English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 06/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to
the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 17/14-19/:”I
have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not
belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you
to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.
They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify
them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I
have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that
they also may be sanctified in truth.”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on November 05-06/2024
Hezbollah is an occupier, Iranian,
terrorist, jihadist, and an enemy of Lebanon and the Lebanese people./Elias
Bejjani/November 05/2024
Hypocrisy and Deceit/Etienne Sakr – Abu Arz/November 6, 2024
King Salman invites Najib Mikati to attend Arab-Islamic summit aimed at halting
Israeli aggression
Lebanon official says Israeli commandos jammed UNIFIL radar in abduction
operation
Israeli strikes hit south of Beirut and Lebanon's Bekaa region
Reports: Hochstein in Tel Aviv next week to discuss Lebanon deal
Report: Israel withdraws brigades from Lebanon amid talks progress
Israeli airstrike targets apartment in Jiye
What is Israel's next move in Lebanon?
Lebanese Red Cross will try again to remove bodies from a strike site
37 towns razed and 40,000 homes destroyed in south Lebanon
Gallant: Israel in strong position to demand Hezbollah push back its forces
Blinken, Gallant discuss 'ongoing efforts to reach solution in Lebanon'
Iran's FM says Tehran to respond to Israel’s strike in a ‘measured’ way
Lebanese cities reduced to ashes as Qassem talks of ‘victory’/Baria Alamuddin/Arab
News/November 05/2024
Why the Truce Agreement and Not Resolution 1701/Ambassador Dr. Hisham Hamdan/Face
Book/November 05/2024
Harris’s Lebanon pledge shows she’s serious about Middle East peace/Edward
Gabriel, opinion contributor/The Hill/November 5, 2024
Israel’s Priority in its War on Lebanon/Dr. Nassif Hitti/Asharq Al Awsat/November
05/2024
Lebanon: Massive 'Underground Combat Sites'/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone
Institute./November 05/2024
How will the war in Lebanon end?/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Asia Times/November
05/2024
A Message for America: A Free Lebanon Is the Only Path to Truly Stopping
Hezbollah/Hussain Abdul-Hussain & Richard Goldberg/The Algemeiner/November
05/2024
Lebanese Columnist: The Failure Of The Palestinian Authority And The Lebanese
Government To Condemn Hamas' and Hizbullah's Attacks On Israel Is A Political
Fiasco/MEMRI/November 5, 2024
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on November 05-06/2024
Israel’s Netanyahu dismisses defense
minister in surprise announcement
Iran: undressing protest shows how women are still fighting even as morality
laws get harsher
Amnesty demands release of Ahoo Daryaei, who was 'violently arrested' after
stripping off to protest strict Islamic dress code, reports say
Israeli attack targets town in Syria's Homs province, state TV reports
Iran's top diplomat says Tehran would respond to Israel's strike in a 'measured'
way
Iran's foreign minister visits Pakistan to discuss Middle East and bilateral
ties
An Iran official claims Iranian-German prisoner died before being put to death
Iranian female student who stripped in public is 'troubled', says government
An Israeli airstrike kills 20 people in northern Gaza, Palestinian officials say
At least 7 killed in Israeli raid and airstrikes on West Bank
Thirty Palestinians killed in Gaza, Israel issues new evacuation orders
Israel demolishes seven Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem
France’s top diplomat returns to Israel amid calls for ceasefire, humanitarian
law in Gaza
G7 and allies warn Russia over use of North Korean troops in Ukraine
The Houthis couldn't have built their most dangerous weapons without help from
Iran and others, UN experts find
North Korean troops in Russia are shelled by Ukrainian forces, an official says
Argentina’s new foreign minister sworn in on Torah, signals policy shift
Australian foreign minister raises allegations of India targeting Sikhs in
Canada
Two Egyptian pilots killed in helicopter crash in Suez: army
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on November 05-06/2024
In Middle East, EU is an economic giant but
a political dwarf/Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/November 05, 2024
Lessons of the Ukraine crisis for the Middle East and the US/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq
Al-Awsat/November 05, 2024
Israel’s campaign against UNRWA precedes Oct. 7/Dr. Ramzy Baroud/Arab
News/November 05/ 2024
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published
on November 05-06/2024
Hezbollah
is an occupier, Iranian, terrorist, jihadist, and an enemy of Lebanon and the
Lebanese people.
Elias Bejjani/November 05/2024
Every politician, party leader, or religious figure who has claimed—and still
claims—that Hezbollah is Lebanese, liberated the south, resistance and and
embodies its community should be tried for treason.
As for those who consider Hezbollah’s fallen as equal to our own martyrs, they
should be exiled and excommunicated.
Hypocrisy and Deceit
Etienne Sakr – Abu Arz / November 6, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/136544/
The Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati has promised to file a complaint with
the United Nations against Israel following its abduction of Imad Mheiz, a
"Hezbollah" official, from his apartment in the city of Batroun early last
Saturday morning.
Even the least informed person in Lebanon knows that this complaint is purely a
rhetoric futile act, submitted as a mere formality with no real procedural
value. Its purpose is simply to appease the so-called Axis of Resistance, and
its fate will be no different from all similar previous equally trivial
complaints — filed away in the archives or shredded altogether.
The second objective of this sarcastic complaint is to deceive the public into
believing that the Mikati government is committed to the nation’s sovereignty
and the safety of its citizens. In reality, however, it has been hostage for
decades to the Axis of Resistance, represented by Hezbollah, while Lebanon’s
sovereignty is violated continuously from north to south, and from east to its
shores.
This laughable conduct raises a pertinent question: What is the fate of the
hundreds of Lebanese who have been missing in Syrian prisons for decades? Why
have successive Lebanese governments failed to file even a single complaint to
the United Nations against the criminal Syrian regime? And why hasn’t a single
official in this occupied and puppet Lebanese state did not demanded
clarity on the fate of these missing people?
In our view, one of the primary reasons for Lebanon’s ruin lies in the vast
amount of hypocrisy and deceit that the ruling clique has injected into Lebanese
political life since independence to this day.
*(Free translation from Arabic b Elias Bejjani, publisher &
Editor of the LCCC Website)
King Salman invites Najib Mikati to
attend Arab-Islamic summit aimed at halting Israeli aggression
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/November 05, 2024
BEIRUT: The caretaker prime minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, received an
invitation on Tuesday from King Salman bin Abdulaziz to participate in the
extraordinary joint Arab-Islamic summit scheduled for Nov. 11 in Riyadh. The
summit will address Israeli assaults on the Palestinian people and Lebanese
territories, coinciding with an increase in Israeli drone strikes in Beirut,
southern Lebanon and Bekaa, resulting in further civilian casualties. Mikati
received the invitation from Waleed Bukhari, the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon.
The invitation stated that participation in the summit is a “reaffirmation of
Arab and Islamic solidarity in efforts to halt Israeli aggression and to promote
the pursuit of a just resolution to the Palestinian issue, ensuring the rights
of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with East
Jerusalem as its capital.”Israel’s ground war in has completed its 44th day, and
the toll since Hezbollah opened the southern front 13 months ago exceeds 3,000
dead and more than 13,000 wounded. As the assaults diminished in the southern
suburbs of Beirut, residents had the chance to inspect their homes and retrieve
whatever belongings they could. However, the confrontations remained intense in
the southern regions, and airstrikes continued in the south and in the Bekaa
region. Two Israeli airstrikes targeted the Jiyeh area, 28 km south of Beirut,
killing a woman and wounding seven people — who were taken to Sibline
Governmental Hospital. Airstrikes hit a building near Sheikh Ragheb Harb
Hospital in Toul, and a shop in Jwaya. An airstrike on the outskirts of
Bazouriyeh caused injuries, while four people were killed in an Israeli
airstrike in the town of Baflieh in the Tyre district. An elderly woman, Ghadia
Al-Suwaid, who had insisted on staying in her home in the border town of Al-Dhayra
Al-Fawqa, was suspected to have been kidnapped by Israeli soldiers. The woman’s
relatives told the National News Agency that “they entered the town in the
morning and did not find her.” Meanwhile, a Red Cross convoy, in coordination
with UNIFIL, headed to Wata Khiam, also on the border, to complete the recovery
of 15 bodies from rubble after airstrikes hit their home eight days ago. The Red
Cross retrieved five bodies two days ago, but larger machinery was needed to
continue clearing the rubble. An airstrike on the town of Deir Kifa killed two
people and wounded several others. Israeli military vehicles were seen advancing
at the Shebaa Farms toward Al-Sadana heights and Shebaa Gate, where clashes were
reported between Israeli forces and Hezbollah members. On Tuesday morning,
Israeli forces tried to infiltrate Rmeish but were forced to retreat after
clashes with Hezbollah fighters, while in Haris an unknown motorcyclist was
killed in an Israeli airstrike. In Bekaa, an Israeli drone targeted a car on the
road between Hortaala and Talia, carrying a displaced family from Baalbek. The
raid killed three siblings, Nathalie, Raed and Mohammed Naji Dandash, and
wounded their mother, Iman Fawzat Habib, who was transferred to Dar Al Amal
University Hospital. Hezbollah claimed to have struck “a gathering of Israeli
soldiers in Doviv and Ma’ale Golani barracks, and another … in the hills of Kfar
Shuba. We bombed an explosives factory in Hadera, south of Haifa, with a salvo
of qualitative missiles.” Israeli army spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, meanwhile,
claimed that Israeli forces had destroyed “an underground infrastructure of
about 70 meters long and confiscating weapons and rocket launchers in rugged and
underground areas in southern Lebanon.”
Lebanon official says Israeli commandos jammed UNIFIL
radar in abduction operation
AFP/November 05, 2024
BEIRUT: A preliminary probe found that Israeli commandos used a speedboat
equipped with radar-jamming devices to abduct a Lebanese man accused of being a
Hezbollah operative, a Lebanese judicial official told AFP Tuesday. The initial
findings suggest that “the Israeli army used a high-speed vessel equipped with
advanced devices capable of jamming radars” belonging to the United Nations
peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) that monitors the Lebanese coast, the official said,
requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. The probe into the abduction
operation on Saturday is jointly conducted by the Lebanese police and judiciary.
The UN peacekeeping Maritime Task Force has helped Lebanon’s army monitor
territorial waters and prevent the entry of arms or related material by sea
since 2006, according to the mission’s website. Germany has headed UNIFIL’s
maritime taskforce since January 2021.
On Saturday, Israeli naval commandos seized a trainee mariner that a military
official described as a “senior operative” of Hezbollah in a raid in northern
Lebanon and brought him to Israel for questioning. An acquaintance of the
abductee identified him as Imad Amhaz. The man in his thirties was studying to
become a sea captain at the Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute (MARSATI)
in Batroun, Lebanon’s primary training college for the shipping industry.
Lebanese authorities “cannot probe UNIFIL forces or request they provide
information or footage captured by their radars because they have immunity,” the
judicial official said. The official called the abduction “a war crime that
violated national sovereignty” because it involved the kidnapping of a Lebanese
citizen in an area far from the fighting. Israel escalated its air raids on
Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon, Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley on
September 23, after nearly a year of cross-border fire. A week later it sent in
ground troops to southern Lebanon. At least 3,002 people have been killed in
Lebanon since clashes between Hezbollah and Israel began last October, the
health ministry said, including at least 1,964 since September 23, according to
an AFP tally of official figures.
Israeli strikes hit south of Beirut
and Lebanon's Bekaa region
Reuters/November 05/2024
At least one Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building in a beach town south
of Beirut on Tuesday, Lebanese state media said, as other deadly strikes hit
scattered locations across the country and armed group Hezbollah launched
rockets into Israel. The attack on the beach town of Jiyyeh left a massive smoke
column billowing out of an apartment building. It was not immediately clear if
the strike was an assassination attempt, and no evacuation warning was given
before it was carried out. The Israeli military and Iran-backed Hezbollah have
been exchanging fire for over a year in parallel with the Gaza war, but
hostilities have escalated over the last six weeks. More than 3,000 people have
been killed in Lebanon, most of them since late September, according to health
authorities. Israeli strikes on Tuesday also killed five people near the city of
Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, including two killed in a strike on a car,
according to Lebanon's health ministry. Lebanon's state news agency said on
Tuesday that it estimated Israeli air strikes and widespread detonation of homes
had destroyed more than 40,000 housing units in the country's border region.
Reports: Hochstein in Tel Aviv next week to discuss
Lebanon deal
Naharnet./November 05/2024
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will visit Tel Aviv next week to continue the
discussions over the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, Al-Jadeed TV
reported overnight.
“Hochstein's visit to Tel Aviv will be aimed at continuing a previous agreement
with (Israeli PM Benjamin) Netanyahu, who is demanding a guarantee for the
implementation of Resolution 1701,” Al-Jadeed said. MTV also reported that
“Hochstein will visit the Middle East again next week.”
Report: Israel withdraws brigades from Lebanon amid talks progress
Naharnet./November 05/2024
The Israeli army has withdrawn several brigades from south Lebanon amid
“progress” in the ceasefire negotiations, Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper
reported on Tuesday.
“After the officials involved in the negotiations estimated that it is possible
to reach an agreement within a week and a half to two weeks, the army withdrew
several brigades from south Lebanon,” the daily said. “Progress has been made in
the negotiations, especially as to formulating the side document that will
accompany the agreement, which will guarantee the freedom of Israeli military
action in south Lebanon should the mechanism to enforce the ceasefire fail,” the
newspaper added.
Israeli airstrike targets apartment in Jiye
Agence France Presse./November 05/2024
Lebanese state media reported a strike on an apartment in the Jiye coastal area
south of Beirut on Tuesday, more than a month into the Israel-Hezbollah war. The
official National News Agency said "a raid targeted a residential apartment in a
building in the town of Jiye," where an AFP correspondent said a large plume of
grey smoke covered the area. Al-Mayadeen television said a woman was killed and
15 people were wounded in the strike. This is the second Israeli airstrike to
target Jiye since the beginning of the Israel-Hezbollah war in 2023. The first
strike had targeted a center for Hezbollah-affiliated paramedics.
What is Israel's next move in Lebanon?
Naharnet./November 05/2024
The Israeli army will expand ground operations and airstrikes in Lebanon if
there is no ceasefire deal soon, Israel’s Channel 12 has reported. The army will
mobilize forces deeper into Lebanon to clear Hezbollah’s second line of defense,
the report said. Moreover, Israel will not allow Lebanese residents to return to
border-area towns as long as northern Israel residents are not back and the
Israeli army will deploy large forces along the border even after a ceasefire,
the report added.
Lebanese Red Cross will try again to remove bodies from a
strike site
Associated Press./November 05/2024
The Lebanese Red Cross will send another convoy Tuesday to Wata al-Khiam in
southern Lebanon to search for and remove the bodies of 15 people killed in an
Israeli airstrike, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said. Paramedics
accessed the site of the strike two days prior and removed five other bodies,
but needed to return with larger vehicles to remove the rubble. The NNA said the
deployment is in coordination with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in
southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, which is the usual procedure. The Red Cross
did not immediately comment on the news, but expressed concern in recent weeks
over several instances where Israel has struck in or close to areas where they
have deployed paramedics to search for wounded people and casualties. The
Israeli military said it issued warnings to the residents there in late October
to evacuate ahead of strikes on Hezbollah militant targets, and told ambulances
to avoid the area.
37 towns razed and 40,000 homes destroyed in south Lebanon
Naharnet./November 05/2024
The Israeli army has been booby-trapping and destroying entire neighborhoods in
cities and towns in south Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency
reported on Tuesday.
Entire streets and neighborhoods in 37 towns have been wiped out and homes have
been destroyed, NNA said. “More than 40,000 residential units have been
completely destroyed. This is happening in an area three kilometers deep (from
the border) that extends from Naqoura to the outskirts of Khiam,” the agency
added.
Gallant: Israel in strong position to demand Hezbollah push back its forces
Naharnet./November 05/2024
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said that Israel is in a “strong
position” to demand that Hezbollah withdraw from the area south of the Litani
River. “Unlike in 2006, today Israel’s military achievements put us in a strong
position to demand Hezbollah to push back its forces,” Gallant told the
Financial Times. “Their ability to defend themselves in southern Lebanon is
collapsing,” Gallant added.
Blinken, Gallant discuss 'ongoing efforts to reach solution
in Lebanon'
Agence France Presse./November 05/2024
Top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken has held phone talks with Israeli Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant over the situations in Gaza and Lebanon. In his call with
Gallant, Blinken discussed "ongoing efforts to reach a diplomatic resolution in
Lebanon that allows both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to return safely to
their homes," the U.S. State Department said.
Iran's FM says Tehran to respond to Israel’s strike in a
‘measured’ way
Associated Press./November 05/2024
Iran’s foreign minister on Tuesday reiterated that his country does not seek an
escalation in the Middle East but reserved the right to defend itself against
Israel’s attack with a “measured and calculated” response. Iranian officials are
increasingly threatening to launch yet another strike against Israel after its
Oct. 26 attack on the Islamic Republic that targeted military bases and other
locations and killed at least five people. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas
Araghchi, speaking at a news conference during a visit to Pakistan, said that
“unlike the Israeli regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran does not seek
escalation.”“We reserve our inherent rights to legitimate defense under Article
51 of the United Nations Charter and we will certainly respond to the Israeli
aggression in a proper time and in a proper manner in a very measured and very
calculated manner,” he said.
Araghchi met with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who called for an
urgent cease-fire to de-escalate tensions in the region.
Lebanese cities reduced to ashes as Qassem talks of
‘victory’
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/November 05/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/136541/
In a speech that monotonously and mindlessly emphasized the word “victory,” new
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem declared last week: “As we won in July 2006, we
will win today.” But Lebanon never won in 2006 and there is no victory to be
obtained for the Lebanese people in 2024.
Qassem was unable to cite a single benefit that might accrue to Lebanon as a
result of the current carnage. He boasted about the ability of the “resistance”
to strike at an expanded range of Israeli cities, but for every building
Hezbollah rockets hit, Israel destroys another dozen Lebanese villages: about a
quarter of those in the south have already been razed to the ground and the
destruction is spreading northward. As in Gaza, civilians have been forced to
move numerous times, with thousands of people displaced every day as Israel
incessantly widens the number of communities subjected to relentless bombing.
What victory awaits these poor families who have lost everything, including
their children under the debris?
There was a time when many Lebanese would ridicule Hezbollah’s
self-aggrandizing, bellicose rhetoric, but nobody was laughing when Qassem last
week declared: “If the Israelis want to stop, it will be on our terms,” and
Hezbollah “will come out of this even stronger.” Such nonsensical language left
the Lebanese physically repulsed, after so much of the country had been left
homeless and destitute. The horrors of this futile war will permanently
psychologically shatter yet another generation of Lebanese children
Grasping at straws to cite every conceivable encumbrance and annoyance inflicted
upon the enemy, Qassem gloated at a statistic suggesting that 300,000 Israelis
would require psychological assistance after the war — forgetting the millions
of Lebanese who will never receive psychiatric help for the traumas and losses
they are currently enduring. As with the orphans of Gaza, the horrors of this
futile war will permanently psychologically shatter yet another generation of
Lebanese children, combined with the damaging impact of interrupted education.
The continuing elimination of Hezbollah’s leadership leaves it entirely reliant
on Iran and submissive to Iranian orders. There is no longer even a pretense of
responsiveness to national Lebanese priorities after Hezbollah hubristically
picked a fight with the strongest military in the region, backed up by the
strongest superpower on the planet. So much for the “axis of resistance” — the
Houthis, Al-Hashd Al-Sha’abi and the Quds Force clearly cannot and will not come
to Lebanon’s rescue in any meaningful way.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed a “crushing response” to Israel’s latest strikes on
Iran, with some predicting that this retaliation would emanate from Iraq and
Syria, serving only to draw wider swathes of the Arab world into the carnage. It
is high time for Hezbollah and Iran to take stock of their resistance project,
which has proved to be an utter failure and which Israel has dismantled with
such ease and relish.
Contrary to Qassem’s boast that Hezbollah would impose its own terms for peace,
Israel has strengthened its demands: it insists that the smoking remains of the
south remain under some kind of occupation, while American diplomats shuttle
uselessly around the region. Who does Qassem expect will rush in and bankroll
the rebuilding of Lebanon? As winter brings colder, wetter weather, who will
offer shelter, clothing and succor to the hundreds of thousands of forcibly
displaced citizens, about a quarter of the population? The soaring death toll
and widening devastation are bad enough, but Israel and Hezbollah are also
jointly working to erase Lebanon’s history and cultural heritage. Last week,
parts of Baalbek city, the site of one of humankind’s oldest habitations, was
reduced to rubble. Irrespective of US elections and ongoing mediation efforts,
the medium-term outlook is relentlessly grim
As the economy has disintegrated in recent years, Lebanon has endured a vast
exodus of its professionals, young people and creative figures. With the onset
of war, this brain drain has turned into a flood, as everybody who can escape
does so, joining Lebanon’s immense worldwide diaspora. This is an outstanding
country, composed of educated, cultured citizens, with a literate and
sophisticated history stretching back to long before the Phoenicians. Is this
what we have come to? Lebanon’s various communities must unite and figures such
as parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati must
demonstrate that they unambiguously stand in this national camp, for the sake of
Lebanese salvation. Only then can Hezbollah and Iran be forced to accept that
they are on the wrong path toward the annihilation of Lebanon, and Hezbollah
with it.
Despite what Qassem has been led to believe by his Iranian handlers, there is
nothing to be gained by allowing this war to drag on indefinitely. I do not
appeal to Hezbollah’s better nature, I do not even naively ask it to put Lebanon
first: but if only for the sake of not committing collective suicide in service
to a hostile state’s agenda, Hezbollah’s surviving leaders must swallow their
pride and call an immediate halt, while there is still something to be salvaged.
Irrespective of US elections and ongoing mediation efforts, the medium-term
outlook is relentlessly grim, with Israel not even heeding its closest allies’
calls to rein in its offensives, along with fighting rhetoric from both Qassem
and Khamenei. The broader agenda is not just the neutralization of Hezbollah,
but also the depopulation and de facto occupation of south Lebanon, the
decapitation of the Lebanese state and a scorched-earth policy to humiliate the
Arab world. The warmongering agendas of Israel and Iran are as malign as each
other. Qassim should take a long, hard look at the smoking ruins of south
Lebanon: there is no victory for him there.
*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.
Why the Truce Agreement and Not Resolution 1701...
Ambassador Dr. Hisham Hamdan/Face Book/November 05/2024
Israel’s war has significantly escalated, in terms of its geographic scope,
targets, and firepower over the month. This escalation is open-ended, with
Lebanon replacing Gaza as Israel’s priority. The war leaves us with the
following options:
First: The continuation of the war, which is the policy of Netanyahu and his
government, with phases of contained escalation and (possibly) de-escalation- a
perpetual war of attrition aimed at achieving maximalist Israeli objectives,
primarily to get rid of Hezbollah, or rather, destroy its capabilities and
capacities. This would significantly reduce its ability to deter Israel and wage
war against it. Achieving this high bar would mean removing Hezbollah as a
military by striking all of its military, intelligence, and other capabilities.
One way in which this pursuit has manifested itself in Israel’s acts in Syria,
incorporating it into the war, especially through attacks on Hezbollah and its
allies' capabilities deep inside Syria, including their bases and arms depots.
The conditions that could push relevant actors to end the war have yet to
emerge. None of the capable parties are currently interested in completely
halting the Israeli assault or taking practical steps to undermine those
objectives, with the United States supporting some, if not all, of Israel’s
regional goals. Other Western powers that could significantly influence Israel’s
position also align back some of these goals to varying degrees, though they
have made their push in this regard collectively.
Second: The conflict snowballs into a fully-fledged regional war between Israel
and Iran and its allies, with the arena extending from the Gulf to the Red Sea
and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. This war would change the face of the
region, and no one can anticipate its dimensions or its broad strategic
repercussions for the Middle East. This scenario could emerge despite Iran's
reluctance to be dragged into a direct or open war on one hand, and the US
pressures on its Israeli ally to contain the scale of its "deterrence
operations" against Iran, on the other hand. Such a war could redraw spheres of
influence in the Middle East and end up giving rise to shifts of a largely
similar magnitude to those that followed the fall of Iraq in 2003.
Third: A return to the status quo that had prevailed before the support war in
the South- the unwritten rules that limited the application of US Resolution
1701, with Israel violating the terms of the Resolution by air, sea, and even on
land while Hezbollah maintains an “invisible” military south of the Litani
River, only becomes visible when necessary. The parties to the unity of the
arenas are betting on this strategy’s ability to drain Israel and hinder it from
achieving its goals, with hostilities ending through a new understanding
regarding the “gradual” implementation of Resolution 1701, as had been the case
before.
This understanding would add cosmetic changes to the previous arrangement. Such
a development would create necessary, albeit insufficient, conditions for
reshaping Lebanese politics, ending the deadly vacuum, electing a president, and
forming a government.
Fourth: Full implementation of Resolution 1701, which for Lebanon, means
Hezbollah removing military assets south of the Litani River, with the Lebanese
army- with more robust cooperation with UNIFIL- taking control of the region.
This would strip the party of, or significantly weaken, its most important
strategic asset: the ability to escalate against Israel. Its capacity to do so
has significant regional implications for Hezbollah and its ally or patron,
Iran, as we have seen recently with the unity of arenas strategy, which has been
practically implemented in the Lebanese arena amid minimal and symbolic
involvement of the "arenas" of Iraq or Yemen.
Meanwhile, as a state, Syria has remained neutral, although its territories are
part of the strategic combat theater of the "Lebanese arena." Meanwhile, the
patron, Iran, has maintained a distance and avoided active participation. This
option (the full and actual implementation of Resolution 1701) requires indirect
agreement between the powers backing the parties waging the conflict, as well as
mediation, incentives, and support from relevant international and regional
parties. This scenario would engender a qualitative shift in the course and
nature of the conflict for all parties. Lebanon would no longer be a theater for
the exchanges of foreign powers, allowing the state to assume its national
responsibility to make decisions of war and peace, with all the representatives
of the country’s communities involved in this process, thereby reinstating the
authority of the state and its institutions.
It's not enough to condemn Israeli practices; We should also support the voice
of reason and call for a two-state solution. We condemn using Lebanese territory
to launch missiles by Iranian officers against Israel. We condemn the killing,
destruction of villages, cities, and buildings, and displacement of our
citizens; We demand that the truce agreement of 1949 be revived . The truce
agreement prevents military clashes between Lebanon and Israel under UN
sponsorship and, according to Chapter Seven, places border security under the
responsibility of the legitimate governments of both countries and their
official armies, with international monitoring. Resolution 1701 refers to
numerous previous UN decisions, including the truce agreement. However, it
inclusively recognizes the de facto forces and sets rules for engagement between
them and Israel. This resolution apparently places the security of the South in
the hands of the army and international forces, but it doesn't help effectively
restore Lebanese Sovereignty. We blame the United States for its biased stand by
seeking to cover the truce agreement and push forward resolution 1701, to serve
its regional politics and ambitions. Both the US and Iran keep Lebanon an open
battlefield for their regional confrontation. Lebanon, with the complicity of
its revolutionary leaders, was once an arena for the Arab-Israeli conflict, so
why shouldn't it remain an arena for the cultural conflict between the Shia
Supreme Leader and the Muslim Brotherhood with Israel? Those of us who demanded
the restore of the Truce Agreement have become targets for accusations by
Hezbollah followers and are shunned by American agents in the country. Our
rejection of war within our weak nation is not heard, nor is our commitment to
our obligations as a member of the international community, with our national
army alone as the national force to fulfill our commitments and restore our
nation's sovereignty. The "resistance" followers reject undoubtedly the Truce
Agreement. Resolution 1701 is seen as the fruit of victory and heroism, placing
the role of the state and army in their service, contributing to the so-called
balance of terror. The Truce Agreement stands as an obstacle to an open front in
South Lebanon that could bring their slogan of "Liberating Jerusalem" and
Palestine true. It doesn’t matter if Lebanon is the only open arena, This is an
honor as the other Arab countries are defeated. We are outcasts to American
mouthpieces in our country because we insist on reviving this agreement. The US
forgets the historical role of Lebanon as a bridge between Western Culture and
The Arabs. The US administration looks only to serve Israel while they can serve
both sides equally. The Truce Agreement builds a strong base for peaceful and
healthy relations between the two sides.
Opinion - Harris’s Lebanon pledge shows she’s serious
about Middle East peace
Edward Gabriel, opinion contributor/The Hill/November 5, 2024
My father came to the U.S. from Lebanon as a child. He was proud of being an
American and joined the U.S. military at the beginning of World War I, having
exaggerated his age because he was too young. He was too old for combat during
World War II, but again he exaggerated his age in the opposite direction to
serve his country during the war. Following World War II, my father held
blue-collar jobs and died when I was seven, leaving my mother to struggle to
make ends meet for her and her two children by working as a department store
clerk. My sister and I were the first to go to high school and college in our
family. I was able to fulfill the American dream, even becoming a U.S.
ambassador. The post-World War II order our parents’ generation created provides
Americans peace, stability and a strong and prosperous middle class, which must
be protected and defended. I am convinced that the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz team
will ensure the American way of life and bridge us to the next generation of
leadership. Arab Americans are angry about the war in Gaza and Israeli
incursions and destruction in Lebanon, and they should be.
It’s far past time for a cease-fire and hostage deal. As the months of this war
roll on, it has become evident that the president has no partner for peace in
Benjamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, thousands of innocent Palestinians have been
killed and the hostages remain in captivity.
Vice President Harris has exhibited strong leadership with our allies and
partners in the Middle East to protect our interests and prevent the further
suffering of more innocent victims.
She forcefully called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza in March. Following
her meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu after replacing President Biden on the
ticket, Harris said that it is time for the war in Gaza to end and for the
Palestinian people to exercise their right to freedom, dignity and
self-determination. She said she will not be silenced, and she has not been.
Just a few weeks ago, she called out Israel for failing to let aid into Northern
Gaza and was clear that international humanitarian law must be respected. And,
following the death of Yahya Sinwar, she spoke clearly about the responsibility
to finally end the war. As a retired U.S. ambassador, I have spent decades
committed to helping Lebanese Americans prosper here in the U.S., and have
worked to help the people of Lebanon access peace and stability. I met Vice
President Harris face-to-face in Flint, Mich., a few weeks ago and told her
about the concerns of the Lebanese American community. She assured me that she
was working toward a diplomatic solution for Lebanon, and the following day
issued a statement about her concern for the Lebanese people, noting that
humanitarian aid would be increased. We also discussed the need for Lebanon to
elect an internationally respected president, as well as building up the
Lebanese Armed Forces to enable them to protect the country’s sovereignty from
malign actors. Importantly, we discussed how critical it is to find a
sustainable solution to bring peace to Lebanon’s borders and address the
Lebanese people’s desire to build an independent, democratic and prosperous
country.
The vice president has listened to the concerns of Lebanese Americans worried
about their families and friends trapped by a devastating war. Working with the
Harris team, these pleas were heard.
This month the Biden-Harris administration announced new actions to provide
temporary immigration reprieve to eligible Lebanese nationals currently in the
U.S., and the opportunity to request work authorization as part of the Deferred
Enforced Departure and Temporary Protected Status programs. These actions show
us that Harris is a strong leader who listens and executes decisions based on a
complete understanding of the needs of our communities. The alternative is
Donald Trump, who has said nothing of substance regarding Lebanon and his
comment to the Israelis concerning the Israeli-Gaza war was, “finish the job”!
Harris is the person we need now as president. We know the Harris-Walz team will
protect our American freedoms and the rule of law embedded in our constitution,
regardless of gender, economic status or ethnic background. Harris will ensure
our freedom and way of life.
Edward Gabriel is a former U.S. ambassador to Morocco, 1997-2001.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Israel’s Priority in its War on Lebanon
Dr. Nassif Hitti/Asharq Al Awsat/November 05/2024
Israel’s war has significantly escalated, in terms of its geographic scope,
targets, and firepower over the month. This escalation is open-ended, with
Lebanon replacing Gaza as Israel’s priority. The war leaves us with the
following options:
First: The continuation of the war, which is the policy of Netanyahu and his
government, with phases of contained escalation and (possibly) de-escalation- a
perpetual war of attrition aimed at achieving maximalist Israeli objectives,
primarily to get rid of Hezbollah, or rather, destroy its capabilities and
capacities. This would significantly reduce its ability to deter Israel and wage
war against it. Achieving this high bar would mean removing Hezbollah as a
military by striking all of its military, intelligence, and other capabilities.
One way in which this pursuit has manifested itself in Israel’s acts in Syria,
incorporating it into the war, especially through attacks on Hezbollah and its
allies' capabilities deep inside Syria, including their bases and arms depots.
The conditions that could push relevant actors to end the war have yet to
emerge. None of the capable parties are currently interested in completely
halting the Israeli assault or taking practical steps to undermine those
objectives, with the United States supporting some, if not all, of Israel’s
regional goals. Other Western powers that could significantly influence Israel’s
position also align back some of these goals to varying degrees, though they
have made their push in this regard collectively.
Second: The conflict snowballs into a fully-fledged regional war between Israel
and Iran and its allies, with the arena extending from the Gulf to the Red Sea
and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. This war would change the face of the
region, and no one can anticipate its dimensions or its broad strategic
repercussions for the Middle East. This scenario could emerge despite Iran's
reluctance to be dragged into a direct or open war on one hand, and the US
pressures on its Israeli ally to contain the scale of its "deterrence
operations" against Iran, on the other hand. Such a war could redraw spheres of
influence in the Middle East and end up giving rise to shifts of a largely
similar magnitude to those that followed the fall of Iraq in 2003.
Third: A return to the status quo that had prevailed before the support war in
the South- the unwritten rules that limited the application of US Resolution
1701, with Israel violating the terms of the Resolution by air, sea, and even on
land while Hezbollah maintains an “invisible” military south of the Litani
River, only becomes visible when necessary. The parties to the unity of the
arenas are betting on this strategy’s ability to drain Israel and hinder it from
achieving its goals, with hostilities ending through a new understanding
regarding the “gradual” implementation of Resolution 1701, as had been the case
before.
This understanding would add cosmetic changes to the previous arrangement. Such
a development would create necessary, albeit insufficient, conditions for
reshaping Lebanese politics, ending the deadly vacuum, electing a president, and
forming a government.
Fourth: Full implementation of Resolution 1701, which for Lebanon, means
Hezbollah removing military assets south of the Litani River, with the Lebanese
army- with more robust cooperation with UNIFIL- taking control of the region.
This would strip the party of, or significantly weaken, its most important
strategic asset: the ability to escalate against Israel. Its capacity to do so
has significant regional implications for Hezbollah and its ally or patron,
Iran, as we have seen recently with the unity of arenas strategy, which has been
practically implemented in the Lebanese arena amid minimal and symbolic
involvement of the "arenas" of Iraq or Yemen. Meanwhile, as a state, Syria has
remained neutral, although its territories are part of the strategic combat
theater of the "Lebanese arena." Meanwhile, the patron, Iran, has maintained a
distance and avoided active participation. This option (the full and actual
implementation of Resolution 1701) requires indirect agreement between the
powers backing the parties waging the conflict, as well as mediation,
incentives, and support from relevant international and regional parties. This
scenario would engender a qualitative shift in the course and nature of the
conflict for all parties. Lebanon would no longer be a theater for the exchanges
of foreign powers, allowing the state to assume its national responsibility to
make decisions of war and peace, with all the representatives of the country’s
communities involved in this process, thereby reinstating the authority of the
state and its institutions.
Lebanon: Massive 'Underground Combat
Sites'
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute./November 05/2024
"Hezbollah's model is the same as the North Korean model: tunnels in which
hundreds of combatants, fully equipped, can pass stealthily and rapidly
underground. In our opinion, Hezbollah's 'Land of the Tunnels' project is much
larger than the Hamas 'metro' project in the Gaza Strip." — Alma Research and
Education Center, July 2021.
These tunnels facilitate the movement of heavy equipment, missiles and fighters,
and even allow missiles to be launched from within.
Built beneath the border between Lebanon and Syria, these tunnels allow
Hezbollah's smuggling unit and the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard's Quds
Force to transport ammunition, supplies and fighters under the border.
Many of these tunnels are located beneath civilian infrastructure and populated
areas, using civilians as human shields for their activities.
Some of the houses in Lebanon were destroyed by Hezbollah's own rockets and
explosives after they were targeted by the IDF. "The explosions are caused by
Hezbollah's own weapons. In other words, Hezbollah's tunnels are being used to
blow up Lebanon. Hezbollah is displacing, starving and robbing the Lebanese." —
Mohammed Al-Obaid, Arab social media user, X, October 31, 2024.
Hezbollah and Hamas bear full responsibility for the death of thousands of
Lebanese, Palestinians and Israelis since the October 7, 2023 massacres in which
Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis. The two terrorist groups started the war, at the
behest of their patrons in Iran, with the intention of killing a large number of
Israelis and eliminating Israel. The vast network of tunnels they built in
Lebanon and the Gaza Strip are an indication of the terrorist groups'
determination to pursue their Jihad (holy war) against Israel, notwithstanding
the risks to the Lebanese and Palestinian people living under their rule.
Even if Hezbollah says it will withdraw to north of the Litani River, the
tunnels enable it easily to violate that pledge, with no one above ground the
wiser. Hezbollah, moreover, never abided by UNSC Resolution 1701 to stop
building tunnels and stockpiling weapons in south Lebanon.
The current war in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip must not end without the
destruction of all the tunnels and the total defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas.
Those who are pushing for an immediate ceasefire are only empowering Iran and
its terror proxies, paving the way for another October 7-style massacre. The
defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas will benefit not only the Israelis, but the
Lebanese and Palestinians, as well.
Hezbollah's tunnels in Lebanon facilitate the movement of heavy equipment,
missiles and fighters, and some even allow missiles to be launched from within.
Many of the tunnels are located beneath civilian infrastructure and populated
areas, using civilians as human shields for Hezbollah activities. Pictured:
Israeli soldiers at a shaft leading into a Hezbollah tunnel near Naqoura,
Lebanon, on October 13, 2024.
The Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah, as part of its preparations
for war with Israel, spent the past 15 years building a vast network of tunnels
in Lebanon. Some of the tunnels were supposed to be used for invading Israel to
carry out atrocities against Israelis like the ones committed by Hamas, another
Iran terror proxy, on October 7, 2023.
At a time when Lebanon faced a severe financial situation, Hezbollah invested
hundreds of millions of dollars in the construction of the tunnels. Reuters
reported in 2022:
"Lebanon is grappling with a deep economic crisis after successive governments
piled up debt following the 1975-1990 civil war with little to show for their
spending binge.
"Banks, central to the service-oriented economy, are paralysed. Savers have been
locked out of dollar accounts or told that funds they can access are now worth a
fraction of their original value. The currency has crashed, driving a swathe of
the population into poverty."
The funds used to build the tunnels could have alleviated Lebanon's financial
crisis, but Hezbollah chose instead to invest in preparing for war and terror
attacks against Israel.
According to some reports, Iran and North Korea helped Hezbollah set up a
project forming a network of "inter-regional" tunnels in Lebanon, a network
significantly larger than the Hamas tunnels. According to a 2021 report by the
Alma Research and Education Center:
"Various reports indicate that in the late 1980s, and even more so after the
Second Lebanon War (2006), North Korea advisors significantly assisted
Hezbollah's tunnel project.... Hezbollah, inspired and supported by the
Iranians, saw North Korea as a professional authority on the subject of
tunneling, based on the extensive experience that it had accumulated in building
tunnels for military use since the 1950s...
"Hezbollah's model is the same as the North Korean model: tunnels in which
hundreds of combatants, fully equipped, can pass stealthily and rapidly
underground....
"In our opinion, Hezbollah's 'Land of the Tunnels' project is much larger than
the Hamas 'metro' project in the Gaza Strip."
In October, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) discovered a tunnel in southern
Lebanon that was intended by Hezbollah for use as a staging ground, where
hundreds of terror operatives would arrive when called, pick up their equipment
and weapons, and ready themselves to attack Israeli towns.
A reporter who visited the site wrote:
"The underground site — dug into a mountain — was some 2 kilometers [1.2 miles]
in length. It reached depths of around 40 meters [130 feet] in some areas, and
the hallways themselves were more than two meters [6.5 feet] high. In fact, it
was the largest tunnel found by the [Israeli] army in southern Lebanon to date."
Brig. Gen. Guy Levy, commander of the IDF's 98th Division, was quoted as saying:
"This isn't a 'tunnel,' it's an underground combat site, extremely significant,
which the enemy constructed over years for the purpose of an invasion of Israel
— we estimate targeting the northern [Israeli] towns."
The current IDF operation in southern Lebanon foiled Hezbollah's plan to invade
Israel. Many of the terrorist organization's tunnels have been destroyed by IDF
troops. It is believed, however, that there are still many tunnels in many parts
of Lebanon that have not yet been discovered by the IDF.
"Much is unknown about the Hezbollah tunnels," according to a report by Patrick
Sullivan, John Spencer and John Amble, published by the Modern War Institute at
West Point.
"Like the Hamas tunnels in Gaza that Israeli forces have contended with during
their military campaign there, the only way to know for sure how many tunnels
there are—and their scale, form, and purposes—is discovering them on the ground.
"Still, there are some publicly known details about Hezbollah's tunnel network.
Some experts believe the group started digging tunnels in southern Lebanon as
early the mid-1980s, when Israel withdrew from most of the Lebanese territory it
had occupied since its 1982 invasion to a limited strip along the southern
border with Israel. When Israeli forces later withdrew fully, in 2000, Hezbollah
continued to dig. Its fighters used tunnels extensively during the 2006 Second
Lebanon War....
"In late 2018, Israel initiated Operation Northern Shield to find and destroy
Hezbollah cross-border tunnels. Israel found six such major attack tunnels
intended to allow thousands of Hezbollah fighters to flow into Israel during
some type of invasion."
The report added out that there are major differences between Hamas and
Hezbollah tunnels:
"While some of the functions may be the same, the geology, construction,
location, scale, and primary purposes are completely different.
"Southern Lebanon consists of hilly, rocky terrain, requiring Hezbollah to dig
with drills into solid rock over months and years to create single tunnels. In
Gaza, by contrast, sandy sediment allows for digging with simple hand tools,
making tunnels quicker to dig but also requiring large amounts of concrete to
reinforce them. Hezbollah's rocky tunnel construction also makes them extremely
sturdy, which affects which bunker-busting munitions can reach the tunnels. In
addition to running under civilian areas and wooded ground, many of Hezbollah's
tunnels and bunkers are inside mountains. The geographic scale and the variety
of terrain pose a different challenge than the network of Hamas tunnels under
flat and very dense urban terrain.
"While Hezbollah uses human shields by building tunnels under civilian homes,
unlike Hamas tunnels, the Hezbollah tunnels are not almost exclusively under
civilian urban areas or used as the center of gravity by attempting to cause the
maximum civilian deaths on the surface to achieve their political goal in wars."
Hezbollah's tunnel system is estimated to span hundreds of kilometers, with some
tunnels reaching depths of 40-80 meters beneath rocky terrain, serving as a
complex military infrastructure. Like Hamas's tunnel network in Gaza,
Hezbollah's tunnel network includes several types of tunnels:
Offensive Tunnels: These tunnels cross from Lebanon into Israel.
Approach Tunnels: Dug near the border with Israel, these tunnels enable
Hezbollah forces to secretly advance from villages in southern Lebanon to within
meters of the Israeli border, allowing them to launch extensive attacks similar
to Hamas's October 7 offensive. These tunnels were prepared for a potential
operation to capture the Galilee area in northern Israel.
Tactical Tunnels: Built in villages and various locations in southern Lebanon,
these tunnels serve for guerrilla warfare against Israeli forces, storing
ammunition, command centers, and underground bases to prepare Hezbollah for an
attack on Israel.
Explosive Tunnels: Short tunnels, filled with explosives, located near Israeli
military positions on the border or underneath villages in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah intends to detonate them during an assault on Israel or in guerrilla
fighting against Israeli forces.
Strategic Tunnels: Massive tunnels, some extending tens of kilometers,
connecting Hezbollah's strongholds and command centers across Lebanon. There is
reportedly a large tunnel linking the Bekaa Valley to Beirut, with similar
tunnels under Beirut's Dahiya district, where Hezbollah leaders like Hassan
Nasrallah and Hashem Safi al-Din were located. These tunnels facilitate the
movement of heavy equipment, missiles and fighters, and even allow missiles to
be launched from within.
Smuggling Tunnels: Built beneath the border between Lebanon and Syria, these
tunnels allow Hezbollah's smuggling unit and the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guard's Quds Force to transport ammunition, supplies and fighters under the
border.
Many of these tunnels are located beneath civilian infrastructure and populated
areas, using civilians as human shields for their activities.
Recent videos of IDF operations in Lebanon show the danger of these tunnels, as
their destruction has caused damage to buildings above them in Lebanese villages
where the IDF has operated. Some tunnels were discovered near bases used by the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in southern Lebanon. UNIFIL
forces have failed to carry out their mission of implementing UN Security
Council Resolution 1701, which requires them to prevent the presence of armed
elements of Hezbollah south of the Lebanon's Litani River. UNSC Resolution 1701,
adopted in 2006, calls for the withdrawal of Hezbollah from south of the Litani
River and the disarming of Hezbollah and other armed groups. It also stresses
that no armed forces other than UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces will be
south of the Litani River.
Even if Hezbollah says it will withdraw to north of the Litani River, the
tunnels enable it easily to violate that pledge, with no one above ground the
wiser. Hezbollah, moreover, never abided by UNSC Resolution 1701 to stop
building tunnels and stockpiling weapons in south Lebanon.
Now, some Lebanese and other Arabs are beginning to denounce Hezbollah for
building tunnels and storing weapons in villages in Lebanon.
"The Hezbollah terrorist bastards built tunnels under the villages to store
weapons, and every day they are being blown up [by the IDF]," noted Arab social
media user Al-Umda Obadi on X.
Another Arab social media user called Mohammed Al-Obaid pointed out that some of
the houses in Lebanon were destroyed by Hezbollah's own rockets and explosives
after they were targeted by the IDF.
"The explosions are caused by Hezbollah's own weapons. In other words,
Hezbollah's tunnels are being used to blow up Lebanon. Hezbollah is displacing,
starving and robbing the Lebanese."
Hezbollah and Hamas bear full responsibility for the death of thousands of
Lebanese, Palestinians and Israelis since the October 7, 2023 massacres in which
Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis. The two terrorist groups started the war, at the
behest of their patrons in Iran, with the intention of killing a large number of
Israelis and eliminating Israel. The vast network of tunnels they built in
Lebanon and the Gaza Strip are an indication of the terrorist groups'
determination to pursue their Jihad (holy war) against Israel, notwithstanding
the risks to the Lebanese and Palestinian people living under their rule.
The current war in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip must not end without the
destruction of all the tunnels and the total defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas.
Those who are pushing for an immediate ceasefire are only empowering Iran and
its terror proxies, paving the way for another October 7-style massacre. The
defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas will benefit not only the Israelis, but the
Lebanese and Palestinians, as well.
**Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East. His work is made
possible through the generous donation of a couple of donors who wished to
remain anonymous. Gatestone is most grateful.
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
How will the war in Lebanon end?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Asia Times/November 05/2024
Hezbollah, Hamas seem slow to realize Israel’s military successes have decimated
their populations and changed the status quo.
After some optimism that lasted less than 24 hours, Hezbollah and Israel seem as
far from a ceasefire as ever, which begs the question: How else will the war
end?
Earlier in the week, the Israeli army had declared its mission accomplished and
removed protective barriers it had set up against Hezbollah’s Anti-Tank Guided
Missiles (ATGM) in Israel’s northernmost towns, near the Lebanese border. The
moves signaled Israel’s confidence that its campaign to neutralize the
Iran-backed militia’s threat was going as planned. Yet Hezbollah’s
high-trajectory fire continued. Israel, in effect, has been fighting two wars
against the Iran-backed Lebanese militia. The first war, now seemingly over, was
particular to Israeli communities that live within of 5,500 meters (3.4 miles)
from the border, the range of Hezbollah’s hand-held ATGMs. The border itself
posed another threat. After Hamas burst out of the Gaza Strip and massacred
1,200 Israelis, on October 7, 2023, Israelis lost faith in security fences like
the one that separated them from Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s ATGMs and the unreliable border fence forced the displacement of
over 60,000 Israeli northerners. While Israel wanted to repopulate its north,
fastest, the relatively small size of its army forced it to wait until it had
overcome Hamas’s threat in the south. On October 1, Israel launched a ground
maneuver with the goal of clearing Lebanese territory from Hezbollah, both under
and above ground. The Jewish state has lost close to 70 troops since and has
pushed up to three kilometers inside Lebanon, thus neutralizing Hezbollah’s ATGM
threat. Then, to keep this threat away, and given the absence of a reliable
Lebanese government that can control its side of the border, the Jewish state
will likely hold Lebanese territory until further notice.
If Beirut complains against occupation, Jerusalem may offer the Lebanese a
trade: Disband Hezbollah and enter into a security arrangement, then take your
land back. Until then, Israel will have to maintain this territory as a buffer
zone— a no-man’s land. Israel is fighting another war with Hezbollah, one in
which the Iran-backed militia uses high-trajectory fire to hit anywhere in
Israel. In response, Israel has been hitting missile stockpile depots and
eliminating Hezbollah’s chain of command. The Jewish state has also imposed an
arms embargo on resupply shipments from Iran to its proxy militia, on land and
via air to the Beirut airport. To deny Israel victory, Hezbollah and Hamas have
usually set two metrics: Israel’s inability to kill the militias’ leaders, and
its failure to stop high-trajectory fire on Israel. Hezbollah added a third
metric: It promised Israel that it would not be able to bring its citizens back
to their northern towns without a political settlement on the militia’s terms.
Hamas also added a third metric: Israel would not be able to free some 100
hostages that the Palestinians kidnapped on October 7, without Israeli
concessions on hard-earned security achievements. But since October 7, 2023,
Israel has managed to largely crush the “victory” metrics of both Hezbollah and
Hamas. It has decimated the leadership of both militias. In Gaza, Israel has
also managed to eliminate the high-trajectory fire threat. Estimates suggest
that, since October 7, Hamas has fired over 20,000 rockets on Israel. By August
2024, however, Hamas had depleted its reserves. Its launches became few and far
between. Hezbollah’s missile stockpile was much bigger, estimated at 150,000
before the war. By October 2024, Hezbollah’s stock had reportedly fallen to
27,000. If Hezbollah maintains its daily average launches of 100 projectiles,
its missiles will last until early July, after which the militia’s high
projectile fire withers away.
Without the ability to shoot across the border or throw missiles on Israel, the
very existence of Hezbollah will become irrelevant. For Israel to preserve its
gains, however, it will have to either continue to police and prevent arms
resupply to Hezbollah and Hamas, while holding onto a buffer zone inside both
Lebanon and Gaza, or the Lebanese and the Palestinians will have to produce
responsible governments that take the war keys out of the hands of their
militias. World and Arab capitals can play an instrumental role in helping and
guiding both the Lebanese and Palestinians from living under militias to
standing up for reliable governments. But the Lebanese and the Palestinians have
to want such an outcome first, and to ask for it. After all, one can only lead a
horse to the river, but can never make it drink. Hezbollah and Hamas seem slow
to realize that Israel’s military successes have resulted in disasters for their
populations and a change in the status quo. The militias seem to think that they
can turn back the clock to October 6, 2023, a vintage “resistance” way of
wishful thinking that has hampered peace and produced wars over the past
century.
**Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense
of Democracies (FDD).
https://asiatimes.com/2024/11/how-will-the-war-in-lebanon-end/
A Message for America: A Free Lebanon Is the Only Path
to Truly Stopping Hezbollah
Hussain Abdul-Hussain & Richard Goldberg/The Algemeiner/November 05/2024
On Thursday, White House officials returned from a visit to Israel, in a
last-ditch effort to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which now
looks unlikely to happen before this week’s presidential election. After the
election, for any diplomatic path to be viable, the world first needs to see
Lebanon establish a new anti-Hezbollah government that demands Hezbollah
surrender its arms to the Lebanese Armed Forces.
The first obstacle to that happening is the virtual non-existence of the
Lebanese state. The country’s presidency, reserved for a Christian Maronite, has
been vacant since the tenure of Michel Aoun ended in 2022. Without a president,
the cabinet of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni Muslim, has served in an
interim capacity. The only state official serving his term is Speaker Nabih
Berri, a Shia Muslim allied with Hezbollah, who was re-elected in 2022 for a
fifth consecutive four-year term. Lacking the votes for Hezbollah’s preferred
candidate, Berri has shut down Lebanon’s parliament to prevent a presidential
election and the formation of a cabinet. Berri did this once before, in 2014,
keeping parliament closed for two years until Hezbollah got its man, Aoun,
elected president.
Hezbollah remains adamant on installing loyalists to run the Lebanese
government, because the terror group’s existence is politically untenable
without state approval. If the Lebanese ever managed to build a coalition that
demanded Hezbollah to surrender its arms to the Lebanese military, the terror
militia would become an outlaw. Something like that happened in 2004, when a
sweeping Lebanese coalition forced Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to withdraw
his troops from Lebanon after 28 years of occupation. The next year, Lebanon’s
former prime minister was assassinated.
Despite Israel unilaterally withdrawing from southern Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah
— in coordination with Assad — claimed that a sliver of territory that Israel
had taken from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War was Lebanese, establishing a false
pretext for the group’s continued armament.
Then-Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, who planned to turn his country into a
services hub at peace with its neighbors, revolted — along with a coterie of
oligarchs. Washington and Paris rushed to their support in 2004, passing UN
Security Council Resolution 1559, which demanded that Assad withdraw and
Hezbollah disarm. Despite threats, Hariri stood his ground and was assassinated
in February 2005. The crime backfired: It solidified Lebanon’s national
consensus, forcing the Syrian dictator to pull out in April.
To deflect Lebanese pressure, Hezbollah triggered a war with Israel in 2006 that
ended with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which not only reaffirmed 1559,
but instructed a 10,000-strong UN peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, to help keep
Lebanon militia-free south of the Litani River.
But Hezbollah sent “villagers” hurling rocks at peacekeepers, and burned tires
to stop the UN force from inspecting suspected Hezbollah arms depots. The
villagers even killed some UNIFIL personnel.
Hezbollah built massive fortifications, at times tens of yards away from
UNIFIL’s observation towers. Those bunkers were to serve as launchpads for
invading northern Israel, like Hamas’s October 7 attack that killed 1,200
people.
The 20-year anniversary of Resolution 1559 has come and gone. Iran spent two
decades building up Hezbollah’s capabilities and cemented its control of the
Lebanese state, driving Lebanon’s economy into the ground in the process. The
US, France, and the UN all failed to change this trajectory.
But something has happened over the last few weeks. In response to a year of
non-stop attacks on northern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces decimated
Hezbollah’s leadership and degraded its capabilities to such an extent that
Lebanon has a window to replicate the consensus that ejected Assad. The White
House is now pushing a framework where Israel would halt its military operations
in southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese military would oversee Hezbollah’s
withdrawal to north of the Litani River. But if the Lebanese state remains
politically controlled by Hezbollah, the agreement will end the same way as
Resolutions 1559 and 1701: Non-enforcement and Hezbollah’s resurgence. If the
United States wants to find a viable diplomatic path in Lebanon, it needs to
work with willing Lebanese leaders to reclaim Lebanon’s sovereignty from
Hezbollah and free Beirut from Tehran’s yoke. That starts with the election of a
new anti-Hezbollah Lebanese president.
*Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies where Mr. Goldberg is a senior adviser.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2024/11/04/a-message-for-america-a-free-lebanon-is-the-only-path-to-truly-stopping-hezbollah/
Lebanese Columnist: The Failure Of The Palestinian
Authority And The Lebanese Government To Condemn Hamas' and Hizbullah's Attacks
On Israel Is A Political Fiasco
MEMRI/November 5, 2024
Lebanon | Special Dispatch No. 11653
In his October 23, 2024 column in the London-based Emirati daily Al-Arab, titled
"Lebanon Is Not Hizbullah and Palestine Is Not Hamas," Lebanese journalist
Khairallah Khairallah harshly criticized the Palestinian Authority (PA) and
Lebanon's interim government for lacking the political courage to condemn Hamas'
and Hizbullah's attacks against Israel. Such a condemnation, he says, could have
prevented the tragic harm suffered by the people of Gaza and Lebanon.
According to Khairallah, the PA leadership "failed the test of the Al-Aqsa
Flood" and acted irresponsibly when it refrained from unequivocally condemning
Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack and when the PLO, headed by President Mahmoud
Abbas, called Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar a "national hero" in the eulogy it
issued after his death. Khairallah directed similar criticism at Lebanon's
interim government, which he said took a hesitant stance on Hizbullah's full
subservience to Iran and on its decision to attack Israel from South Lebanon. He
clarified, however, that the Lebanese government – unlike the PA – has recently
come to its senses and begun expressing "courageous positions" against the
Iranian involvement in the country.
Khairallah stressed that there is need for a new Palestinian political
leadership that can convince the world that "Palestine is not Hamas" and that
not all Palestinians are masked and armed gunmen. Similarly, there is need for
an official Lebanese statement declaring that Lebanon is neither synonymous with
Hizbullah nor an Iranian colony.
The following are excerpts from Khairallah's article:[1]
"The [Palestinian] National Authority [i.e., the PA] failed the test of the 'Al-Aqsa
Flood,' which could have been an opportunity to restore its legitimacy,
demonstrate its ability to bear responsibility, and prove that its position on
violence is a principled one that does not depend on the source of the violence.
"There are points of similarity between the PA and Lebanon's interim government,
but there is also a difference between them, which could grow as events unfold
against the backdrop of the Palestinian or Lebanese tragedy."
"The least that can be said about the PA, which grew out of the PLO, is that it
has failed to fulfil its responsibility during this terrible time the
Palestinian cause is experiencing. The PA, led by Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), was
unable to deal with the significant event of the 'Al-Aqsa Flood,' [namely] with
Hamas' attack on the Gaza border settlements [i.e., the Israeli localities in
the eastern Negev] just over a year ago, which shook Israel's very foundations
and plunged it into an existential crisis. The PA did not understand the
implications of this [event] and failed to take a moment to clearly distinguish
itself from Hamas and from the figure of Yahya Sinwar, [a man] whose courage –
as an individual who decided to enter into war with the Israelis – is beyond
doubt [but who acted] without a political horizon and without considering the
possible consequences of his actions.
"The PA did not sufficiently distance itself from the man who caused the
catastrophe, namely the erasing of Gaza and the expulsion of most of its
residents. The PLO eulogized Sinwar and called him a 'national hero,' completely
ignoring the fact that he was unfit for any leadership role due to his ignorance
of the world and the region, and his belief that the 'Islamic Republic' of Iran
would hasten to implement the theory of 'the unity of the fronts.'
"On October 7, 2023, Hamas killed about 1,200 Israelis and took some 250 others
hostage. The PA should have emphasized from the outset that such an action was
detrimental to the Palestinian cause, especially given the existence of a
right-wing [Israeli] government led by Binyamin Netanyahu, which is willing to
erase Gaza from the face of the earth. Such a situation requires political
courage and long-term vision. [Instead of] yielding to the street and to
impulses, [the PA should have] thought of practical measures to confront the
plan of the Israeli right, which sees [Hamas' attack] as a good opportunity to
eliminate the Palestinian cause and act with full force in the West Bank after
[finishing with] Gaza."
"The PA failed the test of the 'Al-Aqsa Flood,' which could have provided it
with an opportunity to restore its legitimacy, demonstrate that it can bear
responsibility, and prove and that its position on violence is a principled one
that does not depend on the source of the violence. [The PA could have
demonstrated] that the true face of the Palestinian citizen is that of the young
person or teenager in the 'Intifada of the Stones' of 1987-1988, which succeeded
primarily due to its non-violent character.
"Simultaneously, the Lebanese interim government [likewise] failed when it took
a hesitant stance on the Iranian decision to open the front [against Israel] in
South Lebanon. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati
lacked the courage to clearly state from the start that Lebanon's official
position is different from that of Hizbullah, whose Secretary-General, [Hassan]
Nasrallah, began justifying the war of 'support for Gaza' before he was killed.
An infant could realize that Lebanon was on a certain path to disaster, given
Hizbullah's complete subservience to the Iranian decisions."
"Just like the PA, Nabih Berri and Najib Mikati also lacked courage. However, it
should be recognized that Lebanon's interim government came to its senses after
the Israeli war machine turned its attention to Lebanon and began to
systematically destroy the country. Recently, Najib Mikati has taken courageous
positions. He undoubtedly has the backing of Nabih Berri, who fully understands
the implications of the Israeli plan that seeks to expel some of the Shi'ites
from South Lebanon and to destroy Shi'ite villages and localities in the Bekaa.
"Now more than ever the Palestinians need a new political team that is in touch
with what is happening in the world: a team comprising important figures – of
whom there are hundreds inside Palestine and outside it – that understands how
to confront the Israeli enterprise that is based on occupation. These [must be]
individuals who can persuade the world that there is another [kind of]
Palestinian, different from the masked and armed [gunman] whose image has been
marketed by Hamas and by similar organizations that sprang out of the womb of
the Muslim Brotherhood.
"As for Lebanon, now more than ever it needs an official position stating that
Lebanon is not Hizbullah, nor is it an Iranian colony. Najib Mikati made the
right move when he opposed the statements of Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad
Bagher Qalibaf, who wanted to negotiate on Lebanon's behalf in the matter of
implementing Resolution 1701. Lebanon is not Hizbullah, as Iran would like it to
be, and Palestine is not Hamas, which, since its founding, has served the plan
of the Israeli right.
"More than a year after the outbreak of the 'Al-Aqsa Flood,' it seems that the
entire region is facing significant developments, especially as the
confrontation between Israel and Iran, which both sides have long sought to
avoid, [now] appears inevitable. Tehran's announcement that it had no connection
to the targeting of Netanyahu's home in Caesarea, and that Hizbullah was
responsible for this, is quite notable. The 'Islamic Republic' [of Iran] wanted
Lebanon to bear the consequences of this attack [on Netanyahu's home], while all
the Israeli parties began to be convinced that there is no choice but to take
serious action against the Iranian expansionist plan, instead of getting
distracted by conflicts with its proxies, whether in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon or
Yemen.
"Do the Palestinians now understand that Hamas has eliminated their cause and
that they need to salvage can still be saved of it? Do the Lebanese – including
the Shi'ite population – understand that Hizbullah has never done anything but
contribute to the destruction of their state and turn Beirut into an Iranian
city overlooking the Mediterranean?"
[1] Al-Arab (London), October 23, 2024.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on November 05-06/2024
Israel’s Netanyahu dismisses defense
minister in surprise announcement
AP/November 05, 2024
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his
popular defense minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as
the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region. Netanyahu
and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had
avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of
trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement. “In the midst of a
war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and
defense minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months
of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during
the last months this trust cracked between me and the defense minister.” In the
early days of the war, Israel’s leadership presented a unified front as it
responded to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread
to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for
continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic
approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a
diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the militant group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff,
no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of
Israel always was, and will always remain, my life’s mission.”Gallant has worn a
simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the
Oct. 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart,
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant
in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also
flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until
Tuesday’s announcement. Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel
Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer
in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the
government, will take the foreign affairs post. Netanyahu has a long history of
neutralizing his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many
attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant. “But they kept getting wider. They
also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than
that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy — our enemies enjoyed it and
derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.
Iran: undressing protest shows how women are still
fighting even as morality laws get harsher
Hind Elhinnawy, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences,
Nottingham Trent University/The Conversation/November 05/2024
Ahou Daryaei was violently arrested after stripping down to her underwear in
protest against Iran's strict hijab laws. More than two years have passed since
a young woman called Mahsa Amini died in police custody after being arrested in
Iran for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly. Her death sparked mass
protests throughout Iran against the country’s ruling theocracy. The fight of
Iranian women for freedom and bodily autonomy now rages on. Ahou Daryaei, a
30-year-old French language student at Tehran’s Islamic Azad University, has
become the latest symbol of this resistance.
On November 2, Daryaei removed her clothing and walked onto the street in her
underwear after an assault by members of the Basij paramilitary force, which is
tasked with enforcing the country’s draconian dress code. This powerful act,
which was captured on video and shared widely on social media, lays bare the
absurdity and brutality of Iran’s mandatory hijab laws. Daryaei’s defiance
throws into sharp relief the regime’s relentless control over women’s bodies and
its continued deep-seated misogyny. The regime’s response was predictable and
pathetic. One video shows security officers abducting Daryaei from the campus,
while another shows her being bundled into a car by men in plain clothes. In a
post on X, formerly known as Twitter, a spokesperson for the university called
Amir Mahjob said that Daryaei “had a mental disorder”. This is a tired tactic
used to discredit and silence dissent that is all too familiar within Iran’s
“Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, where women who dare to challenge the status
quo are often labelled as mentally unstable. Daryaei has not been seen since her
arrest, and Iranian authorities are not saying where she is. But according to
the Telegram channel for the Iranian newspaper, Farhikhtegan, she was taken to a
police station and then transferred to a psychiatric centre. This blatant
attempt to pathologise resistance only further highlights the regime’s
desperation to maintain its grip on power.
Silencing dissent
Iran’s newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has promised to end morality
police patrols. But his words ring hollow in the face of a recently passed hijab
and chastity bill, which imposes harsh penalties including hefty fines and
imprisonment on women who violate mandatory hijab rules. It also expands
enforcement to online spaces and mobilises various institutions to police
women’s dress. Project Noor, a sister initiative launched in April to enforce
hijab regulations, has already unleashed a wave of repression. Public spaces
have been flooded with policemen, Basij paramilitary units, and plainclothes
officers. Some universities, including Alzahra University in Tehran, have even
deployed facial recognition technology at entry gates to deny access to students
deemed to be in violation of the regime’s dress code. These harsh laws represent
a significant setback for human rights in Iran. The regime’s actions speak
louder than words, and until women are truly free to choose how they dress, the
fight for freedom in Iran will continue. Daryaei’s courageous act serves as a
potent reminder that the flame of resistance burns bright, and the Iranian
people will not be silenced. Her protest, as Iranian-American lawyer Elika
Eftekhari eloquently told Fox News, “may seem shocking to outsiders because it
comes with the certainty of imprisonment, torture and rape as punishment from
Islamic Republic officials”. Yet within this act of defiance lies tremendous
fortitude. She has taken the regime’s misogyny “by the throat”, as Eftekhari
puts it, “and ripped it to shreds through civil disobedience”.
Echoes of solidarity
Daryaei’s brave stand has ignited a firestorm of support. Students and activists
across Iran have recognised her act as a powerful symbol of the fight for
freedom. Her defiance echoes the spirit of countless Iranian women who have
risked everything to challenge the regime’s oppressive laws. But it also
resonates with other powerful acts of resistance by women across the globe. It
reminds me of the Tunisian feminist activist Amina Tyler, who posted topless
photos of herself online in 2013 with the slogan “My body belongs to me and is
not the source of anyone’s honor” written on her chest. This act, like Daryaei’s,
sparked controversy and death threats. But, despite not directly leading to
regime change in Tunisia, it ignited further debates about women’s bodies and
freedom of expression in the Muslim world. Tyler’s act became a symbol of
resistance against patriarchal norms and the policing of women’s bodies. As
Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American human rights activist, wrote on X (formerly
Twitter) following Daryaei’s arrest: “She turned her body into a protest … Her
act is a powerful reminder of Iranian women’s fight for freedom. Yes, we use our
bodies like weapons to fight back at a regime that kills women for showing their
hair … Be her voice. #WomanLifeFreedom.” The message is clear: the Iranian
people are ready for regime change, not merely empty reforms. The world must
recognise Daryaei’s bravery and stand in solidarity with her
Amnesty demands release of Ahoo Daryaei, who was
'violently arrested' after stripping off to protest strict Islamic dress code,
reports say
Sky News/November 05/2024
Amnesty International is demanding the release of a university student who it
claims was "violently arrested" after stripping off, reportedly in protest
against Iran's strict Islamic dress code. The human rights organisation claimed
the woman, identified as Ahoo Daryaei, was demonstrating at the "abusive
enforcement of compulsory veiling by security officials at Tehran's Islamic Azad
University". Sky News cannot verify the circumstances of what happened in Iran's
capital on Saturday, but footage posted online showed a woman stripped to her
underwear and walking outside the campus. University officials issued a
statement saying the woman was "under severe stress and suffering from mental
disorders, and has been transferred to a medical centre". Masih Alinejad, a
prominent Iranian activist, gave a different account. In a message on X, she
said a student "harassed by her university's morality police over her 'improper'
hijab didn't back down". "She turned her body into a protest, stripping to her
underwear and marching through campus - defying a regime that constantly
controls women's bodies," she added. Sources have also told Sky News that Ms
Daryaei does not suffer from any mental health issues. Videos on social media
appear to show Ms Daryaei being arrested and placed in a car. A statement from
Amnesty said: "Iran's authorities must immediately and unconditionally release
the university student who was violently arrested on 2 November". Diana Nammi,
executive director of the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation, told
Sky News she "wasn't surprised" by the protest. "In Iran, really, the dress code
for women is very strict and women at the Islamic Republic have to cover
themselves with a full hijab and also loose clothes. And in this incident, of
course, the woman has been forced to cover herself but in protest she [took off]
all her clothes," she said. "She is in danger, definitely, I fully support her
and I salute her and Iranian women for being so courageous and so brave. "It is
their right to protest, it is their right to come to the street and not accept
all this oppression that they have received from the government." According to
the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), financially supported in part by the
Iranian government, Ms Daryaei was not challenged about the wearing of a hijab.
Under Iran's strict Islamic dress code, women must wear a headscarf in public.
The ISNA released a statement describing a "brief argument" with university
security officials about using her mobile to film other people without their
permission. Iran's 'morality police' crack down on womenTeenage girl 'attacked
for not wearing hijab'
Israeli attack targets town in Syria's Homs province, state TV reports
Reuters/November 05/2024
An Israeli attack targeted an industrial zone and some residential buildings in
the town of Qusayr in Homs province in central Syria on Tuesday, Syrian state TV
reported. The outlet quoted the Homs province's health director as saying there
were no injuries as a result of the attack. Israel's military later issued a
statement on the incident, saying it attacked ammunition depots used by
Hezbollah's weapons unit in Syria. "Hezbollah's munitions unit is responsible
for the storage of weapons in Lebanon and has recently expanded its activities
into Syria in the area of Qusayr. This is a further example of Hezbollah
establishing logistical infrastructure to transfer weapons from Syria to Lebanon
through smuggling routes," the statement said. A previous Israeli attack on
Qusayr on Thursday wounded a number of civilians and caused material damage,
state media reported. Israel's military said in reference to that attack that it
had hit weapons storage facilities and command centres used by militant group
Hezbollah. The Israeli military also said on Monday that it struck Hezbollah
intelligence assets near the Syrian capital, Damascus. Israel says it has been
carrying out strikes to reduce the transfer of weapons from Iran through Syria
to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran's top diplomat says Tehran would respond to
Israel's strike in a 'measured' way
The Canadian Press/ISLAMABAD (AP)/November 05/2024
Iran’s foreign minister on Tuesday reiterated that his country does not seek an
escalation in the Middle East but reserved the right to defend itself against
Israel's attack with a “measured and calculative” response. Iranian officials
are increasingly threatening to launch yet another strike against Israel after
its Oct. 26 attack on the Islamic Republic that targeted military bases and
other locations and killed at least five people. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas
Araghchi, speaking at a news conference during a visit to Pakistan, said that
“unlike the Israeli regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran does not seek
escalation." “We reserve our inherent rights to legitimate defense under Article
51 of the United Nations Charter and we will certainly respond to the Israeli
aggression in a proper time and in a proper manner in a very measured and very
calculated manner,” he said. Araghchi met with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq
Dar, who called for an urgent cease-fire to de-escalate tensions in the region.
Iran has sought for years to revive a long-stalled multi-billion gas pipeline
project launched in 2013 to supply Iranian natural gas to energy-starved
Pakistan. The project — opposed by Washington as a violation of sanctions
imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program — has been on hold since 2014.
Iran's foreign minister visits Pakistan to discuss Middle
East and bilateral ties
The Canadian Press/ISLAMABAD (AP)/November 05/2024
Iran’s foreign minister arrived in Pakistan's capital Tuesday for a two-day
official visit to discuss a range of issues, including tensions in the Middle
East and further improving bilateral ties, officials said Tuesday. Abbas
Araghchi was received by Pakistani officials just after midnight when his plane
landed at an airport near Islamabad. He will meet with Prime Minister Shehbaz
Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and other officials at the Foreign
Ministry on Tuesday. The visit comes as Iran is in an escalating standoff with
Israel. Iranian officials are increasingly threatening to launch yet another
strike against Israel after its Oct. 26 attack on the Islamic Republic that
targeted military bases and other locations and killed at least five people.
Pakistan denounced Israel's strikes at the time. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry
said in a statement that the visit also “provides an important opportunity to
advance cooperation and dialogue between Pakistan and Iran on a wide range of
areas including trade, energy and security." Iran has sought for years to revive
a long-stalled multi-billion gas pipeline project launched in 2013 to supply
Iranian natural gas to energy-starved Pakistan. The project — opposed by
Washington as a violation of sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear
program — has been on hold since 2014.
An Iran official claims Iranian-German prisoner died before
being put to death
Jon Gambrell/DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)/November 5, 2024
An Iranian official claimed Tuesday that Iranian-German prisoner Jamshid
Sharmahd died before Tehran could execute him — directly contradicting the
country's earlier announcement he had been put to death. The comment by Asghar
Jahangir comes after Germany shut down all three Iranian consulates in the
country over Sharmahd's death, leaving only the embassy in Berlin open.
Meanwhile, Iran's reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has offered his own
criticism of Germany's response to Sharmahd's death as tensions remain high
between Tehran and the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear program and the
ongoing Mideast wars. The judiciary’s Mizan news agency quoted Jahangir as
saying: “Jamshid Sharmahd was sentenced to death, his sentence was ready to be
carried out, but he passed away before implementation of the sentence.” He did
not elaborate. Jahangir's remarks were made to the state-affiliated Quds
newspaper after a weekly news conference, when journalists typically buttonhole
the spokesman into answering questions he didn't take from the podium.
Authorities in Germany and the U.S., where Sharmahd once lived, could not be
immediately reached for comment. A lawyer for Sharmahd's family did not
immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran had said it executed Sharmahd
on Oct. 28. He was 69. Iran accused Sharmahd, who lived in Glendora, California,
of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people — including five
women and a child — and wounded over 200 others, as well as plotting other
assaults through the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar
militant wing. Iran also accused Sharmahd of “disclosing classified information”
on missile sites of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard during a television
program in 2017. His family disputed the allegations and had worked for years to
see him freed. Germany, the U.S. and international rights groups have dismissed
Sharmahd's trial as a sham. Sharmahd was apparently kidnapped while on a layover
in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2020. His family received their last message
from him on July 28, 2020. It’s unclear how the abduction happened, but tracking
data showed that Sharmahd’s cellphone traveled south from Dubai to the city of
Al Ain on July 29, crossing the border into Oman. On July 30, tracking data
showed the phone traveled to the Omani port city of Sohar, where the signal
stopped. Two days later, Iran announced it had captured Sharmahd in a “complex
operation.” The Intelligence Ministry published a photograph of him blindfolded.
In the time since his execution, Germany shut the consulates. It's a diplomatic
tool Germany seldom uses and signals a major downgrade in relations with Tehran.
However, Iran has responded by criticizing Germany and the West, including
Pezeshkian, who campaigned on a promise of getting sanctions on the Islamic
Republic lifted. “When someone, who has slaughtered dozens, is executed, they
say you do not observe human rights,” Pezeshkian said.
Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press
Iranian female student who stripped in public is 'troubled', says government
Reuters/DUBAI (Reuters) -November 05/2024
A female student who stripped to her underwear at an Iranian university does not
represent a security issue but is a "troubled individual" who is receiving
treatment, a government spokesperson said. The young woman undressed on Saturday
at the Islamic Azad University in Tehran, an act that was widely perceived on
social media as a protest against Iran's strict Islamic dress code. "Instead of
viewing this issue under a security lens, we are rather looking at it with a
social lens and seek to solve the problems of this student as a troubled
individual," government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Tuesday in the
first official reaction to the event. She said that the young woman, named as
Ahoo Daryaei on social media, had been transferred from a police station to a
treatment centre, but did not say what treatment she would receive. Reuters
could not identify the young woman independently. "It is yet too soon to speak
of this student's return to university. According to a video published by her
husband, she needs treatment and that needs to be completed before taking the
next steps," Mohajerani added on the government's website. The woman was
detained by security guards at the university. A university spokesperson, Amir
Mahjob, said on X on Saturday "at the police station, ... it was found that she
was under severe mental pressure and had a mental disorder."Growing numbers of
Iranian women have defied authorities by discarding their veils after nationwide
protests that followed the death in September 2022 of a young Iranian Kurdish
woman, Mahsa Amini. She died while in the custody of the morality police for
allegedly violating hijab rules. Security forces violently put down the revolt.
Amnesty International said on X a young woman was "violently arrested on 2 Nov
after she removed her clothes in protest against abusive enforcement of
compulsory veiling by security officials at Tehran's Islamic Azad University"
and called for her immediate release. On Monday, the semi-official, hardline
Tasnim news agency said those reacting on social media were "the same anti-Iran
movement which jumped on the Mahsa Amini affair in 2022".
The non-official Khabaronline website reported that the government spokesperson
said the young woman was not facing any criminal charges.
An Israeli airstrike kills 20 people in
northern Gaza, Palestinian officials say
Wafaa Shurafa And Samy Magdy/DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP)/November 05/2024
An Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza has killed at least 20 people, mostly
women and children, Palestinian officials said Tuesday, as Israel wages a nearly
monthlong air and ground operation in what was already the most isolated and
heavily destroyed part of the territory. The strike late Monday hit a home where
several displaced families were sheltering in the town of Beit Lahiya, near the
border with Israel, according to Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the recently
raided and barely functioning Kamal Adwan Hospital, which received the
casualties. The Israeli military said it targeted a weapons storage facility
from which a militant had operated, and that “numerous steps were taken to
mitigate the risk of harming civilians.” The dead included eight women and six
children, according to a list provided by the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency
service. Separate strikes elsewhere in Gaza early Tuesday killed another 10
people, according to health officials. Israel launched the offensive in the
north after saying Hamas militants had regrouped there. The army has returned to
several areas of Gaza multiple times after previous operations, as Hamas
continues to carry out hit-and-run attacks on troops and fire occasional rockets
into Israel. The military has ordered the complete evacuation of Beit Lahiya,
the nearby town of Beit Hanoun and the urban Jabaliya refugee camp, and has
allowed almost no humanitarian aid into the area for over a month. That has
drawn rebukes from the Biden administration, which has warned that U.S. laws
might force it to curb military aid to Israel if more aid is not allowed in.
Tens of thousands of people have fled to nearby Gaza City in the latest wave of
displacement within the besieged territory. Around 90% of the population of 2.3
million have fled during the war, often multiple times. The three hospitals
serving the area have been largely inaccessible because of the fighting, and
ambulances have stopped operating. Israeli troops raided Kamal Adwan Hospital
last month, saying Hamas militants were sheltering there, allegations denied by
Palestinian health officials.
The offensive has raised fears among Palestinians that Israel is implementing a
surrender-or-starve plan for northern Gaza proposed by former generals, in which
civilians would be ordered out, aid would be cut off and anyone remaining would
be considered a fighter.
The Israeli military has denied receiving such orders, but the government has
not said whether it is adopting part or all of the plan.
Palestinian officials said a separate wave of Israeli strikes early Tuesday
killed 10 people, including four children and two women. One strike hit a house
in the Tufah neighborhood in Gaza City, killing two children and their parents,
according to the Health Ministry’s emergency service. Two other children were
wounded, it said. In the central town of Zuweida, an Israeli airstrike hit a
tent where a displaced family was sheltering, killing four people, including a
mother and her two children, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby
city of Deir al-Balah. Another strike hit a house in Deir al-Balah, killing two
people, the hospital said. An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at
the hospital morgue. The Israeli military says it only targets militants and
accuses them of hiding among civilians. It rarely comments on individual
strikes, which often kill women and children. The war began when Hamas-led
militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people,
mostly civilians, taking another 250 people hostage. Around 100 captives are
still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel's
retaliatory offensive has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's
Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in
its toll but says over half of those killed were women and children.
At least 7 killed in Israeli raid and airstrikes on West
Bank
Reuters/November 05/2024
At least seven people were killed on Tuesday during an Israeli military raid and
airstrikes on the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said. Five
of the seven people were killed in two separate Israeli attacks in and near the
city of Qabatiya, while the two others were killed in the Tammoun area, the
ministry said. The Israeli military said its aircraft had targeted a group of
gunmen and that its forces had arrested 60 militants. The Islamic Jihad's armed
wing, Al-Quds Brigades, said its fighters had clashed with Israeli forces in
both Qabatia and the Tamoun areas.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, with
almost daily sweeps by Israeli forces that have involved thousands of arrests
and regular gunbattles between security forces and Palestinian fighters.
Thirty Palestinians killed in Gaza, Israel issues new
evacuation orders
Nidal al-Mughrabi/CAIRO (Reuters) /November 5, 2024
Israel's military issued new evacuation orders in the north of the Gaza Strip on
Tuesday after carrying out strikes across the enclave which Palestinian media
and medics said had killed at least 30 people. An air strike damaged two houses
in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, where the army has carried out new
operations since Oct. 5, and killed at least 20 people late on Monday, the
Palestinian official news agency WAFA and Hamas media said. Four other people
were killed in the central Gazan town of Al-Zawayda around midnight on Monday,
medics said. The Gaza health ministry did not immediately confirm the tolls but
Palestinian health officials said six people had also been killed in two
separate Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City and Deir Al-Balah in the central area
of the narrow enclave. The Israeli military said, without giving details, that
its forces had "eliminated terrorists" in the central Gaza Strip and Jabalia
area. Israeli troops had also located weapons and explosives over the past day
in the southern Rafah area, where "terrorist infrastructure sites" had been
eliminated, it said. Later on Tuesday, Israeli planes dropped leaflets over Beit
Lahiya ordering residents who have not yet left their homes and shelters housing
displaced families to quit the town completely. "To all those who remained at
homes and shelters, you are risking your lives. For your safety you have to head
south," said the leaflet, which was written in Arabic. Palestinians said the new
attacks and Israeli orders for people to evacuate were aimed at emptying two
northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones. Israel says the
evacuations are meant to keep civilians out of harm's way as its troops battle
Hamas fighters. Hundreds of Palestinian gunmen have been killed or captured in
the area of Jabalia over the past month, the military says.
PATIENTS TO BE EVACUATED
More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in
Gaza, the authorities in Gaza say, and much of the territory has been reduced to
ruins. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023,
killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to
Israeli tallies. Announcing a rare transfer of patients out of Gaza, a World
Health Organization official said more than 100 people would be evacuated from
Gaza on Wednesday, including children suffering from trauma injuries and chronic
diseases. They will travel via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel before
flying to the United Arab Emirates, said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for
the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Some will then go on to Romania, he said,
adding that 12,000 people were awaiting transfer. In the Israeli-occupied West
Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said at least four people were killed on
Tuesday during an Israeli military raid and airstrikes. The Israeli military
said its aircraft had targeted a group of gunmen and that its forces had
arrested 60 militants. Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of
the war in Gaza, with almost daily sweeps by Israeli forces that have involved
thousands of arrests and regular gunbattles between security forces and
Palestinian fighters.
Israel demolishes seven Palestinian homes in east
Jerusalem
AFP/November 05, 2024
JERUSALEM: Municipal workers demolished seven homes in occupied east Jerusalem’s
Silwan neighborhood on Tuesday, Palestinian residents and the municipality said,
after an Israeli court called their construction illegal. “This morning the
Jerusalem Municipality, with a security escort from the Israel police, began its
enforcement against illegal buildings in the Al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan,”
Jerusalem’s Israeli-controlled city hall said in a statement. Activist Fakhri
Abu Diab, one of those affected by the demolition, confirmed that “at least
seven homes have been demolished, and the operation is ongoing.” He said that
both houses and apartments were affected. “They demolished my home, which I had
renovated after it was previously demolished earlier this year, as well as my
son’s house, Haitham Ayed’s family home, and four homes belonging to the Al-Ruwaidi
family,” Abu Diab told AFP. He said around “40 people, including children, were
affected by the demolitions in the neighborhood, leaving them homeless.”An AFP
photographer saw at least four bulldozers operating on Tuesday at demolition
sites in the neighborhood under tight Israeli police supervision. In a
statement, Jerusalem city hall pointed to court orders that call for the
demolition of the buildings due to zoning laws that make them illegal. However,
Palestinian residents and activists accuse the municipality of concealing its
true intentions. “The buildings, like most of the buildings in the neighborhood,
are located on an area that is a green designation, that is, an open public area
and where there is no possibility for zoning,” the municipality said, adding
that the area would become a green zone instead.Israeli rights group Ir Amim
argued that the true aim of the demolitions is to connect Israeli settler
pockets implanted in Palestinian areas to west Jerusalem. The non-profit
organization said in a statement that demolition, “encouraged by Israel’s
right-wing government,” is expected to affect “115 homes, housing around 1,500
residents” in the neighborhood. “The demolition of Al-Bustan and the
displacement of its residents is an integral part of settlement efforts aimed at
Judaising Silwan and transforming the area into a public park, facilitating
connections between isolated settler communities in Silwan and linking them with
West Jerusalem,” Ir Amim said. It but did not specify the number of homes
affected on Tuesday, as “the demolition is ongoing.” Abu Diab echoed Ir Amim,
saying the true aim of the demolitions was “to reduce the percentage of Arabs
and alter the demographic composition of Jerusalem in favor of (Israeli)
settlers,” connecting them to west Jerusalem. Israel “is above international
law, has escaped accountability, and is exploiting global focus on the wars in
Gaza and Lebanon and the US elections,” he said. Israel occupied east Jerusalem
in 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international
community. Some 230,000 Israeli settlers live in east Jerusalem, according to
the United Nations. Another 3,000 live in Palestinian neighborhoods within east
Jerusalem’s boundaries, according to Israeli rights organization Peace Now.
France’s top diplomat returns to Israel amid calls for
ceasefire, humanitarian law in Gaza
RFI/November 05/2024
France's foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot is due in Israel and the Palestinian
Territories seeking to press Israel to engage diplomatically to end the
conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon after the US presidential election is over. Barrot
will travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories this Wednesday to call for
a ceasefire in Gaza and "respect for international humanitarian law". Speaking
on France 2 television, France's chief diplomat declared: "France has a role to
play in conveying messages, and that is why I will be going to Israel and the
Palestinian territories tomorrow evening to meet the authorities and
humanitarian actors, to convey France's voice in this region where the war has
already gone on far too long"."Violations of international humanitarian law are
unacceptable and must stop", he stressed, as Israel is accused of numerous human
rights violations in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
France - Israel tensions
Israel has also banned the activities of UNRWA – the UN agency for Palestinian
refugees – which it accuses of complicity with Hamas, provoking an international
outcry. However, Barrot insists: "Dialogue has never been broken off". Since
then, Washington has done little to raise pressure on Israel to end its
operation in Lebanon. "The war has lasted far too long and the use of force must
give way to the use of dialogue and diplomacy," Barrot said.
G7 and allies warn Russia over use of North Korean troops
in Ukraine
Reuters/November 5, 2024
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven democracies and three key allies said
on Tuesday they were gravely concerned by the deployment of North Korean troops
to Russia and the possibility they may be used in the war against Ukraine. "The
DPRK's (North Korea) direct support for Russia’s war of aggression against
Ukraine, besides showing Russia’s desperate efforts to compensate its losses,
would mark a dangerous expansion of the conflict," the ministers said in a
statement. Besides G7 members the United States, Japan, Italy, Britain, Germany,
France and Canada, the statement was also signed by South Korea, Australia and
New Zealand. The ministers said they condemned "in the strongest possible terms"
increased military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including
Russia's "unlawful procurement" of North Korean ballistic missiles. They said
they were deeply concerned about the potential for any transfer of nuclear or
ballistic missile-related technology to North Korea, and would work with
international partners "for a coordinated response to this new development".
The Houthis couldn't have built their most dangerous
weapons without help from Iran and others, UN experts find
Jake Epstein/Business Insider/November 05/2024
How the Iranian-backed Houthi militia compares to the US-led task force in the
Red SeaScroll back up to restore default view. The Houthis possess a sizable
arsenal of weapons, including missiles and drones. The Yemeni rebels couldn't
have done that without foreign help, according to a new UN report. The Houthis
have used these weapons to target ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The
Houthi rebels couldn't have amassed their dangerous arsenal of weapons without
extensive help from Iran and its proxy forces in the Middle East, according to a
new report for the United Nations. In the lengthy report, which was delivered to
the UN Security Council last month, a panel of experts concluded that the
Yemen-based Houthis have been receiving training, weapons, technical assistance,
and financial support from Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, and armed Iraqi groups. The
Houthis are behind a yearlong campaign targeting key merchant shipping lanes in
the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. They have launched more than 130 attacks — mainly
using missiles and drones — against commercial and Western naval vessels. The
rebels have struck a number of commercial vessels during their campaign, sinking
two of them and hijacking one (nearly a year later, its crew remains detained in
Yemen). Four sailors have been killed so far as a result of the attacks. The
panel of experts said in their report that the Houthis have exploited the
Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and, through their attacks, have tried to boost their
status within Iran's so-called "axis of resistance," a band of proxy forces
around the Middle East. The Houthis held a military parade in September 2023,
during which the group boasted a formidable arsenal of anti-ship missiles,
ballistic and cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles, aerial drones, naval
drones, speedboats, surveillance systems, and mines. However, the experts said
that the Houthis do not have the ability to produce and develop complex weaponry
like that without foreign assistance. They also said the rebels likely received
external assistance in identifying, locating, and targeting commercial vessels
since many of them turned off their automatic identification systems before they
entered the area. The aftermath of a Houthi attack on a commercial
tanker.European Union's Operation Aspides via AP "The scale, nature and extent
of transfers of diverse military materiel and technology provided to the Houthis
from external sources, including financial support and training of its
combatants, is unprecedented," the experts wrote in their report. US naval
forces have repeatedly intercepted vessels attempting to smuggle weapons from
Iran to the Houthis illegally. One such mission in January resulted in the
seizure of parts for ballistic and cruise missiles. The Pentagon has kept a
naval presence in and around the Red Sea throughout the Houthi campaign, during
which American warships have routinely intercepted their missiles and drones.
Additionally, US forces have carried out significant airstrikes against the
rebels in Yemen. The UN panel of experts said US and UK forces together have
destroyed more than 800 Houthi missiles and drones and have taken out command
posts, radars, and weapons storage facilities.
North Korean troops in Russia are shelled by Ukrainian
forces, an official says
Illia Novikov/KYIV, Ukraine (AP)/November 05/2024
North Korean troops recently deployed to help Russia in its war with Ukraine
have come under Ukrainian fire, a Kyiv official said Tuesday. It is the first
time a Ukrainian official has said that Pyongyang’s units were struck, following
a deployment that has given the war a new complexion as it approaches its
1,000-day milestone. “The first North Korean troops have already been shelled,
in the Kursk region,” Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation
branch of Ukraine’s Security Council, wrote on Telegram. He provided no further
details. Western governments had expected that the North Korean soldiers would
be sent to Russia’s Kursk border region, where a 3-month-old incursion by the
Ukrainian army is the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II
and has embarrassed the Kremlin. U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence
assessments say up to 12,000 North Korean combat troops are being sent by
Pyongyang to the war under a pact with Moscow. The North Korean troops, whose
fighting quality and battle experience is unknown, are adding to Ukraine’s
worsening situation on the battlefield. Ukrainian defenses, especially in the
eastern Donetsk region, are buckling under the strain of Russia’s costly but
relentless monthslong onslaught. Russian advances have recently accelerated,
with battlefield gains of up to 9 kilometers (more than 5 miles) in some parts
of Donetsk, the U.K. Defense Ministry said Tuesday on the social platform X. It
said Russia has superior troop numbers, and despite heavy casualties the
Kremlin’s recruitment drive is providing enough new troops to keep up the
pressure. Russia has held the battlefield initiative in Ukraine for the past
year. Ukrainian officials have long complained that Western military support
takes too long to arrive in the country. In early October, Russian forces drove
Ukrainian troops out of Vuhledar, a town perched atop a tactically significant
hill in eastern Ukraine. It was part of a key belt of Ukrainian defenses in the
east. Russia’s next targets likely are the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk and the
strategically important city of Chasiv Yar. In the meantime, Russia has kept up
its long-range aerial attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine, authorities say. A
Tuesday morning attack on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia killed six people
and injured 16 others, regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said. The head of Ukraine’s
presidential office, Andrii Yermak, said the Russian attacks “must be stopped
with strong action.”“A stronger position by (Ukraine’s Western) allies is
needed,” he wrote on Telegram.
Argentina’s new foreign minister sworn in on Torah,
signals policy shift
Jerusalem Post/November 05/2024
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-827657
Gerardo Werthein was sworn in as Argentina's Minister of Foreign Affairs in a
ceremony notable for being the first time a government official in Argentina has
sworn with an allusion to the Torah according to a number of news outlests in
Spanish. According to Rosario3 and Sobre nosotros the ceremony took place in the
Salón Blanco of the Casa Rosada and was led by President Javier Milei, who
surprised attendees by departing from the traditional format and including words
from the weekly Torah portion "Lech Lecha."
"Mr. Gerardo Werthein, do you swear by God and by the homeland and on the Torah
to faithfully and devotedly fulfill the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs,
International Trade, and Religions, to which you have been appointed, and to
uphold and enforce, as far as it depends on you, the Constitution of Argentina?"
President Milei addressed the new minister according to ellitoral.com and
Notigram, El Diario, Los Andes. According to reports
by ellitoral.com and Notigram, President Milei drew an analogy between the tasks
that Werthein will have to perform and the journey of Abraham as recounted in "Lech
Lecha." He explained that this Torah portion recounts God's command to Abraham
to leave his home and embark on a journey into the unknown, emphasizing the
importance of spreading messages of faith and freedom to the world.
"It's interesting what it points out, you are being sent signals by the forces
of heaven, Gerardo, because it speaks of the beginnings of Abraham's journeys
around the world, spreading the messages of the Creator," President Milei said.
He added, "God tells him that he will have much influence among the nations of
the world, giving him an important responsibility to carry the messages of the
Torah, of life and freedom to the whole world. Even, Abraham will interact with
other nations in this Parashah."
The brief swearing-in ceremony was attended by family members of the new
chancellor and cabinet ministers, including Zulemita Menem, Miguel Migoya from
Globant, and Alejandro Bulgheroni from Pan American Energy. President Milei
emphasized the importance of this moment for Argentina's foreign policy and
highlighted the strong spiritual symbolism in the diplomacy he aspires to
promote.
Werthein is heavily aligned with Milei
Gerardo Werthein, 68 years old, is a businessman with a close connection to the
American establishment and a former ambassador to the United States. He took
control of Argentine diplomacy after President Milei dismissed Diana Mondino due
to her vote in favor of requiring the United States to lift the economic embargo
on Cuba at the United Nations. Werthein's appointment is seen as a strong signal
of alignment with President Milei's foreign policy objectives, which he
emphasized during the ceremony.
In his new role, Werthein has requested the resignations of secretaries and
undersecretaries of the ministry, including Marcelo Cima from International
Trade, Paola Di Chiaro from the Malvinas area, and Ernesto Gaspari from
Coordination and Planning. Additionally, he announced plans to close embassies
and consulates located in countries with which Argentina does not have a strong
commercial link. These diplomatic sites will be replaced by National Agencies
that will perform similar tasks but with reduced personnel and funding. "The
change will be noticeable in the decrease of personnel and funding," it was
reported. President Milei is known as a great friend
of Israel, and his commitment to friendship between the two nations was
acknowledged during the ceremony. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz expressed
his appreciation for the unique swearing-in ceremony, stating: "I was very moved
to see President Javier Milei reading at the swearing-in ceremony the weekly
portion 'Lech Lecha' and swearing Minister Werthein on the Torah." He added, "I
bless Gerardo Werthein on his entry into the position of Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Argentina."
The Parashat "Lech Lecha" is a fragment of the Torah that recounts God's command
to Abraham to leave his home and embark on a journey into the unknown. This
passage has profound symbolism, presenting Abraham as a pioneer in the
dissemination of spiritual values and highlighting his commitment to the divine
mission of bringing those values to the nations. It is central in the Jewish
tradition and is interpreted as a message of personal growth and spiritual
dedication. The story of Abraham inspires those facing challenges and reminds
them of the importance of staying true to their principles while embarking on
new journeys. By making this journey, Abraham lays the foundations of an
identity based on faith and the responsibility to bring universal values to the
nations.
Werthein accompanied President Milei on his first trip as elected head of state
in November, when he visited New York. Close to President Milei, there are
critics of the actions of officials in the Chancellery who anticipate changes.
An influential official with an office in the Casa Rosada warned in statements
to a group of journalists: "In the foreign service, there is a caste that wants
to function as if it were a kind of Judiciary, doing what they want. But unlike
the Judiciary, which is a separate Power, the Chancellery is part of the
Executive Power and has to follow the President's orders."
The new administration will advance in the coming days to close all embassies
and consulates located in countries with which Argentina does not maintain a
solid commercial relationship. The National Agencies will continue the tasks
normally performed by diplomatic missions, such as procedures and assistance to
citizens who find themselves there. The only official who would remain is the
Secretary of Worship and Civilization, Nahuel Sotelo, a leader close to the
Vatican and a trusted man of both presidential advisor Santiago Caputo and
Karina Milei.
President Milei linked Werthein's appointment to a divine sign, stating, "You
are being sent signals by the forces of heaven," referencing the biblical
reading about Abraham's journeys. He affirmed that Werthein's responsibility is
a "sign from heaven" and described it as an international mission inspired by
religious values. By focusing on spiritual symbolism and drawing biblical
parallels during the swearing-in ceremony, President Milei emphasized the
importance of staying true to one's principles while embarking on new journeys,
much like Abraham in the Torah.
President Milei's actions reflect his intention to align Argentina's foreign
service with his initiatives. Shortly after the dismissal of Diana Mondino, he
declared, "I want to be like Israel and the United States," reflecting his
desire to strengthen ties with these nations. Gerardo Werthein's appointment and
the measures he has taken since assuming office underscore a new direction in
Argentina's foreign policy, rooted in spiritual values and strategic
realignment.
Australian foreign minister raises allegations of India targeting Sikhs in
Canada
Rod Mcguirk/MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)/ November 5, 2024
Australia’s foreign minister said Tuesday she raised allegations with her
Indian counterpart that India has targeted Sikh activists in Canada. Foreign
Minister Penny Wong said she discussed the Canadian allegations with Indian
Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar while he was in the Australian capital, Canberra.
India has denied Canada’s allegation that Indian Home Minister Amit Shah ordered
the targeting of Sikh activists inside Canada. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
went public last with allegations that Indian diplomats were targeting Sikh
separatists in Canada by sharing information about them with their government
back home. They said top Indian officials were then passing that information
along to Indian organized crime groups who were targeting the activists, who are
Canadian citizens, with drive-by shootings, extortions and even murder.
Canada is not the only country that has accused Indian officials of plotting an
assassination on foreign soil. The United States Justice Department announced
criminal charges in mid-October against an Indian government employee in
connection with an alleged foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living
in New York City. The Justice Department said Vikash Yadav, who authorities say
directed the New York plot from India, faces murder-for-hire charges in an
alleged planned killing that prosecutors have previously said was meant to
precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and
Canada. Wong said her message to the Sikh community was that people have a right
to be safe and respected in Australia, regardless of who they are.
“We’ve made clear our concerns about the allegations under investigation. We’ve
said that we respect Canada’s judicial process,” Wong said at a news conference
with Jaishankar. “We convey our views to India as you would expect us to do and
we have a principled position in relation to matters such as the rule of law and
the independence of the judiciary and also, frankly, the sovereignty of all
countries,” she added. Jaishankar said Canada has put Indian diplomats under
surveillance, which was “unacceptable.”Australia has close intelligence-sharing
ties with Canada as members of the Five Eyes alliance that also includes the
United States, Britain and New Zealand. Over the weekend, India officially
protested Canada's allegation of Sikh activists being targeted there as “absurd
and baseless.”
Jaishankar on Tuesday also condemned reports of vandalism at a Hindu temple near
Toronto in Canada on Sunday as “deeply concerning.” In videos on social media,
demonstrators carrying yellow flags in support of the Sikh separatist movement
can be seen clashing with others, including some holding India's national flag,
inside the temple complex. Indian consular officials were visiting the temple
where the clashes erupted. It was unclear how the violence began. Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau called the violence at the temple “unacceptable,” adding
that “every Canadian has the right to practice their faith freely and safely.”
The violence drew a strong rebuke from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
Monday. “Equally appalling are the cowardly attempts to intimidate our
diplomats. Such acts of violence will never weaken India’s resolve,” he wrote on
the social media platform X, adding that India expects Canada to ensure justice.
A demonstration that included protesters holding India's national flag near the
same temple on Monday night was ordered to disperse after Peel Regional Police
said on social media that weapons were seen within the crowd. Police declared
the protest an unlawful assembly, and warned anyone who remains could face
arrest. Relations between the two countries soured after Trudeau said last year
there were credible evidence the Indian government had links to the
assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. India has
vehemently rejected the accusation.
New Delhi, long anxious about Sikh separatist groups, has increasingly accused
the Canadian government of giving free rein to separatists from a once-strong
movement to create an independent Sikh homeland, known as Khalistan, in India.
The diplomatic row led to the expulsion of each side's top diplomats last
month.Jaishankar said, “We believe in freedoms, but we also believe freedom
should not be misused.”
Trudeau has said Modi underlined to him at a G20 summit in India last year that
he wanted Canada to arrest people who have been outspoken against the Indian
government. Trudeau said he told Modi that he felt the actions fall within free
speech in Canada.
Trudeau added that he told Modi his government would work with India on concerns
about terrorism, incitement of hate or anything that is unacceptable in Canada.
But Trudeau also noted that advocating for separatism, though not Canadian
government policy, is not illegal in Canada.
Two Egyptian pilots killed in helicopter crash in Suez: army
AFP/November 05, 2024
CAIRO: Two Egyptian air force officers were killed on Tuesday when a helicopter
crashed during a training exercise, the military said. The helicopter went down
near a key air base in the town of Shalufa, in Suez province, “due to a
technical malfunction,” military spokesman Gharib Abdel Hafez said in a post on
his official Facebook page. He did not specify the manufacturer or model of the
aircraft. The Egyptian air force operates aircraft from various countries,
including France, Russia and the United States.In November 2022, the military
said a fighter jet had crashed during a military exercise but it reported no
casualties. In December 2019, an aircraft crashed during a training exercise.
The pilot ejected safely.
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on November 05-06/2024
In Middle East, EU is an economic giant but
a political dwarf
Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/November 05, 2024
The EU has seen its geopolitical influence decline throughout the world in
recent years, but no more so than in the Middle East, a region historically,
economically and culturally closer to it than the US. The Europeans have been
losing political influence for decades, especially after endorsing the
US-sponsored peace accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization and
Israel. Exclusive US oversight of the Oslo process sidelined the EU as a block,
as well as the UN and Russia, although these three entities remain members of
the Quartet — in addition to the US. But Washington has made it clear that it
will neutralize any meaningful role of the Quartet to avoid laying any serious
pressure on its ally and proxy, Israel. But the EU’s political influence on
parties to the Israel-Palestine conflict has also declined in recent years. In
this case, it suffered a fatal blow following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on
Israel and the ensuing brutal Israeli war on Gaza, which is ongoing and has now
stretched to Lebanon. The Europeans, including the British after leaving the
union, are divided when it comes to exerting meaningful pressure on Israel to
cease its assault on Gaza. Following the Oct. 7 attacks, European leaders
flocked to embrace Benjamin Netanyahu and to declare that Israel had the
absolute right to defend itself against the aggressor, meaning Hamas and Islamic
Jihad. The Europeans are divided when it comes to exerting meaningful pressure
on Israel to cease its assault on Gaza
But they soon realized that Netanyahu had unleashed an indiscriminate blitz
whose aim was not to decapitate Hamas, as he has claimed, but to kill civilians,
destroy infrastructure and eventually drive more than 2.2 million Palestinians
toward death, either by direct bombing or by starvation and disease. It became
clear that Netanyahu had other plans as he waged what nongovernmental
organizations, UN rapporteurs and even the prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court have described as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Still the EU has vacillated, as members like Hungary and Austria have rejected
calls to bring collective punitive measures against Israel. The leading critical
voice of Israeli atrocities in Gaza is foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, who
has been banned from entering Israel, Gaza and the West Bank by the far-right
Israeli government because of his bold statements.
Europe exhibited such divisiveness and lack of a coherent foreign policy when
three European states — Spain, Ireland and Slovenia — decided to recognize a
Palestinian state in May. The UK, which is widely recognized as triggering the
decades-long conflict and causing the Palestinians’ historic injustice, has made
no such move. France sat on the fence on this issue as it battled the rise of
the pro-Israel far right at home and the decline of its economic influence
within the EU.
Germany, the EU’s economic and political powerhouse, remained loyal to its blind
support of Israel and denial of its war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. Italy
and France took the step of stopping all military shipments to Israel.
But at no point was the EU able to initiate a dialogue with the Biden
administration about reining in Netanyahu and preventing his doubling down on
what is now clearly a crime of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza. The EU has
become dependent on Washington’s support of its policy on Ukraine, the most
crucial geopolitical challenge to the bloc since its inception. Yes, the EU and
its members remain the biggest donor to UNRWA and other UN agencies working for
the welfare of the Palestinians. Brussels is also the biggest financial
supporter of the Palestinian Authority. However, such financial support is
undercut by its inability to produce a decisive political stand that would
influence the trajectory of events in the Occupied Territories. The EU and
individual member states have imposed sanctions on Jewish settler groups in the
West Bank, as has the US. But that has not prevented Netanyahu’s far-right
government from unleashing a settler-led wave of terror and mayhem against West
Bank Palestinians. And when South Africa brought what has become a seminal
charge of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice, Germany
and, at one point, the UK moved in to defend Israel and attempt to throw out the
case, despite the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have so far been killed.
Historically, the EU has been a progressive entity when it comes to addressing
the plight of the Palestinians and how the conflict should be resolved. In 1980,
it issued the famous Venice Declaration, which recognized the Palestinian right
to self-determination and the concept of the two-state solution based on UN
Security Council resolutions.
The EU has gone through significant internal transformations that have eroded
its role in the international arena
Aside from the US’ dominant role in managing peace talks between Israel and the
PA, which have been nonexistent for almost 15 years now, the EU has gone through
significant internal transformations that have eroded its role in the
international arena, especially the Middle East. While the EU remains the
third-largest economy in the world in terms of gross domestic product, its
economies have been suffering from slow or negative growth, rising inflation,
immigration, both legal and illegal, too many regulations, Donald Trump’s
first-term tariffs policy and pressure to increase defense spending, NATO
challenges and, finally, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The last of these has
depleted the EU’s resources and, together with the immigration issue, allowed
the far right to make historic gains in local, national and EU-wide elections.
Euroskeptics like Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni now want to
“change” the EU from within, extracting benefits while hollowing out its real
spirit of unification. The UK’s influence in the Middle East is also waning. The
Gaza war has singled out the US as the only player that is capable of stopping
the massacre of Palestinians and preventing a regional spillover. But it is
Israel’s pivot to becoming a rogue state — its parliament last week voted to
abolish all agreements with UNRWA — that is putting the EU and its fundamental
value system under pressure. The group does not influence Israel, while several
state members continue to defend Netanyahu’s genocidal war. Its economic support
of the Palestinians does little to change the needle as far as a political
settlement is concerned. Moreover, the rise of other global and regional powers,
such as China, Russia and the Gulf states, has created new diplomatic channels
and alliances, reducing Europe’s relative importance. One should add that
Europe’s responses to various other Middle Eastern crises, including the Syrian
civil war and the so-called Arab Spring, have been criticized as slow and
ineffective, damaging its credibility. And unlike the US, the Europeans have a
modest military presence in the Middle East, thus limiting their diplomatic
options when it comes to intervening in the Israel-Palestine conflict. While the
EU as a group is still an influential economic power, it has proven to be a
political dwarf when it comes to addressing geopolitical challenges, not only in
the Middle East but in the Southern Mediterranean as a whole. This has been most
evident in France’s failure to intervene in the Israel-Lebanon showdown, despite
Paris seeing itself as a guarantor of its former colony’s stability.
*Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman. X:
@plato010
Lessons of the Ukraine crisis for the Middle East and the US
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/November 05, 2024
It would be absurd for any political commentator to ignore the US presidential
election, in which a very substantial number of voters had already cast their
ballots through early voting before the official election day on Tuesday.
And after what we have seen in the Gaza Strip, it would be strange to remain
silent in the face of the brazen, explicit effort to displace people in Lebanon,
where, so far, most of the residents of the largest Shiite cities, towns and
suburbs have been uprooted and displaced. However, as I struggled with the
dilemma on whether to comment on the US election or the tragedy in Lebanon, I
happened to come across an interview with American academic, expert and
political adviser Jeffrey Sachs, in which he discussed the Ukrainian crisis and
its background.
One could say: “Given the importance of these two matters, is discussing
anything else not a form of evasion?” The truth is, I have never shied away from
expressing my opinion on the Donald Trump-Kamala Harris battle in America and I
will never evade the matter, or what has happened and continues to happen in
Lebanon and Gaza, in the future. However, the significance of Sachs’ comments
(he was a witness and participant in many of the developments) is that they
unpack the circumstances of the Ukraine war. Firstly, he discussed the manner in
which US administrations (both Republican and Democratic) handle global crises.
Secondly, he provided a historical overview of how the crisis began — a crisis
that has rearranged the strategic priorities of most European countries and
reshaped many alliances and predictive readings of what might happen in the
world.
In the interview, Sachs said that the crisis is not an attack by Vladimir Putin
on Ukraine, like we are constantly being told. Rather, it erupted in February
1990, when the US secretary of state at the time, James Baker, apparently
promised that NATO would not expand if Moscow agreed to the reunification of
Germany — a promise that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev accepted.
Putin initially considered European orientations, even contemplating joining
NATO for a while
However, Washington reneged on its promise in the 1990s, when President Bill
Clinton agreed to expand NATO as far as Ukraine. Indeed, Poland, Hungary and the
Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999. Moscow ignored this step, but it began to
become alarmed following the NATO-US campaign in Serbia that same year.
Nevertheless, Moscow remained silent and swallowed the issue when Putin took
power. In fact, Putin initially considered European orientations, even
contemplating joining NATO for a while. Then, after 9/11 and the war in
Afghanistan that followed, Washington unilaterally withdrew from the
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 and deployed missile systems in Eastern
Europe “minutes away from Moscow” — which Russia considered a direct threat to
its national security, even though it had supported Washington’s “War on
Terror.”
In 2003, the US invaded Iraq for entirely fabricated reasons, according to
Sachs. In 2004-2005, it pushed “regime change in Ukraine” and supported Viktor
Yushchenko’s rise to power. However, in 2010, Viktor Yanukovych, with Moscow’s
support, won elections and took office championing “Ukrainian neutrality.” This
cooled the temperature temporarily, especially since polls showed that
Ukrainians did not support joining NATO, Sachs claimed in the interview.
However, Washington proceeded to work on toppling Yanukovych and pursued regime
change, joining the effort to push him out of power on Feb. 22, 2014. Thus, it
imposed the expansion of the alliance despite Putin’s objections and attempts to
remind Washington of its promises. By the way, 10 years earlier, in 2004, NATO
had admitted seven other Eastern European countries as members.
Sachs reiterated that Washington had always been keen on expanding NATO to
Russia’s borders and objected to any settlement on the matter. He then listed
subsequent developments that “destroyed what remained of Washington's partners’
trust,” as he put it.
In 2018, the US withdrew from the nuclear agreement it had concluded with Iran
and, in 2019, it withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
“Reckless foreign policy” continued to be pursued when Putin proposed a draft
security agreement to Washington in December 2021 with the aim of ending NATO
expansion. Sachs says he personally contacted the White House and urged it to
avoid war and engage in negotiations, but “No, there will be no war,” was the
response he received. His interlocutor repeated the announcement that there
would be no NATO expansion, but that is exactly what happened. “You have no
right to plant military bases wherever you want... and expect peace. We have to
be reasonable and logical, and we (the Americans) stood in 1823 against the
expansion of European powers in the American continent through the Monroe
Doctrine.”He concluded by saying that “the narrative around the Ukraine crisis
is false … and Putin is not another Hitler … likewise, we should stop what we
are doing with regard to China and Taiwan.”
Finally, to get back to the US election and the tragedies of Lebanon and Gaza, I
believe that Sachs’ remarks provide crucial insights about certain highly placed
interests being willing to ruin anything, demonize anyone, obliterate any issue,
erase any country and invent any delusion. The US election and the tragedies of
Lebanon and Gaza are unfolding today in a world teetering on the edge of a
unipolarity that openly applies double standards, disregards international
institutions, ignores the rights of peoples and dismisses pluralism of
identities and nationalities.
On the other hand, resentful forces are rising. They no longer see themselves as
fated to defeat and surrender at the hands of an aging West that is failing to
rejuvenate itself and opposes allowing others to come in and reinvigorate its
societies.
*Eyad Abu Shakra is managing editor of Asharq Al-Awsat. X: @eyad1949
Israel’s campaign against UNRWA precedes Oct. 7
Dr. Ramzy Baroud/Arab News/November 05/ 2024
The Israeli Knesset last week adopted two bills that will effectively ban the UN
agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, from carrying out any activity in Israel
and the Occupied Territories.
Simply put, the decision is catastrophic, because UNRWA is the main
international body responsible for the welfare of millions of Palestinians
throughout the Occupied Territories and much of the region. Israel followed up
its decision by attacking and damaging an UNRWA office in the Nur Shams refugee
camp in the West Bank. This was the Israeli government’s way of demonstrating
its seriousness regarding the matter.
This is not the first time that Israel has pursued an anti-UNRWA agenda and,
contrary to claims by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli
officials, the decision is not linked to the current genocidal war on Gaza or
the unfounded claims that UNRWA supports “terrorism.”
An independent review commissioned by the UN in April revealed that Israel “made
public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of
terrorist organizations,” but that it “has yet to provide supporting evidence of
this.”
However, Israel’s claims did a great deal of damage to the organization, as 13
countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, Germany and Italy,
withheld badly needed funds that were helping Gaza stave off a horrific famine.
Eventually, most of these countries reinstated their financial support, though
without apologizing to the Palestinians who were adversely impacted by their
unfair initial decisions. Israel has managed to keep UNRWA’s name in the news,
always associating it with ‘supporting terrorism’ Unrepentant, Israel continued
to unleash its relentless war on the organization. “UNRWA workers involved in
terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable,” Netanyahu said in
a statement last week. The anti-UNRWA rhetoric remains functional for Israel.
Amplified by the ever-willing US mainstream media, Israel has managed to keep
UNRWA’s name in the news, always associating it with “supporting terrorism.” So,
when the Knesset voted for the anti-UNRWA bills, many media outlets conveyed the
news as if it was the only rational conclusion to an essentially fabricated
story.
Israel’s problem with UNRWA has little to do with the organization itself, but
with its underlying political representation as a UN entity whose mission is
predicated on providing “assistance and protection to Palestine refugees.” UNRWA
was established in 1949 by UN General Assembly Resolution 302 (IV). It began its
operations on May 1, 1950, and, with time, it became central to the survival of
a large number of Palestinian refugee communities in Gaza, the West Bank,
Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Many have rightly criticized the UN for failing to
supplement UNRWA’s humanitarian mandate with a political equivalent that would
ultimately help Palestinians achieve their right of return in accordance with UN
Resolution 194. For Israel, however, UNRWA remained problematic. According to
Tel Aviv’s thinking, UNRWA’s existence is a constant reminder that there is a
distinct group of people called Palestinian refugees. And though UNRWA is not a
political organization, the Palestinian refugee crisis and all related UN
resolutions that emphasize the “inalienable” rights of these refugees are very
political.
Taking advantage of the initial, albeit brief, sympathy with Israel worldwide
and the massive campaign of misinformation emanating from Israel and its allies,
Netanyahu used the Oct. 7 attacks as an opportunity to further demonize UNRWA.
However, his campaign started much earlier.
One key player in the war on UNRWA has been Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of
former US President Donald Trump. Kushner, who invested much time in helping
Israel, made UNRWA a key point in his plan. He vowed to carry out a “sincere
effort to disrupt” the work of the organization, a leaked 2018 email revealed.
According to Tel Aviv, UNRWA’s existence is a constant reminder that there is a
distinct group of people called Palestinian refugees
Due to international rejection and solidarity, Kushner ultimately failed. Even
the withholding of funds by the US administration did not force the organization
to shut down, although it did negatively impact the lives of millions of
Palestinians.
The ongoing war on Gaza and the push to annex large parts of the West Bank
represented a golden opportunity for Netanyahu and his extremist government to
increase the pressure on UNRWA. They have been enabled by unconditional US
support and the willingness of various Western governments to recklessly act
upon Israel’s false claims regarding the UN organization.
By allowing Israel to delegitimize the very organization responsible for
enforcing international law, the UN’s crisis becomes much deeper.
An impassioned plea made by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese last week
reflected the frustration felt by many UN-affiliated officials regarding the
growing irrelevance of the organization. In a speech, Albanese pointed out that,
if the UN’s failures continue, it will become “more and more irrelevant to the
rest of the world,” especially during these times of turmoil.
This irrelevance is already being felt by millions of Palestinians, mainly in
Gaza but also in the West Bank. Though Palestinians continue to withstand and
reject and resist Israeli aggression, they are fed up with an international
system that seems to offer them only words and little action.
Israel’s banning of UNRWA should represent an opportunity for those concerned
about the standing of the UN to remind Israel that member states that have no
respect for international law deserve to be delegitimized. This time, words must
be accompanied by action. Nothing else will suffice.
**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