under the legitimate authority in the West Bank.
Let us be hopeful that 2024 can see the end of hostilities and the birth — or at least the embryonic stages — of a Palestinian state.
*Faisal J. Abbas is the editor-in-chief of Arab News. X: @FaisalJAbbas
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point of view

Iranian authorities failing to tackle suicide crisis
Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/January 01/2024
Suicide is not a phenomenon emerging anew. It exists in different countries, including Iran. Nonetheless, the news related to suicides in the western Iranian province of Ilam has been alarming. It has been reported that several students have committed suicide in one district, while in another some workers took their own lives — all within a brief timespan.
In the southern region of Ilam province lies Abdanan, a city with a population of about 50,000. Over the course of less than two months, it has been deeply affected by the tragic suicides of five students, both male and female. Strikingly, four of the students resided in the same neighborhood, attended the same school, belonged to the same age group and chose the same method to take their own lives. This distressing series of events has instilled a sense of terror and heightened anxiety within the community.
Concerns about the mental well-being of other students in the same school have intensified, coupled with a prevailing fear that similar incidents may occur in the coming days and weeks. Indeed, this is not an isolated occurrence in Abdanan, as the city experienced more than 120 suicides in the preceding year. Additionally, between the months of April and October, 11 other students took their own lives.
Despite the phenomenon getting worse, Ali Darwishi, the director of education in the province, has attempted to downplay its impact. His argument centers on the fact that the suicides did not take place within school premises and that some of the female students involved had already completed secondary school. He dismissed claims about a high number of suicides in the region as untrue.
The actual reasons behind the suicides of female students in this city — a prominent participant in the public protests during the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising in the fall of 2022 — remain shrouded in mystery. However, it seems that the roots of this phenomenon may be attributed to various causes. Among these, the most significant are the generational conflict between younger and older individuals, the desire of certain girls to lead more liberal lives amid opposition from conservative families, and familial issues and pressures related to academic performance and the fear of falling short.
Moreover, the potential influence of online games such as Blue Whale and Mary, both known for being bloody, cannot be overlooked. This is in addition to what could be called “suicide contagion.” However, none of these causes were apparent in the remarks of the victims’ families. What is certain is that there are issues related to the mental health of the students who committed suicide.
Last week, two employees at a Chavar district petrochemical facility attempted suicide as a protest after they were fired. There have been at least six suicides at the same plant in less than two years. Workers at this facility have consistently protested against dismissals, salary cuts, poor living conditions and the non-extension or reduction of their contract durations. Unfortunately, the authorities not only ignored their demands, but in 2018 the Revolutionary Court in the province sentenced 15 protesting workers from the facility to a total of 15 years in prison and 1,100 lashes on charges of disturbing public order.
Furthermore, following the first suicide by a worker, the company failed not only to fulfill its promises but also took measures against some of the protesting workers by barring their entry to the company’s premises and terminating their employment. Despite the fact that the most recent two suicide attempts occurred within the facility, the petrochemical company’s public relations department refuted any connection between the suicides and the facility.
What is certain is that there are issues related to the mental health of the students who committed suicide.
The company denied terminating any worker, asserting that the two individuals were associated with a contracting company rather than being directly employed. In essence, the company's statement revealed a fundamental issue: faced with a significant workforce and high unemployment in the province, facility managers opt to engage unemployed youth through contractors, offering them temporary contracts and minimal salaries. Once their contracts expire, their services are terminated and new workers are hired — a strategy aimed at circumventing the responsibilities associated with permanent employment contracts.
The western provinces of Iran, spearheaded by Ilam, surpass other regions in terms of suicide rates. Sociologist Ali Moussa-Nejad highlights that Ilam, which ranks among the top three provinces in terms of the highest extreme poverty rates, has consistently held the lead in suicide rates for nearly three decades.
Official figures, though widely believed to be significantly lower than the actual numbers, indicate that the suicide rate in Iran between 2016 and 2020 was 5.1 cases per 100,000 people. However, this figure increased to 7.4 cases per 100,000 people in 2022. Hamid Pervi, vice president of the Scientific Society for Suicide Prevention, revealed that the suicide rate in Ilam has soared to 17.3 cases per 100,000 people — significantly higher than the national average and an alarming statistic.
Rather than addressing the root causes of suicide and working to eliminate or mitigate the phenomenon, the authorities have, as is customary, opted to conceal the issue and attempted to downplay or manipulate the statistics. This pattern mirrors the approach taken toward other societal problems, such as divorce, addiction and illicit relationships, with the additional imposition of censorship on discussing these matters in the media.
Journalists covering these social phenomena find themselves subjected to arrest on various charges, including disturbing public peace, disseminating false information and risking the psychological security of citizens. This suppression has, unfortunately, contributed to an escalation of the problem, leading to an increase in the number of suicide cases — a worrisome trend, as highlighted by Hassan Mousavi Chelak, the head of the Iran Association of Social Workers. He emphasized a significant gap between the officially recorded figures and the actual number of suicides.
Suicide is no longer confined to a specific demographic in Iran. Recent reports highlight instances of young men and women, who were released shortly after participating in the protests the previous year, taking their own lives. Disturbingly, there have been reports of 13 doctors in the specialization stage of their training succumbing to suicide within a single year, illustrating the pervasive nature of this issue across various segments of society.
Whereas the majority of suicides worldwide occur in the 18 to 35 age group, Iran is witnessing cases of children as young as 15 taking their own lives — a distressing trend that raises serious concerns. However, the responses from the authorities indicate a lack of seriousness in addressing this issue. It is likely that their underestimation stems from the regime’s fear of exposing its incompetence and failure to effectively address complex social issues and challenges.
• Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami is the founder and president of the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah).
X: @mohalsulami

NATO expansion in the hands of Turkiye’s parliament
Zaid M. Belbagi/Arab News/January 01/2024
The conflict in Ukraine has put NATO membership under the spotlight, with the organization’s 1,000-mile eastward expansion since the end of the Cold War being a primary reason for Russian mobilization. As is often the case, the future of the alliance is currently being held up by two states that do not border the northern Atlantic, namely Sweden and Turkiye.
Just a few months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sweden abandoned centuries of nonalignment to apply for NATO membership, with the conflict serving to show the extent of the threat to European stability. Despite its neighbor Finland’s parallel membership application already being ratified, Sweden’s accession has been delayed. The prospect of the accession of Sweden’s impressive military to the bloc has been delayed by Turkiye, which has used its growing role within the organization to meet its own foreign and security policy objectives.
Last week, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish parliament approved Sweden’s accession to NATO. However, the overall process of Turkish approval is not complete until parliament ratifies the decision. The Swedish accession has stalled due to two conditions set by Turkiye. It called for Stockholm to take action against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the PKK, and secondly it wants Canada to end its embargo on arms sales to Turkiye, alongside the US approving Ankara’s request to purchase F-16 fighter jets.
Sweden’s involvement in the Kurdish question is not surprising. Home to a substantial and highly politicized Kurdish community, Sweden hosts several prominent Kurdish exiles and the PKK draws significant international, political and financial support from the diaspora. Six Kurdish-Swedish members of parliament are the visible embodiment of a wider political bloc that is active in Swedish politics. It is led by Amineh Kakabaveh, an Iranian of Kurdish origin, who has been a fierce critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
So vocal has she been that Turkiye has repeatedly called for her extradition — a prospect that is unlikely given Swedish reticence about handing over its citizens. However, in a nod to a perceived warming of relations and to expedite its NATO talks, Sweden recently imprisoned a man who was found guilty of financing the PKK.
Turkish-US relations went through various phases under the Trump administration and they have not improved under President Joe Biden. The chief issue of concern remains Turkiye’s procurement of the advanced S-400 air defense system from Russia, which was not well received by the US and other NATO members. As a result, Washington suspended Turkiye’s involvement in the F-35 jet fighter project, citing concerns about the potential sharing of classified features and technology with Russia, which would pose a future challenge to American national security interests.
Turkiye has used its growing role within the organization to meet its own foreign and security policy objectives.
Turkiye’s defense cooperation with Russia has also delayed its intended purchase of 40 F-16 fighter jets and 80 associated modernization kits for its existing fleet. These negotiations were further strained when Turkiye rejected a US proposal that it move its Russian-made defense systems to Ukraine as part of NATO efforts to improve that country’s defenses. Given NATO’s initial opposition to Turkiye’s purchase of the S-400 system from Russia, it was to be expected that Turkiye claimed the system is integral to its national security and not coherent with NATO systems.
Due to Turkiye’s importance to Eastern European security, as an interlocutor with Russia and indeed given the size of its military in an alliance plagued by dwindling European resources, movement on the $20 billion F-16 order is expected, especially as and when Turkiye acquiesces to Sweden’s accession.
Although Turkiye joined NATO more than six decades ago, its role has grown in line with its increased international influence and military strength. The country’s geostrategic location remains of immense importance, as witnessed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine with its role in policing the Black Sea and securing the export of critical grain supplies from the conflict zone.
With Ankara having the second-largest armed forces within the organization, NATO can ill afford to ostracize Turkiye at a time when its entire eastern flank faces constant Russian aggression and interference. Foreign policy divergences over Iraq, Iran, Syria and the wider Eastern Mediterranean have strained NATO’s relationship with Turkiye, which is arguably more important than it has previously been, as the alliance deals with the most serious threat to its stability since the end of the Cold War. It is therefore critical that the organization seeks more common ground with Ankara.
The approval of the Turkish Foreign Affairs Committee is a promising development in the context of NATO expansion; however, it also illustrates Turkiye’s diplomatic influence over Sweden and the US. Though US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed the Biden administration’s readiness to approve Turkiye’s purchase of the F-16 jets and modernization kits in July, this deal has yet to go through. Within this context, the Turkish parliament will continue to delay its approval of Sweden’s NATO accession, simultaneously stalling Hungary’s own decision on the matter, which is linked to Ankara’s.
As is always the case with old states with long memories, the current Swedish question is not without precedent. Just as when Charles XII of Sweden sought refuge with Sultan Ahmed III following defeat by Russia in 1709, Turkiye is once again an arbiter in the relationship between East and West.
• Zaid M. Belbagi is a political commentator and an adviser to private clients between London and the GCC.
X: @Moulay_Zaid

Diplomacy is Best Conducted at the Dinner Table
Alex Prud’homme/The New York Times/January 01/2024
People have connected over food and used meals for political ends for centuries. There are good reasons for this. Historically, the dining table has been considered a neutral space where weapons are put aside, frank conversations held, consensus built and agreements brokered.
Egyptian pharaohs, Greek and Roman leaders, Chinese emperors and Russian czars used the lure of food to expand their reach. Jackie Kennedy drew inspiration for her soirees from those of Louis XIV of France. And food-savvy presidents such as Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Barack Obama used dinners to touch political bases, gather information and promote their agendas.
Today, the term “culinary diplomacy” is used to describe how global leaders use state dinners and other official meals to communicate in a more personal way. And “gastrodiplomacy” describes the way nations are using their cuisines to market themselves to foreign nations and promote trade and tourism. Both approaches further soft-power statecraft, as opposed to hard military power, and both have proved to be effective tools of persuasion.
Yet in this time of sharp partisan divisions at home and spiraling violence abroad, people are forgetting, or ignoring, those fundamental lessons of history. The number of connections and deals made over lunch in the Senate Dining Room or at Washington cocktail parties has waned, critics have questioned the value of traditional state dinners in the 21st century, and gastrodiplomacy has been attacked as wasteful and soft.
But such caviling flies in the face of history, common sense and even human biology. The detractors have lost sight of a basic fact: Everyone has to eat.
At our deepest level, we are “biologically engineered for human interaction,” said Robin Dunbar, an emeritus professor of evolutionary psychology at Oxford University. And we seem to need to eat together, even when we don’t agree with one another. We don’t know why this is so, Dr. Dunbar said, but his theory is that communal eating stimulates endorphins, our bodies’ naturally occurring opioids that reinforce good behaviors. Even our closest primate relatives, like chimpanzees and bonobos, don’t eat communally as we do. It is a defining human trait that has ensured our survival — and at times our sanity, as the isolated days of the Covid pandemic reminded us.
In the United States, the president is our first host, and state dinners are among the most important events held at the White House. Today these parties celebrate the conclusion of sometimes tense negotiations with visiting heads of state and are symbolically important. They project American bounty and power, showcase the best of our food and entertainment and confer honor on guest nations.
The first state dinner for a foreign leader was held in December 1874, when Ulysses Grant hosted King David Kalakaua of the Hawaiian Islands. Kalakaua had sugar to sell but faced stiff US tariffs, so he traveled to Washington in search of relief. He was welcomed with a state dinner featuring the Marine Band, elaborate decorations in the State Dining Room and a sumptuous meal cooked by Valentino Melah, whose vegetable soups were said in an 1873 book about Washington to be “a little smoother than peacock’s brains but not quite so exquisitely flavored as a dish of nightingale’s tongues.” A month later, Grant agreed to allow Hawaiian agricultural products, including sugar, to be imported to the United States without tariffs in exchange for various economic privileges. The deal presaged the annexation of Hawaii, which was named our 50th state in 1959, and Grant’s party created a template for state dinners that has changed only a little in a century and a half.
Every president has his own hosting style, of course. When Jimmy Carter brought Menachem Begin and Anwar el-Sadat to Camp David in 1978, he was warned that peace between the blood enemies was nearly impossible. As he shuttled awkwardly between the combatants, Rosalynn Carter arranged platters of food in different areas — cheese fondue here, strawberries dipped in chocolate there, drinks on the patio — hoping the states’ junior delegates would mingle. It worked. If the delegates could break bread and talk peacefully together, “Why couldn’t their leaders?” she wondered in her memoir, “First Lady From Plains.” Eventually they did, and the Camp David Accords were initialed. “The impossible had been made possible,” the first lady marveled. In March 1979 the Carters hosted Mr. Begin, Mr. el-Sadat and 1,340 guests at a dinner on the South Lawn.
The Reagans understood instinctively that politics is a form of show business, and in 1985 they engineered a spectacular coup de théâtre by hosting Prince Charles and Princess Diana at a dinner at which John Travolta famously danced with the princess. In 1987 the Reagans hosted a more somber, heartfelt dinner for the Gorbachevs after the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signaled a thaw in the Cold War. Jack Matlock, a Soviet specialist, noted that the president and the general secretary developed their détente over a series of meals: “It becomes a lot harder to achieve your common goal if you’re not being friendly.”
Lately, skeptics have wondered if state dinners have simply become costly, ritualized anachronisms. Donald Trump held just two state dinners before the pandemic intervened, though he didn’t seem to mind. On the campaign trail in 2016 he said: “We shouldn’t have state dinners at all. We should be eating a hamburger on a conference table, and we should make better deals with China and others.”
But gastrodiplomacy is the opposite of isolationism. In February the Biden administration and the James Beard Foundation restarted the American Culinary Corps, which uses our gloriously polyglot cuisine to promote good will. Under the program, which was created in 2012 during the Obama administration and lapsed in 2016, more than 80 chefs and culinary professionals — including José Andrés, Padma Lakshmi, Grace Young, Sean Sherman and Carla Hall — have agreed to serve as “citizen diplomats.” So far, about 30 percent of these culinary ambassadors have fanned out across the country and around the world to spread the good word about American cookery.

The Last Bullet
Asharq Al-Awsat/January 01/2024
Only one bullet remains in the gun. There can be no escaping the final shot. The farewell better be fitting. It must be as hopeful and joyful as possible.
You are not a businessman, whose notes you can rummage through in search of a lost opportunity or wasted deal. You are not a politician, who through his honeyed tongue aims for high positions and eliminating rivals. You are an Arab journalist residing in the Middle East trap. Your notes are weighed down with calamities.
I follow a routine at the end of every year. I seek out our elders to express gratitude, pay respect and derive strength to keep going. So, I seek out the nearest library – the museum of dreams.
I am very aware of what the children of the media and technological revolution have to say. That libraries will die like old grocery shops and traditional markets. Your new library now resides in your device. You can summon these treasures with the press of a button.
I sometimes don’t hesitate to join this new dance, but I believe that a visit to a library recharges one’s batteries and helps one in confronting the days to come. The library is our tribe, school and university. Its shelves are open to anyone who revels in secrets and making new discoveries.
I am intrigued by people who have spent their lives gambling in the gushing river of life. Who have gambled on offering more, laying traps, pursuing dreams or exposing a farce. These people have lit the way for others.
I love the stories of those who invented illusions that have withstood the test of time. People who launched ideas that rattled centuries or societies. People who sparked revolutions or exposed their slogans. I love the fighters who responded to a crushing blow with a more powerful one. These people have kept their places on the shelves, while others, who falsely believed themselves to be infallible and immortal, have fallen off.
I enjoy the diversity found at libraries. One reader wants to learn more about Henry Kissinger, who for a century decided fates and made justifications. Another wanted to learn more about Vladimir Putin, who is preparing to celebrate a new year of success in his revenge against those who assassinated the Soviet Union. Another wants to learn more about the ticking timebomb called Kim Jong Un. Another is being eaten up by concern over climate change and wants to know more about it.
Libraries are gardens that sleep on treasures, flowers and poisons. Another reader wants to learn more about Al-Mutanabbi and “Kalila and Demna”. I like watching the reader who gets lost among the great classic novels and modern ones, which are seeking to capture the rapid changes, major collapses and shifting fates.
I like watching the confused youths as they browse books about technology and artificial intelligence, which will create successive revolutions in health, education, industry and wars. I do grow a bit scared when I hear that robots will defeat their makers and that devices will one day acquire the massive ability to produce writings that would make Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Flaubert and others green with envy.
A library visit is warmer than a visit to a museum. You sense that some authors dealt death phrases that never die. They stabbed the dark with torches and championed human dignity and the sanctity of life. They dedicated their lives to their writing and to asking questions.
I got stuck in traffic on my way back to the hotel from the library. The city is full of tourists who have come to enjoy the pleasant weather in the coastal city. They came to cleanse their soul of the bruises of the outgoing year that is setting sail with no return. They have come to wash their memories of images of wars, coffins, earthquakes and the collapse of cities and currencies.
My driver thought he could relieve me of my boredom, so he asked me where I am from. I was wary of answering him. I worried he would ask me about who our president is. My country is bare without a president and continues its slide and suicide because of its corrupt and inept officials. I had no choice but to confess so I did. But I soon threw the question back at him and asked him where he was from. He said he was from India. I asked him about how his country was doing, and he surprised me with his hopeful response.
The driver said he was confident India was heading towards better days. He stressed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will win the upcoming elections because the people sense that he will lead them towards the future after he implemented necessary reforms. He noted that Pakistan was wasting its days with disputes between the military and the people, while institutions were functioning normally in his country.
With a smile, he said the West’s fear of China prompted him to choose India as a better option, noting that investments have already started to flow there. He added that his country was ready to seize the opportunity given its human capital and advanced technology. He predicted that the economy will improve and poverty will drop, and that India will play a role the befits it.
He didn’t forget to criticize Rajiv Gandhi and others who sympathize with Russia given the long legacy of relations with the Soviet Union. Moreover, the driver said it won’t be long before he returns to his country because he is reassured over the future of his children and grandchildren.
I was pained by this last remark. I was assaulted by the images of the barbaric killings taking place in Gaza. I recalled the broken cities that I visited in pursuit of a story, interview or memories. I recalled Baghdad, Damascus, Sanaa, Khartoum, Tripoli, Beirut and others.
We die longing for an idea that would take us forward to join the current age. We don’t want to live in the tragedy of history. We want to shoot the last bullet at a year of oppression and darkness. The Arab has the right to dream of getting out of this long night.
The deadly year took its last breath. On behalf of my colleagues, I wish the readers of Asharq Al-Awsat a new year full of justice and progress that would close the chapter of an Arab world that several powers, near and far, are seeking to transform into an arena for their interests and greed instead of it being a natural player equal to others. I hope it is a year that would allow the Arab world to reconcile with itself and the world.