Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 03-04/2024
Iran's acting top diplomat visits Lebanon in the first official visit since his predecessor's death
Bagheri Promotes Iranian Policies in Lebanon
Iran's Acting FM reports: Normalization with Israel is a failed plan for the region
Iran’s diplomatic continuity: Bagheri affirms support for resistance in Beirut visit
‘We reject war,’ Lebanon tells Iranian foreign minister
Lebanon's Hezbollah fires drone squadron at Israel as violence intensifies
Israeli minister calls for ousting Hezbollah, residents from border area
Southern Front: Three Hezbollah Fighters Killed in Israeli Raids
Hezbollah threats in the north: Israeli schools' uncertain school year
Plasschaert says Blue Line developments of particular concern as she begins Lebanon mission
Lebanese-Syrian cooperation: Shared water resources problems
Geagea says Hezbollah-led camp is 'partitioning' country, not LF
Berri Accuses Geagea of Obstructing the Presidential Election
Raad: Dialogue is a norm and a norm is stronger than the constitution
LF begins Doha visit, PSP to launch presidential consultations
Lebanese Forces Delegation Heads to Doha
UN Special Coordinator Puts Forward Resolution 1701 With Bou Habib
August 4: Families of Victims Protest for Issuance of Indictment
BDL's plan to address deposit crisis: What Lebanese depositors need to know
Gebran Bassil views Iranian strike on Israel as 'strategic test', tackles presidential election dynamics: LBCI Vision 2030 interview
Is Hezbollah beginning to anticipate IDF’s responses? - analysis/Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/June 03/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 03-04/2024
Israeli airstrikes near city of Aleppo kill several people, Syrian state media say
Iranian Adviser Killed in Israeli Strike on Syria
Biden says Hamas is sufficiently depleted. Israel leaders disagree, casting doubts over ceasefire
IDF announce deaths of four hostages in Hamas captivity
Ben-Gvir reiterates threat to leave government if Netanyahu accepts hostage deal proposal
Arab foreign ministers say important to deal with US Gaza proposal seriously, positively
Doubts grow over Gaza truce plan as Israel-Hamas battles rage
Netanyahu: Hostage deal doesn't demand Israeli pledge to end Gaza war now
Netanyahu may be forced to choose between his government’s survival and a ceasefire deal
UN experts urge all countries to recognise Palestinian statehood
‘State of Palestine’ applies to join South Africa’s case at top UN court accusing Israel of genocide
US call for a cease-fire in Gaza puts Netanyahu at a legacy-shaping crossroads
80 Palestinian journalists detained by Israel since October, human rights group says
Shin Bet thwarts Turkey-based Hamas cell terror attack in Israel
Russia warns US against 'fatal' miscalculation in Ukraine
The US has been 'too passive' with the Houthis in the Red Sea and should go after their leaders, says retired US general
G7 leaders 'fully endorse' President Joe Biden's Gaza peace plan
Palestinians aim to join Gaza genocide case at World Court
State Department says US has yet to receive Hamas' response on ceasefire proposal
Poland has arrested 18 people on allegations of planning hostile acts on behalf of Russia, Belarus
Donald Trump Is Banned from 37 Countries as Convicted Felon, Including Major Allies Like Canada and U.K.
Iran's parliament speaker Qalibaf signs up for presidential race
Pierre Poilievre disagrees with Conservative MP who wants to vote against same-sex marriage

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on June 03-04/2024
'Queers for Palestine,' Like 'Minks for Fur Coats,' Support Those Who Want to Slaughter Them/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/June 03, 2024
To help Israel, Washington needs to get tougher on Cairo/Haisam Hassanein/The Hill/June 03/2024
What the shifting discourse on Palestine means for Israel/Dr. Ramzy Baroud/Arab News/June 03, 2024
Gaza between America and Iran/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 03, 2024
Improving an Overlooked Aspect of the Gaza Ceasefire Proposal/Robert Satloff/The Washington Institute/June 03/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 03-04/2024
Iran's acting top diplomat visits Lebanon in the first official visit since his predecessor's death
BEIRUT (AP)/Abby Sewell/June 3, 2024
Iran’s acting foreign minister arrived in Lebanon Monday, his first official diplomatic visit since his predecessor died in a helicopter crash last month. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that Ali Bagheri Kani would visit Lebanon and then Syria “to meet with the two countries’ officials as well as the officials of the resistance front to discuss ways to counter (Israel).”Iran backs a number of armed factions in the region, of which Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah is widely seen as the most powerful. Hezbollah would be Tehran’s first line of defense in case of a direct conflict between Iran and Israel. Bagheri Kani’s predecessor, Hossein Amirabdollahian, a hard-liner close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, died in a helicopter crash on May 19 in a mountainous area near Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, along with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and a delegation of other officials. After meeting with his Lebanese counterpart, Abdallah Bouhabib, on Monday, Bagheri Kani praised the “close relations” between the two countries. He told reporters that “resistance is the basis for stability in the region.” The Iranian foreign minister also met with the Speaker of Lebanon's Parliament Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.“We agreed that all countries in the region, especially the Islamic countries, should adopt a joint movement in order to counter Israeli aggression and protect the Palestinian people, especially in Rafah,” he said. Bouhabib said Lebanon, for its part, wants to avoid a wider war and is looking for "sustainable solutions that restore calm and stability to southern Lebanon."Hezbollah has been clashing with Israeli forces along the Lebanon-Israel border since October, against the backdrop of Israel’s war against the allied Hamas group in Gaza. The cross-border fighting has intensified in recent weeks, since Israel's incursion into the key town of Rafah in southern Gaza. The border fighting has killed more than 400 people on the Lebanese side — most of them militants but also including more than 70 civilians and noncombatant — and at least 15 soldiers and 10 civilians on the Israeli side. The danger of a direct conflict between Iran and Israel has also risen since Oct. 7. An apparent Israeli airstrike on an Iranian consulate in Syria in April triggered a series of escalatory attacks between Iran and Israel that threatened to set off a wider war, although the two regional archrivals have recently seemed to dial back tensions.

Bagheri Promotes Iranian Policies in Lebanon
This Is Beirut/June 03/2024
During a visit to Lebanon, Iran’s acting Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, proposed an extraordinary meeting of OIC foreign ministers.
Iran’s acting Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, praised the significant impact of his country’s policies in the region, particularly in Lebanon, emphasizing that “the close relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Lebanese Republic are pivotal for regional stability.”
He asserted that “resistance forms the cornerstone of this stability,” amidst the turmoil in southern Lebanon due to Tehran’s decision, facilitated by Lebanese intermediaries, to support Hamas in its war with Israel. At a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart, Abdallah Bou Habib, Bagheri Kani claimed that “the Islamic Republic of Iran has always aimed to support the stability, safety, security and progress of Lebanon.” This statement is widely considered misleading given that Iran, through Hezbollah, has significantly weakened Lebanon, leaving its institutions in a fragile state. This visit marks Bagheri Kani’s first trip to Lebanon since being appointed as the interim head of Iranian diplomacy, following the death of his predecessor, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19. The discussions between the two diplomats focused on the conflicts in South Lebanon and Gaza. Bou Habib reiterated Lebanon’s position of “rejecting war” and called for “lasting solutions aimed at restoring calm and stability in the South,” particularly through “the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.”Regarding Gaza, Bou Habib highlighted “a convergence of views on the dangers resulting from the war in Gaza and the crimes committed against the Palestinians, which compromise the chances of a just and comprehensive peace in the region.” In response, Bagheri Kani proposed a joint initiative involving regional countries, particularly Islamic nations, to “hold an extraordinary meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).” He believes this “collective measure” would enable a “common movement to confront Israeli aggression and protect the Palestinian people, particularly at Rafah.” Bagheri Kani also met with Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, at the Grand Serail, and with the head of Parliament, Nabih Berri, at Ain al-Tineh. Additionally, he is scheduled to meet with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Iran's Acting FM reports: Normalization with Israel is a failed plan for the region
LBCI/June 3, 2024
Iran's Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani stated that the Palestinian resistance on the ground has shown enough "maturity" to make decisions about the future. During a press conference at the end of his visit to Beirut, Bagheri Kani announced that he had proposed requesting a meeting for the foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation countries. He pointed out that Iran and Saudi Arabia have taken effective steps to build comprehensive cooperation between the two countries. He indicated that what is being promoted regarding normalizing relations between Israel and the countries in the region "is nothing but a failed plan for Israel and its supporters."He said, "The broad outlines of the foreign policy are formulated by Iranian institutions and approved by [Iran's Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei."He emphasized that "the resistance has now become a global phenomenon."
He also noted that the relationship between Iran and Lebanon is "comprehensive," renewing the Iranian proposal to deliver fuel to Lebanon to Lebanese officials.

Iran’s diplomatic continuity: Bagheri affirms support for resistance in Beirut visit
LBCI/June 3, 2024
In his first foreign visit since assuming the role of Acting Foreign Minister of Iran, Minister Ali Bagheri chose Beirut as his first stop, to be followed by Damascus and Baghdad. In the delicate political situation in the region, and following the death of Iran's President and its top diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Tehran wanted to emphasize the continuity of its policy in the region where its influence extends, namely in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, regardless of the individuals in power. Thus, the Iranian Foreign Minister affirmed support for the resistance as it is the foundation for stability and "perseverance" in the region for Iran. Lebanon's authorities, which reject war, reiterated its stance to the Iranian minister, emphasizing the importance of keeping matters under control. In the diplomatic meeting, Lebanon welcomed the ceasefire initiative announced by US President Joe Biden. Behind the scenes, the Iranian minister told the Lebanese side that Tehran never expected the war to last this long, but the resistance has remained strong. As long as it is still capable of launching rockets towards Tel Aviv, it means that Israel has not achieved its goals. According to the Iranian visitor, October 7 was a turning point that led to some states recognizing the right to establish a Palestinian state and to some states severing relations with Israel. Thus, the Iranian minister came to continue what his predecessor Abdollahian had started, who was supposed to visit Lebanon, but his death shifted the visit to the new minister.

‘We reject war,’ Lebanon tells Iranian foreign minister
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/June 03, 2024
BEIRUT: Lebanon wants to avoid a wider war and is looking for sustainable solutions that restore calm and stability to the south, Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib said on Monday. His remarks at a joint press conference in Beirut with acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani came as Hezbollah said it launched a squadron of drones toward the headquarters of the Israeli military’s Galilee formation. An Israeli military drone targeted a car on Monday on the road between the villages of Kharayeb, Zrariyeh, and Kauthariyet Al-Rez with four rockets, killing one person.
The acting Iranian foreign minister arrived in Beirut on Monday for a visit during which he planned meetings with Lebanese officials as well as representatives from Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad. Kani held talks with his counterpart in the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the joint press conference, Kani said Iran has “always supported stability, safety, security, and progress in Lebanon and has spared no effort to promote the progress and well-being of the Lebanese people.”Kani stressed that “the close relationship between Iran and Lebanon is a major indicator of stability in the region and that resistance is the basis of stability in the region.”
The Iranian official said the discussion focused on “events in Gaza, especially in Rafah, and we agreed on the necessity for countries in the region, especially Islamic countries, to adopt a joint movement to confront Israeli aggression and protect the Palestinian people.
“We also agreed on an initiative to hold an emergency meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation as a common proposal that enables us to take a decisive collective step in this regard.”The Lebanese minister said Kani affirmed Iran’s keenness to preserve Lebanon’s stability. Bou Habib reiterated Lebanon’s position rejecting war and its vision for a solution that would “restore calm and stability” through the implementation of UN Resolution 1701, approved in 2006 to resolve the Lebanon War that same year.
Kani’s visit to Lebanon is the first since the death of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian in a helicopter crash last month. The talks took place as hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli army entered a new tense phase. Israeli attacks on Monday reached the outskirts of Saida and Iqlim Al-Tuffah — some 15 km from the southern border. The Israeli moves indicate “serious connotations and fear that the almost eight-month-long operations will turn into an open war,” said a political observer. Israeli warplanes raided Jabal Al-Rihan, Jabal Abou Rashed, and the outskirts of Meidoun in Jezzine in five stages. A drone struck a motorcycle in Naqoura, killing one person and injuring another. Other warplanes carried out mock raids over the southern region, breaking the sound barrier over Al-Zahrani, which shattered the glass of several houses and shops in Kharayeb, Zrariyeh, and Erzay, as well as the window of a special needs school in Sarafand.
Israeli artillery shelling and raids targeted the outskirts of Mhaibib, Khiam, Aita Al-Shaab, Hanin in Bint Jbeil, and the Kasaret Al-Arayesh, Aramta heights, in Iqlim Al-Tuffah. Ali Abbas Hamieh, researcher and writer in strategic and military affairs, told Arab News that Israel had taken its ongoing war to a new phase. He commented that Hezbollah had yet to announce moving to a new stage of confrontation but believes that “the ongoing military operations show that the Israeli side is no longer superior (at) the military level."Hamieh added that Israel has “lost its ability to hide, as its soldiers are being killed in their combat positions, while Hezbollah’s members are being targeted on their way home and not in their combat positions.”As for the depth of the ongoing and escalating Israeli hostilities in southern Lebanon, Hamieh sees “a change in the Israeli military strategy.”
As for Hezbollah, “they are taking proactive measures. “Hezbollah is now striking weapon factories in northern Israel in retaliation for any Israeli escalation inside Lebanon.”Hamieh added: “There will be no more surprises from now on. We are in a state of military deterrence.”He added: “I believe that Israel will avoid attacking sensitive locations in Lebanon because Hezbollah knows even more critical Israeli targets that it can attack. “The losses are significant on both sides, and the costs are high, which everyone is mindful of.”Hezbollah announced on Monday that it launched “attack drones on the new command headquarters of the Eastern Front in the Galilee Division (Nahal Gershon, east of Dishon) and the locations of its officers and soldiers.”It said the drones hit their targets “accurately, causing fire to erupt and killing and injuring enemy soldiers.”Hezbollah also said it had targeted “a military vehicle at the Israeli Har Addir site with guided missiles and hit it directly, leading to its destruction, leaving its crew dead and wounded.”Additionally, Hezbollah targeted espionage equipment at the Al-Malikiyah site with artillery shells and a group of soldiers at the Khallet Wardah site with rockets.

Lebanon's Hezbollah fires drone squadron at Israel as violence intensifies
Reuters/June 3, 2024
Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Monday it had launched a squadron of drones towards the headquarters of the Israeli military's Galilee formation in an intensification of cross-border violence between the two adversaries.While Hezbollah has previously launched drones at Israel during hostilities that began in October, it marked the first time the Iran-backed group had announced firing a squadron of them. The hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel have rumbled on in parallel with the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, raising concern about the risk of a bigger conflict across the Israeli-Lebanese border. Hezbollah also said it had launched dozens of Katyusha rockets towards Israeli targets in the occupied Golan Heights. Air raid sirens sounded numerous times across northern Israel, sending residents running for shelter. The Israeli military said it had intercepted one drone from Lebanon carrying explosives, and at least two others fell in northern Israel. Continuous rocket and drone launches since Sunday have set off massive wild fires in Israel's north. The military also said it carried out strikes against Hezbollah compounds and one of its operatives. Hezbollah said it had fired the explosive drone squadron in response to what it described as an assassination carried out by Israel in the Zrariyeh area some 25 km (15 miles) from the border, where security sources in Lebanon said a Hezbollah member was killed in an Israeli drone strike. The group also said it had launched drones on Sunday towards Liman in northern Israel. Also on Sunday, a drone launched by Hezbollah fell in the Israeli coastal city of Nahariya, causing a fire but no injuries, Israel's military and local media reported. Lebanon's southern border has seen an uptick in hostilities in recent days, with both the Israeli military and Hezbollah striking locations outside the border strip where the exchanges of fire have been concentrated, and with increased intensity. On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed two civilian men from the town of Houla, where they had stayed throughout the conflict to herd their cattle, security sources and townspeople told Reuters. They were buried on Monday in their hometown. Israeli warplanes flew low over Beirut on Monday, according to residents.

Israeli minister calls for ousting Hezbollah, residents from border area
Naharnet/June 3, 2024
Israeli Education Minister Haim Biton has said that "a military campaign must be launched in the north to oust Hezbollah and the residents of southern Lebanon beyond the Litani River."He added: "I believe that this goal can be achieved because the situation in Gaza does not require the presence of three army divisions."Earlier, the Israeli army announced “the completion of training at the level of the General Staff to raise readiness on the northern front,” noting that “the training included scenarios simulating the expansion of the war on the northern front and a multi-area war.” This week, the Israeli army had conducted a new military drill as part of its “preparations for a possible battle on the northern front.”

Southern Front: Three Hezbollah Fighters Killed in Israeli Raids
This Is Beirut/June 3, 2024
Three Hezbollah’s fighters were killed in Israeli raids on Monday, as artillery exchanges between the group and the Israeli army in Southern surged in intensity, following a weekend marked by heightened violence. The Israeli army announced that it had eliminated a “senior member” of Hezbollah’s technical unit in a strike in the Tyre region on Monday. On his X account, the Israeli army’s Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichay Adraee, reported that the Israeli air force had “succeeded in liquidating Ali Hussein Sabra, who was part of (Hezbollah’s) air defense unit”. Sabra, he said, was “responsible for developing the air military power and weaponry” of the pro-Iranian group. Adraee also claimed that Israel conducted a raid against “a Hezbollah military structure, including a series of buildings used by its air defense unit, in the village of Katrani, in southern Lebanon”. A video taken from a drone, showing the targeting of a speeding car, attached to Adraee’s post. Later during the day, Hezbollah officially confirmed the death of Ali Hussein Sabra, who was targeted while driving near Kaouthariyet al-Rez, situated between Al-Zarariya and Abou al-Aswad, along the coastal route connecting the villages of Zahrani to the city of Tyre.
It then announced the death of Hussein Ahmad Nassereddine in a raid, which also targeted his car in Abbassiyé, followed by that of Mohammad Chawki Choucair.
Six successive raids were also carried out against the heights of Jabal el-Rayhan and Jabal Abou Rachid in the Jezzine region. At around 11.10 a.m., Israeli warplanes took turns targeting Hanine in the caza of Bint Jbeil and the Ksarat al-Aroush-Aramta heights in Iqlim al-Touffah region. A drone attack also targeted Aïta el-Chaab. The outskirts of Mouhaybib were bombarded by Israeli artillery. On Monday morning, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack on a military vehicle in Jabal Adathir. It said, “the guided missile strike killed “one Israeli soldier and wounded another”, and set the target on fire.
For their part, the Israeli media reported that a fire had broken out in the settlement of Ramim in the Upper Galilee. These events come on the heels of escalating violence on the border between Hezbollah and Israel, where on Sunday two shepherds were killed in a strike on Houla. Similarly, the neighborhood of Wadi al-Assafir in the town of Khiam was the target of two air strikes at 3.10am.

Hezbollah threats in the north: Israeli schools' uncertain school year
LBCI/June 3, 2024
As September approaches, will students return to schools or to bomb shelters? In northern Israeli settlements, school bells have been replaced by air raid sirens.
Since October 8, Hezbollah has forced thousands of settlers in northern Israel to abandon their homes and schools for safer areas. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from dozens of towns and villages in northern Israel, within Hezbollah's firing range. Out of these, 14,600 are children who have spent the current school year in temporary nurseries, makeshift schools, or repurposed buildings serving as daycare centers and classrooms across Israel. The Israeli government has allocated $38 million to build new nurseries and schools away from the northern missile range, aiming to accommodate children if their original schools are not safe or ready by September 1. This deadline, marking the start of the Israeli school year, has become a contentious issue in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, challenging its cohesion and credibility. However, the schooling dilemma is not the only hurdle for students from the north. Many are struggling with psychological trauma and find it difficult to complete their schoolwork in the cramped accommodations provided by the state, causing the high school dropout rate to spike to around 5%, double the national average. Preparing northern schools for students' return will take at least a month, as some of these schools are in crumbling housing clusters filled with rubble. Israel faces a significant dilemma: either reach a resolution with Lebanon by August or find an alternative solution for education in the north.

Plasschaert says Blue Line developments of particular concern as she begins Lebanon mission
Naharnet/June 3, 2024 
The newly-appointed U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert held her first meeting in Lebanon on Monday. “It is a great privilege to have arrived in Beirut in my new capacity as U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon. I am extremely honored to have met with His Excellency, caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, to mark the beginning of my first round of consultations with Lebanese officials,” she said after the meeting. “I welcomed the opportunity to touch upon some of the key issues and priorities that I will be following closely, including in cooperation with the Lebanese authorities, other partners in Lebanon and the wider international community,” Hennis-Plasschaert added. “While Lebanon faces challenges on many levels, developments across the Blue Line are of particular concern. Today, we discussed the urgency for the parties to return to the cessation of hostilities and to recommit to the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 to ensure their enduring mutual security,” the U.N. coordinator went on to say. She added that tn the coming months she will be closely engaged with both parties to Resolution 1701, UNIFIL and other Lebanese and international partners to help “galvanize momentum towards this end.”“We also discussed Lebanon’s protracted political deadlock and the need for the election of a new president and fully functional State institutions to lead the country out of crisis and towards sustainable recovery,” Hennis-Plasschaert said. “While there will be future opportunities to discuss further all of these issues and priorities, I am very encouraged by our initial discussions today that will guide our way forward,” she added. “The U.N. has a long history of working with and supporting Lebanon as a trusted partner. I assured the Foreign Minister of my steadfast commitment and that of the United Nations to continue supporting Lebanon and its people,” Hennis-Plasschaert said.

Lebanese-Syrian cooperation: Shared water resources problems
LBCI/June 3, 2024
Lebanon and Syria have numerous shared concerns that necessitate enhanced communication between the two nations, one of the most pressing being their shared water resources.
The management of these resources is governed by two agreements signed by Lebanon and Syria in 1994 and 2002, both registered with the United Nations. These agreements established a technical committee to oversee the sector. However, the committee has not convened at the member level since 2018 during the tenure of former Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil, and it has not met at the ministerial level since 2003 under former Lebanese Energy Minister Ayoub Hmayed. After a 21-year hiatus, the committee is set to meet at the ministerial level as Lebanese Energy and Water Minister Walid Fayyad visits Syria, following a meeting with Syrian Minister of Water Resources Hussein Makhlouf.
What are the shared water areas? How do the two countries benefit from them? What are the outstanding points that the two sides are seeking to find solutions for?
1. The Great Southern River originates from Ain El-Safa in Lebanon, the Great Southern River, and flows through Lebanese and Syrian territories along the northern Lebanese border reaching the sea at the Lebanese village of Arida.
The river provides 150 million cubic meters of water annually, with Syria receiving 60% and Lebanon 40%. Lebanon's share is used primarily for irrigation through canals and wells, as the joint dam project between the two countries has stalled due to a lack of funding.
One major issue is the annual flooding of the river on the Lebanese side, affecting villages such as Bqaiaa, Wadi Khaled, Al-Sammaqa, and Hekr El Dahri. This flooding is partly caused by Syria's construction of a large embankment to prevent floods and protect Syrian territories. In response, the Lebanese Energy Ministry has allocated LBP 1,000 billion from its budget to build an embankment of equal height on the Lebanese side.
2. The Orontes River, stretching 571 kilometers, originates from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, flows 20 kilometers through Lebanese territory, and then extends 450 kilometers through Syria reaching the Gulf of Iskenderun in Turkey. The river generates 400 million cubic meters of water, with Lebanon's share estimated at 80 million cubic meters.  However, Lebanon does not fully utilize its share due to the failure to operate a dam near the river. The first dam, built in 2005, was destroyed during the 2006 July War. Plans for a second dam to generate electricity are still in the early stages. A persistent issue between the two countries is Syria's complaints about sewage discharge from Hermel into the river, due to the lack of a sewage network in the area. Lebanon is seeking loans from the Arab Fund and the Italian Protocol loan to address this problem, but progress is slow due to Lebanon's delays in making payments to these funds. These long-standing issues require renewed efforts and collaboration. Will Minister Fayyad's efforts overcome these challenges by revitalizing communication and cooperation between Lebanon and Syria?

Geagea says Hezbollah-led camp is 'partitioning' country, not LF
Naharnet/June 3, 2024 
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has “dropped his mask” and “let no one dream of reaching a moment when Lebanon would have a supreme guide,” Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has said. “Which Lebanese constitution article stipulates that prior to every presidential election, the parliament speaker would call for a dialogue table attended by the blocs to consult over the presidential vote? Today Berri has dropped his mask,” Geagea said in an interview with the al-Markazia news agency. “He is trying to create unstated constitutional norms and articles. We don’t support a dialogue table chaired by Berri but rather contacts and consultations among the blocs,” the LF leader added stressing that Lebanon cannot have a “supreme guide.”Asked about Berri’s accusation that he is rejecting dialogue to push for “federalism” in the country, Geagea said: “This is an assumption from Berri that has nothing to do with reality.” “Since he has raised the issue of federalism let him know this: those who are practicing a full partitioning and not merely federalism are the Axis of Defiance and there is categorical evidence. Who has an alternative army, alternative security forces, alternative institutions and is controlling state institutions? Who is establishing private border crossings and who is taking the decision of war despite the opinion of the Lebanese and even the government? This is the party that is partitioning Lebanon,” Geagea explained, in an apparent reference to Hezbollah and its allies.

Berri Accuses Geagea of Obstructing the Presidential Election
This Is Beirut/June 3, 2024
Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri fiercely replied to the repeated accusations by the Leader of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, that he (Berri) is responsible for obstructing the presidential elections. He stated, “It has become clear that Geagea does not want dialogue or the election of a president, as he is trying to push for the adoption of federalism, which he did not give up on. Unfortunately, the man still definitely lives in Halat.”Regarding the government’s decision to grant financial compensation to southerners affected by Israeli attacks, Berri found Geagea’s objection to it strange, noting that “the people of the South deserve these compensations, which do not exceed one million dollars.”On another note, Berri was “flexible and responsive” towards the efforts of the Quintet committee. He said that he replaced “dialogue” with “consultation” as per the request of the Quintet, because he considers it to be “synonym for dialogue” as he informed the French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian and the committee. He pointed out that “the natural place for any consultation is the Parliament, which is an institution with a president.”“The president, whoever he may be, is supposed to chair the consultation session between the blocs, considering that this right is not personally mine to relinquish but is related to the position and its attributes,” he told the Lebanese daily newspaper AL Joumhouria, noting that there has been a precedent in Ain al-Tineh before the Doha Conference in 2008. Regarding the proposal presented by US President Joe Biden to stop the war in Gaza, it seems “acceptable and can serve as a basis for further discussions,” Berri said, adding, “although there are some comments to it.”He noted that Biden needs the war in Gaza to stop due to considerations related to the US presidential elections, especially with the recent shift in the American public mood, as evidenced by the unprecedented student protests at universities. The Speaker of the House affirmed that “once calm is achieved in the Gaza Strip, it will automatically extend to the southern front.”“The next day, US envoy Amos Hochstein will be here to continue negotiations on the future situation at the border with occupied Palestine,” he assured. Berri revealed that he had made progress in understanding with Hochstein on some principles that any final agreement would be based on, particularly regarding the Israeli army’s withdrawal from the border points it still occupies.Regarding Resolution 1701, Berri emphasized adherence to it as the sole framework for the “day after” the war on the Lebanese front.

Raad: Dialogue is a norm and a norm is stronger than the constitution
Naharnet/June 3, 2024 
Speaker Nabih Berri has been calling for dialogue over the presidential vote “as has been the norm,” and a norm in Lebanon is “stronger the constitution,” Hezbollah’s top MP Mohammad Raad has said. “Michel Suleiman was elected after a dialogue session and Michel Aoun was elected after a dialogue session,” Raad added. “The dialogue session on which we are insisting along with Speaker Nabih Berri is aimed at gathering the voters from the various blocs to the discuss the Lebanese affairs and the importance of electing a president as well as the president’s characteristics and the risks that they should confront,” the lawmaker said. “They might not agree on the president’s name, but their presence would melt some of the ice that is hindering their communication. How can they secure a quorum of 86 MPs in the presidential election session if they don’t talk to each other?” Raad added.
“We want a president for all the Lebanese under the ceiling of national consensus and they want a president for them under the slogan of a winner and a loser … Their rejection of dialogue is what’s blocking a consensual quorum for the election to take place,” the legislator charged.

LF begins Doha visit, PSP to launch presidential consultations
Naharnet/June 3, 2024 
A Lebanese Forces delegation started yesterday a visit to Qatar that will last until Thursday, the pro-LF Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Monday. The delegation will represent LF leader Samir Geagea in meetings with top Qatari officials, comprising MPs Pierre Bou Assi and Melhem Riachi and LF executive committee member Joseph Jbeili. Opposition sources told Nidaa al-Watan that “Qatar is seeking to pull Lebanon out of the presidential vacuum stage, like France is doing within the five-nation committee.”A Progressive Socialist Party delegation led by MP Taymour Jumblat will meanwhile kick off a series of meetings with the Lebanese parties as part of an initiative to resolve the political crisis. The first meeting will be held with Hezbollah and the initiative calls for “separating the presidency from Gaza and the south, abiding by the Taif Accord and the constitutional norms, and respecting the balance of power in parliament,” the newspaper said.

Lebanese Forces Delegation Heads to Doha
This Is Beirut/June 3, 2024
A delegation from the Lebanese Forces was received in Doha on Monday by Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Al-Khoulaifi. The delegation includes MPs Pierre Bou Assi and Melhem Riachi, along with Joseph Jbeily, a member of the party’s executive committee. They are scheduled to meet with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammad Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Tuesday. The meetings are part of a series of visits to Qatar by various Lebanese parties, focusing on the presidential deadlock. Recent visitors include political advisor to Speaker Nabih Berri and MP, Ali Hassan Khalil, caretaker Minister of Economy Amin Salam, and former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt. Qatar has played a leading role in the Quintet, alongside the USA, France, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to facilitate the election of a President of the Republic. In this context, these visits to Doha are fuelling the possibility of a second Doha conference, similar to the one held in 2008, which enabled General Michel Sleiman to ascend to the presidency.

UN Special Coordinator Puts Forward Resolution 1701 With Bou Habib
This Is Beirut/June 3, 2024
The newly appointed UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, called on Hezbollah and Israel to “recommit to implementing Security Council resolution 1701 to ensure their enduring mutual security.”In a statement issued on Monday, after she met with caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib, she expressed her intention to “closely follow, in cooperation with Lebanese authorities and the international community, to implement Resolution 1701 in the coming months.”She also pledged to work with UNIFIL and other Lebanese and international partners to focus efforts in this direction. In her discussion with Abdallah Bou Habib, the Special Coordinator stressed the “urgent need for the parties to put an end to the military conflict” on the border, describing the current situation on the southern front as “particularly worrisome.”According to the same press release, the discussion also focused on “Lebanon’s protracted political deadlock.” Hennis-Plasschaert emphasized “the necessity of electing a new president and establishing fully functional state institutions to guide the country out of crisis and towards sustainable recovery.” Her visit to the Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs marks the beginning of her first round of consultations with Lebanese officials.

August 4: Families of Victims Protest for Issuance of Indictment
This Is Beirut/June 3, 2024
The “Families of Victims and Martyrs of the Beirut Port Explosion” Association held a protest on Monday at noon titled “Victims Only Want Justice, and Justice Is Your Duty” in front of the Palace of Justice in Beirut. The protest was attended by the Beirut Fire Brigade and a large number of families of the victims, martyrs and those affected by the Beirut port explosion. Participants carried banners demanding the unimpeded continuation of the investigation, the issuance of an indictment, and an end to the stalling and evasion by some officials to uncover the truth, regardless of their rank. To emphasize their demands, they burned tires, urging the judiciary to fulfill their responsibilities and proceed with the investigation. The families also displayed pictures of their lost loved ones.

BDL's plan to address deposit crisis: What Lebanese depositors need to know
LBCI/June 3, 2024
Lebanese depositors seeking to recover their full bank deposits may face a harsh reality, as ongoing discussions suggest a partial repayment scheme. The plan, still under discussion, proposes different repayment structures based on when the deposits were made.
Depositors with accounts opened before October 17, 2019, are proposed to receive up to $100,000, while those with accounts opened after that date might receive up to $36,000. Both amounts would be disbursed over a maximum period of 15 years.
According to various sources, the total estimated amount needed for these repayments ranges from $15 billion to $22 billion. However, banking sources reveal that Lebanese banks are reportedly unable to fully fund this amount. Consequently, it is suggested that the repayment be shared equally between the banks and Banque du Liban (BDL), where a significant portion of the deposits was originally placed by the banks. To alleviate the financial strain on both BDL and banks, the following measures have been proposed:
1. Verification of deposit sources: Only deposits with proven clean sources of funds will be eligible for repayment. 2. Exclusion of certain borrowers: Those who have benefited from loan repayments at the exchange rate of LBP 1,500 per dollar, where the total loan value at the onset of the crisis was $38 billion, may be excluded.
3. Exclusion of large depositors: Large depositors, who can be classified as investors rather than typical depositors due to the size of their deposits, may also be excluded.
4. Exclusion of profiteers: Individuals who benefited significantly from the Sayrafa platform and those who engaged heavily in selling checks are likely to be excluded.
5. Exclusion based on subsidy benefits: Those who benefited from subsidies on fuel and other commodities may not be eligible.
6. Alternative benefit mechanisms: Proposals include monthly dollar payments for retired depositors along with healthcare provisions.

Gebran Bassil views Iranian strike on Israel as 'strategic test', tackles presidential election dynamics: LBCI Vision 2030 interview
LBCI/June 3, 2024
In an interview on Monday, President of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Gebran Bassil identified five existential crises: the economic crisis, the refugee crisis, the disintegration of the state and its institutions, the national partnership crisis, and the war. In an interview on LBCI's "Vision 2030" program, he expressed: "We are people capable of adapting despite all the crises, and this is both a good and bad thing."MP Gebran Bassil considered the Iranian strike on Israel as a "test," describing it as "well-calculated," further showing that "Israel needs its allies to defend it.""I believe we did not need the Quintet Committee to discuss and agree on electing a president. I support reaching a consensus rather than holding an election because a president chosen through an election will face opposition," he noted. He added that the meeting with the French ambassador went well and that the ambassador clearly understands the Lebanese situation. In the interview, the President of the Free Patriotic Movement stated: "I am in favor of consensus, and if there is no consensus, then I am in favor of holding elections to prevent a political vacuum." He continued that Qatar proposed General Elias Al-Baysari for the presidency.
"Our sectarian system is weak. I am in favor of strengthening the president's powers," he added. MP Bassil also mentioned, "Our proposal was designed to avoid a political vacuum. While I support the Bkerki document, [...] it should have a comprehensive national coverage and should be grounded in reality." MP Bassil pointed out that the 2006 war brought about a period of stability where Israel was unable to encroach upon it. He stated that neither the Lebanese people nor Hezbollah, along with their supporters, including Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, desire war. The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader said that the agreement with Hezbollah emphasized consensus democracy. Bassil further added: "We are not responsible for the liberation of Palestine. Hezbollah is the one who altered its position regarding the 2006 Memorandum of Understanding due to regional policies."MP Gebran Bassil expressed that Lebanon's identity has often been at risk, and while he welcomes differing opinions, he rejects being compelled to adhere to a specific model. "I fear of sliding into a large-scale war, and Hezbollah can not be sure it has enough deterrent power against Israel," MP Bassil indicated. During the interview, he mentioned that resolving the refugee crisis involves enforcing laws and empowering municipalities to take action within their jurisdiction. This includes deporting those who violate the law and facilitating the return of families to Syria, which would address part of the problem.

Is Hezbollah beginning to anticipate IDF’s responses? - analysis
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/June 03/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/130367/130367/
The Alma Research and Education Center: "Hezbollah attacks doubled in May." The Alma Research and Education Center concluded that May 2024 was the month with the “highest intensity of Hezbollah attacks against Israel since October 2023.” The attacks are increasing and it is clear that Hezbollah is not deterred, something that can be clearly felt and observed on the Northern border on June 2. The Alma report provides clear evidence of how Hezbollah is changing tactics: “Throughout May 2024, Hezbollah carried out 325 attacks. The daily average of attacks was 10 per day, whereas in April, Hezbollah carried out 238 attacks with an average of 7.8 attacks per day,” the report reads. “In terms of analyzing the weapons used by
Hezbollah, in May 2024 there was a significant increase in the number of incidents in the use of anti-tank missiles and UAVs, twofold compared to April 2024,” it adds.
Anti-tank missiles are one of the main weapons in the Hezbollah arsenal, with Alma saying that there were 95 incidents in May, compared to 50 in April. Hezbollah has also rapidly increased its drone threats, over the last week using drones to target Nahariya and the Golan.
The sirens activated throughout the North due to drone threats show that this increase has gotten to the point where Hezbollah sometimes uses drones more often than rockets.
“In May 2024, Hezbollah’s operation of the UAV array exhibits a pronounced upward trend. The number of UAV incidents targeting Israel has increased by more than twelve-fold over the past four months.
As previously mentioned, there were 85 UAV infiltrations into Israeli territory in May 2024, compared to 42 in April, 24 in March, and 7 in February 2024,” the Alma report reads. It added there were more incidents of other attacks: “From the beginning of the combat in the North, on October 8, 2023, until May 31, 2024, Hezbollah carried out 1,964 attacks on the northern border. 46% of these were carried out against civilian infrastructure and civilian areas.”
Hezbollah is increasing the range and type of threats
The overall picture that is painted is of Iranian-backed Hezbollah increasing the range and type of threats looks a lot like impunity. As June began, Hezbollah increased its attacks even more, sending drones over the last few days to attack Israel’s coastal region, with attacks near Kiryat Shmona causing massive fires to break out.
Alma also noted on Monday that “Hezbollah launched dozens of Grad rockets toward the city of Katzrin, causing fires around the city. Hezbollah claimed the attack aimed at a military base and was in response to the IDF attack in the Beqaa a day earlier.”
The IDF responds to these attacks, but Hezbollah likely has already calculated into its framework of escalation the fact that the IDF will respond. Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei made a few statements on Monday praising Hezbollah and describing Israel as being defeated by Iranian-backed groups: “An army which once claimed to be one of the world’s strongest armies has been defeated by groups from Hamas and Hezbollah while trying to guard itself in the south and in the north,” the Iranian Supreme Leader wrote.
“Operation Al-Aqsa Flood disrupted the Zionist regime’s comprehensive plan to dominate the politics and economy of the entire region of West Asia, and there is no hope that they will be able to revive this plan,” he added.
Iran appears to be coordinating more threats to Israel: Hamas in Gaza continues to carry out attrition attacks on the IDF, as Hezbollah escalates. The picture being painted here is a hot month ahead, with possible escalation.
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-804834

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 03-04/2024
Israeli airstrikes near city of Aleppo kill several people, Syrian state media say
BEIRUT (AP)/June 3, 2024
The state-run SANA news agency gave no specific toll. It said the strikes were around the southeastern edge of Aleppo. “The aggression led to a number of martyrs and some material losses,” SANA said. Israel did not immediately acknowledge the strikes and rarely does when it comes to Syria. Syria and Israel have been at war since Israel’s founding in 1948. Syria’s President Bashar Assad has been backed by Iran in his country’s yearslong war, and Israeli strikes previously have targeted Iranian positions and equipment. The strikes also come while Israel is fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel separately has been striking targets in Lebanon as well as Hezbollah continues its cross-border fire into the country.

Iranian Adviser Killed in Israeli Strike on Syria
AFP/This Is Beirut/June 3, 2024 
Iranian media said that an adviser was killed in an early Monday Israeli strike on Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, which a war monitor said killed 16 members of pro-Iran groups. “During last night’s attack by the Zionist regime on Aleppo, Saeed Abyar, one of the IRGC advisers in Syria, was martyred,” said Iran’s Tasnim news agency, referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, “The death toll of the Israeli strike on a factory in Hayyan in western Aleppo province has risen to 16 pro-Iran group members, including Syrian and foreign fighters.”The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, initially reported 12 dead. It said that pro-Iran groups comprising local and foreign fighters have considerable influence in government-controlled Hayyan. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on its northern neighbor since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. The strikes increased after Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, when the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented attack against Israel.
But the Observatory said that the attacks slowed after a deadly April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which was blamed on Israel and sent regional tensions skyrocketing, triggering Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel. A Syrian Defense Ministry statement said that “after midnight… the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the southeast of Aleppo, targeting some positions” near the city. It reported “martyrs” and “some material damage.” While Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria, it has repeatedly said that it will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there. According to the Observatory, Israeli strikes on Wednesday in western and central Syria killed a girl and six fighters working with Hezbollah, including three Syrians. Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has long fought in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country’s civil war. In March, the Observatory said that Israeli airstrikes near Aleppo airport killed 52 people – 38 government soldiers, seven Hezbollah members and seven Syrian pro-Iran fighters. Syria’s conflict has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more since it erupted in 2011 after Damascus cracked down on anti-government protests.

Biden says Hamas is sufficiently depleted. Israel leaders disagree, casting doubts over ceasefire
AP/June 04, 2024
JERUSALEM: At the start of its devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip, Israel set an ambitious goal: destroy Hamas. At the time, the Biden administration committed to the objective, giving Israel considerable stocks of weaponry and voicing its support. Nearly eight months into the war, however, cracks have emerged between the close allies over what defeating Hamas actually looks like. Last week, US President Joe Biden said the militant group was no longer capable of launching an attack on Israel like the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war and that it was time for the fighting to end. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right ministers disagree. Where the US seeks a quick end to the fighting, Israel’s leadership appears determined to push onward. Here is how the leaders define the destruction of Hamas.
BIDEN: NO ABILITY TO POSE A THREAT
Biden on Friday said it was time to end the Israel-Hamas war, signaling that the objective of destroying Hamas had already been met because the militant group was “no longer capable” of carrying out a large-scale attack on Israel like the one on Oct. 7. That day, Hamas militants astonished Israel with a large-scale assault, killing some 1,200 people and dragging about 250 hostages back to Gaza as rocket fire targeted Israeli cities and towns. In the nearly eight months since then, Israel says its air and ground offensive has significantly depleted Hamas’ military capabilities. It claims to have killed 15,000 militants, half of Hamas’ fighting force, and wounded thousands of others. It also says it has destroyed a significant portion of Gaza’s labyrinthine tunnel network, command and control centers and rocket launchers. Biden appeared Friday to believe this was enough to satisfy Israel’s objective. He urged Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement to release about 85 remaining hostages, along with the bodies of around 40 more, for an extended ceasefire.
NETANYAHU: ELIMINATE REMAINING MILITARY AND GOVERNING ABILITY
In response to Biden’s suggestion that Hamas was significantly depleted, Netanyahu said Israel would not agree to a permanent ceasefire until “the destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.”
The Israeli army says the eradication of Hamas is still incomplete, with battalions of militants remaining in the southernmost city of Rafah and fighting still raging in Gaza’s north. Hamas has continued to launch rockets into Israel, although with far lower intensity than in the first months of war. The extent of the group’s governance across the strip remains unclear, though no alternative has emerged. Still, Netanyahu admits it may be impossible to fully stamp out the ideology of Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, a year after winning legislative elections against the rival Fatah party. Hamas has managed to survive despite a 16-year blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt, and four previous wars against Israel. “Hamas has to be eliminated, not as an idea,” Netanyahu said in late March. “Nazism was not destroyed as an idea in World World II, but Nazis don’t govern Germany.”
ISRAEL’S FAR RIGHT: ERADICATE HAMAS AND RESETTLE GAZA
The far-right firebrands within Israel’s ultranationalist government have staunchly rejected Biden’s ceasefire proposal, saying Israel must continue its war in Gaza until the militant group is completely stamped out. Israel’s minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have both threatened to leave Netanyahu’s government if he endorsed Biden’s proposal. That would cause the coalition to collapse. Smotrich said Monday that agreeing to a ceasefire would amount to a humiliation of Israel and a surrender. Increased military pressure, he said, is “the only language understood in the Middle East.” Ben-Gvir has called for the “voluntary” emigration of Palestinians from Gaza and for a return of Israeli settlements. Israel unilaterally pulled out of more than 20 Jewish settlements in Gaza in 2005, ending a 38-year presence. Speaking at a resettlement conference in May, Ben-Gvir said that the only way to make sure “the problem won’t come back” was to “return to Gaza now.”“Return home!,” he chanted, “Return to our holy land!”

IDF announce deaths of four hostages in Hamas captivity
Jerusalem Post/June 03/2024
Their murder is a sad reflection on the significance of delaying deals, Hostage Forum says.
The IDF on Monday night confirmed the death of four additional hostages from the remaining group which Hamas seized on October 7. The four are Haim Perry and Yoram Metzger, age 80, and Amiram Cooper, age 84, all from Nir Oz, and Nadav Popplewell, age 51, from Nirim. The announcement was based on intelligence and confirmed by a Health Ministry expert, in coordination with the Religious Services Ministry and the Chief Rabbi of Israel. According to the IDF, they were not killed on October 7, but rather afterward while being held in Gaza. The military said that the four were killed in the Khan Yunis area a number of months ago. The IDF further said that the four hostages were killed during a period when the it was carrying out operations in the area. In addition, it said that this revelation would raise difficult questions about the circumstances of the hostages' death and that the military would continue to probe the issue.Hamas had previously put out a video regarding the hostages, but the IDF said it would not declare the hostages as deceased until it had independent confirmation, as it does now. Popplewell’s mother, Hannah Perry, was released on November 24; his brother Roee was murdered on October 7. Metzger is survived by his wife, Tamar, three children, and seven grandchildren. Cooper is survived by his wife, Nurit, age 79, three children, and nine grandchildren. His wife was held captive in Gaza for 17 days before she was released on October 23. Perry was a husband, a father of five, a grandfather of 13, a peace activist, and an artist. In light of the news, the Hostages & Missing Families Forum provided the following announcement: "The heartbreak that comes with this painful news should shake every citizen in the State of Israel and lead every leader to profound soul-searching. Chaim, Yoram, Amiram, and Nadav were kidnapped alive, some of them were with other hostages who returned in the previous deal - and they should have returned alive to their country and their families! "The Israeli government must send out a negotiating delegation this evening and return all 124 hostages, both living and murdered, to their homes," the forum said. "It is time to end this cycle of sacrifice and neglect. Their murder in captivity is a mark of disgrace and a sad reflection on the significance of delaying previous deals. We reiterate our demand to the Israeli government: Approve the Netanyahu deal immediately!"

Ben-Gvir reiterates threat to leave government if Netanyahu accepts hostage deal proposal
Jerusalem Post/June 03/2024
Netanyahu's reluctance to show Ben-Gvir the text of the hostage deal came on the backdrop of the fact that the deal was not presented to the statutory National Security Cabinet due to fears of leaks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to show National Security Minister Itamar-Ben-Gvir the draft text of the hostage deal proposal that US President Joe Biden presented in a speech on Friday night. Ben-Gvir, who spoke ahead of his party's weekly faction meeting, claimed that on Saturday night, Netanyahu had promised to show him the text, but the prime minister then refrained from doing so. Ben-Gvir added that National Security Council head Tzahi Hanegby had even told him that such a text did not exist. Ben-Gvir demanded in his speech to see the text and threatened to leave the government if Netanyahu moved forward with the deal without doing so. Ben-Gvir argued that the deal was de-facto a loss to Hamas, as it left open the possibility of Hamas continuing to exist at war's end. The speech was initially supposed to be held in the party's meeting room in the Knesset. However, a number of family members of hostages came to the room, and appeared to be preparing to disrupt him.
Ben-Gvir changes the venue
Instead of entering the room, Ben-Gvir therefore changed the venue to a nearby room at the last minute. Guards blocked everyone except for the media from entering the room, and the family members were heard shouting in the hallway that Ben-Gvir was "afraid" to meet with them. Asked about the occurrence, Ben-Gvir said that he meets families of hostages regularly but that the attempt to disrupt his speech was "populistic."Netanyahu responded to the occurrence immediately, saying in a video statement, "We are acting in endless ways to bring back our hostages." Netanyahu admitted that he had "gone a long way" towards a deal, but had maintained the goals of the war throughout, "chiefly amongst them destroying Hamas.""We are insisting that we complete both [the release of hostages and destruction of Hamas]. That is part of the plan [that Biden presented], it is not something that I am adding now, it is not something I am adding because I was pressured by the coalition, it is something we decided in the war cabinet unanimously," Netanyahu said. Netanyahu's reluctance to show Ben-Gvir the text of the hostage deal came on the backdrop of the fact that the deal was not presented to the statutory National Security Cabinet, reportedly due to fear of leaks by Ben-Gvir and others. Smotrich comments  Later on Monday afternoon, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich held his weekly press conference outside of a tent set up by the Heroes Forum outside of Israel's Supreme Court. The forum includes families of fallen soldiers and advocates for a strategy whereby the only way to bring back the hostages was with military pressure on Hamas. According to a spokesperson in Smotrich's Religious Zionist Party, the unusual choice of location, instead of the party's conference room in the Knesset, was intended to emphasize the argument that Smotrich made in his speech: That the proposal presented by Biden was "dangerous" in that it did not completely destroy Hamas. Smotrich also argued that the fact that the proposal was not brought before the National Security Cabinet made it "illegal," and was not binding for Israel or its government. In general the war cabinet has the authority to manage the tactical aspects of the war, while any major policy or strategic decisions must be brought before the NSC. "I told the prime minister, we, together with the bereaved families and the majority of the people of Israel, will back you for decisive victory, but will oppose you with all our strength and forcefulness if you choose surrender and defeat," Smotrich said. United Torah Judaism (UTJ) chairman, Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf was cited as saying in Israeli media on Monday that his party would support any proposed hostage deal that would bring about the release of the hostages.

Arab foreign ministers say important to deal with US Gaza proposal seriously, positively
Arab News/June 03, 2024
RIYADH: The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar and Egypt said on Monday it was important to “deal seriously and positively” with a proposal presented by US President Joe Biden that would lead to a ceasefire in Gaza. Biden on Friday presented what he labelled an Israeli three-phase plan that would end the conflict in Gaza, free all hostages and lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory without Hamas in power. The foreign ministers met virtually to discuss the proposal and US-Qatari-Egyptian mediating efforts for a swap deal of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners that would lead to a permanent ceasefire and sufficient aid entry into Gaza, Saudi Press Agency said. The foreign ministers of Jordan, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia affirmed their support for these efforts. The ministers stressed the need to stop Israeli aggression on Gaza, end the humanitarian catastrophe it is causing, and allow displaced people to return to their areas. They called for a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the launch of a reconstruction process within the framework of a comprehensive plan to implement the two-state solution in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions and with specific timings and binding guarantees. The ministers stressed that implementing the two-state solution, which includes an independent, sovereign Palestinian state along the lines of June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, is the way to achieve security and peace for all countries in the region.

Doubts grow over Gaza truce plan as Israel-Hamas battles rage
AFP/REUTERS/June 03, 2024
RAFAH: Doubts were growing on Monday about a plan for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal outlined by US President Joe Biden as heavy fighting raged for a third day since his White House address. Biden on Friday presented what he labelled an Israeli three-phase plan that would end the bloody conflict, free all hostages and lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory without Hamas in power. However, Netanyahu’s office stressed Saturday that Israel would push on with the war sparked by the October 7 attack by Palestinian militants on southern Israel until all of its “goals are achieved” including the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities. Israeli media have questioned to what extent Biden’s speech and some crucial details were coordinated with Netanyahu’s team, including how long any truce would hold and how many captives would be freed when.
Israeli media quoted Netanyahu as saying on Monday that the first phase of a US-promoted plan to wind down the Gaza war could be undertaken without necessary agreement on what follows. The leaked quotes from a closed-door parliamentary meeting, which were not immediately confirmed by officials, suggested Israel sees a possibility of entering an initial Gaza truce though it has ruled out ending the war as demanded by Hamas.
Mediators the United States, Qatar and Egypt later said they called “on both Hamas and Israel to finalize the agreement embodying the principles outlined by President Joe Biden.”White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Sunday that “we have every expectation that if Hamas agrees to the proposal... that Israel would say yes.”US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “commended” Israel on the plan in a phone call with war cabinet member Benny Gantz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the State Department said. But for now, the bombardments and combat showed no sign of easing in the Gaza war soon entering its ninth month that has devastated the Palestinian coastal territory of 2.4 million people. On Monday the Israeli military said that over the past day its forces had struck “over 50 targets in the Gaza Strip.”Gaza hospitals on Monday reported at least 19 people killed in overnight strikes.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,190 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also took about 250 hostages, 120 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead. Israel’s retaliatory bombardments and ground offensive have killed at least 36,439 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry said on Sunday. Heavy fighting has raged especially in Gaza’s far-southern Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where most civilians have now been displaced once more, according to UN agencies. Air strikes and artillery shelling were reported in Rafah, mainly in the Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood, as well as in Gaza City, witnesses said. “Troops are continuing intelligence-based targeted operations in the Rafah area,” the army said. “Over the past day, the troops conducted scans and located terror infrastructure and large quantities of weapons.”
Gaza’s European hospital said 10 people were killed and several wounded in an Israeli air strike on a house near the main southern city of Khan Yunis. And six people were reported killed in a strike on a family home in the central Bureij refugee camp, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital. Netanyahu — a hawkish veteran leading a fragile coalition government often described as the most right-wing in Israel’s history — is under intense domestic pressure from two sides. Relatives and supporters of hostages have staged mass protests demanding that he strike a truce deal — but the premier’s far-right coalition allies are threatening to bring down the government if he does.According to Biden, Israel’s three-stage offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza and an initial hostage-prisoner exchange. Both sides would then negotiate for a lasting ceasefire, with the truce to continue as long as talks are ongoing, Biden said, adding it was “time for this war to end.” Netanyahu took issue with Biden’s presentation, insisting that according to the “exact outline proposed by Israel” the transition from one stage to the next was “conditional” and crafted to allow it to maintain its war aims. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leaders of extreme-right parties, warned they would leave the government if it endorsed the truce proposal. But opposition leader Yair Lapid, a centrist former premier, said the government “cannot ignore Biden’s important speech” and vowed to back Netanyahu if his far-right coalition partners quit.Gallant, who has criticized Netanyahu over the lack of a post-war plan for Gaza, said Sunday that Israel was “assessing a governing alternative” to Hamas to rule the territory after the war ends.UN and other aid agencies have warned for months of the looming risk of famine in the besieged territory. At a hospital in Deir Al-Balah, 33-year-old Amira Al-Taweel said that her frail son, suffering from malnutrition, “needs treatment and milk, but there’s none available in Gaza.”Israel’s seizure last month of the Rafah crossing has further slowed sporadic aid deliveries for Gaza’s people and effectively closed its main exit point on the Egyptian border. Cairo refuses to coordinate with Israel humanitarian deliveries through Rafah, but has agreed to send some aid via Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing.

Netanyahu: Hostage deal doesn't demand Israeli pledge to end Gaza war now
Jerusalem Post/June 03/2024
Biden, on Friday night, explained that phase two did involve a permanent ceasefire but that talks were needed to start that phase.
The hostage deal on the table can move forward without an Israeli pledge to end the Gaza war now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he awaited Hamas’s response to the latest proposal to free the remaining 124 captives.
"We are working in countless ways to return our hostages,” Netanyahu said, adding, “I think about them constantly, about their families and their suffering.”He issued a public defense of the deal unveiled Friday night by US President Joe Biden in Washington as his far-right coalition partners Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionist Party threatened to bolt the government should it approve any agreement that demanded a premature end to the war. Netanyahu pushed back in public and in private, stressing that Israel has gone a long way to return the hostages, “while adhering to the objectives of the war, first and foremost the elimination of Hamas.”Israel is “insistent that we will achieve both” the return of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas, Netanyahu said. “This is part of the outline” Biden presented and “not something that I have just added because of coalition pressure. This is something that we agreed on in the War Cabinet unanimously,” Netanyahu said. He issued similar statements in a closed-door session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, where according to a source, he said that “Israel does not commit to ending the war before all of its goals are achieved.” He reiterated Israel’s three goals: to destroy Hamas, to free the hostages, and to ensure that Gaza would not pose a threat to Israel.
The three-phased plan
Biden on Friday outlined a three-phase plan, that would see the release of all the live hostages in the first two phases. The first phase, which would last for six weeks, would include a temporary halt to the fighting and the withdrawal of IDF soldiers from populated areas of the enclave. Women, the elderly, ill, and infirmed — would be freed in this phase, in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian security prisoners, while the remainder of the captives would be released in the second phase. An Israeli official explained that on the 16th day of phase one, negotiations will begin on phase two of the deal. “Indirect negotiations will begin between the parties in order to formulate an agreement on the terms for the implementation of phase two of this agreement no later than the 16th day,” the official said. Biden on Friday night explained that phase two did involve a permanent ceasefire but that talks were needed for the start of that phase. “There are a number of details to negotiate to move from phase one to phase two. Israel will want to make sure its interests are protected,” Biden said in his Friday speech, but he did not outline what those were. Israel, according to the official, will insist that the implementation of phase two will begin only after an agreement is reached on the terms of the cease-fire. Since talks for phase two could continue past the six-week timeline, the official explained that according to a clause the War Cabinet added to the proposal, Israel retained the right to resume its military campaign against Hamas, if it gets the impression that “negotiations are futile and serve only to bide time.”

Netanyahu may be forced to choose between his government’s survival and a ceasefire deal
Analysis by Jeremy Diamond, CNN/June 3, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may soon be forced to choose: Agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas or keep his government in power.But as he confronts that choice, Netanyahu is also looking for a way to avoid it altogether. For months, Netanyahu has gingerly balanced these competing imperatives by refusing to even contemplate a permanent ceasefire as he blamed Hamas’s “delusional demands” for the collapse of previous rounds of negotiations. But after US President Joe Biden publicly outlined Israel’s latest ceasefire proposal on Friday – one that could lead to a permanent truce and which Hamas may be prepared to accept – Netanyahu is now out of time.“I think that Bibi is cornered now,” said Aviv Bushinsky, a former adviser to Netanyahu, using the prime minister’s nickname. Biden is “forcing Bibi to take off his mask and say: ‘OK, now is the money time. Are you in favor of a deal?’,” he said.
As Israel awaits Hamas’ response to the latest proposal, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and other far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition are already threatening to bolt from the government and cause its collapse if the prime minister follows through.
Amid the chorus of threats from his right flank, Netanyahu is trying to reframe the latest ceasefire proposal, insisting to Ben Gvir and others that the terms of the deal are not as Biden defined them. While Biden squarely framed the proposal as a way to end the war, Netanyahu is insisting Israel will not end the war until and unless Hamas is eliminated. His efforts to convince the far-right ministers in order to avoid choosing between a ceasefire deal and the survival of his government have so far fallen flat. Ben Gvir said Monday that Netanyahu’s office refused to follow through on a commitment to show him the draft proposal, leaving him convinced the prime minister has something to hide. If Ben Gvir or Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich don’t back off their threats to leave the government, Netanyahu will be back to the binary choice that is beginning to materialize before his eyes. Opposition leader Yair Lapid has offered to provide a “safety net” to keep the government in power in order to achieve a ceasefire deal, but doing so would also be handing Lapid the keys to forcing early elections once the deal is implemented. Just as it has been over the past eight months, Netanyahu’s political survival may be wrapped up in the continuation of the war and his elusive pursuit of total victory over Hamas. Netanyahu is confronting the choice between his government’s survival and a hostage deal at a time when his political fortunes have begun to improve. For the first time this year, Netanyahu edged out his chief political rival Benny Gantz as the preferred choice for prime minister for Israelis, 36% to 30%, according to a Channel 12 survey last week.
And a smattering of recent polls have shown Gantz’s National Unity party faltering, while Netanyahu’s Likud is making modest gains. National Unity would still win a plurality of seats in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, but the party’s 19-seat advantage over Likud in December has dropped to a four-seat advantage in last week’s Channel 12 poll. The improvement in Netanyahu’s political standing coincided with a surge of international condemnation of Israel’s war effort in Gaza and the International Criminal Court’s decision to seek an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, all of which have positioned Netanyahu domestically as Israel’s defender, a familiar and comfortable role for Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. Meanwhile, Gantz’s threat to leave the war cabinet over Netanyahu’s lack of long-term strategy in Gaza appears to be the cause of his drop in support.
A poll by Israel’s Channel 11 on Monday put the Israeli public’s support for the ceasefire deal currently on the table at 40%, with 27% opposed and 33% unsure. But if Netanyahu is now contemplating whether there is more upside to continuing the war than reaching a ceasefire deal, Biden’s speech last week didn’t just force Netanyahu to confront that choice – it was also aimed at countering the pressure Netanyahu is now facing to abandon his own government’s proposal. “I know there are those in Israel who will not agree with this plan and will call for the war to continue indefinitely. Some are even in the government coalition,” Biden said. “Well, I’ve urged the leadership in Israel to stand behind this deal, despite whatever pressure comes.” But one key question remains: Will Hamas force Netanyahu to make the choice he now confronts? Or will Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, offer Netanyahu an escape hatch of his own making? Hamas said it viewed Biden’s speech about the latest Israeli proposal “positively,” but has yet to submit its official response. While the latest proposal makes major concessions to close the gap with Hamas’s demands – including by offering a clear pathway to a permanent ceasefire – it still falls short of meeting all of the demands. It allows an initial 6-week ceasefire period to be extended for as long as the parties need to negotiate a permanent truce that includes the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in a second phase of the deal. But it does not require Israel to commit to a permanent ceasefire upfront. Hamas’s refusal to compromise on that point and sign off on this deal could let Netanyahu off the hook, and plunge Gaza into many more months of war.

UN experts urge all countries to recognise Palestinian statehood
GENEVA (Reuters)/June 3, 2024
A group of United Nations experts called on Monday for all countries to recognise a Palestinian state to ensure peace in the Middle East. The call came less than a week after Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognised a Palestinian state, prompting anger from Israel, which has found itself increasingly isolated after nearly eight months of war in Gaza. The experts, including the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said recognition of a Palestinian state was an important acknowledgement of the rights of the Palestinian people and their struggle towards freedom and independence. "This is a pre-condition for lasting peace in Palestine and the entire Middle East – beginning with the immediate declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza and no further military incursions into Rafah," they said. "A two-state solution remains the only internationally agreed path to peace and security for both Palestine and Israel and a way out of generational cycles of violence and resentment." Israel's Foreign Ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment. With their recognition of a Palestinian state, Spain, Ireland and Norway said they sought to accelerate efforts to secure a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza. The three countries say they hope their decision will spur other European Union states to follow suit. Denmark's parliament later rejected a proposal to recognise a Palestinian state.
Israel has repeatedly condemned moves to recognise a Palestinian state, saying they bolster Hamas, the militant Islamist group that led the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel which sparked the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. The conflict has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. Israel says the Oct. 7 attack, the worst in its 75-year history, killed 1,200 people, with more than 250 hostages taken.

‘State of Palestine’ applies to join South Africa’s case at top UN court accusing Israel of genocide
AP/June 03, 2024
THE HAGUE, Netherlands: Palestinian officials have applied on behalf of the “State of Palestine” at the top UN court for permission to join South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. The request published Monday says that Israel’s ongoing military operation is “part of a systematic effort to wipe Palestinian society and its culture and social institutions from the map.” The request to the International Court of Justice was signed by Palestinian Authority foreign ministry official Ammar Hijazi. South Africa filed its case with the world court late last year accusing Israel of breaching the genocide convention in its military assault that has laid waste to large swaths of Gaza. Israel denies it is committing genocide in its military operation to crush Hamas triggered by the deadly Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel. The court has issued three preliminary orders in the case calling on Israel to do all it can to prevent deaths in the enclave, ramp up humanitarian aid and, most recently, halt its offensive in Rafah. It is unclear how long the court’s judges will take to rule on the request. If granted, Palestinian officials will be able to address the court in writing and during public hearings. In their request, the Palestinians said they are directly affected by the case. “The Israeli onslaught has obliterated and damaged, beyond recognition, Gaza’s hospitals, mosques, churches, universities, schools, homes, shops, and infrastructure, as part of a systematic effort to wipe Palestinian society and its culture and social institutions from the map,” the request says. The request adds that, Israel is violating the court’s orders and continuing with “its genocidal acts including deliberately and systematically impeding humanitarian aid, resulting in an intentionally engineered situation of starvation and a creeping famine that is increasingly imminent.”The Palestinians have been to the court before. In 2018, The Palestinian Authority filed a case asking its judges to order Washington to remove the relocated US embassy from Jerusalem. The case followed the decision of the administration of then-US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv. That case remains before the court, where cases can take years to resolve.

US call for a cease-fire in Gaza puts Netanyahu at a legacy-shaping crossroads
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)/June 3, 2024
The cease-fire proposal announced by President Joe Biden has placed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a crossroads, with either path likely to shape the legacy of Israel’s longest-serving and deeply divisive leader. The proposal offers the possibility of ending Israel's war against Hamas, returning scores of hostages held by the Islamic militant group, quieting the northern border with Lebanon and potentially advancing a historic agreement to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia. But it would also likely shatter Netanyahu’s governing coalition, potentially sending him into the opposition and making him more vulnerable to a conviction in his corruption trial. The full withdrawal of Israeli forces called for in the agreement could allow Hamas to claim victory and reconstitute itself. Netanyahu’s rejection of the deal, on the other hand, could deepen Israel’s international isolation, worsen ties with an American administration eager to wind down the war and expose him to accusations of having abandoned the hostages to save his own skin. It’s a conundrum, and that may explain the strange choreography of Biden’s Friday night address: An American president, announcing what he says is an Israeli proposal, during the Jewish sabbath, when Israel’s political class goes largely silent. Netanyahu acknowledged the proposal but then appeared to contradict Biden’s remarks. He said Israel remains committed to dismantling Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and that any talk of a permanent cease-fire before then was a “nonstarter.”On Monday, he said the destruction of Hamas is “part of the proposal” and was quoted as telling a closed parliamentary hearing that Israel reserves the right to return to war if its objectives are not met. But it has never been clear what the destruction of Hamas entails or whether it's even possible. Biden said Israel had degraded Hamas to the point where it could no longer carry out an Oct. 7-style attack, and that that by continuing the war, Israel risked getting bogged down in Gaza. But Netanyahu appears to be seeking a much bigger victory.
‘NETANYAHU’S ENDGAME IS TO SURVIVE’
Netanyahu’s critics fear he will reject any cease-fire to appease his ultranationalist governing partners, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. They want to continue the war, fully reoccupy Gaza and rebuild Jewish settlements there.
They have already vowed to leave the government if the proposal announced by Biden comes to pass. Netanyahu’s political opponents have offered a safety net if he reaches a deal to release hostages but they are unlikely to help him stay in office long-term. “Everything that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich demand or threaten to do, you see Netanyahu is very attentive to that,” said Tal Schneider, an Israeli political commentator. “Netanyahu’s endgame is to survive.” Netanyahu’s current government, formed in late 2022 after five consecutive elections, is the most nationalist and religious in Israel’s history. Months before the war, it pushed policies that entrenched Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, deepened the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community’s reliance on state subsidies and set in motion an overhaul of the judicial system that tore the country apart. The coalition initially had a slim majority of 64 seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament -– enough to govern but with a fragility that would keep Netanyahu’s fate tied to the whims of any of the smaller parties that form the government.
A VETERAN OF ‘DIFFICULT' POLITICS
Shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza, Benny Gantz, a former military chief and a top political rival of Netanyahu, joined the government in a show of unity. Netanyahu, Gantz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant formed a three-man War Cabinet to direct the offensive. Mazal Mualem, a Netanyahu biographer, said that effort largely succeeded in sidelining the ultranationalists and allowing Netanyahu to govern in a more pragmatic mold that has defined his 17 years in office going back to the 1990s. She pointed to Israel’s limited response to an aerial attack by Iran in April, which Ben-Gvir criticized as “weak,” and to a cease-fire and hostage release deal reached with Hamas in November that Smotrich had initially opposed but later voted for. “Over the years, Bibi has taught himself to do what he wants to do in difficult political environments,” she said, referring to Netanyahu by his popular nickname. But Gantz has threatened to quit the government unless Netanyahu lays out a postwar plan by June 8, which would leave him far more reliant on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir. Netanyahu’s decision to press ahead with Israel’s massive military campaign in Gaza as scores of hostages languish in captivity has opened him up to fierce criticism from many Israelis, including families of the captives. Thousands have joined weekly mass protests.
“The government of Israel has given up on the hostages,” Yehi Yehud, who has an adult child being held hostage in Gaza, told Israeli Army Radio. “Bibi, you don’t have the permission or the moral validity to sacrifice them on the altar of your political survival.”
OPPORTUNITIES AND RISKS
Netanyahu’s hard-line stance has also weighed heavily on Israel’s relations with its closest ally, the United States, which has provided crucial military support but expressed exasperation with civilian casualties and the lack of any realistic Israeli postwar plans.
Internationally, it has exposed Israel to charges of genocide, which it denies, and a potential international arrest warrant against Netanyahu himself. In his address on Friday, Biden appeared to be offering Netanyahu a way out: Claim victory by saying a battered Hamas can no longer mount an Oct. 7-style attack, bring all the hostages home and then work with the U.S. and Arab nations to build a new regional security architecture. But the fear of losing power could prevail. Netanyahu has spent years nurturing an image that only he can lead Israel through its myriad diplomatic and security challenges. That legacy suffered a major blow on Oct. 7, with many Israelis directly blaming him for the most devastating security failure in the country’s history. Public opinion polls indicate that Netanyahu is trailing behind Gantz and would struggle to form a government if elections were held today.
For all their threats, his far-right allies are in a similar predicament. They would likely join him in the opposition if early elections are held, losing the power he has granted them over the Israeli police and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
If Netanyahu can hold his coalition together until the next scheduled elections in 2026, he might be able to rehabilitate his image. His poll numbers have already started to climb from the depths they hit after Oct. 7 as he has presented himself as withstanding international pressure to end the war. Aviv Bushinsky, a former Netanyahu adviser, said Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making has less to do with immediate political survival and more with securing a legacy that would not be entirely overshadowed by Oct. 7. That requires some kind of victory over Hamas. “From a historical perspective, Netanyahu’s only option is to go all the way,” he said. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich “are helping him reach that destination, to keep his head above water.”

80 Palestinian journalists detained by Israel since October, human rights group says
ARAB NEWS/June 03, 2024
LONDON: The number of Palestinian journalists detained by Israel since the start of the war in Gaza in October now stands at a record high of 80, a Palestinian human rights organization said on Sunday. The Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said that of those arrested, at least 49 are still being held, compared with 45 in April. “The occupation authorities continue to escalate the policy of arresting journalists, in addition to threatening them, field attacks, detention and ongoing prosecution, in light of the continued genocidal war against our people in Gaza,” the organization said. It added that several journalists are being held without charge or trial under the Israeli policy of administrative detention, including three of the four women in custody. A fifth woman, Somaya Jawabra, who was arrested while seven months pregnant, has been under house arrest since November and remains subject to strict restrictions.
PPS described the treatment of journalists as typical of the “revenge and punitive measures imposed on prisoners and detainees in general” by Israeli authorities, including “torture and humiliation, starvation and systematic medical crimes.”The organization also said that two journalists in the West Bank, Bilal Al-Taweel and Mahmoud Fatafta, were arrested while Israeli authorities “complete their investigations,” and their detentions have been extended until June 9. PPS called on the UN and international human rights organizations to live up to their responsibilities to address allegations of crimes committed by the Israeli regime against Palestinian detainees. In a related development, the official Palestinian Authority news agency, Wafa, said Israeli authorities arrested one of its employees, Rasha Harzallah, in the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday. “The Israeli occupation intelligence agency summoned her for questioning at a detention center in the Ariel settlement,” the agency said, quoting the journalist’s family. “She went there with a lawyer and upon their arrival she was informed that she would be detained for 72 hours, without informing her of the reasons or bringing any charges against her.” US-based media watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists has said at least 107 journalists and other media representatives have been killed during the conflict in Gaza, the vast majority of them Palestinians. Several nongovernmental organizations allege that although most of the deaths are tragic consequences of war, in some cases Israeli forces appeared to have deliberately targeted media workers in Gaza. If this was confirmed, such actions could be investigated as war crimes, a demand that has already been made by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

Shin Bet thwarts Turkey-based Hamas cell terror attack in Israel
Jerusalem Post/June 03/2024
The Shin Bet further stated a pipe bomb weighing 12 kilograms along with orders on how to carry out the attack had been found hidden near a spring in the West Bank.  The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) thwarted a terror attack that Hamas had planned to carry out in Israel under the direction of one of its headquarters in Turkey, the organization said on Monday. In mid-March, Shin Bet and Yamam forces arrested a Palestinian Jordanian resident Anas Shurman on suspicion of involvement in a plan to carry out a terror attack in Israel. He was originally from Tulkarm. Following the investigation of Shurman, it was revealed that he was enlisted into Hamas by a Hamas official in Turkey Amad Abid, originally from the West Bank. In the name of the terror organization, Shurman agreed to carry out a suicide attack inside Israeli territory, according to Shin Bet estimates. Shurman prepared for the attack by photographing a will, learning to ride a motorbike that was to be used for the attack, receiving money and directives for the execution of the attack, and collecting the explosive device from the West Bank where it had been hidden, said the Shin Bet. The Shin Bet further stated that a 12 kg. pipe bomb along with orders on how to carry out the attack had been found hidden near a spring in the West Bank. Additional Hamas operatives belonging to Hamas’s military infrastructure in Nablus were arrested. According to the information revealed in their examination, some of them were involved in the preparations of the explosive device and hiding it. The Shin Bet added that they had been guided by Hudifa Slaima, who belongs to Hamas’s Turkey headquarters. At the military court, an indictment was filed against Shurman for serious security offenses, including the attempt to intentionally cause death, be in contact with the enemy, and membership and activity in a prohibited organization. A week ago, the Shin Bet stated, that five indictment bills were filed against five residents of Nablus for serious security offenses and attempt to intentionally cause death, among others.

Russia warns US against 'fatal' miscalculation in Ukraine
Reuters/June 3, 2024
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Monday the United States could face "fatal consequences" if it ignored Moscow's warnings not to let Ukraine use weapons provided by Washington to strike targets inside Russia. Ryabkov was commenting on President Joe Biden's decision last week to approve the use of U.S.-supplied weapons to hit targets inside Russia that were involved in attacks on Ukraine's Kharkiv region. "I would like to warn American leaders against miscalculations that could have fatal consequences. For unknown reasons, they underestimate the seriousness of the rebuff they may receive," state news agency RIA quoted Ryabkov as saying. He referred to comments last week by President Vladimir Putin, who said NATO countries were playing with fire and risking a deeper global conflict - one of a series of warnings from Moscow about the risk of a serious escalation. "I urge these figures (in the U.S.) ... to spend some of their time, which they apparently spend on some kind of video games, judging by the lightness of their approach, on studying what was said in detail by Putin," Ryabkov said.Putin had delivered "a very significant warning and it must be taken with the utmost seriousness”, he added. Putin said the West would be directly involved in any use of its weapons by Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia, because such attacks would require its satellite, intelligence and military help. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that NATO had the right to help Ukraine uphold its own right to self-defence, and this did not make NATO a party to the conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at the weekend that Kyiv was grateful to Washington for allowing it to use U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket systems in the Kharkiv region, but this was not enough. Ukraine has long argued that restrictions on the way it can use Western-supplied weapons are seriously limiting its ability to defend itself. Russian news agencies quoted Ryabkov as saying that attempts by Kyiv to attack Russian early-warning radar systems would be thwarted and Moscow may respond asymmetrically to such steps. A Kyiv intelligence source said last week that a Ukrainian drone had targeted a long-range radar deep inside Russia that is part of Russia's early-warning system to detect whether it is under nuclear attack.

The US has been 'too passive' with the Houthis in the Red Sea and should go after their leaders, says retired US general
Thibault Spirlet/Business Insider/June 3, 2024
The US has been "too passive" in the Red Sea, a retired US general told CBS' Face The Nation. Kenneth F. McKenzie, former CENTCOM commander, said the US Navy should go after Houthi leaders. The Houthis have been using drones and missiles to target commercial shipping in the Red Sea. A retired US general said the US has been too passive when it comes to the Houthis, letting them dominate the Red Sea, and said that it should go after their leaders instead. "We've been too passive," Kenneth F. McKenzie, who previously led the US Central Command, told CBS' Face The Nation on Sunday. "We've allowed the Houthis really to dominate the global maritime communications by closing down effectively the Suez Canal," he said. The Houthis have been using drones and missiles to target ships in the Red Sea corridor to exert pressure on Israel and the West over the war in Gaza.
As a result, the main maritime lanes have needed to be guarded by a US Navy carrier strike group and vessels from European nations. The US Navy's Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group has spent months combating the Houthis in the key shipping lanes of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to allow the safe transit of international commercial shipping. The US strike group — which consists of an aircraft carrier and several other warships — has gone after over 400 Houthi targets in dozens of self-defense operations, according to data Navy officials shared with Business Insider last month. But McKenzie, who oversaw the high-profile 2019 special forces raid in Syria to kill or capture then-ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said the US has been essentially "catching and not pitching" in the Red Sea, despite deploying "multi-billion-dollar warships."While he acknowledged the US Navy had upped its use of munitions, he said it needed to go after the source of the attacks: Houthi leadership and command-and-control facilities in Yemen. "I would argue that the threat of escalation is very small if we conduct these attacks," McKenzie said. The sheer number of ships engaged in the region makes it the largest battle the US Navy has been engaged in since World War II, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper told "60 Minutes" in February. That same month, Rear Adm. Marc Miguez, the US strike group's commander, told BI that they had planes in the sky "constantly."
"It's a huge effort," Miguez said. According to a post by The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, the Houthis are difficult to degrade or deter, in part because Iran supports them with weaponry, but also because they use the conflict to strengthen their domestic support in Yemen. Yahya Sare'e, a spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, has vowed to continue attacks until the Israeli "aggression" in Gaza stops, per Reuters. Last month, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned of the prospect of a protracted conflict, saying the Houthis' threat is likely to remain active for some time. In an analysis in February, BI's defense writer Michael Peck said that the US could face the same fate as Egypt, which sent 70,000 soldiers into Yemen and conducted a relentless bombing campaign in the 1960s, but failed to suppress the group.

G7 leaders 'fully endorse' President Joe Biden's Gaza peace plan
Reuters/June 3, 2024
Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies "fully endorse and will stand behind the comprehensive" ceasefire and hostage release deal for the Gaza war outlined by US President Joe Biden and call on Hamas to accept it, a statement said on Monday.
The deal "would lead to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, a significant and sustained increase in humanitarian assistance for distribution throughout Gaza, and an enduring end to the crisis, with Israel's security interests and Gazan civilian safety assured," the statement said.

Palestinians aim to join Gaza genocide case at World Court
Reuters/June 3, 2024
Palestinian authorities have filed an application with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to join South Africa as a party in its Gaza genocide case against Israel, the court said on Monday. In a statement the ICJ, also known as the World Court, said the Palestinian authorities "filed ... an application for permission to intervene and a declaration of intervention in the (South Africa v. Israel) case."

State Department says US has yet to receive Hamas' response on ceasefire proposal
Reuters/June 3, 2024
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday that the United States has not yet received a response from Hamas regarding the ceasefire proposal that Washington presented to them on Thursday. Miller added that he is fully confident that Israel will agree to the proposal. An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that Israel has agreed to the framework agreement to end the Gaza war proposed by US President Joe Biden, but described the agreement as flawed and in need of further work.

Poland has arrested 18 people on allegations of planning hostile acts on behalf of Russia, Belarus
WARSAW, Poland (AP)/June 3, 2024
Poland has arrested 18 people on allegations of pursuing hostile activities or planning sabotage on behalf of Russia and Belarus, including plans to assassinate Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the interior minister said Monday. Ten of those arrested since December were directly involved in planning various forms of sabotage across Poland, Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak told a news conference. Polish authorities have linked some recent arsons or attempted arsons to Russian-sponsored agents. Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian nationals are among those arrested in recent months, according to the Internal Security Agency's communiques. A Polish man was arrested in April on allegations of being ready to spy for Russia’s military intelligence in an alleged plot to assassinate Zelenskyy, Polish prosecutors have said. The man was allegedly seeking contact with Russians directly involved in the war in Ukraine and was expected to pass on detailed information about the strategic Rzeszow-Jasionka airport in southeastern Poland, near the border with Ukraine. Siemoniak said that acts of sabotage were apparently part of a wider plan that also includes cyberattacks,pushing migrants in Belarus to cross into Poland, and threatening the security of the country that has been supporting Ukraine in fending off Russia’s full-scale invasion. “We have no doubt that on the bidding of a foreign country, Russia, there are some people active who are ready to threaten the life, health and property of the Polish citizens,” Siemoniak said.

Donald Trump Is Banned from 37 Countries as Convicted Felon, Including Major Allies Like Canada and U.K.
Kyler Alvord/The Associated Press/June 03/2024
Donald Trump may face travel restrictions with his newfound felon status, potentially complicating his presidency if he were to win another term in office. Thirty-eight nations, counting the United States, bar felons from entry, according to World Population Review. Those bans stand regardless of whether someone is allowed to retain their passport after conviction. Countries that turn felons away include several of the United States' strongest allies, like the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada — the final of which will host the G7 summit of world leaders in 2025. The list also includes a number of nations at the center of pressing foreign policy issues, such as China, Israel and Mexico. International governments can, and in some cases would, choose to make an exception for Trump if he requested special permission as president to make a visit. George W. Bush, who was arrested for drunk driving in the 1970s, ran into issues with Canadian travel restrictions during his presidency while planning an official state visit and, after applying for a special waiver, he was ultimately allowed to enter. In Bush's case, which still proved tedious, the circumstances were a bit different: the crime happened decades earlier, was only categorized as a misdemeanor and was never tried in a court of law (Bush admitted to driving under the influence upon arrest and got off with a fine and temporary license suspension). It's hard to say whether Trump's new 34 felony convictions would be dealt with in a similar manner.
If Trump were elected to another term in the White House and chose to apply for special travel waivers, the irony would not go unnoticed. The former president has often characterized foreigners as "criminals," and has campaigned on a promise to tighten U.S. travel restrictions, which would include shutting down the border and instating travel bans on people of certain nationalities and ideologies. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Iran's parliament speaker Qalibaf signs up for presidential race
Reuters/Mon, June 3, 2024
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guards commander, on Monday announced he would run for president to succeed Ebrahim Raisi who died last month in a helicopter crash, state media reported.
Qalibaf, who has unsuccessfully contested two presidential races and dropped out of a third to avoid splitting the hardline vote, signed up to run in the June 28 election despite being re-elected as parliament speaker last week. "If I don't present myself as a candidate, the work that we have started in the last few years to solve the people's economic problems and which is reaching fruition, would not be completed," Qalibaf told reporters. Qalibaf registered as a candidate on the last day of a five-day registration period on Monday. The cleric-led Guardian Council will vet candidates hoping to run for the presidency. Moderate politicians have accused the 12-member body of disqualifying the rivals of hardline candidates, who are expected to dominate the race. A lack of choice on the ballot, combined with rising discontent over an array of political, social and economic crises, could dent turnout and thus the legitimacy of Iran's theocratic system of government. Moderate former first vice-president Eashaq Jahagiri also registered on Monday. Other well-known figures who have signed up include hardline former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and former parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, a prominent conservative and ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
An election official told reporters on Monday that 59 hopefuls had signed up by midday.
Within Iran's complex mix of clerical rulers and elected officials, Khamenei has the final say on all state matters such as nuclear and foreign policies. But the president will be in charge of tackling deepening economic hardship.

Pierre Poilievre disagrees with Conservative MP who wants to vote against same-sex marriage
CBC/Mon, June 3, 2024
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he disagrees with a member of his caucus who says he wants to see more restrictions on abortion and would vote against same-sex marriage if there's a future bill on the issue in Parliament. In an interview with Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, who hosts a podcast called Uncommons, Alberta Conservative MP Arnold Viersen also stressed his social conservative credentials on other issues, saying he wants protections for what he calls the "pre-born," supports Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's transgender policies and would vote to criminalize cannabis possession again if given the opportunity. Asked by Erskine-Smith about a hypothetical future bill to overturn marriage for gays and lesbians, Viersen said, "I vote gay marriage down."In a media statement issued Monday, Poilievre said Viersen's statements and positions "do not represent the positions of the Conservative Party, or myself as leader."
"As our party's policy book, adopted by party members, has said for years, 'a Conservative Government will not support any legislation to regulate abortion.' When I am prime minister, no laws or rules will be passed that restrict women's reproductive choices. Period," Poilievre added. As for same-sex marriage, Poilievre said "Canadians are free to love and marry who they choose. Same sex marriage is legal and it will remain legal when I am prime minister, full stop. "I will lead a small government that minds its own business, letting people make their own decisions about their love lives, their families, their bodies, their speech, their beliefs and their money. We will put people back in charge of their lives in the freest country in the world." Viersen is a well-known social conservative and his stances on these issues are no surprise. For years, he has presented petitions on strengthening legal protections for fetuses as part of a campaign to recognize the "humanity of the preborn.""We want our country to be in a position where nobody needs to have an abortion. We have solid families that want to have children — that's a pipe dream for sure, we live in a fallen world, but that is the dream and the hope," Viersen told Erskine-Smith. Pressed to say whether he favours a total ban on abortion or limits with some exceptions, Viersen said he and other social conservatives "want it to be illegal. We want the humanity of the pre-born to be recognized."
Viersen said Canada's legal vacuum on abortion is untenable. While there are medical guidelines from physicians' groups and others on the procedure, there's no federal law governing the specifics of getting an abortion. "We are the only country in the world with no pre-born protective rights," Viersen said. The Alberta MP said even some European countries have some restrictions. In the Netherlands, for example, elective abortions are allowed up to the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy, with an exception for serious medical reasons. "I'm happy to wear the social conservative banner. I'm 100 per cent pro-life," Viersen said. But after some Liberals pounced on his comments on these issues, Viersen released a statement on social media Saturday insisting that his views on these issues should not be seen as shared by Poilievre.
"My comments don't represent the positions of the leader, nor the policies passed by Conservative Party members themselves," Viersen said — an apparent reference to a 2016 decision to no longer define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
"On these issues, the status quo will remain under a Conservative government. That is the reality. The leader has been extremely clear on that, both now and previously."
The Liberals pounce
Liberal MP Chris Bittle said Viersen "went on a podcast and committed the crime of telling the truth but saying the quiet part out loud." Supriya Dwivedi, an adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said something similar on social media: "Conservatives keep getting caught saying the quiet part loud and we keeping being told we have to pretend like we can't hear them." "Yet again, one of Pierre Poilievre's MPs has stated he would roll back abortion — and marriage equality!!! — then pretends like he doesn't mean it." Katie Telford, Prime Minister Trudeau's chief of staff, re-posted social media messages that said Viersen's comments show the Conservatives are "soft on equality and loose on fairness."On the other side of the debate, Alissa Golob, the co-founder of RightNow, an anti-abortion group, said Viersen's Saturday statement was "completely unacceptable" given he is the chair of the parliamentary pro-life caucus. "Anyone with a half a brain knows that Pierre Poilievre's office forced him to make such a cowardly and weak statement," she said on X. "When will Conservatives learn to beat the Liberals at their own game? Confront them on these issues face to face. Don't bend over." Poilievre 'no different than Justin Trudeau,' says activist. In an interview with CBC News, Golob said Poilievre has taken a page out of Trudeau's playbook by taking such a tough stand on abortion. She said that like Trudeau — who forced his MPs to vote a certain way of abortion — Poilievre and his team are unfairly trying to suppress anti-abortion viewpoints within caucus. "Pierre Poilievre is always talking about gatekeepers and eliminating gatekeepers, yet he's being the biggest gatekeeper of all in the Conservative caucus by defying party policy of letting MPs speak their conscience and have their own views," Golob said.
"Pierre Poilievre is no different than Justin Trudeau on these issues. He's actually taking his talking points and his actions from the Liberal Party, from Justin Trudeau himself. Trudeau forces caucus to vote a certain way and now Pierre is forcing caucus to say certain things," she said. Golob also called the Liberals "extremists" for not allowing legislation to ban late-term and "sex selective" abortions. The Conservative policy book does "condemn discrimination against girls through gender selection abortions" and demands that abortion be "explicitly excluded from Canada's maternal and child health program in countries where Canadian aid is delivered." While there is a strong contingent of social conservatives in the Conservative Party's caucus — Viersen told Erskine-Smith it's "not a lonely fight" for abortion limits, for example — Poilievre has tried to distance himself from these issues.
Poilievre has been largely campaigning on economic issues. He has shown a strong libertarian streak, with repeated calls for Canada to be the "freest country on earth."Poilievre promised during his leadership campaign that a government led by him would not introduce any legislation on abortion. After catching heat for posing for a photo with a man wearing a "straight pride" T-shirt at the Calgary Stampede last year, Poilievre said he didn't agree with that sort of rhetoric. Poilievre's adoptive father is gay. When composing his shadow cabinet in Parliament, Poilievre picked a lesbian and a gay man for two prominent positions. Last year, Poilievre said LGBTQ people should have "the freedom to marry, start a family, raise kids; freedom from bigotry and bashing; freedom to be judged by personal character, not by group identity; freedom to start a life and be judged on your merit."
He also said Canada should continue to resettle LGBTQ refugees from abroad. When asked about a Ugandan law that allows judges to jail people for up to 10 years for same-sex relations, Poilievre called the legislation "outrageous and appalling."
As an MP, however, Poilievre did vote against same-sex marriage in Parliament in the early 2000s — votes that garnered recognition from socially conservative groups like Campaign Life Coalition, an anti-abortion group.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on June 03-04/2024
'Queers for Palestine,' Like 'Minks for Fur Coats,' Support Those Who Want to Slaughter Them
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/June 03, 2024
Palestinian members of the LGBTQ community have never felt safe either in areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank or under the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.
In 2016, when Hamas commander Mahmoud Ishitwi was accused of having sex with men, he was "suspended from a ceiling for hours on end, for days in a row... [h]e was whipped and guards coasted loud music into his cell, banishing sleep." After enduring days of torture, he was shot to death.
"In many countries, including my parent's former homes and theocratic Iran, homosexuality is still sometimes punished by public hangings.... The international community must not be silent. But it is." — Hen Mazzig, self-described "queer Israeli Jew," named among the top LGBTQ influencers, Jerusalem Post, October 23, 2022.
"It is alleged that 'harassment of gays' is 'practically official policy' in the PA. The victims are frequently called collaborators and accused as such. It is also reported that the PA police regularly inflicts appalling torture on homosexuals." — Ilka Schröder, Member of European Parliament, 2003.
"When it comes to Queers for Palestine, what's richly ironic is that many LGBTQ Palestinians seek asylum in Israel – the same country these stateside protesters are rallying against... At the heart of this contradiction is the tendency within social justice movements to pick a clear protagonist and antagonist, the oppressed and the oppressor, and to proceed from there in one-size-fits-all fashion. Some progressives decided long ago that Palestine is the former and Israel is the latter, which is the seed from which everything must grow. Palestine, then, stands not only for anti-colonialism but also LGBT rights and reproductive rights, despite that those rights, in any meaningful sense of the word, do not actually exist there. Queers for Palestine is about as convincing as minks for fur coats." — Billy Binion, Reason, October 27, 2023.
"Queers for Palestine" should talk to "Queers in Palestine".... Many Palestinian lives could have been saved if "Queers for Palestine" had cared for the Palestinian people as much as they detested Israel.
"Queers for Palestine" should talk to "Queers in Palestine" to find out about the suffering of the Palestinian LGBTQ community. "Queers for Palestine" should be advocating for the rights of their colleagues in the West Bank and Gaza Strip instead of staging demonstrations against Israel, the only country in the Middle East where LGBTQ people feel secure.
The anti-Israel group "Queers for Palestine," whose members frequently demonstrate in the streets of US cities to criticize Israel for defending itself against Islamist terrorists, has probably not heard about the case of Ahmad Abu Markhiya, a gay Palestinian man from the West Bank city of Hebron. Even if the organization were aware of the case, it has done nothing to protest against the horrific death of Abu Markhiya.
Since Hamas's October 7, 2023 massacre, during which hundreds of Israelis were murdered, raped, beheaded and abducted to the Gaza Strip, members of "Queers for Palestine" have been demonstrating in the US and Canada in support of the same Palestinians who would slaughter them if they came to the West Bank or Gaza Strip. The group has never spoken out against the atrocities committed by Hamas.
"That's the most insane thing ever because if... those people went to Gaza... Hamas would kill them, literally," commented legendary actor and comedian Jon Lovitz.
"They (Hamas) push gay people off of buildings. Israel's a democracy. I understand that it's bad civilians are getting killed in a war, but it's a war that Hamas started, and they wanted a never-ending war."
Abu Markhiya, 25, had been living in Israel as an asylum-seeker after authorities acknowledged his life would be in danger if he returned to Palestinian Authority-controlled Hebron. Friends of Abu Markhiya in Israel believe he was kidnapped in 2022 to the West Bank, where he was murdered and beheaded. The murderer, apparently proud of his crime, recorded the beheading in a video and uploaded it onto social media.
Rita Petrenko, founder of Al-Bayt Al-Mukhtalif, a non-profit organization for the empowerment of the Arab LGBTQ community, said that when they met in 2020, Abu Markhiya's fear was extreme.
"He told me people not only in his family but in the village wanted to kill him," she said, adding that he had fled to Israel as word of his sexual orientation spread through Hebron. "He was scared of his brothers, his uncles, his cousins."
About 90 Palestinians who identify as members of the LGBTQ community live as asylum-seekers in Israel. Before fleeing, they suffered discrimination, and, in some instances, violence.
Palestinian members of the LGBTQ community have never felt safe either in areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank or under the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.
In 2016, when Hamas commander Mahmoud Ishtiwi was accused of having sex with men, he was "suspended from a ceiling for hours on end, for days in a row... [h]e was whipped and guards coasted loud music into his cell, banishing sleep." After enduring days of torture, he was shot to death.
Ishtiwi was executed by members of Hamas's military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, for "moral turpitude," a Hamas term for homosexuality. A Hamas investigation alleged that Ishtiwi had hidden money designated for his unit's weapons, before an unnamed man claimed to have had sex with him. The investigation concluded that the money Ishtiwi had allegedly stolen was used to pay the man for sexual relations or to bribe him to remain silent. Hen Mazzig, an Israeli writer named among the top LGBTQ influencers and a senior fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute, said:
"If this was the fate of a Hamas commander, imagine the plight of ordinary LGBTQ Palestinians living under Hamas control in Gaza...
"As a queer Israeli Jew whose parents escaped to this country from Iraq's and Tunisia, I have rights that are executional in the entire Middle East region. In many countries, including my parent's former homes and theocratic Iran, homosexuality is still sometimes punished by public hangings. What a tragedy that a young person (Ahmad Abu Markhiya) had achieved asylum in my homeland, Israel, to live the life he had always dreamed of, only to have it robbed from him by a soulless thug whose values system corresponds neither to the ethics of the ancient faiths nor the modern world.
"The international community must not be silent. But it is."
Palestinian homosexuals living under the PA in the West Bank have also been targeted. In 2003, the European Parliament was informed:
"[F]our Palestinians were killed for being homosexual, and hundreds were forced to flee to Israel. It is alleged that 'harassment of gays' is 'practically official policy' in the PA. The victims are frequently called collaborators and accused as such. It is also reported that the PA police regularly inflicts appalling torture on homosexuals."
In 2019, the Palestinian group alQaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society, which is based in Israel, accused the PA of "prosecution, intimidation, and threats of arrest against members of the Palestinian LGBTQ community."
"We have always been public and accessible about our work, through maintaining an active website, social media presence, and engagement in civil society. However, we have never received threats to this extent before. For the past couple of weeks, alQaws and LGBTQ Palestinians have faced an unprecedented amount of violence and incitement, which has escalated in the last couple of days."
The statement came after the PA banned members of the LGBTQ group from carrying out any activities in the West Bank. A PA police spokesperson said that such activities are "harmful to the higher values and ideals of Palestinian society." The group's activities, the spokesperson said, are "unrelated to religions and Palestinian traditions and customs." He warned that the PA police will chase those behind the LGBTQ group and see to it that they are brought to trial once they are arrested.
In 2022, leading PA preacher Sheikh Mohammed Saleem Ali said:
"Our Muslim Palestinian people will not accept a single homosexual openly declaring his abomination... We hereby declare that we reject and abhor all the manifestations of homosexuality and perversion."
"When it comes to Queers for Palestine, what's richly ironic is that many LGBTQ Palestinians seek asylum in Israel – the same country these stateside protesters are rallying against," noted Billy Binion, associate editor at Reason, where he writes about criminal justice and government accountability.
"At the heart of this contradiction is the tendency within social justice movements to pick a clear protagonist and antagonist, the oppressed and the oppressor, and to proceed from there in one-size-fits-all fashion. Some progressives decided long ago that Palestine is the former and Israel is the latter, which is the seed from which everything must grow. Palestine, then, stands not only for anti-colonialism but also LGBT rights and reproductive rights, despite that those rights, in any meaningful sense of the word, do not actually exist there...
"'Queers for Palestine' is about as convincing as 'minks for fur coats.'"
"Queers for Palestine" is also the equivalent of "Chickens for Kentucky Fried Chicken" or "African Americans for Ku Klux Klan."
"Queers for Palestine is another manifestation of how our society is really becoming stupid," said prominent author and human rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
"The experience of Islamic State (ISIS) is not so long ago. The Islamic Republic of Iran is in place. Hamas was actually governing Gaza. And what were they doing to homosexuals? I don't think that they've gone so far as to call them by the acronym LQBTQ and queers and the rest of it. They're not that sophisticated. But they throw them from tall buildings. Families – if you're a Muslim family and within your family there's someone who is suspected of being gay, it's the obligation of the family to commit an honor killing. So, it doesn't even go as far as the government and tribunals and trials. But when that happens, it's done quite publicly. And it's done in the most gruesome fashion."
"Queers for Palestine" should talk to "Queers in Palestine" to find out about the suffering of the Palestinian LGBTQ community. "Queers for Palestine" should be advocating for the rights of their colleagues in the West Bank and Gaza Strip instead of staging demonstrations against Israel, the only country in the Middle East where LGBTQ people feel secure. Many Palestinian lives could have been saved if "Queers for Palestine" had cared for the Palestinian people as much as they detested Israel
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
© 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.

To help Israel, Washington needs to get tougher on Cairo
Haisam Hassanein/The Hill/June 03/2024
Cairo is becoming a spoiler in the current Israel-Hamas war, and the U.S. must take action to reverse Egypt’s posture.
The Egyptian government prevented humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, denied displaced Palestinians temporary refuge in Sinai and blew a hostage deal. Apparently, the Egyptians think U.S.-Israeli tensions over Israel’s Rafah offensive and top U.S. policymakers’ difficult relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will provide cover for Cairo’s actions.
Washington must make clear to Cairo that such thinking is wrong.
Washington should instead stress that Cairo’s current policies toward Gaza are making it an unconstructive player in regional peace talks. Cruel policies that increase the suffering of Palestinians, just so they can be used for aggressive media campaigns against Jerusalem, are not what is expected of a meditator in times of crisis. A more balanced approach is needed to address Israeli security concerns and ease the humanitarian situation.
Egypt has rejected all U.S. requests to let aid enter Gaza since the Israelis took over the Rafah crossing on May 7. This led Washington to publicly voice a rare criticism of the Egyptian government. Secretary of State Antony Blinken used his appearance at a hearing in the House of Representatives to urge Cairo to change its attitude.
The dire situation inside Gaza also led President Joe Biden to call President Sisi himself to let the United Nations aid enter Gaza temporarily until agreements are reached with Israel. Cairo insists that Palestinians must control the Rafah crossing, but that’s not accepted by either Jerusalem or Ramallah.
The Israelis cannot trust the Palestinian side, whose demand for an Israeli commitment to a two-state solution is a non-starter for the Netanyahu government. Meanwhile, pro-Egyptian state media have been smearing the U.S.-built pier by declaring it is nothing more than a tool to move Palestinians out of Gaza by sea. Since the very beginning of the war, Cairo has rejected the notion that Palestinians can take temporary refuge in Egypt until the war ends. Reports claim that rich Gulf capitals offered financial incentives to induce Egypt to accept refugees, to no avail. Instead, an Egyptian tourism company with close ties to the security establishment offered its services to rich Gazans who could afford to pay $5,000 per adult and $2,500 for children under 16 to enter Egypt. Egypt’s brutality toward unwanted Palestinian refugees has been documented. Two weeks ago, in a social media post that quickly spread across the Arab world, a video showed Egyptian security border personnel beating a young Gazan for crossing the border.
A recent CNN report indicated that Cairo played a double game, covertly changing the terms of a ceasefire proposal that could have led to a deal in which Hamas released Israeli hostages in exchange for a temporary ceasefire. Egypt changed the deal text and wanted to coerce Jerusalem into accepting a bad deal by presenting Hamas-friendly language that the terror group would quickly accept.
Clearly, the Egyptians wanted to change the narrative from “Hamas is the impediment to a deal” to “Hamas accepts, but Israel rejects the deal.” Cairo was likely angered by Israel’s decision to launch its Rafah operation, which Israeli officials say has, so far, led to the discovery of 50 tunnels and rocket launchers along the Egyptian border.
Cairo is squandering a golden opportunity to play an instrumental role in the current Gaza crisis. The decision to join South Africa in its International Court of Justice case, and unhelpful statements and resolutions coming from Egypt’s permanent representative at the United Nations, do not reassure the Israelis.
It is obvious the Egyptians are trying to save face and distract attention from their longstanding game in Gaza, where it told both Washington and Jerusalem that the situation was under control, even as it looked the other way as Hamas dug tunnels and smuggled weapons.
Washington must have a tough conversation with Cairo and, if necessary, publicly call it out for its unhelpful role. Blinken’s comments in the House are a start, but the Biden administration needs to drive home the message. Egypt should remember that just seven months ago, before the Oct. 7 crisis, it struggled to find a definitive role in current Middle East politics. Tehran and Arab Gulf capitals dominated key regional issues, and, in the Palestinian arena, both Turkey and Qatar had eclipsed Egypt with their financial and ideological ties to Islamist Hamas.
Now, with the ongoing Israeli weakening of Hamas, Cairo is likely to benefit from the vacuum the Jewish state is creating in the Palestinian arena. But so far, Egypt’s performance hasn’t been satisfying. Elaph, a Saudi newspaper, reported that an Israeli official in London told his Gulf counterparts his government thinks the Qatari mediation is better than the Egyptian, despite current strained relations.
To incentivize Cairo to change its policy, Washington should make it clear that Cairo could become the key interlocutor if it starts acting responsibly, and can expect to be marginalized if it doesn’t.
Following this U.S. lead, Egypt could take the driver’s seat on Israeli-Palestinian matters, even at the expense of other regional powers. This could include promoting Egypt as a host for future conferences related to Gaza reconstruction, and diplomatic peace talks, which would likely boost its domestic and international standing.
The decision will be Cairo’s — but only if Washington forces it properly.
*Haisam Hassanein is an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where he’s analyzing Israel’s relations with Arab states and Muslim countries..
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4696303-to-help-israel-washington-needs-to-get-tougher-on-cairo/

What the shifting discourse on Palestine means for Israel
Dr. Ramzy Baroud/Arab News/June 03, 2024
Not so long ago, if one were to say that a top Spanish government official would someday declare that “from the river to the sea, Palestine would be free,” the suggestion itself would have seemed ludicrous. But this is precisely how Yolanda Diaz, Spain’s deputy prime minister, concluded a statement on May 23, a few days before Spain officially recognized Palestine as a state. The recognition of Palestine by Spain, along with Norway and Ireland, is important. Western Europe is finally catching up with the rest of the world regarding the significance of a strong international position in support of the Palestinian people and in rejection of Israel’s genocidal practices in the Occupied Territories.But equally important is the changing political discourse regarding both Palestine and Israel in Europe and all over the world.
Almost immediately after the start of the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, some European countries imposed restrictions on pro-Palestinian protests, with some even banning the Palestinian flag, which was perceived, through some twisted logic, as an antisemitic symbol.
With time, however, Western governments’ unprecedented solidarity with Israel became an outright political, legal and moral liability. Thus, a slow shift began, leading to a near-complete transformation in the position of some governments and a partial though clear shift in the political discourse among others. The early ban on pro-Palestinian protests was impossible to maintain in the face of millions of angry European citizens. The early ban on pro-Palestinian protests was impossible to maintain in the face of millions of angry European citizens, who called on their governments to end their blind support for Tel Aviv. On May 30, the mere fact that French private broadcaster TF1 showed an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led to large, spontaneous protests by French citizens, who called on their media to deny accused war criminals the chance to address the public. Failing to push back against the pro-Palestine narrative, the French government on May 31 decided to disinvite Israeli military firms from participating in one of the world’s largest military expos, Eurosatory, which is scheduled for June 17-21.
Even countries like Canada and Germany, which supported the Israeli genocide against Palestinians until the later stages of the mass killings, began changing their language.
The change of language is also happening in Israel itself and among pro-Israeli intellectuals and journalists in the mainstream media. On a popular podcast in March, New York Times writer Thomas Friedman attacked Netanyahu, saying that he “will go down in history as the worst leader in Jewish history, not just in Israeli history.”
Unpacking Friedman’s statement requires another column, for such language continues to feed on the persisting illusion — at least in the mind of Friedman — that Israel serves as a representation not of its own citizens, but of all Jewish people, both past and present.
As for the language in Israel, it is coalescing into two major and competing discourses: one irrationally ruthless, as represented by far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, as well as by Netanyahu himself; and the other, though equally militant and anti-Palestinian, which is more pragmatic.
While the first group would like to see Palestinians slaughtered in large numbers or wiped out by a nuclear bomb, the second realizes that a military option is not viable, at least for now.
The change of language is also happening in Israel itself and among pro-Israeli intellectuals and journalists. “The Israeli army does not have the ability to win this war against Hamas, and certainly not against Hezbollah,” Israeli Army Reserve Maj. Gen. Itzhak Brik said in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Maariv on May 30. Brik, one of Israel’s most respected military men, is just one of many who are now essentially repeating the same wisdom.
Strangely, when Israeli Minister of Heritage Amihai Eliyahu suggested the “option” of dropping a nuclear bomb on the Strip, his words reeked of desperation, not confidence.
Prior to the war, the Israeli political discourse regarding Gaza revolved around a specific set of terminology: “deterrence,” represented in the occasional one-sided war, often referred to as “mowing the lawn,” and “security,” among others.
Billions of dollars have been generated throughout the years by war profiteers in Israel, the US and other European countries, all in the name of keeping Gaza besieged and subdued.
Now, this language has been relegated in favor of a grand discourse concerned with existential wars, the future of the Jewish people and the possible end of Israel, if not Zionism itself. While it is true that Netanyahu fears an end to the war will bring a terrible conclusion to his supposedly triumphant legacy as the “protector” of Israel, there is more to the story.
If the war ends without Israel restoring its so-called deterrence and security, it will be forced to contend with the fact that the Palestinian people cannot be relegated and that their rights cannot be overlooked. For Israel, such a realization would be an end to its settler-colonial project, which began nearly 100 years ago. Additionally, the perceptions and language pertaining to Palestine and Israel are changing among ordinary people across the world. The misconception of the Palestinian “terrorist” is being quickly replaced by the true depiction of the Israeli war criminal, a categorization that is now consistent with the views of the world’s largest legal institutions.
Israel now stands in near-complete isolation due, in part, to its genocide in Gaza, but also due to the courage and steadfastness of the Palestinian people and the global solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
*Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and author. He is editor of The Palestine Chronicle and nonresident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappe, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out.” X: @RamzyBaroud

Gaza between America and Iran
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 03, 2024
In 2012, the commander of the Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, received in Tehran a Hamas official named Yahya Sinwar. Observers said the Iranian general and the Palestinian visitor, with a “Brotherhood” and security background, hit it off. They added that the meeting ended with both men feeling that they could count on the other.
Iranian support was nothing new. In 2006, Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar returned from a meeting with Soleimani with financial support amounting to $22 million to pay salaries in Gaza, which had chosen to separate from the Palestinian Authority. But the cooperation between Soleimani and Sinwar would turn into a major project, especially when the latter took over the leadership of the movement in the Gaza Strip and rumors circulated about a plan for a “major strike” that would break Israel’s back through missiles and drones flying in from several maps.
Sinwar was released from Israeli jail in 2011 after two decades of imprisonment, which he used to master the Hebrew language and learn about “the strengths and weaknesses of the occupation,” which also impressed Soleimani. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general did not skimp on Sinwar with weapons or the ability to manufacture them. Thus, the current scene in Gaza bears the imprints of that meeting. Before Hamas decided to ally with Iran, especially during the Sinwar era, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, led by Fathi Shaqaqi, had already chosen this path.
The current scene in Gaza bears traces of a number of tumultuous decades in the Arab-Israeli conflict, especially in its core episode, which is the Palestinian period. President Joe Biden’s announcement of the Israeli plan to stop the Gaza war and America’s readiness to play a guarantor role for its implementation in cooperation with Egypt and Qatar reemphasize the US’ role in curbing the confrontations and resolving them.
Waiting for Hamas’ final response to the plan is a reminder that the conflict has also carried Iranian fingerprints. Waiting for Hamas’ final response to the plan is a reminder that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has also carried Iranian fingerprints in recent decades.
The American shadow is very present in the Middle East. When Egyptian forces crossed the Bar-Lev Line in 1973, Israel believed it was facing an existential threat. America intervened and contributed to adjusting the balance of power on the ground so that negotiations became the only option to get out of the impasse.
This is how Henry Kissinger concluded the disengagement agreements on the Egyptian and Syrian fronts. The American red line was at the forefront of the reasons that prompted Anwar Sadat to take the unprecedented, dramatic step of visiting the Israeli Knesset in 1977 in a quest for peace. Five decades later, Sinwar’s forces crossed the electronic fence and Israel again believed it was facing an existential threat. America sent its fleets to prevent the expansion of the conflict, controlled the exchange of strikes between Israel and Iran, and then opposed Israel’s complete invasion of Rafah. It left the two warring parties with no choice but to seek a way out through negotiations.
It is no exaggeration to say that the year 1979 was one of the most important and dangerous in the Middle East and in the Palestinian file as well. That year, Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolution succeeded in overthrowing the regime of the shah in Iran. The revolution emerged with an unprecedented scene: the image of US Embassy staff in Tehran becoming hostages.
The purpose was to undermine the image of the “Great Satan” and try to expel it from the region, or at least shake the threads that bound it to neighboring countries. The Israeli flag was removed from the Israeli Embassy building in Tehran and replaced with the Palestinian one. Arab and Saudi efforts succeeded in including the issue of the two-state solution on the agenda of governments near and far
Iran exploited the fact that, during the same year, the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty was signed and Egypt practically withdrew from the military aspect of the conflict with Israel and allied with the US. There is not enough space here to count the fingerprints. There was America’s sponsorship of Yasser Arafat’s departure from Beirut, then its embrace of the Oslo Accords and its current insistence on a role for Palestinian legitimacy. On the other hand, there were many Iranian fingerprints in the undermining of the Oslo Accords, militarizing the Second Intifada, supporting the rule of Hamas in Gaza and enabling the Al-Aqsa Flood in cooperation with Sinwar. The flood operation dealt an unprecedented blow to Israel. The Netanyahu government has responded by inflicting an unparalleled catastrophe on the people of Gaza. But neither Sinwar’s blow nor Netanyahu’s response has been fatal.
In the midst of the bloody scenes, Arab and Saudi efforts succeeded in including the issue of the two-state solution on the agenda of governments near and far.
Biden’s offer gave both sides of the conflict a difficult choice with no alternative. Benjamin Netanyahu cannot forget the imprints of the decisive American role in saving Israel from the days of the Bar-Lev Line until the day of the flood. He also cannot ignore his country’s growing international isolation.
Sinwar, on the other hand, cannot disregard the new Nakba in the Gaza Strip, just as he cannot forget Iran’s fingerprints in providing the conditions for the flood and its role in launching wars of support from Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere.
Can Netanyahu return from the war amid widespread international support for the Palestinian state? Can Sinwar release the hostages in a settlement that will remove the Gaza Strip from the military aspect of the confrontation with Israel? Does Hamas dream of emerging from the West Bank after it became clear that the dream of a rise from Jordan is far-fetched?
*Ghassan Charbel is editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. X: @GhasanCharbel
This article first appeared in Asharq Al-Awsat.

Improving an Overlooked Aspect of the Gaza Ceasefire Proposal
Robert Satloff/The Washington Institute/June 03/2024
As laid out in President Biden’s speech, the initial terms of the proposed deal include a disturbing imbalance in who guarantees that Hamas and Israel fulfill their commitments under the agreement—a problem that should be fixed now rather than later.
President Biden dramatically shook up Israeli and broader regional politics on May 31 by endorsing a hopeful but highly contentious three-phase proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostages-for-prisoners deal. Both the terms of the proposal and the political storm they unleashed raise numerous questions.
From a U.S. policy perspective, one paragraph in the president’s White House speech has not garnered much attention but deserves closer scrutiny: “If Hamas fails to fulfill its commitments under the deal, Israel can resume military operations. But Egypt and Qatar have assured me and they are continuing to work to ensure that Hamas doesn’t do that. And the United States will help ensure that Israel lives up to their obligations as well. That’s what this deal says...And we’ll do our part.”
This wording is problematic on multiple levels:
Egypt and Qatar have shown themselves to be woefully incapable of influencing Hamas over the past eight months, so the idea that there is any value in their “assurances” regarding the group’s future behavior is risible. By contrast, any U.S. administration necessarily has considerable leverage on Israel’s actions given Jerusalem’s reliance on U.S. rearmament and diplomatic backing to sustain its military operations.
Two key principles outlined in this paragraph—that the United States guarantees Israel’s adherence, and that Israel gets to resume military operations in the event Hamas fails to fulfill its commitments—practically ensure bilateral tension down the road, when Washington and Jerusalem will almost inevitably disagree in their judgment of what constitutes an actionable Hamas violation. Indeed, the group will likely ready itself to engineer such a clash at a moment of heightened instability on another Israeli front (e.g., with Hezbollah or Iran).
This imbalance—in which the United States guarantees Israeli adherence while other states ineffectually guarantee a terrorist group’s adherence—sets a worrisome precedent that problematic actors will be eager to cut-and-paste into future deals.
The paragraph also merits more attention because it describes the only operative U.S. role in the deal’s intermediate phases. President Biden made other references to a U.S. role—namely, facilitating a diplomatic resolution of the Hezbollah-Israel standoff and supporting Gaza’s postwar reconstruction—but they are not central to implementing the various phases of the ceasefire agreement.
If the president accurately described the proposal’s terms, and if the parties seem likely to accept the deal in the near term, then Washington and Jerusalem should work out the details of implementing its competing principles now, well before any potential crisis can arise over interpretation of the above paragraph. This means more than just reassuring Israel that the United States will not object to resumed military operations if Hamas violates the ceasefire. To balance Washington’s very real leverage over Israel and the absence of any third-party leverage over Hamas, it is important to strengthen Jerusalem’s hand and raise the stakes of noncompliance for Hamas.
Substantively, this could include two specific sets of U.S. commitments:
to increase direct support to Israel if it is forced to resume military operations, such as providing specialized intelligence that Washington may have been reluctant to share previously and enhancing cooperation in countering the various international legal challenges Israel is facing
to punish Hamas through measures such as securing the arrest and extradition of Hamas leaders who reside in Qatar and elsewhere, as well as providing assistance for counter-tunnel efforts along the Egypt-Gaza border
While some of these understandings would remain confidential, others should be publicized to make sure Hamas understands what is at stake. Tacit U.S. support for Israel’s current operation in Rafah, even in the wake of the recent tragic incident that left scores of Palestinian civilians dead, shows that it is possible for the two partners to find common ground on the most controversial military operations.
Bolstering the ceasefire proposal by rebalancing uneven guarantees and strengthening deterrence against Hamas will not resolve ideological differences over the fundamental wisdom of implementing such an agreement. But it will achieve something important: a better deal.
**Robert Satloff is the Segal Executive Director and Howard P. Berkowitz Chair in U.S. Middle East Policy at The Washington Institute.