English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For September 15/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2025/english.September15.25.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
have told you about earthly things and you do not
believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 03/12-15/:”If
I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe
if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the
one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever
believes in him may have eternal life.””
Titles For The
Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on September 14-15/2025
The day the treacherous and hateful hand reached out to assassinate
Bachir the man, yet it failed to kill the dream and the cause he embodied/Elias
Bejjani/September 14/2025
The Arab panic fit against Israel is a demagogue and a media hype/Elias Bejjani/September
14/2025
History of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross/Elias Bejjani/September
14/2025
Lebanon says one killed in Israeli strike on south
Politicians Remember Bachir Gemayel
PM Salam marks anniversary of Bachir Gemayel’s assassination, calls for truth
and reconciliation
No deal involving Lebanese captives behind Tsurkov's release in Iraq
Lebanese FM prepares for emergency Arab-Islamic summit
Lebanese Deputy PM Mitri calls for judicial accord with Syria on detainee issue
France opens probe into former Lebanese PM Najib Mikati over suspected illicit
assets
Najib Mikati defends family wealth as French authorities probe assets
The Tom & Jerry of Politics: When Enemies Become Friends/Pierre Nahas/This is
Beirut/September 14/2025
Rai: Lebanon Lives Only Through Freedom and Sovereignty
Lebanon: Real Estate Market Tied to Political and Economic Outlook/Liliane
Mokbel/This is Beirut/September 14/2025
Struggling Back to School in Southern Lebanon’s Border Villages/Katia Kahil/This
is Beirut/September 14/2025
Why Have the Lebanese Stopped Debating?/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/September
14/2025
Lebanese dancer defies extremist threats and social norms with his sold-out
performances
on September 14-15/2025
Titles For
The Latest English LCCC analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources
on September 14-15/2025
Doha and Netanyahu’s Madness/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 14/2025
An Expanded Israel and the 'Sykes–Picot' Borders/Mustafa Fahs/Asharq Al-Awsat/September
14/2025
Trump Must Keep Backing Netanyahu's Campaign to Destroy Hamas for the Sake of
the West/Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/September 14, 2025
Science is not a luxury for developing countries/Bridget Boakye/Arab
News/September 14, 2025
Beyond Charlie Kirk/Hisham Bou Nassif/Nidaa Al Watan/September 15, 2025
(translated by LCCC from Arabic)
Slected X tweets For September 14/2025
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on
September 14-15/2025
The day the treacherous and hateful hand reached out to assassinate
Bachir the man, yet it failed to kill the dream and the cause he embodied
Elias Bejjani/September 14/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147262/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTL_sVeE4kE&t=260s
On the Feast of the Exaltation of
the Holy Cross in 1982, Lebanon witnessed a tragic day that will never fade from
its memory nor from the conscience of the Lebanese who believe in their unique
identity. That day became a defining milestone in the history of the Lebanese
Resistance — a torch still held high with unwavering faith and the steadfast
determination of saints by Bashir’s faithful followers.
On that day, the treacherous hand of hatred struck and killed Bashir’s body, yet
it utterly failed to kill Bashir’s cause, his ambition, his thought, his
patriotism, and his spirit of resistance. On that day, the Cross of Lebanon was
lifted to heaven bearing upon it the Martyr of Lebanon, President Sheikh Bashir
Gemayel, surrounded by his twenty-three righteous companions who had walked with
him on his earthly journey — a journey he dedicated wholly to Lebanon and its
sacred cause — and who were granted to accompany him as well on his return to
the Paradise of the righteous and the saints.
Bashir was raised upon the Cross of Lebanon after he and his companions had
watered the blessed soil of the Land of the Cedars with their pure and sacred
blood. He was lifted up surrounded by his martyred comrades to stand with them
before his Lord, with a clear conscience, abundant faith, and sacred purity. He
rose to heaven after fulfilling his earthly mission, after having drawn the
clear contours of the Lebanese Cause, planted within the hearts of the Lebanese
the spirit of resistance and sacrifice, and instilled in their souls the
unshakable belief in the inevitable victory of the Land of the Message — the
land where the Lord Jesus performed His first miracle and which the Virgin Mary
blessed, making it a sanctuary for the faithful.
God Almighty willed to distinguish Bashir in his death just as He had
distinguished him in his life, lifting him up to His Paradise on the Feast of
the Exaltation of the Cross — the same Cross on which the Only Begotten Son was
nailed for the salvation of all humanity. And as the Apostle Paul said:
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to
us who are being saved it is the power of God.”(1 Corinthians 1:18)
Bashir embraced the Cross and made it a beacon, a path, and a way of life in
spreading his Lebanese message — a message of coexistence, love, brotherhood,
loyalty, civilization, culture, dignity, and honor. He ascended to heaven
leaving behind his values, his teachings, his spirit, and his love for the
homeland in the hearts and consciences of his people whom he loved, having
offered himself as a sacrifice for their salvation and freedom. And as Jesus
Christ said:
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his
friends.”(John 15:13)
Whoever is protected by the Cross cannot be overcome by demons, nor can the
holiness of his cause be defiled by the heresies of the Pharisees, the scribes,
and their ilk. And just as Jesus Christ conquered death, shattered its sting,
and rose from the tomb on the third day, Bashir’s national and spiritual message
shall remain alive until the Day of Judgment. It is this very message that will
one day raise Lebanon from the grave of subjugation, dependency, servitude,
selfishness, and occupation.
Bashir’s Lebanon will never die, for it lives on in the struggle, resistance,
and pride of every Lebanese who truly believes in Bashir’s dream — the dream of
the Cause — and who wishes to live with head held high, in dignity and pride, in
a free, sovereign, independent, and democratic homeland. A homeland overshadowed
by justice, equality, and decent living; a homeland liberated from foreign
armies, mercenaries, Trojan traitors, and subversive agents; a homeland governed
by its own people, where human rights are respected and human dignity is
preserved.
Bashir struggled to restore unity to the Lebanese land, sovereignty to the Land
of the Cedars, freedom and dignity to the Lebanese person, authority to the
state, and effectiveness to its institutions. He was the one who declared
loudly: “We want to live with our heads held high, and what must be changed is
the mentality — to renew the person in order to renew Lebanon.”
And as the prophet Malachi said in the Holy Bible: “The law of truth was in his
mouth.”(Malachi 2:6)
Bashir, as he offered himself as a living sacrifice upon the altar of the
homeland, was following in the footsteps of Christ, who offered Himself out of
love for the world. He freely chose the path of Golgotha, believing that there
can be no resurrection without the Cross, and no freedom without laying down
one’s life. His blood and the blood of his companions were not shed in vain, for
they mingled with the soil of Lebanon to sanctify it and give it life — just as
the blood of Christ mingled with the wood of the Cross to grant the world
salvation and eternal life.
Thus, Bashir’s martyrdom remains a sign of hope and faith: hope in Lebanon’s
resurrection from the death of bondage, and faith that whoever lays down his
life for his beloved will surely rise with Christ in glory — and with him,
Lebanon shall also rise.
The Arab panic fit
against Israel is a demagogue and a media hype.
Elias Bejjani/September 14/2025
The Arab uproar and tribal panic fit against Israel after its attack on Muslim
Brotherhood-affiliated Qatar is a hymn of empty rhetoric and a foolish return to
the era of the demagoguery of Ahmed Saeed, Al-Sahhaf, Abdel Nasser, Gaddafi, and
Saddam Hussein, the kings of defeat and illusion.
History of the Feast of
the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Elias Bejjani/September 14/2025
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and
follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/09/147225/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVKhx9YRw-A
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to
us who are being saved it is the power of God.” ( Corinthians 1:18–25)
Historical Background of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Every year on September 14, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of
the Holy Cross, one of the most important liturgical feasts in the universal
Church, both East and West. This feast is rooted in pivotal events in Christian
history:
1-The Vision of the Cross to Emperor Constantine the Great
In the early fourth century, Emperor Constantine the Great was preparing for a
decisive battle against his rival Maxentius. Before the battle, he prayed to the
God of the Christians — the God of his mother, Saint Helena — asking for
victory. Then he beheld in the clear sky a radiant cross surrounded by the
words: “In this sign you shall conquer” (Latin: In hoc signo vinces.). Trusting
in the power of the Cross, Constantine marched to battle and achieved a stunning
victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD. Following this triumph,
he embraced the Christian faith, placed the sign of the Cross on his soldiers’
banners, and issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, granting Christians religious
freedom after three centuries of bloody persecution. He also began reviving the
Church from the darkness of the catacombs, destroying pagan temples and building
churches in their place.
2-The Discovery of the True Cross by Saint Helena
The Cross of Christ had remained buried under rubble in Jerusalem since the
Crucifixion. In 326 AD, Saint Helena, Constantine’s mother, embarked on a sacred
mission to the Holy Land to find it. She was accompanied by about 3,000 soldiers
who agreed to light great bonfires on hilltops as a signal if they found it—an
act that inspired the tradition of lighting “the bonfire of the Cross” (Abbouleh)
on the feast day. After much effort, an elderly Jewish man guided her to the
site. They found three crosses and the title inscription that read “Jesus of
Nazareth, King of the Jews.” To discern which was the True Cross, they laid the
crosses on the body of a dead man. When he touched the third cross, he
immediately rose back to life. Great rejoicing followed. Helena wrapped the
Cross in costly silk and placed it in a silver reliquary inside the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, which was built on the very site of the Crucifixion and
Resurrection.
3-The Captivity of the Cross in Persia and Its Triumphant Return
In 614 AD, the Persian king Khosrow II invaded Jerusalem, slaughtered thousands,
and took Patriarch Zacharias captive along with many Christians. He also seized
the relic of the Holy Cross as war plunder and carried it off to Persia, where
it remained for fourteen years.
In 628 AD, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius defeated the Persians and signed a
peace treaty that included the return of the Holy Cross. Heraclius carried it
back to Jerusalem in a solemn procession. Dressed in simple garments and
barefoot in humility, he carried the Cross on his shoulders and placed it once
again in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on September 14, 628 AD. This is the
historical moment when the Church established September 14 as the annual Feast
of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
4-Theological and Spiritual Meaning of the Feast
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross does not glorify the Cross as an
instrument of torture, but as an instrument of salvation. What once symbolized
shame became, through Christ’s blood, the symbol of glory, resurrection, and
victory over death and sin. The Church teaches us to carry our daily crosses and
follow Christ, knowing that the path of Calvary leads to the Resurrection. The
Cross is the power of God for salvation and the sign that divides death from
life. On this day, churches decorate the Cross with red flowers, and the priest
lifts it high, blessing the four directions — a symbol of the universal scope of
salvation through Christ.
The Feast and the Maronites of Lebanon
For the Maronite Church of Lebanon, this feast carries profound spiritual,
historical, and national meaning.
During centuries of persecution, the Maronites took refuge in the high mountains
of Lebanon and chose the Cross as their sacred emblem and shield of identity.
The fires of the Cross that once signaled Helena’s discovery became a living
symbol of their Christian steadfastness.
To this day, on the eve of September 14, Maronite villages across Mount Lebanon
light great bonfires on hilltops. These flames link all the mountain summits
together, proclaiming that the Maronites are the people of the Cross — witnesses
to Christ’s victory even in the darkest times.
This custom expresses their enduring covenant to preserve the Christian presence
in the East and to keep Lebanon a sanctuary of faith and freedom.
What Fouad Afram al-Bustani Wrote About This Feast
The renowned Lebanese historian and philosopher Fouad Afram al-Bustani
(1904–1994) described this feast as a cornerstone of Maronite spiritual identity
and Lebanese national consciousness. In his writings on Lebanese heritage, he
stated:
“The Feast of the Cross is not merely a liturgical commemoration but a
proclamation of destiny. The Maronites planted the Cross upon the peaks of
Lebanon as a banner of liberty and a shield of faith. The flames that rise each
year from their mountain villages are not just fires of memory — they are
beacons of vigilance, declaring that this land was chosen to be a fortress of
Christianity in the East. ”His words capture the deep meaning the Cross holds
for the Lebanese Maronites: a sign of redemption, resilience, and rootedness in
their mountain homeland.
The feast glorifies not the Cross as an instrument of death, but as the throne
of Christ’s victory. What once symbolized shame became the very symbol of
salvation, redemption, and resurrection. On this day, churches decorate the
Cross with red flowers and incense, and the priest raises it high, blessing the
four directions — symbolizing that Christ’s salvation extends to the ends of the
earth. The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is a commemoration of
victory, a testimony of faith, and a covenant of hope. For the Maronites of
Lebanon, it is not just a memory of the past, but a living declaration: that
they are the People of the Cross, guardians of a sacred trust, and witnesses of
Christ’s light rising from the mountains of Lebanon to the whole world.
Conclusion
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is not merely a commemoration of
past events, but a celebration of God’s love conquering hatred, light conquering
darkness, and life conquering death. Whoever contemplates the mystery of the
Cross and embraces it with faith will experience in his own life the power of
the Resurrection and the blessings of redemption and salvation.
Lebanon says one
killed in Israeli strike on south
Arab News/September 14, 2025
BEIRUT: The Lebanese health ministry said one person was killed on Sunday in an
Israeli strike in the south of the country, where Israel frequently targets
Hezbollah. “A raid by the Israeli enemy on a car in the town of Burj Qalawiyah
killed one person,” the ministry said in a statement. On Friday, the ministry
said one person was killed in an Israeli strike in the town of Aitaroun, also in
southern Lebanon. The Israeli military has continued to strike Iran-backed
Hezbollah despite a ceasefire last November that ended more than a year of
hostilities between them. Under pressure from the United States and fearing an
escalation of Israeli strikes, the Lebanese government is now moving to disarm
Hezbollah. The group, which previously dominated Lebanese politics and was
thought to be better armed than the military, was severely weakened by the war
with Israel. According to Beirut, the Lebanese army must complete its
disarmament of Hezbollah in areas near the Israeli border within three months.
Politicians
Remember Bachir Gemayel
This is Beirut/September 14/2025
On the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Bachir Gemayel, several
political leaders paid tribute to the president-elect, who was killed on
September 14, 1982. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam wrote on X, “More than four
decades have passed since the assassination of President Bachir Gemayel... his
slogan remains: Lebanon on 10,452 km².” “Political assassinations are the
antithesis of the freedom and democracy to which we aspire,” he added, before
insisting that “Lebanon can only turn the page on its painful past through truth
and reconciliation, to end the era of denial and political violence.”
For his part, Minister of Information Paul Morcos recalled that in commemorating
“the assassination of President Sheikh Bachir Gemayel, we see Lebanon today
taking concrete steps for the first time toward what the martyred president
wanted: to rebuild the state and assert its authority.”The leader of the Kataeb
Party, MP Samy Gemayel, said that “43 years after his martyrdom at the Kataeb
House, Bachir has triumphed and, with him, a free, sovereign and independent
Lebanon.”“It is no coincidence that Presidents Bachir Gemayel and René Moawad
were assassinated a few days after their election: the goal was the same: to
consolidate occupation, hegemony and tutelage, and to prevent the advent of a
free, sovereign and independent state, master of its weapons and its decisions,”
said MP Michel Moawad. “But 43 years after Bachir's assassination, Lebanon, as a
country, a state and a project, is beginning to triumph over those who wanted,
through bloodshed, to turn it into a mere arena for their interests,” he
added.anwhile, Kataeb MP Salim el-Sayegh told Radio Voice of Lebanon, “We began
to measure the consequences of President Bachir Gemayel's assassination as soon
as his death was announced. Our generation of resistance fighters experienced
this event as a loss that goes beyond that of a man, a leader or an elected
president. What he accomplished and represented in the Lebanese consciousness,
not only Christian, constitutes an irreparable historical event.”
PM Salam marks anniversary of Bachir Gemayel’s assassination, calls for truth
and reconciliation
LBCI/September 14/2025
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam wrote on X: “More than four decades have
passed since the assassination of President Bachir Gemayel … and his slogan
remains: Lebanon, 10,452 square kilometers.” He added: “Political assassinations
are the antithesis of the freedom and democracy we aspire to. Lebanon can only
heal from its wounded past through truth and reconciliation that put an end to
denial and political violence.”
No deal involving Lebanese captives behind Tsurkov's
release in Iraq
Agence France Presse/September 14/2025
Sources close to the Iraqi government told AFP on Friday that no deal was made
to secure the release of Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov this week,
saying her abductors had instead bowed to unspecified "pressure". Kidnapped in
Baghdad in March of 2023, Tsurkov was set free late Tuesday, hours after Israel
carried out an unprecedented strike in Qatar targeting Hamas leaders. She was
handed over to the U.S. embassy in Iraq, then flown the following day to Israel.
The Iraqi government, which always maintained it was working tirelessly to find
Tsurkov, previously said she was abducted by "outlaws", while U.S. President
Donald Trump said she was released by the powerful pro-Iran group Kataeb
Hezbollah. "No deal was struck to release the Israeli researcher Elizabeth
Tsurkov," a source close to the Iraqi government told AFP on condition of
anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media. "She was released
without anything in exchange... only under pressure," he added, without
providing details as to the nature of the pressure. Another source close to the
government likewise said "there was no deal, no payment, no prisoner release" in
exchange. Kataeb Hezbollah had previously implied it was not involved in the
abduction, but a source in the group told AFP on Tuesday that Tsurkov was
released "to spare Iraq any conflicts or fighting". Tsurkov was released the
same day that Israel targeted Hamas leaders in Doha, making Qatar the latest in
a string of Middle Eastern countries Israel has struck since the outbreak of its
war with Hamas in Gaza in October 2023. After the Gaza war began, pro-Iran armed
groups, including Kataeb Hezbollah, launched numerous attacks on US troops
stationed in Iraq, as well as mostly failed attacks on Israel. U.S. forces
responded with heavy strikes, and the attacks have long since halted. The office
of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not respond to an AFP's
question about Tsurkov being part of a deal. Following her release, Lebanese
local media reported that she was part of an exchange deal that included
Lebanese Hezbollah members held in Israel. But a senior Lebanese official told
AFP he was unaware of any plans for Lebanese citizens to be released from
Israel.
Lebanese FM prepares for emergency Arab-Islamic summit
LBCI/September 14/2025
Lebanese Foreign Minister and Expatriates Affairs Minister, Youssef Rajji,
participated in a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Doha on Sunday, ahead of
the emergency Arab-Islamic summit scheduled for Monday. The summit, which
President Joseph Aoun will attend, aims to address the recent Israeli attack on
Qatar. In the draft final statement, ministers called for "urgent international
action to curb repeated Israeli aggressions in the region and to halt ongoing
violations of the sovereignty, security, and stability of states, including the
Lebanese Republic, which constitute flagrant breaches of international law and
blatant violations of national sovereignty."
Lebanese Deputy PM Mitri calls for judicial accord with Syria on detainee issue
LBCI/September 14/2025
Lebanon's Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri said Sunday that addressing the
sensitive issue of detainees requires a joint legal framework with Damascus. In
an interview with Syria TV, Mitri said officials have discussed the idea of
drafting a judicial cooperation agreement between Lebanon and Syria to handle
the detainee file. He noted that the talks have not yet advanced to the stage of
identifying specific names or compiling lists. Mitri also said that 34 bilateral
agreements between the two countries need review and reassessment.He added that
significant progress has been made with Damascus on border control and combating
smuggling, while efforts continue to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees.
According to Mitri, Lebanese-Syrian relations have entered a new phase,
different from previous stages. He said a recent speech by Syrian President
Ahmed al-Sharaa opened “a window for convergence” with Lebanon.
France opens probe into former Lebanese PM Najib Mikati
over suspected illicit assets
LBCI/September 14/2025
French authorities opened a judicial investigation into former Lebanese Prime
Minister Najib Mikati over assets suspected of being acquired through "illicit
means," the national financial prosecutor's office confirmed Sunday. Mikati’s
media office said he had not been notified of the proceedings. The case stems
from a complaint filed in April 2024 by the Collective of Victims of Fraudulent
and Criminal Practices in Lebanon, along with the anti-financial crime NGO
Sherpa, according to lawyer William Bourdon. Additional evidence submitted in
April 2025 prompted prosecutors to refer the matter to court. Mikati, who built
his fortune in the telecommunications sector, has long been listed among
Lebanon’s wealthiest figures alongside his brother Taha. The family owns yachts,
private jets, luxury properties in Monaco and the French Riviera, as well as
prestigious real estate in Paris. Their investments also extend to fashion
labels, including the ready-to-wear brand Faconnable. The initial complaint
targeted alleged money laundering, concealment of stolen assets, complicity in
such concealment, and participation in a criminal conspiracy—all potentially
aggravated by being carried out within an organized group. Mikati has maintained
that he and his family have always acted in full compliance with the law.
Najib Mikati defends family wealth as French authorities
probe assets
LBCI/September 14/2025
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his family said Sunday that a
lawsuit filed by the anti-corruption group Sherpa and other parties before
France’s National Financial Prosecutor’s Office requires clarification to “set
the record straight.”
In a statement, Mikati stressed that the family’s wealth was “clear, legal, and
transparent,” the result of decades of international investments across various
sectors long before assuming any public office in Lebanon. He said the fortune
was accumulated “in full compliance with international standards of
governance.”“We have always cooperated with the relevant authorities and
provided all necessary documents proving the legality of our activities,” the
statement read. The family added that they had not received any official notice
from French judicial authorities and only learned of the reported investigation
through media coverage. Mikati reaffirmed the family’s trust in the independence
of the French judiciary and expressed readiness to provide additional
information if required, reiterating their commitment to the principle of the
presumption of innocence. The statement strongly condemned what it called
political or opportunistic attempts to damage the family’s reputation through
“repeated allegations already dismissed by different judicial bodies.” It said
the family reserves the right to pursue legal action against anyone involved in
spreading or publishing misleading or defamatory information.
The Tom & Jerry of Politics: When Enemies Become Friends
Pierre Nahas/This is Beirut/September 14/2025
Have you ever watched that episode of Tom & Jerry when Jerry befriended Tom to
plot against their common enemy, the bulldog Spike? This phenomenon, which is
much more common than people think, has been around for centuries across various
fields, particularly politics. Among the most unusual and controversial
friendships out there, we find the Islamist-leftist alliance. The modern left,
which is pro-LGBT, pro-feminism, pro-abortion and secular, sometimes marches
alongside traditional Islamists, who are openly patriarchal, radically religious
and against everything the left claims to defend.
Islamists and leftists stand on completely opposite ends of the ideological
spectrum. If Islamists were to take control, the secular and progressive values
of the left would be quickly dismantled. On the other hand, if leftists were to
dominate, the traditionalist and religious foundations cherished by Islamists
would be eroded in a heartbeat. By nature, one’s rise would mean the other’s
disappearance. Yet, in a striking paradox, these two camps are often seen
defending one another, setting aside their differences to march together and
even vote for the same causes. Their bond? A common enemy: Western values,
nationalism and critics of either ideology. However, the irony is that such
alliances are usually temporary and fragile, collapsing once the shared enemy is
gone. It’s the same pattern we see in Tom & Jerry: every now and then, the cat
and mouse work side by side for an episode or two. But once Spike is out of the
way, their natural rivalry takes over again. Politics often follows the same
cartoon logic, and nowhere is this more evident than in Lebanon. Any idea who
our Lebanese Tom and Jerry are? It is indeed the controversial friendship
between Hezbollah and the Lebanese leftist parties, ranging from the Thawra Left
to the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP). Both camps have long viewed US influence,
Western values, capitalism and imperialism as existential threats. This shared
resistance erases, at least temporarily, the ideological chasm between them. The
story isn’t new. In the 1980s, communists and Islamists fought side by side in
guerrilla operations against Israeli forces, despite their starkly different
visions for Lebanon’s future. In 2006, during the war with Israel, similar
scenes played out as Hezbollah presented itself as the defender of Lebanon,
gaining sympathy from secular parties that otherwise opposed its religious
dominance.
Even in more recent years, the left has expressed solidarity with Hezbollah
during moments of crisis. When French authorities finally released Georges
Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese communist militant jailed for decades for the
assassination of US and Israeli diplomats, supporters waving red communist flags
were seen alongside Hezbollah banners at Rafic-Hariri International Airport.
In Lebanon, this hypocrisy also plays out on social media, where left-leaning
pages and influencers dedicate endless energy to amplifying the Palestinian
cause and Syrian refugee agendas, often at the expense of Lebanon’s own
sovereignty and suffering. They brand themselves as defenders of justice and
resistance, yet remain silent when Lebanon is dragged into wars it never chose,
when its institutions are paralyzed or when its people sink deeper into poverty.
This friendship might not only be built upon a common enemy but also on a
certain level of naivety. Leftist groups convince themselves that aligning with
Islamists is a strategic necessity. Yet what they fail to see is that these
alliances are rarely partnerships of equals. Islamists, with a clear and
uncompromising vision, use the left as fuel to advance their cause, only to
discard them once their mission is accomplished. History offers stark reminders
of this pattern, where leftist dreams of progress quickly turned into nightmares
under the very powers they helped bring to dominance.One of the clearest
examples is the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The revolution began as a broad,
diverse movement, with leftist factions, such as the Tudeh Party and the
People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), playing central roles in overthrowing the
Shah. Islamists, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, marched alongside them, sharing the
same anti-Shah and anti-imperialist rhetoric. But once the Shah fell, the
Islamists sidelined the left and turned against their former allies. By the
early 1980s, thousands of leftist activists were hunted down, imprisoned,
tortured or executed. China and Iran, on a global level, offer another perfect
example of how contradictory these alliances are. On one hand, China’s ruling
Communist Party is officially atheist and has launched one of the harshest
crackdowns on Islamic identity in modern history, detaining over a million
Uyghur Muslims in re-education camps. On the other hand, Iran, an Islamist
theocracy that presents itself as the defender of Muslims worldwide, maintains
close political and economic ties with Beijing. The hypocrisy is clear: Iran
condemns Western nations for alleged Islamophobia while staying silent about
China’s treatment of Uyghurs, simply because Beijing serves as a geopolitical
ally against the United States and the West. We conclude that, despite all these
differences, both parties share a few similarities: the reliance on force and
bloodshed as the final arbiter of power. The pattern remains the same; when the
temporary friendship breaks, it is settled not at the ballot box or negotiation
table, but through violence. Another similarity is the hypocrisy they exhibit.
As much as some of their marches were peaceful and rightful when it comes to
protesting against the war in Gaza, they have been almost entirely silent when
it comes to the brutality and massacres of ISIS and other extremist groups
against religious minorities, even against moderate Muslims. The issue here
isn’t being emotional or, at times, naive. The problem is that someone is
waiting to exploit this emotional and naive side to promote their own agendas,
to promote ideas that would never convince an individual if critical thinking
were involved. This phase calls for critical thinking, logic and conviction.
Because at the end of the day, the real danger isn’t just in who wins power. It
is in how easily people can be manipulated into defending the very forces that
will one day silence them.
Rai: Lebanon Lives Only Through Freedom and Sovereignty
This is Beirut/September 14/2025
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai presided over a mass at Saydet Ilige Church in
Mayfouq for the souls of the martyrs of the “Lebanese Resistance.”He stressed
that “Lebanon is not a battlefield but an oasis of freedom and human dignity,”
adding that “the martyrs of the Lebanese Resistance have become a resounding cry
that Lebanon lives only through freedom and sovereignty.” He questioned, “Fifty
years since the outbreak of the war, we still ask ourselves what it has taught
us and what we have gained from its destruction.”
Lebanon: Real Estate Market Tied to Political and Economic
Outlook
Liliane Mokbel/This is Beirut/September 14/2025
In the short term, the real estate sector mirrors the political and economic
situation. Its prospects depend on how different political and economic
scenarios unfold, with direct implications for property prices and overall
market conditions. A study by the Research and Studies Department of Bank Audi,
published in September 2025, lays out three scenarios for the next twelve
months: a positive scenario with a 55 percent probability, a moderate scenario
at 30 percent, and a negative scenario at 15 percent. In a positive scenario,
such as the state gaining full control over weapons, real estate demand would
rise sharply, pushing property prices up by at least 20 percent. The revival of
mortgage lending would also act as a major catalyst for the market. Under a
moderate scenario, conditions and prices are expected to remain relatively
stable. By contrast, if a negative scenario unfolds, marked by worsening
security, demand would contract, the number of properties for sale would
increase and prices along with overall market activity would face downward
pressure.
Real Estate Prices
According to the Bank Audi report, property prices rose during the first three
months of 2025 before leveling off from March through September. Promising
political developments early in the year, including the election of a head of
state, the appointment of a prime minister and the formation of a government,
gave some momentum to prices in the Lebanese real estate market. Property prices
rose by about 10 percent during the first three months of 2025. Overall, prices
for small and medium-sized apartments remain 20 to 30 percent below pre-2019
levels, while the sale price of high-end apartments is now approaching its level
before the crisis.
Rising Property Purchases
Real estate demand in the first half of 2025 has bounced back to the levels seen
in 2022, despite ongoing challenges. From January to June 2025, the number of
property transactions reached 33,297, up from 16,390 during the same period last
year. This is the highest level recorded since 2022. Compared with the first
half of 2019, transactions in 2025 are 34.1 percent higher, indicating a return
to pre-crisis activity levels.
Struggling Back to School in Southern Lebanon’s Border
Villages
Katia Kahil/This is Beirut/September 14/2025
In a world where going to school is a basic right, stepping into a classroom in
southern Lebanon requires courage. The 2025–2026 school year is far from being
ordinary.
In the border villages of Taybeh, Mays al-Jabal, Rmeish, Khiam and Bint Jbeil,
returning to classes feels like navigating through the remnants of recent
conflict. Each lesson interrupted by the distant thud of an Israeli strike is a
stark reminder of how precarious life remains.
After two years of online learning forced by war, students are coming back to
classrooms with cracked walls, broken desks and the lingering echo of
bombardments. The Ministry of Education recently reopened public schools near
the border, ruling out online classes for this year. Public and private schools
in southern Lebanon continue to show the visible toll of the Israel-Hezbollah
conflict. In Khiam, some classrooms still lack windows, with shattered panes
replaced by plastic sheeting, raising serious concerns for the approaching
winter. “We are missing many essential supplies,” says Mohammad Choker,
principal of Khiam Public School. Infrastructure is in poor shape: laboratories
are gone, classrooms are damaged or unusable and sports facilities are wrecked.
Some schools have repaired their buildings, while others, completely destroyed,
have relocated to rented spaces nearby to accommodate students returning with
their families. At Mays al-Jabal, principal Faraj Badran expects prefabricated
classrooms to arrive within ten days. “We ordered them to provide learning
opportunities for children from around 500 families who have returned,” he
explains. Government attention appears limited, leaving private initiatives to
fill the gap. The principal of Hula notes, “Efforts have been made to ensure
destroyed schools do not remain closed. We are using two floors of the social
aid center. The number of enrolled students has already exceeded 60.”“Walking
into these classrooms often means stepping over debris,” says Samir, a teacher
in Mays al-Jabal. Cracked walls and crumbling infrastructure highlight the
scarcity of resources for rebuilding. Schools, symbols of fragile hope, lack
essential equipment: destroyed furniture, insufficient teaching materials,
frequent power outages and limited access to clean water. Under these
conditions, maintaining a normal learning environment is a daily struggle,
directly affecting students’ safety, well-being and education.
Traumatized but Eager to Learn
After two years of disrupted online learning and forced displacements following
Hezbollah’s decision to open a front with Israel on October 8, 2023, until the
ceasefire agreement in November 2024, students in southern Lebanon face
significant learning gaps. “My 10-year-old son still cannot read fluently. He
lost two entire years,” says Hana, mother of three children from Bint Jbeil.
School dropouts are especially concerning for vulnerable children. Many have
been forced to work to support their families. “My eldest son is 14. He has been
working in a workshop since his father died,” recounts Soha, a displaced mother
who recently returned to Khiam. Students report feeling far behind despite
schools reopening. “We try to keep up, but I feel behind in everything,” admits
Nour, a secondary school student, emphasizing the urgent need to catch up after
two years without regular classes.
Teachers face equally steep challenges. “I have students preparing for the
Brevet, the national 9th grade exam, who can no longer write a simple essay. Two
years away from school have left deep gaps: learning delays, dropouts and a loss
of motivation,” says Zeina, a French teacher in Taybeh. “Accelerated review
sessions and mixed classes help,” says Hani, a math teacher, but rebuilding
confidence is the toughest task. “Children have lost their rhythm, focus and
enthusiasm,” notes Chadia, a school supervisor in Mays al-Jabal.
Psychological trauma compounds these challenges. “When I hear a noise outside, I
jump. Even recess is stressful,” says Ramy, a student in Khiam. The slightest
sound of a drone keeps students on constant alert. “Before teaching science or
any subject, we must first calm their fears,” says the principal of Khiam’s
school. “Here, education is not a luxury. It is a way to heal,” he concludes.
Teachers on the Frontline
Teaching in these villages is a daily act of courage. “I have never felt so
anxious on the road,” says Fadia, a teacher at Bint Jbeil Public School.
Some teachers have been forced to leave their posts because the journey to
school is too dangerous. “I had to cross two unstable areas to reach Taybeh. One
day, a drone flew just a few meters from my car,” recalls Manale, a science
teacher from Marjayoun. “I requested a transfer, but there were no other
positions. I had to stop teaching. It was heartbreaking,” she adds. The shortage
of teachers in border areas worsens educational inequalities, leaving students
in southern Lebanon, already traumatized by war, with even fewer opportunities.
Parents Torn Between Anxiety and Hope
Parents grapple not only with security fears, but also with the anxiety of
failing to provide their children with a proper school year. “I hesitated until
the last moment to send my children to school,” says Ahmad, a father of three in
Hula, “but then I realized that depriving them of education would be another
form of war.”Some displaced families have made the courageous decision to return
to their villages, specifically to allow their children to resume schooling.
However, private schools remain largely inaccessible due to soaring tuition
fees. “We can no longer afford the costs. I rely on precarious work, often
disrupted by the security situation,” laments Najib, a construction worker in
Taybeh. Even public schools, often considered free, are costly in practice. In a
fragile economy, school supplies have become a luxury. Backpacks, books and
uniforms cost more than ever, adding to family stress. Fortunately, local
associations, international NGOs and the diaspora are helping, partially funding
essential supplies. In markets across Khiam, Taybeh and Bint Jbeil, solidarity
stands now provide much-needed support.
Why
Have the Lebanese Stopped Debating?
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 14/2025
Going over Lebanon’s modern history, one cannot fail to notice that every
watershed moment was dovetailed with lots of debate and controversy that put
countless ideas up for public discussion. In 1946, three years after Lebanon’s
independence, for example, Michel Asmar established the "Lebanese Cenacle,"
where the post-independence world and navigating it were deliberated. The
"cenacle" unpacked questions around this new era and became the refinery of
Lebanon’s cultural and intellectual life, thereby playing a prominent role in
shaping the elites that would dominate the next three decades.
It was to become a springboard for a very broad range of figures: from Michel
Chiha and Rene Habchi to Abdullah Alaili, Kamal Hajj, and Sobhi Mahmasani. Even
politicians like Kamal Jumblatt, Taqi al-Din al-Solh, Edward Hnein, and
religious figures like Moussa al-Sadr and George Khodr, as well as journalists
like George Naccache and Ghassan Tueni, chose it as the forum from which to
present a cultural face to the world. We saw something similar after Chehab was
elected president following the mini-civil war of 1958, and when the 1969 Cairo
Agreement between the Lebanese state and the Palestine Liberation Organization
precipitated exhaustive debates about the duality of "state and revolution." We
also saw this during the Taif Agreement negotiations in 1989, and as the "Solidere"
project to rebuild Beirut was being implemented. In each of these junctures,
Lebanese intellectuals, both partisan and independent, would turn into cells
debating ideas and painting the image of the country and regime they favored, or
pointing out mistakes that should be avoided.
However, the total opposite is true for the juncture we currently find ourselves
in. We have seen no debate whatsoever, reflecting an astonishing paucity of
ideas. Mind you, this moment is incomparably more consequential and critical
than any of the precedents.
What we have today is constant television noise, mostly around a single event in
particular, and of course, the torrent of defamation, obscenity, and accusations
on social media that is directed not only at the individual target of the smear
campaign, but his sect and community as a whole, if not directly then
circuitously. It is precisely because sects now advocate for themselves
uncovered - without equivocation or "embarrassment," as the historian Ahmad
Baydoun put it - that debate has atrophied. Before, when the average Christian
sought to reaffirm the distinctiveness of his sect or religion, he would speak
at length about Phoenicia, the Mediterranean, the Francophone world, or the
modern West and its civilization. Likewise, when the average Muslim wanted to
emphasize his distinct identity, he would ardently affirm his allegiance to Arab
nationalism or his fervent drive to liberate Palestine, or he would highlight
Arabs and Muslims’ historical achievements.
For its part, the state, through its ideological apparatuses (schools, state
media, etc.), sought to reconcile these divergences and differences. So
diligently was this end pursued that rounding off corners and trimming sharp
edges became its bread and butter.
Today, on the other hand, the need to put on this or that garb has diminished.
Conflicting identities are waging their struggle in their names; they themselves
are their own ideologies- a self-sufficiency that no one could be envied for.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese, like other nations, face less pressure to align with
modernity and its standards. Labels that had once been considered shameful or
backward, like tribalism or sectarianism, are now more like a badge of honor.
They could affirm the supposed virtues and indigeneity of tribalism or
sectarianism if the label is applied to them, finding a defense for this praise
in that the other side is no less proud of their sect or tribe. Naturally, the
decline of the state and its culture of compromise has fueled these inclinations
and drives, especially since this decline had been preceded by a long civil war,
mass displacement, the emergence of sectarian cantons, and reduced regional
integration and contiguity. A lot of pus lies under such wounds. However, if
modernity used to diminish what groups have come to call their "sanctities" and
expand the margins of critical engagement with these notions, then modernity’s
setbacks multiply these "sanctities" and heighten the taboo around them such
that criticism becomes a violation of the inviolable. Of course, the best in the
industry tie these sanctities to arms that "protect and defend them," rendering
tools of war, as Sheikh Naim Qassem put it, "our soul, our honor, our land, our
dignity, and the future of our children."These so-called "sanctities" are
matters that cannot be debated because they are above debate by definition, and
because they are in themselves a perpetual essence. They do not change, or
rather, must not change.
Here, we come across another factor that helps explain the current depletion of
ideas. Beginnings and founding stages spark debate and summon ideas, while
endings do the exact opposite. Here, a "maxim" looms: everything we could say
has already been said many times before, and every experiment we could conduct
has been conducted, so what's the point of replicating it for the thousandth
time? And when we no longer care about our homelands nor count on them, what is
the point of arguing about them?
The fear is that this is a moment of endings. The state of the region and world,
which are not any keener on debate and ideas nor any less equipped for a return
to our presumed initial existence and inherent nature, only reinforces this
assessment.
Lebanese dancer
defies extremist threats and social norms with his sold-out performances
Associated Press/September 14/2025
Alexandre Paulikevitch put on his white dress and wig and danced his way to
center stage, knowing that the extremist groups who had threatened him before
his controversial recital might be waiting for him outside the theater. The
Lebanese dancer's sold-out performance to a cheering crowd at a popular Beirut
venue had angered fundamentalist movements ranging from the right-wing Christian
Soldiers of God to Sunni Islamists. The fundamentalists say Paulikevitch is
"promoting homosexuality" because he wears dresses and corsets and undulates to
classical Arabic music in a way which society largely sees as exclusive to
women. Paulikevitch says he's breaking social norms and reintroducing forms of
dance that were commonplace for men as recently as the early 20th century.
Lebanon is seen as a place of relative tolerance in the region when it comes to
LGBTQ+ rights, following years of activism from the queer community and
supporters. But the community still faces restrictions and even violence. "I'm
not promoting anything, I am just dancing. If you want to come watch me, come,"
Paulikevitch said defiantly in his changing room as the audience took their
seats outside. "They think if one looks a certain way, that means they have an
agenda to convert society. If the society was going to convert, it would have
happened hundreds of years ago."Male dancers in the 19th and early 20th century
in countries like Egypt who moved their hips and torsos expressively were once
widely appreciated but today are largely shunned. Paulikevitch says he's paying
tribute to his favorite dancers and songs with local forms that go beyond belly
dancing, which he dismisses as a narrow and exoticized Western perception of
Middle Eastern dancing. The crowd gazed at Paulikevitch as he swayed and
contorted his slender body to music played by his backing band of traditional
percussionists and flutists. His lipstick, eyeshadow, and eyeliner glowed while
he moved under the spotlight. Some in the crowd smiled and sang along, while
others watched as if mesmerized. Many filmed with their cellphones. All of them
applauded.
Paulikevitch, 43, was seen at protests for years, holding a megaphone for all
sorts of causes, including labor rights, combating domestic violence, and in the
countrywide uprisings against Lebanon's banks and political leadership in late
2019. He also faced attacks and was once imprisoned under Lebanon's opaque
laws."We dance because we have no other option. We dance because whatever
happened and whatever is happening to us, this is our resistance," he told the
audience in his white dress after his first number. Over 20 years ago, the first
non-governmental organization for queer rights in the Middle East was founded in
Lebanon. Helem, Arabic for "dream", was even formally registered. Owners of a
handful of Beirut's nightlife venues are largely accessible to the country's
LGBTQ+ community, including Metro al-Madina, where Paulikevitch is performing.
Some even host drag shows.
However, crackdowns on free speech and expression have surged in recent years,
and the country's queer community has not been spared, in some cases facing
violence from extremist groups. Security forces called the venue before the
show, expressing their concern, but Paulikevitch says he refuses to "run and
hide." The venue's management backed him and brought extra police protection.
Armed officers stood outside, but nobody showed up except the audience.
Lebanon has spiraled downward since 2019, with its banks collapsing and corrupt
state institutions decaying. Over half its population of about six million has
been pulled into poverty after decades of mismanagement and profiteering by the
political class. Israel's widespread destruction of southern and eastern Lebanon
in its monthslong war with the Hezbollah militant group last year further
compounded the country's woes. "With everything that's happening now, especially
now — the killing, the strikes, the extermination, and the insanity that we are
living through — is this the time to focus on me?" the dancer said while putting
on his makeup. "Who's paying attention to me? I don't understand where this
gravity is coming from, which is why I refused to stop my show, because
something doesn't add up."As Lebanon has struggled to stand on its own two feet,
the queer community has been periodically targeted by conservatives and
right-wing groups in ways similar to the ongoing culture wars of the United
States and Europe. In Lebanon's fractured sectarian power-sharing political
system, it became a rare bridge of unity.
The summer of 2023 was notably hostile. Lebanon's culture minister moved to ban
the movie "Barbie", saying it "promotes homosexuality and transgenders."
Right-wing groups unsuccessfully lobbied to shut down Helem and have mobilized
against anything displaying rainbows, from cakes in bakery storefronts to
children's board games at schools. In some cases, their actions turned violent.
Members of the Soldiers of God group entered a bar in Beirut hosting a drag
show, attacking several people, and forcing other patrons to hide in a bathroom.
Paulikevitch says he isn't interested in imposing anything on people and their
personal choices, but simply wants his right to perform his art. "I have a
problem with you the same way you have a problem with me, but the difference
between us is that I respect you," he said, addressing the groups attacking him.
"Even if your beard or your appearance bothers me, I respect and accept you as
you are. You can't see me as I'm not getting near you, (so) why do you have such
a problem with me?"The dancer has faced more than just threats. He said he was
detained for a year under a murky law which criminalizes sexual activity
"against nature", which some interpret as including same-sex acts. In 2020,
during popular protests across the country decrying corruption and the country's
politicians and bankers, Paulikevitch was among a handful of activists beaten
and arrested by riot police by the Central Bank. Still, he remains optimistic
for the future of the queer community and artistic expression in Lebanon. One
member of his band helped him with his wig before a quick rehearsal. His calm
demeanor soon turned into nervousness, with his mind fixed on his performance
and not on whatever might be taking place outside. "Me putting this makeup and
putting (on) my dresses is a political act, (whether) I want it or not," he
said. "Doing what I do is resisting, is giving the possibility for others to be
inspired, to say it is possible. I'm paying a high price, but ... maybe, maybe I
can inspire someone."
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous
Reports And News published
on September 14-15/2025
Qatar PM urges
world to ‘stop using double standards’ and punish Israel
Arab News/September 14, 2025
RIYADH: Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani urged the
international community on Sunday to “stop using double standards” and punish
Israel for what he described as its “crimes.”He was speaking at a preparatory
meeting on the eve of an emergency summit of Arab and Islamic leaders organized
by Qatar after Israel carried out an unprecedented air strike on Hamas leaders
in Doha. “The time has come for the international community to stop using double
standards and to punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed, and Israel
needs to know that the ongoing war of extermination that our brotherly
Palestinian people is being subjected to, and whose aim is to expel them from
their land, will not work,” the prime minister said. Sheikh Mohammed said Doha
remained committed to working with Egypt and the United States to reach a
ceasefire in the war that has devastated the Gaza Strip. However, he said that
the Israeli strike that killed six people — five members of Hamas and a local
Qatari security force member — represented “an attack on the principle of
mediation itself.” “This attack can only be described as state terrorism, an
approach pursued by the current extremist Israeli government, which flouts
international law,” the minister said. “The reckless and treacherous Israeli
aggression was committed while the state of Qatar was hosting official and
public negotiations, with the knowledge of the Israeli side itself, and with the
aim of achieving a ceasefire in Gaza.”The preparatory meeting of foreign
ministers for the emergency joint Arab-Islamic summit commenced on Sunday in
Doha under Sheikh Mohammed’s leadership. The summit is to discuss a draft
statement regarding the Israeli attack on Qatar on Sept. 9, which targeted the
residences of several Hamas officials in Doha, according to the Qatar News
Agency. The airstrikes were widely condemned across the Arab and Islamic world
as a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and international law. Foreign ministers
of the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation member states are
attending the summit on Sunday, including Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince
Faisal bin Farhan. The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denounced the
Israeli attack as an “aggressive act” and reiterated the Kingdom’s solidarity
with Doha, stressing the need for the international community to hold Israel
accountable for its actions, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Qatar Says Won’t Stop Gaza Mediation
Efforts, Urges Int’l Community to Hold Israel to Account
Asharq Al-Awsat/September 14/2025
Qatar's prime minister denounced Israel on Sunday as foreign ministers from Arab
and Muslim nations met to discuss a possible unified response to Israel's attack
on Doha targeting the leadership of the group Hamas. Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as Qatar's foreign minister, made the
comments ahead of a meeting Monday of leaders from those nations. Sheikh
Mohammed said Qatar remained committed to working with Egypt and the United
States to reach a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war that's devastated the Gaza
Strip after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. However, he stressed the time
had come for consequences to Israel's attacks in the wider Middle East amid the
conflict. “It is time for the international community to stop applying double
standards and punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed,” Sheikh
Mohammed said in footage later released by Qatar's government from the
closed-door meeting. There was no immediate response from Israel, which is
hosting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio this weekend. However, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night again defended the strike. “The
Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” he
wrote on the social platform X. “They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to
endlessly drag out the war. Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to
releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”
Netanyahu says 'getting rid' of Hamas leaders
can end war, hostage families say he's the obstacle
Agence France Presset/September 14/2025
The main Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages held in Gaza said
Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the chief obstacle to
freeing the captives, shortly after he accused Hamas's leaders of prolonging the
war. "The targeted operation in Qatar proved beyond any doubt that there is one
obstacle to returning the... hostages and ending the war: Prime Minister
Netanyahu," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement,
referring to Israel's recent strike on a meeting of Hamas members in the Gulf
state. "Every time a deal approaches, Netanyahu sabotages it," they added.
Earlier in the evening, the premier had said eliminating Hamas's leaders in
Qatar would bring an end to the war, accusing the group of derailing past
efforts to secure a ceasefire. "The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar
don't care about the people in Gaza. They blocked all ceasefire attempts in
order to endlessly drag out the war," he said on X. "Getting rid of them would
rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war."The
forum, however, characterized the accusation as Netanyahu's latest "excuse" for
failing to bring home the captives. "The time has come to end the excuses
designed to buy time so he can cling to power," the forum said. "This
stalling... threatens the lives of additional hostages who are barely surviving
after nearly two years in captivity, as well as the recovery of those who have
died."Palestinian militants led by Hamas abducted 251 people during their
October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Forty-seven of the captives are still held in
Gaza, including 25 the military says are dead. Thousands of Israelis massed in
Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, calling on the government to end the war and
strike a deal to return hostages, an AFP correspondent reported.
Emir, Crown Prince of Kuwait Meet with Saudi Interior
Minister
Asharq Al-Awsat/September 14/2025
Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received in Kuwait on
Sunday Saudi Minister of Interior Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin
Abdulaziz. The minister conveyed the greetings of Custodian of the Two Holy
Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin
Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, along with their wishes of
continued progress and prosperity to the Emir and to the government and people
of Kuwait. Sheikh Meshal expressed his deep appreciation to the leadership of
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, praising the strength of the historic relations
between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and the bonds of brotherhood and cooperation
that unite their peoples. Crown Prince of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad
Al-Sabah and Saudi Minister of Interior Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin
Abdulaziz meet on Sunday. (SPA) During the meeting, they reviewed relations and
the ongoing security cooperation between the two brotherly countries. Crown
Prince of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah also received Prince
Abdulaziz for talks on bilateral relations. Discussions tackled areas of
cooperation and joint coordination, particularly on security issues. Prince
Abdulaziz later met with Prime Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad
Al-Sabah.
Rubio in Israel in wake of Qatar attack
AP/September 14, 2025
JERUSALEM: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Israel on Sunday as its
military intensified attacks on northern Gaza, flattening multiple high-rise
building and killing at least 13 Palestinians. Rubio said ahead of the trip that
he will be seeking answers from Israeli officials about how they see the way
forward in Gaza following Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar last week
that upended efforts to broker an end to the conflict. His two-day visit is also
a show of support for the increasingly isolated Israel as the United Nations
holds what is expected to be a contentious debate next week on commitment to the
creation of a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
strongly opposes the recognition of a Palestinian state.
Rubio visits Israel despite anger over Qatar attack
Rubio’s visit went ahead despite President Donald Trump’s anger at Netanyahu
over the Israeli strike in Doha, which he said the United States was not
notified of beforehand. On Sunday, Netanyahu, Rubio and their wives, along with
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and his wife, toured the Western Wall and
the excavated tunnels near it.“I think his (Rubio’s) visit here is a testament
to the durability, the strength of the Israeli-American alliance. It’s as strong
and as durable as the stones of the Western Wall we just touched,” Netanyahu
said. On Friday, Rubio and Trump met with Qatar’s prime minister to discuss the
fallout from the Israeli operation. The dual, back-to-back meetings with Israel
and Qatar illustrate how Trump administration is trying to balance relations
between key Middle East allies despite the attack’s widespread international
condemnation. The Doha attack, which killed at least six people, also appears to
have ended attempts to secure an Israel-Hamas ceasefire and the release of
hostages ahead of the upcoming UN General Assembly session, at which the Gaza
war is expected to be a primary focus. Meanwhile, foreign ministers from Arab
and Islamic nations were to meet in Doha on Sunday to forge a united front about
the Israeli attack ahead of a summit in Qatar on Monday that will bring together
leaders from their nations for top-level talks. Netanyahu and Foreign Minister
Gideon Saar were also set to address Monday a large bipartisan delegation of
American legislators visiting Israel for meetings and political discussions.
Deadly airstrikes mount
On Sunday, at least 13 Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded in
multiple Israeli strikes across Gaza, according to local hospitals. Local
hospitals said Israeli strikes targeted a vehicle near Shifa hospital and a
roundabout in Gaza City, and a tent in the city of Deir Al-Balah that killed at
least six members of the same family. Two parents, their three children and the
children’s aunt were killed in that strike, according to the Al-Aqsa hospital.
The family was from the northern town of Beit Hanoun, and arrived in Deir Al-Balah
last week after fleeing their shelter in Gaza City
The Israeli military did not have immediate comment on the strikes. As part of
its expanding operation in Gaza City, the military destroyed multiple high-rise
buildings Sunday, after warning residents to evacuate. Some were destroyed less
than an hour after an evacuation order was posted online by the military
spokesman Avichay Adraee. The military said that Hamas had positioned
observation posts and ways to gather intelligence about troop movement in the
area, and that Hamas militants were poised to strike Israeli troops, though it
provided no evidence to support those claims. The military also said that, in
addition to advance warnings, it used precise munitions and aerial surveillance
to reduce the chance of harm to civilians. The terrorist organizations in the
Gaza Strip systematically violate international law, brutally exploiting
civilian infrastructure and the Gazan population as human shields for terrorist
activities.
The IDF will continue to operate against the terrorist organizations
Residents said the Kauther tower in the Rimal neighborhood was flattened to the
ground. There were no immediate reports of casualties. “This is part of the
genocidal measures the (Israeli) occupation is carrying out in Gaza City,” said
Abed Ismail, a Gaza City resident. “They want to turn the whole city into
rubble, and force the transfer and another Nakba.”The word Nakba is Arabic for
catastrophe and refers to when some 700,000 Palestinians were expelled by
Israeli forces or fled their homes in what is now Israel, before and during the
1948 war that surrounded its creation.
Israeli strongly denies accusations of genocide in Gaza. “The skyline of Gaza is
changing,” Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X along with footage of the
strikes that destroyed one of the buildings.
Starvation in Gaza
Separately, two Palestinian adults died of causes related to malnutrition and
starvation in the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours, the territory’s health
ministry reported Sunday. That has brought the death toll from
malnutrition-related causes to 277 since late June, when the ministry started to
count fatalities among this age category, while another 145 children died of
malnutrition-related causes since the start of the war in October 2023, the
ministry said. The Israeli defense body overseeing humanitarian aid in Gaza said
that over 1,200 trucks carrying aid, primarily food, entered into Gaza over the
past week.
Aid workers say the aid that does get into Gaza is far too little and
insufficient for the territory’s enormous needs. Much of it is also looted
before it can reach the Palestinians in desperate need. International teams also
finished repair work on a water line from Israel to Gaza, one of three water
lines from Israel to Gaza, increasing the daily amount of water coming into Gaza
from Israel to 14,000 cubic meters (3.7 million gallons). Over the 23 months
since Israel launched its offensive, Gaza’s water access has been progressively
limited and the strip is now enduring a second scorching summer in wartime.
Parents and children often chase down water trucks that come every two or three
days, filling bottles, canisters and buckets and then hauling them home. The war
in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7,
2023, abducting 251 people and killing some 1,200, mostly civilians. There are
still 48 hostages remaining in Gaza, of whom 20 Israel believes are still
alive.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,871 Palestinians,
according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians
or combatants. It says around half of those killed were women and children.
Large parts of major cities have been completely destroyed and around 90 percent
of some 2 million Palestinians have been displaced.
Palestinians flee Gaza City under Israeli
bombardment
AFP/September 14, 2025
GAZA CITY: Palestinian families streamed out of Gaza City on Sunday, some
crammed into pick-up trucks, others on foot, as Israeli forces pressed their
assault on the territory’s main urban center. Parents carried their children
while the elderly hobbled along, an AFP journalist reported. A man in a
wheelchair and another on crutches were among the long line of people heading
south under Israeli military orders. The military has issued multiple evacuation
warnings for Gaza City, but many residents have told AFP they have nowhere else
to go, noting that Israel has repeatedly struck the area in the south where it
has urged people to move. The scenes of mass flight from Gaza City came as US
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel in a show of support, despite
an Israeli strike in Qatar this week. The Israeli military’s Arabic-language
spokesman, Avichay Adraee, issued on Sunday a warning to those in Gaza’s port
area and Al-Rimal neighborhood to evacuate immediately to a “humanitarian zone”
in the south, where Gazans say there is no more space to pitch tents. He had on
Saturday said more than 250,000 Gaza City residents had already fled, while
Gaza’s civil defense agency said the figure was closer to 68,000.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is
unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defense agency
or the Israeli military.
Panic and extreme fear
Prior to the latest assault, the United Nations had estimated that around a
million people lived in and around the city, where it officially declared famine
last month. AFP footage showed exhausted families moving along the coastal road
near Nuseirat south of Gaza City, with their belongings stacked high in
vehicles.
In the city itself, “the bombardment hasn’t stopped since dawn,” said Umm Alaa
Shaaban, 45, a resident of Tal Al-Hawa district in Gaza City’s southwest. “We
haven’t slept all night... The sounds of shelling and explosions have not
stopped until now,” she told AFP. According to Shaaban, the Israeli air force
“bombed many houses... we were terribly afraid — my children screamed in terror.
“We don’t know where to go. The bombardment is everywhere.”Mohammed Ghazal, 32,
who fled from Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighborhood, also said the strikes were
relentless. “We are living in a state of panic and extreme fear. The shelling
hasn’t stopped since dawn, the explosions are intense and the shooting
continuous,” he told AFP. “Israeli forces are using terrifying methods and
escalating the bombardment to frighten us and force us to flee south.”In recent
days, the Israeli military has targeted several high-rise buildings in Gaza
City, saying they were being used by Hamas militants. On Sunday, it said it had
struck another high-rise where Hamas had set up “observation posts to monitor
the location of... troops in the area.”AFP also saw an Israeli leaflet dropped
on residents, telling them they were in a “dangerous combat zone” — a message
the military has repeated for weeks.Across the the Gaza Strip, Israeli strikes
killed 23 people since dawn Sunday, according to the Gaza civil defense agency.
Netanyahu gambled by targeting Hamas leaders
in Qatar. It appears to have backfired
AP/September 14, 2025
JERUSALEM: When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered this week’s attempted
assassination of Hamas leaders in Qatar, he took a major gamble in his campaign
to pound the group into submission. With signs growing that the mission failed,
that gamble appears to have backfired.
Netanyahu had hoped to kill Hamas’ senior exiled leaders to get closer toward
his vision of “total victory” against the militant group that attacked Israel on
Oct. 7, 2023, and pressure it into surrendering after nearly two years of war in
the Gaza Strip. Instead, Hamas claims its leaders survived, and Netanyahu’s
global standing, already badly damaged by the scenes of destruction and
humanitarian disaster in Gaza, took another hit. The airstrike Tuesday has
enraged Qatar, an influential US ally that has been a key mediator throughout
the war, and drawn heavy criticism across the Arab world. It also has strained
relations with the White House and thrown hopes of reaching a ceasefire into
disarray, potentially endangering the 20 hostages still believed to be alive in
Gaza. But while the strike marks a setback for Netanyahu, the Israeli leader
shows no sign of backing down or halting the war. And with his hard-line
coalition still firmly behind him, Netanyahu faces no immediate threat to his
rule.
Netanyahu’s hope for an ‘image of victory’ for his government
Five low-level Hamas members and a Qatari security guard were killed in the
strike. But Hamas has said the intended target, senior exiled leaders meeting to
discuss a new US ceasefire proposal, all survived. The group, however, has not
released any photos of the leaders, and Qatar has not commented on their
conditions. If the airstrike had killed the top leadership, the attack could
have provided Netanyahu an opportunity declare Hamas’ destruction, said Harel
Chorev, an expert on Arab affairs at Tel Aviv University. “It’s all very
symbolic and it’s definitely part of the thing which allows Netanyahu at a
certain point to say ‘We won, we killed them all,’” he said. Israel’s fierce
23-month offensive in Gaza has wiped out all of Hamas’ top leadership inside the
territory. But Netanyahu has set out to eradicate the group as part of his goal
of “total victory.” That is now looking increasingly unlikely, making it even
harder for Netanyahu to push a ceasefire through his hard-line coalition.
Far-right members of Israel’s governing coalition have cornered Netanyahu,
threatening to topple his government unless Israel pushes ahead with an expanded
operation in Gaza City, despite serious misgivings by many in the military
leadership and widespread opposition among Israel’s public. A successful
operation in Qatar could have allowed Netanyahu to placate the hard-liners, even
though it would have eliminated the very officials responsible for negotiating a
possible ceasefire.
Burning the channel with Qatar
Israel has had the ability to target Hamas leaders in Doha from the start of the
war but did not want to antagonize the Qataris while negotiations took place,
Chorev said. Qatar has helped negotiate two previous ceasefires that have
released 148 hostages, including eight bodies, in exchange for thousands of
Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s military has rescued just eight hostages alive,
and retrieved the bodies of 51 hostages. While Israel has complained that Qatar
was not putting pressure on Hamas, it had continued to leave that channel open —
until Tuesday. “Israel, by the attack, notified the whole world that it gave up
on the negotiations,” Chorev said. “They’ve decided to burn the channel with
Qatar.”Asked if ceasefire talks would continue, Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh
Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said that after the strike, “I don’t think
there’s anything valid” in the current talks. But he did not elaborate and
stopped short of saying Qatar would end its mediation efforts. How Netanyahu
hopes to win the release of the remaining hostages remains unclear. On Thursday,
Sheikh Mohammed accused Israel of abandoning the hostages. “Extremists that rule
Israel today do not care about the hostages — otherwise, how do we justify the
timing of this attack?” Sheikh Mohammed told the UN Security Council.
Nonetheless, he said his country was ready to resume its mediation without
giving any indication of next steps. On Friday, Sheikh Mohammed met in
Washington with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was scheduled to visit
Israel this weekend in a sign of how the Trump administration is trying to
balance relations between key Middle East allies.
Straining ties with the US
Netanyahu, who has received ironclad support from the US since President Donald
Trump returned to office, appears to have strained ties with his most important
ally. Trump said he was “very unhappy” about the airstrike and assured the
Qataris such an attack would not happen again.Trump, however, has not said
whether he would take any punitive action against Israel or indicated that he
will pressure Netanyahu to halt the war. Netanyahu, in the meantime, remains
undeterred and threatened additional action if Qatar continues to host the Hamas
leadership. The message to Hamas is clear, he said Thursday: “There is no place
where we cannot reach you.”
Little impact on the war in Gaza
Israel is pressing ahead with its expanded offensive aimed at conquering Gaza
City. The military has urged a full evacuation of the area holding around 1
million people ahead of an expected invasion. “Netanyahu’s government is adamant
to go on with the military operation in Gaza,” said Gayil Talshir, a political
scientist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Israel has brushed off calls to
halt the war from the United Nations, the European Union and a growing number of
major Western countries who plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN
Security Council later this month, she said. The only one who might be able to
change this trajectory is Trump, she added, by telling Israel “enough is
enough.”
Netanyahu’s political future unthreatened
If Hamas’ leaders survived, and the negotiations collapse, Netanyahu will
further alienate the roughly two-thirds of the Israeli public who want an end to
the war and a deal to bring home the hostages. But that opposition has been in
place for months, with little influence on Netanyahu. “Netanyahu’s future in the
near term doesn’t depend on the Israeli public,” said Yohanan Plesner, president
of the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank. Instead, his
political survival depends on his governing coalition, many of whom have
expressed wholehearted support for the assassination attempt.
This has sparked panic and more suffering for the families of the hostages still
held in Gaza. Einav Zangauker, whose son, Matan, is among the captives, said
this week she was “shaking with fear” after hearing about Israel’s attack in
Doha. “Why does the prime minister insist on blowing up every chance for a
deal?” she asked, on the verge of tears. “Why?”
Russia Flexes Military Muscle with Hypersonic Missiles and
Bombers During Drills
Asharq Al-Awsat/September 14/2025
Russia said on Sunday that it had fired a Zircon (Tsirkon) hypersonic cruise
missile at a target in the Barents Sea and that Sukoi Su-34 supersonic
fighter-bombers had carried out strikes as part of joint military exercises with
Belarus. Russia's "Zapad", or West, joint strategic exercise with Belarus began
on Sept. 12 aiming to improve military command and coordination in the event of
an attack on either Russia or Belarus, the defense ministry said. Moscow and
Minsk have said the exercises are exclusively defensive and that they do not
intend to attack any NATO member, though the US-led military alliance announced
an "Eastern Sentry" operation after the incursion of Russian drones into Poland
on Sept. 9-10. Russia's defense ministry released footage of the Northern
Fleet's Admiral Golovko frigate firing a Zircon hypersonic missile at a target
in the Barents Sea. The footage showed a missile being launched vertically from
the frigate and then powering off at an angle into the horizon. "According to
objective monitoring data received in real time, the target was destroyed by a
direct hit," the ministry said. The ministry said that long-range anti-submarine
aircraft of the Northern Fleet's mixed aviation corps were also involved in the
exercise. It said Su-34 crews practiced a bombing strike against ground targets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in 2019 that the Zircon can fly at nine
times the speed of sound and hit targets at sea and on land at a range of more
than 1,000 km (600 miles).
Russian media sources say the missile, known as the 3M22 Zircon in Russia and
the SS-N-33 by NATO, has a range of 400 km to 1,000 km, and that its warhead
mass is around 300 kg-400 kg.
Ukraine Attacks Major Russian Refinery with Drones Sparking a Fire
Asharq Al-Awsat/September 14/2025
Ukrainian drones attacked the Kirishi oil refinery in Russia's northwest, one of
the country's biggest, sparking a fire when debris fell from a shot-down drone,
Russian officials said on Sunday. As big powers talk about how to end the
deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, the drone war is heating up
with Russian drones downed in NATO-member Poland and attacks by Ukraine against
the oil refineries and pipelines of Russia, the world's second biggest oil
exporter. Surgutneftegaz's Kirishinefteorgsintez refinery, one of the top two
refineries in Russia, was attacked by Ukrainian drones, Russian officials said.
Alexander Drozdenko, the governor of the Leningrad region, said that three
drones were destroyed in the Kirishi area and that a fire sparked by falling
debris had been put out. He said no one was injured. Ukraine's drone command
confirmed it attacked the refinery and said it had "carried out a successful
strike". Reuters was unable to immediately verify the scale of the damage, if
any, to the refinery. Kirishi refines about 17.7 million metric tons per year
(355,000 barrels per day) of Russian crude, or 6.4% of the country's total.
Russia said that more than 80 Ukrainian drones were destroyed overnight. An oil
company in Russia's Bashkortostan region will maintain production levels despite
a drone attack on Saturday, regional governor Radiy Khabirov said.
Romania Says Russian Drone Entry Poses New
Security 'Challenge'
AFP/September 14/2025
Romania on Sunday strongly condemned the entry of a Russian drone into its
airspace during an attack on neighboring Ukraine, saying Moscow's actions pose a
"new challenge" to Black Sea security. Romania's foreign minister said the
Russian ambassador would be summoned over the second incident involving Russian
drones in a European country in the past week. Poland had already denounced the
intrusion of Russian drones into its airspace, calling on Moscow to avoid
further "provocations." Polish fighter jets scrambled Saturday in response to
fresh Russian drone strikes just over the border in Ukraine.
NATO member Romania has had several drone fragments crash on its territory since
Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, especially as Russia has stepped up attacks on
Ukrainian ports. In a statement following the drone's entry on Saturday,
Romania's defense ministry said it "strongly condemns the irresponsible actions
of the Russian Federation and emphasizes that they represent a new challenge to
regional security and stability in the Black Sea area." It added that "such
incidents demonstrate the Russian Federation's lack of respect for international
law."The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, called the Russian
action a "reckless" threat to security. "The violation of Romanian airspace by
Russian drones is yet another unacceptable breach of an EU member state's
sovereignty," Kallas wrote on X. "This continued reckless escalation threatens
regional security. We stand in solidarity with Romania. I am in close contact
with the Romanian government."
Jets Scrambled
Russia has not yet commented since Romania reported late Saturday that its
airspace had been breached by a drone during a Russian attack in neighboring
Ukraine. The country scrambled two F-16 fighter jets, which "detected a drone in
national airspace" and tracked it until it dropped off the radar, the defense
ministry said. In its statement, the ministry said that a "Geran drone used by"
Russia had entered Romanian airspace. It added that the drone "orbited for about
50 minutes, from northeast of (the village of) Chilia Veche to southwest of
Izmail, and left national airspace near the town of Pardina, heading towards
Ukraine."Romania's fighter jets were "supported by German allies... with two
Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft," which monitored the situation. The drone did not
fly over populated areas and did not pose an imminent threat to the safety of
the population, said the statement. Romania's Foreign Minister Oana Toiu said on
X that she will "raise Russia's actions at (the) UN General Assembly, urging a
strict international adherence to sanctions." Toiu told Romanian channel Digi 24
that the Russian ambassador to Bucharest, Vladimir Lipaev, would be summoned
over the airspace breach.
In February, the Romanian parliament adopted a law that makes it possible for
the country to shoot down drones breaching its airspace.
Pope Leo XIV Turns 70, Pilgrims Wish Him Happy Birthday at
the Vatican
AFP/September 14/2025
Pope Leo XIV, who celebrated his 70th birthday on Sunday, thanked the thousands
of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican after the Angelus
prayer, many holding signs wishing him a happy birthday. “My dear friends, it
seems you know that I am 70 today,” he said with a smile to the crowd. “I give
thanks to the Lord and to my parents, and I thank all those who have remembered
me in their prayers,” the pontiff added, applauding the faithful. No official
events have been scheduled by the Vatican to mark the pope’s birthday, although
he will preside over a Mass in the afternoon for the 21st-century martyrs. Many
congratulatory messages have been sent to Pope Leo XIV from Italian political
figures, including the presidents of the Republic, the Senate, and the Chamber
of Deputies.
Tens of Thousands Protest Against Legal Crackdown on
Türkiye's Main Opposition Party
Asharq Al-Awsat/September 14/2025
Tens of thousands of people protested in the capital Ankara on Sunday against a
court case that could oust the head of the main opposition on Monday after a
year-long legal crackdown on hundreds of its members. Live footage showed crowds
chanting for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's resignation while waving Turkish
flags and party banners. The court decision on Monday whether to invalidate the
2023 congress of the Republican People's Party (CHP) over alleged procedural
irregularities could reshape the party, rattle financial markets and influence
the timing of a general election set for 2028. The court could also delay the
ruling. Speaking at Sunday's rally, CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said the government
was trying to cling to power by undermining democratic norms and suppressing
dissent following opposition victories in local elections over the past year.
Ozel also called for a snap general election.
TURKISH OPPOSITION VOWS TO RESIST
"This case is political. The accusations are slander. Our comrades are innocent.
What's being done is a coup — a coup against the future president, against the
future government. We will resist, we will resist, we will resist," Ozel said in
his address to the crowd.
The government says the judiciary is independent and denies any political
motives. Türkiye has detained more than 500 people, including 17 mayors over the
last year in Istanbul and other CHP-run municipalities around the country as
part of corruption investigations, according to a Reuters review.
Hundreds of members of the CHP have been jailed pending trial in a sprawling
probe into alleged corruption and terrorism links, among them Erdogan's main
political rival - Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. The arrest of Imamoglu in March
sparked the country's largest protests in a decade where hundreds of thousands
took to the streets, prompting a brief but sharp selloff in the lira and other
Turkish assets. In a letter sent from prison and read aloud at the rally in
Ankara, Imamoglu wrote that the government is attempting to pre-determine the
outcome of the next election by sidelining legitimate rivals. He also accused
the government of undermining democracy through politically motivated judicial
actions and other efforts to suppress dissent. "The era of 'I' in this country
will end, and the era of 'we' will begin. One person will lose, and everyone
else will win," Imamoglu wrote.
The crowd applauded and chanted "President Imamoglu" after the letter read
aloud.
Charlie Kirk Shooting Suspect Not Cooperating with
Authorities, Utah Governor Says
Asharq Al-Awsat/September 14/2025
The man arrested in the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk is not
cooperating with authorities, but investigators are working to establish a
motive for the shooting by talking to his friends and family, Utah Governor
Spencer Cox said on Sunday.
Cox said the accused gunman, Tyler Robinson, 22, would be formally charged on
Tuesday. He remains in custody in Utah. Investigators have yet to piece together
why Robinson allegedly scaled a rooftop at Utah Valley University during an
outdoor event and shot Kirk in the neck at long range on Wednesday. Kirk, a
staunch ally of President Donald Trump and co-founder of the conservative
student group Turning Point USA, was killed by a single rifle shot during the
event attended by 3,000 people in Orem, about 40 miles south (65 km) of Salt
Lake City.
The killing ushered in newfound fears of a spike in political violence in the
United States and an ever-deepening divide between the left and the right.
Robinson has not confessed to investigators, Cox told the ABC program "This
Week.""He is not cooperating, but all the people around him were cooperating,
and I think that's very important," the Republican governor said. One person who
is apparently talking to investigators is Robinson's roommate, Cox said, citing
the FBI. Reuters has not been able to locate the roommate, or representatives
for the roommate, to seek comment. Reuters could not determine who is serving as
Robinson's legal representative. Robinson, a third-year student in the
electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College, part of Utah's
public university system, was taken into custody at his parents' house, about
260 miles (420 km) southwest of the crime scene after a 33-hour manhunt.
INVESTIGATORS SEARCH FOR MOTIVE
Relatives and a family friend alerted authorities that he had implicated himself
in the crime, Cox said previously. While Robinson was raised by religious
parents in a deeply conservative region of the state, "his ideology was very
different than his family," Cox said on Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press"
program, without going into specifics.State records show Robinson was a
registered voter but not affiliated with any political party. A relative told
investigators that Robinson had grown more political in recent years and had
once discussed with another family member their dislike for Kirk and his
viewpoints, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. Robinson was "not a fan"
of Kirk's, Cox said on Sunday. The killing has stirred outrage among Kirk's
supporters and condemnation of political violence from some across the
ideological spectrum. Many Republicans, including Trump, have been quick to lash
out at the political left, accusing liberals of fomenting anti-conservative
vitriol that would encourage a kindred spirit to cross the line into violence -
even as the president and his allies have often invoked violent imagery against
their opponents.
Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, urged
calm on Sunday. "We've got to turn the rhetoric down," Johnson said on the "Fox
News Sunday" program. In conversations he has had with Republican and Democratic
House members since Kirk's killing, Johnson said, "There's this recognition that
people have got to stop framing simple policy disagreements in terms of
existential threats to our democracy."But Johnson also criticized Democrats.
"You can't call the other side fascists and enemies of the state and not
understand that there are some deranged people in our society who will take that
as cues to act and do crazy and dangerous things. And that's what we've seen in
increasing frequency," Johnson said. On "Meet the Press," Cox assigned some
blame to social media, saying it has "played a direct role in every single
assassination and assassination attempt that we have seen over the last five,
six years."Trump has credited Kirk with driving young voters to conservatism.
His Turning Point movement says it has more than 800 chapters across college
campuses. Kirk's widow on Friday said the movement's efforts would go forward. A
memorial event for Kirk will be held on September 21 in Glendale, Arizona, his
organization said.
Oscar-Winning Palestinian Director Basel Adra Says His Home
in West Bank Raided by Israeli Soldiers
Asharq Al-Awsat/September 14/2025
Palestinian Oscar-winning director Basel Adra said that Israeli soldiers
conducted a raid at his West Bank home on Saturday, searching for him and going
through his wife’s phone.
Israeli settlers attacked his village, injuring two of his brothers and one
cousin, Adra told The Associated Press. He accompanied them to the hospital.
While there, he said that he heard from family in the village that nine Israeli
soldiers had stormed his home.
The soldiers asked his wife, Suha, for his whereabouts and went through her
phone, he said, while his 9-month-old daughter was home. They also briefly
detained one of his uncles, he said. As of Saturday night, Adra said he had no
way of returning home to check on his family, because soldiers were blocking the
entrance to the village and he was scared of being detained. Israel’s military
said that soldiers were in the village after Palestinians had thrown rocks,
injuring two Israeli civilians. It said its forces were still in the village,
searching the area and questioning people. Adra has spent his career as a
journalist and filmmaker chronicling settler violence in Masafer Yatta, the
southern reaches of West Bank where he was born. After settlers attacked his
co-director, Hamdan Ballal, in March, he told the AP that he felt they were
being targeted more intensely since winning the Oscar.
He described Saturday’s events as “horrific.”“Even if you are just filming the
settlers, the army comes and chases you, searches your house,” he said. “The
whole system is built to attack us, to terrify us, to make us very
scared.”Another co-director, Yuval Abraham, said he was “terrified for Basel.”
“What happened today in his village, we’ve seen this dynamic again and again,
where the Israeli settlers brutally attack a Palestinian village and later on
the army comes, and attacks the Palestinians.”"No Other Land,” which won an
Oscar this year for best documentary, depicts the struggle by residents of the
Masafer Yatta area to stop the Israeli military from demolishing their villages.
Ballal and Adra made the joint Palestinian-Israeli production with Israeli
directors Abraham and Rachel Szor. The film has won a string of international
awards, starting at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2024. It has also
drawn ire in Israel and abroad, as when Miami Beach proposed ending the lease of
a movie theater that screened the documentary. Israel captured the West Bank in
the 1967 Mideast war, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. The
Palestinians want all three for their future state and view settlement growth as
a major obstacle to a two-state solution.
Israel has built well over 100 settlements, home to more than 500,000 settlers
who have Israeli citizenship. The 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live
under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, with the Western-backed
Palestinian Authority administering population centers. The Israeli military
designated Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank as a live-fire training zone
in the 1980s and ordered residents, mostly Arab Bedouin, to be expelled. Around
1,000 residents have largely remained in place, but soldiers regularly move in
to demolish homes, tents, water tanks and olive orchards and Palestinians fear
outright expulsion could come at any time. During the war in Gaza, Israel has
killed hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank during wide-scale military
operations, and there has also been a rise in settler attacks on Palestinians.
There also has been a surge in Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
The Latest English LCCC analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources
on September 14-15/2025
Doha and Netanyahu’s Madness
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 14/2025
I will not call it arrogance; this is madness. The military strike in Doha
targeting Hamas is a turning point. It has rung the alarm and presented lessons.
The apprehensions it has fueled in the Gulf and across the Arab world are
justified, isolating Netanyahu and the Israeli mindset that drives this madness.
Targeting a Gulf state allied to Washington that has been mediating negotiations
at the request of the parties involved in the Gaza war, as Qatar’s foreign
minister said, is an unjustifiable act of madness. Its political and military
folly will isolate Israel internationally, even if that isolation might be
silent.
By “silent isolation,” I mean that Netanyahu’s words and actions will not be
trusted, regardless of the support he receives, specifically from the US
administration whose efforts to build he has thwarted at every turn. These
efforts cannot succeed, not through the Abraham Accords nor any other framework,
unless there are real solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Saudi
Arabia, with France in a supporting role, led a significant diplomatic effort
that has led the overwhelming majority to endorse the two-state solution and a
peaceful settlement of the Palestinian question at the UN - a genuine diplomatic
victory in the face of all Nentyahu’s military madness.
Netanyahu has not only vanquished his regional opponents because of his
country’s strength, the recklessness of those opponents is another crucial
factor. Hamas and Hezbollah, and behind them Iran, Assad, and the Houthis, were
not formidable adversaries. They drew strength from exploiting their enmity with
Israel, occupying the region through slogans for decades. They did not have the
courage to commit to even half a real battle against their enemy. Politics
undermines Netanyahu. The Palestinians’ divisions do more to empower him than
the Palestinians’ weapons. Militias and belligerent rhetoric - in Iran, Lebanon,
Syria, or even Yemen - empower him more than sensible discourse and the
rule-of-law state. Regional schisms are the source of Netanyahu’s strength.
Today, Doha cannot trust Netanyahu, nor can Egypt. The region cannot take a step
toward peace with Netanyahu in power. That does not necessarily entail greater
tension and escalation; rather, it calls for more wisdom to avoid being dragged
behind voices addicted to war and destruction. It is cliche that you should not
interrupt your enemy as he’s making mistakes. Netanyahu has not only made
mistakes, he has committed blunders that will do Israel a lot of damage in the
near and long term, both regionally and internationally, even domestically.
Regardless of current levels of support, the Israeli public will remain furious
so long as the hostages have not been returned.
Netanyahu has made many mistakes. Nothing justifies his folly in Doha, nor what
he has done and continues to do in Syria. Since Assad’s fall, he has been
seeking a new war that tears Syria apart and buries the nascent opportunity for
stability and prosperity in Syria.
Netanyahu is playing for time. He is perpetuating conflict to evade justice and
stay out of jail, where he belongs. He wants to destroy the Palestinian cause
and Israel’s neighbors.
The best course of action is to build momentum for a two-state solution, secure
international recognition of a Palestinian state, consolidate the Palestinian
Authority, seek an end to the Gaza war, to support Syria, stabilize the Lebanese
state, support legitimacy in Yemen, and keep Iran contained behind its borders,
and prevent militias from making a comeback anywhere, under any pretext. That is
how we can defeat Netanyahu’s mad project for the region.
An Expanded Israel and the 'Sykes–Picot' Borders
Mustafa Fahs/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 14/2025
Several weeks before the Israeli assault on the Qatari capital, US Special Envoy
for Syria and Lebanon Ambassador Tom Barrack had said that Tel Aviv believes the
Sykes–Picot borders as meaningless during an interview with Mario Nawfal. “In
Israel's mind, these lines that were created by Sykes-Picot are meaningless.
They will go where they want, when they want, and do what they want to protect
the Israelis and their border.”
After the assault on Doha, Tel Aviv showed that Ambassador Barack was right. It
will do whatever it wants, wherever it wants; its battlefield is no longer
confined to territories where it has boots and tanks on the ground- any site its
air force can reach is a potential target. It thereby extended its airspace
beyond its immediate borders, going beyond the ring of states that share a
border with historic Palestine on the Sykes–Picot map, striking deep into the
Arab world and beyond (previously striking deep inside Iran) and sending a new,
far-reaching geo-strategic message.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s political and military elite have been seeking
to impose new geopolitical conditions on the region. Driven by ideological,
demographic, and territorial ambitions, the aim is to expand the borders of the
Israeli entity geographically and militarily. On the ideological front, this
ruling elite is open about its determination to reclaim control over the West
Bank and Gaza Strip because they are the “Biblical lands” of Judea and Samaria.
That is, they are openly seeking to reassert geographical control over the
entirety of historic Palestine and territories on its borders that are
considered strategic: from southern Lebanon (Upper Galilee) to the occupied
Syrian Golan Heights.
On February 4, 2025, US President Donald Trump made vague comments about
Israel’s size. His remarks came a few months after Israel’s Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu had, at a press conference on September 3, 2024, presented a
map of Israel that included the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Then, on August 14, of
this year, Netanyahu presented a map of “Greater Israel” that disregards every
norm of international relations. Through his political positions and military
actions (most recently the bombing of a state that had been playing a mediating
role), Netanyahu is seeking to exempt his country from obligations under
international law and compliance with UN Resolutions, which it has never
committed to since its founding, notably those tied to the two-state solution.
Israel has not even respected the borders that the Sykes–Picot Agreement had
drawn before it was founded.
The ruling Israeli elite insists on opposing a Palestinian state. It plans to
annex the West Bank and regards the occupied Syrian Golan as part of its
territory. Israel refuses to withdraw from the five positions it occupies in
southern Lebanon, and it is preventing residents from returning to their
villages on Lebanon’s southern border. It seemingly has no interest in the
US-Lebanese roadmap for Hezbollah’s disarmament and the implementation of the
ceasefire agreement. In practice, it is nibbling away at territory while
confining demography in the West Bank, and carrying out genocide in Gaza. All
its actions show that it is moving ahead with its project to expand its borders
at the expense of Palestinian, Lebanese, and Syrian geography.
Geographical expansion, “expanded Israel,” has become tied to the expansion of
Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza and its strikes in Syria and
Lebanon, where there is growing fear that Israel could decide to wage another
war under the pretext that it is destroying Hezbollah weapons and implementing
UN Resolution 1701. This would entail expanding military operations south and
north of the Litani River, and possibly refusal to withdraw from territories
under the pretext of protecting Israel’s security, even if this comes at the
expense of Lebanese and Syrian sovereignty.
Accordingly, through the assault on Doha and its other actions, Tel Aviv has
announced that it will not be bound by UN Resolutions and international law or
the Sykes–Picot Agreement. It is redrawing the regional map, geographically and
strategically, in line with its security needs, even at the cost of
international stability.
Trump Must Keep Backing Netanyahu's Campaign to Destroy Hamas for
the Sake of the West
Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/September 14, 2025
[T]he Trump administration doubtless understands that Netanyahu's willingness to
attack Hamas's leadership even when they are being protected by a foreign power
such as Qatar, merely indicates the Israeli leader's determination to achieve
the goal of "finishing the job" as the US requested.
Netanyahu seems to have come to the conclusion, after repeated evasions by
Hamas, that the time for any productive negotiating is over.
Hamas has apparently realised that if it returns all the hostages, it will have
no more leverage with which to blackmail Israel.
That is why Netanyahu will most likely ignore the continuing clamour among some
Israelis for a premature ceasefire deal that would enable Hamas not only to hold
on to some of the hostages to use as bargaining chips in any future
negotiations. A premature ceasefire would essentially enable Hamas to retain a
presence in Gaza, a move the terror group would pocket as a major victory.
So long as Hamas's terrorist leaders show no willingness to lay down their
weapons and leave Gaza, it is clear that Netanyahu needs to continue to hunt
them down, irrespective of where they may be hiding. There seems no point in
assuring terrorist kingpins safe havens.
If the Trump administration is serious about bringing peace to Gaza, the region
and ultimately West – as to its enormous credit, it seems to be -- then it
should continue to support Israel's attempts to destroy Hamas's terrorist
infrastructure instead of working on Gaza ceasefire plans that Hamas and its
backers have no intention of ever accepting.
The Trump administration doubtless understands that Netanyahu's willingness to
attack Hamas's leadership even when they are being protected by a foreign power
such as Qatar, merely indicates the Israeli leader's determination to achieve
the goal of "finishing the job" as the US requested. It is a key factor the
Trump administration needs to take on board before it attempts to negotiate any
future ceasefire arrangements for Gaza. Pictured: Smoke billows after an Israeli
airstrike on a Hamas leadership meeting in Qatar's capital Doha on September 9,
2025. (Photo by Jacqueline Penney/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to bomb Hamas's terrorist
leadership in Qatar should send a clear and unequivocal message to the Trump
administration that the Israeli leader has absolutely no intention of ending
hostilities in Gaza until Hamas is utterly destroyed, and all the remaining
Israeli hostages have been returned.
Prior to Israel's attack against the headquarters of Hamas's terrorist
leadership in Doha, the Qatari capital, US President Donald Trump had been
pressing hard for Netanyahu to sign up to the latest version of the ceasefire
proposal his administration has drawn up to end the Gaza conflict.
Under the terms of the latest deal negotiated by Trump's Special Envoy Steve
Witkoff, all the remaining 48 hostages captured during Hamas's October 7
terrorist attack in 2023 were to be released. In return, Israel would free an
estimated 2,500-3,000 Palestinian prisoners.
"We're working on a solution that may be very good," Trump said of the proposed
deal, while declining to give further details. "You'll be hearing about it
pretty soon. We're trying to get it ended, get the hostages back."
There was even cautious optimism in Washington that Israel was minded to accept
the deal after Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said it was ready to agree
a deal ending the war that would include the release of all the hostages -- only
20 of whom are believed to be alive -- and the disarmament of Hamas.
Concerns remained, though, about Hamas's willingness to accept the deal, as had
previously been the case whenever Hamas has been offered the opportunity to end
the bloodshed in Gaza. The intransigence of Hamas's terrorist leadership,
moreover, has undoubtedly been encouraged by recent announcements by naïve
Western leaders, such as French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister
Keir Starmer, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Australian Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese, that they intend to recognise a Palestinian state at the
annual meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York in the next weeks. The
announcement prompted Hamas leaders to declare that the move represented a
"victory" for the terrorist organization. Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official,
declared:
"[T]he fruits of October 7 are what caused the entire world to open its eyes to
the Palestinian issue... We have proven that victory over Israel is not
impossible, and our weapons are a symbol of Palestinian honour."
Hamas's delaying tactics even prompted Trump to issue the terror group a "last
warning". In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated:
"I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last
warning. There will not be another one." In the event, Hamas not only ignored
Trump's warning: it launched yet another terrorist attack against Israeli
civilians in Jerusalem, killing six people after terrorists opened fire on a bus
and people waiting at a bus stop. The military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam
Brigades, later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Netanyahu's response was to target those responsible for ordering the Jerusalem
attack, namely the Hamas leadership based in Qatar, the Gulf state that has
funded the movement's terrorist operations for many years.
Hamas later claimed that five of its terrorists had been killed in the Israeli
airstrike on a meeting of Hamas officials in Doha, while insisting that none of
them were from the senior leadership. A Qatari security guard was also killed in
the attack.
While the Israeli strike prompted international criticism, with Trump telling
Netanyahu in a heated telephone call that the action was "unwise", it has
nevertheless highlighted the Israeli leader's determination to press ahead with
his military campaign in Gaza until Hamas is completely destroyed and all the
remaining Israeli hostages have been freed.
The Trump administration's unhappiness with Netanyahu stems from Washington
reportedly having been given no prior warning of the Israeli attack, only to
have found out about the mission through US intelligence agencies. Trump has
subsequently complained that by the time he learned of Netanyahu's plans, it was
"too late to stop the attack" which he claimed "does not advance Israel or
America's goals".
Trump also appeared embarrassed that, while his administration tried to warn the
Qataris in advance of the attack, the warning only reached Doha after the attack
had actually taken place. Even so, the Trump administration doubtless
understands that Netanyahu's willingness to attack Hamas's leadership even when
they are being protected by a foreign power such as Qatar, merely indicates the
Israeli leader's determination to achieve the goal of "finishing the job" as the
US requested.
It is a key factor the Trump administration needs to take on board before it
attempts to negotiate any future ceasefire arrangements for Gaza. Netanyahu
seems to have come to the conclusion, after repeated evasions by Hamas, that the
time for any productive negotiating is over. Hamas has apparently realised that
if it returns all the hostages, it will have no more leverage with which to
blackmail Israel.
That is why Netanyahu will most likely ignore the continuing clamour among some
Israelis for a premature ceasefire deal that would enable Hamas not only to hold
on to some of the hostages to use as bargaining chips in any future
negotiations. A premature ceasefire would essentially enable Hamas to retain a
presence in Gaza, a move the terror group would pocket as a major victory.
Netanyahu had already demonstrated his willingness to eliminate Hamas terrorists
seeking refuge in foreign countries, as the July 2024 assassination in Iran of
Ismail Haniyeh, one of the Hamas leaders behind the October 7 attack, has
graphically demonstrated.
So long as Hamas's terrorist leaders show no willingness to lay down their
weapons and leave Gaza, it is clear that Netanyahu needs to continue to hunt
them down, irrespective of where they may be hiding. There seems no point in
assuring terrorist kingpins safe havens.
If the Trump administration is serious about bringing peace to Gaza, the region
and ultimately West – as to its enormous credit, it seems to be -- then it
should continue to support Israel's attempts to destroy Hamas's terrorist
infrastructure instead of working on Gaza ceasefire plans that Hamas and its
backers have no intention of ever accepting.
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a
Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Science is not a luxury for developing countries
Bridget Boakye/Arab News/September 14, 2025
Parallel to this month’s UN General Assembly in New York, another critical
summit will take place: the Science Summit at UNGA80. The summit — which aims to
highlight “the pivotal role of science in addressing societal challenges” — will
provide a platform for low- and middle-income countries to demand a renewed
recognition of scientific research as a pillar of resilience and sovereignty.
For decades, the conventional wisdom has been that the fastest route to
development lies in the adoption of foreign technologies, not independent
innovation. Development institutions and policymakers have treated basic science
as a luxury that only advanced economies could afford. For low- and
middle-income countries, they argued, the cultivation of scientific capacity — a
slow and expensive process — would consume resources that should be allocated to
pressing needs like poverty reduction, food security and infrastructure; they
are thus better off importing technologies and solutions from abroad. But this
logic has been upended in recent years. A series of developments — including the
COVID-19 pandemic, intensifying climate shocks and proliferating barriers to
trade and technology transfers — has exposed the risks of dependence on imported
science. It is now clear that if low- and middle-income countries are to gain
control over their own development agendas, respond effectively to crises and
adapt global knowledge to local realities, they must build their own dynamic
research ecosystems.
This is not a detour on the path to development or an inconvenient necessity
born of external challenges. Far from distracting from urgent needs, investment
in basic science can enable countries to meet those needs by giving rise to new
industries, creating high-quality jobs, strengthening public services and
attracting the private capital needed to sustain growth and innovation. Calls
for low- and middle-income countries to raise gross expenditure on research and
development toward the widely used 1 percent-of-gross domestic product benchmark
have rightly been growing louder. But not all investments are created equal. In
a study at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, my team and I mapped a
new dataset, spanning 129 countries, according to funding, talent, institutions
and research output. Our central finding is that total spending matters much
less than the manner and context in which it is deployed. The conventional
wisdom has long been that the fastest route to development lies in the adoption
of foreign technologies.
When paired with strong institutions, capable research agencies and policies
that attract and circulate talent, even modest R&D budgets can yield outsize
returns. Our analysis showed that some countries achieve several times the
global median research impact (H-index) per dollar of R&D spending, while others
fall short. The lesson for low- and middle-income countries is especially
important: countries under budget pressures cannot afford to spend more on
poorly aligned systems.
Low- and middle-income countries have proven their capacity for innovation,
especially in the health sector. During the pandemic, Senegal’s Pasteur
Institute developed and deployed rapid diagnostic kits within weeks and Ugandan
scientists created mobile EpiTent hospitals tailored to the local public health
system. Using its genome-sequencing capabilities, South Africa identified new
virus variants early, providing critical data to the world. These achievements
were the product of deliberate, long-term investments in domestic capacity that
paid off when global supply chains and aid channels faltered.
International partners have a critical role to play in supporting scientific
sovereignty in developing economies, including by co-investing in universities,
laboratories and research councils based in low- and middle-income countries. As
these nations’ scientific capacities progress, so will their ability to
collaborate as equals with international researchers and institutions;
contribute solutions to shared problems, from pandemic preparedness to food
security; and ensure that global research agendas reflect the needs and
priorities of all countries, not just the wealthiest.
At a time of shrinking global aid budgets and faltering multilateralism, low-
and middle-income countries cannot count on the international community to meet
their development needs. But far from a roadblock to progress, this should serve
as a catalyst for transformation. By investing in their own institutions and
talent, developing-country governments can transform vulnerability into
resilience and dependence into agency. At the UNGA, world leaders will discuss
wars, climate change and economic uncertainty. But science must also be on the
agenda. Only by nurturing robust scientific ecosystems can we ensure that low-
and middle-income countries are prepared to meet known and unknown challenges.
• Bridget Boakye is Senior Policy Adviser for Science and Technology at the Tony
Blair Institute.
©Project Syndicate
Beyond Charlie Kirk
Hisham Bou Nassif/Nidaa Al Watan/September 15, 2025
(translated by LCCC from Arabic)
Political violence is absolutely no stranger to the United States, which has
seen four presidents assassinated, the last of whom was John F. Kennedy. Nor are
deep societal crises a stranger to the United States, which saw its major cities
plunged into racial conflict in the 1960s, the decade that witnessed the
assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. It is well known that
American divisions later intensified with Richard Nixon's rise to power under
the slogan of "law and order," which normalized the threat of violence against
Black protesters. The shift in the southern states from their traditional
Democratic allegiance to the Republicans was followed by the Watergate scandal
and the economic depression that plagued the 1970s. For a moment, the American
rift seemed insurmountable, until Ronald Reagan launched his famous slogan,
"Morning in America," and garnered the votes of 49 of the 50 US states in the
1984 presidential election. American divisions rapidly peaked in the 1960s and
1970s, then subsided for decades, again rapidly, starting in the 1980s, against
the backdrop of the convergence of ruling elites, both Republican and
Democratic, on neoliberalism at home and the encouragement of democratic
transformation abroad. In one of his books, little-known outside America (The
Promise of American Politics), the brilliant American political thinker Samuel
Huntington argued that America is governed by two rules: that it experiences
periodic crises every two or three decades; and that these crises subsequently
dissipate due to the deep ideological convergence within the United States on
the fundamental principles governing its politics.
Reflecting on all of the above provides a dose of reassurance amid the current
bleak American landscape. Escalating domestic tensions leading to a new American
civil war are not inevitable. However, it must be acknowledged that domestic
calm in America is not inevitable either, and that the uncertain future of the
United States may belie the profound optimism that motivated Samuel Huntington
toward his country. It's not just that the numbers of assassinations, or
assassination attempts, in recent years are shocking (21 assassinations or
assassination attempts have targeted American officials since 2016, compared to
only two in the previous twenty years). In June 2025, for example, Minnesota
Democratic Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were assassinated. The
octogenarian husband of former Democratic Speaker of the US House of
Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, was severely beaten, nearly to death, during an
attack on his San Francisco home in 2022 that was originally directed against
Pelosi herself. In 2020, authorities thwarted a plot to kidnap Democratic
Michigan Governor Gratchen Whitmer by a right-wing paramilitary group, and
conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh was the target of an assassination attempt in
2022. In addition, Donald Trump himself survived an assassination attempt that
left him slightly injured in 2024, which killed one of his supporters. These are
just a few examples from a long list. If we add to this the infamous attack on
the Capitol building in Washington in January 2021, after Donald Trump refused
to acknowledge his loss in the presidential election, it becomes permissible to
ask whether the current situation in America is one of Huntington's periodic
crises that will quickly find a way to resolve, or an entirely new situation
that threatens dire consequences for an unprecedentedly polarized society.The
following exacerbates the concern: When America was mired in crises in the 1960s
and 1970s, European countries like Britain, West Germany, and Italy were
relatively calm. By contrast, today's crisis is widespread in all Western
liberal democracies, and this decade may not end before the four major Western
European countries (namely France, Germany, Britain, and Italy) fall to the grip
of the populist right. Furthermore, during the 1960s, America was blessed with
ruling elites who worked to maintain calm as much as possible during crises.
Here, one might recall Senator Robert Kennedy's wise words to African Americans
after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., even though Kennedy himself,
like his brother John F. Kennedy, was assassinated later. By contrast, those who
expect the current ruling elites to behave responsibly will have to wait a long
time. It's not without meaning that, after Charlie Kirk's murder, members of
Congress were unable to even pray for his soul for a minute. The attempt ended
two days ago in a shouting match, with Republicans accusing their Democratic
colleagues of causing Kirk's death by inciting them against him. Democrats
reminded Republicans that the Democratic Party has been trying for decades to
change laws that make it easier for anyone in the United States to obtain
personal firearms—thus putting these weapons in the hands of extremists or the
mentally ill—while Republicans oppose this. All of this occurred while social
media platforms of supporters of both sides were flooded with a veritable war of
words, with Democrats insinuating that Kirk got what he deserved, while
Republicans responded with public threats of counter-violence. All of the above
is deeply troubling for America. But it should be troubling for the world as
well. From the fascist regimes of Italy and Germany, to Japanese militarism, to
the Soviet Union and its allies in developing countries, and of course, to
Islamic extremists like Osama bin Laden and Qassem Soleimani, the United States
has rid the world of the most ruthless enemies of liberalism in the past
century. For America to be plunged into more societal crises would necessarily
mean withdrawing from the outside to the inside. The resulting vacuum, were it
to occur, would be beneficial to forces like the Chinese Communist Party,
Vladimir Putin, or the mullahs of Tehran. May God protect the world from such a
possibility.
Slected X
tweets
For September 14/2025
Secretary Marco Rubio
On my way to Jerusalem. My focus will be on securing the return
of hostages, finding ways to make sure humanitarian aid reaches civilians, and
addressing the threat posed by Hamas.
Hamas cannot continue to exist if peace in the region is the goal.
Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו
The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don't care about the
people in Gaza.
They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war.
Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages
and ending the war.
Pope Leo XIV
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: for the
immense love with which God has transformed the means to death into an
instrument of life, embracing it for our salvation, teaching us that nothing can
separate us from him and that his love is greater than our own sin.