Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 25-26/2024
Israel vows to fight Hamas to Gaza’s southern border, fuels tension with Egypt
Hamas says would abide by Gaza ceasefire if ruled by top UN court
Gaza officials say Israeli fire strikes a crowd waiting for aid, killing at least 20
Qatar lashes out at Netanyahu over critical remarks
Gaza influencer Motaz Azaiza joins Al Jazeera bureau chief in Qatar
CIA Director to hold talks on Israeli hostages in Gaza
Gaza Health Ministry says Israel killed 20 people waiting for aid
Israel's Khan Younis strategy raises questions about the line between security and aggression
Gaza cease-fire efforts gain steam, but agreement still appears elusive
UK and US sanction senior Houthis over Red Sea shipping attacksUK and US
KSA opens first liquor store in over 70 years as kingdom further liberalizes
Child dies after being rescued among 60 Syrian migrants from boat off Cyprus
UN court to issue ruling in Israel Gaza genocide case on Friday
Fatal shooting of American-Palestinian teen in West Bank was unprovoked, witness says
Russian courts jail Putin critic, woman convicted of blast that killed pro-war blogger
Erdogan, eyeing more trade with Iran, says Turkey weighing opening new border crossings
North Korea says it tested cruise missile, flaunting new nuclear-capable weapon
Ukraine calls on UN, Red Cross to inspect Russian plane crash site
Putin Sends US Signal on Ukraine Talks, Sensing Advantage in War
Man sentenced to death for arson attack at Japanese anime studio that killed 36
Kuwait foils plan by ‘terrorist cell’ to target Shiite places of worship

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 25-26/2024
Israel vows to fight Hamas to Gaza’s southern border, fuels tension with Egypt
Hamas says would abide by Gaza ceasefire if ruled by top UN court
Gaza officials say Israeli fire strikes a crowd waiting for aid, killing at least 20
Qatar lashes out at Netanyahu over critical remarks
Gaza influencer Motaz Azaiza joins Al Jazeera bureau chief in Qatar
CIA Director to hold talks on Israeli hostages in Gaza
Gaza Health Ministry says Israel killed 20 people waiting for aid
Israel's Khan Younis strategy raises questions about the line between security and aggression
Gaza cease-fire efforts gain steam, but agreement still appears elusive
UK and US sanction senior Houthis over Red Sea shipping attacks UK and US
KSA opens first liquor store in over 70 years as kingdom further liberalizes
Child dies after being rescued among 60 Syrian migrants from boat off Cyprus
UN court to issue ruling in Israel Gaza genocide case on Friday
Fatal shooting of American-Palestinian teen in West Bank was unprovoked, witness says
Russian courts jail Putin critic, woman convicted of blast that killed pro-war blogger
Erdogan, eyeing more trade with Iran, says Turkey weighing opening new border crossings
North Korea says it tested cruise missile, flaunting new nuclear-capable weapon
Ukraine calls on UN, Red Cross to inspect Russian plane crash site
Putin Sends US Signal on Ukraine Talks, Sensing Advantage in War
Man sentenced to death for arson attack at Japanese anime studio that killed 36
Kuwait foils plan by ‘terrorist cell’ to target Shiite places of worship

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on January 25-26/2024
"Like...wtf": Israel's Arab Citizens Feel Lucky/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/January 25, 2024
Gaza war’s spillover effects on American academic freedom/Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/January 25, 2024
How solar power became a renewable energy star/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/January 25, 2024
Democrats risk pushing business community into Trump camp/Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab news/January 25, 2024
Israel has two choices: Share the land or share the power/Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/January 25, 2024
G7 agenda emerges in face of geopolitical gale/Andrew Hammond/Arab News/January 25, 2024
How South Africa’s genocide case against Israel could influence the course of Gaza war/REBECCA ANNE PROCTOR/Arab News/January 25, 2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 25-26/2024
Text and video/Open letter from Elias Bejjani to the LF Party MP, Melhem Riachi: Hezbollah is an Iranian, jihadist, and terrorist organization, not Lebanese, and its members are mercenaries according to international military standards.
Elias Bejjani/January 26, 2024
(Both Videos are in Arabic)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/126404/126404/
In an interview with the LF Party MP, Melhem Riachi on Al Jadeed TV, broadcasted yesterday (the link to the video clip of the interview in Arabic is posted below, forming the basis of our commentary), Riachi asserted that Hezbollah is Lebanese political party, and an ally of Iran.
This rhetoric is totally contradicted by the practical, public, and doctrinal stances of Hezbollah itself.
All its leaders, including Mr. Hassan Nasrallah, proudly declare allegiance to the Supreme Iranian Leader, “Al Waley Al Fakeh”, emphasizing that they are soldiers in its army and that all their resources—money, weapons, training, creed, and funding—are exclusively Iranian.
Hezbollah, is unlicensed in Lebanon, and adopts the name “Islamic Resistance in Lebanon.
In a context entirely detached from Lebanon, Hezbollah eulogizes those killed in its ranks on various battlefronts (Iranian fronts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and other countries) using religious and jihadist terminology, without acknowledging Lebanon, viewing them as having “ascended while performing jihadist missions.
It is crucial to note that Lebanon is not an Islamic jihadist state; it is a secular state with no official religion.
The problem, and perhaps the dilemma, with Mr. Riachi and all others who claim, both in words and theory, to defend sovereignty, independence, identity, freedoms, and coexistence, is their (Dhimmitudeذمية ) reluctance to describe Hezbollah’s status as openly and proudly asserted by Hezbollah leadership and its documented list of aims, creed, affiliation and missions.
A piece of advice to MP, Riachi, and those who claim to defend sovereignty, including leaders, politicians, and citizens: if you lack the courage to testify to the truth and call things by their names, it is more honorable for you to remain silent. “No one is asking you for compromising Dhimmitude stances and rhetoric. Hezbollah does not care about your cajoling rhetoric, and it won’t believe or respect you, no matter how eloquent your words may be.
In conclusion, Hezbollah is an Iranian, jihadist, and terrorist organization, not Lebanese, and its leaders and members can be deemed mercenaries according to all international military standards.

Israel targets Hezbollah’s ‘landing strip north of Litani River’
NAJIA HOUSSARI/January 25, 2024
BEIRUT: Hostilities on the southern Lebanese front decreased on Thursday as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah entered its 110th day. The displacement of people from the border area played a significant role in reducing civilian casualties, especially after Israeli shelling began targeting homes in Lebanese villages. At noon, an Israeli strike on the town of Bazouriye — 7 km east of the city of Tyre — targeted a house, injuring two people, one of them a woman. An Israeli warplane, meanwhile, struck the home of Radwan Ataya in the town of Tayr Harfa during a funeral procession for the mother of a dead Hezbollah member. No one was inside the house, which has now been targeted four times since the start of hostilities. The Israel Defense Forces violated the rules of engagement as a strike targeted Birket Jabbour in the Jezzine area, which is a highland located north of the Litani River, above the village of Kfar Houneh, outside UNIFIL’s area of operations and not subject to the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had previously spoken in September of “the presence of a Hezbollah military airport in the Birket Jabbour area.”The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation later confirmed that the IDF attacked Hezbollah positions, including a military landing strip 20 km north of Metula. Northern Israeli settlements woke up to media stories, including in Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, reporting “infiltration of three individuals from Lebanon,” prompting IDF personnel to rush to the area. The IDF asked the residents of the Hanita settlement — on the border area with Lebanon — to barricade themselves in their homes. Roads were closed and checkpoints set up in several border areas. The Israeli military also declared a state of alert in nine settlements near the border with Lebanon. Israeli Channel 13 said military helicopters carried out search operations over the Shlomi settlement while soldiers combed the border area. In a brief statement issued later, IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee denied any infiltration had occurred. The IDF claimed that two drones crossed from Lebanese territory into Israel and landed in Kfar Blum with no casualties reported.
Hezbollah announced that it carried out an aerial attack with two dive bombers against an air defense system site and Iron Dome platforms near the Kfar Blum settlement, causing direct hits. The outskirts of the Tayr Harfa, Alma Al-Shaab, and Dhahira villages were subject to concentrated artillery bombardment from early morning, following cautious calm in the western and central sectors the previous night. At the same time, the IDF carried out a sweep operation in the surroundings of the Israeli Al-Hadeb military outpost using medium and heavy machine guns.
It also launched flares over the surrounding area and adjacent forests to protect it. Hezbollah announced targeting Al-Radar outpost in the occupied Shebaa Farms area with missiles, causing direct hits. Israeli reconnaissance planes continued to fly over southern Lebanon amid foggy and rainy weather. Lebanon will likely experience a polar storm from the Black Sea on Friday, and snow is expected to fall in some areas.

Report: Mediators want Hezbollah to halt attacks when Gaza war enters 3rd phase
Naharnet/January 25, 2024
Lebanese authorities and political officials are awaiting the full results of French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s recent visit to Tel Aviv, at a time the U.S. has sent messages to Lebanon through an Arab mediator, media reports said. “U.S., French and Arab mediators are focusing on one point, which is that the start of the third phase of the war on Gaza will entail a very different frequency of military operations leading to a near-complete ceasefire, which would allow for convincing Hezbollah to halt its operations along the border with occupied Palestine,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday. “Mediators said they estimate that the third phase will begin in early February, during which the occupation army will withdraw from most areas of the Gaza Strip and redeploy within a tight belt along the border with the Strip, while keeping deployment points in the central region, specifically in the Gaza Valley area,” the daily said. “Broad military operations, including invasions and major airstrikes, will stop, and Israel will declare that it would reserve the right to continue the operations aimed at eradicating Hamas and recovering its captives,” al-Akhbar quoted the mediators as saying. Mediators have said that “the continuation of the support fronts in Lebanon or other frontiers will no longer be justified with the halt of the major military operations” in Gaza, the daily added. “It seems that the enemy is very much counting on this mediation to achieve a host of objectives, seeing as Israel believes that Hezbollah has an essential and major role in everything that is also happening in Syria, Iraq and even Yemen,” al-Akhbar said. Israel wants “a bigger presence for the U.N. forces and the Lebanese Army in a manner that would prevent the return of the resistance members to the border fence,” the newspaper added. According to mediators, this would allow Israel’s government to ask settlers to return to their settlements near the border with Lebanon and to gradually restore normal life in this region, especially that the mediators are saying that there is a big crisis due to the displacement of more than 125,000 settlers to Israel’s center and south, al-Akhbar said.

Israel strikes deep in Lebanon as Hezbollah attacks air defense sites
Naharnet/January 25, 2024
Hezbollah attacked Thursday several Israeli targets including air defense systems and posts in northern Israel while Israeli drones carried out airstrikes deep inside Lebanon. Hezbollah said it has attacked with two suicide drones an air defense site and Iron Dome launchpads near the settlement of Kfar Blum and Israeli drones and warplanes later bombed the Hanine Mountain area in al-Bazouriyeh near Tyre and the Jabbour heights in the Jezzine district. Hezbollah and Israeli forces have clashed near-daily since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza. Earlier Thursday, Hezbollah said it has targeted the Jal al-Alam post and the Radar post in the occupied Shebaa Farms, while Israel shelled several southern border towns including the outskirts of Tayr Harfa and al-Naqoura.Israeli warplanes, tanks and artillery had targeted overnight the border town of Yaroun.

State budget discussion resumes for 2nd day in parliament
Naharnet/January 25, 2024
Parliament resumed Thursday a session on the 2024 state budget after a heated session Wednesday ended with fights and bickering.Change MP Melhem Khalaf had left the session Wednesday after an argument with Speaker Nabih Berri, Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil described the Change MPs as Mafias, Change MP Paula Yacoubian reminded Khalil that he was charged in connection with the 2020 Beirut port blast, Free Patriotic Movement MP Ibrahim Kanaan said the government is "dishonourable" and Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said that “there is no benefit from any state budgets” if “the war and peace decisions” are not “in the state’s hands.”Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab also lashed out at Mikati, accusing him of “pouring oil on fire in the dispute between the defense minister and the army commander.”When Wednesday's session resumed in the evening, Berri argued with FPM chief Jebran Bassil over the FPM's MPs boycott of the parliament sessions. Bassil said the caretaker government has no right to convene in the first place but has convened and passed a "catastrophic" state budget.

Five-nation group for Lebanon to propose 'new initiative'
Naharnet/January 25, 2024
The five-nation group for Lebanon is preparing a “new initiative” that it will propose soon in a bid to break the presidential deadlock in Lebanon, “credible” sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper. “The new U.S. ambassador Lisa Johnson and French Ambassador Herve Magro are holding intensive consultations with several sides, while Qatar has reactivated its mediation in Beirut,” the sources said. The ambassadors of the five-nation group countries will meanwhile hold a meeting in the next hours, likely at the Saudi ambassador’s residence in Yarze, to continue the public diplomatic efforts that were manifested in the meetings of the Saudi and Egyptian ambassadors with Speaker Nabih Berri, the sources added. Informed sources meanwhile told the daily that the five-nation group’s next meeting will likely be held in Paris and will be followed by a visit to Lebanon in mid-February by the group’s envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian. “He will carry new ideas to push the Lebanese to agree on a president,” the sources added.

Hezbollah launches aerial attack on air defense site near Kfar Blum
LBCI/January 25, 2024
Hezbollah executed on Thursday an aerial attack utilizing two infiltration marches on a strategic air defense system site and Iron Dome platforms near the settlement of Kfar Blum, which resulted in direct hits.

Hezbollah strikes radar site in Shebaa Farms, achieving direct hits
LBCI/January 25, 2024
Hezbollah announced on Thursday that their fighters successfully targeted a radar site located in the occupied Lebanese farms of Shebaa. Using precision missile weapons, Hezbollah's operation resulted in direct hits, causing significant damage to the targeted site.

Lebanese Parliament deliberates 2024 budget: Calls for progressive taxes and economic growth; Here are the highlights
LBCI/January 25, 2024
On Thursday, the Lebanese Parliament held its third session to discuss the 2024 budget. During the morning session, MP Halimé El Kaakour affirmed that taxes are necessary for the state, adding: "We must not 'neglect' them and the budget should impose progressive taxes."Expressing that "there are numerous flaws affecting the 2024 budget project," she stated that Lebanon urgently needs a budget that promotes economic growth. In turn, MP Alain Aoun reported that the government is not effectively combating tax evasion and is putting pressure on those committed to payment. "The 2024 budget follows a 'scissors and paper' logic without a deficit," he said. MP Cynthia Zarazir said that the budget does not include any financial reforms to protect the society, nor does it build a productive economy. Instead, it legitimizes "the dismantling of the state, responds to brokerage logic, and affirms that this system is incapable of implementing reforms."

Lebanese state files a lawsuit against LBCI: Marhaba Dawle
LBCI/January 25, 2024
At 1:05 PM on Thursday, January 25th, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI) received an urgent lawsuit filed by the Lebanese state/ Ministry of Interior, represented by the head of the Case Authority at the Ministry of Justice. This lawsuit seeks to suspend the "Marhaba Dawle" program. This legal action is in protest against what the state describes as a violation of moral and ethical boundaries by the program, resulting from the offenses it commits against the state and its institutions, as stated in the complaint. As the judge is expected to receive LBCI's response to decide on the matter, the latter expresses regret that the Lebanese state seems to have forgotten the plight of its citizens. These citizens have lost their savings and are living amid a devastating economic crisis, leading to the immigration of their children and the destruction of their future. Furthermore, they seem to have overlooked the tragedy of the port explosion that ravaged Beirut, causing Lebanese casualties and injuries. More importantly, they neglected the struggles faced by the officers and members of the Internal Security Forces. As for the claim that the program undermines the state's "prestige" through a satirical comedy show aimed at diverting people's attention from the tragedy they are experiencing due to the absence of the state itself, it is inherently comedic. The state is the one that abandoned its people, its administrations, and its institutions, leading it to the dismal reality reflected in the program. The truth is that the problem lies not in the "Marhaba Dawle" program but in a mentality that refuses to reform the state and the people's affairs and rejects even bringing a smile to their homes. What LBCI aims for is to fix the flaws in the state by bringing joy to the homes of the Lebanese people, along with the hope of building a state whose only limit is the freedoms that should not be tampered with.

Saudi Ambassador Meets with Quintet Committee Ambassadors
LBCI/January 25, 2024
Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari received on Thursday at his residence in Yarzeh the ambassadors of the Quintet Committee: Lisa Johnson of the United States, Hervé Magro of France, Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman bin Faisal Al Thani of Qatar, and Alaa Moussa of Egypt.

Espionage, technology, and warfare: Israel's new 'frontiers' in the conflict with Hezbollah
LBCI/January 25, 2024
It was not a coincidence that Hezbollah's Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered a handwritten message to all Hezbollah cadres. The message was distributed about a month ago following the assassination of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in the heart of Beirut's southern suburbs.
During the same period, the Israeli army began targeting security or assassination operations, shifting from the Gaza Strip to Lebanon and Syria. In the Lebanese arena, it seems clear that Israel has set specific and qualitative targets, aiming at important elements within Hezbollah, whether in military or technical roles, whether they are leaders or ordinary members. Sources close to the party state that the recent targeting is harmful. Israel assassinated individuals who are irreplaceable in terms of their roles and experiences in both military and technological aspects. This applies to the martyr Wissam al-Tawil, who was killed in Khirbet Selm, and engineer Ali Hadraj, targeted in Bazouriye, all the way to the operation in Kafra, where a crucial member survived while his companion was martyred. Al-Tawil, who held the position of deputy head of a unit within the Radwan Force, managed military operations on the southern front since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation before later forming an operations room. As for engineer Ali Hadraj, he was responsible for coordinating between the party and Hamas leaders in the south. These targeted assassinations are executed through technological advancements. Israeli drones can monitor, track, and accurately target objectives anywhere and at any time. Israeli intelligence breaches cell phones to track targets precisely. This was evident in the assassination of al-Arouri in Beirut's southern suburbs, according to observers, as well as the martyrdom of Sayyed Reza Mousavi on December 25th in Syria. The third factor, no less important than the previous two, is the network of spies. These individuals gather information about a specific target and monitor its movements. This method was employed in the assassination of Wissam al-Tawi, who did not carry a cell phone in the period leading up to his martyrdom. Between the battlefield, technology, and intelligence, a new chapter unfolds in Israel's war against Hezbollah, characterized by 'specific targets' shifting the conflict to an advanced stage that could change the rules of the game.

Elie Saab shimmers at Paris spring couture show
Associated Press/January 25, 2024
As the Paris spring couture shows entered their third day, Jennifer Lopez ensured that the power of runway designs was matched by the power of a VIP audience. The singer and actress energized the Palais de Tokyo, arriving at the last minute for Elie Saab's show amid pandemonium. She and other fashion insiders witnessed a silken display of the Lebanese designer's work evoking the complexity of North African medinas. Haute couture — the Paris fashion industry's ideas factory — is the age-old tradition of producing exorbitantly priced, made-to-measure garments for the world's richest women. Here are highlights of Wednesday's displays — including Valentino, whose designer Pierpaolo Piccioli found his voice:
ARABESQUE MOTIFS OF SPRING
With an embellished floral cape and daring décolleté, Lopez marveled — and occasionally shimmied— from the Saab front row as vibrant beats accompanied the shimmering ode to Marrakech. This season, Saab did not reinvent the wheel, nor did he intend to. This was classic couture — in sandstone tulle, sky-like lilac, blush cloud pink and dappled pastels — with arabesque motifs on golden foliage. Floor-sweeping chiffon and crepe gowns had a timeless feel, without a nod to seasonal trends.
Guests snapped photos as a giant blush full skirt in the shape of an upside-down tulip swept by, covered with hundreds of delicately embroidered three-dimensional flowers. Elsewhere, the collection wove in playful elements like a fusion of traditional kimono techniques with the draped elegance found in classic Arab clothing.
As the grand finale gown made its entrance, the line between showstopper and spectacle blurred. The breathtaking bridal gown, with an embroidered train stretching meters long, captivated all. But in a telling sign of today's couture landscape, it was uncertain whether the camera-wielding guests were more enthralled by the exquisite craftsmanship — or just Lopez's reaction to it.
VALENTINO: PICCIOLI TRIUMPHS WITH LUXURIOUS WHIMSY
The masterful blend of subtle color blocking, whimsical elements, and — very slight — minimalism in Valentino's Spring Couture marked a crowning moment for designer Pierpaolo Piccioli's evolving vision of the storied house.
The dusk event, buzzing with excitement and attended by luminaries like Jennifer Lopez and Kylie Jenner, set to the haunting soprano of Madame Butterfly in the Place Vendome, marked a milestone in Piccioli's journey of redefining Valentino's classic couture. Piccioli infused the collection in the gilded halls with a more disco-oriented vibe. He used silver embellished paillettes on capes and disco tops, which gleamed like river fish — and sparkled alongside the venue's crystal chandeliers. Eye-popping color such as dazzling mustard and acid green amidst more conventional hues was a light color blocking underlining his penchant for ludic contrast. Sublime touches, like diaphanous feathers, could easily have drifted into the realm of the old-school. Yet, Piccioli transformed them into spiky, textural fans, lending them a modern edge and subtle kink. That kink repeated as visible breasts, sheer lingerie, and a gold-baubled brown leather trench coat, reminiscent of luxury bondage gear. It's a difficult balancing act for Piccioli — or any designer, for that matter, leading a heritage house with such history as Valentino — to free himself of the creative shackles of the house codes, without throwing the maison's spirit under the bus. This spring, Piccioli found his sweet spot.
VIKTOR & ROLF'S DARING DECONSTRUCTION
Dutch designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren again defied convention, presenting a concoction that blended the historic with a deconstructed edge. They literally cut up couture garments. A standout piece was a large black coat, anachronistically merging elements of the 1600s and 1900s. Its prominent Elizabethan-like collar brought an almost theatrical quality. The collection ventured further into the realm of abstract deconstruction. The same black coat reappeared but this time transformed — sections snipped away, edges clawed off as if by a wild animal with a distaste for luxury. The aggressive alteration was symbolic, representing a rebellion against tradition and perhaps a commentary on the fleeting nature of fashion itself. There were moments where the collection evoked the fearsome elegance of Maleficent with its dark, powerful aesthetic. Other pieces hinted at the tragedy of Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations," particularly the gowns with panels burnt away to reveal gleaming black jeweled underlays. The garments, reminiscent of Havisham's burnt wedding dress, seemed to speak of beauty marred by time and neglect, yet still enduring. By slashing and deconstructing traditional designs, Viktor & Rolf infused them with a new vibrancy, challenging viewers to see clothes from a different perspective.
NAKAZATO'S 'BLOOD WEDDING'
In a display that could be described as a theatrical "blood wedding," Yuima Nakazato's latest couture show intentionally left an eerie feeling. A model, a swan-like apparition, waded through a lake of blood-colored liquid, her diaphanous gown absorbing the vibrant hue and trailing a crimson path down the runway. This was high couture drama. Nakazato, known for his boundary-pushing creativity, delved into the darker realms of fashion for spring. A model adorned with armor-like neck clasps, tears streaming from his eyes, sported a ruched devore gown that fused the high-priestly with a warrioresque Middle Earth aesthetic. Ethereal silhouettes met sustainable innovation, with garments crafted from textile waste, embodying Nakazato's commitment to eco-conscious fashion. Traditional Japanese techniques were evident in kimono-inspired draping. Nature-inspired color palettes were often abandoned for darker hues, reflecting a mood of otherworldly charm. The showpiece — a coarse knit web-like top embellished with metal coins — echoed Nakazato's flair for sculptural jewelry and other dramatic accessories. Paired with a deconstructed, paneled check jacket, it evoked samurai armor, a nod to both traditional craftsmanship and avant-garde aesthetics.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 24-25/2024
Israel vows to fight Hamas to Gaza’s southern border, fuels tension with Egypt
AP/January 25, 2024
GAZA: Israel faces a growing risk of damaging its peace with neighboring Egypt as its military pushes the offensive against Hamas further south in the Gaza Strip. Already, the two sides are in a dispute over a narrow strip of land between Egypt and Gaza. Israeli leaders say that to complete their destruction of Hamas, they must eventually widen their offensive to Gaza’s southernmost town, Rafah, and take control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a tiny buffer zone on the border with Egypt that is demilitarized under the two countries’ 1979 peace accord. In a news conference last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas continues to smuggle weapons under the border – a claim Egypt vehemently denies — and that the war cannot end “until we close this breach,” referring to the corridor. That brought a sharp warning from Egypt that deploying Israeli troops in the zone, known in Egypt as the Salaheddin Corridor, will violate the peace deal. “Any Israeli move in this direction will lead to a serious threat to Egyptian-Israeli relations,” Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service, said Monday.
EGYPT’S CONCERNS
Egypt fears that an Israeli attack on Rafah will push a massive wave of Palestinians fleeing across the border into its Sinai Peninsula. More than 1 million Palestinians – nearly half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million — are crowded into Rafah and its surroundings on the border, most driven there after fleeing Israeli bombardment and ground offensives elsewhere in Gaza. If Israeli troops assault Rafah, they have nowhere to flee. Palestinians have broken through before: In 2008, early in the blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel and Egypt after the Hamas takeover, Hamas blew open the border wall. Thousands of people stormed into Egypt. Egypt told the Israelis that before any ground assault on Rafah, Israel must let Palestinians return to northern Gaza, a senior Egyptian military official involved in coordination between the two countries told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about the internal discussions. Israel says it has largely driven Hamas out of northern Gaza but is likely to resist allowing Palestinians back in the near term. Israel’s bombardment and ground assault have reduced much of the north to rubble, leaving many without homes.
ISRAEL’S DILEMMA
The dispute puts Israel in a bind. If it stops its offensive without taking Rafah, it falls short on its top war goal of crushing Hamas. If its military pushes to the border, it risks undermining its peace deal with Egypt — a foundation of stability in the Mideast for decades — and upsetting its closest ally, the United States. Israel and the US are already divided over Gaza’s post-war future. The Israeli military is working to create an informal buffer zone about a kilometer (half a mile) wide inside Gaza along the border with Israel to prevent militants from attacking nearby communities. The US says it opposes any attempt by Israel to shrink Gaza’s territory. Israel vows to expunge the militants from the entire Gaza Strip and has done so by a strategy of systematic destruction, at a huge cost in civilian lives. Starting in north Gaza, it leveled large swaths of the urban landscape, saying it was eliminating Hamas tunnels and infrastructure while battling militants. It is working its way down the territory, doing the same in central Gaza and the southern city of Khan Younis. Netanyahu has said Israel intends to keep open-ended security control over Gaza to ensure Hamas cannot repeat its Oct. 7 attacks that triggered Israel’s assault. He has been vague on what form that would take but said ensuring control over the Philadelphi Corridor is crucial. “There are a few options on how we can close it, we are checking all of them, and we haven’t made a decision, except for one thing: It must be closed,” he said. Egypt warned Israel and the US that any military operations in the zone “could tear apart our peace,” a second Egyptian official said. “We will not tolerate such a move.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
IMPORTANCE OF THE PHILADELPHI CORRIDOR
The corridor is a narrow strip – about 100 meters (yards) wide in parts – running the 14-kilometer (8.6-mile) length of the Gaza side of the border with Egypt. It includes the Rafah crossing into Egypt, Gaza’s sole outlet not controlled by Israel. The corridor is part of a larger demilitarized zone along both sides of the entire Israel-Egypt border. Under the peace accord, each side is allowed to deploy only a tiny number of troops or border guards in the zone. At the time of the accord, Israeli troops controlled Gaza, until Israel withdrew its forces and settlers in 2005.
Hamas has had free rein of the border since its 2007 takeover.
Smuggling tunnels were dug under the Gaza-Egypt border to get around the Israeli-Egyptian blockade. Some of the tunnels were massive, large enough for vehicles. Hamas brought in weapons and supplies, and Gaza residents smuggled in commercial goods, from livestock to construction materials. That changed over the past decade, as Egypt battled Islamic militants in the Sinai. The Egyptian military cracked down on the tunnels and destroyed hundreds of them, saying they were being used to funnel weapons into the Sinai. It bolstered its border wall above and below ground and cleared the population from a 5-kilometer-deep (3-mile) area adjacent to Gaza where only military and police forces are allowed. During the fight against Sinai militants, Egypt negotiated with Israel and the US to allow the deployment of its military in Zone C, as the demilitarized zone is known on its side of the border.
DEVELOPMENTS DURING THE WAR
In mid-December, Israel made an official request to Egypt to deploy its forces in the Philadelphi corridor, the Egyptian military official said. Egypt rejected the request. Egypt’s main fear is that any ground operation in the area would result in thousands of Palestinians storming into Sinai, he said. Since the war began, Egypt has pushed back hard against calls that it take in a mass exodus of Palestinians. It fears Israel won’t allow them to return to Gaza and says it doesn’t want to abet ethnic cleansing. It has also warned that would bring Israel’s conflict with Hamas onto its territory, potentially wrecking the peace accord. Israel contends it must have control over the border to prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas. Rashwan, of Egypt’s State Information Service, called Israeli claims of continued smuggling “lies” aimed at justifying a takeover of the corridor. After destroying 1,500 tunnels, Egypt has “complete control” over the border, he said. Kobi Michael, senior researcher with Israeli think tanks Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, said the quantity of Hamas weapons found during the offensive shows smuggling continues and Israel must have power to monitor the border. “The only way such quantities of weapons could have reached the Gaza Strip are via the Philadelphi Corridor,” he said. But Alon Ben-David, military affairs correspondent for Israel’s Channel 13 TV, said 90 percent of the weapons in Gaza were produced in Gaza and that Egypt’s crackdown largely shut down smuggling.“The tunnels were really taken care of comprehensively by the Egyptians,” he said.

Hamas says would abide by Gaza ceasefire if ruled by top UN court
AFP/January 25, 2024
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Palestinian militant group Hamas said Thursday it would abide by a ceasefire in its war with Israel in Gaza if the UN’s top court ordered one and Israel did the same. The International Court of Justice is due to hand down its landmark ruling on Friday in the case brought by South Africa against Israel over alleged genocide in Gaza. “In case The Hague-based ICJ issues a ruling to ceasefire, the Hamas movement will abide by it as long as the enemy does the same,” Hamas said in a statement. South Africa has alleged that Israel stands in breach of the United Nations’ Genocide Convention, signed in 1948 as the world’s response to the Holocaust. Pretoria wants the ICJ to issue so-called “provisional measures,” emergency orders to protect Palestinians in Gaza from potential breaches of the convention. Orders from the ICJ, which rules in disputes between countries, are legally binding and cannot be appealed. However, the court has little power to enforce its verdicts — for example it ordered Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine one month after it began, to no avail. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already hinted he would not feel bound by any ICJ order. “No one will stop us — not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil and no one else,” he said on January 14, referring to the Iran-aligned “axis of resistance” groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
If the ceasefire verdict is ordered, Hamas will also release Israeli captives it holds in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, the group said. It also called for an end to the ongoing Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, which the group rules, and for allowing humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials into the territory. The war erupted when Hamas and other militants from Gaza launched an unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel which resulted in about 1,140 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures. Some 250 Israelis and foreigners were also dragged to Gaza during the attack, of which around 132 are still captive, according to Israeli officials. Israel in response vowed to crush Hamas and launched a relentless military offensive that the Palestinian territory’s health ministry says has killed at least 25,900 people, about 70 percent of them women and children.

Gaza officials say Israeli fire strikes a crowd waiting for aid, killing at least 20
Associated Press/January 26, 2024
Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli fire has hit a crowd of people waiting for humanitarian aid at a roundabout in Gaza City on Thursday, killing at least 20. Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra says another 150 people were wounded in the attack and that the death toll is likely to rise as dozens of seriously wounded people were brought to the city’s Shifa Hospital. The ministry did not specify what type of weapons were involved. The Israeli military says it is looking into the reports. Israeli troops and tanks pushed into Gaza City shortly after the ground invasion began and have been battling militants there for nearly two months. The military says it has largely defeated Hamas in northern Gaza but is still facing pockets of resistance. The offensive has obliterated entire neighborhoods and caused widespread destruction across northern Gaza, raising concerns over whether the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who heeded Israeli orders to flee south will be able to return. The north has also been largely cut off from humanitarian aid, even as tens of thousands of people have remained there.

Qatar lashes out at Netanyahu over critical remarks
Agence France Presse/January 26, 2024
Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday accused Qatar, a key mediator in efforts to free its hostages, of being responsible for the October 7 Hamas attack. His comments came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was caught on tape allegedly telling hostages' families this week that Qatar's mediation was "problematic" when it came to resolving the hostage crisis. Qatar is the "patron of Hamas and is largely responsible for the massacre committed by Hamas of Israeli citizens", Smotrich said on X, formerly Twitter. "Qatar is a country that supports terrorism and finances terrorism." Smotrich accused Western governments of being "hypocritical" in maintaining close relations with Doha. "The West can and should exert much stronger leverage on it and bring about the release of the hostages immediately," he said. "One thing is clear: Qatar will not be involved one bit in what happens in Gaza the day after the war." Qatar and Egypt have acted as mediators in the conflict since it erupted after the Hamas attack. In November, they helped broker a week-long truce that saw the release of 105 hostages, the Israelis among them in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Hamas condemned the comments from Smotrich and Netanyahu, saying they were "targeting the sisterly State of Qatar". "We affirm that Qatar is playing an active political role in order to stop the aggression against our people," senior Hamas figure Taher al-Nono said in a statement, adding that such remarks were hindering progress on the "prisoner exchange file".
Smotrich's remarks come as U.S. President Joe Biden's Middle East envoy Brett McGurk was in the region for talks aimed at brokering a new deal to free the remaining captives in exchange for a pause in fighting. A Palestinian source familiar with the talks said a Hamas delegation had travelled to Cairo on Tuesday to meet Egypt's intelligence chief and discuss new ceasefire proposals. On Wednesday, Qatar said it was "appalled" by the remarks attributed to Netanyahu. "These remarks, if validated, are irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives, but are not surprising," Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said on X. The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures. The militants, who targeted communities in southern Israel, also abducted about 250 hostages during the attack. Some 132 of them are still held captive in Gaza, including 28 bodies of hostages believed to have been killed, according to an AFP tally based on figures provided by Israeli officials.

Gaza influencer Motaz Azaiza joins Al Jazeera bureau chief in Qatar
Agence France Presse/January 26, 2024
Gaza photojournalist and social media influencer Motaz Azaiza joined Al Jazeera's bureau chief for the Palestinian territory, Wael al-Dahdouh, for a photo in Qatar on Wednesday following the pair's evacuation. He posted a picture with Dahdouh writing: "Our smile is a kind of resilience." Azaiza, alongside a group of journalist-influencers from Gaza, has amassed a huge social media following during the Israel-Hamas war by combining unflinching coverage with personal stories. The 24-year-old photojournalist has reached 18.5 million followers on Instagram and a further million on X, formerly Twitter, during more than 100 days of conflict in Gaza. On Tuesday Azaiza announced on Instagram that he was departing the Palestinian territory -- home to 2.4 million -- and posted footage of himself boarding a Qatari military aircraft at an airport in Egypt. "I left Gaza with a broken heart and eyes filled with tears. There was no other option after 108 days of continuous massacres against us," he later posted on X. "It's time to move somewhere else so I can do more work and I pray that I can be a reason to stop this war and help rebuild Gaza again. I've arrived, Qatar. Thank you," the influencer added alongside pictures of Al Jazeera's Doha studio. Azaiza has produced content for the U.N.'s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and the Paris-based medical charity Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World).Dahdouh, whose mourning of his wife and children's killings in Israeli strikes has been broadcast globally, was evacuated from Gaza to Qatar last week. At least 83 journalists have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war broke out, according to a tally from the Committee to Protect Journalists. The war in Gaza began with Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also seized 250 hostages, and Israel says around 132 remain in Gaza. That number includes the bodies of at least 28 dead hostages, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures. In response, Israel has carried out a relentless military offensive that has killed at least 25,700 people in Gaza, about 70 percent of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

CIA Director to hold talks on Israeli hostages in Gaza
Reuters/January 25, 2024
The Washington Post reported today, Thursday, citing informed officials, that the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William J. Burns, will meet with Israeli, Egyptian, and Qatari officials in Europe in the coming days to discuss ways to reach an agreement regarding the Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Gaza Health Ministry says Israel killed 20 people waiting for aid
AFP/January 25, 2024 
The Gaza Health Ministry, affiliated with Hamas, announced on Thursday that Israeli forces killed 20 people who were waiting for humanitarian aid in the city of Gaza. The ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qidra, stated, "The Israeli occupation commits a new massacre against thousands of hungry mouths waiting for humanitarian aid at Kuwait Square in Gaza, resulting in 20 martyrs and 150 injuries." The Israeli military did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment on the incident. A journalist from AFP reported that the victims were transported to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where the bodies were seen lying on the ground.  Crowds of citizens gathered around the injured, who lay on the ground with pools of blood nearby. Hamas described the incident as a "horrific war crime," expressing that it "reflects the cruelty of the occupation and its disregard for human life and international laws," calling on the United States to "take a firm stance to stop these horrific crimes and hold the perpetrators accountable." The Palestinian Islamic Jihad stated that the incident is "another evidence of the genocidal war waged by the Zionist army against the innocent in Gaza." The movement emphasized that the incident "requires bold positions from Arab and Islamic organizations, governments, and countries in particular." The war in Gaza erupted following an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th, resulting in the death of 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
In response to the attack, Israel pledged to eliminate the movement, carrying out a destructive bombing campaign followed by ground operations since October 27th, resulting in 25,700 deaths, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry affiliated with Hamas.

Israel's Khan Younis strategy raises questions about the line between security and aggression
LBCI/January 256, 2024
Amid escalating fighting in Khan Younis and its surrounding areas, Israel awoke to the horror of the al-Maghazi operation, in which twenty-one soldiers were killed. Consequently, Israeli forces intensified their presence in this region and extended it to vast areas of the Gaza Strip.
Despite warnings from concerned entities about the danger of including what Israel is planning as war crimes, the army announced the commencement of demolishing two thousand eight hundred and fifty Palestinian homes and buildings, along with clearing extensive agricultural lands to prepare a buffer zone ensuring border security and protecting the residents. The designated area stretches along three hundred and thirty meters and has a depth of six hundred and fifty meters to one kilometer. Israel imposing the buffer zone despite opposition from various parties, especially Washington, exacerbated the diplomatic crisis involving Benjamin Netanyahu's Tel Aviv with Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.  Netanyahu, during a meeting with the families of captives, criticized Qatar and the United States, based on an audio leak of him, in the context of the hostage exchange deal, while the Israeli war cabinet continues to devise a plan to isolate the Philadelphi Corridor from the Strip, potentially escalating tensions with Egypt. While the army does not hide that eliminating Yahya Sinwar is a primary objective in the Khan Younis arena, military officials acknowledge the challenges of combat, particularly with the emergence of suicide bombers on the battlefield, representing a new phase for the Israeli army facing Hamas fighters.Israeli diplomatic crises also affected Jordan, as the Israeli Ministry of Energy explores the possibility of not renewing the water agreement with Jordan due to statements from officials hostile to Israel, notably the Foreign Minister and Queen Rania.

Gaza cease-fire efforts gain steam, but agreement still appears elusive
Associated Press/January 256, 2024
Efforts to reach a new cease-fire between Israel and Hamas appear to be gaining steam. Egyptian and U.S. officials confirmed this week that they are actively pursuing ways to halt a war that has raged for over 110 days. An Egyptian official said that Israel has presented a proposal for a pause in fighting, while the White House said it dispatched a senior envoy to the region for consultations with Egypt and Qatar. Any deal would have to include a pause in fighting, an exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and large quantities of desperately needed humanitarian assistance for the war-battered Gaza Strip. But finding a formula acceptable to both sides has been elusive. The gaps between Israel and Hamas remain wide, and the chances of an agreement anytime soon still appear slim. "There are contacts all the time but they have not yielded results," said an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing behind-the-scenes negotiations. "There is a long road ahead."Here is a closer look at the cease-fire efforts:
AN INITIAL DEAL
Israel declared war following a surprise cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. An Israeli air and ground offensive has since left over 25,000 Palestinians dead, displaced an estimated 85% of Gaza's population and caused widespread destruction and humanitarian suffering, according to local health officials and international aid agencies. Israel has vowed to press ahead until it destroys Hamas' military and governing capabilities and frees all hostages. In late November, the sides agreed to one-week cease-fire. Hamas released over 100 of the 250 hostages it was holding, mostly women and children, while Israel freed 240 Palestinian prisoners.The sides blamed each other for the failure to extend the deal, and fighting has worsened since then.
WHAT DOES EACH SIDE WANT?
Israel believes Hamas is still holding about 110 hostages, in addition to the bodies of some 25 others who were killed on Oct. 7 or died in captivity. It wants all hostages and remains to be returned as part of any deal. Israel also is offering a temporary pause in fighting, but says it will continue the broader war until all of its goals are accomplished. Hamas wants Israel to release all of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners it is holding. These include prisoners convicted in deadly attacks on Israelis as well as hundreds of Hamas militants who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre. It also wants Israel's offensive to end and a permanent withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.
WHAT HAS BEEN PROPOSED?
According to the Israeli official, several proposals are floating around. But the sides remain at odds over the length of any pause in fighting, the pace of the hostage releases and the scope of any prisoner release. A senior Egyptian official said Israel has proposed a two-month cease-fire in which hostages would be freed in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, and top Hamas leaders in Gaza would be allowed to relocate to other countries. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said Hamas rejected the proposal and insists no more hostages will be released until Israel ends its offensive and withdraws from Gaza. He also said Hamas' leaders in Gaza do not want to go into exile. Israel's government declined to comment on the talks. Egypt and Qatar — which have brokered past agreements between Israel and Hamas — were developing a multistage proposal to try to bridge the gaps, the official said. The White House's national security spokesman, John Kirby, said Tuesday that a senior envoy, Brett McGurk, was in Cairo for talks on a "humanitarian pause" that would include a hostage deal."That's definitely on the agenda," he said. McGurk continued to Qatar on Wednesday, Kirby said.
COULD A TRUCE BRING AN END TO THE WAR?
In the short term, that appears unlikely. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will continue with the offensive until a "final victory" achieves all of its goals. He expects the war to last throughout 2024 and has resisted calls from the U.S. and other allies to lay out a clear postwar plan for Gaza. But a sustained pause could make it difficult for Israel to resume the fighting, especially as the world learns more about the full extent of the damage to Gaza's people and infrastructure. Mediators also hope it could provide a foundation for further understandings between the enemies. Israel's public has overwhelmingly supported the war effort so far. But the slow pace of the offensive and mounting death toll of Israeli soldiers risks softening that support. While Israel says it has killed over 9,000 Hamas militants, the group continues to put up fierce resistance. On Tuesday, Israel said 21 soldiers had been killed in an explosion in central Gaza. It was the deadliest single attack since Israel sent ground troops into Gaza in October. Nahum Barnea, a veteran columnist for Israel's largest daily, Yediot Ahronot, wrote Wednesday that he believes the public remains in favor of what is seen as a just war, but that people are beginning to weigh the costs and benefits of the campaign. "I don't think that the number of casualties on Monday changed the degree of the Israeli public's support for the war; but looking ahead, the price will begin to have an impact," he wrote.

UK and US sanction senior Houthis over Red Sea shipping attacksUK and US
REUTERS/January 25, 2024
LONDON/WASHINGTON: Britain and the United States on Thursday said they had sanctioned four senior Houthi officials for their roles in supporting or directing attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthi attacks have disrupted global shipping and stoked fears of global inflation. They have also deepened concern that fallout from the Israel-Hamas war could destabilize the Middle East. Those sanctioned were Houthi Defense Minister Mohamed Nasser Al-Atifi, Commander of Houthi Naval Forces Muhammad Fadl Abd Al-Nabi, coastal defense forces chief Muhammad Ali Al-Qadiri and Muhammed Ahmad Al-Talibi, who the two governments described as the Houthi forces director of procurement. “The Houthis’ persistent terrorist attacks on merchant vessels and their civilian crews ... threaten to disrupt international supply chains and the freedom of navigation, which is critical to global security, stability, and prosperity,” the US Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in a statement. “Today’s joint action with the United Kingdom demonstrates our collective action to leverage all authorities to stop these attacks.” Britain said the four men were involved in acts which “threaten the peace, security and stability of Yemen.”The US action freezes any US-based assets of those targeted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them. On Monday, US and British forces carried out a new round of strikes in Yemen, targeting a Houthi underground storage site as well as missile and surveillance capabilities used by the Iran-aligned group against Red Sea shipping.

KSA opens first liquor store in over 70 years as kingdom further liberalizes
Associated Press/January 26, 2024
A liquor store has opened in Saudi Arabia for the first time in over 70 years, a diplomat reported, a further socially liberalizing step in the once-ultraconservative kingdom that is home to the holiest sites in Islam. While restricted to non-Muslim diplomats, the store in Riyadh comes as Saudi Arabia's assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aims to make the kingdom a tourism and business destination as part of ambitious plans to slowly wean its economy away from crude oil. However, challenges remain both from the prince's international reputation after the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi as well as internally with the conservative Islamic mores that have governed its sandy expanses for decades. The store sits next to a supermarket in Riyadh's Diplomatic Quarter, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a socially sensitive topic in Saudi Arabia. The diplomat walked through the store Wednesday, describing it as similar to an upscale duty free shop at a major international airport. The store stocks liquor, wine and only two types of beer for the time being, the diplomat said. Workers at the store asked customers for their diplomatic identifications and for them to place their mobile phones inside of pouches while inside. A mobile phone app allows purchases on an allotment system, the diplomat said. Saudi officials did not respond to a request for comment regarding the store. However, the opening of the store coincides with a story run by the English-language newspaper Arab News, owned by the state-aligned Saudi Research and Media Group, on new rules governing alcohol sales to diplomats in the kingdom. It described the rules as meant "to curb the uncontrolled importing of these special goods and liquors within the diplomatic consignments." The rules took effect Monday, the newspaper reported. For years, diplomats have been able to import liquor through a specialty service into the kingdom, for consumption on diplomatic grounds. Those without access in the past have purchased liquor from bootleggers or brewed their own inside their homes. However, the U.S. State Department warns that those arrested and convicted for consuming alcohol can face "long jail sentences, heavy fines, public floggings and deportation." Drinking alcohol is considered haram, or forbidden, in Islam. Saudi Arabia remains one of the few nations in the world with a ban on alcohol, alongside its neighbor Kuwait and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia has banned alcohol since the early 1950s. Then-King Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia's founding monarch, stopped its sale following a 1951 incident in which one of his sons, Prince Mishari, became intoxicated and used a shotgun to kill British vice consul Cyril Ousman in Jeddah. Following Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and a militant attack on the Grand Mosque at Mecca, Saudi Arabia's rulers soon further embraced Wahhabism, an ultraconservative Islamic doctrine born in the kingdom. Strict gender separation, a women's driving ban and other measures were put in place. Under Prince Mohammed and his father, King Salman, the kingdom has opened movie theaters, allowed women to drive and hosted major music festivals. But political speech and dissent remains strictly criminalized, potentially at the penalty of death. As Saudi Arabia prepares for a $500 billion futuristic city project called Neom, reports have circulated that alcohol could be served at a beach resort there. Sensitivities, however, remain. After an official suggested that "alcohol was not off the table" at Neom in 2022, within days he soon no longer was working at the project.

Child dies after being rescued among 60 Syrian migrants from boat off Cyprus
Associated Press/January 26, 2024
One of the five children who were hospitalized in Cyprus after being rescued from a rickety boat along with 55 other Syrian migrants has died, an official said Thursday. The migrants, who were rescued early Wednesday by Cyprus police, apparently ran out of food and water after sailing on the boat from Lebanon for six days, officials said. Health Services spokesperson Charalambos Charilaou told the Cypriot state broadcaster that the child suffered a heart attack and couldn't be revived. Charilaou said two other children, aged 3 and 5, remain in intensive care at a hospital in the Cypriot capital. Two other minors are also being treated at a hospital, but their condition isn't as serious. Two adults were also hospitalized with leg fractures. The remaining Syrians were transferred to a migrant reception center on the capital's outskirts. Police found the migrants about 55 kilometers (35 miles) off the island nation's southeastern tip after a passing ship notified authorities of the boat's presence. Authorities said the boat had set sail from Lebanon on Jan. 18. Lebanon's coast is about 168 kilometers (105 miles) from Cyprus. Mohammed Sablouh, a Lebanese lawyer who follows migrant issues in his country, said the migrants were in bad shape because they hadn't eaten for days. Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides urged Lebanon's government on Wednesday to take action to curb departures of migrants "because we know that these are Syrians who come here from Lebanon." Although overall migrant arrivals in Cyprus have significantly declined, those coming by sea almost quadrupled from 937 in 2022 to 3,889 in 2023, with almost all being Syrian, according to official interior ministry numbers. Cypriot Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said the boat's arrival was "unfortunate proof" of how people-smuggling rings are endangering lives by forcing migrants to make the journey aboard unsuitable craft.

UN court to issue ruling in Israel Gaza genocide case on Friday
Associated Press/January 26, 2024
The United Nations' top court will issue a decision Friday on South Africa's request for interim orders in a genocide case against Israel, including that Israel halt its offensive in Gaza. The decision is a preliminary stage of a case filed by South Africa at the International Court of Justice alleging that Israel's military action in its war with Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide. Israel strongly rejects the accusation and has asked the court to throw out the case. The court in The Hague, Netherlands, announced the timing of the interim ruling on Wednesday. South Africa's Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor would travel to The Hague to represent the country at Friday's ruling. Israel launched its massive air and ground assault on Gaza soon after Hamas militants stormed through Israeli communities on Oct. 7 and killed some 1,200 people, mainly civilians. Israel often boycotts international tribunals and U.N. investigations, saying they are unfair and biased. But the country's leaders sent a high-level legal team to two days of hearings earlier this month. That was a sign of how seriously they regard the case and an indication of likely concerns that any court order to halt operations would be a major blow to the country's international standing. If the court grants some or all of South Africa's eight requests for so-called provisional measures, it is unclear if Israel will comply. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with the offensive until "complete victory" against Hamas, which started the war with its assault across the border on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and abducting another 250. Gaza's Health Ministry says the offensive has killed at least 25,490 people — the majority women and children — and wounded another 63,354. Its count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. U.N. officials have expressed fears that even more people could die from disease, with at least one-quarter of the population facing starvation. Israel's attacks have driven nearly 85% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million from their homes. Much of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, has been reduced to rubble. Friday's ruling will not be on the merits of South Africa's claims. Israel can still challenge the court's jurisdiction and the admissibility of the case before any hearings on the legal merits of the case. For it to order so-called "provisional measures," the 17-judge panel must decide that the court appears to have jurisdiction in the case, that there is a dispute between South Africa and Israel about the 1948 Genocide Convention and that there is an urgent need to order emergency measures while the case continues. At hearings earlier this month, South African lawyers said that acts by Israel's military and statements by senior officials demonstrated intent to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. "The scale of destruction in Gaza, the targeting of family homes and civilians, the war being a war on children, all make clear that genocidal intent is both understood and has been put into practice. The articulated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life," said lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi. He said the case's "distinctive feature" was "the reiteration and repetition of genocidal speech throughout every sphere of the state in Israel." Malcolm Shaw, part of Israel's legal team at hearings in The Hague, rejected the accusation of genocidal intent and called remarks cited by South Africa "random quotes not in conformity with government policy." Israeli legal advisor Tal Becker told the court that the country is fighting a "war it did not start and did not want." "In these circumstances, there can hardly be a charge more false and more malevolent than the allegation against Israel of genocide," he added, noting that the horrible suffering of civilians in war was not enough to support an allegation of genocide. The case strikes at the national identity of Israel, which was founded as a Jewish state after the Nazi slaughter of 6 million Jews during World War II. South Africa's own identity is key to it bringing the case. Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel's policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Black people to "homelands" before ending in 1994.

Fatal shooting of American-Palestinian teen in West Bank was unprovoked, witness says
Associated Press/January 26, 2024
The fatal shooting of an American-Palestinian teen driving a pickup truck in the occupied West Bank was unprovoked, the sole passenger told The Associated Press, describing apparent Israeli fire hitting the back of the vehicle before it overturned several times on a dirt road. At least 10 bullets struck the truck, which was seen by The Associated Press after Israeli investigators examined it. Most hit the back windshield and truck bed, supporting 16-year-old Mohammed Salameh's account of the incident that killed his friend, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, 17, a Louisiana native. In an initial statement, Israeli police said Friday's shooting targeted people "purportedly engaged in rock-throwing activities along Highway 60," a main West Bank thoroughfare. Police didn't identify who fired the shots but described the incident "ostensibly involving an off-duty law enforcement officer, a soldier and a civilian."Salameh denied suggestions he and Abdel Jabbar had been throwing stones and said there had been no attempt to arrest him. Salameh — interviewed Tuesday along with Abdel Jabbar's father, Hafeth, in the family's ancestral village of Al-Mazra'a Ash-Sharquiya — said he and his friend were driving on a dirt road several hundred meters from Highway 60. He said shots suddenly hit the back of the truck, striking Abdel Jabbar. Salameh said the pickup overturned several times, and he managed to get out and run back to the village for help. Hafeth Abdel Jabbar said that when he arrived, he found his son's lifeless body in the pickup, amid shattered glass and blood stains. He rejected claims that his son had thrown stones as "a big lie." Even if the teens had thrown rocks, he said, they posed no imminent threat — to police, military, or civilians — as they drove through the brush. An Israeli police official told AP on Wednesday that the witness account and bullet holes in the back of the truck represented only one side of the story and that the investigation is ongoing. He declined to comment further. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the case with news outlets. The White House has demanded a transparent investigation into the death, which came after repeated U.S. warnings that Israel must rein in rising violence against Palestinians in the territory. The teen's family said U.S. embassy officials visited the village, photographed the car and interviewed relatives.
ON THE SCENE
Salameh said the events leading to the shooting began Friday afternoon, when he and Abdel Jabbar decided to have a picnic in the family's fields — a typical thing to do on sunny days. They jumped in the family truck and headed out, he said, but realized they'd forgotten charcoal. Abdel Jabbar turned the car around, heading back to the village on a dirt road perpendicular to the highway — that's when shots began hitting the back windshield, Salameh said. He said he ducked as bullets pounded the vehicle, the fourth one hitting Tawfic in the head. The car skidded off the road and flipped several times before coming to a stop, Salameh said. Hafeth Abdel Jabbar said that when he and other relatives arrived, Israeli soldiers trained their guns on them and made two of them take their shirts off to show they weren't a threat. He said he ignored the soldiers and ran to the car, which had landed upright. He described his son's body as splayed on the passenger side of the car, where blood pooled onto the floor and spread to the backseat.He said he and others began extricating his son's body, loading him into an ambulance.Tawfic Abdel Jabbar was pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital. Video his father provided shows the car about 500 meters from the highway. "It's a scene that I hope never happens again," Hafeth said Tuesday. "You have six or seven Israeli soldiers pointing the gun at you. Telling you not to go see your son. Your 17-year-old son is inside the car, dead from them, shot from the back."
IN THE VILLAGE
The killing shocked the village, where most inhabitants carry American passports and split their time between the West Bank and the U.S. The Abdel Jabbar family's roots there run back almost 200 years. Tawfic's parents, Hafeth and Mona, grew up in the village. They moved to Gretna, Louisiana, where they married. The extended family owns a chain of shoe stores in the U.S. The family returned frequently to their ancestral home, an ornate stone compound perched on a village hilltop. During summers, Tawfic and his siblings took part in traditional village life.He was in his senior year in high school when he was killed. Studying remotely over the past few months, he hoped to finish in February and eventually attend college in the U.S, his father said. Immediately after the shooting, Palestinian health officials identified the teen as Tawfiq Ajaq, but his parents said the family goes by the last name Abdel Jabbar and their son's first name is Tawfic, an unusual spelling. After Israeli investigators examined the vehicle Saturday, the family took it back to the village, where it sat under tarp. AP saw the truck Tuesday. Bullet holes had been marked with Hebrew stickers left by a police forensics team. Later Tuesday, investigators took the truck, Abdel Jabbar said. According to figures from the Israeli watchdog Yesh Din, killings of Palestinians in the West Bank rarely result in investigations — and when they do, indictments are uncommon. Also Tuesday, Abdel Jabbar said, he accompanied Salameh to provide witness testimony to Israeli investigators.
AFTER SHOCK, ANGER
Four days after the shooting, friends and relatives clustered into the family home to pay their respects, piling hummus and falafel onto platters and gathering around fires with cups of Arabic coffee. Tawfic's uncle, Rami, said that in Louisiana, Tawfic had refused to work in the family's shoe stores — spending time instead studying. Abdel Jabbar said his son wanted to become an engineer. His mother, 36-year-old Mona, said she wants to see those who killed her son prosecuted and punished in Israel, and added that she's furious at U.S. President Joe Biden's administration. "How many children have to get killed for the U.S. to stop supporting Israel?" she said. Biden's administration has provided military and diplomatic support for Israel's war against Hamas. Over 25,000 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The war was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which the militants killed about 1,200 people and took 250 hostages. The administration has condemned rising violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Since Oct. 7, 370 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, according to Palestinian health officials. Most have been killed in clashes during near nightly Israeli army raids aimed at suspected militants. "My son, he was killed by — I don't want to say American bullets, but at least by American money," Mona Abdel Jabbar said. "We live there, we work there. Our business is there, we pay in taxes there. So my taxes are going to the bullet that killed my son."

Russian courts jail Putin critic, woman convicted of blast that killed pro-war blogger
Associated Press/January 26, 2024
A Russian court on Thursday sentenced a woman to 27 years in prison for a cafe blast that killed a prominent pro-war blogger after he was given a bust of himself that later exploded. In a separate proceeding, a Moscow court convicted a former leader of separatist rebels in Ukraine who called President Vladimir Putin a coward of extremism and sentenced him to four years. Darya Trepova, 26, was convicted by a court in St. Petersburg of carrying out a terrorist attack, illegal trafficking of explosive devices and forging documents in the April 2 blast at the cafe in which Vladlen Tatarsky was killed and 52 others were injured. Tatarsky, 40, was an ardent supporter of the Kremlin's military action in Ukraine and filed regular reports on the fighting from the front lines. Trepova was seen on video presenting Tatarsky with the bust moments before the blast at the riverside cafe in the historic heart of Russia's second-largest city where he was leading a discussion. She insisted that she didn't know the bust contained a bomb. Russian authorities have blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies for orchestrating the bombing. Authorities in Kyiv have not directly responded to the accusation. The court also convicted Trepova's acquaintance Dmitry Kasintsev of concealing a grave crime for sheltering her after the blast and sentenced him to 21 months in prison. The Moscow court imposed a four-year sentence on Igor Girkin, who used the surname alias of Strelkov (shooter), was the most prominent leader of Russian-backed separatist fighters in Ukraine's Donetsk region in 2014, when rebellion arose after the ouster of Ukraine's Russia-allied president. He briefly became the self-declared separatist government's defense minister, but left the post in August 2014 after rebel forces shot down a Malaysian passenger airliner over Donetsk, killing all 298 people aboard. He was convicted in absentia of murder in the Netherlands, where the flight had originated, for his role. He returned to Russia and became a nationalist commentator and activist. He supported launching Russia's war in Ukraine, but sharply criticized authorities for being inept and indecisive in carrying out the fight.
Girkin called Putin a "nonentity" and a person of "cowardly mediocrity." He was arrested in July on extremism charges and remained in custody since then. His conviction reflects the high sensitivity of Russian authorities to criticism and opposition. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, that sensitivity intensified sharply, with the passage of laws criminalizing statements and news reports that allegedly discredit the Russian military. Two protesters calling for Girkin to be freed were detained by police outside the court building, Russian news agencies said. Girkin's sentence was considerable less harsh than those handed to some figures who have denounced the war, notably the 25-year sentence imposed on opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza. Treopva's sentence is the longest imposed on a woman in modern Russia, according to the Mediazona website that reports on human rights and justice issues. Tatarsky, who had filed regular reports from Ukraine, was the pen name for Maxim Fomin, who had accumulated more than 560,000 followers on his Telegram messaging app channel. Born in eastern Ukraine, Tatarsky worked as a coal miner before starting a furniture business. When he ran into financial difficulties, he robbed a bank and was sentenced to prison. He fled from custody after a Russia-backed separatist rebellion arose in 2014, then joined separatist rebels and fought on the front line before turning to blogging. Tatarsky was known for his blustery pronouncements and ardent pro-war rhetoric.

Erdogan, eyeing more trade with Iran, says Turkey weighing opening new border crossings
ANKARA (Reuters)January 25, 2024
Turkey is considering opening new border crossings with eastern neighbour Iran, President Tayyip Erdogan said late on Wednesday after talks with his Iranian counterpart, as they seek to revive sagging economic relations. Erdogan, speaking at a Turkish-Iranian business council meeting alongside Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, blamed international sanctions on Tehran and the COVID pandemic for a decline in trade volumes. Trade between Turkey and Iran peaked in 2012 at nearly $22 billion but has since fallen. It stood at $7.4 billion in 2023, according to Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat, down from around $10 billion a year earlier. "The issue of opening new border gates with Iran is also on our agenda. Efforts to establish trade centres in border (areas) to increasing the economic development of our border provinces continue," he said. Turkey, a NATO ally, and Iran currently have four border crossings between them. One of those gates, between the Gurbulak-Bazergan regions, has been under construction since 2021. "While we have left behind the pandemic, the restrictive effect of sanctions lingers," Erdogan said, adding that Turkey would not cut its economic ties with Iran because of the international measures. "In the current state, sanctions are causing problems in our business ties with Iran, especially issues caused by the banking system," Erdogan said. Full implementation of a preferential trade agreement between Ankara and Tehran is the best way to improve commercial ties, he added. Erdogan said he expected Raisi's support in ensuring that obstacles to Turkish firms' operations in Iran, such as fuel price issues and frequency limits for airlines, were resolved, adding that Ankara would then encourage companies to invest more in Iran with a "win-win understanding". Iran's economy has been crippled by the sanctions, imposed over its nuclear programme. Tehran denies Western assertions that it aims to build a nuclear weapon. Turkey, which has also been hit with U.S. sanctions for acquiring Russian defence systems, opposes what it calls unilateral economic sanctions as a policy.

North Korea says it tested cruise missile, flaunting new nuclear-capable weapon
Associated Press/January 26, 2024
North Korea said Thursday it conducted its first flight test of a new cruise missile, as it expands its military capabilities in the face of deepening tensions with the United States and neighbors. The report in state media came a day after South Korea's military said it detected the North firing several cruise missiles into waters off its western coast. It didn't immediately provide more details about the numbers of missiles fired or their flight characteristics. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the Pulhwasal-3-31 missile is still in its development phase and that the launch did not pose a threat to neighbors. It described the missile as "strategic," implying an intent to arm them with nuclear weapons. Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the missiles flew a shorter distance than previous North Korean cruise missile launches, which he said suggested that the North was trying to improve the performance of existing systems. The cruise missile launches were North Korea's second known launch event of the year, following a Jan. 14 test-firing of the country's first solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile, which reflected its efforts to advance its lineup of weapons targeting U.S. military bases in Japan and Guam. Yang Uk, an analyst at Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said North Korea is trying to highlight its diversifying arsenal of nuclear-capable weapons to increase pressure on rivals. But the recent displays of new weapons systems came amid a slowdown in tests of short-range ballistic missiles, which could indicate inventory shortages as North Korea continues its alleged arms transfers to Russia, Yang said. U.S. and South Korean officials have accused North Korea of providing artillery shells, missiles and other supplies to Russia for its war in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for economic assistance and military technology. Kim, who traveled to a Russian space launch center in September for a summit with Putin, has been taking aggressive steps to strengthen ties with Moscow as he tries to break out of isolation and join a united front against Washington.
Both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied that North Korea was sending weapons to Russia. North Korea's cruise missiles are among its growing arsenal of weapons aimed at overwhelming missile defenses in South Korea and Japan. They supplement the country's huge lineup of ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the U.S. mainland. While North Korean cruise missile activities aren't directly banned under U.N. sanctions, experts say those weapons potentially pose a serious threat to South Korea and Japan. They are designed to be harder to detect by radar, and North Korea claims they are nuclear-capable and their range is up to 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles), a distance that would include U.S. military bases in Japan. Since 2021, North Korea has conducted at least 10 rounds of tests of what it described as long-range cruise missiles fired from both land and sea.
Tensions in the region have increased in recent months as Kim continues to accelerate his weapons development and make provocative threats of nuclear conflict with the United States and its Asian allies. In response, the United States, South Korea and Japan have been expanding their combined military exercises, which Kim condemns as invasion rehearsals and has used as a pretext to further ramp up his military demonstrations. There are concerns that Kim could dial up pressure in an election year in the United States and South Korea. South Korean experts and officials say Kim's weapons drive has put further strain on a broken economy, crippled by decades of mismanagement and U.S.-led sanctions over his nuclear ambitions. In a separate report, KCNA said Kim during a two-day ruling party meeting held through Wednesday criticized officials for failing to provide enough of "basic living necessities including condiments, foodstuff and consumption goods" to people living in the countryside and less developed cities and towns. Kim called the meeting to discuss a 10-year project he announced last week to promote more balanced regional development, which includes a goal of building modern factories in every county nationwide. Satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press this week suggest North Korea has torn down a huge arch in its capital that symbolized reconciliation with South Korea, a week after Kim dismissed decades of hopes for peaceful reunification with the war-divided peninsula's south.
Kim last week described the Pyongyang monument as an "eyesore" and called for its removal while declaring that the North was abandoning long-standing goals of a peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered a rewriting of the North's constitution to define the South as its most hostile foreign adversary. He accused South Korea of acting as "top-class stooges" of the Americans and repeated a threat that he would use his nukes to annihilate the South if provoked. Analysts say North Korea could be aiming to diminish South Korea's voice in the regional nuclear standoff and eventually force direct dealings with Washington as it looks to cement its nuclear status.

Ukraine calls on UN, Red Cross to inspect Russian plane crash site
Agence France Presse/January 26, 2024
Ukraine on Thursday said it had asked the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to inspect the site where Moscow claimed a Russian transport plane carrying Ukrainian servicemen crashed. Ukraine on Thursday said it had asked the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to inspect the site where Moscow claimed a Russian transport plane carrying Ukrainian servicemen crashed."I will ask that representatives of these organisations join the inspection of the scene," Ukraine's rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said in a statement.

Putin Sends US Signal on Ukraine Talks, Sensing Advantage in War
Bloomberg News/January 26/ 2024
Vladimir Putin is testing the waters on whether the US is ready to engage in talks for ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
He’s put out feelers to the US via indirect channels to signal he’s open to discussion, including potentially on future security arrangements for Ukraine, according to two people close to the Kremlin. US officials say they’re not aware of the supposed overtures, which may amount to a trial balloon, and see no indication the Russian president is serious about looking for a way to end the fighting, which has settled into a deadly stalemate as the war heads into a third year. Hints of Russian openness to talks - even if disingenuous - could help sow division among Ukraine’s allies, isolating Kyiv and undermining President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s efforts to win support for his own peace formula, which calls for full Russian withdrawal. The people close to the Kremlin, who asked not to be identified to discuss matters that aren’t public, said the signals were conveyed to senior US officials last month through an intermediary they declined to identify. Putin, they said, may be willing to consider dropping an insistence on neutral status for Ukraine and even ultimately abandon opposition to eventual NATO membership - the threat of which has been a central Russian justification for the invasion.
But it would come at a cost that Kyiv has rejected outright - acceptance of Kremlin control over territory it has come to occupy in recent years in what now amounts to about 18% of Ukraine, including land seized after the start of its invasion two years ago. “President Putin has stated numerous times that Russia was, is and will continue to be open for negotiations on Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to a question from Bloomberg News. “We are determined to reach our goals. And would prefer to complete it by diplomatic means. If not, the military operation will be continued till we reach our goals.”“We are unaware of the shifts in Russia’s position described,” US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said. “It will be up to Ukraine to decide whether, when and how to negotiate with Russia.”
While the US is “always open” to talks, “in this moment, I don’t see it,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the World Economic Forum Jan. 17, when asked about prospects for a negotiated long-term cease-fire.
“There has to be a willingness on the part of Russia to engage, to negotiate in good faith, based on the basic principles that have been challenged by its aggression — territorial integrity, sovereignty, independence,” Blinken said.
Publicly, Putin has given no indication he’s willing to stop at the current front lines. Kyiv, backed by the US and other allies, says it aims to restore all of the land taken by Moscow’s forces and giving that up would be politically difficult for Zelenskiy.
But with $110 billion in vital aid from the US and European Union tied up in the approval process, the outlook is uncertain for Ukraine’s ability to keep up the fight over the long term. Russia, by contrast, has shifted its economy to a war footing and lined up supplies of weapons and other support from Iran and North Korea.
“It benefits them for everyone to think that there’s a back channel and it’s so secret no one can figure it out because it scares the hell out of the Ukrainians,” said Fiona Hill, a former top White House official responsible for Russia.
“The Russians want us to create this idea that the channel is there and that everything depends on the US so no one or nothing else plays a role,” she added. “It’s a classic Russian play.”The idea that there’s a secret back channel has also circulated in European capitals, though officials deny knowing anything about it. “I heard these rumors and I don’t know what to make out of them - if it’s to win political gains, to be perceived as moderate,” Swedish National Security Advisor Henrik Landerholm said in an interview in Washington, where he was meeting his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan. “Putin would obviously be pretty happy if he could get an agreement based on the current territorial gains, which is of course out of the question for our Ukrainian friends.”
Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the pro-Kremlin Council on Foreign and Defense Policy in Moscow, said that any agreement that formalized Russian control over the occupied lands “would amount to the creation of a new security system in Europe, which indeed was Putin’s primary goal from the beginning. But there’s no signs now that anyone is ready for that.”US officials have consistently said they’ve seen no indications Russia is ready for serious talks. But after Ukraine’s counteroffensive last year - backed by tens of billions of dollars in allied arms and support - failed to yield major gains, hopes of pushing Russian troops back are fading. For Putin, preventing Ukraine from joining NATO has been one of his most-often repeated justifications for the invasion and there’s been no public indication he’s changed his view.
“We’re headed toward a stalemate, a frozen conflict in which Ukraine focuses more on defending and rebuilding what it has than on trying to retake the Donbas and Crimea,” said Charles Kupchan, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, referring to Ukrainian lands taken by Moscow. “It is a de facto policy shift even if not a declared policy shift by the US and by Ukraine.”
Russia’s invasion has reinvigorated the NATO alliance, with Finland and Sweden ending decades of neutrality to join. Ukraine’s prospects for membership before the war were distant at best. Putin may calculate Ukraine would face a long wait and be vulnerable to opposition from individual European leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovakia’s new premier, Robert Fico, who has vowed to veto Kyiv’s application to NATO. In the US, former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential frontrunner, has hinted at pulling out of the alliance and pledged a quick deal with Putin to end the war. “I don’t believe that Putin is prepared to negotiate at this time, by which I mean I don’t think he is ready to make any concessions,” said Paul Saunders, president of the Center for the National Interest in Washington. “I’m sure he’d be happy to negotiate others’ concessions to Russia.”
The New York Times reported last month that intermediaries had relayed to US officials that Putin indicated an interest in a cease-fire that would freeze the war along the current front lines. Informal contacts involving US and Russian intermediaries have taken place in the past year in attempts to explore prospects for peace talks. These so-called Track 2 initiatives usually involve people with no official positions, allowing their governments to deny any role in discussions while being informed about what’s being said. It’s not clear if any significant efforts are under way at present, however.
Zelenskiy and Swiss President Viola Amherd announced plans earlier this month to hold a high-level peace conference in Switzerland, as Kyiv seeks support for its blueprint to restore Ukraine’s 1991 borders. Zelenskiy said Russia wouldn’t be invited. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his Swiss counterpart Ignazio Cassis at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday. The Russian side criticized “Bern’s reckless support” of Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said later. “The Russians from Putin on down have been saying publicly that they are ready to talk for months,” said Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corp. “It may be a trap, a bluff, or a devious attempt at wedge-driving. Or it may be real. Until someone tests that proposition, we’ll never know for sure.”

Man sentenced to death for arson attack at Japanese anime studio that killed 36
Associated Press/January 26, 2024
A Japanese court sentenced a man to death after finding him guilty of murder and other crimes Thursday for carrying out an arson attack on an anime studio in Kyoto that killed 36 people. The Kyoto District Court said it found the defendant, Shinji Aoba, mentally capable to face punishment for his crimes and announced the sentence of capital punishment after a recess in a two-part session on Thursday. Aoba stormed into Kyoto Animation's No. 1 studio on July 18, 2019, and set it on fire. Many of the victims were believed to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning. More than 30 other people were badly burned or injured. Judge Keisuke Masuda said Aoba had wanted to be a novelist but was unsuccessful and so he sought revenge, thinking that Kyoto Animation had stolen novels he submitted as part of a company contest, according to NHK national television. NHK also reported that Aoba, who was out of work and struggling financially after repeatedly changing jobs, had plotted a separate attack on a train station north of Tokyo a month before the arson attack on the animation studio. Aoba plotted the attacks after studying past criminal cases involving arson, the court said in the ruling, noting the process showed that Aoba had premeditated the crime and was mentally capable. "The attack that instantly turned the studio into hell and took the precious lives of 36 people, caused them indescribable pain," the judge said, according to NHK. During the trial, Aoba told the victims' families that he was sorry, but he did not show sincere regret or face their sufferings fully, and there was little hope for correction, the ruling said. Aoba, 45, was severely burned and was hospitalized for 10 months before his arrest in May 2020. He appeared in court in a wheelchair. His defense lawyers argued he was mentally unfit to be held criminally responsible.
About 70 people were working inside the studio in southern Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital, at the time of the attack. One of the survivors said he saw a black cloud rising from downstairs, then scorching heat came and he jumped from a window of the three-story building gasping for air. The company, founded in 1981 and better known as KyoAni, made a mega-hit anime series about high school girls, and the studio trained aspirants to the craft. Japanese media have described Aoba as being thought of as a troublemaker who repeatedly changed contract jobs and apartments and quarreled with neighbors. The fire was Japan's deadliest since 2001, when a blaze in Tokyo's congested Kabukicho entertainment district killed 44 people. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the Kyoto Animation attack was "a highly tragic case" and that the government has since stepped up restrictions on gasoline sales, including mandatory identification checks of purchasers. Hayashi, however, declined to comment on the death penalty ruling. Japan has maintained the death penalty despite growing international criticism. Justice ministry officials say it is a justified response to continuing heinous and violent crimes. A survey by the Japanese government showed an overwhelming majority of the public supports executions. Executions are carried out in high secrecy in Japan, where prisoners are not informed of their fate until the morning they are hanged. Since 2007, Japan has begun disclosing the names of those executed and some details of their crimes, but disclosures are still limited.

Kuwait foils plan by ‘terrorist cell’ to target Shiite places of worship
ARAB NEWS/January 25, 2024
RIYADH: Kuwait’s interior ministry foiled a plan by a “terrorist” cell that intended to target Shiite places of worship, Kuwait News Agency said on Thursday. Security personnel were able to follow up on the cell, monitor its movements, and arrest three members belonging to a terrorist organization, KUNA said.
The Arab defendants were referred to the Public Prosecution so that legal measures could be taken against them.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 25-26/2024
"Like...wtf": Israel's Arab Citizens Feel Lucky
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/January 25, 2024
"It's disheartening to know that among the fallen heroes are Bedouin and Druze soldiers, Muslims, and Christians who courageously defended our country. The Bedouin community mourns all civilian victims, regardless of their background — Jews, Christians, or Muslims. This brings me to a crucial point: we all share the same destiny, and our strength lies in unity. Unfortunately, there are those who seek to undermine cooperation between different sectors, sowing seeds of mistrust. I urge you not to be swayed by such attempts and to stand strong in our shared commitment to unity." — IDF Sergeant First Class (reserve) Ahmed Abu Latif, 26, a husband and father to a one-year-old baby, who was killed on January 22 during the fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Facebook, November 13, 2023,
Hamas's October 7 atrocities did not distinguish between Jew and Arab, old and young, male and female, black and white. At least 20 Arab Israeli citizens were murdered by Hamas terrorists during the attack on that day or by Hamas rocket attacks in the ensuing days. Most of the victims were Bedouin residents living in the south of Israel. Moreover, several Bedouin men and women were abducted by Hamas.
It is no wonder, then, that an overwhelming majority of the Israeli-Arab public opposed the Hamas attack. A study conducted by Nimrod Nir of the Adam Institute and Dr. Mohammed Khalaily among the Arab public showed that most Arabs support Israel's right to defend itself and even expressed a willingness to volunteer to help civilians who were harmed during the Hamas attack. The study showed that almost 80% of Israeli Arabs opposed the Hamas attack, and 85% opposed the kidnapping of civilians.
"For the longest time, I struggled with my identity. A Palestinian kid born inside Israel. Like...wtf. Many of my friends refuse to this day to say the word 'Israel' and call themselves 'Palestinian' only. But since I was 12, that did not make sense to me. So, I decided to mix the two and become a 'Palestinian-Israeli.' I thought this term reflected who I was. Palestinian first. Israeli second. But after recent events, I started to think. And think. And think. And then my thoughts turned to anger. I realized that if Israel were to be 'invaded' like that again, we would not be safe... And I do not want to live under a Palestinian government. Which means I only have one home, even if I'm not Jewish: Israel." — Nuseir Yassin ("Nas Daily"), Israeli Arab blogger, October 9, 2023.
"I'm an Israeli Arab... I'm embarrassed. And Hamas is to blame... "This [Arabs identifying with Israel] demonstrates that the Arab community in Israel aspires to further integrate into society and distance itself from bad faith actors like Hamas... Israeli Arabs and Jews are like salt and pepper: They both belong on the table, and once they're sprinkled into a dish it's almost impossible to distinguish between them." — Prof. Mouna Maroun, Vice President and Dean of Research at University of Haifa and the former Head of the Sagol Department of Neurobiology, the first Arab woman to hold a senior faculty position in natural sciences; newsweek.com, November 21, 2023.
Hamas was undoubtedly hoping that the massacre its members committed on October 7 would sabotage relations not only between Israel and the Palestinians, but also between Jews and Arabs inside Israel. Fortunately, however, Hamas has been unsuccessful in pitting Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs against each other. Despite the Israel-Hamas war, the vast majority of Jews and Arabs inside Israel continue to work together and live in peace and security next to each other, and often in the same neighborhoods...
The Palestinians living under the corrupt Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip can only envy Israeli-Arab citizens for living in Israel, where they enjoy democracy, freedom of expression, access to superb healthcare and educational institutions and careers, as well as a thriving economy.
"Israeli Arabs and Jews are like salt and pepper: They both belong on the table, and once they're sprinkled into a dish it's almost impossible to distinguish between them." — Prof. Mouna Maroun (pictured), Vice President and Dean of Research at University of Haifa.
IDF Sergeant First Class (reserve) Ahmed Abu Latif, 26, a husband and father to a one-year-old baby, was killed on January 22 during the fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Abu Latif, a Muslim citizen of Israel, embodied the spirit of unity and patriotism in Israel in the aftermath of Hamas's October 7 massacre of Israelis. He also represented a shining example of coexistence and unwavering love for Israel.
In a message on Facebook at the beginning of the war, Abu Latif, who was working as a security guard at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, wrote:
"As a Bedouin-Israeli, serving in the IDF Bedouin Gadsar (Desert Reconnaissance Battalion) was an honor that revealed my strengths and introduced me to lifelong friends. I love connecting with people and bridging cultures, whether it's hosting friends for a meal or visiting friends from Kibbutz Shovel and playing guitar songs by Yehudit Ravitz.
"On October 9 at 8:00 PM, accompanied by my brother-in-law, I embarked on a mission to distribute food to soldiers. En route, our attention was drawn to a police car, and simultaneously, we received alarming messages about terrorists infiltrating the Mishmar Hanegev area near Rahat. As armed and professional security guards, we immediately joined the police forces, assisting in the search for the terrorists. The adrenaline-fueled mission was both intense and fulfilling, highlighting the importance of safeguarding our home. Thankfully, the terrorists were swiftly located and dealt with by the police.
"In the backdrop of the ongoing war, we often hear about the involvement of Arab citizens. It's disheartening to know that among the fallen heroes are Bedouin and Druze soldiers, Muslims, and Christians who courageously defended our country. The Bedouin community mourns all civilian victims, regardless of their background—Jews, Christians, or Muslims. This brings me to a crucial point: we all share the same destiny, and our strength lies in unity. Unfortunately, there are those who seek to undermine cooperation between different sectors, sowing seeds of mistrust. I urge you not to be swayed by such attempts and to stand strong in our shared commitment to unity."
Abu Latif had also filmed a video to encourage enlistment to the IDF's Desert Reconaissance Unit. He was not the only member of Israel's predominantly Arab minority to die in the war, and not the only Arab to serve in the IDF and Israel Police. Thousands of Arab Muslims, Christians and members of the Druze community have long been serving or volunteering in various branches of the Israeli security forces.
Major Jamal Abbas, 23, a company commander in the 101st Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade, was killed in combat in the southern Gaza Strip on November 18, 2023. Abbas was born into a family of high-ranking military officers from the Druze village of Peki'in in northern Israel. His grandfather, retired Colonel Gideon Abbas, is among the first Druze soldiers to attain the rank of brigade commander in the IDF. Jamal's father, Col. Anan Abbas, followed suit.
Another Druze officer, Lt. Col. Salman Habaka, 35, was also killed during the fighting with Hamas last November. Habaka is the most senior officer to have been killed since the beginning of the war. On October 7, when Hamas invaded Israel, he was one of the first IDF soldiers to enter Kibbutz Be'eri, where dozens of terrorists had barricaded themselves. He was responsible for neutralizing dozens of terrorists and rescuing residents holed up in their homes and shelters. "The scene at Be'eri was very bad," he said later. "But we saw we had one main mission: To save the remaining residents and kill as many terrorists as possible. We went house to house and cleared out [the terrorists]."
Nisreen Yousef, a Druze woman who has been living with her husband Iyad and four children in the village of Yated, near the Gaza Strip, over the past 15 years, is credited for saving the lives of dozens of her Jewish neighbors on October 7. On that day, her husband was among the first to rush with Yated's civilian security squad and confront the Hamas terrorists who entered their community, leaving his wife and children at home. He and the other (Jewish guards) captured two terrorists. That is when Nisreen decided to leave her home and interrogate the terrorists to get information from them about the invasion. "I caught one of them by the neck and asked him in Arabic who sent him," she recalled.
"I told him to look me in the eye, that I'm not afraid of him. I asked him how many more terrorists were there and where are they located. He told me there are many more in the field located 100 meters from my home."
Thanks to the information she obtained from the terrorists, Israeli security forces were dispatched to the field, where they captured 20 terrorists. Asked whether they thought they would never return to their home, Nisreen and her husband replied:
"Yes. It was scary, but this is our country, this is our home. We must not show them [the terrorists] that we are weak. We must not give them the feeling that they won despite the fear, pain and the disaster we experienced."
The stories of these Israeli Muslims and Druze are a good example of how Jews and non-Jews have long been living in peace and harmony inside Israel. They are also a sign of how a growing number of the Muslim, Christian and Druze communities remain loyal to Israel. Hamas's October 7 atrocities did not distinguish between Jew and Arab, old and young, male and female, black and white. At least 20 Arab Israeli citizens were murdered by Hamas terrorists during the attack on that day or by Hamas rocket attacks in the ensuing days. Most of the victims were Bedouin residents living in the south of Israel. Moreover, several Bedouin men and women were abducted by Hamas.
It is no wonder, then, that an overwhelming majority of the Israeli-Arab public opposed the Hamas attack. A study conducted by Nimrod Nir of the Adam Institute and Dr. Mohammed Khalaily among the Arab public showed that most Israeli Arabs support Israel's right to defend itself and even expressed a willingness to volunteer to help civilians who were harmed during the Hamas attack. The study showed that almost 80% of Israeli Arabs opposed the Hamas attack, and 85% opposed the kidnapping of civilians.
Two days after the massacre, Israeli Arab blogger Nuseir Yassin, popularly known as "Nas Daily," posted the following on X (formerly Twitter):
"For the longest time, I struggled with my identity. A Palestinian kid born inside Israel. Like...wtf. Many of my friends refuse to this day to say the word 'Israel' and call themselves 'Palestinian' only. But since I was 12, that did not make sense to me. So, I decided to mix the two and become a 'Palestinian-Israeli.' I thought this term reflected who I was. Palestinian first. Israeli second. But after recent events, I started to think. And think. And think. And then my thoughts turned to anger. I realized that if Israel were to be 'invaded' like that again, we would not be safe. To a terrorist invading Israel, all citizens are targets.... And I do not want to live under a Palestinian government. Which means I only have one home, even if I'm not Jewish: Israel..."
Another survey, conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, found that most Arab citizens of Israel feel a strong connection to the state in the aftermath of the October 7 carnage. Some 74% of respondents reported good relations with Jews, and 56% said that the Hamas massacre does not represent Arab society, Palestinians or the Islamic community. The survey indicated that 70% of Arabs in Israel identify with the state.
Commenting on the results of the survey, Prof. Mouna Maroun, Vice President and Dean of Research at University of Haifa and the former Head of the Sagol Department of Neurobiology, the first Arab woman to hold a senior faculty position in natural sciences, said:
"I'm an Israeli Arab... I'm embarrassed. And Hamas is to blame...
"For the sake of humanity, I implore the Arab community to move forward and to cleverly and responsibly understand the Jewish narrative, as we have been asking them to understand ours for 75 years. For the first time, as an Arab minority we are requested to stand with empathy and understand the majority's narrative..."In the city of Haifa, there are mixed neighborhoods and mixed apartment buildings. At the University, Jews and Arabs learn and grow together. This is the paradigm that Israel must replicate in order to move on from the tragedy of Oct. 7.
"This [Arabs identifying with Israel] demonstrates that the Arab community in Israel aspires to further integrate into society and distance itself from bad faith actors like Hamas...
"Israeli Arabs and Jews are like salt and pepper: They both belong on the table, and once they're sprinkled into a dish it's almost impossible to distinguish between them. We must embrace and cherish our shared destiny by working with each other, engaging in meaningful dialogue, and understanding that when it comes to coexistence and shared life, there's nothing to fear. "
Maroun is among other Arab women who hold senior positions in Israeli universities. In 2021, the Board of Governors of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem announced that Prof. Mona Khoury-Kassabri had been elected Vice President of Strategy and Diversity at the university. It was the first time that a member of the Arab community was appointed to a senior position of vice president. "I am deeply honored to be the first Arab to serve as a Hebrew University Vice President," Khoury-Kassabri said.
"I feel confident that my experience both inside the classroom and in senior roles at the university will serve me well in promoting the strategic goals and inclusionary values of this great institution."
In addition to education, Israel's medical field has always served as a model of Jewish-Arab equality and coexistence. Jewish and Arab patients often share the same room in Israeli hospitals, where Jewish and Arab doctors and nurses work together.
The percentage of Arab Israeli physicians in Israel has been on the increase. By the end of 2021, Arab physicians constituted 24% of Israeli doctors aged 67 and younger. That same year, 43% of new licenses for physicians were awarded to Arab and Druze doctors. The share of Arab citizens in other healthcare professions is also considerable.
"Hospitals, the places in which so many individuals experience pain and illness, are also the places of cooperation between Jewish and Arab physicians," noted Fahima Abbas, a researcher at Adva Center, an Israeli progressive think-tank that monitors social and economic developments. "It is incumbent upon us to remember that and to strengthen that cooperation in ordinary times as well as in emergencies. It is an important element of a democratic state."
In 2022, Judge Khaled Kabub became the first Muslim appointed to Israel's Supreme Court. All previous Arab Israeli justices on the 15-member court had have been Christians, another example of how Israel's Arab citizens have access to senior positions in the public sector.
In 2019, Samer Haj Yehia became the first Arab head of a major bank in Israel when he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Leumi.
Since 1948, more than 80 Arab citizens have been elected as members of Israel's parliament, the Knesset. In 2020, the Knesset had 17 Arab members out of 120.
Hamas was undoubtedly hoping that the massacre its members committed on October 7 would sabotage relations not only between Israel and the Palestinians, but also between Jews and Arabs inside Israel. Fortunately, however, Hamas has been unsuccessful in pitting Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs against each other. Despite the Israel-Hamas war, the vast majority of Jews and Arabs inside Israel continue to work together and live in peace and security next to each other, and often in the same neighborhoods and buildings.
The Palestinians living under the corrupt Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip can only envy Israeli-Arab citizens for living in Israel, where they enjoy democracy, freedom of expression, access to superb healthcare, educational institutions and careers, as well as a thriving economy.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
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Gaza war’s spillover effects on American academic freedom
Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/January 25, 2024
Israel’s war on Gaza has had a devastating effect on free speech around the world, but especially in the US. Academic freedom is imperiled at college campuses across the country because of restrictions on views opposed to the war. This has had a chilling effect on the public debate about the war, with many expressing fears of a new form of McCarthyism on campus, fueled by traditional and social media and by politicians in the heightened climate of US elections.
At the US Congress grilling of prominent university administrators, the harsh rhetoric used by some members of Congress reinforced those fears of a new McCarthy-like witch hunt. They were fiercely scolded for not doing enough to curb anti-Israel criticism. Following their public humiliation, the presidents of Harvard and Pennsylvania universities were subsequently forced to resign.
Censure of those deviating from the official Israeli line has been common, including through firings, teaching bans, public rebuke and smear campaigns. There has been widespread intimidation and censorship of critics, accusing them of antisemitism and subjecting them to disciplinary measures and even arrests. In some cases, new legal measures have been adopted to further suppress the voicing of anti-Israel views, conflating legitimate criticism of Israeli policies with antisemitism and even terrorism.
There have been multiple examples of faculty members being swiftly investigated and sometimes punished for their statements on the crisis — often after they blew up on social media or in the conventional media or after the intervention of an important donor or politician.
The war is testing how tolerant universities really are of free speech when they are under pressure
The US group Inside Higher Ed reviewed more than a dozen cases in which faculty speech had been censored, investigated or punished by universities or professional associations. Most cases involved those expressing statements favorable to Palestinians, usually voiced outside the classroom, at protests or on social media.
The war is testing how tolerant universities really are of free speech when they are under pressure from politicians, lobbyists or donors who are favorable to Israel. The Academic Freedom Alliance observed: “A lot of universities are on a bit of a hair trigger when it comes to faculty speech on this particular issue at the moment.” They rush to action because they “know they’re being watched by pressure groups and, in some cases, receiving pressure from donors and politicians.”
Under pressure to restrict anti-Israel views, the US Education Department is now expected to come out with regulations to make clear when a university must intervene, along the lines of former President Donald Trump’s 2019 executive order, which threatened to pull federal funding from colleges that ignore antisemitism on campus.
Fueling the campaign against Israel’s critics are well-established pro-Israel outlets, newly setup groups and ad hoc websites, which frequently name individuals and organizations that promote what they see as views critical of Israel. They keep databases of professors, writers and others accused of unfavorable views of its war on Gaza or of expressing favorable views of Palestinians. They hunt down critics, branding them as antisemites or “haters” of Israel and encourage harassment and bullying of those they name. At times, politicians take part in the harassment.
Faculty First Responders, a group funded by the American Association of University Professors, monitors websites that write about higher education and offers aid to faculty members who come under attack. Since October, it has documented “a sharp increase in attacks on faculty who express solidarity with Palestine, who express criticisms of the state of Israel.”
Irene Mulvey, president of the American Association of University Professors, said: “For sure, there’s no question in my mind that the violations of academic freedom have increased. Incidents are happening at an alarming rate and faculty are holding the line and trying to get their administrations to hold the line for academic freedom in polarizing times.”
The association recently released a warning on the pitfalls of “overly broad definitions of antisemitism,” reiterating its long-standing position on the subject. It stated that it “rejects the characterization of pro-Palestinian speech or critiques of the Israeli state as invariably antisemitic … These efforts to control what is thought, said, taught and researched are antithetical to the educational mission of a university and the democratic values upon which it rests.”
US politicians bear much of the responsibility, as they express blind support for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Actions by anti-Palestinian campaigners in the US echo what extremists are doing in Israel itself. Neve Gordon, an Israeli legal scholar and professor of human rights and humanitarian law living in the UK, said recently that he is worried there has been a major clampdown on academic freedom in the US, Europe and Israel. His research looks at the laws of war, with a special focus on Israel-Palestine, and on definitions of antisemitism. He has been following the impact of the Gaza war on free speech at universities. He reported more than 100 cases in Israel of students and staff who have been suspended or dismissed, as well as at least 10 cases of students being arrested for their criticism of Israel’s attack on Gaza.
Adam Shinar, a professor of law at the Harry Radzyner Law School at Reichman University, recently wrote that free speech restrictions in Israel, both formal and informal, have increased significantly since the war started. The government has succeeded in creating a chilling effect, with the mere voicing of criticism — especially when coupled with empathy toward Palestinians — being conflated with treason and triggering harsh responses, from police questioning to hate speech and attacks on social media.
In the West Bank and in Gaza itself, Israel’s measures to silence criticism are extreme. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists reported this week that at least 83 journalists and media workers have been killed since Oct. 7, while Palestinian sources put the number at more than 100. The committee said that it is “particularly concerned about an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families by the Israeli military.” It called for Israel to end the long-standing pattern of impunity in cases of journalists killed by its security forces.
Pro-Israel groups and lobbyists in the US are trying to whitewash what the occupation is doing by limiting debate on American campuses. The rising influence of social media has aided this process. However, US politicians bear much of the responsibility, as they express blind support for Israel’s actions in Gaza, thus encouraging extremist groups to wage witch hunts against academics who may hold different views.
*Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the Gulf Cooperation Council assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation. The views expressed here are personal and do not necessarily represent the GCC. X: @abuhamad1

How solar power became a renewable energy star
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/January 25, 2024
Fifty years ago this week, a momentous event unfolded in France, capturing the world’s attention and paving the way for a transformative shift toward sustainable energy. It was the inauguration of the planet’s first solar power plant, a groundbreaking milestone that underscored global efforts to harness renewable sources of power. By delving into the evolutionary trajectory of solar energy, we have the opportunity to glean valuable insights into the challenges encountered and the successes achieved in the last five decades. The journey of solar energy from its nascent stages to its current prominence is a rich source of lessons that can hopefully guide us toward a more sustainable and efficient future. During the early stages, the adoption of solar energy faced challenges such as high costs, limited efficiency and a lack of widespread awareness. But the 1980s and 1990s witnessed incremental improvements in photovoltaic cell efficiency, making solar power more economically viable. Governments and environmental organizations began recognizing the importance of renewable energy, leading to increased research, development and financial incentives for solar projects. This support spurred the growth of solar energy installations globally, with an expanding emphasis on grid-connected solar power systems. The early 2000s marked a turning point for solar energy, characterized by a significant drop in cost
The early 2000s marked a turning point for solar energy, characterized by a significant drop in the cost of photovoltaic technology. This reduction in costs, coupled with growing environmental concerns and an increased focus on sustainable development, led to a surge in solar installations around the world. In other words, solar power transitioned from being a niche technology to a mainstream energy source for both the residential and commercial sectors, with many people and businesses embracing solar panels as a practical and eco-friendly solution.
In recent years, technological innovations such as advanced solar panels and energy storage solutions have further enhanced the efficiency and reliability of solar power systems. The integration of artificial intelligence and smart grid technologies has also optimized energy production and distribution, making solar energy an increasingly integral part of the broader energy mix.
The global transition toward renewable energy sources, including solar power, is critical as the need to address climate change becomes ever more apparent. International deals and initiatives, such as the Paris Agreement, have underscored the importance of reducing carbon emissions and transitioning toward sustainable energy sources. Solar energy, with its clean nature and abundant potential, is poised to play a central role in the world meeting these objectives.
This commitment has been exemplified by countries like Germany and China, while in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have emerged as leaders in terms of their investments in solar energy.
It is important to point out that, in harnessing the energy radiated by the sun, solar power offers a multitude of benefits that make it a crucial component of the global strategy to mitigate climate change.
First and foremost, solar energy is inherently clean and environmentally friendly. Unlike traditional fossil fuels, which release copious amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, solar power generation produces negligible emissions. The process of converting sunlight into electricity through photovoltaic cells is virtually emissions-free, contributing significantly to the reduction of carbon footprints associated with energy production.
In other words, the more we embrace solar energy, the better we can curtail the emission of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, which is a primary driver of climate change.
Technological innovations have further enhanced the efficiency and reliability of solar power systems
Another compelling aspect of solar energy in the context of climate change is its potential to reduce our dependence on finite and environmentally harmful resources. Fossil fuels, the traditional backbone of global energy production, are finite resources that contribute to deforestation, air and water pollution and habitat destruction. In contrast, solar power relies on an infinite and sustainable source — the sun. The sun's energy is abundant and accessible, offering a perpetual and renewable solution that avoids the negative environmental impacts associated with fossil fuel extraction and combustion.
In addition, the economic benefits of embracing solar energy also play a pivotal role in addressing climate change. As technology advances, the focus should be on lowering the cost of solar power, making it much more competitive when compared with conventional energy sources. Governments, businesses and individuals can now make the economically prudent choice to invest in solar infrastructure, fostering a transition toward a more sustainable energy landscape.
Job creation in the renewable energy sector further bolsters the economic argument for solar power, providing employment opportunities and stimulating economic growth. Additionally, solar energy contributes to energy independence and security.
By diversifying the energy mix and reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels, countries can enhance their energy security and insulate themselves from geopolitical uncertainties. Solar power installations, particularly when combined with energy storage solutions, provide a reliable and resilient source of electricity, reducing nations’ vulnerability to disruptions caused by geopolitical conflicts or natural disasters.
In conclusion, from overcoming initial challenges to becoming a mainstream and economically viable energy source, solar power has emerged as a key player in the transition toward a sustainable and cleaner energy future. And, amid the relentless march of technological progress and the ever-expanding realm of artificial intelligence, a crucial imperative emerges: directing our attention and resources toward substantial investments in solar energy.
As the trajectory of technological innovation accelerates, the significance of prioritizing and fostering advancements in solar technology becomes increasingly pronounced. This entails not only recognizing the potential of solar energy as a clean and renewable power source, but also actively supporting research, development and implementation initiatives that can propel solar technology to new heights.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. X: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Democrats risk pushing business community into Trump camp
Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab news/January 25, 2024
During any presidential election year in the US, one wonders how candidates will handle their policies, whether related to security, the economy or foreign affairs. Additionally, consideration is given to how different target groups perceive or judge these candidates. Recently, there has been a surprising shift, with various prominent businessmen in the US expressing positive views of Donald Trump’s presidency. As we are still in the early stages of the primaries, one might question if this is a vote of confidence, an encouragement for Trump or a message for President Joe Biden.
During the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos last week, Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the biggest bank in the US, gave a view of the Trump administration that no one was expecting to hear from him. During a CNBC interview, he stated: “Take a step back, be honest. He was kind of right about NATO, kind of right on immigration. He grew the economy quite well. Trade tax reform worked. He was right about some of China. He wasn’t wrong about some of these critical issues.” It is also interesting to note that, a few months back, there were rumors and calls from other leading business executives for Dimon to stand in the elections.
Meanwhile, billionaire former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya, who views himself as a Democrat and had initially criticized Trump, praised some of the former president’s policies on a podcast at the end of 2023. Palihapitiya admitted to initially grading Trump an “F” and fearing the “end of the world” when he was elected in 2016. However, as time passed and emotions subsided, he revised his assessment, eventually recognizing Trump as a “B, B-plus,” saying that he did a pretty good job as president. This shift in perspective highlights Palihapitiya’s evolving appreciation for certain aspects of the Trump administration.
There is a real worry over the drifting of the Democratic Party toward what one might call a European-style leftist position
The underlying message is that it is time for a less divided political landscape, especially when facing severe global challenges. The US political establishment should focus on results, rather than each administration destroying or moving away from its predecessor’s policies. In short, the business community is seeking stability and continuity on important topics. There is also a real worry among the business community over the drifting of the Democratic Party toward what one might call a European-style leftist position, or deploying a socialist vision for the US.
Judging by the reactions and attacks on Dimon following his statement, it is evident that this time has not yet come and the political divide will persist. It is also apparent that Trump is now being used as an excuse to avoid meaningful conversations. What is being conveyed is that political leaders should not denigrate the people who vote for Trump; on the contrary, they should listen to their grievances and understand their wishes. Dismissing their concerns, as well as any positive remarks about Trump’s actions, is misguided.
This is probably why renowned billionaire investor Ray Dalio expressed pessimism about the 2024 presidential election potentially being a rematch between Biden and Trump, citing concerns about the acceptance of its outcome and clashes between the far left and far right. Also speaking at Davos, Dalio highlighted his worries over Biden’s vigor and the emergence of a “more progressive” Democratic Party against a “conservative, nationalistic” Republican Party. He clearly stated that both candidates are a threat to the stock market. And if we consider the stock market as a forward-looking indicator, this means that he considers both politicians to be a threat to the future of the US.
This highlights the general concern about the divisive state of American politics and the potential for a contentious 2024 election, similar to the tumultuous 2020 race. It is evident that, starting with the business community, more voices are calling for a stronger middle ground, with some even advocating a return to a more centrist approach to bridge ideological divides. The drift toward irreconcilable differences and the dangerous impact of ideological infighting are very clear for the future of the US both domestically and internationally. Key elements of governance, economics and taxes have also been politicized. The entire business community is now emphasizing the importance of reforms, regardless of the election outcome, in order to avoid any uncertainty on the future trajectory of US politics.
There is general concern about the divisive state of American politics and the potential for a contentious 2024 election
This is probably why Blackstone Group CEO Steve Schwarzman, a billionaire who was a Trump supporter in 2020 before coming out against the former president two years ago, has said he is still deciding whether he will publicly back the former president or one of his rivals this year. He said he was watching for any election “surprises” as he weighs his support. “I’m in the let’s wait and see how this works. I’m not into the hypothetical world yet as much as you’d like me to be,” he said last week. As the primaries have now kicked off, the tone indicates more aggressiveness. In New Hampshire on Tuesday, Trump continued his winning streak in the Republican race against Nikki Haley, adding to his previous victory in Iowa. However, unlike the previous overwhelming outcome, Trump did not achieve a knockout blow. The allocation of New Hampshire’s 22 delegates saw Trump receiving 12 and Haley securing nine.
On the other side, despite not actively campaigning in New Hampshire, Joe Biden secured victory in the state’s Democratic presidential primary through a write-in campaign organized by his allies and surrogates. It is worth noting that hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman committed $1 million to support Rep. Dean Phillips’ challenge for the Democratic nomination, clearly looking for a change in the future of the party.
All this suggests that the business community no longer aligns with the current Democratic Party leadership. Although such businessmen hesitate to openly endorse Trump, there is growing skepticism toward Biden, who appears to have allowed the left-leaning middle management of his administration to exert significant influence. There is no doubt that leading executives are now starting to believe that the Democratic Party has been taken over by the progressives, pushing the entire political spectrum to the extremes. Their bullying tactics of cancel culture and forcing agendas that go against American family values have created the need for voters to look to Trump. This is why the next election goes beyond choosing the next president — it is about the risk to the core principles and values that have made the US the great nation that it is. And business leaders find themselves uneasy with both likely solutions, as they grapple with the risk posed to the country’s fundamental principles and values.
*Khaled Abou Zahr is the founder of SpaceQuest Ventures, a space-focused investment platform. He is chief executive of EurabiaMedia and editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.

Israel has two choices: Share the land or share the power
Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/January 25, 2024
It has been known for 30 years, but Western leaders only believed it when the top Israeli leader admitted it: Israel has no plans and no interest in allowing Palestinians to live in freedom on their land. The talk is not about Hamas or Gaza, the talk is about Palestinian areas occupied in 1967. At that time, the preamble of UN Security Council Resolution 242 noted that it is “inadmissible” to take land by war. Palestinians have always known that Israeli claims of peace were fake because they saw first-hand what it was doing; namely, creating facts on the ground that would make the creation of an independent Palestinian state impossible. Strategic locations were carefully sought and exclusive settlements for Jews were built there precisely to blunt any serious effort by Palestinians to fulfill their inalienable right to self-determination.
Sure, the Israelis give plenty of public support for peace — regularly blaming Palestinians for not being responsive enough, for inciting violence and for refusing to accept the concept of a “Jewish state.” But in reality, these were smokescreens aimed at fooling the international community.
World powers did oppose the settlements, sometimes calling them an obstacle to peace and, at other times, like in the last days of the Obama administration, clearly stated in a binding UNSC resolution that they were Illegal. But there were never any consequences for Israel or any real deterrent for ignoring the international will. There were never any consequences for Israel or any real deterrent for ignoring the international will
The Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent “take no prisoners” style of revenge that has shocked the world’s consciousness have reinvigorated world opinion. Naturally, political forces have returned to the drawing board and insisted — this time a little more seriously — that, after the end of the war on Gaza, a political solution that will satisfy Palestinians’ legitimate aspirations must be found.
This forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to admit that, for 30 years, he has been opposed to a Palestinian state and that it would never see the light while he was in power.
Again, the global community condemned these words, but it failed to translate these condemnations into pressure and create an irreversible process toward this goal. Western countries have the political weapons to create such a process. They can follow their own people’s desires (as often made in parliamentary resolutions) and recognize the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders. Such a move would change the paradigm. The gradual approach of the Oslo process did not work. Israel used this to relieve itself from guarding populated cities while flexing its settlement enterprise. The number of settlers in the West Bank has more than quadrupled in the 30 years since the famous White House lawn handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.
The public Israeli rejection of an independent Palestinian state has escalated calls for a different form of solution. If Israel refuses to share the land between the river and the sea with Palestinians, the only other realistic alternative is for Israel to agree to share power with Palestinians in the same historic Palestinian territory. The public Israeli rejection of an independent Palestinian state has escalated calls for a different solution
Marwan Muasher, the former Jordanian deputy prime minister and current vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, last month made this quite clear at the UNSC. The world will not accept Israel controlling the entire area and applying the war crime of apartheid, he argued, adding that therefore what is needed is a process that allows for equality between Israelis and Palestinians.
Previously, in a leaked video of a discussion the Israeli prime minister had with Jewish settlers, Netanyahu revealed that he had been working against the Oslo process in order to keep the land and deny the Palestinians statehood. But now that the issue is out in the limelight, the choices are crystal clear. Calls for a two-state solution will require serious pressure and the courage to recognize Palestine, even as a UN member state under occupation. Or, conversely, a new process must be launched to ensure that all the inhabitants of the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea have equal political rights.
The war on Gaza has been a human tragedy of the worst kind and the repercussions will last for decades. But the one issue that the war has revealed is the false Israeli peace claims and its justifications for refusing to end its military occupation of Palestinian lands. The latest pronouncements have vindicated Palestinians and brought to light the statements of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict did not start on Oct. 7, 2023.
The world community has a clear challenge now. If it is serious about the two-state solution, it must recognize Palestine and encourage the legitimate representatives of Israel and Palestine to negotiate the modalities as two UN member states. Short of that, all efforts must be placed on forcing Israel to grant equal political rights to all the people under its control. Put simply, Israel needs to decide to either share the land or share the power in historic Palestine — there is no third choice.
**Daoud Kuttab, an award-winning Palestinian journalist, is a director of Community Media Network. X: @daoudkuttab

G7 agenda emerges in face of geopolitical gale
Andrew Hammond/Arab News/January 25, 2024
The Italian-chaired G7 of 2024 is likely to be dominated by the geopolitical gale that is blowing from the Middle East and Europe. But the outline of a wider agenda, including energy security and artificial intelligence, has this month become much clearer.Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said the Global South “will be central” to Italy’s G7 presidency due to its economic, commercial and cultural importance. To this end, Meloni is likely to ensure that the Western club includes a wider circle of nations in this year’s meetings, including BRICS members India, Brazil and South Africa. Reflecting the focus on the Global South, one defining priority of Italy’s chairing of the event will be a new Africa-focused energy security and development plan, which Rome wants Western partners to embrace. Meloni wants the so-called Mattei scheme to be integrated into a broader “Marshall plan” for Africa. Named after Italian firm Eni’s founder, Enrico Mattei, the goal is to turn Italy into a major hub for energy transit from Africa to Europe, especially gas, potentially laying the ground for wider cooperation in other sectors.
A key part of the ambition here is promoting European energy security. In the two years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Italy has been at the vanguard of the 25 energy deals the EU has signed with Africa. To put this number into context, it represents about a fifth of the total 122 energy agreements signed by Europe since February 2022, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations’ EU Energy Deals Tracker.
The G7’s geopolitical dialogues have been met with significant international criticism from time to time
Important as this energy security agenda is, however, the goal of Italy’s Mattei plan is broader. Another aim is to boost African growth to help stabilize the continent and reduce migration through equitable energy partnerships and wider cooperation.
Meloni said this month: “What needs to be done in Africa is not charity. What needs to be done is to build cooperation and serious strategic relationships as equals, not predators.” She has stressed the need “to defend the right not to have to emigrate ... and this is done with investments and a strategy.”
The reason Meloni is putting such G7 priority on this is her domestic electoral promise to stop massive migration flows to Italy. In 2023, the path from North Africa across the Central Mediterranean to Italy became Europe’s busiest migration route. Data from Italy's Interior Ministry highlights that migrant arrivals in Italy skyrocketed 50 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year. Some 155,750 migrants reached the nation last year, up from 103,850 in 2022.
A second plank of Italy’s G7 economics agenda is centered on AI and inequality. Meloni says she wants to focus on creating “ethical guardrails” for the development of the technology, including a potential steering committee to ensure greater G7 coordination on AI.
Despite the importance of this economic agenda for Meloni, geopolitics will inevitably be a massive focus as well. In recent years, the G7 has assumed a bigger role as a global geopolitical linchpin — and this has only increased since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As well as this year’s G7 priority of Ukraine, a second key focus for the Italian government is the conflict in Gaza and the wider Middle East. This includes the growing threat to commercial shipping in the Red Sea due to Houthi attacks.
The group has previously been at its best in times of crisis and when tackling the big issues of the moment
In recent years, issues such as the geopolitics of the South China Sea have also been on the G7 agenda. And then there is the issue of economic coercion, which the Western club has asserted “undermines the policies and positions of G7 members as well as partners around the world.” For instance, when Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in Vilnius in 2021, China started limiting imports from the country.
The G7 last year announced a new economic coercion toolkit to “increase collective assessment, preparedness, deterrence and response.” This includes a “coordination platform” to help nations assist each other by increasing trade or funding to any country that is targeted.
The focus on these topics has prompted strong objections from China, which asserts that the G7 should focus on its founding mandate of global economic cooperation. As this reaction indicates, the G7’s geopolitical dialogues have been met with significant international criticism from time to time.
It is sometimes asserted, especially by developing countries, that the G7 lacks the legitimacy of the UN to engage in these geopolitical and security issues and/or is a historical artifact given the rise of powers such as the BRICS nations. However, the international security role of the G7 is not new. The body helped coordinate Western strategy toward the then-Soviet Union during the Cold War, for instance. Its capacity for action was shown when it played an important role in convincing Moscow to pull the remnants of the Red Army out of the Baltic states.
There are many international skeptics of the Italian G7 producing any meaningful outcomes this year. However, the group has previously been at its best in times of crisis and when tackling the big issues of the moment. The fact it was founded in 1975, in the aftermath of the geopolitical and economic shocks after Washington pulled out of the gold standard, underlines the argument that it is fit for purpose amid today’s turbulence.
For all these reasons, geopolitics is set to dominate the Italian-hosted G7, despite its parallel emphasis on economics. The stress on international security may only grow if events in Ukraine and the Middle East escalate further.
*Andrew Hammond is an Associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.

How South Africa’s genocide case against Israel could influence the course of Gaza war
REBECCA ANNE PROCTOR/Arab News/January 25, 2024
DUBAI: Whichever way the UN’s highest court rules in the case lodged by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, the high-profile proceedings alone may well be enough to change the course of the conflict, experts claim.
An interim ruling in the case, heard by a 17-judge panel at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, could be delivered on Friday, which might include a set of emergency measures against Israel. A verdict, however, may be years away.
Even if the court ultimately shoots down the South African team’s case and absolves Israel of breaching the Genocide Convention, the trial has had a profound impact on world opinion, with potential ramifications for the war and the international order.
“Because a ruling may be years off, the importance of the court looking at this case is that it may swiftly order provisional measures to prevent future genocidal acts,” Joost R. Hiltermann, Middle East and North Africa program director at International Crisis Group, told Arab News.
“While the court has no enforcement mechanism, its decisions carry enormous moral weight and thus may add to international pressure on Israel to start acting with restraint in its military operations in Gaza.
“That would already be an enormous step forward, although what is really needed to save innocent lives is an immediate ceasefire.”
FASTFACTS
• South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide under the 1948 Geneva Convention.
• Israel has declassified secret orders, which it says rebut the charge of genocidal intent.
• Whatever the ICJ’s verdict, experts say Israel’s international image has been tarnished.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which saw Palestinian militants kill some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and take another 240 hostage, including many foreign nationals.
Since then, the Israeli army has waged a ferocious air and ground campaign against Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, killing more than 25,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Millions more have been displaced by the fighting, forcing them to live in exposed tent cities with limited access to food, potable water, and health services. UN experts have referred to the situation in Gaza as an “unfolding genocide.”
Palestinians in Gaza now make up 80 percent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide, marking an unparalleled humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s continued bombardment and siege, according to UN human rights experts.
“Currently, every single person in Gaza is hungry, a quarter of the population are starving and struggling to find food and drinkable water, and famine is imminent,” the group of UN special rapporteurs said in a joint statement.
On Wednesday, Israeli tanks reportedly struck a UN-run vocational training compound in Khan Younis that was sheltering some 30,000 displaced Palestinians, inflicting “mass casualties,” according to the UN.
The attack prompted rare condemnation from the US — Israel’s main international ally. With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government vowing to continue until Hamas is destroyed, the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza has prompted several states, including South Africa, to accuse Israel of genocide.
The charges filed by South Africa against Israel at the ICJ focus on five main “genocidal acts,” including the mass killing of Palestinians, the infliction of serious mental and bodily harm, forced displacement and a blockade on essential supplies, the complete destruction of health services, and the prevention of births by blocking life-saving medical treatment and aid.
The Genocide Convention of 1948 does not define genocide solely as killing members of a particular ethnic or national group but says the killings must be committed “with intent to destroy” that group.
South Africa has tried to prove genocidal intent by citing more than 50 comments and statements made since October by Israeli leaders, lawmakers, soldiers and commentators.
Israel has declassified over 30 secret orders made by government and military leaders, which it says rebut the charge that it had genocidal intent in Gaza and instead show Israeli efforts to diminish deaths among Palestinian civilians.
Netanyahu himself issued a formal statement designed to reassure the court that Israel was acting in self-defense after the Oct. 7 attack and dismissed suggestions that Israel was seeking to expel Palestinians from Gaza.
In a recent analysis, Maha Yahya, director of the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, said that no matter the outcome of the ICJ case, it has already seriously tainted Israel’s global image.
“The Gaza conflict has also redefined Israel’s image,” she said. “Its occupation and settlement of Palestinian land, like its apartheid policies, are increasingly being seen as the remnants of a bygone colonial era.”
There are doubts, however, as to whether any measures demanded by the ICJ will have sufficient teeth to impact Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
People ferry water at a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah near the border with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on January 24, 2024. (AFP)
“Irrespective of the outcome of the judgment, many experts have said that it is unlikely that South Africa will get all of the provisional measures that it has asked for,” Thandiwe Matthews, a human rights attorney and lecturer in law and development studies at the Wits School of Governance, told Arab News.
According to Matthews, the primary measures that are urgently needed include guaranteeing access for humanitarian aid deliveries to Gazan civilians and an immediate and lasting ceasefire.
“Of course, the merits of the case would then be investigated over many years,” she said. “But what this means significantly, I think, as a South African, is that this is not the first time that South Africa has used the international governance system to highlight both Western hypocrisy on the one hand or the double standards in international law that tend to excuse the behavior of the West and yet condemn similar behavior of the (Global) South.”
And although the enforcement of any measures against Israel will be a matter for the UN Security Council, where the US will likely exercise its veto powers, Matthews believes the trial in itself has set an important precedent.
“What is very clear though, is that ordinary people are saying: ‘Enough,’” said Matthews. “It is the first time that Israel has been brought before the ICJ by South Africa.”While several states in the Global South have rallied around South Africa’s case, European governments have been less enthusiastic about the trial and even opposed to the charge of genocide.
Shortly after the two-day hearing, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic — all staunch allies of Israel — rejected the claim of genocide. Hungary condemned the case, while Berlin said it would intervene on Israel’s behalf at the ICJ.
Last week, officials in France, home to Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish minorities, and which has banned pro-Palestinian protests since the Oct. 7 attacks, said Paris likewise does not support the ICJ case against Israel.
Meanwhile, aid organizations have chosen not to take a side in the case, although they have continued to stress the need to uphold international humanitarian law.
Palestinian women mourn outside the Najjar hospital in Rafah during a group burial on January 25, 2024 for relatives killed in the latest Israeli bombardment of Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. (AFP)
“It is not for the ICRC to comment publicly on this question,” Jessica Moussan, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told Arab News.
“We focus on violations of international humanitarian law at large, and their humanitarian consequences for people, which we address as part of our confidential dialogue with the authorities concerned.
“We continue to insist that the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza constitute occupied territory and that Palestinians living in those areas constitute protected persons under the Geneva Conventions.”
Moussan stressed that wars have limits set out under international humanitarian law, which provides “rules to protect all those not or no longer directly participating in the hostilities, such as civilians or those deprived of liberty.”
While a conclusive verdict in the ICJ case may be far off and would likely have limited practical consequences in reality, it has marked a significant blow to public sympathy for Israel and at the very least has drawn world attention to the ongoing suffering in Gaza.