Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 03-04/2024
How Hezbollah Fundraises Through Crime/Emanuele Ottolenghi/The Cipher Brief/July 02/2024
Israel assassinates second senior Hezbollah commander
Israel assassinates Hezbollah's Aziz Unit Commander Hajj Abu Nehmeh in Tyre drone strike
Hezbollah rains rockets on Israeli bases after another top commander assassinated
Hezbollah fires 100 rockets at Israeli positions following commander's death
Samy Gemayel meets Australian Ambassador, affirms need to 'liberate Lebanon's decision-making from domination'
Lebanese Committee on Foreign Affairs presents impacts of Israeli attacks on villages and towns in south
Gemayel to LBCI: Lebanon's right to solely armed army must be affirmed, warns of risks in partial implementation of Resolution 1701
Mossad: Israel considering Hamas' response to ceasefire proposal in Gaza
Truce possible if Israel stops attacks and assassinations, says
Mikati Calls on International Community to Halt Israeli Attacks on
The Opposition’s Voice Goes Unheard by the Shiite Duo
LF Responds to Bassil’s ‘Slander’
Qassem: If Israel wages war, it won't control its extent or who enters it
Macron urges Netanyahu to prevent Israel-Hezbollah 'conflagration'
Hochstein reportedly asked Hezbollah to limit attacks to Shebaa
Franco-Lebanese businessman buys one of France's biggest news channels
Lebanese-American accused of stabbing Rushdie rejects plea deal
Lebanon accuses US embassy shooter of IS ties

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 03-04/2024
Some Israeli hostages have attempted suicide, Islamic Jihad armed wing says
Lebanese farmers dig for answers on Israel's white phosphorus use
Two people wounded in attack in Israeli mall, police say
Iran's Khamenei says turnout in presidential election was 'lower than expected'
Saeed Jalili, a hard-line former negotiator known as a 'true believer,' seeks Iran's presidency
Israel's next headache: who will run post-war Gaza?
Sinwar, Israel’s Problem After 8 Months of War
UN says Israel evacuation order 'wiped out' bid to improve Gaza aid
A Gaza Ceasefire May Follow Netanyahu’s Visit to Washington
Mossad: Israel considering Hamas' response to ceasefire proposal in Gaza
Israel studying Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire proposal, says Mossad
Anti-settlement group says Israel has made largest West Bank land seizure in 3 decades
US Officials Who Have Resigned in Protest over Biden’s Gaza Policy
Putin Hold Talks with Erdogan in Astana
Estimates of Hunger, Disease Claiming 990 Lives in Sudan’s Darfur
Iran’s Khatami: 60% Non-Participation Unprecedented, Signaling Majority Anger
Members of new Egyptian Cabinet sworn in
Biden 'absolutely not' withdrawing from White House race

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on July 03-04/2024
Big Lies About Israel/Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute/July 03, 2024
Coptic Bishop Warns West Against Islam: ‘You Are Up Next… My Story Is Your Story/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/July 03, 2024
Netanyahu's War: Specificities That Are Not Specific/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/July 03/2024
What the UK general election might mean for the Middle East/JONATHAN GORNALL/Arab News/July 03, 2024
UK voters poised to land a blow against populism/Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/July 03/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 03-04/2024
How Hezbollah Fundraises Through Crime/Emanuele Ottolenghi/The Cipher Brief/July 02/2024
كيفية تمويل حزب الله من خلال الجريمة؟
د. إيمانويل أوتولينغي/موقع سيفر بريف/02  تموز/ 2024  (ترجمة من الإنكليزية بواسطة موقع غوغل)
Posted: July 2nd, 2024
By Emanuele Ottolenghi/The Cipher Brief/July 02/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/131315/131315/
OPINION — Hours after Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis on October 7, Hezbollah opened a second front against Israel on its northern border, re-igniting a conflict now at risk of escalating into a full-blown war. While Iran provides most of its financing, crime is a core component of Hezbollah’s fundraising – in fact, the group’s avowed religious pieties notwithstanding, there is almost no crime from which its overseas networks will refrain in their pursuit of money: Drug trafficking, gun running, blood diamonds, illicit timber, even human trafficking. 
Disrupting Hezbollah’s overseas revenue streams would diminish its ability to sustain itself, and should remain a key U.S. policy objective. If the Biden administration is serious about preventing the Israel-Hezbollah conflict from widening, it should relaunch a previously successful strategy – since abandoned – that combined prosecutions, sanctions, and diplomacy to not only identify core Hezbollah financial networks through sanctions but also bring many of Hezbollah’s members to justice.
Open source studies and public statements from U.S. officials dating to 2018 indicate that involvement in illicit activities generated 30% of Hezbollah’s annual operating budget of roughly $1 billion, with Iran providing the rest. But a closer look at Hezbollah’s narcotrafficking operations suggests its proceeds from criminal activity may far exceed those estimates.
Consider Hezbollah’s involvement in drug trafficking and trade-based money laundering (TBML). Hezbollah handles cocaine shipments and their distribution. It also launders proceeds through complex commercial schemes. Official estimates assume that the value of the global cocaine trade hovers between $425 and $650 billion annually, with counterfeiting – the largest source of illicit revenue globally, and a key component of Hezbollah’s TBML schemes – worth twice that, up to $1.13 trillion a year. While hardly the only global player, Hezbollah’s engagement in both activities is significant.
The Ayman Joumaa network – which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) exposed in 2011 and Treasury linked to Hezbollah in 2012 – was laundering up to $200 million a month for Mexican and Colombian cartels. Joumaa, according to the DEA, took a hefty 8-14% commission for his services. Assuming the 2018 estimates are correct, the Joumaa operation alone would have generated at least two-thirds of Hezbollah’s annual revenue from illicit activities. And while Joumaa’s operation was eventually disrupted, his complex scheme to launder drug proceeds continued to operate long after sanctions and indictments were made public.
Joumaa’s money laundering organization was not the only game in town. The DEA estimated Hezbollah’s proceeds from drug trafficking alone to have been higher than the overall U.S. estimate of its global fundraising efforts. A 2016 DEA affidavit filed with a Florida court in a Hezbollah money laundering case put the value of Hezbollah’s annual proceeds from narcotics at $400 million – and even that might now be a conservative estimate.
Beyond narcotics
Moreover, the illicit global narcotics trade isn’t Hezbollah’s only source of revenue. Hezbollah plays a large part in the illicit economy of the Tri-Border region of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, which is said to generate at least $5 billion a year in illicit transactions. The group likewise helps Venezuela’s regime launder money through multiple way points, and it runs several fraudulent schemes in West Africa. Hezbollah’s presence in West Africa is even more widespread and influential than in Latin America. U.S. authorities, for example, seized $50 million in 2019 from convicted Hezbollah financier Kassim Tajideen as part of a civil forfeiture action against his money laundering activities on behalf of Hezbollah. Tajideen’s family companies and networks are still active in Africa, as are others.
The success of Hezbollah’s overseas networks depends on more than being good at business and in cahoots with crime syndicates. Corruption also plays a large role in helping Hezbollah and its associates perpetuate their malfeasance. Trafficking and laundering depend on the ability of terror groups to establish working relations with crime syndicates, which can evolve into veritable and increasingly symbiotic partnerships. Both criminals and terror financiers depend on one another for the supply of illicit merchandise, their transport, distribution, and laundering of the proceeds from sales. Critically, both rely on their ability to infiltrate state institutions at all levels – police, customs, border guards, port workers, the judiciary, and elected officials – and put them on their payrolls to protect their own commercial enterprises.
As the former Assistant Secretary for Treasury’s Terror Finance Intelligence unit, Marshall Billingslea, said, in a speech at the Atlantic Council in September 2019, “Hezbollah supplements its income by using businessmen to operate a wide range of companies, using political relationships to gain favored contracts and even monopolies in prominent sectors … Hezbollah also benefits from various international criminal schemes, including money laundering, drug trafficking and counterfeiting, operated by its supporters, sympathizers, and members.”
Thanks to the global nature of the Shi’a Lebanese diaspora, Hezbollah has loyalists just about everywhere. Since its establishment in the early 1980s, Hezbollah has successfully infiltrated diaspora communal institutions, from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to Foz do Iguaçu, on Brazil’s side of the Tri-Border Area, using them to nurture loyalty and indoctrinate new generations. Lebanese Shi’a businessmen are happy to welcome the party’s emissaries, and even to provide them with assistance. It is a mutually beneficial relationship which gives diaspora communities the ability to support the party’s struggle for power in Lebanon and against its enemies in the region, but also gives them access to Hezbollah’s patronage system, which connects them to their roots.
As a result, Hezbollah can launder money globally, through intricate networks built not just on religious and party allegiance, but also on blood ties and clan loyalties. Through their businesses, friendly Lebanese merchants support TBML schemes that move merchandise such as used cars, electronics, brand clothing, and cosmetics to cover the transfer of illicit proceeds. Hezbollah relies on money exchange houses, both in Lebanon and overseas, to move currency. It also has access to Lebanon’s banking system through a Hezbollah-controlled phantom bank, the U.S.-sanctioned Al Qard Al Hassan.
Further, Hezbollah’s militia commanders and clerics have relatives managing businesses across the world. For example, Sheikh Khalil Rizk, a Hezbollah cleric who plays a key role inside the group’s foreign relations department, has a brother who runs a cell phone business in São Paulo, Brazil. Mohamad Mansour, a Hezbollah operative arrested in Egypt over a decade ago, also has a brother running a business in São Paulo, just two blocks away from Sheikh Rizk’s sibling. The de facto leader of Hezbollah’s financial operations in the Tri-Border Area, Assad Ahmad Barakat, is the brother of Sheikh Akram Barakat, another figure in Hezbollah’s clerical hierarchy. The Barakat family’s business interests extend across Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, and Angola. Joumaa ran his business from Colombia with his brother and his cousin, who is still there. And throughout the years, communities across Latin America have periodically mourned Hezbollah’s fallen fighters, revealing the deep familial ties that connect the diaspora to the party and its militant struggles.
In short, Hezbollah relies on a worldwide network of familial ties, much like its Christian Mediterranean counterpart, the Italian Mafia.
Fighting these networks and disrupting their revenue streams would have a dramatic impact on Hezbollah’s ability to arm itself and continue to be the dominant player in Lebanon’s politics. If the Biden administration truly wishes to defuse the current escalation along the Israel-Lebanon border, relaunching a strategy aimed at drying up Hezbollah funding sources would be an excellent starting point.
Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi is a senior fellow at FDD and an expert at FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP) focused on Hezbollah’s Latin America illicit threat networks and Iran’s history of sanctions evasion. He is author of The Pasdaran: Inside Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran: The Looming Crisis, and Under a Mushroom Cloud: Europe, Iran and the Bomb.
https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column_article/how-hezbollah-fundraises-through-crime

Israel assassinates second senior Hezbollah commander
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/July 03, 2024
BEIRUT: An Israeli drone targeted a car east of the city of Tyre on Wednesday, killing a senior Hezbollah commander and severely injuring a second man who later died as a result.
Mohammed Naameh Nasser, known as Abu Naameh, was the commander of the Aziz Unit which is responsible for the western sector of southern Lebanon.
He held a position equal to that of Taleb Sami Abdullah, known as Abu Taleb, who was assassinated two weeks ago.
Abu Taleb, commander of the Nasr Unit, was the first senior field commander to be killed in the ongoing conflict with the Israeli army for eight months. He died in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the town of Jouaiyya, about 15 km from the southern border. Three Hezbollah cadres were killed alongside him. The intensity of Israeli attacks has fluctuated over the past few days. Attacks began on Wednesday morning with a combat drone shelling the town square in Taybeh. The border town of Kfarkela was subjected to Israeli artillery shelling at dawn, with an Israeli Merkava tank targeting a house near the border wall. Prime Minister Najib Mikati said: “The Israeli attacks on the south and the deliberate killing of its people, the destruction of towns, and the burning of crops, are terrorist aggression; the international community must put an end to its persistence and crimes.”
He reiterated his question to “international stakeholders involved in initiatives” about “the steps taken to maintain calm, exercise restraint on the southern border, curb the enemy, and stop the approach of killing and destruction,” noting “the escalating Israeli violations of national sovereignty and its ongoing and extensive breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.” Mikati added: “Lebanon’s choice has always been and still is peace. Our culture is one of peace built on rights, justice, and international law, especially Resolution 1701. But we are a people who will not accept attacks on our sovereignty, national dignity, and the safety of our lands and civilians, especially children and women.
“Violations of all agreements and genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza must not go unnoticed by the world, which is passively watching the ongoing aggression.”He added: “The essence of peace is for the Palestinian people to live on their land in a free and independent state, and any attempt to bypass these principles will lead to further crises in the Middle East and the world.”Lebanon is counting on the American-French initiative to prevent further escalation in the south of the country. A meeting is scheduled between Jean-Yves le Drian, the French envoy to Lebanon, and American envoy Amos Hochstein. This will focus on de-escalation as a solution to repatriating displaced persons on both sides of the Blue Line. On the eve of Hochstein’s arrival in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the absolute importance” of preventing an escalation of the situation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
A statement from the Elysee Palace said that Macron emphasized “the urgent need for all parties to move quickly toward a diplomatic solution and stressed the necessity of exercising the utmost restraint.” It added that during the phone call the two leaders discussed ongoing diplomatic efforts.
In Beirut, the deputy head of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, told the Associated Press that “the only confirmed way to achieve a ceasefire on the Lebanese border is through a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza.”He described Hezbollah’s participation in supporting Gaza as a “front of support for the steadfast Palestinian people and their valiant resistance.”He added: “If the war stops, this military support will no longer exist,” and continued: “If Israel reduces its military operations without a formal ceasefire agreement and complete withdrawal from Gaza, the implications of the border conflict between Lebanon and Israel will be less clear. “If what will happen in Gaza is a combination between a ceasefire and no ceasefire, war and no war, then we cannot answer what our reaction will be now, because we do not know its form, results and effects.” Qassem warned that if Israel intended to launch a limited operation in Lebanon that did not amount to a comprehensive war, it should not expect the fighting to remain limited. “It should expect that our response and resistance will not be within the ceiling and rules of engagement determined by Israel,” he said. Tehran heightened its support for Hezbollah in the face of a potential Israeli attack.
Kamal Kharazi, the foreign affairs adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, told the Financial Times that “in the event of a broad Israeli offensive against Hezbollah, there is a risk of sparking a regional conflict where Tehran and the resistance axis will back Hezbollah fully.”
However, he emphasized that “Iran does not seek a regional war and that expanding the conflict is not beneficial to anyone.”

Israel assassinates Hezbollah's Aziz Unit Commander Hajj Abu Nehmeh in Tyre drone strike
LBCI/July 03/2024
On Wednesday, Israel assassinated Hezbollah's Aziz Unit Commander Mohammad Nehmeh Nasser, also known as Hajj Abu Nehmeh, three weeks after assassinating Nasr Unit Commander Talib Sami Abdallah, known as Abou Talib. Commander Mohammad Nehmeh Nasser was targeted by a drone strike in Tyre, southern Lebanon earlier on Wednesday. Both are reportedly responsible for the first line of defense. It is presumed that Abou Talib is responsible for the eastern sector, while Hajj Abu Nehmeh is responsible for the western sector of the line of defense. Additionally, just like other senior commanders, shortly after his assassination, pictures of him and Iranian General Qassem Soleimani surfaced. Commander Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone in 2020, served as the top commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards and reportedly helped Iran fight proxy wars across the Middle East region.

Hezbollah rains rockets on Israeli bases after another top commander assassinated
Naharnet/July 03/2024
Hezbollah said it fired more than 100 rockets at Israeli positions on Wednesday in retaliation for a strike that killed a senior commander in south Lebanon, the movement's second such loss in recent weeks. Hezbollah has traded near daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army since its Palestinian ally Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in Gaza, but an uptick in bellicose rhetoric from both sides in recent weeks has raised fears of all-out war. "A Hezbollah commander responsible for one of three sectors in south Lebanon was killed" in an "Israeli strike on a car in Tyre," a source close to the group told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media. Hezbollah later said that "commander Mohammad Naameh Nasser," also known as "Hajj Abou Naameh" had been killed, and also announced the death of a second fighter.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it "eliminated" Nasser, saying he was "the commander of the Hezbollah terrorist organization's Aziz Unit which is responsible for firing from southwestern Lebanon at Israeli territory."In consecutive statements, Hezbollah said that "as part of the response to the attack and assassination that the enemy carried out" in south Lebanon's Tyre, its fighters attacked three positions in the Israeli-annexed Syrian Golan Heights with over 100 Katyusha rockets.Hezbollah also claimed another retaliatory attack with Falaq rockets on a base in northern Israel's Kiryat Shmona as well as an attack with Burkan rockets on the Zar'it barracks. An Israeli military spokesperson told AFP that about 100 rocket launches had been made towards Israel from Lebanon.
'Prevent a conflagration' -
The source close to Hezbollah said Nasser had the same rank as Taleb Abdallah, a commander killed in an Israeli strike last month who was described by a Lebanese military source at the time as the "most important" Hezbollah commander killed to date.
That strike prompted Hezbollah to intensify its attacks on Israeli targets, firing barrages of rockets across the border in the days that followed. The Israeli army statement Wednesday said that Nasser and Abdallah "served as two of the most significant Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon."A second source close to Hezbollah, also requesting anonymity, said Nasser was the third senior Hezbollah commander to be killed in almost nine months of hostilities. In January, a security source said an Israeli strike killed Wissam Hassan Tawil, another top commander from the group. Nasser's death followed a relative easing of cross-border exchanges over the past week, after threats on both sides had intensified. Hezbollah announced a series of other attacks on Israeli troops and positions near the border on Wednesday, while Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli attacks in other parts of south Lebanon. Fears the violence, so far largely restricted to the border area, could turn into all-out war have sparked a flurry of diplomatic efforts to lower tensions. On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent a "conflagration" between Israel and Hezbollah. U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who has made repeated visits to Lebanon in recent months, was due in Paris on Wednesday where he was due to meet with Macron's Lebanon envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian. The cross-border violence has killed at least 495 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including 95 civilians, according to an AFP tally. Israeli authorities say at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed.

Hezbollah fires 100 rockets at Israeli positions following commander's death
LBCI/July 03/2024
Hezbollah militants have launched a series of rocket attacks targeting Israeli military positions in response to what they describe as an "attack and assassination" in the southern coastal city of Tyre. According to a statement issued by Hezbollah, their fighters fired approximately a hundred Katyusha rockets at the headquarters of the 210th Golan Brigade in Nafah barracks and the Air Defense and Missile Unit headquarters at Kela'a barracks. Additionally, Hezbollah carried out a separate attack using Falaq rockets on the headquarters of Brigade 769 located at Kiryat Shmona barracks. "As part of the response to the attack and assassination that Israel carried out in Tyre," the statement from Hezbollah concluded, "Hezbollah fighters attacked two Israeli positions in the annexed Golan Heights with 100 Katyusha rockets."

Samy Gemayel meets Australian Ambassador, affirms need to 'liberate Lebanon's decision-making from domination'
LBCI/July 03/2024
The leader of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, MP Samy Gemayel, met with the Australian Ambassador, Andrew Barnes, to discuss developments, particularly in southern Lebanon. The meeting was attended by members of the political bureau, former minister Professor Alain Hakim, Ghassan Abou Jaoude, and the head of the Foreign Relations Department, Marwan Abdallah. The Australian Ambassador was accompanied by the embassy's political advisor, Ben Craig. The President of the Kataeb Party stressed during the meeting that "Lebanon cannot reclaim its role unless it liberates its decision-making from Hezbollah's grip.'' He added, ''Hezbollah currently controls the institutions, determines war and peace, blocks the path to electing a president, imposes its candidate, and rejects pursuing a third option that could engage with all parties and save Lebanon."The President of the Kataeb Party reiterated his refusal "to be held hostage or involved in any axis that leads to wars serving foreign agendas and regional ambitions, especially as Lebanon faces its worst crisis in history." He explained to his visitor that "a full-scale war would extinguish any hope for Lebanon's near recovery."

Lebanese Committee on Foreign Affairs presents impacts of Israeli attacks on villages and towns in south
LBCI/July 03/2024
The Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Emigrants has completed a series of meetings with ambassadors and heads of Arab and foreign diplomatic missions, which were dedicated to discussing the health, social, economic, and environmental impacts of Israeli attacks on villages and towns in the south. The committee presented a report prepared by the Research Center, the Council for the South, and the Ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Social Affairs, which details the extent of the damage caused by the Israeli attacks, whether at the level of infrastructure, health, environment, agriculture, or the economy in the south.

Gemayel to LBCI: Lebanon's right to solely armed army must be affirmed, warns of risks in partial implementation of Resolution 1701
LBC/July 03/2024
The leader of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, Samy Gemayel, said that Lebanon's right to have its weapons solely in the hands of the Lebanese army must be affirmed. In an interview with LBCI's "Hiwar Al Marhala" talk show, he warned that Resolution 1701 could be detrimental to Lebanon if partially implemented, leaving Hezbollah armed. Gemayel stated, "The Kataeb Party do not know surrender. We will defend our rights, our people, and our history."He added, ''In the current conflict, we believe the Lebanese must have representation at the negotiating table.''
''Hezbollah's problem is that it seeks control and dominance over Lebanon, and it needs its weapons to achieve that,'' Gemayel continued. He expressed, ''We are deeply sympathetic towards the Palestinians, but Hezbollah's support has demonstrated its aim to promote resistance in the Islamic world.''
Gemayel explained that if Hezbollah's goal were truly to liberate Palestine, it would have engaged with Hamas against Israel on October 7th. He added, ''Israel does not want war, and neither does Hezbollah. However, once a missile lands in a place where it must not, we risk being drawn into war.'' ''The attack on Bkerki was driven by its core political position, which is to defend Lebanon's sovereignty,'' he stated. Gemayel remarked, ''We refrained from visiting Bkerki due to security concerns. When Gebran Bassil criticized us, we reminded him that we have been the target of security threats, not him.''

Mossad: Israel considering Hamas' response to ceasefire proposal in Gaza
LBC/July 03/2024
The Israeli intelligence agency (Mossad) said in a statement that Israel is considering the response of Hamas to a proposal that includes an agreement on the release of hostages and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The statement issued by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on behalf of Mossad said, "The mediators in the hostage agreement presented Hamas' response to the negotiating team regarding the outlines of the hostage deal. Israel is studying the response and will reply to the mediators."

Truce possible if Israel stops attacks and assassinations, says
Naharnet/July 03/2024
Hezbollah and Speaker Nabih Berri told U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein during his latest Beirut visit that there might be “a new phase on the southern front if the Israelis stop the war and the assassinations,” describing such a phase as a “truce,” a senior Lebanese official said. Hochstein considered this stance “encouraging, seeing as Hezbollah did not link pacification and the truce to the end of security operations in occupied Palestine, but rather to their end in Lebanon, specifically in the south,” the official told Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper in remarks published Wednesday. Asked about what Lebanon should expect should there be a truce in the south, the senior official said: “Hochstein will swiftly arrive in the region to kick off negotiations over finalizing the land border (between Lebanon and Israel) and upgrading the cessation of hostilities stipulated in U.N. resolution 1701 into a (permanent) ceasefire.”

Mikati Calls on International Community to Halt Israeli Attacks on
This Is Beirut/July 03/2024
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the international community to put an end to the “terrorist” attacks carried out by Israel against southern Lebanon. In a speech delivered on Wednesday, July 3, at a conference titled “Lebanon: Situation and Role in Light of Israeli Violations and International Covenants,” Mikati reiterated Lebanon’s commitment to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, denouncing Israeli attacks against southern Lebanon and the deliberate murder of its inhabitants. He evoked his repeated calls for calm and restraint since the start of the war in Gaza and his warnings against the extension of the conflict to Lebanese territory. d in pan-Arab, national and humanitarian considerations, regarding what is happening in Gaza. He pointed out the atrocities in Al-Shifa Hospital, stressing that such violations of all covenants and considerations cannot be overlooked by the world.
The Prime Minister also expressed concern over the “genocide” being perpetrated against the people of the Gaza Strip, urging the international community to assume its responsibility towards Palestinian refugees. As a country hosting hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees since 1948, Mikati reiterated the international community’s humanitarian and moral responsibility towards these refugees. He asserted that any peace agreement would be futile without guaranteeing the right of return for Palestinians, adding that attempts to prevent them from living in a free and independent state will only lead to further crises in the Middle East and beyond.

The Opposition’s Voice Goes Unheard by the Shiite Duo
Bassam Abou Zeid/This is Lebanon/July 03/2024
The opposition forces’ actions and stances have been calling for an immediate ceasefire in southern Lebanon and the urgent election of a president, all while being in a state of anticipation. According to sources within the parliamentary opposition, Lebanon’s ongoing war and the looming threat of its escalation require immediate parliamentary dialogue. Consequently, opposition MPs have called for a session to discuss this issue. These sources questioned Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri’s assessment of the risks associated with electing a president without dialogue while overlooking Lebanon’s vulnerability to being drawn into war by Hezbollah. This faction knows how the war was initiated but ignores how to end it. The opposing parliamentary sources believe their voice will go unheard by the Amal and Hezbollah duo. Nevertheless, they assert that they have at least prompted everyone to confront their responsibilities regarding the potential outcomes and consequences of the situation. Furthermore, these sources noted that the factions opposing Hezbollah contend with moderate groups, including the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). They explained that while the FPM does not openly oppose Hezbollah’s actions, its collaboration with the opposition in endorsing Jihad Azour for the presidency is perceived as a strategic maneuver to pressure Hezbollah rather than a genuine endorsement of Azour. They pointed out that some of the FPM’s positions, which claim to disagree with Hezbollah on the southern war, are seen as attempts to leverage and secure personal interests for its leader, MP Gebran Bassil. These sources described the FPM as a Trojan horse within the opposition, highlighting its exposure due to opportunism and a primary focus on personal gain. As for the PSP, opposition parliamentary sources see it as adopting a policy of constructive neutrality towards Hezbollah. They note two distinct positions within the party, with some members criticizing Hezbollah while others support it, which they argue undermines opposition unity. They suggest that under different regional circumstances, the PSP might have shifted allegiance, but for now, it remains in the middle, seeking to justify its stance as reasonable while driven by a fear of confrontation and its potential consequences.

LF Responds to Bassil’s ‘Slander’
This Is Beirut/July 03/2024
The Lebanese Forces (LF) quickly responded to the “false statements” made against them by the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil, stressing their role as an “impenetrable barrier” against attempts to change Lebanon’s identity by imposing new norms that contradict the Constitution.
LF MP Sethrida Geagea asserted on Wednesday that the party will not yield to intimidation or incitement tactics employed by certain factions in the past, and that the LF, along with other opposition parties, will persist in their demand for strict adherence to the Constitution.
These remarks came in response to Bassil’s speech during his tour in Akkar on Sunday, in which he accused the LF of obstructing the presidential election by refusing to engage in dialogue called for by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Geagea countered that the LF is being politically isolated and targeted by a campaign of false accusations, aiming to execute a plan to prolong the country’s economic and financial crisis. She also addressed the rumors circulating about a strain in relations between the LF and the Maronite Patriarchate, dismissing them as baseless and highlighting the historically strong ties between the two. LF MP Pierre Bou Assi also hit back at Bassil’s accusations regarding the influx of Syrian migrants into Lebanon in 2011. He pointed out that it was the FPM that had requested UN agencies to stop registering Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Bou Assi also pointed out that the FPM had failed to demand access to data from the UNHCR during their six years in power, either out of complicity or cowardice. Bou Assi invited the FPM to a public debate on this issue, reminding them that the matter falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior, in collaboration with the Ministries of Education, Health, Labor and Social Affairs.

Qassem: If Israel wages war, it won't control its extent or who enters it
Naharnet/July 03/2024 
The deputy leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has said the only sure path to a cease-fire on the Lebanon-Israel border is a full cease-fire in Gaza. "If there is a cease-fire in Gaza, we will stop without any discussion," Hezbollah's deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press at the group's political office in Beirut's southern suburbs. Hezbollah's participation in the Israel-Hamas war has been as a "support front" for its ally, Hamas, Qassem said, and "if the war stops, this military support will no longer exist."
But, he said, if Israel scales back its military operations without a formal cease-fire agreement and full withdrawal from Gaza, the implications for the Lebanon-Israel border conflict are less clear. "If what happens in Gaza is a mix between cease-fire and no cease-fire, war and no war, we can't answer (how we would react) now, because we don't know its shape, its results, its impacts," Qassem said during a 40-minute interview. Talks of a cease-fire in Gaza have faltered in recent weeks, raising fears of an escalation on the Lebanon-Israel front. Hezbollah has traded near-daily strikes with Israeli forces along their border over the past nine months. The low-level conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border. In northern Israel, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed; in Lebanon, more than 450 people — mostly fighters but also dozens of civilians — have been killed. Hamas has demanded an end to the war in Gaza, and not just a pause in fighting, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to make such a commitment until Israel realizes its goals of destroying Hamas' military and governing capabilities and brings home the roughly 120 hostages still held by Hamas. Last month, the Israeli army said it had "approved and validated" plans for an offensive in Lebanon if no diplomatic solution was reached to the ongoing clashes. Any decision to launch such an operation would have to come from the country's political leadership.
Some Israeli officials have said they are seeking a diplomatic solution to the standoff and hope to avoid war. At the same time, they have warned that the scenes of destruction seen in Gaza will be repeated in Lebanon if war breaks out.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, is far more powerful than Hamas and believed to have a vast arsenal of rockets and missiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel. Qassem said he doesn't believe that Israel currently has the ability — or has made a decision — to launch a full-blown war with Hezbollah. He warned that even if Israel intends to launch a limited operation in Lebanon that stops short of a full-scale war, it should not expect the fighting to remain limited. "Israel can decide what it wants: limited war, total war, partial war," he said. "But it should expect that our response and our resistance will not be within a ceiling and rules of engagement set by Israel… If Israel wages the war, it means it doesn't control its extent or who enters into it."The latter was an apparent reference to Hezbollah's allies in the Iran-backed so-called "axis of resistance" in the region. Armed groups in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere — and, potentially, Iran itself — could enter the fray in the event of a full-scale war in Lebanon, which might also pull in Israel's strongest ally, the United States.
U.S. and European diplomats have made a circuit between Lebanon and Israel for months in an attempt to ward off a wider conflict. Qassem said he met on Saturday with Germany's deputy chief of intelligence, Ole Dieh, in Beirut. U.S. officials do not meet directly with Hezbollah because Washington has designated it a terrorist group, but they regularly send messages via intermediaries. Qassem said White House envoy Amos Hochstein had recently requested via intermediaries that Hezbollah apply pressure on Hamas to accept a cease-fire and hostage-exchange proposal put forward by U.S. President Joe Biden. He said Hezbollah had rejected the request. "Hamas is the one that makes its decisions and whoever wants to ask for something should talk to it directly," he said. Qassem criticized U.S. efforts to find a resolution to the war in Gaza, saying it has backed Israel's plans to end Hamas' presence in Gaza. A constructive deal, he said, would aim to end the war, get Israel to withdraw from Gaza, and ensure the release of hostages. Once a cease-fire is reached, then a political track can determine the arrangements inside Gaza and on the front with Lebanon, he added.

Macron urges Netanyahu to prevent Israel-Hezbollah 'conflagration'
Naharnet/July 03/2024
French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent a "conflagration" between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, during a telephone call between the two leaders. Macron "reiterated his serious concern over a deepening of tensions between Hezbollah and Israel... and underscored the absolute need to prevent a conflagration that would harm the interests of Lebanon as well as Israel," the French presidency said Tuesday in a statement. He also insisted on the "urgency for all parties to move rapidly toward a diplomatic solution" to end the conflict sparked by the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants in Gaza. "The two leaders discussed the diplomatic efforts underway towards this," the Elysee Palace said, ahead of a visit by the U.S. envoy for the conflict, Amos Hochstein, to Paris on Wednesday. Hochstein is scheduled to meet with Macron's Lebanon envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian following visits to Israel and Lebanon in June to try to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. Macron also called on Netanyahu to refrain from any "new operation" in Gaza near Rafah or Khan Younis, "which would only aggravate the human toll and a humanitarian situation that is already catastrophic", the Elysee said. The Israeli army on Monday ordered the evacuation of most areas east of Khan Yunis and Rafah along the Egyptian border. It did not explicitly announce a military operation, but such orders have typically preceded major offensives. The announcement sparked a mass exodus of Palestinians from parts of southern Gaza on Tuesday as Israeli forces launched deadly strikes and clashed with militants. Macron and Netanyahu also discussed recent "developments" in Iran's nuclear program, in particular reports of "the installation of new centrifuges" for enriching uranium. In mid-June, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tehran was further expanding its nuclear capabilities, with Western nations fearing the country is pursuing nuclear weapons following the U.S. withdrawal from a 2015 deal to limit its atomic program. The IAEA has said that Tehran has significantly ramped up its nuclear program and now has enough material to build several atomic bombs, though Iran says it is only for peaceful purposes. "France, with its partners, remains fully committed to continuing to exert pressure on the Iranian government, which must respect its international obligations and fully cooperate with the IAEA," Macron's office said.

Hochstein reportedly asked Hezbollah to limit attacks to Shebaa
Naharnet/July 03/2024 
White House envoy Amos Hochstein is visiting Paris Wednesday to meet with Macron's Lebanon envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, after he visited Israel and Lebanon in June. Hochstein discussed with Lebanese politicians a cease-fire on the Lebanon-Israel border and requested via intermediaries that Hezbollah apply pressure on Hamas to accept a cease-fire and hostage-exchange proposal put forward by U.S. President Joe Biden. Hezbollah rejected the request. Hochstein also urged Hezbollah to limit its attacks to the occupied Shebaa Farms, pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper reported Wednesday. The calm along the border would allow the displaced Lebanese and Israelis to return to the border villages. Hezbollah says the only sure path to a cease-fire on the Lebanon-Israel border is a full cease-fire in Gaza. Talks of a cease-fire in Gaza have faltered in recent weeks, raising fears of an escalation on the Lebanon-Israel front. Hezbollah has traded near-daily strikes with Israeli forces along their border over the past nine months. The low-level conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border. In northern Israel, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed; in Lebanon, more than 450 people — mostly fighters but also dozens of civilians — have been killed.

Franco-Lebanese businessman buys one of France's biggest news channels
Naharnet/July 03/2024
One of France's biggest news channels, BFMTV, was bought by billionaire shipping magnate Rodolphe Saade after the takeover was approved by regulators. Saade's CMA CGM Group announced the surprise buy-out of Altice Media, which owns BFMTV and the RMC radio station, in March for 1.55 billion euros ($1.66 billion). BFMTV had long been France's number one news channel, though in the last two months it has been overtaken for the first time by CNews -- seen as part of a rightward shift in the country's media landscape. CMA CGM said it had finalized the purchase after receiving the green light from media watchdog Arcom and the Competition Authority. "After having received the approval of the competent regulatory authorities, the CMA CGM group and Merit France (the family's holding company) today finalized the acquisition of 100 percent of the capital of 'Altice Media'," it said in a statement.
Saade, who has French and Lebanese citizenship, took over his Marseille-based shipping and logistics company from his father, Jacques Saade, who died in 2018. Forbes listed his personal fortune as $8.9 billion earlier this year. He has been working his way into French media, buying newspaper La Tribune and regional Provence dailies in recent years, as well as stakes in TV channel M6 and online video site Brut.

Lebanese-American accused of stabbing Rushdie rejects plea deal
Associated Press/July 03/2024
The man charged with stabbing author Salman Rushdie has rejected a plea deal that would have shortened his state prison term but exposed him to a federal terrorism-related charge, the suspect's lawyer said. Hadi Matar, 26, has been held without bail since the 2022 attack, in which he is accused of stabbing Rushdie more than a dozen times and blinding him in one eye as the acclaimed writer was onstage, about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York. Matar's attorney, Nathaniel Barone, confirmed that Matar, who lived in Fairview, New Jersey, rejected the agreement Tuesday in Mayville, New York. The agreement would have had Matar plead guilty in Chautauqua County to attempted murder in exchange for a maximum state prison sentence of 20 years, down from 25 years. It would have also required him to plead guilty to a federal charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, which could result in an additional 20 years, attorneys said. Rushdie, who detailed the attack and his recovery in a memoir, had spent years in hiding after the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, in 1989 calling for his death over Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses," which some Muslims consider blasphemous. The author reemerged into the public the late 1990s and has traveled freely over the past two decades. Matar was born in the U.S. but holds dual citizenship in Lebanon, where his parents were born. His mother has said that her son had become withdrawn and moody after visiting his father in Lebanon in 2018. Rushdie wrote in his memoir that he saw a man running toward him in the amphitheater, where he was about to speak about the importance of keeping writers safe from harm. The author is on the witness list for Matar's upcoming trial. Representatives for Rushdie did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Lebanon accuses US embassy shooter of IS ties
Agence France Presse/July 03/2024
Lebanese authorities have charged a man who opened fire on the U.S. embassy in Beirut with the crime of belonging to the Islamic State group, a judicial source said. Last month, a Syrian man was arrested for the shooting at the embassy entrance after having been seriously injured in the attack. "The government's commissioner to the military courts, Judge Fadi Akiki, charged Syrian national Qais Farraj with the crime of belonging to the IS terrorist group and carrying out terrorist acts" by perpetrating the embassy attack, the official told AFP Tuesday. Farraj has yet to be interrogated because he is still in intensive care at the Beirut military hospital, recovering from serious injuries after being shot by the Lebanese army, the official said. The assailant also possessed unlicensed weapons, said the official who requested anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to the press. "Akiki also charged two other people with the crime of trafficking unlicensed weapons. The pair had sold Farraj the machine gun and ammunition used in the attack," he added. Last month, Lebanese authorities arrested 20 people after the shooting, including Farraj's father, brother and clerics with links to the assailant.
In September last year, a gunman opened fire at the U.S. embassy, without causing casualties. Lebanese police alleged the shooter was a delivery driver seeking revenge for his perceived humiliation by security personnel. That shooting coincided with the anniversary of a deadly 1984 car bombing outside the U.S. embassy annex in Beirut, which the United States blamed on the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 03-04/2024
Some Israeli hostages have attempted suicide, Islamic Jihad armed wing says
Reuters/Wed, July 3, 2024 at 8:33 a.m. EDT·1 min read
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement's armed wing, Al Quds Brigades, said on Wednesday some Israeli hostages have attempted suicide after it started treating them the same way Israel treated Palestinian prisoners.
"Some enemy prisoners have attempted suicide as a result of the extreme frustration they are feeling due to their government's neglect of their cause," Al Quds Brigades spokesperson Abu Hamza said in a post on Telegram. "We will keep treating Israeli hostages the same way Israel treats our prisoners," he added. The Palestinian militant group did not specify what measures it had taken against Israeli hostages. Arab mediators' efforts, backed by the United States, have so far failed to conclude a ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas says any deal must end the war and bring full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in fighting until Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is eradicated. A possible deal would also see the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza in return for the freedom of Palestinians jailed in Israeli prisons.

Lebanese farmers dig for answers on Israel's white phosphorus use
Maya Gebeily/Qlayaa, LEBANON (Reuters)/July 3, 2024
The last time Lebanese farmer Zakaria Farah stepped onto his fields outside the southern town of Qlayaa was in January - but it was not to plant. With shelling in the distance, he swiftly dug his hands into the soil to gather samples that could determine his family's farming future.
After bagging up the earth, Farah, 30, sent half-a-dozen samples to a laboratory at the American University of Beirut (AUB) to be tested for residues of white phosphorus from Israeli shelling, hoping he'd learn whether he can plant his fields once hostilities end.
"I want to know what I'm feeding my son, what I'm feeding my wife, what I'm eating," he told Reuters in June. "We're afraid for the future of our land. What can we eat? What can we drink?"Farah told Reuters he fears his fields have been poisoned by the Israeli military's use of white phosphorus since October, when exchanges of fire erupted between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in parallel with the Gaza war. He said there are dozens of farmers in south Lebanon as worried as he is. According to the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research, there have been 175 Israeli attacks on south Lebanon using white phosphorus since then, many of them sparking fires that have affected over 600 hectares (1,480 acres) of farmland. White phosphorus munitions are not banned as a chemical weapon and can be used in war to make smoke screens, mark targets or burn buildings - but since they can cause serious burns and start fires, international conventions prohibit their use against military targets located among civilians. Lebanon is a party to those international protocols, while Israel is not. In June, Human Rights Watch said it had verified the use of white phosphorus in at least 17 municipalities in southern Lebanon since October, including five "where airburst munitions were unlawfully used over populated residential areas."In response to questions from Reuters, the Israeli military said the "primary smoke shells" it used do not contain white phosphorus. It said smoke shells that do include white phosphorus can be used to create smokescreens, and that it "uses only lawful means of warfare."According to a December report on Lebanon by the U.N. Development Programme, white phosphorus is extremely poisonous and poses "ongoing and unpredictable hazards due to its prolonged and difficult-to-control burning, creating serious risks to human health, safety, and the environment."The agency said that soil quality in the conflict area of southern Lebanon had been affected by the spread of heavy metals and toxic compounds, with "white phosphorus usage further reducing fertility and increasing soil acidity."
SOIL SCIENCE
Farah and other farmers estimate they have already lost up to $7,000 each in potential income, as continuing bombardment has made it too risky for them to plant or harvest the usual seasons of wheat, tobacco, lentils and other greens. Oday Abou Sari, a farmer from the southern town of Dhayra, said white phosphorus had also burned hay he had gathered for livestock and even plastic irrigation pipes across his fields. "I have to start all over - but first, I need to know if it's safe for planting," said Abou Sari. To find out if the white phosphorus has left a lasting impact on their soil, farmers are digging in - literally - and sending samples to Dr. Rami Zurayk, a soil chemist at AUB. Zurayk developed a research protocol to collect and examine the samples. First, soil is gathered at various distances from the impact site, including a control sample from 500 meters away - which would not have been directly affected by the strike.
Once in his lab, the soil is sifted, mixed with acid and exposed to high heat and pressure. A solution is added to show the concentration of phosphorus, with the intensity of colour in the result matching the concentration of the phosphorus. The sample is then compared to the control, which sets the benchmark of naturally-occurring phosphorus in the soil. "What we're looking for is what happens to the soils and to the plants in locations that have received white phosphorus bombing. Does the phosphorus remain? In what concentrations? Does it disappear?" Zurayk told Reuters.
His assistant, doctoral student Leen Dirani, told Reuters she had thus far tested samples from four towns this way - but they need more samples to "obtain a conclusive outcome."But the steady pace of Israeli shelling on southern Lebanon - particularly agricultural fields that Hezbollah fighters are accused of using as cover - has made farmers unwilling to venture out to gather more samples. Some, like Abou Sari, have left Lebanon altogether. He is waiting out the war abroad and so for now is unable to obtain soil samples. Others are documenting through video footage. Green Southerners, a collective of ecologists and nature lovers in Lebanon's south, have filmed several incidents of shelling showing the tell-tale signs of white phosphorous attacks: dozens of streams of white bursting out of a munition over farmlands. The group's chairman Hisham Younes told Reuters the attacks' "frightening density" amounts to ecocide - mass destruction of a natural environment by humans, deliberately or by negligence.Given the possible impacts on soil, water reserves and even ancient trees, "we are talking about a profound injury to the natural system. The repercussions are multiplied," Younes said. Lebanon's ministries of environment and agriculture are working with UNDP to determine the extent of those repercussions, and hope to use any documentation or lab results to stand up complaints to the United Nations. "This is an act of ecocide, and we'll take it to the U.N. Security Council," Lebanese environment minister Nasser Yassin told Reuters. In response to questions from Reuters, the Israeli military said the accusation of ecocide was "completely baseless."

Two people wounded in attack in Israeli mall, police say
Reuters/July 3, 2024
Aftermath of a stabbing attack in a shopping mall in Karmiel, northern Israel
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Two people were wounded in a stabbing attack in an Israeli mall on Wednesday, Israeli police said. Police called it a suspected terror attack and said the attacker was killed. The mall is in Karmiel, northern Israel.
Israeli medics said they were treating two men in their 20s, one in a very serious condition and the other fully conscience. Video footage from the scene that was shared on social media and seen by Reuters showed two men lying motionless on the floor of the mall while people tried to give them urgent medical care. At least one of the men receiving care was wearing a green uniform, the video showed. A third man, not in uniform, was lying motionless a short distance away. No one was administering care to him. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Israel is conducting a military offensive in Gaza in retaliation for the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year. Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, already on the rise before the war in Gaza, has escalated further, with stepped-up Israeli military raids, settler violence and Palestinian street attacks. In January, a Palestinian ramming attack in central Israel killed one woman and injured 12 others.

Iran's Khamenei says turnout in presidential election was 'lower than expected'
DUBAI (Reuters)/July 3, 2024
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei marks anniversary of Islamic republic founder Khomeini's death
- Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the turnout in the first round of the country's presidential election was "lower than expected", semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. Turnout was about 40%, Iran's interior ministry said - the lowest on record since the 1979 revolution. "We hope that people's turnout for the second round will be important and a source of pride for the Islamic Republic," Khamenei said, calling upon Iranians to cast their ballot this coming Friday. Friday's vote will be a tight race between lawmaker Massoud Pezeshkian, the sole moderate in the original field of four candidates, and former Revolutionary Guards member Saeed Jalili. The election is to elect a successor to President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May. Khamenei added that the lower-than-expected turnout was due to "several factors" and that claims that non-voters were against the Islamic Republic were "strongly mistaken".

Saeed Jalili, a hard-line former negotiator known as a 'true believer,' seeks Iran's presidency
Jon Gambrell And Amir Vahdat/DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)/July 03, 2024
Hard-line Iranian presidential candidate Saeed Jalili may have been Tehran's top nuclear negotiator for years, but he won no plaudits from Western diplomats sitting across the table as he repeatedly lectured them on everything while offering nothing. “As the weaving of Iranian carpets progresses in millimeter, precise, delicate and durable manner, God willing, this diplomatic process will also proceed in the same way,” Jalili said then. Those hours of lecturing in 2008 stalled talks as hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei advanced the country's nuclear program. That put pressure on the West that eventually eased with Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which lifted sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Now Jalili, 58, stands on the precipice of being elected as Iran's next president as he faces a runoff election Friday against the little-known reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon. With Iran's nuclear program enriching uranium at levels near-weapons grade, a win by Jalili may again see already-stalled negotiations freeze. Meanwhile, Jalili's own hard-line vision for Iran — derided by opponents as being in the style of the Taliban — potentially risks inflaming a public still angry after the bloody security force crackdown that followed the demonstrations over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini. She died in police custody after she was detained over allegedly improperly wearing the mandatory headscarf, or hijab. Jalili, known for his shock of white hair and beard, is known as the “Living Martyr" after losing his right leg in combat at the age of 21 during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war. He was born Sept. 6, 1965, in the Shiite holy city of Mashhad, his Kurdish father a French teacher and a school principal and his mother an Azeri. Jalili worked as a university professor with a doctorate before joining Iran's Foreign Ministry, working his way up to a top position before joining Iran's Supreme National Security Council and becoming the country's top nuclear negotiator under Ahmadinejad from 2007 to 2013. He made an impression immediately on his Western counterparts, with then-negotiator, now-CIA director William Burns calling him “a true believer in the Iranian Revolution.”“He could be stupefyingly opaque when he wanted to avoid straight answers, and this was certainly one of those occasions,” Burns recalled in one meeting. "He mentioned at one point that he still lectured part-time at Tehran University. I did not envy his students.” An anonymous French diplomat quoted at the time referred to one round of Jalili’s negotiations as a “disaster.”Another European Union diplomat offered a similar assessment in a 2008 U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks.
“An EU official who attended Jalili’s private and public meetings that day was struck by his seeming inability or unwillingness to deviate from the same presentation or provide nuance, calling him ‘a true product of the Iranian Revolution,'" the cable said, not naming the diplomat. Jalili later would be replaced after he came in a distant third in Iran's 2013 presidential election to the relatively moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani, himself a former nuclear negotiator. Rouhani's administration would secure the 2015 nuclear deal, which saw Iran drastically reduce the size and purity of its stockpile of enriched uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Jalili strongly opposed the deal and formed what he described as a “shadow government” during the Rouhani years to try to undercut his efforts. Jalili also was endorsed in his 2013 run by the late hard-line Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, who once wrote that Iran should not deprive itself of the right to produce “special weapons” — a veiled reference to nuclear weapons.
Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
However, U.N. inspectors and Western nations say Iran had an organized military nuclear program until 2003. In recent months, Iranian officials have increasingly made threats about Iran's ability to build a bomb if it wanted as it enriches uranium to 60% purity, a short, technical step to weapons-grade levels of 90%.Meanwhile, advocates for Pezeshkian have described Jalili as potentially bringing hard-line policies akin to the Taliban if he's elected, something Jalili acknowledged in passing. “Before the election results were even announced, we called 10 million or 9 million people Taliban?" Jalili said at a recent debate, referring to reformists' criticism of his policies. "Does this help?”Jalili hasn't offered any real comment on how he'd handle the ongoing dispute over the hijab in Iranian society. But those in Jalili's campaign have been much more direct — calling for stricter punishment against those refusing to wear the mandatory headscarf. One once referred to uncovered women as being worse than a “whore.” Yet during his campaign, Jalili has been vague about how he'd enforce the law and has even posed for a selfie with a woman with a loose hijab, a moment captured in a news photo.
Jalili also has been endorsed by another fundamentalist ayatollah, Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri, who belongs to the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability, the far-right edge of hard-liners in the nation. The group, which backs Jalili, was behind a bill passed by Iran’s parliament that could impose 10-year prison sentences for hijab violations. It has yet to be approved by the country’s Guardian Council, a panel of clerics and jurists ultimately overseen by Khamenei. “They want blocking and closures in everything, no matter the field," political analyst Mehrdad Khadir told The Associated Press. "It’s the same when it comes to the issue of women, internet or any other issue.”

Israel's next headache: who will run post-war Gaza?
Nidal al-Mughrabi, Emily Rose and Matt Spetalnick/JERUSALEM (Reuters)/July 3, 2024
The plan for post-war Gaza that Israel pitched to U.S. allies is to run the strip in cooperation with powerful local families. But there's a problem: in a place where Hamas still wields ruthless influence, none want to be seen talking to the enemy. Israel is under pressure from Washington to end the loss of human life and wind down its military offensive after nearly nine months, but does not want Hamas in charge after the war. Israeli officials have therefore been trying to plot a path ahead for the day after the fighting stops. A major pillar of the plan, according to public statements from leading Israeli officials, was to shape an alternative civil administration involving local Palestinian actors not part of the existing structures of power and willing to work alongside Israel. However, the only plausible candidates in Gaza for this role – the heads of powerful local families – are unwilling to get involved, according to Reuters' conversations with five members of major families in Gaza, including the head of one grouping. Israel has been "actively looking for local tribes and families on the ground to work with them," said Tahani Mustafa, Senior Palestine Analyst at the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank. "They refused."They don’t want to get involved, in part because they fear retribution from Hamas, said Mustafa, who is in touch with some of the families and other local stakeholders in Gaza. That threat is real because – despite Israel's explicit war objective of destroying Hamas – the Palestinian group still has operatives enforcing its will on the streets of Gaza, according to six residents who spoke to Reuters. Asked what the outcome would be for any head of Gaza's powerful families if they cooperate with Israel, Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run government media office in Gaza, said: "I expect it to be lethal."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the challenges last week, saying in an interview with Israel's Channel 14 TV station that the defence ministry had already made attempts to reach out to Gaza clans but "Hamas eliminated" them. He said the defence ministry had a new plan, but would not give details other than specifying he was not willing to bring in the Palestinian Authority, which currently governs the occupied West Bank. Reuters could not establish if Israel's efforts to work with the families were ongoing. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant discussed post-war plans at a meeting in Washington last week with U.S. officials. Briefing reporters during the visit, Gallant said: "The only solution for the future of Gaza is governance by local Palestinians. It cannot be Israel and cannot be Hamas." He did not mention the clans specifically.Contacted for comment, the prime minister's office referred Reuters to Netanyahu's previous public comments on the topic. Israel's defence ministry did not respond to Reuters questions. Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to a Hamas-led cross-border raid on Oct. 7 last year in which around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and about 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Palestinian health authorities say Israel's ground and air campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 38,000 people, mostly civilians. Israel says many of the dead are Palestinian combatants.
POWERFUL CLANS
Gaza has dozens of powerful families who function as well-organised clans. Many do not have formal links to Hamas. They derive their power from controlling businesses and command the loyalty of hundreds or thousands of relatives. Each family has a leader, known as a mukhtar. British colonial rulers of Palestine before the state of Israel was created in 1948 relied heavily on mukhtars to govern. After Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, it curtailed the power of the families. But they have retained a degree of autonomy. Israel does already speak to some Gaza merchants, to coordinate commercial shipments through a southern checkpoint. Residents are reluctant to disclose any interactions with Israel. The approaches from Israel described by members of the Gaza clans were modest in scope but different: they were about practical issues inside Gaza itself, and focused on the north of the strip, where Israel says it is concentrating its civil governance efforts. One of Gaza's clan leaders, who asked not to be named, told Reuters Israeli officials had contacted other mukhtars – though not him - in the past few weeks. He said he knew about it because the recipients of the calls told him about the calls. He said the Israeli officials wanted "some respected and influential people" to help with aid deliveries in northern Gaza. "I expect that mukhtars will not cooperate with these games," he said, citing anger with Israel over its offensive, which has killed clan members and destroyed property. The person, whose clan is a major player in agriculture and the Gaza import business, has no formal connection to Hamas. In another contact between Israel and influential Gazans, officials from the Israeli defence ministry have in the past two weeks contacted two major Gaza business owners in the food sector, according to a Palestinian briefed on the contacts.
It was unclear what the Israeli side wanted to talk about, and the business owners, who are from the north of Gaza, refused to engage with the Israelis, according to the person. A senior member of a different clan said Israeli officials had not contacted his clan, but would be given short shrift if they did. "We are not collaborators. Israel should stop these games," the clan member, who also has no formal connection to Hamas, told Reuters.
ALTERNATIVE OPTION
Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, speaking last week, said the government had authorized the Israeli armed forces to find "a local leadership, willing to live side by side with Israel and not to devote its life to killing Israelis."Speaking through a translator at a conference, he said the process was starting in the northern part of Gaza, and practical results should be seen soon. Besides civil administration, the other pillars of Israel’s plan for post-war Gaza include bringing in a security force from outside to keep order, seeking international help with reconstruction, and searching for a long-term peace settlement. The Arab states whose support Israel would need say they won't get involved unless Israel agrees a firm timeline for a Palestinian state – something Netanyahu says he will not be pushed into doing. Throughout the war, Washington has advocated for reforms to strengthen the Palestinian Authority (PA) and prepare it to govern Gaza, which it used to run. Netanyahu has said he doesn't trust the PA, which in turn says he seeks to keep Gaza and the West Bank divided. Support is weak among Gazans for the PA, according to a June 12 poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR). However, two U.S. officials told Reuters Netanyahu may have little choice but to turn security over to the PA."It's going to be a fight. But there is no other short-to-medium term option," said one of the officials. Israel has yet to develop a concrete post-war plan for governance and security in the enclave, said the officials, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Both said Israeli officials were considering a range of ideas but did not provide details.The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
HAMAS HOLDING ON
While some Gazans blame Hamas for inciting the war, others, angered and radicalised by Israel's offensive, have drawn closer to the group, with its declared commitment to destroying Israel, PCPSR polls show.Hamas has recognized it is unlikely to govern after the war, but expects to retain influence. A Gaza resident said he saw members of the Hamas police force touring the streets of Gaza City in June, warning merchants against hiking prices. They were in plain clothes instead of their usual uniforms, and moved on bicycles, said the resident, who asked not be named fearing reprisal. Hamas fighters have intervened to control aid shipments, including killing some clan figures at the start of this year who tried to take over the shipments in Gaza City, according to four residents from the city who spoke to Reuters.Hamas declined to comment about the killings. In April, Hamas said its security services arrested several members of a security apparatus loyal to the Palestinian Authority. Three people close to the PA said the arrested men were escorting a delivery of aid to northern Gaza Strip. "There is no vacuum in Gaza, Hamas is still the prominent power," said Michael Milshtein, a former colonel in Israeli military intelligence who now heads the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center, a research center in Israel.

Sinwar, Israel’s Problem After 8 Months of War
Gaza: Asharq Al Awsat/July 03/2024
Since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip in October, Israel has placed, among its top goals, the elimination of the Hamas movement’s leaders, including Yehya Sinwar.
Political and military officials in Tel Aviv accuse the man of planning the October 7 attack, which led to the killing of hundreds of Israelis and the captivity of nearly 240 others. But after 8 months of continuous war and Israel excavating every house, tunnel and place in search of Sinwar, from the north of the Gaza Strip to its center, then to Khan Yunis and Rafah in its south, the occupation army has found no trace of the man except a short video showing him with his family in a tunnel, apparently at the beginning of the war in Khan Yunis, his hometown. Israel’s pursuit of Sinwar, along with many of the political and military leaders of the Hamas movement, highlights a blatant intelligence failure. Sources in the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip and outside it told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Israeli occupation’s inability to find him does not mean that he has cut communication with the movement’s officials. The sources confirmed that Sinwar was constantly informed of all developments, especially with regard to the ongoing negotiations, and communicated several times with the movement’s leaders abroad, in particular during the recent negotiations on the release of hostages and on reaching a ceasefire. He also contacted the head of the movement’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, to convey his condolences after Israel killed members of his family in an airstrike. The sources added that only two or three people knew his whereabouts and provided for his various needs, as well as ensured his contact with the movement’s leaders inside Gaza and abroad. “The occupation failed to reach many of the leaders of the first and second ranks at the political and military levels, but it tried to assassinate some of them, while others were injured...but Sinwar is not among them,” according to the sources.
Meanwhile, reports in Jewish media said that Sinwar was moving inside the remaining tunnels of the Hamas movement, without providing evidence of these claims. The Israeli army has constantly announced its success in destroying Hamas’ capabilities, including tunnels, in addition to the dismantling of the movement’s brigades in Khan Yunis and other areas in the Strip. Asharq Al-Awsat tried to contact people close to Sinwar, including some of his relatives, to draw a better picture of the man’s personality and how he might make his decisions. “Sinwar is thinking of two options... Either fulfilling the conditions of the resistance in stopping the war, withdrawing the occupation forces, and completing an honorable exchange deal, or obtaining the honor of martyrdom,” they said. Regarding his character, and in response to Israeli claims that he is violent and stubborn, those close to Sinwar explain that he has a sociable personality, and often visits legal and local figures and even his neighbors, despite his preoccupations since his election as leader of the movement in the Gaza Strip. “Contrary to what is seen by many as a very sharp personality, he often possesses a sense of humor, even during the meetings and interviews that he ran at the level of the movement’s leaders,” a person close to Sinwar told Asharq Al-Awsat. He added: “But this does not negate that he is a leader... and was able to resolve any discussion.”Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu constantly affirms his refusal to end the Gaza war in a way that gives Sinwar and Hamas the image of victory, as part of his response to criticism by political and military officials in Tel Aviv regarding the lack of a strategic plan for the day after the war, as well as the failure to reach a deal with Hamas that guarantees the release of Israeli prisoners. Analysts believe that Israel’s failure to catch Sinwar represents a military and political problem. Hamas sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Sinwar is aware of this fact and understands that Israel wants to kill or capture him to claim that it has won the war. “As he has spent many years in Israeli prisons, [Sinwar] understands well how Israeli leaders think, and therefore manages many aspects of the battle politically... He is described as a stubborn negotiator, who wants to impose the Palestinian conditions, especially with regard to a full cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of the occupation forces from the entire G

UN says Israel evacuation order 'wiped out' bid to improve Gaza aid
Michelle Nichols/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters)/July 3, 2024
An Israeli military evacuation order covering a third of the Gaza Strip has "wiped out" the United Nations' attempts to improve humanitarian aid deliveries via the Kerem Shalom crossing, a senior U.N. aid official said on Wednesday. Israel has been critical of U.N.-led aid operations in the enclave of 2.3 million people, where the U.N. says distribution is not only hampered by the nearly nine-month long war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas, but also lawlessness. Israel's military announced this month a daily daytime pause in attacks to facilitate the collection of aid from Kerem Shalom, but the U.N. has said the lawlessness means it is still too dangerous and it is Israel's responsibility to restore public order and safety in Gaza. Andrea De Domenico, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said that in the past few weeks there had been a lot of discussions with Israel on how to improve the situation. "We have been engineering a lot of solutions and trying and testing, improving and failing - at times - and now with this evacuation order all this has been, again, wiped out," he told reporters on Wednesday. De Domenico said alternative plans were now blocked by the evacuation order, but he hoped a protection agreement could be reached with the Israeli military for some areas.
STARLINK?
The United Nations has also long appealed for more effective coordination with the Israeli military for aid operations and approval for the U.N. and humanitarians to use essential security and communications equipment. "Would it be Starlink? Would it be another technology? I don't really care as long as we have what we need to communicate safely with our teams for safety and for operations," said De Domenico, referring to a the SpaceX satellite internet service. Starlink - owned by billionaire Elon Musk - is used extensively in Ukraine, where it is employed by the military, hospitals, businesses and humanitarian aid organisations. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric and an Israeli defence official, speaking separately on condition of anonymity, said discussions are underway on various communications options that could be used for humanitarian operations within Gaza. "As far as the technology itself, I can't say that it'll be Starlink or something else. I don't know yet But we have to find something that we're comfortable with and that will also help them," said the Israeli defence official. "There are some security concerns in terms of what Hamas can do with communications equipment," the official said. Dujarric said the U.N. was "platform agnostic" and just wanted communications equipment that did not rely on cell phone towers because they were not reliable. He added: "Starlink gets a lot of headlines, but it's not about Starlink, it's about getting whatever equipment that works."

A Gaza Ceasefire May Follow Netanyahu’s Visit to Washington
This Is Beirut/July 03/2024
Western diplomatic circles expect a breakthrough in the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington at the end of this month. United States President Joe Biden is expected to insist on adherence to his proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza on the eve of the upcoming US presidential elections. According to sources, Netanyahu “cannot return from Washington” without taking a favorable stance, which Biden would employ in his bid to run for a second presidential term. As such, Netanyahu cannot maintain his inflexible conditions for accepting a ceasefire, namely the eradication of Hamas. Unless the warring parties accept his proposal for a ceasefire, Biden’s presidential battle would be negatively affected.

Mossad: Israel considering Hamas' response to ceasefire proposal in Gaza
LBC/July 03/2024
The Israeli intelligence agency (Mossad) said in a statement that Israel is considering the response of Hamas to a proposal that includes an agreement on the release of hostages and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The statement issued by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on behalf of Mossad said, "The mediators in the hostage agreement presented Hamas' response to the negotiating team regarding the outlines of the hostage deal. Israel is studying the response and will reply to the mediators."

Israel studying Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire proposal, says Mossad
Reuters/July 3, 2024
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is studying Hamas' response to a proposal that would include a hostage release deal and ceasefire in Gaza, according to a statement from Israel's Mossad spy agency. "The mediators of the hostage deal have given the negotiating team Hamas' response to the hostage deal outline. Israel is examining the response and will respond to the mediators," said a statement released by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, on behalf of Mossad. The statement gave no further details and Hamas, the Islamist militant group that has been ruling Gaza, was not immediately available for comment. Mediators including Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying for months to secure a ceasefire and the release of 120 remaining hostages in Gaza but their efforts have stalled. Hamas says any deal must end the war and bring a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting until Hamas is eradicated. The war in Gaza began when Hamas gunmen burst into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages back into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. The offensive launched by Israel in retaliation has killed nearly 38,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins. The ceasefire plan on the table, which was made public at the end of May by U.S. President Joe Biden, entails the gradual release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and pullback of Israeli forces over two phases. It also envisages the freeing of Palestinian prisoners, with the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of the remains of deceased hostages in a third phase.

Anti-settlement group says Israel has made largest West Bank land seizure in 3 decades
Julia Frankel/JERUSALEM (AP)/July 3, 2024
An anti-settlement watchdog says Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades. The Israeli group Peace Now said Wednesday that authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley. The group's data indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords at the start of the peace process. The land appropriation was likely to worsen already soaring tensions linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the war, with Israel carrying out near-daily military raids that often spark deadly gunbattles with Palestinian militants. The land seizure, which was approved late last month but only publicized on Wednesday, comes after the seizure of 8 square kilometers (roughly 3 square miles) of land in the West Bank in March and 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) in February. That makes 2024 by far the peak year for Israeli land seizure in the West Bank, Peace Now said. The parcels are contiguous and located northeast of the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered. By declaring them state lands, the Israeli government has opened them up to being leased to Israelis and prohibited private Palestinian ownership. The Palestinians view the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank as the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement and most of the international community considers them illegal or illegitimate. Israel's current government considers the West Bank to be the historical and religious heartland of the Jewish people and is opposed to Palestinian statehood. Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for a future state. Israel has built well over 100 settlements across the West Bank, some of which resemble fully developed suburbs or small towns. They are home to over 500,000 Jewish settlers who have Israeli citizenship. The 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule. The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but is barred from operating in 60% of the territory, where the settlements are located.

US Officials Who Have Resigned in Protest over Biden’s Gaza Policy
Asharq Al Awsat/July 03/2024
President Joe Biden's support for Israel during its nearly nine-month war in Gaza has spurred a dozen US administration officials to quit, with some accusing him of turning a blind eye to Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian enclave. The Biden administration denies this, pointing to its criticism of civilian casualties in Gaza and its efforts to boost humanitarian aid to the enclave, where health officials say nearly 38,000 have been killed in Israel's assault which has also led to widespread hunger. Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Here are the US officials who have resigned:
Maryam Hassanein, who was a special assistant at the Department of Interior, quit her job on Tuesday. She slammed Biden's foreign policy, describing it as "genocide-enabling" and dehumanizing toward Arabs and Muslims. Israel denies genocide allegations.
Mohammed Abu Hashem, a Palestinian American, said last month he ended a 22-year career in the US Air Force. He said he lost relatives in Gaza in the ongoing war, including an aunt killed in an Israeli air strike in October.
Riley Livermore, who was a US Air Force engineer, said in mid-June that he was leaving his role. "I don't want to be working on something that can turn around and be used to slaughter innocent people," he told the Intercept news website.
Stacy Gilbert, who served in the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, left in late May. She said she resigned over an administration report to Congress that she said falsely stated Israel was not blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Alexander Smith, a contractor for USAID, quit in late May, alleging censorship after the US foreign aid agency canceled publication of his presentation on maternal and child mortality among Palestinians. The agency said it had not gone through proper review and approval. Lily Greenberg Call, a Jewish political appointee, resigned in May, having served as a special assistant to the chief of staff in the Interior Department. "As a Jew, I cannot endorse the Gaza catastrophe," she wrote in the Guardian.
Anna Del Castillo, a deputy director at the White House's Office of Management and Budget, departed in April and became the first known White House official to leave the administration over policy toward Gaza. Hala Rharrit, an Arabic language spokesperson for the State Department, departed her post in April in opposition to the United States' Gaza policy, she wrote on her LinkedIn page. Annelle Sheline resigned from the State Department's human rights bureau in late March, writing in a CNN article that she was unable to serve a government that "enables such atrocities."Tariq Habash, a Palestinian American, quit as special assistant in the Education Department's office of planning in January. He said the Biden administration was turning a "blind eye" to atrocities in Gaza.
Harrison Mann, a US Army major and Defense Intelligence Agency official, resigned in November over Gaza policy and went public with his reasons in May. Josh Paul, director of the State Department's bureau of political military affairs, left in October in the first publicly known resignation, citing what he described as Washington's "blind support" for Israel.aza Strip,” the sources said.

Putin Hold Talks with Erdogan in Astana
Asharq Al Awsat/July 03/2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday met Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, Reuters reported. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russia's Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that Ankara could help establish a basis to end the Ukraine-Russia war and that a fair peace suiting both sides was possible, the Turkish presidency said. They two leaders also discussed the war in Gaza and ways to end the conflict in Syria, the Turkish presidency said in a statement after Erdogan and Putin held talks.

Estimates of Hunger, Disease Claiming 990 Lives in Sudan’s Darfur
Port Sudan: Asharq Al Awsat/July 03/2024
Over 50,000 people fled by foot from intense fighting between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the Sudanese city of El Fashir, North Darfur. They walked more than 60 kilometers to Tawila town in scorching temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius. Some died from hunger and thirst, as reported by local media. Displaced individuals in Tawila and other Darfur towns endure dire conditions, with 991 deaths recorded between April 15 and May 15 due to famine and disease outbreaks, according to Adam Rijal, spokesperson for Darfur’s Coordination of Displaced Persons and Refugees. “The displaced in Tawila are starving, with children crying from hunger,” Rijal told Asharq Al-Awsat. “The little milk they receive isn’t enough for their small stomachs,” he added, underscoring Tawila’s critical lack of basic essentials. Eyewitnesses described dire conditions faced by refugees fleeing war on their long journey to Tawila, where scorching temperatures worsened their plight. Asylum seekers in Tawila affirm that the displacement journeys are unsafe, with vulnerable refugees at risk of being robbed by armed gangs. Those reaching Tawila considered themselves lucky to have avoided such attacks.
Sudanese human rights activist Adam Idris told Asharq Al-Awsat that indiscriminate shelling in El Fashir claimed hundreds of lives, forcing many to flee to Tawila and areas controlled by the Sudan Liberation Movement. Idris noted that some displaced persons died en route due to hunger and thirst, urging humanitarian organizations to swiftly provide aid in the town. In a related development, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported on Tuesday that over 402,000 Sudanese refugees are now registered in Egypt, with more expected in the coming months. In a statement, UNHCR noted that over 38,000 Sudanese refugees arrived in Egypt in May alone. Libya and Uganda have recently joined the Regional Refugee Response Plan, along with the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. UNHCR emphasized that only 19% of the needed funds for refugee assistance have been received so far, insufficient to meet the urgent needs of displaced people. In Libya, more than 20,000 Sudanese refugees have arrived since April, with many settling in the eastern regions. Uganda, hosting the largest number of refugees in Africa, has received over 39,000 Sudanese refugees since the conflict began, including 27,000 this year. This number is nearly three times higher than anticipated. After 14 months of conflict, thousands continue to flee Sudan due to violence, violations, death, disrupted services, and limited humanitarian aid access, with the threat of famine looming.

Iran’s Khatami: 60% Non-Participation Unprecedented, Signaling Majority Anger
London: Asharq Al Awsat Tehran: Asharq Al Awsat/July 03/2024
Former reformist president Mohammad Khatami called the recent Iranian elections “unprecedented,” noting that over 60% of Iranians abstained from voting, which he said shows widespread anger among the population. In the upcoming presidential runoff, hardliner Saeed Jalili and reformist Masoud Pezeshkian are vying to mobilize millions of voters on Friday, despite general apathy towards the tightly controlled election. More than 60% of voters did not participate in the June 28 election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash. This record low turnout is seen by critics as a sign of no confidence in Iran. Reuters predicts a close race on Friday between Pezeshkian, the only reformist candidate from the first round, and Jalili, a current representative of the Supreme Leader on the National Security Council and a former Revolutionary Guard member. The candidates are promoting sharply different agendas to attract voters. Jalili advocates strict domestic and foreign policies, while Pezeshkian calls for more social and political freedoms. Both promise to revive Iran’s struggling economy plagued by mismanagement, corruption, and sanctions since 2018 due to Iran’s nuclear program. The ruling authorities seek high voter turnout to maintain legitimacy amid Western pressure over Iran’s nuclear advancements and regional tensions like the Israel-Hamas conflict. Voter turnout in Iran has been declining, hitting a low of 41% in March’s parliamentary elections. In 2021, Raisi was elected with a 49% turnout after disqualifying many experienced candidates. On his part, Khatami urged leaders to heed voter dissatisfaction, emphasizing voting as a national right and a political statement. He backed Pezeshkian, citing his integrity as a former health minister. Khatami further urged Iranians to choose between Jalili’s path, seen as undermining rights and exacerbating poverty, and Pezeshkian’s path, which aims to enhance justice and address citizens’ needs.

Members of new Egyptian Cabinet sworn in
GOBRAN MOHAMMED/Arab News/July 03, 2024
CAIRO: Egypt’s new Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, was sworn in before President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo on Wednesday.
The president tasked Madbouly and his administration with achieving a number of goals, including maintaining national security in the face of regional and international challenges; prioritization of initiatives to help the Egyptian people develop and advance, particularly in the fields of health and education; and the continuation of efforts to improve political engagement. The reshuffle followed a directive from El-Sisi calling for changes to government policies to keep pace with the challenges faced by the state, in response to which Madbouly tendered the previous government’s resignation to the president on June 3.
The members of the new-look Cabinet took their oaths of office before the president. Madbouly remains prime minister, while Kamel El-Wazir, who has been minister of transport since March 2019, is now minister of industry and transport, and will also serve as the deputy prime minister for industrial development. Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar is minister of health and population, and deputy prime minister for human development. Lt. Gen. Abdel-Maguid Sakr becomes minister of defense, replacing Mohammed Zaki. Badr Abdelatty is the new minister of foreign affairs and emigration and expatriate Affairs, replacing Sameh Shoukry, who previously held the foreign affairs role, and Soha Gendi, who handled emigration and expatriate affairs. Amr Talaat remains as minister of communications and information technology, while Rania Al-Mashat, previously minister of international cooperation, becomes minister of planning, economic development and international cooperation. Ayman Ashour continues in the post of minister of higher education and scientific research, which he has held since August 2022, and Hani Sewilam remains as minister of water resources and irrigation. Mohammed Sheemy is the new minister of public business sector. He succeeds Mahmoud Esmat, who becomes minister of electricity. Ahmed Kouchouk takes over as minister of finance from Mohammed Maait. Manal Awad Mikhail becomes minister of local development, replacing Hisham Amna, and Sherif Farouk takes over as minister of supply and internal trade from Ali Moselhi. Usama Alazhary replaces Mokhtar Gomaa as minister of religious endowment, while Mohammed Gobran succeeds Hassan Shehata as minister of labor. Mahmoud Tawfik continues as minister of interior and Yasmine Fouad remains minister of environment, positions they have held since 2018.The nations’ governors and their deputies also took the oaths of office before El-Sisi on Wednesday.

Biden 'absolutely not' withdrawing from White House race
AFP/July 03/2024
US President Joe Biden is "absolutely not" withdrawing from the 2024 election campaign, his spokeswoman said Wednesday, as pressure mounts on him to pull out following a disastrous debate show. "Absolutely not," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, adding that the same message had come "directly from the campaign as well."

Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on July 03-04/2024
Big Lies About Israel
Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute/July 03, 2024
For months, Israel has refuted libelous claims of famine in Gaza, as international organizations -- especially the UN and the EU, the International Court of Justice and mainstream media alongside NGOs such as Human Rights Watch -- pushed the false, malicious narrative that Israel was causing famine in Gaza and even using it as a "weapon of war." Israel might have saved itself the effort. No one was listening.
In May, the World Food Programme (WFP) of the UN claimed, without a shred of evidence, that there was a "full blown famine" in Gaza.
Now, it turns out, it was all a big lie. There was no famine, there is no famine and Israel has not been using hunger as a "weapon of war." In its report published on June 4, the UN's IPC [Integrated Food Security Phase Classification] concluded that famine was no longer even "plausible" and had no "supporting evidence."By comparison, more than three million children in Sudan are acutely malnourished, and a quarter of a million more are likely to die in the coming months. By the UN's own admission, the war in Sudan is "the war the world has either forgotten or ignored." The irony of that statement has clearly been lost on the UN, which is probably the main reason that Sudan – and other conflict spots – is ignored: the UN focuses almost all its resources on Israel and Gaza.
The "made-up" famine is just the latest in a long row of fabrications demonizing Israel's military operations in Gaza, which over the last months have been exposed as lies yet have received zero coverage in the media.
In early May, the UN effectively admitted that Hamas's casualty figures were untrustworthy...
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres led the incitement against Israel, as the UN almost always does.
Overall, 18 million people in Sudan face starvation.
For months, Israel has refuted libelous claims of famine in Gaza, as international organizations -- especially the UN and the EU, the International Court of Justice and mainstream media alongside NGOs such as Human Rights Watch -- pushed the false, malicious narrative that Israel was causing famine in Gaza and even using it as a "weapon of war." Pictured: A line of trucks in Rafah, Egypt carrying aid prepares to cross into the Gaza Strip on March 23, 2024. (Photo by Ali Moustafa/Getty Images)
For months, Israel has refuted libelous claims of famine in Gaza, as international organizations -- especially the UN and the EU, the International Court of Justice and mainstream media alongside NGOs such as Human Rights Watch -- pushed the false, malicious narrative that Israel was causing famine in Gaza and even using it as a "weapon of war." Israel might have saved itself the effort. No one was listening.
"Starvation," claimed EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, "is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine." His words came after a UN-affiliated body, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (ICP) published a special brief in March claiming that hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza were already experiencing famine and that by July the figure would rise to more than a million.
"Famine is imminent" the IPC claimed. "1.1 million people, half of Gaza, experience catastrophic food insecurity."
The International Court of Justice based its March 28 order to Israel to increase the supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza on the IPC report. Israel was therefore met by a deluge of outrage and hate from the world community for supposedly causing this "famine."
In May, the World Food Programme (WFP) of the UN claimed, without a shred of evidence, that there was a "full blown famine" in Gaza.
Now, it turns out, it was all a big lie. There was no famine, there is no famine and Israel has not been using hunger as a "weapon of war":
In its report published on June 4, the UN's IPC concluded that famine was no longer even "plausible" and had no "supporting evidence." The UN has also admitted that until now there have only been 32 deaths in Gaza from malnutrition and 28 of those were among children under 5 years old. No one, however -- not the UN, or the ICJ, the NGOs or all the media outlets that magnified and distributed the lies -- has admitted that they were wrong. On the contrary, on June 18 the New York Times, claiming that Gaza "is facing extreme levels of hunger," continued spreading the lie.
The most recent IPC report, published on June 25, concluded that the supply of food to Gaza had, in fact, increased, not decreased, in recent months and that "In this context, the available evidence does not indicate that famine is currently occurring." '
By comparison, more than three million children in Sudan are acutely malnourished, and a quarter of a million are likely to die in the coming months. By the UN's own admission, the war in Sudan is "the war the world has either forgotten or ignored." The irony of that statement has clearly been lost on the UN, which is probably the main reason that Sudan – and other conflict spots – is ignored: the UN focuses almost all its resources on Israel and Gaza.
"About 222,000 severely malnourished children and more than 7,000 new mothers are likely to die in coming months if their nutritional and health needs remain unmet," the Nutrition Cluster in Sudan – a partnership of organizations including the UN, Federal Ministry of Health, and NGOs including Save the Children – recently concluded. Overall, 18 million people in Sudan face starvation. Evidently, no one cares.
The "made-up" famine is just the latest in a long string of fabrications demonizing Israel's military operations in Gaza, which over the last months have been exposed as lies yet have received zero coverage in the media. Predictably, none of the revelations has been widely published in the mainstream media or acknowledged by organizations such as the EU or the many NGOs which have been spreading the lies, such as Human Rights Watch.
Here is a selected list of some of the most exorbitant lies:
Israel is not allowing enough humanitarian aid into Gaza: This claim, based on a lie, was the ostensible reason for US President Joe Biden to build a pier in Gaza. According to UN Watch:
"Data published by both the UN and COGAT shows that as of April 4, 2024, approximately six months into the war, some 13,000 trucks of food have entered Gaza, which amounts to 272,000 tons of food, more than double the required amount according to the WFP. Moreover, while the total number of trucks entering Gaza since before October 7th has decreased overall, the number of food trucks entering Gaza since October 7th has doubled. At the same time, it appears that the UN lacks the logistical capacity to distribute the volume of aid entering. COGAT has repeatedly criticized the UN for failing to process all trucks entering the Strip in a given day."
Despite this situation, not of Israel's making, on June 18, UN human rights chief Volker Türk doubled down on the defamatory accusation that Israel stops humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. "The arbitrary denial and obstruction of humanitarian aid have continued," Türk outright lied. "This must end."
Israel has killed more than 37,000 people in Gaza, mainly women and children: For months the media has reported casualty figures directly from Hamas' propaganda machine, also known as the Gaza Health Ministry, which the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) happily and uncritically publishes on its website on a daily basis. Why the UN is acting as a Hamas spokesperson is intriguing, at least officially, but nevertheless it seems the main source for journalists reporting on Gaza casualties. Those reported casualty figures were claimed to be extremely high from the beginning – currently at more than 37,000 – and almost always stated, according to Honest Reporting, that the overwhelming majority of the casualties, around 70%, were women and children. These numbers were unquestioningly parroted by everyone, including other UN bodies, the EU, the media, and self-described human rights NGOs. Then, in early April, Hamas conceded that its numbers were "flawed." TFoundation for the Defense of Democracies wrote:
"The Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said on April 6 that it had 'incomplete data' for 11,371 of the 33,091 Palestinian fatalities it claims to have documented. In a statistical report, the ministry notes that it considers an individual record to be incomplete if it is missing any of the following key data points: identity number, full name, date of birth, or date of death".
In early May, the UN effectively admitted that Hamas's casualty figures were untrustworthy, lowering the number of fatalities from roughly 34,000 to roughly 24,000 and reducing the alleged number of childhood casualties from 14,000 to around 7,800. According to the IDF at the time, 14,000 of those 24,000 were Hamas terrorists, meaning that the actual number of civilian deaths at that time was closer to 10,000.
"Civilians," in a Palestinian context, at any rate, are a complicated issue. For one thing, many so-called "civilians" took part in the October 7 massacres alongside trained Hamas terrorists, making them in effect equivalent to Hamas. In addition, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are known for their recruitment of child terrorists. In 2021, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on the "military wing" of Hamas to stop abusing children in its terror activities:
"I call upon the al-Qassam Brigades to cease the recruitment and use of children and to abide by their national and international legal obligations. I urge all Palestinian armed groups to protect children, including by preventing them from being exposed to the risk of violence or from being exploited for political purposes."
Hamas has been enlisting children under the age of 15 for decades. Hamas also runs military summer camps for children, where they train with the al-Qassam Brigades. According to Daniel Pérez-García, Researcher in the Radicalisation, Prevention and Security Area of the Research and Projects Department of the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies
"In addition to training in the handling of weapons such as the well-known AK-47, they are trained in the same way as the armed forces of a conventional army and in irregular tactics... Among other special training in asymmetric and irregular warfare, the armed factions of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad teach their youngest members to kidnap IDF soldiers... In the propaganda publications of both groups, it can be seen how the individuals in question are minors and how these methods are disseminated on digital channels such as Telegram..."
Finally, civilians play an active role in Hamas's war atrocities, not least as hostage keepers. The four hostages freed by Israeli forces recently were held in private homes, one of them owned by an Al Jazeera "journalist."
Israel is committing "massacres": Repeatedly throughout the war, Israel has been accused of committing "massacres." One such accusation was levelled at Israel at the end of May, after Israeli forces targeted senior Hamas terrorists in a precise strike, but inadvertently sparking a fire that killed a number of people in a nearby displaced persons' camp. The strike and the ensuing fire garnered enormous condemnation, with some calling it a "massacre" and the UN Security Council holding an emergency session.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres led the incitement against Israel, as the UN almost always does. "There is no safe place in Gaza. This horror must stop," he posted on social media. EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell declared that he was "horrified by news" of the strike; French President Emmanuel Macron said he was "outraged."
The precision munitions had targeted two terrorists. The IDF probe found that the munitions could not have ignited a fire of that size in the nearby encampment; most likely ammunition, weapons or some other material was stored in the area of the strike, which caused a secondary blast and ultimately the fire that spread.
The list of lies goes on, but the defamatory falsehoods, even when conceded by Hamas or the UN, continue to be spread as part of a fabricated, malign narrative about Israeli "war crimes" and "genocide." The lies keep being made up by Hamas and the terror organization's supporters, and repeated by a media that increasingly reveals itself as unprofessional and racist. The lies are never corrected, seemingly because doing so would completely destroy what the media apparently want you to have about Israel.
Large parts of the "elites" of the international community, including the UN, the EU, the media, and countless "human rights" NGOs, seem intent on aiding Iran and its proxies in their ambition to destroy the world's only Jewish state by perpetuating the lies and the false narratives. They then feign shock, when antisemitism reaches ever higher peaks, such as, most recently, the gang rape of a 12-year-old girl in France because she was Jewish. Hamas's tactics are now evidently being copied by adolescent boys on the streets of Europe. Evidently, no one cares.
*Robert Williams is a researcher based in the United States.
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Coptic Bishop Warns West Against Islam: ‘You Are Up Next… My Story Is Your Story’
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/July 03, 2024
A Coptic Christian bishop from Egypt recently issued a stark warning to the people of Germany –and by extension, the entire Western world. In a video posted on June 11, Bishop Damian of the Höxter-Brenkhausen diocese stressed two main points that I have belabored for nearly two decades: the importance of 1) learning from the historic interaction between Islam and the West — and the fate of all nations that came under Muslim domination; and 2) understanding how Muslim numbers dictate Muslim behavior. On the first point, Bishop Damian said, I can assure you that if you shy away from [the growth of Muslims and Islamic violence in Germany] and do nothing, then what happened to us in Egypt will happen in your homeland too. And if you learn nothing from history, then you are up next. Take it seriously. I am not a hate preacher. I have many friends among the Muslims. I am not trying to spread fear. We should not be afraid, but we must learn from our past. We [Christians] were once the rulers of our fatherland, our country [Egypt]. Today we are struggling just to get by — struggling to survive. Yes, indeed. While the West sees Egypt as one of the most “organic” Muslim nations today, before Islam conquered it, Egypt was one of the most thoroughly Christian nations in the world — home to the greatest theological giants and church fathers, including Clement of Alexandria (b. 150), Origen the Great (b. 184), Anthony the Great (b. 251), and Athanasius of Alexandria (b. 297), the chief defender of the Nicene Creed, which is still professed by all major Christian denominations. For centuries, the Catechetical School of Alexandria was the most important ecclesiastical and learning center of ancient Christendom.
Ancient Christian Stronghold
Writing around the year 400, John Cassian, a European, observed that
the traveler from Alexandria in the north to Luxor in the south would have in his ears along the whole journey the sounds of prayers and hymns of the monks, scattered in the desert, from the monasteries and from the caves, from monks, hermits, and anchorites. European scholars such as Stanley Lane-Poole (d. 1931) even claim that Coptic missionaries were the first to bring the Gospel to distant regions of Europe, including Switzerland, Britain, and especially Ireland. Further underscoring the thoroughly Christian nature of pre-Islamic Egypt, both the oldest parchment to contain words from the Gospel (dating to the first century) and the oldest image of Christ were discovered in separate regions of the country. Then Islam came and the rest is history. From its first entry, around 640 AD, Islam unleashed a centuries-long pogrom of persecution against the Christians of Egypt — one that witnessed countless Copts massacred or enslaved and countless churches destroyed — so that by the twentieth century, Christians, who, before Islam, accounted for nearly 100% of Egypt’s population, had been decimated to approximately 10%, with the rest being Islamic. Why so many Copts converted to Islam over the ages rather than embrace an inferior status and sporadic bouts of wholesale persecution is clear enough. Indeed, after recording one particularly egregious bout of persecution in the eleventh century — when, along with the general persecution and massacres, some 30,000 churches were destroyed or turned into mosques — the Muslim historian Maqrizi makes a telling observation: “Under these circumstances a great many Christians became Muslims.” (One can almost sense the inaudible but triumphant “Allahu Akbar!”)
Critical Mass
In short, Bishop Damian’s warning is spot on:
[If you] do nothing [about Islam’s growth in Germany], then what happened to us in Egypt will happen in your homeland too. And if you learn nothing from history, then you are up next. … [W]e must learn from our past.
The bishop’s second point is equally important:
Pay attention to their [Muslims’] growth curve. That curve alone is indicating that if we do not act, we will be a minority in our own country. And we know how Islam behaves when it is in power and majority, compared to how it behaves when in the minority.
The obvious point he is making here is that Islam is so burgeoning in Germany (and elsewhere) that the idea it might take over the nation by sheer numbers alone is not implausible. Already, in those many European districts and cities where Muslims are heavily congregated — as well as some American regions — elements of draconian sharia are enforced and Western freedoms curtailed.
Islam’s Rule of Numbers
The less obvious but equally important point Bishop Damian makes is that “we know how Islam behaves when it is in power and majority, compared to how it behaves when in the minority.” Though few in the West understand this, from its very beginnings under Muhammad, Islamic behavior has always been dictated by circumstance: when weak and outnumbered, Muslims are to preach peace and coexistence; when strong and in the majority, the mask comes off and the jihad resumes.
For over a decade I’ve been referring to this dynamic, which has expressed itself with remarkable consistency, as “Islam’s Rule of Numbers.” The more Muslims grow in numbers, the more Islamic phenomena intrinsic to the Muslim world — for example, brazen violence against non-Muslims (“infidels”) — appear. Put differently, where Muslims are a minority, they tend to refrain from violence and displays of intolerance while demanding all sorts of “rights” if not concessions; but as their numbers grow, so too does their confidence, followed by unapologetic aggression and violence.
Those Western European nations with large Muslim populations should be aware of how all this works. Decades ago, in the name of tolerance and multiculturalism, they opened their doors to “poor Muslim refugees” who only wanted to live and work in peace. Now that these Muslims have multiplied through high birth rates and ongoing migration, their behavior has adjusted accordingly: whether in the UK, France, Sweden, Germany, or many other European nations, violence and rapes, terrorism and criminality, and daily attacks on churches have skyrocketed. The Muslims who once appeared on Europe’s doorsteps in search of “asylum” now have zero tolerance for European culture. We close with Bishop Damian’s own closing from his recently recorded sermon to the German people:
I am warning you: take the situation seriously. My story is your story. My Christian past is your roots. Learn from our past, learn from our situation today. Look to the future, a future which begins today. That is why I raise my voice, to say that we should not look the other way. We must act together and secure a safe country for or children. We have to do this for our children so that they won’t be treated as second- or third-class citizens, and regarded as inferior human beings in their own homeland.

Netanyahu's War: Specificities That Are Not Specific
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/July 03/2024
Many politicians have taken a decision, at some point, that led to war or have sparked a war through a policy they pursued that placed a single consideration over all others. However, the vast majority of these wars, which were fought over a piece of land and the resources in it, in what direction a river should flow, or the reception of refugee populations...would end after one side was defeated militarily, if not through the intervention of a foreign actor, or the political downfall of the intransigent politician who had caused the war, with their government's policies replaced by new ones. Often, such defeats open the door to peace between former enemies or lead to reassessments of previous policies, as well as their shortsightedness, rigidity, or both.
With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his deranged partners, we find a different conception of war. For them, war is not merely politics by other means, as Clausewitz once defined it. Rather, theirs is war of the highest and most radical form. In such wars, there is an inherent repudiation of politics, both in the present and future, as reflected by the daily insistence on dismissing "the day after.” Netanyahu doesn't only approach Gaza this way. Indeed, no Palestinians can be lived with, neither in two states nor in one. They are not a people and have no national identity of any kind. The link with them is governed by negation, which is manifested in many forms, such as the land theft known as settlement, their denial of any form of political representation, and even genocide. In this kind of context, the response to an operation like that of October 7th becomes unmitigated retaliation that knows no limits, is not restricted to a particular party, and accounts for no one.
This war, then, "war of existence, not a war of borders," or a "war of survival or annihilation"- phrases that are omnipresent in radical literature of both the Zionists and Arabs. Implicitly, this discourse promotes a way of life inherently destined to be crowned with death; that is, to be genocidal in intention if not the action, often in response to a call that is usually portrayed as a combination of religious sanctity and the weight of an ancient mythologized history.
In the face of such essentialist notions, it seems frivolous to speak of establishing a state, reassuring a community, a piece of land, or the course river, as it is "either us or them." One of the matters this calls for is dehumanizing the enemy, so that we can kill them like we crush an insect by stepping on it, and that they be treated as a monolithic whole akin to a herd of cattle or a swarm of rats.
However, if this consciousness draws on tribal pasts, the ideology of the modern era has ensured that it flourishes. Liquidation, eradication, and extermination were never used as much as they have been used by Fascism, Stalinism, and their offshoots. The enemy, in the tradition of these movements and their adherents, does not become an enemy because of an action they had taken, an action whose recurrence could be prevented, or for which they could apologize or compensate, with normalcy restored after that. Rather, the enemy is born an enemy; the are enemies because of what they are. Their inherent essence makes coexistence with them impossible, and it will remain so until the end of time. Thus, if one is Slavic or Jewish, he is an enemy in the eyes of the Nazis, and the same holds true for someone who is bourgeois or "kulak" in the eyes of Leninists and Stalinists, and for the Palestinians in the eyes of Netanyahu and his friends. Moreover, we find efforts to associate the pure self with God and adversaries with Satan, as Khomeinists have emphasized. The function of covering oneself with these triumphalist "messages" is to facilitate killing enemies and maximize their deaths, while making our own deaths bearable and the reason for rewards granted by history or God. However, even in the case of a just cause whose ideology is engulfed by such transcendental ideas, victory would amount to nothing more than a despotic independence or liberation that is brimming with prisons and prison cells, suffocating the population- the kind of liberation and independence movements that the “Third World” was rife with.
With the contemporary rise of populism, we are seeing these phenomena among politicians in democratic societies, which is reflected by, among many other things, defamatory rhetoric and personal enmity. Politicians who could be categorized as respectable are losing influence and declining in number in favor of another category of politicians, one that has now taken center stage.
As for ridding ourselves of total war, it has, to a large extent, become contingent upon ensuring the decline of populism and absolutist ideological movements, be they nationalistic or religious, right-wing or left-wing. Nothing has a stronger presence within them than perpetual war, and it is certainly first thing they promise to their base, in the form of victory for them, and for their opponents in the form of eradication and genocide. Netanyahu and his associates are nothing more than an advanced unit in this army of generalized criminality.

What the UK general election might mean for the Middle East
JONATHAN GORNALL/Arab News/July 03, 2024
LONDON: It was clear from the moment that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stood outside 10 Downing Street on May 22 and announced that he was calling a snap general election that the next six weeks would not go well for his ruling Conservative party. For many, the raincloud that burst over Sunak’s head as he spoke seemed to sum up the past 14 years, which, riven by factional infighting, saw no fewer than four leaders in the eight years since Theresa May succeeded David Cameron in 2016.
Adding to the comedy of the moment was the soundtrack to the announcement, courtesy of a protester at the gates of Downing Street, whose sound system was blasting out the ’90s pop hit “Things Can Only Get Better” — the theme tune of Labour’s 1997 election victory. Headline writers were spoiled for choice. Contenders included “Drown and out,” “Drowning Street” and — probably the winner — “Things can only get wetter.” That last one was also prescient.
In theory, under the rules governing general elections, Sunak need not have gone to the country until December. The reality, however, was that both Sunak and his party were already trailing badly in the polls and the consensus at Conservative HQ was that things could only get worse. As if to prove the point, in one early Conservative campaign video, the British Union Flag was flown upside down. A series of mishaps and scandals followed, with some Conservative MPs found to have been betting against themselves and the party. Former British PM Boris Johnson gestures as he endorses British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a campaign event in London, Britain, July 2, 2024. (Reuters)
Judging by the steady slide in support for the government, the electorate has neither forgotten nor forgiven the chaos of the Boris Johnson years, typified by the illegal drinks parties held in Downing Street while the rest of the nation was locked down during COVID-19 restrictions. Nor has the electorate forgotten the failure to deliver on the great promises of Brexit, the shock to the UK economy delivered by the 44-day premiership of Liz Truss, and the inability of the government to control the UK’s borders — which was, after all, the chief reason for leaving the EU.
On the day the election was announced, a seven-day average of polls showed Labour had twice as much support as the Conservatives — 45 percent to 23 percent.
Compounding the government’s woes was the rise of Reform UK, the populist right-wing party making gains thanks largely to the failure of Sunak’s pledge to reduce immigration and “stop the boats” carrying illegal migrants across the English Channel.
On 11 percent, Reform had overtaken the Lib Dems, Britain’s traditional third-placed party, and the vast majority of the votes it seemed certain to hoover up would be those of disenchanted Conservative voters.
By the eve of today’s election, a poll of 18 polls carried out in the seven days to July 2 showed Labour’s lead had eased only very slightly, to 40 percent against the Conservatives’ 21 percent, with Reform up to 16 percent.
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and Britain’s Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak attend a live TV debate, hosted by the BBC. (File/AFP)
On Wednesday, a final YouGov poll on the eve of voting predicted that Labour would win 431 seats, while the Conservatives would return to the new parliament on July 9 with only 102 MPs — less than a third of the 365 seats they won in 2019.
If this proves to be the case, Starmer would have a majority of 212, not only bigger than Tony Blair’s in 1997, but also the strongest performance in an election by any party since 1832. After the polls close tonight at 10pm, there is a very good chance that Sunak may even lose his own seat, the constituency of Richmond and Northallerton, which the Conservatives have held for 114 years.
Either way, the Conservative party will be thrust into further turmoil as the battle begins to select the party’s next leader who, as many commentators are predicting, can look forward to at least a decade in opposition.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage scratches his head as he delivers a speech during the “Rally for Reform” at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. (File/AFP)
The return of Labour, a completely regenerated party after 14 years in the wilderness, is likely to be good news for Britain’s relationships in the Middle East, as Arab News columnist Muddassar Ahmed predicted this week.
Distracted by one domestic or internal crisis after another, the Conservatives have not only neglected their friends and allies in the region but, in an attempt to stem the loss of its supporters to Reform UK, have also pandered to racial and religious prejudices.
“The horrific scenes unfolding in Gaza, for example, have rocked Muslims worldwide while pitting different faith communities against one another,” Ahmed wrote.
“But instead of working to rebuild the relationships between British Muslims, Jews and Christians, the Conservative government has branded efforts to support Palestinians as little more than insurgent ‘hate marches’ — using the horrific conflict to wedge communities that ought to be allied.”On the other hand, Labour appears determined to reinvigorate the country’s relationship with a region once central to the UK’s interests.
January this year saw the launch of the Labour Middle East Council (LMEC), founded with “the fundamental goal of cultivating understanding and fostering enduring relationships between UK parliamentarians and the Middle East and North Africa.”
Chaired by Sir William Patey, a former head of the Middle East Department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and an ambassador to Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Sudan, and with an advisory board featuring two other former British ambassadors to the region, the LMEC will be a strong voice whispering in the ear of a Labour government that will be very open to what it has to say.
Britain’s Labour Party leader Keir Starmer speaks on stage at the launch of the party’s manifesto in Manchester, England, Thursday, June 13, 2024. (AP)
Writing in The House magazine, Sir William predicted “a paradigm shift in British foreign policy is imminent.”He added: “As a nation with deep-rooted historical connections to the Middle East, the UK has a unique role to play in fostering a stable and prosperous region.” The role of the LMEC would be “to harness these connections for a positive future. We will work collaboratively to address pressing global issues, from climate change to technological advancement, ensuring that our approach is always one of respect, partnership, and shared progress.”
David Lammy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, has already made several visits to the region since Oct. 7. In April he expressed “serious concerns about a breach in international humanitarian law” over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
Britain’s main opposition Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy addresses delegates at the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool. (File/AFP)
It was, he added, “important to reaffirm that a life lost is a life lost whether that is a Muslim or a Jew.” In May, Lammy called for the UK to pause arms sales to Israel.
In opposition, Labour has hesitated to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, but this has been a product of its own internal and domestic tensions. Starmer has brought the party back on track after years of accusations by UK Jewish activist groups that under his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn it was fundamentally antisemitic. Whether the charges were true, or whether the party’s staunch support of the Palestinian cause was misrepresented as antisemitism, was a moot point. Starmer knew that, in the run-up to a general election, this was hard-won ground that he could not afford to lose.
Nevertheless, even as he has alienated some Muslim communities in the UK for his failure to call for a ceasefire, he has spoken out repeatedly against the horrors that have unfolded in Gaza.
Crucially, he has consistently backed the two-state solution, and the creation of “a viable Palestinian state where the Palestinian people and their children enjoy the freedoms and opportunities that we all take for granted.” In broader terms, Lammy has also made clear that Labour intends to re-engage with the Middle East through a new policy of what he called “progressive realism.”Less than a week before Sunak called his surprise general election, Lammy spoke of the need for the UK to mend relations with the Gulf states, which he saw as “hugely important for security in the Middle East” and “important in relation to our economic growth missions.”
Because of missteps by the Conservative government, he added, relations between the UAE and the UK, for example, were at “an all-time low. That is not acceptable and not in the UK’s national interests (and) we will seek to repair that.”
In an article he wrote for Foreign Affairs magazine, Lammy went further.
China, he said, was not the world’s only rising power, and “a broadening group of states — including Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — have claimed seats at the table. They and others have the power to shape their regional environments, and they ignore the EU, the UK, and the US ever more frequently.”Lammy expressed regret for “the chaotic Western military interventions during the first decades of this century,” in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, which had proved to be a “recipe for disorder.”As shadow foreign secretary, he has traveled extensively across the MENA region, to countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, the UAE, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
All, he wrote, “will be vital partners for the UK in this decade, not least as the country seeks to reconstruct Gaza and — as soon as possible — realize a two-state solution.”
For many regional observers, Labour is starting with a clean sheet, but has much to prove. “It is an acknowledged fact among scholars that foreign policies don’t radically change after elections,” Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, professor in global thought and comparative philosophies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, told Arab News. “Therefore, I don’t expect major shifts once Labour forms the government in the UK. “That said, the composition of the Labour party and its ‘backbench’ politics are likely to shift the language and probably even the code of conduct, in particular with reference to the question of Palestine. For a Labour leader it may be that much more difficult to be agnostic about the horrific human rights situation in Gaza.”
For political analysts advising international clients, however, the implications of a Labour victory extend beyond the situation in Gaza.
“In an attempt to secure political longevity, the party will renegotiate key policy priorities in the Middle East,” said Kasturi Mishra, a political consultant at Hardcastle, a global advisory firm that has been closely following the foreign policy implications of the UK election for its clients in business and international politics. “This could include calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, ending arms sales to Israel, reviving trade and diplomacy with the Gulf states and increasing the UK’s defense spending in the region,” Mishra told Arab News.
“This renegotiation is important at a time when the UK finds itself increasingly uncertain of its global position.
“The Middle East has significant geopolitical and security implications for the West. Labour policy-makers recognize this and are likely to deepen British engagement with the region to reshape its soft power and influence.”
Mishra highlighted Lammy’s multiple trips to the region as a foretaste of a Labour’s intention to strengthen ties with the Gulf states, “which have been neglected in post-Brexit Britain. “Given the influential role of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar in regional security and the potential to collaborate with them on climate mitigation and other international issues, it is clear that he will seek to forge partnerships.
“His doctrine of progressive realism combines a values-based world order with pragmatism. It is expected that he will favor personalized diplomacy, more akin to that of the UAE, India and France.”

UK voters poised to land a blow against populism
Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/July 03/2024
The UK is expected to experience a new beginning this week. Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, who is often seen as “uncharismatic,” bordering even on “boring” as far as a large chunk of the electorate is concerned, is likely to become the new prime minister and will form the new UK government following Thursday’s general election. As a result, Britain and its people will, after 14 years of being governed by a right-leaning Conservative Party dominated by populist rhetoric, get the change they have been craving. If nothing else, they will be led by a serious person, one who is willing to serve and is ready to put the country before himself and his political party, as he has often repeated.
This would be quite refreshing for the British electorate after the many years of chaos under the Conservative Party, its austerity, its Brexit built on lies and its toxic, self-serving politics that have eroded trust in politicians, the system and even democracy.
Yet, be warned, the UK, like its neighbors on the European continent and across the Atlantic, will not be immune from a resurgence of populism or the far right for long. Amid economic stagnation, depleted state finances and the country’s borrowing being maxed out, while the demands of the people continue to grow, any government could find itself unable to please those who elected it. That is why it is imperative for the next government to try to end the “conspiracy of silence,” as no one has been talking about Brexit, taxation or the true cost of governing a country, funding its welfare state and meeting the aspirations of its people in the months preceding the election. Politics is brutal, as Starmer surely knows, and he has to walk a very fine line to keep those who elected him on board. By breaking that conspiracy of silence, through telling people the truth, he might quickly fall out of favor compared to those populists and far-right firebrands who are always willing to offer people various fantasies and tell them what they want to hear. It is here that the future of democracy may hang. How many of us would be willing to pay more tax in order to pay for essential services? How many Brits are ready to admit that Brexit delivered a bad blow to the economy? And how many are capable of trimming their expectations to make ends meet?
No one will envy Starmer, as he is likely to inherit a country with a long and urgent to-do list. Will he and his team be able to shrewdly find the money to stabilize the ship, redress some government failures, shorten hospital queues, find new doctors and new nurses, improve dilapidated schools, reform the justice system and hire more police officers? Will he be able to lessen the burden on struggling families as a result of the cost-of-living crisis, reform the immigration system, broker a new deal with the EU, Britain’s closest trading partner, and still manage to ensure the security of the nation in an ever more volatile world? This is a tall order to expect from any leader. But Starmer has put himself forward and claims to be the man to bring about the changes that are needed. The question will be: is the electorate ready to play ball? UK society has, for decades, been living beyond its means. Public debt is slowly approaching the 100 percent of gross domestic product mark, although France fares even worse at above 110 percent of GDP. These are highs that nations could reach in times of conflict, for example, when meeting the burden of financing a war. But those debt levels are expected to rise even further if the state is to continue to deliver for a demographic that is aging, living longer and demanding more from the welfare state.
Most people — and not just in the UK — have forgotten how to sacrifice today in order to build a better tomorrow.
Instead, most people — and not just in the UK — have forgotten how to sacrifice today in order to build a better tomorrow. Selfish individualism is replacing the commonality that made the UK tick and prosper in the past. Building railways — such as the now watered-down HS2 project, the high-speed rail network that was supposed to link north and south — remains vital if the UK is to grow more in a decade or two. Investing in education and training should be high on the politicians’ agenda, so that the nation can be self-sufficient instead of relying on foreign nurses and doctors.
Building and maintaining a nation state requires tough choices, both by politicians and the people. Over the past decade, Britain has been entertained by its politicians and the crowd has been equally guilty for applauding them instead of holding them to account. Labour has promised to change all that and to bring decency back into politics, but is the electorate ready to give the party a chance and equally to learn to live within its means, relearning how to sacrifice today for a better tomorrow? I am not sure. Thursday’s election is likely to produce a new leadership, a new government and a new chance to rebuild state and society after the battering years of Conservative governments. The new government is likely to occupy the center ground again, in a world that is lurching further right everyday, from France to the US. A serious, sober form of government led by Starmer — unlike the theatrics Britain has been used to under the Tories — could offer a chance to fix the many broken wheels in politics, the economy and society, despite the adversities that could plague the demarches of the new government both domestically and internationally.
**Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy. He is also a media consultant and trainer.