English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For July 29/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
 Jesus Stresses the Importance Of persistence in life
Luke 11/05-08: "And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, "Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him." And he answers from within, "Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything."I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 28-29/2025
A French Disgrace and a Lebanese Scandal: The Release of Terrorist Georges Abdallah and His Reception as a Hero/Elias Bejjani/July 27/2025
Video Link to an Interview with Writer and Director Youssef El Khoury
Lebanon bids farewell to Ziad Rahbani, a visionary artist and popular hero
Hezbollah mourns renowned Lebanese artist Ziad Rahbani
Timing critical as PM Salam plans cabinet session on Hezbollah’s armed status
Lebanese Army Intelligence arrests five suspects for forming terrorist cell
MP Ibrahim Kanaan announces finance committee's approval of Banking Reform Law ahead of General Assembly vote
Salam says Marcon meeting was positive, contrary to reports
Report: Lebanon warned of escalation in August if it doesn't act on arms monopoly
Report: Salam proposes to Berri cabinet session on arms monopoly declaration
Finance and budget committee approves banking reform law
Kuwait Designates Hezbollah and Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association on Sanctions List
Two Sharaa members killed on the Lebanese-Syrian border... Boiling blood and blood dominate the night!
Two Israeli Airstrikes on Bint Jbeil
Issa El Khoury: We will raise the issue of the state's monopoly on weapons in the next government session
UNIFIL affirms continuation of its mission: Health assistance to 3,000 civilians in the southern sector of the West Lebanon region
Berri Calls for a Joint Session of Parliamentary Committees Next Wednesday
The Politics of Frozen Conflicts and Their Antidotes /Charles Chartouni/This is Beirut/July 28/2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 28-29/2025
Iran rejects talks with West on ‘defense capabilities’
Egypt president calls on Trump to assist in ending Gaza war
Israel says Gaza got 120 trucks of aid on day one of pause
Israeli strikes kill at least 36 people in Gaza
US dismisses UN Israel-Palestinian conference as 'publicity stunt'
What to expect and what not to at UN meeting on Israel-Palestine two-state solution
Trump says many are starving in Gaza, vows to set up food centers
More aid needed to tackle famine-like conditions in Gaza, WFP says
EU proposes curbs on Israel research funding over Gaza crisis
Putin, Netanyahu discuss Syria and Iran in phone call, Kremlin says
Syria sets date for selection of new transitional parliament
3 killed in Iraq clashes between armed group, security forces
Trump sets 10 to 12-day deadline for Russia on war with Ukraine

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on July 28-29/2025
'Bring the Head of Trump': Iran Must Be Stopped/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./July 28, 2025
The poisons of power balances/Ghassan Charbe/Asharq Al-Awsat/July 28, 2025
Hamas's Dream: Turning Palestinians Into a 'Nation of Martyrs'/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/July 28, 2025
What Netanyahu fears the most in Gaza/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/July 28/2025
Macron's Palestine Gambit/Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 823/July 28/2025 |
Selected Tweets for 28 July/2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 28-29/2025
A French Disgrace and a Lebanese Scandal: The Release of Terrorist Georges Abdallah and His Reception as a Hero
Elias Bejjani/July 27/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145708/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRXrzhqyisk&t=3s
In an appalling breach of justice and international responsibility, the French state has committed a legal and moral offense by releasing convicted terrorist and murderer Georges Ibrahim Abdallah after 41 years in prison. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in deadly terror attacks on French soil. As if that wasn’t enough, the Lebanese state—hijacked by Hezbollah and Iran’s militias—welcomed him with official honors at Beirut International Airport, treating him not as a criminal, but as a hero.
1. Who Is Georges Ibrahim Abdallah?
Georges Abdallah is not a “freedom fighter” or “resistance icon.” He is a convicted terrorist and cold-blooded killer. Born in 1951 in the town of Qoubaiyat in northern Lebanon, he joined radical leftist movements and became a senior member of the so-called Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF), a terror group closely linked to Palestinian, Syrian, and Iranian networks. He emerged during a chaotic period in Lebanese history when Palestinian factions, communist militias, Arab nationalist groups, and Islamic organizations dominated the Lebanese political and security landscape under the deceptive slogans of “resistance,” “liberation,” and “throwing Jews into the sea.” In reality, these groups were nothing more than tools of chaos and mercenaries for regional totalitarian regimes.
2. Abdallah’s Crimes – A Bloody Record on French Soil
In 1984, Georges Abdallah was arrested in Lyon, France, while carrying forged passports. Investigations quickly uncovered his involvement in a series of meticulously planned political assassinations carried out on French territory.
The crimes he was convicted for:
Assassination of Charles R. Ray, Deputy U.S. Military Attaché at the American Embassy in Paris – shot and killed on January 18, 1982 outside his residence.
Assassination of Yacov Barsimantov, Second Secretary at the Israeli Embassy in Paris – gunned down in broad daylight on April 3, 1982.
Attempted assassination of French military attaché Colonel Guy Le Moine de Marchand, known as Guy Le Chérah – severely wounded in 1982 and later died from his injuries. This added a third murder charge to Abdallah’s name, this time targeting a French officer on French soil.
Attempted assassination of the U.S. Consul in Strasbourg in March 1984 – a failed attack that nonetheless left serious injuries.
These attacks were carried out by the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions with full knowledge and planning from Abdallah. The French judiciary sentenced him in 1987 to life in prison, noting his total lack of remorse and continued glorification of violence and terrorism throughout his trial and imprisonment.
3. An Illegitimate Release – Political Capitulation or Judicial Betrayal?
The decision to release Georges Abdallah after 43 years behind bars—despite a final and irrevocable life sentence—constitutes a betrayal on two levels:
A betrayal of the victims—American, French, and Israeli diplomats who were murdered in cold blood.
And a betrayal of the French public, who expect their justice system to uphold the law without yielding to political pressure.
Abdallah never expressed regret, never cooperated with French authorities, and repeatedly praised Hezbollah, Iran, and violent armed struggle. All legal conditions for parole were absent, yet France caved to internal lobbying from far-left groups and external pressure from the Tehran–Beirut–Damascus axis.
This was not a judicial act. It was a political surrender.
4. The Lebanese Disgrace – Official Honors for a Convicted Killer
As if France’s failure wasn’t shameful enough, Lebanon—now little more than a vassal state for Iran—turned Abdallah’s return into a celebration of terror.
He arrived in Beirut on a French aircraft, escorted with official protocol, and was received in the VIP lounge at Beirut International Airport.
Welcoming him were two sitting Members of Parliament:
One from Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, the armed Iranian proxy designated as a terrorist group by much of the world.
Another from Amal Movement, led by Nabih Berri, Speaker of Parliament for over three decades and political ally of Hezbollah and the Iranian regime.
This disgraceful reception sends a chilling message: terrorism is not condemned in Lebanon—it is rewarded.
While ordinary Lebanese citizens are humiliated in airports and treated with suspicion abroad, an internationally convicted killer is welcomed with applause and state honors.
This scene exposes Lebanon’s harsh reality: a failed state controlled by a militia, with institutions used to serve foreign occupiers rather than its own people.
5. The Lebanese Media – Complicit in Whitewashing Terror
The shame didn’t end at the tarmac. A large portion of the Lebanese media joined the farce, describing Georges Abdallah as a “freedom fighter,” “national hero,” and “resistance symbol.”
TV anchors and columnists praised his “steadfastness,” glorified his past, and completely whitewashed the fact that he is a murderer.
Even supposedly “neutral” or opposition outlets either joined the praise or remained shamefully silent.
This is not journalism. This is moral collapse, a betrayal of the media’s role as a guardian of truth and justice. It reveals the degree to which parts of the Lebanese media have become mouthpieces for Hezbollah and Iran, sanctifying murderers while ignoring the suffering of innocent people and the destruction of the state.
Conclusion: No Honor in Glorifying Murder – No Dignity in Embracing Terror
The release of Georges Abdallah is not a victory for freedom—it is a triumph for political terrorism and moral hypocrisy.
France made a grave mistake by letting him go free. But Lebanon’s reception turned that mistake into a national disgrace.
Georges Abdallah is a terrorist, not a hero. Those who glorify him, welcome him, or remain silent about his crimes are accomplices in the betrayal of justice.
There is no “resistance” in celebrating assassins.
There is no “sovereignty” in bowing to Hezbollah.
And there is no “honor” in a state that salutes a convicted killer in its VIP lounge while its people rot in poverty and humiliation.
Enough with the glorification of terrorists. Enough with the moral chaos. Enough with the lies.

Video Link to an Interview with Writer and Director Youssef El Khoury
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145758/
A Reading and Analysis of the Current Catastrophic Occupation Conditions, the Situation of the Ruling Class and Narcissistic political Parties And an explanation of the solution through UN Chapter VII."/The Syrian Sharaa regime
July 29, 2025

Lebanon bids farewell to Ziad Rahbani, a visionary artist and popular hero
Associated Press/July 28/2025
Hundreds of people paid tribute Monday to iconic composer, pianist and playwright Ziad Rahbani, who died over the weekend. His mother, Fayrouz, one of the Arab world's most esteemed singers, made a rare public appearance.
Rahbani, also known as a political provocateur, died Saturday at age 69, likely from liver failure. His passing shocked much of the Arab world, which appreciated his satire, unapologetic political critique and avante-garde, jazz-inspired compositions that mirrored the chaos and contradictions of Lebanon throughout its civil war from 1975 until 1990. He also composed some of his mother's most famous songs. The Rahbani family was a cornerstone in Lebanon's golden era of music theater that today is steeped in idealism and nostalgia in a troubled country.
Top Lebanese political officials and artists paid tribute after the death was announced. Rahbani, a leftist Greek Orthodox, often mocked Lebanon's sectarian divisions in his work. Hundreds of people holding roses and photos gathered by Khoury Hospital near Beirut's busy Hamra district, where Ziad lived and worked for decades, crying, clapping, solemnly singing some of his most famous songs and applauding as a vehicle carrying his body left its garage. Reem Haidar, who grew up during the civil war, said Rahbani's songs and their messages were what she and others associated with at a time when there was "no nation to belong to."The vehicle made its way to a church in the mountainous town of Bikfaya before burial in the family cemetery. Fayrouz, 90, had spent many years away from the public eye. Wearing black sunglasses and a black veil, she greeted visitors who came to pay respects. She had not been seen publicly since photos surfaced of her meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited her residence in 2020 to award her France's highest medal of honor. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam represented President Joseph Aoun at the funeral as Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab represented Speaker Nabih Berri. First Lady Nehmat Aoun, Berri's wife Randa Berri and a number of ministers and MPs also attended the funeral. Salam decorated Ziad's coffin with the National Order of the Cedar of the Commander grade on behalf of President Aoun. Many in the country have criticized Lebanese authorities for not declaring a day of national mourning. Some fans have however said that such a measure was irrelevant seeing as Ziad, seen as a popular hero, has been honored by the vast majority of the Lebanese people.In recent years, Rahbani also appeared less in the public eye, yet his influence never waned. Younger generations rediscovered his plays online and sampled his music in protest movements. He continued to compose and write, speaking often of his frustration with Lebanon's political stagnation and decaying public life. Rahbani is survived by his mother and his sister Reema and brother Hali.

Hezbollah mourns renowned Lebanese artist Ziad Rahbani
Naharnet/July 28/2025
Hezbollah's Media Relations Department has mourned the late renowned Lebanese artist Ziad Rahbani, affirming that he embodied "a model of purposeful art in the service of the nation and humanity."The party offered its "deepest condolences to the family of the late great artist and to all his fans in Lebanon and the Arab world on the passing of this national and resistant figure after a career filled with giving, love, and creativity."The statement also emphasized that Rahbani, through his art and his stances, embodied "a model of purposeful art in the service of the nation and humanity." “He painted, from his stage, the true image of the homeland that every person dreams of -- a homeland of unity, dignity, and coexistence. He became a source of inspiration for all free people in defending just causes," Hezbollah added. The party also stressed that "Ziad Rahbani, with his immortal legacy, will remain a beacon of hope for future generations, who will draw from the wellspring of his art and thought to build a free and resistant homeland."

Timing critical as PM Salam plans cabinet session on Hezbollah’s armed status
LBCI/July 28/2025
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is considering convening a special cabinet session focused on Hezbollah’s weapons. He wants the meeting to be productive and lead to concrete results but is still deciding on the right timing. Lebanese officials, including Salam, are awaiting a response from U.S. envoy Tom Barrack regarding a recent proposal delivered in Beirut. Salam is unsure whether to hold the session before or after receiving that response. Although reports say Salam brought a proposal from Paris to Ain al-Tineh suggesting a dedicated ministerial meeting on Hezbollah’s arms, sources say he communicated to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt that no aid will be provided until the weapons issue is resolved and reforms are completed. Meanwhile, the atmosphere at Baabda Palace indicates that any proposal lacking consensus or thorough preparation will not be put before the cabinet, as Hezbollah interprets the situation.These developments come as U.S. envoy Tom Barrack tied the government’s credibility to turning its promises of exclusive state control over arms into real action. He emphasized that both the government and Hezbollah must fully comply to prevent Lebanon from remaining trapped in its current deadlock. Insiders see this as increased pressure on the government to follow through on a roadmap implementing the ceasefire agreement. The government had already committed to the deal during former Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s tenure and reaffirmed its commitment in its policy statement, including approval of the army deployment plan. At the same time, sources familiar with recent discussions between Berri and Barrack say that Berri conveyed to the envoy that Lebanon cannot rush the weapons issue, especially as Hezbollah has demonstrated a positive stance and commitment to the ceasefire, maintaining neutrality in the Iran-Israel conflict, and being part of both the executive and legislative branches. Sources also say Barrack communicated Lebanon’s position emphasizing the need to halt Israeli attacks before starting serious talks on weapons, expressing surprise at his firm tone on the matter.

Lebanese Army Intelligence arrests five suspects for forming terrorist cell
LBCI/July 28/2025
The Lebanese Army Command – Directorate of Guidance – announced in a statement that the Intelligence Directorate continues its monitoring and security pursuit of terrorist organizations. In this context, it arrested five suspects, including one Syrian and one Iraqi, for forming a terrorist cell.
The statement added that after interrogation, the detainees were referred to the competent judiciary.

MP Ibrahim Kanaan announces finance committee's approval of Banking Reform Law ahead of General Assembly vote
LBCI/July 28/2025
MP Ibrahim Kanaan announced that the Banking Reform Law was approved during a six-hour session of the Finance and Budget Committee. He recalled the committee’s recommendation to the government last May to submit the Financial Recovery and Deposit Restoration Law, “which the government has yet to do.”Following the session, Kanaan stated: “Depositors’ funds and accountability will not be sacrificed. Everyone knows how the money was wasted and how it was distributed between the government, the Central Bank, and the commercial banks.”
He added: “We affirmed the independence of the Higher Banking Commission from both political authorities and the banks, and depositors will be represented within it.”

Salam says Marcon meeting was positive, contrary to reports
Naharnet/July 28/2025
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has dismissed the reports that spread a negative atmosphere about his Paris meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron as well as his meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri and U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s mission. “I wonder where they get this news from. The meeting with Macron was positive, France is supportive of Lebanon and the magnitude of French support is linked to the developments that might happen. But I’m reassured that the renewal of the UNIFIL forces’ mandate will take place at the end of August,” Salam said in an interview with al-Liwaa newspaper. As for his expectations for the coming period, Salam said: “Things are open and nothing is final yet.”Asked about the media reports claiming that France and the U.S. want an Israeli buffer zone in south Lebanon, Salam said he has not heard of such demands.

Report: Lebanon warned of escalation in August if it doesn't act on arms monopoly
Naharnet/July 28/2025
The August deadline mentioned by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack turned out to be related to putting the issue of monopolizing arms in the hands of the state on Cabinet’s agenda, Al-Jadeed television reported. “Lebanon has received messages that we will face an Israeli escalation in August unless the entire Lebanese governing authority takes measures to accompany the international agenda,” Al-Jadeed quoted Lebanese political sources as saying. Al-Jadeed added that “Saudi-U.S.-French communication took place after Barrack’s visit to Lebanon, and it was agreed to reject what they considered as time buying, stressing the need that Lebanon go to the implementation of Barrack’s paper.”President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Nawaf Salam “are in agreement on the approach toward the weapons file, with the priority of avoiding domestic strife, and PM Salam informed Speaker Berri in their Saturday meeting of the negative indications that he heard in Paris,” Al-Jadeed said. As for Hezbollah’s stance, sources close to the party told Al-Jadeed that “its rejection of Barrack’s paper reflects its rejection of handing over arms according to the U.S.-Israeli conditions.” Hezbollah is “rather calling for a dialogue on how to preserve Lebanon’s strength within what it sees as a national strategy,” the sources said, adding that “Hezbollah understands the sensitivity of the coming period and is preparing for it without seeking to engage in war.” “If the war happens, it will be imposed on Lebanon,” the sources added.

Report: Salam proposes to Berri cabinet session on arms monopoly declaration
Naharnet/July 28/2025
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has returned from Paris with a proposal to Speaker Nabih Berri on holding a special cabinet session for discussing the file of arms and declaring Lebanon’s commitment to the implementation of the state’s monopoly over arms, al-Akhbar newspaper reported. “Although Salam said that he is not committed to the agenda proposed by (U.S. envoy Tom) Barrack, he tried with the parliament speaker to reach a ‘Lebanese initiative,’” the daily said. “Salam justified his stance by saying that that would contribute to thwarting the plans for withdrawing UNIFIL from the South and preventing the Americans from declaring escalatory stances that might become a cover for a new Israeli aggression against Lebanon,” the newspaper added.

Finance and budget committee approves banking reform law
Naharnet/July 28/2025
The finance and budget committee approved Monday the banking reform law, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, head of the committee, said after a 6-hour meeting. Kanaan assured Lebanese depositors that their money will not be touched. "Everyone knows how the money was squandered and how it was distributed between the government, the Central Bank, and the banks," he said, adding that depositors will be protected. International donors have been pressuring Lebanon to implement several financial reforms to address its severe economic crisis, as a pre-requisite for unlocking billions of dollars to help Lebanon recover from a crippling financial crisis that began in 2019, fueled by state mismanagement and entrenched corruption. In 2019, Lebanon's financial system collapsed and the Lebanese pound lost over 90% of its value against the U.S. dollar. Banks imposed strict limits on withdrawals, leaving depositors unable to access their savings.

Kuwait Designates Hezbollah and Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association on Sanctions List
Janubiya/July 28, 2025
The Committee for the Implementation of Security Council Resolutions Issued Under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, affiliated with the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced the designation of Hezbollah and its affiliated Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, in addition to three individuals of Lebanese, Tunisian, and Somali nationalities, on the Executive Regulations of Sanctions and the Freezing of Assets and Economic Resources. The Committee called on all companies and financial institutions in Kuwait to take the necessary measures to implement the designation decision, based on Articles 21, 22, and 23 of the approved Executive Regulations. This decision comes within the context of Kuwait's commitment to implementing UN Security Council resolutions related to combating the financing of terrorism and enhancing transparency in financial transactions.

Two Sharaa members killed on the Lebanese-Syrian border... Boiling blood and blood dominate the night!
Janubiya/July 28, 2025
Violent armed clashes erupted this evening in the village of Al-Masryia, located in the southeastern Homs countryside, on the Syrian-Lebanese border, between gunmen from the Abu Jabal clan and members of a man nicknamed "Al-Sharaa," amid escalating tensions in the area. Two Sharaa members were reportedly killed in the clashes. Machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades were used, leading to loud explosions in the Lebanese Hermel region adjacent to the border, sparking panic among residents.

Two Israeli Airstrikes on Bint Jbeil
Janubiya/July 28, 2025
This afternoon, Israeli warplanes carried out two airstrikes targeting the town of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, reviving security tensions and anxiety among the population. No official information has yet been released regarding any human casualties or the extent of the material damage resulting from the two airstrikes, though columns of smoke were seen rising from the targeted sites. These airstrikes come amid the ongoing escalation on the southern front.

Issa El Khoury: We will raise the issue of the state's monopoly on weapons in the next government session
NNA/July 28, 2025
Industry Minister Joe Issa El Khoury confirmed that "the Lebanese Forces ministers intend to raise the issue of the state's monopoly on weapons during the next government session," noting that they "have contacted a number of ministers who have expressed their responsiveness to this proposal."In an interview with MTV, he stressed that "the time has come to develop a realistic scenario based on the assumption that Hezbollah will not hand over its weapons, and to make the appropriate decision at the state level." He said, "US envoy Tom Barrack presented a 120-day timetable requiring Israel and Hezbollah to implement specific steps, with the United States ensuring the Israeli side's commitment, while the Lebanese government follows up on the issue related to Hezbollah through the Lebanese Army." He pointed out that "resignation is not on the table," emphasizing that "unanimity is not necessary to make a decision on the weapons issue; rather, a significant majority is sufficient to call on the Supreme Defense Council to develop a clear timetable for the handover of the weapons of illegal armed organizations."

UNIFIL affirms continuation of its mission: Health assistance to 3,000 civilians in the southern sector of the West Lebanon region
NNA/July 28, 2025
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced in a statement that "in line with the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 of 2006, peacekeepers in UNIFIL's Sector West mission continue to actively support local communities by assisting humanitarian organizations when needed."It explained that "in the past six months alone, more than 3,000 Lebanese civilians, including 1,300 women, 1,100 men, and 600 children, have benefited from medical care provided by health teams from the units deployed within UNIFIL's Sector West, which include troops from South Korea, Malaysia, Italy, Ireland/Poland, and Ghana, at health centers located within UNIFIL bases." He pointed out that "this health assistance provided to the civilian population aims to strengthen mutual trust with local communities, in coordination with the Lebanese authorities, provide tangible support to the people, and contribute to the stability and security of the area of operations, in accordance with the mandate granted by the United Nations." He added: "Over the past week, UNIFIL Sector West implemented three Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) projects to support the local health system, through interventions in key medical facilities in southern Lebanon. These highly impactful initiatives fall within the framework of civil-military cooperation and aim to strengthen the capacities of the health system in the region. At Tibnin Governmental Hospital, essential medical supplies were provided, with a focus on supporting the pediatric and neonatal wards. In Bint Jbeil, peacekeepers supported the temporary headquarters of the Lebanese Red Cross by donating emergency medical equipment, including defibrillators and other medical equipment, thanks to contributions from Italian donors. Also in Bint Jbeil, medical equipment was delivered to the Beit Jbeil Governmental Hospital, purchased locally in response to needs identified by the hospital administration." UNIFIL Sector West Commander, Major General Nicola Mandolesi, emphasized that "through these initiatives, we continue to strengthen our trust-based relationship with local institutions and the population, through effective support for the health system in southern Lebanon, which contributes to the stability and security of the region, in full accordance with our UN mandate."

Berri Calls for a Joint Session of Parliamentary Committees Next Wednesday
NNA /July 28, 2025
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called the Finance and Budget, Administration and Justice, National Defense, Interior and Municipalities, Public Works and Transport, Energy and Water, National Economy and Trade, Industry and Planning, and Media and Communications committees to a joint session at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, to consider the following agenda:
- The urgent draft law contained in Decree No. 602 amending Law No. 48 of September 7, 2017, regulating partnerships between the public and private sectors.
- A draft law aimed at subjecting contractors at the Ministry of Information to the retirement law.
- A draft law authorizing the Beirut Municipality to license energy production.

The Politics of Frozen Conflicts and Their Antidotes
Charles Chartouni/This is Beirut/July 28/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145743/
Paradoxically enough, the strategic contexts throughout the Middle and Near East extending between Iran and Gaza are in a state of volatility, and none of the security issues at stake have been addressed in a conclusive manner — or were ever meant to be. After the consecutive defeats that have unraveled the strategic and political realms of Iranian power politics, none of these countries have found their way back into political stability, and the regional political order is still swayed by the politics of frozen conflicts carefully managed by Iranian power politics and its nemeses.
Iran is laboring to regain through politics what it lost through war. One wonders whether this state of open-ended conflicts is likely to abate if the ambiguities of the Iranian regime are going to perpetuate endlessly. Undoubtedly, there must be an end to the gyrations of a defeated dictatorship trying to outmaneuver its nemeses and restore back the erstwhile dynamics based on chaos, endogenous instability and ongoing civil wars. Totalitarian regimes have no interest in international normalization and domestic stability, and do whatever they can to undermine both. The various regional scenarios testify to this state of affairs and its endemic features.
The tragic plight of Gaza is quite illustrative of this state of interlocked conflicts whereby Iran tries hard to maintain the open-ended cycles of violence highlighted through the intentional politics of victimization, the human shield strategy and the zero-sum game politics. The latest collapse of negotiations attests to Iran and its Palestinian proxies determination to undermine any diplomatic attempt to end the bloodshed and finish off with the nihilistic turn of events. One wonders whether these continuing combats have any military relevance, and what the purpose is of enduring the excruciating travails of the civilian population.
The manifest goal of this vicious strategy is to instrumentalize the humanitarian tragedies, promote nihilism and its strategic doubles, cater to the Iranian destabilization strategy, fuel the rhetoric of wokeism and its rhizomes and foster the state of regional volatility. The cultivation of violence is self-defining and needs no further qualification to make sense of its unfolding, no matter how devastating the humanitarian consequences and their political outcomes are. Truce agreements have turned awry, and idle diplomacy has led to nowhere. The Gulf terrorist bankrollers should be summoned to an ultimate diplomatic endeavor based on the unconditional liberation of Israeli hostages, the withdrawal of Hamas from the district and the formation of an international governance in agreement with the Israeli government and the Palestinian authority.
The situation in Lebanon is similar, as systemic entropies are eroding the foundations of statehood and nationhood, allowing Iran's Shiite proxies to seize control. The Shiite proxies have outlived their military defeat and are doggedly trying to take back control of the political system, instrumentalize its institutional infrastructures, and usurp its legal fiction to rehabilitate their domination politics and restore their role as the main levers of Iranian power politics in the Near East.
The whole democratic theatrics that have been playing out since the presidential election and the formation of the cabinet turned out to be idle simulations and empty gesticulations towards the restoration of the status quo ante. The so-called constitutional interim equates with the Shiite militancy maneuvering its way back to power through political blackmailing, corruption, fear and the recolonization of public space. The members of the new executive are mere accomplices enrolled voluntarily or involuntarily by Hezbollah and its clones.
Lebanon has lost its political and moral stature and undermined its ability to operate independently. The very fact that the current executive has failed to comply with the international mandates and spends its time justifying its self-defeating politics betrays major inconsistencies, unraveling consensuses and being pliable to Iranian power politics and their competing ilk. One can hardly see a way out of these labyrinthine and circuitous politics unless Hezbollah is finally crushed and the Shiite political mortgages and domination politics are eradicated.
The Syrian context reflects the contradictions of the post-Assad political scene and its ideological and political imbroglios. The transition politics convey the dilemmas of the new political scene: the urgency of reconciliation and reconstruction politics as a prelude to a process of normalization, be it at the internal or international levels. The Assad regime revealed its unwillingness to normalize and engage both objectives. Therefore, the Islamist regime that succeeded is supposed to embrace normalization politics unhesitatingly, especially when the Western democratic community has extended a welcoming hand.
The regime was under trial and had to validate its credentials and narrow the scope of its strategic errors and ideological distortions. The enlisted political and public policy benchmarks have displayed inherent inconsistencies all along a large spectrum of normative and operational discrepancies (oligarchic and discretionary style of governance), egregious human rights violations (pogroms targeting the Alawite and Druze communities, casual terror towards Christians and ambivalence towards Kurds) and a condescending Muslim suprematism. The prevarications of post-war politics unveiled the hidden face of the regime and its inability to deal with its hefty legacy and skewed strategic vision that are hardly reconcilable with the presumed normalization. Therefore, the regime has to undergo a thorough reality check pointing in different directions if it is to tackle Syria’s national security dilemmas and the monumental tasks of reconstruction.
The Yemeni double bind has to undergo a double severance, the one of reconciliation politics and the one of disengaging the Iranian power projections. The inability to deal with the intertwining challenges puts the Houthis on a hazardous course, the one of the ongoing civil war and its multiple instrumentations. This precarious situation demands a multifaceted approach, balancing diplomatic efforts with strategic interventions. Without a clear path forward, the prospects for peace remain bleak, leaving the region vulnerable to further instability and conflict. This severance course is unlikely to take place unless the Iranian power politics are firmly contained and the Houthis’ waywardness is severely curbed. The whole regional dynamic must change if the alternative political courses are to take place.
The unfinished war in Iran is questionable in various regards, including the state of denial that has prevented the regime from acknowledging its defeat and its fallout on its viability and its very status, at both the internal and external ends. The regime is still acting as if the military defeat is transient and likely to be erased forthwith. The abrupt halt of war has neither yielded a negotiating course nor brought the regime into an incremental liberalization and a reformist course. To the contrary, it doubled down on its repression policies, unfolding at the same time when the Israeli and US attacks were destroying its power and nuclear infrastructures. The annihilation of the Iranian regime has become mandatory; however, there might be reservations towards its perverse effects and unintended consequences. The regional normalization is unlikely to be considered unless the “politics of integrated platforms” devised by Qassem Soleimani is irreversibly buried. In counterpart, the awkward political context in Syria recalls the urgency of doing away with Islamist terrorism and its political modulations and their Shiite corollaries if the dynamics of peace are to take over in the Middle East and its extended geopolitical realms.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 28-29/2025
Iran rejects talks with West on ‘defense capabilities’
AFP/28 July/2025
Iran said on Monday that its military capabilities were not up for negotiations, after France called for a “comprehensive deal” with Tehran that covers its missile program and regional influence. “Regarding matters related to our defense capabilities, there will absolutely be no discussion,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a regular press briefing. Iran generally refers to all military activities, including its ballistic missile program, as defensive. On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told CBS News show “Face The Nation” that Western governments were seeking a “comprehensive agreement” with Iran, in part to avert the “risk” that it could covertly pursue a nuclear weapon -- an ambition Tehran has consistently denied. Barrot said such agreement would include “the nuclear dimension” as well as the “ballistic component” and “the regional destabilization activities that Iran has been conducting,” referring to armed groups backed by Tehran across the Middle East. His remarks followed a meeting on Friday between Iranian diplomats and counterparts from France, Germany, and Britain -- the first nuclear talks since Israeli strikes targeting the Islamic Republic’s atomic activities last month spiraled into a 12-day war. Friday’s talks in Istanbul came as the three European powers, known as the E3, have in recent weeks threatened to trigger a so-called “snapback mechanism” under a moribund 2015 nuclear deal which would reinstate UN sanctions on Iran. “Unless a new and robust and durable and verifiable agreement is reached by the end of the summer, France, Germany and the UK will have no other choice but to reapply the global embargo that were lifted 10 years ago,” said Barrot. Iran has previously warned that Tehran could withdraw from the global nuclear non-proliferation treaty if sanctions were reimposed.
Baqaei on Monday said: “One cannot expect a country to remain in the treaty while being deprived of its stated rights, particularly the peaceful use of nuclear energy.”Israel’s attacks on Iran last month hit key nuclear and military sites but also residential areas, and killed top commanders, nuclear scientists and hundreds others. The United States briefly joined the war, striking key nuclear sites. The fighting had derailed US-Iran nuclear negotiations that began in April, and prompted Iran to limit cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog. Baqaei said the Istanbul meeting with the European powers focused solely on “the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions. ”Raising any other “unrelated topics... is merely a sign of confusion on the part of the other side,” the spokesman said. He added that Iranian had emerged from the war with its staunch rival Israel “even more determined... to safeguard all their assets, including their means of defense against foreign aggression and hostility.”

Egypt president calls on Trump to assist in ending Gaza war
Associated Press/July 28/2025
Egypt’s leader on Monday called on U.S. President Donald Trump to help stop the war in Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to the strip’s desperate population. In a televised speech, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said the American leader is “the one who is able to stop the war, deliver the aid and end this suffering.” “Please, make every effort to stop this war and deliver the aid,” el-Sissi said, addressing Trump. “I believe that it’s time to end this war.”He described conditions inside Gaza as “tragic” and “intolerable.”

Israel says Gaza got 120 trucks of aid on day one of pause
Agence France Presse/July 28/2025
Israel said Monday that more than 120 truckloads of food aid were distributed by the U.N. and aid agencies in the Gaza Strip on the first day of a promised limited break in fighting. On Sunday, Israel declared a "tactical pause" in military operations in part of Gaza and promised to open secure routes for aid, urging humanitarian groups to step up food distribution. "Over 120 trucks were collected and distributed yesterday by the U.N. and international organizations," said COGAT, an Israeli defense ministry body overseeing civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories. "An additional 180 trucks entered Gaza and are now awaiting collection and distribution, along with hundreds of others still queued for UN pickup," COGAT said in a post on X. Separately, Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have conducted parachute air drops of smaller quantities of aid. More than two million Palestinians live in Gaza and, before the eruption of the latest 21-month-old conflict between Israel and Hamas, it took roughly 500 trucks per day of commercial trade and humanitarian aid to supply the territory. In recent weeks U.N. agencies have been warning of a life-threatening famine as aid supplies dry up, and international pressure has been building for a ceasefire to allow a massive relief operation. Israel's government, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, furiously denies that it is using hunger as a weapon of war, and instead accuses the aid agencies of failing to pick up and distribute aid delivered to Gaza's border crossing points. "More consistent collection and distribution by UN agencies and international organizations equals more aid reaching those who need it most in Gaza," COGAT said.

Israeli strikes kill at least 36 people in Gaza
Associated Press/July 28/2025
Israeli strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians in multiple locations across Gaza on Monday, local health officials said, a day after Israel eased aid restrictions in the face of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory. The dead included a newborn who was delivered in a complex surgery after his mother, who was seven months pregnant, was killed in a strike, according to the Nasser Hospital. Israel announced Sunday that the military would pause operations in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi for 10 hours a day until further notice to allow for the improved flow of aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where concern over hunger has grown, and designate secure routes for aid delivery. Israel said it would continue military operations alongside the new humanitarian measures. The Israeli military had no immediate comment about the latest strikes, which occurred outside the time frame for the pause Israel declared would be held between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. Aid agencies have welcomed the new aid measures, which also included allowing airdrops into Gaza, but said they were not enough to counter the rising hunger in the Palestinian territory. Images of emaciated children have sparked outrage around the world, including from Israel's close allies. U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday called the images of emaciated and malnourished children in Gaza "terrible."Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine to pressure Hamas to free hostages. Israel partially lifted those restrictions in May but also pushed ahead on a new U.S.-backed aid delivery system that has been wracked by chaos and violence. Traditional aid providers also have encountered a similar breakdown in law and order surrounding their aid deliveries.
Most of Gaza's population now relies on aid. Accessing food has become a challenge that some Palestinians have risked their lives for. The Awda hospital in central Gaza said it received the bodies of seven Palestinians who it said were killed Monday by Israeli fire close to an aid distribution site run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The hospital said 20 others were wounded close to the site. GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The pregnant woman and her child were killed along with 11 others after their house was struck in the Muwasi area, west of the southern city of Khan Younis, according to a hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent. Another strike hit a two-story house in the western Japanese neighborhood of Khan Younis, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, said the Nasser Hospital, which received the casualties. At least five others were killed in strikes elsewhere in Gaza, according to local hospitals. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on most of the strikes. It said it was not aware of one strike in Gaza City during the pause that health officials said killed one person. In its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. It still holds 50, more than half Israel believes to be dead. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 59,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says over half of the dead are women and children. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

US dismisses UN Israel-Palestinian conference as 'publicity stunt'
LBCI/July 28/2025
The United States on Monday dismissed a French-Saudi-sponsored conference at the United Nations on promoting a two-state solution to the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis as a "stunt."The U.S. State Department labeled the three-day event "unproductive and ill-timed," as well as a "publicity stunt" that would make finding peace harder.The diplomatic push is a "reward for terrorism," the statement said, also calling the promise to recognize a Palestinian state by French President Emmanuel Macron "counterproductive."AFP

What to expect and what not to at UN meeting on Israel-Palestine two-state solution
Associated Press/July 28/2025
The U.N. General Assembly is bringing high-level officials together this week to promote a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict that would place their peoples side by side, living in peace in independent nations. Israel and its close ally the United States are boycotting the two-day meeting, which starts Monday and will be co-chaired by the foreign ministers of France and Saudi Arabia. Israel's right-wing government opposes a two-state solution, and the United States has called the meeting "counterproductive" to its efforts to end the war in Gaza. France and Saudi Arabia want the meeting to put a spotlight on the two-state solution, which they view as the only viable road map to peace, and to start addressing the steps to get there. The meeting was postponed from late June and downgraded from a four-day meeting of world leaders amid surging tensions in the Middle East, including Israel's 12-day war against Iran and the war in Gaza. "It was absolutely necessary to restart a political process, the two-state solution process, that is today threatened, more threatened than it has ever been," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Sunday on CBS News' "Face the Nation."
Here's what's useful to know about the upcoming gathering.
Why a two-state solution?
The idea of dividing the Holy Land goes back decades. When the British mandate over Palestine ended, the U.N. partition plan in 1947 envisioned dividing the territory into Jewish and Arab states. Israel accepted the plan, but upon Israel's declaration of independence the following year, its Arab neighbors declared war and the plan was never implemented. Under a 1949 armistice, Jordan held control over the West Bank and east Jerusalem and Egypt over Gaza. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those lands for a future independent state alongside Israel, and this idea of a two-state solution based on Israel's pre-1967 boundaries has been the basis of peace talks dating back to the 1990s. The two-state solution has wide international support. The logic behind it is that the populations of Israel, east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza are divided equally between Jews and Palestinians. The establishment of an independent Palestine would leave Israel as a democratic country with a solid Jewish majority and grant the Palestinians their dream of self-determination.
Why hold a conference now?
France and Saudi Arabia have said they want to put a spotlight on the two-state solution as the only viable path to peace in the Middle East — and they want to see a road map with specific steps, first ending the war in Gaza. The co-chairs said in a document sent to U.N. members in May that the primary goal of the meeting is to identify actions by "all relevant actors" to implement the two-state solution — and "to urgently mobilize the necessary efforts and resources to achieve this aim, through concrete and time-bound commitments."Saudi diplomat Manal Radwan, who led the country's delegation to the preparatory conference, said the meeting must "chart a course for action, not reflection." It must be "anchored in a credible and irreversible political plan that addresses the root cause of the conflict and offers a real path to peace, dignity and mutual security," she said. French President Emmanuel Macron has pushed for a broader movement toward a two-state solution in parallel with a recognition of Israel's right to defend itself. He announced late Thursday that France will recognize the state of Palestine officially at the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly in late September. About 145 countries have recognized the state of Palestine. But Macron's announcement, ahead of Monday's meeting and amid increasing global anger over desperately hungry people in Gaza starting to die from starvation, makes France the most important Western power to do so.
What is Israel's view?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects the two-state solution on both nationalistic and security grounds. Netanyahu's religious and nationalist base views the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people, while Israeli Jews overwhelmingly consider Jerusalem their eternal capital. The city's eastern side is home to Judaism's holiest site, along with major Christian and Muslim holy places. Hard-line Israelis like Netanyahu believe the Palestinians don't want peace, citing the second Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s, and more recently the Hamas takeover of Gaza two years after Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005. The Hamas takeover led to five wars, including the current and ongoing 21-month conflict. At the same time, Israel also opposes a one-state solution in which Jews could lose their majority. Netanyahu's preference seems to be the status quo, where Israel maintains overall control and Israelis have fuller rights than Palestinians, Israel deepens its control by expanding settlements, and the Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy in pockets of the West Bank. Netanyahu condemned Macron's announcement of Palestinian recognition, saying it "rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became."
What is the Palestinian view?
The Palestinians, who label the current arrangement "apartheid," accuse Israel of undermining repeated peace initiatives by deepening settlement construction in the West Bank and threatening annexation. That would harm the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian state and their prospects for independence. Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the PLO Executive Committee and close associate of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the meeting will serve as preparation for a presidential summit expected in September. It will take place either in France or at the U.N. on the sidelines of the high-level meeting, U.N. diplomats said. Majdalani said the Palestinians have several goals, first a "serious international political process leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state."The Palestinians also want additional international recognition of their state by major countries including Britain. But expect that to happen in September, not at Monday's meeting, Majdalani said. And he said they want economic and financial support for the Palestinian Authority and international support for the reconstruction and recovery of the Gaza Strip.
What will happen — and won't happen — at the meeting?
All 193 U.N. member nations have been invited to attend the meeting and a French diplomat said about 40 ministers are expected. The United States and Israel are the only countries who are boycotting. The co-chairs have circulated an outcome document which could be adopted, and there could be some announcements of intentions to recognize a Palestinian state. But with Israel and the United States boycotting, there is no prospect of a breakthrough and the resumption of long-stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on an end to their conflict. Secretary-General António Guterres urged participants after the meeting was announced "to keep the two-state solution alive." And he said the international community must not only support a solution where independent states of Palestine and Israel live side-by-side in peace but "materialize the conditions to make it happen."

Trump says many are starving in Gaza, vows to set up food centers
Reuters/28 July/2025
US President Donald Trump said on Monday many people were starving in Gaza and suggested Israel could do more on humanitarian access, as desperate Palestinians hoped for aid a day after the Israeli military announced steps to improve supplies. As the death toll from two years of war in Gaza nears 60,000, a growing number of people are dying from starvation and malnutrition, Gaza health authorities say, with images of starving children shocking the world and fueling international criticism of Israel over sharply worsening conditions. Describing starvation in Gaza as real, Trump’s assessment put him at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Monday “there is no starvation in Gaza” and vowed to fight on against the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Trump, speaking during a visit to Scotland, said Israel has a lot of responsibility for aid flows, and that a lot of people could be saved. “You have a lot of starving people,” he said. “We’re going to set up food centers,” with no fences or boundaries to ease access, Trump said. The US would work with other countries to provide more humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, including food and sanitation, he said. On Monday, the Gaza health ministry said at least 14 people had died in the past 24 hours of starvation and malnutrition, bringing the war’s death toll from hunger to 147, including 88 children, most in just the last few weeks. Israel announced several measures over the weekend, including daily humanitarian pauses in three areas of Gaza, new safe corridors for aid convoys, and airdrops. The decision followed the collapse of ceasefire talks on Friday. UN agencies said a long-term steady supply of aid was needed. The World Food Program said 60 trucks of aid had been dispatched - short of target. Almost 470,000 people in Gaza are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments, it said. “Our target at the moment, every day is to get 100 trucks into Gaza,” WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, Samer AbdelJaber, told Reuters. Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters the situation is catastrophic. “At this time, children are dying every single day from starvation, from preventable disease. So time has run out,” he said. “The catastrophe is here,” he said. “Children are dying from starvation, and it’s manmade by Israel from A to Z.”
Netanyahu denied any policy of starvation towards Gaza,saying aid supplies would be kept up whether Israel was negotiating a ceasefire or fighting, he said.
Hamas ‘shall be there no more’
“We will continue to fight till we achieve the release of our hostages and the destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities. They shall be there no more,” Netanyahu said. Trump said Hamas had become difficult to deal with in recent days, but he was talking with Netanyahu about “various plans” to free hostages still held in the enclave. The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked communities in southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies. The Gaza health ministry said that 98 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours. In Gaza, Palestinians described the challenge of securing aid for their families living in tent encampments, a chaotic and often dangerous process. “Currently aid comes for the strong who can race ahead, who can push others and grab a box or a sack of flour. That chaos must be stopped and protection for those trucks must be allowed,” said Emad, 58, who used to own a factory in Gaza City. While some manage to get aid, others are deprived, said Wessal Nabil, from Beit Lahiya. She said her husband was unable to bring aid because of an injured leg. She had tried herself several times but without success. “So who will feed us? Who will give us to drink?” she told Reuters. The WFP said it has 170,000 metric tons of food in the region, outside Gaza, which would be enough to feed the whole population for the next three months if it gets the clearance to bring into the enclave. COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said that over 120 trucks were distributed in Gaza on Sunday by the U.N. and international organizations. Some of the trucks that made it into Gaza were seized by desperate Palestinians, and some by armed looters, witnesses said. More aid was expected on Monday. Qatar said it had sent 49 trucks that arrived in Egypt en route for Gaza. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped supplies. Israel cut off aid to Gaza from the start of March in what it said was a means to pressure Hamas into giving up dozens of hostages it still holds, and reopened aid with new restrictions in May. Hamas accuses Israel of using hunger as a weapon. Israel says it abides by international law but must prevent aid from being diverted by militants, and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza’s people.

More aid needed to tackle famine-like conditions in Gaza, WFP says
Reuters/28 July/2025
A long-term steady supply of aid is needed to counter the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, UN agencies said on Monday after mounting pressure prompted Israel to ease restrictions in the Palestinian enclave. Israel carried out an air drop and announced a series of measures over the weekend, including daily humanitarian pauses in three areas of Gaza and new safe corridors for aid convoys, after images of starving children alarmed the world. For the latest updates on the Israel-Palestine conflict, visit our dedicated page. On Monday, the Gaza health ministry said at least 14 people had died in the past 24 hours of starvation and malnutrition, bringing the war’s death toll from hunger to 147, including 89 children, most in just the last few weeks. The World Food Program said 60 trucks of aid had been dispatched but that this amount fell short of Gaza’s needs. “Sixty is definitely not enough. So our target at the moment, every day is to get 100 trucks into Gaza,” WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, Samer AbdelJaber, told Reuters. The WFP said that almost 470,000 people in Gaza are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments.
“I cannot say that in a week we will be able to really avert the risks. It has to be something continuous and scalable,” AbdelJaber said.
Looting
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said aid supply would be kept up whether Israel was negotiating a ceasefire or fighting in Gaza. The WFP said it has 170,000 metric tons of food in the region, outside Gaza, which would be enough to feed the whole population for the next three months if it gets the clearance to bring into the enclave. COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said that over 120 trucks were distributed in Gaza on Sunday by the U.N. and international organizations. But some of those trucks that made it into Gaza were seized by desperate Palestinians, and some by armed looters, witnesses said. “Currently aid comes for the strong who can race ahead, who can push others and grab a box or a sack of flour. That chaos must be stopped and protection for those trucks must be allowed,” said Emad, 58, who used to own a wood factory in Gaza City. More aid was expected to flow in on Monday. Qatar said in a statement it had sent 49 trucks that arrived in Egypt en route for Gaza. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped supplies into Gaza. Israel cut off aid to Gaza from the start of March in what it said was a means to pressure Hamas into giving up dozens of hostages it still holds, and reopened aid with new restrictions in May. Israel says it abides by international law but must prevent aid from being diverted by militants, and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza’s people. “Israel is presented as though we are applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza. What a bald-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza,” Netanyahu said on Sunday. He added that with the newly announced measures, it was up to the UN to deliver the aid. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said on Sunday that some movement restrictions appeared to have been eased by Israel. A senior WFP official said on Sunday that the agency needs quick approvals by Israel for its trucks to move into Gaza if it is to take advantage of the humanitarian pauses in fighting. The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel’s offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins, and displaced nearly the entire population of more than two million. Indirect ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have broken off with no deal in sight.

EU proposes curbs on Israel research funding over Gaza crisis
Reuters/28 July/2025
The European Union’s executive body recommended on Monday curbing Israeli access to its flagship research funding program after calls from EU countries to increase pressure on Israel to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Multiple EU countries said last week that Israel was not living up to its commitments under an agreement with the European Union on increasing aid supplies to Gaza and asked the European Commission to put concrete options on the table. The proposal to partially suspend Israel’s participation in the Horizon Europe program needs approval from a qualified majority of EU countries to take effect – at least 15 of the EU’s 27 members, representing at least 65 percent of its population. The European Commission said in a statement that the proposal comes as a reaction to a review of Israel’s compliance with the human rights clause of an agreement governing its relations with the EU.
The bloc’s diplomatic service said in June that there were indications that Israel had breached its obligations under the terms of the pact. “While Israel has announced a daily humanitarian pause in Gaza fighting and has met some of its commitments under the common understanding on humanitarian aid and access, the situation remains severe,” the Commission said on Monday. The UN’s World Food Program has said that almost 470,000 people in Gaza are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments. The Israeli government has rejected international criticism of its policies in the enclave. Israel’s foreign ministry said in a post on social media platform X on Monday that the Commission’s move was “mistaken, regrettable, and unjustified” and that it hoped EU member countries would not adopt the proposal. Israel has been participating in the EU’s research programs since 1996, taking part in thousands of joint projects over the past decades. The Commission said the proposal would impact the participation of Israeli entities in the bloc’s European Innovation Council Accelerator “which targets start-ups and small businesses with disruptive innovations and emerging technologies that have potential dual-use applications, such as in cybersecurity, drones, and artificial intelligence.” It did not say how much funding would be affected by the proposed freeze.

Putin, Netanyahu discuss Syria and Iran in phone call, Kremlin says
Agencies/28 July/2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Syria and Iran in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, the Kremlin said. It said Putin stressed the importance of upholding Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and restated Russia’s readiness to help negotiate a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue. Russia, a close ally of Syria’s former long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad, who reportedly fled to Moscow with his family, still has two military bases in the country. Russia is also close to Iran, having boosted military ties amid the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine. But Moscow also strives for good relations with Israel, home to a large Russian-born community.

Syria sets date for selection of new transitional parliament
Agence France Presse/July 28/2025
Syrian authorities announced that a new transitional parliament would be selected in September, with local electoral bodies picking two-thirds of the lawmakers and the country's interim president naming the rest. After toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after nearly 14 years of civil war, Syria's new authorities -- led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa -- dissolved the country's rubber-stamp legislature and adopted a temporary constitutional declaration to cover a five-year transition period. In June, a presidential decree established a 10-member committee to supervise the formation of local electoral bodies to select a new batch of lawmakers. State news agency SANA reported on Sunday that committee head Mohammed Taha al-Ahmad had met with Sharaa to discuss the process, later announcing plans for a new 210-seat parliament with 140 members chosen by the local bodies and 70 appointed by the president. "The election of members of the People's Assembly is expected to take place between 15-20 September," Ahmad was quoted as saying, vowing women would be represented in the process. Ahmad's committee presented Sharaa with the final plan for the selection process during a meeting on Saturday, according to a statement from the presidency. The local electoral bodies will be formed within about three weeks of the signing of the decree laying out the temporary system, SANA cited Ahmad as saying. After that, candidacies will open, with hopefuls given about a week to prepare their platforms before debates are held.
The assembly will have a renewable mandate of 36 months, according to the constitutional declaration adopted in March. The declaration stated that the parliament would exercise legislative powers until a permanent constitution was adopted and new elections were held.
When it was first announced, critics of the declaration warned it concentrated power in Sharaa's hands and failed to reflect the country's ethnic and religious diversity. The authorities' ability to maintain stability and security, particularly for minority groups, has been repeatedly called into question by periodic outbreaks of violence in which government forces and their allies have been implicated.

3 killed in Iraq clashes between armed group, security forces
Agence France Presse/July 28/2025
Three people, including a policeman, were killed Sunday during clashes in Baghdad between security forces and pro-Iran gunmen, according to authorities and a member of a local armed group. The violence erupted when armed men stormed a local office of the agriculture ministry in the city's south, the interior ministry said. Police forces responding to the scene "came under fire", resulting in several injuries among security personnel, the ministry added. Iraq's Joint Operations Command, which coordinates between security forces and the military, said 14 suspects were detained who belonged to the Hashed al-Shaabi, a network of former paramilitary units that have been integrated into the regular security forces. Several other security sources, however, told AFP that the armed men were affiliated with the powerful pro-Iran group Kataeb Hezbollah, a faction within the Hashed al-Shaabi that sometimes acts on its own. Kataeb Hezbollah had opposed a recent appointment at the agriculture office, which is located in an area where the group holds influence, the sources said on condition of anonymity as they were not allowed to speak to the media. "One policeman was killed" and others were wounded, said one official. Another security source said one policeman and one civilian were killed. A member of Kataeb Hezbollah said that a fighter from the group was also killed and six others wounded. He added that the group "does not want to escalate", and would allow the judiciary to take its course. After decades of war and turmoil, gun battles -- sometimes sparked by minor feuds -- are not uncommon in Iraq, where many armed groups operate. Iraq is led by an Iran-aligned coalition called the Coordination Framework, which brings together Shiite Islamist parties and factions of the Hashed al-Shaabi. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has ordered a probe into the incident at the agriculture office. The interior ministry said "it would not tolerate any party attempting to impose its will by force and threaten state institutions."

Trump sets 10 to 12-day deadline for Russia on war with Ukraine
Reuters/28 July/2025
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he was setting a new 10 or 12-day deadline for Russia over its war in Ukraine, underscoring his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for prolonging fighting between the two sides.Speaking in Scotland, where he is holding meetings with European leaders and playing golf, Trump said he was disappointed in Putin and shortening a 50-day deadline he had set on the issue earlier this month. “I’m going to make a new deadline of about ... 10 or 12 days from today,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “There’s no reason in waiting... We just don’t see any progress being made.” The US president has repeatedly voiced exasperation with Putin for continuing attacks on Ukraine despite US efforts to end the war. Before returning to the White House in January, Trump, who views himself as a peacemaker, had promised to end the three-and-a-half-year-old conflict within 24 hours. “I’m disappointed in President Putin,” Trump said on Monday. “I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number because I think I already know the answer what’s going to happen.” There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.
Trump has threatened new sanctions on Russia and buyers of its exports unless an agreement is reached by early September. But the president, who has also expressed annoyance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not always followed up on his tough talk about Putin with action, citing what he deems a good relationship that the two men have had previously. “We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever,” Trump said. “And I say that’s not the way to do it.”

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on July 27-28/2025
'Bring the Head of Trump': Iran Must Be Stopped
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./July 28, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145739/
Shortly after the fatwa was announced, Mansour Emami, the state-appointed head of Iran's official Islamic Propagation Organization... announced that a reward of 100 billion tomans (approximately $1.14 million) would be paid to anyone who "brings the head of Trump."
On top of that, reports from inside Iran reveal that the regime and its supporters have reportedly raised more than $40 million in a crowdfunding campaign to murder Trump. What has the response been from the international community? Silence. Where are the liberal voices, the pro-Iran "diplomacy-first" crowd, the think tank elites who have spent years telling us that we should appease Tehran and give them billions of dollars for "peace"? Where are the so-called champions of human rights in the West, who constantly criticize Israel and the U.S. but cannot seem to say a word about an Islamic regime putting a bounty on the head of an American president? In the minds of Iran's clerics, a fatwa is binding, a direct command from a "representative of God" on earth. When a fatwa calls for killing a person, it is a divine order for murder, complete with the promise of heavenly reward for the murderer.
When Shirazi issued his fatwa, he did not just target Trump. He declared Trump a mohareb — an enemy of God. In the ideology of Iran's theocratic regime, this label also carries the death penalty. The person who kills Trump, in their eyes, is not just a hitman; he is a holy warrior. A martyr. A man destined for paradise, where virgins and heavenly blessings await him. It is this worldview that is now driving Iran's strategy; the danger is not just to Trump, but to every nation in the free world and to everyone who practices any religion other than Shia Islam.
It is time for Americans to stop pretending that diplomacy will solve everything. It will not. Every American should support policies that will eventually lead to the fall of Iran's murderous government: it does not hesitate to kill its neighbors or even its own people... and continuing to use military force when necessary to protect American lives and interests. Under no circumstances should the US reward Iran with concessions. In Iran, that is seen only as weakness. It sends a message to every terrorist and tyrant in the world that the United States can be pushed to offer bribes, which are then used to build their war machines.
If we allow such aggression go unanswered—if we allow a sitting president to be hunted with no consequences — we are only begging for more attacks. Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, one of the most powerful clerics in Iran's theocratic system, has issued an official fatwa — a religious decree — calling for the murder of President Donald J. Trump. What makes the fatwa even more outrageous is that the regime is not just issuing threats—it has been raising money, publicly -- to pay for Trump's murder.
Iran's regime has crossed a line that no sovereign state has ever crossed before: it openly called for the assassination of a sitting president of the United States.
Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, one of the most powerful clerics in Iran's theocratic system, has issued an official fatwa — a religious decree — calling for the murder of President Donald J. Trump. It did not come from some fringe radical hiding in a cave. It came directly from the top of Iran's religious and political hierarchy. This is equivalent to a declaration of war. What makes the fatwa even more outrageous is that the regime is not just issuing threats—it has been raising money, publicly -- to pay for Trump's murder. It is not a joke. It is a direct, state-sanctioned call to eliminate America's leader.
Shortly after the fatwa was announced, Mansour Emami, the state-appointed head of Iran's official Islamic Propagation Organization in West Azerbaijan Province, announced that a reward of 100 billion tomans (approximately $1.14 million) would be paid to anyone who "brings the head of Trump." A religious cleric with an official government position, not a rogue agent, was offering a million-dollar bounty to behead the U.S. president. On top of that, reports from inside Iran reveal that the regime and its supporters have reportedly raised more than $40 million in a crowdfunding campaign to murder Trump. This is the kind of behavior you would expect from ISIS or al-Qaeda, not from a government that has embassies, diplomats, and sits at the negotiating table with the United Nations and other world powers. What has the response been from the international community? Silence. Where are the liberal voices, the pro-Iran "diplomacy-first" crowd, the think tank elites who have spent years telling us that we should appease Tehran and give them billions of dollars for "peace"? Where are the so-called champions of human rights in the West, who constantly criticize Israel and the U.S. but cannot seem to say a word about an Islamic regime putting a bounty on the head of an American president? If any Western nation, let alone the United States, had done something even remotely similar, the global media and the complicit United Nations would have gone into meltdown. Because the call comes from Iran — the pet regime of the academic left, the darling of anti-American ideologues — it gets a pass? A fatwa is not just a statement or opinion. A fatwa is a religious edict issued by an Islamic authority that carries "spiritual" and legal obligation within Islamic law. In the minds of Iran's clerics, a fatwa is binding, a direct command from a "representative of God" on earth. When a fatwa calls for killing a person, it is a divine order for murder, complete with the promise of heavenly reward for the murderer.
That is exactly what happened in 1989, when Iran's then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa for the murder of author Salman Rushdie, for allegedly blaspheming Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses -- a work of fiction. Western commentators at the time scoffed at the order, called it "symbolic." Then what happened? After decades, the fatwa was acted upon. In 2022, Rushdie was stabbed multiple times on a stage in New York by a young Muslim man who was radicalized online and motivated by the decree to kill.
The same dynamic is now unfolding against Trump. When Shirazi issued his fatwa, he did not just target Trump. He declared Trump a mohareb — an enemy of God. In the ideology of Iran's theocratic regime, this label also carries the death penalty. The person who kills Trump, in their eyes, is not just a hitman; he is a holy warrior. A martyr. A man destined for paradise, where virgins and heavenly blessings await him. It is this worldview that is now driving Iran's strategy; the danger is not just to Trump, but to every nation in the free world and to everyone who practices any religion other than Shia Islam.
What makes this situation even more grotesque is that Trump actually spared the life of Iran's top leader. Just before Shirazi's fatwa, Trump publicly revealed that, during Israeli and American airstrikes in Iran, he had precise intelligence on the exact location of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Trump could have authorized a strike that would have killed Iran's ruler and decapitated the regime. But he did not. He later said, "I saved him [Khamenei] from a very ugly and ignominious death." That was not the action of a warmonger, but of a strong, careful leader who knows the power of mercy. How did Iran respond? By offering $40 million for Trump's head.
This should alarm every American. Make no mistake—this fatwa extends beyond Trump himself. The same regime has plotted to assassinate former Trump officials has been killing Americans for decades, including the 1983 bombings in Beirut and the attacks on 9/11. The Department of Justice and U.S. intelligence agencies have already foiled Iranian plots on U.S. soil. Nevertheless, we are dealing with a regime that has the will, the money, and the operational capability to carry out these threats.
It is time for Americans to stop pretending that diplomacy will solve everything. It will not. We are not dealing with a "normal" government here. This is a theocratic death cult with oil money and ballistic missiles. Yet, some in Washington still want to negotiate with this regime, sign new nuclear deals, release frozen Iranian funds, and ease sanctions. Are we insane? How do you negotiate with a regime that since its inception has vowed "Death to America" – as an outspoken official "policy" -- and that is openly raising money to kill your president?
The time for adolescent wishes for a one-sided "peace" is over. If Iran's regime has declared war on the United States, then we had better treat it as such. Every American should support policies that will eventually lead to the fall of Iran's murderous government: it does not hesitate to kill its neighbors or even its own people. Such policies might include maintaining and expanding primary and especially secondary sanctions; isolating Iran diplomatically, building a coalition with allies such as Israel and Gulf states – and continuing to use military force when necessary to protect American lives and interests.
We must also support the Iranian people who risk everything to rise up against this tyranny. The young men and women who chant "Death to the dictator!" in the streets of Tehran are our natural allies. We should be funding them, broadcasting their voices, and helping them organize against the regime.
Under no circumstances should the US reward Iran with concessions. In Iran, that is seen only as weakness. It sends a message to every terrorist and tyrant in the world that the United States can be pushed to offer bribes, which are then used to build their war machines.
Iran's regime is not a victim of Western aggression. It is not "misunderstood." It is a violent, expansionist, apocalyptic regime that openly wants to destroy America and dominate the Middle East, then the rest of the world:
"We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry 'There is no god but Allah' resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle," Khomeini, the founder of the 1979 Islamic revolution, declared.
The regime funds terrorists, murders dissidents, persecutes religious minorities, and now, is calling for the murder of the American president. It is important to respond with strength.
This confrontation is not just about Trump. It is about the future of America's security and the survival of Western civilization. The Iranian regime has made its intentions clear: it wants to eliminate the symbol of American strength, leadership and freedom – on its way to eliminating America. Why else has it infiltrated South America and Cuba? If we allow such aggression go unanswered—if we allow a sitting president to be hunted with no consequences — we are only begging for more attacks.
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**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
**Follow Majid Rafizadeh on X (formerly Twitter)
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute.

The poisons of power balances
Ghassan Charbe/Asharq Al-Awsat/July 28, 2025
The first component of wisdom is a precise assessment of the balance of power. It is indispensable in war, revolution or a coup d’etat. The balance of power is an almost inescapable consideration that cannot easily be written out of the equation. Ignoring it usually leads to catastrophic consequences, but while force wins wars, it does not necessarily guarantee durable stability.
Vladimir Putin read the balance of power. He knew that the West would yell after waking up to see Russian tanks erasing what it called an international border with Ukraine. However, NATO would not risk sending troops to defend a country that is not a member of the alliance. The US would impose sanctions and make threats, but it would not send its forces and risk raising the specter of a third world war. He calculated correctly and now his army is continuing to devour more territory, having already secured control over the lands annexed by Russia. However, history shows that coercion and subjugation cannot become the basis for lasting stability.
The people of the Middle East have their own long and painful history with the balance of power. In 1967, Gamal Abdel Nasser did not dwell on the regional balance of power or its equations. His announcement of the closure of the Straits of Tiran and decision to mobilize Egypt’s army drove Israel to launch the war that led to the occupation of Sinai, the West Bank and the Golan Heights — a war that only deepened the glaring imbalance of power in the region.
Anwar Sadat concluded that Egypt could not tolerate the occupation of Sinai. He coordinated with Hafez Assad and waged the war of 1973. Despite the achievements of the Egyptian army, the course of the war ended up being a stark reminder of the balance of power’s painful dictates. Sadat realized that Sinai could not be taken back by force; accordingly, he chose to accept the facts on the ground, eventually recovering the land through the Camp David Accords.
Assad launched a vicious campaign against Sadat, but he too quietly accepted the harsh logic of the balance of power and understood that forcefully reclaiming the Golan Heights was impossible. Instead, he opted to compensate for this loss. “Recovering” Lebanon was within reach and he managed the country and consolidated the presence of his forces.
This is what makes the two-state solution, a cause that Saudi Arabia has played an active and influential role in pursuing, so important.
When Fatah fired its first shot on the first day of January 1965, Yasser Arafat was dreaming of reclaiming all his people’s occupied land with the barrel of his gun. His long and bitter battles taught him cruel lessons about the realities of the balance of power from Tel Aviv to Washington. That is how we got the scene of Arafat shaking hands with Yitzhak Rabin in the Rose Garden of the White House, and why we saw him accept the dream of a state on part of this land and the painful concession of the rest.
From his residence in France, Ayatollah Khomeini spoke candidly to Saddam Hussein’s envoy. He told him that the overthrow of the “infidel Baath regime” was the second item on his agenda, after toppling the shah’s regime. Khomeini’s dream was to take down Saddam’s regime, especially when Iran gained the upper hand in the war with Iraq. However, the balance of international power did not allow Khomeini to realize his dream and he was ultimately forced to swallow the bitter poison and accept a ceasefire.
Saddam, for his part, ignored the realities of the balance of power when he ordered his forces to invade Kuwait. He did not consider the need to avoid an American invasion of Iraq, framing the event as “a battle for the dignity of the nation,” as Yemen’s former foreign minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi told our newspaper.
Let us leave the past and turn to the present. When the Israeli air force began destroying the weapons of “Assad’s army,” President Ahmad Al-Sharaa had no choice but to accept the constraints of the balance of power. This imbalance only deepened after Israel succeeded in driving Iran out of Syria and dealt a painful blow to Hezbollah and its leadership in Lebanon. When the crisis erupted in Sweida, Al-Sharaa found himself with no option but to heed the balance of power’s dictates once again.
President Joseph Aoun, along with his government, is now experiencing the bitterness of this power balance and its shifts following “the flood.” Israeli drones continue to violate Lebanese airspace, carrying out targeted assassinations. The president knows that disarming Hezbollah is the condition that the US and international community have demanded of Lebanon for reconstruction and aid.
We must not forget the poisons of the balance of power and the constraints they have imposed on the Palestinian Authority. Since Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has been in a frenzy of vengeance and the pursuit of victory. There is no denying that its war machine, with backing from the US, succeeded in crushing Gaza, asserting control over multiple regions’ airspace and carrying out incursions into Syrian and Lebanese territory.
The current balance of power is clear: the Palestinians are not well placed to reclaim their rights by force, neither now nor in the foreseeable future. The same can be said of Syria, which must prioritize building a state of institutions that preserves unity and coexistence, opening the door to stability and prosperity. Lebanon’s Hezbollah is similarly incapable of launching a new war against Israel, neither now nor in the foreseeable future.
Faced with imbalances of this magnitude, the weaker side has no real options. It can only turn to international legitimacy. The principles of international legitimacy offer protection from the injustices currently imposed by the balance of power. It is also essential for addressing the key issue: the injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people, which has been the root cause of instability across the Middle East.
The poisons of the balance of power can only be remedied by returning to the principles of international legitimacy. Only these principles can guarantee a just peace. That is what makes the two-state solution, a cause that Saudi Arabia has played an active and influential role in pursuing, so important. The most recent fruit of this diplomatic momentum was the French president’s announcement that his country would recognize the state of Palestine.
Brutality, domination and erasure can only leave the Middle East sleeping over barrels of gunpowder. Its nations need a moment to catch their breath, fight poverty, allow the displaced to return, pursue development and join the modern world. The solution is not to surrender to the dictates of the balance of power. The solution is to do everything possible to empower international legitimacy.
• Ghassan Charbel is editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. X: @GhasanCharbel

Hamas's Dream: Turning Palestinians Into a 'Nation of Martyrs'
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/July 28, 2025
[Hamas official Ghazi] Hamad made the threat [to carry out more massacres against Israelis... until Israel was annihilated] from Qatar, where he and several other leaders of Hamas have been leading comfortable lives for the past few years.
Hamas's leaders do not care if another 50,000 Palestinians are "martyred" in the war they started in 2023. The more bodies pile up, the more they can blame Israel.
It is easy for someone well-fed and sitting in a villa or hotel in Doha to talk about the suffering and pain of others in a war far away.
Hamad and the Hamas leaders sheltering in Doha and Istanbul should be apologizing to the two million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip... In fact, they should be arrested and put on trial for their crimes against both Israelis and Palestinians.
Hamas also has no problem lying to Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff, as they have probably already figured out.
After months of direct and indirect negotiations with Hamas, Trump and Witkoff have finally understood that Hamas is not acting in good faith and, as Trump put it, "want to die." To be more accurate, it is not Hamas's leaders who want to die. Instead, they want ordinary Palestinians to die so that the leaders can stay in power forever and remain wealthy -- some are, or were, billionaires.
Since its establishment in the late 1980s, Hamas has been consistent and clear about its goals: the elimination of Israel through jihad. That is the real reason Hamas has never accepted any peace process with Israel. That is also the real reason Hamas views as traitors those Palestinians who recognize Israel's right to exist and are willing to make peace with Israel.
Meanwhile, Hamas's leaders evidently do not mind if dozens of Palestinians are killed and wounded every day, because the international pressure is directed against Israel.
If Hamas leaders really cared about the suffering and pain of their people, they would have released all the hostages, disarmed and relinquished control of the Gaza Strip long ago. Hamas leaders, however, seem determined to turn all the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip into a "nation of martyrs." Pictured: Hamad is interviewed on October 24, 2023 on Lebanon's LBC TV. (Image source: MEMRI)
On October 24, 2023, senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad threatened that his Iran-backed terror group would carry out more massacres against Israelis -- time and again until Israel was annihilated. Referring to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel that resulted in the murder of more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, Hamad said:
"The Al-Aqsa Flood [the name Hamas uses to describe its October 7 slaughter] is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth.... Will we have to pay a price? Yes, and we are ready to pay it. We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs."
Hamad, whose group continues to hold captive 50 Israeli hostages (only 20 of whom are believed to be alive) repeated Hamas's call for the elimination of Israel:
"The existence of Israel is illogical. The existence of Israel is what causes all that pain, blood, and tears."
Hamad made the threat from Qatar, where he and several other leaders of Hamas have been leading comfortable lives for the past few years. Qatar and Turkey are among the few countries that continue to host and protect the leaders of the Palestinian terror group whose members committed the worst crimes against Jews since the Holocaust. Hamad and other Hamas leaders have no problem boasting about the October 7 massacres and threatening to launch similar attacks against Israel from their villas and hotel suites in Doha and Istanbul. The Hamas leaders feel safe because they know they enjoy the luxurious support of governments far away from the fighting in Gaza.
On July 25, 2025, Hamad gave an interview to an Arab television station from Qatar. This time, however, he sounded different. Asked about the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip because of the war Hamas launched nearly two years ago, Hamad said that his group's primary goal now was to end the war with Israel. "This is a painful and horrific war," he remarked. "We fully understand the pain and suffering of our people in Gaza." Hamad went on to praise the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for their "steadfastness and patience" during the war.
The Hamas leader's recent statements came as Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continue to complain about death, destruction and lack of food. According to Hamas sources, more than 55,000 Palestinians have died since the beginning of the war sparked by the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
Hamad's statements also came shortly after US President Donald J. Trump announced that Hamas does not want to release the Israeli hostages and reach a ceasefire deal.
"I think they [Hamas] want to die, and it's very, very bad," Trump said. "It got to be a point where you're gonna have to finish the job."
Hamad and the Hamas leadership are in no rush to release the hostages or reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel because they would like to see more Palestinians sacrificed as "martyrs." As Hamad said two years ago, "We are called a nation of martyrs."
Hamas's leaders do not care if another 50,000 Palestinians are "martyred" in the war they started in 2023. The more bodies pile up, the more they can blame Israel. Hamas's leaders seem convinced that the international community is on their side. Hamas tells the international community that Israel is killing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In response, many in the international community rush to condemn Israel. Buoyed by the condemnations, Hamas then calls on Palestinians to display more "patience and steadfastness" and encourages them to continue sacrificing themselves as "martyrs."
Hamad has the wakkaha (effrontery) to tell the Palestinians who have fallen victim to the death and destruction brought upon them by their October 7 atrocities that Hamas "understands" their pain and suffering. It is easy for someone well-fed and sitting in a villa or hotel in Doha to talk about the suffering and pain of others in a war far away.
Hamad and the Hamas leaders sheltering in Doha and Istanbul should be apologizing to the two million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip instead of praising them for their "patience, resolve and steadfastness." In fact, they should be arrested and put on trial for their crimes against both Israelis and Palestinians.
If Hamas leaders really cared about the suffering and pain of their people, they would have released all the hostages, disarmed and relinquished control of the Gaza Strip long ago. Hamas leaders, however, seem determined to turn all the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip into a "nation of martyrs." Hamas wants more October 7-style attacks because it wants to see more Palestinians sacrificed as "martyrs" in its jihad (holy war) to destroy Israel.
Hamas leaders are selling illusions to their people that they are winning the war and that it is not impossible to exterminate Israel. They are telling the Palestinians that, thanks to their patience and steadfastness, as well as daily attacks on Israeli troops in Gaza, Israel will soon be defeated.
Hamas also has no problem lying to Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff, as they have probably already figured out.
After months of direct and indirect negotiations with Hamas, Trump and Witkoff have finally understood that Hamas is not acting in good faith and, as Trump put it, "want to die." To be more accurate, it is not Hamas's leaders who want to die. Instead, they want ordinary Palestinians to die so that the leaders can stay in power forever and remain wealthy -- some are, or were, billionaires.
Those who actually know Hamas have always been aware that the terror group never acted in good faith. Hamas's leaders have never hesitated to murder anyone who stands in their way, whether Israelis or Palestinians.
Since its establishment in the late 1980s, Hamas has been consistent and clear about its goals: the elimination of Israel through jihad. That is the real reason Hamas has never accepted any peace process with Israel. That is also the real reason Hamas views as traitors those Palestinians who recognize Israel's right to exist and are willing to make peace with Israel.
The only reason Hamas's leaders might want a ceasefire is to allow their members to rearm and regroup. The leaders want to ensure that after the war with Israel, they will continue to hold onto power in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Hamas's leaders evidently do not mind if dozens of Palestinians are killed and wounded every day, because the international pressure is directed against Israel.
**Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
**Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter)
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved.

What Netanyahu fears the most in Gaza
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/July 28/2025
The war in Gaza, with all its horrors, is approaching its second year, making it the longest and deadliest confrontation in the history of the Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflict.
Why has the Gaza war lasted this long? Some believe that Israel fears for the remaining hostages. Others think Israel wants to avoid further losses among its troops. And some see it as incapable of eliminating what remains of Hamas. In my opinion, Israel does not want to end the war except on its own terms – by preventing the return of the Palestinian Authority to rule the Gaza Strip. To prolong the crisis, it will use whatever weapons it has left, from starvation to displacement. In short, what Netanyahu fears most is the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Washington has a practical solution to stop the war: Hamas leaves Gaza, and Israel halts its military campaign. But neither Hamas nor Israel is willing to accept this!
Israel, in particular, as the stronger party, refuses to eliminate Hamas if the price is the return of the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu and his team are convinced that the Palestinian Authority poses a greater threat to Israel than Hamas. Hamas has no international legitimacy and represents everything that terrifies most of the world – even the Arab world. It is a militant, ideological jihadist group. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority is recognized by the United Nations as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. If it regains control over Gaza, that would mark the path toward a Palestinian state.
Despite all that Hamas has done – including the attacks on October 7 – it remains, in Israel’s eyes, merely a “terrorist group” that can be dealt with just as other countries deal with similar groups. Netanyahu believes it would be foolish to destroy Hamas only to reward the Palestinian Authority with control of Gaza, allowing it to emerge as the victor of these wars and create a de facto Palestinian state. Netanyahu has personally worked to prevent this scenario, fostering a symbiotic relationship with Hamas since the early days of his rule by empowering the group to govern Gaza.
Netanyahu is corrupt and opportunistic – but not a fool. He understands that handing over the keys to Gaza to Ramallah would automatically mean the countdown to the creation of a Palestinian state has begun. After his swift and dazzling victories over Hezbollah, al-Assad, and Iran, Netanyahu now faces a reckoning similar to the post-Gulf War moment in 1991. Back then, the US-Gulf coalition defeated Saddam Hussein, liberated Kuwait, and eliminated a major threat to Israel – then demanded a price: A solution to the Palestinian issue.
In that same year, the Madrid Conference was held despite Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s reluctance. He ultimately accepted, paving the way for the later Oslo Accords, which for the first time allowed the Palestinians to return from exile.
Netanyahu knows this history – and fears his own victories could similarly “deviate” toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. In practice, Israel – having destroyed Hezbollah and tracked its leader Hassan Nasrallah underground – could do the same to Hamas. As we’ve seen, Israel is not deterred by casualties among its soldiers, its hostages are not a top priority, and certainly, the scale of Palestinian deaths is of no concern. Of the 251 original hostages, only about 23 remain alive in captivity. Today, the American envoy’s negotiations have reached an advanced stage to end the tragedy in Gaza, secure the release of the remaining hostages – around 50, dead or alive – and disarm Hamas. Yet Netanyahu’s main concern remains: the return of the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza. Even without a deal from the envoy Brett McGurk or David Satterfield, Netanyahu could end the war by eliminating the remaining Hamas forces. He has proven willing to accept further casualties, as he has in parallel wars. He risked his people’s safety by opening fronts with Hezbollah, Iran, and the Houthis, and he is prepared to take risks and accept losses in a final showdown with Hamas.
So why doesn’t Netanyahu end the war?
As the conflict nears a possible resolution in the coming two months, I believe his dilemma lies in finding an arrangement that prevents the emergence of a Palestinian state. What’s stopping him from ending the Gaza war is not concern over additional Israeli casualties or even losing his role as prime minister – especially since Trump is openly working to shield him from accountability and helping him stay in power. From a strategic perspective, the issue goes beyond current events: Israel does not want the Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza and unite it with Ramallah – even if that means reinstating Hamas or handing Gaza to Ibrahim al-Arjani to run it.

Macron's Palestine Gambit
Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 823/July 28/2025 |
Al-Quds Al-Arabi cartoon on France recognizing Palestine modeled on Delacroix's 1830 painting La Liberté Guidant Le Peuple
To say that the reaction was mixed would be an understatement. While both the United States and Israel openly criticized and rejected it, the terrorist group Hamas "congratulated French President Macron's recognition of a Palestinian state."
In his July 24 letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Macron said that he would make the formal statement at the UN General Assembly in New York this September.[1] France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting a high-level (although less high-level than the hosts wanted) UN conference in New York on July 28-29 on the "peaceful resolution of the Palestinian issue and the implementation of a two-state solution."[2] With the announcement, France became the first member of the G-7 group of advanced industrialized democracies to recognize a Palestinian state although a year ago European states Spain, Ireland and Norway took the same step (Sweden had been the first Western European state to do so back in 2014).
It has long been the position of both the United States and Israel that any formal recognition of a Palestinian state is to be part of a bilateral peace process between the two sides – the culmination of a process, not its predecessor. France and the more than 140 countries that already have done so are recognizing a country with undefined borders and entirely hypothetical political and security dimensions.
And while Macron said that "the state of Palestine must be established, its existence guaranteed, and through its demilitarization and full recognition of the state of Israel, allowed to contribute to the security of the entire region," neither demilitarization nor full recognition of the state of Israel are conditions that Hamas accepts. France is even trying to get condemnation of Hamas by Arab states at the upcoming UN Conference.[3] So why is Hamas pleased and why did Macron take this step?
Obviously, for Hamas this European recognition is seen as a direct result of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel by Hamas. The recognition, despite any reservations or caveats attached by European diplomats, is seen as an advance for the Palestinian cause and justification or indirect approval that Hamas's action that day was not only warranted but yielded concrete international results, without Hamas having made any political concessions of any sort.[4] The Hamas feeling is that the Palestinian street will regard this French step as a clear Hamas success rather than as the result anything its rivals in the PLO have done.
For Macron's France, the decision is a far cry from when France was an early supporter of the Jewish state. In the 1950s and 60s, France not only sold weapons to Israel, including the all-important advanced Mirage III fighter, but was a key partner in the Israeli nuclear program. Both states shared at the time concerns about Arab nationalism as Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser was a major supporter of Algerian insurgents waging guerrilla war against the French Army. When de Gaulle imposed an arms embargo only days before the Six Day War in 1967, he broke a military and security partnership that had lasted for almost 15 years.
Some observers blame Qatar, the great Arab patron of Hamas, for Macron's decision.[5] They point to the February 2024 announcement that Qatar would invest ten billion euros in France between 2024 and 2030. Qatar has also been aggressive in pushing its agenda throughout Europe, by fair means or foul, including an initiative that was dubbed "Qatargate" as the wealthy emirate reportedly bribed deputies and staff at the European Parliament since 2019 to favor Qatari policies.[6]
But while I am sure that many Europeans are susceptible to Qatari financial blandishments, there is a more plausible explanation for Macron's stance. Just days before the Palestine statement, an Institut Français d'Opinion Publique (IFOP) poll revealed that Macron's popularity had slumped to its lowest level since he was elected in 2017.[7] Only 19 percent supported him and the decline was particularly pronounced among those who re-elected him as president in 2022. The next French presidential elections are less than two years away, scheduled for April 2027.
Macron's decision makes sense when one examines the deep changes occurring within the French – and indeed in other European countries – electorate.[8] The constant flood of migrants into Europe, many of them Muslims or Arabs (or both) particularly hostile to Jews, is changing the voting demographics of Europe. A rough division is slowly emerging: migrants (especially Muslims) generally support leftist political parties.[9]
In the United Kingdom, Muslims tended to vote for Labour and leftist splinter parties, in Germany for Die Linke and other leftist parties, in France, they favor (74 percent) La France Insoumise (LFI) and other leftists. Throughout the continent one can see the hollowing out of supposedly centrist parties with a strengthening at opposite ends of the political spectrum: migrant/leftist coalitions versus native/rightist coalitions.[10]
Macron's Palestine decision then seems the worst of both worlds for an ostensible centrist. It is an irritant to Israel and to the Americans while at the same time only whetting the appetites of the Islamo-Left. The decision not only helps Hamas in the Territories; it also empowers Islamists in Europe and in France.
Ironically it is now the European Right that tends to be philosemitic or at least less hostile to the state of Israel. In France, of course, the nationalist space is dominated by Macron's great rival the National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen. Having demonized the political right for so long, it is hard for Macron and his ilk to move to the right too much. They have more space to the left and attempting to appease Muslim voters, with their deeply antisemitic worldview, is far easier than trying to please the (much smaller) Jewish electorate.[11] It is not that Macron is an antisemite, he is not, but that he and others in Europe are politicians who think they understand the demographic writing on the wall.[12]
President Trump put it succinctly when he described Macron's decision this way: "Here's the good news. What he says doesn't matter."[13] That is mostly true when it comes to politics and diplomacy in the Middle East. But what does matter and extraordinarily dangerous is the demographic shift occurring in Europe and the political ramifications that it will have. This is not good news for Israel, that "the West" will become more hostile but the worst news will be to Western nations themselves. States and societies will be stressed and fractured as never before. Some talk alarmingly of civil war in France or the UK.[14] That may be a step too far but rather than posturing that they are trying to secure peace in the Holy Land, Macron or his successor may find himself/herself much more involved in trying to secure a shaky peace at home. Will that be a two or three or four state solution?
*Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI.
[1] Lepoint.fr/monde/emmanuel-macron-va-reconnaitre-l-etat-de-palestine-qu-est-ce-que-ca-change-25-07-2025-2595078_24.php, July 25, 2025.
[2] Apnews.com/article/un-conference-palestinians-israel-guterres-fcb5266c5d1ae43df2dbe1aedf03516c, June 5, 2025.
[3] Algemeiner.com/2025/07/27/french-official-tells-paper-arab-countries-will-condemn-hamas-trying-to-get-palestinian-statehood-recognized, July 27, 2025.
[4] See MEMRI TV Clip No. 12014, Senior Hamas Official Sami Abu Zuhri Plays Down Significance Of Gaza Casualties: Our Women's Wombs Will Produce Many More Babies - 50,000 Were Born In Gaza During The War, Just Like The Number Of Casualties; Thanks To The War, Westerners Convert To Islam, March 30, 2025.
[5] See MEMRI TV Clip No. January 17, 2025, atar, The Emirate Of Wahhabism And Terrorism: 2024 Editor's Picks – Top Reports And Clips From The Qatar Monitor Project (QMP), January 17, 2025.
[6] Dw.com/en/qatargate-one-year-on-eu-cash-for-influence-scandal-still-far-from-over/a-67670541, August 12, 2023.
[7] Rfi.fr/en/france/20250721-survey-shows-popularity-at-an-all-time-low-for-french-leaders-macron-and-bayrou, July 21, 2025.
[8] Lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/l-islamisation-en-chiffres-l-acceleration-de-l-immigration-renforce-la-presence-musulmane-20240504, May 4, 2024.
[9] Viralmag.fr/les-electeurs-musulmans-un-vote-massif-a-gauche-en-2024, June 19, 2024.
[10] Tomklingenstein.com/a-prophecy-confirmed-but-unfinished, April 7, 2025.
[11] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11951, French Tunisian Imam Hassen Chalghoumi: In France, There Are Dozens Of Muslim Brotherhood-Affiliated Schools – And Tens Of Thousands Of Children Are Being Exposed To Islamist Ideology, April 29, 2025.
[12] Futur-ch.ch/etudes-statistiques-le-futur-de-leurope-sera-islamique, January 25, 2018.
[13] Msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-shrugs-off-france-s-recognition-of-palestine-as-rubio-prominent-republicans-blast-move/ar-AA1Jiq7I?ocid=BingNewsSerp, July 25, 2025.
[14] Pandore-gendarmerie.org/le-patron-de-la-gendarmerie-alerte-sur-le-risque-dune-guerre-en-france/#google_vignette, January 28, 2025.

Selected Tweets for 28 July/2025
Ambassador Tom Barrack
@USAMBTurkiye
A clear and lucid argument from @MichelMoawad, an important member of the Lebanese parliament, outlining a path forward toward prosperity for all.
“From the Parliament, in a speech during the #Government_Questioning session:
•If we want to compare the current government with its predecessors, there is a vast difference in its composition, ministerial statement, and actions. This government seeks to defend the state, not conspire against it. It is not part of a system of guardianship and domination over the state, nor of the apparatus that covers illegal arms, nor of the network of corruption that has infiltrated state institutions.
•The success of this government should not be measured against that of previous governments, but rather by its ability to capitalize on major regional transformations to restore Lebanon’s place on the regional and international stage. We are facing a historic opportunity to rebuild a true homeland and a real state—let us seize it. Otherwise, at best, we risk Lebanon becoming the “Cuba of the East,” which would mean more occupation, bloodshed, isolation, poverty, and humiliation.
•If we do not seize this opportunity, Lebanon may once again become an arena for regional or international conflicts, or a breeding ground for extremist projects.
To seize this opportunity, we must decisively address four foundational files:
• First and foremost: The issue of weapons outside state control and illegitimate armed and security groups.
To this day, we remain in nearly the same position on the issue of Palestinian weapons and Hezbollah’s arms. We demand that the government present a clear, actionable plan to reclaim exclusive authority over all weapons and to dismantle militias. What is the timeline for this plan? We categorically reject any distinction between light and heavy illegal weapons, or between those south or north of the Litani River. These groups must be dismantled, and their weapons surrendered in accordance with the constitution, international legitimacy resolutions, the ceasefire agreement, the oath of office, and the ministerial statement—exclusively.
• Second: Restructuring the financial sector.
The government has adopted a sound approach based on three pillars:
1.Reaching a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) through renegotiation;
2.Rejecting the principle of deposit write-offs, which requires holding banks, the Central Bank, and the state accountable, while safeguarding depositors’ funds;
3.Combating the parallel (black) economy, which previous governments ignored.
This direction is correct, but what is required now is its practical implementation—starting with the passage of the “Financial Gap Law” based on these principles, and sending it to Parliament.
• Third: Reforming the public sector.
So far, there seems to be no serious discussion within the government on this matter. Filling vacancies through appointments—even if better than before—is not enough. There must be an agreement on the shape, duties, and size of the state, taking into account technological advancement and artificial intelligence. What we did in the past was privatize security and nationalize vital economic sectors. Today, we must do the opposite: restore security under the state’s authority and privatize the management of economic sectors currently run by the state, leaving the state to serve only as regulator and overseer.
• Fourth: Involving the Lebanese diaspora in the national economy.
Yes, we want them to support Lebanon, but we also want them as partners in decision-making. This cannot be achieved unless they are granted the right to vote for all 128 members of Parliament—not just the six designated seats.
•What is needed is a clear choice: either initiative or death. We are at a decisive crossroads—either we act to save Lebanon or remain in hell. Reaching rock bottom is no longer a potential risk; it is a reality we live every day.”

Secretary Marco Rubio
The United States applauds the ceasefire declaration between Cambodia and Thailand announced today in Kuala Lumpur. @POTUS and I remain committed to ending this conflict.

Zéna Mansour || زينا منصور
President @POTUS
Roads to Sweida from Arab areas are blocked, while Kurdish and Israeli routes remain open for supplies. Jordan, Daraa, and Damascus routes have been cut off for 15days, leading to starvation & extermination efforts.

Marc Zell
Just received the following urgent message from Druze Col. (IDF Red.) Dr. Anan Wahabi:
Call to the United States: Immediate Action Required in As-Suwayda
A direct appeal to responsible actors in the United States:
1. Break the siege on As-Suwayda and remove hostile terrorist forces from the city's surroundings.
2. Immediately deliver humanitarian aid — including food, water, medicine, and fuel — and restore essential infrastructure such as electricity and communication.
3. Declare As-Suwayda a disaster zone and deploy an international monitoring and humanitarian team.
4. Establish a secure humanitarian corridor without delay — preferably via Jordan, or alternatively from the Kurdish region or the Golan Heights.
5. A clear warning: Without immediate U.S. intervention, the world will bear responsibility for a looming catastrophe of famine, mass rape and mass death.
6. The Druze community in Israel and the diaspora is ready to assist in every effort to save lives and bring relief to the region.
(27 July 2025)
Me: We are making progress on many of these issues.