English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 24/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 17/24-27/:"When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?’He said, ‘Yes, he does.’ And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?’When Peter said, ‘From others’, Jesus said to him, ‘Then the children are free. However, so that we do not give offence to them, go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.’".

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 23-24/2025
The terrorist murder of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky is strongly condemned/Elias Bejjani/May 22/202
Saint Rita of Cascia: The Saint of the Impossible, and a Beacon of Forgiveness and Endurance/Elias Bejjani/May 22/2025
Video Link: An Important Interview with Former Lebanese-American State Delegate in Virginia, Dr. David Ramadan
Lebanese Officials, Palestinian President Agree on State Monopoly over Arms
Hezbollah seeks boost in Lebanon vote as disarmament calls grow
Ortagus to visit Lebanon in two weeks
Report: Israel to keep striking Hezbollah 'with US cover'
Will Israel disrupt municipal vote in south Lebanon?
LF, FPM welcome Lebanese-Palestinian agreement to disarm camps
Qassem urges supporters to secure 'resounding' win in polls despite Israeli attacks
PM Salam condemns latest widespread Israeli strikes
Hochstein to Asharq Al-Awsat: Land Border Demarcation between Lebanon, Israel ‘is Within Reach’
Lebanon starts process to disarm Palestinian factions in refugee camps
The Fall of the “Hezbollah State”?/Dr. Ali Khalifa/Nidaa Al-Watan/May 23/2025
In the Shadows of Hezbollah’s Silence: No one blinks at the daily drone raids turning men into scorched, unrecognizable corpses./Elie Hajj/Facebook/May 23/2025
Jewish protester charged with ‘racial harassment’ over anti-Hezbollah sign/Mathilde Grandjean/PA Media: UK News/May 23, 2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 22-23/2025
Suspect in shooting of Israeli Embassy staffers railed against Gaza war in online posts
Iran-US talks made 'some but not conclusive progress,' mediator Oman says
Omani Mediator Says Iran-US Talks Made ‘Some but Not Conclusive Progress’
US Ambassador to Türkiye Will Serve as Special Envoy to Syria
Trump’s Team Proposes 6-Month Waiver as a First Step in Easing Sanctions on Syria, Officials Say
As Israel faces diplomatic 'tsunami', Trump is staying quiet
UN says more food needed in Gaza as looting hampers deliveries
At Least 60 People Killed by Israeli Strikes in Gaza as Israel Lets Minimal Aid in Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia, in the northern
WHO Chief Begs Israel to Show 'Mercy' in Gaza
Israeli Strikes Kill Palestinians Protecting Gaza Aid Trucks from Looters
Gaza's Main Hospital is Overwhelmed with Children in Pain from Malnutrition
US and Regional Countries Team Up to Resolve the Issue of ISIS Prisoners in Syria
Kuwait Revokes Citizenship of 1,292 Persons

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sourceson on May 23-4/2025
Whatever Happened to 'Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself'?/Nils A. Haug/Gatestone Institute/May 23, 2025
American Churches Turned into Mosques — But Who’s Really to Blame?/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/May 23/2025
France: Grand Principles and Sentiments/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/May 23/2025
Looking Back On Oslo (2)/Hazem SaghiehAsharq Al Awsat/May 23/2025
Don’t invade Iran: Trump must avoid Saddam’s mistake/Barzin Jafartash Amiri, opinion contributor/The Hill/May 23, 2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 23-24/2025
The terrorist murder of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky is strongly condemned
Elias Bejjani/May 22/2025
I am deeply saddened by the tragic crime that claimed the lives of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky at the Capital Jewish Museum..USA
Terrorism and violence targeting innocent civilians must have no place—neither in the United States nor in any other country in the world.
My heartfelt condolences to their families and friends, and mercy upon their souls.

Saint Rita of Cascia: The Saint of the Impossible, and a Beacon of Forgiveness and Endurance
Elias Bejjani/May 22/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/05/143579/
In the heart of the Catholic tradition, few saints have touched as many hearts or inspired as much devotion as Saint Rita of Cascia. Known as the Saint of the Impossible, her life was not marked by miracles of grandeur, but by a quiet, relentless perseverance through suffering, betrayal, loss, and spiritual trial. Her sanctity lies in her unwavering faith, her ability to forgive the unforgivable, and her profound commitment to peace and reconciliation.
A Life of Pain Transformed into Holiness
Born in 1381 in Roccaporena, a small village near Cascia in Italy, Rita was raised in a devout Christian family. From childhood, she longed to join a convent, but her parents arranged her marriage at the age of 12 to Paolo Mancini, a violent and abusive man. Despite the hardship, Rita remained faithful, praying for his conversion. Eventually, her patience bore fruit: Paolo changed, only to be murdered later in a political feud.
As a widow and mother of two sons, Rita then faced another trial—her sons wanted to avenge their father’s death. Fearing they would commit murder, Rita prayed that God would intervene. Both sons died shortly afterward of natural causes, and though heartbroken, Rita believed it was God’s way of saving their souls.
Having lost her husband and children, Rita sought to enter the Augustinian convent in Cascia. Initially rejected due to her background, she was eventually accepted after miraculous circumstances and acts of peacemaking between feuding families. There, she lived a life of deep prayer, penance, and charity.
Marked by Christ’s Wounds
In the last years of her life, Rita received a mystical wound on her forehead—believed to be a partial stigmata, symbolizing her union with Christ’s suffering. For fifteen years, she bore the painful wound as a mark of her love and sacrifice. She died on May 22, 1457, and her body remains incorrupt to this day in the Basilica of Cascia.
She was canonized in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII, who recognized her extraordinary sanctity and spiritual legacy.
Her Enduring Message: Peace, Forgiveness, and Hope
Saint Rita is revered not for political power or public preaching, but for her quiet heroism—as a wife, mother, widow, nun, and intercessor. Her legacy lives on in the hearts of those who suffer, especially women in difficult marriages, victims of violence, and people praying for reconciliation.
She embodies values that transcend time:
Forgiveness: She forgave her husband’s killers and even prayed for the salvation of her sons’ souls.
Endurance in Suffering: She did not escape pain—she transformed it into a path of holiness.
Peacebuilding: Rita reconciled enemy families and brought healing where vengeance once reigned.
Faith Against All Odds: Even when all seemed lost, she trusted in God’s plan.
Why We Still Need Saint Rita Today
In a world plagued by division, domestic strife, and despair, Saint Rita reminds us that even the most broken life can become a vessel of grace. Her title, Saint of the Impossible, is not a legend—it is a testimony to what faith, humility, and perseverance can achieve when united with love.
Conclusion
On this day, May 22, as the Church celebrates Saint Rita of Cascia, we are called to reflect on her life—not as distant history, but as a living witness of Christ’s redemptive love. Let us ask her intercession for peace in our families, healing in our hearts, and hope amid our most impossible trials.
“Saint Rita, advocate of the impossible, teach us to forgive, to hope, and to never give up on the power of love.”

Video Link: An Important Interview with Former Lebanese-American State Delegate in Virginia, Dr. David Ramadan
May 23, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/05/143624/
Conducted by journalist Fadi Chahwan on his YouTube channel.
Dr. David Ramadan expresses deep sorrow over the miserable state, childish behavior, and narcissism of Lebanon’s rulers, political parties, and its exposed and foolish political class.
He is astonished by their inaction and blindness to the major transformations in the region, attributing it to their selfishness, fear, hesitation, obsession with quota-based power-sharing, and their delusional belief in the strength of the terrorist Hezbollah organization.
He affirms that Lebanon’s leaders are not fulfilling their duty to liberate the country, but rather are sharing the spoils with Hezbollah.
He explains that instead of working to weaken Hezbollah’s grip on Lebanon, they are strengthening its occupation in order to safeguard their own interests and shares of power.
The interview goes into detailed analysis, shedding light on the dangerous political reality in Lebanon

Lebanese Officials, Palestinian President Agree on State Monopoly over Arms
Beirut: Asharq Al Awsat/May 23/2025
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas continued on Thursday his visit to Lebanon with agreements being reached that only the Lebanese state should have monopoly over the possession of weapons, effectively ending the proliferation of Palestinian arms in the country. Abbas held separate meetings with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday. The visit, his first to Lebanon since 2017, aims to resolve the issue of Palestinian weapons in refugee camps as the Lebanese state seeks to impose its authority throughout its territories. The hour-long meeting with Berri tackled the general situation in Lebanon and the region as “Israel continues its aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank,” said a parliament statement. They also covered Lebanese-Palestinian relations. At the government palace, Abbas held a bilateral meeting with Salam, and later a security meeting attended by Lebanese and Palestinian officials. A statement from Salam’s office said discussions focused on “ongoing efforts to bolster Lebanon’s stability and security and ensure that the sovereignty of the Lebanese state is respected throughout its territories, including in the Palestinian refugee camps.”
Salam and Abbas agreed that the Palestinians in Lebanon “are guests and they should commit to the decisions of the Lebanese state.” They rejected attempts to naturalize the Palestinians, underlining their right to return to their homeland. They agreed “to end all forms of armed presence outside the authority of the state and completely put an end to the issue of Palestinian weapons outside or inside the camps, so that the state can have monopoly over arms.”
An agreement was reached to form a joint executive committee to implement these agreements, said the statement. Salam and Abbas also underscored “the importance of joint work to address the rights and social issues related to the Palestinian refugees, so that their humanitarian conditions are improved while state sovereignty is respected.”On Gaza, they called for an end to Israel’s war and rejected attempts to displace the Palestinian people. They reiterated support to the two-state solution, saying it would fairly and comprehensively resolve the conflict in the region. They urged the implementation of relevant international resolutions and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative that would ensure the establishment of a Palestinian state. Lebanese sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat the formation of the joint Lebanese-Palestinian committee that would handle the issue of Palestinian weapons in Lebanon. It will hold its first meeting on Friday. The sources said it will be comprised of Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee chief Ramez Dimechkie, Lebanese General Security chief Hassan Choucair, Lebanese Army Intelligence chief Brigadier General Tony Kahwaji, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Azzam al-Ahmed, Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Dabbour, and Secretary of Fatah and PLO factions in Lebanon Fathi Abu al-Ardat. Salam confirmed Friday's meeting in a post on the X platform. He said it will discuss “setting a clear timeframe for the implementation of the mechanism to limit the possession of weapons to the state, including arms inside the camps. It will also discuss the civil rights of Palestinians in Lebanon.”“These weapons no longer help achieve the rights of the Palestinian people, but they are a danger because they could be used to stir intra-Palestinian or Palestinian-Lebanese strife,” he warned. “The strength of the Palestinian cause does not lie in the weapons inside the Palestinian camps in Lebanon, but in the rising number of countries that recognize a Palestinian state and hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating across the world in solidarity with the Palestinians and Gaza,” Salam stressed. Abbas had kicked of his three-day visit to Lebanon on Wednesday with a meeting with President Joseph Aoun. He had declared to Aoun that the Palestinians in Lebanon “will not operate outside of Lebanese law. They are temporary guests and have no desire, opinion or stance that supports the carrying of weapons.”Leading member of the Progressive Socialist Party Toufic Sultan described Abbas and Aoun’s meeting as “historic”.Speaking at a press conference, he added: “We have waited long for the Palestinian presence and their weapons to be put on the table. It has long been a dream for Lebanon to be devoid of weapons. Gone are the days of a state within a state.”

Hezbollah seeks boost in Lebanon vote as disarmament calls grow
Reuters/Laila Bassam and Emilie Madi/May 23, 2025
NABATIEH, Lebanon (Reuters) - Amidst the rubble left by Israeli bombardment of south Lebanon, campaign posters urge support for Hezbollah in elections on Saturday as the group aims to show it retains political clout despite the pounding it took in last year's war. For Hezbollah, the local vote is more important than ever, coinciding with mounting calls for its disarmament and continued Israeli airstrikes, and as many of its Shi'ite Muslim constituents still suffer the repercussions of the conflict. Three rounds of voting already held this month have gone well for the Iran-backed group. In the south, many races won't be contested, handing Hezbollah and its allies early wins. "We will vote with blood," said Ali Tabaja, 21, indicating loyalty to Hezbollah. He'll be voting in the city of Nabatieh rather than his village of Adaisseh because it is destroyed.
"It's a desert," he said.
The south's rubble-strewn landscape reflects the devastating impact of the war, which began when Hezbollah opened fire in support of Hamas at the start in October 2023 of the Gaza conflict and culminated in a major Israeli offensive. Hezbollah emerged as a shadow of its former self, with its leaders and thousands of its fighters killed, its influence over the Lebanese state greatly diminished, and its Lebanese opponents gaining sway. In a measure of how far the tables have turned, the new government has declared it aims to establish a state monopoly on arms, meaning Hezbollah should disarm - as stipulated by the U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Israel. Against this backdrop, the election results so far indicate "the war didn't achieve the objective of downgrading Hezbollah's popularity in the community", said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center, a think tank. "On the contrary, many Shia now feel their fate is tied to Hezbollah's fate. “This (Hezbollah's election performance) really matters," Hage Ali added. "It shows they still represent the great majority of Shi’ites and underlines the reality that any attempt by other Lebanese to disarm them by force would risk being seen as a move against the community and jeopardise civil peace.”Hezbollah's arms have long been a source of division in Lebanon, sparking a brief civil conflict in 2008. Critics say Hezbollah has unilaterally involved Lebanon in wider Middle East conflicts. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has called for dialogue with Hezbollah over a national defence strategy, implying discussion of its weaponry, but talks have yet to begin.
Foreign Minister Youssef Raji, a Hezbollah opponent, has said that Lebanon has been told there will be no reconstruction aid from foreign donors until the state establishes a monopoly on arms. Hezbollah, in turn, has put the onus on the government over reconstruction and accuses it of failing to take steps on that front, despite promises that the government is committed to it. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said that while Washington was engaged in supporting sustainable reconstruction in Lebanon, "this cannot happen without Hezbollah laying down their arms". "We have also made clear transparency and economic reform are the only path to greater investment and economic recovery for the country," the spokesperson said in response to a Reuters query.
DISARMAMENT TERMS
Hezbollah says its weapons are now gone from the south, but links any discussion of its remaining arsenal to Israel's withdrawal from five positions it still holds, and an end to Israeli attacks. Israel says Hezbollah still has combat infrastructure including rocket launchers in the south, calling this "blatant violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon". A French diplomatic source said reconstruction would not materialise if Israel continues striking and the Lebanese government does not act fast enough on disarmament. Donors also want Beirut to enact economic reforms. Hashem Haidar, head of the government's Council for the South, said the state lacks the funds to rebuild, but cited progress in rubble removal. Lebanon needs $11 billion for reconstruction and recovery, the World Bank estimates. In Nabatieh, a pile of rubble marks the spot where 71-year-old Khalil Tarhini's store once stood. It was one of dozens destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Nabatieh's central market. He has received no compensation, and sees little point in voting. Expressing a sense of abandonment, he said: "The state did not stand by us."The situation was very different in 2006, after a previous Hezbollah-Israel war. Aid flowed from Iran and Gulf Arab states. Hezbollah says it has aided 400,000 people, paying for rent, furniture and renovations. But the funds at its disposal appear well short of 2006, recipients say. Hezbollah says state authorities have obstructed funds arriving from Iran, though Tehran is also more financially strapped than two decades ago due to tougher U.S. sanctions and the reimposition of a "maximum pressure" policy by Washington. As for Gulf states, their spending on Lebanon dried up as Hezbollah became embroiled in regional conflicts and, echoing the U.S., they declared it a terrorist group in 2016. Saudi Arabia has echoed the Lebanese government’s position of calling for a state monopoly of arms. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said it was up to the government to secure reconstruction funding and that it was failing to take "serious steps" to get the process on track. He warned that the issue risked deepening divisions in Lebanon if unaddressed. "How can one part of the nation be stable while another is in pain?" he said, referring to Shi'ites in the south and other areas, including Beirut's Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs, hard hit by Israel.

Ortagus to visit Lebanon in two weeks
Naharnet/May 23/2025
U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus is scheduled to visit Lebanon in two weeks, sources told LBCI television on Friday.Al-Akhbar newspaper had reported Thursday that the presidency has been informed of the postponement of Ortagus' visit from May to June, adding that the reason might be President Joseph Aoun's busy schedule. In a previous report, al-Akhbar said Ortagus would carry with her a list of U.S. conditions for Israel's complete withdrawal from south Lebanon and a halt of its attacks on the country and would pressure Lebanon to consider joining peace accords with Israel. Ortagus said Tuesday that Lebanon still has "more" to do in disarming Hezbollah across the country.

Report: Israel to keep striking Hezbollah 'with US cover'
Naharnet/May 23/2025
Hezbollah is “trying to regain its strength in Lebanon” and Israel will keep targeting it across across the country “with a U.S. cover,” an Israeli security source told Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath television. “There will be no withdrawal from the five points as Hezbollah tries to regain its strength,” the source added, accusing the Iran-backed group of “trying to smuggle arms through the airport, the port and the border.”Alleging that Hezbollah is “smuggling equipment used in drones and precision-guided missiles,” the source claimed that “Hezbollah is too weak compared to how it was prior to the latest war.”Noting that “Israel provides Lebanon with information about the sites it targets and their coordinates,” the source added that “we do the bombing when the Lebanese Army does not confiscate Hezbollah’s arms.”“There is a race between the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah in controlling the weapons,” the source added.
The source’s remarks come a day after a major Israeli bombing campaign in southern and eastern Lebanon.

Will Israel disrupt municipal vote in south Lebanon?
Naharnet/May 23/2025
Conflicting reports have emerged on whether the Lebanese state has obtained U.S. guarantees that Israel would not threaten the safety of the municipal and mayoral polls that will be held Saturday in south Lebanon. LBCI television reported Thursday evening that “Lebanon has received guarantees from Washington that Israel will not carry out any military action that disrupts the municipal and mayoral elections in the South.”Information obtained by al-Binaa newspaper however clarified that “the U.S. guarantees received by the Lebanese state are limited to Israel not obstructing the electoral process, which means refraining from targeting civilians and polling stations, but they do not include refraining from staging assassinations against Hezbollah members and officials or striking targets that Israel claim to be Hezbollah posts and rocket launchpads on mountains and in valleys.”

LF, FPM welcome Lebanese-Palestinian agreement to disarm camps
Naharnet/May 23/2025
Long-time foes Lebanese Forces and Free Patriotic Movement both welcomed an agreement between Lebanese and Palestinian leaders to disarm Palestinian camps. LF leader Samir Geagea said Thursday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has always worked towards maintaining "healthy Lebanese-Palestinian ties" and later called Abbas to discuss the latest developments with him and praise his stance on the camps' disarmament. The FPM also praised the agreement on disarming Palestinian camps. The party said in a statement Thursday that this step would pave the way for rebuilding the state and is for the benefit of both the Lebanese and the Palestinians. The FPM warned against the naturalization of Palestinians who are prohibited from working in many professions, have few legal protections and can't own property. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are mostly descendants of those who fled or were expelled from their land during the creation of Israel in 1948. The FPM said disarming camps does not oblige Lebanon to give Palestinians in Lebanon any civil rights and called for their return to their country instead of integrating them into the Lebanese society, but Israel denies Palestinian refugees their right to return to their land. Several Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have told Amnesty International that their hopes of pursuing professional careers and building a better future have been shattered as a result of discriminatory laws that bar Palestinians from practicing over 30 professions including medicine, dentistry, law, architecture and engineering. Such restrictions have trapped many Palestinian refugees in deprivation and poverty. "Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and the Occupied Palestinian Territories are trapped in a cycle of deprivation and systematic discrimination with no end in sight. For many of them life is full of suffocating restrictions and has become a living hell," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Qassem urges supporters to secure 'resounding' win in polls despite Israeli attacks
Naharnet/May 23/2025
Despite a rise in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon in recent days, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has called on supporters to go out to municipal polls in the country’s south and secure a "resounding" victory. “We will not give up a single grain from the soil of our generous south and we will not accept that the Israeli occupation stay on any inch of our land and country,” Qassem said in a televised address. “Your heavy participation in the municipal and mayoral elections is part of the reconstruction process that we will follow up on with the elected municipalities and with the Lebanese state that should shoulder its responsibility,” Hebzollah’s leader added. “Regaining the land of the South and rebuilding it and everything that has been destroyed in Lebanon is an inseparable part of the loyalty toward the blood of the martyrs, topped by the Ummah’s top martyr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, as well as toward the wounded and the captives whom we will work on freeing them,” Qassem went on to say.

PM Salam condemns latest widespread Israeli strikes
Associated Press/May 23/2025
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Israel’s attacks "will not deter the state from its commitment to the electoral process,", after Israel carried out strikes on multiple areas in southern Lebanon on Thursday, some far from the border, only two days before municipal elections are slated to take place in south Lebanon.
Salam called for more international pressure to make Israel stop bombing his country. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported described the strikes as "the most violent" in some areas since a ceasefire deal ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November. Residents of northern Israel also reported hearing loud explosions from across the border. The Israeli army issued a warning ahead of one strike that destroyed a building in the town of Toul, which it described as "facilities belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah." Video of the strike's aftermath showed fire and a massive cloud of smoke rising over an area packed with multi-story apartment buildings. Strikes in other areas were carried out without warning. Israel has struck Lebanon almost every day since the ceasefire. Lebanon says those strikes are in violation of the deal, while Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah to prevent it from re-arming.

Hochstein to Asharq Al-Awsat: Land Border Demarcation between Lebanon, Israel ‘is Within Reach’
Washington : Ali Barada/Asharq Al Awsat/May 23/2025
The former US special envoy, Amos Hochstein, said the maritime border agreement struck between Lebanon and Israel in 2022 and the ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hezbollah at the end of last year show that a land border demarcation “is within reach.” “We can get to a deal but there has to be political willingness,” he said.“The agreement of the maritime boundary was unique because we’d been trying to work on it for over 10 years,” Hochstein told Asharq Al-Awsat. “I understood that a simple diplomatic push for a line was not going to work. It had to be a more complicated and comprehensive agreement. And there was a real threat that people didn’t realize that if we didn’t reach an agreement we would have ended up in a conflict - in a hot conflict - or war over resources.”He said there is a possibility to reach a Lebanese-Israeli land border agreement because there’s a “provision that mandated the beginning of talks on the land boundary.”“I believe with concerted effort they can be done quickly,” he said, adding: “It is within reach.” Hochstein described communication with Hezbollah as “complicated,” saying “I never had only one interlocutor with Hezbollah .... and the first step is to do shuttle diplomacy between Lebanon, Lebanon and Lebanon, and then you had to go to Israel and do shuttle diplomacy between the different factions” there. “The reality of today and the reality of 2022 are different. Hezbollah had a lock on the political system in Lebanon in the way it doesn’t today.”
North of Litani
The 2024 ceasefire agreement requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon and for the Lebanese army to take full operational control of the south Litani region, all the way up to the border. It requires Hezbollah to demilitarize and move further north of the Litani region, he said. “I don’t want to get into the details of other violations,” he said, but stated that the ceasefire works if both conditions are met.
Lebanon’s opportunity
“Lebanon can rewrite its future ... but it has to be a fundamental change,” he said. “There is so much potential in Lebanon and if you can bring back opportunity and jobs - and through economic and legal reforms in the country - I think that the future is very bright,” Hochstein told Asharq Al-Awsat. “Hezbollah is not trying to control the politics and remember that Hezbollah is just an arm of Iran” which “should not be imposing its political will in Lebanon, Israel should not be imposing its military will in Lebanon, Syria should not. No one should. This a moment for Lebanon to make decisions for itself,” he added.

Lebanon starts process to disarm Palestinian factions in refugee camps
Abby Sewell/AP/May 23, 2025
BEIRUT — A group tasked with making a plan to remove weapons held by Palestinian factions in Lebanon’s refugees camps met for the first time Friday to begin hashing out a timetable and mechanism for disarming the groups. The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, a government body that serves as an interlocutor between Palestinian refugees and officials, said the meeting was attended by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and that “participants agreed to launch a process for the disarmament of weapons according to a specific timetable."The group added that it also aimed to take steps to "enhance the economic and social rights of Palestinian refugees.”A Lebanese official familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment, said work to remove the weapons would begin within a month. The meeting followed a visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Lebanon, during which he and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced an agreement that Palestinian factions would not use Lebanon as a launchpad for any attacks against Israel, and that weapons would be consolidated under the authority of the Lebanese government. There are multiple Palestinian factions active in Lebanon’s refugee camps, which include Abbas’ Fatah movement, the rival Hamas group and a range of other Islamist and leftist groups.
The 12 Palestinian refugee camps aren’t under the control of Lebanese authorities, and rival groups have clashed inside the camps in recent years, inflicting casualties and affecting nearby areas. Hamas and allied Palestinian groups also fought alongside the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah against Israel in Lebanon in a war that ended with a ceasefire in November. Hezbollah has been under increasing pressure to give up its own weapons since then. Ihsan Ataya, a member of the political bureau of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which is allied with Hamas, said in a statement that his group “adheres to the laws of the host country and respects applicable laws.” But he questioned how the disarmament would be implemented and “whether the goal of raising the issue of weapons today was to yield to American pressure to resettle Palestinian refugees” and “eliminate the symbolism of resistance in the camps related to the refugees' right of return to their homes" in what is now Israel. Hamas spokesperson Jihad Taha told local TV station Al Jadeed that Hamas does not have “military centers” in Lebanon, inside or outside of the camps and is “keen on the security and stability of our Palestinian camps." He said they are also “keen to establish the best relations with our brothers in Lebanon at the government level, at the popular level and at the level of resistance.” He did not clearly say whether the group would hand over any weapons it has. The Lebanese official said that Hamas’ office in Lebanon would be allowed to remain open if it worked only on political and not military matters. There are nearly 500,000 Palestinians registered with UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, in Lebanon. However, the actual number in the country is believed to be around 200,000, as many have emigrated but remain on UNRWA’s roster.They are prohibited from working in many professions, have few legal protections and can’t own property.

The Fall of the “Hezbollah State”?
Dr. Ali Khalifa/Nidaa Al-Watan/May 23/2025
(free translation from Arabic by: Elias Bejjani)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/05/143615/
The so-called “Hezbollah State” is nothing less than the iron fist of Iran’s Islamic regime extending deep into Lebanon. It has uprooted Lebanese Shiites from their society, erased their cultural and social legacy, and blocked the establishment of a functioning state by paralyzing its institutions and suspending its constitution. In its place, it built parallel structures atop the corpse of the Lebanese republic. Consequently, the “Shiite issue” has escalated to a point where Lebanon has become a “society without a state”—a society of blood, indoctrination, sanctions-driven economics, and a culture of conformity. These are the defining elements of the “Hezbollah State.”
Yet the very proxy war that turned Lebanese Shiites into fuel for Iran’s ambitions has brought about Hezbollah’s own downfall. The group now faces unprecedented losses—militarily, financially, and structurally—leading to the collapse of the very system it used to construct its pseudo-state and project arrogance.
In the wake of the fall of the “Hezbollah State,” a new political project must arise from within the Shiite community—one that counters the “duopoly” and offers a cultural vision that reconciles Shiite jurisprudence with modernity. This would allow Lebanon to move beyond the “Shiite issue” and rebuild its state, ensuring that Hezbollah’s demise does not translate into a defeat for the Shiites themselves.
Scholar Sayyed Muhammad Hassan al-Amin once wrote with eloquence, sharp insight, and a heart full of human values: “The authority of divine right is a conspiracy against Shiism.” In this powerful statement, al-Amin offered a visionary call to renew Islamic thought and cleanse it of its obsession with political power. He advocated for a reconciliation with secularism—often rejected by religious leaders and Muslim scholars—yet foundational to modern conceptions of the state. Key terms of modernity such as secularism, the state, citizenship, and coexistence are anchored in the understanding that religion, in a modern society, is a cultural constant and a personal choice.
Similarly, the scholar Sheikh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din tackled essential issues with the aim of paving the way for a cultural renaissance rooted in Shiite jurisprudence and aligned with modern values. He rejected the doctrine of the general guardianship of the jurist, asserting instead that guardianship belongs to the people.In the same vein, Sayyed Ali al-Amin articulated the notion of state guardianship as a legitimate regulatory authority, exercising exclusive responsibilities and functions. His writings offer a framework that could provide jurisprudential grounding compatible with Western political philosophy and practice, allowing Lebanese Shiites to fully integrate into the national project. In this light, the collapse of the “Hezbollah State” could be transformed into an opportunity—one that serves both the Lebanese state and the Shiite community.

In the Shadows of Hezbollah’s Silence: No one blinks at the daily drone raids turning men into scorched, unrecognizable corpses.
Elie Hajj/Facebook/May 23/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/05/143605/
(Free translation from Arabic by: Elias Bejjani)
In the Shadows of Hezbollah’s Silence I urge you to look beyond the silence Hezbollah imposes—and see these men and young people, scorched daily in the South, as human beings. They have the right to life and dignity, regardless of their beliefs or actions.
Every day, we witness horrifying images of charred bodies and mutilated remains—men blown apart by drone strikes while riding motorcycles or driving battered cars, often still the old “Rapid” models. Each of them has a mother, a father, a sister, a wife, children—loved ones who mourn them. This is only human.
What is inhumane, what is disgraceful, is Hezbollah’s cold indifference—and the silence of those who stand by as Lebanese families, especially in the South, endure relentless tragedy.
There is such a thing as basic human empathy. If we lose it, we forfeit the right to call ourselves human. A person is not merely a political pawn. Moral clarity demands that, regardless of our absolute rejection of Hezbollah, its backward ideology, and its foreign allegiances, we acknowledge that these are still Lebanese citizens—even if only by ID card, for those who like to split hairs.
Hezbollah dragged them out from under the sovereignty of the Lebanese state and placed them under the authority of the Iranian “Guardian Jurist.” Then it signed a ceasefire deal with Israel—a deal that gives Israel carte blanche to kill them at will, while Hezbollah forfeits even the right to fire a single shot in return.
They were handed over for slaughter like cattle. No mourning, no honor. Their deaths no longer even make it into Hezbollah’s own media. Often, we only learn their names from Israeli reports. In Lebanon, the news of their deaths barely registers. It has become routine, like hearing about a fender-bender. Just metal hitting metal.
If a municipality euthanized stray dogs, there would be outrage. Yet no one blinks at the daily drone raids turning these men into scorched, unrecognizable corpses.
One dead. Two dead. Three. Dozens wounded. Since the latest ceasefire began on April 27, around 200 have died and nearly 500 have been injured.
A massacre in broad daylight.
And Hezbollah? It’s busy preparing for municipal elections, telling the families of the dead to be patient and to emulate the suffering of the Imams and the Ahl al-Bayt—an absurd, tragic blend of political manipulation and religious theater.
And the Lebanese state? Pity the state! It still behaves like it did in Émile Lahoud’s era—repeating tired slogans about the “heroism of the Resistance” and the “brutality of the enemy.” Nothing more. In truth, there’s barely anything left of the state. Hezbollah holds it by the throat.
As you read these words, know that the number of bereaved families in the South will only grow. The South has become a human slaughterhouse. And it’s all happening under a criminal, complicit silence—one more vicious than death itself.

Jewish protester charged with ‘racial harassment’ over anti-Hezbollah sign
Mathilde Grandjean/PA Media: UK News/May 23, 2025
A Jewish man was arrested and charged with “racially aggravated harassment” after holding a placard at a counter-demonstration depicting a Hezbollah leader. The British man attended a Stop the Hate counter-protest against a pro-Palestine march in Swiss Cottage, north-west London, on September 20 last year when he held a placard featuring a drawing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah holding a pager to his face, with the words “beep, beep, beep”, the Telegraph reported. The cartoon made reference to a September 2024 Israeli attack nicknamed Operation Grim Beeper, in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah, a proscribed terror group in the UK, detonated simultaneously, killing dozens of people and injuring thousands. The Telegraph published police interview footage in which an officer asked the counter-protester: “Do you think that showing this image to persons protesting who are clearly pro-Hezbollah and anti-Israel that by doing so would stir up racial hatred further than it is already?”The man’s lawyer then asked: “Are you saying that there were pro-Hezbollah people there? Because it is a proscribed terrorist organisation.”The protester was later charged under the Public Order Act of causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress by words or writing. The man, who was not named, told the newspaper: “It beggars belief that police could think that this placard may be offensive to supporters of Hezbollah.
“If there are Hezbollah supporters at these marches, then why weren’t charges brought against them for terrorist offences, rather than me being charged for holding a sign that can only be construed as political satire? “The Met Police are still completely out of their depth when it comes to policing the anti-Israel hate marches we’ve seen on our streets week in, week out since the October 7 attacks,” he added. The man further told The Telegraph police officers searched his home in an attempt to find the placard, which he claimed was not his. He described how two police vans and six officers arrived to conduct the search, which he said was “invasive” and “totally ridiculous”. But eight months later, on May 10, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped the case, saying there was insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction, according to The Telegraph. The Met Police said on Friday the officer who interviewed the protester “clearly misspoke” when she described the pro-Palestine demonstrators as “pro-Hezbollah”, adding they will “reflect on the CPS decision” to drop the case. A spokesperson for the force said: “A man was charged following a careful consideration of the evidence. “We will reflect on the CPS decision not to proceed with the case, applying any learning to future investigations. “The officer who interviewed the man clearly misspoke when she described those in the protest as pro-Hezbollah instead of pro-Palestinian.”The spokesperson added: “We take support for proscribed organisations very seriously. “Since October 2023, we have made 28 arrests under the Terrorism Act for offences at protests, including wearing clothing or displaying symbols that indicated support for such groups, including Hezbollah. “This is in addition to the hundreds of arrests made for other offences.”The CPS has been contacted for comment.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 23-24/2025
Suspect in shooting of Israeli Embassy staffers railed against Gaza war in online posts
Michael Biesecker And Jim Mustian/The Associated Press/May 23, 2025
WASHINGTON — In the years before he was accused of killing two Israeli Embassy employees, the suspect in the fatal shootings was an active participant in Chicago's left-wing protest scene, speaking out against police violence and a proposed Amazon headquarters. Then the war in Gaza ignited his fury into violence. Elias Rodriguez, 31, was charged Thursday with the murder of foreign officials and other crimes in connection with the deaths of Israeli citizen Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, an American, as they left an event at a Jewish museum. The couple had plans to become engaged. He told police after his arrest, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” according to court filings. Rodriguez lived in a modest 850-square-foot apartment on Chicago’s north side and worked as an administrative assistant at a medical trade group. He had no apparent criminal record. In his activism, he protested police violence against minorities and the power of corporations. His online posts had recently become fixated on the war in Gaza, calling for retaliation against Israel. In the window of his apartment hung a photo of Wadee Alfayoumi, a 6-year-old Muslim boy killed in a stabbing in Chicago shortly after the start of the war, which was sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that resulted in the deaths of some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and the abductions of 251 others. A neighbor, John Wayne Fry, told reporters that Rodriguez and a woman who lived with him appeared to be “very sensitive people, especially about the issue of Palestine.”
Suspect protested outside Chicago mayor's home
An October 2017 article in Liberation, the online newspaper for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, quoted Rodriguez as a member of the group participating in a protest outside the Chicago home of then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel over the police shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald and the city’s bid to be the site for a new Amazon headquarters. A photo of a man holding a protest sign published with the article appeared to match photos of Rodriguez posted on social media. The organization denied Thursday that Rodriguez was an active member, though it acknowledged a “brief association” in the past. The group also scrubbed the 2017 article identifying Rodriguez as a member from its website.“We reject any attempt to associate the PSL with the DC shooting,” the group said in a statement. “We know of no contact with (Rodriguez) in over 7 years. We have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it.”
As recently as this week, the group’s X feed posted pro-Palestinian statements calling for an end to the war in Gaza and characterizing Israel’s attacks on Palestinians as genocide. Family members of Rodriguez and his defense attorney, Elizabeth Mullin, did not return messages seeking comment. The FBI did not respond to questions about whether he was on the bureau’s radar before the shooting. A GoFundMe page from 2017 sought to raise money to pay Rodriguez's way to People's Congress of Resistance, an event in Washington that September to “fight the Trump agenda and the Congress of millionaires!” As part of the appeal, Rodriguez recounted his father's military service in the Iraq War. “When my dad came home from Baghdad, he came with souvenirs,” Rodriguez was quoted as saying. “One was a magazine pouch with a warning in Arabic to back away or my dad would shoot and kill you. ... He also gave me a patch of Iraq’s national flag, one he ripped off of an Iraqi soldier’s uniform because he could. I don’t want to see another generation of Americans coming home from genocidal imperialist wars with trophies.”
The effort raised $240.
Social media posts show he became focused on Gaza
Social media accounts tied to Rodriguez suggest he had become increasingly focused over the last two years on the Israeli bombing campaign and ground invasion in Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. An account on X that used a variation of a screen name Rodriguez had used on other sites, along with his given name and photo, frequently featured pro-Palestinian posts, including a video from an October 2023 protest in downtown Chicago against U.S. aid to Israel. Last October, the account also reposted two videos of speeches by Hassan Nasrallah, a Lebanese cleric and a former leader of Islamic militant group Hezbollah. Nasrallah had been killed two weeks earlier in an Israeli airstrike. Less than an hour after the shooting in Washington on Thursday night, the X account posted, “Escalate For Gaza, Bring The War Home,” along with screen grabs of a nearly 1,000-word essay signed with Rodriguez's name. It was not immediately clear whether Rodriguez, who was in police custody at the time, had used a feature on X to schedule the release of the post in advance or if another person might have had access to the account. In the piece, Rodriguez railed against the mounting death toll in Gaza, saying Israel “had obliterated the capacity to even continue counting the dead, which has served its genocide well.”He sought to justify what he called “the morality of armed demonstration.”“The atrocities committed by Israelis against Palestine defy description and defy quantification,” he wrote. Rodriguez also invoked the death last year of Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force who set himself ablaze outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington while declaring that he “will no longer be complicit in genocide.”Israel has repeatedly denied that it is committing genocide in Gaza. Rodriguez’s employer, the American Osteopathic Information Association, issued a statement Thursday expressing shock and saying it would cooperate with investigators. “As a physician organization dedicated to protecting the health and sanctity of human life, we believe in the rights of all persons to live safely without fear of violence,” the group said.

Iran-US talks made 'some but not conclusive progress,' mediator Oman says
Jon Gambrell And Giada Zampano/The Associated Press/May 23, 2025
ROME — Iran and the United States made “some but not conclusive progress” Friday in a fifth round of negotiations in Rome over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, the talks' Omani mediator said. The remarks by Badr al-Busaidi suggested the negotiations between the two longtime enemies would continue even as the talks run up against their toughest challenge: Trying to find middle ground between American demands that Iran stop enriching uranium while Tehran insists its program must continue. “The fifth round of Iran US talks have concluded today in Rome with some but not conclusive progress,” al-Busaidi wrote on X. “We hope to clarify the remaining issues in the coming days, to allow us to proceed towards the common goal of reaching a sustainable and honourable agreement.”Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi after the talks told Iranian state television that al-Busaidi presented ideas that will be conveyed to the two nations' capitals “without creating any commitments for either side.""These negotiations are too complex to be resolved in just two or three meetings,” he said. “I am hopeful that in the next one or two rounds — especially given the better understanding of the Islamic Republic’s positions — we can reach solutions that allow the talks to progress.”He added: “We are not there yet, but we are not discouraged either."The U.S. was again represented in the talks by Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Michael Anton, the State Department’s policy planning director, at the negotiations in the Omani Embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighborhood. A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks, said the direct and indirect negotiations “continue to be constructive.”“The talks continue to be constructive — we made further progress, but there is still work to be done,” the official said.
Enrichment remains key in negotiations
The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic, closing in on half a century of enmity. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. “Iran almost certainly is not producing nuclear weapons, but Iran has undertaken activities in recent years that better position it to produce them, if it chooses to do so,” a new report from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said. “These actions reduce the time required to produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium for a first nuclear device to probably less than one week.”However, it likely still would take Iran months to make a working bomb, experts say. Enrichment remains the key point of contention. Witkoff at one point suggested Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later began saying all Iranian enrichment must stop. That position on the American side has hardened over time. Asked about the negotiations, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said “we believe that we are going to succeed” in the talks and on Washington's push for no enrichment. “The Iranians are at that table, so they also understand what our position is, and they continue to go," Bruce said Thursday. One idea floated so far that might allow Iran to stop enrichment in the Islamic Republic but maintain a supply of uranium could be a consortium in the Mideast backed by regional countries and the U.S. There also are multiple countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency offering low-enriched uranium that can be used for peaceful purposes by countries. However, Iran's Foreign Ministry has maintained enrichment must continue within the country's borders and a similar fuel-swap proposal failed to gain traction in negotiations in 2010. Meanwhile, Israel has threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities on their own if it feels threatened, further complicating tensions in the Mideast already spiked by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Araghchi warned Thursday that Iran would take “special measures” to defend its nuclear facilities if Israel continues to threaten them, while also warning the U.S. it would view it as being complicit in any Israeli attack. Authorities allowed a group of Iranian students to form a human chain Thursday at its underground enrichment site at Fordo, an area with incredibly tight security built into a mountain to defend against possible airstrikes.
Talks come as US pressure on Iran increases
Yet despite the tough talk from Iran, the Islamic Republic needs a deal. Its internal politics are inflamed over the mandatory hijab, or headscarf, with women still ignoring the law on the streets of Tehran. Rumors also persist over the government potentially increasing the cost of subsidized gasoline in the country, which has sparked nationwide protests in the past. Iran’s rial currency plunged to over 1 million to a U.S. dollar in April. The currency has improved with the talks, however, something Tehran hopes will continue as a further collapse in the rial could spark further economic unrest. Meanwhile, its self-described “Axis of Resistance” sits in tatters after Iran's regional allies in the region have faced repeated attacks by Israel during its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government during a rebel advance in December also stripped Iran of a key ally. The Trump administration also has continued to levy new sanctions on Iran, including this week, which saw the U.S. specifically target any sale of sodium perchlorate to the Islamic Republic. Iran reportedly received that chemical in shipments from China at its Shahid Rajaei port near Bandar Abbas. A major, unexplained explosion there killed dozens and wounded over 1,000 others in April during one round of the talks.

Omani Mediator Says Iran-US Talks Made ‘Some but Not Conclusive Progress’
Asharq Al Awsat/May 23/2025
Iran and the United States made “some but not conclusive progress” Friday in a fifth round of negotiations in Rome over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, the talks' Omani mediator said. The remarks by Badr al-Busaidi suggested the negotiations between the two longtime enemies would continue even as the talks run up against their toughest challenge: Trying to find middle ground between American demands that Iran stop enriching uranium while Tehran insists its program must continue. “The fifth round of Iran US talks have concluded today in Rome with some but not conclusive progress,” al-Busaidi wrote. “We hope to clarify the remaining issues in the coming days, to allow us to proceed towards the common goal of reaching a sustainable and honorable agreement.”US officials up to President Donald Trump insist Iran cannot continue to enrich uranium at all in any deal that could see sanctions lifted on Tehran's struggling economy. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi early Friday insisted online that no enrichment would mean “we do NOT have a deal.” “Figuring out the path to a deal is not rocket science,” Araghchi wrote on X. “Time to decide.” The US was again represented in the talks by Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Michael Anton, the State Department’s policy planning director. Al-Busaidi was mediating the negotiations as the sultanate on the Arabian Peninsula has been a trusted interlocutor by both Tehran and Washington in the talks. Multiple convoys arrived at the Omani Embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighborhood just after 1 p.m. The embassy previously served as the site of another round of talks. Iranian media said the talks started at 1:30 p.m. After about 2 1/2 hours, a convoy left the embassy compound. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei, at the embassy in Rome, told state television that it was Witkoff leaving because he needed to catch a flight. Baghaei said the talks had continued without Witkoff in a “sane and calm atmosphere.”
Araghchi announced online the talks were over just after 5 p.m.
Enrichment remains key in negotiations
The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the US has imposed on Tehhran, closing in on half a century of enmity. Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.“Iran almost certainly is not producing nuclear weapons, but Iran has undertaken activities in recent years that better position it to produce them, if it chooses to do so,” a new report from the US Defense Intelligence Agency said. “These actions reduce the time required to produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium for a first nuclear device to probably less than one week.”However, it likely still would take Iran months to make a working bomb, experts say. Enrichment remains the key point of contention. Witkoff at one point suggested Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later began saying all Iranian enrichment must stop. That position on the American side has hardened over time. Asked about the negotiations, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said “we believe that we are going to succeed” in the talks and on Washington's push for no enrichment. “The Iranians are at that table, so they also understand what our position is, and they continue to go," Bruce said Thursday. One idea floated so far that might allow Iran to stop enrichment in the country but maintain a supply of uranium could be a consortium in the Middle East backed by regional countries and the US. There also are multiple countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency offering low-enriched uranium that can be used for peaceful purposes by countries. However, Iran's Foreign Ministry has maintained enrichment must continue within the country's borders and a similar fuel-swap proposal failed to gain traction in negotiations in 2010. Meanwhile, Israel has threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities on their own if it feels threatened, further complicating tensions in the Middle East already spiked by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Araghchi warned Thursday that Iran would take “special measures” to defend its nuclear facilities if Israel continues to threaten them, while also warning the US it would view it as being complicit in any Israeli attack. Authorities allowed a group of Iranian students to form a human chain Thursday at its underground enrichment site at Fordo, an area with incredibly tight security built into a mountain to defend against possible airstrikes.
US pressure on Iran increases
Yet despite the tough talk from Iran, Tehran needs a deal. Its internal politics are inflamed over the mandatory hijab, or headscarf, with women still ignoring the law on the streets of Tehran. Rumors also persist over the government potentially increasing the cost of subsidized gasoline in the country, which has sparked nationwide protests in the past. Iran’s rial currency plunged to over 1 million to a US dollar in April. The currency has improved with the talks, however, something Tehran hopes will continue as a further collapse in the rial could spark further economic unrest. Meanwhile, its self-described “Axis of Resistance” sits in tatters after Iran's regional allies in the region have faced repeated attacks by Israel during its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government during an opposition advance in December also stripped Iran of a key ally.
The Trump administration also has continued to levy new sanctions on Iran, including this week, which saw the US specifically target any sale of sodium perchlorate to the country. Iran reportedly received that chemical in shipments from China at its Shahid Rajaei port near Bandar Abbas. A major, unexplained explosion there killed dozens and wounded over 1,000 others in April during one round of the talks.

US Ambassador to Türkiye Will Serve as Special Envoy to Syria
Asharq Al-Awsat/May 23/2025
Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Türkiye, said on Friday he has assumed the role of special envoy to Syria, as the Trump administration moves to lift sanctions on the country. Barrack said in a post on X that he would support US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in removing US sanctions on Syria after President Donald Trump made a landmark announcement earlier this month that Washington would unwind the measures. "As President Trump’s representative in Türkiye, I am proud to assume the role of the US Special Envoy for Syria and support Secretary Rubio in the realization of the President’s vision," Barrack said. Barrack is a private equity executive who has long advised Trump and chaired his inaugural presidential committee in 2016.Reuters reported earlier this week the US planned to appoint him as special envoy. The move suggests US acknowledgement that Türkiye has emerged with key regional influence on Damascus since opposition factions ousted Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad in December, ending 14 years of civil war. Trump met with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on May 14. Barrack attended a US-Turkish meeting focused on Syria that was held in Washington on Tuesday, where sanctions relief and efforts to counter terrorism were discussed. Removing US sanctions would clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organizations working in Syria, and ease foreign investment and trade as the country tries to rebuild. "The cessation of sanctions against Syria will preserve the integrity of our primary objective - the enduring defeat of ISIS - and will give the people of Syria a chance for a better future," Barrack said in the post on X.

Trump’s Team Proposes 6-Month Waiver as a First Step in Easing Sanctions on Syria, Officials Say
Asharq Al-Awsat/May 23/2025
President Donald Trump's advisers are proposing that he grant Syria a six-month waiver from one crippling set of sanctions as well as ease restrictions on businesses as a first step in his pledge to end a half-century of penalties, two US officials said Friday.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said the announcements on the first phase of US sanctions relief could come as soon as Friday or on Tuesday, after Memorial Day.
In addition to a temporary waiver on a tough set of sanctions imposed by Congress, officials also support broadening Treasury Department rules setting out what foreign businesses can do in Syria, the officials said. They said there could still be changes to what is announced in the initial round of relief.
Trump on May 13 announced a "cessation" of US sanctions targeting Syria's former leaders that date back to 1979. For more permanent relief, administration officials are debating whether Syria's interim government should be required to meet tough security conditions. At risk could be the future of a transitional government run by those who drove Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad from power late last year and hopes that it can stabilize the country after a 13-year civil war that has left millions dead or displaced, the economy in ruins and thousands of foreign fighters still on Syrian soil.
US presidents have piled up penalties over the years on the autocratic family that previously controlled Syria, and those could be quickly lifted or waived through executive action. But Congress imposed some of the strictest measures and would have to permanently remove them. Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former militant commander who led the overthrow, says he is working to build an inclusive government friendly to the West. Some Trump administration officials are pushing to lift or waive sanctions as fast as possible without demanding tough conditions first.
Others in the administration have proposed a phased approach, giving short-term waivers right away on some sanctions and then tying extensions or a wider executive order to Syria meeting conditions, which could substantially slow or even permanently prevent longer-term relief. That would impede the interim government’s ability to attract investment and rebuild Syria after the war, critics say. "The Syria sanctions are a complex web of statutes, executive actions and United Nations Security Council resolutions that have to be unwound thoughtfully and cautiously," White House National Security Council spokesman Max Bluestein said. The administration is "analyzing the optimal way to do so," Bluestein said in a statement Thursday. A State Department proposal circulated among officials following Trump's pledge on his Middle East trip last week lays out sweeping requirements for future phases of relief or permanent lifting of sanctions, including dismantling Palestinian armed groups as a top demand, according to one of the US officials familiar with the plan. Additional proposals are circulating, including one shared this week that broadly emphasized taking all the action possible, as fast as possible, to help Syria rebuild, the official said. Besides sanctions waivers, discussions include easing restrictions on banking and business and lifting longstanding US terrorist designations.
A welcome US announcement in Syria
People danced in the streets of Damascus after Trump announced in Saudi Arabia last week that he would be ordering a "cessation" of sanctions against Syria. "We're taking them all off," Trump said a day before meeting the country’s new leader. "Good luck, Syria. Show us something special." This week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio advocated for a hedged approach in testimony before US lawmakers. Rubio pushed for sanctions relief to start quickly, saying Syria’s five-month-old transition government could be weeks from "collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions." But asked what sanctions relief should look like overall, Rubio gave a one-word explanation: "Incremental."Washington had levied sanctions against Syria's former ruling family since 1979 over its support for Hezbollah and other Iranian-allied militant groups, its alleged chemical weapons program and its brutality against civilians.
The sanctions include penalties for outside companies or investors doing business there. Syria needs tens of billions of dollars in investment to restore its battered infrastructure and help the estimated 90% of the population living in poverty.
Sharaa's government could be the best chance for rebuilding the country and avoiding a power vacuum that could allow a resurgence of ISIS and other extremist groups. "If we engage them, it may work out, it may not work out. If we do not engage them, it was guaranteed to not work out," Rubio said. Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the US-based Syrian Emergency Task Force and an advocate who has been influential in helping shape past US policy on Syria, said he has been circulating a framework for a proposed executive order that envisions Trump quickly revoking many sanctions outright. Moustafa asserted that some in the administration were trying to "water down" Trump's pledge, which he said was aimed at "preventing a failed state and ending perpetual violence."The most difficult penalty to lift could be the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, a wide-reaching set of sanctions passed by Congress in 2019 in response to alleged war crimes by Assad’s government. It specifically blocks post-war reconstruction, and although it can be waived for 180 days by executive order, investors are likely to be wary of reconstruction projects when sanctions could be reinstated after six months. In a meeting last week in Türkiye with Syria's foreign minister, Rubio and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said permanent relief would require action by the Syrian government to meet conditions that the president laid out, according to other US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. "We have a moment here to provide some capability to this new government that should be conditions-based," Graham said this week. "And I don’t want that moment to pass."

As Israel faces diplomatic 'tsunami', Trump is staying quiet
Paul Adams - BBC diplomatic correspondent/May 23, 2025
A headline in Israel's liberal daily Ha'aretz this week put it starkly: "Diplomatic tsunami nears," it warned, "as Europe begins to act against Israel's 'complete madness' in Gaza."This week's diplomatic assault has taken many forms, not all of them foreseen. From concerted international condemnation of Israel's actions in Gaza, to the shocking murder of two young Israeli embassy staff members in Washington, this has been, to put it mildly, a tumultuous week for the Jewish state. The waves started crashing on Israel's shores on Monday evening, when Britain, France and Canada issued a joint statement condemning its "egregious" actions in Gaza. All three warned of the possibility of "further concrete actions" if Israel continued its renewed military offensive and failed to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid. They also threatened "targeted sanctions" in response to Israel's settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. A statement from 24 donor nations followed, condemning a new, Israeli-backed aid delivery model for Gaza.
But that was just the start.
On Tuesday, Britain suspended trade talks with Israel and said a 2023 road map for future cooperation was being reviewed. A fresh round of sanctions was imposed on Jewish settlers, including Daniela Weiss, a prominent figure who featured in Louis Theroux's recent documentary, The Settlers. Israel's ambassador in London, Tzipi Hotovely, was summoned to the Foreign Office, a move generally reserved for the representatives of countries like Russia and Iran. To make matters worse for Israel, the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said a "strong majority" of the bloc's members favoured reviewing the 25-year-old Association Agreement with Israel.
'Enough is enough'
The reasons for this flurry of diplomatic condemnation seemed clear enough. Evidence that Gaza was closer to mass starvation than at any time since the war began, following Hamas's attack in October 2023, was sending ripples of horror across the world. Israel's military offensive, and the rhetoric surrounding it, suggested that conditions in the stricken territory were about to deteriorate once more. Addressing MPs on Tuesday, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy singled out the words of Israel's hardline Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who had spoken of "cleansing" Gaza, "destroying what's left" and relocating the civilian population to third countries. "We must call this what it is," Lammy said. "It's extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous. And I condemn it in the strongest possible terms."Smotrich is not a decision-maker when it comes to conduct of the war in Gaza. Before now, his incendiary remarks might have been set to one side. But those days appear to be over. Rightly or wrongly, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen as in thrall to his far-right colleagues. Critics accuse him of relentlessly pursuing a war, without regard for the lives of Palestinian civilians or the remaining Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza. Countries that have long supported Israel's right to defend itself are beginning to say "enough is enough."This week was clearly a significant moment for Britain's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, a staunch defender of Israel (he once said "I support Zionism without qualification") who faced strong criticism from within the Labour Party for his reluctance last year to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. On Tuesday, Sir Keir said the suffering of innocent children in Gaza was "utterly intolerable".In the face of this unusually concerted action from some of his country's strongest allies, Netanyahu reacted furiously, suggesting Britain, France and Canada were guilty of supporting Hamas. "When mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you're on the wrong side of justice," he posted on X.
"You're on the wrong side of humanity and you're on the wrong side of history."
Prime minister Keir Starmer
Keir Starmer said that children's suffering in Gaza was "utterly intolerable" [BBC]
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar went further, suggesting there was a "direct line" between Israel's critics, including Starmer, and Wednesday night's killing of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, the two Israeli embassy employees gunned down outside the Jewish Museum in Washington. But despite the outpourings of sympathy following the shooting, the Israeli government seems increasingly isolated, with western allies and prominent members of the Jewish diaspora all voicing anger – and anguish – over the war in Gaza. Lord Levy, former Middle East envoy and advisor to Tony Blair, said he endorsed the current government's criticisms, even suggesting they might have come "a little late"."There has to be a stand, not just from us in this country but internationally, against what is going on in Gaza," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One, describing himself as "a very proud Jew…who passionately cares for Israel".
But silent, throughout all this, is the one man who could, if he wanted, stop the war. At the end of his recent tour of the Gulf, Donald Trump said "a lot of people are starving". White House officials indicated the US president was frustrated with the war and wanted the Israeli government to "wrap it up".But while other western leaders release expressions of outrage, Trump is saying almost nothing.

UN says more food needed in Gaza as looting hampers deliveries
Nidal al-Mughrabi and James Mackenzie/Reuters/May 23, 2025
CAIRO/JERUSALEM - Israeli airstrikes killed at least six Palestinians guarding aid trucks against looters, Hamas officials said on Friday, as the head of the United Nations warned that only a "teaspoon" of aid was getting in following Israel's 11-week-long blockade. The Israeli military said 107 trucks carrying flour and other foodstuffs as well as medical supplies entered the Gaza Strip from the Kerem Shalom crossing point on Thursday, for a total of 305 since Monday when the blockade was relaxed. But getting the supplies to people sheltering in tents and other makeshift accommodation has been fitful and U.N. officials say at least 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed every day. So far, an umbrella network of Palestinian aid groups said, 119 aid trucks have got past the Kerem Shalom crossing point and into Gaza since Israel eased its blockade on Monday in the face of an international outcry.
Despite the relaxation of the blockade, distribution has been hampered by looting by groups of men, some of them armed, near the city of Khan Younis, an umbrella network representing Palestinian aid groups said. "They stole food meant for children and families suffering from severe hunger," the network said in a statement, which also condemned Israeli airstrikes on security teams protecting the trucks. The U.N. World Food Programme said 15 trucks carrying flour to WFP-supported bakeries had been looted, which it said reflected the dire conditions facing Gazans."Hunger, desperation and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming is contributing to rising insecurity," it said in a statement. A Hamas official said six members of a security team tasked with guarding the shipments were killed. Israel imposed the blockade in early March, accusing Hamas of stealing aid meant for civilians. Hamas rejects the charge, saying a number of its own fighters have been killed protecting the trucks from armed looters. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which generally considers all armed Palestinians as militants. "Hamas constantly calls the looters 'guards' or protectors' to mask the fact that they're disturbing the aid process," a military official said.
'DESPERATION'
With most of Gaza's 2 million population squeezed into an ever narrowing zone on the coast and in the area around the southern city of Khan Younis by Israel's military operation, international pressure to get aid in quickly has ratcheted up. "Without rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access, more people will die – and the long-term consequences on the entire population will be profound," said U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.A German government spokesperson said the aid was "far too little, too late and too slow," adding that delivery of supplies had to be increased significantly. Israel has announced that a new system, sponsored by the United States and run by private contractors, will soon begin operations from four distribution centres in the south of Gaza, but many details of how the system will work remain unclear. The U.N. has already said it will not work with the new system, which it says will leave aid distribution conditional on Israel's political and military aims. Israel says its forces will only provide security for the centres and will not distribute aid themselves. As the aid has begun to trickle in, the Israeli military has continued the intensified ground and air operation launched last week, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would end with Israel taking full control of the Gaza Strip.The military said it had conducted more strikes in Gaza overnight, hitting 75 targets, including weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers. Palestinian medical services said at least 25 people had been killed in the strikes. Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas militants' cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people by Israeli tallies and saw 251 hostages abducted into Gaza. The Israeli campaign has since killed more than 53,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. Aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.

 At Least 60 People Killed by Israeli Strikes in Gaza as Israel Lets Minimal Aid in Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia, in the northern
Asharq Al-Awsat/May 23/2025
At least 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza overnight Thursday, as Israel pressed ahead with its military offensive and let in minimal aid to the strip. Ten people were killed by strikes in the southern city of Khan Younis, four in the central town of Deir al-Balah and nine in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought. Israel is facing mounting international criticism for its latest offensive, and pressure to let aid into Gaza amid a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. The strip has been under an Israeli blockade for nearly three months, according to the United Nations. Experts have warned that many of Gaza’s 2 million residents are at high risk of famine. Even the United States, a staunch ally, has voiced concerns over the hunger crisis. The strikes come a day after two Israeli Embassy staffers were shot while leaving a reception for young diplomats at the Capital Jewish Museum, in Washington, DC. The suspect told police he “did it for Palestine,” according to court documents filed Thursday as he was charged with murder. He didn’t enter a plea. On Thursday night, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the killings in Washington horrific and blasted France, the UK and Canada for proposing to establish a Palestinian state. “Because by issuing their demand, replete with a threat of sanctions against Israel — against Israel, not Hamas — these three leaders effectively said they want Hamas to remain in power,” he said. Earlier this week the three leaders issued one of the most significant criticisms by close allies of Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza and its actions in the West Bank, threatening to take “concrete actions” if the government did not cease its renewed military offensive and significantly lift restrictions on humanitarian aid. Amid pressure, Israel started letting in aid. Israeli officials said Friday they let in more than 100 trucks of aid, including flour, food, medical equipment and drugs. The trucks came in through the Kerem Shalom crossing. But UN agencies say the amount is woefully insufficient, compared with around 600 trucks a day that entered during a recent ceasefire and that are necessary to meet basic needs. UN agencies say Israeli military restrictions and the breakdown of law and order in Gaza make it difficult to retrieve and distribute the aid. As a result, little of it has so far reached those in need.
Attack on hospital
The strikes that lasted into Friday morning came a day after Israeli tanks and drones attacked a hospital in northern Gaza, igniting fires and causing extensive damage, Palestinian hospital officials said on Thursday. Videos taken by a health official at Al-Awda Hospital show walls blown away and thick black smoke billowing wreckage. Israel said it will continue to strike Hamas until all of the 58 Israeli hostages are released — fewer than half of whom are believed to be alive, according to Israel — and until Hamas disarms. Earlier this week, Netanyahu said he was recalling his high-level negotiating team from the Qatari capital, Doha, after a week of ceasefire talks failed to bring results. A working team will remain. Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said a “fundamental gap” remained between the two parties and that none of the proposals was able to bridge their differences.  Hamas said no real ceasefire talks have taken place since last week in Doha. The group accused Netanyahu of “falsely portraying participation” and attempting to “mislead global public opinion” by keeping Israel’s delegation there without engaging in serious negotiations. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others. The gunmen are still holding 58 captives, around a third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.  Israel’s retaliatory offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

WHO Chief Begs Israel to Show 'Mercy' in Gaza
Asharq Al Awsat/May 23/2025
Fighting back tears, the head of the World Health Organization on Thursday urged Israel to have "mercy" in the Gaza war and insisted peace would be in Israel's own interests. In an emotional intervention at the WHO annual assembly, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the war was hurting Israel and would not bring a lasting solution. "I can feel how people in Gaza would feel at the moment. I can smell it. I can visualize it. I can hear even the sounds. And this is because of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)," said Tedros, 60, who has often recalled his own wartime upbringing in Ethiopia. "You can imagine how people are suffering. It's really wrong to weaponize food. It's very wrong to weaponize medical supplies." The United Nations on Thursday began distributing around 90 truckloads of aid which are the first deliveries into Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2. Tedros said only a political solution could bring a meaningful peace, reported AFP. "A call for peace is actually in the best interests of Israel itself. I feel that the war is hurting Israel itself and it will not bring a lasting solution," he said. "I ask if you can have mercy. It's good for you and good for the Palestinians. It's good for humanity."
'Systematic' destruction
WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said that 2.1 million people in Gaza were "in imminent danger of death"."We need to end the starvation, we need to release all hostages and we need to resupply and bring the health system back online," he said. "As an ex-hostage, I can say that all hostages should be released. Their families are suffering. Their families are in pain," he added. The WHO said Gazans were suffering acute shortages of food, water, medical supplies, fuel and shelter. Four major hospitals have had to suspend medical services in the past week, due to their proximity to hostilities or evacuation zones, and attacks. Only 19 of the Gaza Strip's 36 hospitals remain operational, with staff working in "impossible conditions", the UN health agency said in a statement. "At least 94 percent of all hospitals in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed," it said, while north Gaza "has been stripped of nearly all health care". It said that across the Palestinian territory, only 2,000 hospital beds remained available -- a figure "grossly insufficient to meet the current needs". "The destruction is systematic. Hospitals are rehabilitated and resupplied, only to be exposed to hostilities or attacked again. This destructive cycle must end."

Israeli Strikes Kill Palestinians Protecting Gaza Aid Trucks from Looters
Asharq Al Awsat/May 23/2025
Israeli airstrikes killed at least six Palestinians guarding aid trucks against looters, Hamas officials said on Friday, underlining the problems hindering supplies from reaching hungry people in Gaza following Israel's 11-week-long blockade.
The Israeli military said 107 trucks carrying flour and other foodstuffs as well as medical supplies entered the Gaza Strip from the Kerem Shalom crossing point on Thursday. But getting the supplies to people sheltering in tents and other makeshift accommodation has been fitful. So far, an umbrella network of Palestinian aid groups said, 119 aid trucks have entered Gaza since Israel eased its blockade on Monday in the face of an international outcry. But distribution has been hampered by looting by groups of men, some of them armed, near the city of Khan Younis, the network said, Reuters reported. "They stole food meant for children and families suffering from severe hunger," the network said in a statement, which also condemned Israeli airstrikes on security teams protecting the trucks. A Hamas official said six members of a security team tasked with guarding the shipments were killed. The aid groups network also said the amount of aid coming into Gaza was still inadequate and only included a narrow range of supplies. It said Israel's agreement to allow trucks to enter the war-shattered enclave was a "deceptive manoeuvre" to avoid international pressure calling for the lifting of the blockade. The Israeli military said it had conducted more strikes in Gaza overnight, hitting 75 targets, including weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers. Israel imposed its blockade on Gaza in early March, accusing Hamas of stealing aid intended for civilians, shortly before breaking a two-month-old ceasefire after the two sides deadlocked on terms for extending it. Hamas has rejected the accusation and says many of its own fighters have been killed protecting the trucks from looters.

Gaza's Main Hospital is Overwhelmed with Children in Pain from Malnutrition
Asharq Al Awsat/May 23/2025
Grabbing her daughter's feeble arm, Asmaa al-Arja pulls a shirt over the 2-year-old's protruding ribs and swollen belly. The child lies on a hospital bed, heaving, then wails uncontrollably, throwing her arms around her own shoulders as if to console herself. This isn't the first time Mayar has been in a Gaza hospital battling malnutrition, yet this 17-day stint is the longest. She has celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that means she can't eat gluten and requires special food. But there's little left for her to eat in the embattled enclave after 19 months of war and Israel's punishing blockade, and she can't digest what's available. “She needs diapers, soy milk and she needs special food. This is not available because of border closures. If it's available, it is expensive, I can’t afford it,” her mother said as she sat next to Mayar at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, The AP news reported. Mayar is among the more than 9,000 children who have been treated for malnutrition this year, according to the UN children’s agency, and food security experts say tens of thousands of cases are expected in the coming year. Experts also warn the territory could plunge into famine if Israel doesn’t stop its military campaign and fully lift its blockade — but the World Health Organization said last week that people are already starving. “Everywhere you look, people are hungry. ... They point their fingers to their mouths showing that (they) need something to eat,” said Nestor Owomuhangi, the representative of the United Nations Population Fund for the Palestinian territories. “The worst has already arrived in Gaza.”Israel eases blockade but little aid reaches Palestinians For more than two months, Israel has banned all food, medicine and other goods from entering the territory that is home to some 2 million Palestinians, as it carries out waves of airstrikes and ground operations. Palestinians in Gaza rely almost entirely on outside aid to survive because Israel's offensive has destroyed almost all the territory's food production capabilities. After weeks of insisting Gaza had enough food, Israel relented in the face of international pressure and began allowing dozens of humanitarian trucks into the territory this week — including some carrying baby food. “Children are already dying from malnutrition and there are more babies in Gaza now who will be in mortal danger if they don’t get fast access to the nutrition supplies needed to save their lives,” said Tess Ingram of the UN children’s agency. But UN agencies say the amount is woefully insufficient, compared to around 600 trucks a day that entered during a recent ceasefire and that are necessary to meet basic needs. And they have struggled to retrieve the aid and distribute it, blaming complicated Israeli military procedures and the breakdown of law and order inside the territory.
On Wednesday, a UN official said more than a dozen trucks arrived at warehouses in central Gaza. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. That appeared to be the first aid to actually reach a distribution point since the blockade was lifted.
Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid, without providing evidence, and plans to roll out a new aid distribution system within days. UN agencies and aid groups say the new system would fall far short of mounting needs, force much of the population to flee again in order to be closer to distribution sites, and violate humanitarian principles by forcing people to move to receive the aid rather than delivering it based on need to where people live. On top of not being able to find or afford the food that Mayar needs, her mother said chronic diarrhea linked to celiac disease has kept the child in and out of hospital all year. The toddler — whose two pigtails are brittle, a sign of malnutrition — weighs 7 kilograms (15 pounds), according to doctors. That's about half what healthy girl her age should. But it’s getting harder to help her as supplies like baby formula are disappearing, say health staff. Hospitals are hanging by a thread, dealing with mass casualties from Israeli strikes. Packed hospital feeding centers are overwhelmed with patients. “We have nothing at Nasser Hospital," said Dr. Ahmed al-Farrah, who said his emergency center for malnourished children is at full capacity. Supplies are running out, people are living off scraps, and the situation is catastrophic for babies and pregnant women, he said. Everything watered down to make it last In the feeding center of the hospital, malnourished mothers console their hungry children — some so frail their spines jut out of their skin, their legs swollen from lack food. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises, has warned that there could be some 71,000 cases of malnourished children between now and March. In addition, nearly 17,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women will need treatment for acute malnutrition in the coming months. Mai Namleh and her 18-month-old son, who live in a tent, are both malnourished. She wanted to wean him off of breastmilk because she barely has any, but she has so little else to give him. She gives him heavily watered-down formula to ration it, and sometimes offers him starch to quiet his hunger screams. “I try to pass it for milk to stop him screaming,” she said of the formula. An aid group gave her around 30 packets of nutritional supplements, but they ran out in two days as she shared them with family and friends, she said. In another tent, Nouf al-Arja says she paid a fortune for a hard-to-find kilogram (about 2 pounds) of red lentils. The family cooks it with a lot of water so it lasts, unsure what they will eat next. The mother of four has lost 23 kilograms (50 pounds) and struggles to focus, saying she constantly feels dizzy. Both she and her 3-year-old daughter are malnourished, doctors said. She's worried her baby boy, born four months earlier and massively underweight, will suffer the same fate as she struggles to breastfeed. “I keep looking for (infant food) .... so I can feed him. There is nothing," she said.

US and Regional Countries Team Up to Resolve the Issue of ISIS Prisoners in Syria
Asharq Al Awsat/May 23/2025
Türkiye, the United States, Syria and Iraq have formed a working group to try to resolve the issue of ISIS group prisoners held in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in comments published Thursday. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, control large parts of northeast Syria bordering Türkiye and Iraq and oversee more than a dozen prison camps holding thousands of suspected ISIS fighters and their families. US President Donald Trump asked the Syrian government to “assume responsibility” for some 9,000 ISIS prisoners when he met Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on May 14. Erdogan said a committee had been formed to work out what to do with the prisoners, particularly women and children held at refugee camps such as Al-Hol in northern Syria. His comments on the presidential website were released as he returned from a trip to Hungary. “Iraq needs to focus on the issue of the camps,” Erdogan said. “The vast majority of women and children in the Al Hol camp in particular belong to Iraq and Syria. They should do what is necessary for them.”In 2014, ISIS declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria and attracted tens of thousands of supporters from around the world. The extremists were defeated by a US-led coalition in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019. Tens of thousands of people linked to the group were taken to al-Hol camp close to the Iraqi border.
It is anticipated that the government in Damascus will take control of the prison camps, a move Erdogan said would make it easier to integrate the Kurdish forces in Syria.Kurdish fighters in Syria have ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which on May 12 agreed to dissolve and lay down its weapons following a four-decade insurgency against Türkiye. Meanwhile, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Thursday that Türkiye will start exporting natural gas to provide electricity to Syria. “We will soon start exporting gas that will reach Aleppo and Homs, with an annual contribution of approximately 2 billion cubic meters, or 1,200 to 1,300 megawatts, to the electricity production here,” he said during a joint news conference in Damascus. Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed Bashir said a gas pipeline coming from Türkiye’s Kilis would become operational in June. The heat from burning gas is used to create electricity by spinning a turbine that in turn powers a generator. Bayraktar said the increase in gas exports represented a tripling of the present level. He added that Türkiye was helping Syria to exploit its own oil and gas resources as well as “discovering new resources, on both land and sea, and using the economic values ... from these in Syria’s reconstruction and infrastructure.”

Kuwait Revokes Citizenship of 1,292 Persons
Asharq Al Awsat/May 23, 2025
Kuwaiti authorities revoked on Thursday the citizenship of 1,292 persons, a decision to be presented to the cabinet for deliberations.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on May 23-24/2025
Whatever Happened to 'Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself'?
Nils A. Haug/Gatestone Institute/May 23, 2025
What instead seems to be considered important is the great new cause to refabricate society in accordance with a skewed view of social justice, that consists not of individuals but identity groups, and that decides which of those may, or may not, be members of some private global "club." No wonder Western society, especially in Europe, seems to be bordering on implosion.
"The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and by the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions." — From the 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document, "An Explanatory Memorandum On the General Strategic Goal for the Group In North America"
It was probably to be expected with the election of President Donald J. Trump, and with the fearless leadership of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that a repudiation of those policies by opponents in both countries, would focus all their resources on bringing these two statesmen down.
As Netanyahu's detractors bring one charge after the other in a continual attempt to bring him down, one cannot but wonder who Israel's real enemies actually are.
It appears that some prominent politicians and high-level officials are possibly prepared to destroy their own nation in pursuit of their ambitions for power, and to impose their own ideologies on its people. Netanyahu and others no doubt see through their bogus proclamations they are "protecting democracy."
It was probably to be expected with the election of President Donald J. Trump, and with the fearless leadership of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that a repudiation of those policies by opponents in both countries, would focus all their resources on bringing these two statesmen down.
The culture of Western society is Judeo-Christian. Its respect for individuals, its humanitarian morality, the need for empirical evidence, and entreaties such as "Love thy neighbor as thyself"' (Leviticus 19:18) -- echoed by Mark and Matthew in the New Testament -- are the values that have formed the foundation for all education in the West.
As we have seen, however, as recently as this week, however, when two young innocent staffers at the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C., were gunned down, there have been increasing attacks on these Judeo-Christian social values. Both anarchistic revolutionaries and many religious zealots apparently wish to eradicate and replace them, presumably on the way to a world order featuring themselves.
The Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), instructed his supporters:
"Socialism is precisely the religion that must overwhelm Christianity. In the new Order, Socialism will triumph by first capturing the culture through infiltration of schools, universities, Churches, and the media by transforming the consciousness of society."
In the neo-Marxist view of these ideologues, "Everything must be thrown into the supposedly great cause of social justice," as First Things editor R. R. Reno wrote. Social justice, according to them, incorporates the division of society into tribal, allegedly oppressed, racial, religious or gender-driven groups such as Black Lives Matter, pro-Palestinian groups, LGBTQ+ and so on. White males, for instance, are accused of "toxic masculinity," of benefitting from "white privilege" and of being "settler-colonialists," and are required to repent for a supposedly sinful status they were never given an opportunity to select.
In his books The Madness of Crowds and The War on the West, social commentator Doulgas Murray notes that "contemporary social justice movements often operate less as genuine quests for justice and more as vehicles for retribution or revenge."
In the formerly sacred halls of academia, traditional standards of social conduct, empirical biology, merit and achievement, facts, fairness and justice -- with some sort of due process and respect for others -- are irrelevant. What instead seems to be considered important is the great new cause to refabricate society in accordance with a skewed view of social justice, that consists not of individuals but identity groups, and that decides which of those may, or may not, be members of some private global "club." No wonder Western society, especially in Europe, seems to be bordering on implosion.
"The Jewish people brought morality to the world thousands of years ago and some people are still mad about it," remarked, Safra Catz, CEO of technology giant Oracle, by way of diagnosing the open resurgence of Jew-hatred and anti-Judeo-Christian vitriol in Western societies.
The most recent wave of protests can be traced to the contemporary infiltration of Marxism, with its fixed view of the world as oppressors vs. oppressed, combined with increasing Muslim Jew-hate. The latter is being funded lavishly throughout both higher and lower education by Qatar and other Islamist proselytizing supporters of "dawah": inviting both Muslims and non-Muslims to understand the worship of God (Allah) as taught in the Qur'an and the Sunnah (traditions of Islam's Prophet Muhammad), and to inform them about the teachings and example of Muhammad.
The success of Israel in defeating at least some centuries-old jihadist terrorism, which no Western nation would -- or should -- tolerate, has resulted in vociferous protests in the West. The attitude often seems to be: "How dare those settler-colonialists succeed against a minority. This is not social justice." Never mind that the Jews have resided on that land for nearly 4,000 years, or that the "minority" is not only bellicose but bloodthirsty, and that if this "minority" is oppressed, it is by their own leaders, not the Jews.
The plan by President Donald J. Trump to resurrect American civil rights laws that advocate colorblind equality and merit seems to have invigorated his domestic opposition.
To many, however, the eradication of a racist belief-system -- one that has devastated Western culture, governments and universities while dividing friends and families, and confusing the gender identity of countless vulnerable youths – could not come soon enough.
What they assumed they had been witnessing was the destruction of civilization from within. It was proposed in a May 22, 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document entitled "An Explanatory Memorandum On the General Strategic Goal for the Group In North America," written by an acolyte of the late Sheikh Yusuf al Qaradawi, who was head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research:
"The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and by the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions."
The promotion of racial policies, initiated by the US government under President Barack Obama, then cemented under President Joe Biden, appeared to have become ingrained again in public life.
It was probably to be expected with the election of President Donald J. Trump, and with the fearless leadership of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that a repudiation of those policies by opponents in both countries, would focus all their resources on bringing these two statesmen down.
A favorite tactic now seems to be the practice of "lawfare" – employing legal procedural tools, usually targeting process, to frustrate efforts by the elected executive, in both the US and Israel, to carry out the mandates for which voters had elected them.
Netanyahu, commenting on the highly-suspect criminal charges against him, recently wrote:
"In America and in Israel, when a strong right wing leader wins an election, the leftist Deep State weaponizes the justice system to thwart the people's will."
Netanyahu has been facing persecution by his opponents -- through legal channels and the media -- determined to remove him from office so that their policies, not voted for, can resume. During Israel's current struggle for its existence on many battlefronts, the trial court has insisted that Netanyahu continually make himself available for hours a day, several days a week, for cross-examination on charges that appear politically motivated and not to be holding up impressively in court -- to the detriment of Netanyahu's ability properly to prosecute a war that threatens Israel's survival. The prime minister has been compelled to attend court on many days while this 7-front attack on a country smaller than New Jersey is raging on Israel's borders.
After the completion of the evidentiary stage in "Case 4000" -- that has persisted for ten years -- pertaining to a corruption charge, two of the PM's aides, in a criminal case having nothing to do with Netanyahu -- were arrested on further charges of involvement in assisting Qatar. Netanyahu himself said in April:
"This is a political witch-hunt aimed solely at one thing—preventing the dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet and bringing about the downfall of a right-wing prime minister."
In March 2025, Israel's governing Likud Party accused the Attorney General of "concocting false cases" in charging the prime minister and his staff of supposed corruption:
"As the cases concocted against Prime Minister Netanyahu crumble in court, new and false cases are concocted against his people out of the personal interests of those leading the investigation."
Netanyahu filed a defamation lawsuit against Yair Golan, leader of one of Israel's opposition parties, regarding messages he had sent to supporters accusing the PM of peddling the country's security for money from Qatar.
For years before October 7, 2023, Netanyahu, as well as Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Prime Minister Yair Lapid, had permitted Qatar to fund the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers with $30 million a month, in the hope, it seems, that if Hamas felt financially comfortable, it would remain quiet. This was similar to Biden's policy toward Iran. The Biden administration disregarded sanctions, enriching Iran with approximately $100 billion -- which the Iranian regime then used for funding its proxies to attack Israel.
The supposed quiet between Gaza and Israel before October 7 2023, one which Hamas had gone to great lengths in order to lull Israel into complacency, was solidly in place. A few years earlier, for instance, when Gaza's Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group attacked Israel, Hamas deliberately did not join, claiming it was now interested only in building security and peace.
As Netanyahu's detractors bring one charge after the other in a continual attempt to bring him down, one cannot but wonder who Israel's real enemies actually are.
It appears that some prominent politicians and high-level officials are possibly prepared to destroy their own nation in pursuit of their ambitions for power, and to impose their own ideologies on its people. Netanyahu and others no doubt see through their bogus proclamations they are "protecting democracy." Their actions are anything but. As Netanyahu stated recently, compared to Israel's deep state, America's is "a puddle."
Trump has also been forced to contend with countless legal challenges, all of which, so far, he has overcome. Upon his re-election, in command once again, his first actions were to issue executive orders eliminating all woke policies in government departments and federal agencies. Hundreds of officials have been dismissed; and whole departments and agencies shut down to eradicate divisive racist policies that are so damaging to the innovation, growth and democratic nature of America.
As in Israel, Trump and his newly appointed officials have been facing numerous legal challenges to prevent policies he was elected to implement, but that to many seem intolerable.
More than 119 of the Trump's directives have faced legal challenges, mainly, it seems, in cases presided over by partisan judges in cherry-picked district courts, who hold to a "progressive" outlook. In April 2025, for instance, a district court judge ordered the government to "re-import an MS-13 member they deported," Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien, who had been convicted and ordered deported but had been granted a stay, which held until his criminal gang was designated as ta Foreign Terrorist Organization, at which point the stay no longer legally applied.
Columnist Matt Vespa reported in April:
"These judges are getting out of control. That's becoming an unfortunate evergreen statement ever since members of this gavel Gestapo have decided to engage in a campaign to wrest away authority explicitly outlined for the executive on numerous areas, like immigration policy. It's reached new levels of absurdity."
Now that an ultra-socialist sector of the Democratic Party has publicly come forth, something that, in the words of Stanley Kurtz in National Review, reveals that "Explicit leftist radicalism is so deeply rooted in the party that efforts to disguise it are at once unavoidable and impossible" -- the future of the party looks dim. The majority of America voted against these destructive tribalist theories, seemingly based on circumstances over which the bearer had no control, such as skin color, gender and ethnicity, rather hard work or merit, when they elected a determined Trump to the presidency.
The battle against for truth, morality and freedom, however, begun in antiquity, will likely continue.
"Hate never wins the final victory," said the late UK Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, "freedom does" -- the freedom of respect for one another and to "love thy neighbor as thyself."
*Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A Lawyer by profession, he is member of the International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. Dr. Haug holds a Ph.D. in Apologetical Theology and is author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the Garden of Eden – the Quest for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent – Life, Truth, and Meaning in a Dark Age.' His work has been published by First Things Journal, The American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute, National Association of Scholars, Jewish Journal, James Wilson Institute (Anchoring Truths), Jewish News Syndicate, Document Danmark, and others.
© 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.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21643/love-thy-neighbor-as-thyself

American Churches Turned into Mosques — But Who’s Really to Blame?
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/May 23/2025
Muslims are buying and transforming American churches into mosques — and Americans are angry about it!
But is their anger being directed at the right source?
Recently, a year-old video clip of a Muslim cleric went viral on X. In it, Muhammad Musri, president of American Islam and chairman of the board of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, delivers a sermon saying that, due to its “unimpressive dogma” of “someone” being crucified for them, Christianity is dying out in America, preparing the way for Islam:
A lot of Christians are leaving their faith, especially the young generation. The churches are emptying out. The Pew Research Center has shown that in the last 10 years, 28% of people have left the church and became atheists or agnostics. They are not impressed anymore by the dogma that someone 2,000 years ago was crucified for their sins. They are searching for something that is more meaningful, that is consistent with science and consistent with the principles that we know today. Islam is the answer for them, and we are jumping on the opportunities.
As such, Muslims are busy buying up and transforming churches into mosques as part of their Islamization of America program, continued Sheikh Muhammad:
As these churches empty out … we are buying these churches. We bought three churches so far and converted them into mosques, and now we have one we are buying with a school… The [American] people who are part of that community one day will be Muslims. So we will make it into a mosque and an Islamic school for our children and their children, inshallah [Allah willing]…. I ask Allah to give Islam victory in this country…
Online Outrage
There is nothing new or shocking about such words and goals. Indeed, around the same time that Sheikh Muhammad was boasting about purchasing churches in Florida, Muslims purchased another large, especially important and historic Catholic church in New York: “St. Anne’s Church, Buffalo, NY. Permanently closed,” Fr. Ronald Vierling wrote in a post on August 11, 2024: “Sold to the Islamic community for $250,000 who are converting the historic church into a mosque.”
In both cases (that of the Florida churches, and that of the historic NY church) social media users expressed outrage. Thus, to quote from the most popular comment (by Mag 1775) concerning Sheikh Muhammad’s supplication to Allah to transform even more churches into mosques:
That’s not a prayer, that’s a threat. Converting churches, claiming territory, preaching takeover? Sounds less like faith, more like infiltration. This is America, not a caliphate. We don’t kneel to Sharia, and Florida damn sure won’t fall without a fight. We stand for Christ, Constitution, and country. No retreat. No surrender.
Similar outrage was voiced regarding the NY church, to the point that Fr. Vierling had to issue a follow-up statement:
No anger should be directed against the Islamic community. The parish complex was made available for sale by the diocese. No doubt the changing demographics of the area and the inability to financially support the complex made the continuance of St. Ann as a viable parish possible. This scenario is being played out in once large, urban dioceses across the country.
What to make of all this?
Not Business as Usual
For starters, let no one be deceived: For Muslims, these purchases are not mere business transactions; a point is being made.
From its very origins, Islam always sought to convert the temples of other religions into mosques — victory mosques, to be precise. Past and present, one of the very first signs of Muslim consolidation was/is the erection of a mosque atop the sacred sites of the vanquished: the pagan Ka’ba temple in Arabia was converted into Islam’s holiest site, the mosque of Mecca; the al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, was built atop Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem; the Umayyad mosque was built atop the Church of St. John the Baptist; and the Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque upon the conquest of Constantinople (and again, recently).
For Muslims, the transformation of non-Muslim places of worship into mosques is the physical manifestation and validation of Islam’s ancient battle cry: Allahu akbar, which simply means “my god is greater than your god,” as seen by Allah’s taking up residence in the temple of his vanquished counterparts.
The transformation of Christian churches into mosques is especially emblematic of this phenomenon. Because most of the land Islam conquered (or stole) from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east was for centuries Christian, most of the religious houses that were turned into victory mosques were churches.
As such, the transformation of American churches into mosques is, for Muslims, another example of Islam’s triumph over its Christian nemesis. “Allahu akbar” will be chanted as the Muslim deity makes his residence in this vacated church.
Look to Yourself
Even so, Fr. Ronald Vierling saying, “No anger should be directed against the Islamic community” is also true. Muslims are, after all, only doing what is good for them and their religion. Who can blame them? They are not directly conquering anyone or annexing any building; every American church they transform into a mosque was sold to them for a few silver pieces. All fair and legal.
This is the point that so many Western folk, who are otherwise wise to Islam and its wiles, do not seem to understand: Muslims cannot be faulted for flooding Western Europe or for having so many children (so that the number one name for newborn baby boys in several Western capitals is Muhammad), or for advocating for laws and behavior that conform to sharia. In doing all of these things, they are merely engaging in self-preserving and self-promoting activities, which is how all normal people behave.
So how can they be blamed for buying and turning churches into mosques?
Alarmed Christians or Westerners in general will get nowhere until they learn to point their fingers in the right direction — at themselves, or at least, at their “elected” leaders who allow Muslims to promote themselves over the native peoples of the West.
And then doing something about it.
An example of how American leaders help empower Islam in America just occurred on May 2: New York City Mayor Eric Adams decreed that mosques no longer need to apply for permits to blast their “call to prayers” on loudspeakers.
Do you think American leaders would ever allow American churches to blast “Christian calls to prayers” — annoying surrounding non-Christians the way non-Muslims are now going to be annoyed in New York?
In short, yes, Christians should be angered that their churches are being pawned off to Muslims, who turn them into mosques. But Christian anger — if it is to be of any value — should be less directed against Muslims, whose actions are normal and representative of a people seeking to preserve and promote itself, and more toward themselves and their leaders, whose actions are suicidal and precisely what has led to Muslim empowerment in the West.
**Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and Sword and Scimitar, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2025/05/23/american-churches-turned-into-mosques-but-whos-really-to-blame/

France: Grand Principles and Sentiments
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/May 23/2025
If you are under pressure to do something but know that you can’t do anything, what do you do? Well, you do nothing but to appear to be doing something you invoke grand principles and grand sentiments. This is what French President Emmanuel Macron and his Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot have been doing in a rather quixotic way with regard to the ongoing tragedy in Gaza. The French leaders are talking of taking “concrete measures” not realizing that in philosophical parlance a measure that isn’t concrete isn’t a measure but a henid, a concept that dissolves into nothing in contact with reality. So far, they have talked of three concrete measures.
The first is to study the possibility of recognizing the “Palestinian state” in an unspecified future by convening a conference in New York in consultation with the Arab League under the auspices of the United Nations. The state in question must also include Hamas provided it agrees to abandon violence and transform itself into a regular political party.
The second is to study the possibility of referring some Israeli officials for investigation on charges of violating unspecified humanitarian principles.
The third is to ask the European Union to study the possibility of applying Article II of the Israel-EU trade agreement to curtail commercial exchanges between the two.
If implemented, such a measure could wreck some businesses in Israel and Europe. But what good such virtue-signaling might do to Gazans, who die every day, is not specified.
“We cannot allow our grand principles to be violated,” says minister Barrot.
Invoking grand principles and grand sentiments, one of his predecessors Dominque de Villepin, the gentleman who tried to prevent the fall of Saddam Hussein, has come out of retirement to call for prosecuting Israeli political and military leaders by the International Criminal Court.
Wow! Had not the issue at hand been so deadly serious with people dying every minute, one might have dismissed all that as mere persiflage to keep up appearances.
However, the hypocrisy of those grand principles and sentiments is illustrated by the fact that 24 hours after Macron, Barrot and de Villepin invoked them to justify their trompe-l’oeil anti-Israel posture, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau unveiled a 76-page report designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a present and imminent threat to France’s national security.
The report, compiled over two years, labels the Muslim Brotherhood as an international organization that promotes extremism and covers terrorist activities across the globe.
Backed by at least two unnamed “foreign powers”, in France the Muslim Brotherhood has doubled its membership to 100,000.The tactic it uses is called “permeation”, that is to say infiltrating religious, educational, sport, cultural, and trade units and non-governmental organizations to use millions of people as human shields for its activities.
Retailleau’s detailed and well-sourced report does not mention that Hamas, as a branch of Muslim Brotherhood, is also using the people of Gaza as human shields.
Barrot says, “If you sow violence, you harvest violence!” He forgets that the current violence was first sown by Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack on Israeli villages.
Nor would his forlorn hope of Hamas disarming itself and becoming a regular political party to participate in a putative Palestinian state with as yet undefined contours do anything for the people of Gaza held hostage by a few thousand gunmen.
De Villepin and his ilk see Hamas as a “liberation” movement that cannot be eliminated. Yet, Hamas has never dubbed itself such. It sees itself as part of the Muslim Brotherhood with global ambitions and has deliberately kept the very word Palestine out of its identity. It doesn’t want to “liberate” Palestine however defined; its stated goal is to wipe Israel off the map.
I am not sure Hamas leaders would be happy to see their true identity thus ignored.
Even then the claim that armed “liberation” or “resistance” groups can never be defeated isn’t always true.
The Malay Liberation Front was completely wiped out. The Front for the Liberation of Occupied Arab Gulf (PFLOAG) ended up in the dustbin of history, as did the Front for the Liberation of Colombia (FARC), the Shining Path and M19 in Latin America and half a dozen groups supposedly fighting to liberate Palestine.
No one can deny France’s right to take sides in this tragic conflict. But there are two things that cannot be accepted.
The first is to hide or redefine the identity of the side you take. The second in this particular case is to use explicit or implicit sympathy for Hamas as a cover for a crackdown on real or imagined “threatening” outfits in France itself.
Equating Hamas with Palestine is a betrayal of the Palestinian people, including many, perhaps a majority, who may have no sympathy for the use of wanton violence in the service of legitimate national aspirations.
The French leaders only state what they want Israel to do; never what Hamas should do. They forget that Hamas could instantly end this war by releasing all remaining hostages and surrendering its arms. Even implicit support for Hamas, by bashing Israel and its leaders, might encourage what is left of the group’s leadership to prolong the conflict and produce more victims.
Tehran’s daily Kayhan, reflecting the views of “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei urges Hamas to continue the war because although it has lost territory, not to mention tens of thousands of lives in Gaza, it has “won in American and European universities and world public opinion.”This is a war and like any war is aimed at designating a victor and a vanquished. To prevent it from doing that achieves nothing but paving the way for bigger and deadlier future wars.
France’s diplomatic gesticulations about grand principles and sentiments reminds one of the song by great French chansonier Guy Beart:
“She goes to the Louvre Museum with Philippe
In virtue of grand principles
Then goes frolicking with Armand
In virtue of grand sentiments!”

Looking Back On Oslo (2)
Hazem SaghiehAsharq Al Awsat/May 23/2025
It has become common knowledge that Benjamin Netanyahu did not hesitate to mobilize the far right, in both its nationalist and religious wings, in a campaign against the Oslo Accords and Yitzhak Rabin. The latter was portrayed wearing the uniform of a Nazi officer in an infamous poster by this campaign that eventually led to Rabin’s assassination in 1995. A year earlier, a religious extremist by the name of Baruch Goldstein, an American-Israeli who had been a follower of Meir Kahane and a member of his movement, murdered 29 Palestinians in Hebron while they were praying.
Rabin’s assassination is considered the major turning point of the Oslo process, and it was a prologue for the slow collapse of the “peace camp.” On the other side, the growing wave of Hamas “martyrdom operations,” which peaked in the mid-1990s, saw a security agenda occupy the space that had been vacated by the desire for peace. This eruption of violence coincided with rising tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese front, in 1993 and even more so in 1996. In turn, this polarized climate and broad sense of insecurity paved the way for Netanyahu’s narrow electoral victory over Shimon Peres, the Oslo Accords’ chief architect and its second key figure.
As the terrorist violence by radicals on both sides aggravated, the slur “Osloist” grew out of “Arafatist,” a slur that had been coined earlier by Assad’s Damascus, whose sponsorship (alongside Iran) of Hamas and its affiliates’ activities was no secret.
Although peace achieved a second victory through the Wadi Araba Treaty that Jordan and Israel signed in late 1994, Palestinian leaders, first and foremost Arafat, failed to exhibit the degree of responsibility needed to engage in a difficult and complex peace process and meet international commitments. Indeed, such behavior did not come naturally to the Palestinian leader, who had spent most of his political life jockeying with Levantine local communities and security regimes.
Moderation also receded among Palestinians, as illustrated by Arafat’s flip-flopping during this period. He was torn over whether to comply with the Oslo Accords or not because of the performative bravado of Palestinian, Arab, and Iranian radicals seeking to delegitimize him, which only intensified with the onset of the Second Intifada. In 1994, Arafat made a gaffe at a mosque in South Africa, comparing Oslo to the “Treaty of Hudaybiyyah” between the Prophet Muhammad and the Quraysh at a time when the Israelis were criticizing him for failing to do anything to curb the aggravating terrorist attacks beyond condemning them. Similarly, the elected government in the West Bank and Gaza that was supposed to replace the Palestinian Authority never emerged; corruption, nepotism, and arbitrary rule became entrenched. While opinion polls had, at one point, shown that over two-thirds of the Palestinian public supported Oslo, the number steadily dropped as the conviction that peace would achieve nothing grew. This authority born of peace was not compelling: the occupation persisted, and the checkpoints around Ramallah multiplied in parallel with the aggravation of both the frequency and scale of terrorist attacks, suffocating the Palestinians and restricting their mobility. Meanwhile, the number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which had stood at 110,000 when Oslo was signed, began to rise, first by tens of thousands and then by hundreds of thousands- international law’s prohibition of such settlement activity was irrelevant. Not only did the number of settlements increase, the nature of these settlements also changed: what had begun as a pursuit of functional considerations (cheaper housing and living conditions than those in the cities) was increasingly driven by an ideological, religious, and nationalist desire to acquire land.
The Palestinian Authority’s tenuous standing among its people went hand in hand with its weak position in the face of the Israelis, with each of these two problems feeding on the other. Because it was too weak to deter terrorist attacks, the Palestinian Authority was also too weak to force the Israelis from expanding settlements or to assert greater control over “security coordination” with them, and this went both ways. As a result, the Palestinian Authority, focused on proving that it had not been breaching the agreement, was increasingly seen as an Israeli tool concerned only with maintaining the crumbs of a corrupt power structure on the one hand, and on the other, as complicit in the terrorist attacks against Israelis.
Even so, this wounded peace had not lost all of its power, and Oslo’s potential had not been squandered yet. Following Rabin’s assassination, Shimon Peres continued to pursue its implementation as prime minister. Even Netanyahu, after winning the 1996 election, seemed compelled to pretend he had been adhering to it. In early 1997, he allowed the Palestinian Authority to take back control of Hebron, drawing the ire of his right-wing base. In late 1998, Netanyahu, Arafat, and Clinton met at the Wye River Summit in the United States. They agreed to resume the Oslo process: Israel would withdraw from parts of the West Bank, counter-terrorism measures would be implemented, and the Palestinian Authority and Israel agreed to develop their economic ties and continue final status negotiations. The Knesset, for its part, approved the Wye River Memorandum that came out of the summit by a large majority, and the Israeli public largely supported it. When Netanyahu tried to stall and play tricks to obstruct its implementation, his government collapsed in 1999, triggering elections that were won by the Labor candidate and “Osloist,” Ehud Barak.
With Barak’s victory, the peace camp had some hope again, though it was faint in comparison to the optimism that followed Rabin’s 1992 victory. Barak, amid a drop-in popular support for peace, seemed more hesitant and less decisive than Rabin or Peres. On the other side, Palestinians’ confidence in the peace process declined as Israel imposed greater restrictions and set up larger numbers of checkpoints.
As for the notion that all of this proves Israel had never sought peace and never will, it is extremely a reductionist assessment.

Don’t invade Iran: Trump must avoid Saddam’s mistake
Barzin Jafartash Amiri, opinion contributor/The Hill/May 23, 2025
On April 26, a devastating explosion tore through Iran’s bustling port city of Bandar Abbas, claiming 57 lives and injuring over 1,200 people. The blast was centered at the Shahid Rajaee port, Iran’s largest container hub, and sent shockwaves through the city, shattering windows and damaging infrastructure for miles. Authorities are still investigating the cause, with preliminary reports pointing to mishandled chemicals, though speculation about sabotage persists.
Amid this tragedy, the Iranian people’s response has revealed a critical lesson for American policymakers. Iran’s capacity for unity in the face of crisis should not be underestimated, as it was decades ago by Saddam Hussein.
Despite economic hardships and political discontent, Iranians have rallied together in the wake of the Bandar Abbas explosion. Across the country, citizens lined up to donate blood for the injured A grassroots Iranian folk music festival in Bushehr was transformed into a mourning solidarity show, with organizers cutting it short out of respect for the catastrophe. Doctors and psychologists across the country offered to help the injured and those traumatized by the catastrophe. Auto mechanics volunteered to repair damaged vehicles for free, while others sent glass to repair broken windows in homes.
This response challenges the narrative propagated by some Iranian opposition groups and Western analysts, who argue that public dissatisfaction with the government renders Iran vulnerable. They suggest that internal divisions could lead Iranians to welcome foreign intervention as an opportunity to overthrow the government. But the outpouring of support following the explosion suggests otherwise. Iranians, regardless of their grievances, appear to prioritize national cohesion when confronted with external or catastrophic events — a “rally-around-the-flag” effect of citizens uniting behind their government in times of crisis.
The unity displayed in Bandar Abbas echoes the public response during the Iran-Iraq War, a historical precedent that offers a stark warning to those advocating for aggression toward Iran.
In September 1980, Saddam Hussein, perceiving Iran as weakened by the 1979 Islamic Revolution, launched an invasion, expecting a swift victory. He believed that Iran’s internal turmoil and ethnic divisions would prevent a cohesive defense. Saddam’s miscalculation was influenced by Iranian opposition groups and some other forces, who suggested that Iranians were too dissatisfied to defend their country.
Instead, Iranians — including revolutionary militias and regular volunteers — united to repel the Iraqi advance. By 1982, Iran had regained nearly all lost territory, turning the conflict into an eight-year stalemate that cost over one million lives.
Saddam’s error stemmed from underestimating the Iranian people’s resilience and their willingness to set aside internal differences to defend their homeland. This is not an anomaly but a recurring feature of Iran’s response to external threats.
Certain Iranian opposition groups and Western hawks keep pushing a narrative that mirrors Saddam’s flawed assumptions. They argue that widespread dissatisfaction — fueled by economic sanctions, inflation and political repression — has left the regime on the brink of collapse. These groups interpret such discontent as an opportunity, suggesting that foreign intervention, whether through military action or covert operations, could trigger a popular uprising against the government.
Historical and contemporary evidence contradicts this view. During the Iran-Iraq War, internal divisions did not prevent a unified defense. Similarly, the port explosion has not led to calls for protests but to acts of national solidarity. Even amid speculation of mismanagement, the public response has focused on supporting the victims rather than blaming the government. This suggests that foreign aggression would likely strengthen the government’s domestic position by rallying Iranians against a common external enemy.
The strategic risks of misjudging Iranian unity are significant. Iran today is not the isolated nation of 1980. It has developed a relatively sophisticated army and missile program and wields considerable influence through a network of allies across the Middle East. A military intervention or escalation could ignite a broader regional conflict, drawing in these actors and complicating U.S. interests in the Middle East.
For U.S. policymakers, particularly those advising President Trump, the Bandar Abbas incident serves as a warning. The forces pushing for aggressive policies risk repeating Saddam’s grave miscalculation. The assumption that Iranians would welcome foreign intervention ignores evidence of national unity displayed in times of crisis. Public opinion data further complicates the hawkish narrative. While some Iranians express frustration with their government’s policies, they also value their nation’s sovereignty. Recent polls indicate support for Iran’s regional military presence, suggesting a preference for national strength over foreign interference. These sentiments align with the solidarity seen in Bandar Abbas, where the focus has been on collective recovery rather than division.
Rather than pursuing policies that assume Iranian fragility, Western policymakers should prioritize diplomacy, engaging Iran through negotiations that address mutual concerns, such as nuclear proliferation and regional stability. Aggressive actions could derail negotiations, undermining diplomatic efforts to address Iran’s nuclear program and the possibility of improving relations between Iran and the U.S. A military misstep would not only fail to achieve regime change but also risk entangling the U.S. in a costly conflict with far-reaching consequences.
Iran is not a house of cards waiting to collapse, as hawks continue to argue, but a nation capable of rallying against external threats. To avoid the pitfalls of past miscalculations, the U.S. must approach Iran with a clear-eyed understanding of its resilience and a commitment to dialogue over confrontation. Engaging Iran through diplomacy instead of confrontation is not only prudent but necessary for regional stability.
Barzin Jafartash Amiri is chief editor of Voice of Manufacturing in Iran.
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