Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 17-18/2024
Celebrating Fathers Day: A Biblical Perspective on Duty, Honor, and Sacrifice/Elias Bejjani/June 16/2024
After Tel Aviv, Hochstein Will Meet with Berri, Mikati, and Bou Habib in Beirut
Netanyahu to Hochstein: ‘Either Hezb’s Retreat Beyond Litani, or War’
Biden envoy in Israel as northern border tensions flare
US Mediation Amid Israeli Internal Strife: Balancing Gaza Conflict and Lebanese Border Tensions
Displaced Lebanese return to southern border to mourn, pray over Eid
Drone Targets SUV in Selaa, One Hezb Member Killed
Israel bombs south, kills 1 as Hezbollah halts operations for Eid
Precarious ‘Unannounced Truce’ in Southern Lebanon
Qabalan: Lebanon's democracy is consensual, not numerical
On the Road to Total War/Charles Chartouni/This Is Beirut/June 17/2024
Southern Lebanon and Difficult Scenarios/Mustafa Fahs/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 17/2024
Lebanese-born father-in-law of Trump's daughter reaches out to Arab Americans
Fayad to LBCI: Studies commenced for construction of two renewable energy plants by early 2025
General Joseph Aoun Secures Continued US Support and Increased Aid for Lebanese Army
A Commission to Manage the State’s Assets?
The Bible, Phoenicia and the Stakes in South Lebanon/Hanibaal Atheos/lebanoniznogood.blogspot.com/June 17/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 17-18/2024
Israeli military knew how Hamas planned to take hostages weeks before October 7: report
Gaza war death toll rises to 37,347
Israel kills 8 Palestinians amongst merchants, civil guards waiting for commercial trucks: Health officials to Reuters
Netanyahu Disbands his Inner War Cabinet
Lull in Gaza fighting as Biden urges truce in Eid message
Rare day of relative calm as Gaza sees 'tactical pause' for aid
Israeli Anti-government Protesters Rally in Jerusalem
Hamas Response to Gaza Ceasefire Proposal ‘Consistent’ with Principles of US Plan, Leader Says
Biden Pushes Gaza Ceasefire Deal in Eid al-Adha Message
US-UK forces launch strikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah and Kamaran Island: Houthi-run Al Masirah TV
On the Brink of a New Cold War? Russia and the US Flex Military Muscles Near Cuba
Iran's presidential candidates debate economic policies ahead of the June 28 vote
Iran calls for joint action by Islamic nations to stop Gaza war

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on June 17-18/2024
The West’s Twin Enemies: Islam and Paganism/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/June 17/2024
Talk of Stability on the Banks of the Nile/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 17/2024
European election results a wake-up call for Biden/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/June 17/2024
Gaza’s ‘day-after’ scenario should be forced on Netanyahu/Dr. Ramzy Baroud/Arab News/June 17/2024
Sanctions … the West’s broken policy tool/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/June 17/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 17-18/2024
Celebrating Fathers Day: A Biblical Perspective on Duty, Honor, and Sacrifice
Elias Bejjani/June 16/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/130787/130787/
Today, as we gather to celebrate Fathers’ Day, we are reminded of the pivotal role fathers play in our lives. Fathers, both in their presence and sacrifices, mirror the divine fatherhood of God Himself. This day is not merely about showering our fathers with gifts and words of appreciation but also about reflecting on our duties and obligations towards them, as underscored by biblical teachings.
The Bible provides profound insights into the importance of honoring our fathers. Ephesians 6:2-3 commands, “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—”so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” This directive is clear: honoring our fathers is not just a noble act but a divine injunction that brings blessings.
Furthermore, Proverbs 23:22 instructs us, “Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.” These verses highlight that respect and obedience to our fathers are lifelong duties. They underscore the need to appreciate the wisdom and experience that our fathers impart, recognizing their efforts and sacrifices in nurturing us.
Fathers, in many ways, emulate God the Father, who is described in Psalm 103:13: “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.” Just as God’s compassion and care are boundless, so too are the efforts of our earthly fathers. They toil and labor, often in silence, to provide for us, ensuring our well-being and success.
In honoring our fathers, we acknowledge the countless sacrifices they have made. From working long hours to provide for the family to making tough decisions for our betterment, fathers constantly put their children’s needs before their own. This dedication is aptly captured in the Lebanese saying, “No one is dear to my heart more than my son, but the son of my son.” It speaks to the enduring love and legacy that fathers build, emphasizing the generational impact of their devotion.
However, it is disheartening to see that not all children recognize or reciprocate this dedication. Some neglect their fathers, disregarding their wisdom and contributions. To such individuals, the biblical admonition in Proverbs 30:17 serves as a stern reminder: “The eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.” This vivid imagery warns of the severe consequences of disrespect and neglect towards one’s parents.
As we celebrate Fathers’ Day, let us remember that honoring our fathers is not limited to a single day of festivities. It is an ongoing commitment to show respect, provide care, and express gratitude for all they do. Let us strive to embody the principles of the Bible, ensuring that our fathers feel valued and appreciated every day of their lives.
In conclusion, Fathers’ Day is a powerful reminder of the immense love and sacrifices our fathers have made for us. By honoring them, we not only fulfill our biblical duties but also strengthen the bonds of family and faith. Let us cherish our fathers, acknowledging their vital role in our lives and upholding the respect and honor they rightfully deserve.'

After Tel Aviv, Hochstein Will Meet with Berri, Mikati, and Bou Habib in Beirut
This Is Beirut/June 17/2024
Sky News have reported that US President’s envoy Amos Hochstein will visit Beirut tomorrow on Tuesday to discuss de-escalation on the border with Israel. Hochstein is scheduled to meet with Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri at 10:45 AM. According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, he will also meet with Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. Hochstein was in Israel to press for deescalation with Lebanon, as an Israeli official said Hezbollah had fired more than 5,000 projectiles across the border since the start of the Gaza war. Hochstein met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team in Jerusalem days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on a Middle East tour, that a Gaza ceasefire was the best way to resolve the Hezbollah-Israel violence. “I can confirm that (US President Joe) Biden’s envoy… met with our prime minister,” Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told a press briefing. Hochstein also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, with whom he discussed “the relentless attacks and rocket fire from Hezbollah, instigated by Iran, towards Israel’s northern towns and cities,” according to a statement from the presidential office.

Netanyahu to Hochstein: ‘Either Hezb’s Retreat Beyond Litani, or War’
This Is Beirut/June 17/2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday that “there is one message to the Lebanese Prime Minister: Either Hezbollah retreats beyond Litani river, now, or there will be war,” according to Israeli media. Amid escalating tensions, Netanyahu conveyed his message while meeting United States special envoy Amos Hochstein, who is scheduled to meet Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday. According to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, Hochstein informed Israeli officers that “without a plan for the day after the Gaza war, it will be difficult to reach an agreement with the Lebanese front.”Later, Hochstein also met Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, and tackled with him the return of peace and stability in northern regions. “North residents must return to their homes,” Lapid emphasized, noting that “the international community cannot ignore an entire region that has been under fire for eight months.” He stressed the necessity for Israel to “keep Hezbollah away from the border, whether through a political settlement or through military action,” asserting that “the chaos in the north must stop.”According to the Times of Israel, a US embassy spokesperson pointed out that “Hochstein is in Israel as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to continue to prevent escalation along the Israel-Lebanon border.”

Biden envoy in Israel as northern border tensions flare
AFP/June 17, 2024
JERUSALEM: A US envoy was in Israel to press for deescalation with Lebanon, as an Israeli official said Hezbollah had fired more than 5,000 projectiles across the border since the start of the Gaza war. Israel and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on Israel which triggered war in the Gaza Strip. US Presidential Special Envoy Amos Hochstein met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team in Jerusalem days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on a Middle East tour that a Gaza ceasefire was the best way to resolve the Hezbollah-Israel violence. “I can confirm that (US President Joe) Biden’s envoy... met with our prime minister,” Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told a press briefing. It came as Mencer said Hezbollah has fired over 5,000 rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosive UAVs at Israeli territory since hostilities started. “We are defending against Hezbollah aggression. There is no territorial dispute between Lebanon and Israel,” Mencer said. Hochstein also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, with whom he discussed “the relentless attacks and rocket fire from Hezbollah, instigated by Iran, toward Israel’s northern towns and cities,” according to a statement from the presidential office. Hezbollah says it has carried out more than 2,100 military operations against Israel since October 8, the day after Hamas’s attack, according to a statement released by the militant group last week.
Hezbollah escalated attacks last week after its leading commander Taleb Abdallah was killed in an Israeli strike in the village of Jouaiyya on Tuesday. The Israeli army described him as “one of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders in southern Lebanon.”That prompted the Iran-backed Lebanese movement to launch targeted strikes on several Israeli army bases, it said. Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Sunday warned that “Hezbollah’s increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation — one that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region.”The United Nations has expressed concern about the recent escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border and warned of the danger of miscalculation causing a wider escalation.

US Mediation Amid Israeli Internal Strife: Balancing Gaza Conflict and Lebanese Border Tensions
LBCI/June 17, 2024
US Advisor Amos Hochstein’s talks in Tel Aviv on Monday took place amid internal disputes in Israel: calls to halt the Gaza war, rising warnings about a potential war with Lebanon, and demands for decisive battlefield action. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who continues to stress the need to intensify fighting in Gaza while placing Lebanon as a secondary priority, decided to dissolve the war cabinet before Hochstein’s arrival after National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir requested to join it. This move transferred decisions regarding the "al-Aqsa Flood" war from Gaza to Lebanon to the smaller security cabinet, where the Likud ministers, who generally disagree with Ben-Gvir, hold a majority, particularly concerning war on Lebanon. Hochstein discussed with Israeli officials ways to prevent igniting the northern border and avoid regional war expansion. According to sources familiar with the plan to be discussed in Tel Aviv, it focuses on reaching a truce leading to an agreement on the land borders between Israel and Lebanon, including:
1. Adjustments to the 13 disputed points on the land border between Israel and Lebanon, including the village of Ghajar.
2. Strengthening the current UNIFIL forces on the border to ensure Hezbollah does not operate south of the Litani River.
3. Deploying Lebanese army forces along the border to prevent provocations on both sides.
4. Hezbollah's commitment to stay north of the Litani River, agreeing on a specific distance.
5. Signing this agreement after Hezbollah moves its forces away from the border.
While Israeli sources doubt such an agreement, informed sources believe the US, to prevent a regional war, will offer investments to Lebanon. However, security and political officials warn against reckless Israeli actions that could ignite the northern front, causing significant losses for Israel. Israelis widely agree that any settlement with Hezbollah depends on stopping the Gaza war, which Hochstein aims to achieve. Concurrently, during a tour in Gaza, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi faced complaints from soldiers about severe fatigue due to ongoing battles without a clear combat plan. The Rafah battle is expected to intensify and conclude in less than two weeks, bringing an end to the 255-day "al-Aqsa Flood" war that has yet to achieve its objectives.

Displaced Lebanese return to southern border to mourn, pray over Eid
AFP/June 17, 2024
NAQURA, Lebanon: Some displaced residents of southern Lebanon returned Monday to their towns for a key Muslim holiday to pray and mourn loved ones killed in months of cross-border violence between Israel and Hezbollah. “Today is Eid Al-Adha, but it’s completely different this year,” said teacher Rabab Yazbek, 44, at a cemetery in the coastal town of Naqura, from which many residents have fled. Every family has lost someone, “whether a relative, friend or neighbor,” Yazbek said, adding that two people she had taught had been killed. Israel and Hezbollah, a powerful Lebanese movement allied with Hamas, have traded near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel which triggered war in the Gaza Strip. The violence has killed at least 473 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including 92 civilians, according to an AFP tally. Israeli authorities say at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in the country’s north. At the cemetery, women in black chadors consoled each other at the shiny new graves adorned with flowers and large pictures of the dead, including Hezbollah fighters. The Naqura municipality said it had coordinated with the Lebanese army so that residents could safely visit the cemetery and mosque for two hours for Eid Al-Adha, which for many Shiite Muslims in Lebanon began on Monday. Residents reportedly returned to a number of south Lebanon border villages on Monday morning as part of similar initiatives. Yellow Hezbollah flags and green ones belonging to the group’s ally the Amal movement flew at the recently established cemetery near the sea, located just a stone’s throw from the United Nations peacekeepers’ headquarters. Lebanese soldiers accompanied the residents as they entered the town.
The army coordinates with the UN peacekeepers, who in turn communicate with the Israeli side as part of efforts to maintain calm. In Naqura, a damaged sign reading “thank you for your visit” lay along the highway. Amid the concrete rubble and twisted metal of one building, the shattered glass of a family photo lay scattered on the ground.Nearby, potted plants hung from the veranda rails of another devastated structure, with a pink child’s toy car among the debris. Rawand Yazbek, 50, was inspecting her clothing shop, whose glass store front had been destroyed, though the rest remained largely intact.
“A thousand thanks to God,” she said, grateful that not all was lost. “As you can see... our stores are full of goods,” she said, pointing to shelves and racks of colorful clothes. Hezbollah stepped up attacks against northern Israel last week after an Israeli strike killed a senior commander from the movement.
The Iran-backed group has not claimed any attacks since Saturday afternoon. Lebanese official media reported Israeli bombardment in the country’s south over the weekend, as well as a deadly strike on Monday. Hezbollah said later that one of its fighters had been killed. Like other residents who support the Hezbollah and Amal movements, Naqura municipality head Abbas Awada called attacks on the town “cowardly.” Last week, a strike there blamed on Israel killed an employee of the area’s public water company. More than 95,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by the hostilities, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration. Tens of thousands have also been displaced on the Israeli side of the frontier. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Ezzedine, among a large crowd that attended prayers at the Naqura mosque, said the turnout was a message that “this land is ours, we will not leave it.”“We support this resistance (Hezbollah) because it’s what protects us, it’s what defends us,” he said.

Drone Targets SUV in Selaa, One Hezb Member Killed
This Is Beirut/June 17/2024
By midday on Monday, a drone targeted an SUV at the intersection of the town of Selaa, resulting in the death of one civilian. Ambulances quickly rushed to the scene and transported the injured person who, later on, succumbed to her injuries. The Israeli Army Radio reported that a Hezbollah member was killed in an attack in southern Lebanon, and Al-Arabiya TV reported that a Hezbollah member was killed in the raid on the car in Selaa. He was identified as Mohammad Mustafa Ayoub. Moreover, the Israeli Army bombarded the outskirts of the towns of Kfar Hamam and Rachaya al-Foukhar, the Marjayoun plain, the Hura area near Kfar Kila, and Mays al-Jabal. Additionally, hostile heavy artillery shelling targeted the area between the towns of Al-Jabin and Yarine. It was reported that a drone breached the airspace over Bint Jbeil and was intercepted with machine gun fire. The drone dropped a small bomb that caused no damage, before leaving the area. Earlier on the morning of Eid al-Adha and despite residents taking advantage of an “unannounced truce,” the Israeli army targeted the town of Dhayra and fired shots over the heads of those who had come to check on their homes. Simultaneously, Israeli artillery shelled a house in the town of Kfar Kila. A number of residents from the towns of Naqoura, Marwahin, Dhayra, Bustan and Yarine flocked to their towns on the morning of Eid al-Adha to visit the graves of their loved ones, with the decrease in shell exchanges from midnight on Saturday until Sunday afternoon. The outskirts of the town of Aitaroun were subjected to three artillery shells overnight, originating from Israeli army positions.

Israel bombs south, kills 1 as Hezbollah halts operations for Eid
Naharnet/June 17, 2024
Relative calm engulfed southern Lebanon on Sunday and Monday as Hezbollah appeared to have suspended its cross-border attacks against Israel for the Eid al-Adha holiday. On Monday, an Israeli airstrike targeted a car on the outskirts of Shehabiyeh in the Tyre district, killing a man identified by the National News Agency as Mohammad Mustafa Ayoub. Israeli forces had earlier in the day fired machineguns at residents of the border town of Dhayra who were inspecting their properties and visiting the cemetery. Also on Monday, an Israeli aircraft fired two missiles on the border town of Mays al-Jabal as artillery shelling hit the border towns of Khiam, Kfar Hamam, Rashaya al-Fukhar and Kfarkela, as well as the Marjeyoun plain. A few airstrikes and intermittent artillery shelling had targeted several border towns on Sunday. The relative calm comes after several days of major escalation that followed Israel's assassination of senior Hezbollah military commander Taleb Abdallah, the most senior commander to be killed since the beginning of the current confrontations on October 8. Israel and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on Israel which triggered war in the Gaza Strip. The cross-border violence has killed at least 471 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including 91 civilians, according to an AFP tally. Israeli authorities say at least 15 Israeli soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed.

Precarious ‘Unannounced Truce’ in Southern Lebanon
This Is Beirut/June 17/2024
Following the increase in the cross-border exchange on the southern Front in recent days, it seems that Hezbollah and Israel are mutually preparing for any eventual scenario of escalation in the region. Despite residents taking advantage of an “unannounced truce” on the morning of Eid al-Adha, the Israeli army targeted the town of Dhayra, firing shots over the heads of those who had come to check on their homes. Simultaneously, Israeli artillery directly shelled a house in the town of Kfar Kila. A number of residents from the towns of Naqoura, Marwahin, Dhayra, Bustan and Yarin flocked to their towns on the morning of Eid al-Adha to visit the graves and those who remained there, taking advantage of an “unannounced truce” with a decrease in shell exchanges from midnight Saturday until Sunday afternoon, when the region experienced limited shelling.
The outskirts of the town of Aitaroun were subjected to three artillery shells overnight, originating from Israeli army positions within Palestinian territories.

Qabalan: Lebanon's democracy is consensual, not numerical
NNA/June 17/2024 
Grand Jaafari Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan in his sermon on Eid al-Adha stressed that the International repercussions cannot be separated from the regional situation, saying: "What is happening in Gaza is clear evidence of this, and there is no blessing from America, Israel, and their supporters."Sheikh Qabalan added: "The era of Zionist hegemony is over, and today's battle is a national one, and an ally is one who aligns with national interests."Speaking about the presidential issue, Qabalan explained that Lebanon cannot elect a president due to American pressure and its efforts to push for a presidential figure who would serve as a guardian for the West. He also considered that "democracy in Lebanon is consensual and not numerical, and we committed to it out of our insistence on protecting the Lebanese family, otherwise the image of the country would have been completely different."

On the Road to Total War
Charles Chartouni/This Is Beirut/June 17/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/130821/130821/
Conflict scenarios are complex and foreshadow cycles of destructive violence resembling total war. Diplomacy has proven ineffective in containing the recurrent rounds of violence and offering an alternative road map to the dominant ideological and strategic impasses and power politics. The Palestinians are still subjected to the sway of the Iranian political handler, unable to rebuild a modicum of political autonomy and get off the beaten tracks of open-ended conflicts. The radicalization of the Israeli political landscape doesn’t seem to abate, driven by ideological reasons as well as security concerns arising throughout the triangular arc of conflicts. The imbroglios of the truce proposal betray the Hamas’s irredentism and Israel’s determination to overcome strategic obstacles along its borders.
The unrelenting battles in Gaza and south Lebanon testify to the interlocking conflict dynamics and fields, the sheer impact of international and regional power politics, the enduring security threats to Israel, and Hamas’s moral callousness and indifference to the tragic plight of the Palestinian civilians. The fate of the Israeli hostages is overlooked as a human rights and major political issue, instead being used as a discretionary trump card. Conversely, Israel’s current approach is narrowly focused on military issues, neglecting broader political objectives. The resignation of Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz doesn’t seem to affect the war cabinet or question its strategic orientations. The diplomatic short-shrift mediation offered by the United States administration is unlikely to gain salience unless it questions the ideological and strategic mortgages and their impasses.
The projected truce is unlikely to open up political space unless accompanied by a viable political plan that both parties can endorse. Disagreements cut across the inner political conflicts on both sides and put at stake the likelihood of a consensual political approach. The Israelis, while agreeing on the immediate security issues, are still deeply divided over the prospects of an Israeli-Palestinian negotiated political solution. The Palestinians are entangled in power politics, unable to build an independent national platform and engage with Israel and the international community, hindered by ideological blindfolders activated through the incessant combustions of an open-ended conflict.
The Lebanese and Syrian aisles of the conflict arc are under pressure, as the disintegration of both countries fuels Iran’s expansionist ambitions and supports its subversion strategy. We are dealing with an integrated platform that accounts for the unfolding military and political dynamics. Conflict resolution diplomacy should be based on integrated predicates if it were to address the issues of de-escalation, demilitarization, security zones and internationalization of security issues. The truce proposals are of a tactical and intermediary nature, and can never replace a comprehensive strategy that addresses the shortcomings of piecemeal policymaking. One can hardly imagine the Israelis compromising their security for the sake of transient interludes with no scope.
The defeat of Hamas after eight months of combat in dense urban areas has become inevitable if this war is to end and break the unending cycles of violence. As for the situation in south Lebanon and the Golan Heights, the breakdown of Lebanese statehood, the state of lingering civil war prevailing over Syria, and the politics of surrogate warfare adroitly operated by the Iranian regime are unlikely to be accommodated by the Israelis after October 7, 2023. One can hardly see a way out of this deadlock unless the strategic imbalances are addressed. The irenic wishful thinking remains idle talk unless it leads to tangible political outcomes that put an end to war cycles and usher in an era of sustainable peacemaking.

Southern Lebanon and Difficult Scenarios
Mustafa Fahs/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 17/2024
The unprecedented recent escalation on Lebanon's southern front comes amid domestic and international fears of the situation deteriorating further. Everyone is worried that an open-ended confrontation, which seems possible, or a full-scale war, which remains unlikely, could break out between Israel and Hezbollah. On the Israeli side, it is said that the top brass has agreed on waging a war, but not its timing or scale. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, where the state does not make decisions of war and peace, acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri recently made a visit.
The real objectives of the trip to Beirut differed from those shared with the public. Publicly, the Iranian diplomat reaffirmed the commitment of his government and other Lebanese allies to preventing escalation or a slide into a war sought by the enemy. Behind closed doors, however, in his talks with those who are directly concerned, he took a different posture, suggesting that the eruption of a war is becoming increasingly likely. Several factors have made it more likely, including considerations tied to upcoming political deals in Gaza, Lebanon, and the region. In his speech on the 35th anniversary of the death of his predecessor and “Islamic Republic” founder Khomeini, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei made his position on this matter clear.
Most analyses of Israel’s stance on the outbreak of war are based on the assumption that, because they are preoccupied with Gaza, Israeli military chiefs cannot open a second broad front. Burdened by the war in Gaza, these analysts claim, the army cannot fight two wars simultaneously; thus, the Israeli army command prefers to keep things in the north as they are until the battle in Gaza is decided, as this approach achieves Tel Aviv's objectives with minimal losses. Since October 7, Tel Aviv has been systematically destroying Lebanese villages south of the Litani River, effectively implementing UN resolution 1701 through its strikes. It has continued to assassinate Hezbollah fighters. So far, it has killed 342 of them without engaging in direct clashes. Israel has also been taking the party's military infrastructure apart, both south and north of the river. Its strikes have even targeted areas that are as far as can be from the border, reaching as far as the city of Hermel in northeastern Lebanon. This approach to war, which the Washington Post has called "slow motion warfare," is not opposed by Israel's international backers. However, for the more extreme political leaders in Israel, it does not suffice for eliminating what they perceive as the threat from the north, whose eradication, they claim, requires a full-scale war on Lebanon.
After Israel assassinated its highest-level Hezbollah target so far, Taleb Abdullah, in the southern city of Jouaiyya a few days ago, and the intense rocket barrage Hezbollah launched as it expanded its targets in occupied Palestine, we are once again hearing talk of a miscalculation by either side potentially leading to an escalation that takes the confrontation to a dangerous and destructive place. It seems that Israeli politicians and the broader public want to see a large-scale military operation in Lebanon.
Such an operation might precipitate an open-ended but not fully-fledged war. That is, Tel Aviv could expand its operations to include all Lebanese territories and hit targets in the capital, Beirut, without actually striking Beirut itself. This would make things difficult militarily and economically, disrupting public life in most Lebanese cities. In response, Hezbollah would likely expand the scope of its strikes, hitting targets deeper inside Israeli territory and using larger and more advanced weapons. Indeed, Hezbollah has recently hit Israeli aircraft with surface-to-air missiles, which suggests that it is ready for any outcome.
Politically, Washington has expressed concern about the situation on the northern front, and it is exerting pressure to de-escalate tensions. The US has openly communicated with Tehran to avoid escalation, but it has done nothing to indicate that it is exerting genuine, serious pressure on Tel Aviv to contain the situation. Moreover, Washington has failed to convince the Lebanese to untie Beirut and Gaza. As a result, attention is turning to President Biden's plan to end the war in Gaza. Both parties have welcomed his initiative but expressed reservations regarding several matters, and the devil in the details could potentially derail the current round of talks. Netanyahu could exploit this situation to obstruct the second phase of Biden's plan, leading to the collapse of the truce and a resumption of the conflict.
Operationally, this would impel the Israeli leadership to vent its frustration in Lebanon. Nothing would make the situation more perilous, however, than the plan being rejected from the outset. This scenario could potentially plunge the entire region into a major crisis that could drive the leading actors into a full-scale war that is not confined to Lebanon alone.

Lebanese-born father-in-law of Trump's daughter reaches out to Arab Americans
Associated Press/June 17, 2024
One of Donald Trump's emissaries to Arab Americans is a Lebanese-born businessman who moved to Texas as a teenager, speaks Arabic, English and French, and recently joined the Trump family when his son married the former president's younger daughter.
Massad Boulos has taken on the challenge of trying to convince a politically influential community angry at President Joe Biden that Trump is a better option. But many Arab Americans also note Trump has positioned himself as more pro-Israel than Biden and has made a series of comments and policy announcements that critics blast as Islamophobic. Trump has long put family members and their relatives in key roles in his campaigns and the White House. Boulos, whose son Michael married Tiffany Trump two years ago, is the latest relative to rise in Trump's political orbit as he uses long-standing connections in an effort to build support for the presumptive Republican nominee's 2024 campaign. Some Trump allies think they can capitalize on dissension within Biden's Democratic base over his support for the Israeli offensive in Gaza, where more than 37,000 people have died since Hamas' Oct. 7, according to health officials in the Hamas-run territory who do not give the breakdown of civilians and fighters. Biden faced a significant protest vote during the Michigan primary February in areas with high numbers of Arab Americans, who are an important Democratic bloc.
"Obviously the No. 1 point that is of high priority within the Arab American community is the current war in the Middle East," Boulos said in an interview. "And the question is, who can bring peace and who is bringing war? And they know the answer to that."
Several of the people who have met with Boulos also point to Trump's statements about Arabs and Muslims. While president, Trump banned immigration from several majority-Muslim countries and questioned the loyalty of Muslim lawmakers serving in Congress. Now, as he campaigns for a second term after losing in 2020, Trump has at times criticized Biden for being insufficiently supportive of Israel and has threatened to deport pro-Palestinian protesters he labels as supporters of Hamas.
"I told Massad, 'This isn't about you being Lebanese and me being Lebanese,'" said Osama Siblani, a publisher of the Arab American News in Dearborn. "You can't just buy votes. You have to give something substantial to the community. And Trump hasn't done that yet."A scion moves into U.S. politicsBoulos, who is of medium stature with graying black hair, square glasses, and a warm, friendly smile, is often complimented for his calm demeanor and humility — qualities not always associated with someone overseeing a billion-dollar conglomerate. Born in Lebanon, Boulos moved to Texas shortly before attending the University of Houston and obtaining a doctor of jurisprudence degree. Boulos said he actively participated in Republican politics as a student.
After graduating, he eventually joined his family's business of three generations and became the managing director and CEO of the conglomerate SCOA Nigeria, which specializes in the assembly and distribution of motor vehicles and equipment.
Boulos has a background in politics in his home country, having run unsuccessfully for a parliamentary seat in Lebanon in 2009. He describes himself as a "friend" of Suleiman Franjieh, a Christian politician allied with Hezbollah. Franjieh is currently Hezbollah's endorsed candidate for Lebanon's presidential vacancy. A supporter of Trump from afar since his first campaign, Boulos became more directly involved after meeting Trump at a White House Christmas party in 2019. At the time, Michael Boulos was dating Tiffany Trump. Massad Boulos has given no recent donations, according to campaign finance records. But in a trip to Michigan this month, he attended what he described as a "private fundraising event" with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., and about 50 Arab Americans.
Boulos assisted with the 2020 campaign, but his role has significantly expanded since his son married Tiffany Trump in 2022, especially as Arab American dissatisfaction with Biden presented what Trump allies think is a larger political opportunity.
"One less vote for Biden is a vote for Trump," said Bishara Bahbah, chairman of the group Arab Americans for Trump. Boulos maintains a "very close working relationship" with the group, Bahbah said. The group, which says it is independent of the Trump campaign, has established operations in Michigan and Arizona, states identified as priority areas by "people close to Trump," Bahbah said.
A May meeting held in Troy, Michigan, included Massad and Michael Boulos as well as Richard Grenell, who was Trump's ambassador to Germany and is a key foreign policy adviser to the former president. Approximately 40 Arab American activists from across the country attended. While Arab Americans for Trump was involved in the event, Boulos said that it had primarily been initiated by Grenell. The gathering received mixed feedback, with some attendees saying it lacked substance and failed to address their concerns regarding Trump. "Grenell didn't say what they would do, but he kept reminding us that when Trump was president, there was no war whatsoever and that he launched the biggest peace effort in the Middle East. But most Arabs and Muslims don't consider the Abraham Accords a peace agreement," said Khaled Saffuri, an Arab American political activist who was in attendance.
Grenell tried to call Trump to have him address attendees by phone, according to multiple people at the meeting. The former president did not answer.
Grenell and the Trump campaign declined to comment. Inside the outreachJust over a week later, Boulos returned for another round of engagements. This time, he had several meetings with nearly 50 members of the Arab American community, alongside one-on-one sessions with individuals identified as "high-target" leaders by Mike Hacham, the coordinator for Arab Americans for Trump in Michigan.
Boulos said his efforts so far have been "more of a personal effort to reconnect with friends." He said he typically begins meetings by speaking for close to 20 minutes, laying out the records of the Biden and Trump presidencies. He then opens the floor for any questions. Siblani had a nearly two-hour meeting with Boulos, who was accompanied by Bahbah, the chair of Arab Americans for Trump. According to Siblani, Boulos argued that things were better for Arab Americans under Trump and that the world saw less conflict and fewer wars during his presidency, suggesting Trump could help resolve the Gaza conflict. But when Siblani pushed back, he said that Boulos lacked "facts to prove his claim that Trump is better."
"Massad is unable to convince people to come to Trump's side because he hasn't offered anything substantial to the community, except that his son is married to Trump's daughter and he has access," Siblani said. "That is fine, but what we need is policy and what Trump will do."
In interviews, Boulos said that Trump "respects and admires" the Arab American community. He denied the existence of a "Muslim ban," which is how many Trump opponents refer to his ban on immigrants from several majority-Muslim countries. Boulos argued it was actually "extreme vetting from certain parts of the world."
The key messages arising from these meetings, Boulos said, are communicated to Trump. Boulos highlighted a recent social media post from Trump that promised to bring "peace in the Middle East" if reelected, as evidence. Boulos asserted that the timing of the post "wasn't a coincidence" but rather a response to "listening to the community's concerns." Trump's statement, posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, on June 4, did not go far enough for multiple community leaders who met with Boulos.
In a statement, Trump campaign spokesperson Brian Hughes said the campaign is "grateful that supporters of President Trump are working to communicate with this community.""We share the belief that Biden's failed Middle East policies have brought death, chaos and war to the region. That failure led tens of thousands of Democrats to vote 'uncommitted' in Michigan's Presidential primary. The Trump campaign has and will continue to communicate to those voters and remind them that President Trump's policies in the Middle East brought that region historic levels of peace and stability," Hughes said. Just the beginningSome in the community still feel that there are other options than just Trump and Biden. Green Party candidate Jill Stein visited Dearborn this year to meet with leaders and recently had conversations with the city's mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, about the possibility of him becoming her running mate.
Hammoud, at 34 years old, is ineligible to serve as vice president. The U.S. Constitution requires both the president and vice president to be at least 35.
Officials in Biden's administration have also visited Dearborn to meet with local leaders and have maintained ongoing contact with them, including Siblani.
Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, criticized Trump allies' outreach, saying in a statement that Trump "is the biggest threat to the Muslim and Arab community." "He and his allies believe we don't belong in this country and Trump is openly speaking about allowing Israel to bomb Gaza without regard," said Moussa, who is Arab American. "Trump and his campaign are racists and Islamophobes. Period. President Biden, on the other hand, is working tirelessly towards a just and lasting peace."Until the November election, Boulos said he will continue to divide his time between managing his company and meeting with the Arab American community.
He stressed that he is solely driven by being a "concerned citizen and a Republican." He has not contemplated a role in Trump's administration if the Republican were to win.
"I honestly don't have any thoughts about that at this time. I didn't give this any thought whatsoever, but definitely I do not aspire for anything," he said.

Fayad to LBCI: Studies commenced for construction of two renewable energy plants by early 2025
LBCI/June 17, 2024
Caretaker Lebanese Energy and Water Minister Walid Fayad, explained that the operation of the Zouk and Jiyeh power plants is halted while 'Électricité du Liban' awaits an opinion from the Audit Bureau, despite having secured B fuel, which is less costly than gas oil. He stated that national interest necessitates consensus. On LBCI's "Nharkom Said" TV show, Fayad revealed that “Électricité du Liban” does not want to operate the two plants without an opinion from the Audit Bureau due to previous disputes with the operating company, in order to ensure the protection of the contract. He noted that there has been no clear response from the Audit Bureau so far. On another note, the Minister revealed that, according to the latest statistics, Lebanon is operating with over 1,500 megawatts of solar power, which constitutes 20% of its energy consumption. He pointed out that by 2030, it is possible to reach 40%.
He said, "There are 11 licenses for renewable energy plants, and CMA CGM has purchased two licenses and has started studies to build two renewable energy plants by early 2025."In this context, Fayad revealed that he proposed that Qatar Energy and Total Energies purchase the remaining 9 licenses, suggesting that the government should increase megawatts for renewable energy according to the law. On another note, he confirmed that the blocks in Lebanese waters are important, according to some companies, particularly Block 9, which remains promising. Regarding the chemicals in Tripoli and Zouk, the Minister confirmed that they are awaiting the completion of tenders for their removal. He reassured the public that these chemicals do not pose a threat to public safety but stressed the importance of their removal.

General Joseph Aoun Secures Continued US Support and Increased Aid for Lebanese Army
LBCI/June 17, 2024
The Commander of the Army, General Joseph Aoun, brought back assurances from Washington from both Republican and Democratic members of Congress, based on a solid conviction that aid to the army will continue. The voices that had intermittently called for a halt to aid due to the army's failure to confront Hezbollah have subsided, in favor of the belief that the army is a trusted entity now expected to undertake new tasks at the Lebanese-Israeli border once a political settlement is reached. There was a commitment from Congress and the US military leadership to increase aid to the army if such a settlement occurs. Information from Washington revealed that General Joseph Aoun met with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan at the White House, with details of the meeting kept under wraps. He also met with the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican Representative Michael McCaul, Democratic Representative Gregory Meeks, the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Democratic Senator Jack Reed, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown Jr. The situation at the Lebanese-Israeli border and the anticipated role of the army in the future were among the key topics discussed in these meetings. Reports indicated that General Aoun brought with him a detailed proposal on this matter, which was well-received by the US side. The southern situation and the army's role in any future settlement will also be a central topic in the upcoming visit of Presidential Envoy Amos Hochstein to Beirut after his trip to Tel Aviv in the coming days. In his previous visits, Hochstein has met with the army commander and will do so again this time to discuss this increasingly urgent issue, prompted by recent military developments that have spurred Hochstein to move quickly to the region.

A Commission to Manage the State’s Assets?
This Is Beirut/June 17/2024
Najib Mikati’s caretaker government is planning to set up a commission to manage state assets, although its composition and form have yet to be determined. This move is part of a plan to replenish the treasury, but it poses a major problem in terms of taking stock of public assets. According to economic sources, the State owns almost 30% of Lebanon’s territory, although part of this is despoiled. Former presidents Michel Sleiman and Michel Aoun had tried to obtain a census of public property, but without success. In several parts of the country, landowners have taken the liberty of annexing public or state-owned land, registering it in their own name, with the help of certain parties within the state itself. Will the Mikati government be able to go all the way with this project and, above all, to recover the plundered lands?

The Bible, Phoenicia and the Stakes in South Lebanon
Hanibaal Atheos/lebanoniznogood.blogspot.com/June 17/2024
The Lebanese cities of Tyre and Sidon are places where Jesus walked, according to the Gospels. In Mark 7:24-29 and in Matthew 15:21-28, meek and mild Jesus described the Phoenicians, then neighbors of the Jews, as "dogs" to their Jewish masters and said that he came only for the children of Yahweh (Jews) and not for their dogs (the Lebanese Phoenicians). Given that qualifying someone as a "dog" in near eastern semitic cultures was, and still is, a brazen demeaning insult, I finally realized that Jesus was a rabid Jewish supremacist, and I decided to quit the church and lose any faith in any religion. The Christian religion itself was initially a rebellious Jewish sect that undermined the Roman Empire by converting it to Christianity. If you can convince people to turn the other cheek, love their enemies, and care nothing for the morrow, you'd have succeeded in domesticating and taming them by making them refrain from fighting against you.
Those who have argued with me over Jesus's racist comments to the Phoenician woman in southern Lebanon say things like, "Jesus used the term dog in an endearing way as one would do speaking of a cute pet", or "this is only one passage out of many where Jesus declares his mission as a universal one to all of humanity", etc. We either believe every word in the "holy" texts or we don't believe any of it. Religious texts are not a restaurant menu where one picks and chooses à la carte what one likes, and ignores what one dislikes.
Lebanon has been in turmoil ever since the Arabs forced it (1969 Cairo Accord) to become the only open Arab war front against Israel, when the Arab League coerced the Lebanese government to cede its sovereignty to the PLO over its territory south of the Litani river so that Arafat could "liberate" Palestine. The cowardly Arab countries (Egypt, Syria, Jordan) that lost all their wars against Jewish Israel and violently denied their own Palestinians the ability to "liberate" Palestine from their own borders - as well as their oily bankers and weapons providers (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya...) - found in partly Christian Lebanon another non-Muslim "alien" to seek revenge from. The Lebanese government was forced to withdraw its armed forces from the area and has not returned there ever since, thanks to the Muslims of Lebanon who chose to be the village idiots of the Arab world and fight where no Arab dared to fight anymore. After the PLO was evicted from Lebanon by the Israeli invasion of 1982, it was immediately replaced by the Hezbollah terror militia created by the recently (1979) fabricated Islamic Republic of Iran. Hezbollah has since wreaked havoc in the south, provoking deadly wars with Israel and continues denying the lebanese armed forces and government any presence in the area.
Needless to say that pretty much for similar reasons, the Arabs granted Baathist Syria control over the Syrian Lebanese border from which the Lebanese army has been evicted. Syrian illegal migrants travel freely across the border, smuggling goods, mercenaries, weapons and drugs and breeding rampant lawlessness and criminality. These illegal migrants pretend to be "refugees" escaping from Assad, when in fact they constitute Assad's new army of terror and occupation. After militarily and politically occupying Lebanon for 30 years thanks to American treachery (Kissinger's 1974 agreement granting Assad dominion over Lebanon in exchange for selling the Golan to Israel, then George H W Bush and James Baker the Turd surrendered the last pocket of free Lebanese resistance to the Syrians in 1990), the Syrian army was expelled in 2005 by an angry population after the Syrian-sponsored assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri by Syria's proxy Hezbollah operatives.
Now you know why Lebanon has been in a nightmarish meltdown for the past 50 years. It's a country without governance, without the basic infrastructure of a modern country, whose armed forces are just a glorified police force that is denied its primary mission of protecting the country's borders, and whose constitutional democracy is violated by every jackass country on earth, including the US that has supported both Israel's and Syria's rapes, invasions and occupations.
But more à-propos to our current nightmare in the south, there is something going on that can be traced back to somewhere near 800 BC. The Bible tells us in detail that King Hiram of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre was a friend of King David of Jerusalem. The Phoenician-Canaanite city of Tyre was a commercial and political superpower running a large trading empire across the Mediterranean, including north Africa (the Tyrian colony of Carthage), coastal Spain on both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, the Italian peninsula with Sardinia and the Tyrrhenian Sea, and well into the north Atlantic and the British Isles. Jerusalem on the other hand had just being settled by the Hebrews after their bloody ethnic cleansing of the Canaanites out of biblical Palestine, an exploit their fake descendants are repeating today in Palestine.
The Torah-Old Testament is full of fictional garbage, but the story pertaining to us here is probably one of the least fictional (it includes facts and numbers, but no miracles like frog rains, ocean-splittings or 100-year old spinsters getting knocked up by angels). We learn in 2 Samuel 5:11: "And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar trees, carpenters and masons and they built a palace for David". So King David must have asked the powerful King Hiram to build him a palace, which means that David, like the nomadic Hebrews of the time, still lived in tents and did not have the technology and know-how to build solid structures like the Phoenicians did.
In 2 Samuel 7:2, we also learn that David said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of Yahweh remains in a tent.” In other words, the ark of the Covenant was also left sitting miserably in a tent made of goat and camel hair while David lived in a lavish house made of Lebanese cedar wood.
Later, when David's son Solomon became king, we learn the following (excerpts) in 1 Kings 5:
2 And Solomon sent word to Hiram, 3 “You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God ....5 And so I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’ 6 Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. And my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”
8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message that you have sent to me. I am ready to do all you desire in the matter of cedar and cypress timber. 9 My servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon, and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you direct. And I will have them broken up there, and you shall receive it. And you shall meet my wishes by providing food for my household.”... 12 And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
13 King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men. 14 And he sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in shifts. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the draft. 15 Solomon also had 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country, 16 besides Solomon's 3,300 chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work. 17 At the king's command they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones. 18 So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the men of Gebal [The Lebanese Phoenician city of Byblos] did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.
Fast forward to 2024 and the 5-decades-long nightmare of Lebanon's south. The expansionist colonialist Zionists are in all likelihood eyeing stealing the Lebanese south and its two cities of Tyre and Sidon, where the majority is Shiite Muslim and forcibly affiliated with Hezbollah whose nefarious activities in that region are the perfect pretext for the Zionists of Israel to steal the territory. But as long as the Lebanese state, founded in 1920 as the Greater Lebanon by the Maronites who are the christianized Phoenicians, continues to claim Tyre and Sidon as part of historic Phoenician Lebanon, the pretext of Hezbollah is insufficient for Israel to steal the land. The southern Lebanon region of Tyre and Sidon must somehow be severed officially from the Lebanese state in order for Israel to steal it.
That explains why Israel and the US have always preferred that Hezbollah retains control over the south rather than the Lebanese state. In 2000, When Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon, it could have coordinated with, and transferred control to, the Lebanese government and the UN force stationed there. Instead, it handed the area over to its own arch-enemy Hezbollah, which suggests Israel wanted the area to remain unstable so it can continue to find pretexts to intervene, and eventually to steal it.
As there is a growing chasm inside Lebanon between Christians and Muslims, with the Christians having tired of the Muslims prioritizing Arab and Muslim causes over the cause of a Lebanon free from any interference, Arab or otherwise, the Christians have been calling for some form of separation from the Muslims. This "separation" could be as mild as declaring Lebanon an internationally-endorsed neutral country (which in theory would deny the Muslims the ability to drag Lebanon into Arab-Muslim causes as they have been doing since Gamal Abdel-Nasser in the 1950s), or as drastic as the partition of Lebanon into the smaller and more homogenously Christian Mount Lebanon (that existed as an autonomous entity between 1840 and 1920) and a Muslim entity that would in all likelihood re-join Syria. In between, there is talk of federalization, cantonization, decentralization, etc... In any case, the Phoenician-Christians want out of the very Greater Lebanon they created in 1920 and which they now see as a monumental mistake that the Maronite Church made against the advice of the French mandatory power.
Should such a separation take place and the region of Tyre and Sidon fall under Muslim rule, especially Hezbollah's Iranian-style Shiite rule or Syrian rule, this would be a sufficient and necessary pretext for Zionist Israel to expand its colony and gobble up-annex Tyre and Sidon and their surroundings.
In conclusion, the Lebanese Christians have to decide:
- Either they remain attached to the Greater Lebanon monstrosity, even as it continues to be corrupted by the Muslims and even as Christians continue to lose and emigrate and be replaced by Syrian and Palestinian refugees and illegal migrants, all of this to wax nostalgic and preserve the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon;
- Or they separate from the Muslims and lose those two cities in the process, but at least they preserve their existence as the last free Christian community in the east. The other Christian communities in Israel, Iraq and Syria have been decimated to no return.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 17-18/2024
Israeli military knew how Hamas planned to take hostages weeks before October 7: report
Grace Eliza Goodwin/Business Insider/June 17, 2024
The IDF knew about Hamas' plans to attack just weeks before October 7, Israeli broadcaster Kan reported.The IDF's Gaza Division had intel on Hamas' training and hostage-taking strategies, Kan reported. According to Kan, IDF intelligence officials even predicted Hamas would take 200-250 hostages. The Israeli military knew about Hamas' plans to attack southern Israel weeks before October 7 — even how many hostages the militant group planned to capture, according to a report from Israeli public broadcaster Kan. The Israel Defense Force's Gaza Division reportedly distributed an internal intelligence document on September 19, 2023, outlining the details of Hamas' planned raid, according to Kan. The document, which Kan reportedly saw, states that the IDF had observed Hamas conducting a series of trainings where militant fighters practiced attacking both Israeli military stations and civilian kibbutzim communities.
The IDF also knew, according to the document viewed by Kan, that Hamas trained its units on how to capture hostages and how to guard them once they were taken back to the Gaza Strip. The IDF's Southern Command and Gaza Division also wrote in the document, according to Kan, that they expected Hamas to take between 200 and 250 hostages. The officials even had intel on how Hamas intended to treat the hostages in certain extreme circumstances and what rules Hamas set for executing hostages, Kan reported. Israel mistakenly believed, the Times of Israel reported, that Hamas would never be able to get past its high-tech border security — an "Iron Wall" composed of concrete, tunnels, and razor wire, complete with remote-controlled machine guns, that was installed two years before the attack. That oversight prevented top Israeli intelligence leaders from doing anything about the internal report detailing Hamas' plans, Kan News reported. And it wasn't just a few weeks before October 7 that Israel reportedly knew about Hamas' plans. More than a year before the attack, Israel had a 40-page document detailing, play-by-play, exactly how Hamas would attack the southern border, The New York Times reported last year. But, Israel never took Hamas' plans seriously, assuming the militant group would never get past Israel's defenses, the Times reported. Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage, many of whom are still being held in captivity. The exact number of hostages Hamas took is unclear, but Israel has estimated it was around 240, with about 116 still in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported. Israel's subsequent airstrikes and war against Hamas in Gaza have killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, many of whom are women and children, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Gaza war death toll rises to 37,347
AFP/AP/June 17, 2024
GAZA STRIP: The Health Ministry in Gaza said on Monday that at least 37,347 people have been killed in the territory during more than eight months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants. The toll includes at least 10 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that a total of 85,372 people had been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Dire shortages of food and other essentials in the Gaza Strip have been exacerbated by overland access restrictions and the closure of the key Rafah crossing with Egypt since Israeli forces seized its Palestinian side in early May. Israel’s air and ground campaign in Gaza has killed hundreds of family members from the same bloodline, an unprecedented toll on the small community mostly made up of refugees and their descendants. An Associated Press investigation analyzed 10 strikes across the Gaza Strip between October and December that killed over 500 people. Nearly every Palestinian family has suffered grievous, multiple losses. But many have been decimated, particularly in the first months of the war. AP geolocated and analyzed the strikes; consulted with weapons investigators; open data-analysts and legal experts; and drew on data by Airwars, a London-based conflict monitor. They hit residential buildings and shelters with families inside. In no case was there an obvious military target or direct warning to those inside. In one case the family said they had raised a white flag on their building in a combat zone. This war has proven even deadlier than the displacement from Israel in 1948, said Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian-American historian at Columbia University, when 20,000 were killed in what is known as the Nakbah. “I don’t think anything like this has happened in modern Palestinian history,” said Khalidi. In Gaza City, medics at Al-Ahli Hospital said on Saturday at least five people were killed in two separate airstrikes, and witnesses reported tank shelling in the southern neighbourhood of Zeitun. At least one strike hit Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, residents said.Palestinian officials in the far-southern city of Rafah reported tank shelling early on Monday. Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, called for “further concrete measures by Israel to address longstanding issues” on humanitarian needs. Gazans “urgently need food, water, sanitation, shelter, and healthcare, with many living near piles of solid waste, heightening health risks,” Laerke said.

Israel kills 8 Palestinians amongst merchants, civil guards waiting for commercial trucks: Health officials to Reuters
Reuters/June 17/2024
Eight Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as merchants and civil guards waited for commercial trucks along the eastern road of the Gaza Strip, which is designated for commercial trucks to roll on, health officials told Reuters on Monday.

Netanyahu Disbands his Inner War Cabinet
Asharq Al-Awsat/June 17/2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war cabinet, an Israeli official said on Monday, in a widely expected move that came after the departure from government of the centrist former general Benny Gantz. Netanyahu is now expected to hold consultations about the Gaza war with a small group of ministers, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer who had been in the war cabinet, Reuters reported. The prime minister had faced demands from the nationalist-religious partners in his coalition, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, to be included in the war cabinet, a move which would have intensified strains with international partners including the United States. The forum was formed after Gantz joined Netanyahu in a national unity government at the start of the war in October and also included Gantz's partner Gadi Eisenkot and Aryeh Deri, head of the religious party Shas, as observers. Gantz and Eisenkot both left the government last week, over what they said was Netanyahu's failure to form a strategy for the Gaza war.

Lull in Gaza fighting as Biden urges truce in Eid message
AFP/June 17, 2024
GAZA: Israel struck Gaza on Monday and witnesses reported blasts in the besieged territory’s south, but fighting has largely subsided after a day of relative calm and as Muslims marked Eid Al-Adha. In a holiday message late Sunday, US President Joe Biden called for the implementation of a ceasefire plan he outlined last month, saying it was “the best way to end the violence in Gaza” and to help civilians suffering “the horrors of the war between Hamas and Israel.” A daytime “pause” for aid deliveries announced at the weekend by Israel’s military around a southern Gaza route appeared to be holding, while elsewhere in the Palestinian territory an AFP correspondent said strikes and shelling have decreased. In Gaza City, medics at Al-Ahli hospital said at least five people were killed in two separate air strikes, and witnesses reported tank shelling in the southern neighborhood of Zeitun. At least one strike hit Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, residents said. Palestinian officials in the far-southern city of Rafah reported tank shelling early on Monday, before the start of the daily “local, tactical pause of military activity” announced by the army. It said the pause “for humanitarian purposes will take place from 8:00 am (0500 GMT) until 7:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) every day until further notice along the road that leads from the Kerem Shalom crossing to the Salah Al-Din road and then northwards.”An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP “there was no change” in the military’s policy and stressed fighting “continues as planned.” An army spokeperson told AFP the pause was in effect on Monday, and the military in a statement said troops were still operating in Rafah and central Gaza, reporting “close-quarters combat” that killed several militants. Witnesses told AFP they could hear blasts in Rafah’s city center and west on Monday morning. A map released by the army showed the declared humanitarian route extending up to Rafah’s European Hospital, about 10 kilometers (six miles) from Kerem Shalom. Mahmud Basal, spokesman for the civil defense agency in the Hamas-ruled territory, said that apart from the deadly Gaza City strikes overnight, “the other areas of the Gaza Strip are somewhat calm.”He reported military movements and gunfire in parts of Rafah as well as Bureij camp in central Gaza. On Sunday, the first day of Eid Al-Adha, or the feast of the sacrifice, the spokesman said “calm has prevailed across all of Gaza.”
The United Nations has welcomed the Israeli announcement of the pause, although “this has yet to translate into more aid reaching people in need,” said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA. He called for “further concrete measures by Israel to address longstanding issues” on humanitarian needs. Gazans “urgently need food, water, sanitation, shelter, and health care, with many living near piles of solid waste, heightening health risks,” Laerke said. Dire shortages of food and other essentials in the Gaza Strip have been exacerbated by overland access restrictions and the closure of the key Rafah crossing with Egypt since Israeli forces seized its Palestinian side in early May. The military said the pause was in effect as part of efforts to “increase the volumes of humanitarian aid” following discussions with the United Nations and other organizations.
It was announced a day after eight Israeli soldiers were killed in a blast near Rafah and three more troops died elsewhere, in one of the heaviest losses for the army in more than eight months of war against Hamas militants. The war was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. The militants also seized 251 hostages. Of these, 116 remain in Gaza, although the army says 41 are dead. Israel’s retaliatory offensive aimed at wiping out Hamas has killed at least 37,337 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry. Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators have been pushing for a new Gaza truce, so far without success. Washington has been pressing Israel and Hamas to formally accept Biden’s truce plan, which would allow an initial six-week pause to fighting.
“I strongly believe that the three-phase ceasefire proposal Israel has made to Hamas and that the UN Security Council has endorsed is the best way to end the violence in Gaza and ultimately end the war,” the US president said. The only previous truce lasted one week in November and saw many hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, while increased aid flowed into Gaza. Hamas has insisted on the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire — demands Israel has repeatedly rejected.

Rare day of relative calm as Gaza sees 'tactical pause' for aid
Agence France Presse/June 17/2024
Gaza saw its first day of relative calm in months Sunday, after Israel's military said it would "pause" fighting daily around a southern route to facilitate aid flows, following repeated U.N. warnings of famine in the Palestinian territory. "Compared with the previous days, today, the first day of Eid al-Adha, is considered near calm and the calm has prevailed across all of Gaza," Mahmud Basal, spokesman for the civil defense agency in Hamas-ruled Gaza, told AFP. He said the exceptions included "some targeting" in Gaza City's Shujaiya and Zeitun areas, as well as Israeli artillery fire in Rafah, southern Gaza. AFP correspondents in Gaza's north and center reported no fighting on Sunday morning, though they reported some shelling and at least one strike in Rafah and an air strike in central Gaza during the early evening. Children were among the wounded and killed from that strike on Bureij refugee camp, AFP images showed. A medic rapidly pounded the chest of one patient, attempting resuscitation, as an ambulance arrived at hospital in Deir al-Balah city. The military stressed in a statement there was "no cessation of hostilities in the southern Gaza Strip", and said one soldier died Sunday during fighting in the territory's south. The announcement of a "local, tactical pause of military activity" during daylight hours in an area of Rafah came a day after eight Israeli soldiers were killed in a blast near the far-southern city and three more troops died elsewhere. It was one of the heaviest losses for the army in more than eight months of war against Hamas militants.
'Sudden calm'
"Since this morning, we've felt a sudden calm with no gunfire or bombings... It's strange," said Haitham al-Ghura, 30, from Gaza City. The United Nations welcomed the Israeli move, although "this has yet to translate into more aid reaching people in need", said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA. He called for "further concrete measures by Israel to address longstanding issues" on aid needs. Gazans "urgently need food, water, sanitation, shelter, and health care, with many living near piles of solid waste, heightening health risks," Laerke said. "We need to be able to deliver aid safely throughout Gaza," he added. Dire shortages of food and other essentials in the Gaza Strip have been exacerbated by overland access restrictions and the closure of the key Rafah crossing with Egypt since Israeli forces seized its Palestinian side in early May. Israel has long defended its efforts to let aid into Gaza including via its Kerem Shalom border near Rafah, blaming militants for looting supplies and humanitarian workers for failing to distribute them to civilians. The pause "for humanitarian purposes will take place from 8:00 am (0500 GMT) until 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) every day until further notice along the road that leads from the Kerem Shalom crossing to the Salah al-Din road and then northwards," a military statement said. Overall calm continued in most of Gaza at the end of Sunday's pause, an AFP correspondent said. A map released by the army showed the declared humanitarian route extending until Rafah's European Hospital, about 10 kilometers (six miles) from Kerem Shalom.
Somber Eid -
The announcement came as Muslims the world over mark Eid al-Adha, or the feast of the sacrifice. "We don't have the joy we usually have" for Eid, said Umm Muhammad al-Katri in northern Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp. "I came to the Eid prayers mourning. I've lost my son."The military said the pause was in effect as part of efforts to "increase the volumes of humanitarian aid" following discussions with the United Nations and other organizations. The eight soldiers killed Saturday were hit by an explosion as they travelled in an armored vehicle near Rafah, the military said. Troops were engaged in fierce street battles against Palestinian militants there. Israel's southern military commander, Major General Yaron Finkelman, told troops during a tour of Rafah on Sunday that they are "degrading" Hamas's brigade there "and we will act and continue until we defeat it". Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas's military wing, vowed to "continue our painful strikes against the enemy wherever it may be".
A 'terrible loss' -
The latest fatalities brought the Israeli military's overall toll to 310 deaths since it began its ground offensive in Gaza on October 27. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences on Saturday following "this terrible loss" and said that "despite the heavy and unsettling price, we must cling to the goals of the war". Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas following the group's unprecedented October 7 attack that Israel says resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people. The militants also seized 251 hostages. Of these, 116 remain in Gaza, although the Israeli army says 41 are dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,337 people in Gaza mostly civilians. The latest toll includes at least 41 deaths over the previous 24 hours. Egyptian, Qatari and U.S. mediators have been pushing for a new Gaza truce, so far without success.
The only previous truce lasted one week in November and saw many hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, while increased aid flowed into Gaza. Hamas has insisted on the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire -- demands Israel has repeatedly rejected. Israel's hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said the humanitarian pause announced by the military was part of a "crazy and delusional approach". In early November, the United States said Israel had agreed to humanitarian pauses of four hours. One such pause occurred on December 14, COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said at the time.

Israeli Anti-government Protesters Rally in Jerusalem
Asharq Al-Awsat/June 17/2024
Anti-government protesters converged on Jerusalem on Monday, calling for new elections in an effort to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who once again sits atop one of the most right-wing coalitions in Israel's history. A wartime unity government fell apart a week ago when two centrist former generals, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, quit, leaving Netanyahu dependent on ultra-Orthodox and far-right partners. Their hardline agenda caused a major rift in Israeli society even before Hamas' Oct. 7 assault sparked the war in Gaza. The often weekly demonstrations have yet to change the political landscape, and Netanyahu still controls a stable majority in parliament. Following the departures of Gantz and Eisenkot, opposition groups declared a week of street protests that include blocking highways and mass demonstrations. By sundown, a crowd of thousands had gathered outside the Knesset, Israel's parliament, and planned to march to Netanyahu's private home in the city. Many waved Israeli flags. Others carried signs criticizing Netanyahu's handling of pivotal issues, like promoting a divisive military draft bill that exempts ultra-Orthodox Jews from otherwise mandatory service, as well as his handling of the war with Hamas in Gaza and fighting with Lebanon's Hezbollah. "The healing process for the country of Israel, it starts here. After last week when Benny Gantz and Eisenkot left the coalition, we are continuing this process and hopefully this government will resign soon," said protestor Oren Shvill.

Hamas Response to Gaza Ceasefire Proposal ‘Consistent’ with Principles of US Plan, Leader Says
Asharq Al-Awsat/June 17/2024
Hamas' response to the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal is consistent with the principles put forward in US President Joe Biden's plan, the group's Qatar-based leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a televised speech on the occasion of the Islamic Eid al-Adha on Sunday. "Hamas and the (Palestinian) groups are ready for a comprehensive deal which entails a ceasefire, withdrawal from the strip, the reconstruction of what was destroyed and a comprehensive swap deal," Haniyeh said, referring to the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. On May 31, Biden laid out what he called a "three-phase" Israeli proposal that would include negotiations for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza as well as phased exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Egypt and Qatar - which along with the United States have been mediating between Hamas and Israel - said on June 11 that they had received a response from the Palestinian groups to the US plan, without giving further details.While Israel said Hamas rejected key elements of the US plan, a senior Hamas leader told Reuters that the changes the group requested were "not significant".

Biden Pushes Gaza Ceasefire Deal in Eid al-Adha Message
Asharq Al-Awsat/June 17/2024
US President Joe Biden used his Eid al-Adha message to Muslims to advocate a US-backed ceasefire deal in Gaza, saying on Sunday it was the best way to help civilians suffering the “horrors of war between Hamas and Israel.” “Too many innocent people have been killed, including thousands of children. Families have fled their homes and seen their communities destroyed. Their pain is immense,” Biden said in a statement. “I strongly believe that the three-phase ceasefire proposal Israel has made to Hamas and that the UN Security Council has endorsed is the best way to end the violence in Gaza and ultimately end the war,” he added. The United States has been pressing Israel and Hamas to formally accept the ceasefire deal passed by Security Council members last week, which would allow an initial six-week pause to fighting. Eid al-Adha saw a rare day of relative calm in Gaza after Israel announced a “tactical pause” in fighting near Rafah to facilitate aid deliveries. Biden said the US “is blessed to be home to millions of American Muslims who enrich our nation in countless ways, from medicine to technology, education, public service, the arts, and beyond.”The president also highlighted American efforts to “advocate for the rights of other Muslim communities” facing persecution, including the Rohingya in Myanmar and the Uygurs in China. He said “we’re also working to bring a peaceful resolution to the horrific conflict in Sudan.” On the domestic front, Biden’s message on Sunday also promised a crackdown on Islamophobia in a direct appeal to American Muslims, an important voting demographic in the Democrat’s re-election bid against Republican rival Donald Trump. “Hate has no place in America, whether it is targeted at American Muslims, Arab Americans including Palestinians, or anyone else,” he said. “My administration is creating a national strategy to counter Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination, which affect not only Muslims, but also Arab, Sikh, and South Asian Americans,” Biden added.

US-UK forces launch strikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah and Kamaran Island: Houthi-run Al Masirah TV
REUTERS/June 17, 2024
CAIRO: US and British forces have carried out at least six airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah International Airport and four strikes on Kamaran Island near the port of Salif off the Red Sea, Al-Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen’s Houthi movement, said on Monday. The strikes on Kamaran mark the first time US-led coalition forces have targeted the island since airstrikes on Houthi targets began in early February. Yemen’s internationally-recognized government believes Houthi fighters in the past have used Kamaran Island and Port Salif as a site to launch their Red Sea attacks as well as hide stockpiles of missiles and drones in its salt mines, two military sources within the government told Reuters. The 10-kilometers of water that stretch from the port of Salif to Kamaran Island are also part of the route that ships must transit through to reach their next port of call.
The Houthis, who control Yemen’s capital and most populous areas, have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea since November in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Despite reprisals from the US-British coalition and other navies, the Houthis have in recent months escalated their campaign of attacks on commercial vessels in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

On the Brink of a New Cold War? Russia and the US Flex Military Muscles Near Cuba
LBCI/June 17/2024
Are we on the brink of a new cold war between Russia and the United States?
This question arises after four large Russian warships, including the nuclear submarine Kazan, arrived at Havana Port in Cuba, close to the US state of Florida, last week to participate in military exercises. In response, the United States sent the fast attack nuclear submarine USS Helena to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. According to the US Army Southern Command, the attack submarine is in Guantanamo Bay as part of a routine port visit during its mission to protect global maritime security and national defense. Some observers have downplayed the significance of this news, suggesting that Russia's presence in Cuba is part of a series of drills conducted in the Western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The US also commented on the situation, asserting that the presence of the Russian fleet does not pose a threat to US security. However, others believe that the appearance of Russian ships near the US coast is a response to the White House's authorization for Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons to attack Russian territories. Additionally, Moscow's move is seen as a message to NATO, indicating that Russia is powerful and capable of deploying militarily in strategic areas, even near major countries like the United States. It also serves as a signal of support to Russia's allies, such as Cuba, which is a long-time adversary of Washington. Some analysts have taken this further, considering the Russian maneuver highly dangerous and reminiscent of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. During that crisis, the discovery of secret Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuban soil nearly led to a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Iran's presidential candidates debate economic policies ahead of the June 28 vote
Nasser Karimi/TEHRAN, Iran (AP)/June 17, 2024
Six presidential candidates on Monday discussed Iran's economic problems in a four-hour live debate on state TV, ahead of the June 28 presidential election following a helicopter crash last month that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others. It was the first of five debates planned in the 10 days remaining before the vote in a shortened campaign to replace Raisi, a hard-line protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei once floated as a possible successor to the 85-year-old cleric. The candidates were to discuss their proposals and plans for Iran’s spiraling economy, struggling under sanctions from the United States and other Western nations. They all promised they would try and get the sanctions lifted and introduce reforms but none offered any details. The candidates also discussed inflation, the budget deficit, Iran's housing problem and ways to fight corruption. The June 28 election comes at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, its arming of Russia in that country’s war on Ukraine and its wide-reaching crackdowns on dissent. Iran’s support of militia proxy forces throughout the wider Middle East, meanwhile, have, been increasingly in the spotlight as Iran-backed Yemen’s Houthi rebels attack ships in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Five of the candidates are hard-liners while the sixth candidate, lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian, 69, is a heart surgeon who has the support of some pro-reformers. The most prominent candidate remains Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, 62, a former Tehran mayor with close ties to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. However, many remember that Qalibaf, as a former Guard general, was part of a violent crackdown on Iranian university students in 1999. He also reportedly ordered live gunfire to be used against students in 2003 while serving as the country’s police chief. Among those running for president are also Iran's vice-president, Amir Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi, 53, and the current Tehran mayor, Ali Reza Zakani 58. A member of Supreme National Security Council, 58-year-old Saeed Jalili and cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi, 64, a previous interior minister under former relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani, are also in the race. Qalibaf promised he would be a “strong” president who would support the poor, better manage the economy and effort to remove sanctions through diplomatic means. Pezeshkian said the sanctions were a “disaster” and also lobbied for less restrictions on the internet. Iran has long blocked Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram and other major social media platforms and messaging systems, mainly over security concerns. All the candidates pledged to strengthen the country's currency, the rial, which has plunged to 580,000 against the dollar. The rial was 32,000 to the dollar when Iran and world powers reached a deal with world powers in 2015 on capping Tehran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. The six stayed away from the topic of the tattered nuclear deal. Khamenei has final say on all major state matters, including nuclear, foreign policy, space and military programs. Pro-reform figures such as former President Mohammad Khatami and former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal have backed Pezeshkian, though votes in his favor in his parliamentary constituency in the northwestern city of Tabriz declined from 36% to 24% of the vote in elections over the past eight years. Raisi won Iran's 2021 presidential election in a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history.

Iran calls for joint action by Islamic nations to stop Gaza war
ARAB NEWS/June 17, 2024
TEHRAN: Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has called for joint action on the part of Islamic countries to pressure Israel into ending its brutal military activities in Gaza, which have devastated most of the enclave and killed thousands of Palestinians there.Israel’s military offensive on Gaza has killed at least 37,337 people, mostly civilian women and children, since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. Humanitarian supplies for millions of Palestinians displaced by the conflict have been squeezed despite the Israeli military declaring it would “pause” fighting daily around a southern route to facilitate aid flows. The Iranian official also spoke with his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi via telephone on Sunday, with the two discussing bilateral relations as well as the situation in war-ravaged Gaza. Kani reiterated Iran’s readiness to help Kabul resolve its challenges and achieve growth, Iran’s news agency IRNA reported.

Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on June 17-18/2024
The West’s Twin Enemies: Islam and Paganism
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/June 17/2024
“What was will be; what was done before will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun.” So wrote the author of Ecclesiastes — and truer words have seldom been spoken. Muslim hostility for Christian civilization is one obvious example of that truth: It has been part of an unwavering continuum that stretches back to the foundations of Islam in the seventh century. But there are other contemporary enemies of Western civilization, and some of these also fit in a perfect continuum that goes back over a millennium, though their roots are not so easily discerned. Take the so-called “Left,” which with every passing day exposes its anti-Christian animus. While only a few on that political spectrum openly identify as Satanists, more of them are increasingly showcasing the heathen impulse that animates them than ever before.
Burning Down the West
For example, in a May 2022 segment titled “This Is About Attacking Christianity,” Tucker Carlson correctly observed,
Undermining Christianity is the center project of the Left — because it stands in their way. As dozens of churches burned across Canada last summer, the country’s prime minster, Justin Trudeau, refused to condemn the fire bombings; he called them “understandable.” Then, the head of Canada’s ACLU effectively endorsed the fire bombings. “Burn it all down!” she wrote. And now we’re seeing it happen here, as we knew it would.
In fact, not a single day passes in Europe, North America, or Australia without several churches being attacked or going up in flames. (See here for up-to-date examples.) And while Muslims have historically claimed the lion’s share of church attacks, and continue doing so in Western nations with large Muslim populations, such as France, Italy, and Germany, “the Left” — pro-abortionists, feminists, Antifa, and alphabet people of all varieties — are increasingly giving them a run for their money.
Domestic Extremism
According to a February 2024 report by the Family Research Council, which has been “tracking acts of hostility against churches in the United States,”
Between January 2018 and November 2023, at least 915 acts of hostility occurred. The types of acts include vandalism, arson, gun-related incidents, bomb threats, and more. In 2023, Family Research Council identified 436 incidents — more than double the number identified in 2022 and more than eight times the number identified in 2018. These findings suggest that hostility against U.S. churches is not only on the rise but also accelerating.
By way of examples, Cameron David Storer, a man claiming to be a woman, burned down a 117-year-old church building in response to “voices in her head.” And the day after the Kentucky House of Representatives passed a bill that would protect children from sexual mutilation — aka “gender-transitioning” — vandals spray-painted “TRANS PWR” on St. Joseph Catholic Church in Louisville.
After pointing out that “hostility against churches in the United States is widespread and growing,” the FRC’s Arielle Del Turco added that they point
to a larger spiritual battle and a growing climate of hostility toward Christianity. The motivations for some of these acts of vandalism, arson, gun-related incidents, bomb threats, or other acts appear political while many more seem completely inexplicable. Yet, all of these incidents represent a deeply concerning trend…
Be that as it may; none of this is new, and is in fact rather reminiscent of what Europe experienced during its so-called “Dark Age.” If that era was dark, it was less due to benighted Christians and more due to constant and nonstop assaults by the direct ancestors of today’s vandals — Middle Eastern Muslims and European pagans — both of whom exhibited the same anti-Christian, anti-church virulence in which their descendants continue to revel.
The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend
Just as today’s Leftists and Muslims have little in common except their hate for and attacks on Christianity, so it was in the past: in whichever Christian nation Islam invaded or conquered (which included more than three-quarters of Christendom’s original territory), countless churches went up in flames (30,000 is the number under just one eleventh-century Egyptian caliph, Hakim bi-amr Allah). Similarly, after desecrating and torching monasteries and churches, pagan Vikings from Scandinavia would haul off countless Christian slaves from Britain, Frankia, and elsewhere to be sold on the Arab slave market, where white flesh fetched top dollar. Indeed, it is “impossible to disconnect Islam from the Viking slave trade,” argues M.A. Khan, a former Muslim from India, “because the supply was absolutely meant for meeting [the] Islamic world’s unceasing demand for the prized white slaves” and for “white sex slaves.” Emmet Scott goes so far as to argue that “it was the caliphate’s demand for European slaves that called forth the Viking phenomenon in the first place.”
Today, the descendants of Europe’s pagan past, collectively known as “the Left,” have invited millions of Muslims into Europe, causing every form of crime — from “grooming” and rape to erasing Christianity from the culture across the continent, including through the destruction of churches and cathedrals — to skyrocket. The only difference is that Muslims are recognizable for who and what they are, whereas “the Left,” by employing the language of “social justice,” still has much of the naïve West fooled about its true, pagan nature. What remains to be seen is whether that which saved yesterday’s West from Muslim and pagan assaults — that is, strong, uncompromising men of conviction — remains in sufficient strength to save today’s West from the same perennial enemies.

Talk of Stability on the Banks of the Nile
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 17/2024
I avoid visiting the headquarters of the Arab League despite the bonds of friendship that ties me with its successive leaders during the current century. The journalist is a heavy guest given his profession.
I think of the Arab League as a ship sailing in a turbulent sea of crises, challenges and sensitivities and without the right means to confront them. Like the United Nations Security Council, the Arab League derives its power from what major Arab countries pump in its veins. The agreement between major players fuels it with power and a role to play. A lack of agreement undermines its role and only allows it to make statements about values and in expressing hope.
I mulled these ideas as I made my way to the office of Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit for a courtesy visit. I believe that the secretary general suffers immensely when he contemplates the map of the Arab world hanging in his office. As usual, Aboul Gheit was kind, welcoming and calm.
I won’t write down here what we talked about because it was not meant to be published. I did pause at his concern over the current international climate, which he said the Arabs better pay attention to. The international scene is very critical because a costly error happening - in Ukraine or in Taiwan - is always in the cards. All of this reflects on the Middle East where fires continue to blaze and may spread even more.
The secretary general was concerned about the danger of the barbaric Israeli assault on Gaza continuing and of the suicidal policy that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government continues to cling on to. He did not hide his concern over the possibility of Sudan’s fragmentation and the division in Libya being consolidated. He expressed his concern over Lebanon continuing to be a victim of the trap it is caught in and the slow pace in which Syria is reclaiming the characteristics of a complete state.
He also expressed his concern over mounting poverty and the growing number of Arabs living in displacement camps and their impact on development. He stressed the need for Arabs to catch up with the age and its successive technological revolutions.
For concern to prevail at the Arab League is nothing new. Successive secretary generals had to content with the diminishing role of Arabs in the region and mounting vulgar international interventions that have taken place on their territories. Regional duels are only fought in their arenas and with the blood of their sons. Countries that have been fragmented by the “Arab Spring” are facing great difficulties in reclaiming what was. Some of these countries have even had their identities changed.
At a hotel on the Nile, a Yemeni friend told me that the collapse in his country was not inevitable. He said Ali Abdullah Saleh could have turned to many option were it not for the “advice” of a visitor called Hillary Clinton. He added that the Obama administration had taken the decision to oust Hosni Mubarak and Ali Abdullah Saleh because it was deluded in believing that it could promote “moderate Islam.”
My Yemeni friend admitted that he doesn’t see a light at the end of the “terrible Yemeni tunnel”, adding that Egypt had done itself and the region a massive favor when it saved itself from the Muslim Brotherhood. “Can you imagine what Egypt and the region would be like had Mohammed Morsi remained in power and had Egypt been torn apart?” he asked. His words reminded me of a time when I was in Cairo on a professional mission in mid-June 2013. It was days before the massive protests that changed the fate of Egypt and built a wall against the Muslim Brotherhood.
I recalled statements I heard in the days that preceded Morsi’s ouster. Amr Moussa said Egypt was on the verge of exploding and the “Brotherhood did not start the revolution, but they joined it and reaped its fruit.” He stressed that the establishment of a “religious state is not in Egypt’s favor.” I recalled Mohamed el-Baradei saying that the “Brotherhood usurped the revolution and failed spectacularly. I met Morsi at the presidential palace and was frank with him. I sensed a lack of credibility on his part and despaired of him.”
I learned from Hamdeen Sabahi that he met Morsi when he was still a presidential candidate. He asked him if he would be an independent president should he win, but Morsi didn’t know how to respond. He instead said: “I want you to be my vice president.” Ahmed Shafik, whom I met outside of Egypt, accused the Brotherhood of “usurping both the revolution and presidency.”
Because journalism demands that I listen to the other side of the story, I headed to the headquarters of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Brotherhood. I sensed no concern from Saad al-Katatni, who invited me to take a souvenir photo with him and members of his party and some guests.
Essam al-Erian went even further than Katatni and not only expected Morsi to complete his term in office, but to also win another. He confidently told me that the June 30 protests will be peaceful and that it will just be an “ordinary day”. He did not sense the anger boiling among those worried about stability and the attempt to “introduce new elements to Egypt's identity.”
I also recalled what I heard from Mohamed Hassanein Haykal. He said he met with Morsi and got the impression that the Brotherhood “doesn’t have a realistic vision or clear program. It doesn't even have the qualified candidates to run a country the size of Egypt.” He believed that the political battle will be tough, hoping that it would not undermine the pillars of stability.
Cairo is a meeting point for people from countries that gambled with stability and lost. It is fortunate that Egypt has persevered due to June 2013 and that it is trying to douse flames surrounding it. This is a vital and arduous task. Real security and prosperity are tied to stability.

European election results a wake-up call for Biden
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/June 17/2024
The European Parliament election results announced last week were shocking for many. In France, the electorate chose the far right. President Emmanuel Macron subsequently dissolved parliament and called for new national elections. All the polls show that Marine Le Pen and her National Rally party could win. This should send a message to the US and to President Joe Biden. The moral of the French story is that, when so-called moderates or the center disappoint the public, the public will shift to the right. Across Europe, the reasons for the success of the extreme right differ from one country to another. In the case of France, voters migrated rightward mainly because of policies imposed on farmers. For Poland, it was the Ukraine war. For Germany, immigration. However, those countries’ electorates have one thing in common: they are dissatisfied with the incumbent parties. To deliver and to satisfy the constituency, one has to take bold decisions. In the case of Biden and the US, there has been no bold decision-making. Biden is facing elections in a few months’ time. Many voters are worried about his age. He needs to prove himself to his electorate. The Gaza war has been a tough test in an election year. The president is facing a preelection dilemma. On the one hand, he needs donors’ money to finance his campaign. For decades, it has been a fact that pro-Israel groups are the top funders of US elections. So, Biden cannot afford to upset these donors. On the other hand, the bulk of his voters — the progressive Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims and Arab Americans — do not want this war. So far, Biden has tried to strike a balance. He would criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but still pledge full support for Israel. He said he would stop sending some bombs to Israel if it invaded Rafah. However, Israel still invaded Rafah and America’s support remains unchanged.
Biden needs money to finance his campaign, but people are more important. An advertisement campaign funded by donations will not garner his constituency’s support if they are unhappy with his policies. People are more important than money, especially as election day is nearing. Biden needs to show decisiveness. So far, Netanyahu has emasculated Biden. He has gone against Biden on every statement he has made. Yet there has been no repercussions for Netanyahu’s insubordination. This will definitely not help in the November elections.
Biden is banking on the fact that his constituency, even if unhappy with him, will vote for him to prevent Donald Trump from returning to the White House. The results of the European elections show us this is unlikely to be the case. The European results are as such not because the majority of people love the far right but because the moderates are disappointed with those who represent them. They did not vote for them, hence the far right emerged.
To win in November, Biden has to show decisiveness. He needs to stop the war and stop humoring Netanyahu and his far-right government, especially now that the so-called moderates Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot have left his war Cabinet. The UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an end to the war. Though the US said that Israel had accepted the terms of a ceasefire agreement, the Israeli government did not say so. Netanyahu wants to continue the war. He will not accept a ceasefire unless the US pushes it down his throat. Maybe it is time to take some decisive action against the Netanyahu government and do just that. It is time to stop all arms transfers to Israel.
To win in November, Biden has to show decisiveness. He needs to stop the war and stop humoring Netanyahu and his far-right government.
This will be heartbreaking for Biden, who has strong emotional ties to Israel. He does not want a break in US-Israel relations to happen on his watch. However, this bond with Israel might make him lose the elections. More importantly, it will be a big loss for the Democrats, as it will display the rift between the party’s politics and the people’s aspirations.
It is time to show Israel some tough love. It is time for Biden to stop catering to what Israel and the Israelis want and to do what is good for America and his party. The more his administration tries to cover for Israel, the more it loses credibility, such as with the statement by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the UN resolution. He said that Israel had accepted the ceasefire even though it had not.
The Middle East is at a crossroads. It could reach a regional compromise, with Saudi Arabia recently reiterating its offer for regional normalization in return for a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 borders. This would severely weaken Iran. It would remove the card of Palestine from Tehran. Up to now, it has been using the Palestinian issue to justify its regional interventions. Meanwhile, a Palestinian state that satisfies the Palestinian people’s aspirations would offer Iran — if it has any intention to change course and reach a compromise with the region and the West — a graceful exit from its belligerent policy without losing legitimacy in the eyes of its constituency. Biden can use the current conflict to craft a landmark regional agreement. If a ceasefire was established and negotiations were on course to draft a comprehensive regional arrangement, this could be an important incentive for Americans to vote for Biden. You would not want to vote out a president who is in the middle of crafting a landmark peace deal. It is time for Biden to take decisive action, otherwise he will be paving the way for Trump to return to the White House. After all, no one is blaming Trump for the ongoing conflict in Gaza. On the other hand, people do now blame Biden for the war in Gaza. He should take that seriously.
• Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is co-founder of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization focused on Track II.

Gaza’s ‘day-after’ scenario should be forced on Netanyahu
Dr. Ramzy Baroud/Arab News/June 17/2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is often criticized for failing to produce a vision for the “next day,” meaning the day following the end of the Gaza war.
Some of these criticisms emanate from Israel’s traditional Western allies, who are wary of Netanyahu’s personal and political agendas, which are fixated on delaying his corruption trials and ensuring that his extremist allies remain committed to the current government coalition.
The criticism is, however, loudest in Israel itself.
“As long as Hamas retains control over civilian life in Gaza, it may rebuild and strengthen (itself), thus requiring the (Israeli army) to return and fight in areas where it has already operated,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in May, while demanding a “day-after” plan.
The same sentiment was conveyed by Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi. “As long as there’s no diplomatic process to develop a governing body in the Strip that isn’t Hamas, we’ll have to launch campaigns again and again,” he said.
It is true that Netanyahu has no postwar plan. The lack of such a “vision,” however, does not entirely rest on his own failure to produce one, but rather his inability to determine, with any degree of certainty, if the war will yield favorable results for Israel.
Nine months of war have shown that Israel is simply incapable of maintaining its military presence in urban areas, even those that have been ethnically cleansed or are sparsely populated. This has been proven to be as true in the south as in the north of Gaza, including border towns that were relatively easy to enter in the first days and weeks of the war.
For a postwar plan that fits Israeli interests to be produced, Gaza would have to be militarily subdued — a goal that seems more distant than ever.
At the start of the war, and many times since, Netanyahu argued that Israel would have “overall security responsibility” for the Gaza Strip “for an indefinite period.” That is also unlikely, as Israel tried to establish such security control between 1967 and 2005, when it was forced, due to the popular resistance during the Second Intifada, to redeploy its forces out of the Gaza Strip, while imposing a hermetic siege that has been in effect ever since.
Recent events have proved that even the Israeli blockade itself is unsustainable, as those who were entrusted with keeping Gazans locked in failed miserably at their main task. This assessment was made by the Israeli military itself. “On Oct. 7, I failed (in) my life’s mission: to protect the (Gaza) envelope,” the commander of the 143rd Division, Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, said as he tendered his resignation last week.
This means that returning to the post-1967 status is not a rational option, and neither is a reactivation of the post-2005 so-called disengagement plan.
While Washington is busy hoping to devise an alternative that ensures long-term security for Israel — with no regard to Palestinian rights, freedom or security, of course — Netanyahu refuses to play along. The problem with the American ideas, as far as the Israeli government is concerned, is that language such as “returning to negotiations” is completely taboo in the country’s mainstream politics.
Additionally, Netanyahu rejects any involvement of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. This position, which has even been advocated by other Israeli officials, seems to puzzle many, as the PA is already incorporated into Israel’s security arrangements in the West Bank. Netanyahu’s real fear is that a return of the PA to Gaza would come at a political price, as it would give greater credibility to President Mahmoud Abbas, who is keenly invested in the US-championed “peace process.”
Not only does the current Israeli leadership reject any return to the old political discourse, but it has also fundamentally moved on, progressing its language to that of military annexation of the West Bank and even the recolonization of Gaza. To recolonize Gaza, as per the expectations of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, two events would have to take place consecutively: First, the pacification of the Gaza resistance, and then a partial or total ethnic cleansing of the resident Palestinian population into Egypt.
Netanyahu is unable to determine, with any degree of certainty, if the war will yield favorable results for Israel.
While the Israeli army is failing at its first task, the second also seems unfeasible, especially since the recent Israeli operation in Rafah has pushed hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans back from the Egypt border to the center of the Strip.
Netanyahu does not seem to have an actual plan for Gaza, neither for now nor after the war. So, he prolongs the war despite the fact that his army is exhausted and depleted and is being forced to fight on multiple fronts. However, blaming Netanyahu for failing to produce a “next-day” vision for Gaza is also wishful thinking, as it assumes that Israel has all the cards. It has none.
Of course, there is an alternative to the never-ending war scenario; namely, permanently lifting the siege on Gaza, ending the military occupation and dismantling the apartheid regime. This would grant Palestinians their freedom and rights as guaranteed by international humanitarian laws.
If the international community mustered the courage to force such a “next-day” reality on Tel Aviv, there would be no need for war, or resistance in the first place.
**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

Sanctions … the West’s broken policy tool
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/June 17/2024
On paper, Iran and Russia are crushed under a mountain of sanctions that grows daily. In reality, rogue states are running rings around enforcement efforts, prompting questions about whether Western leaders are serious about implementing their own policies.
The kneejerk resort to sanctions as the West’s sole meaningful policy tool in an era when their impact has been fatally compromised is a depressing symptom of the malaise in international leadership.
Despite the Biden administration claiming that “extreme sanctions” had brought Tehran’s energy sector to a halt, the US Department of Energy estimated that Iranian oil sales between 2020 and 2022 mushroomed from $17 billion to $54 billion.
A Financial Times investigation in February showed how a state-owned Iranian petrochemicals company, based in the heart of London, had used two of the UK’s biggest banks for a vast globe-straddling sanctions evasion scheme. A New York Times exposé revealed how a fleet of tankers, operating in plain sight, succeeded in obtaining insurance cover from a US company while running a major operation to smuggle a sizable portion of Iran’s oil overseas. These are part of a “ghost fleet” of about 400 foreign-owned oil tankers illegally transporting Iranian hydrocarbons.
Throughout 2022-2023 the US slow-pedalled on sanctions enforcement as it unsuccessfully sought to entice Tehran back into a nuclear deal. As a sign of goodwill, the US naively released $6 billion in frozen Iranian oil money to facilitate the return of five American hostages. The administration feared that cracking down on illicit sales to China could push up oil prices, at a time when it was trying to reduce inflation and living costs ahead of the presidential elections.
Despite the forest of US Treasury sanctions, Iran sends hundreds of millions of dollars every year to regional proxies, and supplies Russia with Shahed-136 drones. Sanctions have also utterly failed to slow inexorable Iranian progress toward developing nuclear weapons. In recent days there were angry Western reactions to Iran installing new cascades of advanced centrifuges at its nuclear sites: expect obligatory announcements of new sanctions to follow.
Russia today is the most heavily sanctioned country on Earth, but its economy in 2024 is forecast to grow faster than those of most Western countries. Semiconductors, advanced technology and luxury goods from Western companies flood into Russia through intermediaries in Central Asia, Turkiye and the UAE. German vehicle exports to impoverished Kyrgyzstan have increased by more than 5,000 percent since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict. According to a Royal United Services Institute report, over 450 foreign-made components were discovered in Russian munitions in Ukraine.
After the outbreak of the Ukraine war, sanctions on Russian exports impacted Western consumers by driving up oil and gas prices and fueling inflation, while Moscow laughed all the way to the bank as it profited from soaring prices of the oil it sold to other buyers. While Russia has become China’s top oil supplier, Chinese exports to Russia including military dual-use technology soared. Within one year, Chinese vehicle sales to Russia ballooned from $6 billion to $23 billion.
However, Washington can hardly lecture China about arming Russia’s blood-soaked war machine while it continues to be the biggest arms supplier to a state accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. America’s use of sanctions against a handful of Israeli settlers is another almost comically crass example of the wrong tool for the wrong problem. In the absence of vigorous, comprehensive enforcement, sanctions are mere bundles of paper in the US Treasury’s archives
With China, Russia and Iran jointly under sanctions, these states have been drawn closer together, establishing networks of companies and financial institutions with zero exposure to Western markets, and shunning trade in the dollar. Iran and China recently moved forward with a series of deals for operationalising their 2021 economic cooperation agreement.
So, just as indiscriminate overuse of antibiotics has produced new generations of super-bacteria with immunity to science’s most potent medical weapons, overreliance on under-enforced sanctions has given birth to a bloc of states comprising a substantial proportion of the world’s population and land mass which are largely immune from sanctions. These states have commensurately sought to attract sizable parts of the developing world under their coat tails. Given worsening US-China tensions, this polarizing trend is set to continue.
In the past 20 years there has been a retreat from alternative diplomatic tools that could have allowed Western nations to exert their overseas influence more strategically. For example, development assistance to the world’s poorest nations has plunged while the number of failing states has increased and the number of displaced people globally has tripled to 120 million since 2012.
While the US was enthusiastically supporting its Israeli ally, billions of dollars earmarked for Ukraine were unedifyingly held up by a gridlocked, dysfunctional Congress, enabling jubilant Russian forces to make unprecedented territorial gains. The US State Department scarcely possesses the mental bandwidth to consider the Iranian nuclear threat, the Sudan conflict, and the firestorm of other concurrent global crises. The inability of US and British forces to prevent ragtag Houthi militias menacing one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes is a perfect example of this planetwide haplessness and impotence.
Whereas in the past Western states collaborated to assertively address global challenges, today a sizable proportion of foreign policy efforts and funds are focused on the reductive goal of defending national borders. Failures to defend and uphold the mechanisms of international law and conflict resolution have consigned us to a lawless global arena.
In the absence of vigorous, comprehensive enforcement, sanctions are mere bundles of paper in the US Treasury’s archives: in a deteriorating international environment, they have become an excuse to refrain from taking real action.
For Western democracies, with their rhetoric about enshrining international justice and human rights and halting overseas aggression, it’s time to responsibly practice what they preach and add pragmatic new solutions to their diplomatic toolbox.
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.