Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July11-12/2024
Israeli incendiary weapons leave trail of destruction in southern Lebanon
Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
South Lebanon: Forests Set on Fire
Israeli army: Air forces strike Hezbollah target in Lebanon
Hezbollah's Ibrahim Moussawi to CNN: Regional powers do not seek full-scale conflict
Iraqi Oil Ministry: Unloading of gas oil ships in Beirut to commence
Geagea: Opening the Southern Front Was a Major Sin
Military Academy: Will Mortada Succeed in his Mediation Mission?
After Zaki… Aboul Gheit in Beirut
Bou Habib calls Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Aaty emphasizes Egypt's full support for Lebanon
Nasrallah affirms commitment to Al-Aqsa Flood war, emphasizes unity on Lebanese front
Berri: LF only seeking bickering, opposition doesn't want election of president
Presidential Elections: Opposition Initiative Still in the Limelight
All you need to know about the opposition's presidential initiative
The Potential Use of Electromagnetic Weapons by Israel Against Hezbollah/Salam Zaatari/This Is Beirut/July 11/2024
BDL’s Bare Minimum Tasks/Nicolas Sbeih/This Is Beirut/July 11/2024
Lebanon Seeks to Deport Half of Syrian Refugees to their Homeland

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July11-12/2024
Israeli army acknowledges Oct. 7 failures. But it says tank strike on home did not kill Israelis
How Israel has brought the Palestinian Authority to the brink of financial collapse
Bodies Trapped in Gaza City under Israeli Assault as Mediators Push for Truce
Israeli military extends evacuation order to whole of Gaza City
Desperate for food, Gazans turn to mulberry leaves to survive
G7 denounces Israel's settlement expansion in West Bank
Gazan paramedic recounts alleged mistreatment in Israeli detention
Yemen Houthi rebels fired an Iranian missile at Norwegian-flagged ship, debris analyzed by US shows
Oil tanker held by Iran for over a year heads toward international waters, tracking data shows
Erdogan says Biden, U.S. complicit in alleged Israeli war crimes
Iran's acting foreign minister says indirect talks with US ongoing via Oman
Kurdish oil smuggling to Iran flourishes
Trump Rants at George Clooney After Stunning Biden Op-Ed

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on July11-12/2024
Why Palestinian Leaders Cannot Make Peace With Israel/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/July 11, 2024
Normalization with Saudi Arabia is a golden opportunity for Israel/Yoel Guzansky ans Udi Dekel/Jerusalem Post/July 11/2024
What happens in America doesn’t stay in America/Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/July 11, 2024
France’s right-wing tilt will further alienate it from North Africa/Zaid M. Belbagi/Arab News/July 12, 2024
Europe’s moderate parties lack a clear political vision/Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/July 11, 2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 11-12/2024
Israeli incendiary weapons leave trail of destruction in southern Lebanon
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/July 11, 2024
BEIRUT: The Israeli army on Thursday ignited fires across orchards and forests on the Lebanese border using internationally banned incendiary weapons.Hezbollah carried out an aerial attack in response, using drones to target the new headquarters of the artillery battalion of Israel’s 146th division.
The strike, south of Kabri, “achieved a direct hit” and led to deaths and injuries on the Israeli side, Hezbollah said.The group also targeted Israeli soldiers near Hanita, claiming in a statement that the attack left “one dead and two wounded.”
Hezbollah’s drone strikes had “very harsh consequences” for their intended targets, Israel’s Channel 13 said.In a statement, the Israeli army said: “Following warning sirens that were activated in the Upper Galilee region in the morning, drones were observed crossing the Lebanese territory and landing in the Upper Galilee area.”Air defense systems intercepted several targets heading toward Israel, the army added. Meanwhile, Israeli phosphorus artillery targeted Mays Al-Jabal, and the remains of an interceptor missile fell on the roof of an inhabited home in Shaqra.
The shelling of Naqoura and Alma Al-Shaab resulted in fires erupting in forests and olive groves. Lebanese civil defense teams worked to extinguish the blazes. Israeli heavy artillery pounded several border areas — Houla, Wadi Al-Saluki, Aitaroun, Naqoura, Alma Al-Shaab and Dhayra — some of which have been frequent targets since clashes began nine months ago.Israeli jets violated the southern Lebanese airspace, flying at very low altitudes. The Progressive Socialist Party on Thursday called for urgent action in response to a reported Israeli interception of phone calls in Lebanon.
The Lebanese An-Nahar newspaper had reported the breach, which saw Israel accessing data, such as phone calls, through the submarine cable that connects Lebanon to Cyprus. The party questioned Lebanon’s 2022 approval of the CADMOS-2 cable, which is linked to the Israeli cable Ariel connecting Haifa and Tel Aviv to Cyprus. Lebanon had “failed to take any precautionary measures to prevent such a major breach,” the party warned. In response, Hezbollah said it urged members to avoid phone calls and internet usage, and to disconnect surveillance cameras across the south.
The directive follows the assassinations of high-ranking Hezbollah members.
“We are not on the verge of any full-scale or open war. Neither the Israelis nor the Lebanese want that. Even the regional and international powers do not want that,” said Hezbollah MP Ibrahim Moussaoui. Moussaoui told CNN: “Since the beginning of the hostilities, we set a modus operandi under which any escalation provoked by the Israeli enemy will be faced by an escalation of the same intensity if not more. “This is how things are going around so far. However, I do not believe a full-scale war favors any party.”In his speech on Wednesday evening, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah referred to the ceasefire negotiations in Doha between Hamas and Israel, with Egypt, Qatar and the US present. Nasrallah said that his movement would accept any Hamas decision on Gaza truce negotiations, adding that Hezbollah would end its cross-border attacks on Israel if a ceasefire were reached. “Whatever Hamas accepts, everyone accepts and is satisfied with,” he said. “This is our commitment as a support front. We have been clear about this from the beginning, and it should go without saying. “Our brothers in Hamas know better. We are not asking anyone to listen to our opinion. We stand by their side and support them in any position or decision they take until the end.”A political observer described Nasrallah’s announcement as “a position that tends toward de-escalation and meets the ongoing negotiations held in Doha.”They added: “Iran is not far from taking the same position.” Meanwhile, Israeli officials ramped up their threats against Hezbollah, warning of the possibility of a two-front war. During his tour of Galilee, Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said: “We must be able to confront two fronts simultaneously, and we should realize that these wars are going to last long.”He added: “Iran is closer than ever to obtaining nuclear weapons. We may face repeated confrontations with Iran.”

Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
Naharnet/July 11/2024
Hezbollah launched Thursday an array of suicide drones on an artillery base in Israel's Kabri in response to attacks on Lebanese civilians and villages. The group later targeted the al-Malkia post, surveillance equipment in Hadb Yarine and a group of soldiers in Hanita in northern Israel. Israeli warplanes meanwhile raided Tayr Harfa and the outskirts of al-Jebbayn. Warplanes had raided overnight the southern border towns of al-Khiam, Odaisseh, and Ramia, after Hezbollah carried out Wednesday four attacks on northern Israel and the Golan Heights. Hezbollah has traded almost daily fire with Israeli forces in support of Gaza since Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in the Strip, stoking fears of a full-blown conflict. Hezbollah announced four attacks on Wednesday, including an "aerial offensive with a squadron of explosive drones" targeting a military base in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. The Israeli military said one soldier was lightly wounded after "approximately three" drones "crossed from Lebanon... and fell" in the southern Golan Heights. In Lebanon, the cross-border violence since October has killed nearly 500 people, mostly fighters but also including 95 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, at least 29 people have been killed, the majority of them soldiers, according to the authorities.

South Lebanon: Forests Set on Fire
This Is Beirut/July 11/2024 
Israeli attacks persisted on the southern border with heavy shelling on Thursday. The southern and eastern outskirts of Mays al-Jabal were targeted by phosphorus artillery bombardments, while a number of interceptor missiles exploded in the airspace of the village and its surroundings, causing fires. The surrounding areas of Hula, Wadi Salouki, Tayr Harfa, Ain el-Zarka, Alma al-Shaab, Wadi Hamoul, Naqoura, and Aitaroun were also subjected to 155mm artillery bombardment, setting fire to forests and olive groves in Naqoura and Alma al-Shaab, where the Civil Defense rushed in. Earlier in the morning, several towns and villages suffered the same fate. These included the outskirts of Naqoura, Jabal el-Labbouneh, Alma al-Shaab, Tayr Harfa, Dhayra, Aita al-Shaab and a hill between Kfarchouba and Habbariye, where shepherds managed to escape the attacks. On the Israeli side, Israeli media reported a drone explosion in Western Galilee and several injuries, including one in serious condition. For its part, Hezbollah announced on Thursday that it had carried out a drone attack on the headquarters of the artillery battalion of the 146th division south of Kabri, targeting it directly.

Israeli army: Air forces strike Hezbollah target in Lebanon
Reuters/July 11/2024
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that its aircraft bombed a Hezbollah site in the Janta area of southern Lebanon.The army added in a statement that it targeted a Hezbollah air defense system. Most of the Israeli military strikes in recent weeks have been directed at southern and southeastern Lebanon.

Hezbollah's Ibrahim Moussawi to CNN: Regional powers do not seek full-scale conflict
LBCI/July 11/2024
During an interview with CNN, member of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, MP Ibrahim Moussawi, stated that "we are not on the verge of any kind of full-scale war or open war," adding, "The Israelis do not want that, the Lebanese do not want that, and even regional and international powers do not want that." Moussawi said, "Since the outbreak of the conflict and Israeli hostilities after October 7, and after the clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli side, we have adhered to certain rules at all times."
"We have targeted Israeli military sites, particularly in occupied areas and Lebanon, and there was escalation from the Israeli side. Then we formulated a stance that whenever the Israeli side escalates the situation, we escalate it to the same extent and more. So, this is how things have proceeded so far," he added. He pointed out that according to his estimates, it is not in anyone's interest to go to a full-scale war.

Iraqi Oil Ministry: Unloading of gas oil ships in Beirut to commence
LBCI/July 11/2024
The Iraqi Ministry of Oil has requested the Iraqi Oil Tankers Company to take the necessary measures to load the tanker detailed with fuel oil from the floating storage (New Naxos). This decision means that it is now possible to start unloading the two ships docked in Beirut with gas oil, at the Deir Ammar and Zahrani plants.

Geagea: Opening the Southern Front Was a Major Sin
This Is Beirut/July 11/2024 
Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea considered that opening the southern front was not merely a “mistake” but a “major sin” against the Lebanese people as well as the Palestinian cause. He stressed that the situation in Lebanon cannot tolerate waiting for what will happen in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas. “The Lebanese government cannot wait any longer to take measures,” he added. Geagea wondered what was actually achieved for Gaza. He emphasized that the aim of opening this front was to strengthen the Iranian axis more than anything else.
In an interview with Independent Arabia, Geagea addressed the Arab League, which includes 22 countries, and asked, “Why is Lebanon alone among all these countries equally concerned with what is happening in Gaza right now?” He also wondered why Lebanon, “the smallest and least populous, with the smallest economy among all these countries, along with a presidential vacancy, is to support Gaza?”He called on the caretaker government, headed by Najib Mikati, to take decisive and urgent measures immediately. “Why doesn’t the government unilaterally implement UN Resolution 1701?” he asked, questioning what the problem would be if the Lebanese Army deployed in southern Lebanon. where Hezbollah is currently stationed. Geagea said that “there cannot be an actual state in Lebanon with Hezbollah in its current mode.” Therefore, “if we want to preserve our nation within its internationally recognized borders, there must be a state, and for there to be a state, the party cannot continue in its current form,” he added. The LF leader suggested that the key to solving major crises in Lebanon is “unfortunately Iran.” “Should Iran ask Hezbollah to withdraw, allowing the Lebanese Army to deploy, this would stop any potential escalation, after which stability might return to Lebanon, enabling us to tackle our internal problems,” he said. He noted that “Lebanon is in a cell deep underground, and we do not know when the day will come for it to emerge, but we must not drown in the bleak moment we are experiencing.”

Military Academy: Will Mortada Succeed in his Mediation Mission?
This Is Beirut/July 11/2024 
The military career of 118 officers, whose recruitment has been anticipated since August 2023, remains in limbo, awaiting the outcome of an expected mediation to be handled by the caretaker Minister of Culture, Mohammed Mortada, who is trying to resolve the dispute between the Minister of Defense, Maurice Slim, and Army Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Aoun regarding the Military Academy.On Wednesday, Mortada met with both parties to try to ease the tensions. He described these meetings as “positive,” which could prompt the caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, to convene a Cabinet meeting to address the issue sometime next week. In the summer of 2023, out of 800 candidates who applied for the Military Academy entrance exam, 118 were selected by the army command. Originally seeking to recruit 173 new officers, the caretaker Minister of Defense refused to endorse the exam results, citing the need for additional tests to enlist the remaining 55 officers required to meet the quota. Slim’s abstention can be attributed to the “strained” relationship with the Army Commander-in-Chief. Tensions escalated following a dispute over the appointment of an officer to head the army’s inspection service. Additionally, Slim, who is close to the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), had previously expressed a desire for General Joseph Aoun to be replaced, as part of a campaign led by the FPM against the army chief.

After Zaki… Aboul Gheit in Beirut
This Is Beirut/July 11/2024 
The Arab League’s Assistant Secretary General Hossam Zaki triggered the ire of more than one Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country following his recent visit to Beirut, during which he declared, “The League no longer classifies Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.”However, the Arab League does not have any established or official list of terrorist groups which it can de-classify or not. Following the campaign of criticism that he faced, Zaki tried to make up for his declaration by explaining that his statement “does not mean in any way the disappearance of reservations and objections to Hezbollah’s behavior, policies, and actions.”A clause in the Arab League’s resolution clearly states that member countries should “refrain from providing any form of explicit or implicit support to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts, including any militias or irregular armed groups.”Nonetheless, and despite clarifications issued by the League’s Secretary General, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Arab circles revealed that the latter will visit Lebanon soon to remove the confusion left behind by Zaki’s statement.

Bou Habib calls Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Aaty emphasizes Egypt's full support for Lebanon
LBCI/July 11/2024
Foreign Minister and Expatriates Abdallah Bou Habib called his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdel Aaty, to congratulate him on his new position, expressing "Lebanon's appreciation for Egypt's continuous support in facing the challenges it is going through." In turn, the Egyptian minister thanked Minister Bou Habib for his initiative in calling and congratulating him, affirming "the priority Egypt places on the Lebanese issue." He emphasized "Egypt's full support for Lebanon's stability and the preservation of its sovereignty in the face of the threats and dangers it encounters." He also indicated that "Egypt will intensify its contacts with influential international parties, seeking an immediate cessation of the war on Gaza and preventing the region from sliding into widespread instability." Both sides affirmed their constant aspiration to continue coordination and consultation to enhance various aspects of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Nasrallah affirms commitment to Al-Aqsa Flood war, emphasizes unity on Lebanese front
LBCI/July 11/2024
In a recent statement, Hezbollah's Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah emphasized, ''From day one, our commitment to the Al-Aqsa Flood war has been unwavering and absolute in both form and substance.''He said, ''We haven't given our battle on the Lebanese front a specific name to emphasize the unity of the fight.'' Nasrallah continued, ''Instead, we are calling it the "Lebanese Support Front" as part of the "Al-Aqsa Flood" campaign. We do not intend to create a separate name, to remain aligned with "Al-Aqsa Flood."He added, ''We have entered the battle with clear objectives, and we see these objectives being realized day by day. More importantly, our achievements are acknowledged by the enemy.''Hezbollah's Secretary-General expressed that ''Netanyahu does not understand the implications of his statements. His insistence on the Rafah operation signifies admission of defeat and the absence of any victory in the battle.'' He stated, ''We await the outcome of negotiations, and the entire world acknowledges that Israel is incapable of achieving military decisiveness. A ceasefire must be implemented.'' Nasrallah added, ''Hamas negotiates on its behalf, representing the Palestinian factions and the entire resistance axis. We all accept whatever Hamas agrees to.''He remarked, ''Whoever threatens us with invading south of the Litani River should look at what is happening in Rafah with its narrow area, where they have failed to achieve victory.''Nasrallah noted, ''If a ceasefire agreement is reached, our front will cease fire independently of any negotiations because it is a support front.''

Berri: LF only seeking bickering, opposition doesn't want election of president
Naharnet/July 11/2024
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has rejected the latest paper issued by the opposition’s 31 lawmakers and has not seen in it a “roadmap” for resolving the presidential crisis, sources close to him said. “The opposition members who reject dialogue, mainly the Lebanese Forces, are only working for political bickering,” the sources quoted Berri as saying, in remarks to Annahar newspaper published Thursday. “The majority of them do not want presidential elections for a host of considerations related to their interests, thinking that they might take advantage of expected events to serve their future agenda and achieve a number of goals,” Berri added, according to the sources. LF leader Samir Geagea had on Wednesday accused Berri’s camp of rejecting dialogue over the presidential file, a day after the opposition proposed two suggestions for resolving the crisis. “For two years, the groups of the Axis of Resistance have been calling for dialogue, dialogue, dialogue under the excuse of finalizing the presidential juncture. Their lying and hypocrisy have become evident to all Lebanese,” the LF leader added. “Once the opposition unanimously proposed yesterday two serious suggestions for finalizing the presidential juncture, they raised their voices left and right to reject, condemn and deplore. Are you truly the same people who have been calling for dialogue for the past two years?” Geagea wondered.

Presidential Elections: Opposition Initiative Still in the Limelight
This Is Beirut
The Renewal Bloc, in a press release issued on Wednesday, considered that the roadmap presented by the opposition constitutes a serious opportunity to overcome the climate of obstruction to the election of a president in line with the provisions of the constitution. This would constitute a gateway to restoring the sovereignty of the state and the rule of law and institutions. At its weekly meeting, the bloc called on all political forces to “seize this opportunity to put an end to the collapse that Lebanon is undergoing at all levels.”To put things in context, at a press conference held in Parliament on July 9, opposition MPs submitted a “practical” roadmap comprising two proposals. Its main aim is to “break Lebanon’s political deadlock,” which has persisted since October 31, 2022, and is “disrupting state institutions.”
Following the announcement of their initiative to resolve the presidential stalemate, opposition MPs submitted their proposals to various parliamentary blocs on Wednesday. Meetings were held with the Democratic Gathering (PSP) parliamentary group, the Moderation parliamentary bloc, and the MPs of Change and Independents. In connection with this proposal, the Jaafari Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan stated on Wednesday that “mere criticism is unacceptable.” He added that the only thing that would make sense would be a “presidential settlement” at Parliament. In this statement, Qabalan is insisting that Hezbollah and Amal will not proceed with elections unless MPs sit at a dialogue table first, whereas opposition MPs refuse to create constitutional practice by doing so. On his part, MP Ghassan Hasbani, a member of the ‘Strong Republic’ bloc, pointed out, in an interview with ‘Voice of All Lebanon’ on Thursday, that the opposition’s presidential initiative condenses the proposals that the opposition parties had put forward separately, with an addition of some positive points. Hasbani hopes that it will constitute a breakthrough in the discussion.

All you need to know about the opposition's presidential initiative
Naharnet/July 11/2024
Crisis-hit Lebanon remains without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, as tensions boil on the border with Israel since October 7. In a bid to break the impasse, opposition lawmakers started an initiative Tuesday, announcing two suggestions to facilitate the election of a president. On Wednesday, the opposition MPs met with lawmakers from the Democratic Gathering bloc, the National Moderation bloc, the Free Patriotic Movement's Strong Lebanon bloc and other change and independent MPs. As neither of the two main blocs -- Hezbollah and its opponents -- has the majority required to elect a president, Speaker Nabih Berri has long called for a dialogue. The Lebanese Forces refuse a dialogue chaired by Berri. The opposition suggested consultations in parliament without an official invitation - it means that consultations would not be chaired by Berri. They also proposed another suggestion: an open presidential election session chaired by Berri, during which MPs and blocs would hold consultations outside parliament’s hall after the first round of voting and then return to vote in successive rounds. Amal MP Qassem Hashem criticized the opposition's initiative. "The shortest way to elect a president is Berri's initiative," Hashem said. "Anything else is a waste of time."LF leader Samir Geagea for his part accused the rival Hezbollah-led camp of rejecting dialogue over the presidential file, after it reportedly criticized his initiative. They "have been calling for dialogue, dialogue, dialogue. Their lying and hypocrisy have become evident to all Lebanese,” he said. Berri responded that parliamentary blocs do not take orders from Geagea or await a roadmap from him. "Geagea's statement would have been enough, there was no need to announce an initiative," Berri said.
Pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper reported Thursday that the Democratic Gathering and the National Moderation blocs have advised the opposition to meet with Berri, adding that the Democratic Gathering bloc MPs have stressed that it is normal that Berri chairs the dialogue, as a parliament speaker.
The daily claimed that the FPM MPs also advised to go for Berri's dialogue. The FPM, in a statement Wednesday, showed positivity towards the opposition's initiate. It called on both parties - the Shiite Duo and the opposition - to consider consultations to reach consensus on a president instead of electing one through a democratic vote an exception and not a norm. Another local newspaper, ad-Diyar said that the U.S. ambassador has also advised the opposition to talk to Berri in order to elect a president before September. The five-nation group, which comprises the ambassadors of the U.S., France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, had met Tuesday with the opposition MPs. The meeting wasn't fruitful, ad-Diyar said, as it did not include any solution or proposal. On June 14 last year, lawmakers failed for the 12th time to elect a president as candidates Jihad Azour and Suleiman Franjieh both failed to get across the line in the 128-seat parliament.

The Potential Use of Electromagnetic Weapons by Israel Against Hezbollah
Salam Zaatari/This Is Beirut/July 11/2024
Hezbollah has become a major non-state actor in the Middle East since Israel’s 2006 invasion. Supported by Iran, it has received large shipments of rockets and drones and now produces its own weapons, including air defense capabilities. Its arsenal includes guided and unguided rockets, antitank artillery, ballistic and anti-ship missiles, and explosive drones, suggesting a complex conflict that could reach deep into Israeli territory. Analysts estimate Hezbollah has 130,000 to 150,000 rockets and missiles and over 100,000 soldiers, far surpassing Hamas’s prewar capabilities.
Since 2012, we have heard and read media reports that, in the event of a military conflict, Israel could potentially incapacitate Iran’s electric grid using a specially designed electromagnetic bomb (EMP). Since Iran’s attack on Israel last April, we have heard again about the use of EMP bombs, but till now there have been no reports of it happening. Since a full-scale war on Lebanon is costly to Israel in all aspects, surgical military operations and bombing Hezbollah’s weapons depots are expected, but could they use the EMP bomb? Is this what Israel meant by statements like “send Lebanon back to the Stone Age”? Let’s examine the potential use of Israel’s electromagnetic weapons against Hezbollah or Lebanon, examining the nature of these weapons and the damage they could inflict.
First, What Is EMP?
Electromagnetic weapons, often referred to as directed-energy weapons (DEWs), utilize focused electromagnetic energy to achieve destructive effects. Unlike conventional weapons that rely on kinetic or explosive force, DEWs can disable electronic systems, disrupt communications, and cause physical damage through intense energy emissions.
The primary types of electromagnetic weapons include:
1. High-Powered Microwaves (HPM): These emit bursts of microwave energy that can disrupt or destroy electronic circuits and data systems.
2. Electromagnetic Pulses (EMP): EMPs can generate widespread disruption by creating a burst of electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling electronic devices over a large area.
3. Laser Weapons: Though more commonly associated with precision targeting, lasers can also deliver electromagnetic energy to incapacitate or destroy targets.
Israel’s investment in DEWs aims to enhance its strategic and tactical advantages, particularly in countering missile threats, neutralizing electronic warfare capabilities, and disrupting enemy command and control structures. These capabilities could be particularly relevant in a conflict with Hezbollah, which relies heavily on asymmetric warfare tactics and sophisticated electronic systems.
The potential deployment of electromagnetic weapons by Israel against Hezbollah could unfold in several scenarios:
1. Countering Missile Threats:
Hezbollah’s arsenal includes a significant number of rockets and missiles capable of striking deep into Israeli territory. Electromagnetic weapons, particularly HPM and EMP devices, could be used to neutralize these threats by disrupting the electronic guidance and control systems of incoming projectiles, rendering them ineffective before they reach their targets.
2. Electronic Warfare:
In modern conflicts, electronic warfare plays a crucial role. Israel could deploy electromagnetic weapons to disrupt Hezbollah’s communication networks, command and control centers, and surveillance systems. This would degrade Hezbollah’s ability to coordinate attacks, gather intelligence, and effectively respond to Israeli operations.
3. Targeting Critical Infrastructure:
An EMP attack targeting critical infrastructure in Lebanon could have a devastating impact. By incapacitating the electrical grid, telecommunications, and other essential services, Israel could significantly hinder Hezbollah’s operational capabilities and put pressure on the Lebanese government.
What Are the Potential Damage and Consequences? The use of electromagnetic weapons against Hezbollah would have profound implications, both in terms of immediate damage and long-term consequences. The most immediate effect of an electromagnetic attack would be the widespread failure of electronic systems. Military hardware, communication devices, and civilian infrastructure, such as power grids, are currently out of service in Lebanon. While electromagnetic weapons are often touted for their precision and reduced collateral damage compared to traditional explosives, the indirect humanitarian impact could be okay since the disruption of essential services, such as electricity and water supply, already does not exist in Lebanon, but it could affect communications towers and the internet. The deployment of such advanced weaponry could escalate the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, drawing in regional and international actors. The use of electromagnetic weapons might be perceived as a significant escalation, potentially provoking a stronger response from Hezbollah and its allies, including Iran, or it may not. The potential use of Israel’s electromagnetic weapons against Hezbollah represents a significant development in modern warfare. It may be true that it could put us back into the Stone Age, but this is a country that learned how to survive without electricity, without a budget, and without water. But could it survive without the internet?

BDL’s Bare Minimum Tasks
Nicolas Sbeih/This Is Beirut/July 11/2024
After delving into the topic of banks, let’s assess the current state of their regulatory body, Lebanon’s Central Bank (BDL). Overall, the outcome is somewhat meager. However, we will refrain from preempting conclusions before outlining the pros and cons of this interim governorship, now in its one-year tenure.
We will partially rely on the annual report that the BDL has just released. Partially, because Acting Governor Wassim Mansouri has clearly chosen what to disclose and what to overlook. Now, let’s address the critical issues:
1-The interim governor maintained the exchange rate stability… which had already been stable for 4 months prior to assuming office. This was facilitated by two factors: 1. Decreased money supply, limiting liquidity for LBP speculators; and 2. Increasing numbers of professionals being paid in dollars, thus reducing the need for foreign exchange markets. Thus, a natural balance between supply and demand was achieved.2- Following years of continuous decline, Mansouri managed to increase BDL’s assets (or reserves) by about $1.3 billion. How? By purchasing dollars in the market. However, this achievement owes less to BDL’s skill and more to the abundant circulation of dollar liquidity. Side note: The annual report confirms that BDL’s reserves (or assets) were $38 billion just before the crisis. This was the figure cited by the former governor, who claimed it was enough to meet Eurobond deadlines and prevent a criminal default. However, these guarantees proved futile as top officials had their own personal agendas.
3. Meanwhile, Mansouri stopped all subsidies for consumer products. This was a blatant scam that had persisted since Hassan Diab’s ill-fated government.
4. He is striving to limit cash transactions in order to avoid scrutiny from international regulatory bodies. This is firstly done by issuing licenses for electronic wallets. He is even planning to install point-of-sale terminals at ministries and introduce a PayGov app for administrative payments. However, currently, existing digital wallets mainly rely on cash deposits and have limited transaction caps, thereby limiting their effectiveness.
Secondly, by formalizing checks and bank cards in fresh dollars. A commendable initiative, provided that people start adopting them instead of cash, which is not guaranteed given the general distrust towards banks.
5. He stopped state funding without any qualms. In the meantime, the state no longer pays interest on Treasury bills held by the BDL. These Treasury bills in its wallet have decreased by 6 trillion over the course of a year.
In terms of foreign currency, Mansouri confirmed the $16 billion debt burden that the former governor had imposed on the state in 2023, by reassessing an old Treasury loan (which, back then, sparked considerable controversy by the same bunch of critics). This debt is in addition to the $5 billion in Eurobonds held by the BDL. However, other past loans extended to the state, especially to EDL, have been disregarded. 6. Equally disregarded, and concerning, is what BDL plans to do with its $81 billion in bank deposits (in foreign currency and LBP) clearly recorded on its balance sheet. Nonetheless, Lebanon’s Central Bank has significantly reduced the interest payments on these deposits and opted to remit 50% of them in LBP. This unilateral and authoritarian decision, bordering on cavalier, further diminishes banks’ already limited revenue sources.
7. Mansouri does not extend his lavish generosity to the depositors, slashing their modest allowances from $400 to $300, then further down to $150. He also refrains from reassessing withdrawals over LBP 15,000 for a lollar, shifting responsibility to the government. While this stance on injustice may seem convenient, it falls short of commendable. Certainly nothing to boast about.
8. Moreover, BDL partially corrected an injustice towards banks by prohibiting the repayment of foreign currency loans in LBP and requiring non-resident debtors to repay in fresh dollars. However, this initiative came fashionably late, as 80% of the loans had already been repaid at a lower cost to debtors and at an exorbitant cost to banks and depositors.
9. Instead of relying on a lethargic parliament, he could have issued a circular to formally implement capital controls. Whether he has the authority to do so is debatable. However, in effect, it’s hard to imagine anyone daring to contest such a decision.
10. Unsurprisingly, Nabih Berri’s significant influence at the BDL has obviously increased.
Ultimately, it bears repeating: Lebanon’s Central Bank is unable to resolve the crisis, which, as the Acting Governor rightly points out, requires measures that are well beyond its scope, especially that BDL is financially bankrupt. So, it seems we’ll never tire of needlessly debating this same vicious circle.
nicolas.sbeih@icibeyrouth.com.lb

Lebanon Seeks to Deport Half of Syrian Refugees to their Homeland
Asharq Al Awsat/July 11/ 2024
Lebanon’s General Security Directorate decided to prepare its own detailed information about the Syrian refugees residing in Lebanon after complaints that the UNHCR has disregarded demands to submit the data about the displaced to Lebanese authorities. The General Security wants all Syrian refugees living on Lebanese soil to submit their documents at specific centers of the Directorate detailing their entry and current status. Sources at the Directorate told Asharq Al-Awsat that the UNHCR "was given enough time" to expand Lebanon’s access to more information about Syrian refugees, noting that the UN agency has failed to cooperate. “We have decided to gather the information ourselves”, said the sources on condition of anonymity. Syrian refugees are expected to present their documents at specified centers of the directorate expanding over various Lebanese regions, they said. “All this data will be put together at a center in the Damour area. Syrian refugees entering Lebanon before 2015 and those who do not possess work permits or legal residency documents will be deported”, added the sources.
They said more than half the Syrian refugees could be deported after these measures are put in place. In December, the General Security received, after months of delay, data from the UNHCR listing the names of 486 thousand refugees without detailing their entry dates or registration info. Lebanon requested the agency to provide detailed lists in order to determine their legal status. About the UNHCR’s rejection to present Lebanese authorities with the required data, the UN agency’s spokeswoman Lisa Abou Khaled, said that discussions are underway regarding the matter, affirming that a meeting has indeed been held with the General Security to discuss the Lebanese government’s request about refugees. “The UNHCR is here to support Lebanon, while simultaneously meeting its international obligations in the field of data protection and international refugee law,” she told the daily. She explained that processing personal data is an integral part of the UNHCR’s mission of providing international protection and humanitarian assistance to forcibly displaced persons. Since 2011, Syrian refugees have randomly flocked into Lebanon through legal and other illegal crossings making it extremely difficult for authorities to have realistic data about their presence. Lebanon, which has been mired in a crushing economic crisis since late 2019, says it hosts around two million Syrians, the world's highest number of refugees per capita, with almost 785,000 registered with the United Nations.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July11-12/2024
Israeli army acknowledges Oct. 7 failures. But it says tank strike on home did not kill Israelis
Josef Federman/JERUSALEM (AP)/July 11, 2024
The Israeli military said Thursday that Israeli hostages held in a home that was struck by tank fire last Oct. 7 were likely killed by Hamas militants, not Israeli shelling, as it released the results of its first investigation into failures during the deadly attack that triggered the nine-month war in Gaza. While the army appeared to clear itself in the tank strike, it acknowledged a string of errors that day in its core mission of protecting the country’s citizens, including slow response times and disorganization during the standoff at Kibbutz Be’eri. “The fighting in the area in the first hours was characterized by a lack of command and control and a lack of coordination and order between the various forces,” the report said. “This caused a number of incidents in which security forces gathered at the entrance to the kibbutz and did not engage in immediate combat.”
Be’eri, located just several kilometers (miles) from the Gaza border, was among the hardest hit communities in the early morning Hamas attack, with over 100 people killed and more than 30 others taken hostage. It also was the scene of one of the most high-profile incidents of Oct. 7 – a standoff in which militants held a group of hostages inside a home. Survivors said that during the standoff a tank fired at the home, raising concerns that the 13 hostages inside were killed by friendly fire. In its investigation, the army said the kibbutz was overrun by about 340 Hamas fighters and that militants killed most of the hostages, though it was unclear how it reached that conclusion, and the report called for additional tests. Investigators “determined that, based on the information reviewed and to the best of their understanding, no civilians inside the building were harmed by tank shell fire," the report concluded, though it said two Israeli civilians were hit by shrapnel outside the building. One of those civilians died, according to the man’s wife. It also said its commanders on the scene had made “professional and responsible decisions” in ordering the tank strike. It said there had been a joint decision by various commanders after hearing gunshots around the house and militants saying they planning to kill the hostages and commit suicide.
Yet the report admitted widespread failures that day. “The inquiry team determined that army failed in its mission to protect the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri,” it said. “The bravery of the Be’eri residents and the members of the kibbutz’s civilian rapid response team is commendable and was crucial in stabilizing the defensive line during the first hours of combat.” The Israeli army has come under heavy criticism from Palestinians and human rights groups, who say its investigations rarely result in punishment.
Kibbutz residents gave the report a mixed reception, expressing anger over the army’s failures that day but also appreciation that it was taking responsibility.
Meir Zarbiv, a resident whose brother and sister were both killed on Oct. 7, called the report a “deception” by the army. “I don’t believe the report and I don’t believe anything about it,” he said. He said he still cannot understand why it took the army nearly four hours to arrive to the kibbutz, and then delay further at the front gate as soldiers waited for orders to enter.
“I just don’t believe what happened here. I have no explanation,” he said. “Where was the army?”In a statement, the community called the investigation “thorough” and said it helped them understand the complexity of the fighting that day.
“We see great importance in the army accepting the blame and responsibility for its complete failure to protect us and in asking for forgiveness for abandoning us for many hours during an attack of unmatched evil,” it said. The kibbutz also called for an official state commission of inquiry into the broader failures of Oct. 7 “so the unimaginable loss we experienced will never against be experienced by any other citizen.”
The surprise cross-border raid killed some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 250 others hostage, in the deadliest attack in Israel’s 76-year history. The attack, in which several thousand militants stormed across the border without resistance, revealed grave shortcomings in the army’s readiness, its intelligence assessments and policies set by political leaders toward Gaza. An Israeli offensive launched in response to the attack has killed over 38,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced over 80% of the territory’s people and triggered a humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Israel is now facing war crimes and genocide allegations in international courts.
The army has launched multiple investigations into the failures of Oct. 7, and the head of military intelligence has resigned. Several other commanders have apologized and taken responsibility for their failures. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected repeated calls for an official state investigation, even as the war enters its 10th month. Netanyahu has said an investigation cannot be conducted while the country is focused on its war against Hamas and says all questions will be answered at the appropriate time. But critics accuse the Israeli leader of dragging his feet to avoid what will almost certainly be harsh criticism of his policies and leadership.
In the face of fierce international criticism, Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and the roughly 120 hostages remaining in Gaza return home. International mediators have launched renewed efforts to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Netanyahu announced Thursday that he would send a team of negotiators to Cairo to continue cease-fire talks, but he reiterated his stance that he will not halt the war until Israel achieves its war objectives.
*Associated Press writers Tia Goldenberg and Isaac Scharf contributed to this report.
*Josef Federman, The Associated Press

How Israel has brought the Palestinian Authority to the brink of financial collapse
Shahzad Uddin/The Conversation//July 11/2024 
Israel’s ultranationalist finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, announced in May that he would be witholding tax revenues earmarked for Palestine. The decision was made in response to Spain, Ireland and Norway’s recognition of a Palestinian state. He has also made deductions to these revenues, and has threatened to cut off Palestinian banks from their Israeli counterparts. This is a move that would halt all foreign financial transactions and the import of many essential goods into the Palestinian territories. These developments come at a time when the Palestinian Authority, the government body that exercises partial control over the occupied West Bank, is already grappling with a severe financial crisis. According to a report published in late May by the World Bank, the financial situation of the Palestinian Authority had “dramatically worsened” in the three preceding months, raising the prospect of an “imminent fiscal collapse.”
The Palestinian economy is already battling unemployment and poverty. Nearly half a million jobs have been lost in the West Bank and Gaza over the past nine months. And on July 10, a group of independent human rights experts mandated by the UN said that famine is spreading throughout the Gaza Strip. The financial collapse of the Palestinian Authority will only make matters worse. Israel has a long-established financial hold over the Palestinian Authority. Under peace accords reached in the 1990s, Israel’s finance ministry collects tax on behalf of the Palestinians and makes monthly transfers to the Palestinian Authority. But Israel ceased making the transfers shortly after the start of the war, withholding funds that amount to between 60% and 70% of the total Palestinian public budget. It’s not just people in the West Bank that are being affected. The Palestinian Authority was ousted from the Gaza Strip by Hamas in 2007. But many public sector workers in the territory kept their jobs and continued to be paid with transferred tax revenues. Israel has withheld payments earmarked for those employees in the Gaza Strip too on the grounds that they could fall into the hands of Hamas. Then, on May 10, and more recently in June, Smotrich announced that he would be deducting US$35 million and US$46 million respectively from Palestinian Authority’s tax revenue. The World Bank report claimed that the May deduction alone had raised “the stakes and the risk for a potential systemic collapse”. The Palestinian Authority is now facing a rapidly widening gap between incoming revenue and the amount needed for essential public expenditures. This financing gap has reached US$682 million and, according to the World Bank report, is projected to double over the coming months to US$1.2 billion. In May, the Palestinian Authority was only able to pay public sector workers between 50% and 70% of their salaries. And it is also unable to pay its dues to domestic banks, increasing its reliance on foreign assistance to pay its debts.
Financial blackmail
On June 28, hopes that the Palestinian Authority could stave off collapse were given a lift. Smotrich announced that he would finally sign off on the unfreezing of the past three months of tax revenue and extend a waiver that allows cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks. But this would come in exchange for retroactively approving five outposts in the West Bank that had already been built. Outposts – or Israeli settlements – such as this are regarded as illegal under international law by the vast majority of the international community. The government’s new move has drawn criticism from Palestinians, as well as the US and the UK. On June 30, a spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “The UK strongly opposes the announcement that five outposts are to be legalised in the West Bank as well as further punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority”.
But within the next few days, Israel also made public that it had approved the seizure of more than 12 sq km of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank – its largest land grab since 1993. The move follows a series of similar land seizures across the past two years. In 2023, for example, Israel established a record 26 settlements in the West Bank, forcing 21 Palestinian communities from their homes.
Alongside greater financial control, which has brought the Palestinian Authority to its knees, these land grabs should be seen as part of Israel’s broader goal to control more of the West Bank and prevent the development of a Palestinian state.
This intention has been reflected clearly in comments made by Smotrich. Following the most recent land grab announcement, he was quoted saying: “Thank God, we are building and developing the settlements and thwarting the danger of a Palestinian state.” The Palestinian economy may be set for a brief reprieve. But the financially embattled Palestinian Authority is by no means out of the woods. The World Bank urged swift action to prevent its financial collapse. What happens now is largely down to Israel.
**Shahzad Uddin/Professor of Accounting, University of Essex and Dalia Alazzeh, Lecturer in Accounting and Finance, University of the West of Scotland/

Bodies Trapped in Gaza City under Israeli Assault as Mediators Push for Truce
Asharq Al Awsat/July 11/2024
Residents of Gaza City were trapped in houses and bodies lay uncollected in the streets under an intense new Israeli assault on Thursday, even as Washington pushed for a peace deal at talks in Egypt and Qatar. Hamas militants say a heavy Israeli assault on Gaza City this week could wreck efforts to finally end the war just as negotiations have entered the home stretch, Reuters reported. Home to more than a quarter of Gaza's residents before the war, Gaza City was destroyed during the first weeks of fighting last year, but hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to homes in the ruins. They have now once again been ordered out by the Israeli military. The Gaza health ministry said it had reports of people trapped and others killed inside their houses in the Tel Al Hawa and Sabra districts of Gaza City, and rescuers could not reach them. The Civil Emergency Service said it estimated that at least 30 people had been killed in the Tel Al-Hawa and Rimal areas and it could not recover bodies from the streets there. Despite army instructions on Wednesday to residents of Gaza City that they can use two "safe routes" to head south, many residents refused to heed the order. Some posted a hashtag on social media: "We are not leaving". "We will die but not leave to the south. We have tolerated starvation and bombs for nine months and we are ready to die as martyrs here," said Mohammad Ali, 30, reached by text message. Ali, whose family has relocated several times within the city, said they had been running short of food, water and medicine. "The occupation bombs Gaza City as if the war was restarting. We hope there will be a ceasefire soon, but if not then is God's will."
WITHDRAWAL FROM SHEJAIA
Just east of Gaza City in the Shejaia suburb, residents were returning on foot to a desolate moonscape of destroyed buildings after Israeli forces withdrew following a two-week offensive there. The territory's main cemetery had been bulldozed by the army. People wheeled supplies on the back of bicycles across rubble-strewn tracks, passing the remains of burnt-out and blasted Israeli armored vehicles. "We have returned to Shejaia after 15 days. You can see the destruction. They spared nothing, even trees, there was a lot of greenery in this area. What is the guilt of stones and trees? And what is my guilt as a civilian?" resident Hatem Tayeh told Reuters in the ruins. "There are bodies of civilian people. What is the guilt of the civilian? Who are you fighting?"Israel launched its assault on the Gaza Strip last year after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's assault has killed more than 38,000 according to medical authorities in Gaza. At the southern edge of the enclave in Rafah near the border with Egypt, where tanks have been operating in most of the city since May, residents said the army continued to blow up houses in the western and central areas, amid fighting with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other smaller factions. Palestinian health officials said four people were killed, including a child, in an Israeli air strike in Tel Al-Sultan in western Rafah. The Israeli military said earlier on Thursday around five rockets fired from the Rafah area were successfully intercepted. The negotiations in Qatar and Egypt follow important concessions last week from Hamas, which agreed that a truce could begin and some hostages released without Israel first agreeing to end the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces opposition within his right-wing cabinet to any deal that would halt the war until Hamas is vanquished, says a deal must allow Israel to resume fighting until it meets all its objectives. Two Hamas officials contacted by Reuters had no immediate comment on the content of the ongoing talks, led by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States. "There will be a meeting today between Hamas and the mediators to check on what responses they have received from the occupation," said one Palestinian official close to the mediation, without elaboration.

Israeli military extends evacuation order to whole of Gaza City
Kareem Khadder, Ibrahim Dahman and Mohammad Al Sawalhi, CNN/July 11, 2024
The Israeli military expanded its evacuation order to the whole of Gaza City on Wednesday after sending tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing from several of the city’s neighborhoods earlier this week. It also issued a notice saying it will be suspending inspections along two roads in Gaza City, in the north of the Gaza Strip, to allow civilians to reach humanitarian zones more easily and quickly as the city “will remain a dangerous combat zone.” “We announce to you that Tariq Bin Ziyad and Omar Al-Mukhtar Streets are considered safe passages to cross west to Al-Rashid (Al-Bahr) Street and from there south. Al-Wahda and Khalil Al-Wazir streets are considered safe passages to cross east to the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood and the city roundabout, and from there to Salah Al-Din Street to the south,” an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) flier dropped on the city said. Gaza City experienced shelling overnight on Wednesday. A local journalist told CNN the building he was sheltering in had been struck, forcing him to move with his family once more.
Bakeries ‘completely closed’
Gaza’s Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told CNN he was aware of dozens of deaths in the industrial zone, east of Gaza City, and the financial hub in the center.
Bassal added that several Palestinians are besieged in the Jordanian hospital and at Al-Aqsa University in the city, as the situation remains dangerous. “Today, suddenly, all bakeries in Gaza are completely closed. It seems that there are instructions for them to do so, or that they fall in the red zone,” he added. Charity group Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said on Wednesday that it was forced to shut its last health facility in northern Gaza after Israel’s evacuation order.
“Teams continued to provide patient care until the last minute, before fleeing the area that came under heavy fire,” MSF said on X. Residents could be seen walking down Salah Al-Din Street from northern Gaza with their belongings. Some held white flags made of sticks and white shirts. Baraa, a young man pushing a bicycle, said he was staying alone with his brother in northern Gaza, but “the situation became very difficult, there is no food.” A woman from Shajaiya, one of Gaza City’s biggest neighborhoods, said the area had come under persistent shelling, adding that she saw many people dead in the streets. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned the directive for residents to leave Gaza City threatened to intensify the plight of already displaced communities. The IDF has been issuing evacuation orders affecting large parts of Gaza City since Sunday, urging 250,000 residents to head to “safe zones” further south, in Deir al-Balah and al-Zawaida. The IDF has said that evacuation orders are necessary so that civilians don’t get caught up in its renewed operations in areas where Hamas is seeking to re-establish a presence. The IDF insists it goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties. Hamas has said the evacuations threaten to return negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage deal to “point zero.” “Every day they would tell us to evacuate and we are displaced from one place to another while quadcaptors are shooting at us,” Mahmoud Al Shaqra, a resident of Gaza City, told CNN as he evacuated southwards. “Gaza City is completely destroyed, it is unlivable,” Al Sharqa said. “There is no food or drink or anything here. There is no safety.”

Desperate for food, Gazans turn to mulberry leaves to survive
Mahmoud Issa/GAZA (Reuters/July 11, 2024
Struggling through rubble and buildings shattered by Gaza's war, Ahmed Al-Shanbari and three of his sons risk their lives to pick mulberry leaves to eat, a scene being played out across the enclave as Palestinians face a hunger crisis. "It is scary to walk when the bombing is still happening," said Al-Shanbari, who like many Gazans risks Israeli bombardment in the search for food. Ahmed’s wife Fatima cleans the leaves and boils them over a makeshift stove. "Nothing in it is tolerable, neither its taste nor its colour," she said. Fatima stuffs the leaves with rice and spices, hoping to get her children to tolerate the sour taste. Yet the bitterness remains. The mulberry leaves are animal’s food, she says. "But what can we do?" The war began when militants from the Palestinian militant group Hamas burst across the Gaza border and attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Nine months on, Gaza health authorities say at least 38,000 Palestinians have been killed. The al-Shanbari family of eight struggles to survive, like many Palestinians in Gaza, where 2.3 million people live in one of the world's most densely populated places facing shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel. "Ever since the war started, we did not taste anything, we’re living on the few things we find," said Fatima. In a July 9 statement, a group of independent human rights experts mandated by the United Nations said that famine has spread throughout the enclave. Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva said the statement amounted to "misinformation". "Israel has continuously scaled up its coordination and assistance in the delivery of humanitarian aid across the Gaza Strip, recently connecting its power line to the Gaza water desalination plant," it added. According to Gaza’s health authorities, at least 33 children have died of malnutrition, mostly in northern areas which had until recently faced the brunt of the Israeli military campaign. Gaza remains at high risk of famine as the war continues and aid access is restricted, said a U.N.-backed global monitor called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), last month. More than 495,000 people are facing the most severe, or "catastrophic", level of food insecurity, the IPC said.

G7 denounces Israel's settlement expansion in West Bank
Reuters/July 11, 2024
Foreign Ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies on Thursday denounced Israel's move to expand its settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying it was "counterproductive to the cause of peace". Israel announced last month that it was going to legalise five outposts in the West Bank, establish three new settlements, and seize huge swathes of land where Palestinians seek to create an independent state. The G7 - which includes the United States, Britain, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy - condemned the move and urged Israel to reverse its decision. "We reaffirm our commitment to lasting and sustainable peace ... on the basis of the two-State solution," the statement said. The G7 foreign ministers also called on Israel to release all remaining withheld tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, saying maintaining economic stability in the West Bank was "critical for regional security".

Gazan paramedic recounts alleged mistreatment in Israeli detention
By AbdelHadi Ramahi, Amr Alfiky and Alexander Cornwell/AL-ARISH, Egypt (Reuters)/July 11, 2024
His right leg heavily bandaged because of a gunshot wound, Palestinian Tamer Ossama Salem al-Hafy lies in an Egyptian hospital recalling his ordeal in Gaza, where Israel accused him of being a terrorist. A paramedic at the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, 40-year-old al-Hafy said he was shot below the knee by Israeli forces as he helped the injured onto stretchers after an Israeli airstrike last November. He briefly became a patient at the same hospital before fleeing on Nov. 20 when it came under attack. His father, Ossama, had to carry him over his back as they headed for another medical centre in southern Gaza. At an Israeli military checkpoint, al-Hafy said, soldiers accused him of being a "terrorist" and took him to a detention facility where he was blindfolded. He said he was held for 35 days and released without charge. While in detention, he was cuffed by his arms and legs to a bed inside a tent, he added. Reuters could not independently verify al-Hafy's account. Israeli authorities did not respond to a request for comment on his account. Al-Hafy said he was blindfolded except during interrogations and received only "liquid vitamins" through a straw every three or four days as nourishment. "I was in a prison. I had no idea where it was located," he told Reuters at a makeshift hospital aboard a cargo ship docked in al-Arish, an Egyptian city in the Sinai Peninsula near Gaza. "They would uncover my eyes and put it (the blindfold) back after. I didn’t see the sun until I was released," he said. Al-Hafy said he was beaten and humiliated and did not receive medical care while in detention, and believes his job as a paramedic made him a target. "The words 'medical personnel' and working at a hospital, that was enough for them to treat you as a suspect," he said. Medical groups, including the World Health Organization, have called for a halt to attacks on Gaza healthcare workers during Israel's offensive, launched after Palestinian gunmen led by the Islamist militant group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Israel's military has accused fighters from Hamas and its ally, Islamic Jihad, of hiding in hospitals and using human shields, allegations they deny. The military also says it has captured fighters in medical facilities.
RIGHTS GROUPS CONCERNED
Al-Hafy's account of being blindfolded, restrained and beaten is consistent with comments by other Palestinians who have been detained by Israel, and with statements by human rights groups on alleged abuse and mistreatment. The U.N. rapporteur on torture voiced concern in May, saying she was concerned about alleged emerging patterns of violations against Palestinian detainees and an absence of accountability. Israel's military has said detainees are treated in accordance with international law and that allegations of abuse against Palestinian detainees were being investigated. The military advocate-general said in May that allegations were treated seriously and that military police investigations had been opened where there was suspicion of criminal offences. Some 1,200 people were killed in the Oct. 7 attack and about 250 were taken as hostages back to Hamas-governed Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel has killed more than 38,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities, and has destroyed much of Gaza's infrastructure including thousands of homes in its military response, which it says is intended to eliminate Hamas.
Al-Hafy said he was "dumped" in southern Gaza after being released from detention and, still unable to walk, had to crawl for 3.5 km (2.2 miles). Over the next few months, he was treated in four different hospitals in Gaza, suffered from a blood clot in his lung and fell into a coma, he said. When he awoke some 25 days later, he had lost his sight in his right eye, he said. He was eventually medically evacuated to receive care in Egypt. He is now being treated in an Emirati-funded and operated makeshift hospital aboard a cargo ship in Egypt near Gaza. Many of the patients at the "floating hospital" are children from Gaza, some with amputated limbs. "They (medical staff), may God bless them, have tried everything with me but God hasn’t permitted my healing yet," al-Hafy said.

Yemen Houthi rebels fired an Iranian missile at Norwegian-flagged ship, debris analyzed by US shows
Jon Gambrell/DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)/July 11, 2024
Yemen's Houthi rebels likely fired an Iranian-made anti-ship cruise missile at a Norwegian-flagged tanker in the Red Sea in December, an assault that now provides a public evidence-based link between the ongoing rebel campaign against shipping and Tehran, the U.S. military says.
A report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency released Wednesday linked the attack on the Strinda, which set the vessel ablaze, to Tehran, the Houthi's main backer in Yemen's nearly decadelong war. The findings correspond with those of a Norway-based insurers group that also examined debris found on the Strinda. It comes as the Houthis continue their monthslong campaign of attacks over the Israel-Hamas war, targeting ships in the Red Sea corridor, disrupting the $1 trillion flow of goods passing through it annually while also sparking the most intense combat the U.S. Navy has seen since World War II.
Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Strinda was coming from Malaysia and was bound for the Suez Canal and then on to Italy with a cargo of palm oil when it was struck by a missile Dec. 11. The attack sparked a major fire on board that the crew later extinguished without anyone being hurt. Debris found on board later was analyzed by the U.S. military. The DIA compared the pieces of the engine from the missile found on board to the Iranian Noor anti-ship ballistic cruise missile. “The Iranian Tolu-4 turbojet engine, used in the Noor (missile), has unique features — including the compressor stage and stator — that are consistent with engine debris recovered from the ... Houthi attack on the M/T Strinda,” the DIA report said. A stator is the stationary portion of an engine. Those pieces match images of a Tolu-4 engine that Iran displayed at the International Air and Space Show in Russia in 2017, the DIA said. Visually, the engines bore similarities in the photographs. The Noor was reverse engineered by Iran from the Chinese C-802 anti-ship missile, which Iran purchased from Beijing and began testing in 1996 before transfers stopped over a U.S. pressure campaign. The Iranian version is believed to have a range of up to 170 kilometers (105 miles), with an upgraded version called the Qader having a range up to 300 kilometers (185 miles). The Houthis have a look-alike missile to the Qader called the Al-Mandeb 2 with a similar range.
The Norwegian Shipowners’ Mutual War Risks Insurance Association, known by the acronym DNK, also examined the debris following the Strinda attack. The association assessed it was “highly likely” the vessel had been hit by a C-802 or Noor anti-ship cruise missile. Before the Houthis swept into Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in 2014, the country did not have an arsenal of C-802 missiles. As the Saudi-led coalition entered Yemen’s conflict on behalf of its exiled government in 2015, the Houthis’ arsenal was increasingly targeted. Soon — and despite Yemen having no indigenous missile manufacturing infrastructure — newer missiles made their way into rebel hands. Iran long has denied arming the Houthis, likely because of a yearslong United Nations arms embargo on the rebels. However, the U.S. and its allies have seized multiple arms shipments bound for the rebels in Mideast waters. Weapons experts as well have tied Houthi arms seized on the battlefield back to Iran. Wednesday's DIA report pointed a seizure stemming from a Jan. 11 nighttime raid of an Iranian dhow traveling near the coast of Somalia, which saw two Navy SEALs killed. The Navy seized parts related to the Noor anti-ship cruise missile, the report said.
The Houthis have launched seaborne attacks since 2016, when they hit the Emirati vessel SWIFT-1 with a missile as it sailed back and forth in the Red Sea between an Emirati troop base in Eritrea and Yemen. They also tried to attack the USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, around the same time. But the Houthi attacks have rapidly escalated since November over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The rebels have targeted more than 70 vessels by firing missiles and drones in their campaign that has killed four sailors. They have seized one vessel and sank two in the time since.
The Houthis maintain that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain as part of the rebels’ support for the militant group Hamas in its war against Israel. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the war — including some bound for Iran, which backs the Houthis.
“The Houthis probably have used Iran-supplied weapons to conduct more than 100 attacks against land-based targets in Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen and dozens of attacks targeting ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” the DIA report said.

Oil tanker held by Iran for over a year heads toward international waters, tracking data shows
Nasser Karimi And Jon Gambrell/DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)/Thu, July 11, 2024
An oil tanker held by Iran for over a year after being seized amid tensions between Tehran and the U.S. was sailing Thursday toward international waters, tracking data showed. The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Advantage Sweet traveled toward the Strait of Hormuz, where it was seized in April 2023 by Iran's navy while carrying $50 million worth of oil from Kuwait for Chevron Corp. That's according to tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press, which also listed the vessel's destination at Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates, which has been the first port of call for other vessels leaving Iranian detention. Iran did not acknowledge the ship's departure. It came after an Iranian court on Thursday ordered the U.S. government to pay over $6.7 billion in compensation over a Swedish company stopping its supply of special dressings and bandages for those afflicted by a rare skin disorder after Washington imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Iran's government initially said it seized the Advantage Sweet because it hit another vessel, something not supported by any evidence. Then Iranian officials linked the Advantage Sweet's seizure to the court case that was decided Thursday. A report by the state-run IRNA news agency described the $6.7 billion order as being filed on behalf of 300 plaintiffs, including family members of victims and those physically and emotionally damaged. IRNA said about 20 patients died after the Swedish company’s decision. Epidermolysis bullosa is a rare genetic condition that causes blisters all over the body and eyes. It can be incredibly painful and kill those afflicted. The young who suffer from the disease are known as “butterfly children” as their skin can appear as fragile as a butterfly’s wing. The order comes as U.S. judges have issued rulings that call for billions of dollars to be paid by Iran over attacks linked to Tehran, as well as those detained by Iran and used as pawns in negotiations between the countries — something Iran has responded to with competing lawsuits accusing the U.S. of involvement in a 2017 Islamic State group attack. The United Nations’ highest court also last year rejected Tehran’s legal bid to free up some $2 billion in Iranian Central Bank assets frozen by U.S. authorities. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, apparently sparking the Swedish company to withdraw from the Iranian market. Iran now says it locally produces the bandages. Chevron, based in San Ramon, California, has maintained that the Advantage Sweet was “seized under false pretenses." It since has written off the cargo as a loss. The withdrawal from the deal effectively ended an accord in which Tehran drastically limited its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. It also sparked years of attacks and tensions on land and at sea. The U.S. Navy has blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers in 2019, as well as for a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021. Tehran denies carrying out the attacks, but a wider shadow war between Iran and the West has played out in the region’s volatile waters. Iranian tanker seizures have been a part of it since 2019. The last major seizure came when Iran took two Greek tankers in May 2022 and held them until November of that year. Since then, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen have launched a series of attacks targeting vessels in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. A new report from the U.S. military says the Houthis likely fired an Iranian-made anti-ship cruise missile at a Norwegian-flagged tanker in the Red Sea in December, an assault that now provides a public, evidence-based link between the ongoing rebel campaign against shipping and Tehran.

Erdogan says Biden, U.S. complicit in alleged Israeli war crimes
Reuters/July 11, 2024
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration are complicit in what he called Israeli war crimes and violations of international law in the Gaza conflict, and he called for sanctions against Israel.
In an interview with Newsweek during the NATO summit in Washington, Erdogan said Israel's "brutal murder" of civilians, its strikes on hospitals, aid centres and elsewhere constituted war crimes. "The U.S. administration, however, disregards these violations and provides Israel with the most support. They do so at the expense of being complicit in these violations," Erdogan was quoted as saying. "At this juncture, who will impose what kind of sanction against Israel for violating international law? That is the real question and no one is answering that," he said. Israeli consistently rejects charges that it has committed war crimes in its battle against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It denies deliberately targeting civilians. More than 38,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, have been killed since the war broke out on Oct. 7, according to Gaza medical authorities. About 1,200 Israelis were killed in the cross-border Hamas raid that triggered the war. NATO member Turkey has denounced Israel's assault on Gaza, halted trade with it, and voiced support for Hamas. It has repeatedly criticised Western countries for backing Israel and called for Israel to be punished by international courts. Asked about Turkey's cordial ties with Russia and China, and Ankara's recent contacts with the BRICS group and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Erdogan said Turkey carried out its diplomacy with a "win-win" approach and therefore could not rule out engaging with non-Western entities. "We are an unwavering NATO ally. However, we do not believe that this impedes our ability to establish positive relationships with nations such as China and Russia," Erdogan told Newsweek.

Iran's acting foreign minister says indirect talks with US ongoing via Oman
Reuters/July 11, 2024
Iran is still conducting indirect nuclear talks with the United States via Oman, Iran's Etemad newspaper on Thursday quoted Iran's acting foreign minister as saying. Ali Bagheri Kani's reported comments followed remarks on Monday in which a White House spokesperson said the United States was not ready to resume nuclear talks with Iran under the newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian. "Indirect talks are being conducted through Oman but the negotiation process is confidential and its details cannot be recounted," Bagheri Kani was quoted as saying. Efforts were being made to leave "suitable grounds" for negotiations for the new Iranian government that will take office in the next few weeks. Pezeshkian, a low-profile moderate who won Iran's run-off presidential vote last week, has said he will promote a pragmatic foreign policy and ease tensions with the six powers that have been involved in now-stalled nuclear talks to revive a 2015 nuclear pact. However, foreign policy in Iran is ultimately decided by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who warned last month prior to elections that "one who thinks that nothing can be done without the favour of America will not manage the country well."Pezeshkian is taking office at a time of growing Middle East tensions over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and over cross-border fire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which have exacerbated disputes between Tehran and Washington. In a letter to Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas, Pezeshkian reiterated on Wednesday Tehran's continued support for Palestinians against "the occupation of the Zionist regime (Israel)." Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah and Sunni Muslim Hamas are part of a group of Iranian-backed factions in the region known as the Axis of Resistance.

Kurdish oil smuggling to Iran flourishes
Timour Azhari/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters)/July 11, 2024
Heading for Turkey to the north and Iran to the east, hundreds of oil tankers snake each day from near Kurdistan's capital Erbil, clogging the Iraqi region's often winding and mountainous highways. The tankers are the most visible aspect of a massive operation to truck oil from the semi-autonomous region of Iraq to Iran and Turkey in murky, off-the-books transactions that have boomed since an official export pipeline closed last year. Reuters pieced together the details of this flourishing trade through conversations with over 20 people including Iraqi and Kurdish oil engineers, traders and government officials, politicians, diplomats and oil industry sources. They painted a picture of a booming business in which more than 1,000 tankers carry at least 200,000 barrels of cut-price oil every day to Iran and, to a lesser extent, Turkey - bringing in about $200 million a month. The scale of the unofficial exports, which has not previously been reported, is one reason Iraq has been unable to stick to output cuts agreed with the OPEC oil cartel this year, Iraqi officials said. Iranian and Turkish officials did not respond to requests for comment. Iraqi oil ministry spokesperson Assim Jihad said the Kurdistan trade was not approved by the Iraqi government and state oil marketer SOMO was the only official entity allowed to sell Iraqi crude. He said the government did not have accurate figures for how much oil was being smuggled into Iran and Turkey. "OPEC now has less patience for smuggling and has even been known to slap punitive measures on offending members. I doubt we'll see any retribution against Baghdad because it's well known that the Kurdish region lies outside central control," said Jim Krane at Rice University's Baker Institute in Houston. The business could also put Kurdistan on a collision course with close ally Washington, as it assesses whether the trade breaches any U.S. economic sanctions on Iran, according to a U.S. official. Until last year, Kurdistan exported most of its crude via the official Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) running from the Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. But those exports of about 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) halted in March 2023 when an international tribunal ruled in favour of the Iraqi federal government's call for the shipments to stop - leaving the pipeline in legal and financial limbo. The federal administration in Baghdad, which has long held that it is the only party authorised to sell Iraqi oil, successfully argued that Turkey arranged the exports with the Kurdistan regional government without its consent, in breach of a 1973 treaty.
'NO TRACE'
Tankers soon started taking Kurdish oil to neighbouring countries instead and the business accelerated this year after talks to reopen the pipeline stalled, industry sources, oil officials and diplomats said. Local officials said none of the proceeds are accounted for, or registered, in the coffers of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has been struggling to pay thousands of public employees. "There is no trace of the oil revenues," said regional lawmaker Ali Huma Saleh, who was chair of the oil committee in Kurdistan's parliament until it was dissolved in 2023. He put the trade at over 300,000 bpd, higher than most other estimates. Hiwa Mohammed, a senior official in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of Kurdistan's two ruling parties, said the oil was going through border crossings with the knowledge of the regional and federal governments. KRG Treasury officials did not respond to requests for comment. The KRG Ministry of Natural Resources, which oversees oil trading in Kurdistan, does not have a spokesperson. A U.S. official said Washington was looking at the oil trade to assess compliance with sanctions on Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department declined to comment. A State Department official said: "U.S. sanctions on Iran remain in place, and we regularly engage with partners on sanctions enforcement issues, but we do not detail those conversations."A senior official at Kurdistan's natural resources ministry said oil production in the region was running at 375,000 bpd, of which 200,000 was trucked to Iran and Turkey, and the rest refined locally. "Nobody knows what happens to the revenues from the 200,000 smuggled abroad, or the oil derivatives sold to refineries in the region," said the official, who declined to be named because the sensitivity of the matter.
CUT-PRICE CRUDE
The crude is sold by oil companies in Kurdistan to local buyers at cut-price rates of $30 to $40 a barrel, or about half the global rate, which equates to at least $200 million a month in revenue, industry and political sources said. Kurdistan's oil production is majority controlled by eight international oil firms: DNO ASA, Genel Energy, Gulf Keystone Petroleum, ShaMaran Petroleum, HKN Energy, WesternZagros, MOL's Kalegran and Hunt Oil Company. Hunt Oil, based in the United States, declined to comment. The other seven companies did not respond to requests for comment, nor did local company KAR Group, a major player in Kurdistan. While most oil production halted when the pipeline closed, some companies including DNO, Keystone and ShaMaran have said in statements they have since started producing crude for sale to buyers within Kurdistan. ShaMaran said the average price of oil it sold in the first three months of 2024 was $36.49 per barrel while Keystone said in June that sales of crude from the Shaikan Field this year were bringing in about $28 a barrel. The industry sources said approved local buyers take the crude from oil companies and sell it on through middlemen for export, without the knowledge of the producers. The vast majority of the trucked oil goes to Iran, most of the industry and political sources said, via official Iraqi border crossings including Haji Omaran, or via Penjwen further south. From there, it is loaded onto ships at Iranian ports in the Gulf at Bandar Imam Khomeini and Bandar Abbas - a trade route used in the past for Kurdish oil exports - or transferred by road to Afghanistan and Pakistan, industry, political and diplomatic sources said. Reuters could not determine what Iran, which faces difficulties selling its own oil products because of sanctions, gets out of the trade, nor who is receiving the oil in Iran. The PUK's Mohammed said it was sent to Iran to be refined into gasoline.Pakistan's petroleum ministry declined to comment. Afghan officials did not respond to requests for comment.
BLACK-MARKET LABYRINTH
The trade is the latest iteration of a long-standing Iraqi black-market oil business widely seen as benefiting political elites who are closely linked to business interests. Twelve people said officials in Kurdistan's two ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of the Barzani clan and the PUK of the Talabani clan, were the beneficiaries. "There is a labyrinth of black-market salespeople getting paid, and people approving those sales. It's not that they are just looking the other way. They're taking their share," an industry source working in the Kurdish oil trade said. A senior diplomat in Baghdad said political interests were so vested in the trade that resuming official exports via the pipeline, once seen as a priority, had dropped down the diplomatic agenda. "I'm not going to be advocating for this while they're all having a party," the person said. KDP officials did not respond to requests for comment about the black-market trade. Mohammed, the PUK official, did not comment on who might be behind it. Kurdish officials say the region was forced into the trade by the pipeline closure, which they see as part of a broader effort by Iran-backed Shi'ite parties in Baghdad to curb the relative autonomy they have enjoyed since the end of the first Gulf war in 1991. A senior Iraqi parliamentary official familiar with oil matters said Baghdad was aware of the details of the business but was avoiding public criticism as officials seek to resolve outstanding disputes with Erbil. Putting pressure on Erbil to stop oil smuggling would corner the region and deprive it of all sources of funding, which could result in its collapse, said the person, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. The trade has been cited privately by Iraqi officials as being behind Baghdad's inability to stick to its OPEC production quotas, a bone of contention with OPEC's de facto leader Saudi Arabia. Jihad, the oil ministry spokesman, said Iraq, which has pledged to scale back output this year to make up for the overproduction, was committed to voluntary production cuts. For now, the sheer volume of tankers snarling up highways, and getting involved in accidents, is angering residents along major thoroughfares. "It's very painful," said Rashid Dalak, visiting the grave of his brother Rouzkar, who was killed in a crash with a tanker in May on the highway between Erbil and Sulaimaniya that leads to the Iranian border. "Despite passing through and damaging our roads and killing our loved ones ... no-one here has seen a dollar."

Trump Rants at George Clooney After Stunning Biden Op-Ed
Matt Young/Daily Beast/July 11, 2024
Donald Trump on Wednesday night made his thoughts on George Clooney clear after the actor pleaded with Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 race in a stunning New York Times op-ed. Clooney had been a vocal supporter of Biden in the weeks leading up to the U.S. president’s disastrous presidential debate, but as questions over his cognitive ability arise and cracks form within the Democratic coalition over who should lead the party, Clooney suddenly turned his back on Biden in a stunning op-ed headlined: “I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee.” “The one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can,” Clooney wrote. “It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.” The op-ed prompted Hollywood to respond, with a number of notable names, including Michael Douglas, voicing their own concerns surrounding Biden. George Clooney Tells Joe Biden: Quit to Save Democracy
Trump, on the other hand, seems to be enjoying all the attention his opponent is getting. The former president mocked Biden and encouraged him to stay in the race in a post on Truth Social Saturday. “Crooked Joe Biden should ignore his many critics and move forward, with alacrity and strength, with his powerful and far reaching campaign,” Trump said in his post. “He should be sharp, precise, and energetic, just like he was in The Debate,” he continued. But it appears Clooney’s thoughts were a step too far for the former president, who slammed the Gravity actor for weighing in on the presidential race. “So now fake movie actor George Clooney, who never came close to making a great movie, is getting into the act,” Trump wrote. “He’s turned on Crooked Joe like the rats they both are.”Trump questioned Clooney’s knowledge “about anything” and suggested he “get out of politics and go back to television.” “What does Clooney know about anything? He uses the Democrat ‘talking point’ that Biden, the WORST President in the history of the United States, has ‘saved our Democracy.’ No, Crooked Joe was the one who WEAPONIZED Law Enforcement against his political Opponent, who created the most devastating INFLATION in the history of our Country, who Embarrassed our Nation in Afghanistan, and whose crazy Open Border Policy has allowed millions of people to illegally pour into our Country, many from prisons and mental institutions,” Trump continued, adding, “Crooked Joe Biden didn’t save our Democracy, he brought our Democracy to its knees. Clooney should get out of politics and go back to television. Movies never really worked for him!!!”No word yet on Clooney’s response.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on July11-12/2024
Why Palestinian Leaders Cannot Make Peace With Israel
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/July 11, 2024
The latest "scandal" erupted after a video that appeared on social media featured [Mustafa] Barghouti warmly hugging former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami during a meeting of parliamentary factions in Italy.
Barghouti's critics, however, do not distinguish between a right-wing and left-wing Israeli Jew. For them, all Israeli Jews, including those who support a two-state solution, are enemies.
The smear campaign against Barghouti serves as a reminder of how Palestinian leaders and officials have radicalized their people against Israel to a point where it has become impossible, if not dangerous, even to be seen in the company of an Israeli Jew. Barghouti can only blame himself for the backlash he is facing for appearing together with Ben-Ami at the conference in Italy.
Given the enormous uproar caused by this brief interaction between an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian, one can only imagine the consequences for any Palestinian leader who dares even to discuss or consider peace with Israel. The outcry over the meeting in Italy crystallizes the basic reason why Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has refused to return to the negotiating table with Israel for the past decade. Abbas knows full well that his recurring attacks on Israel have radicalized Palestinians against Israel to such an extent that most of them support the October 7 massacre of Israelis, are in favor of Hamas over his Palestinian Authority, and would be happy to kill him at a moment's notice for being a traitor over whatever they considered the slightest transgression.
Prominent Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti has been facing sharp criticism from many Palestinians after he was filmed hugging a former Israeli foreign minister during a recent conference in Italy. Barghouti is being accused of betraying the Palestinians by "promoting normalization" with Israel.
Prominent Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti has been facing sharp criticism from many Palestinians after he was filmed hugging a former Israeli foreign minister during a recent conference in Italy. Barghouti is being accused of betraying the Palestinians by "promoting normalization" with Israel.
The latest "scandal" erupted after a video that appeared on social media featured Barghouti warmly hugging former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami during a meeting of parliamentary factions in Italy. Ben-Ami, a historian, is known for his role in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians more than two decades ago. He is also known for his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state next to Israel.
Barghouti's critics, however, do not distinguish between a right-wing and left-wing Israeli Jew. For them, all Israeli Jews, including those who support a two-state solution, are enemies.
Barghouti, who heads a party called the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, is now getting a taste of his own medicine. For many years, Barghouti has been a steadfast supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. He has also taken part in BDS activities, stating: "We are now in the early stages of a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions directed at this Israeli government for its refusal to abide by international law."
"International law" often refers to resolutions by the United Nations and other international bodies that call for the establishment of a Palestinian state next to Israel. Such a state, according to Palestinian public opinion polls, will be controlled by murderers and rapists from the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group.
Barghouti is also the president of Palestinian Medical Relief Society, a group that has ties with the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 2019, he participated in a conference organized by the PFLP, titled "The Crime of Normalization [with Israel] and ways of Confrontation." The conference was held in honor of the 11th anniversary of the death of PFLP founder George Habash. During the conference, Barghouti presented a paper on "The role of parties and factions in promoting the boycott concept."
Barghouti has even justified the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, during which hundreds of Israelis were killed, raped, beheaded, mutilated, burned alive, tortured, and kidnapped to the Gaza Strip:
"This initiative (attack) is... a response to those who thought that through normalization with the Arab countries, they can liquidate and marginalize the Palestinian issue. It is coming back in the most possible forceful way... It shows that Israel is not almighty and also it shows what Palestinians can do when they are determined to resist for their freedom..."
Barghouti, in other words, is saying that he is happy that the attack could thwart attempts to achieve peace between Israel and some of the Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia.
Barghouti's anti-Israel campaigns and support for the October 7 atrocities, however, are now being ignored by many Palestinians, who are accusing him of committing a crime by hugging the Israeli ex-minister. Some Palestinians have even posted a photoshopped image of Barghouti dressed in an Israeli military uniform to back up their charge that he is a traitor.
Alarmed by the accusations, Barghouti was forced to apologize to the Palestinians for daring to appear in public with an Israeli Jew. "This was an unintentional mistake that should have been avoided and not made," he said. "I have the courage and self-confidence, which I hope everyone has, to admit a mistake when it occurs."
He further pledged to continue opposing normalization with Israel:
"Our position has not and will not change. During my short visit to Italy, I was invited to participate in a political symposium that included eight speakers, including the mayor of Rome, parliamentarians and Italian diplomats. It was an open public symposium and not a Palestinian-Israeli meeting, as some malicious people claimed. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, I did not have the opportunity to adequately research the identities of all the participants in the symposium, which was attended by the Israeli politician and opposition figure who works as a lecturer at Spanish universities, Shlomo Ben-Ami."
The smear campaign against Barghouti serves as a reminder of how Palestinian leaders and officials have radicalized their people against Israel to a point where it has become impossible, if not dangerous, even to be seen in the company of an Israeli Jew. Barghouti can only blame himself for the backlash he is facing for appearing together with Ben-Ami at the conference in Italy.
Barghouti has been inciting the Palestinians and the rest of the world against Israel for a long time. He has long advocated boycotting Israel and has spoken out against normalization with Israelis. He therefore has no right to be upset about the attacks on him or to lament the defamation campaign Palestinians have launched against him.
Given the enormous uproar caused by this brief interaction between an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian, one can only imagine the consequences for any Palestinian leader who dares even to discuss or consider peace with Israel. The outcry over the meeting in Italy crystallizes the basic reason why Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has refused to return to the negotiating table with Israel for the past decade. Abbas knows full well that his recurring attacks on Israel have radicalized Palestinians against Israel to such an extent that most of them support the October 7 massacre of Israelis, are in favor of Hamas over his Palestinian Authority, and would be happy to kill him at a moment's notice for being a traitor over whatever they considered the slightest transgression.
**Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East. The work of Bassam Tawil is made possible through the generous donation of a couple of donors who wished to remain anonymous. Gatestone is most grateful.
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Normalization with Saudi Arabia is a golden opportunity for Israel - opinion
Yoel Guzansky ans Udi Dekel/Jerusalem Post/July 11/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/07/131672/
Even if the Arab states’ motivation for peace with Israel remains unchanged, the cost-benefit considerations of these regimes are shifting.
Notwithstanding the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, and perhaps even because of it, diplomatic contacts aimed at advancing a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia have continued. The fundamental motivation of the United States and Saudi Arabia in this context has not changed since before October 7.
Normalization will lead to the establishment of a regional security alliance and the reversal of the negative strategic trends for Israel since October 7. The moderate alliance will stand up against Iran and the resistance camp and open the door to Palestinian Authority participation, while establishing a governing alternative to Hamas in the Gaza Strip and renewing a political process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict arena.
The United States wants to forge a new regional order, which will make it easier for itself and for Middle Eastern nations to deal with Iran – and also to indicate that it is not abandoning the region. Riyadh wants to cement its regional standing and bolster its status and security, particularly vis-à-vis Iran, by strengthening its ties and a defense alliance with Washington
Moreover, the war that has been raging since October 7 on several fronts has made it clear to the Saudi royal family that the Palestinian problem is not secondary, cannot be contained, and cannot be ignored. Therefore, Saudi Arabia wants to distance itself from being identified with Israel as long as the war in Gaza continues and it is showing solidarity with the Palestinians. Accordingly, the kingdom has increased the price that it is demanding from Israel in terms of commitment, accompanied by practical measures, to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within the framework of the two-state reality. One consequence of the conflict is that the “price of normalization” for Israel vis-à-vis the Palestinian issue has increased, and the Israeli government is refusing to pay it. Saudi Arabia is now expected to be involved in the Palestinian arena and also to support the stabilization and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, as well as deal with the increasingly hostile public opinion toward Israel in the Arab street since the outbreak of the war. More than 90% of its citizens object to normalization with Israel. The result is that the gaps between the policies of the regimes and the views of their people are widening.
Even if the Arab states’ motivation for peace with Israel remains unchanged, the cost-benefit considerations of these regimes are shifting. From their perspective, Israel has not been able to crush Hamas, whom they despise, and the scenes of death and destruction from the Gaza Strip are a threat to public order in their own countries. They also fear that the conflict could escalate into a larger regional war involving Iran and its proxies.
Tainted by Gaza war
However, Saudi Arabia – like other pragmatic countries – is hesitant to get directly involved in promoting an arrangement that would end the war in Gaza and potentially require active participation, such as being part of a pan-Arab task force there.
Relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia are growing closer to the extent that they may be able to strengthen their partnership while reducing the focus on Saudi-Israeli normalization. Dropping the “burden” of normalization from the kingdom would be the ideal scenario for Riyadh, allowing the Saudis to benefit from America without facing the public opinion backlash that comes with normalization with Israel.
However, it does seem that Saudi Arabia is coordinating with the United States and will keep the door open to normalization, as senior members of the Saudi royal family have publicly stated.
If Washington and Riyadh strengthen their relations without including an element of normalization, this would be the worst of all worlds for Israel’s interests. Jerusalem would miss a possible opportunity for normalization with the Arab-Muslim world, establishing a regional security alliance, and the potential strategic advantage that comes with them while paying a heavy price due to Saudi Arabia’s strategic benefits from the United States.
Israeli leaders should recognize the strategic cost of not engaging with US and Saudi proposals, including the Palestinian package and opening a window to the Israeli-Palestinian political process.
On the other hand, participating in normalization and being part of a regional security alliance would be a powerful response to Hamas and Iran, both of which have attempted to undermine the process of reconciliation between Israel and the Arab world. Furthermore, normalization would facilitate an agreement to end the conflict with active Arab involvement in stabilizing and rebuilding the Gaza Strip, even if the renewed Palestinian Authority was involved.
A normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia would bring economic benefits, enhance Israel’s legitimacy in the Arab and Muslim worlds, strengthen America’s position in the region, and bolster Saudi Arabia’s political and military strength as a counterweight to Iran.
The bottom line is that Israel needs to answer Saudi concerns and seize this golden – and possibly unique – opportunity by pursuing an end-state to the war. This includes striking a deal to release the hostages, taking the veto power from Hamas so that it cannot torpedo a positive process in the Palestinian arena, establishing a “renewed” and moderate Palestinian regime to control a demilitarized Gaza Strip while maintaining military freedom for the IDF, and defining a diplomatic horizon for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
*The writers are senior fellows at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-809803

What happens in America doesn’t stay in America
Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/July 11, 2024
“Country first, party second” were reassuring words on the steps of 10 Downing Street last week from the UK’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer. At a time when polarization and division are paralysing major democracies including France and the US, such an attitude sends comforting signals to constituents, as well as to foreign investors, partners and allies worldwide. Whether this will remain the attitude of the Labour government, time will tell.
I fear the same cannot be said about last month’s disappointing US presidential debate.
I had initial thoughts that I wanted to share immediately after the painful 90 minutes in which the incumbent Democrat President Joe Biden sparred with the contender, the Republican nominee Donald J. Trump, but I opted not to write at the time. Why did I hold back? Apart from the few disappointing words by both candidates about Palestine, I thought it would be inappropriate for me, as the editor of a Saudi newspaper, to comment. After all, the sentiment and position of the Kingdom is, and has always been, that we don’t interfere in the internal affairs of others, and that our government will work closely with whichever president the American people choose.
The Saudi government will work closely with whichever president the American people choose
The Biden administration is a case in point. Many assumed that after all the hot air and animosity before the 2020 election, Saudi Arabia would not work with Biden and his team. What actually happened? Thanks to a wise, patient and pragmatic Saudi foreign policy, the two countries couldn’t be any more closely aligned on mutual interests and a desire to spread peace and prosperity across the region. In addition, the commercial and economic benefits of a potential new US-Saudi deal on security guarantees and civilian nuclear assistance, with or without an enhanced relationship with Israel, are phenomenal. Now, whether or not the deal will still happen is another discussion. The point here is that this has been achieved with an administration that many believed, wrongly, the Kingdom stood against. Had Trump won the 2020 presidential election, the position would have been no different: Saudi Arabia would have worked equally hard to elevate and strengthen the relationship it has with its biggest and strongest partner.
So why do I say the June 27 presidential debate was painful? Well, it was disturbing for me to see how much disrespect was directed at Biden, who said later that he was simply not feeling well on that day. Like him or not, this man has given his all to his country, and while he has made his fair share of mistakes, many of which were referred to by Trump, they do not justify the personal attacks, online memes and nasty ageist comments about a long serving patriot and an elected leader.
Now, whether or not Biden chooses to step down and allow another candidate to take on Trump is an internal affair, up to him and his party. However, there is no doubt that Trump emerged from the presidential debate having looked better prepared, and it improved his support in the opinion polls. It is also true that during his presidency he achieved much in terms of foreign policy — most notably with China, with the Abraham Accords in the Middle East, by taking out some of the most heinous and wanted terrorists on the face of the earth, and by killing the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
Yet instead of seeking to impress voters, and viewers alike; many comments exchanged during the debate were personal that focused on the physical and mental ability of the candidates — which I must say was neither reassuring nor uplifting. After all, this was a presidential debate, not a boxing weigh-in.
Surprisingly, however, AI was not mentioned once during the presidential debate
I guess many would agree with me that this debate offered no inspiration at all. Perhaps I expected more because I happen to be living in a country and a part of the world where exciting things are happening at this moment in time. For instance, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will be the patron of the Global Artificial Intelligence summit in Riyadh in September. The patronage of the crown prince is limited to a few events every year, so this is an indicator of how important and significant the event is. Exciting announcements are expected, and many industry leaders will participate in an event that is meant to help the whole world shape and better understand this technological revolution.
Surprisingly, however, AI was not mentioned once during the presidential debate in a world leading country that is facing severe competition from rivals around the world in this particular field.
Similarly, at a time when the space economy is expected to reach $1.8 trillion by next year, not a single word was said about space exploration by two candidates who both lived through the exciting times of the first moon landing and who realize the potential and capability of NASA. Meanwhile, the Saudi Space Agency has sent the first female Muslim to the International Space Station and is working hard to inspire a whole generation to conquer this new realm and make the most of its economy.
It is not that the topics debated by Biden and Trump were unimportant, but US politicians should stop and reflect how never-ending arguments about immigration and abortion convey the impression that their country is unable to move forward. The Supreme Court ruling on Roe vs Wade was issued in January 1973: it should not still be an issue more than 50 years later. I realize that women’s rights are not the strongest point in the Kingdom’s previous track record, but thanks to the reforms that began eight years ago most issues have been permanently resolved and are no longer part of the public discussion: nobody even thinks about reimposing the guardianship laws or restoring the ban on women driving. Things have moved on: female participation in the Saudi workforce more than doubled from 17 percent to 36 percent between 2017 and 2023. The bottom line is, both candidates need to remember that the case still very much is that what happens in America doesn’t stay in America, and that when Washington sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. So, whoever the US elects in November needs to reignite belief in the American Dream and end the nightmare of division, polarization and political bickering that impacts global reputation, foreign direct investment and the interests of key partners and allies.
• Faisal J. Abbas is the editor-in-chief of Arab News.

France’s right-wing tilt will further alienate it from North Africa
Zaid M. Belbagi/Arab News/July 12, 2024
France is in the spotlight in a year filled with significant elections globally. The European Parliament elections in France in early June resulted in a decisive victory for the Jordan Bardella-led National Rally, as the far-right party won 31 percent of the votes. The next day, French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly and announced snap parliamentary elections to curb the French right-wing.
Nearly a month later, the National Rally won a notable 33 percent of the votes in the first round of legislative elections. In the second round, the party and its allies came third, securing only 142 seats, while its centrist and leftist competitors performed better. Nonetheless, given that a quarter of the electorate voted for the National Rally and the party has grown significantly from the 89 seats it won in 2022, a right-wing tilt in French politics is clear.
The National Rally will not form the government this year, but its strong performance indicates that it will have a louder voice in the legislature and may come to power in the next elections. The party has often been accused of making Islamophobic statements. Its policies on minorities, immigrants and the preservation of French identity encourage what leading academic Olivier Roy has called a growing “authoritarian secularism” in France. Macron himself has also been criticized for such policies, despite his centrist credentials. The modern history of France has been marred by tense relations between the government and ethnic and religious minorities. Its homegrown brand of secularism, or as the French would say, “laicite,” has increasingly been used to curtail the public participation of France’s significant Muslim population.
The National Rally’s strong election performance indicates that it will have a louder voice in the legislature
While France does not incorporate information on religious affiliation in its national census, it is estimated that close to 10 percent of the French population is Muslim. An overwhelming portion of this religious minority is of North African descent, with close to 3 million people having roots in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. This segment of the population has faced increasing marginalization in French society, with curbs on religious clothing and expressions of faith, stereotypes in public discourse and, most recently, a brutal crackdown by the authorities on pro-Palestinian protests in the country. Last year, in a forlorn recurrence of 2005, riots broke out in the banlieues of Paris following the death of a French teenager of North African descent in a police shooting. The uproar that followed cost the French economy more than $1 billion of material losses.
A gradual shift to the right in French politics is therefore bound to increase tensions between the government and the French North African community. The National Rally has been worryingly clear about its intention to create a more assertive national identity and citizenship, which will effectively shrink the space for religious minorities in the French social fabric. Its program includes, but is not limited to, restrictions on immigration and asylum, the eradication of Islamist networks from France, reduced external spending to fund domestic tax cuts and more immunity for security forces. The party also seeks to increase scrutiny of dual nationals in applications for sensitive government jobs.
It is worth noting that the majority of immigrants in France hail from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The National Rally has often securitized these communities by alleging their links to militant activity in France.
Bardella’s stated “feeling of becoming a foreigner in one’s own country … (due to) the Islamization of my neighborhood” has in turn led to a political praxis that has made French Muslims foreigners in their own country.
However, contrary to its views on North Africans within France, the National Rally has recognized the importance of economic, diplomatic and security relations between North Africa and France. It argues that French support in counterterrorism and economic development in the region can curb the number of North African migrants heading to France and, according to the party, exerting pressure on French resources.
It is unlikely that the incoming government will significantly improve French ties with North Africa.
The National Rally’s views on immigration, counterterrorism and multiculturalism in the domestic sphere will, however, impact its external relations with a region that is forever entwined with France through their historical ties. Further, its advocated cuts on external spending may reduce the flow of French development aid, which is a key pillar of France’s relations with North Africa.
In France, the president is the chief architect of foreign policy and the country’s representative on the international stage. However, the inherent checks and balances in the French parliamentary system mean that parliamentarians also have a voice in shaping France’s foreign policy priorities and budgetary decisions. The anticipated pluralistic legislature implies that there will be a stronger representation of the right-wing in policy debates. While this will be offset by other parties, given that French-North Africa relations have deteriorated under Macron’s centrist leadership, it is unlikely that the incoming government will significantly improve French ties with the region.
This will come at a time when French influence in North Africa is at its lowest ebb, along with strained relations across Francophone Africa. Recent coups d’etats in the Sahel have shared a common anti-French sentiment, with ruling juntas severing military, diplomatic and cultural ties with France and removing French diplomats and troops stationed in the region.
In North Africa, there is a growing preference for English as the language of business and higher education instead of French. The region is also gaining new international partners in the West and the Global South to form an independent international position. Thus, a growing space for the National Rally’s right-wing ideals in French politics now or in the future will further weaken France’s influence and soft power in North Africa.
• Zaid M. Belbagi is a political commentator and an adviser to private clients between London and the Gulf Cooperation Council region.
X: @Moulay_Zaid

Europe’s moderate parties lack a clear political vision
Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/July 11, 2024
Despite the win for the left and far left in the French parliamentary elections, the results have produced a fragmented parliament, with the need for a coalition to obtain a majority. So much so that several news websites have developed interactive simulations that allow their readers to try and build this majority using the different blocs. This majority, according to the French constitution, will choose the next prime minister and government.
Beyond the entertainment of such simulations, they quickly highlight that, at the core of French politics, there are only two political blocs: France Unbowed and the National Rally. Despite being complete opposites, they are clear in their political programs about how they will answer the people’s grievances. In contrast, the rest of the political formations — from center-left to center-right, which includes the presidential majority — have a transactional mindset and lack a real political vision.
If we shift to the other side of the Channel, we notice that, in the UK, the Conservative Party has lost to a clear and undeniable Labour majority. Yet, just like in France, the Conservatives have become a center or even center-left party ruled by technocrats. This is why I see that the shift to Labour is an interesting one, as change was needed. Decency and respect in the transition of power should also ease the polarization.
Unfortunately, decent politics has been vanishing as the stakes have become unprecedentedly high
It is now important for each to play their role, in opposition and as the ruling party. This means, for the UK Conservative Party, going back to its roots and stopping the centrist politics. Alternation as witnessed in the UK is good and positive. If pushed positively, this helps the country readjust and continue developing. This is true when we maintain decent politics from across the aisle. Unfortunately, decent politics has been vanishing as the stakes have become unprecedentedly high.
In France, the transition does not look likely to be this smooth. On the day of the second round of the parliamentary elections, retail businesses expecting a victory for the National Rally were covering and protecting their windows in fear of attacks. They were, like everyone else, expecting the far-right party to win and for far-left supporters to stage violent demonstrations against these results. They were all proven wrong, as the far left gained the most seats.
Despite their win, they still participated in a violent demonstration and confronted police in the streets of Paris. The mayor of Limoges was even attacked. Despite having the most votes, the National Rally came third in the elections due to the voting rules. Yet, its supporters did not riot, the far left did. Go figure. Analysts considered that supporters of France Unbowed, which is part of the New Popular Front alliance, carried out this violence as a warning to other members and the president’s party to not try and bypass it in the formation of a coalition.
Macron’s plan was quite obvious. The first objective was to block the National Rally with the help of the New Popular Front and then carve out the far left, or France Unbowed, from the winning coalition. Until now, the second part of the plan has not materialized and alliances keep shifting. What is happening, regardless of the outcome, is a real twisting of the people’s true wish for the governance of their country.
One worrying point was that, as I was witnessing the demonstrations following the results, the French flag was the one that was least visible; as if it was being erased, along with all it represents, by a multitude of flags with various meanings and no real unity. This is a far-left theme that resonates across geographies — burning their own country’s flag while raising others has become a trend. Despite all the violence and threats, traditional media outlets — even supposedly conservative ones — easily qualify right wing as far right, but seldom use the term far left. Moreover, they justify the far-left violence.
The reality is that Europe is facing fundamental challenges and citizens have been plunged into uncertainty
The reality is that Europe is facing fundamental challenges and citizens have been plunged into uncertainty. This has led to two movements colliding: the far left and the conservatives. They are the compass points that people are looking at and that the centrist politicians are trying to control. They each offer completely different policies to face the core challenges, which are an aging population coupled with slowed growth and mounting debt.
The differences are clear. To counter the aging population, the left has chosen mass immigration, while the conservatives promote a mix of birth incentives and immigration. To solve the economic slowdown, the far left sees the need for more government control and spending, sometimes going as far as nationalization, while conservatives promote less government intervention and spending and greater private sector involvement. This is mirrored by their political visions, where the far left pushes, just like in the Soviet Union, for a unique party political line, while the conservatives cherish personal and political freedom. Incidentally, their position on tech innovation and cryptocurrencies reflects that.
Many are describing France with the term “Libanization.” Jokes have even erupted that, as France tried to help Lebanon elect a president with a parliamentary vote, now Lebanon can help France in return. Jokes aside, Europe and the wider West, which have been beacons of stability and prosperity for the greatest part of modern history, are losing their status simply because they have given up on their values. This is exactly why conservatives need to reformulate their programs to be in line with their core values, while being aware that the complacency of the center regarding the far left is their true political opponent.
• Khaled Abou Zahr is the founder of SpaceQuest Ventures, a space-focused investment platform. He is CEO of EurabiaMedia and editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.