English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 23/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham
was, I am
John 08/56-59/:”Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw
it and was glad.’Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old,
and have you seen Abraham?’Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before
Abraham was, I am.’So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid
himself and went out of the temple.
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on November
22-23/2024
Elias
Bejjani/Text & Video: Independence Day: A Mere Memory for Occupied Lebanon
Elias Bejjani/Walid Jumblat's hypocrisy in politics, his role as a resistance
merchant, and his partnership with Berri in everything must end with Hezbollah
and Berri.
Elias Bejjani: Text and Video/Naiem Qassem’s Speech: A Bundle of Deceit,
Dhimmitude-Taqiyya, and Political Hypocrisy
Almost Half of Attacks on Heath Care in Lebanon Have Been Deadly, WHO Says
Four Italian Peacekeepers Injured in Lebanon, Rome Points to Hezbollah
Hochstein’s Tour: Key Issues in US Proposed Ceasefire Deal Remain Unresolved
Larijani: "Hezbollah Has Not Yet Used Its Important Weapons"
Israeli strikes batter Lebanon, killing five medics
UN reports heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in south Lebanon
Strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs after Israeli evacuation call
Israel hits Lebanon with widespread bombing and shelling, killing at least 47
Israeli strike destroys building in Beirut's southern suburbs
Heavy clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in south Lebanon
Reports: Israel rejects French role in Lebanon truce as Lebanese, US officials
optimistic
Fresh Israeli airstrikes target Beirut southern suburbs
Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill more than 50 people nationwide
Four Italy peacekeepers hurt in new UN Lebanon 'attack'
Almost half of attacks on heath care in Lebanon have been deadly, WHO says
'Significant progress' in Lebanon-Israel talks but no deal before 'next week'
Israel probes death of 70-year-old 'history researcher' in Lebanon battles
Fairouz, musical icon of war-torn Lebanon, turns 90
The Overlooked Aspect of Lebanon's 1943 Independence/Michel Touma/This is
Beirut/November 22, 2024
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on November
22-23/2024
Monitor
raises toll in Israel strikes on Syria’s Palmyra to 92
Israelis unite
behind their prime minister as Netanyahu faces an international arrest warrant
Israel says to end ‘administrative detention’ for West Bank settlers
Record 281 aid workers killed in 2024, says UN, with 1 month left
Israel armys says ‘eliminated’ five Hamas militants in north Gaza raid
Gaza ministry: hospitals to cut or stop services ‘within 48 hours’ over fuel
shortages
UN could meet with Israel PM despite warrant: UN
Palestinians welcome ICC arrest warrants for Israeli PM and former defense
minister
Iran says it is
activating new centrifuges after being condemned by UN nuclear watchdog
UK would arrest Netanyahu over ICC warrant: Senior politician
Iran Guards chief says Netanyahu ICC warrant ‘political death’ of Israel
Orban Invites Netanyahu to Hungary as ICC Warrant Divides Europeans
NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks after Russia’s Attack with New
Hypersonic Missile
World leaders split as ICC issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on November
22-23/2024
Socio-Feudalism's War on the Individual/Daniel Greenfield/Gatestone
Institute/November 22, 2024
The New Torture Industry of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China and India: Abductions,
Beatings and Death/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/November 22, 2024
Question: “Why should we study the Old Testament?”/GotQuestions.org//November
22, 2024
Russia: The Big Enchilada for Trump/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/November 22/2024
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published
on November
22-23/2024
Elias
Bejjani/Text & Video: Independence Day: A Mere Memory for Occupied Lebanon
Elias Bejjani/November 22, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/137152/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0WxOm8g2Gc&t=4s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYvkf-jZcTo&t=43s
November 22, Lebanon’s Independence Day, was once a
celebration of freedom and sovereignty. However, today, the reality we live
stands in stark contrast to the values of independence. Independence has been
reduced to a mere memory, stripped of its core elements such as free
decision-making, liberty, law, equality, democracy, services, peace, security,
stability, and protected borders—the list goes on, and all are absent.
Today, Lebanon has completely lost its independence and against the will of its
majority, it finds itself under sectarian, jihadist, and terrorist Iranian
occupation. This occupation is enforced through a local armed militia comprised
of Lebanese mercenaries working under the command of Iran’s mullahs, operating
under the blasphemously named "Hezbollah." This armed Iranian proxy, through its
actions of force, terror, assassinations, wars, and displacement, stands against
everything Lebanon represents—justice, rights, love, peace, stability, identity,
and openness to the world.
As a result of this occupation, Lebanon is now witnessing a destructive war
between Iran's Hezbollah and the State of Israel. This is an Iranian-Israeli war
in which Lebanon and its vast majority have no stake. It is not Lebanon's war
while Hezbollah initiated it under direct orders from Iran, serving Tehran's
terrorist, expansionist, and colonial agendas.
There is no independence to celebrate today. Lebanon has effectively become a
Hezbollah state. This failed and rogue state continuously violates the
constitution and paralyzes governance. Hezbollah prevents the election of a
president, shuts down parliament, and dismantles state institutions.
The current parliament, subservient and failing in its constitutional duties,
was formed under an electoral law crafted by Hezbollah to ensure its dominance.
This law predetermined the election results before they even took place.
How can we celebrate Independence Day when state institutions are infiltrated,
the judiciary is controlled, citizens' savings have been stolen from banks,
borders are wide open for smuggling, and chaos reigns? Killings, theft, poverty,
displacement, and humiliation define the daily lives of Lebanese citizens.
The independence we should be celebrating today has become an empty memory. True
independence will not return to Lebanon until it is liberated from Hezbollah's
occupation and Iran's domination. Achieving this liberation requires
implementing all international resolutions pertaining to Lebanon, including the
Armistice Agreement and Resolutions 1559, 1701, and 1680. It also demands
conducting free parliamentary elections under a modern electoral law,
eradicating corruption, and holding the corrupt political class accountable.
Until then, Lebanon remains an occupied state, and Independence Day is but a
painful reminder of a freedom that is no more.
Elias Bejjani/Walid
Jumblat's hypocrisy in politics, his role as a resistance merchant, and his
partnership with Berri in everything must end with Hezbollah and Berri.
Elias Bejjani, November 21, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/137135/
Jumblat's heresy in demanding the inclusion of Hezbollah elements in the
Lebanese army turns the Lebanese army into a new Hezbollah—a legal, jihadist,
terrorist party affiliated with the Iranian mullahs and a tool in their hands.
This is a suicidal project that eliminates Lebanon and turns it into a
militarized Iranian state. Walid Jumblat is a political charlatan and hypocrite.
What some call his wisdom and realism is, in reality, nothing more than
stupidity, Dhimmitude-taqiyya, and a murderous cowardice.
Jumblat's talk about the Palestinians' right to eternal resistance and Lebanon's
refusal to make peace with Israel isolates Lebanon and keeps it a
playground-battlefield for charlatans who trade in the Palestinian cause, just
as its fate since the establishment of the Israeli State, while all Arab
countries have made peace with Israel. Enough of these illusory ideologies.
Iran is the enemy.
Iran is a terrorist and jihadist state that occupies Lebanon through its
jihadist, criminal proxy (Hezbollah), the assassination machine, and the Party
of the Devil, which specializes in smuggling, drugs, prostitution, and money
laundering. It has ruined Lebanon, struck the Shiites, displaced them, killed
their youth, and destroyed their areas. Any Lebanese who is Iranian and acts as
a cover for the Iranians can go to the Iran. Dr. Charles Chartouni is a Lebanese
patriot, brave, and truthful. We need peace with Israel and peace treaties like
all Arab countries. Anyone who doesn't like it can go to Iran, which has sold
out Hezbollah or failed to protect it and has traded in the Shiites and is
fighting through them. Israel is a neighboring country, not an enemy. Lebanon's
enemy is Iran, its party, Hezbollah and anyone who carries a Lebanese identity
but is loyal to someone other than Lebanon. Enough of the charlatanry and
bravado."
Summary of Key Points:
The statement accuses Jumblat of hypocrisy and a "resistance merchant" who has
partnered with Hezbollah and Nabih Berri.
Hezbollah is portrayed in the statement as a terrorist organization affiliated
with Iran, and its integration into the Lebanese army is seen as a threat to
Lebanon's sovereignty.
Iran is blamed according to the statement for Lebanon's problems and is accused
of occupying the country through Hezbollah.
The statement advocates for peace with Israel and criticizes those who support
the ongoing Palestinian war against Israel, that it has isolated Lebanon.
The statement supports Dr. Charles Chartouni as a true Lebanese patriot and
criticizes those who are loyal to Iran.
Elias Bejjani: Text and Video/Naiem Qassem’s Speech: A
Bundle of Deceit, Dhimmitude-Taqiyya, and Political Hypocrisy
November 21, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/137102/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uTOWTIr-AM&t=103s
Anyone who listened to Sheikh Naiem Qassem’s speech yesterday or read its text
would undoubtedly recognize the absolute Iranian identity of Hezbollah. It was
glaringly obvious that the speech was packed with lies, hypocrisy, heresies, and
delusions that tainted every word Qassem uttered in his recorded address.
In his actions and roles, Qassem is no more than a submissive servant to Iran’s
rulers, carrying out their orders without any decision-making power or personal
opinion. He is merely a reader of dictated texts, just like all Hezbollah
members and leaders, who have been completely subservient to the Iranian mullahs
since the organization's establishment in the 1980s as a sectarian, jihadist,
Persian, terrorist, and armed proxy fully controlled by the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Qassem’s speech yesterday was a blatant example of deceit, Dhimmitude-taqiyya,
evasion, and political duplicity. It was summarized in four points, through
which he boasted with deceptive and misleading pseudo-Lebanese rhetoric. He said
verbatim:
1-"We will rebuild together, in cooperation with the state, all honorable
individuals, and the countries and forces that will help, God willing, to
restore Lebanon, making it better and more beautiful."
2-"We will actively contribute to electing a President of the Republic through
the parliamentary process in accordance with the constitution."
3-"Our political actions and state affairs will remain within the framework of
the Taif Accord", in cooperation with political forces."
4-"We will be active in the political arena with our representative and popular
strength and our significant presence, to build and protect the nation
simultaneously."
It is worth recalling that Hezbollah has never adhered to the "Taif Accord",
which explicitly demands the disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese
militias and the transfer of their weapons to the state. It also requires the
extension of state authority over all Lebanese territories.
Hezbollah is the antithesis of the "Taif Accord", the constitution, the Lebanese
people, civil peace, and freedom. Hezbollah, like a snake, may change its skin
but remains venomous, treacherous, and dangerous, never to be trusted.
Hezbollah cannot adopt a Lebanese identity, affiliation, culture, or loyalty.
Doing so would nullify its raison d’être as an armed, sectarian, jihadist,
Persian and terrorist tool solely serving Iran’s expansionist and imperialist
project.
The critical conclusion: Every word spoken by Naiem Qassem, from start to
finish, was nothing but bundles of deceit and political duplicity brimming with
evasion and Dhimmitude-taqiyya. Accordingly, No one should be deceived by it.
There is no doubt that Hezbollah, in its military, political, or social form, is
a Persian cancer and a sectarian, jihadist terrorist tool. Lebanon cannot regain
its health, sovereignty, or independence as long as Hezbollah exists. For
Lebanon to survive, Hezbollah must be completely dismantled, its existence
terminated, and its leaders arrested and tried. Hezbollah is the antithesis of
everything Lebanon and Lebanese stand for.
Almost Half of Attacks on
Heath Care in Lebanon Have Been Deadly, WHO Says
Asharq Al Awsat/November 22/2024
The World Health Organization says nearly half of the attacks on health care in
Lebanon have been deadly since the Middle East conflict erupted in October last
year, the highest such rate anywhere in the world. The UN health agency says 65
out of 137, or 47%, of recorded “attacks on health care” in Lebanon over that
time period have proven fatal to at least one person, and often many more. WHO’s
running global tally counts attacks, whether deliberate or not, that affect
places like hospitals, clinics, medical transport, and warehouses for medical
supplies, as well as medics, doctors, nurses and the patients they treat. Nearly
half of attacks on health care in Lebanon since last October and the majority of
deaths occurred since an intensified Israeli military campaign began against
Hezbollah in the country two months ago. The health agency said 226 health
workers and patients have been killed and 199 injured in Lebanon between Oct. 7,
2023 and this Monday.
Four Italian Peacekeepers
Injured in Lebanon, Rome Points to Hezbollah
This is Beirut/November 22, 2024
Four Italian soldiers were lightly hurt in a rocket "attack" on the UN
peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, Rome said on Friday, with Foreign Minister
Antonio Tajani saying initial evidence pointed to Hezbollah. "It is believed
that there were two missiles. From what it appears, they are believed to have
been launched by Hezbollah," he said in Turin. A foreign ministry spokesman said
the Italians would await an investigation by UNIFIL. A UNIFIL statement issued
on Friday afternoon said that “two 122-mm rockets struck the Sector West
Headquarters in Shamaa, injuring four Italian peacekeepers who are now receiving
treatment at the base hospital. Fortunately, none of the injuries are life-threatening.”It
said the rockets, likely launched by Hezbollah or affiliated groups, impacted a
bunker and a logistics area used by the international military police, causing
significant damage to nearby infrastructure. One of the affected structures
caught fire, but the blaze was swiftly extinguished by base personnel. This is
the third attack on this UNIFIL base in Shamaa in a week. Today’s attack comes
amid heavy shelling and ground skirmishes in the Shamaa and Naqoura areas in
recent days, heightening tensions in the region. “UNIFIL strongly urges
combating parties to avoid fighting next to its positions. Inviolability of UN
premises and personnel must be respected at all times and the deliberate or
accidental targeting of peacekeepers serving in south Lebanon must cease
immediately to ensure their safety and uphold international law,” the statement
said, adding, “Any attack against peacekeepers constitutes a serious violation
of International Law and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.”"These
attacks are unacceptable," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a
statement, calling on "the parties on the ground to guarantee, at all times, the
safety of UNIFIL soldiers and to collaborate to quickly identify those
responsible". She expressed "deep indignation and concern" over "new attacks
suffered by the Italian headquarters of UNIFIL in southern Lebanon". Meloni did
not attribute blame to Hezbollah. For his part, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto
slammed the attack as "intolerable." In a statement, Crosetto said he contacted
his Lebanese counterpart, "reiterating that the Italian contingent of UNIFIL
remains in southern Lebanon to offer a window of opportunity for peace and
cannot become hostage to attacks by militias.""I will try to speak with the new
Israeli Minister of Defense, which has been impossible since he took office, to
ask him to avoid using UNIFIL bases as a shield," he said. "Even more
intolerable is the presence of terrorists in South Lebanon who are endangering
the safety of the blue helmets and the civilian population," he added.
Hochstein’s Tour: Key
Issues in US Proposed Ceasefire Deal Remain Unresolved
This is Beirut/November 22, 2024
US Presidential envoy Amos Hochstein wrapped up his regional tour on Friday,
aimed at promoting an American proposal for a ceasefire in Lebanon, leaving Tel
Aviv without issuing any public statements after his meetings. Israeli officials
also remained tight-lipped, even as the Israeli military escalated its raids and
advanced further into Lebanese territory. In general, an agreement seems
unlikely in the near term, as both Israeli and Lebanese officials have
reportedly raised substantial concerns over elements of the US-proposed roadmap,
a sentiment reflected in various media reports. According to sources cited by
the pan-Arab networks Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath, Israeli officials informed
Hochstein of their opposition to France’s involvement in the agreement or its
participation in the international committee expected to oversee its
implementation.Additionally, the same sources revealed that Israel rejects
linking the resolution of six out of thirteen disputed points along the
Lebanese-Israeli-Syrian border to the proposed ceasefire deal. Meanwhile,
US-based outlet Axios reported on Friday that no ceasefire on the Lebanese front
is expected before next week. Similarly, Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing
Israeli sources, indicated that a potential agreement could take several weeks
to finalize.
“We are facing a real opportunity for a solution,” US envoy Amos Hochstein said
on Wednesday after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, calling
the discussions “constructive.” He pledged to continue efforts to “narrow
differences” and stressed the need to “bridge the gaps.”
While expressing optimism, Hochstein made it clear that the final decision rests
with the parties involved, noting that a solution was “within reach.”During his
two-day visit to Beirut, which began on Tuesday, the US envoy met with several
prominent figures, including Berri, Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Army
Commander-in-Chief General Joseph Aoun, Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou
Habib, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, and former Progressive Socialist
Party leader Walid Joumblatt. According to Lebanese security sources, the US
proposal outlines a 60-day transitional period following a ceasefire. During
this time, the Israeli Army would maintain a presence in southern Lebanon,
allowing the Lebanese Army to dismantle the remaining elements of Hezbollah’s
military infrastructure. If a ceasefire is agreed upon, Lebanon and the Hebrew
State would then need to enter negotiations on fully implementing UN Security
Council Resolution 1701, which grants the Lebanese Army and UN peacekeeping
forces (UNIFIL) exclusive authority over areas south of the Litani River,
roughly 30 kilometers from the current Israeli border. However, the American
proposal has generated significant controversy, with several of its elements
facing strong opposition from both sides. For Israel, a key post-war priority is
to control “sensitive” areas in southern Lebanon, in order to prevent Hezbollah
from rearming or launching further attacks. This demand has been firmly rejected
by Lebanese officials, who view it as a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, reinforced this stance on Wednesday,
stating that the group would “not accept any ceasefire agreement that undermines
Lebanon’s sovereignty.”In addition, a senior Lebanese official revealed on
Thursday that Lebanon had requested amendments to the US proposal, including a
quicker Israeli withdrawal from the South and the recognition of both parties’
right to self-defense. The official stressed that Lebanon is insisting on an
immediate Israeli pullback once a ceasefire is implemented, allowing the
Lebanese Army to deploy across the region. This would facilitate the rapid
return of displaced people to their homes, according to Reuters. Unfortunately,
the outcome of these diplomatic efforts remains uncertain. As Lebanon marks the
81st anniversary of its independence, the country continues to face Israeli
airstrikes and the persistent drone surveillance overhead, particularly over the
capital, casting a shadow over the national day.
Larijani: "Hezbollah Has Not Yet Used Its Important
Weapons"
This is Beirut/November 22, 2024
Ali Larijani, senior advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
declared on Friday, that Hezbollah “has not yet used its important weapons” in
its war against Israel. In parallel, he emphasized that “if they did, the
equation would change radically on the ground and in the region.”In a
conversation with the Iranian news agency Tasnim, affiliated to the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps, Larijani also said that his country is “fully
convinced” of Hezbollah’s victory over Israel, despite the fact that much of
southern Lebanon has been destroyed, as have many neighborhoods in the southern
suburbs, that Hezb has lost its main commanders in the war it has imposed on
Lebanon, and that the number of Lebanese casualties is exceeding 3,000. After
the Israeli attacks with exploding pagers and walkie-talkie devices and the
assassination of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, Ali Larijani, whose
statements primarily served a propaganda agenda completely at odds with reality,
felt that “the resistance has found new energy and reorganized its leadership,
which has led to a change in the situation on the ground.”He went on to say that
the message he had delivered last week on behalf of Ayatollah Khamenei to Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berry “will
certainly have an impact” on the situation in the region, without giving details
on the content of this message, to which the two men had, according to him,
“reacted appropriately because it corresponds to what the region needs at the
moment.”Larijani also claims that Nabih Berri and Bashar al-Assad “view Khamenei
as the leader of the region, involved in the resolution of its problems and
crises.”
Israeli strikes batter Lebanon, killing five medics
Reuters/November 22, 2024
BEIRUT: Israeli strikes battered southern Lebanon and the outskirts of the
capital Beirut on Friday, killing at least five medics, as ground troops clashed
with Hezbollah fighters in the south. Israel has pushed on with its intense
military campaign against the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, tempering hopes
that efforts by a US envoy could lead to an imminent ceasefire. US mediator Amos
Hochstein said earlier this week in Beirut that a truce was “within our grasp.”
He traveled on to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense
Minister Israel Katz before returning to Washington, according to the news
outlet Axios. His trip aimed to end more than a year of hostilities between
Israel and Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern border, which escalated
dramatically when Israel ramped up its strikes in late September and sent ground
troops into Lebanon on Oct. 1. Israeli troops have fought Hezbollah in a strip
of towns all along the border and this week pushed deeper to the edges of Khiyam,
a town some six km (four miles) from the border. Hezbollah said it had fired
rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday. Lebanese
security sources told Reuters that Israeli troops had also advanced in a string
of villages to the west as well. They said Israel was most likely trying to
isolate Khiyam ahead of a major attack on the town. Israeli strikes on two other
villages in southern Lebanon killed a total of five medics from a rescue force
affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese health ministry said. The more than
3,500 people killed by Israeli strikes over the last year include more than 200
medics, the health ministry said. Israel says its aim is to secure the return
home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from Israel’s north due to rocket
attacks by Hezbollah, which began firing across the border in support of Hamas
at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. Israel also mounted more strikes
on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a once densely populated stronghold of Hezbollah.
It issued evacuation orders on the social media platform X for several buildings
in the area on Friday. Reuters footage showed one of the strikes appearing to
pierce the center of a multi-story building, sending the whole structure
toppling in a massive cloud of smoke.
UN reports heavy clashes between Israeli troops and
Hezbollah in south Lebanon
AP/November 22, 2024
BEIRUT: Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Hezbollah fighters on Friday
in different areas in south Lebanon, including a coastal town that is home to
the headquarters of UN peacekeepers. A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force
known as UNIFIL told The Associated Press that they are monitoring “heavy
clashes” in the coastal town of Naqoura and the village of Chamaa to the
northeast. UNIFIL’s headquarters are located in Naqoura in Lebanon’s southern
edge close to the border with Israel. “We are aware of heavy shelling in the
vicinity of our bases,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said. Asked if the
peacekeepers and staff at the headquarters are safe, Tenenti said: “Yes for the
moment.”Several UNIFIL posts have been hit since Israel began its ground
invasion of Lebanon on Oct. 1, leaving a number of peacekeepers wounded.
The fighting came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest
warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense
minister and a Hamas military leader, accusing them of war crimes and crimes
against humanity over their 13-month war in Gaza and the October 2023 attack on
Israel respectively. The warrant marked the first time that a sitting leader of
a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity
by a global court of justice. Israel’s war has caused heavy destruction across
Gaza, decimated parts of the territory and driven almost the entire population
of 2.3 million people from their homes, leaving most dependent on aid to
survive. Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas-led militants stormed into
southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians,
and abducting another 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a
third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel has also launched airstrikes
against Lebanon after the Hezbollah militant group began firing rockets, drones
and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas’ attack last October. A full-blown
war erupted in September after nearly a year of lower-level conflict.
Strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs after Israeli
evacuation call
AFP/November 22, 2024
BEIRUT: Strikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, a bastion of Hezbollah
militants, shortly after an Israeli evacuation warning early on Friday,
according to Lebanese official media and AFPTV footage. The state-run National
News Agency said “enemy warplanes” had carried two raids on south Beirut, and
that “thick smoke was seen rising from the vicinity of the Lebanese University”
in the Hadath neighborhood. Live AFPTV footage showed plumes of smoke over the
area after the Israeli military called for the evacuation of three locations,
warning on social media of imminent attacks. The military later said in a
statement its “fighter jets completed a new round of strikes” on Beirut’s
southern suburbs. The latest raids follow intense Israeli attacks on south
Beirut as well as other areas in Lebanon’s south and east, where Israel says it
has been targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. More than 11 months of
cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the Gaza conflict escalated
into all-out war in September, with Israel conducting an extensive bombing
campaign, primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds, and sending ground troops
into southern Lebanon. The Lebanese health ministry said at least 52 people were
killed on Thursday in Israeli strikes, including some 40 dead in Lebanon’s east.
On Friday, the Israeli army also issued evacuation warnings for parts of the
coastal city of Tyre and the nearby Burj Al-Shemali Palestinian refugee camp.
The pace of the strikes across Lebanon has increased since US envoy Amos
Hochstein ended his visit to Beirut on Wednesday, seeking to broker an end to
the Israel-Hezbollah war. Lebanon’s health ministry said Thursday that at least
3,583 people had been killed in the violence since October 2023. Most of the
deaths have been since September this year.
Israel hits Lebanon with
widespread bombing and shelling, killing at least 47
Doug Cunningham/United Press International/November 22, 2024
Israel Friday continued widespread bombing attacks in southern and eastern
Lebanon in a series of air strikes near Beirut and Tyre, killing at least 47 and
wounding 22 in Baalbek district strikes, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
A series of raids hit Dahiya in the southern district of Beirut, according to
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee. The area is largely
controlled by Hezbollah, according to the IDF. Dahiya once had a big civilian
population but the attacks have displaced many. Palestinian National Authority
news agency Wafa reported, "Israeli occupation forces have continued their air
and artillery strikes across Lebanon, with airstrikes and shelling targeting
various areas of the country, including the capital Beirut, causing widespread
destruction to buildings, infrastructure, and civilian homes."According to Wafa,
heavy bombardment was reported in Shiyah, Tayouneh, Al-Kafa'at, Haret Hreik,
Hadath, and Ghobeiri. Residential neighborhoods and local infrastructure was
severely damaged. Tyre was hit along with the smaller towns and villages that
included Ghazieh, Al-Burj Al-Shamali, Al-Maashouq, Maarakeh, Choukin, Ain Qana,
Mayfoudoun, Nakoura, and others in southern Lebanon. Israeli artillery shelling
also hit thetowns near the Israeli border, including Kfar Kila, Shihine, Jibeen,
Al-Qatarani, Khiyam, Alma al-Shaab, Ain Alma, and Arnoun among others. Turkey's
state-run Anadolu Agency reported six towns were hit in Lebanon's the Baalbek
district about 42 miles northeast of Beirut.
Baalbek-Hermel Gov. Bachir Khodr wrote on X that the district experienced a
"very violent day." "The number of martyrs has so far reached 47, with 22
injured," he wrote. China's state-run Xinhua news agency, citing anonymous
Lebanese military sources, said Israeli warplanes launched 19 airstrikes on 16
villages and towns in southern Lebanon and five raids on four villages and towns
in eastern Lebanon, while Israeli artillery shelled 14 border towns and villages
with about 75 shells. World Health Organization representative in Lebanon
Abdinasir Abubakar told reporters Friday Lebanon's health system has been hit in
126 attacks this year, mostly on ambulances. They have killed 233 health workers
and hurt 183 others. The bombing and artillery attacks came a day after U.S.
envoy Amos Hochstein spoke with Israeli officials in Israel to try to get a
cease-fire agreement. He had been in Beirut earlier in the week for two days of
talks there. According to the New York Times, an Israeli official expressed
"cautious optimism" about reaching a finalized deal, while a Lebanese official
said it's essentially up to Israel whether to strike a cease-fire agreement.
Israeli strike destroys building in Beirut's southern suburbs
Reuters/November 22, 2024
The casualty toll since Oct. 2023 stands at more than 3,583 people killed in
Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry said on Thursday, (November 21) most of
them killed during the Israeli offensive since September. The figures do not
distinguish between combatants and civilians. Hezbollah strikes have killed more
than 100 people in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. They
include more than 70 soldiers killed in strikes in northern Israel and the Golan
Heights and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israel. U.S. mediator
Amos Hochstein was in Israel for talks with Israeli officials on Wednesday
(November 20) to try to secure a ceasefire which he said was "within our grasp"
during a visit to Beirut the day before.
Heavy clashes between
Hezbollah and Israeli forces in south Lebanon
Associated Press/November 22, 2024
Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Hezbollah fighters on Friday in
different areas in south Lebanon, including a coastal town that is home to the
headquarters of U.N. peacekeepers. A spokesman for the
U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL told The Associated Press that they are
monitoring “heavy clashes” in the coastal town of Naqoura and the village of
Shamaa to the northeast. UNIFIL’s headquarters are located in Naqoura in
Lebanon’s southern edge close to the border with Israel. “We are aware of heavy
shelling in the vicinity of our bases,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said.
Asked if the peacekeepers and staff at the headquarters are safe, Tenenti said:
“Yes for the moment.” Several UNIFIL posts have been hit since Israel began its
ground invasion of Lebanon on Oct. 1, leaving a number of peacekeepers wounded.
Reports: Israel rejects French role in Lebanon truce as
Lebanese, US officials optimistic
Naharnet/November 22, 2024
Israel has told U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein that it rejects France's
participation in the monitoring committee that will supervise any ceasefire
agreement with Lebanon, Arab and Israeli media reports said on Friday. U.S.
sources meanwhile told Israel's Channel 12 that Israel and Lebanon are nearing
an agreement that "could be finalized within days.""The contacts might lead to a
ceasefire ageement by the weekend if no obstacles come up," Lebanese official
sources told Sky News Arabia overnight. Al-Jadeed TV meanwhile reported that
"the U.S. received signals from Israel that the meetings were positive, but the
agreement needs further discussions."
Fresh Israeli airstrikes target Beirut southern suburbs
Agence France Presse/November 22, 2024
Strikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut shortly after an Israeli evacuation
warning early on Friday, according to Lebanese official media and AFPTV footage.
The state-run National News Agency said Israeli warplanes had carried two
raids on south Beirut, and that "thick smoke was seen rising from the vicinity
of the Lebanese University" in the Hadath neighborhood. Live AFPTV footage
showed plumes of smoke over the area after the Israeli military called for the
evacuation of three locations, warning on social media of imminent attacks. The
military later said in a statement its "fighter jets completed a new round of
strikes" on Beirut's southern suburbs. The latest raids follow intense Israeli
attacks on south Beirut as well as other areas in Lebanon's south and east,
where Israel says it has been targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. More
than 11 months of cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the Gaza
conflict escalated into all-out war in September, with Israel conducting an
extensive bombing campaign, primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds, and
sending ground troops into southern Lebanon. The Lebanese health ministry said
at least 52 people were killed on Thursday in Israeli strikes, including some 40
dead in Lebanon's east. On Friday, the Israeli army also issued evacuation
warnings for parts of the coastal city of Tyre and the nearby Burj al-Shamali
Palestinian refugee camp. The pace of the strikes across Lebanon has increased
since U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein ended his visit to Beirut on Wednesday, seeking
to broker an end to the Israel-Hezbollah war. Lebanon's health ministry said
Thursday that at least 3,583 people had been killed in the violence since
October 2023. Most of the deaths have been since September this year.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill more than 50 people
nationwide
Associated Press/November 22, 2024
Israeli strikes killed at least 51 people on Thursday in towns and villages
across Lebanon, according to the country's Health Ministry. In eastern Lebanon,
intensified Israeli airstrikes killed 40 people in 10 different towns in Baalbek
province, the ministry said. Rescuers were searching under the rubble of
destroyed buildings, said Gov. Bachir Khodr, calling it “a very violent day” in
his province. In southern Lebanon, five people were killed by an Israeli strike
in Tyre province, and seven others were killed by a strike in Nabatiyeh
province, the Health Ministry said. As of Thursday, the Health Ministry has
recorded at least 3,583 people killed and 15,244 wounded in Lebanon during the
13-month war between Hezbollah and Israel, with the majority of casualties
taking place after Israel’s escalation and ground offensive in late September.
Four Italy peacekeepers hurt in new UN Lebanon 'attack'
Agence France Presse/November 22, 2024
Four Italian soldiers have been lightly hurt in an "attack" by two rockets on
the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Italian authorities said
Friday. "I have learned with deep indignation and
concern of the news of the new attacks suffered by the Italian headquarters of
UNIFIL in southern Lebanon, which have also caused the injury of some of our
soldiers engaged in a peacekeeping mission," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said
in a statement.
Almost half of attacks on heath care in Lebanon have been
deadly, WHO says
Associated Press/November 22, 2024
The World Health Organization says nearly half of the attacks on health care in
Lebanon have been deadly since the Middle East conflict erupted in October last
year, the highest such rate anywhere in the world. The U.N. health agency says
65 out of 137, or 47%, of recorded “attacks on health care” in Lebanon over that
time period have proven fatal to at least one person, and often many more. WHO’s
running global tally counts attacks, whether deliberate or not, that affect
places like hospitals, clinics, medical transport, and warehouses for medical
supplies, as well as medics, doctors, nurses and the patients they treat.
Nearly half of attacks on health care in Lebanon since last October and the
majority of deaths occurred since an intensified Israeli military campaign began
against Hezbollah militants in the country two months ago. The health agency
said 226 health workers and patients have been killed and 199 injured in Lebanon
between Oct. 7, 2023 and this Monday.
'Significant progress' in Lebanon-Israel talks but no deal before 'next week'
Naharnet/November 22, 2024
Significant progress has been made towards a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon
and Israel, but there are still some gaps to be closed, Israeli and U.S.
officials told U.S. news portal Axios on Thursday. The report comes after U.S.
mediator Amos Hochstein held talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer
and Army chief Herzi Halevi. "Hochstein is expected to fly back to Washington
tonight and an agreement is not expected to be announced before next week,"
Israeli officials told Axios. "The (Israeli) political-security cabinet is
expected to receive an update on the status of the talks during its meeting
tonight, but it seems that there will be no vote," Axios reported. A senior U.S.
official meanwhile told Axios that "we are moving in the right direction, but
there is still work to be done." "Negotiations are continuing with both sides,"
the official added. Lebanese official sources were more optimistic, telling Sky
News Arabia that "the contacts might lead to a ceasefire ageement by the weekend
if no obstacles come up."Israeli officials meanwhile told Israeli newspaper
Maariv that "there is a clear desire by the parties to reach a settlement."
"Hochstein conveyed a clear message to the Lebanese: 'It's time to reach a
settlement, don't miss the opportunity,' and it seems that the message was
received," Maariv added. "As part of the settlement, Israel will maintain
freedom of action in Lebanon and there will be a strong and significant
enforcement mechanism. It seems that the Lebanese side has started to digest
it," the newspaper said. It added: "The settlement is indeed close, but it will
not happen tomorrow. Even after the talks that Hochstein had in Lebanon and
Israel, there are still final gaps that must be closed." "The U.S. envoy is
about to return to the United States. All parties in the negotiations will hold
consultations and continue contacts and it is estimated that a settlement can be
reached within a few weeks, perhaps even within two weeks," Maariv added.
Israel probes death of 70-year-old 'history researcher' in
Lebanon battles
Associated Press/November 22, 2024
The Israeli military has launched an investigation into the death of a
70-year-old Israeli man who entered Lebanon with Israeli forces and was killed
in a Hezbollah ambush. Investigators are trying to
determine, among other things, who allowed Zeev Erlich into the combat zone with
the forces and why he was permitted to enter. According to Israeli media
reports, Erlich was not on active duty when he was shot, but was wearing a
military uniform and had a weapon. The army said he was a reservist with the
rank of major and identified him as a “fallen soldier” when it announced his
death. Erlich was a well-known West Bank settler and researcher of Jewish
history. Media reports said Erlich was permitted to enter Lebanon to explore a
local archaeological site. The army said a 20-year-old soldier was killed in the
same incident, while an officer was badly wounded. The army announced Thursday
that the chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, has appointed a team of experts
“to examine and strengthen operational discipline and military culture”
following the incident. It said its commander for northern Israel, Maj. Gen. Ori
Gordin, would launch a separate “command inquiry,” while Israeli military police
conduct a separate probe. Such investigations can lead to criminal charges.
Fairouz, musical icon of war-torn Lebanon, turns 90
Agence France Presse/November 22, 2024
Legendary Arab singer Fairouz, whose ballads have told of love, her native
Lebanon and the Palestinian cause, turned 90 on Thursday as her conflict-weary
country is wracked by the Israel-Hezbollah war. Social media users lit up the
internet with her songs and tributes to the Lebanese star, who has seldom been
seen in public in recent years but remains a rare symbol of national unity in
the crisis-hit country. In one for her most well-known songs, which came out
during Lebanon's civil war, Fairuz crooned: "I love you, oh Lebanon, my country,
I love you."
In a post on Instagram, French President Emmanuel Macron said Fairouz "embodies
the soul of this region with dignity." She "watches over the hearts of many
Palestinians and Lebanese who are deprived of the peace they deserve," Macron
said. Composer and oud player Marcel Khalife, in a tribute on social media
platform X, wrote: "My homeland is Fairouz's voice."Born Nouhad Haddad in 1934
to a working-class Christian family in Beirut's Zokak al-Blat district, Fairouz
-- a stage name that means "turquoise" in Arabic -- studied at the national
music conservatory as a teenager. She shot to fame after her first performance
at the Baalbek International Festival in 1957. On Monday, Zokak al-Blat was the
target of a deadly Israeli strike, while Baalbek's ancient ruins, where the
music festival is still held annually, were granted "provisional enhanced
protection" by UNESCO amid the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Fairouz, her composer husband Assi Rahbani and his brother Mansour
revolutionized traditional Arabic music by merging classical Western, Russian
and Latin elements with eastern rhythms and a modern orchestra. Fairouz worked
closely with her eldest son Ziad, known as the "enfant terrible" of the Lebanese
stage and song, who composed Arabic music for her with a jazz influence.
Fairouz's reign as the queen of Arabic music was partly thanks to her
championing the Palestinian cause, including "Sanarjaou Yawman" or "We Shall
Return One Day", an elegy to Palestinians exiled by the creation of Israel in
1948.
She won national acclaim for remaining in Lebanon throughout the country's
1975-1990 civil war, and for refusing to side with one faction over another. In
2020, France's Macron kicked off a trip to Lebanon by calling on Fairouz,
awarding her France's Legion of Honour.
It was a rare public appearance for the aging star that delighted the country,
which at the time was reeling from a catastrophic explosion at Beirut's port.
The Overlooked Aspect of
Lebanon's 1943 Independence
Michel Touma/This is Beirut/November 22, 2024
For many years, the Lebanese have marked the anniversary of November 22 with a
sense of disillusionment, reflecting on the advanced state of decline of
Lebanon’s independence, proclaimed in 1943. This feeling of bitterness has been
exacerbated by a series of regional interventions, which have fostered a chronic
climate of instability and discord within the country. From Nasser's Egypt in
the late 1950s to the Iranian mullah regime, as well as Yasser Arafat's PLO and
Hafez el-Assad’s regime from the 1960s to the 1990s, the core principles of the
state's sovereignty have been consistently undermined over time. A retrospective
glance at history reveals the underlying causes that have steadily eroded the
national autonomy process.
When, in 1943, the two fathers of independence, Bechara el-Khoury and Riad Solh,
alongside other prominent figures, succeeded in ending the French mandate, they
had to establish the character of the new Lebanon and define its political
system. This task was particularly challenging, as the country was divided by
two conflicting lines: the Christians, generally aligned with the West, and the
Muslims, who were drawn to calls for Arab nationalism and unity. To reconcile
these two divergent sensitivities, Bechara el-Khoury and Riad Solh crafted a
historic approach that would shape the foundation for the new Lebanese entity.
They thus reached an unwritten pact, which later became known as the National
Pact of 1943. This pact entailed a dual commitment: the Christians would turn
away from their Western orientation, while the Muslims would relinquish their
aspirations for Arab unity. The essence of the pact was encapsulated in the
equation "neither East nor West," or more precisely, neither Westernization nor
Arabization. In short, borrowing a term commonly used in contemporary political
discourse, Bechara el-Khoury and Riad Solh had opted for Lebanon’s neutrality as
a strategy to defuse the tensions by the two opposing views: the pro-Western
stance and the pan-Arab aspirations. To translate the Pact’s core principles
into reality, it was crucial to simultaneously establish the framework for the
political system and lay the foundations for the equitable distribution of power
between Christians and Muslims. This gave rise to the Lebanese Formula, which
set the terms for how communities would participate at different levels of
power. This formula would later be known as political confessionalism.
Foreign Interferences and Violations of the Pact
Lebanon’s persistent crises and wars over the past decades stem from the flawed
application of the Lebanese formula and repeated violations of the National
Pact, largely driven by foreign interferences. The earliest indication of the
Pact’s violation dates back to the late 1950s, during the Cold War. At that
time, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, promoting pan-Arabism, aligned to
the Soviet bloc, to support his vision of transnational Arab unity. This
ideology found significant support among many Lebanese, particularly within the
Sunni community, undermining the Pact’s foundational principles.
President Camille Chamoun perceived this wave of Nasserist support as a
potential avenue for Soviet influence in Lebanon. In response, he sought US
military intervention, calling on the Marines and endorsing the Eisenhower
Doctrine, which aimed to curb communist expansion in the region.
The Palestinian, Syrian and Iranian Factors
The Sunni street’s embrace of Nasser’s pan-Arab aspirations, alongside President
Chamoun’s pro-Western stance, marked the first major violation of the Pact,
ultimately culminating in the bloody events of 1958.
Stability was only partially restored when General Fouad Chehab assumed the
presidency and brokered an American-mediated agreement of non-interference with
Nasser, reasserting Lebanon’s neutrality. This led to a temporary restoration of
independence and internal calm. However, this stability was soon disrupted by
regional turmoil surrounding the Palestinian issue and the broader Israeli-Arab
conflict. In the late 1960s, the establishment of Palestinian armed groups in
Arkoub (the Fatahland) in South Lebanon, and the widespread popular support,
particularly among the Islamo-leftist factions, for the free operation of the
fedayeen (Palestinian militants) came at the expense of Lebanon’s sovereignty.
This development marked another stark violation of the National Pact, as
ideological and strategic motives once again took precedence over state
sovereignty.
This trend of disregarding for the Pact persisted through the 1980s and until
2005, with Lebanon subordinating itself to Syrian occupation under the guise of
fostering “privileged relations” with Damascus. The situation further
deteriorated after 2005 with Iran’s growing influence in Lebanon, compounded by
Hezbollah’s submission to the wilayat al-faqih (Supreme Leader of the Islamic
Republic) on key strategic decisions, including matters of war and peace,
delivering a yet more profound blow to the National Pact.
The Absence of Governance
The ongoing disregard and repeated violations of the solemn commitment made by
Presidents Bechara el-Khoury and Riad Solh in 1943 account for the crises and
wars that have destabilized Lebanon in recent decades. However, these breaches
were also enabled by an equally serious issue: the mismanagement, or even the
absence of governance, that has plagued the implementation of the Lebanese
Formula. This neglect of public affairs was evident from the very beginning.
Georges Naccache, founder of L’Orient and a trailblazer in Francophone
journalism, underscored this in a 1949 editorial: “What is called the state is
nothing but a filthy fairground open to the most audacious adventurers, who have
looted the nation’s wealth.” Over seventy years later, his assessment remains
strikingly relevant.
Beyond governance failures, Naccache highlighted an even deeper problem in his
celebrated editorial, “Two Negations Do Not Make a Nation.” Published on March
10, 1949, this incisive critique of the National Pact earned him three months of
imprisonment and a six-month suspension of L’Orient. Naccache offered a piercing
observation of the Pact’s essence (neither East nor West; “neither the West nor
Arabization”): “What half of the Lebanese do not want is very clear; what the
other half does not want is equally clear; but what both halves want in common
is what we cannot see.”
That was 1949. In 2024, Lebanon still stands at the same crossroads. It is
undeniably time for Lebanon’s diverse communities to unite in crafting a shared
vision for the nation’s destiny and political identity. Embracing the neutrality
enshrined in the National Pact is an essential step toward reclaiming and
effectively managing an independence that is far too long overdue.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on November
22-23/2024
Monitor
raises toll in Israel strikes on Syria’s Palmyra to 92
AFP/November 22, 2024
BEIRUT: A Syria war monitor said on Friday that Israeli strikes on the city of
Palmyra this week killed 92 pro-Iran fighters, after a United Nations
representative said they were likely the deadliest to date. The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday’s attack targeted three sites in
Palmyra, with one hitting a meeting of pro-Iranian groups that also involved
commanders from Iraq’s Al-Nujaba group and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The toll has
risen to “92 dead: 61 Syrian pro-Iran fighters,” 11 of them working for
Hezbollah, “and 27 foreign nationals mostly from Al-Nujaba, plus four from
Hezbollah,” the Observatory said. The Britain-based war monitor, which relies on
a network of sources inside Syria, had previously reported 82 dead, while the
Syria defense ministry on Wednesday said 36 people were killed. The UN deputy
special envoy to Syria, Najat Rochdi, told the Security Council on Thursday that
the raid was “likely the deadliest Israeli strike in Syria to date.”The
Observatory said the strikes also targeted “a weapons depot near the industrial
area” in Palmyra, a modern city adjacent to globally renowned Greco-Roman ruins.
Since civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of
strikes in the country, mainly targeting the army and Iran-backed groups. Israel
rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria but has repeatedly said it will
not allow Iran to expand its presence in the country. The Israeli military has
intensified its strikes on targets in Syria since almost a year of hostilities
with Iran-backed Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon escalated into full-scale war
in late September.
Israelis unite behind their
prime minister as Netanyahu faces an international arrest warrant
Ivana Kottasová, CNN/November 22, 2024
ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu ‘a gut punch’ for Israel, says journalistScroll
back up to restore default view. A decision by the International Criminal Court
to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials was met with anger and annoyance
at Jerusalem’s bustling Mahane Yehuda Market. But the most palpable sentiment
was one of unity. “I think it’s terrible. What about Putin? What about the real
evil people?” Sarita Katzin Sarfati said about the court’s decision to call for
the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes committed in Gaza after the October 7
attack on Israel last year. “Netanyahu is thinking about his people… and I think
that all the world should support us and Bibi is our prime minister, and they
should support Bibi as well,” Sarita told CNN, using the Israeli nickname for
Netanyahu. As shoppers rushed through the narrow alleyways of the market,
Netanel Yehuda told CNN he too was outraged. “I’m against it. We’re a nation, we
are independent, and we can take our own decision here. Nobody else can tell us
to put someone in jail or anything else,” he said.
That sentiment is shared by many in Israel, according to experts.
Gil Siegal, a legal scholar at the Ono Academic College in Israel, said The
Hague-based court’s decision has united Israelis, many of whom believe the ICC
and other international organizations, including the United Nations, are biased
against their country.“Israelis come together when under pressure,” he told CNN.
“We can disagree because we think Netanyahu should do A over B, fine, but when
the outer world is coming to get us, so to speak… this external pressure is a
uniting force, not a breaking force,” he said. Many Israelis still support the
war in Gaza, he said, seeing it as a just fight and the only means to keep their
country safe. And while many oppose Netanyahu and his government – mass protests
calling for his resignation are now happening weekly – most feel he has been
targeted unfairly by the ICC and see the move as an attack on Israel rather than
just the prime minister. The limited opposition to the war is motivated by the
rising death toll of Israeli soldiers in Gaza and the hope that a ceasefire
would secure the release of the 101 hostages still held there, with the
suffering of Palestinians largely absent from the anti-war discourse. This is
partly because the shock of the brutal October 7 terror attack, during which
Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,200 people, is still raw in the country.
Many Israelis know someone who was directly impacted by the attack and most have
family members or friends who are currently fighting in Gaza or are serving in
the military in another capacity.
Portraits of the hostages are on display across Israel, along the sea promenade
in Tel Aviv and in the arrivals hall at the country’s airport. Some Israelis are
also outraged that the ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant alongside
one for Mohammed Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, the Hamas leader who
Israel claims was one of the masterminds of the October 7 attack.
The ICC “is saying that Gallant and Netanyahu are equal to Mohammed Deif… this
is something that Israelis truly cannot comprehend, truly, truly cannot
comprehend,” Siegal said.
Yael Vias Gvirsman represents the families of hundreds of Israeli victims of the
October 7 attacks at the ICC and was in The Hague on Thursday when the warrants
were issued. She said the warrant against Deif was an important recognition
“that Hamas attacks consisted of extermination, torture, rape and other sexual
crimes and inhumane treatment” and that it was good news for families she
represents. “It’s the first step for recognition and the first step for them
rebuilding their lives,” she said. But she added that the simultaneous warrants
against Netanyahu and Gallant were understandably met with “great shock” in
Israel, “because it is a nation at its most difficult hour.”The court said it
found “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu bears criminal
responsibility for war crimes including “starvation as a method of warfare” and
“the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7 last year,
according to the health ministry in Gaza. Netanyahu denounced the ICC move on
Thursday, calling it an “antisemitic decision” and “a modern Dreyfus trial,”
referring to the 1894 wrongful conviction of Jewish-French soldier Alfred
Dreyfus, an affair that has since come to symbolize antisemitic persecution. The
prime minister said the ICC judges were “motivated by antisemitic sentiments
against the one and only Jewish state.” Meanwhile, opposition leader Yair Lapid
called the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant a “reward for terrorism.”
Implications for soldiers fighting in Gaza
While the ICC arrest warrants target only Netanyahu and Gallant, some are
worried about the implications for the Israel Defense Forces and its soldiers.
Conscription is mandatory for most Jewish Israelis and some 300,000 reservists
have been called up because of the war, on top of the estimated 170,000
active-duty soldiers. The right-wing Israeli legal organization Shurat HaDin has
warned about the arrest warrants “creating a dangerous precedent for the ICC to
target other democratic armies and leaders.” The group has long warned about the
ICC possibly opening a criminal investigation against Israeli soldiers. Legal
action at the ICC against Israeli soldiers, it said on its website, would “carry
devastating effects” on Israel, and cause immediate personal risk to individuals
“whose only blame is for serving their country and fighting terror.”
Refusals by potential recruits and reservists to serve are rare in Israel, but
there are signs that they have been increasing amid the global outrage over the
toll of the war in Gaza. Taking an unusually public stance, a group of more than
130 Israeli reservists signed an open letter to Netanyahu and Gallant last
month, stating that they refuse to serve unless a deal is signed to end the war
and bring back the hostages, saying that for some of them “the red line has
already been crossed.”Soul Behar Tsalik, an Israeli who intends to refuse his
mandatory enlistment in the IDF next week, said the ICC warrant strengthens his
commitment to refuse. “Israel’s war machine does not only destroy Gaza but also
hurts Israelis – in body and in spirit,” he told CNN. “I hope the ICC’s ruling
will help make a change, will make my fellow Israelis realize the truth and
severity of the claims against our leaders, and push Israel to leave Gaza, free
the hostages and end the occupation as soon as possible.” Breaking the Silence,
an organization of Israeli veterans who oppose the war in Gaza and the
occupation of the West Bank, was a rare voice of support for the ICC’s decision.
It said in a statement that the “flood of condemnations, an array of
whataboutisms and countless allegations of antisemitism” was indicative of the
Israeli “society’s insistence, even now, to not see what we are doing in Gaza.”
Israel says to end ‘administrative detention’ for West Bank
settlers
AFP/November 22, 2024
JERUSALEM: Israeli authorities will stop holding Jewish settlers in the occupied
West Bank under administrative detention, or incarceration without trial, the
defense ministry announced Friday. The practice allows for detainees to be held
for long periods without being charged or appear in court, and is often used
against Palestinians who Israel deems security threats.Defense Minister Israel
Katz said it was “inappropriate” for Israel to employ administrative detention
against settlers who “face severe Palestinian terror threats and unjustified
international sanctions.”But, according to settlement watchdog Peace Now, it is
one of only few effective tools that Israeli authorities to prevent settler
attacks against Palestinians, which have surged in the West Bank over the past
year. Katz said in a statement issued by his office that prosecution or “other
preventive measures” would be used to deal with criminal acts in the West Bank.
B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, said authorities use administrative detention
“extensively and routinely” to hold thousands of Palestinians for lengthy
periods of time. The Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said in August
that 3,432 Palestinians were held in administrative detention. Israeli daily
Haaretz reported on Friday that eight settlers were held under the same practice
in November. Yonatan Mizrahi, director of settlement watch for Peace Now, said
that although administrative detention was mostly used in the West Bank to
detain Palestinians, it was one of the few effective tools for temporarily
removing the threat of settler violence through detention. “The cancelation of
administrative detention orders for settlers alone is a cynical... move that
whitewashes and normalizes escalating Jewish terrorism under the cover of war,”
the group said in a statement, referring to a spike in settler attacks
throughout the Israel-Hamas conflict over the past 13 months. Western
governments, including Israel’s ally and military backer the United States, have
recently imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers and settler organizations over
ties to violence against Palestinians. On Monday, US authorities announced
sanctions against Amana, a movement that backs settlement development, and
others who have “ties to violent actors in the West Bank.” “Amana is a key part
of the Israeli extremist settlement movement and maintains ties to various
persons previously sanctioned by the US government and its partners for
perpetrating violence in the West Bank,” the US Treasury said. Excluding
Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank — which Israel has occupied since
1967 — is home to three million Palestinians as well as about 490,000 Israelis
living in settlements that are illegal under international law.
Record 281 aid workers killed in 2024, says UN, with 1
month left
AFP/November 22, 2024
Geneva: A staggering 281 aid workers have been killed around the world so far
this year, making 2024 the deadliest year for humanitarians, the UN aid chief
said Friday.“Humanitarian workers are being killed at an unprecedented rate,
their courage and humanity being met with bullets and bombs,” said Tom Fletcher,
the United Nations’ new under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and
emergency relief coordinator. With more than a month left to go of 2024, the
“grim milestone was reached,” he said, after 280 humanitarians were killed
across 33 countries during all of 2023.
“This violence is unconscionable and devastating to aid operations,” Fletcher
said. Israel’s devastating war in Gaza was driving up the numbers, his office
said, with 333 aid workers killed there — most from the UN agency supporting
Palestinian refugees, UNRWA — since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, which sparked
the war. “States and parties to conflict must protect humanitarians, uphold
international law, prosecute those responsible, and call time on this era of
impunity,” Fletcher said. Aid workers were subject to kidnappings, injuries,
harassment and arbitrary detention in a range of countries, his office said,
including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Ukraine.
The majority of deaths involve local staff working with non-governmental
organizations, UN agencies and the Red Cross Red Crescent movement, Fletcher’s
office said. “Violence against humanitarian personnel is part of a broader trend
of harm to civilians in conflict zones,” it warned. “Last year, more than 33,000
civilian deaths were recorded in 14 armed conflicts — a staggering 72 percent
increase from 2022.”The UN Security Council adopted a resolution last May in
response to the surging violence and threats against aid workers. The text
called for recommendations from the UN chief — set to be presented at a council
meeting next week — on measures to prevent and respond to such incidents and to
increase protection for humanitarian staff and accountability for abuses.
Israel armys says ‘eliminated’ five Hamas militants in north Gaza raid
AFP/November 22, 2024
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said on Friday it had “eliminated” five Hamas
militants, including two commanders, in an overnight raid in northern Gaza’s
Beit Lahia.
In a statement, the military and the Shin Bet security agency said they had
“eliminated five Hamas terrorists, including a Nukhba (commando) company
commander and an additional company commander who participated in the October 7
massacre” that sparked the Gaza war last year, adding that the slain militants
had “led the murders and kidnappings in the area of Mefalsim,” a kibbutz in
southern Israel.
Gaza ministry: hospitals to cut or stop services ‘within 48
hours’ over fuel shortages
AFP/November 22, 2024
GAZA: The Hamas government’s health ministry warned Friday all hospitals in Gaza
would have to stop or reduce services “within 48 hours” for lack of fuel,
blaming Israel for blocking its entry. “We raise an urgent warning as all
hospitals in Gaza Strip will stop working or reduce their services within 48
hours due to the occupation’s (Israel’s) obstruction of fuel entry,” Marwan
Al-Hams, director of Gaza’s field hospitals, said during a press conference.
UN could meet with Israel PM despite warrant: UN
AFP/November 21, 2024
UNITED NATIONS: The arrest warrant issued against Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza does not bar UN officials from meeting
with him in the course of their work, the UN said Thursday. UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres and Netanyahu have not spoken since the war started as a result
of the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, although there have been
contacts with the Israeli leader by UN officials in the region. Guterres has
been declared persona non grata by Israel, which accuses him of being biased in
favor of the Palestinians. So talks between him and Netanyahu are very unlikely.
After the warrants issued Thursday by the International Criminal Court against
Netanyahu, former defense minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas’s military chief
Mohammed Deif, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UN policy on contacts with
people facing arrest warrants dates back to a document issued in 2013. “The rule
is that there should not be any contacts between UN officials and individuals
subject to arrest warrants,” Dujarric said. But limited contacts are allowed “to
address fundamental issues, operational issues, and our ability to carry out our
mandates,” he added. In late October, at a summit of the BRICS countries in
Russia, Guterres met with President Vladimir Putin, who faces an arrest warrant
from the ICP over the war in Ukraine. That meeting, during which Guterres
reiterated his condemnation of the Russian invasion, angered Ukraine.
Palestinians welcome ICC arrest warrants for Israeli PM and
former defense minister
Arab News/November 22, 2024
LONDON: Palestinians welcomed the decision by the International Criminal Court
on Thursday to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and his former minister of defense, Yoav Gallant. The Palestinian
Authority said the court’s decision comes as Israeli forces continue to bomb
Gaza in a conflict that has killed nearly 45,000 Palestinians since the Oct. 7
attacks by Hamas, and it hopes the ruling will help to restore faith in
international law, the official Palestinian WAFA news agency reported. Netanyahu
and Gallant are the first leading officials from a nation allied with the West
against whom the ICC has issued arrest warrants since the court was established
in July 2002. It also issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Deif, the head of
the military wing of Hamas. Israeli authorities said in August he was killed by
their forces in an attack the previous month, though Hamas have not confirmed
this. All three men are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity over
their actions during the war in Gaza or the Oct. 7 attacks. The PA said the
decision to issue warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant was important because
Palestinians “are being subjected to genocide and war crimes, represented by
starvation as a method of warfare,” as well as mass displacement and collective
punishment. The PA, which signed up to the ICC in 2015, called on all UN member
states to ensure the warrants are acted upon and to “cut off contact and
meetings with the international wanted men, Netanyahu and Gallant.” Israel is
not a member of the ICC. The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrel, posted a message
on social media platform X on Thursday in which he described the court’s
decisions as “binding” on all those who have signed up to it. “These decisions
are binding on all states party to the Rome Statute (the treaty that established
the ICC), which includes all EU member states,” he wrote. Netanyahu, Israel’s
longest-serving prime minister who has spent 17 years in office during three
spells in charge since 1996, denounced the decision by the ICC to issue the
warrant as “antisemitic.”He said it would “have serious consequences for the
court and those who will cooperate with it in this matter.”
UK would arrest Netanyahu over ICC warrant: Senior politician
Arab News/November 22, 2024
LONDON: The UK will arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he
enters the country, a senior British politician has said. The International
Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on Thursday for alleged
war crimes and crimes against humanity, alongside his former Defense Minister
Yoav Gallant, pertaining to the Gaza war. Emily Thornberry — Labour chair of the
foreign affairs committee, and former shadow foreign secretary and shadow
attorney general — told Sky News: “If Netanyahu comes to Britain, our obligation
under the Rome Convention would be to arrest him under the warrant from the ICC.
“(It is) not really a question of should — we are required to, because we are
members of the ICC.”UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has refused to be drawn on
whether Netanyahu would be arrested if he set foot on British soil, saying it
“wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment.”She told Sky: “We’ve always
respected the importance of international law, but in the majority of the cases
that they pursue, they don’t become part of the British legal process. “What I
can say is that obviously, the UK government’s position remains that we believe
the focus should be on getting a ceasefire in Gaza.”Netanyahu’s arrest warrant
is the first to be issued against the premier of a major Western ally by an
international court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. His
office denounced the warrant as “anti-Semitic,” adding that Israel “rejects with
disgust the absurd and false actions.” Israel is not an ICC member and rejects
the court’s jurisdiction. US President Joe Biden called the warrants against
Netanyahu and Gallant “outrageous,” adding: “Whatever the ICC might imply, there
is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.” Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orban said he plans to invite Netanyahu to visit Budapest, adding that
the arrest warrant will “not be observed” by his government. The Italian and
French governments, however, have indicated that Netanyahu will be arrested if
he visits either country. The ICC said on Thursday it has “reasonable grounds to
believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for “the war
crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of
murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”The court also issued a warrant
for Hamas commander Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged war crimes and
crimes against humanity. Israel says Al-Masri, believed to have been the
mastermind behind the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, was killed in Gaza earlier
this year. The ICC said it issued the warrant for his arrest because of
insufficient evidence to prove his death.
Iran says it is activating
new centrifuges after being condemned by UN nuclear watchdog
Mohammed Tawfeeq, Eyad Kourdi and Jessie Yeung, CNN/November 22, 2024
Iran announced Friday it was activating new advanced centrifuges – which enrich
uranium for the country’s nuclear program – after the United Nations’ nuclear
watchdog criticized the country for not cooperating with the agency. Iran will
activate “a noticeable number of new and advanced centrifuges of different
types,” state news agency IRNA reported, citing a joint statement from Iran’s
foreign ministry and its Atomic Energy Organization. “The steps are being taken
to protect the country’s interests and further develop the peaceful nuclear
energy,” in line with national needs and within Iran’s rights, the statement
said according to IRNA. Injecting gas into centrifuges is part of the process to
enrich uranium, which could ultimately be used to develop a nuclear weapon,
though Iran has repeatedly denied it has any ambitions of building a bomb. The
move was in response to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
whose board passed a resolution Thursday ordering Iran to urgently improve its
cooperation with the agency. In a statement, the IAEA said it reiterated calls
“upon Iran to fully cooperate with the Agency and decided that it is essential
and urgent in order to ensure verification of the non-diversion of nuclear
material that Iran act to fulfil its legal obligations.” The resolution also
requires the IAEA “to produce a comprehensive and updated assessment on the
possible presence or use of undeclared nuclear material in connection with past
and present outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear programme,” the
statement said. The IAEA and Iran have long tussled over various issues,
including traces of uranium found at locations that have not been declared
nuclear sites. On Thursday, the IAEA board also asked the agency to compile an
assessment of whether Iran had possible undeclared nuclear material, and of its
cooperation with the organization. Iran decried the resolution, claiming in the
joint statement that it was politically motivated, IRNA reported. The statement
added that Iran would continue its technical and safeguards cooperation with the
IAEA as previously agreed. In a statement Thursday, Iran’s foreign ministry
claimed the resolution was made “under pressure and insistence from three
European countries and the US,” and warned it could trigger “an appropriate
response from Iran.”Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes
only. But IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi has previously warned that Tehran has
enough uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels to make “several” nuclear
bombs if it chose to do so. He has acknowledged the UN agency cannot guarantee
that none of Iran’s centrifuges may have been peeled away for clandestine
enrichment. Israel Defense Minister Gideon Sa’ar also praised the IAEA’s
resolution, writing on X that “Iran’s nuclear race must be stopped.” The
resolution “is a significant part of the diplomatic effort to prevent Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons,” Sa’ar wrote. Under the terms of the nuclear deal
struck in 2015, Iran was limited to operating around 5,000 older-model
centrifuges, and the nation was allowed to use advance centrifuges for research
purposes only. But Tehran gradually scaled back its commitments to the nuclear
deal after then-President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact in 2018 and
reimposed economic sanctions on Iran, which crippled its economy. By 2019, Iran
was launching new centrifuges in a major break from the deal. Earlier this year,
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Iran’s breakout time – the amount
of time needed to produce enough weapons grade material for a nuclear weapon –
“is now probably one or two weeks,” the shortest breakout time that US officials
have ever referenced.
Iran Guards chief says Netanyahu ICC warrant ‘political death’ of Israel
AFP/November 22, 2024
TEHRAN: The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Friday described the arrest
warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and a former defense minister as the “end and political
death” of Israel, in a speech. “This means the end and political death of the
Zionist regime, a regime that today lives in absolute political isolation in the
world and its officials can no longer travel to other countries,” Revolutionary
Guards chief General Hossein Salami said in the speech aired on state TV. In the
first official reaction by Iran, Salami called the ICC warrant “a welcome move”
and a “great victory for the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements,”
both supported by the Islamic republic. Israel and its allies criticized the
ICC’s decision to issue an arrest warrant on Thursday for Israeli Premier
Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s former defense minister Yoav Gallant. The
court also issued a warrant for the arrest of Hamas’s military chief Mohammed
Deif. The warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant were issued in response to
accusations of crimes against humanity and war crimes during Israel’s war
against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the Palestinian militant group’s
attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The move drew angry reactions from
Netanyahu, who denounced it as antisemitic and from Israel’s closest allies,
including the United States, but was welcomed by rights groups including Amnesty
International. The ICC’s move theoretically limits the movement of Netanyahu, as
any of the court’s 124 national members would be obliged to arrest him on their
territory. The court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan urged the body’s members to
act on the warrants, and for non-members to work together in “upholding
international law.”
Orban Invites Netanyahu to
Hungary as ICC Warrant Divides Europeans
Asharq Al Awsat/November 22/2024
Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to
visit Hungary but several other European nations said the Israeli premier would
be detained if he set foot on their soil, following the issuing of an arrest
warrant for him. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on
Thursday for Netanyahu, his former defense chief Yoav Gallant, and for a Hamas
leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in
the Gaza conflict. All EU countries are members of the court, which means they
are supposed to enforce its warrants. But the diverging reactions - and the fact
that EU heavyweights Germany and France have not said if they would arrest
Netanyahu - highlight the major diplomatic and political challenge posed by the
ICC decision, which drew swift condemnation from Israeli leaders and the White
House. "For us Europeans, this warrant exposes a real dilemma between
international law, which is our law, and our foreign policy, especially for
those member states that are unconditionally backing Israel," Eurointelligence
analysts wrote in a note. Assuring Netanyahu that he would face no risks if he
visited Hungary, Orban branded the arrest warrants a "brazen, cynical and
completely unacceptable decision". Orban, who is often at odds with his EU
peers, has forged warm ties with Netanyahu. "Today I will invite Israel's prime
minister, Mr. Netanyahu, for a visit to Hungary and in that invite, I will
guarantee him that if he comes, the ICC ruling will have no effect in Hungary,
and we will not follow its contents," Orban said. The ICC, which does not have
its own police force to carry out arrests, has only limited diplomatic means to
force countries to act if they do not want to.
The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Finland, Portugal, Slovenia and Ireland, are
among EU states that have said they would meet their ICC commitments. Netanyahu
will be arrested if he set foot in Ireland, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris
told RTE radio. "Yes absolutely. We support international courts and we apply
their warrants," Harris said. Cyprus, which has close ties to Israel, regards
the warrants as binding in principle, a government source told Reuters.
GERMANY TORN
But Berlin declined to spell out what it would do until and unless Netanyahu
planned to travel to Germany, adding that legal questions had to be clarified
regarding the warrant. Germany "is one of the biggest supporters of the ICC -
this attitude is also the result of German history," a government spokesperson
said. "At the same time, it is a consequence of German history that we share
unique relations and a great responsibility with Israel," the spokesperson
added, alluding to the Nazi era. France was also non-committal, toning down its
initial reaction, which had been to say that its response would align with ICC
statutes. Paris said on Friday it took note of the ICC decision but that it was
not a ruling but a "formalization of an accusation". France has been working on
Lebanon ceasefire efforts and officials said cornering Netanyahu now could
scupper those efforts. Non-EU Britain - also an ICC member - was similarly
circumspect in its response. In the Netherlands, far-right leader Geert Wilders
said he would meet his "friend" Netanyahu in Israel soon, even though the Dutch
government has said it will act on the ICC's arrest warrant if the Israeli
leader were to visit the country. Wilders is the leader of the largest Dutch
government party, but is not himself a cabinet member. The Czech Republic, which
like neighboring Hungary has traditionally sided with Israel, appeared similarly
conflicted.The Czech foreign ministry said Prague would respect its
international legal obligations, while Prime Minister Petr Fiala described the
ICC decision as "unfortunate" and said it would undermine the court's authority.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed across the
border fence, killed 1,200 people and seized more than 250 hostages on Oct. 7,
2023, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 44,000 Palestinians
have been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry there.
NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks after Russia’s
Attack with New Hypersonic Missile
Asharq Al Awsat/November 22/2024
NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a
central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated
the nearly 33-month-old war.
The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk
said Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.” Ukraine’s parliament
canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday's Russian strike
on a military facility in the city of Dnipro. In a stark warning to the West,
President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech to his nation
that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was retaliation for
Kyiv’s use of US and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper
into Russian territory. Putin said Western air defense systems would be
powerless to stop the new missile. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up
Russia's bellicose tone on Friday, blaming “the reckless decisions and actions
of Western countries” in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia. "The
Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of
further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into
account have also been quite clearly outlined," he said. Hungarian Prime
Minister Viktor Orban, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the
Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow's talking points, suggesting the
use of US-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American
involvement. “These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via
an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and
satellite communications capability,” Orban said on state radio. “There is a
strong assumption ... that these missiles cannot be guided without the
assistance of American personnel.”Orban cautioned against underestimating
Russia’s responses, emphasizing that the country’s recent modifications to its
nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a “bluff.” “It’s not a
trick... there will be consequences,” he said. Separately in Kyiv, Czech Foreign
Minister Jan Lipavský called Thursday's missile strike an “escalatory step and
an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to
scare the population of Europe.”
At a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Lipavský
also expressed his full support for delivering the necessary additional air
defense systems to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks.”He
underlined that the Czech Republic will impose no limits on the use of its
weapons and equipment given to Ukraine. Three lawmakers from Ukraine's
parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, confirmed that Friday's previously scheduled
session was called off due to the ongoing threat of Russian missiles targeting
government buildings in central Kyiv.
In addition, there also was a recommendation to limit the work of all commercial
offices and nongovernmental organizations "in that perimeter, and local
residents were warned of the increased threat,” said lawmaker Mykyta Poturaiev,
who added this is not the first time such a threat has been received. President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office continued to work in compliance with standard
security measures, a spokesperson said. Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate
said the Oreshnik missile, whose name in Russian means “hazelnut tree,” was
fired from the Kapustin Yar 4th Missile Test Range in Russia’s Astrakhan region,
and flew 15 minutes before striking Dnipro. The missile had six nonnuclear
warheads each carrying six submunitions and reached a spoeed of Mach 11, it
said. Test launches of a similar missile were conducted in October 2023 and June
2024, the directorate said. The Pentagon confirmed the missile was a new,
experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh
intercontinental ballistic missile. Thursday's attack struck the Pivdenmash
plant that built ICBMs when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. The military
facility is located about 4 miles (6 1/2 kilometers) southwest of the center of
Dnipro, a city of about 1 million that is Ukraine’s fourth-largest and a key hub
for military supplies and humanitarian aid, and is home to one of the country’s
largest hospitals for treating wounded soldiers from the front before their
transfer to Kyiv or abroad.
The stricken area was cordoned off and out of public view. With no fatalities
reported from the attack, Dnipro residents resorted to dark humor on social
media, mostly focused on the missile’s name, Oreshnik. Elsewhere in Ukraine,
Russia struck a residential district of Sumy overnight with Iranian-designed
Shahed drones, killing two people and injuring 13, the regional administration
said..Ukraine’s Suspilne media, quoting Sumy regional head Volodymyr Artiukh,
said the drones were stuffed with shrapnel elements. “These weapons are used to
destroy people, not to destroy objects,” said Artiukh, according to Suspilne.
World leaders split as ICC issues arrest warrant for
Netanyahu
AFP/November 22, 2024
PARIS: Israel and its allies denounced the International Criminal Court’s
decision to issue an arrest warrant Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, even as Turkiye — and rights groups — welcomed the move. The court
also issued warrants for Israel’s former defense minister as well as Hamas’s
military chief Mohammed Deif. They were issued in response to accusations of
crimes against humanity and war crimes in Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, set off
by the militant Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack. “The anti-Semitic
decision of the International Criminal Court is comparable to the modern-day
Dreyfus trial — and it will end in the same way,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
He was referring to the 19th-century Alfred Dreyfus affair in which a Jewish
army captain was wrongly convicted of treason in France before being exonerated.
“The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous,” US
President Joe Biden said in a statement. “Let me be clear once again: whatever
the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.
We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.” Argentina
“declares its deep disagreement” with the decision, which “ignores Israel’s
legitimate right to self-defense against the constant attacks by terrorist
organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah,” President Javier Milei posted on social
media platform X. “(It’s) an important step toward justice and can lead to
redress for the victims in general, but it remains limited and symbolic if it is
not supported by all means by all countries around the world,” Hamas political
bureau member Bassem Naim said of the warrants against Israeli politicians. “It
is not a political decision,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell,
speaking during a visit to Jordan. “It is a decision of a court, of a court of
justice, of an international court of justice. And the decision of the court has
to be respected and implemented.”“This arrest warrant against Mr.Deif is
massively significant,” said Yael Vias Gvirsman, who represents 300 Israeli
victims of the October 7 Hamas attacks. “It means these victims’ voices are
being heard,” she added, speaking from outside the court in The Hague. The
Palestinian Authority, a rival of Hamas, said that “the ICC’s decision
represents hope and confidence in international law and its institutions.”It
urged ICC members to enforce “a policy of severing contact and meetings’ with
Netanyahu and Gallant. “Prime Minister Netanyahu is now officially a wanted
man,” said Amnesty’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard. “ICC member states and
the whole international community must stop at nothing until these individuals
are brought to trial before the ICC’s independent and impartial judges.” “The
ICC arrest warrants against senior Israeli leaders and a Hamas official break
through the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the
law.” The ICC’s decision “is a belated but positive decision to stop the
bloodshed and put an end to the genocide in Palestine,” Turkish Justice Minister
Yilmaz Tunc said on X. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan welcomed the warrants as “an
extremely important step.” Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said his
country would be obliged to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they visited,
although he added he believed the ICC was “wrong” to put Netanyahu on the same
level as Hamas. Spain said it would follow the ruling, with official sources
telling AFP the country “respects the decision and will conform to its
commitments and obligations in compliance with the Rome Statute and
international law.”“It is important that the ICC carries out its mandate in a
judicious manner. I have confidence that the court will proceed with the case
based on the highest fair trial standards,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide
said. “Sweden and the EU support the important work of the court and safeguard
its independence and integrity,” Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said.
“The fight against impunity wherever crimes are committed is a priority for
Belgium, which fully supports the work of the (ICC),” Belgium’s foreign ministry
said on X. “Those responsible for crimes committed in Israel and Gaza must be
prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of who committed them.”
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on November
22-23/2024
Socio-Feudalism's War
on the Individual
Daniel Greenfield/Gatestone Institute/November 22, 2024
The transformation of the medieval world into the modern world came about with
the idea that man could and should transform his lot in life. The liberal
individualism of the Enlightenment however was soon countered by reactionary
movements, feudal and socio-feudal, seeking to put the genie of individual
autonomy back in the box through collectivist movements.
Socialism postured as progressive when it was reactionary. Its leaders, most
often hailing from the upper class and upper middle class, reverted newly
liberated societies in Russia and China back to feudalism under the guise of
liberating them. The Bolsheviks took Czarist feudalism and rebranded it as
collective farming, forbidding the "liberated" farmers from owning property or
livestock, and even from leaving their farms to seek a better life in the big
cities.
The empowerment of the individual had given way to the enslavement of man in the
service of an ideal society. Individuals were once again worthless, except as
they fit into a larger plan.
The ultimate struggle will be less about movements and more about individuals.
The more the system fails, the more repressive it will become. And only millions
of individuals can defeat it.
Socio-feudalism has the destruction of individual autonomy as its central goal.
Socialists justify the elevation of the collective over the individual through
fatalism about the role of man: All evidence to the contrary, man has no ability
to change his lot in life. He is only an atom in the larger phalanxes of life.
As Robert Owen, the father of British Socialism, told the US Congress in an
address in 1825, man "never did, nor is it possible he ever can, form his own
character." Pictured: The decaying remains of houses in Owen's failed utopian
socialist town of New Harmony, Indiana. (Photo by iStock/Getty Images)
The transformation of the medieval world into the modern world came about with
the idea that man could and should transform his lot in life. The liberal
individualism of the Enlightenment however was soon countered by reactionary
movements, feudal and socio-feudal, seeking to put the genie of individual
autonomy back in the box through collectivist movements.
Among the most prominent of these was what would eventually be called socialism.
While early socialist movements had been a radical Christian heresy emphasizing
communal living, these experiments invariably failed on a local level, leaving
behind a trail of wrecked lives.
Nineteenth-century radical theorists began laying out plans for the communal
transformations of entire societies. Fourier's socialist "phalanxes" which would
influence everything from Soviet communal farms to hippie communes in the United
States, were feudal mass communities with no private property and everyone
assigned a role in life under the rule of a centralized "omniarch".
Socialists had to justify the elevation of the collective over the individual
through fatalism about the role of man. All evidence to the contrary, man has no
ability to change his lot in life. He is only an atom in the larger phalanxes of
life. As Robert Owen, the father of British Socialism, told the US Congress in
an address in 1825, man "never did, nor is it possible he ever can, form his own
character," but is "universally plastic" and socialists could make him over into
anything at all.
The US Declaration of Independence asserted that man was born free, but to the
socialists he was born a slave and the best that he could ever hope for was to
be a slave to the right cause.
Ralph Waldo Emerson insightfully critiqued Fourier:
"He treats man as a plastic thing, something that may be put up or down, ripened
or retarded, moulded, polished, made into solid, or fluid, or gas, at the will
of the leader... but skips the faculty of life, which spawns and scorns system
and system-makers, which eludes all conditions, which makes or supplants a
thousand phalanxes and New-Harmonies with each pulsation.
Was man a "plastic thing" or the bearer of the mystery of the "faculty of life"?
Leftist revolutionary movements might begin by hailing the power of the
individual, but invariably ended up in a socio-feudalism system making malleable
man over to fit the five-year plan.
Socialism postured as progressive when it was reactionary. Its leaders, most
often hailing from the upper class and upper middle class, reverted newly
liberated societies in Russia and China back to feudalism under the guise of
liberating them. The Bolsheviks took Czarist feudalism and rebranded it as
collective farming, forbidding the "liberated" farmers from owning property or
livestock, and even from leaving their farms to seek a better life in the big
cities.
The empowerment of the individual had given way to the enslavement of man in the
service of an ideal society. Individuals were once again worthless, except as
they fit into a larger plan.
The socialist argument against individualism was human fallibility. The
muckrakers gathered every example of misery and described them as social ills
that society had to collectively remedy. Outwardly private philanthropic
organizations claimed to help the poor, but their embrace of eugenics, including
mandatory sterilization, seizing children from parents, prohibition, and greater
state intervention, including mandatory centralized state education, set a
pattern that was innately socialist even when its proponents avoided the use of
the word.
Every crisis, including World War I and the Great Depression, was seen as a
reason for replacing smaller institutions with larger ones and further
disempowering the individual. Hitler's National Socialist party blamed Germany's
loss in WWI partly on free enterprise. Roosevelt and the Democrats blamed the
Great Depression on free enterprise. Both built state systems for seizing
control of it. The Russian Bolsheviks not only blamed individual farmers for
their famine, but used it to wipe them out.
The post-war economic rebound in America and Europe did not end socialism, but
rebooted it, with governments confiscating even more wealth for "the benefit of
society." The macro conflicts of WWII and the Cold War, the threat of nuclear
annihilation, were used to define the individual as too small to make a
difference on his or her own except as part of a larger mass movement.
In the 1960s, class warfare gave way to identity politics. Individuals had to
join groups to fight for a fairer society. What governmental institutions had
failed to accomplish in fully transforming man, the new movements set out to
accomplish in the psychedelic decade. The individual was told that liberation
would come from losing his bourgeois background, worldview, inhibitions,
morality and values to a new emerging humanistic blob shooting along the rainbow
to the right side of history.
The 1980s marked a reassertion of individual priorities over mass movements. The
movements that had broken the country were distrusted. Socio-feudalism struck
back with an environmental crisis taking place on such a scale that individuals
were nothing when measured against it. Global authorities had to immediately
seize total power to save the human race.
Environmentalism has brought socio-feudalists closest to realizing Fourier's
vision of abolishing private property and packing everyone off to collective
compounds with a defined role in life: Man has had his day, but individuals
can't help selfishly wrecking the planet. Only subservience to larger systems
can stop global warming, end human misery and transform the world.
A new wave of gender identity activism further eliminated the line between the
individual and the state. The personal was political at the most granular level.
The pronouns you used, the products you bought, whether you left the light on or
not, were political choices. Human existence became a series of political tests
measuring allegiance to a state ideology.
When the personal is political, there is nothing personal left to the
individual.
Socio-feudalism had contrived to reduce man to a state of total subservience.
Medieval England banned playing games, especially "fute-ball" because it was
seen as a distraction from the priorities of the state. Postmodern California
passed two laws outlawing Indian mascots, along with plastic bags, gendered toys
and a thousand other things.
Postmodern man occupies a world of illusory technologies and shrinking
possibilities where children are discouraged from riding bikes, packed off to
early schooling at toddlerhood and indoctrinated to believe that their
playthings are the reason for the destruction of the world.
Socio-feudalism has the destruction of individual autonomy as its central goal,
and the pandemic lockdowns showed how easy that goal is to achieve in the face
of a crisis. Government could and did assert control over what an individual
could wear and whether he could leave the house. The public eventually responded
to it not with a mass movement, as those mostly failed or were repressed, but by
unilaterally discarding the prohibitions of the state.
Americans had ultimately fulfilled Emerson's faith in "the faculty of life,
which spawns and scorns system and system-makers, which eludes all conditions."
And that is why socio-feudalism will fail unless it can reduce mankind to a
state of abject helplessness, ignorance and fear. That is what Communist and
Islamist regimes strove for, with varying degrees of success. And it is still
the great aim of socio-feudalism today.
The ultimate struggle will be less about movements and more about individuals.
The more the system fails, the more repressive it will become. And only millions
of individuals can defeat it.
*Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom
Center.
*Follow Daniel Greenfield on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
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or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
The New Torture Industry of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China and India: Abductions,
Beatings and Death
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/November 22, 2024
“Transnational repression” is a little-known practice that refers to pressure
exerted by a government, through illegal or violent means, to silence expat
citizens of other nations, increasingly, those living in the West.
A recent report, based on the audio recording of a Pakistani state agent trying
transnationally to repress a Pakistani expat living in Australia – written for
Drop Site News by Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussain – exposes the practice:
A government—or individuals working at the behest of a government to target its
rivals —cracking down on the political activity of people who live outside its
borders. The act goes beyond a typical human rights abuse because it not only
violates the rights of its immediate target, but also challenges the sovereignty
of the nation the victim calls home.
In short, transnational repression exists when a government, such as the Chinese
Communist Party, tracks, intimidates and persecutes you from one country to
another. The report continues:
When Saudi Arabia sent a hit squad to murder American journalist and resident
Jamaal Khashoggi in Istanbul, the killing was seen not just as an act of
aggression against the free press, but as a slap in the face of both Turkey and
the United States….
‘Australians would be alarmed to learn of foreign governments using coercive
measures against Australia citizens and their families,’ said Andrew Wilkie, a
member of Australia’s House of Representatives, responding to Shabbir’s case.
The recording (which was translated into English and can be heard here) is of a
call made to Salman Shabbir, an Australian citizen of Pakistani descent, who
runs a small X account called Citizen Action, focused on promoting democratic
reform in Pakistan. Among other things, he has helped collect and circulate
letters and petitions concerning Pakistan’s abysmal human rights record and its
rigged elections, and has called for outside investigations.
Prior to the call made to Shabbir, his brother had been abducted by half a dozen
men dressed in black. Shabbir responded by posting about the abduction on his
Citizen Action account. On the following day, he received a call from his
brother’s number.
After briefly hearing his brother’s voice, another man yanked the phone and
asked, “Where is your brother?”
“Now listen to me,” the man proceeded, “and don’t try to pull a trick or be
clever. If you do, you will create problems for your brother.”
The man, who only towards the end of the call identified himself simply as “Hamza,”
went on to warn Shabbir against interfering with Pakistani politics, especially
seeing that he had relocated from Pakistan and now lives in Australia: “You
should mind your own business… You should not be indulging in Pakistan’s
affairs.”
Shabbir was then asked who runs the Citizen Action portal. When Shabbir replied
that he did, “Hamza” ordered him to give him his username and password. When
Shabbir objected, “Hamza” said, “If you don’t send it, we have your brother with
us, and you will be responsible.” The call ended.
Later that day, the phone rang again, and Shabbir heard his brother’s voice:
“Salman, brother, this bro has got me here and I am in a lot of trouble and I
request you to please do as they say.”
When Shabbir asked what they wanted, his brother said, “You are speaking against
the government of Pakistan—don’t do it, otherwise I would run into trouble.”
After asking him about his well-being and gathering that his brother had been
tortured, Shabbir said, “Ok, I won’t speak against the government. All good?”
At this point, the brother addressed his abductor, “Sir, do you have another
demand?”
“Hamza” went on to say that he no longer needed the username and password, but
rather that Shabbir needed instantly to delete his more recent post saying his
brother had been abducted, and instead say that it had all been a mistake. When
Shabbir said he would do so only after he knew that his brother had been
released and was home safe, his brother pled for him to comply without
condition: “Salman, they will torture me!”
The phone was again seized from his brother, and “Hamza” returned: “Right now, I
have abducted your brother, next time I will bring your whole family.”
Sounds of a beating are then heard.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes, I heard,” Shabbir responds.
The beating and screams continue until Shabbir agrees to delete the tweet and
cease criticizing Pakistan. His brother was released soon after.
Shabbir later learned that his brother had been taken to a nearby jail, held in
a traditional cell, all of which confirmed that his brother’s abductors and
torturers were state agents, most likely of the notorious Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI).
Discussing this incident with Drop Site News, Shabbir said:
They told me to be quiet so that there could be ‘stability’ in Pakistan, but it
is their own actions that are causing instability. I told them that what they
were doing was illegal, counterproductive, but they mocked me when I mentioned
the law and forced me to listen to them torturing my brother on the phone.
As unsettling as such dispatches may be in the West, they are also unsettlingly
common. The report lists several more examples of Pakistani expatriates being
threatened, or their family members being threatened and attacked, if the
expatriate does not cease casting a negative spotlight on Pakistan:
American citizens—even ones with celebrity status in Pakistan—have not been
spared from this dragnet. Salman Ahmad, a Pakistan-American physician and
well-known musician with the Pakistani rock band Junoon, said that he has faced
violence targeting his family in Pakistan, including the abduction and torture
of his brother-in-law last year. Ahmad is a supporter of imprisoned former prime
minister Khan, and his family was targeted as a result of his activism. Like
Shabbir, he also received demands to hand over his internet passwords and other
personal information.
Ahmad said during an interview:
My family and I feel like hunted animals. The psychological torture is made
worse by the physical threats to our lives and businesses. We’re taking on the
ISI because we’re dead anyway.
In a separate incident, as Wajahat Saeed Khan, a veteran Pakistani journalist
and permanent U.S. resident and his partner were preparing dinner in their NY
apartment, an anonymous number called. Picking it up, Khan’s partner was greeted
by the voice of an unfamiliar man who immediately began rattling off the names
and addresses of her relatives living in Pakistan, where she was born. When the
woman asked who the caller was, he replied,
We know who you are, and you know who we are. Maybe you should tell your
gentleman caller [Khan] to relax, and to stop doing his work with so much anger.
These practices, according to the report, are not limited to beatings and
threats:
Over the past several years, a number of Pakistani dissidents have died in murky
circumstances abroad. Among them was Sajjid Hussain, a Pakistani journalist who
had been granted asylum in Sweden and found dead in 2020, as well as Karima
Baloch, a dissident human rights activist who died in Canada the same year. In
2022, a British man was found guilty in a murder-for-hire plot targeting Waqas
Goraya, a Pakistani blogger living in exile in the Netherlands and vocal critic
of the government. And last year, prominent Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif
was murdered in Kenya after likely being tortured, a Kenyan court concluded.
While the above reports from Pakistan underscore the terrors involved with
transnational repression, they are not limited to Pakistan. Many more high
profile cases have taken place at the hands of Saudi Arabia—which assassinated
dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018—and of India, which
assassinated Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh political dissident and separatist
living in Canada last year.
During a US Congressional hearing on transnational repression held earlier this
year in response to the assassination of Nijjar, John Sifton of Human Rights
Watch underscored the chilling effect such foreign governments have on
legitimate criticism and consequently reform:
Transnational repression leads to self-censorship. Even if some reporters and
human rights defenders continue their work, others cannot afford to do so. As a
result, intended research and reporting on a government’s human rights record
does not happen.
The Drop Site report relates:
Despite the objections of some members of Congress over increasing repression
and the rigging of elections this February, the U.S. has continued to embrace
the military-backed Pakistani government.
The hug apparently includes a planned $101 million aid package and an IMF loan
for Pakistani arms to Ukraine.
Drop Site continues:
A spokesperson for the State Department said they couldn’t comment publicly on
individual cases involving private citizens or residents, but added, ‘the
Department takes allegations of abuse or mistreatment of U.S. citizens,
permanent residents, and international visitors by foreign entities very
seriously. We coordinate closely with other federal, state, and local
authorities to engage local communities on their concerns, and always encourage
individuals with safety or
Question: “Why should we study the Old Testament?”
GotQuestions.org//November 22, 2024
Answer: There are many reasons to study the Old Testament. For one, the Old
Testament lays the foundation for the teachings and events found in the New
Testament. The Bible is a progressive revelation. If you skip the first half of
any good book and try to finish it, you will have a hard time understanding the
characters, the plot, and the ending. In the same way, the New Testament is only
completely understood when we see its foundation of the events, characters,
laws, sacrificial system, covenants, and promises of the Old Testament.
If we only had the New Testament, we would come to the Gospels and not know why
the Jews were looking for a Messiah (a Savior King). We would not understand why
this Messiah was coming (see Isaiah 53), and we would not have been able to
identify Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah through the many detailed prophecies
that were given concerning Him [e.g., His birth place (Micah 5:2), His manner of
death (Psalm 22, especially verses 1, 7–8, 14–18; 69:21), His resurrection
(Psalm 16:10), and many more details of His ministry (Isaiah 9:2; 52:13)].
A study of the Old Testament is also important for understanding the Jewish
customs mentioned in passing in the New Testament. We would not understand the
way the Pharisees had perverted God’s law by adding their own traditions to it,
or why Jesus was so upset as He cleansed the temple courtyard, or where Jesus
got the words He used in His many replies to adversaries. The Old Testament
records numerous detailed prophecies that could only have come true if the Bible
is God’s Word, not man’s (e.g., Daniel 7 and the following chapters). Daniel’s
prophecies give specific details about the rise and fall of nations. These
prophecies are so accurate, in fact, that skeptics choose to believe they were
written after the fact.
We should study the Old Testament because of the countless lessons it contains
for us. By observing the lives of the characters of the Old Testament, we find
guidance for our own lives. We are exhorted to trust God no matter what (Daniel
3). We learn to stand firm in our convictions (Daniel 1) and to await the reward
of faithfulness (Daniel 6). We learn it is best to confess sin early and
sincerely instead of shifting blame (1 Samuel 15). We learn not to toy with sin,
because it will find us out (Judges 13—16). We learn that our sin has
consequences not only for ourselves but for our loved ones (Genesis 3) and,
conversely, that our good behavior has rewards for us and those around us
(Exodus 20:5–6).
A study of the Old Testament also helps us understand prophecy. The Old
Testament contains many promises that God will yet fulfill for the Jewish
nation. The Old Testament reveals such things as the length of the Tribulation,
how Christ’s future 1,000-year reign fulfills His promises to the Jews, and how
the conclusion of the Bible ties up the loose ends that were unraveled in the
beginning of time.
In summary, the Old Testament allows us to learn how to love and serve God, and
it reveals more about God’s character. It shows through repeatedly fulfilled
prophecy why the Bible is unique among holy books—it alone is able to
demonstrate that it is what it claims to be: the inspired Word of God. In short,
if you have not yet ventured into the pages of the Old Testament, you are
missing much that God has available for you.
Russia: The Big Enchilada for Trump
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/November 22/2024
Can Donald Trump bring peace to Ukraine in a day as he asserted during the
presidential campaign even before he enters the White House?
The short answer is: no.
To be sure, his election has helped change the tone of the protagonists.
Ukrainian President Wolodymir Zelensky says he is ready to work for peace in
2025.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, too, has readmitted the word “peace” into his
vocabulary. The trouble is that both leaders have also attached modifiers that
cast a long shadow of doubt in the noble word. Zelensky’s modifier is “just”
when in reality there has never been and will never be a peace that is accepted
as just by both sides of a war. Peace will be possible only if it is considered
or imposed on its own, naked and free of adjectival ornaments.
There are, as yet, no signs that either Zelensky or Putin is prepared to drop
the conditions they attach to any movement towards peace.
Next question: Can Trump end the war without a formal peace? Again the short
answer must be: no. Both sides still have enough weapons, money, hate-fueled
energy and foreign support to keep the killing machine in motion. Neither can
afford to emerge as the loser because in Zelensky’s case that could cost him his
life while in the case of Putin the end of a political career to say the least.
Attempts to end this war and move towards peace started from the first day of
the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. Two days after the invasion, French
President Emmanuel Macron phoned Putin to present himself as peacemaker. He
continued his peacemaking by phone for several months until he realized that
there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in the Elysees
Palace.
However, Macron wasn’t alone to succumb to the temptation of casting oneself as
peacemaker. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski says only Putin can end this
war in 15 minutes, presumably by ordering a ceasefire and declaring victory.
American columnist Anne Applebaum believes that the war will end when Putin’s
career ends.
British pundit Niall Fergusson suggests that to end the war, Putin must be
roundly defeated in the battleground. Others speculate that Putin will end the
war after invading Moldova and annexing Transnistria which, when added to his
annexation of Crimea, South Ossetia and Abkhazia would secure him a placed in
the gallery of Russian military heroes from Peter the Great to Josef Stalin.
Anti-American figures cynically advise Europeans to learn to fight their own
wars, forgetting about “Big Brother America”, thus encouraging Putin’s dream of
de-coupling Europe and the United States. Ever since the war started no one
expected it to last so long. After a few months, however, it was absorbed into
the organized chaos of human existence as “one of those things”. NATO powers led
by the United States have found the cost affordable with the added advantage of
giving their arm industries a fantastic boost while, in the case of Europeans,
almost doubling expenditure on defense without their bleeding-heart
constituencies murmuring a complaint. China may also be happy to see the war go
on a bit longer. It has punctured Russia’s superpower balloon and made it
dependent on China for political support and as a market for Russian oil and
gas. That in turn forces Iran to offer even larger discounts for oil sold to
China. Europe has a long history of long wars such as the 100-Years and the
30-Years War, a history forgotten with the two short world wars of the 20th
century.
So, what can Trump do? He can’t bring peace if neither side is ready for it. He
can’t end the war as long as it has not crossed the threshold of pain not only
in Ukraine and Russia but globally. What he can do is to pause the war and a
suggested timeframe to consider other options including an interim status quo.
In his best-seller book “The Art of the Deal” Trump insists on never regarding a
deal as impossible. He then suggests not to try for a deal without having
leverage. Whether anyone likes it or not, the United States under a serious
administration that knows what it wants has that leverage. That in the case of
Ukraine needs no elaboration. In the case of Russia that leverage is the promise
to help the former superpower a pathway to inclusion in the global system with a
status commensurate with its history, geopolitical importance and legitimate
ambitions.
The challenge that Trump faces is much bigger than ending the war in Ukraine
which can be ended through tested diplomatic methods used in a number of similar
cases after World War II.
The big enchilada is to bring Russia in from the cold, something that successive
US administrations took seriously enough. Can Trump do it? When in his first
presidential term he launched his Peace of Abraham plan, I was among those who
doubted his success. So this time I keep my fingers crossed. In is “The Art of
the Deal” Trump writes “I like thinking big. I always have. To me it’s very
simple: If you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”