English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For June 08/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
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Bible Quotations For today
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 14/15-20:”‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. ‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 07-08/2025
Aoun and Salam's Condemnations of Israeli Strikes Expose Their Failure, Blindness, and Submission to Hezbollah’s Delusional Logic/Elias Bejjani/June 07/2025
Statement from the Continuing Christian Conference On the Escalating Marginalization of Christians in State Institutions: “Striking the Balance” Is the Worst Kind of Corruption—It Yields Neither Renaissance Nor Reconstruction
Hezbollah says Dahieh strike damaged dozens of buildings as Paris condemns attack
Two votes, one concern: Push for extra preferential vote sparks concern among Lebanon’s Christian parties
Israel defends Beirut strikes with intel claims as official pushes broader Lebanon strategy
Uncertain future for envoy Morgan Ortagus won’t change US stance on Lebanon, Tom Harb says — what’s next?
Lebanon’s Information Ministry issues warning over contact with Israeli entities
Lebanese army removes Israeli barriers, reopens roads in southern Lebanon
Lebanon’s culinary charm and hospitality: Restaurant sector gears up to serve a vibrant 2025 summer season
No Change in Palestinian Position on Camp Disarmament
Visas for Syria: Lebanese Citizens Exempt from Fees for a Six-Month Stay
South Lebanon: a Shepherd Kidnapped by Israel and Two Injured
Parliament Convenes for an Extraordinary Session: What’s At Stake?/Natasha Metni Torbey/This is Beirut/June 07/2025
Geagea says Israeli airstrikes on Dahieh a 'major scandal'
Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy
A British TV Art Expert Who Sold Works to a Suspected Hezbollah Financier is Sentenced to Prison
Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 07-08/2025
Iran says it obtained sensitive Israeli nuclear documents
Yemen's al-Qaida branch leader threatens Trump, Musk and others
Israel retrieves body of Thai hostage as 95 more people reported killed in Gaza offensive
Israel's military advances in Gaza, attacking several hospitals over past week
Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36, six of them near US-backed aid center
Israel backs an anti-Hamas armed group known for looting aid in Gaza. Here's what we know
Ukrainian attack damaged 10% of Russia's strategic bombers, Germany says
France's president will visit Greenland in a show of EU unity, Danish leader says
Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on June 07-08/2025
AI analysis of ancient handwriting gives new age estimates for Dead Sea Scrolls/Jacopo Prisco, CNN/June 7, 2025
Question: “How do I identify my spiritual gift?”/GotQuestions.org/June 07/2025
The War on City-Dwellers ...'Climate Change': Grift of the Century, Part III/Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute/June 07/2025
Strategic U.S. Real Estate Acquired by Aggressor Nations Needs Urgent Review/Lawrence Kadish/Gatestone Institute/June 07/2025
Is Trump 'Going Wobbly' on Iran?/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/June 07/2025
Macron-Meloni rapprochement has ramifications beyond Europe/Andrew Hammond/Arab News/June 07, 2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 07-08/2025
Aoun and Salam's Condemnations of Israeli Strikes Expose Their Failure, Blindness, and Submission to Hezbollah’s Delusional Logic
Elias Bejjani/June 07/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/144037/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aho_QczoPZQ&t=117s
It is with sadness and deep disappointment that we affirm the complete failure of Joseph Aoun’s presidential tenure. His role has been reduced to protocol receptions, hollow press releases devoid of constitutional substance, and ceremonial foreign visits. All the hopes that once accompanied his appointment (not election) have now collapsed. He remains hesitant and fearful, appeasing Hezbollah and flattering it at the expense of Lebanon, the Lebanese people, the constitution, and binding UN resolutions.
Facts on the ground now confirm that the Lebanese state, under its new leadership, remains a hostage of Hezbollah’s occupation. It continues to operate under the dictates of Nabih Berri, a symbol of corruption, sectarianism, and moral decay.
Regarding Israel’s daily military operations against the terrorist, Iranian-backed Hezbollah, multiple official American statements have affirmed that Israel is acting within its rights to implement the ceasefire and all related UN resolutions on Lebanon. The continued silence of the international security committee—chaired by an American general—and its refusal to condemn any Israeli operation further confirms Israel’s compliance with the Ceasefire Agreement and UNSCR 1701 Plus.
As for Presidents Aoun and Salam’s statements condemning Israeli strikes, they are nothing but bundles of confusion and ignorance. Without question, these statements were conceived, drafted, and issued by advisors affiliated with Hezbollah—individuals who are little more than slaves, mercenaries, and echo chambers for the Iranian occupation’s propaganda.
In short, Presidents Aoun and Salam remain, to this day, symbols of subservience, failure, hesitation, procrastination, and blind detachment from the sweeping international and regional shifts reshaping the future of Lebanon and the broader Middle East.

Statement from the Continuing Christian Conference On the Escalating Marginalization of Christians in State Institutions: “Striking the Balance” Is the Worst Kind of Corruption—It Yields Neither Renaissance Nor Reconstruction…..
Lebanon—founded on the principle of coexistence between its Christian and Muslim wings—is now teetering on the edge of becoming a one-winged nation, as the Christian presence within state institutions continues to erode at an alarming rate.
June 7, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/144027/
Lebanon—founded on the principle of coexistence between its Christian and Muslim wings—is now teetering on the edge of becoming a one-winged nation, as the Christian presence within state institutions continues to erode at an alarming rate.
Enough is enough. Silence has become a crime—an unforgivable one.
It is bewildering to witness many of our officials celebrating municipal victories with great fanfare across the country, seemingly oblivious to the deepening rot within the state’s institutions. This decay threatens to collapse what remains of the republic—on everyone.
The Christian component of Lebanon is being systematically sidelined. Alarming evidence abounds: five directorates within the Ministry of Public Works have fallen under the control of a single sect, while Christians have been entirely excluded from four critical positions in the civil aviation sector. The marginalization continues across customs and numerous other departments. That said, we must acknowledge—with appreciation—the leadership of the military branches who, through all legal and legitimate means, continue to uphold balance and fairness.
Christians have effectively been expelled from the airport and stripped of a staggering number of state positions—through exclusion, fabricated cases, or sheer negligence—while officials remain deaf, mute, and perhaps even willfully blind.
Let it be clear: no one can defend a corrupt individual without being complicit in their corruption. But the question remains—are the only corrupt officials in Lebanon Christians? Are there truly no competent Christians to fill vacancies, such that replacements are routinely drawn from other sects at the first opportunity, even in acting positions?
How can these repeated injustices go unchallenged, while Christian leaders—parliamentarians, ministers, and party heads—stand by in silence?
Is leadership merely about boasting of municipal wins or stirring up ideological debates, while the Christian demographic is being systematically diminished within the state and the nation?
What will Lebanon become without its Christian presence? In the army? In the Internal Security Forces and General Security? In customs, intelligence, ministries, and directorates?
Whom will you govern if your people and your state disappear?
In the face of such grave reality, the people are close to despair—were it not for their unshakable hope in the Lord and the flicker of promise seen in the new era under the leadership of President Joseph Aoun, who spares no effort in seeking Lebanon’s revival.
We call upon the new administration and all branches of the state to work tirelessly to restore true national balance across all public sectors. This must be treated as an urgent national priority. Let it be known: striking the balance—as it is currently practiced—is the most insidious form of corruption. And from the soil of corruption, no renaissance will blossom and no reconstruction will arise.
A final message to the remaining Christians within the state apparatus:
As the Lord Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth… the light of the world… the yeast in the dough.” Be so within your state. If you know the truth, and the truth shall set you free, then do not be misled by falsehoods. You are called to endure persecution—do not yield to temptation, nor crumble under pressure. Uphold the truth, protect one another, and do not become false witnesses. If you are faithful to your faith, you must also be faithful to your mission—toward your state and your homeland.
This is your sacred stewardship, and one day, the Lord will ask you to account for it—on a day when neither wealth, prestige, nor power will be of any use.
Continuing Christian Conference
Media Office
**(Free translation from Arabic by: Elias Bejjani)

Hezbollah says Dahieh strike damaged dozens of buildings as Paris condemns attack
Agence France Presse/June 07/2025
Health Minister Rakan Nassereldine said several people were wounded by flying glass during Israel’s latest bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs. AFP photographers on Friday saw huge destruction as residents, some wearing masks, inspected the debris and damage to their homes. A Hezbollah statement said a preliminary assessment showed nine buildings were completely destroyed and dozens of others damaged. A woman in her 40s who lives near one of the strike sites said she fled on foot with her young children including a three-month-old baby. "Thank God" the building was not destroyed, she told AFP after returning Friday morning to find the windows of her flat shattered. South Beirut resident Fatima, 40, said "life goes on", adding that she and her two children were following the usual Eid traditions after fleeing the previous night. France, part of a committee overseeing the ceasefire, condemned the strikes and urged all parties to respect the truce, noting that the monitoring mechanism "is there to help the parties deal with threats and prevent any escalation."The French foreign ministry statement noted that "dismantling unauthorized military sites... falls as a priority to the Lebanese" Army with the support of United Nations peacekeepers.Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar on Friday urged "all Lebanese political forces... to translate their statements of condemnation into concrete action," including diplomatic pressure. Thursday's attacks on what the Israeli military said were underground Hezbollah drone factories came after an Israeli evacuation call on the eve of Eid al-Adha, a key Muslim religious festival, and sent huge numbers of residents of Beirut's southern suburbs fleeing. It was the fourth and heaviest Israeli bombardment of the heavily populated area, known as a bastion of support for Hezbollah, in the six months since a ceasefire deal aimed at ending hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. The last attack was in late April.The September-November war left Hezbollah massively weakened, with top commanders including longtime leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah killed and weapons caches incinerated.
Under the ceasefire, Lebanon should disarm Hezbollah, once reputed to be more heavily armed than the state. Lebanon's army, which has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure under the truce, said the Israeli military's ongoing violations and "refusal to cooperate" with the ceasefire monitoring mechanism "could prompt the (Lebanese) military to freeze cooperation" on site inspections. The Israeli military had said Hezbollah was "operating to increase production of UAVs (drones) for the next war" in "blatant violation" of the truce understandings. Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah fighters were to withdraw north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border. Israel was to withdraw troops from Lebanon but has kept them in five areas it deems "strategic" and still launches regular strikes on south Lebanon.

Two votes, one concern: Push for extra preferential vote sparks concern among Lebanon’s Christian parties
LBCI/June 07/2025
Under Lebanon’s current proportional electoral law, adopted in the 2018 and 2022 elections, each voter is allowed to vote for one list within their electoral district and give a preferential vote to one candidate on that list. This system has largely satisfied Christian parties, as it allowed them to elect 54 out of 64 Christian MPs through Christian votes. However, with 11 months remaining before the next election, some — particularly within the Hezbollah-Amal Movement political duo — are calling for a change: allowing voters to cast two preferential votes instead of one. This would permit voters to support two different candidates from the same list, potentially even from different sects.This change would not affect the overall electoral threshold for the list, but it could influence which candidates are ultimately selected from it. In districts where one sect or party holds a numerical advantage, that majority can issue voting instructions and effectively decide which candidates win seats on the list. This would reduce the chances of smaller sectarian or political minorities on the same list to elect their preferred candidates. This is why Christian parties argue that adopting two preferential votes could harm their chances in mixed districts. Still, there is broad agreement among political blocs that the current debate is more about jockeying for political advantage than serious reform. Most agree that Lebanon’s current situation does not allow for a fundamental change to the electoral law, aside from long-delayed technical reforms such as implementing megacenters and magnetic voting cards. A major point of contention remains whether expatriates will vote for all 128 members of Parliament or only for the six seats allocated to the diaspora.

Israel defends Beirut strikes with intel claims as official pushes broader Lebanon strategy
LBCI/June 07/2025
Israel continues to threaten additional strikes on Lebanon while justifying Thursday’s attack on Beirut's southern suburbs, claiming it does not contradict the implementation of the ceasefire agreement. Accordingly, the attack was carried out due to the Lebanese government's and army's lack of response to an intelligence report shared with Beirut a week earlier. The report alleged that Hezbollah was continuing military activity near the capital, including the production of thousands of drones. Like other security and military officials, Benny Gantz believes that ensuring security along the border with Lebanon requires the establishment of a buffer zone and control of at least 15 kilometers of territory inside Lebanon. Gantz, who currently leads in opinion polls should early elections be held, says Israel must not only ensure its security with Lebanon but also pursue a political future with it. To that end, Gantz says he is willing to relinquish military positions seized by Israeli forces inside Lebanon in exchange for normalization. Gantz’s aspirations for normalization with Lebanon coincide with broader military plans supported by Israeli leaders across the political spectrum — from right to left — based on maintaining deterrence across all borders, including Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria, in line with Israel’s vision for the future of the Middle East.

Uncertain future for envoy Morgan Ortagus won’t change US stance on Lebanon, Tom Harb says — what’s next?
LBCI/June 07/2025
The fate of U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus remains unclear, but this will not affect the United States policy toward Lebanon. That was confirmed by Tom Harb, CO-Chair for the American Mideast Coalition for Democracy and a Lebanese-American member of the U.S. Republican Party. Harb said U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy toward the region is clear: support Israel, eliminate terrorism, and clear threats around Israel. Hezbollah must surrender its weapons. According to Harb, the Lebanese state is failing to fulfill its sovereign duties, with limited progress on reform issues. So what is the solution if the Lebanese state does not make serious efforts to disarm Hezbollah? According to Harb, two scenarios are possible if Iranian-American talks succeed: First, Iran could demand Hezbollah to hand over its weapons. Second, direct negotiation channels could open between the United States and Hezbollah as a direct result of successful talks. If the U.S.-Iran talks fail, Harb said Israel will target the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, not just the nuclear program. Targeting the Revolutionary Guard means striking the heart of the current Iranian regime.
If the Guard is hit, Hezbollah "will be in danger" and forced to seek a new alternative refuge beyond “the new Iran.”These are messages from Harb to Lebanese officials ahead of the expected arrival of U.S. envoy Thomas Barrack in Lebanon next week. Has Lebanon prepared a plan outlining its vision for a solution to present to the U.S. official? Or will its hands be “empty” as in previous times, forcing Lebanon to once again pay the price for its delays?

Lebanon’s Information Ministry issues warning over contact with Israeli entities
LBCI/June 07/2025
Lebanon’s Ministry of Information issued a warning on Saturday urging all citizens — particularly influencers, artists, and media professionals — to refrain from any form of direct or indirect communication with spokespersons of the Israeli army or affiliated media outlets, regardless of the justification. In its statement, the ministry stressed that such interactions are considered a clear violation of Lebanese law, and could expose individuals to legal accountability. The ministry also warned of the circulation of false news and “unauthenticated voice messages” on social media platforms, saying they are intended to sow confusion and incite tension among Lebanese citizens. It urged the public to verify sources before sharing any suspicious or unverified content. The statement concluded by calling on everyone to act with national awareness and responsibility when dealing with digital content in order to safeguard Lebanese sovereignty and the country’s national interest.

Lebanese army removes Israeli barriers, reopens roads in southern Lebanon
LBCI/June 07/2025
On June 7, 2025, the Lebanese army, working alongside the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), removed several earth berms and reopened roads in the outskirts of Meiss El Jabal - Marjayoun, southern Lebanon. In a statement, the army said that Israeli forces had previously closed the roads.

Lebanon’s culinary charm and hospitality: Restaurant sector gears up to serve a vibrant 2025 summer season
LBCI/June 07/2025
From tabbouleh to hummus, from late-night gatherings to hospitality and generosity, it’s no coincidence that Lebanon is known for some of the best food, finest hospitality, and most enjoyable nights. Lebanon’s restaurant sector reflects the country’s identity, is a vital part of the economy, and plays a crucial role in the image it presents to the world. Wherever Lebanese go, their reputation precedes them: Lebanese food and generosity. This image is not accidental, but the result of a sector that works hard, endures, and persists despite all challenges. Before 2019, approximately 150,000 people were employed in the sector. With the worsening crisis, that number dropped to 60,000. By early 2025, recovery began, and employment rose back to around 100,000. Today, the sector contributes roughly 20 to 25 percent of the country’s GDP. The Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafes, Nightclubs, and Pastries in Lebanon has announced the completion of all preparations to launch the 2025 summer tourist season. Lebanese hospitality is poised to welcome the summer with renewed strength and vitality, continuing to embody the country’s generosity and identity.

No Change in Palestinian Position on Camp Disarmament
This is Beirut/June 07/2025
Extended meeting between Lebanese President Jospeh Aoun and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas, in the presence of official Lebanese and Palestinian delegations, at Baabda Palace, on May 21, 2025. ©Lebanese Presidency. Palestinian sources cited on Saturday by Houna Loubnan say there appears to be no change in the decision to hand over weapons to the Lebanese authorities. Recent objections raised by certain Palestinian factions are reportedly aimed solely at increasing leverage in negotiations with the Lebanese state to gain further rights for camp residents. Claims that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had backtracked on his position are mere rumors, the same sources insist. They attribute such reports to “certain parties attempting to delay the handover of weapons or obstruct Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue.” During his visit to Beirut on May 21, President Abbas reiterated his support for Lebanon’s sovereignty. In a meeting held on May 23, the joint Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee – formed following Abbas’s visit – agreed on a timeline for the gradual withdrawal of Palestinian weapons, with implementation scheduled to begin after Eid al-Adha. The process is to start in the camps of Beirut and later expand to the South. According to the same sources, the weapons still present in the camps are mostly light arms. Heavy weapons had already been handed over to the Lebanese Army after the dismantling of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s camps, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. These remaining light arms will be the subject of discussions with Lebanese security services.

Visas for Syria: Lebanese Citizens Exempt from Fees for a Six-Month Stay
This is Beirut/June 07/2025
In a new directive published on Saturday, the Syrian Ministry of the Interior announced a revision of its visa issuance policy, introducing different pricing based on travelers' nationalities. This measure, motivated by diplomatic considerations and bilateral relations, redefines the entry conditions for many foreign nationals. Among the countries granted full exemptions are Lebanon, as well as Jordan, Mauritania and Malaysia. Lebanese citizens will thus be able to enter Syria without paying visa fees and stay for up to six months.
For other nationalities, visa fees vary by country as follows:
• Morocco, Algeria, Sudan, Yemen: $40
• Libya: $75
• Bahrain, Somalia: $125
• Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Turkey: $150
• Iraq, United Arab Emirates: $250
Non-Arab countries:
• China: $40
• Russia: $75
• Canada: $150
• Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom: $250
• European Union: $125
• United States: 15-day visa: $100; 3-day transit: $25; standard visa: $300
Most visas are issued for a period of three months and allow a single entry, although some nationalities may be eligible for multiple-entry visas. In all cases, fees must be paid in US dollars, either upon arrival or via the official platform.
The Syrian Ministry of the Interior urges travelers to verify the specific requirements for their nationality before departure, as conditions may vary.

South Lebanon: a Shepherd Kidnapped by Israel and Two Injured
This is Beirut/June 07/2025
An Israeli patrol abducted a shepherd (Maher H.) on Saturday from the Ain al-Khokh area on the outskirts of Shebaa and transported him into the occupied territories, according to local sources. The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported that two civilians were injured when an Israeli army drone dropped an explosive device near a group of people in the town of Hula. The National News Agency also reported that Israeli reconnaissance drones were observed flying over the areas of Zahrani, Aaqbiyeh, and Baysariyeh. Meanwhile, as part of ongoing efforts to monitor the situation in southern Lebanon and address repeated Israeli violations, a unit of the Lebanese Army, in coordination with UNIFIL, removed several earth mounds and reopened roads in the outskirts of Mayss El Jabal, in the district of Marjaayoun, which had previously been blocked by Israeli forces.
UNIFIL Patrol Intercepted in Srifa
A patrol from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was intercepted on Saturday morning by a group of young people on the main road of the village of Srifa (Tyre). The incident occurred as the convoy was heading toward the Wadi Slouki area without an escort from the Lebanese Army, prompting protests from residents. No violent clashes were reported during the encounter. In an effort to defuse tensions and restore order, a unit from the Lebanese Army quickly intervened and reestablished the flow of traffic.Earlier in the day, another UNIFIL patrol had also entered the Wadi Slouki area without a Lebanese military escort. Several such incidents have occurred in southern Lebanon since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon in November of last year. UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti reacted to the incident by highlighting the legal framework governing the peacekeepers’ actions: “Resolution 1701 grants UNIFIL the right to move freely and conduct patrols, with or without the presence of the Lebanese army. This is an integral part of our mandate.”Tenenti emphasized the importance of this principle in carrying out UN missions: “Although we work closely with the Lebanese army, the freedom of movement of our peacekeepers is essential to fulfilling the tasks entrusted to us.”

Parliament Convenes for an Extraordinary Session: What’s At Stake?
Natasha Metni Torbey/This is Beirut/June 07/2025
Lebanon’s Parliament is set to resume its work under an extraordinary session, called by presidential decree, and scheduled to run from June 5 to October 20. The announcement, made official Thursday by the presidency, follows a meeting between President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at Baabda Palace. While such a move may seem routine, it carries strategic weight. In a country where legislative activity is often paralyzed for more than half the year, this decision aims to restart the parliamentary engine at a time when the urgency for economic and institutional reform is more pressing than ever.
A Constitutionally Framed Session
The extraordinary session is authorized under Article 33 of the Lebanese Constitution, which allows the President—upon the Prime Minister’s recommendation—to summon Parliament outside the regular legislative calendar. That calendar is limited to two ordinary sessions: the spring session (mid-March to end of May) and the fall session (mid-October to end of December), restricting plenary legislative work to just five months annually. Outside of these periods, Parliament cannot convene legally unless an extraordinary session is declared by presidential decree which sets its duration and agenda.
A Broadened Agenda
According to the decree, the session will cover several areas: laws previously ratified but sent back for reconsideration by the President; pending and upcoming draft laws; and urgent legislative matters. Particular emphasis is expected on economic reforms and sensitive proposals—such as amendments to the law on reclaiming Lebanese nationality. The wording of the decree is intentionally broad, reflecting a long-standing parliamentary practice. “In practice, Parliament considers itself sovereign and not strictly bound by the limitations of the decree,” explains a constitutional expert to This Is Beirut on condition of anonymity. This interpretation, which took root during the presidencies of Hussein Husseini and Nabih Berri, has enabled the Parliament Bureau to expand the agenda beyond what is legally prescribed. According to the expert, this is a clear constitutional violation. To preempt legal or political clashes, the executive power tends to issue inclusive agendas—leaving room for maneuver while avoiding symbolic pushback from the legislative body.
Institutional Imperative, Not Political Maneuvering
The same sources affirm that the decision to convene the session is not rooted in immediate political calculations, contrary to some speculation. Following the signing of the decree, some observers speculated that the move could offer parliamentary immunity to certain MPs during the session. However, sources close to the matter insist: “If some deputies happen to benefit from immunity, it’s purely coincidental—not the reason the decree was issued.”They add: “It is entirely reasonable for the executive to call for extraordinary sessions—there are laws to pass and urgent work to be done. The five months allotted to ordinary sessions simply are not sufficient.” Especially now, given the country’s deepening social, political, and economic crisis. Ultimately, this extraordinary session reflects a commitment to institutional continuity at a time of national urgency. While some may see it as a backdoor to political advantage, the core issue remains the same: avoiding legislative paralysis in a country where reforms can no longer wait for the slow rhythm of routine sessions.

Geagea says Israeli airstrikes on Dahieh a 'major scandal'
Naharnet/June 07/2025
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has said that the latest Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs were a “major scandal,” seeing as “eight months after the signing of the ceasefire agreement in November 2024, Beirut is being bombed again.”“They are telling us that that happened because Israel is barbarous … We know that, but what have you done to prevent that?” Geagea wondered, stressing that “the solution comes through the clear regional equation and the clear international equation.” “We need someone to endorse these equations so that we manage to solve our problems,” the LF leader added, emphasizing that “it it unacceptable for the Lebanese citizen to remain in danger of being bombed or killed in any given moment, whereas there is a solution.”He added that the solution takes places when Hezbollah and its allies allow the Lebanese state to become an “actual state,” lamenting that state officials are also being lenient with Hezbollah regarding its weapons. “Today Lebanon has a chance and I don’t know if this chance will still be there two months from now. We have major friends in this world, starting by the Gulf countries, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States. They can help us stop the Israeli attacks and they can help us remove the Israelis from Lebanon, but on the condition that we become an actual state,” Geagea said. He also noted that “verbal attacks” on Israel cannot resolve Lebanon’s problems.

Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy
Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press/June 07 7, 2025
BEIRUT — Fireworks lit up the night sky over Beirut’s famous St. Georges Hotel as hit songs from the 1960s and 70s filled the air in a courtyard overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The retro-themed event was hosted last month by Lebanon’s Tourism Ministry to promote the upcoming summer season and perhaps recapture some of the good vibes from an era viewed as a golden one for the country. In the years before a civil war began in 1975, Lebanon was the go-to destination for wealthy tourists from neighboring Gulf countries seeking beaches in summer, snow-capped mountains in winter and urban nightlife year-round. In the decade after the war, tourists from Gulf countries – and crucially, Saudi Arabia – came back, and so did Lebanon’s economy. But by the early 2000s, as the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah gained power, Lebanon's relations with Gulf countries began to sour. Tourism gradually dried up, starving its economy of billions of dollars in annual spending. Now, after last year's bruising war with Israel, Hezbollah is much weaker and Lebanon's new political leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the economy once again with help from wealthy neighbors. They aim to disarm Hezbollah and rekindle ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, which in recent years have prohibited their citizens from visiting Lebanon or importing its products. “Tourism is a big catalyst, and so it’s very important that the bans get lifted,” said Laura Khazen Lahoud, the country's tourism minister. On the highway leading to the Beirut airport, once-ubiquitous banners touting Hezbollah’s leadership have been replaced with commercial billboards and posters that read “a new era for Lebanon.” In the center of Beirut, and especially in neighborhoods that hope to attract tourists, political posters are coming down, and police and army patrols are on the rise.There are signs of thawing relations with some Gulf neighbors. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have lifted yearslong travel bans. All eyes are now on Saudi Arabia, a regional political and economic powerhouse, to see if it will follow suit, according to Lahoud and other Lebanese officials. A key sticking point is security, these officials say. Although a ceasefire with Israel has been in place since November, near-daily airstrikes have continued in southern and eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah over the years had built its political base and powerful military arsenal.
Tourism as a diplomatic and economic bridge
As vital as tourism is — it accounted for almost 20% of Lebanon's economy before it tanked in 2019 — the country's leaders say it is just one piece of a larger puzzle they are trying to put back together. Lebanon’s agricultural and industrial sectors are in shambles, suffering a major blow in 2021, when Saudi Arabia banned their exports after accusing Hezbollah of smuggling drugs into Riyadh. Years of economic dysfunction have left the country's once-thriving middle class in a state of desperation. The World Bank says poverty nearly tripled in Lebanon over the past decade, affecting close to half its population of nearly 6 million. To make matters worse, inflation is soaring, with the Lebanese pound losing 90% of its value, and many families lost their savings when banks collapsed. Tourism is seen by Lebanon's leaders as the best way to kickstart the reconciliation needed with Gulf countries -- and only then can they move on to exports and other economic growth opportunities. “It’s the thing that makes most sense, because that’s all Lebanon can sell now,” said Sami Zoughaib, research manager at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think tank.With summer still weeks away, flights to Lebanon are already packed with expats and locals from countries that overturned their travel bans, and hotels say bookings have been brisk. At the event hosted last month by the tourism ministry, the owner of the St. Georges Hotel, Fady El-Khoury, beamed. The hotel, owned by his father in its heyday, has acutely felt Lebanon's ups and downs over the decades, closing and reopening multiple times because of wars. “I have a feeling that the country is coming back after 50 years,” he said. On a recent weekend, as people crammed the beaches of the northern city of Batroun, and jet skis whizzed along the Mediterranean, local business people sounded optimistic that the country was on the right path. “We are happy, and everyone here is happy,” said Jad Nasr, co-owner of a private beach club. “After years of being boycotted by the Arabs and our brothers in the Gulf, we expect this year for us to always be full.”
Still, tourism is not a panacea for Lebanon's economy, which for decades has suffered from rampant corruption and waste. Lebanon has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund for years over a recovery plan that would include billions in loans and require the country to combat corruption, restructure its banks, and bring improvements to a range of public services, including electricity and water. Without those and other reforms, Lebanon's wealthy neighbors will lack confidence to invest there, experts said. A tourism boom alone would serve as a “morphine shot that would only temporarily ease the pain" rather than stop the deepening poverty in Lebanon, Zoughaib said. The tourism minister, Lahoud, agreed, saying a long-term process has only just begun. "But we’re talking about subjects we never talked about before,” she said. “And I think the whole country has realized that war doesn’t serve anyone, and that we really need our economy to be back and flourish again.”

A British TV Art Expert Who Sold Works to a Suspected Hezbollah Financier is Sentenced to Prison
Asharq Al Awsat/June 07/2025
An art expert who appeared on the BBC's Bargain Hunt show was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison for failing to report his sale of pricey works to a suspected financier of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
At a previous hearing, Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, had pleaded guilty to eight offenses under the Terrorism Act 2000. The art sales for about 140,000 pounds ($185,000) to Nazem Ahmad, a diamond and art dealer sanctioned by the UK and US as a Hezbollah financier, took place between October 2020 and December 2021. The sanctions were designed to prevent anyone in the UK or US from trading with Ahmad or his businesses, The Associated Press said. Ojiri, who also appeared on the BBC’s Antiques Road Trip, faced a possible sentence of five years in prison in the hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court, which is better known as the Old Bailey. In addition to the prison term, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Ojiri faces an additional year on license — a period of time after a prison sentence ends when an offender must stay out of trouble or risk going back to prison.
She told Ojiri he had been involved in a commercial relationship “for prestige and profit” and that until his involvement with Ahmad, he was “someone to be admired.”“You knew about Ahmad’s suspected involvement in financing terrorism and the way the art market can be exploited by someone like him," she said. "This is the nadir — there is one direction your life can go and I am confident that you will not be in front of the courts again.”The Met’s investigation into Ojiri was carried out alongside Homeland Security in the US, which is conducting a wider investigation into alleged money laundering by Ahmad using shell companies. “This prosecution, using specific Terrorism Act legislation, is the first of its kind and should act as a warning to all art dealers that we can, and will, pursue those who knowingly do business with people identified as funders of terrorist groups,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command. Ahmad was sanctioned in 2019 by the US Treasury, which said he was a prominent Lebanon-based money launderer involved in smuggling blood diamonds, which are mined in conflict zones and sold to finance violence. Two years ago, the UK Treasury froze Ahmad’s assets because he financed Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist group.Following Ojiri's arrest in April 2023, the Met obtained a warrant to seize a number of artworks, including a Picasso and Andy Warhol paintings, belonging to Ahmad and held in two warehouses in the UK The collection, valued at almost 1 million pounds, is due to be sold with the funds to be reinvested back into the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office.

Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy
Arab News/June 07, 2025
BEIRUT: Fireworks lit up the night sky over Beirut’s famous St. Georges Hotel as hit songs from the 1960s and 70s filled the air in a courtyard overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The retro-themed event was hosted last month by Lebanon’s Tourism Ministry to promote the upcoming summer season and perhaps recapture some of the good vibes from an era viewed as a golden one for the country. In the years before a civil war began in 1975, Lebanon was the go-to destination for wealthy tourists from neighboring Gulf countries seeking beaches in summer, snow-capped mountains in winter and urban nightlife year-round. In the decade after the war, tourists from Gulf countries – and crucially, Saudi Arabia – came back, and so did Lebanon’s economy. But by the early 2000s, as the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah gained power, Lebanon’s relations with Gulf countries began to sour. Tourism gradually dried up, starving its economy of billions of dollars in annual spending. Now, after last year’s bruising war with Israel, Hezbollah is much weaker and Lebanon’s new political leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the economy once again with help from wealthy neighbors. They aim to disarm Hezbollah and rekindle ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, which in recent years have prohibited their citizens from visiting Lebanon or importing its products. “Tourism is a big catalyst, and so it’s very important that the bans get lifted,” said Laura Khazen Lahoud, the country’s tourism minister.
On the highway leading to the Beirut airport, once-ubiquitous banners touting Hezbollah’s leadership have been replaced with commercial billboards and posters that read “a new era for Lebanon.” In the center of Beirut, and especially in neighborhoods that hope to attract tourists, political posters are coming down, and police and army patrols are on the rise. There are signs of thawing relations with some Gulf neighbors. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have lifted yearslong travel bans. All eyes are now on Saudi Arabia, a regional political and economic powerhouse, to see if it will follow suit, according to Lahoud and other Lebanese officials. A key sticking point is security, these officials say. Although a ceasefire with Israel has been in place since November, near-daily airstrikes have continued in southern and eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah over the years had built its political base and powerful military arsenal.
Tourism as a diplomatic and economic bridge
As vital as tourism is — it accounted for almost 20 percent of Lebanon’s economy before it tanked in 2019 — the country’s leaders say it is just one piece of a larger puzzle they are trying to put back together. Lebanon’s agricultural and industrial sectors are in shambles, suffering a major blow in 2021, when Saudi Arabia banned their exports after accusing Hezbollah of smuggling drugs into Riyadh. Years of economic dysfunction have left the country’s once-thriving middle class in a state of desperation. The World Bank says poverty nearly tripled in Lebanon over the past decade, affecting close to half its population of nearly 6 million. To make matters worse, inflation is soaring, with the Lebanese pound losing 90 percent of its value, and many families lost their savings when banks collapsed. Tourism is seen by Lebanon’s leaders as the best way to kickstart the reconciliation needed with Gulf countries — and only then can they move on to exports and other economic growth opportunities.“It’s the thing that makes most sense, because that’s all Lebanon can sell now,” said Sami Zoughaib, research manager at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think tank.
With summer still weeks away, flights to Lebanon are already packed with expats and locals from countries that overturned their travel bans, and hotels say bookings have been brisk. At the event hosted last month by the tourism ministry, the owner of the St. Georges Hotel, Fady El-Khoury, beamed. The hotel, owned by his father in its heyday, has acutely felt Lebanon’s ups and downs over the decades, closing and reopening multiple times because of wars. “I have a feeling that the country is coming back after 50 years,” he said.On a recent weekend, as people crammed the beaches of the northern city of Batroun, and jet skis whizzed along the Mediterranean, local business people sounded optimistic that the country was on the right path. “We are happy, and everyone here is happy,” said Jad Nasr, co-owner of a private beach club. “After years of being boycotted by the Arabs and our brothers in the Gulf, we expect this year for us to always be full.”Still, tourism is not a panacea for Lebanon’s economy, which for decades has suffered from rampant corruption and waste. Lebanon has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund for years over a recovery plan that would include billions in loans and require the country to combat corruption, restructure its banks, and bring improvements to a range of public services, including electricity and water. Without those and other reforms, Lebanon’s wealthy neighbors will lack confidence to invest there, experts said. A tourism boom alone would serve as a “morphine shot that would only temporarily ease the pain” rather than stop the deepening poverty in Lebanon, Zoughaib said. The tourism minister, Lahoud, agreed, saying a long-term process has only just begun. “But we’re talking about subjects we never talked about before,” she said. “And I think the whole country has realized that war doesn’t serve anyone, and that we really need our economy to be back and flourish again.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 07-08/2025
Iran says it obtained sensitive Israeli nuclear documents
Reuters/Sat, June 7, 2025
DUBAI -Iranian intelligence agencies have obtained a large trove of sensitive Israeli documents, some related to the nuclear plans and facilities of Tehran's arch enemy, Iran's state media reported on Saturday. There was no immediate official comment from Israel and it was not clear whether the report was linked to a reported hacking of an Israeli nuclear research centre last year that Tehran is choosing to divulge now amid heightened tensions over its nuclear programme. "Although the operation to obtain the documents was carried out some time ago, the sheer volume of materials and the need to transport them safely into Iran necessitated a news blackout to ensure they reached the designated protected locations," state-run PressTV reported, quoting unnamed sources. "(Sources familiar with the matter) also noted that the abundance of documents is so vast that reviewing them, along with viewing images and videos, has consumed a significant amount of time," PressTV added, without giving details of the documents. In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israeli agents had seized a huge "archive" of Iranian documents showing Tehran had done more nuclear work than previously known. U.S President Donald Trump has threatened Iran with bombing if Tehran did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear programme. But Trump in April reportedly blocked a planned Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites in favour of negotiating a deal with Tehran. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that abandoning uranium enrichment was "100%" against the country's interests, rejecting a central U.S. demand in talks to resolve a decades-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Yemen's al-Qaida branch leader threatens Trump, Musk and others
Jon Gambrell/The Associated Press/June 7, 2025
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The leader of al-Qaida's Yemen branch has threatened both U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip in his first video message since taking over the group last year. The half-hour video message by Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki, which spread online early Saturday via supporters of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, also included calls for lone-wolf militants to assassinate leaders in Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf Arab states over the war, which has decimated Gaza. The video of al-Awlaki's speech showed images of Trump and Musk, as well as U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of State Pete Hegseth. It also included images of logos of Musk's businesses, including the electric carmaker Tesla. “There are no red lines after what happened and is happening to our people in Gaza," al-Awlaki said. "Reciprocity is legitimate.”
Yemen's al-Qaida branch long thought to be most dangerous
Though believed to be weakened in recent years due to infighting and suspected U.S. drone strikes killing its leaders, the group known by the acronym AQAP had been considered the most dangerous branch of al-Qaida still operating after the 2011 killing by U.S. Navy SEALs of founder Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In 2022, a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan killed bin Laden's successor, Ayman al-Zawahri, who also helped plot 9/11. The Sept. 11 attacks then began decades of war by the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq, and fomented the rise of the Islamic State group.
Al-Awlaki already has a $6 million U.S. bounty on his head, as Washington says al-Awlaki “has publicly called for attacks against the United States and its allies.” He replaced AQAP leader Khalid al-Batarfi, whose death was announced by the group in 2024.
Israel-Hamas war a focus of the Houthis as well
AQAP seizing onto the Israel-Hamas war follows the efforts of Yemen's Houthi rebels to do the same. The Iranian-backed group has launched missile attacks on Israel and targeted commercial vessels moving through the Red Sea corridor, as well as American warships. The U.S. Navy has described their campaign against the Houthis as the most intense combat it has faced since World War II. The Trump administration also launched its own intense campaign of strikes on the Houthis, which only ended before the president's recent trip to the Middle East. The Houthis' international profile rose as the group remains mired in Yemen's long-stalemated war. Al-Awlaki may be betting on the same for his group, which U.N. experts have estimated has between 3,000 and 4,000 active fighters and passive members. The group raises money by robbing banks and money exchange shops, as well as smuggling weapons, counterfeiting currencies and ransom operations, according to the U.N. The Shiite Zaydi Houthis have previously denied working with AQAP, a Sunni extremist group. However, AQAP targeting of the Houthis has dropped in recent years, while the militants keep attacking Saudi-led coalition forces who have battled the Houthis. “As the Houthis gain popularity as leaders of the ‘Arab and Muslim world’s resistance’ against Israel, al-Awlaki seeks to challenge their dominance by presenting himself as equally concerned about the situation in Gaza,” said Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemen expert of the Basha Report risk advisory firm. “For a national security and foreign policy community increasingly disengaged from Yemen, this video is a clear reminder: Yemen still matters.”

Israel retrieves body of Thai hostage as 95 more people reported killed in Gaza offensive
Sam Mednick And Mohammad Jahjouh/June 7, 2025
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel said Saturday that it had retrieved the body of a Thai hostage abducted into the Gaza Strip during the Hamas-led attack that sparked the war, as the Israeli military continued its offensive, killing at least 95 people in the past 24 hours, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Nattapong Pinta's body was returned to Israel in a special military operation. Pinta came to Israel to work in agriculture. Israel’s government said that he was seized from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed early in the war, which began on Oct. 7, 2023.
Thailand's foreign ministry reported that the last Thai hostage in Gaza was confirmed dead, and said the bodies of two others are yet to be retrieved. Fifty-five hostages remain in Gaza. Israel says more than half are dead. Families were rallying again Saturday evening in Israel, calling for a ceasefire deal that would bring everyone home. Israel's defense minister said that Pinta's body was retrieved from the Rafah area in southern Gaza. The army said that he was seized by the Mujahideen Brigades, the small armed group that also took two Israeli-American hostages, Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai, whose bodies were retrieved on Thursday. Thais were the largest group of foreigners held captive by Hamas militants. Many of the agricultural workers lived on the outskirts of southern Israeli kibbutzim and towns, and Hamas militants overran those places first. A total of 46 Thais have been killed during the war, according to Thailand’s foreign ministry. Separately, Hamas issued an unusual warning about another hostage, Matan Zangauker, saying Israel's military had surrounded the area where he's being held and that any harm that came to him during a rescue attempt would be Israel's responsibility. Israel's military didn't immediately comment.
Israel continues its military offensive
Four Israeli strikes hit the Muwasi area in southern Gaza between Rafah and Khan Younis. In northern Gaza, one strike hit an apartment, killing seven people including a mother and five children. Their bodies were taken to Shifa hospital. “Stand up, my love,” one weeping woman said, touching the shrouded bodies. Another strike in Gaza City killed six members of a family, including two children, according to the Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals. Israel said that it was responding to Hamas’ “barbaric attacks” and dismantling its capabilities. It said it takes all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.
Reports say some of the dead tried to get food aid.
Staff at Nasser hospital, which received the bodies of six people over the past 24 hours, said that they were killed while on their way to get food aid. Much of Gaza's population of more than 2 million relies on aid after widespread destruction of agriculture and markets as well as a recent Israeli blockade. Experts have warned of famine. Israel’s army said that despite warnings that the aid distribution area is an active combat zone during nighttime hours, several suspects attempted to approach troops operating in the Tel al-Sultan area overnight “in a manner that posed a threat." The army said that troops called out, but as the suspects continued advancing, they fired warning shots. An army official who couldn't be named in line with military procedures said that the shots were fired about a kilometer (half-mile) from the distribution site.
Over the past two weeks, shootings have occurred frequently near the new hubs where thousands of desperate Palestinians are being directed to collect food. Witnesses say nearby Israeli troops have opened fire, and more than 80 people have been killed, according to Gaza hospital officials. Israel's military has said that it fired warning shots or, in some instances, at individuals approaching troops. The hubs are run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new group of mainly American contractors. Israel wants GHF to replace humanitarian groups in Gaza that distribute aid in coordination with the United Nations. A GHF spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with the group’s rules, said that it didn't feed Gaza residents on Saturday and blamed Hamas threats. There was no immediate Hamas response.
Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid under the U.N.-led system. The U.N. and aid groups deny there's significant diversion of aid to militants and say the new system — which they have rejected — allows Israel to use food as a weapon, violates humanitarian principles and won’t be effective. The U.N says it has been unable to distribute much aid under its own system because of Israeli military restrictions on movements and insecurity. Separately, Palestinians lined up at a soup kitchen in Gaza City for handouts on the second day of Eid al-Adha. “I have been standing here for more than an hour and a half. I feel I have a sunstroke, and I am in need,” said the waiting Farida al-Sayed, who said she had six people to feed. “I only had lentils, and I ran out of them.”
Death tolls since the war began
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages. Most were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered dozens of bodies. Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants. The offensive has destroyed large parts of Hamas-run Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of roughly 2 million Palestinians.

Israel's military advances in Gaza, attacking several hospitals over past week
Evelyn Ann-Marie Dom/Euronews/June 7, 2025
Israel has intensified its military operation in the north and south of the Gaza Strip. In the southern city of Khan Younis, Israeli troops advanced towards the European Hospital and demolished the medical centre's rear wall, several media reported. Meanwhile the Palestinian Health Ministry said the Israeli military bombed north Gaza's only remaining dialysis centre, the Noura al-Kaabi Kidney Dialysis Centre, which is part of the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya. The ministry has previously said that over 40% of patients with kidney failure have died since the start of the more than 19-month war due to a lack of access to proper treatment and the destruction of centres. Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir said the expansion of the ground operations will continue until the remaining hostages held by Hamas are released and the defeat of the group. Palestinians inspect the rubble at the Al-Ansar Mosque following an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, 2 June, 2025. On Sunday, Hamas released a press statement stating that they are ready to being indirect negotiations over the Gaza ceasefire immediately. The militant group said the objective of the talks would be to end the "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza, ensure the delivery of aid to the Palestinian people, and achieve a permanent ceasefire accompanied by the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip. Israel has not yet responded to Hamas' statement. On Monday, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated the urgent need for a ceasefire, the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza and the release of the hostages. "Look, the situation is intolerable in Gaza and getting worse by the day, which is why we are working with allies," Starmer said during a trip to Scotland. "To be clear, in saying it's intolerable to be absolutely clear that there needs to be a ceasefire. To be absolutely clear that humanitarian aid needs to get in at speed and at volumes, that it is not getting in at the moment. It's causing absolute devastation. And, of course, to continue our work to secure the release of hostages who've been held for a very, very long time."

Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36, six of them near US-backed aid center
AFP/June 07, 2025
GAZA: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians on Saturday, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution center. The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid center run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah and came after it resumed distributions following a brief suspension in the wake of similar deaths earlier this week. An aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was meanwhile nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased. Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), “six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout.”Gazans have gathered at the roundabout almost daily since late May to collect humanitarian aid from the GHF aid center about one kilometer (a little over half a mile) away. AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls compiled by the civil defense agency or the circumstances of the deaths it reports. The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired “warning shots” at individuals that it said were “advancing in a way that endangered the troops.”Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout. “As soon as some people tried to advance toward the aid center, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armored vehicles stationed near the center, firing into the air and then at civilians,” Abu Hadid said. The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month aid blockade on the territory. UN agencies and major aid groups have declined to work with it, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals. Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine. The aid boat Madleen, organized by an international activist coalition, was sailing toward Gaza on Saturday, aiming to breach Israel’s naval blockade and deliver aid to the territory, organizers said. “We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast,” German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. “We are all good,” she added. In a statement from London, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza — a member organization of the flotilla coalition — said the ship had entered Egyptian waters. The group said it remains in contact with international legal and human rights bodies to ensure the safety of those on board, warning that any interception would constitute “a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war and the Israeli military has made clear it intends to enforce the blockade.“For this case as well, we are prepared,” army spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said on Tuesday, when asked about the Freedom Flotilla vessel. “We have gained experience in recent years, and we will act accordingly.”A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach Israel’s naval blockade, left 10 civilians dead.

Israel backs an anti-Hamas armed group known for looting aid in Gaza. Here's what we know
Julia Frankel, Sam Mednick, Samy Magdy And Lee Keath/The Associated Press/June 7, 2025
JERUSALEM — Israel is supporting armed groups of Palestinians in Gaza in what it says is a move to counter Hamas. But officials from the U.N. and aid organizations say the military is allowing them to loot food and other supplies from their trucks.
One self-styled militia, which calls itself the Popular Forces, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, says it is guarding newly created, Israeli-backed food distribution centers in southern Gaza. Aid workers say it has a long history of looting U.N. trucks. Gaza's armed groups have ties to powerful clans or extended families and often operate as criminal gangs. Aid workers allege Israel's backing of the groups is part of a wider effort to control all aid operations in the strip.
Israel denies allowing looters to operate in areas it controls.
Here’s what we know about anti-Hamas armed groups in Gaza:
Who are these groups?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a social media video Thursday that Israel had “activated” clans in Gaza to oppose Hamas. He didn’t elaborate how Israel is supporting them or what role Israel wants them to play. Netanyahu's comments were in response to a political opponent accusing him of arming “crime families” in Gaza.Clans, tribes and extended families have strong influence in Gaza, where their leaders often help mediate disputes. Some have long been armed to protect their group's interests, and some have morphed into gangs involved in smuggling drugs or running protection rackets.
After seizing power in 2007, Hamas clamped down on Gaza's gangs -- sometimes with brute force and sometimes by steering perks their way. But with Hamas' weakening power after 20 months of war with Israel, gangs have regained freedom to act. The leadership of a number of clans — including the clan from which the Abu Shabab group’s members hail — have issued statements denouncing looting and cooperation with Israel.
A self-proclaimed ‘nationalist force’
Besides the Abu Shabab group, it is not known how many armed groups Israel is supporting. The Abu Shabab group went public in early May, declaring itself a “nationalist force.” It said it was protecting aid, including around the food distribution hubs run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a mainly American private contractor that Israel intends to replace the U.N.-led aid network. Aid workers and Palestinians who know the group estimate it has several hundred fighters. The Abu Shabab group’s media office told The Associated Press it was collaborating with GHF “to ensure that the food and medicine reaches its beneficiaries.” It said it was not involved in distribution, but that its fighters secured the surroundings of distribution centers run by GHF inside military-controlled zones in the Rafah area. A spokesperson with GHF said it had “no collaboration” with Abu Shabab.“We do have local Palestinian workers we are very proud of, but none is armed, and they do not belong to Abu Shabab’s organization,” the spokesperson said, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with the group’s rules. Before the war, Yasser Abu Shabab was involved in smuggling cigarettes and drugs from Egypt and Israel into Gaza through crossings and tunnels, according to two members of his extended family, one of whom was once part of his group. Hamas arrested Abu Shabab but freed him from prison along with most other inmates when the war began in October 2023, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Abu Shabab’s media office said he was summoned by police before the war but wasn’t officially accused or tried. It also said claims the group was involved in attacking aid trucks were “exaggerated,” saying its fighters “took the minimum amount of food and water necessary.”
Aid workers say it is notorious for looting
The head of the association in Gaza that provides trucks and drivers for aid groups said their members' vehicles have been attacked many times by Abu Shabab’s fighters. Nahed Sheheiber said the group has been active in Israeli-controlled eastern parts of Rafah and Khan Younis, targeting trucks as they enter Gaza from the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel. Troops nearby “did nothing” to stop attacks, he said. Sheheiber said that when Hamas policemen have tried to confront gangs or guard truck convoys, they were attacked by Israeli troops. One driver, Issam Abu Awda, told the AP he was attacked by Abu Shabab fighters last July. The fighters stopped his truck, blindfolded and handcuffed him and his assistant, then loaded the supplies off the vehicle, he said. Abu Awda said nearby Israeli troops didn’t intervene. These kinds of attacks are still happening and highlight “a disturbing pattern,” according to Jonathan Whittall, from the U.N. humanitarian coordinator, OCHA. “Those who have blocked and violently ransacked aid trucks seem to have been protected” by Israeli forces, said Whittall, head of OCHA's office for the occupied Palestinian territories. And, he added, they have now become the “protectors of the goods being distributed through Israel’s new militarized hubs,” referring to the GHF-run sites.The Israeli military did not reply when asked for comment on allegations it has allowed armed groups to loot trucks. But the Israeli prime minister’s office called the accusations “fake news,” saying, “Israel didn’t allow looters to operate in Israeli controlled areas.” Israel often accuses Hamas of stealing from trucks.
What does all this have to do with aid?
Muhammad Shehada, a political analyst from Gaza who is a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said he doesn’t believe Israel’s support for armed groups is aimed at directly fighting Hamas. So far there has been no attempt to deploy the groups against the militants.
Instead, he said, Israel is using the gangs and the looting to present GHF “as the only alternative to provide food to Palestinians,” since its supplies get in while the U.N.’s don’t. Israel wants the GHF to replace the U.N.-led aid system because it claims Hamas has been siphoning off large amounts of supplies. The U.N. denies that significant amounts have been taken by Hamas. Israel has also said it aims to move all Palestinians in Gaza to a “sterile zone” in the south, around the food hubs, while it fights Hamas elsewhere. The U.N. and aid groups have rejected that as using food as a tool for forced displacement. The Abu Shabab group has issued videos online urging Palestinians to move to tent camps in Rafah. Israel barred all food and other supplies from entering Gaza for 2 1/2 months , pending the start of GHF – a blockade that has brought the population to the brink of famine. GHF started distributing food boxes on May 26 at three hubs guarded by private contractors inside Israeli military zones. Israel has let in some trucks of aid for the U.N. to distribute. But the U.N. says it has been able to get little of it into the hands of Palestinians because of Israeli military restrictions, including requiring its trucks to use roads where looters are known to operate. “It’s Israel’s way of telling the U.N., if you want to try to bring aid into Gaza, good luck with this," said Shehada. "We will force you to go through a road where everything you brought will be looted.”

Ukrainian attack damaged 10% of Russia's strategic bombers, Germany says
Sabine Siebold/Reuters/June 7, 2025
BERLIN -A Ukrainian drone attack last weekend likely damaged around 10% of Russia's strategic bomber fleet and hit some of the aircraft as they were being prepared for strikes on Ukraine, a senior German military official said. "According to our assessment, more than a dozen aircraft were damaged, TU-95 and TU-22 strategic bombers as well as A-50 surveillance planes," German Major General Christian Freuding said in a YouTube podcast reviewed by Reuters ahead of its publication later on Saturday. The affected A-50s, which function similarly to NATO's AWACS planes by providing aerial situational awareness, were likely non-operational when they were hit, said the general who coordinates Berlin's military aid to Kyiv and is in close touch with the Ukrainian defence ministry. "We believe that they can no longer be used for spare parts. This is a loss, as only a handful of these aircraft exist," he said. "As for the long-range bomber fleet, 10% of it has been damaged in the attack according to our assessment." The United States estimates that Ukraine's audacious drone attack hit as many as 20 Russian warplanes, destroying around 10 of them, two U.S. officials told Reuters, and experts say Moscow will take years to replace the affected planes. Despite the losses, Freuding does not see any immediate reduction of Russian strikes against Ukraine, noting that Moscow still retains 90% of its strategic bombers which can launch ballistic and cruise missiles in addition to dropping bombs.
"But there is, of course, an indirect effect as the remaining planes will need to fly more sorties, meaning they will be worn out faster, and, most importantly, there is a huge psychological impact." Freuding said Russia had felt safe in its vast territory, which also explained why there was little protection for the aircraft. "After this successful operation, this no longer holds true. Russia will need to ramp up the security measures."According to Freuding, Ukraine attacked two air fields around 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Moscow, as well as the Olenya air field in the Murmansk region and the Belaya air field, with drones trained with the help of artificial intelligence. A fifth attack on the Ukrainka air field near the Chinese border failed, he said. The bombers that were hit were part of Russia's so-called nuclear triad which enables nuclear weapons deployment by air, sea and ground, he added.

France's president will visit Greenland in a show of EU unity, Danish leader says
The Associated Press/June 7, 2025
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Greenland next weekend, the Danish prime minister’s office said Saturday — a visit by a high-profile European Union leader in the wake of U.S. expressions of interest in taking over the mineral-rich Arctic island. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and the French leader said they will meet in the semiautonomous Danish territory on June 15, hosted by Greenland’s new prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen. The visit by Macron, whose nuclear-armed country has one of the EU's strongest militaries, comes as U.S. President Donald Trump hasn’t ruled out using force to carry out his desire for the resource-rich and strategically located island to become part of the United States. While the issue of U.S. interest in Greenland has drifted from the headlines in recent weeks, Nielsen said in late April that such comments by U.S. leaders have been disrespectful and that Greenland will never be “a piece of property” that anyone can buy.In the statement Saturday, Frederiksen acknowledged the “difficult foreign policy situation in recent months” but praised “great international support” for Greenland and Denmark.
“President Macron’s upcoming visit to Greenland is yet another concrete testament to European unity,” she said, alluding to the membership of France and Denmark in the 27-member-country EU. The three leaders were expected to discuss security in the North Atlantic and the Arctic, as well as issues of economic development, climate change and energy during the visit, her office said.

Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp
Asharq Al-Awsat/June 07/2025
A notorious desert refugee camp in Syria has closed after the last remaining families returned to their areas of origin, Syrian authorities said on Saturday. The Rukban camp in Syria's desert was established in 2014, at the height of Syria's civil war, in a de-confliction zone controlled by the US-led coalition fighting the ISIS group, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq. Desperate people fleeing ISIS extremists and former government bombardment sought refuge there, hoping to cross into Jordan. Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government rarely allowed aid to enter the camp and neighboring countries closed their borders to the area, isolating Rukban for years. After an opposition offensive toppled Assad in December, families started leaving the camp to return home. The Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based organization, said on Friday that the camp was "officially closed and empty, all families and residents have returned to their homes". Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on X on Saturday that "with the dismantlement of the Rukban camp and the return of the displaced, a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime's war machine comes to a close". "Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert," he added. At its peak, the camp housed more than 100,000 people. Around 8,000 people still lived there before Assad's fall, residing in mud-brick houses, with food and basic supplies smuggled in at high prices. Syrian minister for emergency situations and disasters Raed al-Saleh said on X said the camp's closure represents "the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies faced by our displaced people"."We hope this step marks the beginning of a path that ends the suffering of the remaining camps and returns their residents to their homes with dignity and safety," he added. According to the International Organization for Migration, 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their places of origin since Assad's fall, after they were displaced within the country or abroad. The IOM says the "lack of economic opportunities and essential services pose the greatest challenge" for those returning home.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on June 07-08/2025
AI analysis of ancient handwriting gives new age estimates for Dead Sea Scrolls
Jacopo Prisco, CNN/June 7, 2025
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Many of the Dead Sea Scrolls, some of the most widely known archaeological finds of all time, may be older than once thought, according to a new study.The fresh analysis, which paired radiocarbon dating with artificial intelligence, determined some of the biblical manuscripts date to about 2,300 years ago, when their presumed authors lived, said Mladen Popović, lead author of the report published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.
Bedouin shepherds first spotted the scrolls by chance in the Judaean Desert, near the Dead Sea, in 1947. Archaeologists then recovered thousands of fragments belonging to hundreds of manuscripts from 11 caves, all near the site of Khirbat Qumran in what is now the West Bank. “The Dead Sea Scrolls were extremely important when they were discovered, because they completely changed the way we think about ancient Judaism and early Christianity,” said Popović, who is also dean of the Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. “Out of around 1,000 manuscripts, a bit more than 200 are what we call biblical Old Testament, and they are the oldest copies we have of the Hebrew Bible. They gave us a lot of information about what the text looked like back then.”
The scrolls are like a time machine, according to Popović, because they let scholars see what people were reading, writing and thinking at the time. “They are physical, tangible evidence of a period of history that is crucial — whether you’re Christian, Jewish or don’t believe at all, because the Bible is one of the most influential books in the history of the world, so the scrolls allow us to study it as a form of cultural evolution,” he said.
Almost none of the Dead Sea Scrolls — which were written mostly in Hebrew on parchment and papyrus — have dates on them. Based primarily on paleography, the study and deciphering of ancient writing and manuscripts, scholars have believed the manuscripts range from the third century BC to the second century AD. “But now, with our project, we have to date some manuscripts already to the end of the fourth century BCE,” he said, meaning that the earliest scrolls could be up to 100 years older than previously thought.
“That’s really exciting because it opens up new possibilities to think about how these texts were written and how they moved to other users and readers — outside of their original authors and their social circles,” Popović added.
The findings will not only inspire further studies and affect historical reconstructions, according to the authors of the report, but will also unlock new prospects in the analysis of historical manuscripts.
Determining the age of Dead Sea Scrolls
Earlier estimates of the manuscripts’ age came from radiocarbon dating conducted in the 1990s. Chemist Willard Libby developed this method — used to ascertain the age of organic materials — in the late 1940s at the University of Chicago. Also known as carbon 14 dating, a chemical analysis of a sample, such as a fossil or manuscript, determines the quantity of carbon 14 atoms it contains. All living organisms absorb this element, but it starts to decay as soon as death occurs, so looking at how much is left can give a fairly accurate age of an organic specimen as old as about 60,000 years.
Carbon dating has downsides, however. The analyzed sample is destroyed during the process, and some results can be misleading. “The problem with earlier tests (on the scrolls) is that they didn’t address the issue of castor oil,” Popović said. “Castor oil is a modern invention, and it was used in the 1950s by the original scholars to make the text more legible. But it’s a modern contaminant, and it skews the radiocarbon result to a much more modern date.”
The study team first used new radiocarbon dating, applying more modern techniques, on 30 manuscripts, which revealed that most of them were older than previously thought. Only two were younger. The researchers then used high-resolution images of these newly dated documents to train an AI they developed, called Enoch after the Biblical figure who was the father of Methuselah. The scientists presented Enoch with more documents they had carbon-dated, but withheld the dating information, and the AI correctly guessed the age 85% of the time, according to Popović. “In a number of cases, the AI even gave a narrower date range for the manuscripts than the carbon 14 did,” he said.
Next, Popović and his colleagues fed Enoch more images from 135 different Dead Sea Scrolls that were not carbon-dated and asked the AI to estimate their age. The scientists rated the results as “realistic” or “unrealistic,” based on their own paleographic experience, and found that Enoch had given realistic results on 79% of the samples.
Some of the manuscripts in the study were found to be 50 to 100 years older than formerly thought, Popović said.
One sample from a scroll known to contain verse from the Book of Daniel was once believed to date to the second century BC. “That was a generation after the original author,” Popović said, “and now with the carbon 14, we securely move it (further back) to the time of the author.”Another manuscript, with verses from the Book of Ecclesiastes, also dates older, Popović added. “The manuscript was previously dated on paleographic grounds to 175 to 125 BCE, but now Enoch suggests 300 to 240 BCE,” he said.
Eventually, artificial intelligence could supplant carbon 14 as a method of dating manuscripts, Popović suggested. “Carbon 14 is destructive,” he said, “because you need to cut off a little piece of the Dead Sea Scroll, and then it’s gone. It’s only 7 milligrams, but it’s still stuff that you lose. With Enoch, you don’t have to do any of this. This a first step. There are all sorts of possibilities to improve Enoch further.”
If the team pushes forward with Enoch’s development, Popović believes it could be used to assess scripts such as Syriac, Arabic, Greek and Latin.
‘A massive step forward’
Scholars who were not involved with the study were encouraged by the findings.
Having both AI and an enhanced carbon 14 dating method allows a level of calibration across both methodologies that is helpful, according to Charlotte Hempel, a professor of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. “The pronounced pattern seems to be that AI offers a narrower window within the Carbon 14 window,” she said via email. “I wonder whether this suggests a higher level of precision, which would be extremely exciting.”
The study represents a first attempt to harness AI technology to extend existing scientific knowledge from carbon 14 dating of certain manuscripts to other manuscripts, said Lawrence H. Schiffman, Global Distinguished Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. “To some extent, it is not yet clear whether or not the new method will provide us with reliable information on texts that have not yet been Carbon-14 dated,” he added via email. “The interesting comments regarding revision of the dating of some manuscripts that may be expected through further development of this approach or new carbon-14 dating, while not new to this study, constitute a very important observation about the field of Dead Sea Scrolls in general.”Commenting on the computational aspects of the study, Brent Seales, the Alumni Professor of Computer Science at the University of Kentucky, said the approach taken by the authors seems rigorous even if the sample sizes are small.
Using AI to completely replace carbon dating may be premature, however. “(AI) is a useful tool to incorporate into the broader picture, and to make estimates in the absence of Carbon-14 based on the witness of other similar fragments,” Seales wrote in an email.
“Like everything with machine learning, and like a fine wine, it should get better over time and with more samples. The dating of ancient manuscripts is an extremely difficult problem, with sparse data and heavy constraints on access and expertise. Bravo to the team for this data-driven contribution that takes a massive step forward.”

Question: “How do I identify my spiritual gift?”
GotQuestions.org/June 07/2025
Answer: There is no magic formula or definitive test that can tell us exactly what our spiritual gifts are. The Holy Spirit distributes the gifts as He determines (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). A common problem for Christians is the temptation to get so caught up in our spiritual gift that we only seek to serve God in the area in which we feel we have been gifted. That is not how the spiritual gifts work. God calls us to obediently serve Him in all things. He will equip us with whatever gift or gifts we need to accomplish the task He has called us to.
Identifying our spiritual giftedness can be accomplished in various ways. Spiritual gift tests or inventories, while not to be fully relied upon, can definitely help us understand where our gifting might be. Confirmation from others also gives light to our spiritual giftedness. Other people who see us serving the Lord can often identify a spiritual gift in us that we might take for granted or not recognize. Prayer is also important. The one person who knows exactly how we are spiritually gifted is the gift-giver Himself—the Holy Spirit. We can ask God to show us how we are gifted in order to better use our spiritual gifts for His glory.
Yes, God calls some to be teachers and gives them the gift of teaching. God calls some to be servants and blesses them with the gift of helps. However, specifically knowing our spiritual gift does not excuse us from serving God in areas outside our gifting. Is it beneficial to know what spiritual gift(s) God has given us? Of course it is. Is it wrong to focus so much on spiritual gifts that we miss other opportunities to serve God? Yes. If we are dedicated to being used by God, He will equip us with the spiritual gifts we need.

The War on City-Dwellers ...'Climate Change': Grift of the Century, Part III
Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute/June 07/2025
The ostensible goal of the climate change project is to get to "net zero" carbon emissions by 2050. To do that, global leaders, led by the WEF and the UN, are apparently planning to radically transform the lives of everyone on the planet except their own.
Their plan, officially launched as the UN "Agenda 21" in 1992, during the UN's Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and now renamed "Agenda 2030," -- still under the pretext of saving the planet -- sets in motion initiatives aimed at controlling every detail of people's lives. "On the surface, these 15-minute neigbourhoods might sound pleasant and convenient. But there is a coercive edge. The council plans to cut car use and traffic congestion by placing strict rules on car journeys. Under the new proposals, if any of Oxford's 150,000 residents drives outside of their designated district more than 100 days a year, he or she could be fined £70," according to the UK website Spiked. Furious residents went out to protest the measures -- to no avail.
Popular demand, democratic inclusion and the free market play no role whatsoever. It reminds one of China -- which is no coincidence. The idea embedded within the concept of the 15-minute city is not a new one – it has been practiced in Communist China since 1949. Tracking people's mobility is – and remains – a way for self-appointed "elites" to efficiently control what they seem to regard as the "great unwashed (and incapable of making important decisions) masses."
"The means of control [in China] have greatly evolved [into unparalleled surveillance].... No one pays with money anymore: over there, they pay with WeChat or Alipay, through their phone, which is very easily to control.... The Party's goal of controlling people hasn't changed, it's been updated." — Jean-Philippe Béja, Emeritus Senior Research Fellow at the National Center for Scientific Research and the Center for International Studies and Research at Sciences-Po, forumviesmobiles.org, November 13, 2019.
China...is using biometric scanners as checkpoints, meaning that neighborhoods can turn into prisons by only being accessible through facial scans. If the social credit score is too low, you may not be able to enter or leave. China increasingly... dependent on biometric scans.... Updates... the movements of its citizens, so that it knows where they are at all times. Similarly, the "City Brain" knows what they buy – cash is no longer used – when they take public transport and so on. Anonymity and the right to privacy has been completely abolished.
[A]dding the magic words "carbon neutrality" keeps assuring many Westerners that they are saving the planet. So they keep on buying cheap China's goods and enriching China's military -- enabling it to replace the United States even faster as the world's leading superpower and at last to fulfill Chinese President Xi Jinping's dream of finally ruling the planet. China has taken smart "15-minute cities" to the extreme. It is using biometric scanners as checkpoints, meaning that neighborhoods can turn into prisons by only being accessible through facial scans. If your "social credit" score is too low, you may not be able to enter or leave. Pictured: Surveillance cameras in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. (Photo by Getty Images)
Despite President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and UN executives and bureaucrats doubled down this year at the poorly attended WEF gathering in Davos -- could world leaders possibly be starting to catch on? -- and proclaimed that nothing can stop their radical transformation of the world in the name of "climate change."
"We are already collaborating at a scale where no one can stop; not one country, not one leader making a decision, because it's just the right thing to do globally," announced Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All.
"Anyone who steps back ... will create a vacuum that others will fill", said Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The ostensible goal of the climate change project is to get to "net zero" carbon emissions by 2050. To do that, global leaders, led by the WEF and the UN, are apparently planning to radically transform the lives of everyone on the planet except their own.
Their plan, officially launched as the UN "Agenda 21" in 1992, during the UN's Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and now renamed "Agenda 2030," -- still under the pretext of saving the planet -- sets in motion initiatives aimed at controlling every detail of people's lives. This agenda includes "smart cities" (also known as "15-minute cities") that monitor, track and extract data about citizens' lives. In addition -- already in full swing, with mayors of at least 100 cities -- all participants in the so-called C-40 "network of mayors of the world's leading cities that are united in action to confront the climate crisis" are working on turning their cities into yet another UN concoction.
The World Economic Forum wrote on its website in 2022:
"As climate change and global conflict cause shocks and stresses at faster intervals and increasing severity, the 15-minute city will become even more critical....
"[T]he "15-minute city" concept—which implies having all necessary amenities within a short walk, bike ride, or public transit trip from one's home—has demonstrated stickiness not just as an idea, but as a powerful tool for action – from Paris to Seoul, from Bogotá to Houston."As with smart cities, the WEF conveniently used the Covid-19 pandemic, alongside the fictitious "climate crisis," to legitimize the introduction of 15-minute cities:
"[W]ith COVID-19 and its variants keeping everyone home (or closer to home than usual), the 15-minute city went from a 'nice-to-have' to a rallying cry. Meeting all of one's needs within a walking, biking or transit distance was suddenly a matter of life and death. The pandemic created an urgency around equitable urbanism that sidelined arguments about bike lanes and other 'amenities' that have roiled communities for years. "
The man who claims credit for inventing this "15-minute city" confinement plan is French-Colombian Professor Carlos Moreno. In the 1970s, he was a member of the violent Marxist Colombian M-19 guerillas, before making his way to France, where he now works as an advisor to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, a socialist, who has pledged to transform Paris into a 15-minute city. Moreno also does not hide that Covid-19 conveniently supplied the perfect excuse to force 15-minute cities on an unsuspecting public, saying in a December 2021 interview:
"Were it not for Covid-19, I think that the conditions for deploying the 15-minute city concept would have been very hard to instigate. But the catastrophe of the pandemic has seen us drastically change how we live – it has forced us to reassess the nature and quality of our urban lifestyles."
The term "15-minute city" was first coined in 2015, at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. The purpose: To take away your freedom to move by means of your own choice in order to get to "net zero."
"Adoptable to new or existing cities, the model is for a decentralised, polycentric city, moving away from car ownership, freeing up urban space and reducing fossil fuel use," the RIBA Journal noted in its 2021 profile of Moreno. "It promotes diversity, innovation, citizenship and technology for common good."
In a 2023 interview, Moreno also talked about "fostering the radical transformation of Paris," adding:
"The global network of C40 cities have embraced this concept as the new backbone for developing urban policy post-pandemic, for promoting decarbonized mobilities – pedestrian and bike capability, local economy... and the new economic models for developing more mixed cities,"
So, people's cities are being "radically transformed" by a shadowy "global network" of participating cities without residents having any say in what they think about this upheaval. Thirteen US cities apparently already participate in this scheme, including Austin, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC.
The C-40 website declares.
"C40 is a global network of nearly 100 mayors of the world's leading cities that are united in action to confront the climate crisis. "Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using an inclusive, science-based and collaborative approach to cut their fair share of emissions in half by 2030, help the world limit global heating to 1.5°C, and build healthy, equitable and resilient communities." In 2022, the council of the university city of Oxford, in the UK, decided to split the city into six 15-minute districts. According to the UK website Spiked:
"On the surface, these 15-minute neigbourhoods might sound pleasant and convenient. But there is a coercive edge. The council plans to cut car use and traffic congestion by placing strict rules on car journeys. Under the new proposals, if any of Oxford's 150,000 residents drives outside of their designated district more than 100 days a year, he or she could be fined £70."
Furious residents went out to protest the measures -- to no avail.
Instead of engaging with them, the local council simply cut out the phrase "15-minute city" from its proposal, while openly admitting that they would continue to do the exact same thing. "If we want to actually engage with people about what the real problems are and what the solutions are, we don't need the phrase 15-minute cities anymore," one member of the council said, adding that the change would make "no noticeable difference to our planning decisions."Her statement reflects the undemocratic, self-entitled, authoritarian, ideology-driven agenda of the climate change movement. Popular demand, democratic inclusion and the free market play no role whatsoever. It reminds one of China -- which is no coincidence. The idea embedded within the concept of the 15-minute city is not a new one – it has been practiced in Communist China since 1949. Tracking people's mobility is – and remains – a way for self-appointed "elites" to efficiently control what they seem to regard as the "great unwashed (and incapable of making important decisions) masses."
"For the communist regime that established itself in Beijing in 1949, mobility was synonymous with disorder," wrote Jean-Philippe Béja, Emeritus Senior Research Fellow at the National Center for Scientific Research and the Center for International Studies and Research at Sciences-Po, in Paris, in 2019.
"Once in power, the Party divided the population into classes to better control it: the members of the 'exploiting classes' were subject to many restrictions, while the 'red' classes were tasked with monitoring them. But by 1958, State control was widespread and travel was limited for all. Yet, mobility gradually became part of Chinese people's daily lives: corporate executives would fly to their hometown on weekends; the middle classes would drive to their country homes; private cars replaced bicycles in the villages. However, far from signaling the end of State control, this apparent liberation came with unparalleled surveillance..."The means of control have greatly evolved: you no longer have to force people to stay in their village or neighborhood to monitor them. Artificial intelligence, facial recognition, phones...
"I was in China three days ago and when you pay for something with cash, everyone looks at you as if you were from the Middle Ages. No one pays with money anymore: over there, they pay with WeChat or Alipay, through their phone, which is very easily to control. To control people, you don't need to limit mobility anymore. The Party's goal of controlling people hasn't changed, it's been updated."
China has taken smart "15-minute cities" to the extreme. It is using biometric scanners as checkpoints, meaning that neighborhoods can turn into prisons by only being accessible through facial scans. If your "social credit" score is too low, you may not be able to enter or leave. China, increasingly, has also made entering your own apartment dependent on biometric scans with the digital "City Brain" receiving updates on the movements of its citizens, so that it knows where they are at all times. Similarly, the "City Brain" knows what people buy – cash, as mentioned, is no longer used – when they take public transport and so on. Anonymity and the right to privacy has been completely abolished.
Yet this is something that the WEF is pushing for hard and even seems to think is a delightful idea. In 2020, the WEF published an article in which it praised a new Chinese project named Cloud Valley, to be built in southwestern China's Chongqing Municipality as a cooperation between the Danish architecture firm BIG, and the Chinese company Terminus. The WEF presented it as an idyllic scenario in the quoted exchange between the WEF architect and his Chinese partner. According to Terminus founder Victor Ai:
"The project named Cloud Valley, plans to use sensors and wifi-connected devices to gather data on everything from weather and pollution to people's eating habits to automatically meet residents' needs."
BIG founding partner Bjarke Ingels said:
"It's almost coming back to this idea of living in a village where, when you show up, even though it's the first time you're there, the bar tender knows your favourite drink."
"When our environment becomes sensing and sentient ... we can really open up that kind of seamlessness because the AI can recognise people coming. So it can open the door, so they don't have to look for their key cards."
Chinese state media, praising the project, added that it would "help society achieve carbon neutrality." China, according to a February 2025 report, continues to build coal plants at warp speed. China's construction of new coal-power plants in 2024 reached a "10-year high." However, adding the magic words "carbon neutrality" keeps assuring many Westerners that they are saving the planet. So they keep on buying cheap China's goods and enriching China's military -- enabling it to replace the United States even faster as the world's leading superpower and at last to fulfill Chinese President Xi Jinping's dream of finally ruling the planet.
*Robert Williams is based in the United States.
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Strategic U.S. Real Estate Acquired by Aggressor Nations Needs Urgent Review
Lawrence Kadish/Gatestone Institute/June 07/2025
The success of the stunning Ukrainian attack on Russia's airbases needs to be a wake-up call regarding the threats America faces from enemies of freedom who have equal access to weapons that allow them to be cunning, calculating and deadly effective. Pictured: Ukrainian drones attack Tu-22 supersonic bombers at Belaya Airbase in Russian, on June 1, 2025. (Image source: Security Service of Ukraine via Wikipedia)
When Chinese entities began to buy up farmland near remote but strategic American military installations here in the United States, there were some of us who raised the question, Why?
Those who did so were criticized, described as paranoid, Sinophobic, and hostile to Chinese investment in America.
We might want to revisit that criticism.
Pentagon experts are looking with deep concern at the extraordinary damage done to Russia's strategic bomber force in the wake of Ukraine's recent surprise drone attack. Engaging in what is called asymmetric warfare, Ukraine used flatbed trucks, carrying shipping containers filled with cheap attack drones, driving thousands of miles to get close enough to distant Russian airbases before launching the drones and destroying as much as a third of Russia's strategic bombers.
Think David versus Goliath. But in this instance, David just had to sit outside of Goliath's yard to get the kill.
Now let us go back to those Chinese-owned farms near our American military bases.
Who actually own those properties? Are they working farms? Are they speculative investments in valuable American soil? What is in those barns? Is there a repeated pattern of foreign ownership adjacent to our military installations here in the United States? What about our overseas bases in the Pacific and Europe? Who owns what in the vicinity of our military bases, power stations, and port facilities?
Nearly 25 years ago, I authored an opinion essay regarding America's vulnerability to a radical Islamic terrorist attack that could catch us unprepared. It now seems a far-sighted observation: a short time later, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked on 9/11/2001.
The Pentagon is aware of the problem. U.S. Army General Bryan Fenton, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, told Congress this spring. "Our adversaries use $10,000 one-way drones that we shoot down with $2 million missiles. That cost-benefit curve is upside down."
Yet the Department of Defense is not responsible for the security of military bases beyond their fence lines. As a result, who, what, and where potential threats lurk is largely based on conjecture and nightmare scenarios.
We know this much: Events such as Pearl Harbor, the Cuban missile crisis, and 9/11 have repeatedly reminded Americans that we need to expect the unexpected – or even the unimaginable – from our enemies. The problem is that we Americans have terribly short attention spans and, regretfully, little regard for remembering our own history.
The success of the stunning Ukrainian attack on Russia's airbases needs to be a wake-up call regarding the threats America faces from enemies of freedom who have equal access to weapons that allow them to be cunning, calculating and deadly effective.
**Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Is Trump 'Going Wobbly' on Iran?
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/June 07/2025
Uh oh. US President Donald J, Trump has reportedly fired a "slew of pro-Israel officials in America First 'course correction,'" and that "Trump is looking for an Iran dove to take over as Middle East chief at National Security Council, while pushing for nuclear deal," according to Middle East Eye.
Iran uses it centrifuges to enrich uranium to high levels. Highly enriched uranium is needed only for nuclear weapons. No highly enriched uranium, no nuclear bombs. Even one uranium-enrichment centrifuge in Iran's possession is a nuclear weapon waiting to happen.
If the US Congress could please pass a bill as soon as possible preventing the US from allowing centrifuges in Iran, it would be an enormous benefit to US and global security.
Meanwhile, America's enemies -- Russia, China, North Korea and Venezuela -- are waiting to see if the US actually has any real backbone before deciding if it is safe for them to go on offense again.
This is not warmongering — it is the last resort when diplomacy fails and survival is on the line. Israel and the US have every right to defend themselves – and the region – against a regime that openly seeks their extermination.
Unfortunately, Trump has repeatedly given Iran reason to bet on that. First, Trump told Hamas in January that they had to deliver all the hostages or "all hell will break out." When Hamas did nothing of the kind, Trump's dramatic response was -- nothing. Even better, Trump seemed to "throw Israel under the bus." How perfect!
Then, on March 7, Trump sent Khamenei a letter saying that Iran had two months to dismantle its nuclear program... Hmm. It is now June and Iran has been enriching more uranium than ever. No wonder Iran's regime assumes it is holding a royal straight flush.
Iran's regime saw what happened to Libya's Muammar Qaddafi when he gave up his nuclear arsenal. Iran's regime saw what happened when Ukraine, thanks to the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 – signed by Ukraine, Russia and the US – gave up its nuclear arsenal. The lesson they surely learned was: No nukes, no power. Iran will not voluntarily give up what it must see as its insurance policy for ruling Iran forever.
Iran uses it centrifuges to enrich uranium to high levels. Highly enriched uranium is needed only for nuclear weapons. No highly enriched uranium, no nuclear bombs. Even one uranium-enrichment centrifuge in Iran's possession is a nuclear weapon waiting to happen.
Uh oh. US President Donald J, Trump has reportedly fired a "slew of pro-Israel officials in America First 'course correction,'" and that "Trump is looking for an Iran dove to take over as Middle East chief at National Security Council, while pushing for nuclear deal," according to Middle East Eye.
The threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions, however, is no longer a distant concern — it is a rapidly escalating crisis with the most severe and immediate implications for Israel, the oil-rich Sunni Arab Gulf States, and North and South America. Trump appears to be scurrying to back down from "or there will be "all hell to pay," and is possibly on the verge of letting Iran keep its uranium-enrichment centrifuges. Not an option.
Iran uses it centrifuges to enrich uranium to high levels. Highly enriched uranium is needed only for nuclear weapons. No highly enriched uranium, no nuclear bombs. Even one uranium-enrichment centrifuge in Iran's possession is a nuclear weapon waiting to happen.
If the US Congress could please pass a bill as soon as possible preventing the US from allowing centrifuges in Iran, it would be an enormous benefit to US and global security.
Meanwhile, America's enemies -- Russia, China, North Korea and Venezuela -- are waiting to see if the US actually has any real backbone before deciding if it is safe for them to go on offense again.
While Western nations thousands of miles away continue to treat Iran's nuclear program as a remote diplomatic puzzle, Israel, a sovereign nation and the only democracy in the Middle East (just as Ukraine is a democracy, and what Russia really cannot tolerate) is forced to live every hour aware of Iran's open, repeated and proud intentions to "wipe" it off the map. Iran has repeatedly called for "Death to Israel."
Iran's regime, through its proxies -- Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, as well as direct Iranian ballistic missile attacks last year -- has acted of that intent.
Iran's regime has also made no secret of its calls for "Death to America."
Iranian official Ayatollah Ahmad Khatemi announced in March 2025:
"America and the European troika of Germany, France, and England... We are telling you very clearly, the [Iranian] people are telling you that if you do not stop your threats, the great Iranian people – through its resistance – will wipe you off the face of history and politics.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has straightforwardly stated in 2023, "When you chant 'Death to America!' it is not just a slogan – it is a policy," apparently with plans to assassinate presidential candidate Trump in 2024, as well as several senior US officials and a journalist.
In addition to repeated vows of "Death to America," the Islamic Republic of Iran has made its genocidal ambitions toward Israel a cornerstone of its ideological identity. Khamenei has been refreshingly clear: "Israel will not see the next 25 years."
In 2012, then Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad labeled Israel a "cancerous tumor," and famously called for it to be "wiped" off the earth.
These statements have been echoed by generals in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who vowed to "annihilate" Israel. IRGC commander Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami vowed, "planning to break America, Israel, and their partners and allies. Our ground forces should cleanse the planet from the filth of their existence."
This is not exactly the language of diplomacy — it is the language of genocide and war.
That Israel was previously excluded from crucial negotiations over Iran's nuclear program for the Obama administration's 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) "nuclear deal" was not only an insult but a catastrophic blunder. The most endangered nation was not at the table. The result? A disastrous deal that gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief, while leaving its nuclear infrastructure largely intact. That gift to Iran was accompanied by then President Barack Obama's promises of nuclear weapons for Iran, conveniently "not on my watch" but after it – in fact, this coming October.
The West negotiated from a position of delusion, treating Iran as if it were a misunderstood power rather than a regime with rapacious, blood-curdling goals. Meanwhile, a dismissed Israel had to watch the entire process from the sidelines — its warnings ignored by foreign bureaucrats with no skin in the game.
The latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has made it clear that Iran is not just enriching uranium to weapons-grade — it is rapidly moving toward a nuclear bomb, if it has not already succeeded in acquiring one. This week, the IAEA announced that Iran had enough highly enriched uranium for 10 nuclear weapons, and is doubtless stalling for time to rebuild its air defenses, which Israel struck last October.
Negotiations with Tehran nevertheless continue, led by Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer who was rescued from a bad $523 million business deal by Qatar, which, purely by coincidence, happens to an ally of Hamas and Iran.
The horrific October 7, 2023 massacre by Hamas — backed, funded, and trained by Iran — was not a stand-alone slaughter. It was part of a broader Iranian strategy to destabilize, terrorize, and ultimately destroy both Israel and America.
If the world is serious about preventing World War III— and a nuclear-armed Iran could trigger exactly that, complete with international nuclear arms races — there are only two acceptable paths forward. The first is what is often referred to as the "Libyan model" — a complete dismantlement of Iran's entire nuclear program, including all centrifuges, enrichment capabilities, infrastructure and weaponization research, with full "anytime, anywhere" inspections – to which Iran has never agreed and which it does not appear particularly eager to agree to now.
The second path is, well, to dismantle Iran's nuclear program for them, by force.
This is not warmongering — it is the last resort when diplomacy fails and survival is on the line. Israel and the US have every right to defend themselves – and the region – against a regime that openly seeks their extermination.
Anything less would be another Obama type of fraud. At the moment, Iran has, as usual, been deploying its delay tactics most expertly, presumably in the hope of outlasting or outfoxing the US. Trump appears trying to be contorting himself into anything to avoid confronting Iran militarily. Trump's backing down is precisely what Iran must be counting on.
Unfortunately, Trump has repeatedly given Iran reason to bet on that. First, Trump told Hamas in January that they had to deliver all the hostages or "all hell will break out." When Hamas did nothing of the kind, Trump's dramatic response was -- nothing. Even better, Trump seemed to "throw Israel under the bus." How perfect!
Then, on March 7, Trump sent Khamenei a letter saying that Iran had two months to dismantle its nuclear program... Hmm. It is now June and Iran has been enriching more uranium than ever. No wonder Iran's regime assumes it is holding a royal straight flush.
There is no middle ground that works. Any deal that allows Iran to maintain its centrifuges is an enrichment program about to break out. It is also a reward for deception. Iran has lied repeatedly to international inspectors, violated multiple UN Security Council resolutions, and built covert nuclear sites for decades. Giving Iran billions in sanctions relief while letting them keep their bomb-making war machine is not diplomacy — it is a betrayal of the West.
Iran's rulers believe that, with nuclear weapons, they would be untouchable — able to carry out attacks or threaten to, fund terror, and blackmail the world with impunity. At the top of Iran's hit list are Israel and the US. Iran's regime saw what happened to Libya's Muammar Qaddafi when he gave up his nuclear arsenal. Iran's regime saw what happened when Ukraine, thanks to the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 – signed by Ukraine, Russia and the US – gave up its nuclear arsenal. The lesson they surely learned was: No nukes, no power. Iran will not voluntarily give up what it must see as its insurance policy for ruling Iran forever.
When it comes to the Iranian nuclear threat, Israel does not just understand the stakes — it lives them. Any deal made without Israel's acquiescence is not only illegitimate — it is worthless. Its voice is not optional, it is indispensable. Trump would do the world a favor to end Iran's nuclear weapons program for once and for all — and let Israel in.
*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
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Macron-Meloni rapprochement has ramifications beyond Europe
Andrew Hammond/Arab News/June 07, 2025
The disagreements between French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have been legion. However, both tried to bury the hatchet this week in a move that potentially could help reshape not only European policy but foreign issues too, including the situation in Libya.
Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper described their big meeting on Tuesday as a “turning point summit,” while Il Messaggero’s headline asserted that “Meloni reconciles with Macron” in a “thaw.” This amounts to quite the potential turnaround in the relationship between the leaders of the EU’s second- and third-largest economies.
Yet, this development is not entirely surprising. For much of the post-war era, Germany and France have been the dynamos of ever-closer European integration. However, Macron has had uneven relationships with the three German chancellors he has worked with, and it remains to be seen what will unfold with the latest, Friedrich Merz.
While Macron’s relationship with Merz could well be better than with Merz’s predecessor, Olaf Scholz, there are no guarantees. The French president therefore is looking to continue his long-running project of geopolitical rebalancing by enhancing relationships with other powers in the EU, including Italy and Spain.
Macron’s outreach to Italy reached its high point so far under the prime ministership of Mario Draghi from 2021 to 2022. They signed the so-called “Quirinale Treaty” for bilateral cooperation, the promise of which bears similarities to the Elysee Treaty between France and Germany that was designed to rebuild their relationship after the Second World War. Under the agreement, France and Italy committed to enhanced coordination on security, defense, migration, technology cooperation, including 5G and artificial intelligence, and macroeconomics.
Moreover, in the realm of European affairs Paris and Rome will seek greater coordination before European leadership summits to try to agree on common positions, a process that has long taken place between France and Germany.
The cooperation agreement was first mooted by Macron in 2018 when Paolo Gentiloni was Italy’s prime minister. However, relations between the countries deteriorated when Gentiloni’s administration was succeeded that same year by the populist government of the League and the Five-Star Movement, headed by Giuseppe Conto.
Since Meloni took office almost three years ago, Franco-Italian tensions have resurfaced, including early disagreements over migration, and another at the Italian G7 summit in 2024 over abortion rights. More recently, there have been wider geopolitical tensions, including how best to engage with US President Donald Trump during his second term in the White House, including over trade relations, and also the next steps in support for Ukraine.
For example, Macron has sometimes irritated Meloni with his attempts to put together a “coalition of the willing” to aid Kyiv. The French president has, for instance, hinted at the idea of EU member states putting boots on the ground in Ukraine, a move that would be deeply unpopular in Italy.
Should the Macron-Meloni reset hold, it could change the power equilibrium in Europe.
Andrew Hammond
Last month, Meloni did not attend a working meeting of the Ukraine coalition of the willing in Albania, on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit. Upon returning to Rome the next day, she called on Macron and other European leaders to “abandon selfishness” and focus on “the unity of the West.”
These several disagreements are unsurprising. Meloni is a right-wing populist who comes from a working class, anti-immigrant background. Macron worked as an investment banker and had an elite education.
However, it does appear that both leaders want to try to bury the hatchet. During their meeting on Tuesday, during the French president’s first trip to Italy since Meloni became prime minister, they proposed a “common commitment” on shared challenges, including US tariffs. They said that “Italy and France, dedicated to their role as founding states of the European structure, aim to strengthen their common commitment for a more sovereign, stronger and more prosperous Europe, above all for peace.” Moreover, a bilateral summit will take place in France in early 2026. The focus for this reset is not only on European issues but those far beyond as well, including Libya and the wider Middle East and North Africa region. Both Macron and Meloni are worried Russia might try to boost its presence in eastern Libya to maintain a foothold in the Mediterranean after Moscow’s ally, Bashar Assad, was ousted from Syria in December.
Should the Macron-Meloni reset hold, it could therefore change the power equilibrium in Europe. The two leaders have an extensive domestic policy agenda to discuss, including economic competitiveness and industrial cooperation, such as the Franco-Italian carmaker Stellantis, which appointed a new Italian CEO last month.
Internationally, there is scope for them to work more closely in concert. Italy could benefit from France’s greater influence on the global diplomatic stage, including its permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
France, meanwhile, might be able to better leverage Meloni’s close relationship with Trump and US Vice President J.D. Vance, who share much of her rightist, populist agenda. Last month, Meloni hosted talks in Rome between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Vance, with the latter highlighting the Italian prime minister’s role as a “bridge-builder between Europe and the United States” under Trump.
Both Meloni and Macron therefore have significant incentives to increase cooperation. However, this reset of Franco-Italian relations will face many challenges, and it is far from certain it will endure until the end of their terms in power.
Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.