English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 24/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
The angel Gabriel Delivers the Godly Message To Virgin Mary
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 01/26-38/:”In the sixth
month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to
a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The
virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one!
The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what
sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and
bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called
the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his
ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his
kingdom there will be no end.’Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I
am a virgin?’The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the
power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will
be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her
old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was
said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’Then Mary said,
‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’
Then the angel departed from her.
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on November
23-24/2024
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
Israeli strikes across Lebanon kill more than 55 as US officials push for
ceasefire
US says committed to ‘diplomatic resolution’ in Lebanon
Hochstein reportedly conveys 'positive' indications to Berri
Biden, Macron discuss efforts for Lebanon ceasefire
Israeli drone targets two young fishermen on Tyre's beach
Israeli airstrikes kill a hospital director and 5 paramedics in Lebanon
11 dead, dozens hurt as huge Israeli strike razes building in Beirut's Basta
With destruction at Lebanon border, Israel could seek buffer zone
Orchestra conductor mourns childhood home's destruction in Israel's southern
Lebanon offensive
UN warns some who fled to Syria risking lives to return to Lebanon
Rocket fire wounds four UN peacekeepers in Lebanon
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on November
23-24/2024
Little hope in Gaza that arrest warrants will cool Israeli onslaught
Israel investigates as Hamas says female hostage killed
Nearly a hundred aid trucks looted in Gaza, as UN warns of ‘collapse of law and
order’
ICC warrants are binding, EU cannot pick and choose, EU's Borrell says
Jordanian police cordon off area near Israeli embassy after gunshots heard,
witnesses say
Daesh group claims attack on Sufi shrine in Afghanistan
India opposes COP29 finance deal after it is adopted
Nations at UN climate talks agree on $300B a year for poor countries in a
compromise deal
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on November
23-24/2024
Time for Trump’s Big Deal on Iran/Dr. Mordechai Nisan/Newsmaxworld/November
23/2024
Empower the of People of Iran Who Seek Change and Freedom/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone
Institute./November 23, 2024
How the West prospers as the rest drown/Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/November 23,
2024
Trillion-dollar decarbonization estimates demand a global reality check/Arnab
Neil Sengupta/Arab News/November 23, 2024
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published
on November
23-24/2024
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.
Israeli strikes across
Lebanon kill more than 55 as US officials push for ceasefire
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/November 23, 2024
BEIRUT: Lebanon said Israeli air strikes on Saturday killed more than 55 people,
many of them in central Beirut, as Israel’s defense minister vowed decisive
action against Hezbollah, in a call with his US counterpart. It was one of the
deadliest strikes in a day since Israel escalated air strikes against Hezbollah
targets in Lebanon on September 23, after nearly a year of limited cross-border
exchanges of fire, in which Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it was acting in support of
Hamas. One strike on Saturday in the heart of Beirut brought down a residential
building and jolted residents across the city.The strike on the working-class
Basta neighborhood killed at least 20 people and wounded 66, Lebanon’s health
ministry said in a revised toll. A Lebanese security source told AFP that the
central Beirut strike had “targeted a leading Hezbollah figure,” but a Hezbollah
lawmaker, Amin Sherri, denied to Lebanese media that any official was present at
the time of the attack. Similar strikes carried out without warning outside of
Hezbollah’s traditional bastions — which include southern Beirut but not the
center — have tended to target senior figures. The health ministry said Israeli
air strikes also hit eastern Lebanon, killing 24 people including 13 in the town
of Shmostar overlooking the Bekaa Valley, another Hezbollah stronghold.In
Lebanon’s south, at least 14 were killed including five in the coastal city of
Tyre, the ministry said.
Rude awakening
Residents in Beirut's Basta neighborhood were asleep and had not been given
prior warning to evacuate, according to a civil defense source. Four bunker
buster missiles hit the building in the densely populated Al-Ma’moun Street. It
resulted in the complete or partial destruction of adjacent structures, while
the targeted building was reduced to rubble, leaving a deep crater. The sheer
number of residents who sustained various injuries overwhelmed local hospitals
that issued urgent calls for blood donations. “We saw two dead people on the
ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more,” said
Samir, 60, who lives in a building facing the one destroyed.The attack in the
capital was followed by others in the city’s southern suburbs after calls by the
Israeli military to evacuate. Israel has not commented on the strike in central
Beirut but said it had again hit Hezbollah targets in the city’s southern
suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group. A military statement said that
over the past week, the air force “struck dozens of Hezbollah command centers,
weapons storage facilities, and terrorist infrastructure in the Dahieh area.”
Survivors recounted the moments of terror they experienced during the airstrikes
and how they narrowly escaped death as parts of their homes collapsed. Among the
victims of the raid was a family of 10 from the southern town of Shaqra’s
Hourani family. They had been displaced to the Al-Salam neighborhood in the
southern suburbs of Beirut but chose to move to Basta, “believing it offered
greater security than the southern suburbs,” according to a relative. The bunker
buster munitions resembled those used in the assassinations of the former chief
of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and another top official, Hashem Safieddine. A
building about 100 meters from the new target was attacked about a month ago.
Confusion over the targets
About 12 hours after the raid that shook Beirut and its suburbs, Hezbollah MP
Amin Sherri, while inspecting the targeted site in Basta, said: “There was no
Hezbollah member in the targeted building.”Information circulating at the time
of the airstrikes suggested that the target of the raid was a “prominent
Hezbollah leader” taking part in a leadership meeting.
Israeli Channel 12 reported that the “target was Sheikh Naim Qassem, the
secretary-general of Hezbollah.”But the Israel Broadcasting Authority reported
in the morning, citing a security source, that the target was Hezbollah official
Mohammed Haidar. However, the Israeli source did not confirm at the time whether
he was killed or survived. Haidar, a former member of Lebanese parliament,
represented the Marjayoun-Hasbaya district from 2005 to 2009. He served as a
military aide to Nasrallah and was a member of the Jihad Council, regarded as
Hezbollah’s highest executive leadership for military and security operations.
Haidar is one of the three prominent members of the council alongside Talal
Hamieh and Khudar Yussuf Nader. Additionally, Haidar serves as head of
Hezbollah’s operations room. Channel 12’s military reporter said that the
official “was residing in a hidden apartment,” adding that the Basta attack “was
an attempt to assassinate him.” Israeli attacks against Beirut, especially
against Hezbollah commanders, prompted internal backlash. Independent MP Waddah
Sadek said: “Hezbollah should take the moral and courageous decision of
protecting Beirut’s residents and displaced people. “Beirut is not an operation
area, but a city that welcomed our displaced people only.” Former Beirut MP Rola
Al-Tabesh said: “The magnitude of the Israeli enemy’s criminality and
blood-shedding is condemned and indescribable.”
Diplomatic solution
In a telephone call with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Saturday,
Washington's Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “reiterated US commitment to a
diplomatic resolution in Lebanon that allows Israeli and Lebanese civilians to
return safely to their homes on both sides of the border,” a Pentagon
spokesperson said. A spokesman for Katz said he commended the US efforts toward
“de-escalation in Lebanon” and underscored that Israel would “continue to act
decisively in response to Hezbollah’s attacks on civilian populations in
Israel.”United States envoy Amos Hochstein was in Lebanon and Israel this week,
meeting with both countries’ senior officials, to try to negotiate an end to the
war. After talks in Beirut he said a deal was “within our grasp” but as he
headed to Israel both sides put out statements that dented hopes of rapid
progress. Lebanon says more than 3,670 people have been killed in the country
since October 2023. Most of the deaths have been since September this year.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war resulted in
the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of
Israeli official figures. Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at
least 44,176 people, most of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run
territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable. In the
pre-dawn darkness of Gaza on Saturday, one strike killed seven people including
children at a house in the Zeitun area of Gaza City, civil defense agency
spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP. AFPTV footage showed victims being brought in
to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital including a bloody and dust-covered man, as a boy on a
bed beside him struggled to reach the man and called for his father. “We were
sleeping, I was lying here. What happened?” one survivor, Abu Shaker Shaldan,
said, lost for words at the scene of the strike, with blood trickling down his
head.
Tensions escalate
Meanwhile, confrontations between the Israeli army and Hezbollah have escalated,
reaching the second line of villages across the southern Lebanese border. The
escalation included Baalbek, Brital and Chmistar, where three children and their
mother were killed. Israeli drones targeted several fishermen on the beach of
Tyre, killing two. Hezbollah said it was now using cruise missiles to target
Israeli military outposts in northern Israel. Beirut’s southern suburb has been
subject to a series of Israeli raids since the early morning. The airstrikes
targeted not only single houses and buildings, but also residential and
commercial compounds. The attacks were preceded by evacuation warnings issued by
the Israeli army, along with a map showing the targeted locations. Raids reached
Burj Al-Barajneh, Hadath, Choueifat, Amrousieh near the Lebanese University and
Haret Hreik. The Israeli army claimed that it targeted “many Hezbollah
headquarters, weapon depots and military infrastructure.” Clashes intensified in
the southern town of Khiam between Hezbollah and the Israeli army amid fierce
militant resistance. The Israeli army carried out detonations, described as
“very violent,” in the heart of the town, and homes were destroyed in Shamaa and
Tayr Harfa, which the Israeli army entered a few days earlier. Reports suggested
that the Israeli army took control of large areas of the coastal town of Al-Bayada.
Media reports spoke of Israeli soldiers entering between the border towns of Al-Taybeh
and Rab Al-Thalathin.
The Israeli army fired heavy munitions toward the outskirts of the town of
Naqoura. Several people were killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting motorcycles
on the roads in the Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts. Airstrikes targeted frontline
and second-line towns, and in the city of Bint Jbeil, about 50 shells hit
residential neighborhoods within a two-hour period. Israeli jets struck
Chehabiyeh and Zefta, killing three people, and the vicinity of Al-Bazourieh,
Chaaitiyeh and Roumine, where five people were killed, as well as Khirbet Selm
and Mayfadoun. Airstrikes hit the town of Roum in the Jezzine district,
resulting in three deaths and two injuries. (With Agencies)
US says committed to
‘diplomatic resolution’ in Lebanon
AFP/November 23, 2024
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed that the United States was
dedicated to a diplomatic resolution in Lebanon and urged Israel to improve
“dire” conditions in Gaza, in a call Saturday with his Israeli counterpart.
Austin “reiterated US commitment to a diplomatic resolution in Lebanon that
allows Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return safely to their homes on both
sides of the border” in his call with Israel Katz, a Pentagon spokesperson said.
A spokesman for Katz said the defense minister underscored that Israel would
“continue to act decisively in response to Hezbollah’s attacks on civilian
populations in Israel.” During the call, “Katz commended US efforts to
facilitate de-escalation in Lebanon, emphasized Israel’s commitment to restoring
security that would enable northern residents to return to their homes safely,”
his spokesman said. US envoy Amos Hochstein was in Lebanon and Israel this week,
meeting with both countries’ senior officials, to try to negotiate an end to the
war. In the call Austin also “urged the Government of Israel to continue to take
steps to improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza and emphasized the US
commitment to securing the release of all hostages, including US citizens.”
Israel has been fighting in Gaza since October 2023, when a cross-border attack
by Hamas militants resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians,
according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. During the attack,
militants took 251 hostages, of whom 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the
army says are dead. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has led to the deaths of
44,176 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the
Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations considers
reliable. Israel is currently engaged in fierce fighting with Hamas ally
Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both groups are backed by Israel’s arch-foe Iran. Lebanon
said Saturday an Israeli air strike in the heart of Beirut that brought down a
residential building killed at least 15 people. Israel stepped up its campaign
against Hezbollah in late September, targeting its strongholds in Lebanon. The
health ministry in Beirut says more than 3,650 people have been killed since
October 2023, when Hezbollah began trading fire with Israel in solidarity with
Hamas. The United Nations and others have repeatedly decried humanitarian
conditions in the Gaza Strip, particularly in the north of the Palestinian
territory, where Israel said Friday it had killed two commanders involved in
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack. In his call with Katz, Austin also discussed
ongoing Israeli operations and reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad commitment to
Israel’s security,” the Pentagon said.
Hochstein reportedly
conveys 'positive' indications to Berri
Naharnet/November 22, 2024
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein resumed communication with Ain el-Tineh upon his
arrival in Washington from Israel, conveying a "positive atmosphere," NBN
television, which is affiliated with Speaker Nabih Berri, reported. "Steps have
been completed and progress has been made toward the agreement, but things are
about their conclusions," NBN added. "The agreement is limited to Resolution
1701's implementation and the executive mechanisms have been expanded to add the
U.S. and France to the Tripartite committee," the TV network said. Al-Jadeed TV
meanwhile said that Berri's aide Ali Hamdan had communicated with the U.S.
embassy following Hochstein's meetings in Tel Aviv and that "positive
indications" were relayed to Ain el-Tineh.
Biden, Macron discuss efforts for Lebanon ceasefire
Agence France Presse/November 22, 2024
U.S. President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed
overnight efforts towards a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting with
Hezbollah, the White House said. "They reviewed developments in Ukraine as well
as in the Middle East, to include efforts to secure a ceasefire deal in Lebanon
that will allow residents on both sides of the Blue Line to return safely to
their homes," it said in a statement.
Israeli drone targets two young fishermen on Tyre's beach
Associated Press/November 22, 2024
An Israeli drone strike killed one person and injured another on the beach of
the southern port city of Tyre on Saturday, according to the state-run National
News Agency. The agency said the victims were fishermen. An Associated Press
journalist, who saw the strike from a nearby hotel overlooking the beach, said
he had watched the fishermen set up nets beforehand and both appeared to be
young teenagers.
Israeli airstrikes kill a hospital director and 5
paramedics in Lebanon
Associated Press/November 22, 2024
An Israeli airstrike killed the director of a university hospital and six others
at his home in northeastern Lebanon, state media said. The strike targeted Dr.
Ali Allam’s house near Dar Al-Amal Hospital, the largest health center in
Baalbek-Hermel province, which has provided vital health services amid Israel's
campaign of airstrikes, the Health Ministry said. State-run media reported that
the strike came without warning. The ministry described his death as a “great
loss,” and provincial governor Bachir Khodr said in a post on X that, “Mr. Allam
was one of the best citizens of Baalbek.”In two separate episodes on Friday,
Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed five paramedics with Hezbollah's
medical arm, the Health Ministry said, describing it as “war crime.” The
militant group provides extensive social services, including running schools and
health clinics. In a report published Friday, the World Health Organization said
nearly half of all attacks on health care in Lebanon since Oct. 7, 2023, have
resulted in fatalities. “This is a higher percentage than in any active conflict
today across the globe,” WHO said. In Lebanon, 226 health workers and patients
were killed and 199 were injured between Oct. 7, 2023, and Nov. 18, 2024, the
report said. The Health Ministry said Friday that 3,645 people have been killed
in nearly 14 months of war between Hezbollah and Israel, while 15,356 were
wounded, the majority following Israel’s escalation in late September. The death
count includes 692 women and 231 children.
11 dead, dozens hurt as huge Israeli strike razes building
in Beirut's Basta
Agence France Presse/November 22, 2024
An Israeli air strike in central Beirut killed at least 11 people early
Saturday, bringing down a residential building and jolting residents across the
city out of bed as Israel kept up its air campaign against Hezbollah. The attack
was followed by others in the city's southern suburbs after calls by Israel's
military to evacuate the area. Rescue operations were underway in the city
center on Saturday morning, with an excavator removing the rubble of the
eight-story building, and a fire truck and civil defense rescuers stationed
nearby as people gathered around the site. "The strike was so strong it felt
like the building was about to fall on our heads," said Samir, 60, who lives in
a building facing the one that was destroyed. He said he fled his home in the
middle of the night with his wife and children. "We saw two dead people on the
ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more," he told
AFP. The Israeli strike in the working-class Basta neighborhood killed at least
11 people and wounded 63, Lebanon's health ministry said, adding it had also
left behind "a large amount of body parts that are being identified.""The final
death toll will be determined after DNA tests are carried out," the ministry
said in a statement. The state-run National News Agency said Israeli jets had
launched six missiles at the structure, causing "widespread destruction in
buildings" nearby. The predawn attack in Basta was not preceded by an evacuation
warning from Israel's military. Similar strikes carried out without warning
outside of Hezbollah's traditional bastions have tended to target high-level
members. Israel declined to comment on the strike, while Hezbollah had yet to
mention it. But the state-run Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation and the
Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV said Hezbollah "operations room chief" Mohammad Haidar
was the target of the strike, with his fate still unknown. A Lebanese security
source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the strike had "targeted a
leading Hezbollah figure", though it was unclear if they were killed. The
official did not name the figure. Another strike hit the neighborhood of Hadath
in Beirut's southern suburbs, which are a stronghold of Hezbollah. Israel
stepped up its campaign against the Iran-backed group in late September,
targeting areas where it holds sway in the country's east, south and south
Beirut, and later sending in ground troops after nearly a year of limited
cross-border exchanges of fire. Lebanon's health ministry says at least 3,645
people have been killed since October 2023, when Hezbollah initiated
cross-border clashes with Israel in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas
over the Gaza war. Most of the deaths have been since September this year.
With destruction at Lebanon border, Israel could seek buffer zone
Agence France Presse/November 22, 2024
Israel appears to be trying to create a buffer zone in south Lebanon to remove
the threat from Hezbollah but its effectiveness in preventing cross-border
attacks remains to be seen, observers say. Israel began heavily bombarding south
Lebanon in September, escalating its months-long battle against the Iran-backed
Hezbollah and later sending in ground troops. An official in south Lebanon said
more than a dozen border villages have been two-thirds destroyed, while data
analysis also points to broad destruction in the frontier area. Peter Harling,
founder of Beirut-based research center Synaps, said Israel appeared to be
"creating an uninhabitable no man's land all along the border."Soldiers have
dynamited buildings in some villages, Lebanon's National News Agency has
reported and troops' videos have showed, and Lebanese authorities have accused
Israel of burning wooded and agricultural areas. Israel is aiming to have "some
guarantees that Hezbollah is no longer close to the border and cannot initiate
any attacks on the northern part of Israel," Orna Mizrahi from the Tel
Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies told AFP's Jerusalem bureau.
But "I don't think that it's going to be a kind of buffer zone... We want people
to live on the other side, but we don't want Hezbollah there," she added. Part
of the destruction is also due to months of Israeli bombardment that began in
response to cross-border strikes which Hezbollah initiated in support of Hamas
after the Palestinian militant group's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Hashem
Haidar, head of Lebanon's official Southern Council which is tasked with
assessing the destruction, said 18 villages near the 120-kilometer long
Israel-Lebanon border had each been "70 percent destroyed," with an estimated
45,000 homes lost.
Schools, mosques, cemeteries
Military expert Hassan Jouni said that by destroying the villages and burning
surrounding areas, Israel sought a clear a line of sight for its observation
points. "This buffer zone will be exposed to Israeli controls and surveillance,"
preventing Hezbollah from "repeating" Hamas' attack from the Lebanese border,
said Jouni, a retired Lebanese Army general. By November 7 this year, more than
half the buildings in 10 Lebanese border villages and towns had been destroyed,
according to an AFP count using data from Microsoft Maps and satellite analysis
by U.S. researchers Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek. In one of those
villages, Mays al-Jabal, more than 1,000 buildings have been hit. The Israeli
army has "destroyed the schools, the mosques and the infrastructure -- even the
cemeteries have not been spared," said Abdel Moneim Shukair, mayor of Mays al-Jabal,
which counted some 30,000 residents before the conflict. In the nearby village
of Mhaibib, more than 84 percent of structures had been razed as of November 7,
according to AFP's count.Just a few buildings were still standing, mostly on the
edges of the village. Further south in Yaroun, three-quarters of the some 500
buildings in the center of the village are gone, while in Aita al-Shaab, more
than 60 percent of the village has been razed, with entire neighborhoods in
ruins.
'Testing Hezbollah'
Israel could also be "testing Hezbollah's defenses in preparation for more
ambitious ground operations," Harling said, and extending "the doctrine of mass
reprisals" through the "wholesale destruction of habitat, as applied to
Gaza."But "these actions so far have shown no effect on Hezbollah's willingness
and ability to fire missiles and fly suicide drones into Israel," he
added.Israel accuses Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, many of whose commanders it
has killed in recent months, of wanting to penetrate Israeli territory. Last
month, Israel's military said its soldiers located "a large network of
underground infrastructure and tunnel shafts" beneath homes in a south Lebanon
town that "was intended to aid Radwan Forces" in an invasion of northern Israel.
Calev Ben-Dor, a former Israeli foreign ministry analyst, told AFP's Jerusalem
bureau that Hezbollah poses "two main threats." "One is the long-range
rockets... the other one is the Radwan elite forces that were near the border
and that we know were planning an October 7-type invasion," Ben-Dor said. "A
security zone would do little against the rockets but could theoretically
prevent Radwan Forces returning south," he added. In 2000, Israel withdrew from
south Lebanon after 22 years of occupation and a war of attrition with
Hezbollah. Israel and the Iran-backed group went to war six years later, and
Hezbollah has never respected a United Nations resolution that ended the 2006
conflict.
That resolution called for only the Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers to be
deployed in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah enjoys strong support. That
resolution forms the basis of current truce negotiations, spearheaded by the
United States and France. Military expert Jouni said the idea of a buffer zone
at the border was doomed to fail as residents "will return and rebuild their
houses in case of a political agreement" to end the war.
Orchestra conductor mourns childhood home's destruction in
Israel's southern Lebanon offensive
Associated Press/November 22, 2024
Lubnan Baalbaki, the conductor of the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, watched
on his phone screen as an aerial camera pointed to a village in southern
Lebanon. In seconds, multiple houses erupted into rubble, smoke filling the air.
The camera panned right, revealing widespread devastation. He zoomed in to
confirm his fears: His family's house in the border village of Odaisseh, where
his parents are buried, was now in ruins. "To see your house getting bombed and
in a split second turned into ash, I don't think there is description for it,"
Baalbaki said. The destruction of his childhood home in October came during
Israel's offensive in Lebanon. The aim, Israel says, is to debilitate the
Hezbollah militant group, push it away from the border and end more than a year
of Hezbollah fire into northern Israel. The Israeli military has released videos
of controlled detonations in areas along the border, saying it is targeting
Hezbollah facilities and weapons. But the bombardment has also wiped out entire
residential neighborhoods or even villages. The World Bank in a recent report
said over 99,000 housing units have been "fully or partially damaged" by the war
in Lebanon. Baalbaki's family home in Odaisseh, designed by his late father,
renowned Lebanese painter Abdel Hamid Baalbaki, held more than just personal
memories. It held a collection of Abdel Hamid's paintings, his art workshop and
over 1,500 books. All were destroyed along with the house. What cut even deeper,
Baalbaki said, was the loss of the letters his parents exchanged during his
father's art studies in France. Only a few remain as digital photos. "The
language of passion and love they shared was filled with poetry," Baalbaki said.
In a book of poems and photographs his father created for his wife following her
sudden death in a car accident, the first page reads, "Dedication to Adeeba, the
partner of my most precious days, the love bird that left its nest too
soon."Abdel Hamid painstakingly designed his wife's tombstone. Later, he was
laid to rest beside her in the garden next to the house. For their son, watching
his childhood home go up in smoke brought back the pain of losing them. It was a
moment he had feared for months. Hezbollah began firing missiles into Israel on
Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. Israel responded with airstrikes
and shelling. For nearly a year, the conflict remained limited. After the war
dramatically escalated on Sept. 23 with intense Israeli airstrikes on southern
and eastern Lebanon as well as Beirut's southern suburbs, Baalbaki and his
siblings frequently checked satellite images for updates on their village. On
Oct. 26, explosions in and around Odaisseh triggered an earthquake alert in
northern Israel. That day, videos circulated online, one of which showed their
home being obliterated.Until a few days before that, the satellite images showed
their house still standing.Now, Baalbaki said, he is resolved to honor his
father's dream."The mourning phase started to turn to determination to rebuild
this project," he said.When the war is over, he plans to rebuild the house as an
art museum and cultural center.
UN warns some who fled to Syria risking lives to return to
Lebanon
Agence France Presse/November 22, 2024
The U.N. has voiced concern that conditions were so dire in Syria that some
Lebanese residents who had fled there seeking refuge from the Israel-Hezbollah
war were opting to return to Lebanon. There are "Lebanese families who are
beginning to take the very difficult and potentially life-threatening decision
to return to Lebanon," said Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, the United Nations refugee
agency's representative in Syria. "These are very, very small numbers, but for
us, even small numbers are worrying signals," he told reporters in Geneva via
video link from the Syrian-Lebanese border. The UNHCR estimates that around
560,000 people have fled into Syria from neighboring Lebanon since late
September, when months of cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah over
the war in Gaza escalated into all-out war. Lebanese authorities put the number
even higher, at more than 610,000. Vargas Llosa said that around 65 percent of
those crossing into Syria -- itself torn apart by 13 years of civil war -- were
Syrian nationals who had sought refuge in Lebanon from that conflict. He pointed
out that from 2017 up to September 23 this year, around 400,000 Syrians had
returned to their country from Lebanon. "We have had more or less the same
number... in a period of seven to eight weeks," he said, adding that some
150,000 Lebanese had also arrived in Syria during that period.
'Extremely worrying' -
He hailed the "exemplary" and "extraordinary display of generosity" shown
towards those arriving by communities across Syria, "whose infrastructure is
destroyed, whose economy is destroyed."But he warned that given Syria's own
"catastrophic economic situation... it is unclear for how long this generosity
will last." Worrying signs were already emerging, he said, pointing to the
admittedly small numbers of people who were opting to return to Lebanon despite
the risks. UNHCR said that "on average up to 50 Lebanese individuals per day"
were crossing back into Lebanon. They were leaving because they thought "the
conditions in Syria are appalling, and that they may be better off in Lebanon,
in spite of the bombings," Vargas Llosa said. Back in Lebanon, they might have
better support systems, easier access to services and even the ability to
generate a little income, he said. He warned that "unless there is a real
injection of international support... this number of Lebanese choosing to return
home to these extraordinarily difficult circumstances may grow in the coming
weeks and months.""This would be extremely worrying."There were even some Syrian
returnees who were opting to once again cross back into Lebanon, "primarily
because of the extraordinarily dire economic conditions here in Syria," Vargas
Llosa said. In the meantime, he said that there had recently been "an important
decrease in the pace of arrivals" into Syria, from a peak of 10,000-15,000 per
day to an average now of about 2,000. Vargas Llosa charged that this was likely
linked to Israel's repeated bombings of border crossings. "Syrians and Lebanese
are very scared of using these escape routes," he said, appealing to the Israeli
military to "immediately stop these unacceptable attacks."
Rocket fire wounds four UN peacekeepers in Lebanon
Agence France Presse/November 22, 2024
Four U.N. peacekeepers from Italy have been wounded by rockets in Lebanon fired
by Hezbollah, Italian officials said. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed
"deep indignation and concern" over "new attacks suffered by the Italian
headquarters of UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) in southern
Lebanon." "These attacks are unacceptable," she 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." Meloni did
not attribute blame but Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said the rockets
were "fired by Hezbollah" and called on both Israel and Lebanon to protect the
base. "We condemn this act of war against the representatives of a peacekeeping
mission," he said on X. And the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep
Borrell said the soldiers were "wounded following the launch of two rockets by
Hezbollah.""Attacks against UNIFIL are a grave and unacceptable violation of
international law and must stop," he said on X. An Italian foreign ministry
spokesman said Rome would await an investigation by UNIFIL. The force said "two
122-mm rockets struck the Sector West Headquarters" in Shamaa, around five
kilometers (three miles) from the Israeli border. The village has been a
battleground between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters for around a week.
The rockets were "likely launched by Hezbollah or affiliated groups," the force
said, adding that it was "the third attack on this UNIFIL base in Shamaa in a
week."The four peacekeepers, whose wounds were not life-threatening, were
"receiving treatment at the base hospital," it said."UNIFIL strongly urges
combating parties to avoid fighting next to its positions," it added.
Hezbollah claim
A statement from Hezbollah said its fighters targeted "a gathering of Israeli
enemy troops in Shamaa with a rocket salvo."Crosetto earlier said two 122 mm
rockets appeared to have hit a bunker on the base. The peacekeepers were wounded
by shards of glass when windows shattered, Crosetto said in a statement, adding
that the rocket fire was "intolerable."He said he had 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 (Israel Katz), 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." Crosetto later said
on X he had been told by Katz that "the IDF (Israeli military) is making every
effort to protect UNIFIL forces and positions in the region."Tasked with
monitoring the Blue Line separating Lebanon from Israel, UNIFIL's 10,000
peacekeepers have come under repeated fire during the current Israel-Hezbollah
war.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on November
23-24/2024
Little
hope in Gaza that arrest warrants will cool Israeli onslaught
Reuters/November 22, 2024
GAZA: Gazans saw little hope on Friday that International Criminal Court arrest
warrants for Israeli leaders would slow down the onslaught on the Palestinian
territory, where medics said at least 21 people were killed in fresh Israeli
military strikes. In Gaza City in the north, an Israeli strike on a house in
Shejaia killed eight people, medics said.Three others were killed in a strike
near a bakery, and a fisherman was killed as he set out to sea. In the central
and southern areas, nine people were killed in three separate Israeli air
strikes.
FASTFACT
Residents in the three besieged towns on Gaza’s northern edge — Jabalia, Beit
Lahiya and Beit Hanoun — said Israeli forces had blown up dozens of houses.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces deepened their incursion and bombardment of the
northern edge of the enclave, their main offensive since early last month. The
military claims it aims to prevent Hamas fighters from waging attacks and
regrouping there; residents say they fear the aim is to permanently depopulate a
strip of territory as a buffer zone, which Israel denies. Residents in the three
besieged towns on the northern edge — Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun —
said Israeli forces had blown up dozens of houses. An Israeli strike hit the
Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, one of three medical facilities barely
operational in the area, injuring six medical staff, some critically, the Gaza
health ministry said in a statement. “The strike also destroyed the hospital’s
main generator and punctured the water tanks, leaving the hospital without
oxygen or water, which threatens the lives of patients and staff inside the
hospital,” it added. It said 85 wounded people, including children and women,
were inside, eight in the ICU. Gazans saw the ICC’s decision to seek the arrest
of Israeli leaders for suspected war crimes as international recognition of the
enclave’s plight. But those queuing for bread at a bakery in the southern city
of Khan Younis were doubtful it would have any impact. “The decision will not be
implemented because America protects Israel, and it can veto anything. Israel
will not be held accountable,” said Saber Abu Ghali as he waited for his turn in
the crowd. Saeed Abu Youssef, 75, said that even if justice arrived, it would be
decades late: “We have been hearing decisions for more than 76 years that have
not been implemented and haven’t done anything for us.” Israel launched its
assault on Gaza after militants stormed across the border fence, killed 1,200
people, and seized more than 250 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023. Since then, nearly
44,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, much of which has been laid to
waste. The court’s prosecutors said there were reasonable grounds to believe
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were
criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution, and starvation as
a weapon of war, as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the
civilian population of Gaza.” Israeli politicians from across the political
spectrum have denounced the ICC arrest warrants as biased and based on false
evidence, and Israel says the court has no jurisdiction over the war. Hamas
hailed the arrest warrants as a first step toward justice. Efforts by Arab
mediators backed by the US to conclude a ceasefire deal have stalled.
Hamas wants a deal that ends the war, while Netanyahu has vowed the war can end
only once Hamas is eradicated.
Israel investigates as Hamas says female hostage killed
Tom Bennett - BBC News/November 23, 2024
Israel says it is investigating a claim by Hamas that a female hostage has been
killed during Israeli operations in northern Gaza. The woman's identity was not
revealed by Hamas, and it was unclear how or when she is said to have died. The
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was currently unable to “verify or refute”
the claim, but that its representatives are in contact with the woman's family.
“This evening the terrorist organization Hamas released a document in which a
kidnapped woman is allegedly seen killed,” the IDF said in a statement. “We are
checking the information and at this stage we are unable to verify or refute
it.” Hamas claimed that communication with the woman’s captors had recently been
restored after several weeks, leading to the discovery of her death. Abu Ubeida,
spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said another female
hostage who the woman was held with had been injured and that her life was
endangered. Israeli authorities believe there are around 60 living hostages
remaining in Gaza - and the bodies of dozens of others who are believed to be
dead. Hamas is proscribed a terrorist organisation by the US, UK, and many other
nations. The news came as Israel pressed ahead with its operations across Gaza
on Saturday. According to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, about 120
people were killed by Israeli airstrikes across the territory in the past 48
hours. Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's
unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200
people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Nearly 44,000 people have
been killed and more than 104,000 injured in Gaza since then, according to the
territory's Hamas-run health ministr
Nearly a hundred aid trucks
looted in Gaza, as UN warns of ‘collapse of law and order’
Pauline Lockwood, Hira Humayun, and Ibrahim Dahman, CNN/November 23, 2024
Nearly one hundred aid trucks were looted in southern Gaza on Saturday in what
UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has described as “one of the
worst” incidents of its kind. Of the 109 trucks carrying food supplies for UNRWA
and the World Food Programme from the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, 97 trucks
were “lost” in the looting, UNRWA told CNN in a statement Monday. Drivers were
forced to unload trucks at gun point, aid workers were injured, and vehicles
were damaged extensively, it said. The Israeli military reportedly told the
convoy, initially scheduled for Sunday, to “depart at short notice via an
alternate, unfamiliar route (on Saturday),” according to UNRWA. The UN agency
did not identify the perpetrators of the looting, but blamed the “collapse of
law and order” and the “approach of the Israeli authorities” for creating a
“perilous environment.”It said the challenges involved in delivering aid to Gaza
had become “increasingly insurmountable,” with “trucks frequently delayed at
various holding points, often looted, and subjected to escalating attacks.”
“Well, we have been warning for a long time about the total breakdown of civil
order; (until) four or five months ago, we still had local capacity, people who
were escorting the convoys. This has completely gone,” UNRWA chief Philippe
Lazzarini told a press conference in Geneva on Monday.
CNN has reached out to Israeli authorities on the matter but has not yet heard
back.
A spokesperson for the US State Department called the looting “abhorrent” and
blamed it on the “overall breakdown” of security in Gaza, for which he said the
the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was partly to blame. “They’re working to
establish an improved security situation on the ground, but clearly, when you
have looting going on, there’s a breakdown,” State Department spokesperson
Matthew Miller said at told a press briefing on Tuesday. “And the IDF certainly
bears part of the blame for that.” In a report Monday that cited Gaza’s interior
ministry, the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV channel claimed Gaza security forces had
killed more than 20 people involved in looting aid trucks, though it did not
specifically mention Saturday’s incident. The National and Islamic Forces, a
coalition of Palestinian groups, commended the ministry’s actions against the
looters, who it referred to as “criminal thieves who disrupt the security of our
internal front and steal the livelihoods, bread, and medicine of our citizens.”
Worsening shortages
The attack on the convoy – the worst of its kind “in terms of volume,” according
to the UN secretary-general’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric – comes amid
warnings by the UN that already severe shortages of food and aid in Gaza will
worsen without immediate intervention.
Civilians fleeing northern Gaza after weeks of intense Israeli military
operations have told of a chronic lack of food and people dying of hunger, while
aid agencies have warned that the area is on the brink of famine. On Thursday, a
UN Special Committee report alleged Israel was using starvation as a method of
war – an allegation denied by COGAT, the Israeli agency that approves aid
shipments into Gaza. Israel insists however that the number of aid trucks
entering Gaza has risen and that it is “working tirelessly” to get aid into the
enclave. The US State Department last week assessed it was not blocking aid –
though it said improvements were needed. At his press conference Tuesday, US
State Department Miller said the US was working with the IDF, COGAT and UN
agencies to get more assistance to those who need it. He noted the opening of
new aid routes to Gaza, which happened after the Israeli government allowed only
limited access to the besieged strip for weeks. He said the US hoped some of the
new routes would help divert convoys away from looters. The attack on the convoy
also comes amid a backdrop of deteriorating relations between Israel and UNRWA.
The agency’s ability to deliver aid to Gaza took a hit last month when Israel’s
parliament voted to ban it, in a move that is expected to severely restrict its
operations in territories Israel occupies, including the West Bank and East
Jerusalem. The new law requires all contact between Israeli officials and the UN
agency to cease by the end of January. Israel claims UNRWA has forced it to act,
alleging that some of its employees are affiliated with Hamas and that its
schools teach hate against Israel. UNRWA has repeatedly denied these
accusations. At the press conference in Geneva, Lazzarini spoke of the UN’s
concerns over the new law, warning there was no other agency that could replace
UNRWA’s role in helping the Palestinians. “Our staff in the region is deeply,
deeply concerned, anxious, worried about what might happen,” he said. Lazzarini
also told the conference of an incident last week in which he said a female
UNRWA worker had been searched at her home by IDF soldiers.“When the y realized
that she is working for UNRWA, basically, they told her, ‘How come you work for
a terrorist organization?’” Lazzarini said, adding that the soldiers asked her
for access to all the data in her computer, brought her in for interrogation for
a few hours, and handcuffed her to a post. CNN has reached out to the IDF about
the incident.
Heavy toll on civilians
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes in Gaza continue to take a heavy toll on civilians.
On Monday, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 50 people, including 17 members of
a single family, according to the local health ministry. Most of the dead were
killed in on northern Gaza, including the 17 family members who died in the city
of Beit Lahiya, the ministry’s general director Dr. Munir Al-Bursh told CNN. He
said the 17 were family members of Hani Badran, a cardiologist who was working
at the city’s Kamal Adwan hospital at the time of the strike that killed them. A
local journalist who spoke to the cardiologist told CNN that Badran’s children
had been killed alongside his sister, her husband and their children. Among the
killed children was his sister’s weeks-old newborn, who Badran had delivered and
whose birth he had intended to register on Monday, he said. The director of the
hospital, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, said that everyone in Badran’s home at the time
had been killed. Safiya said the hospital itself had also been attacked. “This
scene is now being repeated almost constantly. Very violent targeting, with
shells from tanks,” Safiya said.
He said patients were filled with “fear and horror,” adding “we are now pleading
to the world. This killing machine must be stopped, the bombing must be
stopped.”CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment on the hospital
attack. It has previously said it was operating “against terrorist
infrastructure and operatives” in Beit Lahiya.
ICC warrants are binding,
EU cannot pick and choose, EU's Borrell says
Michele Kambas/NICOSIA (Reuters)/November 23, 2024
European Union governments cannot pick and choose whether to execute arrest
warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against two Israeli leaders
and a Hamas commander, the EU's foreign policy chief said on Saturday. The ICC
issued the warrants on Thursday against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri,
for alleged crimes against humanity. All EU member states are signatories to the
ICC's founding treaty, called the Rome Statute. Several EU states have said they
will meet their commitments under the statute if needed, but Hungarian Prime
Minister Viktor Orban has invited Netanyahu to visit his country, assuring him
he would face no risks if he did so. "The states that signed the Rome convention
are obliged to implement the decision of the court. It's not optional," Josep
Borrell, the EU's top diplomat, said during a visit to Cyprus for a workshop of
Israeli and Palestinian peace activists. Those same obligations were also
binding on countries aspiring to join the EU, he said. "It would be very funny
that the newcomers have an obligation that current members don't fulfil," he
told Reuters. The United States rejected the ICC's decision and Israel said the
ICC move was antisemitic. "Every time someone disagrees with the policy of one
Israeli government - (they are) being accused of antisemitism," said Borrell,
whose term as EU foreign policy chief ends this month. "I have the right to
criticise the decisions of the Israeli government, be it Mr Netanyahu or someone
else, without being accused of antisemitism. This is not acceptable. That's
enough." Israel's 13-month campaign in Gaza has killed about 44,000 Palestinians
and displaced nearly all the enclave's population while creating a humanitarian
crisis, Gaza officials say. Israel began its offensive after the Hamas-led
attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, with more
than 250 others taken hostage, Israel has said. In their decision, the ICC
judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were
criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as
a weapon of war as part of a "widespread and systematic attack against the
civilian population of Gaza". The warrant for Masri lists charges of mass
killings during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. Israel says it has killed Masri.
Jordanian police cordon off
area near Israeli embassy after gunshots heard, witnesses say
Reuters/November 24, 2024
CAIRO: Jordanian police cordoned off an area in the vicinity of the Israeli
embassy in the capital Amman after gunshots were heard, witnesses said on
Sunday. Two witnesses said police and ambulances rushed to the Rabiah
neighborhood, where the embassy is located, after sporadic gunfire was
heard.Police called on residents to stay in their homes as security personnel
conducted a search for the culprits, a security source said. The area near the
heavily policed embassy is a flashpoint for frequent demonstrations against
Israel.
Daesh group claims attack
on Sufi shrine in Afghanistan
AFP/November 24, 2024
KABUL: Daesh (IS-K), the terrorist group’s branch in Afghanistan, on Saturday
claimed responsibility for a gun attack that left 10 people dead at a Sufi
shrine in northern Baghlan province. Taliban authorities in Kabul have
repeatedly said they have defeated IS-K, but the group regularly claims
responsibility for attacks, notably against Sufi or Shiite minorities, targets
they consider heretical. On Friday, interior ministry spokesman Abdul Matin Qani
told AFP that a gunman opened fire on Sufis “taking part in a weekly ritual” at
a shrine in a remote area of Nahrin district, killing 10 people. A local
resident, who said he knew victims of the attack, said worshippers had gathered
at the Sayed Pasha Agha shrine on Thursday evening. They had begun a Sufi chant
when “a man shot at the dozen worshippers,” he said on condition of anonymity.
“When people arrived for morning prayers, they discovered the bodies,” he added.
The UN special rapporteur for human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett,
wrote on X: “Religious minorities remain under grave threat. More prevention,
protection & justice needed.”The Daesh group accuses Sufis of worshipping more
than one god because of their devotion to saints. In mid-September, the group
claimed responsibility for an attack in central Afghanistan that killed 14
people who had gathered to welcome pilgrims returning from Karbala in Iraq, one
of the holiest sites for Shiites.
India opposes COP29 finance deal after it is adopted
Reuters/November 24, 2024
BAKU: India strongly objected to a climate finance deal agreed at the United
Nations COP29 summit on Sunday, but their objection was raised after the deal
was formally adopted by consensus. “I regret to say that this document is
nothing more than an optical illusion. This, in our opinion, will not address
the enormity of the challenge we all face. Therefore, we oppose the adoption of
this document,” Indian delegation representative Chandni Raina told the closing
plenary session of the summit.
Nations at UN climate talks agree on $300B a year for poor
countries in a compromise deal
Reuters/November 24, 2024
BAKU, Azerbaijan: United Nations climate talks adopted a deal to inject at least
$300 billion annually in humanity’s fight against climate change, aimed at
helping poor nations cope with the ravages of global warming in tense
negotiations in the city where industry first tapped oil. The $300 billion will
go to developing countries who need the cash to wean themselves off the coal,
oil and gas that causes the globe to overheat, adapt to future warming and pay
for the damage caused by climate change’s extreme weather. It’s not near the
full amount of $1.3 trillion that developing countries were asking for, but it’s
three times a deal of $100 billion a year from 2009 that is expiring. Some
delegations said this deal is headed in the right direction, with hopes that
more money flows in the future. It was not quite the agreement by consensus that
these meetings usually operate with and developing nations were livid about
being ignored. COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev gaveled the deal into acceptance
before any nation had a chance to speak. When they did they blasted him for
being unfair to them, the deal for not being enough and the world’s rich nations
for being too stingy.
“It’s a paltry sum,” India negotiator Chandni Raina said, repeatedly saying how
India objected to rousing cheers. “I’m sorry to say we cannot accept it.”
She told The Associated Press that she has lost faith in the United Nations
system.
After a deal, nations express their discontent
A long line of nations agreed with India and piled on, with Nigeria’s Nkiruka
Maduekwe, CEO of the National Council on Climate Change, calling the deal an
insult and a joke. “I think we should rethink this. ... We have a right as
countries to choose if we are to take this or not. And I am saying we do not
accept this,” she said. “This is 3 a.m. and say ‘this is what we’re going to
do,’ I don’t think so.”The final package pushed through “does not speak or
reflect or inspire confidence and trust that we will come out of this grave
problem of climate change,” India’s Raina said. “The goal (of getting up to $300
billion by 2035) is too little, too distant. At 2035, it’s too far gone.”“We
absolutely object to the unfair means followed for adoption,” Raina said. “We
are extremely hurt by this action by the president and the secretariat.”Speaking
for nearly 50 of the poorest nations of the world, Evans Davie Njewa of Malawi
was more mild, expressing what he called reservations with the deal. And UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a post on X that he hoped for a “more
ambitious outcome.” But he said the agreement “provides a base on which to
build.”
Some see deal as relief following tough talks. There were somewhat satisfied
parties, with European Union’s Wopke Hoekstra calling it a new era of climate
funding, working hard to help the most vulnerable.
But activists in the plenary hall could be heard coughing over Hoekstra’s speech
in an attempt to disrupt it.
Eamon Ryan, Ireland’s environment minister, called the agreement “a huge
relief.”
“It was not certain. This was tough,” he said. “Because it’s a time of division,
of war, of (a) multilateral system having real difficulties, the fact that we
could get it through in these difficult circumstances is really important.”UN
Climate Change’s Executive Secretary Simon Stiell called the deal an “insurance
policy for humanity,” adding that like insurance, “it only works – if the
premiums are paid in full, and on time.”The deal is seen as a step toward
helping countries on the receiving end create more ambitious targets to limit or
cut emissions of heat-trapping gases that are due early next year. It’s part of
the plan to keep cutting pollution with new targets every five years, which the
world agreed to at the UN talks in Paris in 2015.The Paris agreement set the
system of regular ratcheting up climate fighting ambition as away to keep
warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial
levels. The world is already at 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) and
carbon emissions keep rising.
Hopes that more climate cash will follow
Countries also anticipate that this deal will send signals that help drive
funding from other sources, like multilateral development banks and private
sources. That was always part of the discussion at these talks — rich countries
didn’t think it was realistic to only rely on public funding sources — but poor
countries worried that if the money came in loans instead of grants, it would
send them sliding further backward into debt that they already struggle with.
“The $300 billion goal is not enough, but is an important down payment toward a
safer, more equitable future,” said World Resources Institute President Ani
Dasgupta. “This deal gets us off the starting block. Now the race is on to raise
much more climate finance from a range of public and private sources, putting
the whole financial system to work behind developing countries’ transitions.”And
even though it’s far from the needed $1.3 trillion, it’s more than the $250
billion that was on the table in an earlier draft of the text, which outraged
many countries and led to a period of frustration and stalling over the final
hours of the summit.
Other deals agreed at COP29
The several different texts adopted early Sunday morning included a vague but
not specific reference to last year’s Global Stocktake approved in Dubai. Last
year there was a battle about first-of-its-kind language on getting rid of the
oil, coal and natural gas, but instead it called for a transition away from
fossil fuels. The latest talks only referred to the Dubai deal, but did not
explicitly repeat the call for a transition away from fossil fuels. Countries
also agreed on the adoption of Article 6, creating markets to trade carbon
pollution rights, an idea that was set up as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement to
help nations work together to reduce climate-causing pollution. Part of that was
a system of carbon credits, allowing nations to put planet-warming gasses in the
air if they offset emissions elsewhere. Backers said a UN-backed market could
generate up to an additional $250 billion a year in climate financial aid.
Despite its approval, carbon markets remain a contentious plan because many
experts say the new rules adopted don’t prevent misuse, don’t work and give big
polluters an excuse to continue spewing emissions. “What they’ve done
essentially is undermine the mandate to try to reach 1.5,” said Tamara
Gilbertson, climate justice program coordinator with the Indigenous
Environmental Network. Greenpeace’s An Lambrechts, called it a “climate scam”
with many loopholes. ith this deal wrapped up as crews dismantle the temporary
venue, many have eyes on next year’s climate talks in Belem, Brazil.
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on November
23-24/2024
Time for Trump’s Big Deal on Iran
Dr. Mordechai Nisan/Newsmaxworld/November 23/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/137188/
Donald J. Trump, once America’s 45th president, and now returning as its 47th,
possesses the abilities to ultimately compel compliance from Iran — to cease its
aggression and terror.
His very election of instilled fear, and minimally, anxiety globally.
A new political configuration is in the offing.
Trump is tough and focused.
As our nation’s (re)elected commander in chief, he will take the necessary steps
to coerce Iran to dismantle its nuclear industry and end its support for its
terrorist proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and Yemen.
Trump’s goal is to eliminate the Shiite coalition under Iran’s leadership and
redraw a Mideast map for stability and peace in the region.
There has been much buzz lately regarding a cease-fire between Israel and
Hezbollah to implement new security arrangements for southern Lebanon.
Considering the broader regional landscape, this deal would be a premature and
small deal.
New circumstances on the horizon can promote a bigger deal by far.
Through his personal resolve and U.S. military force, Trump can present the
Islamic regime with a painful dilemma.
Either prepare for a confrontation with America’s military might boding massive
destruction for Iran’s economy, society, and political future; or abandon the
nuclear program and bury the ambition of a sweeping Shiite crescent dominating
the Mideast.
If Iran chooses to risk a military collision with the United States, President
Trump will not only have to intensify economic sanctions, but convey he is
prepared to inflict a lethal strike against Iran.
Washington should not stop at deterrence, to persuade Iran from attacking Israel
or Saudi Arabia; but adopt a strategy of compellence that forces Iran to
relinquish the objective of hegemony and imperialism.
Perhaps reality rather than delusion will finally dictate Tehran’s policy.
The immediate American goal now is the dismantlement of Hezbollah in accord with
UN resolutions 1559 and 1701.
When Trump clarifies his administration will change the rules of the game,
Iran’s calculus will put the country’s survival before the quest for conquest
and expansionism.
This will be a rational self-preserving decision by the Islamic republic.
It will require cutting ties with Hezbollah and Hamas.
Its proxies, like Iran itself, have been vulnerable when targeted by Israel’s
powerful predatory air force. Striking Beirut and Damascus has been part of the
military scenario.
The Iranian — Arab political alliance emergent with the Islamic Revolution in
1979 is in its last days.
Having endured a severe Israeli attack on Oct. 26, and receiving a thunderous
American message from Nov. 5, Iran is feeling the political heat.
The reported meeting between Iran’s UN envoy with Elon Musk was, it may well be
argued, a harbinger of the political shift.
The stage is set now for a credible American threat to Iran’s strategic sites
and resource.
No less significant is that a popular uprising could burst upon the ayatollah
regime from within.
Iran’s capitulation will not only end the Hezbollah — Israel war, but also set
the stage for a political restoration in Beirut.
Christians, Sunnis, and Druze will savor the demotion of the defeated Shiites in
the revised Lebanese power equation.
The big deal — as opposed to a premature and minimal small deal on the Lebanese
—Israeli front — will liberate Israel from the menace of nuclear annihilation
and partially from Islamic terrorism.
It will demonstrate in the decades-long acrimony and struggle between Iran and
America that winning a war does not necessarily demand fighting one.
Washington’s wise strategy will also open the path to extending the Abraham
Accords arc of peace and stability across the Mideast region.
*Dr. Mordechai Nisan, is retired from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he has
authored two books on the subject of Lebanon.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/lebanon-mideast-tehran/2024/11/18/id/1188522/
Empower the of People of Iran Who Seek Change and
Freedom
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./November 23, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/137180/
European governments, rather than risking confrontation with Iran's regime, have
preferred to maintain business relations and avoid taking any position that
might upset the mullahs. Those countries are complicit in the suffering of the
Iranian people. The unalleviated silence emboldens the regime, rather than holds
it accountable.
After nearly four decades of maintaining diplomatic relationships with the
Islamic Republic of Iran, the time is long overdue for Western nations to take a
real stand. If these countries genuinely believe in the principles of
"democracy" and "freedom" that they so often preach, they would look a lot more
credible if they demonstrated this professed commitment by genuinely supporting
Iranians yearning for freedom.
This would mean cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, imposing and enforcing
serious primary and secondary sanctions on the regime, putting military options
on the table, and fully supporting Israel and, one hopes, the incoming US
administration, in putting a permanent end to Iran's nuclear program as well as
to its brutal, expansionist regime.
Only then will the actions of these nations align with their suspect rhetoric
about "human rights," and show that they are willing to deliver real backing to
those risking their lives for change in one of the world's most repressive
states.
In recent years, Iranians have launched countless uprisings, each filled with
hope and courage, only to be met with violent repression from the regime, and
mainly indifference from abroad. Each wave of protests saw security forces
killing thousands of demonstrators, and imprisoning and torturing many more. The
time is long overdue for Western nations to take a real stand. Pictured: Iranian
policemen chase anti-regime protestors and beat them with batons in Tehran, on
September 19, 2022. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
For decades, the brave people of Iran have arisen time and again, demanding a
future free from oppression and authoritarian rule.
In recent years, Iranians have launched countless uprisings, each filled with
hope and courage, only to be met with violent repression from the regime, and
mainly indifference from abroad. Each wave of protests saw the regime's security
forces killing thousands of demonstrators, and imprisoning and torturing many
more. These movements have shown the strength of the Iranian people's resolve,
but despite their cries for freedom, support from the West— usually merely
vocal, about the ideals of democracy — has remained disappointingly muted.
In the eyes of many Iranians, this silence from democratic nations that
supposedly champion human rights stands in intolerable contrast to their
principles and has repeatedly left Iranian protesters feeling abandoned in their
struggle.
During the 2022 nationwide protests, sparked by the hijab laws, many Iranians,
especially young women, took to the streets to protest against mandatory veiling
and other repressive policies. The movement represented not only a push against
strict Islamic dress codes but also a broader rejection of the regime's
authoritarian rule. Even as the crackdown unfolded— with the regime arresting,
beating, and even murdering protesters — the Western response remained largely
passive and inert, instead of offering robust support. Iranians risking their
lives in the streets, emboldened by the hope of international solidarity, were
left without any backing that many had expected from countries that profess to
support freedom and human rights.
In 2009, the Green Movement had erupted in Iran after a questionable
presidential election. Millions of Iranians filled the streets, while chanting
slogans, waving banners, and denouncing what they to many appeared a fraudulent
election outcome. Protesters sought recognition from world leaders, particularly
from the Obama administration in the United States and European leaders, in the
hopes that these democratic nations would support their call for a fair
electoral process and an end to oppression.
Protesters chanted, "Obama, are you with us or the mullahs?" — a direct plea for
then U.S. President Barack Obama to take a stand. Yet, to the disappointment of
many Iranians, Western leaders remained largely silent, choosing not to
intervene or offer any real backing. Obama later admitted that his
administration's silence during this critical period was a "mistake," but even
then, mentioned only ineffectual, verbal support:
"In retrospect, I think that was a mistake. Every time we see a flash, a glimmer
of hope, of people longing for freedom, I think we have to point it out. We have
to shine a spotlight on it. We have to express some solidarity about it."
While most democratic nations have hesitated to align themselves visibly with
Iran's pro-democracy movements, one country has stood out as an unwavering ally
of the Iranian people: Israel. Despite the longstanding enmity between Israel
and Iran's regime, Israeli leaders have boldly supported the Iranian people's
right to freedom and self-determination. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, called "The Churchill of the Middle East," has not only addressed
Iran's nuclear threats -- when the US did not totally undermine Israel by
leaking its plans beforehand -- but has reached out directly to Iranians through
social media, encouraging them not to lose hope. "There's one thing Khamenei's
regime fears more than Israel," Netanyahu declared in a message shared on X.
"It's you – the people of Iran." He added:
"They spend so much time and money trying to crush your hopes and curb your
dreams. Don't let your dreams die. Don't lose hope, and know that Israel and
others in the free world stand with you."
Netanyahu went even further, envisioning a future in which a free Iran could
unlock its full potential. He pointed out that, under a different government,
Iran's children could access world-class education, the people could benefit
from advanced healthcare, and the country's infrastructure could be rebuilt to
provide clean water and essential services. Netanyahu even pledged Israel's
assistance in reconstructing Iran's failing infrastructure, citing Israel's
cutting-edge desalination technology as an example.
"Since I last spoke to you," Netanyahu continued, "the Khamenei regime launched
hundreds of ballistic missiles at my country, Israel. That attack came at a cost
of $2.3 billion." Indeed, these billions, instead of being spent on futile
attacks, could have been directed towards the Iranian people's needs,
strengthening their education and healthcare systems, or improving
transportation. By framing the issue in terms of wasted resources, Netanyahu
highlighted the regime's reckless spending at the expense of its citizens,
emphasizing that the people of Iran deserve better.
Such messages have apparently resonated with many Iranians who see in another
country a beacon of hope and a sign that they are not completely alone in their
fight against the regime's repression:
"On October 8, the day after the [2023 Hamas] attacks... some pro-government
figures tried to raise the Palestinian flag from the [soccer] stands. The
backlash they faced was immediate. Thousands of fans started shouting a slogan
formulated in the rowdy... tone of soccer fans everywhere: 'Shove the
Palestinian flag up your a–.'"
Israel's stance stands in blinding contrast to that of many Western countries,
particularly those in Europe. While Israel, a nation currently under attack on
multiple fronts, has firmly stood with the people of Iran, many European
countries have continued to prioritize economic ties with Tehran over human
rights.
European governments, rather than risking confrontation with Iran's regime, have
preferred to maintain business relations and avoid taking any position that
might upset the mullahs. Those countries are complicit in the suffering of the
Iranian people. The unalleviated silence emboldens the regime, rather than holds
it accountable.
After nearly four decades of maintaining diplomatic relationships with the
Islamic Republic of Iran, the time is long overdue for Western nations to take a
real stand. If these countries genuinely believe in the principles of
"democracy" and "freedom" that they so often preach, they would look a lot more
credible if they demonstrated this professed commitment by genuinely supporting
Iranians yearning for freedom.
This would mean cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, imposing and enforcing
serious primary and secondary sanctions on the regime, putting military options
on the table, and fully supporting Israel and, one hopes, the incoming US
administration, in putting a permanent end to Iran's nuclear program as well as
to its brutal, expansionist regime.
Only then will the actions of these nations align with their suspect rhetoric
about "human rights," and show that they are willing to deliver real backing to
those risking their lives for change in one of the world's most repressive
states.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated scholar and political scientist. He
has authored several books on the US Foreign Policy and Islam. He can be reached
at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
How the West prospers as the rest drown
Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/November 23, 2024
Global financial systems are metaphorically connected vessels, in which the
policies of one country can create ripples felt by another. Recently, a
troubling phenomenon has emerged: Wealthier Western economies, in their bid to
tame inflation — often driven by corporate greed or “greedflation” — are
adopting high interest rates. This seemingly domestic monetary policy has severe
reverberations for the Global South’s poorer economies, precipitating a
sovereign debt crisis of unprecedented scale.
In their quest to tame domestic inflation, Western central banks, notably the US
Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, often resort to hiking interest
rates, a strategy that, while stabilizing their own economies, wreaks havoc on
poorer nations. This policy tightens domestic credit but has dire global
ramifications, particularly for emerging economies saddled with substantial
dollar-denominated debt. As these rates climb, so do the costs of borrowing,
making debt repayment increasingly untenable. For example, following the
interest rate increases in 2022, many developing countries faced ballooning debt
servicing costs alongside severe currency depreciation.
These nations end up caught in a vicious cycle: They must allocate more of their
scarce resources to debt repayment while their currencies weaken, further
inflating their debt burden. The situation echoes the debt crises of the 1980s —
often referred to as the “Volcker shock” — that crippled Latin America and
Africa, but now with the additional burden of complex, commercially sourced
debt, leading to prolonged economic stagnation and deepening inequalities.
The Global South’s debt crisis is not merely a financial predicament but a
consequence of deeply entrenched imbalances in the global economic order. As
Western nations, such as the US and the UK, enjoy the privilege of issuing debt
in their own currencies, countries like Zambia and Sri Lanka are forced to
borrow in foreign currencies, often at exorbitant interest rates. This
structural disparity means that, while rich countries can manage high
debt-to-gross domestic product ratios without existential threat — Japan’s
stands at 254 percent — poorer economies buckle under far lower ratios.
The result is a drain on their national budgets, diverting funds away from
essential sectors like healthcare, education and infrastructure. For instance,
Zambia’s external debt ballooned to $12.5 billion by 2021, driven partly by
illicit financial flows and loss of export revenues to foreign investors. These
dynamics lock these nations in a vicious cycle, with the burden of debt service
stifling economic growth and perpetuating poverty, effectively allowing the
Global North to outsource economic hardship to already-struggling economies. The
question then becomes not just one of immediate debt relief, but of rethinking a
flawed multilateral system that continuously disadvantages the Global South.
Beyond the surface threats of potential default and sluggish growth, the
relentless escalation of debt repayments forces poorer nations into austerity
traps, decimating their socioeconomic fabric. Austerity measures, often mandated
by international creditors like the International Monetary Fund, primarily hurt
the disadvantaged, skewing income distribution by shifting benefits to the top
10 percent, while impoverishing the bottom 80 percent.
The Global South is effectively condemned to tread water in a sea of debt as
wealthier nations consolidate their prosperity. The austerity cycle leads to
stagnant or declining real wages and mounting unemployment, pressuring local
labor markets to compromise on pay, worsening existing inequalities. This
creates fertile ground for socioeconomic instability, directly impeding human
capital development and long-term economic prospects. International financial
structures, skewed toward creditor interests, thus perpetuate a cycle in which
the Global South is structurally disadvantaged, effectively condemning it to
tread water in a sea of debt as wealthier nations consolidate their prosperity.
The disparity in global economic policy, with Western economies vigorously
combating inflation through aggressive monetary policies, heavily burdens the
Global South. As interest rates rise in the Global North, debt servicing costs
for poorer nations soar, exacerbating their financial woes and precipitating
potential defaults. High inflation and modest global growth compound these
challenges, pushing 15 percent of poor countries into debt distress and leaving
half on the brink.
This is not merely about domestic stability, it also highlights an alarming
neglect of the broader international economic repercussions. Such policies
significantly strain global economic health, fostering inequality as these
nations grapple with austerity measures, deteriorating socioeconomic conditions
and hindered long-term recovery. This cyclical debt enmeshment prevents the
Global South from achieving sustainable development, while rich nations
consolidate their prosperity, laying bare a systemic financial inequity that
threatens global stability. It is this precise dynamic that epitomizes how the
West prospers as the rest drown. As wealthier nations move to protect their
markets and labor forces, poorer countries continue to bear the brunt. An
ensuing cycle of debt and dependency effectively ensures that, while the Global
North establishes a semblance of economic order, the Global South remains
ensnared in a web of borrowing and austerity. In recent years, the inevitable
widening gap between the West and the rest of the world has become
unsustainable.
A comprehensive overhaul of international debt policies is long overdue. The
current case-by-case basis of the G20 Common Framework is ineffective, failing
to offer the predictability necessary for substantial debt relief. A more
systematic approach is essential, one that includes a multilateral sovereign
debt restructuring mechanism. This would facilitate fair and equitable treatment
across all creditors, ensuring that countries can prioritize investments in
green growth and climate resilience without being shackled by debilitating debt
service obligations. Moreover, to address the urgency driven by climate
priorities that have languished under underfunded commitments, a dual-pillar
approach is necessary. Countries with dire debt situations require comprehensive
restructuring involving all forms of international creditors — private,
bilateral and multilateral. This should be reminiscent of the large-scale debt
relief initiatives of the early 2000s, adapted to the current needs of climate
and development investments. For less-indebted nations, enhancing credit and
providing debt suspension through multilateral institutions could offer more
fiscal space and reduced capital costs, enabling them to meet climate and
development goals more effectively. Simultaneously, geopolitical tensions and
rising protectionism pose significant risks to global cooperation. Multilateral
dialogue between major global powers like the US and China is crucial to
navigating these geopolitical frictions. Additionally, fostering a supportive
environment for affordable lending from multilateral development banks and new
issuances of special drawing rights can provide the necessary liquidity for
emerging markets. Such innovative, equitable solutions are imperative — not only
to address the financial disparities exacerbated by climate disasters but also
to stave off the social instability that unchecked debt crises are bound to
trigger. Thus, an urgent, holistic and collaborative strategy is essential for a
truly balanced global economic order, before the West ultimately drowns the
rest.
**Hafed Al-Ghwell is a senior fellow and executive director of the North Africa
Initiative at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University
School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. X: @HafedAlGhwell
Trillion-dollar decarbonization estimates demand a global
reality check
Arnab Neil Sengupta/Arab News/November 23, 2024
For years, the intertwined issues of climate change and decarbonization seemed
sacrosanct, almost immune to scrutiny. Scientists, economists, and policymakers
often toed the line, wary of being labeled climate skeptics. But the
intensifying debate over the global bill for decarbonization — whether its
distant benefits justify the staggering immediate costs — is a welcome
reckoning. The complexity of the debate, reflecting economic, technological,
environmental and equity concerns, is only now beginning to dawn on the world.
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar’s remark that “Europe has to grow out of
the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems, but the world’s
problems are not Europe’s problems,” made in 2022 in the context of the Ukraine
war, resonates strongly here. Climate change may be a politically popular issue
in progressive cities and regions of Europe and the US, but it cannot dictate
the priorities of the entire planet, especially when the projected global costs
range from $3 trillion to $12 trillion annually.
The US, of course, is poised for a dramatic policy shift. Republican
President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Chris Wright, a fossil fuel
advocate, as energy secretary signals a pivot toward hydrocarbon exploration and
production, potentially disrupting global climate agreements and inspiring other
nations to challenge the conventional wisdom.
“Climate activists, for the most part, do not dispute the hair-raising price
tag; they simply consider the expense worthwhile when weighed against the
catastrophic damage unchecked climate change is likely to inflict,” The
Economist says in its latest issue in an article titled, “The energy transition
will be much cheaper than you think.” But the jury is still out on whether the
cost of decarbonizing the world economy is too high compared with the potential
long-term savings and broader societal benefits.
The Paris Agreement’s twin goals — limiting warming to “well below” 2°C and
striving for 1.5°C by the end of this century — were adopted with laudable
intent. Yet, the risk-reward calculus underpinning these targets looks tenuous
when one considers the fact that economic modelers have a poor record of
predicting technological advances. Critics and even advocates of decarbonization
increasingly acknowledge the colossal upfront investments required, the risks to
economic stability, and the disproportionate burdens placed on developing
nations.
Saudi Arabia has championed a pragmatic approach.
The world’s reliance on fossil fuels is undeniable, with coal, oil, and gas
responsible for over 75 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the
UN. Shifting from these energy sources to renewables is critical, but fraught
with challenges. Wealthier nations may have the resources for a smooth
transition, but the Global South lacks the means to achieve this without
substantial financial assistance — assistance that many developed countries are
reluctant to provide amid concerns over governance and corruption in
aid-receiving nations.
Moreover, breakthroughs in technology that are essential for decarbonizing heavy
industry and aviation remain uncertain, even though these sectors face
significant challenges in transitioning to clean energy. Whether such
breakthroughs will materialize soon enough is an open question. While urban
transportation worldwide may gradually embrace electric or hybrid solutions,
innovations such as green hydrogen for energy-intensive sectors are still in
their infancy. Renewable energy sources do promise energy security by reducing
dependence on fossil fuel imports, yet this is not universally applicable. Not
all nations enjoy abundant solar or wind resources, and nuclear energy — once
heralded as a solution — has grown less competitive due to rising costs. Still,
proponents highlight declining costs of renewables and the job-creation
potential in green energy sectors as compelling incentives for decarbonization.
In public health terms, transitioning to cleaner energy offers clear benefits.
Northern India’s annual smog crisis, a health catastrophe exacerbated by vehicle
emissions and the burning of crop stubble, underscores the urgency of clean
energy adoption. Studies from institutions such as Oxford University project
long-term economic savings from accelerated decarbonization. But skeptics
counter that these savings hinge on speculative technological advances and
policy consistency.
What is certain is that rapid decarbonization raises risks to economic stability
and job losses in traditional energy sectors, which are, in fact, capable of
meeting the energy needs of the planet without requiring trillions of dollars of
additional investments every year. Saudi Arabia has championed a pragmatic
approach, as articulated by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan at a
recent G20 session in Rio de Janeiro. He emphasized equitable and inclusive
transitions, highlighting the Kingdom’s investments in technologies that have
lowered emissions intensity in oil and gas operations. Saudi Arabia’s example
shows that balancing environmental goals with economic and developmental
priorities is possible.
In the final analysis, the decarbonization debate cannot be reduced to binary
positions. It is less about whether the world should transition and more about
how to achieve it equitably, pragmatically, and sustainably. Revisiting the
costs and methods is not a rejection of climate action, but an overdue
acknowledgment of its complexity. The true challenge lies in ensuring that this
moment of introspection leads to a consensus that, instead of raising ambitions,
aligns ambition with affordability, leaving no country behind in the pursuit of
a livable planet.
*Arnab Neil Sengupta is a senior editor at Arab News. X: @arnabnsg