English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 18/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
If you abide in my word, you will truly be my disciples and know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
John 08/31038/Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed in Him, If you abide in my word, you will truly be my disciples and know the truth, and the truth will make you free. They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, ‘Ye shall be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Verily, verily I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham’s seed, but ye seek to kill Me, because My Word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with My Father, and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 17-18/2024
Elias Bejjani: Hezbollah in All Its Forms is an Existential Threat to Lebanon and the Lebanese People/November 17, 2024
Israel assassinates Hezbollah media official
Israel Targets Beirut’s Southern Suburbs Again as Synagogue is Hit in Haifa
Lebanon says Israeli strike on central Beirut kills two
Israeli strike on Beirut kills Hezbollah media head, security sources say
UNESCO petitioned to save Lebanon's heritage sites from Israeli strikes
2 Lebanese Soldiers Killed in Israeli Airstrike
Hochstein to visit Lebanon and Israel on Tuesday and Wednesday
UN peacekeepers in Lebanon say came under fire likely by 'non-state actor'
Israel pounds Dahieh as its army vows to keep fighting in south
New salvo of projectiles fired from Lebanon at Haifa area
Another Israeli strike hits heart of Beirut, targeting Hezbollah commander
Israeli Strike on Beirut Kills Hezbollah Media Relations Chief
Lebanese Civil Defense: A Victim of Israeli War
Cultural experts urge UN to shield Lebanon’s heritage

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 17-18/2024
Pope Francis calls for investigation to determine if Israel's attacks in Gaza constitute 'genocide'
Frankly Speaking: How do Palestinians perceive a new Trump presidency?
Two Flash Bombs Fired into Garden of Netanyahu's Home, Arrests Made
Netanyahu aide leaked classified document to influence public opinion on hostage negotiations, court says
Israeli Military Says Officer, Soldier Killed in Northern Gaza Battle
Dozens killed and wounded in Israeli strikes across Gaza, medics say
Israel Says UN Committee's Gaza Genocide Claims 'False'
Russia Launches One of Fiercest Missile, Drone Attacks at Ukraine's Infrastructure
France, UK and Poland reaffirm support for Kyiv as Russia targets Ukraine’s power facilities in massive missile attack
Biden authorizes Ukraine’s use of US-supplied long-range missiles for deeper strikes inside Russia
Rising Islamophobia poses threat in UK amid ‘bleak and dystopian’ political climate, warns head of race equality think tank

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on November 17-18/2024
Trump Would Be Wise To Deliver Regime Change in Iran/Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/November 17, 2024
Women continue to take key roles in Trump team/Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/November 17, 2024
The Western dehumanization of Muslims/Peter Harrison/Arab News/November 17, 2024
Was Harris hindered by being a woman?/Maha Akeel/Arab News/November 17, 2024
Southern Lebanon is actually northern Israel - opinion/Michael Freund/Jerusalem Post/November 17/2024
Americans weren’t interested in prolonging Obama’s policies through Harris - opinion/David M. Weinberg/Jerusalem Post/November 17/2024
Biden's final opportunity: A bold move on Iran and Israel to secure his legacy - opinion/Martin Oliner/Jerusalem Post/November 17/2024

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 17-18/2024
Elias Bejjani: Hezbollah in All Its Forms is an Existential Threat to Lebanon and the Lebanese People
November 17, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/136914/
Hezbollah’s Threat to Lebanon Is Beyond Armed Resistance
Hezbollah, the armed Iranian jihadist terrorist proxy, represents a multifaceted and existential threat that transcends its military capabilities. It poses a grave danger to Lebanon, the Arab world, Israel, and the international peace as a whole—whether it exists as an armed militia or a so-called political entity. Dismantling Hezbollah, disarming it, and prosecuting its leadership as enablers of the Shiite political Islamist ideology are crucial steps to preserving Lebanese, regional, and global stability.
The threat of Hezbollah lies in its religious ideology, which mirrors the Shiite branch of political Islam and is almost a carbon copy of the Sunni variant, with its extremist and jihadist organizations like ISIS, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and the Muslim Brotherhood offshoots. Despite sectarian differences, all political Islamist groups share a unified goal: imposing a totalitarian religious-political agenda that threatens nation-states, disrupts societal stability, and causes global unrest. Hezbollah’s Shiite agenda is no less dangerous or extreme than its Sunni counterparts.
Hezbollah Does Not Represent Shiites in Lebanon or the Arab World
Contrary to the propaganda spread by Iran and its so-called "Resistance Axis" in Lebanon and beyond, Hezbollah does not represent Lebanese or Arab Shiites. Instead, it stands as their greatest adversary. In the 1980s, through a conspiracy between Syria’s Assad regime and Iran’s mullahs, Hezbollah was created and equipped with extensive military, financial, and sectarian resources to hijack Lebanon's Shiite community and hold it hostage.
This destructive reality persists today, just last year, Hezbollah launched a war against Israel under direct Iranian orders, continuing it despite disastrous consequences on Lebanese Shiites, including destruction, death, impoverishment, humiliation, and displacement. Despite the devastation and suffering caused by its policies and wars in its areas of influence, Hezbollah persists in waging senseless battles solely to serve Iran’s regional agenda, which starkly opposes the interests of Shiites, Lebanon, and the Lebanese people. These suicidal policies underscore Hezbollah's loyalty to Iran, surpassing any concern for the community it falsely claims to defend and represent—its so-called “supportive-embracing base.”
Hezbollah’s Role in Undermining Lebanon’s Sovereignty
Since 2005, following Syria's forced withdrawal from Lebanon, Hezbollah has entrenched itself as a "state within a state." It seized control of the government, coerced or bought off political parties and figures, and transformed Lebanon into an arms depot, monopolizing decisions of war and peace.
Despite this reality, most Lebanese politicians and leaders of corrupted political parties, driven by ignorance, opportunism, or betrayal, openly propose allowing Hezbollah to continue as a political party after its inevitable military defeat. This servile stance highlights the shortsightedness of these individuals, serving only Iran’s hegemonic agenda by ensuring Hezbollah's ideological and cultural dominance and extending its function as Tehran’s tool in the region.
The Heresy of the “Defense Strategy” Hoax
Amid this political and religious subjugation, calls have emerged to integrate Hezbollah’s weapons into a so-called “national defense strategy” or to incorporate thousands of its fighters into the Lebanese Army under the guise of “border guards.” These proposals are national betrayals designed to cement Hezbollah’s status as a parallel armed entity dominating the Lebanese Army's leadership and institutions, effectively creating a state within the state.
This is the same model Iran has promoted through the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and its militias in Syria, undermining the sovereignty of these nations’ governments. Hezbollah mirrors this structure in Lebanon today.
Iran: Chaos, Destruction, and the Fragmentation of States
Iran’s strategy is clear: weaken nation-states, empower sectarian militias loyal to Tehran, and consolidate its influence. In Lebanon, Hezbollah serves as Iran’s primary tool for maintaining its grip on the country. The same strategy is replicated in Iraq, Yemen, and Syria, where Iranian militias systematically dismantle national institutions, replacing legitimate governance with chaos and mini-states.
The Path to Liberating Lebanon from Iranian Occupation
Dismantling Hezbollah, disarming it, and banning its participation in political life are essential preconditions for freeing Lebanon from Iranian occupation. The Lebanese people, alongside political, religious, academic, and partisan elites, must recognize a crucial truth: Hezbollah, in any form, is incompatible with sovereignty, constitutional governance, independence, democracy, freedoms, coexistence, and national unity. The international community must support Lebanon by exerting maximum pressure on Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors to dismantle the group, liberate the Shiites and all Lebanese from its authoritarian control, and restore Lebanon's sovereignty.
Lebanon’s future hinges on breaking the vicious cycle of occupations and external dependency that have plagued it since the 1970s. Achieving this requires the complete eradication of Hezbollah as a military force, its dissolution as a political entity, and its prosecution as an organization promoting terrorism and jihadist wars. Only then can Lebanon regain its sovereignty and lay the foundation for a stable and prosperous future.

Israel assassinates Hezbollah media official
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/November 17, 2024
BEIRUT: An Israeli strike on a building in central Beirut on Sunday killed Hezbollah’s media relations chief, Mohammad Afif. It was later announced that Mahmoud Al-Sharqawi, who was assisting Afif, was also killed at the headquarters of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party in Ras Al-Nabaa, a neighborhood of Beirut. This is the first time this area has been attacked since Israel began operations in the country. It is densely populated with residents and displaced people from the south, and Beirut’s southern suburbs who have taken refuge there. The strike also wounded three others, the Health Ministry said in a preliminary count. Paramedics at the scene of the attack told Arab News about “seeing more blood under the rubble, which is being cleared to determine the fate of those who were inside the building.”
BACKGROUND
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel the day after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas ignited the war in Gaza.The targeted center has belonged to the Ba’ath Party for decades. Its Secretary-General Ali Hijazi said he was not in the building at the time of the airstrike, and did not explain why Afif was holding a meeting in the Ba’ath Party building. Information circulated at the site of the attack that a group from Hezbollah’s media relations department was in the building when it was targeted, raising fears that three people accompanying Afif and who are missing might also have been killed.
On Oct. 22 and Nov. 11, Afif held two press conferences in the open air in the southern suburb of Beirut to present Hezbollah’s positions on developments under the watchful eye of Israeli reconnaissance planes, which are constantly flying over the southern suburb.Afif was a founding member of Hezbollah, joining the party in 1983, and has been in charge of its media since 2014. He managed Hezbollah-affiliated media outlets such as Al-Manar TV, Al-Nour radio station, and Al-Ahed news website. Several residents of the targeted area said they received calls warning them to evacuate their homes immediately beforehand. A 50-year-old woman said: “I just left the house without taking anything with me. It is a real terror.”The airstrike, which is suspected to have been launched by a drone, destroyed the upper floors of the five-story building, and damaged neighboring buildings on the narrow street.
Israeli army radio confirmed Mohammed Afif was the target of the strike. It is the third time Beirut has been targeted since the Israeli military expanded its operations in Lebanon. On Oct. 10, three airstrikes were directed at Wafiq Safa, the head of the liaison and coordination unit of Hezbollah, severely injuring him, as well as the destruction of two buildings in the neighborhoods of Basta and Nuwairi. A week before, a Hezbollah ambulance center in Bachoura was attacked, leading to the deaths of six people and injuries to seven others. On Sunday, residents of the Ain Al-Rummaneh area adjacent to the Chiyah district received evacuation warnings issued by Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee via X, accompanied by maps indicating locations to be targeted on the outskirts of Ain Al-Rummaneh, Haret Hreik, and Hadath. Israeli warplanes subsequently demolished tall residential and commercial buildings in the area. Our Lady of Salvation Church in Hadath was severely damaged, as were the surroundings of Mar Mikhael Church. This was followed by a second wave of raids on residential buildings in Burj Al-Barajneh and Bir Al-Abed, and a third wave targeted more than one location in Haret Hreik and Sfeir. The Israeli spokesperson claimed that the airstrikes “targeted military command centers and other terrorist infrastructures belonging to Hezbollah in the southern suburbs.”
The claim came as Israeli attacks targeting southern Lebanon continued.
The residents of 15 towns deep in the south were asked to evacuate their houses immediately and move north of the Awali River. The Lebanese military said an Israeli attack on Sunday killed two soldiers, accusing Israel of directly targeting their position in southern Lebanon.
“The Israeli enemy directly targeted an army center” in Al-Mari in the Hasbaya area, causing “the death of one of the soldiers and the wounding of three others, one of whom is in critical condition,” the army said in a statement. A separate statement shortly afterward said “a second soldier” had died of his wounds.
The Lebanese Army has lost 36 soldiers to Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon over the past year. Prime Minister Najib Mikati paid tribute to the “martyrs of the army who gave their lives.”He said: “We must all cooperate so their sacrifices do not go in vain by working first to stop the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and enable the army to carry out all the tasks required of it, to extend the authority of the state alone over all Lebanese territories.” Mikati said he was hopeful that the ongoing talks would result in a ceasefire. Also on Sunday, Israeli strikes targeted a house in Chabriha, Sidon District, causing injuries, with raids hitting Tefahta and Aanquoun as well. In another incident, a person was killed and three injured at dawn in an air raid on the town of Jdeidet Marjayoun. On Saturday night, a family of seven, including three children, were killed when their house in Arabsalim was targeted. The displaced Al-Hattab family had moved to the north but was not able to adapt to the conditions of displacement and decided to go back to their home in Arabsalim days before it was hit.
Hezbollah said its confrontations with the Israeli army continued at the borders, especially in Shama.

Israel Targets Beirut’s Southern Suburbs Again as Synagogue is Hit in Haifa
Beirut: Asharq Al Awsat/November 17, 2024
Several Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, hours after Lebnaon’s Hezbollah said it fired on Israeli bases around the city of Haifa. Columns of smoke rose over the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs, following a warning from the Israeli military for residents to evacuate many areas.
Further south, overnight Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling hit the flashpoint southern town of Khiam, some six kilometres from the border, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported early Sunday. The bombardment came after Israel's military reported a "heavy rocket barrage" on Haifa late Saturday and said a synagogue was hit, wounding two civilians. Israel's military chief said Saturday Hezbollah had already "paid a big price,” but Israel will keep fighting until tens of thousands of its residents displaced from the north can return safely. Beirut's southern suburbs were veiled in smoke Sunday, following repeated Israeli bombardment a day earlier of the Hezbollah stronghold. The Israeli military said aircraft had targeted "a weapons storage facility" and a Hezbollah "command center.”Hezbollah fired around 80 projectiles at Israel on Saturday, the military said. Israeli forces also shelled the area along the Litani River, which flows across southern Lebanon, NNA said Sunday. The agency earlier reported strikes on the southern city of Tyre, including in a neighborhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins. Israel's military late Saturday said it had hit Hezbollah facilities in the Tyre area. In Lebanon's east, the health ministry said an Israeli strike in the Bekaa Valley killed six people including three children. Hezbollah said it fired a guided missile that set an Israeli tank ablaze in the southwest Lebanon village of Shamaa, about five kilometres from the border. Late Saturday, Hezbollah said it had targeted five military bases including the Stella Maris naval base.

Lebanon says Israeli strike on central Beirut kills two
AFP/November 17, 2024
BEIRUT: Lebanon said an Israeli strike on central Beirut’s Mar Elias district killed two people, the second such raid targeting the capital Sunday after an earlier strike killed a Hezbollah official. Israel has been heavily bombing Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, since all-out war erupted on September 23, but attacks on central Beirut have been rarer. “Israeli warplanes launched a strike on the Mar Elias area,” the official National News Agency said of a densely packed residential and shopping district that also houses people displaced by the conflict. The health ministry said the strike killed two people and wounded 13, raising an earlier toll of one dead and nine wounded. AFP journalists heard the sound of explosions and then sirens amid a strong acrid smell of burning. AFP images showed a blaze at the site that firefighters were trying to extinguish.A Lebanese security source, requesting anonymity, told AFP that the strike hit an electronics store in Mar Elias, without providing further details. The NNA said the strike “targeted a Jamaa Islamiya center,” referring to a Sunni Muslim group allied to Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. But Jamaa Islamiya lawmaker Imad Hout told AFP that “no center or institution affiliated with the group is located in the area targeted by the strike, and no member of the group was targeted.”Earlier Sunday, a Lebanese security source said Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif was killed in a strike on central Beirut’s Ras Al-Nabaa district. Previous strikes claimed by Israel on Beirut’s southern suburbs have killed senior Hezbollah officials, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah in late September. In the wake of Sunday’s strikes, the education minister said schools and higher education institutions in the Beirut area would remain closed for two days.

Israeli strike on Beirut kills Hezbollah media head, security sources say
Reuters/November 17, 2024
BEIRUT (Reuters) -An Israeli strike on a building in central Beirut on Sunday killed Hezbollah's media relations chief Mohammad Afif, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters, though there was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah. Israel has rarely hit senior Hezbollah personnel who do not have clear military roles, and its air strikes have mostly targeted Beirut's southern suburbs where Hezbollah has its heaviest presence. The Israeli military declined to comment in response to questions from Reuters. An Israeli military spokesperson's account on the social media platform X that often publishes evacuation orders for areas about to be bombed showed no such warning before this strike. Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire for more than a year, since the Iran-backed group began launching rockets at Israeli military targets on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas carried out a deadly attack on southern Israel. In late September, Israel dramatically expanded its military campaign in Lebanon, heavily bombing the south and east and the southern suburbs of Beirut alongside ground incursions along the border. In addition to targeting Hezbollah, the escalation has killed several soldiers of the Lebanese military, including two who died on Sunday when Israel attacked an army post in the southern town of Al-Mari, the Lebanese army said on X. Two other soldiers were wounded, it said.
ADVISER TO NASRALLAH HOSTED PRESS CONFERENCES IN BEIRUT,
The strike on Beirut hit the Ras al-Nabaa neighbourhood, where many people displaced from the southern suburbs by Israeli bombardment had sought refuge. The security sources said a building housing offices of the Ba'ath Party had been hit, and the head of the party in Lebanon, Ali Hijazi, told the Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed that Afif had been in the building. The Syrian Social Nationalist Party, another political party with ties to Hezbollah, said in a statement that Afif had been killed but gave no details of how or where. The Lebanese health ministry said the strike had killed one and injured three. Ambulances could be heard rushing to the scene, and guns were fired to prevent crowds approaching. The broadcaster later also said Afif had been killed. It showed footage of a building whose upper floors had collapsed onto the first storey, with civil defence workers at the scene. Afif was a long-time media adviser to Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept. 27. He managed Hezbollah's Al-Manar television station for several years before taking over the group's media office. Afif hosted several press conferences for journalists amid the rubble in Beirut's southern suburbs. In his most recent comments to reporters on Nov. 11, he said Israeli troops had been unable to hold any territory in Lebanon, and that Hezbollah had enough weapons and supplies to fight a long war.

UNESCO petitioned to save Lebanon's heritage sites from Israeli strikes
RFI/November 17, 2024 at 10:13 a.m. EST·1 min read
Hundreds of cultural professionals – including archaeologists and academics – have called on the United Nations to safeguard Lebanon's heritage sites in a petition published ahead of a crucial UNESCO meeting in Paris. Several Israeli strikes in recent weeks on Baalbek in the east of Lebanon and Tyre in the south – both strongholds of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah – hit close to ancient Roman ruins designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites.
The petition, signed by 300 prominent cultural figures, was sent to UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay on Sunday – a day before a special session in the French capital to consider listing Lebanese cultural sites under "enhanced protection".
It urges UNESCO to protect Baalbek and other heritage sites by establishing "no-target zones" around them, deploying international observers and enforcing measures from the 1954 Hague Convention on cultural heritage in conflict. "Lebanon's cultural heritage at large is being endangered by recurrent assaults on ancient cities such as Baalbek, Tyre and Anjar, all UNESCO world heritage sites, as well as on other historic landmarks," the petition says. It calls on influential states to push for an end to military action that causes destruction of damage to sites, as well as adding protections or introducing sanctions.

2 Lebanese Soldiers Killed in Israeli Airstrike
Asharq Al Awsat /November 17, 2024
The Lebanese army said an Israeli strike on Sunday hit a military center in southeastern al-Mari, killing two soldiers. There was no immediate Israeli comment. "The Israeli enemy directly targeted an army center" in al-Mari in the Hasbaya area, causing "the death of one of the soldiers and the wounding of three others, one of whom is in critical condition," the army said in a statement. A separate statement shortly afterwards said "a second soldier" had died of his wounds. Israeli fire has killed more than a dozen Lebanese soldiers since all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah erupted in September. Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel the day after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack ignited the war in Gaza. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes in Lebanon and the conflict steadily escalated, erupting into war in September. Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on Oct. 1. Hezbollah has continued to fire dozens of projectiles into Israel daily and has expanded their range to central Israel.

Hochstein to visit Lebanon and Israel on Tuesday and Wednesday
Naharnet/November 17, 2024  
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will visit Beirut on Tuesday and Israel on Wednesday as part of his efforts to push the ceasefire deal forward and amid reported progress in the negotiations, media reports said.
Israel is "expecting major progres in the ceasefire negotiations with Lebanon next week, during Hochstein's visit," Israeli state media quoted sources as saying. Lebanon is meanwhile expected to deliver its response to Hochstein's latest ceasefire proposal in the coming hours. The proposal was received by Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday.

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon say came under fire likely by 'non-state actor'
Agence France Presse/November 17, 2024
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said on Sunday that a peacekeeping patrol was fired upon "about 40 times" a day earlier, with the culprit "likely from non-state actor members."
"A group of individuals," at least one armed, sought to prevent the patrol from passing in south Lebanon on Saturday, but it continued and was later "fired upon about 40 times from behind, likely from non-state actor members," UNIFIL said in a statement, adding that no peacekeepers were injured though "some patrol vehicles had bullet impacts."

Israel pounds Dahieh as its army vows to keep fighting in south
Agence France Presse/November 17, 2024
Several strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs Sunday morning and at noon, after the Israeli military warned people to evacuate twice. Columns of smoke were seen rising over the capital's southern suburbs, where Lebanon's only international airport is located. Further south, overnight Israeli air strikes and shelling hit the flashpoint town of Khiam, the Lebanese state-run National News Agency reported. Following the bombardment, the Israeli army said about 20 projectiles were seen crossing from Lebanon into Israel, and that some of them were intercepted. Emergency services did not immediately report any casualties. Israel has escalated its bombing of Lebanon since September 23 and has since sent in ground troops, following almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah militants in support of Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza. Its military on Saturday said Hezbollah had already "paid a big price", but vowed to keep fighting until tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from the north can return home. Israeli forces also shelled the southern area of Lebanon along the Litani River, the NNA said on Sunday. The news agency had earlier reported strikes on the southern city of Tyre, including in a neighborhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins. Israel's military said late Saturday it had hit Hezbollah sites in the area. In Lebanon's east, the health ministry said an Israeli strike in the Bekaa Valley killed six people including three children. Hezbollah said it fired a guided missile that set an Israeli tank ablaze in the southwestern Lebanese village of Shamaa. In eastern Lebanon, funerals were held for 14 civil defense staff killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday. "They weren't involved with any (armed) party... they were just waiting to answer calls for help," said Ali al-Zein, a relative of one of the dead. Lebanese authorities say more than 3,452 people have been killed since October last year, with most casualties recorded since September. Israel announced the death of a soldier in southern Lebanon, bringing to 48 the number killed fighting Hezbollah. In Israel, police said they arrested three suspects after flares shot near the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the central city of Caesarea, south of Haifa, while he was away. Demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday reiterated demands that the government reach a deal to free dozens of hostages still held in Gaza.The protest came a week after mediator Qatar suspended its role until Hamas and Israel show "seriousness" in truce and hostage-release talks.

New salvo of projectiles fired from Lebanon at Haifa area
Agence France Presse/November 17, 2024
The Israeli military said about 20 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israel on Sunday, with Israeli air defense system intercepting some of them. "Following the sirens that sounded between 10:11 (0811 GMT) and 10:12 am in the areas of the Haifa Bay and Western Galilee, approximately 20 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Some of the projectiles were intercepted," the Israeli army said. Emergency services did not immediately report any injuries.

Another Israeli strike hits heart of Beirut, targeting Hezbollah commander
Associated Press/November 17, 2024
An Israeli airstrike hit a computer shop in central Beirut's Mar Elias area on Sunday evening, killing two people and wounding 13, the Health Ministry said. Al-Arabiya television identified the target of the strike as "Hezbollah military commander Mahmoud Madi," saying the computer shop is owned by his brother. Firefighters struggled to control a blaze sparked by the strike in the busy residential neighborhood as small explosions could be heard in the shop. Bystanders said they heard a second explosion during the strike and a car nearby appeared to be hit.

Israeli Strike on Beirut Kills Hezbollah Media Relations Chief
Beirut: Asharq Al Awsat /November 17, 2024
An Israeli strike on a densely populated district of Beirut on Sunday killed Hezbollah's media relations chief Mohammad Afif, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters. The strike hit Ras el-Nabaa, a neighborhood where many people displaced from Beirut's southern suburbs had been seeking refuge.
The security sources said it struck a building where the offices of the Baath Party are located, and the head of the party in Lebanon, Ali Hijazi, told a local TV station that Afif was in the building. The Lebanese health ministry said the strike killed one and injured three. Afif was a long-time media adviser to Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept. 27. He managed Hezbollah's Al-Manar television station for several years before taking over the group's media office. Afif hosted several press conferences for journalists amid the rubble in Beirut's southern suburbs. In his most recent comments to reporters on Nov. 11, he said Israeli troops had been unable to hold any territory in Lebanon, and that Hezbollah had enough weapons and supplies to fight a long war. Later on Sunday, another strike in central Beirut hit a computer shop, killing two people and wounding 13, the health ministry said. Israeli media claimed that the attack in Mar Elias street targeted a Hezbollah official.

Lebanese Civil Defense: A Victim of Israeli War
Beirut: Paula Astih/Asharq Al Awsat /November 17, 2024
An Israeli airstrike on the Civil Defense Center in Baalbek, eastern Lebanon, late Thursday killed at least 13 personnel. This marks the second such attack after a similar strike on the Dardghiya center in southern Lebanon, which killed five. These strikes have raised concerns about Israel’s motives. While Israel’s recent attacks on hospitals, medical teams, and ambulances in southern Lebanon seemed aimed at eradicating all signs of life, especially south of the Litani River, the shift of these operations to eastern Lebanon has raised new questions.
International Accountability
Brig. Gen. Raymond Khattar, head of Lebanon’s Civil Defense, condemned the attack, calling it unjustifiable. He stressed in remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel’s repeated attacks on Civil Defense centers violate international agreements and should be addressed by the international community. “This will only strengthen our resolve to continue our work,” he said. The death toll in Baalbek may rise, with four missing personnel and remains undergoing DNA testing.
Continued Violence
Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health condemned the strike on a state-run medical center, calling it a “barbaric attack” and the second Israeli strike on a medical facility within two hours. The ministry urged international action to stop these violations, warning that unchecked violence threatens basic human values. Health Minister Firas Abiad previously accused Israel of targeting medical staff, revealing that 13 hospitals were shut down, over 150 health workers killed, and 100 medical centers and 130 ambulances attacked. These numbers have since increased. Israel defends its actions by claiming the medical centers and ambulances were hiding weapons and militants. However, a Civil Defense worker in Baalbek appeared in a video, crying over the loss of his colleagues and emphasizing that the center had only medical supplies and water hoses.
Gaza-like Situation in Lebanon
Former Interior Minister Marwan Charbel believes Israel’s message is clear: “Those we kill should not be rescued or treated.”He compared the situation in Lebanon to Gaza, where only three of 53 hospitals remain operational. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he warned that Israel would likely escalate further, knowing it has until the end of the year. Charbel also criticized the “alarming international silence” over the attacks.
Blocking Rescue Efforts
Dr. Jebran Qarnouni, a disaster management expert, suggested that targeting Civil Defense centers is meant to block rescue and medical efforts. He emphasized to Asharq Al-Awsat that these attacks violate international law and the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit targeting medical facilities and ambulances during conflicts.

Cultural experts urge UN to shield Lebanon’s heritage
AFP/November 17, 2024
BEIRUT: Hundreds of cultural professionals, including archeologists and academics, called on the UN to safeguard war-torn Lebanon’s heritage in a petition published on Sunday before a crucial UNESCO meeting. Several Israeli strikes in recent weeks on Baalbek in the east and Tyre in the south hit close to ancient Roman ruins designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites. The petition, signed by 300 prominent cultural figures, was sent to UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay a day before a special session in Paris to consider listing Lebanese cultural sites under “enhanced protection.”
It urges UNESCO to protect Baalbek and other heritage sites by establishing “no-target zones” around them, deploying international observers, and enforcing measures from the 1954 Hague Convention on cultural heritage in conflict. “Lebanon’s cultural heritage at large is being endangered by recurrent assaults on ancient cities such as Baalbek, Tyre, and Anjar, all UNESCO world heritage sites, as well as other historic landmarks,”
says the petition.
It calls on influential states to push for an end to military action that destroys or damages sites, as well as adding protections or introducing sanctions. Change Lebanon, the charity behind the petition, said signatories included museum curators, academics, archeologists, and writers in Britain, France, Italy, and the US. Enhanced protection status gives heritage sites “high-level immunity from military attacks,” according to UNESCO. “Criminal prosecutions and sanctions, conducted by the competent authorities, may apply in cases where individuals do not respect the enhanced protection granted to a cultural property,” it said. In Baalbek, Israeli strikes on Nov. 6 hit near the city’s Roman temples, according to authorities, destroying a heritage house dating back to the French mandate and damaging the historic site. The region’s governor said “a missile fell in the car park” of a 1,000-year-old temple, the closest strike since thestart of the war. The ruins host the prestigious Baalbek Festival each year, a landmark event founded in 1956 and now a fixture on the international cultural scene, featuring performances by music legends like Oum Kalthoum, Charles Aznavour and Ella Fitzgerald.n Israel, and the roots of the Jewish people in the area run deep. As the IDF battles to clear southern Lebanon of Hezbollah terrorists, it is worth highlighting an intriguing historical fact, one that many seem to have forgotten. Having grown up with an international boundary between the Jewish state and our neighbors to the north, we take it for granted that this is how it has always been and should be. But the truth is that the current border between Israel and Lebanon is little more than a century old and is entirely artificial, a relic of a time when European colonialists whimsically drew lines on maps over a bottle of brandy in smoke-filled rooms.
Historically speaking, southern Lebanon is in fact northern Israel, and the roots of the Jewish people in the area run deep. Whether or not this can or should be translated now into a political reality is a far more complex question, but there is simply no denying our connection to the land.
Indeed, back in biblical times, southern Lebanon was clearly part of the Land of Israel. In the Book of Genesis (10:19) it says, “and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Tsevoyim as far as Lasha.” Sidon, a city in Lebanon, is about halfway between the current Israeli border and Beirut. Just prior to his death, our biblical patriarch Jacob blessed his 12 sons, and the blessing he gave to Zevulun was “Zevulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon” (Genesis 49:13).
The Book of Joshua (13:6) mentions Sidon explicitly as being promised to the Jewish people, and it also says (19:28) that the border of the tribe of Asher extended to Sidon INTERESTINGLY, THE midrash in Bereishit Rabbah (39:8) says it was in Tyre, a city now 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of the Israeli border, that God promised the Land of Israel to Abraham.
The midrash quotes Rabbi Levi, who said, “When Abraham was traveling through Aram Naharayim and Aram Nahor, he saw them eating, drinking, and reveling. He said: ‘Would that my portion not be in this land.’ When he reached the Promontory of Tyre, he saw them engaged in weeding at the time of weeding, hoeing at the time of hoeing. He said: ‘Would that my portion be in this land.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘To your descendants I will give this land’” (Genesis 12:7).
Further evidence of the Jewish link to the area can be found in the various holy sites and tombs of the righteous in southern Lebanon. The most well-known is the Tomb of Zevulun in Sidon, which for centuries was a place of pilgrimage for Jews from throughout the region and beyond.
In the 16th century, Italian rabbi Moshe Basola visited the tomb and wrote about it, and in the middle of the 18th century, Rabbi Yosef Sofer said that families would gather and hold festive meals adjacent to it. Rabbi Natan of Breslov described having an uplifting spiritual experience at Zevulun’s Tomb; and when Sir Moses Montefiore visited Israel in the 19th century, he also traveled to see it.
THE TOMB of another biblical figure, Oholiav ben Ahisamakh, who assisted Bezalel in constructing the Tabernacle in the desert, is located in the village of Sojoud in southern Lebanon. According to Israeli archaeologist Zvi Ilan, Oholiav’s burial place was an important Jewish pilgrimage site during the Ottoman period. Local Arabs also revered the site and said that it was the tomb of a “Jewish prophet.” As recently as the early 20th century, Jews in Safed used to travel to the tomb to perform the custom of upsherin, a boy’s first haircut, something that nowadays is commonly done in Meron.
Yet another Jewish holy site in southern Lebanon is the tomb of the biblical prophet Zephaniah, which is located in the Lebanese village of Jabal Safi. Some have speculated that the name of the village is derived from the prophet who was buried there.
It should perhaps come as no surprise that one of the oldest synagogues in the world is located in Sidon’s Harat-Al-Yahud, or Jewish Quarter. Built nearly 1,200 years ago in 833, it is believed to have been constructed on the site of an older Jewish house of worship dating back to shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple.Though no longer in use due to the emigration of most Lebanese Jews during the country’s civil war between 1975 and 1990, it stands as a silent testament to the long-standing Jewish presence in the region.
How was southern Lebanon cut off from Israel?
SO JUST how was southern Lebanon essentially cut off from northern Israel? The origin of this division happened a century ago. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France reached a secret accord in 1916 called the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which effectively divided much of the Middle East into spheres of influence between London and Paris. Basically, a line was drawn on a map, and it was that scribble which essentially came to serve as the border between Israel and Lebanon as we know it today. Earlier this year, an Israeli organization called Uri Tsafon (Awaken, O North) was founded with the aim of encouraging Jewish settlement in southern Lebanon, and it has called on the government to act. While some may view this idea as far-fetched, it is worth remembering that just a century ago, so too was the notion of a sovereign Jewish state.
After all, today’s dreams have a tendency to portend tomorrow’s reality. Especially in the Middle East
*The writer served as deputy communications director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 17-18/2024
Pope Francis calls for investigation to determine if Israel's attacks in Gaza constitute 'genocide'
Giada Zampano/ROME (AP) /November 17, 2024
Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming new book ahead of the pontiff's jubilee year. It's the first time that Francis has openly urged for an investigation of genocide allegations over Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip. In September, he said Israel's attacks in Gaza and Lebanon have been “immoral” and disproportionate, and that its military has gone beyond the rules of war. The book, by Hernán Reyes Alcaide and based on interviews with the Pope, is entitled “Hope never disappoints. Pilgrims towards a better world." It will be released on Tuesday ahead of the pope's 2025 jubilee. Francis’ yearlong jubilee is expected to bring more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome to celebrate the Holy Year.“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” the pope said in excerpts published Sunday by the Italian daily La Stampa.“We should investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies,” he added. Last year, Francis met separately with relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians living through the war and set off a firestorm by using words that Vatican diplomats usually avoid: “terrorism” and, according to the Palestinians, “genocide.”Francis spoke at the time about the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians after his meetings, which were arranged before the Israeli-Hamas hostage deal and a temporary halt in fighting was announced. The pontiff, who last week also met with a delegation of Israeli hostages who were released and their families pressing the campaign to bring the remaining captives home had editorial control over the upcoming book.
The war started when the militant Hamas group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250 as hostages and taking them back to Gaza, where dozens still remain. Israel’s subsequent yearlong military campaign has killed more than 43,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, whose count doesn’t distinguish between civilians and fighters, though they say more than half of the dead are women and children. The Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza has triggered several legal cases at international courts in The Hague involving requests for arrest warrants as well as accusations and denials of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. In the new book, Francis also speaks about migration and the problem of integrating migrants in their host countries. “Faced with this challenge, no country can be left alone and no one can think of addressing the issue in isolation through more restrictive and repressive laws, sometimes approved under the pressure of fear or in search of electoral advantages,” Francis said. “On the contrary, just as we see that there is a globalization of indifference, we must respond with the globalization of charity and cooperation,” he added. Francis also mentioned the “still open wound of the war in Ukraine has led thousands of people to abandon their homes, especially during the first months of the conflict.”

Frankly Speaking: How do Palestinians perceive a new Trump presidency?
Arab News/November 17, 2024
DUBAI: Although the previous administration of US President-elect Donald Trump was seen as a staunch ally of Israel, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, Palestine’s minister of state for foreign affairs and expatriates, says Palestinians remain hopeful about his return to the White House.
In large part this is due to a perception that the international climate surrounding the issue of Palestinian statehood is fundamentally different to that which prevailed during Trump’s last administration, owed in large part to events in Gaza and the resulting wave of solidarity. “I have to be hopeful. We have to remain hopeful,” said Aghabekian Shahin during an appearance on the Arab News current affairs program “Franking Speaking,” a week after President-elect Trump secured a powerful mandate in a deeply polarized US election race. Her optimism, however, is tempered by the decades of frustration that Palestinians have felt under Israeli occupation. “What we have been hoping for, as always, is a Palestinian state with our sovereignty and our self-determination,” she told “Frankly Speaking” host Katie Jensen. While Trump’s first term was marked by controversial moves such as recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocating the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, Aghabekian Shahin believes there remains a possibility for change. “With the incoming president in the United States, our hope remains the same. We hope President Trump will take a more balanced approach ... and put on his agenda the rights of the Palestinians.”
During his last administration, Trump championed normalization agreements between Arab states and Israel under the Abraham Accords. However, Aghabekian Shahin says “peace will not be sustainable if Palestinians’ rights are not taken into consideration.”
In contrast with the period coinciding with Trump’s last administration, Aghabekian Shahin says there is now a global momentum behind Palestinian statehood, catalyzed by shifting alliances and growing public outrage over Israeli actions in Gaza. “I think times today are different than they were a couple years ago,” said Aghabekian Shahin.
“The ongoing genocide in Gaza, the mounting pressure and dissatisfaction all over capitals in Europe … and the coalition today led by Saudi Arabia on the materialization of the state of Palestine — these are new dimensions that cannot be ignored.” Israel’s military campaign in Gaza came in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which killed more than 1,200 and saw 250 taken hostage. The conflict in the tiny Palestinian enclave has resulted in more than 43,700 dead and 1.9 million displaced. International criticism of the scale of destruction in Gaza has intensified over the past year, with many questioning Israel’s adherence to international law. Israeli leaders could face war crimes charges before the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. One positive to emerge from the conflict is renewed interest in the long-dormant effort to achieve the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which envisions an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital living peacefully alongside Israel. Lauding Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic and humanitarian efforts, Aghabekian Shahin said a new international coalition spearheaded by the Kingdom to help expedite the two-state solution represented a source of hope for Palestinians.
This ambition was given further weight by the joint summit of the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that took place in the Saudi capital on Nov. 11, during which the leaders of 57 Arab and Islamic countries called on Israel to negotiate an end to the decades-old conflict.
“Saudi Arabia has been extremely important for aid and its support to the Palestinian people,” said Aghabekian Shahin. “The summit that was held in Riyadh is a very important message. Fifty-seven countries were present in the meeting, with clear decisions and a focus on ending the occupation.”
Saudi Arabia has explicitly linked the normalization of ties with Israel to progress on Palestinian statehood. Aghabekian Shahin said this position is “a very important step and something that pushes forward and brings a lot of hope to the Palestinian people.”During the recent joint summit, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman described Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide, marking the first occasion that a Saudi official had publicly done so. Nevertheless, there are still several nations, including many of Israel’s Western allies, who have avoided using the term. While acknowledging the scale of human suffering in Gaza, Aghabekian Shahin said the precise terminology is less important than addressing the atrocities that are taking place.
“Even if 300,000 people are killed in Gaza, God forbidding, some countries will not call it a genocide,” she said. “What is happening is a humanitarian catastrophe. ... Governments and people are more and more realizing that these atrocities cannot continue.”Asked whether Hamas bears responsibility for triggering the carnage that has befallen Gaza, Aghabekian Shahin did not condemn the Palestinian militant group outright, focusing instead on the underlying conditions that have fueled the cycle of violence. “Who takes the blame first and foremost is the belligerent occupation that has been suffocating Palestinian lives over seven decades,” she said. “Gazans were living in an open-air prison… When people as human beings are cornered and they don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, then obviously violence erupts.”Despite the grim reality of the situation and the intense animosity between the warring sides, Aghabekian Shahin underscored the importance of diplomacy and adherence to international law to resolve the conflict. “Any violence perpetrated by any side is unacceptable,” she said. “We need to put violence aside and resort to mechanisms that will bring us closer to our liberation as per international law.”
This commitment to seeking peaceful solutions aligns with Aghabekian Shahin’s extensive background in academia, human rights advocacy, and as a veteran member of the Palestinian negotiations unit.
Before her ministerial appointment in April, she served in various roles, including as director of the Capacity and Institutional Building Project at the Office of the Palestinian President and commissioner-general of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights.
A member of Jerusalem’s Armenian community, Aghabekian Shahin has witnessed firsthand the pressures faced by minority groups in the city. She highlights the significance of the Armenian Quarter in the Old City, which has come under growing threat by far-right Jewish settlers.
“The land in question is invaluable,” she said, referring to a bitter ongoing legal dispute between the Armenian Patriarchate and an Australian-Israeli developer to lease an area of land in the Armenian Quarter to build a luxury hotel. “This land is part and parcel of the heritage of the Armenian people for decades in Jerusalem,” said Aghabekian Shahin. “The community has a very good team of Israeli lawyers along with international lawyers who are working on the case.”The Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City has long been a symbol of Armenian identity and presence in the region. Aghabekian Shahin believes its preservation is vital not just for Armenians but for Jerusalem’s multicultural heritage. The flight of Christian communities more broadly from Palestine and the wider Middle East is itself a bellwether of the decline of religious pluralism in the region. Aghabekian Shahin attributes this trend to the hardships of living under occupation. “People are sick and tired of occupation,” she said. “They want a better future for their children. This better future cannot happen under occupation… With an end of occupation, there is an economic horizon and a future that people can look to.”As Palestinians await clarity on the global stage, Aghabekian Shahin remains resolute. “What we hope for today is what we have always hoped for — a sovereign Palestinian state living in peace next to Israel.” The stakes are high, however, not only for Palestinians but for the broader Middle East, where peace remains elusive. Aghabekian Shahin believes the next US administration will have to address the root causes of the conflict. “Without justice for Palestinians, there will be no sustainable peace.”

Two Flash Bombs Fired into Garden of Netanyahu's Home, Arrests Made
Asharq Al Awsat /November 17, 2024
Israeli police arrested on Sunday three suspects after flares were fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea. Netanyahu and his family were not at the residence when two flares were fired at it overnight, and there were no injuries, authorities said. The police did not provide details about the suspects behind the flares, but officials pointed to domestic political critics of Netanyahu. Israel's largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the incident and warned against “an escalation of the violence in the public sphere.”Netanyahu has faced months of mass protests over his handling of the hostage crisis unleashed by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel, which ignited the ongoing war in Gaza. Critics blame Netanyahu for the security and intelligence failures that allowed the attack to happen and for not reaching a deal with Hamas to release scores of hostages still held inside Gaza. Israelis rallied again in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to demand a cease-fire deal to return them.

Netanyahu aide leaked classified document to influence public opinion on hostage negotiations, court says
Mike Schwartz and Catherine Nicholls, CNN/November 17, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a commemoration ceremony for soldiers killed during the 2014 Gaza war, at Memorial Hall, Jerusalem in July 2024. An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is alleged to have leaked classified information to foreign press in the hopes of influencing public opinion on hostage negotiations, according to a court release published Sunday. Eliezer Feldstein was arrested earlier this month for allegedly leaking “classified and sensitive intelligence information,” according to court documents. Sunday’s court release outlines more of the details surrounding this alleged leak. According to the magistrate’s court of Rishon Lezion, the leak began when a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in the Israeli military reserves took a “highly sensitive and classified document” from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In April this year, the NCO sent a copy of the document to Feldstein, who distributed it to Israeli media outlets in September “with the aim of influencing public opinion on the ongoing negotiations concerning the hostages,” the court release said. This came shortly after the Israeli military announced on September 1 that six Israeli hostages were killed in Gaza. Four of them were due to be released in the first wave of a potential deal. Israeli media outlets were prevented from publishing articles related to the leaked document by the country’s censorship authorities, the court release said, so Feldstein “decided to bypass censorship and publish the document in foreign media.”Two articles published in September, one in the United Kingdom’s Jewish Chronicle and another in Germany’s Bild, included information related to the leaks. Both cited Israeli intelligence sources and supported a narrative being pushed by Netanyahu at the time. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz – who quit Netanyahu’s wartime cabinet earlier this year – seized on the alleged leaks as a failure at the very top of government, with Gantz calling it a “national crime.”Both blamed Netanyahu’s office for the leak, with Gantz accusing Netanyahu of leveraging the leaks for political gains. A spokesperson for Netanyahu denied earlier this month that there were leaks from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), and said that the “person in question never participated in security-related discussions,” apparently referring to Feldstein. The PMO also downplayed the possibility that the leak impacted negotiations with Hamas over the release of hostages from Gaza, calling the claim “ridiculous.”

Israeli Military Says Officer, Soldier Killed in Northern Gaza Battle
Asharq Al Awsat/November 17, 2024
The Israeli military said on Sunday that an officer and a soldier from the Nachshon Regiment (90), Kfir Brigade, had been killed during combat in northern Gaza on Saturday. The army identified them as Captain Yogev Pazy, aged 22 from Giv'ot Bar, a platoon commander, and Staff Sergeant Noam Eitan, aged 21, from Hadera. Another soldier was severely wounded in the same battle, the army added.

Dozens killed and wounded in Israeli strikes across Gaza, medics say
Nidal al-Mughrabi/CAIRO (Reuters)/November 17, 2024
Dozens of Palestinians were killed or injured in an Israeli strike on a multi-storey residential building housing at least six families in northern Gaza's Beit Lahiya town on Sunday, medics and residents said. The Palestinian Civil Emergency said around 70 people were living in the property but the Gaza government media office put the number of those killed at 72. The Israeli military, which has been fighting Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza since October 2023, said several strikes were conducted overnight on "terrorist targets" in Beit Lahiya with everything possible done to avoid civilian harm. "All information released by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health should be treated with caution, as it has been repeatedly proven unreliable in previous incidents," it said. Video footage of the strike site obtained by Reuters showed locals pulling bodies from a huge pile of rubble, with surrounding houses also damaged, some heavily. The Israeli army sent tanks into Beit Lahiya and the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia, the largest of the Gaza Strip's eight historic refugee camps, last month in what it said was a campaign to fight Hamas militants waging attacks and prevent them from regrouping. It said it has killed hundreds of militants in those three areas, which residents said Israeli forces had isolated from Gaza City.
MOUNTING DEATHS
A statement by the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, on Sunday said fighters blew up an Israeli army vehicle during fighting in Beit Lahiya. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the claim.
Later on Sunday, an Israeli strike killed five Palestinians, tasked with escorting aid trucks that entered the enclave, according to residents in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Another strike in Gaza City killed two men, they added. Earlier in the day, an Israeli air strike killed at least 10 people in the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, when a missile hit a house, medics said. Four other people were killed in the nearby Nuseirat camp, they added. Qatar has told Hamas and Israel it will stall efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until they show "willingness and seriousness" to resume talks. The two warring sides continue to trade blame. Hamas wants a deal that ends the war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war can only end once Hamas is eradicated.The Gaza health ministry said 43,800 people have been confirmed killed since Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas militants killed around 1,200 Israelis that day, and still hold dozens of some 250 hostages they took back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel Says UN Committee's Gaza Genocide Claims 'False'
Asharq Al Awsat/November 17, 2024
Israel condemned the United Nations for what it described as "anti-Israel fabrications" after a UN committee said its warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide. "The UN is breaking its own record when it comes to biased reports, singling-out Israel and anti-Israel fabrications," the foreign ministry said late on Saturday. The UN special committee said in a report that Israel was "intentionally causing death, starvation and serious injury" in the Gaza Strip, accusing it of "using starvation as a method of war". But the ministry dismissed the accusations as "false claims". "The... report is an appalling example of the transformation of the UN into an organization which is used as a pawn by terrorists who attack civilians in a democratic state," it said in a statement shared by spokesman Oren Marmorstein on X. The UN committee had said "through its siege over Gaza, obstruction of humanitarian aid, alongside targeted attacks and killing of civilians and aid workers, despite repeated UN appeals, binding orders from the International Court of Justice and resolutions of the Security Council, Israel is intentionally causing death, starvation and serious injury".Israel's foreign ministry, however, insisted its "activities are directed solely at dismantling Hamas's terror capabilities".The United States, Israel's biggest supporter, rejected the UN committee's charges, which it said were "unfounded". This is not the first time Israel has faced accusations of genocide, with a case brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December arguing its conduct in Gaza breaches the UN's Genocide Convention -- a claim Israel has strongly denied the accusation, according to AFP. The Israeli ministry said it was Hamas which uses "civilians as human shields" and that Israel was not targeting the people of Gaza. "Israel remains fully committed to facilitating the continuous flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza," the ministry added. Aid groups, including UN agencies, frequently say they face major obstacles, particularly administrative problems, in carrying out their activities in the Palestinian territory, which is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis. The report was prepared by a special United Nations committee, created in 1968 and tasked with investigating Israeli practices in the occupied Palestinian territories, after Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip a year earlier. It is due to be presented to the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday.

Russia Launches One of Fiercest Missile, Drone Attacks at Ukraine's Infrastructure
Asharq Al Awsat/November 17, 2024
Russia on Sunday launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine, described by officials as the largest over the past months, targeting energy infrastructure and killing civilians. The attack came as fears are mounting about Moscow’s intentions to devastate Ukraine's power generation capacity ahead of the cold winter. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched a total of 120 missiles and 90 drones in a large-scale attack across Ukraine. Various types of drones were deployed, he said, including Iranian-made Shaheds as well as cruise, ballistic and aircraft-launched ballistic missiles. Ukrainian defenses shot down 140 air targets, Zelenskyy said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. “The enemy’s target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris. In Mykolaiv, as a result of a drone attack, two people were killed and six others were injured, including two children," The Associated Press quoted Zelenskyy as saying. Two others were killed in the Odesa region, where the attack damaged energy infrastructure and disrupted power and water supplies, said local Gov. Oleh Kiper. The combined drone and missile attack was the most powerful in three months, according to the head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration Serhii Popko. Russian strikes have hammered Ukraine’s power infrastructure since Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, prompting repeated emergency power shutdowns and nationwide rolling blackouts. Ukrainian officials have routinely urged Western allies to bolster the country’s air defenses to counter assaults and allow for repairs. Explosions were heard across Ukraine on Sunday, including in capital Kyiv, the key southern port of Odesa, as well as the country’s west and central regions, according to local reports. The operational command of Poland’s armed forces wrote on X that Polish and allied aircraft, including fighter jets, have been mobilized in Polish airspace because of the “massive” Russian attack on neighboring Ukraine. The steps were aimed to provide safety in Poland's border areas, it said. One person was injured after the roof of a five-story residential building caught fire in Kyiv’s historic center, according to Popko. A thermal power plant operated by private energy company DTEK was “seriously damaged,” the company said.

France, UK and Poland reaffirm support for Kyiv as Russia targets Ukraine’s power facilities in massive missile attack
Agencies/November 17, 2024
BUENOS AIRES/LONDON/WARSAW: France, Britain and Poland on Sunday reaffirmed their support for Ukraine as Russia staged its biggest missile attack since August, targeting Ukraine's power facilities with the winter setting in. French President Emmanuel Macron said the relentless air barrage showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “does not want peace and is not ready to negotiate.”The priority for France was to “equip, support and help Ukraine to resist,” Macron told reporters as he prepared to leave Argentina to attend the G20 Summit in Brazil. “It’s clear that President Putin intends to intensify the fighting,” he added. He declined to comment on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s call with Putin on Friday, stressing that Ukraine’s allies “must remain united .... on an agenda for genuine peace, that is to say, a peace that does not mean Ukraine’s surrender.”He added that he would only consider a call with the Russian leader when the “context” was right. In London, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that he has no plan to speak with Putin as he pledged support for Ukraine as the UK’s top priority at this week’s G20 summit.Speaking with reporters on the way to the meeting in Brazil, Starmer said he wouldn’t speak to Putin as Scholz did on Friday. The call between the two leaders, which the Kremlin said was initiated by Germany, was the first publicly announced conversation between Putin and a major head of a Western power in almost two years. Ukraine's Zelensky criticized the call and said it would only make Russia less isolated. Ukraine’s allies fear that the election of President-elect Donald Trump, who has questioned US aid sent to Kyiv and spoken favorably about Putin, could alter support from Washington, its biggest backer. Starmer said allies have to double down now to support Ukraine for as long as it takes. “We are coming up to the 1,000th day of this conflict on Tuesday,” Starmer said. “That’s 1,000 days of Russian aggression, 1,000 days of huge impact and sacrifice in relation to the Ukrainian people and recently we’ve seen the addition of North Korean troops working with Russians which does have serious implications.”The UK has committed $16.15 billion in aid to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Also on Sunday, Poland welcomed news that US President Joe Biden had cleared Ukraine to use long-range missiles against military targets inside Russia, something Kyiv had been urging for months.“With the entry into the war of North Korea troops and (Sunday’s) massive attack of Russian missiles, President Biden responded in a language that (Russian President) V.Putin understands,” Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski posted on X.
“The victim of aggression has the right to defend himself,” Sikorski added in his post. “Strength deters, weakness provokes.”Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long pushed for authorization from Washington to use the powerful Army Tactical Missile System, known by its initials ATACMS, to hit targets inside Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that approval would mean that NATO was “at war” with his country — a threat he has made previously when Ukraine’s Western backers have escalated their military assistance to Kyiv.

Biden authorizes Ukraine’s use of US-supplied long-range missiles for deeper strikes inside Russia
AP/November 17, 2024
MANAUS, Brazil: President Joe Biden has authorized the use of US-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine to strike even deeper inside Russia, the latest easing of limitations meant to prevent the conflict from further spiraling, according to one US official and three people familiar with the matter. The decision allowing Ukraine to use the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs, for attacks farther into Russia comes as thousands of North Korean troops have been sent into a region along Ukraine’s northern border to help Russia retake ground and as President-elect Donald Trump has said he would bring about a swift end to the war, expressing skepticism over continued support by the United States. Biden's decision came hours after Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine, described by officials as the largest in recent months, targeting energy infrastructure and killing civilians.
The attack came as fears are mounting about Moscow’s intentions to devastate Ukraine's power generation capacity ahead of the winter. It is the second time the US has permitted the use of Western weapons inside Russian territory within limits after permitting the use of HIMARS systems, a shorter-range weapon, to stem Russia's advance in Kharkiv region in May. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched a total of 120 missiles and 90 drones in a large-scale attack across Ukraine. Various types of drones were deployed, he said, including Iranian-made Shaheds, as well as cruise, ballistic and aircraft-launched ballistic missiles.
Ukrainian defenses shot down 144 out of a total of 210 air targets, Ukraine's air force reported later on Sunday. Zelensky and many of his Western supporters have been pressing Biden for months to allow Ukraine to strike military targets deeper inside Russia with Western-supplied missiles, saying the US ban had made it impossible for Ukraine to try to stop Russian attacks on its cities and electrical grids. Some supporters have argued that this and other US constraints could cost Ukraine the war. The debate has become a source of disagreement among Ukraine’s NATO allies.
Biden had remained opposed, determined to hold the line against any escalation that he felt could draw the US and other NATO members into direct conflict with Russia. But North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to Russia to help Moscow try to claw back land in the Kursk border region that Ukraine seized this year. The introduction of North Korean troops to the conflict comes as Moscow has seen a favorable shift in momentum. Trump has signaled that he could push Ukraine to agree to give up some land seized by Russia to find an end to the conflict. As many as 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, according to US, South Korean and Ukrainian assessments. US and South Korean intelligence officials say North Korea also has provided Russia with significant amounts of munitions to replenish its dwindling weapons stockpiles. Trump, who takes office in January, spoke for months as a candidate about wanting Russia’s war in Ukraine to be over, but he mostly ducked questions about whether he wanted US ally Ukraine to win. He also repeatedly slammed the Biden administration for giving Kyiv tens of billions of dollars in aid. His election victory has Ukraine’s international backers worrying that any rushed settlement would mostly benefit Putin. America is Ukraine’s most valuable ally in the war, providing more than $56.2 billion in security assistance since Russian forces invaded in February 2022. Worried about Russia’s response, however, the Biden administration repeatedly has delayed providing some specific advanced weapons sought by Ukraine, only agreeing under pressure from Ukraine and in consultation with allies, after long denying such a request. That includes initially refusing Zelensky’s pleas for advanced tanks, Patriot air defense systems, F-16 fighter jets, among other systems. The White House agreed in May to allow Ukraine to use ATACMS for limited strikes just across the border with Russia.
Ukrainian drones strike Russia
A local journalist died Sunday as Ukrainian drones struck Russia's embattled Kursk region, its Gov. Aleksei Smirnov reported. Moscow’s forces have for months strained to dislodge Ukrainian troops from the southern province after a bold incursion in August that constituted the largest attack on Russia since World War II and saw battle-hardened Ukrainian units swiftly take hundreds of square miles (kilometers) of territory. In Russia’s Belgorod province, near Ukraine, a man died on the spot after a Ukrainian drone dropped explosives on his car, local Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported. Another Ukrainian drone on Sunday targeted a drone factory in Izhevsk, deep inside Russia, according to anti-Kremlin Russian news channels on the Telegram messaging app. The regional leader, Aleksandr Brechalov, reported that a drone exploded near a factory in the city, blowing out windows but causing no serious damage. A man was briefly hospitalized with a head injury, Brechalov said.

Rising Islamophobia poses threat in UK amid ‘bleak and dystopian’ political climate, warns head of race equality think tank
Arab News/November 18, 2024
LONDON: The UK is witnessing an escalation in Islamophobia that risks becoming “brutally divisive,” with failure to address its underlying causes potentially leading to more racist riots, according to the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust think tank. In an exclusive interview with The Guardian newspaper, Shabna Begum, who took the helm of the race equality group earlier this year, highlighted how political rhetoric has fueled the problem. “The way politicians talk about Muslims now is so derogatory, it’s in the most brutally divisive terms,” she said, adding that British political discourse had evolved beyond Sayeeda Warsi’s “dinner table test,” a phrase coined by the Conservative peer in 2011 which claimed Islamophobia had become socially acceptable. Referring to last summer’s riots, Begum warned that without change, such violence could become recurrent. “(The unrest) was the ugliest representation of the years of racism that have been manufactured through the political media conversation. And if we don’t do something differently, that ugliness will become just a regular feature of our politics,” she said.
The Runnymede Trust’s report on Islamophobia, launched with backing from Warsi, Amnesty International UK, and the Muslim Council for Britain, documented increasing hostility faced by British Muslims. It cited Tell Mama’s findings of a 335 percent spike in hate incidents in the four months up to February 2024, with women disproportionately affected. Police figures indicated that nearly 38 percent of religious hate crimes targeted Muslims, and anti-religious hate crimes reached a record high last year, coinciding with the Israel-Gaza conflict, which broke out on Oct. 7 last year. Begum emphasized that the issue extended beyond physical attacks to “state-sponsored Islamophobia” embedded in policies and narratives, without naming specific politicals, and added that the ruling Labour Party and the Conservatives had both been guilty of feeding a “bleak and dystopian” hostile climate for British Muslims. She also highlighted the double standard faced by Muslims in public life, saying: “Whether it’s through being governors at schools, as we see through the Trojan horse affair … we are seen trying to take over and hijack local schools.”She continued: “Or when we go on protest marches, along with many other people, we are described as hate marchers and Islamist extremists. And when we use our vote to express our political preferences, we’re described as sectarian and divisive.”Drawing on her personal history as the daughter of Bangladeshi migrants who grew up in Tower Hamlets in London, Begum described how her upbringing had shaped her understanding of systemic discrimination. After more than two decades as a teacher, she moved into academia, ultimately leading her to running the Runnymede Trust. While she welcomed a recent £15 million ($18.9 million) community recovery fund introduced by the UK government, she called for more substantial investment to combat structural racism. “What we’re objecting to is a dispersal of insecure funds to community groups... There’s no point saying all Muslims are all bad, but go and have a cup of tea with them in your local community.”

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on November 17-18/2024
Trump Would Be Wise To Deliver Regime Change in Iran
Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/November 17, 2024
The October 7, 2023 attacks carried out against Israel by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists.... was the direct result of Tehran's ability to fund the terrorist movement to the tune of $100 million a year, an operation that would not have been possible without Biden's lenient attitude towards the ayatollahs.
Trump may come to see as well that, unfortunately, due to the deep-seated commitment of Iran's regime in exporting its brand of Islam, as enshrined in its constitution, there can be no real long-term peace in the Middle East without regime change, especially if Iran has nuclear weapons -- not to mention the global arms race that would follow such an event.
Not only would many of Iran's neighbours be relieved, but its captive citizens could then be free to choose leaders better aligned with their aspirations. A liberated Iran might even join the Abraham Accords....
After the success Donald Trump enjoyed negotiating the Abraham Accords towards the end of his first term in office, which saw a number of leading Arab states normalise relations with Israel, it is widely expected that his new administration will want to pursue a similar policy of ending hostilities in the Middle East.
Now that Donald Trump has secured his remarkable victory in the US presidential election, supporting regime change in Iran could soon emerge as one of his new administration's top priorities after he takes office in January.
Trump's no-nonsense approach to confronting the ayatollahs' malign influence in the region was one of the defining characteristics during his first term in the White House.
One of his more laudable foreign policy initiatives was to withdraw from the flawed nuclear deal with Iran agreed by former President Barack Obama in 2015.
Denouncing the agreement as being "defective at its core", Trump declared in 2018 that his administration was unilaterally withdrawing from the deal while at the same time imposing a policy of "maximum pressure" against Tehran.
Trump also demonstrated during his first term that he was not afraid of a direct confrontation with Tehran. His decision to authorise the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the master terrorist who headed the elite Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in a drone strike in January 2020 dealt a devastating blow to Tehran's terrorist infrastructure.
It was largely as a result of the first Trump administration's uncompromising approach to Iran that Tehran was forced to scale down its terrorist activities in the region, which were mainly confined to supporting Houthi rebels in the Yemeni conflict.
It was only after Joe Biden replaced Trump in the White House in 2021 that Tehran revived its terrorist network, a development that was greatly facilitated by Biden's policy of appeasement towards Tehran, which saw the ayatollahs gifted billions of dollars in a misguided attempt by the Biden administration to revive Obama's nuclear deal.
Far from persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear activities, which Western intelligence officials believe is ultimately aimed at producing nuclear weapons -- one does not need uranium enriched to 83.7% for peaceful nuclear energy -- Iran responded to Biden's largesse by intensifying its nuclear enrichment activities, while at the same strengthening its network of terrorist organisations in the region, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The October 7, 2023 attacks carried out against Israel by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists, which resulted in the murder of 1,200 Israelis with another 250 taken hostage, was the direct result of Tehran's ability to fund the terrorist movement to the tune of $100 million a year, an operation that would not have been possible without Biden's lenient attitude towards the ayatollahs.
Today, thanks to the Israeli military's devastating offensive against both Hamas in Gaza, as well as Iranian-backed terrorists in Lebanon, Iran's terrorist infrastructure is on the point of collapse, raising questions about whether the Iranian regime itself can survive the current crisis.
While the first indications from the incoming Trump administration are that the president-elect does not view regime change in Tehran as one of his primary objectives, the existential threat facing both Iran and its proxies as a result of Israel's relentless military assault could make the removal of Tehran's reviled Islamist tyranny a distinct possibility once Trump has been installed as America's 47th president.
In Gaza, Hamas's terrorist infrastructure lies in ruins following Israel's year-long offensive against the architects of the October 7 attacks, while in Lebanon, Hezbollah is facing a similar fate after Israel launched its massive military offensive against the Iranian-backed terror group.
In one of his first major statements since being appointed Israel's new defence minister, Israel Katz, said his country had defeated Hezbollah, and that eliminating its leader Hassan Nasrallah had been the crowning achievement. "Now it is our job to continue to put pressure in order to bring about the fruits of that victory," Katz said. Iran's inability to protect its key terrorist allies in Gaza and Lebanon, moreover, reflects Tehran's own fundamental weakness, which was graphically laid bare when Israeli warplanes launched their massive air assault against the Islamic Republic last month, which succeeded in destroying a number of key Iranian military installations.
A clear sign that Israel's relentless assault on Iran and its terrorist infrastructure is taking a heavy toll on the ayatollahs is evident from recent reports of a deep split developing in Tehran between Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's hardline supporters and the more moderate approach of the country's recently elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian. The Iranian regime's desperate attempts to survive the series of disasters it has suffered on the battlefield can also be seen in the ayatollahs' efforts to repair relations with Saudi Arabia, its long-standing regional rival.
After the success Trump enjoyed negotiating the Abraham Accords towards the end of his first term in office, which saw a number of leading Arab states normalise relations with Israel, it is widely expected that his new administration will want to pursue a similar policy of ending hostilities in the Middle East.
Even though Trump supporters have so far indicated that the President-elect is not seeking regime change in Tehran, the inherent weakness evident within the Iranian regime suggests that such an outcome could be easily achievable once Trump is back in the White House. Brian Hook, Donald Trump's special envoy for Iran during his first term in office, claims, his former boss has "no interest in regime change" in Tehran, but is instead focused on isolating and weakening the Islamic Republic, and that the administration's "deal of the century" peace plan for Israel's conflict with the Palestinians will likely be back on the table once Trump returns to the White House in January. "President Trump understands that the chief driver of instability in today's Middle East is the Iranian regime," Hook said.
Trump may not be thinking about regime change in Iran as he prepares to take office, but it may become an option he simply cannot ignore if the dramatic collapse in the Islamic Republic's fortunes means that its survival can no longer be guaranteed. Trump may come to see as well that, unfortunately, due to the deep-seated commitment of Iran's regime in exporting its brand of Islam, as enshrined in its constitution, there can be no real long-term peace in the Middle East without regime change, especially if Iran has nuclear weapons – not to mention the global arms race that would follow such an event.
Not only would many of Iran's neighbours be relieved, but Iran's captive citizens could then be free to choose leaders better aligned with their aspirations. A liberated Iran might even join the Abraham Accords....
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 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.

Women continue to take key roles in Trump team
Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/November 17, 2024
Former presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris placed women’s rights at the heart of her campaign rhetoric, particularly focusing on abortion as a central issue. Harris repeatedly warned that Donald Trump’s reelection would be a disaster for women’s autonomy and freedoms, painting a grim picture of what another four years under his leadership might entail.
Her speeches emphasized the rollback of reproductive rights as emblematic of broader threats to women, using charged language to galvanize support and mobilize voters. This approach often amplified fear rather than fostering nuanced discussions on women’s challenges. Harris’ singular focus on abortion risked sidelining other significant issues affecting women. While energizing her base, however, this divisive tactic relied more on emotional appeals than comprehensive solutions.
For many progressive women, the days following the election were marked by frustration and disbelief. Harris, for them, represented more than a candidate; she was a symbol of hope, poised to break the nearly 250-year-old glass ceiling that has kept women from the nation’s highest office. Her candidacy carried the weight of generations of struggle and a vision for a future where gender would no longer be a barrier to leadership. Yet, her loss underscored that gender alone is not enough to secure the presidency. Despite her historic potential, voters turned away.
In the wake of Trump’s victory, a movement rejecting traditional relationships with men gained traction online. The 4B movement, which originated in South Korea, advocates for women to abstain from dating, marriage, sex and childbirth as a protest against patriarchal structures and gender-based violence. Interest in this movement surged among far-left women after Harris’ defeat. Many expressed concerns about potential threats to reproductive rights and gender equality under the incoming administration. Social media has become a platform for discussions and solidarity, reflecting growing resistance to anticipated policy changes. However, the narrative that women in America should fear the Trump administration misrepresents reality. Claims that fear has permeated workplaces, schools and homes lack substantiated evidence. In contrast, many women experienced increased economic stability and opportunities during Trump’s first term. Female unemployment rates reached historic lows and workforce opportunities expanded due to tax reforms and economic initiatives aimed at economic empowerment. These policies were designed to create conditions where all individuals, including women, could thrive.
Criticisms of Trump’s rhetoric demand scrutiny. While some statements were controversial, the first Trump administration’s policy framework did not undermine gender equality. Differentiating between offhand remarks and actionable policies is crucial. The administration also supported reforms like workplace flexibility and criminal justice initiatives, addressing systemic issues that significantly affect women’s lives.
The narrative that women in America should fear the Trump administration misrepresents reality.
Throughout Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and subsequent administration, women played pivotal roles in shaping messaging and policy. Kellyanne Conway became the first woman to manage a successful presidential campaign, while Hope Hicks served as a trusted adviser and later as White House communications director. Katrina Pierson acted as the campaign’s national spokeswoman, frequently defending Trump’s policies on media platforms. Another influential female figure was Ivanka Trump, who, though not officially on the staff, played a significant role as an advocate for women’s issues and family policies. In the administration, notable appointments included Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who focused on school choice and charter schools, and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who brought extensive government experience. Nikki Haley served as US ambassador to the UN, earning recognition for her solid international stance. Other key figures included Seema Verma, who oversaw healthcare reforms as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, and Linda McMahon, who promoted entrepreneurship as head of the Small Business Administration.
Meanwhile, Conway continued her influence as counselor to the president, maintaining a pivotal role in public relations and strategic advice.
Despite years of accusations that Trump disrespects or distrusts women, his choices for critical roles in his new Cabinet tell a different story. These selections highlight women whose qualifications and leadership have earned them positions of immense responsibility, underscoring a focus on merit over optics.
Susie Wiles has been appointed as White House chief of staff, making history as the first woman to hold this influential position. Wiles, a trusted strategist who managed Trump’s 2024 campaign, has long been a pivotal figure in his political endeavors. Similarly, New York congresswoman and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik has been nominated as the US ambassador to the UN.
Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, has been tapped to lead the Department of Homeland Security in overseeing critical issues of national security and immigration. Meanwhile, Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic representative from Hawaii, has been chosen as the director of national intelligence. Her alignment with Trump’s vision and expertise allow her to effectively guide the nation’s intelligence community.
Last but not least, Alina Habba, who has emerged as a key figure in Trump’s legal team, is recognized for her sharp legal expertise and steadfast loyalty. She has secured a trusted position within his inner circle, representing him in high-profile cases, reflecting her significant influence and commitment.
These appointments are not mere gestures of inclusivity but deliberate choices that reflect the competence and leadership of these women. Trump’s reliance on figures like Wiles, Stefanik, Noem and Gabbard demonstrates his trust in their ability to handle some of his administration’s most challenging and consequential roles.This approach challenges the distrust narrative and highlights women’s significant contributions to his leadership team.
*Dalia Al-Aqidi is executive director at the American Center for Counter Extremism.

The Western dehumanization of Muslims
Peter Harrison/Arab News/November 17, 2024
It is approaching that time of year again when I fly to the UK to spend Christmas with family and friends. I have lived in Dubai for nearly 16 years, which I guess makes it my home — indeed, the longer I live out here, the more detached I feel from the country where I was born and spent the first 40 years of my life. There are aspects of life here where, as a Western migrant, I still sometimes need to remind myself to adjust, but there is also a lot of good, like there is anywhere in the world.
Yet there remains a view among many of those who have not been here that the Middle East is some kind of restrictive, dangerous Third World. Questions I still get asked when I visit the UK include, “how do I enjoy myself, given it’s so restrictive,” to which I reply, “I go out, see friends, you know … normal stuff.”Another favorite is, “it can’t be good for women, they can’t do anything.” Like drive? “Yes, they can.” Work? “Yup, that too.” But they can’t be managers? “Again, yes. In fact, I have had as many female bosses as I have men in the nearly 16 years I have lived here.”
That is not to say it is perfect. Indeed, there is a reason why companies are going that extra mile to recruit women into senior engineering and science roles in the Arab world — but there is an effort to redress the balance.
In 2019, shortly before COVID-19 hit, the World Economic Forum released a report that identified Jordan as a country where workers were more likely to have a woman as a boss than a man. Jordan led the pack, with 62 percent of all managerial positions filled by women.
But according to a report published by Corporate Women Directors International, there is generally still a long way to go. The report explained that, in 2023, women remained vastly underrepresented in the corporate boardrooms of 16 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkiye region, “holding just 8.6 percent of board seats in 1,148 listed companies.”
It should probably not be surprising that Westerners have such a veiled view of the Middle East. Little is reported of the region except negative stories. There is rarely a mention of the children being killed most days in Gaza without the apparent justification that “Israel has a right to defend itself.”
In October, journalists working at leading international news organizations reported that they were being expected to write content that was against the Palestinians. It is a claim that the news organizations deny, but it was well documented that more than 100 BBC journalists wrote an open letter criticizing the organization’s coverage of the Israeli war in Gaza, accusing it of being pro-Israel.
Since the 9/11 terror attacks in the US, Muslims have been portrayed as anti-Western. The French banned women from wearing veils in public, while the US in 2017 imposed a travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries. Islam and, in turn, the countries where the religion is dominant have become demonized. When attacks are carried out by Muslims, they are portrayed as Islamist terror attacks. Yet, when a white Western man gets in a van and drives through a crowd of Muslims outside a mosque in London or walks into mosques in New Zealand carrying multiple automatic weapons and opens fire, killing many men, women and children, they are “lone wolves.”
Islam and, in turn, the countries where the religion is dominant have become demonized.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who recently resigned from the Conservative Party due to its “hypocrisy and double standards in its treatment of different communities,” said the quickest way to dehumanize people was to “make them Muslim,” even if they are not. She was pointing to the pro-Gaza demonstrations in the UK, which were attended by people of all faiths, yet the crowds were widely reported as being dominated by Muslims. Equally, the war on Gaza is portrayed as targeting Muslims who are aligned with Hamas, rather than claiming the lives of innocents, no matter their faith or politics.
Muslims also find themselves described as “moderate” or “conservative,” rather than as people.
While Israel “defends itself,” those living in Lebanon and Gaza are “tribal” or “terrorist supporters.”
I was once asked if Westerners were allowed to celebrate Christmas in the Middle East, yet the shops in Dubai’s malls have been selling Christmas decorations since at least October. Hotels have been taking bookings for their Christmas Day lunches for months.
Life out here — my dear compatriots — is fine. Maybe not perfect, it even has its nightmares, its fallings out, but it is fine and for now that suits me.
I know many people who have lived or live in areas targeted by bombs, tanks and guns — they have friends and family still in these areas. One person I know recently learned that her school in Lebanon was targeted, while another lost a relative to a sniper in Gaza.
These people are just that — people. They are haunted by the images coming out of their home countries. They did not choose these wars, but they have to live with them, while they do not get to see their families. So, when I get on that plane to visit my family, I do so in the knowledge that some of my equally deserving friends and colleagues are not so lucky.
• Peter Harrison is a senior editor at Arab News in the Dubai office. He has covered the Middle East for more than a decade.
X: @PhotoPJHarrison

Was Harris hindered by being a woman?
Maha Akeel/Arab News/November 17, 2024
So, the US has again failed to elect a woman to the highest political office in the country. Was Kamala Harris defeated because she is a woman or was it because of her personality or her policies and campaign? Before getting into that debate, let us look at women in politics today, particularly when there is so much focus on female leadership and efforts to increase the number of women in leadership positions.
There has been some progress in several countries in recent years, including Saudi Arabia, which has seen an increase in the number of female ambassadors, members of the Shoura Council and appointments to leadership positions in the Foreign Ministry. However, women remain largely underrepresented in politics, especially in foreign policy, and there has been some regression in their representation during the last few years. In 2020, only 60 out of 190 countries (31 percent) surveyed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union had a woman as foreign minister. That dropped to 25 percent in 2023. As for women ambassadors, 20.7 percent worldwide were women in 2021 and that remained almost the same at 20.5 percent in 2023, according to the Women in Diplomacy Index. Europe has the highest proportion of women ambassadors and permanent representatives at 28 percent, while Africa, Asia and the Middle East and North Africa fall below the global average at 18 percent, 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
During the General Debate of the 79th UN General Assembly in September, less than 10 percent of the speakers were women. Nineteen female speakers addressed the assembly, compared to 175 male speakers.
In the latest World Economic Forum report on the Global Gender Gap 2024, of the four key dimensions benchmarked — economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment — the average global score for gender parity was lowest in the political empowerment subindex at 22.5 percent, a drop from 25.2 percent in 2019.
Nonetheless, there was some improvement in all three indicators in the political empowerment subindex — women in parliament, women in ministerial positions and number of years with female/male head of state in the last 50 years — particularly in the share of women in parliamentary positions.
However, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Women in Parliament 2023 report, while more women than ever are being elected to parliaments around the world, equality is still a long way off and current progress is far too slow. Most parliaments are still heavily male-dominated and some have no women MPs at all. The global proportion of MPs who are women has inched up to 26.9 percent, based on the elections and appointments that took place in 2023. This represents an increase of 0.4 percentage points year on year, which is slower than in the preceding years — elections in 2020 and 2021 saw an increase of women MPs of 0.6 percentage points. The highest-ranking country in terms of the percentage of women in its national parliament is Rwanda with 53.9 percent. The region with the highest average is the Americas at 35.3 percent, while the lowest is MENA at 18.1 percent.
While more women than ever are being elected to parliaments around the world, equality is still a long way off. Globally, the share of women speakers of parliament increased to 23.8 percent (up 1.1 percentage points). Also, more women than ever hold political decision-making posts worldwide. As of Jan. 1, 2023, 11.3 percent of countries had women heads of state and 9.8 percent had women heads of government, an increase from a decade ago, when the figures stood at 5.3 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively. However, while recent elections have seen more women voted into power — such as in Mexico and Iceland — we have also seen several prominent women leave politics, blaming burnout and threats, or being ousted.
Women made up 22.8 percent of Cabinet ministers as of the beginning of last year. Europe and North America (31.6 percent) and Latin America and the Caribbean (30.1 percent) were the regions with the highest share. However, in most other regions, women are severely underrepresented, dropping as low as 10.1 percent in Central and Southern Asia and 8.1 percent in the Pacific Islands.
Women continue to face gender discrimination in politics. They encounter many constraints, including violence, harassment and bias during elections and campaigns, including in fundraising and in media coverage, which might focus on things such as their looks or age. There are also persistent cultural barriers and beliefs about women’s role in society, the balancing of their private and public lives and gender stereotypes about their skills and capacity. Because of all these constraints, biases and political structures, far fewer women run for office than men. However, change is possible if there is political will and a commitment to adopt and implement policies that provide a level playing field for both women and men and address the obstacles and barriers. But it is a slow process and it takes more than just decisions from the top to appoint women and implement a quota. Women might even experience imposter syndrome and encounter a backlash or resistance from the community, especially from male politicians.
Going back to the defeat of Harris, according to various analysts and commentators, it was spurred by many factors, including gender bias. In the US, there is still a struggle with female representation in politics more than a century after a constitutional amendment granted them the right to vote. There has been one woman vice president, Harris, and three secretaries of state: Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton. Seventeen of the 50 states have never had a female senator, according to the Pew Research Center, and only 60 women have ever been a US senator. Today, just 29 percent of the US House of Representatives and a quarter of US Senate seats are held by women and only 12 states have female governors. Nevertheless, we must not ignore the other factors that led to Harris’ — and the Democratic Party’s — defeat, including concerns over the economy and immigration, as well as her ties to an unpopular administration and support of Israel’s war on Gaza. Also, the party’s insistence on continuing with the same ultra-left liberal agenda on social issues has alienated many people, leading to an obvious shift to the right across the country. In politics, gender and personality do matter, but it is mainly agendas and policies that convince people to vote for a candidate.
• Maha Akeel is a Saudi expert in communications, social development and international relations. She is a member of the UN’s Senior Women Talent Pipeline. X: @MahaAkeel1

Southern Lebanon is actually northern Israel - opinion
Michael Freund/Jerusalem Post/November 17/2024
As the IDF battles to clear southern Lebanon of Hezbollah terrorists, it is worth highlighting an intriguing historical fact, one that many seem to have forgotten.
Having grown up with an international boundary between the Jewish state and our neighbors to the north, we take it for granted that this is how it has always been and should be.
But the truth is that the current border between Israel and Lebanon is little more than a century old and is entirely artificial, a relic of a time when European colonialists whimsically drew lines on maps over a bottle of brandy in smoke-filled rooms.
Historically speaking, southern Lebanon is in fact northern Israel, and the roots of the Jewish people in the area run deep. Whether or not this can or should be translated now into a political reality is a far more complex question, but there is simply no denying our connection to the land.
Indeed, back in biblical times, southern Lebanon was clearly part of the Land of Israel. In the Book of Genesis (10:19) it says, “and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Tsevoyim as far as Lasha.” Sidon, a city in Lebanon, is about halfway between the current Israeli border and Beirut.
Just prior to his death, our biblical patriarch Jacob blessed his 12 sons, and the blessing he gave to Zevulun was “Zevulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon” (Genesis 49:13).
The Book of Joshua (13:6) mentions Sidon explicitly as being promised to the Jewish people, and it also says (19:28) that the border of the tribe of Asher extended to Sidon.
INTERESTINGLY, THE midrash in Bereishit Rabbah (39:8) says it was in Tyre, a city now 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of the Israeli border, that God promised the Land of Israel to Abraham.
The midrash quotes Rabbi Levi, who said, “When Abraham was traveling through Aram Naharayim and Aram Nahor, he saw them eating, drinking, and reveling. He said: ‘Would that my portion not be in this land.’ When he reached the Promontory of Tyre, he saw them engaged in weeding at the time of weeding, hoeing at the time of hoeing. He said: ‘Would that my portion be in this land.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘To your descendants I will give this land’” (Genesis 12:7).
Further evidence of the Jewish link to the area can be found in the various holy sites and tombs of the righteous in southern Lebanon.
The most well-known is the Tomb of Zevulun in Sidon, which for centuries was a place of pilgrimage for Jews from throughout the region and beyond.
In the 16th century, Italian rabbi Moshe Basola visited the tomb and wrote about it, and in the middle of the 18th century, Rabbi Yosef Sofer said that families would gather and hold festive meals adjacent to it. Rabbi Natan of Breslov described having an uplifting spiritual experience at Zevulun’s Tomb; and when Sir Moses Montefiore visited Israel in the 19th century, he also traveled to see it.
THE TOMB of another biblical figure, Oholiav ben Ahisamakh, who assisted Bezalel in constructing the Tabernacle in the desert, is located in the village of Sojoud in southern Lebanon.
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According to Israeli archaeologist Zvi Ilan, Oholiav’s burial place was an important Jewish pilgrimage site during the Ottoman period. Local Arabs also revered the site and said that it was the tomb of a “Jewish prophet.” As recently as the early 20th century, Jews in Safed used to travel to the tomb to perform the custom of upsherin, a boy’s first haircut, something that nowadays is commonly done in Meron.
Yet another Jewish holy site in southern Lebanon is the tomb of the biblical prophet Zephaniah, which is located in the Lebanese village of Jabal Safi. Some have speculated that the name of the village is derived from the prophet who was buried there.
It should perhaps come as no surprise that one of the oldest synagogues in the world is located in Sidon’s Harat-Al-Yahud, or Jewish Quarter. Built nearly 1,200 years ago in 833, it is believed to have been constructed on the site of an older Jewish house of worship dating back to shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple.
Though no longer in use due to the emigration of most Lebanese Jews during the country’s civil war between 1975 and 1990, it stands as a silent testament to the long-standing Jewish presence in the region.
How was southern Lebanon cut off from Israel?
SO JUST how was southern Lebanon essentially cut off from northern Israel? The origin of this division happened a century ago.
After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France reached a secret accord in 1916 called the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which effectively divided much of the Middle East into spheres of influence between London and Paris.
Basically, a line was drawn on a map, and it was that scribble which essentially came to serve as the border between Israel and Lebanon as we know it today.
Earlier this year, an Israeli organization called Uri Tsafon (Awaken, O North) was founded with the aim of encouraging Jewish settlement in southern Lebanon, and it has called on the government to act.
While some may view this idea as far-fetched, it is worth remembering that just a century ago, so too was the notion of a sovereign Jewish state.
After all, today’s dreams have a tendency to portend tomorrow’s reality. Especially in the Middle East.
**The writer served as deputy communications director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Americans weren’t interested in prolonging Obama’s policies through Harris - opinion
David M. Weinberg/Jerusalem Post/November 17/2024
Americans felt the vibe – that American wokeness and moral self-doubt were insidious weaknesses. Therefore, they ruled that the Obama era must finally end.
More than last week’s US presidential vote being a victory for Donald Trump, it was a searing defeat for Barack Obama. This month’s real headline is “Trump thrashes Obama again.”
In a torrent of impassioned campaign stops over the past two months, former president Obama made it clear that this election was a referendum on his policies.
He explicitly warned that unless Kamala Harris was elected president, everything that he stood for and worked for would be washed down the drain. He literally said that the “fate of the nation” hung in the balance. He said the same thing in 2016 when he strenuously campaigned for Hillary Clinton.
Back then, Obama told voters, ”If you supported me in ’08, if you supported me in ’12, if you think that I’ve done a good job, if you believe that Michelle has done a good job – everything that we’ve done over the last eight years will be reversed with a Trump presidency. And everything will be sustained and built on with a Hillary Clinton presidency.” Well, there never was a Hillary Clinton presidency, and there will not be a Kamala Harris presidency either. And it is not just because both were flawed candidates. (In Harris’s case, this is the understatement of the century.)
It is because more than half of Americans rejected the notion that Obama had “done a good job,” and they were not interested in “sustaining” his policies. No longer able to buy the Democratic message
They did not buy the Democratic message that everything was swell in America and that all that was needed was a competent Democrat to advance Obama’s superior approach. They didn’t buy the assertion that Obama was America’s leading tutelary figure.
If you’re not familiar with how iconic and messianic Obama is still considered by the progressive “elites” of America and how dominant he still is in Democratic backrooms, see David Samuels’ July essay in UnHerd, titled “The true President of America’s Fifth Republic: Obama, not Biden is the nation’s new Lincoln.” Just who did you people think was running things for the past four years? “It’s me,” writes Samuels in Obama’s voice. Americans who elected Trump as president in 2016 and again this year were uncomfortable with Obama’s smug assurances of omnipotent everything: That he possessed exceptional insight on every issue, and that he had executed the most-outstanding economic, social, and foreign policy. And that Hillary and Kamala were the repository of this unique wellspring of near-prophetic and superhuman wisdom.
Moreover, it seems that many Americans were turned off by the Democratic-progressive obsession with race, identity politics, quotas, ideological and personal purity tests, and other hallmarks of what is called “wokeism.”These markers became part of American culture under Obama, ramped up under Biden, and would have roared forward to dictatorially uber-dominate American social and political discourse under Harris. Championed by the liberal legacy media and radicalized high academia, this discourse was meant to gut the traditional moorings of Judeo-Christian values in American society and to upend long-standing American principles in foreign policy. And so, American voters took down Obama/Biden/Harris, resoundingly.
ON FOREIGN POLICY, think back to Barack Obama’s last UN speech in December 2016. In his swan song, Obama seemed baffled by the stubborn refusal of the world to reform itself in his image and on his say so. How can there still be “deep fault lines in the international order,” Obama wondered aloud, with “societies filled with uncertainty, and unease, and strife?”
Hadn’t his very identity as a man “made up of the flesh and blood and traditions and cultures and faiths from a lot of different parts of the world” served as a shining and irresistible example of blended global peace? How could it be that, after eight years of his visionary leadership, people everywhere were not marching to the tune of Obama’s self-declared superior “moral imagination”?
Unwillingness to project power
The answer to these painful questions, to which Obama could never admit – nor can Biden – is their unwillingness to project power and confront adversaries.
Both Democratic presidents rejected the traditional and time-tested hard power tools of statecraft. They abjured the use of military force and other forms of raw American power. They knew how to “speak out forcefully” – say, against Iran or the Houthis – but that’s it.
They were simply ashamed of America’s “overbearing” record of decisive global leadership and left America shorn of its ability to shape the world in right directions.
Indeed, they were filled with “contempt” for the notion of America as a moral actor on the world stage (see Ben Rhodes, Obama’s doppelganger, in a 2016 New York Times Magazine interview with the same David Samuels). The words “enemy, “threat,” and “adversary” were not part of their political lexicons. Nor were concepts like “victory” for the West or “beating” the bad guys.
Alas, throughout Israel’s wars of the past year against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, the Biden-Harris administration has fetishized de-escalation – apart from Biden’s immediate emotional, appropriately defiant response to the initial Hamas assault on Israel.
In the main, US diplomats have spent the past year begging and panting for “immediate ceasefires,” expressing alarm at the possibility of any “escalation,” and distancing themselves from “involvement” in any Israeli military initiative except pure defensive operations (like blocking incoming Iranian missiles).
And they have feigned dismay at the isolation of Israel while paving the way towards that isolation with demonizing sanctions against settlers and with false accusations about Israel’s “starvation” of Palestinians in war zones.
And so, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis (as well as Russia, China, Turkey, and other bad actors) have never taken the Democrats seriously, of course. They have ignored the Biden-Harris-Blinken-Sullivan squad’s exhortations to de-escalate, just as Iran laughed all the way to the bank when Obama signed the JCPOA nuclear accord and released tens of billions of dollars to Iran.
Biden continued the bankrolling of Iran via sanctions relief and the release of seized oil revenues. Iran almost certainly would have obtained nuclear weapons sometime during a Harris presidency with little pushback from Washington.
America’s enemies – yes, enemies! – have not feared the US for years, except when Trump applied “maximum” economic pressure on Iran and bumped off IRGC leader Qassem Soleimani.
THE BEST prescription now for an American reset leading to global stability (and improved Israeli security) is a determination by the Trump administration to neutralize the Iranian nuclear juggernaut, counter Iran’s hegemonic march across the region, and thwart Iran’s proxies.
What is needed is a strategic reset based on overwhelming American power and the presentation of a credible US military threat against Iran – at least.
This includes arming Israel with bunker-buster bombs, not on weak-kneed US protestations of non-involvement in Israel’s wars, desperate exhortations towards de-escalation, nor toothless, soft understandings between Washington and Tehran.
If there is a path to peace and stability in the Middle East, it requires enhancing the firepower of America and its allies, not redoubling the pursuit of “de-escalation.”
Few Americans had this specific perspective on Mideast affairs in mind when they elected Trump over Obama/Biden/Harris last week.
But surely, they felt the vibe – that American wokeness and moral self-doubt were insidious weaknesses. And therefore, they ruled that the Obama era finally must end.
The writer is executive director and senior fellow at the Jerusalem-based Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy. The views expressed here are his own. His diplomatic, defense, political, and Jewish world columns over the past 27 years are at davidmweinberg.com

Biden's final opportunity: A bold move on Iran and Israel to secure his legacy - opinion
Martin Oliner/Jerusalem Post/November 17/2024
Quoting “despondent Biden administration officials,” the report said they were mulling how to protect what they termed their national security priorities before Trump returns to the Oval Office.
A disturbing article in Politico published in the wake of US President-elect Donald Trump’s sweeping victory in this month’s election reported that outgoing president Joe Biden would use his remaining two months in office to “Trump-proof” the steps he took in the international arena.
Quoting “despondent Biden administration officials,” the report said they were mulling how to protect what they termed their national security priorities before Trump returns to the Oval Office in January. The moves being considered, according to the article, include “imposing new sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers” and “taking steps at the United Nations against Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”
Really? If these are the people who have been advising the president for four years, it is no wonder Biden’s administration has been such a failure. If he listens to them, his entire legacy could be summarized in one word: hypocrisy.
The president who has called himself pro-Israel for decades, the orator who gave Golda Meir guru status, the gentile who spent more time at Temple Beth Shalom in Delaware than most Wilmington Jews would be remembered as the man who stuck it to the Jewish people, and their state on his way out. Biden would follow in the footsteps of his former boss, Barack Obama, who childishly got his revenge against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his final days as president by ensuring that Israel would be condemned by the UN Security Council in Resolution 2334. It passed 14-0, with a cynical American abstention on a resolution the US delegation wrote and championed.
Obama’s fight against Jews's rights
The resolution demanded that Israel immediately and completely cease “all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem,” as if Jews expanding their homes in Ramot, Gilo, or Armon Hanatziv were the obstacle to peace in the Middle East and the international brotherhood of man. Obama’s fight against the rights of the Jewish people to their eternal capital, Jerusalem, will remain a central part of his shameful legacy, casting a president who undeservedly won 70% of the Jewish vote among history’s worst antagonizers of the Jewish people.
Biden was supposed to be different. Pundits are calling him the Democratic Party’s last unabashedly Zionist president. He cried as he delivered a eulogy at Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s funeral and displayed his strong love for Israel and its people when he came after the October 7 massacre.
There is still a chance for him to craft a very different legacy than his meddling advisers are urging. He can also still avoid being remembered mainly as an ineffective one-term president chucked undemocratically by his own party due to his senility in favor of an unworthy subordinate who lost by a landslide. Biden could surprise the world and become the hero of the United States, the Jewish state, and the Jewish people. He could even be remembered in history as the savior of Western civilization.
That would require one extremely urgent and courageous step: Biden must bomb Iran, prevent its nuclearization, destroy all its nuclear sites, and overthrow the evil regime of the ayatollahs forever.
Bombing Iran would ensure that Israel wins its seven-front war against the head of the octopus in Tehran and its tentacles: Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, and the terror emanating from Judea and Samaria. It would finally bring the 101 Israeli hostages home, 10 of whom have American citizenship. Such a move would prevent the Islamic Republic from continuing to spread its Shi’ite hegemony from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. It would stop the threat to international shipping caused by the Houthis, whose brazenness will finally be met with a long-awaited punishment.
It would reward and strengthen moderate Muslim regimes like the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Bahrain, which have impressively maintained normalization agreements with Israel, despite pressure from their Arab brothers during this long, bloody war. It would encourage more countries to join the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel, their natural friend, as the enemy of their true enemy.
It would be consistent with what Biden’s administration has done successfully in coordinating an international effort to stymie attacks on Israel on April 15 and October 1 and his repeated promises that he would not let Iran become a nuclear power. And it would prevent Iranian retaliation against Israel and America that the Islamic regime threatened to carry out immediately after the election, which could further erode Biden’s legacy of projecting weakness.
THERE IS still time to accomplish all these lofty goals in coordination with Israel, which can provide all the intelligence necessary to ensure the operation’s success. The key would be for Biden to work closely together with the man he has called his friend for decades, Netanyahu, rather than working against him like Obama made the mistake of doing.
If Biden doesn’t take such necessary action, I have no doubt that these important moves will be made instead by Trump, whose legacy would become that of a historic international hero. As Mordechai told Esther, “Relief and rescue will arise for the Jews from elsewhere.”
I have been critical of Biden throughout his presidency, but I will be proud if another Mordechai quote to Esther could be said of Biden in retrospect: “Who knows whether you have attained your royal position for just this moment?”
The Biden advisers quoted by Politico said he might not take the steps they are urging because Trump would reverse them the moment he takes office. Why not instead take the historic steps Trump is expected to take and enjoy the glory?
Instead of “Trump-proofing” his presidency, Biden could use his last days in office to take his historic role as the man who made the world a better place.
The writer is chairman of the Religious Zionists of America, president of the Culture for Peace Institute, and a committee member of the Jewish Agency. He currently serves as a member of the US Holocaust Memorial Council, appointed by Donald Trump during the president-elect’s first term. The views expressed here are his own. You can reach him at Martinoliner@gmail.com.