English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 21/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2024/english.November 21.24.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
A woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!’But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11/27-32: “A woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!’But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!’When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ‘This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise at the judgement with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 20-21/2024
Why Dr. Charles Chartouni And Why Now?/Elias Bejjani/November 20, 2024
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: The Lebanese Security Forces Intimidate and Threaten Dr. Charles Chartouni, Summoning Him for Interrogation Without Legal Justification/November 20, 2024
Attorney Mark Habka: Summoning My Client Without Charges or Justifiable Reasons… Chertouni Appears Before State Security in Jounieh Today
Elias Bejjani: Hezbollah in All Its Forms is an Existential Threat to Lebanon and the Lebanese People/November 17, 2024
Lebanese Ministry of Health: 9 Killed in Israeli Strikes on Tyre
Halevi from Southern Lebanon: Our Goal is to Return Northern Residents to Their Homes
Israeli Army Announces Death of Three Soldiers in Southern Lebanon
Commenting on the attempts to intimidate Dr. Charles Chartouni, journalist Mariam Majdouline, and other free voices in Lebanon, lawyer Elie Aoun wrote: “In Solidarity with Freedom of Expression-The Children of God Are the Conquerors.”/Elie Aoun/November 20/2024
Conditions for a Ceasefire/Etienne Sakr (Abu Arz)/ November 20/ 2024
Sheikh Qassem: Beirut versus Central Tel Aviv
Hezbollah says Israel ‘cannot impose conditions’ for truce
Israeli officials demand the right to strike Hezbollah under any cease-fire deal for Lebanon
Fierce battles in southern Lebanon amid ceasefire talk
US envoy to travel to Israel in bid to seal Hezbollah ceasefire
Israel Pessimistic about Ceasefire Deal with Lebanon

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 20-21/2024
Israeli Attack on Syria’s Palmyra Kills 36 People, Syrian State Media Says
Iran Strengthens its Militias in Syria
Senate rejects effort from Bernie Sanders to block some weapons for Israel over Gaza deaths
U.S. Vetoes Another U.N. Cease-Fire Resolution While Continuing To Arm Israel
Israel unleashes strikes on homes in north Gaza as it extends onslaught
How Israel’s UNRWA ban will impact Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank
Jordanian king and UAE president discuss ceasefire efforts in Gaza and Lebanon
Canada cabinet minister steps down in fresh blow to PM Trudeau

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on November 20-21/2024
‘You Work, Give Us the Money, Allahu Akbar!’ The Fake History of Jizya/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/November 20/2024
The New Axis of Tyrannies vs. the West: A Mighty Clash of Titans/Nils A. Haug/ Gatestone Institute./November 20, 2024
Jordan, Egypt at forefront of resistance to Israel’s annexation plans/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/November 20, 2024
Imbalances, instability threaten EU’s future/Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/November 20, 2024

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 20-21/2024
Why Dr. Charles Chartouni And Why Now?
Elias Bejjani/November 20, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/137056/
First, because he is a “thinker,” which is deemed a “threat.” Second, because he is a “messenger” of salvation and freedom, which is “forbidden” and “oppressed” in the Lebanon of the Syrian and Iranian era—a state ruled by tyrants who control both the people and their subjugated masses.
Perhaps it is due to a single “word” he wrote or said in an article or interview, like this one, that puts the finger on the wound, calls things by their true names, digs up the roots of problems, and plants the seeds of solutions. Like a grain of wheat, it will sprout into a harvest for the near future.
Why the intimidation of Dr. Why Charles Chartouni?
Because a domineering ruler, who has enslaved both the free and the oppressed of Lebanon, once raised his finger in an era of disgrace and declared: “I tell you, be silent!”
Now his minions and lackeys echo his command, crying out, “We come to discipline you,” just as their predecessors and allies once declared, “We come to slaughter you.”
But they forget that the dark Obama-era of humiliation has ended without return, and the radiant dawn of Lebanon’s freedom has already appeared, with its light near and inevitable.
Cain advised his son to urge his descendants to search for his brother’s killer, appointing a so-called “seeker of justice” who buried justice, truth, and investigation along with it. Similarly, the kidnapper of the Imam urged his children to pursue the cause with loyalty. He too appointed a so-called “seeker of justice,” who buried both the kidnapped and the kidnapping, legitimizing the inheritance of the criminal despite the rule that a criminal “does not inherit.”
One day, in an era of disgrace, Fares Khashan wrote an article titled:
“I Am Joseph Sader.”
Today, we declare:
“I Am Shadi Kardouhi.”
“I Am Why Dr. Charles Chartouni"
And we are all the 17,415.
We are many, so many. Yet, in our multitude, we remain few—still voiceless, still inactive.
However,
However, the dawn is coming, and it is near…

Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: The Lebanese Security Forces Intimidate and Threaten Dr. Charles Chartouni, Summoning Him for Interrogation Without Legal Justification
Elias Bejjani/November 20/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/137037/
live/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmulnfnxWEA&t=362s
Video/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyVWg7Kpqrs&t=85s
In a brazen act of intimidation, Lebanon’s State Security forces attempted yesterday to summon Dr. Charles Chartouni, a dual Lebanese-American citizen, to their headquarters in Ramleh al-Baida without due legal process. Dr. Chartouni, a renowned patriotic politician, university professor, writer, and human rights activist, has been a vocal critic of Hezbollah and the Iranian occupation of Lebanon.
In a statement to the media, Dr. Chartouni described this illegal act as an assassination attempt cloaked under the guise of legality. He emphasized his refusal to comply without his lawyers present and highlighted the suspicious and terrorizing manner in which the State Security forces approached his residence, knocking on his door without even ringing the bell.
"This is typical terrorist intimidation reminiscent of the Nazi State Police tactics," Dr. Chartouni stated. "This is the beginning of a confrontation with Hezbollah’s terrorist apparatus, operating under spurious legal credentials."
It is worth mentioning that Lebanon has been turned into a lawless state under Iranian occupation, with its officials and security forces acting as mere tools for Hezbollah’s agenda. This recent incident is yet another example of how the country’s institutions have been weaponized to silence patriotic voices who dare to speak against this occupation.
Dr. Chartouni has notified the U.S. Embassy, asserting his rights as an American citizen and calling on international bodies to condemn these illegal practices.
On behalf of all the free and sovereign individuals in Lebanon and the diaspora, I strongly condemn this blatant act aimed at terrorizing a prominent national, acadamic and patriotic figure. I call on all sovereign Lebanese politicians, political Lebanese parties in Lebanon and Diaspora to stand in solidarity with Dr. Chartouni in his confrontation with this terrorism. I also urge human rights organizations, the Maronite Patriarchate, the Vatican, and the United Nations to support Dr. Chartouni and hold the Lebanese ruling regime accountable for its flagrant violations of human rights and national sovereignty.

Attorney Mark Habka: Summoning My Client Without Charges or Justifiable Reasons… Chertouni Appears Before State Security in Jounieh Today
An-Nidaa Al-Watan, November 21, 2024
After being summoned by the State Security, prominent academic and political activist Dr. Charles Chertouni confirmed to An-Nidaa Al-Watan that he would appear at 12 PM today before the directorate’s branch in Jounieh. This comes after he refused to attend its main headquarters in Ramlet al-Bayda for security reasons, a decision the directorate understood and accommodated, according to his attorney, Mark Habka. In this context, Habka described his client’s summons as unlawful, particularly since no charges were filed and no justification was provided. He emphasized that the basis of the case falls under the suppression of political and intellectual freedoms. For his part, Chertouni, who holds U.S. citizenship and is well-known for his sovereign and outspoken stances against Hezbollah and the "Resistance Axis," declared that he "will not succumb to intellectual intimidation." He asserted that his expressed views are protected by the Lebanese constitution, international conventions, and human rights. Chertouni also criticized the manner of the summons, revealing that a State Security patrol arrived at his residence without prior notice. He stated that when its officer requested him to sign a summons to appear at the State Security Directorate in Ramlet al-Bayda, without disclosing the alleged charges, he refused to sign. He added, "After back-and-forth discussions, I contacted a senior State Security officer. When I inquired about the charges against me, his response was: ‘I don’t know.’”Chertouni considered the summons a reflection of the political bankruptcy of the illegitimate ruling class, represented by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

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.

Lebanese Ministry of Health: 9 Killed in Israeli Strikes on Tyre
Asharq Al-Awsat, November 20, 2024
The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced today (Wednesday) that at least nine people were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes on Tyre in southern Lebanon. The ministry added that 65 others were injured, noting that the casualty figures are preliminary. Earlier in the day, the Ministry's Public Health Emergency Operations Center reported that 3,558 people have been killed and 15,123 others injured since the start of Israeli attacks on Lebanon several weeks ago. These attacks have caused the deaths of thousands, the displacement of hundreds of thousands from villages and towns along the border with Israel, and widespread destruction across various parts of Lebanon.

Halevi from Southern Lebanon: Our Goal is to Return Northern Residents to Their Homes
Asharq Al-Awsat, November 20, 2024
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee announced via the platform "X" that Chief of Staff General Herzi Halevi conducted a field tour and situational assessment today (Wednesday) with the forces of the 98th Division operating in southern Lebanon. The tour included the participation of the Northern Command Commander, the 98th Division Commander, and other senior officers.
During his visit, Halevi stated:
"We are here on a very clear mission: to ensure the safe return of northern residents to their homes. Here, there are numerous enemies threatening Metula and shelling Kiryat Shmona. To safely bring back the residents of Kiryat Shmona, Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Yuval to their homes, you are here, carrying out decisive, highly professional work with significant achievements, which is vital." He emphasized that "every destruction of infrastructure, weapons depots, anti-tank missile launch sites, or short-range rocket launchers brings us closer to our goal and deals a significant blow to Hezbollah."

Israeli Army Announces Death of Three Soldiers in Southern Lebanon
Asharq Al-Awsat, November 20, 2024
The Israeli army announced on Wednesday the death of three of its soldiers during clashes in southern Lebanon, where Israel has been waging a war against Hezbollah since late September.
In a statement, the army said: "Ziv Hanoch Ehrlich, 70, from Ofra, fell during combat in southern Lebanon, alongside another soldier whose family has been notified but whose name has not yet been cleared for publication." The statement also mentioned a third soldier who sustained critical injuries and was transported to a hospital. Earlier on Wednesday, the army reported the death of another soldier in battles in southern Lebanon. This raises the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon to 52 since the beginning of the Israeli campaign.
According to the Yesha Council, representing Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, Ehrlich was a "pioneer researcher in geography, archaeology, and Jewish history."The deaths occurred amid intensified international efforts, led by the United States, to broker a ceasefire in Lebanon. U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein announced his transition from Beirut to Israel on Wednesday, citing "further progress."Hezbollah opened a support front for Gaza against Israel following the unprecedented attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the Gaza war. Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been engaged in open warfare since September 23, and the Israeli army advanced into southern Lebanon a week later. Israeli airstrikes, shelling, and clashes have resulted in the deaths of more than 3,540 people in Lebanon since October 2023, most of them after the intensified Israeli bombardment campaign began on September 23.

Commenting on the attempts to intimidate Dr. Charles Chartouni, journalist Mariam Majdouline, and other free voices in Lebanon, lawyer Elie Aoun wrote: “In Solidarity with Freedom of Expression-The Children of God Are the Conquerors.”
Elie Aoun/November 20/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/137077/
We commend all Lebanese patriots who have the courage to raise their voice against tyranny in all its forms. There are no legal or moral justifications for the recent attempts to intimidate Dr. Charles Chartouni, Mariam Majdouline Lahham, and many others in the past through illegal measures (or under the guise of “legality”).
The party which considers itself to be the “Party of God” must respect what God has given us, such as freedom of speech. If the Party considers some individuals as “domestic Zionists”, these individuals have a right to peacefully voice their opinions in the same manner as “domestic Baathists”, “domestic Khomeinis”, and others. And if words are considered a “threat” to be silenced, then let those same words be a positive transformation to challenge certain convictions.
Liberty and the right to preserve life and property are the natural rights of any human being.
Unlike civil rights (which are given by the state), natural rights are inherently acquired from God or nature and do not require anyone’s permission (including the state) to exercise them. A constitution does not “give” natural rights, but simply enumerates what has already been given by the Creator.
A natural right is something that can be exercised, especially by patriots who are witnessing relentless attacks and disregard towards life, liberty, and property spearheaded by clergymen (foreign and domestic) leading a so-called “Party of God.” Such a label is in itself an attack on God who prohibited the use of His name in vain. And also, “whosoever does not righteousness is not of God.”
Those who are behind verbal abuse, the use of governmental institutions or the legal system against Lebanese patriots are themselves victims of deception. They are even attacking individuals who are trying to protect life (including the lives of those making the intimidations).
Those who wish to sacrifice themselves for the sake of a certain leader (foreign or domestic) are free to do so voluntarily. There is no need to wait on a certain enemy to do it for them. But they should first recognize that the so-called “leader” does not care about them. If he does, he would be the one protecting them, not exposing them to unnecessary and irrelevant sacrifices.
In Robert Pelton’s book “Unwanted Dead or Alive”, Henry Kissinger is quoted as saying: “Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy.” This is how certain American politicians view American soldiers, and the same can be said on how the leadership in Iran views the pro-Iranian militants in Lebanon and the region.
When asked how fascism starts, Bertrand Russell replied: “First, they fascinate the fools. Then, they muzzle the intelligent.”
Regardless of how much the fascists try, the intelligent cannot be muzzled.
Eventually, the “fascinated fool” has to either recognize the truth or perish in his folly. He needs to listen to whoever speaks wiser, not to unqualified “leaders” who speak louder. He must make the effort to know the truth, repent from his wrong deeds, and follow the right path that leads to Life. He must learn to deal with others the same way that he wants others to deal with him: for this is the Law and the Prophets.
We are all the creation of God, but only those who have or acquire a radically changed heart can be called His children.
When Lebanese political activists oppose a futile war and the irresponsible destruction of life and property, this is a reflection of their heart (of their love for the people).
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”
We are the peacemakers, the children of God. Our weapon is the sword of truth. We conquer evil not by fighting it, but by replacing it with good, by replacing deception with truth.
Evil carries within it the seed of its own destruction.
The true God, His children and the Truth are the true power.

Conditions for a Ceasefire
Etienne Sakr (Abu Arz)/ November 20/ 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/137084/
(Free translation and quotation by Elias Bejjani, editor & publisher of the LCCC Website)
The Lebanese faction opposed to Hezbollah, representing the majority of the people across all sects, is apprehensive about the ongoing ceasefire negotiations between the American envoy Amos Hochstein and the official Lebanese delegation represented by the duo Berri-Mikati. This is because the duo is a party to the current conflict on our land. The first, Berri, is a permanent ally of Hezbollah and a partner in the war of support for Gaza, while the second, Mikati, is affiliated with the Iranian resistance axis, making them part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Additionally, they do not represent the popular majority that is resentful of this party due to its involvement of the country in a devastating war that the Lebanese do not want, which renders them illegitimate representatives.
In this context, we recall that the Berri-Mikati duo belongs to the ultra-corrupt political system responsible for the collapse and bankruptcy of the state and the looting of depositors' money... which makes this duo unqualified to negotiate on behalf of the Lebanese, especially since Mr. Berri has monopolized the parliament for more than three decades and turned it into a private property where thefts, brokerages, and deals roam freely, thus depriving it of true democracy and replacing it with a formal one... How can this man decide the future of Lebanon in these fateful circumstances?
As for the conditions that meet the aspirations of the Lebanese people to get rid of this terrorist militia, they are three:
Its military and security withdrawal from all Lebanese areas, not just the south.
The complete disarmament of its heavy, medium, and light weapons and their surrender to the Lebanese army under the supervision of a specialized international body.
Bringing the remaining leaders, cadres, and members of its to justice on charges of high treason, and preventing them from engaging in any political activity in Lebanon.
The military operation carried out by Israel on our land, for which it is thanked, has given Lebanon an opportunity to liberate itself from the deadly Iranian octopus and has given the Lebanese an opportunity to rebuild a new modern state that matches the aspirations of our great people and the hopes of our future generations... Beware of wasting this opportunity that does not come twice.
Lebanon, at your service.
Key Points Conveyed in the Statement:
Strong opposition to Hezbollah and the current Lebanese government.
Criticism of the political leadership, particularly Berri and Mikati, for their alleged corruption and ties to Hezbollah.
Demand for Hezbollah's complete disarmament and withdrawal from all Lebanese territory.
Support for Israel's military operation and the potential for a new beginning for Lebanon.
Call for a democratic and modern Lebanon free from foreign influence.

Sheikh Qassem: Beirut versus Central Tel Aviv
Al-Manar English Website/November 20/2024
Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem stressed on Wednesday that the Resistance will certainly emerge victorious from the ongoing battle when it prevents the Zionist enemy from achieving its goals. In a televised speech, Sheikh Qassem hailed the soul of the martyred leader Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, underlining his pivotal role in presiding over Hezbollah Executive Council concerned with the educations, social, economic and medical files. Sheikh Qassem added that the Israeli enemy launched an aggression on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, assassinating the icon of the jihadi and resistance media and Head of Hezbollah Media Relations Department, Martyr Hajj Mohammad Afif. Regarding the aggression on Beirut, Sheikh Qassem maintained that Israeli enemy should understand that Central Tel Aviv will pay the price for any aggression on Beirut. “We may never abandon Beirut under strikes.”Sheikh Qassem added that Hezbollah thanks all those who offered condolences on the martyrdom of Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah and felicitations on the appointment of a new Secretary General. His eminence affirmed that Hezbollah has been keen on supporting Gaza, taking into consideration Lebanon’s circumstances. “We are proud to be among the few who have supported Gaza amid a listless world, except for Iraq, Yemen, and Iran.”Sheikh Qassem noted that it is true that the Israeli strikes have been painful, yet that Hezbollah has enough cadres who are formidable in might.His eminence clarified that Hezbollah had accepted Biden-Macron ceasefire proposal, yet that the Israeli enemy assassinated the Secretary General. Hezbollah restored its well-being in all the domains after the assassination of the Secretary General, Sheikh Qassem said. Sheikh Qassem indicated that Hezbollah has been fighting in “Formidable in Might” Battle to confront the Zionist all-out war on Lebanon for two months after the battle of supporting Gaza. After two months of the Israeli all out war on Lebanon, the Resistance showed a mythical steadfastness, his eminence affirmed. Commenting on the news reports about Israeli invasion of some villages in South Lebanon, Sheikh Qassem noted that the Resistance is not a classical army, yet fights the enemy wherever it advances. “Check their losses and where the resistance confronts them.”Sheikh Qassem confirmed that ‘Israel’ may never defeat Hezbollah and impose its terms on Lebanon, adding that the Islamic Resistance is ready for a long battle. “We are left with the two choices of war and humiliation; humiliation is far from us!”Sheikh Qassem went on to say that Hezbollah will not speak publicly about its notes pertaining to Hochstein’s proposal submitted to the Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, adding that let it be known that Hezbollah will continue its military battle along with the ongoing negotiations. Hezbollah leader greeted the mujahideen (the Islamic Resistance fighters) and the honorable people (the resistance supporters), stressing that this is the great model of embracing the resistance.
Sheikh Qassem asserted that Hezbollah will continue the battle regardless of the costs which will rise with respect to the enemy as well “When we prevent the enemy from reaching its goals, we emerge from the battle victorious/”Regarding the Lebanese politics, Hezbollah Secretary General stressed Hezbollah would contribute to the presidential elections and the public life in the framework of Taif Accord. Hezbollah will present in the resistance field and politics simultaneously in order to protect and build up the nation, Sheikh Qassem emphasized.
Source: Al-Manar English Website

Hezbollah says Israel ‘cannot impose conditions’ for truce
AFP/November 20, 2024
BEIRUT: Hezbollah’s leader delivered a defiant speech on Wednesday saying Israel cannot impose its conditions for a truce, as US envoy Amos Hochstein headed from Lebanon to Israel to try to end the war. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a near-simultaneous statement, said any ceasefire deal must ensure Israel has the “freedom to act” against Hezbollah. Hochstein announced in Lebanon that he would head to Israel on Wednesday to try to seal a ceasefire agreement in the war in Lebanon, which escalated in late September after nearly a year of deadly exchanges of fire across Israel’s northern border.
Israel expanded the focus of its operations from Gaza to Lebanon, vowing to secure the north and allow tens of thousands of people displaced by the cross-border fire to return home. It has also intensified strikes on neighboring Syria, a key conduit of weapons for Hezbollah from its backer Iran.
In the latest reported attack, the Syrian defense ministry said 36 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in Israeli strikes on the oasis city of Palmyra. “Israel cannot defeat us and cannot impose its conditions on us,” Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said in an address broadcast shortly after Hochstein announced he would travel to Israel. Qassem added that his armed group seeks a “complete and comprehensive end to the aggression” and “the preservation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.”He also vowed that the response to recent deadly Israeli strikes on Beirut would be on “central Tel Aviv,” Israel’s densely populated commercial hub. Before heading to Israel, Hochstein met for a second time with one of his main interlocutors, Hezbollah-allied parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of the Iran-backed group.
“The meeting today built on the meeting yesterday and made additional progress, so I will travel from here in a couple hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can,” Hochstein told reporters in the Lebanese capital.Hochstein had on Tuesday said an end to the war was “within our grasp,” while a diplomat  in Lebanon told AFP that he had studied some modifications to the US truce plan with Lebanese officials. Ahead of Hochstein’s arrival, Israel’s top diplomat Saar said: “In any agreement we will reach, we will need to keep the freedom to act if there will be violations.”
Striking a defiant tone, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament on Monday that Israel would “be forced to ensure our security in the north.” Hezbollah began its cross-border attacks in support of its ally Hamas following the Palestinian group’s assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza. Since expanding its operations to Lebanon in September, Israel has conducted extensive bombing campaigns primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds.
Israel has also sent ground troops into southern Lebanon, where it said Tuesday one soldier had been killed in combat and three others wounded.
More than 3,544 people in Lebanon have been killed since the clashes began, authorities have said, most since late September.
Among them were more than 200 children, according to the United Nations.
While Hochstein was in Beirut, the situation in the capital was relatively calm Tuesday and Wednesday, but south Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds sway, has seen battles and strikes. The United States, Israel’s main military and political backer, has been pushing for a UN resolution that ended the last Hezbollah-Israel war in 2006 to form the basis of a new truce. Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces deployed in south Lebanon. While not engaged in the ongoing war, the Lebanese army has reported 18 fatalities from among its ranks since September 23.On Wednesday, the army said Israeli fire killed a soldier in south Lebanon, a day after it announced the deaths of three other personnel in a strike. The Israeli military later said, without mentioning the deaths, that it was looking into reports of Lebanese soldiers injured by a strike on Tuesday.
“We emphasize that the (Israeli army) is operating precisely against the Hezbollah terrorist organization and is not operating against the Lebanon Armed Forces,” the military told AFP in a statement. Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported Israeli shelling and air strikes in south Lebanon overnight and on Wednesday, saying Israeli troops were seeking to advance further near the town of Khiam. Hezbollah said Wednesday that it had twice targeted Israeli troops near the flashpoint border town, home to an infamous former detention center that was shut down after the end of the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon in 2000.The NNA said that Israel forces were “attempting to advance from the Kfarshuba hills... to open up a new front under the cover of fire and artillery shells and air strikes.” “Violent clashes are taking place” between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, it added.
Israel said Wednesday it hit 100 “terror targets” around Lebanon in the past day, including “launchers, weapons storage facilities, command centers and military structures.”Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it had launched drones at two Israeli military bases in northern Israel and fired rockets at the town of Safed.

Israeli officials demand the right to strike Hezbollah under any cease-fire deal for Lebanon
Tia Goldenberg And Kareem Chehayeb/JERUSALEM (AP)/November 20, 2024
Israeli officials demanded Wednesday the freedom to strike Lebanon's Hezbollah as part of any cease-fire deal, raising a potential complication as a top U.S. envoy was in the region attempting to clinch an agreement.
The development came as an airstrike hit the historic Syrian town of Palmyra, killing 36 people, according to Syrian state-run media, which blamed the attack on Israel. The Israeli military declined to comment.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar each said Israel sought to reserve the right to respond to any violations by Hezbollah under an emerging proposal, which would push the militant group’s fighters and Israeli ground forces out of a U.N. buffer zone in southern Lebanon. There have been signs of progress on the cease-fire deal and on Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said the Lebanese militant group supports the ongoing negotiations but has “some reservations” and rejects a provision for “freedom of movement” for Israeli troops in Lebanon. “In any agreement we will reach, we will have to maintain our freedom to act if there will be violations,” Israeli Foreign Minister Saar told diplomats in Jerusalem. Katz said “the condition for any political settlement in Lebanon” was the right for Israel's military “to act and protect the citizens of Israel from Hezbollah.”
Amos Hochstein, the Biden administration’s point man on Israel and Lebanon, has been working to push the sides toward agreement and meeting this week with officials in Lebanon. He said Wednesday he would travel to Israel to “try to bring this to a close if we can.”
The emerging deal would push Hezbollah and Israel out of southern Lebanon
Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas after its attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in the Gaza Strip. Israel has been responding with strikes in Lebanon, and dramatically escalated its bombardment in late September by launching a ground invasion just inside the border.
In the more than a year of exchanges, more than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, most in the past month, the Health Ministry reported, and over 1 million people have been displaced. It's unknown how many of the dead were Hezbollah fighters. On Wednesday, 11 more were killed across Lebanon, according to the ministry and Lebanese state media. In Israel, more than 70 people have been killed by Hezbollah fire, and tens of thousands have fled their homes. Israeli police said a Hezbollah rocket fell outside an empty kindergarten Wednesday in the northern city of Acre, causing damage but no injuries. Hochstein’s proposal is based on U.N. resolution that ended the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. It stipulates that only the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers should operate in southern Lebanon. Still, Hezbollah never fully ended its presence in the south. Lebanon accuses Israel of also violating the resolution by maintaining hold of a small, disputed border area and conducting frequent military overflights. Israel says that Hezbollah has since built up a military infrastructure in villages and towns in southern Lebanon. The current proposal would include an implementation plan and a monitoring system to ensure each side follows its obligations to fully withdraw from the south. That could involve the United States and France, but details are still unclear.
There’s been progress, but no done deal yet
The Israeli ministers didn't outline details of Israel’s demand to maintain freedom of operation. Since the 2006 war, Israel has struck Hezbollah on the few occasions when border violence flared up, but any large-scale response could push the region back into turmoil. It's also unlikely Lebanon would agree to a deal that permits Israeli violations of its sovereignty. Hezbollah's leader Kassem said Wednesday that any cease-fire must include “a complete and comprehensive end to the aggression,” preserving Lebanon’s sovereignty and ruling out any freedom of movement for Israel in Lebanese territory. Though the proposal attempts to nail down an implementation mechanism, the failure to fully implement the U.N. resolution after the 2006 war could point to difficulties in getting the sides to uphold a sustainable cease-fire that would bring long-term quiet. Israel has continued to pound Hezbollah, and rockets have continued to rain down on northern Israel. Any perceived escalation could derail the talks.
Even with Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire, the war in Gaza would grind on. The war in Gaza is now in its 14th month as Israel battles Hamas in the territory. The death toll has soared to nearly 44,000 dead — over half of them women and children, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their count. Fifteen people, including five children and three women, were killed in various strikes in Gaza Wednesday, according to an AP journalist who counted the bodies at hospitals.
Hezbollah has said throughout the war in Gaza that it won't stop firing at Israel until the fighting in the Palestinian territory ends, but that condition was dropped in September after Israel intensified its offensive on the militant group, killing its top leadership and degrading its military capabilities.
That leaves Gaza waiting for a cease-fire of its own as a humanitarian crisis has displaced much of the territory’s 2.3 million people and prompted widespread hunger, especially in the north, where the United Nations says virtually no food or humanitarian aid has been delivered to for more than 40 days because of the Israeli military’s siege. International mediation has stalled repeatedly amid disagreement between Israel and Hamas over whether the war should end as part of a cease-fire deal, with Israel insisting it wants to maintain troop presence in certain areas. The U.S. on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza because it was not linked to an immediate release of hostages taken captive by Hamas
Hamas ignited the war in Gaza when its fighters stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of them believed to be dead. Other tumultuous areas of the Middle East won't likely be affected by a Hezbollah-Israel cease-fire, including Syria. Israel frequently targets military sites and facilities associated with Iran-linked groups in Syria but rarely acknowledges the strikes. The death toll from Wednesday’s strike in Palmyra was unusually high.
The Syrian news agency SANA said that along wit the 36 killed, the strike on Palmyra also wounded more than 50 people and caused “significant material damage to the targeted buildings” and the surrounding area. Palmyra is known for the historic Roman temple complex nearby, but it wasn't immediately clear if the ruins were damaged. The complex suffered significant damage years ago, during the Islamic State group's rampage across Syria.

Fierce battles in southern Lebanon amid ceasefire talk
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/November 20, 2024
BEIRUT: Israeli troops raised their flag over the Lebanese town of Chamaa, about 5 kilometers from the border, as they pushed deep into a second line of Lebanese villages. Elsewhere, fierce battles with Hezbollah fighters took place on Wednesday as Israeli forces advanced toward the strategic coastal town of Biyyadah. The Israeli moves coincided with an announcement by US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut that “additional progress” had been made on the US proposal for a ceasefire. Hochstein expressed hope that a “conclusion can be reached” after he travels to Israel for talks.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and his adviser Ali Hamdan, tasked by Hezbollah with leading external negotiations, held several rounds of discussions with Hochstein in the parliamentary headquarters and at the US Embassy in Awkar. On Wednesday afternoon, Hochstein said: “(We have) made additional progress, so I will travel from here in a couple of hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can.” Israeli media reported that Hochstein will hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah described the US proposal as “a document of mutual commitments between the Lebanese and Israeli sides concerning the mechanism for ceasing fire under the framework of implementing Resolution 1701.” He added: “We are facing indirect negotiations with the enemy over a document of commitments, somewhat similar to what happened in 2006 but under different circumstances. We are handling the proposals based on fundamental principles tied to our sovereignty and the protection of our land and people.”Fadlallah said that Hezbollah remains active on the ground and said that “the war will not conclude by imposing the enemy’s conditions.”Leaked information regarding the discussions indicated that Hezbollah agreed to include a US party in the monitoring committee for the implementation of the resolution, rather than the British or Germans.The committee is expected to include representatives from Washington, Paris, an Arab country, potentially Egypt, and the UN. Hochstein oversaw meetings on the ceasefire proposals that included former President Michel Aoun at his residence, and Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party, at his home.
Meanwhile, confrontations in southern Lebanon intensified amid protests from UNIFIL forces and other participating countries regarding the targeting of their positions, and the injuring of peacekeeping soldiers by both Israel and Hezbollah. The leadership of UNIFIL said on Tuesday that “peacekeeping forces and their facilities were targeted in three separate incidents in southern Lebanon, resulting in injuries to six peacekeepers. Four Ghanaian soldiers were injured by a missile while performing their duties, which was likely launched by non-governmental entities within Lebanon, striking their base east of the town of Ramiayh.”UNIFIL said that despite these challenges, peacekeeping forces will remain in their locations, and continue to monitor and report violations of Resolution 1701. As Israeli attacks targeted the Lebanese army for the second day in a row, Lebanon announced the death of four of its soldiers. Three were killed in a attack on their post in Sarafand on Tuesday, while a fourth was killed by an Israeli strike on a medical army vehicle on the road linking Burj Al-Muluk and Qalaa. The Israeli army claimed that it “killed two Hezbollah leaders responsible for missile attacks that targeted northern Israel, including the commander of the Lebanese coastal sector’s anti-tank unit.” It also revealed late on Tuesday that Ali Munir Shaito, who is in charge of Hezbollah’s southern front in Syria, was the target of last Sunday’s airstrike on Beirut’s Mar Elias district. Israeli airstrikes continued to hit southern towns, from Kfarshuba and Rashaya Al-Fakhar to Tyre, Nabatieh and Adloun. However, Beirut and its southern suburb had a second day of cautious calm. According to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry complaint to the Security Council, a total of 27 civil defense personnel have been killed by Israeli attacks, while 76 have been injured. As of Tuesday, the death toll in the overall Israeli war on Lebanon reached 3,544, along with 15,036 injuries.

 US envoy to travel to Israel in bid to seal Hezbollah ceasefire
Reuters/November 20, 2024
BEIRUT: US envoy Amos Hochstein said he will travel to Israel on Wednesday to try to secure a ceasefire ending the war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah group after declaring additional progress in talks in Beirut. Hochstein, who arrived a day earlier in Beirut, said he saw a “real opportunity” to end the conflict after the Lebanese government and Hezbollah agreed to a US ceasefire proposal, although with some comments.“The meeting today built on the meeting yesterday, and made additional progress,” Hochstein said after his second meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, endorsed by the Iran-backed Hezbollah to negotiate. “So I will travel from here in a couple hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can,” Hochstein said. The diplomacy aims to end a conflict that has inflicted massive devastation in Lebanon since Israel went on the offensive against Hezbollah in September, mounting airstrikes across wide parts of the country and sending in troops.Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from its north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. Hezbollah, still reeling from the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders, has kept up rocket fire into Israel, including targeting Tel Aviv this week. Its fighters are battling Israeli troops on the ground in the south. Although diplomacy to end the Gaza war has largely stalled, the Biden administration aims to seal a ceasefire in the parallel conflict in Lebanon before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. “We are going to work with the incoming administration. We’re already going to be discussing this with them. They will be fully aware of what we’re doing,” Hochstein said.

Israel Pessimistic about Ceasefire Deal with Lebanon
Tel Aviv: Nazeer Majli/Asharq Al Awsat//November 20, 2024
The United States' special envoy for the Middle East, Amos Hochstein, decided to extend his visit to Beirut until Wednesday, political sources in Tel Aviv said. The envoy, who was expected in Israel on Wednesday morning, will arrive there by Thursday at the latest.
Despite the positive signals from Washington about Hochstein’s visit to the Lebanese capital, Israelis cast doubt on the likelihood that a deal could be reached to end the war on Hezbollah in Lebanon.The sources said US officials are very serious about reaching a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war. “Coordination is ongoing between the administration of President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, who are both determined to end the war,” the sources stressed.As evidence, they said, Washington has decided to place a US general at the head of a military technical committee tasked to achieve the total deployment of the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon.However, Israel is skeptical. It believes Hezbollah is maneuvering and will not accept the Israeli terms of the US proposal. The sources said the Israeli army is indirectly taking part in the Hochstein-led negotiations by exerting pressure on Lebanon and intensifying its attacks on the capital, not just its southern suburbs where Hezbollah has a strong presence, as well as the South and eastern Bekaa region.Former head of Israeli Defense Intelligence Professor Amos Yadlin, who held a meeting with Hochstein recently, revealed that the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon is making great progress. He said a deal could be announced this weekend. “The most important thing is that the agreement between Israel and Washington on the US guarantees is ready. If an agreement is reached in Beirut on those guarantees, a ceasefire deal will be signed and put into effect,” Yadlin said. Biden sent a message to Israel that the US administration will not only serve as a guarantor to Israel, but it has also given it legitimacy in its right to self-defense, he revealed. “In Washington, they agree with us that Israel has cancelled its known MABAM doctrine (the ‘war between the wars’), and is now ready to wage a war whenever it is attacked. Hochstein and other mutual friends of Israel and Lebanon have made this clear, but this policy has to be understood in Lebanon, Syria and Iran,” he added. Meanwhile, the majority of officials close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain pessimistic about reaching a ceasefire deal with Lebanon.The right-wing newspaper Israel Hayom quoted an Israeli political source as saying that “an agreement is not likely to be reached in the near future.”Instead, it said, the Israeli military has approved plans to attack the southern suburbs of Beirut, carry out assassinations wherever possible, even in the majority-Christian part of east Beirut and continue to target Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. On Tuesday, Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right minister of finance, said, “We will not agree to any arrangement that is not worth the paper it is written on.” Addressing the ceasefire efforts, Netanyahu told a Knesset meeting that “the important thing is not the piece of paper.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 19-20/2024
Israeli Attack on Syria’s Palmyra Kills 36 People, Syrian State Media Says
An Israeli attack on Syria's historic city of Palmyra killed 36 people and wounded more than 50 on Wednesday after it hit residential buildings and an industrial zone, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported. The Israeli military declined to comment when asked about the attack. "At approximately 1:30 p.m. today, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of the al-Tanf area, targeting a number of buildings in the city of Palmyra in the Syrian desert, which led to the martyrdom of 36 people (and) the injury of more than 50 others," SANA said, quoting a military official.It added that the attack also caused significant damage to the targeted buildings and surrounding area. Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up such raids since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Israel that sparked the Gaza war. The Israeli military said last week it had attacked transit routes on the Syrian-Lebanese border that were used to transfer weapons to Hezbollah. Syrian state media reported several Israeli attacks last week in the vicinity of Homs province, which borders Lebanon. Palmyra is located in Homs. Palmyra's ancient city is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was seized by ISIS militants in 2015 and partially destroyed before it was recaptured by the Syrian army.

Iran Strengthens its Militias in Syria
Damascus: Asharq Al Awsat//November 20, 2024
Iran has increased its diplomatic and military efforts in Syria in response to Israeli escalation and threats to cut off the Tehran-Damascus corridor. This includes strengthening Iranian-backed militias, which have stepped up attacks on US-led coalition bases and the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). These groups are also fighting ISIS in the Syrian desert. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that Iran-backed groups launched 89 attacks on US bases in Syria in 2024, using drones and rockets from both Syria and Iraq. In turn, US forces have upgraded their base defenses, including air defense systems, to intercept drones before they reach their targets. At the same time, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is expanding its training camps for militias, especially the Iraqi Harakat al-Nujaba, in Syria’s southeastern Homs desert. Reinforcements from the Zainabiyoun and Fatemiyoun brigades, totaling about 225 fighters, recently arrived in the eastern Deir Ezzor province through the al-Hari border crossing. The fighters are stationed in Al-Boukamal and Mayadeen under IRGC command. Local sources said Iran is working to strengthen its military presence in the region. On Monday evening, ISIS launched an attack on Iranian-backed militias in the desert near Tadmur, east of Homs. Syria's Al-Watan newspaper reported that on Monday, government forces and allied troops fought fierce battles with ISIS cells in the eastern Homs desert. A military source said the clashes killed several ISIS fighters and destroyed their vehicles, which were armed with heavy machine guns. The militants had attempted to cross from areas controlled by US forces in the 55-kilometer zone to target military positions near the town of al-Taybah in eastern Homs.

Senate rejects effort from Bernie Sanders to block some weapons for Israel over Gaza deaths
Ellen Knickmeye/WASHINGTON (AP)/November 20, 2024
The Senate on Wednesday rejected an attempt by Sen. Bernie Sanders Wednesday to block sales of offensive weapons to Israel for its war in Gaza over mounting civilian deaths there. The Vermont lawmaker and a small group of Democrats sought to put legislation up for a Senate vote that would block the sale of some tank and mortar rounds and smart-bomb kits to Israel. The first attempt to block the sales was rejected overwhelmingly, and two more were expected to go down to defeat.
Sanders, in making the case for stopping the sales, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “has not simply waged war against Hamas. It has waged an all-out war against the Palestinian people.”Known as joint resolutions of disapproval, the measures would have had to pass both houses of Congress and withstand any presidential veto to become binding. Congress has never succeeded in blocking any arms sales with the joint resolutions. But the vote served as a test of broader frustration among Democrats at the war and President Joe Biden's handling of relations with Israel. Lawmakers' move comes after a 30-day Biden administration deadline came and went earlier this month for Netanyahu to meet specific U.S. targets to improve its treatment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza trapped in the war. U.S. demands included that Israel lift a near-total ban on delivery of aid to hard-hit north Gaza for starving civilians there. Leading global aid organizations say Israel — which is heavily dependent on U.S. arms and military aid — fell far short of meeting the U.S. demand to allow in an adequate number of aid trucks, and in some other ways worsened conditions for civilians.That includes Israeli lawmakers newly banning the main U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinians. U.N. officials said as the end of the U.S. deadline neared that the entire population of north Gaza is now at imminent risk of dying from famine, airstrikes or other threats.
“We would expect that there be some consequences when things get even worse,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said in the run-up to the vote on the measures. Fellow Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Peter Welch of Vermont also joined Sanders in the appeal. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor that he will “strongly oppose” the measures. “Israel needs to protect itself not just today, but also tomorrow and next year and beyond,” Schumer said. “It has been a cornerstone of American policy to give Israel the resources it needs to defend against its enemies. We should not stray from that policy today.” Sen. Ben Cardin, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, read what he said was a message from the White House urging lawmakers to defeat the measures.
The move to block arms to the U.S. ally came at a delicate time in Middle East cease-fire negotiations and would “put wind in the sails of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas at the worst possible moment,” Cardin quoted the White House as warning. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham also argued for defeat of the bills. “This signal will be seen by the enemies of Israel, and the enemies of peace, that if they just stick with it they will win,” he said.
Centrist and progressive Democratic lawmakers and Sanders have made repeated runs during the more than 1-year-old war at convincing the White House and Congress to condition U.S. arms shipments to Israel on improved treatment of Palestinian civilians in the offensive. The Biden administration has increased its warnings and appeals to Netanyahu to do more to spare civilians in airstrikes and other attacks, and to allow more aid to reach Gaza. The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks that started the war killed about 1,200.
The death toll of Gazans killed since then was nearing 44,000 on Wednesday. Health officials in Gaza do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in tracking deaths. Other than pausing one planned shipment of 2,000-pound bombs, Biden — at 82, a stalwart supporter of Israel since its modern founding — has rejected calls to limit military support to Israel. Sanders, on the Senate floor, said the continuing flow of U.S. arms to Israel for the war violated U.S. law and undermined U.S. standing in the world. Other governments will say to Americans, “'Don’t give us advice, don’t criticize us, when you have supported the mass starvation of children with your tax dollars,” he said. Republicans have stood firmly behind Netanyahu and will control both chambers of Congress next year as President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The U.S.'s roughly $18 billion in military support for Israel during the war was a politically divisive issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, with Republicans vowing to keep up undiminished backing for Israel. Trump has vowed strong support for Israel and has called on Netanyahu to bring the Gaza war to a quick close. He has offered few specifics on his plans on that.

U.S. Vetoes Another U.N. Cease-Fire Resolution While Continuing To Arm Israel
Sanjana Karanth/HuffPost/November 20, 2024
The United States has once again unilaterally vetoed a draft resolution by the United Nations Security Council that called for an immediate, permanent cease-fire in Gaza — a move that comes as the Biden administration spends its last months in office continuing to sell the weapons Israel is using to destroy the Palestinian territory. The Security Council in New York voted 14-1 on Wednesday in favor of the resolution, but the veto blocked the council from adopting it due to the U.S.’s status as a permanent member. In addition to demanding a cease-fire, the resolution would’ve demanded the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and would have urged Israeli forces to withdraw from the enclave and immediately restore access to humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians. “I think it’s clear that the political rationale here is not actually to find a path to peace. That it’s not about saving innocent lives, and it’s not about ending the continued violence that is being perpetrated against Palestinian civilians,” Tariq Habash, a Biden appointee who resigned in protest of the administration’s Gaza policy, told HuffPost. “If it was, the veto would not have been used.” That was echoed by Majed Bamya, the deputy permanent observer of the State of Palestine. But U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood argued that by not explicitly linking a cease-fire to the hostages’ release, the resolution would disincentivize Hamas from engaging in peace negotiations. “We made clear throughout negotiations we could not support an unconditional cease-fire that failed to release the hostages,” Wood said. “This resolution abandoned that necessity. For that reason, the United States could not support it.”Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N., raises his hands to veto a draft United Nations Security Council resolution that calls for an immediate, permanent and unconditional cease-fire in Gaza and the immediate, unconditional release of hostages taken by Hamas, on November 20, 2024 in New York City. Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N., raises his hands to veto a draft United Nations Security Council resolution that calls for an immediate, permanent and unconditional cease-fire in Gaza and the immediate, unconditional release of hostages taken by Hamas, on November 20, 2024 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago via Getty ImagesMore
Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel in October 2023 that killed about 1,200 people. They also took roughly 250 hostages, about 100 of whom are believed to remain in captivity. Israeli ambassador Danny Danon said on Wednesday that states who voted for the U.N. resolution had betrayed the remaining hostages, but Bamya argued that the ongoing “full-fledged” military offensive against Palestinians is “about everything except the hostages.” For more than a year, the Israeli military, using arms supplied by the U.S., has rained bombs on Gaza. The assault is thought to have killed at least 43,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children — a number that experts and medical workerssay is a gross undercount — and has displaced the entire population of Gaza and destroyed infrastructure necessary to sustaining life. Israel’s siege has blocked most humanitarian aid, sparking a mass starvation crisis, and Israeli forces have allegedly detained men in torture camps. All of that has been cause for humanitarian concern as the Israeli military turns to growing hostilities in Lebanon.
Multiple human rights groups and experts — including someassociated with the U.N. — have labeled Israel’s assault on the Palestinian people as a war crime, genocide, ethnic cleansingor apartheid. The country has been accused before the International Court of Justice of committing genocide, a charge that both Israel and the U.S. have rejected. After multiple vetoes by the U.S., the Security Council adopted its first resolution on a cease-fire plan for Israel and Gaza in June. In the five months since that vote, the council has “remained idle, remained hand-tied,” according to Bendjama, who vowed that elected member states will come back with a militarily enforceable resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter. “Today’s message is clear. To the Israeli occupying power, first: You may continue your genocide. You may continue your collective punishment of the Palestinian people with complete impunity,” Bendjama said. “In this chamber, you enjoy immunity.”
“To the Palestinian people, another clear message,” he continued. “While the overwhelming majority of the world stands in solidarity with your plight, others remain indifferent to your suffering.”The veto on the cease-fire resolution comes one day after the Biden administration announced that a U.S.-Israel panel looking into reports of civilian harm in Gaza will meet next month for the first time. The panel was created in response to specific incidents in which Israel killed Palestinian civilians with weapons provided by the United States, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. “There has been a purposeful effort over the course of the last year to channel reporting into this mechanism — this mechanism which, by the way, doesn’t have any direct hooks into policy or law — and then just to use this to shut down that reporting and to let things go nowhere,” said Josh Paul, who resigned from the State Department in protest over Gaza and founded A New Policy with Habash.
The U.S. again crossed its own red line earlier this month. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had warned Israel in October that they will restrict arms transfers if Israel does not materially increase the assistance to Palestinians within 30 days. But despite several humanitarian organizations saying aid had “fallen to an all-time low” in Gaza, the U.S. concluded Nov. 12 that it will continue sending weapons to Israel. Senate Democrats have pushed back. Lawmakers will vote Wednesday on a first-of-its-kind bill that rejects the Biden administration’s continued weapons shipments to Israel, arguing that the use of those weapons to cause massive civilian casualties is a violation of U.S. and international law. A document exclusively obtained by HuffPost Wednesday reveals the Biden administration has been lobbying senators to vote against the bill, and even seems to be endorsing continued fighting.
“The idea that somehow engaging in those discussions about the minutiae that we know are not going to lead anywhere outweighs the fact that the administration is doing all it can, not only to continue to send lethal arms to Israel, but to minimize any possible domestic opposition to that,” Paul told HuffPost. “Frankly, it does continuing damage to the Democratic Party’s own brand,” he continued. “And if this is the Democratic Party untethered, not having to worry about elections, ... it is going to prove very hard for that party to rebuild in any meaningful way.”

Israel unleashes strikes on homes in north Gaza as it extends onslaught
Reuters/November 20, 2024
CAIRO: The Israeli military bombed at least five crowded homes in northern Gaza early on Thursday with many casualties, health officials said, as troops deepened an incursion along the territory’s northern edge. Rescue operations were under way as many people remained missing or trapped under the rubble, medics said. Hamas media put the number of fatalities at 57 but there was no official figure immediately from the Gaza health ministry. The Israeli military made no immediate comment but has repeatedly accused Hamas media of exaggerating the number of casualties.
Earlier on Wednesday, Gaza health officials said Israeli military strikes across the enclave killed at least 48 people. Gaza medics said the incidents included attacks on houses and a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza, bombing of a hospital in northern Gaza and air strikes on the humanitarian-designated area of Al-Mawasi and Rafah in southern Gaza. Palestinian and UN officials say no place in the enclave is safe.
Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, one of three medical facilities barely operational in the besieged northern area, said the hospital “was bombed across all its departments without warning, as we were trying to save an injured person in the intensive care unit” on Tuesday.
“Following the arrest of 45 members of the medical and surgical staff and the denial of entry to a replacement team, we are now losing wounded patients daily who could have survived if resources were available,” he told Reuters by text message.“Unfortunately, food and water are not allowed to enter, and not even a single ambulance is permitted access to the north.” There were 85 injured people, including children and women, at the hospital, six in the ICU. Seventeen children had arrived with signs of malnutrition as a result of food shortages. One man died of dehydration a day ago, Abu Safiya added.
Israeli operations in Gaza have focused for weeks on the northern edge of the territory, where the military has laid siege to three major towns and ordered residents to flee. Residents in the three towns — Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun — said Israeli forces had blown up dozens of houses. Palestinians say Israel appears determined to depopulate the area permanently to create a buffer zone along the northern edge of Gaza, which Israel denies.
Israel’s 13-month campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,000 people and displaced nearly all the enclave’s population at least once, according to Gaza officials. The war was launched in response to an attack by Hamas-led fighters who killed 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has said. Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress and negotiations are now on hold, with mediator Qatar having suspended its efforts until the sides are prepared to make concessions. Although Israel’s assaults have been focused on Gaza’s north since last month, its strikes have continued across the territory. In the Sabra suburb of Gaza City, the Palestinian civil emergency service said an Israeli airstrike targeted one of its teams during a rescue operation, killing one staff member and wounding three others. The death in Sabra raised the number of civil emergency service members killed over the last 13 months to 87, the service said. There was no immediate Israeli comment on the incidents. Speaking during a visit to Gaza on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas would not rule the Palestinian enclave after the war had ended and that Israel had destroyed the Islamist group’s military capabilities. Netanyahu also said Israel had not given up trying to locate the 101 remaining hostages believed to be still in the enclave, and he offered a $5 million reward for the return of each one.
Hamas wants a deal that ends the war, while Netanyahu has vowed the war can end only once Hamas is eradicated.

How Israel’s UNRWA ban will impact Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank
ANAN TELLO/Arab News/November 20, 2024
LONDON: In just a matter of weeks, the main UN agency providing vital services to millions of Palestinian refugees will no longer be able to do so. Israel is expected to enforce new laws banning UNRWA, a move the agency says will halt its vast operations providing aid, health care and schooling in Gaza and the West Bank.Not only will lifesaving services be taken away, but Palestinians fear that if UNRWA comes to an end, so too will a fundamental pillar of their refugee status — the right of return to their homes. Israel claims UNRWA has been infiltrated by militants, but the agency’s chiefs deny this and they, along with humanitarian groups and many governments, warn of catastrophic consequences if UNRWA stops operating. For Gaza, which is on the verge of famine after a 13-month onslaught from Israel that has killed nearly 44,000 people, the outcomes are unthinkable. On Oct. 28, the Israeli parliament passed two laws by overwhelming majority that will make it impossible for UNRWA to continue its work in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. The first law barred UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory while the second prohibited Israeli authorities from engaging with the agency in any form.
The bills, set to take effect within 90 days of their adoption, did not provide an alternative organization to UNRWA for delivering aid or essential services. Over a series of press conferences, briefings and statements, Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA commissioner-general, has become increasingly exasperated as he pleads with other nations to put pressure on Israel to halt the action. He says not only will the collapse of his agency have devastating humanitarian consequences for Palestinians, but also removing services like education will fuel radicalization and have a destabilizing effect on the Middle East.
Lazzarini argues that such a step by a UN member state against a UN agency would also significantly undermine the international rules-based order that those members signed up to.
Shortly after the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, passed the bills, he warned that the vote “sets a dangerous precedent.”
DID YOUKNOW?
• 2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza depend on aid from UNRWA.
• 600,000 Children in Gaza receive education through UNRWA.
• 17,000 UNRWA staff in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“It opposes the UN Charter and violates the State of Israel’s obligations under international law,” he said.
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, slammed the vote as an “unconscionable law” and “an outright attack on the rights of Palestinian refugees.”
UNRWA was established by a UN General Assembly resolution in response to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land in 1948, which led to the formation of the Israeli state. In what became known as the Nakba, meaning catastrophe, 700,000 people were driven from their homes.
The agency was tasked with helping refugees scattered across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria until they could return home. With no “right of return” solution ever reached with Israel, UNRWA’s work has continued, providing many services in lieu of a functioning government.
Yet despite the agency’s work, it has always faced criticism from Israel. One of the main charges against UNRWA is that it perpetuates the Palestinian refugee issue by keeping alive the notion of a “right of return” passed down through generations — something Israel views as unrealistic and unimaginable.
Palestinians believe that without the agency, their status as refugees would be undermined and they fear they would be pressured into settling wherever they have ended up.
Lazzarini said on Monday that Israel’s aim in attacking UNRWA was to strip Palestinians of their refugee status. But he insisted that whether his agency existed or not, their refugee status would be protected by UN General Assembly resolutions.
In recent years, Israel has increasingly accused the agency of employing Hamas members and other militants among its 13,000-strong Gaza workforce. Hamas has been in power since seizing the territory from Palestinian rivals Fatah in 2007 and UNRWA has had to tread a fine line between the militant group and Israel. It comes under pressure from both sides about the curriculum taught in its schools or whether it is showing bias toward one side or the other. In late January, Israeli authorities accused several UNRWA employees of involvement in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people and resulted in the capture of 250 hostages. The UN secretary-general ordered an investigation which reported in August that nine staff members may have been involved in the attacks. UNRWA fired the employees but said it had supplied full lists of the people it employs since 2011.
Many Western countries suspended their funding for UNRWA while the investigation was carried out, a major blow given the agency’s budget is almost entirely funded by donations from UN member states. All except the US have since reinstated the money. An independent review of the agency published in April said UNRWA had a “robust” framework to deal with neutrality but that issues such as staff publicly expressing political views and textbooks with problematic content being used in some UNRWA schools persisted. Nevertheless, the level to which UNRWA is entwined with the fabric of Palestinian society means that removing its services would leave a huge gap in how the territories function. Of most immediate concern, the Israeli legislation would remove desperately needed aid and health care from Gaza. In a statement on X after the vote, Lazzarini described the laws as “nothing less than collective punishment” that will “only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell.”More than 2 million people in Gaza have endured relentless Israeli bombing and a deepening humanitarian crisis since the war started. The population is fully dependent on the aid allowed into the territory by Israel. Families suffer severe shortages of food, clean water, medical supplies and shelter.
The bombing and military operations destroyed essential infrastructure, razed entire districts and displaced almost the entire population. Along with the tens of thousands killed, mostly women and children, more than 100,000 have been injured, according to Gaza’s health authority. Over two-thirds of UNRWA’s premises in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli strikes. (AFP)
An UNRWA spokesperson told Arab News that without the agency “the delivery of food, shelter, and health care to most of Gaza’s population would grind to a halt.”A joint statement by 15 UN and humanitarian organizations on Nov. 1 warned that the legislation against UNRWA would be a “catastrophe” for the aid response in Gaza where “there is no alternative to UNRWA.” Indeed, relief groups have repeatedly accused Israeli authorities of aid obstruction. While Israel has denied this, data analysis by aid organizations operating in Gaza found that 83 percent of food aid does not make it into the enclave. Jens Laerke, spokesperson for UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told a UN briefing in Geneva in mid-November that aid access across Gaza has been “at a low point.” “Chaos suffering, despair, death, destruction, displacement is at a high point,” he said, adding that delivering assistance in northern Gaza was “near impossible.” The ramifications of the new laws will extend beyond Gaza, across the entire occupied Palestinian territories. “In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, without UNRWA, health, education and social services to Palestine refugees would fall apart,” the UNRWA spokesperson said. Addressing a UN General Assembly committee last week, Lazzarini warned the risk of UNRWA’s collapse “threatens the lives and futures of individuals and communities.”
UNRWA delivers education to more than 660,000 children across Gaza and at least 50,000 in the West Bank. If the agency's work stops, “an entire generation will be denied the right to education,” Lazzarini added: “Their future will be sacrificed, sowing the seeds for marginalization and extremism.”The agency provides health care services to half a million Palestinian refugees, covering 70-80 percent of needs in Gaza before the war.
Banning UNRWA would also put at risk the jobs of 17,000 employees in Gaza and the West Bank. More than 240 UNRWA personnel have already been killed in the Gaza war and others have been detained and tortured. UNRWA is a “casualty” of the Gaza war and “not a party” to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Lazzarini said. “Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, and Israeli forces have allegedly used our premises for military purposes,” he added.

Jordanian king and UAE president discuss ceasefire efforts in Gaza and Lebanon
Arab News/November 20, 2024
DUBAI: Jordan’s King Abdullah II and the UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed held talks on Wednesday, which included international efforts to secure ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. The two leaders met in Abu Dhabi as the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to halt Israel’s war on Gaza and as diplomats shuttled between Jerusalem and Beirut to try to end Israel’s offensive in Lebanon. Sheikh Mohamed and King Abdullah “underscored the importance of intensifying efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, ensuring full protection for civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law, and providing humanitarian support to those affected,” the UAE’s state news agency WAM reported. They also said that the UAE and Jordan were both “steadfast in supporting Lebanon’s unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity while expressing solidarity with the Lebanese people.”Nearly 44,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its assault there after Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year, killing about 1,200. The conflict escalated to a war in Lebanon in September, where Israeli bombing against Hamas ally Hezbollah has killed more than 3,500 people. The UAE and Jordan both have relations with Israel but have been fiercely critical of Israel’s military offensives and the human suffering that they have caused. During their meeting, Sheikh Mohamed and King Abdullah spoke about widespread concern that the conflict could spread to other countries in the region. “The leaders emphasized the need to prevent conflict in the Middle East from escalating further, as it poses a threat to the region’s security and stability,” WAM reported. “They also stressed the importance of establishing a clear path toward a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace based on a two-state solution that guarantees security and stability for all.”King Abdullah flew to Abu Dhabi on Wednesday morning for the meeting, along with Jordan’s Prime Minister Jafar Hassan and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who also attended the meeting. The UAE and Jordan have both mobilized large aid operations to help alleviate suffering in Gaza and Lebanon. Last week, four convoys of trucks carrying 605 tonnes of aid from the UAE made it to Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. On Wednesday, eight Jordanian helicopters flew food, medicine and supplies for children, landing directly in Gaza for the first time since the fighting began.

Canada cabinet minister steps down in fresh blow to PM Trudeau
Reuters/November 20, 2024
OTTAWA (Reuters) - A member of Canada's Liberal government stepped down on Wednesday amid allegations he had misrepresented his background, dealing another challenge to beleaguered Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault "will step away from Cabinet effective immediately ... (and) focus on clearing the allegations made against him," Trudeau's office said in a two-line statement. The announcement marks a sharp change in approach from Trudeau, who as recently as Tuesday had defended Boissonnault against opposition charges that he had falsely claimed to have indigenous roots. In 2018, Boissonnault said his great-grandmother was a member of the Cree nation. Last week he changed his account, saying he did not in fact have any aboriginal blood. Trudeau made his announcement at a time when some Liberal legislators are complaining about his leadership after nine years in power. Opinion polls show the Liberals are on track to lose the next federal election, which must be held by late October 2025.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on November 19-20/2024
‘You Work, Give Us the Money, Allahu Akbar!’ The Fake History of Jizya
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/November 20/2024
In an editorial titled “Jihad in Congo,” this summer ISIS boasted of its “recent operations, in which the blood of dozens of Christians was shed, and where many fled, leaving behind their money to be seized as spoils or to be ruined by fire set by the mujahideen.”
The Islamic terror group also offered “good news” to the Christians of the Democratic Republic of Congo:
To the Christians, their institutions, and their community organizations [that] search for long-term solutions that will rid them of a life surrounded by death in every direction we give them the good news that the only solution is for them is to convert to Islam or to pay the jizyah and remain submissive. Otherwise, the invasions will continue against them, as will the killings, burning their homes and shops, and seizing their money. This is not the first time this word, jizya — so strange to Western ears — is mentioned in connection to Muslims slaughtering Christians. Earlier this year, in Mozambique, after jihadists murdered a Christian bus driver, a note was left at the scene: We declare war on all Christians in the world for three things: either to be a Muslim or pay Jizya. If you haven’t pay Jizya it’s a war until final earth, Qiyama. [In other words, war to the ends of the earth until Resurrection Day.]… If you [Christians] refuse [to convert to Islam] then you will pay Jizya and if you refuse to pay Jizya you will be killed.
Religious Ransom
We have already explored the meaning of jizya in an earlier article. To recap, the word is derived from Koran 9:29:
Fight those among the People of the Book [Christians and Jews] who do not believe in Allah nor the Last Day, nor forbid what Allah and his Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth [Islam], until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.
In other words, conquered Christians and Jews were to purchase their lives, which were otherwise forfeit to their Muslim conquerors, with money. As one medieval jurist succinctly put it, “their lives and their possessions are only protected by reason of payment of jizya.”
Incidentally, the Koran’s call for infidels to pay jizya while “feel[ing] themselves subdued” is precisely why the ISIS editorial urges the Christians of the Congo “to pay the jizyah and remain submissive.” Payment of jizya was never limited to extorting money from “infidels”; it was also a reminder for them to “know their place.” Some of Islam’s jurists mandated several humiliating rituals at the time of jizya payment. The presiding Muslim official could slap, choke, and/or pull the beard of the paying Christian or Jew — who might also be made to approach the official on all fours.
Although direct European intervention in the nineteenth century brought an end to jizya exactions, today — whether institutionalized as under the Islamic State and its offshoots, or as a “vigilante” rationale to plunder infidels, as was reported from Mali — jizya is back.
Shakedown, Breakdown, Takedown — You’re Busted
That said, there is a reason the perennial institution of shaking down infidels for money is so completely unknown or misunderstood in the West. In keeping with a theme recently addressed — how Fake History of Islam undermines the modern West’s ability to comprehend the dangers of Muhammad’s creed — the academics have utterly warped the meaning of jizya.
Consider the following excerpt from John Esposito, director of the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University:
In many ways, local populations [Christians, Jews, and others] found Muslim rule more flexible and tolerant than that of [Christian] Byzantium and [Zoroastrian] Persia. Religious communities were free to practice their faith to worship and be governed by their religious leaders and laws in such areas as marriage, divorce, and inheritance. In exchange, they were required to pay tribute, a poll tax (jizya) that entitled them to Muslim protection from outside aggression and exempted them from military service. Thus, they were called the “protected ones” (dhimmi). In effect, this often meant lower taxes, greater local autonomy (emphasis added)
Despite the almost gushing tone related to Muslim rule, the idea that jizya was exacted in order to buy “Muslim protection from outside aggression” is an outright lie, as is Esposito’s assertion that jizya was paid to “exempt them [non-Muslims] from military service” — as if conquering Muslims would even want or allow their conquered and unclean “infidel” subjects to fight alongside them in the name of jihad (holy war against infidels) without first converting to Islam.
Debunking the Myths
Yet these two myths are now widely accepted. In “Nothing ‘Islamic’ About ISIS, Part Two: What the ‘Jizya’ Really Means,” Hesham A. Hassaballa recycles these fabrications on BeliefNet by quoting Princeton University’s Muslim chaplain, Sohaib Sultan, who concludes: “Thus, jizyah is no more and no less than an exemption tax in lieu of military service and in compensation for the ‘covenant of protection’ (dhimmah) accorded to such citizens by the Islamic state.”
In reality, and as seen via the words of a variety of authoritative Muslims, past and present, jizya was and remains protection money — not from outsiders, as Esposito and others claim, but from surrounding Muslims themselves. Whether it is the first caliphate from over a millennium ago or the latest, the Islamic State, Muslim overlords deem the lives of their “infidel” subjects forfeit unless they ransom it with money. The subjugated infidel is a beast to be milked “until it gives no more milk and until it milks blood,” to quote the memorable words of an early caliph, Suleiman Abdul Malik.
There is nothing humane, reasonable, or admirable about demands for jizya from conquered non-Muslim minorities, as the academics claim. Jizya is simply extortion money. Its purpose has always been to provide non-Muslims with protection from, not by Muslims: pay up, or else convert to Islam or die.
More generally, the concept of jizya has led some Muslims to believe that all infidels “owe them.” As Anjem Choudary, a Pakistani cleric and welfare recipient in England, once boasted:
We take the jizya, which is our haq [Arabic for “right”], anyway. The normal situation, by the way, is to take money from the kafir [infidel], isn’t it? So this is the normal situation. They give us the money — you work, give us the money, Allahu Akbar! We take the money.
As jizya continues making its way — most notably in an incident in Egypt where Muslims recently dismembered an innocent Christian man because his family could not meet their ransom demands — the West, thanks to the “lessons” of Fake History, remains oblivious.
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and Sword and Scimitar, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

The New Axis of Tyrannies vs. the West: A Mighty Clash of Titans
Nils A. Haug/ Gatestone Institute./November 20, 2024
The reason for the axis's actions appears to be a desire for a new world order with themselves at the helm. They seem to believe that through their combined effort, America's unipolar global leadership in the political, economic and military spheres can be upended.
[T]he driving forces underlying this developing clash of major powers have many facets, one of which appears to be religion, always a convenient pretext as so much can never be proven.
[I]n autocratic or totalitarian regimes comes the imperative to forcefully assert the regime's idea of religion, of its "truth," often upon an unwilling populace. Associated with such systems is the intention of ultimately establishing global compliance with their beliefs, which sometimes appear to be a "religion" of state supremacy. Standing in Iran's path is the Jewish state of Israel, whose inhabitants inconveniently refuse to vacate it. To many Islamists, continual jihad appears to go hand-in-hand with the need for acquiring land.
"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day," the Quran commands Muslims in Surah 9:29.
To this effect, the February 2024 issue of the Urdu-language al-Qaeda publication Nawa-i-Ghazwa-e-Hind indicates, "Allah has declared Jihad as the path for the enforcement of religion." In plain words, jihad is required to forcibly establish Islam as the one "true" faith – a global religion.
Hamas's primary concern, however, does not appear to be an independent state for Palestinians -- as it identifies with the Muslim Brotherhood -- but a Sharia-based global Islamic Caliphate through jihad. For Hamas, as for the Muslim Brotherhood, a Palestinian state would be merely the first-step in a wider agenda. The Muslim Brotherhood is the catalyst movement behind the modern global jihadist movement, and should rightly be designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Its founder, Hassan al-Banna, said, "it is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet."Hassan Nasrallah espoused the same idea: "We won't stop until every country on Earth is ruled by the law of Allah and the people of Islam, like our prophet promised."
The West, meanwhile, due to a variety of weak and compromised political decisions, has tried to prevent Israel from acting alone in direct conflict with jihadists, whether Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran itself. All the same, the nation of Israel, despite nearly 4,000 years of unremitting challenges to its existence, appears to be enduring just fine. Driven by disparate ideologies, a new axis of hegemonic dictatorships includes Russia, with imperialist aims over vast regions, Slavic and otherwise; China, with a desire for world domination; Iran, striving for a global Islamist Caliphate; and North Korea, apparently intent on seizing the Korean peninsula, for a start. The volatile world political order currently reflects a clash between an axis of hegemonic dictatorships flexing their increasing military prowess, and an alliance of Western nations, including Israel, the West's sole democratic partner in the Middle East.
Driven by disparate ideologies, the axis includes Russia, with imperialist aims over vast regions, Slavic and otherwise; China, with a desire for world domination; Iran, striving for a global Islamist Caliphate; and, to a lesser degree, North Korea, apparently intent on seizing the Korean peninsula, for a start.
The reason for the axis's actions appears to be a desire for a new world order with themselves at the helm. They seem to believe that through their combined effort, America's unipolar global leadership in the political, economic and military spheres can be upended.
In digging deeper, however, the driving forces underlying this developing clash of major powers have many facets, one of which appears to be religion, always a convenient pretext as so much can never be proven. If that is so, the ultimate conflict could be between opposing expressions of "truth" for at the heart of all religion, and imitations thereof, is the concept of "truth," which many religions seem to believe belongs exclusively to them.
While major religions claim to be sole custodians of "truth," in autocratic or totalitarian regimes comes the imperative to forcefully assert the regime's idea of religion, of its "truth," often upon an unwilling populace. Associated with such systems is the intention of ultimately establishing global compliance with their beliefs, which sometimes appear to be a "religion" of state supremacy.
In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, after having annexed Crimea in 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin's ruthless aggression in the region seems driven by an imperialist ideology to seize further territory.
The proposed empire would presumably reflect the supremacy of the Russian Orthodox religion, to be imposed throughout the "Russian World." An analysis by Professor Dmitry Adamsky of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, as set out in his 2019 publication, Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy, suggests that view: "Faith, has a high profile in President Putin's private and public conduct and in domestic and foreign policy for it (faith) is a measure of national identity. It has also saturated the Russian nuclear military-industrial complex."
This situation is not surprising as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, was at one time a KGB officer, who declared that the Ukraine invasion was warranted as a "Holy War."
Adamsky describes "the unprecedented role that the Orthodox faith has played in Russian identity, politics, and national security and focuses on the bond that has emerged between the Kremlin, the ROC, and the nuclear weapons community," and labels this interactive relationship as "Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy."
In seeking to re-establish the historic Russian Empire, Putin has displayed an objective founded on the ambitions of Peter the Great (1682-1725), and the succeeding Communist regime of the USSR. Putin refers to this area as his "Russian World" comprising, apart from Russia, Slavic countries such as Belarus, Moldova, the Baltic states, and Ukraine. Due to their proximity, these regions are vulnerable to Russian military subjugation and demographic takeovers.
In October 2021, at the Valdai Forum, Putin gave a speech described by his foreign policy advisor Sergey Karaganov as "the first major call for reinventing Russian ideology for Russia and the world." Karaganov added, "the main process now taking place in the world is the loss by the West of its previous positions."Journalist Anna Mahjar-Barducci summed it up: "Putin's speech can be viewed as an ideological manifesto that tries to put Russia back in the center of the world's political map."
Iran is the primary instigator of continuing attacks upon Israel, both directly and by its proxies, which front for the regime: Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other like-minded jihadists. Notwithstanding Iran's proxies' purporting to redress the supposed injustice of the Palestinian land issue, this is not quite the whole truth. The core issue is not just the acreage, it seems, but the intent to establish an Islamist Caliphate throughout the region and, eventually, globally. Standing in Iran's path is the Jewish state of Israel, whose inhabitants inconveniently refuse to vacate it. To many Islamists, continual jihad appears to go hand-in-hand with the need for acquiring land.
To this effect, the February 2024 issue of the Urdu-language al-Qaeda publication Nawa-i-Ghazwa-e-Hind indicates, "Allah has declared Jihad as the path for the enforcement of religion." In plain words, jihad is required to forcibly establish Islam as the one "true" faith – a global religion.
In September 2024, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs Muslims in the West Bank of Israel, referred to Jerusalem's Temple Mount (the holiest Jewish site) as the "exclusive property of Muslims." The site is actually holy to both Jews and Muslims. Underlying nearly all Islamist conversation seems to be the issue of religion and the belief that Islam is to dominate the world, including Jerusalem and all Israel.
After the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in late September, Islamist teacher Tarek Bazzi rhapsodized in Dearborn, Michigan, "Find me a religion that has produced a human being so complete, so perfect, and so immaculate" as Nasrallah. The West, Bazzi added, dared to have the "audacity to point their criminal fingers and project their terrorism onto the soldiers and saints of the Lord of the Universe."
"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day," the Quran commands Muslims in Surah 9:29. The Islamic State (ISIS) terror group takes this command further by seeking a Caliphate. The February 1, 2024, issue of its official newsletter, Al-Naba, included an editorial boasting that ISIS's establishment of an Islamic caliphate "drew the envy of other Islamist and jihadi factions that had fought against it and allied with Western powers." Although ISIS's proposed caliphate was destroyed by Western forces, "its ideological appeal endures" and most likely acts as a stimulant to other jihadists.
Hamas's primary concern, however, does not appear to be an independent state for Palestinians -- as it identifies with the Muslim Brotherhood -- but a Sharia-based global Islamic Caliphate through jihad. For Hamas, as for the Muslim Brotherhood, a Palestinian state would be merely the first-step in a wider agenda. The Muslim Brotherhood is the catalyst movement behind the modern global jihadist movement, and should rightly be designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Its founder, Hassan al-Banna, said, "it is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet."Hassan Nasrallah espoused the same idea: "We won't stop until every country on Earth is ruled by the law of Allah and the people of Islam, like our prophet promised."
In China, the citizenry is subject to the tyrannical policies and rule of the entrenched Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Fealty to the state is the official state "religion" of Marxist-Leninism and Communism. Certain state-approved religious denominations, however, can officially operate under the strict supervision of the CCP. It is not surprising, therefore, that China persecutes Jews and Christians due to their claims, which run contrary to official dogma.
Should America's fail to counter China's hegemonic aims, the new global landscape would be a repressive, totalitarian, brutal regime (for instance here and here). China's possible advent as world leader would enable it to enforce its Marxist ideology and cause the demise or compromise of essential Western freedoms. Currently, the US and its allied Western powers face an aggressive China apparently intent on asserting its superiority over the existing unipolar order. A new way of life would be tyrannically enforced.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, together with its jihadist proxies and supporting Muslim nations, directly challenges the Judeo-Christian principled West, and Israel, for military control of the greater Middle East and beyond. Iran appears to be determined to impose strict Islamic Sharia law upon all residents, under an Islamist Caliphate. The West, meanwhile, due to a variety of weak and compromised political decisions, has tried to prevent Israel from acting alone in direct conflict with jihadists, whether Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran itself. All the same, the nation of Israel, despite nearly 4,000 years of unremitting challenges to its existence, appears to be enduring just fine. *Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A Lawyer by profession, he is member of the International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. Retired from law, his particular field of interest is political theory intersecting with current events. He holds a Ph.D. in Theology (Apologetics). Dr. Haug is author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the Garden of Eden – the Quest for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent – Life, Truth, and Meaning in a Dark Age.' His work has appeared in First Things Journal, The American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute, National Association of Scholars, Document Danmark, Jewish News Syndicate, and elsewhere.
© 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.

Jordan, Egypt at forefront of resistance to Israel’s annexation plans
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/November 20, 2024
With no signs that Israel’s onslaughts against Gaza and Lebanon will relent any time soon and members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist coalition calling for the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, countries in the Middle East should band together. Two of the most important countries in this fight are Egypt and Jordan. The question is, what are Arabs and the countries in the region going to do?
When Netanyahu and his crowd of zealots mention annexation, they probably have eviction in mind. The eviction of Palestinians is a plan that Israel has regularly touted during its Gaza campaign. However, Egypt was firm and did not allow Palestinians to cross into Sinai. Egypt knows full well that, if the Gazans left for Egypt as refugees, they would never go back. Therefore, Israel’s plan to vacate the Palestinians from Gaza did not work, despite the massive bombardment, the genocide and the decapitation of the Hamas leadership.
When Netanyahu and his crowd of zealots mention annexation, they probably have eviction in mind
Netanyahu is emboldened. He feels he is closer to achieving the dream of kicking the Palestinians out of Palestine and creating a “Greater Israel” from the river to the sea. In order to achieve that, he needs to evict the Palestinians of Gaza into Egypt and the Palestinians of the West Bank into Jordan. Hence, it is key that both these countries hold their ground. This is why the entire Arab and Muslim worlds should support them. They are the first line of defense against the extremist Zionist project that Netanyahu is leading.
There are glimpses of hope that the region will take a unified stand against this hideous expansionist project. Under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh last week hosted an Arab and Muslim summit to discuss Gaza. The Kingdom condemned Israel for conducting a genocide against the Palestinian people. The summit reiterated the Palestinian people’s right to statehood and a dignified life.
This unified front should materialize in supporting both Jordan and Egypt. It is important to make sure they do not succumb to any pressure to open their borders and allow evictions from Gaza or the West Bank.
Recent history shows us that Palestinians who leave are never allowed to go back. Any eviction will mean more generations of refugees. Palestinians and the Arab states have learned the lessons of 1948 and 1967. The coming year should not be one of another mass eviction.
The silver lining is that President-elect Donald Trump is not afraid to take firm positions on issues
The countries that will bear the brunt of the pressure will be Jordan and Egypt. However, Arab and Islamic states should put their foot down. They should explain that another wave of Palestinian refugees will not be tolerated. They will not accept another wave of refugees in return for some perks from the US.
The silver lining is that President-elect Donald Trump is not afraid to take firm positions on issues. If he sees that Netanyahu’s approach will not work and might lead to a regional conflict, he will look for another way. Trump is more likely to pressure and be firm with Netanyahu than Joe Biden or Kamala Harris.
This is the time to give Egypt and Jordan maximum support to hold their ground, so that they can resist any pressure from Israel to accept refugees. Arab and Islamic states should realize that the decisions they make today will affect many generations to come. The region is at a junction. We either allow Israel unbridled expansionism or stand together and establish a framework for a sustainable peace.
*Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is co-founder of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization focused on Track II.

Imbalances, instability threaten EU’s future
Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/November 20, 2024
At a time when unity, solidity and unified purposes should dominate the EU — with Ukraine completing its 1,000th day at war this week and with the impending return of Donald Trump to the White House — the German government’s latest troubles are a bad omen for the future of Europe as a whole.
Olaf Scholz’s coalition collapsed two weeks ago and a snap election is now expected in February 2025, following a confidence vote that his government is likely to lose in December. All this distracts a key EU player, leaving it busy with internal political squabbling at a crunch time and with the dawn of an uncertain transatlantic relationship on the horizon.
Other key EU players, such as France, are in no better shape politically. French President Emmanuel Macron lost his parliamentary majority in the summer, has a barely functioning government and his approval rate has plummeted to 23 percent, according to a recent Ipsos poll. Like Scholz, he is facing a severe challenge from the far right. The 27-country bloc’s shaky political leadership is also suffering its own existential threats, with the rise of the far right and populist leftist parties no doubt shaking the foundations of the EU’s stability and purpose. Weakened national governments undoubtedly hinder the multilateral work within the EU’s machinery and cast doubts that show weakness and risk imperiling the bloc’s future stability and relevance.
The collapse of Scholz’s government, triggered by the chancellor’s firing of Finance Minister Christian Lindner, has thrown Europe’s largest economy into political chaos at a critical time. After dismissing Lindner of the Free Democratic Party, Scholz is now expected to head a minority government featuring his Social Democrats and the Greens. The confidence motion in Scholz’s government is not due until Dec. 16 and he looks likely to limp through until then with his broken coalition. He will have to count on support from the Greens and the goodwill of the center-right conservative Christian Democratic Union party led by Friedrich Merz to cobble together ad hoc support for individual votes as he attempts to turn around Germany’s crisis-stricken economy and face the world’s many international adversities. This situation could further damage Germany’s position and resolve both domestically and internationally.
It is not difficult to see how this German dilemma is being felt across the board. It has resulted in a faltering of the political will of the EU, which is besieged by the enemy within, as far-right and far-left parties continue to erode public trust in the bloc’s institutions, fueled by antidemocratic narratives advanced by populist figures worldwide. The long-held wisdom that the firewall, or cordon sanitaire, built by the mainstream parties across Europe to isolate the far right will hold indefinitely is clearly faltering. The Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden all have governing coalitions made up of conservatives and far-right politicians, while the Alternative for Germany and France’s National Rally are waiting in the wings.
Trump’s return to Washington and the fact Russian forces are being aided by North Koreans ought to concentrate minds across the EU. The adversities facing the bloc could become destructive, raising the specter of protectionism, an erosion of the consensus on Ukraine and divisions on NATO’s future. They could also handicap the EU’s political will to play a positive role in solving the Israel-Palestine problem. Then there is the elephant in the room that all sides are trying to shove under the carpet — and that is the global climate crisis. Above all, efforts should be concentrated on evading any ramifications from a possible global trade war should the US and China lock horns again, with the EU as usual stuck in the middle.
Against such a backdrop, Europe’s resilience is evidently waning. Germany, France and the pre-Brexit UK made up the tripod that underpinned the union for almost 50 years, despite all their squabbles and pursuits of national and international interests, which at times did not align.
Today, the leaders in France and Germany must regain their voices and the EU its purpose. Brussels should abandon its “speak” that rarely makes sense to the wider public outside of the European Commission’s bubble, such as the need for “urgent progress” and for countries and their leaders to take “decisive steps” and “without delay.” It has to actively pursue a new covenant that remaps the purpose of the union, as its post-Second World War raison d’etre has been ringing increasingly hollow for some time now.
The rise of the far right and populist leftist parties is no doubt shaking the foundations of the EU’s stability and purpose. The new generations in EU member states’ populations hardly understand the reasons behind the bloc’s formation, instead bashing its institutions and neglecting the many achievements that made it an island of quasi-freedom, where human dignity and rights are upheld as much as possible and against all odds.
To avoid imperiling itself, maybe nations in the EU should heed the words of former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who said that the bloc’s “reason for being” is under threat. There should be a rush to implement the recommendations of Draghi’s authoritative report, published in September, which called for EU nations to invest jointly in excess of €800 billion ($845 billion) annually on areas such as artificial intelligence, green technology and defense to boost the bloc’s flagging growth, competitiveness and, above all, security.
This would ensure that the EU could withstand the appetite of the less-than-scrupulous forces that want a toothless Brussels to be sandwiched between a resurgent East and an increasingly neoliberal, vicious free-market and corporate-dominated West.
**Mohamed Chebaro is a British Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy. He is also a media consultant and trainer.
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