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Bible Quotations For Today
Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, "After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 01/29-34: "The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, "After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me." I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, "He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit."And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’"

we live as human beings, but we do not wage war according to human standards; for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.
Second Letter to the Corinthians 10/01-11: "I myself, Paul, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold towards you when I am away! I ask that when I am present I need not show boldness by daring to oppose those who think we are acting according to human standards. Indeed, we live as human beings, but we do not wage war according to human standards; for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. We are ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. Look at what is before your eyes. If you are confident that you belong to Christ, remind yourself of this, that just as you belong to Christ, so also do we. Now, even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. I do not want to seem as though I am trying to frighten you with my letters. For they say, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.’ Let such people understand that what we say by letter when absent, we will also do when present."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on january09-10.16.htm
Question: "How should a Christian view weight loss? What does the Bible say about obesity and weight loss
Ashraf Pahlavi, twin sister of Iran's last shah, dead at 96/AFP/January 09/16
The autumn of the Arab patriarchs/Hisham Melhem/Al Arabiya/January/16
What Middle East are we to expect in 2016/Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Arabiya/January/16
Has the Shahada really become fair game/Zaid M. Belbagi/Al Arabiya/January/16
Saudi Arabia, a target of hypocrisy and double standards/Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/January/16
Is Facebook the answer to the expat workers’ dilemmas/Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/January/16
Brother of executed Saudi cleric says Nimr is 'martyr against injustice'/Jean Aziz/Al-Monitor/January 09/16
America May Have Unlocked a Key to Fighting Terrorism -- and It Doesn't Involve Drones/Matthew Levitt/Washington Post/January 09/16
Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Responsible for Torture/Khaled Abu Toameh/© 2016 Gatestone Institute/January 09/16
Sweden: "Have the Taliban Come to Town?"/Ingrid Carlqvist/2016 Gatestone Institute/January 09/16
Can Mr. Putin Dictate the Conditions of the Transitional Process in Syria/Middle East Briefying/January 09/16
Obama Administration Delays Iran Sanctions in Quiet Deal/Middle East Briefying/January 09/16
Saudi-Iran Crisis: The Tragic Failure of Obama Foreign Policy/Middle East Briefying/January 09/16
Few Words for our Critics/Middle East Briefying/January 09/16
Toronto Imam: Muslims should hire only Muslims; do business only with Muslims,/Jonathan D. Halevi, CIJ News/January 09/16

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin for Lebanese Related News published on january09-10.16.htm
Mashnouq: Aoun Realizes the Need to Activate the Government
Report: Lebanon's Exported Waste Gets Approval from Sierra Leone
Hizbullah's Participation in Cabinet Session Uncertain
General Security Arrests Syrian and Lebanese on Terror Charges

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on january09-10.16.htm
Madaya: the modern day Karbala
UK petition calls for airdrops to starving Syrians
Toll in Russia raids on Qaeda-run Syria prison 'rises to 39'
No aid into besieged Syria towns before Sunday: Red Cross
Syria requests opposition delegation list before peace talks
Iraq Denies Erdogan Claim of IS Attack near Mosul
Gunmen Kill Egypt Police Colonel, Conscript
Egypt court upholds Mubarak jail sentence
Two Palestinian knife attackers shot dead: Israeli army
Iran accuses Saudis of 'sectarian hate-mongering'
Islamic State says Cairo attack was response to leader's call to target Jews
Save the besieged people dying of starvation in Syrian city of Madaya
Ashraf Pahlavi, twin sister of Iran's last shah, dead at 96
N. Korea Cites Kadhafi's 'Destruction' in Nuke Test Defense

Question: "How should a Christian view weight loss? What does the Bible say about obesity and weight loss?"
GotQuestions.org/Answer: While nothing in the Bible specifically addresses obesity and weight loss, there is much in God’s Word about the importance of taking care of our bodies and our health, as well as commandments against gluttony. In the Old Testament we read of God’s specific warnings and instructions about what His people, the Israelites, were to eat (Deuteronomy 14:1-21). Most of these were commands God gave them in order to keep them from eating harmful foods that would impact their overall health in a negative way. Some of the commands were given so they wouldn’t imitate the diet and habits of the idolatrous people around them. Gluttony, overeating or drinking to excess, is mentioned in the Bible as being something to avoid (Proverbs 23:20-21). Gluttony can lead to health risks and become a drain on our finances, and the love of food and drink can all too easily become an idol in our lives. Anything that takes the place of God or becomes our number-one focus is, by definition, an idol and thus a sin against God (Exodus 21:3-6). Proverbs 23:2 exhorts us to “put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony,” an admonition to restrain our appetites. In the New Testament, Paul tells followers of Jesus Christ that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), and as such we are to take care of our bodies and keep them as healthy as we can. Since being obese leads to multiple health risks, we need to realize that as much as it is up to us in our choice and amount of food, drink, and exercise, we should strive to avoid becoming overweight. A down side of this subject of obesity and weight loss is when we take it to the opposite extreme and become obsessed with our body image. Again, when something becomes the major focus of life and it isn’t God, it is sin. So to constantly obsess about exercise, diet, and weight loss means we’ve allowed our bodies to become the center of our lives. While the effects can be better for our health than being gluttonous and overweight, the result is still the same—our bodies have become an idol in our lives. An obsession with weight loss can easily tip over into anorexia or bulimia which also has a negative impact on our health. The bottom line is that the Lord wants His children to take excellent care of their bodies since they are the residence of the Holy Spirit. A strong, healthy body helps us stay in shape so we can better serve God each day and thus bring glory and honor to Him, our principal reason for living. The Lord wants us to keep our focus on Him and not fall into obsessing about weight gain, weight loss, or food and drink, any of which can become an idol in our lives.

Mashnouq: Aoun Realizes the Need to Activate the Government
Naharnet/January 09/16/Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq stated on Saturday that out of “national responsibility” we are compelled to seek the activation of the government's activity and help achieve a full quorum at parliament in order to elect a president. His remarks came after a meeting he held in Rabieh with former Free Patriotic Movement head MP Michel Aoun. “MP Michel Aoun tends not to get involved in the regional crisis and he realizes the necessity to activate the government's work,” stated Mashnouq. “He knows well that the difficult stage we are going through compels the need to reactivate the work of the government,” Mashnouq added without indicating whether the FPM ministers will attend the cabinet session on Thursday. On Friday, Prime Minister Tammam Salam called for a cabinet session next week to tackle 140 items listed on its agenda. On the presidential elections the Minister said: “The MP is convinced of (Mustaqbal head Saad) Hariri's honest efforts to help hold the presidential elections regardless of the initiative or the candidates.” Lebanon has been witnessing a a presidential vacuum for over nineteen months since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014. All efforts aiming at electing a successor have failed in light of the conflicts between the rival March 8 and March 14 camps . Thirty-four parliament sessions have failed so far to convene to elect a successor over a lack of quorum. Aoun, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geaega and the newly suggested candidate Marada chief MP Suleiman Franjieh are candidates for the post. However, the new initiative that brought Franjieh to the presidential spotlight was met with reservations from the Kataeb Party, the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces. The cabinet has not been better off. Its activity was paralyzed after the FPM ministers refused on numerous occasions to participate in cabinet meetings before an agreement is reached on its decision-making mechanism in wake of the presidential vacuum.

Report: Lebanon's Exported Waste Gets Approval from Sierra Leone
Naharnet/January 09/16/The government of Sierra Leone has given its consent to receive Lebanon's trash that is supposed be exported starting mid January, As Safir daily reported on Saturday. The Lebanese government has been informed of the approval through the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A letter signed by the adviser of President of Sierra Leone was addressed to Holland’s Howa BV firm that is tasked by the Lebanese cabinet with the exportation of the trash, the daily added. However, the government of Sierra Leon has set conditions that it will not receive waste that contains toxic substances, and that the approval is considered tentative and not final until after the approval of the President of Sierra Leone and the government. A trash management crisis erupted in July 2015 when the Naameh landfill that receives the trash of Beirut and Mount Lebanon was closed. The government's failure to find alternatives led to the piling up of garbage on the streets and in random locations, which raised health and environmental concerns and sparked unprecedented street protests against the entire political class. In December, the cabinet approved an export plan with representatives of Britain’s Chinook Urban Mining International firm and Holland’s Howa BV. The exportation plan will include the newly generated trash excluding the piles that were burnt and buried.

Hizbullah's Participation in Cabinet Session Uncertain
Naharnet/January 09/16/Hizbullah's participation in the cabinet session scheduled for next week hinges on the consultations it plans to hold with allies from the Free Patriotic Movement, AMAL, Marada and Tashnag, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Saturday. “Hizbullah has not taken a decision yet if it will take part in Thursday’s cabinet session. It still has to hold consultations with its allies not only from the Free Patriotic Movement but also from the Marada, AMAL and Tashnag,” said State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammed Fneish in an interview to the daily. “We still have time for consultations with everyone until Thursday. But we do not mind that a solution is reached for a known problem if our allies accept in order to facilitate the affairs of the state and citizens,” he added. On Friday, Prime Minister Tammam Salam called for a cabinet convention next week. The session will be held on Thursday with 140 articles on its agenda. The Free Patriotic Movement has refused on numerous occasions to participate in cabinet sessions before an agreement is reached on its decision-making mechanism in wake of the presidential vacuum. This has consequently led to the crippling of the government's work. On the other hand, ministerial sources of the FPM told al-Akhbar daily that “contacts are ongoing in order attend the session,” noting that “it is most likely to go back to the old mechanism of action in terms of the cabinet inheriting the jurisdictions of the presidency. However we emphasize that draft laws objected by two or groups will not be passed.”For his part, Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas told al-Joumhouria daily: “I do not think that anyone would fail to attend the session. We will not do miracles during Thursday's meeting but at least it will address the people's concerns.”Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls.

General Security Arrests Syrian and Lebanese on Terror Charges
Naharnet/January 09/16/General Security announced on Saturday the arrest of a Syrian national and a Lebanese on charges of belonging to terrorist groups, the state-run National News Agency reported. Within the efforts to hunt down terrorists, the General Security arrested a Syrian for his involvement with a terrorist group and a Lebanese for assisting him in transporting and sheltering terror members in return for money, said NNA. The Syrian had admitted to belonging to the Ahrar al-Sham jihadist group. He said that he was commissioned by Syrian Abu Abdul Rahman, the commander of the armed group that he was fighting along its ranks, to form a cell specialized in providing the group with financial and logistical support in addition to purchasing weapons. He had also collaborated with a Lebanese to illegally smuggle wounded members of the group to Lebanon under false identities and to facilitate their escape.

Madaya: the modern day Karbala
Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/January 09/16/The Syrian town of Madaya has been besieged by Bashar Assad’s army and its allies, reportedly Hezbollah, since July 2015. Aid has been blocked since October 2015 and the trapped civilians in Madaya are starving to death. This humanitarian crisis wasn’t reported until last week when activists from the besieged town shared pictures of residents who have been left for months without food and water. Two days ago, The Guardian reported that families in Madaya, where one kilogram of rice is sold for as much as $250, are now eating leaves, grasses and water flavored with spices. Some residents have also killed and eaten their pets as an attempt to survive the starvation. Social media activists, journalists and Lebanese politicians compared what Assad’s regime and Hezbollah are doing in Madaya to the battle of Karbala, the historical battle that constitutes the Shiites’ collective memory and the root of the disagreement between the Sunni and the Shiite community. Madaya is still besieged by the Assad regime, and Hezbollah and the regional politics do not give hope for a proximate solution. Activists are trying to pressure the international community to break the siege. Syrian activists are reporting that the average number of dead people has reached 3 per day, mainly because of hunger, but also because of mines and snipers hunting residents who dare to leave the town to the nearby green fields in search of food. More than 800 infants are facing starvation because milk costs as much as 500$. A large number of people have started suffering from various diseases. Some residents are selling their cars for a few kilograms of rice; others are killing their dogs and cats to eat them.

UK petition calls for airdrops to starving Syrians
By Dina al-Shibeeb/Al Arabiya News Saturday, 9 January 2016
Almost 13,000 British citizens have signed a petition – launched Friday, urging their government to start air dropping food supplies to starving Syrians living in besieged areas. “People are starving to death in Douma, Idlib, Madaya and many other places. Let us be the ones to feed them,” the campaigners said on their petition page after shocking pictures and videos of malnourished, emaciated Syrians especially children surfaced on social media. The British government will have to respond to the petition as it gathered more than 10,000 signatures. If 100,000 sign the petition, it will be considered for debate in Parliament. In northwestern Syria, the villages of Foua and Kefraya, in the Idlib governorate, are home to some 20,000 residents who are also under siege by armed opposition groups. And in the small mountainous town of Madaya – located 40 km northwest of Damascus – the lives of around 40,000 residents are threatened after a six-month long blockade imposed by the Syrian army and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah. Half of the 40,000 are estimated to be “children in need of urgent lifesaving assistance,” Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told Al Arabiya News. “We are currently working with relevant partners to deliver the much needed aid to children in Madaya as soon as access is secured,” she added. While the Syrian government on Thursday gave permission to the United Nations to deliver humanitarian aid to three besieged towns including Madaya, U.N. agencies and other humanitarian groups said they could begin delivering the much-needed aid as early as Sunday. So far, there are no reports of food being delivered, except for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) currently preparing convoys packed with food and medical supplies for suffering populations in the towns of Madaya, al-Foua and Kefraya. Why drop only arms? The London-based Syrian analyst, Ghassan Ibrahim, was one of the early campaigners for the petition. Ibrahim sparked discussion when he questioned why members of the U.S.-led coalition forces, which include the UK, drop arms to Kurdish fighters but fall short of “dropping food, milk to the children who live in besieged areas such as Madaya?” on his Facebook page followed by 35,529 people.

Toll in Russia raids on Qaeda-run Syria prison 'rises to 39'
AFP/January 09/16/The toll in Russian air strikes Saturday on a prison complex run by Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate rose to at least 39 people, including five civilians, a monitoring group said.Most of those killed in Maarat al-Numan in the northwest province of Idlib were rebels imprisoned by Al-Nusra Front, according to Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

No aid into besieged Syria towns before Sunday: Red Cross
AFP/January 09/16/Aid deliveries into three besieged towns in Syria will constitute "a huge and complicated operation" that is unlikely to begin before Sunday, a Red Cross spokesman said.Pawel Krzysiek, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told AFP Friday that food and medical assistance would be provided to Madaya, near Damascus, and Fuaa and Kafraya, in the northwest. Madaya is home to 42,000 people and has become notorious in recent days because of the cases of starvation recorded there, is surrounded by pro-government forces. Fuaa and Kafraya are encircled by rebel groups. The towns are part of a UN-brokered truce deal that would see an end to hostilities there in exchange for humanitarian aid. "It's a huge and complicated operation because it has to be synchronised between Madaya, Kafraya and Fuaa, and you have to deal with many parties," Krzysiek said. "I don't think it will start before Sunday". On Thursday, Syria's government granted approval to the UN's humanitarian agencies and partners to deliver aid in the three areas, the United Nations said. Krzysiek said he expected the distribution to "take a long time" considering the large amount of aid needed. The last delivery of assistance to Madaya, in October, took about eight hours, he said. "Logically, it will start with the most urgent. ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent will provide medical assistance and World Food Programme, the food," he said. According to Doctors Without Borders, at least 23 people have starved to death in MSF-supported centres in Madaya since December 1. "The situation is ghastly," said UN rights office spokesman Rupert Colville, indicating that details of the casualties and the exte nt of the suffering in Madaya were difficult to verify given the limited access. Syria's conflict erupted with anti-government protests in March 2011 but has since evolved into a bloody, multi-sided war that has killed 260,000 people and forced millions from their homes.

Syria requests opposition delegation list before peace talks
AFP/January 09/16/Syria's foreign minister said Saturday his government was still waiting to receive the names of opposition figures due to attend peace talks in Geneva this month, state news agency SANA reported. After meeting with UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura in Damascus, Walid Muallem confirmed that his government would take part in negotiations beginning January 25. The talks are part of an ambitious 18-month plan endorsed by the UN Security Council to end Syria's nearly five-year war. But Muallem said it was "necessary" for his government to see the names of opposition groups attending, as well as a list prepared by Jordan of armed factions that would be considered "terrorist organisations."Syrian government figures have requested these lists in the past as apparent preconditions for talks. The embattled regime refers to all its opponents as "terrorists". "The efforts to find a political solution and the recent decisions of the UN Security Council in this regard are linked with the credibility of counter-terrorism efforts," Muallem said according to SANA. De Mistura's office said the envoy had a "useful" meeting with Muallem and discussed ongoing preparations for talks. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem (right) holds talks with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura in Damascus, on January 9, 2016 (photo by: SANA/AFP). De Mistura's trip to Damascus is part of a string of regional visits in the buildup to the talks. The envoy was in Riyadh earlier this week and will head next to T ehran. Muallem pledged that Syria would "continue cooperating with the special envoy... to fight terrorism and move forward with dialogue among Syrians". On Friday, more than 20 rebel groups published a statement denouncing the international community for pressuring the opposition to "make concessions" in the peace process, accusing world powers of being "complicit" in the suffering of Syrians. More than 260,000 people have died since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011, and previous efforts to find a political solution to the war have failed.

Iraq Denies Erdogan Claim of IS Attack near Mosul
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 09/16/Iraq on Saturday denied claims made by Ankara that its soldiers on a controversial base near the northern city of Mosul killed 18 jihadists after coming under attack. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself announced on television Friday that the Islamic State group had tried to infiltrate the base in the Bashiqa area. He said Turkish troops there to train Iraqi forces repelled the attack, killing 18 IS members. The Joint Operations Command in Baghdad however flatly denied any such thing had happened. "It also denies any terrorist attack on Turkish forces by Daesh (IS) forces in the Bashiqa area," a statement said. A colonel in the Kurdish peshmerga forces that control the area, speaking to Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity, also denied the Turkish base had come under attack. He said IS had fired some mortar rounds in the area but not at the base specifically and that the response to that routine attack was handled by the peshmerga. Iraq argues that Turkey deployed troops and hardware in Bashiqa without asking Baghdad in what was therefore a violation of national sovereignty.The Mosul frontline is controlled on the anti-IS side by the peshmerga forces of the autonomous region of Kurdistan, with which Ankara has very close ties. Turkey's military presence has become a bone of contention, with Baghdad accusing Ankara of using the pretext of training to increase its influence in northern Iraq. The base near Bashiqa is an area controlled by the peshmerga but not part of the official borders of the autonomous Kurdish region. Baghdad took the issue up with the UN Security Council and U.S. President Barack Obama had to pressure Turkey to deescalate the diplomatic row. Turkey pulled some troops out of the base last month but it is unclear how many remain.

Gunmen Kill Egypt Police Colonel, Conscript
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 09/16/Gunmen shot dead an Egyptian police colonel and a conscript west of Cairo as they traveled to work on Saturday, the interior ministry said. The colonel, a traffic police district commander, and the conscript, who was driving, died in their car after coming under fire by the unknown assailants, the ministry said. Islamic State group militants have claimed credit in the past for similar attacks in the capital and the Sinai Peninsula, where their insurgency is based. The militants have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the military toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and cracked down on his followers. They also claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian airliner over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board.

Egypt court upholds Mubarak jail sentence
AFP/January/16/Egypt's top appeals court upheld on Saturday a three-year prison sentence for ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons for corruption.It was not immediately clear, however, how long Mubarak would remain in detention. Both of his sons were set free in October with time served taken into account. Mubarak, 87, has spent most of his time in a military hospital since his arrest in 2011, months after his ouster in popular uprising. In May, a court sentenced him and his sons to three years for having embezzled 125 million Egyptian pounds ($16 million/14.7 million euros) from funds meant for the maintenance of presidential palaces. They were fined that same amount and an extra 21 million pounds. Charges against Mubarak, who ruled for three decades, had been dropped in a separate trial for the killings of protesters during the uprising.
The prosecution has appealed that verdict.

Two Palestinian knife attackers shot dead: Israeli army
AFP/January/16/Two Palestinians tried to stab Israeli soldiers manning a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Saturday before being shot dead, the army said.The attack occurred in the north of the Jordan Valley, according to a spokeswoman, who confirmed that the bodies of the two assailants were handed over to Palestinian authorities. Twenty-two Israelis and an American have been killed in Palestinian attacks including stabbings, car rammings and gunfire targeting security forces and civilians since October 1. An Eritrean was also killed. At the same time, 146 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks. Israel has employed a raft of security and punitive measures in a bid to stem attacks. Overnight, the army demolished a house in the West Bank village of Surda belonging to a Palestinian who was shot dead on October 3 after killing an Israeli rabbi, the spokeswoman said. In November, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to expedite house demolitions in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which he said were "one of the most efficient tools" in discouraging Palestinian attacks. The controversial practice, which critics claim amounts to collective punishment, is widely used in the West Bank and resumed in east Jerusalem in November after a five-year hiatus. Also on Saturday, Israel returned the bodies of four Palestinians killed on Thursday during two attacks in the southern West Bank. They were buried in the West Bank village of Sair. Thousands followed their bodies as they were carried through the streets, according to an AFP journalist on the scene. Mohamed Kawazbeh, the brother of one of those killed, descri bed them as "four martyr heroes". "We are proud of them," said Ziad Kawazbeh, a father of one of the victims. "You can't have a homeland without martyrs and to liberate our country we must sacrifice our martyrs." Israel often retains the bodies of Palestinians killed during attacks, a measure that has drawn criticism from rights groups as well as Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Since the start of the year it has returned the bodies of dozens of Palestinians to their families.

Iran accuses Saudis of 'sectarian hate-mongering'
AFP/January/16/Iran told the United Nations on Friday that it does not want to escalate tensions in the Middle East, even as it took a swipe at Saudi Arabia for "sectarian hate-mongering."Saudi Arabia was "spreading delusional hype about Iran" after failing to derail the nuclear deal reached with world powers, Tehran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "We have no desire or interest in escalation of tension in our neighborhood," Zarif said in the letter, obtained by AFP. Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday after angry protesters ransacked and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran over the execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. The tensions between the Sunni and Shiite powers have reverberated across the Middle East and the Muslim world, complicating efforts to resolve conflicts in Syria and Yemen. "Iran has called for Islamic unity in the face of Saudi sectarian hate-mongering," Zarif wrote. The foreign minister called for unity to confront extremists and said Riyadh must make a "crucial choice" to either "continue supporting extremist terrorists" or "play a constructive role in promoting regional stability." Iran and Saudi Arabia have repeatedly accused each other of backing extremist groups who are wreaking chaos in the Middle East. Zarif accused Riyadh of waging a "senseless aerial campaign targeting the people of Yemen" and of thwarting efforts to reach a ceasefire and begin political negotiations to end the conflict there. A Saudi-led coalition is backing Yemen's government in its war against Iran-backed Shiite rebels who seized the capital Sanaa in September 2014.

Islamic State says Cairo attack was response to leader's call to target Jews
Ynetnews/Reuters/Published: 01.09.16/ISIS claims that the attack against the tour bus in Egypt's capital came at al-Baghdadi's encouragement. The attack failed to harm any of the tourists, who were reportedly Israeli Arabs.
Islamic State (ISIS) said on Friday that its members had carried out an attack on Israeli tourists in Cairo in response to a call by the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to target Jews "everywhere". The group said in a statement released on the Internet that light arms were used in the attack, which took place on Thursday outside a Cairo hotel. Egypt's Interior Ministry has said the attack was directed at security forces and was carried out by a member of a group of people who had gathered near the hotel and fired bird shot. No one was harmed during the attack. Security sources said the tourists were Israeli Arabs. Islamic State's Egypt affiliate is waging an insurgency based in the Sinai which has mostly targeted soldiers and policemen. The tourism industry - a vital source of hard currency in Egypt - is highly sensitive to attacks by militants which have slowed a recovery from years of political turmoil. Militant violence has been rising since the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. Hundreds of members of the security forces have been attacked in suicide bombings and shootings, which persist despite the toughest crackdown on militants in Egypt's history.

Save the besieged people dying of starvation in Syrian city of Madaya
Friday, 09 January 2016 /NCRI – The criminal dictator of Syria Bashar al-Assad, supported by the Iranian regime and its terrorist IRGC Quds Force, continues to brutally suppress the Syrian people. Syria’s democratic opposition movement has made a call for urgent international action to save the people of the Syrian city of Madaya who have been facing a food blockade for months: UN Secretary-General, European Union, President of the United States, Freedom-lovers of the world: Save the besieged people dying of starvation in the city of Madaya, Syria. In a measure in contravention to all international norms and conventions and contrary to humanitarian and religious values, the Syrian army and the militias affiliated with it have imposed a siege on the Syrian civilians living in the city of Madaya preventing entry of basic foodstuff to the city. People have been forced to eat dogs, cats and grass and have now started to die of starvation. If the whole world is unable to help the Syrian people and save them from tyranny and terrorism, it can send food to these besieged people and have the helicopters dropping barrel bomb carry basic foodstuff instead. The Syrian opposition has launched a petition in this regard:

Ashraf Pahlavi, twin sister of Iran's last shah, dead at 96
AFP/January 09/16/Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, the twin sister of Iran's last shah, who has died at the age of 96, was a trailblazer for women's rights who lived an opulent life that was never far from controversy. Born in Tehran, she was considered a powerful force behind her brother and a sometimes fierce critic of him in private, playing an important role in domestic and international politics.An official with the office of the shah's son, her nephew Reza Pahlavi, told AFP in a statement the princess died in Monte Carlo on Thursday, noting that she had long suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Iranian media confirmed the death, with several outlets posting unflattering accounts of her private life alongside details of official posts she held under her brother's rule. The Islamic revolution of 1979 that toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi transformed Iran and meant the princess never returned, a fact she had reflected on in her final days, her nephew said.
"She was thinking about Iran till the very last moments of her life, and she passed away with hopes for her homelands liberation," wrote Reza Pahlavi in a Facebook tribute. "May her soul find joy and the memory of her kind image last forever," he said, noting her efforts for women's rights, social welfare and campaigns for literacy in Iran and abroad. "With a heart full of affection for her country, she made outstanding efforts," added Pahlavi, who lives near Washington.Three-times married, the princess is survived by a son, Prince Shahram, five grandchildren and several great grandchildren.
From exile she supported cultural, literary and artistic heritage projects that aimed to restore what she saw as th eir near desecration by Iran's revolutionary rulers.In the royal era, the princess was regarded as a talented diplomat, leading Iran's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly for more than a decade. On Saturday, IRNA, Iran's official news agency, said she headed the country's human rights committee, was chief of the Women's Organisation of Iran and its representative to the UN human rights commission.
Privilege, and tragedy
The princess basked in her privilege and wealth, often pictured at the gaming tables of European casinos, but experienced family tragedy and survived an assassination attempt. Shahriar Shafiq, her son from a second marriage was gunned down in front of the princess's home in Paris in 1979, an assassination blamed on the new regime in Tehran. Two years earlier, she walked away unhurt after her lady-in-waiting was killed and her driver wounded when gunmen fired on her Rolls-Royce as she left a casino in Cannes. In Faces in a Mirror: Memoirs from Exile, she revealed an unhappy childhood, saying she was overlooked. Instead, she said her sister, Princess Shams, was more cherished by her parents and her brother was coveted, as he was destined for the throne. In the book, published in 1980, she described herself as a rebel with a quick temper. Vatan-e-Emrooz, a conservative daily in Iran, noted Saturday that the princess died exactly 80 years to the day after her father, Shah Reza Pahlavi, banned women in Muslim Iran from wearing the veil. In a sign of the religious and political change, the wearing of at least a headscarf and loose clothing by women to cover their bodies was made mandatory after the revolution.
Princess Ashraf was considered a powerful spokeswoman and ally for her brother, leading to her forever being loathed by Iran's religious rulers. "In the Pahlavi era, there was no woman as influential in foreign and domestic policy as Ashraf. She played a major role in the coup," Fars News Agency reported Saturday, referring to the 1953 overthrow of the country's democratically elected nationalist Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. The agency, affiliated with Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, said the US- and British-orchestrated coup that brought the princess's brother to power led to Ashrafs "interference" in international affairs. "She went on numerous foreign trips on behalf of her brother and negotiated with governments hostile to Iran," it said. Stephen Kinzer, author of "All the Shah's Men", a book about the revolution, said of the princess: "Ashraf's tongue-lashings of her brother were legendary, including one in the presence of foreign diplomats where she demanded that he prove he was a man or be revealed to all as a mouse."

N. Korea Cites Kadhafi's 'Destruction' in Nuke Test Defense
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 09/16/North Korea has defended its latest nuclear test, saying the fate of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moamer Kadhafi in Libya showed what happened when countries forsake their nuclear weapon ambitions. It also warned South Korea, which resumed high-decibel propaganda broadcasts across the inter-Korean border in response to Wednesday's test, that its actions were driving the divided peninsula to "the brink of war". A commentary published by the official KCNA news agency late Friday said Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test was a "great event" that provided North Korea with a deterrent powerful enough to secure its borders against all hostile forces, including the United States. "History proves that powerful nuclear deterrence serves as the strongest treasured sword for frustrating outsiders' aggression," the commentary said. North Korea said the test was of a miniaturized hydrogen bomb -- a claim largely dismissed by experts who argue the yield was far too low for a full-fledged thermonuclear device. The KCNA commentary said the current international situation resembled the "law of the jungle" where only the strongest survive. "The Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq and the Kadhafi regime in Libya could not escape the fate of destruction after being deprived of their foundations for nuclear development and giving up nuclear programs of their own accord," it said. Both had made the mistake, the commentary argued, of yielding to Western pressure led by a United States bent on regime change. Asking North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons was as pointless as "wishing to see the sky fall", it said, adding that the entire country was proud of its "H-bomb of justice". The defiant message came as the international community scrambled to respond to North Korea's latest test. While U.N. Security Council members discuss possible sanctions, world leaders have sought to build a consensus on how best to penalize leader Kim Jong-Un's maverick state. South Korea on Thursday took its own unilateral action by switching on giant banks of speakers on the border and blasting a mix of propaganda and K-pop into North Korea. The same tactic, employed during a dangerous flare-up in cross-border tensions last year, had seen an infuriated Pyongyang threaten artillery strikes against the loudspeaker units unless they were switched off. At a mass rally held Friday in Pyongyang' Kim Il-Sung square to celebrate the test, senior North Korean ruling party official Kim Ki-Nam said Seoul was once again playing with fire."The United States and its puppets have wasted no time in driving the situation on the peninsula to the brink of war, resuming their psychological warfare broadcast," Kim said.

The autumn of the Arab patriarchs
Hisham Melhem/Al Arabiya/January/16
Five years ago this month, a 26-year old Tunisian street vendor known only to his family and friends died after he set himself on fire. The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, who snapped after another humiliating encounter with local police, also set ablaze the cruel and unforgiven world that millions of angry and desperate Tunisians and Arabs inhabited. Bouazizi’s fiery end sparked the Arab uprisings that are still smoldering with varying degrees of intensity. Few days later, the mostly peaceful demonstrations inspired by Bouazizi’s ultimate protest swept away Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who became the first Arab tyrant to be overthrown by his own people in modern Arab history. The powerful political winds from Tunisia moved the fires eastward and consumed Egypt and Libya, then moved to another continent, to engulf Syria, Bahrain and Yemen. And the rest as the saying goes is history. In the early days of unbridled enthusiasm, there was a sense that the people were shaping their own future, without the intervention of an outside powerful Deus ex Machina, but time will show that the actions and inactions by outside forces were crucial determinants in the unfolding of these tales of promises and woes. Five years later, most of The Arab world is more firmly than ever in the grip of the Arab patriarchs, who defy time and who live in splendid solitude in a never ending autumn.
The Tunisian exception
Five long years have passed, and the early hopes and promises of the uprisings for democracy, empowerment, inclusive government, personal dignity and economic opportunities have been dashed. The autocrats, who were removed, were replaced either by civil strife or all out civil wars, or by new vengeful autocrats. The only exception is Tunisia, whose transition from autocracy to democracy was not without considerable pain and even violence. Tunisia today has earned the status as the only democratic Arab country according to Freedom House; a U.S. based non-governmental Human rights organization.
There was never a ‘fierce urgency of now’ when it came to reform and democracy in the Arab world, regardless of the eloquent speeches of Obama, and there is no ‘new beginning’ with anyone in sight
Democracy in Tunisia is still fragile, but the country has the necessary attributes for a full democratic transformation, attributes other Arab states lacks. Tunisia is largely a homogenous state with a clear national identity and a relatively developed civil society. Tunisia has been experimenting with modernization and political reforms since the reign of the enlightened modernizer Khayr al-Din Pasha al-Tunisi in the middle of the 19th century. Tunisia was a trailblazer when it became the first Arab country to outlaw slavery in 1846, a year before Sweden and 17 years before the United States. Tunisia’s first president after independence from France. Habib Bourguiba, abolished polygamy, and enacted laws allowing for women’s suffrage and education. Modern Tunisia developed a secular tradition, with a polity that was more open than its neighbors, and a more prosperous economy not shackled by oppressive centralized control. Political violence has been rare, and the country’s small armed forces were not designed as a praetorian guard and were never used to suppress domestic dissent.
The despot is gone but his despotism lingers
None of the other uprisings came to a happy interlude. Libya’s implosion created rebellions that led, with international military intervention to the overthrow of the Qaddafi regime, and Yemen’s implosion led to spasms of bloodshed until Saudi Arabia and other GCC state mediated the end of the Ali Abdallah Saleh’s reign, but only temporarily, before Yemen resumed its descent to the abyss. Egypt’s tale is a classic version of ‘meet the new boss, same as the old boss’, from Mubarak, to the faceless Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), to the paranoid Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, and finally to the military patriarch Sisi. In Bahrain, more of the same, but in Syria all the imaginable horrors have materialized and metathesized.
In Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, the uprisings removed the tip of the old despotic pyramid, but the leaders of the uprisings soon realized that the pyramid itself had thick immovable parts; the political, economic, security and cultural structures, that supported the Pharaohs and enabled them to deeply scar and even pulverize their societies, and that these structures are still in place. Undermining these structures will require time, strategic patience, and legitimate, accountable leadership. The counterrevolution began, the moment the peoples in the streets were toppling their former tormentors. Years after the despots have gone, their despotism still lingers.
What the Obama administration did or did not do in the countries swept by the uprisings and Iraq, is very crucial to their current trajectories, and is only partially responsible for the horrific agonies being experienced by most people in the region. The despotism, autocracy, that was at the heart of Arab governance and infected majority Arab societies, and left their indelible mark on Arab culture since WWII, is in the main responsible for the political and societal dysfunction in most Arab states.
Iraq’s unraveling began with Saddam Hussein’s breathtakingly reckless decision to invade Iran, an ancient land three times the size of Iraq. Moreover, Iran was in the grip of a revolutionary moment of enthusiasm. And countries in such revolutionary rapture don’t react like states living in normal conditions.
But Iraq’s current upheavals were set in motion by President George W. Bush’s inexplicable almost religious calling to invade Mesopotamia to erect on the banks of the Tigress and Euphrates Rivers a mythical Arab Jeffersonian democracy. The invasion unleashed the pent up violent shock waves of sectarianism, political repression and sectarian cleansings. Iraq’s unraveling will continue to reverberate for years, if not decades to come.
The uprisings and their discontents
Initially, President Obama instinctively welcomed the demands of the Arab uprisings for dignity, justice and economic opportunities, and he saw in these spontaneous mass movements a rebuke of the dark violent vision of al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. He was relatively quick to call on Egyptian President Mubarak to prepare for a "transition to democracy," and began to prepare for the post-Mubarak phase. In the following months, Obama asserted that “it will be the policy of the United States to promote reform across the region and to support transitions to democracy”. In a seminal speech he delivered on May 19, 2011 at the State Department, Obama put the United States firmly on the side of those seeking to topple the oppressive status quo, and who are seeking “a chance to pursue the world as it should be”.
During the brief rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) from February 2011 to June 2012, and the short term of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was overthrown by a military coup in July 2013, many acts of violence against civilians occurred along with other violations of human rights. Following the violent crackdown on Islamists after the overthrow of the deeply flawed but legally elected Morsi, which was the worst in modern Egyptian history, the Obama administration’s reaction was tellingly timid.
In Libya, a war Obama owns fully, his concept of “Leading from behind” was disastrous and in part explains his failure to follow up on the political challenges after the fall of the Qaddafi regime. Here at least Obama admitted that the lack of political follow up was his failure.
From the beginning of the Syrian uprising President Obama tried to avoid involvement in what he called ‘somebody else’s civil war’ even when the conflict was not at that stage. All of Obama’s decisions on Syria were tentative, and even when he authorized military support to the opposition, his heart was not in it. In September 2014, one month after the modern day hordes of ISIS occupied Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, Obama admitted that “we don’t have a strategy yet” to combat ISIS. Almost a year later, Obama said in a press conference in Germany that the Pentagon has not presented him with a “finalized plan” to combat ISIS, hence “ we don’t yet have a complete strategy“. Russia’s recent military rampages on behalf of the Syrian regime are in part the result of President Obama’s dithering and inaction in Syria. Indecision means supporting or tolerating the status quo.
But beyond the specifics and the various struggles unleashed by the uprisings and their humbling discontents, it seems that President Obama, when he looked at the enormity of the challenges posed by the Arab uprisings, particularly when they became more violent, that he simply flinched, and gradually lost the emotional and intellectual interest needed to shape the course of the region. Asia is beckoning and who could ignore the new economic hub of this century, and Obama’s domestic agenda is not fully realized. Obama’s supporters say that he has invested too much time and energy in the Middle East trying to make peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and both sides are ungrateful, and besides, the President who from day one kept his eyes fixed on the real prize (the nuclear deal with Iran) has clinched his Middle Eastern win. The limited war against ISIS will continue but will not be decisively settled, and along with the two longest wars in American history all will be bequeathed to his successor. There was never a ‘fierce urgency of now’ when it came to reform and democracy in the Arab world, regardless of the eloquent speeches of Obama, and there is no ‘new beginning’ with anyone in sight. Obama is leaving those Arabs he wowed in Cairo and beyond in 2009 to their own devices and to the tender mercies of their rulers.
This is indeed the long unending autumn of the Arab Patriarchs.

What Middle East are we to expect in 2016?
Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Arabiya/January/16
Pictures of an emaciated man from the besieged Syrian town of Madaya in the Rif Dimashq Governorate, who died after failing to exchange his car for some food, may best reflect the latest development of Syria’s debacle which welcomes 2016 with new and old baggage that threatens the Middle East with the worst. This may not be a suitable introduction to what to expect in the Middle East in 2016, but any optimistic talk given the current situation is outright stupid; as the region, whether we like or not, is in a real, multi-faceted state of war. Any ballistic missile launched from the Yemeni mountain hideouts of Iranian backed Houthis and former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh targeting civilians in the towns and villages of southern Saudi Arabia proves that the GCC military intervention on the side of Yemen’s legitimate government has been more than necessary; even though, some may say, it has come a bit late.
In the meantime, in Syria, carrying out the plan hatched and imposed by Iran’s IRGC for population exchange involving the Sunni population of Damascus’ western countryside and the Shiite enclaves of Aleppo and Idlib Provinces with the military support of Iran’s subservient Iraqi, Lebanese and Afghan Shiite militias and the Russian air force, any peddling of a ‘peaceful settlement’ becomes a travesty.
Iraq and Iran
As for Iraq, the role given to and played by the Shiite dominated ‘People’s Rally’ which at present forms the backbone of field armed forces claiming legitimacy, leaves no doubt that Iran now controls the political and security processes in Baghdad. The battle to ‘liberate’ the town of Ramadi by driving out ISIS, in all declared and undeclared circumstances, in addition to Baghdad taking the issue of a military Turkish presence in northern Iraq to the Arab League, are further signs that the ‘new Iraq’ created by Washington in 2003 under the pretext of non-existing arms of mass destruction is barely distinguishable from the ‘new Syria’ whose map is being drawn by Washington, Moscow and Tehran who use the war against ISIS as a pretext. There are several question marks surrounding the future of the Middle East as we welcome in 2016. Now free of American sanctions and military pressure, Iran is now behaving like another Israel but much larger and even more ambitious and expansionist; it is hell-bent on re-drawing the borders of its neighboring countries, deciding the limits of their sovereignty, fabricating and imposing their leaders and then lecturing about ‘human rights’, defining ‘terrorism’ the way it pleases, expropriating Islam and offering its ‘services’ to world powers as a regional client. The latest has been the long expected threat to Saudi Arabia after Riyadh executed a number of extremists (the vast majority of whom are Sunnis) convicted of involvement in terrorist crimes. Iran’s reaction would have been expected had it come from a country that does not carry out the death sentence against political and sectarian opposition activists; but coming from a country that ranks second (after China) in the executions’ league table and accuses Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries of aiding and abetting terrorism and al-Qaeda-style terrorism, such a reaction means that Iran is actually in a state of war with its Gulf neighbors. Indeed, it may not take the Turks and Kurds too long to begin to realize the threat of Iran’s ambitions to their own territories. There are several question marks surrounding the future of the Middle East as we welcome in 2016; but while many argue about whether Russia’s military intervention in Syria is intended to contain Iran’s overreach or compliments its regional project which seems to enjoy American, Israeli and European approval, we are clearly witnessing two salient facts.
Russia and Turkey
The first is that Russia’s political and military presence in the eastern Mediterranean is now a fact that has negative repercussions on Turkey and its regional influence. Washington’s policies and recent stances point to its deep dislike of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and its efforts to weaken and undermine him in parallel with its support of Iran’s ascendancy and Kurdish secessionist endeavors. This is what one can read from NATO’s reluctant sympathy with Moscow following threats to the Turks after the Russian jet fighter incident as well as the generous and continuous American support of the Kurds which is hardly comparable with the pitiful support we have been told has been received by Syria’s moderate opposition. The second fact is that as the U.S. presidential elections campaign gathers momentum, certain ‘specialized’ quarters begin their own campaign of – what I reckon –well-planned political and even partisan ‘leaks’. The Wall Street Journal reports about an unsuccessful coup against Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad were pretty exciting, and would surely lessen the pressure on Barack Obama in particular, as well as that on the Democrats in next November’s presidential, congressional and gubernatorial elections. Definitely more exciting is what American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has reported about “intelligence sharing” between the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and De fence Intelligence Agency with their Russian, Israeli and German counterparts in order to keep the Syrian dictator in power ostensibly without the knowledge of the White House. One reason why such ‘info’ has been made public by Hersh may have been to exonerate Obama of GOP accusations of hesitation, betrayal of the Syrians and giving in to Moscow and Tehran. The logical question here, besides who the main beneficiary is, must be “why now?” Given the present military situation in Syria, most of what Hersh has reported is true regardless of whether one believes in ‘conspiracy theories’ or not. But why now? After the realities on the ground– the secret about “intelligence sharing” is divulged? How is it possible to continue with fake declarations, deceitful conferences, manoeuvres and training and arming programs for two years? In any case, the acute and defining crises the Middle East is facing at present merit realistic actions without illusions. The ‘hot spots’ like Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and of course Palestine, provide early tests of ability after intentions of all concerned have become clear. If the Russians carry on with their ‘blitz’ in Syria in order to radically overturn the equation before the promised peace talks, Americans continue to regard Haider Al-Abadi’s government in Iraq as an avant-garde in the ‘war against terror’, and Iran swims deeper and deeper in the blood of innocent citizens of Yemen, GCC states, Iraq and the Levant through its Houthis and other local militant henchmen, the victory in the ‘war against terror’ will be costlier and will take a very long time.

Has the Shahada really become fair game?
Zaid M. Belbagi/Al Arabiya/January/16
Where do we draw the line? Given that we live in increasingly mixed societies, with people of different faiths and backgrounds, should there be limits on free speech when it is offensive? For the sake of not disturbing the peace and building cohesive societies, leading publications have a job to set the tone and to challenge hate. The 20th century saw some of the worst crimes inflicted on minority groups in the history of humanity, central to their committal was hate. Unchecked, racially charged discourse is a scourge of modern society that challenges the right of all to live in relative peace and security. The United Kingdom, the world’s oldest democracy and champion of the right to Free Speech enacted legislation to clamp down on “Racial and Religious Hatred” in 2006, recognizing there should be boundaries to what can and should be said. Earlier this week The Times published a cartoon by Morten Morland in clear reference to the flag of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and ergo the Islamic Declaration of Faith, the Shahada. In associating this central message of Islam with a series of demonic ghouls and villainous figures, the cartoon draws a clear link between Islam and horror. This cannot be allowed to take place.
The Times is a paper of great pedigree, with a reputation of top tier journalism stretching three centuries. Therefore, given the history and standing of the publication, there is no doubt that it should be conscious of its role in adopting some societal trends and avoiding those as unsavory as religious hatred.
Political satire can surely be depicted without involving the Shahada. Such casual racism cannot be allowed to stand. Interestingly, satire, the great political device and source of good wit for many came to prominence during the same period as the first print of The Times. There are those that may argue Morland’s cartoon aimed to make a political point, whatever the means of course, after all the swathes of the British press treat Islam as fair game. However, such political satire can surely be depicted without involving the Shahada. Any person with a rudimentary knowledge of the Arabic language can clearly see (as most Muslims do) the words “Allah” and “Mohammed” depicted through drawings of ghouls. One could contend that such depictions were aimed directly at the Muslim community, or at least those with a knowledge of Arabic script. It seems disrespect was not only meant, but cleverly woven into the fabric of the supposed irony of this cartoon. Such casual racism cannot be allowed to stand. Therein lies the problem. The global Muslim community is not a minority denomination but an expansive group of humanity with a voice. Had such a cartoon ridiculed the central maxim of another faith, The Times would be the subject of public scolding and in the receipt of letters of complaint. Respect is earned, not given. The only answer to halt such mockery is to put pen to paper and to make one’s voice heard.
I am afraid many in the Muslim world have forgotten how to write.

Saudi Arabia, a target of hypocrisy and double standards
Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/January/16
To my astonishment and dismay Western powers, human rights groups and international institutions have ganged-up against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia alleging ‘human rights abuses’ over its execution of 47 terrorists, tried and sentenced for their crimes following lengthy transparent trials. Rather than salute the Kingdom for its policy of zero tolerance of terrorists, many of Saudi Arabia's so-called allies seek to undermine its efforts with scurrilous statements and condemnatory rhetoric. Such criticism not only has little basis in fact in many cases it is spewed by some of the biggest human rights abusers on the planet.
No country has the right to interfere with another’s domestic affairs let alone criticism its laws or judicial process. Every state must protect its people and state institutions from those who would do harm in the best way it sees fit – and this is especially pertinent in a region splintered by violence and conflict.
Firstly, Saudi, that borders war torn Yemen and Iraq and is being openly threatened by Iran, is particularly in a sensitive situation, which is why it cannot afford to turn a blind eye to snakes within plotting its downfall no matter their religious persuasion.
Glass houses and hypocrisy 101
Secondly, the Kingdom is the victim here when its embassy and consulate in Iran came under state-sponsored mob attacks; their computers and documents stolen even as diplomats called upon authorities for help which went unheeded. Yet, instead of condemning the Iranian government for once again breaching diplomatic norms, the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Nations are blaming Saudi Arabia for executing a Saudi Shiite cleric who organized violent demonstrations against the government, supported terrorist cells and used his sermons to call for the overthrow of the state.
Rather than salute the Kingdom for its policy of zero tolerance of terrorists, many of Saudi Arabia's so-called allies seek to undermine its efforts. Thirdly, this is a case of people in glass houses. Take the U.S. whose invasion of Iraq spawned ISIS and was the prime mover of the sectarian divisions Iraq and its neighbors now face. When we remember Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, renditions, torture and the ongoing extrajudicial assassination’s, clearly President Barack Obama’s staff have taken courses in hypocrisy 101. White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes has urged the Saudi government to show respect for human rights while senior administration figures slam Riyadh for “an apparent absence of due process” and “negligent disregard” for acting in ways that destabilize the region.
If there is one country to be blamed for inflaming the area, it is the United States that removed Saddam Hussein, a buffer between Iranian expansionism and Gulf States, toppled Muammar Qaddafi abandoning Libya to armed militias and stood aside as ISIS swept over great swathes of Iraq and Syria. Those errors of judgment were compounded last year by Obama’s nuclear pact with the devil. And how can anyone take U.S. critics seriously when the country’s presidential candidates call for all Muslim visitors to be banned along with vetted refugees including orphans as young as five-years-old? What moral right does America have to wag its finger at others over the death penalty when 31 of its states variously hang condemned prisoners, place them before a firing squad, subjected them to electrocution, gas them or finish them off with lethal injections which often go wrong? Last year a death row inmate Joseph Wood suffered one of the longest executions in U.S. history taking two hours to die from a botched lethal injection. Since 1976, the U.S. has executed 1,423 convicts, 28 in 2015 and 35 in 2014. Analysis undertaken by legal experts in Michigan and Pennsylvania found that 4.1 percent were victims of a miscarriage of justice. Kudos to Obama for issuing an executive order related to gun control, but his tears for the victims of gun crimes merely echoed U.S. double standards when it is the world’s greatest supplier of lethal weapons.
Civil and political rights
The EU, which never fails to jump to Washington’s command, has issued a statement asserting the execution of Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr raises “serious concerns regarding freedom of expression and the respect of basic civil and political rights.” That complaint rings hollow from countries with refugees fleeing bombs and terrorism stuck in the freezing cold without food on their borders pleading to be allowed entry when it is their duty to give them asylum under international refugee conventions.
As for basic civil and political rights, France rightly banned demonstrations in response to terrorist attacks while deploying the army to patrol its streets. When a country is threatened – as France was and Saudi Arabia is – it tightens its security to ensure its people’s safety.
Britain’s comments have been fairly low key for which Prime Minister David Cameron is being criticized. However, the Foreign Office reiterated the UK’s opposition to the “death penalty in all circumstances” as undermining human dignity. That view is Britain’s prerogative, but why is the government singling out Saudi when its closest ally, the U.S. is high on the death penalty statistics list along in company with Iran, Iraq and North Korea?
The same can be said for the United Nations. Its Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has cited concerns over the nature of the charges and fairness of the judicial process, while urging Saudi to commute all death sentences. Who is he to judge the fairness of Saudi trials when he was not present – and why does he not address similar remarks to the governments of China, Iran and the U.S.? The U.N. would do well to concentrate on its problems when its peacekeepers are being investigated for the sexual exploitation of underage girls and women in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Haiti, Liberia and South Sudan.
Criticisms from the leaderships of Iraq would be laughable if the matter was not as serious. “Violating human rights leads to repercussions on the security, stability and the social fabric of the peoples of the region,” Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi. Well, he should know! His government is one of the biggest violators of human rights and the greatest conductor of oppression and sectarian bias having sold out the Iraqi people to Tehran. When Arab country after Arab country is breaking off relations with Iran, his Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was in Tehran .
Naturally, human rights organizations have jumped on the bashing Saudi Arabia bandwagon with enthusiasm. Human Rights Watch, accused of being a revolving door for the CIA, accuses Saudi of discriminating against Shiite citizens, notwithstanding that Nimr was one of few Shiites executed among the 47. Reprieve urged the UK not to “turn a blind eye to such atrocities”. What atrocities; the execution of terrorists? Amnesty International which seemingly is prioritizing the rights of terrorists over their victims stated the carrying out of dozens of executions on the same day marks “a dizzying descent to yet another outrageous low for Saudi Arabia”. Would it have been acceptable if the executions had been stretched out over a year as they are in the U.S.?
It is strange that these groups are focusing on the Kingdom whereas over 700 individuals have been hanged by Iran in the first half of last year (many of them Sunnis), a female cartoonist is on trial for the ‘crime’ of shaking hands with her lawyer, a woman was sentenced to be stoned to death as recently as last December and poets and writers are being rounded up and tried.
In short, countries with blood on their hands should mind their own business. Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies have had enough of foreign interference and are resolved to stand against Iranian plots whatever it takes.
We will no longer listen to states that I believe contributed to our dangerous neighborhood. The reaction of Saudi Arabia’s fake allies is both disappointing and eye-opening. At least now we know which states to trust and those we cannot, a lesson I pray has been well learned.

Is Facebook the answer to the expat workers’ dilemmas?
Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/January/16
Gulf states are home to over 2.4 million domestic workers, according to Human Rights Watch. Yet these migrant workers, often of Southeast Asian origin, at times experience little protection. There have been cases in which expat workers have been subjected to poor working conditions, strenuous environments, and an average workweek of up to 60 hours in the region. Unfortunately, sometimes media outlets report about a number of employers who are confiscating the workers’ ID and passports upon arrival into their homes, though GCC officials say such a habit is illegal, which makes the escape process – should it ever be needed – even more terrifying.In my opinion, there are two primary reasons as to why domestic workers are subjected to these conditions: the implementation of specific labor laws protecting their rights and well-being, as well as social alienation from their host communities and therefore a lack of education and understanding of their rights.
Facebook as a means of human rights education
Social media is a tool that can step in to fill the gaps in communication. Although not every domestic worker has access to the Internet, the ones who do are using social media to document their trials and tribulations. In November 2015, a group of Ethiopian maids in Kuwait managed to leak cell-phone footage of the conditions they are subjected to in a prison cell. After this surfaced, the Ethiopian embassy announced that the women were now awaiting deportation. A group of lawyers and activists offered to step in and help pay the fees in order to shorten their sentences. In the video, the women claim they have been beaten and abused. This is not the first case where domestic workers publish videos on Facebook in order to garner attention.
Mobile phones must become a basic right
As argued by Mark Zuckerburg, a connected mobile phone needs to become a basic human right. In the case of domestic workers in the Gulf, this is needed now more than ever. A mobile phone can provide them with the social connectivity with their community and allow them to maintain their mental and psychological well-being. More importantly, a mobile phone offers a chance of rescue and refuge. It allows domestic workers the opportunity to get in contact with their embassy if they are having issues with their employer, or in a worst-case scenario, even contact the police for more urgent issues, such as rape or physical abuse. Additionally, a mobile phone can be used as an educative tool to raise awareness of their rights. A Facebook group called UAE Labor Law Clarifications offers free advice on labor laws, dealing with difficult employers, and how to get out. The group has over 90,000 members.
Home and host governments are equally responsible.
Ultimately, there is only so much that an embassy can do for its citizens. The cost of deportation or removal from the host country can be seen as a challenge in cases where the employer does not regularly pay the domestic worker. This can be overcome with a simple arrival kit provided by employment agencies, which includes a newly-opened bank account. A bank account means that if the domestic worker has to run away and leave her belongings behind, his/her money would still be safe and secure in a bank account, therefore allowing her to pay for her flight home. There is plenty that host governments can do. In 2014, GCC member states agreed on terms in the contracts of domestic workers, including an 8-hour work day and a day off every week, but the methods of implementation and enforcement have not been made clear.Ultimately, it is the responsibility of both the host and the domestic worker’s home government to educate both the employer and the employee of their rights in order to end the abuse.

Brother of executed Saudi cleric says Nimr is 'martyr against injustice'
Jean Aziz/Al-Monitor/January 09/16
With tensions growing between Riyadh and Tehran following the Jan. 2 execution of the dissident Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi Arabia, Al-Monitor conducted a phone interview on Jan. 5 with Nimr’s brother, Sheikh Mohammed al-Nimr, who resides in the town of al-Awamiya, in the Qatif region of Saudi Arabia. Nimr spoke of the current situation in predominantly Shiite Qatif, the still unfolding crisis stemming from his brother's death, as well as accusations leveled against the late sheikh and his supporters and efforts to obtain his brother's remains.
Al-Monitor: How did your family learn of your brother’s execution?
Nimr: It was through Saudi media last Saturday [Jan. 2].
Al-Monitor: What was your initial reaction?
Nimr: We were gripped with grief, as people donned black mourning clothes, with all the shops closing their doors in Qatif and its surroundings and condolences accepted in religious centers and some public squares.
Al-Monitor: Did you and your family expect the death sentence to be carried out?
Nimr: Of course not. That is why we, like all people, were so shocked, because no one expected it. It is true that the appeals and supreme courts upheld the [Oct. 15, 2014] death sentence against the martyr Nimr, but we and his supporters still carried hope that King Salman would not sign the execution order due to its negative repercussions. Despite many warnings in that regard, unfortunately, the order was given by Saudi authorities to carry out the death penalty given to 47 individuals accused of acts of violence and terrorism in Saudi Arabia, with Sheikh Nimr included, despite him being completely innocent of the charges leveled against him. These charges include the denunciation of allegiance to the king, participating in a number of rallies and demonstrations, raising slogans insulting the state, and using his cell phone to incite for demonstrations, covering up of individuals wanted by the security services and helping them escape from police raids, describing security officers as “bandits,” calling the Peninsula Shield Force the “Peninsula Shame Force” and demanding to expel them from Bahrain. And I am sure he is innocent, for he only preached peace and nonviolence, and those are the principles in which all of his supporters and family members believe.
Al-Monitor: For what cause or against what did your brother become a “martyr”?
Nimr: A martyr against injustice, for he was unjustly arrested [July 8, 2012] and wrongfully accused. [I attended] all of my brother’s State Security Court hearings, which allows me to unequivocally affirm — and I am ready to be held accountable for my words here — that no one in the court, not even the judge, was convinced that Sheikh Nimr had anything to do with violent actions or illegal endeavors. All that was proven was that his speeches were overly fervent, which may be true, but which has nothing to do with the charges concocted against him. The martyr stood against violence and refused to carry arms when violent events took place in our area during 2012 and 2013, such as the demonstrations by Qatif’s Shiite citizens against the Saudi authorities, where the Saudi security forces resorted to violence to suppress the demonstrators and disperse them.This is evidenced by his [Nimr’s] speeches and lectures against violence and in support of peaceful, non-violent action. Martyr Nimr was not an opposition figure in the professional political sense of the word, and he never demanded the fall of the regime nor did he espouse an agenda in that regard. Convicting him of failing to obey the rules is dangerous indeed. Is someone’s failure to obey now considered legal grounds for a death penalty? What a terrifying premise.
Al-Monitor: Was your brother given a fair trial and afforded sufficient opportunity to defend himself?
Nimr: Sheikh Nimr’s defense lawyer, Sadeq al-Jibran, skillfully represented my brother. But, I contend that the trial was political, and its outcome was predetermined, leading to the victimization of martyr Nimr, who is a martyr in the true sense of the word.
Al-Monitor: Why do you think Sheikh Nimr’s name was included among those sentenced to death?
Nimr: Honestly, when news leaked about the death sentence, we thought that because al-Qaeda and Islamic State members were to be executed, Sheikh Nimr’s name was included to placate some members of the Sunni community and create a sort of sectarian balance. But, we later determined that the opposite was true. The whole intent was to get rid of Sheikh Nimr, with the names of terrorists added to cover up that. This was proven by the fact that 42 of the 47 people who were executed had been on death row for 10 to 13 years, while Sheikh Nimr had been convicted only a little over a year ago. As such, those death row inmates remained forgotten until a decision was made to have them executed now, only as a cover for Nimr’s liquidation and in order to claim that executions had been carried out against a group of terrorists. We denounce what occurred and will continue to condemn it, using peaceful means of course.
Al-Monitor: What do you make of the reactions to the execution inside and outside Saudi Arabia?
Nimr: People were shocked, and a chasm was created between the Shiite community and the Saudi government. Martyr Nimr enjoyed prominence among people and among Shiite Muslims inside and outside the country. He was a diligent scholar and a high-ranking religious figure who cannot be treated as he was without people reacting.
Al-Monitor: Has there been contact between your family and Saudi authorities concerning Sheikh Nimr’s body?
Nimr: In a family statement, as well as through intermediaries, we demanded that we be given his body. We will continue to make such demands until his body is returned and buried in his hometown, as per Shariah law and regional customs. His burial in an unknown location is contrary to our customs and utterly rejected.
Al-Monitor: What do you think of the accusations that Sheikh Nimr and his supporters are loyal to Iran? How do you view the crisis between Riyadh and Tehran following Nimr's execution?
Nimr: This is a political issue with which we have nothing to do. We regret seeing such developments between the two countries and call for good relations between our country and every other country of the world. We also condemn the attacks against our country’s embassy in Tehran [Jan. 2] and the consulate in Mashhad, as that is unacceptable to us. We cannot accept that our country’s facilities are attacked, and [we] hope that matters do not escalate further. Yet, we must understand that the reactions seen in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Europe and elsewhere are due to martyr Nimr’s religious status and have nothing to do with interfering in Saudi affairs. Those reactions were also born out of a sense of injustice toward our martyr, for even United Nations Secretary-General Ban-Ki-moon personally appealed to King Salman [Oct. 28, 2015] not to execute Sheikh Nimr. But, unfortunately, Saudi politicians and advisers decided otherwise.”

America May Have Unlocked a Key to Fighting Terrorism -- and It Doesn't Involve Drones
Matthew Levitt/Washington Post/January 09/16
A holistic approach to counterterrorism demands more than just a 'capture and kill' posture, and new funds for relevant State Department programs are a step in the right direction. Buried in the 2,009 pages of the recently passed omnibus appropriations bill is what could be President Obama's most significant counterterrorism contribution to date -- and it involves no drones, Special Operations forces or other forms of military might. The use of Special Operations forces to train and equip local partners and to build military capacity to combat terrorist threats -- supporting frontline partners while keeping the United States out of large-scale armed conflicts -- has been a hallmark of the Obama administration. Perhaps counterintuitively, however, this model has promoted an overly militarized approach to counterterrorism by U.S.-trained partners. To be sure, military capacity-building is an essential component of the president's strategy for "taking out" terrorists who threaten the United States and supporting local forces to deal with threats in their back yards. But it has not been coupled with the necessary investment in building our partners' civilian departments and agencies -- ministries of justice, interior and corrections, among others -- that are also needed. That is, until now.
Speaking to graduating West Point cadets in 2014, the president announced the creation of the Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund (CTPF). He called on Congress to support the new fund, which he envisioned growing as large as $5 billion, to build "a network of partnerships from South Asia to the Sahel" to counter terrorist groups where they seek a foothold. Members of Congress, however, worried the fund would amount to little more than a "slush fund" with little oversight. The State Department asked for $500 million for its civilian programming under the fund for fiscal 2015 but received nothing. Meanwhile, the Defense Department received $1.3 billion of its $4 billion CTPF request -- continuing the long pattern of military-dominated counterterrorism efforts. But something changed in fiscal 2016. Last month, as part of the omnibus appropriations bill, Congress appropriated $175 million in CTPF funds for the State Department. While less than the amount requested, this is still a dramatic increase in the department's discretionary resources for civilian counterterrorism capacity-building programs. This will enable the State Department to significantly ramp up overseas programs with the departments of Homeland Security and Justice, the FBI and others focused on law-enforcement responses to terrorism, strengthening counterterrorism legal frameworks, prosecuting terrorism suspects, handling terrorist inmates and other civilian tasks. The decision to finance civilian CTPF programming signals a significant bureaucratic shift in how the administration and Congress approach counterterrorism assistance -- sending a strong message that there is a key role for civilian actors. This shift is timely given the increasingly diffuse and dangerous threat landscape demonstrated by recent terrorist attacks around the world.
Congress will be watching closely to see how this money is spent and what performance metrics are used to measure success. But there is reason for optimism that it will produce tangible results because the department has delivered results in three areas of emphasis, even while operating on a shoestring.
First, the State Department has focused on the critical issue of foreign terrorist fighter travel. Last September, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2178, requiring member states to take concrete steps to apprehend and prosecute terrorist fighters who move to or from battle fronts such as Syria and Iraq. But many states lack the capabilities to follow through on these requirements, so the State Department initiated and funded programs to plug those gaps. Second, the State Department has engaged in efforts to prevent and counter terrorist havens in key countries where a small financial investment could be leveraged into significant gains. In Africa, U.S.-trained law enforcement demonstrated increased capabilities to deal with Boko Haram and al-Shabab. Cooperation and exercises with Persian Gulf partners helped them to contend with Islamic State and al-Qaeda terrorist threats from Yemen. And in Southeast Asia and other locations around the world, U.S.-funded programs enabled countries to adopt procedures for handling terrorist inmates and countering prisoner radicalization.
Third, the State Department has launched an international initiative -- in close partnership with the Justice Department -- to raise awareness about Iran and Hezbollah's broad ranges of terrorist and criminal activities around the world and to increase law enforcement cooperation and coordination among a wide range of countries to disrupt these activities.
The department's relatively small investment in these areas led to tangible results last year, and a program to ramp up funding for such initiatives is long overdue. U.S. Special Operations forces are being deployed to counter terrorist threats in concert with local partners not only in Afghanistan but also in places such as Syria and Cameroon, and U.S. Special Operations Command training programs continue to expand to meet terrorist threats around the world. But as they do, civilian counterterrorism partners must be trained to handle what comes next. When military forces capture a terrorist, will prosecutors have the law they need to charge the suspect and be prepared to take that case to court? Partners need the civilian tools to patrol borders and fight radicalization, to counter terrorist financing and to prosecute terrorist crimes. A holistic approach to counterterrorism demands the use of all elements of national power, not a solely militarized "capture and kill" posture. Drones and commandos can neutralize immediate threats, but to succeed in the long term, military and intelligence efforts must be part of a broader approach to counterterrorism that includes robust and capable civilian elements. Financing for the CTPF comes just in time, as Hezbollah is poised to get an infusion of money from Iran, as the Islamic State alternatively directs and inspires terrorist plots around the world and as al-Qaeda rebuilds and expands in places such as Afghanistan and Yemen. In his West Point speech, Obama acknowledged that the United States cannot and should not deal with the terrorist threats around the world on our own and that our partners must play an expanded and more critical role. While this is a good starting point, the more the United States can move toward a more balanced approach to counterterrorism -- not only in our own efforts but also in the type of partners we are aiming to build -- the safer we will be.
**Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Fellow and director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute.

Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Responsible for Torture
Khaled Abu Toameh/© 2016 Gatestone Institute/January 09/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7192/palestinians-torture
For the mainstream media and human rights organizations, human rights violations are news only when they come with a "made in Israel" sticker on them.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has used international aid funds to build prisons and detention centers in the West Bank where torture has become the norm.
Dr. Ammar Dwaik, Director General of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, a Palestinian group, revealed that his group received 782 complaints regarding torture -- 168 in the West Bank and 614 in the Gaza Strip.
Both Hamas and the PA each fears that in a free election it could lose some of its power. Why hold an election if you are not sure about the results?
Needed desperately: scrutiny of Palestinian society by international media and human rights groups -- beginning with Palestinian prisons. Anyone stepping up?
The Palestinian Authority and Hamas are torturing Palestinians. Still.
The two Palestinian governments, the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, are both major violators of human rights. Assaults on public freedoms and crackdowns on political rivals are just the first chapters of a very long story.
Yet this narrative does not appeal to the international community, especially the mainstream media and human rights organizations in the West. For them, human rights violations are news only when they come with a "made in Israel" sticker on them.
Yet their obsession with Israel might just kill the Palestinians. Particularly at risk are those who daily put their lives on the line to halt Hamas and PA violence against their own people.
The Palestinian Authority has used international funds to build prisons and detention centers in the West Bank where torture has become the norm. And Hamas, which in 2007 seized control over the Gaza Strip, transformed the area into a radical Islamist emirate with a startling disregard for human rights and public freedoms.
The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), a Palestinian group that seeks to promote "inherent values of justice, equality and human rights," reports a dramatic rise over the past two years in the number of complaints about torture in Palestinian prisons run by Hamas and the PA.
Dr. Ammar Dwaik, Director General of ICHR, revealed that his group received 782 complaints regarding torture -- 614 in the Gaza Strip and 168 in the West Bank. Dwaik noted, however, that the large number of complaints does not necessarily indicate a "big violation" of human rights. Dwaik explained that the torture inflicted upon detained Palestinians by Hamas and PA investigators during interrogations is related to the absence of advanced equipment. "They have to rely mainly on extracting confessions (by force)," he said.
Dwaik means that Palestinian security services lack modern technological tools that could facilitate their work, such as the ability to conduct DNA tests or eavesdropping. That is why interrogators have to resort to violence and torture sometimes to extract confessions from suspects.
Dr. Ammar Dwaik (center), Director General of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, reports a dramatic rise over the past two years in the number of complaints about torture in Palestinian prisons run by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. (Image source: ICHR)
Reporting that the number of complaints about torture in the Gaza Strip had sharply increased in 2014 and 2015, Dwaik also blamed economic hardship for the grave human rights violations. He noted the anger and frustration of security officials in the Gaza Strip, many of whom have not received salaries for months. Still, he added, this does not justify torture.
Dwaik also stated that the ICHR received complaints about the detention by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas of 35 Palestinian journalists in 2015. At least another 15 Palestinians were summoned for interrogation or briefly detained for posting controversial comments on social media, especially Facebook.
In recent years the ICHR has made some progress toward raising awareness of human rights among the Palestinian security forces, according to Dr. Dwaik. Yet this progress is likely to be a drop in the proverbial bucket until the international community and media start showing serious interest in the human rights abuses perpetrated by Hamas and the PA.
These undemocratic and repressive regimes have proven themselves utterly incapable of mustering even a minimal degree of tolerance for dissent.
Hamas and the Palestinian Authority also deprive Palestinians of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. In Hamas- and PA-run areas, the right to hold free and fair elections is a dream. For an entire decade, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been unable to vote for a new parliament and president. Neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority desires such elections, each for excellent reasons of its own.
Each side fears that in a free election it could lose some of its power. Why hold an election if you are not sure about the results?
In addition, how can the elections be fair and free when the two parties are cracking down on each other's supporters?
For both of these regimes, the status quo works. Hamas has within its clutch the entire Gaza Strip, while the Palestinian Authority is sitting pretty in the West Bank, under the protection of the Israel Defense Forces. As every Palestinian child knows, whither the IDF goes, so goes the Palestinian Authority.
Sixty years of failed leadership: that is the true Palestinian tragedy.
Needed desperately: scrutiny of Palestinian society by international media and human rights groups -- beginning with a good look Palestinian prisons -- to jump-start a Palestinian street intifada against its true oppressors, its leaders. Anyone stepping up?
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved.

Sweden: "Have the Taliban Come to Town?"
One Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Sweden: December 2015
Ingrid Carlqvist/2016 Gatestone Institute/January 09/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7190/sweden-islam-taliban
A third of the recent asylum-house fires have been started by the asylum seekers themselves. -- Sveriges Radio, public radio
"A very strong contributing factor to this development [the refugee disaster] is in the deeply self-important Swedish view that this country is a moral superpower. We have gleefully acted as the world's conscience. We have made a moral virtue out of staying out of World War II, which others perceived as pure cowardice. And we have been pompous about not joining the military alliance NATO, while coldly calculating that others will come to our aid in the event of war. " -- Stefan Hedlund, Professor of Russian and East European Studies.
In Sweden it is illegal to engage in sex with children under the age of 15. It is considered as rape, even if it is consensual. But that apparently did not stop a Middle Eastern man, while living in the country, from impregnating his 14-year-old wife. Instead of prison, the husband, as well as the girl's parents, have all been rewarded with the permanent residency status. This story was exposed on December 1 by blogger Merit Wager, who regularly publishes stories leaked to her by Immigration Service employees. Wager's source wrote:
"This means that the public prosecutor, the police and the Immigration Service have all disregarded that the 'husband' is guilty of a crime which carries a minimum penalty of two years in prison. So, it is fine for grown men to have sex with 13-year-olds in Sweden without any kind of legal ramification? Equality before the law? No way. What kind of signal does it send to other people in a similar situation, or those planning on bringing a child bride here from their own country? Clearly, Swedish law applies only to Swedes."
December 3: A 26-year-old Syrian, known as "N.N.," was arrested on suspicion beating and threatening a 16-year-old at an asylum house in Borgholm. In October, N.N. had been convicted of two counts of making unlawful death threats against a Christian asylum seeker. When arrested, he tried to hide a cell phone on which the police later found pictures from the war in Syria, showing N.N. posing with swords and firearms.
The Christian asylum seeker testified during the trial that he had felt terrified when N.N. threatened to cut off his head. The municipal court decided to let N.N. off with a fine because "there is no reason to assume that N.N. will repeat his offenses." Now, he is again suspected of a serious crime, but the prosecutor sees no reason to hold him in jail this time, either -- because there is "no risk of him committing more crimes."
December 5: The daily Helsingborgs Dagblad, ran a story about how a 70-year-old mural of Jesus is to be covered up in the spring when the Gustav Adolf parish house will be remodeled into a student house. According to the municipality, student life should be free from political and religious attachments, and therefore Jesus is to be covered by a sign. The student organization did not believe the denizens of Helsingborg would care but as it turned out, they did. December 9, the local paper reported that many people had become deeply upset by the measure. Readers commented: "One is astounded by the sycophancy" and "Have the Taliban come to town?"
The Church of Sweden, however, has no problem with Jesus disappearing. "It is not a big deal to me," a local priest, Björn Kjellström, said. "The artwork is beautiful and there has been a Christian presence in the building, but when you sell a property, the responsibility passes to the new owner."
December 8: A prosecutor in Vienna remanded a 17-year-old Somali girl, who is a resident of Sweden. She was suspected of collaborating with the Islamic State, where she was presumably headed upon her arrest. Public prosecutor Nina Bussek told SVT Nyheter public television: "I have asked the court to rule that she should remain in custody in order to give us time to investigate the suspected terror connections."
As it is not a crime in Sweden to belong to, or support, a terrorist organization, Austrian authorities decided to keep the 17-year-old in custody in Austria and charge her there. Christina Salzborn, spokesperson for the court in Vienna, told the daily Göteborgs-Posten: "If the Swedish authorities do not want her extradited, Austrian law permits that we try her case in Austria, even if the suspect is not an Austrian citizen and the crime was not committed here."
December 8: The municipality of Karlstad put 400,000 kronor (about $47,000) into a campaign featuring red stickers. They were sent out along with letters that read: "Every household in Karlstad municipality has received a sticker with the text 'Openness -- Yes please!' Put it on your door or mailbox to show that you want to contribute to an open Karlstad. We hope that doors and mailboxes will shine red and signal 'a warm welcome to Karlstad.'"
The journalist Thomas Gür wrote on Facebook, "This is what Swedish authoritarianism looks like ... with a smiling face and friendly insistent exhortations to 'solidarity.'"
Many were surprised by the municipality's website for the campaign, which looks like a dating website. The city's Communications Director, Katarina Lindström was very pleased that 116 people had registered and created profiles on the page during the first 24 hours, but displeased with the more than 70 attempts at sabotage during the same time.
December 9: The newspaper Dalarnas Tidning revealed that feeding the residents of Trängslet's asylum house costs staggering amounts -- 7 million kronor (about $822,000) a month or 87 million a year (more than $10 million). According to the rules, the food should cost a maximum of 150 kronor ($17.50) per person per day, but Trängslet pays a private company 572 kronor ($67).
"Right now, we are forced to accept what is available and possible in order to handle the influx. Our ambition is, of course, to always minimize the costs for the taxpayers," said Immigration Service Unit Manager Maria Löfgren.
The resources seem limitless when it comes to asylum seekers, but the standards, as far as what Swedish schoolchildren are fed, are falling. It was recently reported , for instance, that the kids in Alvesta will not get milk with their lunch anymore, and some students may even be forced to pay for their lunches.
December 9: Public radio Sveriges Radio revealed that a third of the recent asylum-house fires have been started by the asylum seekers themselves. Despite the enormous public indignation this fall, when Swedes were accused of setting asylum houses aflame, and the government promised secret addresses for the facilities and helicopter surveillance, the police made a totally different assessment of the situation. The news broke thanks to Liberal MP Roger Haddad, of the Parliamentary Justice Committee, who invited the National Police Chief and the Security Service Chief to a meeting. "The National Police Chief said that the fires are not organized. There are still ongoing investigations. There have been some 30 asylum house fires and from what I understand, about a third have started inside the houses," Haddad said.
December 11: Aftonbladet revealed that an African woman temporarily employed at the Swedish embassy in Nigeria had been arrested. She is suspected of having sold 74 fake visas. The African woman was on a leave of absence from her job at the Immigration Service, and was working temporarily at the embassy as a migration attaché, handling immigration cases. In late 2014, the woman was sent home because she had "grossly neglected her duties."
Everyone who obtained fake visas was from the same West African country, which, however, was not Nigeria. When the woman was on vacation, all visa applications from this country stopped. Despite this discovery, it took an entire year before the woman was apprehended. She reportedly made a fortune from her activity and is now also being investigated by Dutch authorities on suspicion of "human trafficking." An internal report from the Immigration Service describes her actions as "alarming" and as "systematic fraud," and damaging to Sweden's image within international organizations.
December 11: While the festive Nobel Banquet took place in front of the entire world, a silent protest took place outside Stockholm's City Hall. The protesters consisted of a group of policemen who wished to show their discontent with their low wages and work situation. As they were not allowed to use loudspeakers (not to bother the Nobel Prize winners, the King and other dignitaries), the policemen had taped their mouths shut. "We feel as if we are being silenced. Quite simply, no one will listen to us," the head of the local police union, Stefan Eklund, told Sveriges Television.
December 14: The alternative news site, Nyheter Idag, revealed that a 24-year-old Muslim man who had murdered a woman in Oskarshamn on December 13, could have been deported from Sweden four years ago. The 24-year-old had arrived from Syria in 2011, along with his parents and siblings. In November of that year, he was convicted of the aggravated assault of a 33-year-old Swedish woman, pregnant with his child. After an argument, she had woken up when her boyfriend tried to suffocate her. He had then stabbed her in the stomach and chest. He had also tried to slit her throat.
The man was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison, but, as he had "a connection to Swedish society," he avoided deportation. In 2014, he was convicted of abusing the same woman; this time he got ten months in jail. As soon as he left prison, he met a new woman, whom he murdered.
December 15: Three men who raped a boy at an asylum house for "unaccompanied refugee children" were indicted. The suspects -- from Iran and Afghanistan -- claim to be between 15 and 18. According to the prosecutor, there are "a lot of sperm findings." Aside from aggravated rape, the men are charged with obstructing the course of justice: they had threatened to kill their victim if he told anyone what happened. The three men deny all charges against them.
December 16: A 16-year-old African migrant was charged with the unusually cruel murder of a homosexual transvestite in Gothenburg. The transvestite was badly beaten and the killer wrapped a dead snake around his neck. Later the same day, the police apprehended the killer. One of the strongest pieces of evidence against him was a video on his mobile phone. He had tried to erase it, but the police were able to retrieve it. The film showed the vi lying dead and the 16-year-old shouting abuse at him concerning his sexual orientation.
December 17: The much talked-about gang rape on the Amorella Sweden-Finland ferry in February 2015 ended with -- nothing. When the investigators went through the evidence, it was discovered that one of the men had the woman's DNA on his genitals. He was charged, and then initially sentenced by the Solna District Court to three years in prison. However, when the case was decided in Appeals Court, he was acquitted. The Appeals Court said that the woman's DNA might have been transferred to his penis by the cell phone he stole from her, in a so-called multi -stage transmission. The woman, who was highly intoxicated when the crime was committed, could not remember who raped her and could not identify the suspect.
December 23: One of the young Moroccans suspected of the cruel gang rape at Fåfängan in Stockholm in September, was acquitted by the Appeals Court. The woman said she was raped six times by four people and had feared for her life. In the District Court, three of the men were sentenced to six to nine months juvenile care, but the Appeals Court acquitted one of them as since it could not be proven that he was above 15 years of age and therefore criminally responsible. The victim told the daily, Aftonbladet , after the District Court sentencing that she was very sad, after what the men had done to her, that they had been treated so leniently.
December 24: Three young men from Afghanistan were sentenced to one year in prison by the Östersund District Court for having raped an underaged girl in 2013-2015. The circumstances are reminiscent of the grooming gangs that have been uncovered in the United Kingdom. When the first Afghan contacted the girl via Instagram, she was only 11 years old. and When they started meeting after a few weeks, she had just turned 12. The girl has told the police that she felt pressured into having sex with the Afghan, in part because he had threatened to tell her parents what they had done, and in part because he threatened to harm himself. She felt bad and "disgusted" about the situation, she said, when interviewed by the police. When the first Afghan moved away, two of his friends started taking advantage of the girl. The three Afghans claim to have been born in 1995, 1996 and 1997, but as they most likely came to Sweden as "unaccompanied refugee children," they may well be far older. All three were convicted of child rape, but the sentences remained around one year in prison. The prosecutor did not move for them to be deported
December 26: Two patients and one employee were stabbed at a psychiatric ward in Gothenburg. The man carrying the knife had been a former patient in the clinic. When the police arrived at the scene, they were forced to shoot him. One of the stabbed men received life-threatening injuries. The others were seriously wounded but remain in stable condition. Threats and violence have become more and more prevalent in the Swedish health care system. According to the periodical Dagens Medicin, more and more staff are quitting. After a couple of serious incidents in 2013, members of the staff at the psychiatric ward in Gothenburg were equipped with shields to defend themselves against knives and other objects. To hire a security guard costs 82,000 kronor ($8,400) a week, or 3 million (nearly $120,000) a year, an enormous strain on the already thinly-stretched Swedish health care system.
December 28: After 96 years of non-stop Social Democratic rule, the northern Swedish city of Gävle is now to be ruled by the right-wing Alliance. This change happened after the red-green minority rule lost vote after vote, and could not get its budget passed when the Sweden Democrats, critical of immigration, voted for the Alliance. That the right-wing parties are now leaning on the Sweden Democrats is viewed as a dry-run before the elections of 2018, if there is not an extra election in between. The Conservatives' (Moderaterna) senior leadership approved the local cooperation with the Sweden Democrats.
December 28: Starting January 1, Sweden is set to retake its position as the country with the world's highest marginal taxes. Taxes on the last 100 kronor ($10) you make will be raised by 3%. The government believes this tax increase will yield another 2,7 billion kronor to the treasury, but several experts say that as people will work less, it will probably be a zero-sum game. The economist Jacob Lundberg even said the state might lose at least 2 billion kronor ($236 billion) from the tax increase:
"There is a great risk of that happening. They should be open about these types of effects. Now, there are no such calculations being made even though everyone in the Treasury Department knows that tax increases have these kinds of effects."
December 28: Opera singer Susanne Resmark, who had many of her bookings canceled after criticizing Islam on Facebook, sent an invoice of 90,000 kronor (about $10,000) to Båstad municipality, an invoice they are contesting on the grounds that there was no written contract. The singer told the local daily newspaper, Helsingborgs Dagblad: "They [the municipality] moved the date back and forth, which forced me to keep an entire week open for the Båstad municipality, and then they just dismissed me. Now they will be so kind as to pay what I am asking. If they do not want to talk about this, I have no choice but to contact a lawyer." December 28: In an interview with the daily, Sydsvenskan, Sweden's Minister for Climate and the Environment, Åsa Romson, of the Green Party, said she wants Sweden to return to its old immigration policy within a couple of years. According to Romson, Sweden should be able to receive "considerably more" than 100,000 asylum seekers a year. The Green Party is basically in favor of free immigration, and this, she said, was the reason she was crying during a press conference in which the government, in an attempt to avoid a complete systemic collapse, advertised stricter rules for asylum immigration to Sweden. December 29: Since the government decided to tighten the rules on asylum immigration, Swedish public debate has somewhat opened up. Lately, several new critics of immigration have stepped forward, among them a Professor of Russian and East European Studies, Stefan Hedlund. In an op-ed in the daily Göteborgs-Posten, "The Price is Too High for Swedish Moral Hubris," he wrote:
"A very strong contributing factor to this development is in the deeply self-important Swedish view that this country is a moral superpower. We have gleefully acted as the world's conscience. We have made a moral virtue out of staying out of World War II, which others perceived as pure cowardice. And we have been pompous about not joining the military alliance NATO, while coldly calculating that others will come to our aid in the event of war."Hedlund closes the article by saying that previous governments are, of course, also responsible for the decay of Sweden, but adds:
"However, now Stefan Löfven is Prime Minister and has actively contributed to attracting many times the refugees that, for instance, Denmark has. He, like his predecessor, has shown a great penchant for talking about taking responsibility. Maybe it is now time for the Swedish voters to claim this responsibility. Is the Prime Minister ready to own up to his responsibility for the refugee disaster, and accept the consequences in the form of his resignation? Or does he intend to keep pointing the finger at all other countries (except Germany)?"
Left: The burned remains of a home for asylum seekers in Munkedal, Sweden, after it was torched in October 2015. Right: Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.
Ingrid Carlqvist is a journalist and author based in Sweden, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow of Gatestone Institute.

Can Mr. Putin Dictate the Conditions of the Transitional Process in Syria?
Middle East Briefying/January 09/16
It is assumed in many European capitals that Moscow is more focused on the outcome of the proposed transitional process in Syria than it is on the future of Assad. This sounds logical. Mr. Putin said several times that what is important is to prevent the collapse of the State and preserve stability in Syria. Yet, examining this assumption thoroughly would reveal some important questions. The main question here is related to the fluid nature of any definition of “the outcome of the Syrian transitional process” and the extent to which it may really contribute to future stability in Syria. First, the fluid nature of the process appeared early on when a dispute emerged about “defining” terrorist groups in the Syrian opposition. While this dispute appears “technical” in the view of some observers, it is in fact more significant in terms of what it really reveals. Shaping the parameters of the transitional process means shaping the outcome of this process. Therefore, it is actually the end that explains the nature of the road that reaches it. Talks about the nature of the transitional process must be designed to produce an outcome that focuses mainly on a sustainable stability. This, in its turn, means cleaning Syria of terrorist groups, building an inclusive state structure, ending the previous state of affairs that led to the wide popular revolt of 2011 and respecting basic human and political rights. Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Lavrov used the term “secular” to define the sought after future Syria. We believe that term is deceptive and too general to mean anything in the current Syrian context. Furthermore, it gives the parties involved in the process, particularly Russia, a larger than usual space to create all kinds of obstacles and employ blunt pressure tactics.
Due to historical reasons that are too complex to discuss now, the civil war in Syria has fallen, as is always the case in the Middle East, to default levels defined by religions and sects. We cannot think of any political force, not only in Syria but in the whole Middle East, which is truly secular. Now, how are you going to build a future secular Syria without secularists?
Second, this question becomes more relevant in the context of the current debate about “who is a terrorist? And “who is a secular?” In the case of the talks which will start January 25, there are two Syrian sides: The regime and the opposition (defined by Mr. Putin as good opposition and bad opposition. The good opposition is what Moscow labels “secular” and what others call Assad-friendly, and the bad opposition is defined by Moscow as terrorist and described by others as “Islamist”). All these labels and descriptions seem extremely fluid. Let us start with Assad himself. If terrorism means to kill civilians indiscriminately, then how Assad’s barrel bombs could be called? Did these barrel bombs chose somehow only “terrorists” and not the children? And how is Assad secular if he, and his father before him, built their regime on sectarian loyalty? The general issue then is relatively simple: Where to lay the line that separates terrorists from non-terrorists. This line could be put arbitrarily if necessary in order to abort the whole process or extract more concessions. Take the example of the leader of Jaish Al Islam Zahran Aloush. The guy was a fierce fighter against ISIL. He prevented the terrorist organization from controlling the south of Damascus. He accepted the transitional process. Then he was killed by Mr. Putin who says he is fighting ISIL and who commits to the very transitional process Aloush accepted.
Third, the issue now moved from the point of “what future Syria”, to the issue of “what transitional process”. Mr. Putin is trying to shape the transitional process in order to shape the future Syria.
But why is this a wrong strategy? Is it not possible that all what Mr. Putin wants is to rid Syria from all those bearded fanatics and create an enlightened democratic Syria, like the “very enlightened and democratic” Russia? The answer is clear: One can strive for a future anything based on totally subjective wishes and plans. But in this case, and unfortunately for Mr. Putin, we are talking about another country, other political forces, other armed groups, other ideas and ideologies, other people and another region. But let us go the extra mile with Mr. Putin’s “good intentions”. Let us assume that the Russian President sincerely wants Syria without those bearded fanatics and that there is a way to make that happen through drawing fresh lines separating terrorists (which is all Islamist groups in this case) from non-terrorists (which is the Assad-friendly groups). Then we should exclude all Islamists from the general body of the Syrian opposition. Right? Fine. But what will be left exactly? Almost nobody but some weightless groups. Let us go even further and accept this as a “great success” to the transitional process and its sponsors. Then, we will move to the new transitioned Syria. A new Assad on the same old tyrannical methods with some decorative additions.
But who will fight ISIL then? And what would merit to be called “different” than all we see now or what was there before 2011 that led to the public revolt? Maybe “the person” of Assad will be in a villa in a classy quarter in the outskirts of Moscow. But there would be another Assad in Damascus.
Let us even go the few extra yards left in Mr. Putin’s rope and repeat after him that all Islamist opposition should be excluded from the transitional process. Well, then what we will see it is Assad and Putin negotiating with Assad and Putin. Does the Russian President really believe that the Syria opposition is a bunch of idiots and that they will be indeed deceived by the departure of the person of Assad and join happily in the celebrations of a new Syria with a new Assad? Here comes the theory that promotes the idea that the US fabricated the Syria revolution. Now, all what we have to do is to convince the bad guys in Washington to refrain from playing with their magic buttons that cause revolutions anywhere they wish in the world. If those bad guys are out of the way, Syria can stabilize without the “bad” opposition. It is magic.
This theory reflects not only a sick mind assuming that subjective will can cause earth quakes, but it also reflects an amazing misunderstanding of the depth of malaise in the Middle East. The US may “use” these deep contradictions in the region, it does not create them. And this is always limited by objective circumstances in the region and subjective limits in the US powers.
It is clear that Mr. Putin lives in a self-created bubble of concepts and ideologies. We will leave him there as it is beyond our ability to convince him to look at the situation differently. All what we can do is to compare what is going on in reality with all this diplomatic fuss about the “transitional process”.
If we accept thinning the participants along the lines of Mr. Putin’s “secular” future Syria, all we will get is a replay of the Assad regime and the Syrian revolution. This replay may even be the best possible scenario of the proposed transitional process. The worst case scenario would be a continuation of the currently existing situation but with a different “political décor” in Damascus. In this bad scenario, the situation risks to deteriorate even further than what it is now as is always the case in history.
In this case, the “Russian surge” currently taking place in Syria will end precisely the same way the “American surge” ended in Iraq: The rebirth of even more vicious terrorist wave.
What to do then? Should all this mean that we must allow the terrorists to rule Syria in order to avoid their re-emergence?
If we do allow the terrorists to rule Syria we would have defeated our own higher principle. The one unnegotiable principle would be for any group participating in the new Syria transition to say and act consistently in a manner that totally rejects terrorism and violence. The groups allowed to participate in the “outcome” of the process must commit to respecting the rights of minorities, basic human rights, the rule of law, and the rights of dissent. So long as the youth activists are allowed to communicate what really happens without persecution, we have full confidence on those activists whom we followed closely along the last few turbulent years. Mr. Putin cannot force Islamist opposition to divorce their religious beliefs and join whatever secularism he is talking about. Only history and the natural progress of human spirit in these lands can sort out this issue. The immediate goal should be the unnegotiable condition of rejecting terrorism in word and in action for any group to participate. But after all, it will not be Mr. Putin who allows or denies any group of Syrians to participate in ruling their own country. It is not his country. And whatever force he uses, he will always be unable to force Syrians into submission. He will run out of Syria before he is able to kill every single Syrian opposition member. That is certain. The way the current process advances carry many signs of uncertainty. As we previously said, this process is more likely to fail than to succeed. Only the step of enacting a cease fire is almost a mission impossible. Everyone should be ready for a cease fire that may not actually exist. This should not, however, stop the process. It will be a fatal mistake to hang the prospects of the whole process on the impossible success of the cease fire, though the cease fire should remain central and important as an organizing principle.
If Mr. Putin accepts the Syrian opposition as it really is and excludes only real terrorists who defend an ideology that transcends the national borders of Syria, a move towards ending the crisis would be possible. If he does not, then the assumption common in European capitals that he is focused on the process more than Assad’s future will prove elusive. For Mr. Putin will show that he is not interested neither in the process nor in Assad’s future but only in Russia’s strategic interests. Under the conditions dictated by Mr. Putin, the question becomes: Does the Russian President really wants to end the crisis through a genuine political process?

Obama Administration Delays Iran Sanctions in Quiet Deal
Middle East Briefying/January 09/16
The Obama Administration has postponed new sanctions against Iranian officials, implicated in the country’s advanced missile program. After having informed Congress that there would be new sanctions announced by the US Treasury Department against Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other regime officials involved in the October testing of a new, precision Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM), the Administration delayed the announcement of those added sanctions, after negotiators reached a deal with Iran to restrict further missile testing. While Iranian officials argued that the missile test did not technically violate the P5+1 nuclear deal, negotiated last year and now ratified by both the US and Iranian legislatures, the key to the sanctions delay was the deal reached that Iran could pursue research and development of new missiles, but would refrain from any live test firing. In effect, Iran made last moment concessions. With elections scheduled next month for the Iranian Majlis and the Council of Guardians, the timing of the quiet deal, delaying sanctions for the time being, could impact on the electoral outcome. US officials will be carefully monitoring whether the government officials who negotiated the last moment deal will be able to actually enforce the agreement. Obama Administration officials are anxious to see moderate conservatives come out on top in the mid-February Majlis elections, and they also hope that either President Hassan Rouhani or former President Ali Rafsanjani will be elected to chair the Council of Guardians. US officials are worried that, in the final phase of P5+1 negotiations, Secretary of State John Kerry failed to extract any firm commitments from Iran to back off from actions that undermine overall US interests in the region. The elections will, in the eyes of Obama Administration officials, determine the strength of hardline factions in the Iranian clergy and the IRGC. The US Intelligence Community sees Supreme Leader Khamenei as the defender of those radical factions. The judiciary, under Khamenei’s control, made every effort to sabotage the ratification of the P5+1 deal, and Khamenei has permitted the IRGC to interfere in both the domestic and foreign policy of the country. For the Obama Administration, a moderate victory in the Majlis elections, particularly if Rouhani and Rafsanjani are elected to the Council of Guardians, can put the kind of pressure on Khamenei that is vital, if US and Iranian regional conflicts are to be diminished. The Council of Guardians will oversee the selection of the next Supreme Leader. Pentagon officials who studied the October 2015 missile test are now deeply concerned that, unless the Iranian work on longer range ballistic missiles is curbed now, they will eventually develop the capacity to deploy Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) that can reach targets on the continental United States. Pentagon brass insist that, unless there are verifiable curbs on Iran’s missile program, all bets are off, including the completion of the P5+1 deal. United Nations experts have confirmed and reported to the UN Security Council that Iran violated existing UN sanctions, barring them from testing any ballistic missiles, capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Independent of the US-Iran deal, the UN Security Council will be taking up the question of punitive action against Iran. However, with both Russia and China maintaining veto power at the Security Council, the chances of new sanctions being imposed, at the point that Iran is completing its compliance with the P5+1 deal, are remote.

Saudi-Iran Crisis: The Tragic Failure of Obama Foreign Policy
Middle East Briefying/January 09/16
Another additional flare in the Middle East crisis is evolving rapidly-the escalation between Saudi Arabia and Iran after the execution of a Shia cleric and 46 other Al Qaeda terrorists. The crisis which followed the executions is but the last reminder that the general regional crisis is indeed turning into a primary threat to global security and yet another testimony to the extent of failure of President Obama foreign policy. We will show here how President Obama’s strategy based on giving more and more concessions to the Ayatollahs in Iran is blocking the way to advance important U.S. pressing regional objectives like improving Arab-Iran relations, fighting ISIL, contributing to ending Syria’s and Yemen’s civil wars and preserving the unity of Iraq.
This failure hurts the regional stand of the U.S. It hurts its interests. It hurts long established ties with regional players. And it hurts the region itself. Furthermore, it contributes to regional flames that show over and over their ability to go beyond the region. In that sense it is also a global security issue.
The repeated concept that frames the administration’s view of the region’s crisis is best summarized by a former U.S. official. He said in a comment he published recently that “it would be irrational to conclude that U.S. actions and inaction hadn’t contributed to the messes in the Middle East. But the region’s challenges are rooted in internal, religious and sectarian problems that are not amenable or conductive to US military power or political persuasion”. The problem here is not only that the writer is talking about a situation that is not exclusive to the Middle East (every region in the world has its fair share of problems), nor is it that he states something that has always existed in the region, long before the President took office. This view reflects how politics and “practicalities” caused the U.S. foreign policy to fall into an oversimplification and superficiality. For it is the function of foreign policy to navigate the world problems, consider their real impact, study the multiple forces that shape the nature of any major crisis and chart a way of dealing with it in a way that consider its realities and serve the general interests.
Of course, one would ask now a legitimate question: Why should there be any policies, actions or inactions, if all this ends up with nothing. If the object of these policies (the Middle East) is “not amenable” and “not conductive”?
When one thinks of a certain region in an effort to form a proper concept to approach it in terms of foreign policy, it is important to see the multiple factors that have shaped and are shaping the region as it stands before us. If the result is a foreign policy that has no effect whatsoever, it is the fault of the policy, and not the fault of the nature of its targeted region or its being “not conductive or amenable” to the tools of foreign policy. For this policy must have considered beforehand the conceptual frame that supposedly included all the major factors that shape the nature of that region at any given moment.
The major countries of the region are clearly responsible about the messes we see there. Yet, in similar cases where regional parties are locking horns and determined to fight no matter what, it is global leaders that should interfere, prudently and with all realities considered, to implement a proper concept to defuse the time-bomb. It is evident now that the U.S. administration is not capable of forming the necessary concept. In fact, the President’s insistence to force some of his subjective and ideological views on the realities of the region in a relatively crude fashion is partially responsible about the convulsions we see there.
We have seen the President’s policy on the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Mrs. Clinton’s emails talk volumes about the details of the administration’s “policy” to empower the MB, a group that seeks to build an Islamic supra-national Caliph “through democratic means”. Once in power in Cairo, the MB suspended all democratic processes and immunized its Presidential decrees of any review by the Parliament or the Judiciary.
The President’s policy in that regard hurt Egypt, the future prospects of democracy in the Middle East and the MB itself. Do we find anyone now willing to question the administration in this tragic failure? If it will be done, it will be done for partisan motives and will be answered in a partisan fashion. But the truth is not partisan. The President policies in Iraq (supporting Maliki before asking for his departure-Rushing to pull out forces without real negotiations with Baghdad, etc.) produced ISIL. The President’s policies in Syria (Standing alone against every single other senior official in his cabinet and against the evaluations of his security agencies in 2012 and 2013) helped expand ISIL and got few hundred thousand more Syrians killed.
And now, we may see a conventional war erupting between the Sunni Arabs and Iran.
That is an impressive record indeed. And instead of talking about where things went wrong, we hear some murmur about “problems that are not amenable or conductive to US military power or political persuasion”. The President’s major conceptual flaws stemmed from his attachment to strong ideological beliefs, not understanding that if he rushes to implement these subjective ideals he will be in fact be hurting them and causing an uncontrollable mess. Each President has his ideological inclinations. The problem would always be: How to turn those ideals to reality? In this link between objectives and realities, having a clear concept of moving things forward is crucial. Instead of reflecting about the most effective way to implement a policy on a reality which should have been studied profoundly beforehand, we detect a system preference of crude and “mathematical” patterns which are too simplified to fit a region where nothing is simple. And now we see the crisis in the Middle East entering a new phase. There is no place here for the nonsense that history repeats itself, neither as a tragedy nor as a farce. It does not. It always evolves into a higher degree of complexity. And we see before our own eyes the regional crisis stepping into a more dangerous phase.
We can criticize Saudi Arabia and Iran as much as we want. Yet, this is the way things are. How can we get out of the hole?
The Obama administration prolonged the rope to Iran to an unbelievable length lately. The administration swallowed Tehran’s missile tests which were a potential breach of the unclear agreement. Just the last day of 2015 brought a live testimony to the utter failure of Mr. Obama’s policies in the Middle East. While the US carrier Harry S. Truman was entering the Gulf, it was “welcomed” by an Iranian rocket that fell only 1500 meter from the carrier. That was during the very moment when the President was pressuring Congress to freeze any proposed response to Iran’s tests of a new generation of missiles.
It is understood that the President wants to open a new road to relations with Iran. But why should this happen on the expense of Arabs in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon? Why should it happen on the expense of the U.S. regional stand, relations with America’s traditional allies and regional stability?
If the objective is to open a new page with Iran, how could this be worked out? It is not rocket science to lay some rules to organize relations between regional countries. There are many precedents and a wealth of international norms and laws that provide all the necessary tools. It is not rocket science neither to form a global coalition, not to bomb someone, but to pacify a region latent with wars and armed conflicts. It just takes a leader who does not focus only on optics. But President Obama seems to be determined to break the US traditional alliance structure in the Middle East in his attempt to make his shift towards opening a new page with Iran. It is either that the President does not know what to do, or that he has made up his mind and decided already to offer his traditional allies to Iran on the altar of the Ayatollahs.
Here are the facts that led to this conclusion- that the Obama administration offered Arab strategic interests on the altar of the Ayatollahs:
* There was, and there still is, secret talks between the U.S. and Tehran related to Iran’s regional policies. No one of Washington’s traditional allies knows exactly what is going on in these talks.
* In these secret talks (in Oman and some European diplomatic centers), the administration allegedly “restrained” Iranian ambitions in Iraq. Yet, the battle of Ramadi hid a sectarian agenda reflected on the mottos raised on the liberated city. The Wall Street Journal described it best. “The military campaign masks a variety of local agendas and motives by key actors that reflect the problems ahead and the illusion that Iraq can be unified. Iraq’s powerful pro-Iranian Shiite militias are carving out whole areas where they are determined to preserve their dominance and prevent Sunni resurgence”, the newspaper said.
The U.S. administration is seen as enabling pro-Iranian militias to control whole areas which are traditionally Sunni land. This will certainly complicate the fight against ISIL and maintain the reasons why convulsions there express themselves in groups like Al Qaeda or ISIL.
* The U.S. administration dropped the demand of Assad leaving power either “immediately” as President Obama said before, or prior to the transition talks as Secretary Kerry said during the Geneva-1 talks, or even after the transition talks as is emerging now. Dropping this demand was done to please the Iranians. The future of the transitional talks in Syria is indeed questionable at best.
* The U.S. administration exerted extreme pressure to restrain any reaction to Iran’s missile tests. These missiles are not obviously made for fireworks purposes. Neither are they made for defensive reasons. They are offensive by the nature of their range and capabilities. The administration did everything possible to convince Congress not to react because “the secret talks with the Iranians are going through a delicate phase”. Rep. Steny Hoyer, a Democrat, had this to say: “I am disappointed that the administration has delayed punitive action in response to Iran’s recent ballistic missile tests. We are always in a sensitive moment in our dealings with Iran, and there is never a perfect time to undertake such actions”. The Arabs will now chart a different course in building their defensive capabilities.
* The U.S. administration was exerting pressure on the Arab countries to accept a compromise in Yemen that does not respect the legal government which was previously toppled by pro-Iranian Houthi rebels. The Arabs ended the symbolic ceasefire in response.
* Commitments offered to GCC members during the US-GCC summit in Camp David last May were quietly withdrawn later by the President.
And the list goes on.
Should that be considered “foreign policy success”? What we have now is that Lebanon’s Presidential crisis, which was showing signs of moving to a solution is back to the previous stagnation. Syria’s talks to find a diplomatic solution is uncertain. Iraq’s timid attempts to restrain sectarian forces would be over. Yemen ceasefire has ended. And the region is inching towards war. Success?
It sounds like an understatement to say that problems in the region are indeed very complicated. When this is coupled with a President who wants to shift the direction of regional realities by forcing a restructuring of U.S. alliances and because he subjectively and ideologically believes, from his personal point of view, that this should be done, the President should be advised to set aside all ego complexes and assume that he may be wrong and this may not be the way to approach this explosive region. He may be advised to seek a more sophisticated and well-studied concept on how to deal with regional problems which are “not amenable or conductive to US military power or political persuasion”.

Few Words for our Critics
Middle East Briefying/January 09/16
Just few words for some of our critics. It has become almost fashionable to sympathize with Tehran’s policies in the Middle East and deny its intervention in the regions’ countries. To criticize Iran’s policies has become equivalent to being a “neo-conservative” and a “warmonger”.
It has also become fashionable to support Assad as the “true fighter” against terrorism. All his opponents have been labeled supporters of terrorism, radicalism and Jihadists. On the other hand, supporting Assad is presented as an effort to foil a US led conspiracy to destabilize the Middle East and change its regimes. Furthermore, it has become fashionable to accuse any Sunni who practice his religion and fight oppression under his religious beliefs, and not under a secular political ideology, of being a terrorist regardless of his position on terrorism as we all know it.
This wave of predicates is pushed to become a “given” in the public discourse. And we see otherwise decent people parroting things like “There are no moderates among Assad opponents”, “Iran is unfairly targeted by the war camp in the West”, “President Putin is the real fighter against terrorism”, or “Sunnis, defined as such, are terrorists”.
This is not only wrong, it is also meant to mold public perceptions in a certain form that is not truthful, not fair and would ultimately undermine all what our critics claim to defend.
The fact that Iran raised a sectarian flag was abundantly clear immediately after the US invasion of Iraq. Though sectarianism existed always behind the surface in the region, it came out to be an explicit organizing principle since the invasion of Iraq.
Any US veteran of the Iraq war knows that first hand. The Iranian regime saw the moment as an opportunity to control Iraq, kill the Americans and subjugate Iraqi Sunnis. Tehran saw controlling Iraq as a national security priority. The only available ideological tool to achieve this end was Iran’s common bond with the Shia majority in Iraq-Shi’ism. In order to use this bond effectively, it was necessary to awaken the sectarian identity among Iraqi Shias on the expense of the national identity of all Iraqis.
Iran has progressed noticeably in its efforts in Iraq since then. Iraq’s Sunnis were faced with a sectarian vengeance as a punishment for an alleged oppression they had nothing to do with. Saddam oppressed all Iraqis, Sunnis, Shias and Kurds.
A short read of what happened after toppling Saddam will show how the dynamics of the shift to sectarianism played out slowly as a curse from the past used to shape the future and to achieve geostrategic plans.
Yes, we consider Iran a sectarian force by excellence and an exporter of a fundamentalist ideology by excellence. Are those critics of ours too blind to see the religiously sectarian slogans in Tehran and in Hezbollah’s political ideology? The moment one identifies himself on sectarian bases is the moment when “his other” will think of his. The Sunni identity was raised in response to an emerging sectarian polarization which was destined, by virtue of being an “idea”, to cross geographical borders.
And yes, we were skeptical of the Iran nuclear deal. Our skepticism was not on the merits of the deal itself. It stemmed from understanding the context on which the deal was signed. An aggressive Iran is destined to be more aggressive once free of tight global sanctions. We hoped for a strategy that position any potential nuclear deal in the context of a comprehensive restraining mechanism to avoid the negative consequences of Tehran’s foreign policies in general and its regional subversive activities in particular.
We even heard voices denying any Iranian subversion in the Middle East. Those who are defending Iran see its religious fundamentalism, sectarian intervention in Iraq and destructive role in Syria without even asking: Why these places and not any other place? Why did not we hear of any Iranian role in other countries like, say, Libya or Algeria? The reason is that there are no Shias there. Tehran cannot revive a sectarian identity there as a convenient bridge for a role to play. But maybe Iran defenders do not understand what they see in their “defend Iran” mood of action. Iran is as oppressive as many other regimes in the Middle East, if not even more. Iran is as fundamentalist as many other regimes in the Middle East if not even more. And Iran is certainly more sectarian than all the others combined. Try to listen to a Kurd in Sanandaj or a Sunni in Ahwaz.
What do we really want from Iran? We want a constructive Iran in a region where limits are delineated and mutual respect, trade, investment, cultural ties and mutual recognition are the coins of the ties between the components of the Middle East. Arabs do not want to interfere in Iran’s affairs neither do they want Iran to interfere in theirs. We have not heard Arabs talk about controlling Tehran but we heard Iranians talk of controlling Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sana. Who wants to interfere in the others affairs then? Iraqi Sunnis do not want to be treated as “the others” in their own land. Syrian Sunnis, and in fact all Syrians, do not want to be oppressed under the flags of Assad, Iran, Hezbollah or ISIL.
Are some Sunnis terrorists? Absolutely. Are some Shia terrorists? No doubt. Are many in both camps sectarian? Yes. How to transcend this very destructive state of affairs?
Let us get back to the old Greek philosophy in search for an answer. It was said then that if you are building your house and a neighbor you always hated offered one clear morning to help you, you should welcome him and fix him a drink. It is when people build together that they come to appreciate each other. But certainly it is not by being blind to what the Iranians actually do because of any fashion or in order to raise a word or two against an alleged “neo-conservative” hiding here or there.
We do not have to apologize for rejecting Iranian intervention, subversion, terrorism and sectarianism. We do not have to keep repeating that we reject any sectarianism, Sunni or Shia or Christian or Muslim. Neither do we feel obliged to repeat what we have said tens of times that we will resist, condemn and refuse any sort of discrimination against Shia, Kurds, Christians, Sunnis, Alawis or any other human being because of his belief or color or language. This is indeed the trash of all human thought in the course of our history.
We simply side with the necessity of examining the “content” of any proposed idea to be able to define how it may effect a specific situation. The organizing principle here is man’s dignity, freedom and responsibilities towards the community. It is not the “label” of Sunni or Shia, secular or religious, Christian or Muslim. It is whether this man participates in building the house or work to destroy it.
The Syrian opposition is in some important part religious. It is Sunni. It is not secular. So what? If it vows to respect all the “others”, guarantee their freedom of belief and expression, treat all with dignity and builds houses, schools and hospitals, why should it apologize for its religious belief?
People do not behave according to one individual, or a group of individuals, set of values and standards. They behave according to their own mind set in their time and place. What should be required is only that they respect some universal values that are above all human, hence universal. Islam contributed largely to the march of civilizations in certain parts of our human history. The essence of the Enlighted base of Islam must be revived to bring it back to its great role as a major contribution to human civilization not as its main enemy.
Yes, some Syrian opposition groups raise an Islamic flag. But what is wrong with that exactly? Should they be secular to fit our critics’ views? Those who oppose an Islamic opposition group based on merely being Islamic are as blind as those who attack anything Islamic.
Then comes Mr. Putin. We are discovering now that he has become the hero of fighting terrorism, side by side with Mr. Assad of course. What Mr. Putin does is that he kills ten innocent civilians to get rid of one terrorist. Yet, he is hailed and saluted by some of our critics. In their view, he is foiling a vicious US plan to topple a “legitimate” government. This is such a thin argument that we are not sure it deserves to be even discussed.
The Syrian revolution started by normal simple people. They protested in the streets demanding their dignity and freedom. Assad forces shot and killed them. It still does. What does the US has to do with it? And what does it mean “legitimate” in that context exactly? Where is this magic button that someone in Washington presses to blow a country thousands of miles far?
And at the end, Mr. Putin will not be able to bomb the Syrian people into submission. At the end, what he would have done is give ISIL a wider opportunity to reemerge as it did in Iraq. Oppression definitely creates terrorism as much as sectarianism begets sectarianism. The only way to break this vicious circle is for all to get involved in building something that benefits all.
ISIL infiltrated Syria from Iraq as it sniffed the opportunity. Syrian civilians, under fire, and losing their children and loved ones on daily bases reached a point of being ready to side with anyone who may provide them with the means to live and defend themselves. One can sit in his warm office sipping his coffee and criticizing the Syrians for going radical. Please!

“Toronto Imam: Muslims should hire only Muslims; do business only with Muslims,”
https://youtu.be/KXxFZzE6hyc/ http://en.cijnews.com/?p=18748
by Jonathan D. Halevi, CIJ News, January 8, 2016
Shaykh Said Rageah (الشيخ سعيد راجح) was born in Somalia and in the late 80sn moved to North America. Rageah has a Bachelor’s in Islamic studies and a Masters in Shari’ah and he has had several posts over the years, including: founder of Masjid Huda in Montreal and Masjid Aya in Maryland, advisor for Muslim Youth magazine, and member in the Aqsa Association.
He is also the founder of both Muslim Magazine and Al Aqsa Association, and served as the Chaplain at both the University of Calgary and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT). He served as an Imam at the Abu Hurairah Mosque in Toronto, the Chairman for the Journey of Faith Conference and as an instructor for the AlMaghrib Institute.
In a sermon delivered at Abu Hurairah Centre in Toronto (the video was uploaded to YouTube on February 8, 2009), Imam Rageah called on Canadian Muslims to unite and translate their demography into a political and economic power that is necessary to make the government allow Muslims to implement the Islamic Law (Sharia) in their communities and to change the foreign policy.
Rageah spoke in favour of following the example of the Sikh neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta, by bringing the Muslim community to live together in one area in which the authorities will not be able to make any decision without the approval of the Muslims.
He urges Muslims to hire only Muslim workers, to buy products or services only from Muslim-owned businesses and to avoid advertising with media outlets owned by kafir, meaning unbeliever or infidel. In this way, he maintained, Canadian Muslims can strengthen themselves and live according to Islam.
The following is a transcript of segments from Rageah’s sermon:
“With four, five [hundred] thousand Muslims you can create the most powerful lobby in Canada… with that number of Muslims you can create one of the strongest Muslim business in Toronto…
“If you just put our resources, if we put our resources together, if we can work together as an Ummah [Muslim nation] we can change a lot…
“As Muslims, we are scattered all over the city. You have people living in Brampton, you have people living in Mississauga, you have people living in Whitby, you have people living in Richmond Hill. Imagine if we all get together in one area.
“In the City of Edmonton, the Sikh, Sikh, they live in one neighbourhood and nothing can be changed or done without their approval. We here we may as well benefit from the system that they have here.
“What can you do with unity? A lot. You can change a lot. You can change the foreign policy of this country. You can change how the Muslims think. You can even when need help, when you need help you call Muslim for your need you will help the Muslim community…
Brothers in the masjid [Mosque] right now, they are coming up with the magazine or newspaper called Ummah Times. What Ummah Times is that? Ummah Times is advertising all your businesses all the Muslim businesses [are] Ummah.
“All you need to do – I will never advertise with a kafir [unbeliever, infidel], there you go.
“I hear some advertisements giving to 680 News $5,000. Before your Muslim brothers $50 and $80 or $100 we think twice before we do it.
“Unless we work together, the day we need a truck driver we know where to find truck drivers.
“The day that I need a cab I should have a number of a Muslim cab it’s ok, pick me up.
“When I wan to see a doctor, only Muslim doctor.
“When I want to hire someone only Muslim worker.
“Then we can strengthen ourselves. This is the way and this is the only way we can exist in the society, living according to Islam.
“When the Sharia [Islamic Law], when the government of Toronto, Ontario gave us a break and said: deal your internal affairs based on your Sharia [Islamic Law] we did not go and say: Those few people are Ismailis and Ahmadis, they are not even Muslims. Why would they speak on behalf of Muslims. But, we say no, we keep quiet and see and watch what happens, and then the result was that they said… we will never allow you to rule yourselves, your internal affairs based on the Shariah…
“My brothers in faith [اخوتي في الله], anything that happens in your Muslim community, in the City of Toronto, anything that can be done, five hundred thousand Muslims that is a great number, large number, you can do a lot, work together. Let’s be an Ummah [nation]…
“Take your children to Islamic schools.
“Take your vehicle to Muslim owned business.
“If you buy a vehicle make sure there is a Muslim business or car dealer that sells cars.
“If you want to do anything just ask if that individual is a Muslim or not. If he is not, then look for a Muslim, because I’m sure you’ll find a Muslim. I’m sure you’ll find a Muslim in that field…
“O Allah, Raise the standing of Islam and the Muslims [اللهم اعز الاسلام والمسلمين], and humiliate the infidels and the polytheists.” [اذل الكفرة والمشركين]
Rageah visiting Sweden: refugees should spread Islam in hosting country
In his recent visit to Sweden, Rageah met with Muslim youths apparently sons and daughters of refugees from the Middle East who resettled with their families in a small Swedish village.
Rageah explained to the Muslim youths the obligation upon them to follow the teachings of Islam and also the importance of playing a leading role in introducing Islam to the local society in order to spread Islam in their new community.
The following are excerpts of Rageah’s speech (posted on YouTube on December 8, 2015):
“Why do you think Allah brought you here? Why do you think Allah brought your parents and they brought you here?
“Do you think because there was a civil war back home and they had nowhere else to go, and now all of the sudden they came to Sweden to this small village that I cannot even pronounce its name? Do you think they came here accidentally?
“No. It was designed by Almighty Allah. It was designed that you perhaps can be born and raised here, so you can carry the message of Islam to your own community, to the Swedish community, because maybe your father when he is speaking Swedish he has an accent, maybe your mother when she is speaking she has an accent. Maybe they don’t understand the culture of the people.
“Perhaps Allah brought you here so you can adapt, understand, analyze, read and learn the culture of the people and then in return you come back and give them the light of Islam…
“Unfortunately a lot of young ladies and a lot of young boys, or young men, they think they were brought here so they can have fun, they can listen to music, they can shovel the snow that their father never have seen before, they can make a snow man in front of their houses, they can slide down the hill. This is not the reason.
“The reason that Allah brought you here is so you can can carry the message of Islam to the people. Why? Because each one of us, Almighty Allah [said] call to the way of your Lord (ادعوا الى سبيل ربك ). So your responsibility is to call people to Allah.”…

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