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Bible Quotations For Today
If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 16/24-28: "Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? ‘For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.
Second Letter to the Corinthians 01/03-07: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on january 15-16.16.htm
Looking beyond the release of Michel Samaha/Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/January 15/16/
Lebanon’s national dialogue harms state institutions/Nayla Tueni/Al Arabiya/January 15/16/
In south Lebanon’s last Communist holdout, alcohol sale under threat/Alex Rowell/Now Lebanon/January 15/16
Lebanon's banks to pay price of sanctions on Hezbollah/Sami Nader/Al-Monitor/January 15/16
Liars or Fools: Which Govern America/Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPage Magazine/January 16/16
Defections threaten Jordan’s Brotherhood/Osama Al Sharif/Al-Monitor/January 15/16
Hagel says Obama 'paralyzed' Syria policy around Assad ouster/Barbara Slavin/Al-Monitor/January 15/16
Was Zahran Alloush really a moderate leader/Ali Mamouri/Al-Monitor/January 15/16
Kuwaiti hardliners and their external affiliations/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/January 15/16
How can Gulf diplomatic relations be resumed with Iran/Najat AlSaied/Al Arabiya/January 15/16
Boat drama: Did Iran toy with the U.S. and the world/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/January 15/16
Obama: State of the Union’s state of denial/Mohamed Chebarro/Al Arabiya/January 15/16
How (and Why) Palestinian Leaders Scare the World/Khaled Abu Toameh/© 2016 Gatestone Institute/January 16/16
Palestinian Authority Antisemitism: Overview of 2015/Itamar Marcus/© 2016 Gatestone Institute/January 16/16

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin for Lebanese Related News published on january 15-16.16.htm
March 14 Supporters Stage Rally in Ashrafieh against Samaha's Release
You Betrayed My Trust': Al-Sayyed Severs Ties with Samaha
Russia Has Begun 'Humanitarian Operations' in Syria
Qabbani Says Reports on Airport Safety Standards 'Exaggerated'
Bourj al-Barajneh Bombings Suspect Arrested
Two Men Seriously Injured in Jbeil Gun Attack
Salam Surprised by Hizbullah Boycott, Appointments on Right Track
Report: 2nd Batch of French Arms to be Delivered in April
Lebanon judge approves right of trans people to change gender
Hezbollah bashes opponents of Samaha’s release
Looking beyond the release of Michel Samaha
Lebanon’s national dialogue harms state institutions
In south Lebanon’s last Communist holdout, alcohol sale under threat
Lebanon's banks to pay price of sanctions on Hezbollah

March 14 Supporters Stage Rally in Ashrafieh against Samaha's Release
Naharnet/January 15/16/Young supporters of the March 14 coalition staged a rally on Friday outside ex-minister Michel Samaha's house in Ashrafieh to protest his controversial release from prison. They gathered at Sassine Square before marching towards the former minister's nearby residence. Security forces had earlier in the day blocked the roads leading to his house near Rizk Hospital in Ashrafieh in Beirut, amid strict security measures. Demonstrators also passed by the scene of the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Wissam al-Hassan, who was killed in a bombing in Ashrafieh in 2012. The Intelligence Bureau played a major role in Samaha's arrest. “The Holy Land of Martyrs Ashrafieh Does Not Welcome You, Michel Samaha,” said a banner carried by protesters. “The Ashrafieh Area Refuses to Receive Criminals,” said another banner. The March 14 youths were joined by MP Nadim Gemayel of the Kataeb bloc. “The Military Court's decision is the decision of Syrian hegemony represented by March 8 and Hizbullah,” Gemayel said at the sit-in. “We will submit to Speaker Nabih Berri a petition aimed at abolishing the Military Court,” he added. Gemayel also hit out at March 8's presidential candidates MP Michel Aoun and MP Suleiman Franjieh. “We won't accept Michel Samaha's release from prison and we can't allow Franjieh or Aoun to reach the presidential seat because these three figures represent the same political camp,” Gemayel added. Meanwhile, al-Mustaqbal movement youth official Wissam Shebli said the Military Court's ruling was issued by “Vilayat-e Faqih and weapons,” referring to Iran and its Lebanese ally Hizbullah. “We demand a real response from all the relevant agencies through unveiling the killers of Wissam al-Hassan,” he added. Lebanese Forces representative Jad Demian meanwhile said that his party “rejects Samaha's presence in Ashrafieh, the place where Bashir Gemayel and Wissam al-Hassan were martyred.”
Samaha was released from jail on Thursday after being sentenced to four-and-a-half years for smuggling explosives from Syria to Lebanon. His release drew wide condemnation among the March 14 camp, with head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri deeming it a “shame and a scandal.” Hariri vowed that he would not remain silent over the affair, adding: “Today we feel disgusted from the insufficient justice and we are fearful over the security of the Lebanese as long as the doors are open for criminals to escape a just ruling.” He noted that "the first response to this legal heresy must be a draft law to revise the Military Court's jurisdiction."Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi pledged that he would “perform his duties in this issue.”Repercussions of the release carried on until Friday with protesters briefly blocking roads in several areas in Beirut, such as the Cola and Qasqas neighborhoods. Samaha, who was information minister from 1992 to 1995, was released in exchange for a bail payment of 150 million Lebanese pounds ($100,000), according the text of the Military Court's judgment. Under his bail conditions, Samaha, 67, would be barred from leaving the country for at least one year, speaking to the press or using social media. The ex-minister was arrested in August 2012 and charged with attempting to carry out "terrorist acts" over allegations that he and Syrian security services chief Ali Mamluk transported explosives and planned attacks and assassinations of political and religious figures in Lebanon. Samaha was sentenced in May 2015 to four-and-half years in prison, but in June Lebanon's Cassation Court nullified the verdict and ordered a retrial. Samaha, a former adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad, admitted during his trial that he had transported the explosives from Syria for use in attacks in Lebanon.
But he argued he should be acquitted because he was a victim of entrapment by a Lebanese security services informer – Milad Kfoury.

You Betrayed My Trust': Al-Sayyed Severs Ties with Samaha
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 15/16/Former General Security chief Maj. Gen. Jamil al-Sayyed announced Friday the end of his friendship with ex-minister Michel Samaha, a day after the latter was released from jail under a controversial Military Court ruling. “My support for ex-minister Michel Samaha's family was an ethical duty and a commitment not to leave them during the time of hardship,” Sayyed said in a tweet. “Yesterday I responded to some top criminals who occupy posts in the State and in (Lebanese) politics, who shed false tears over the judiciary that released him,” Sayyed added, referring to statements that followed Samaha's release on Thursday. However, the major general blasted Samaha for “betraying his trust.” “Michel Samaha betrayed my trust and erred against me when he accompanied me from Damascus with him knowing what he was hiding in his car,” Sayyed said, referring to the explosives that Samaha smuggled in his car's trunk from Syria to Lebanon. “From now on, let each pursue his own course, our friendship is over,” Sayyed added. Both men are close to Syrian President Bashar Assad and to the Hizbullah-led March 8 camp in Lebanon. Samaha, who was information minister from 1992 to 1995, was released in exchange for a bail payment of 150 million Lebanese pounds ($100,000), according the text of the Military Court's judgment. Under his bail conditions, Samaha, 67, would be barred from leaving the country for at least one year, speaking to the press or using social media. The ex-minister was arrested in August 2012 and charged with attempting to carry out "terrorist acts" over allegations that he and Syrian security services chief Ali Mamluk transported explosives and planned attacks and assassinations of political and religious figures in Lebanon. Samaha was sentenced in May 2015 to four-and-half years in prison, but in June Lebanon's Cassation Court nullified the verdict and ordered a retrial. Samaha, a former adviser to Assad, admitted during his trial that he had transported the explosives from Syria for use in attacks in Lebanon. But he argued he should be acquitted because he was a victim of entrapment by a Lebanese security services informer – Milad Kfoury.

Russia Has Begun 'Humanitarian Operations' in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 15/16/Russia said Friday it had launched "humanitarian operations" in Syria where it is carrying out a bombing campaign against the Islamic State group, claiming peaceful life was slowly returning to the war-torn country. "The inhabitants are gradually coming back to Syrian cities and peaceful life is returning," General Sergei Rudskoi, a senior Russian General Staff official, told reporters. "In this context, the implementation of humanitarian operations will be a new line of work for the Russian armed forces in Syria," he said in televised comments. "Currently most of the aid is being sent to the city of Deir Ezzor which has been besieged by ISIL terrorists for a long time," Rudskoi said, using another term for IS. He said Syria's Il-76 military transport planes had airdropped 22 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Deir Ezzor using Russian equipment. "It will be distributed by local authorities," Rudskoi added. "Our work in this direction will continue," he said. "In the future we will give to the Syrian people all possible assistance when it comes to liberating the country from extremists and rebuilding peaceful life."Russia has decided to launch its own humanitarian operations in Syria because most of the aid has so far gone to rebel-controlled areas, often ending up in the hands of "extremists," Rudskoi said. "Attempts have repeatedly been seen to supply arms and ammunition and evacuate wounded fighters under cover of humanitarian convoys," he added. Moscow launched a bombing campaign against IS and other "terrorists" on September 30, saying it needed to target jihadists before they crossed into Russia. The West has criticized Russia's foray into the multi-front conflict, accusing Moscow of targeting not only the IS group but also moderate rebels fighting the regime. In August, Russia and Syria signed an agreement giving Moscow the right to retain an open-ended military presence in the war-torn country, Moscow revealed on Thursday.

Qabbani Says Reports on Airport Safety Standards 'Exaggerated'
Associated Press/Naharnet/January 15/16/A Lebanese official on Friday acknowledged European concerns about safety regulations at the Beirut airport, saying the facility needs improvement but adding that recent reports that the airport does not meet international safety standards are "exaggerated."
Mohammed Qabbani, head of Parliament's public works and transport committee, also said that Lebanon will use part of a $25 million Saudi grant to buy scanners and other new inspection machines to ensure more security in and around the airport. His comments follow reports that France and Britain are considering boycotting Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport due to safety concerns. Qabbani also called on the Lebanese government to appoint a new administration of civil aviation. "The airport needs improvement, this is something we know and this is something we acknowledge," he told The Associated Press. He said the committee was putting pressure on the government to appoint an independent civil aviation body. "The airport cannot continue as part of the government, of the ministry of transport, it has to be under the authority of an independent body," Qabbani added. Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq told As Safir newspaper last week that the airport has "serious problems that should no longer be overlooked."He said London and Paris have suggested they may halt flights to the airport but that they have not made a final decision pending measures taken by Lebanon. Early last year, the European Union sent a memo to the government informing it of a decision to stop transporting goods from the Beirut airport after Lebanon failed to meet EU standards for air transportation safety. British Airways became the first to implement the EU's decision and banned cargo flights from Beirut on March 1.

Bourj al-Barajneh Bombings Suspect Arrested
Naharnet/January 15/16/General Security said Friday it has arrested a Lebanese man suspected of involvement in the suicide bombings that rocked Beirut's southern suburbs in November last year. The general-directorate of General Security said in a statement that D.S. was apprehended for his involvement in the double suicide blast that rocked a busy shopping street in Bourj al-Barajneh on November 12. The man admitted to delivering explosive material and the detonators used in the bombings to terrorist A.R. who is in detention for planning the bombing and transporting one of the suicide bombers, said the statement. D.S. was referred to the judiciary following his questioning, it added. Last week, police arrested the suspected mastermind behind the blasts.The man, identified as Abu Talha, was accused of being the chief "coordinator" of the "cell that prepared a string of explosions in Lebanon," including in Bourj al-Barajneh, security forces said. Last month, another detainee, Bilal al-Baqqar was charged with belonging to the Islamic State group and taking part in the bombings.

Two Men Seriously Injured in Jbeil Gun Attack
Naharnet/January 15/16/Two men were on Friday seriously injured in a gunfight in the coastal town of Jbeil, the state-run National News Agency reported. NNA said F.H. opened fire at F.B. and A.B. with a hunting rifle following a dispute.F.B. and A.B. were injured in their legs and taken to Notre Dame de Secours Hospital in Jbeil, said the agency. It added that the assailant is on the run.

Salam Surprised by Hizbullah Boycott, Appointments on Right Track
Naharnet/January 15/16/Prime Minister Tammam Salam has expressed surprise at Hizbullah's boycott of Thursday's cabinet session, saying the party had welcomed his call for the government to convene. Salam's visitors quoted him as saying that “the absence of Hizbullah's ministers surprised” him because “the party's representatives were the first to welcome” his call for a session and encouraged him to take every step aimed at activating the cabinet's work. Hizbullah's ministers boycotted Thursday's session in solidarity with a decision taken by the Free Patriotic Movement ministers not to attend the meeting over their call for the appointment of top officers in the military council. Despite their boycott and the absence of the Marada Movement minister, the cabinet convened and approved several non-controversial decrees. Three military council posts, reserved for a Shiite, a Greek Orthodox and a Catholic, have been vacant for the past two years. The FPM is demanding the appointment of officers to fill the posts. Its conditions have paralyzed the government, which has so far only met three times since September last year. Speaker Nabih Berri told his visitors that he has held phone conversations with Salam, Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat, Army Commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji and other officials to call for the discussion of the appointments during the next cabinet session. Al-Joumhouria newspaper said on Friday that the efforts exerted by the officials to resolve the appointments crisis have made progress.
Discussions will now focus on the names proposed by the founder of the FPM, MP Michel Aoun, it said.

Report: 2nd Batch of French Arms to be Delivered in April
Naharnet/January 15/16/France is expected to deliver more weapons to Lebanon under a Saudi-financed deal in April this year, one year after the country received the first shipment, As Safir daily reported on Friday. In April 2015, Lebanon received the first shipment of the $3 billion worth of French arms aimed at boosting the country's defensive capabilities to combat terror threats, along its northeastern border in particular. A highly informed French source told As Safir that the second batch of weapons are expected to reach Lebanon next April. The sources said the last shipment would be made in 2023, eight years after the signature of the initial deal. France is expected to deliver 250 combat and transport vehicles, seven Cougar helicopters, three small Corvette warships and a range of surveillance and communications equipment as part of the $3 billion modernization program. The contract also promises seven years of training for the 70,000-strong Lebanese army and 10 years of equipment maintenance. The source said that Riyadh added new conditions for the delivery of weapons out of fear that sophisticated arms would fall in the hands of Hizbullah. But French officials informed Saudi Arabia that Hizbullah is in possession of high-tech weapons and that it does not need the French arms. Since the conflict in neighboring Syria broke out in 2011, Lebanon has faced mounting spill-over threats, first from the millions of refugees pouring across the border and increasingly from jihadists.

Lebanon judge approves right of trans people to change gender
/Now Lebanon/January 15/16/BEIRUT – A Lebanese judge has ruled in favor of a citizen seeking to legally register himself as a man after undergoing sex reassignment surgery, setting a major precedent for transgender rights in the country. Civil Court of Appeal Judge Janet Hanna approved the right of a person to change their gender in public records "in accordance with their psychological, sexual, ethical and social situation," citing Lebanese citizens' rights to privacy and treatment for psychological and physical "illnesses."The landmark ruling (number 1123/2015) was issued on September 3, 2015, but only recently officially published, according to a report prepared by the Beirut-based NGO Legal Agenda. Judge Hanna's verdict held that "the changing of sex by the appellant through hormonal treatment and a surgical operation was a necessary medical procedure."The Beirut judge's decision—which took into account "medical expertise"—also stated that the unnamed plaintiff's gender change would allow for his "treatment" and relieve the "suffering that has accompanied him for his entire life," Legal Agenda added in its analysis of the ruling.The NGO further explained that Judge Hanna ruled that denying the right of a transgender person to change their legal status posed an "unjustified challenge to the privacy of their life and fundamental freedoms."The plaintiff had originally taken his case to a lower court, which rejected his suit, before Judge Hanna ruled in his favor, overruling the original verdict that the transgender man had undergone the operation "as the result of will alone."

Hezbollah bashes opponents of Samaha’s release
Now Lebanon/January 15/16/BEIRUT – A top Hezbollah legislator has launched a broadside against opponents of Michel Samaha’s release from jail, while protests erupted Friday in Beirut over the granting of bail to the ex-minister found guilty of plotting terror attacks in Lebanon on behalf of the Syrian regime.
“The noisy programmed statements that opposed today’s decision by the Lebanese judiciary to release Samaha are no more than an expression of petulance, maliciousness and selective judgment,” MP Mohammad Raad, the leader of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, said late Thursday night.
He added that critics of the former minister’s release, specifically members of the pro-Western March 14 coalition, had taken a “capricious and temperamental” position. “There was no longer any legal justification for his detention to continue,” Raad also said, in reference to the light four-and-a-half years prison sentence passed against Samaha for “trying to carry out terrorist actions and belonging to an armed group.” Samaha was formally indicted in February 2013 alongside Syrian political security chief Ali Mamlouk on charges of “transporting explosives from Syria to Lebanon to assassinate political and religious leaders.”The former tourism and information minister was set to be released from prison by the end of 2015 counting “time served,” as Samaha has been incarcerated since his arrest in August 2012. The military court’s light sentence in May 2015 sparked furor among March 14 supporters as well as Sunni residents in northern Lebanon, who were the planned target of the terror attacks Samaha was coordinating. In June, Lebanon’s Military Court of Cassation accepted an appeal to hold a re-trial of Samaha in-lieu of his short sentence. The re-trial has been beset by a number of delays, only kicking off on December 17. Lebanese politicians in the March 14 coalition railed against Samaha’s release on Thursday, with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea saying it was “rejected by all means.” Future Movement chief Saad Hariri, in turn, said the granting of bail was a “gift to a criminal,” while his party’s ministers in the current government lamented the Military Court of Cassation’s decision. Protests also erupted in Sunni-populated areas of the country, as demonstrators blocked roads on Thursday night around Beirut’s densely-populated Tariq al-Jedideh quarter as well as in Tripoli and near Khaldeh on the highway leading form Lebanon’s capital to Sidon. On Friday afternoon, residents of Tariq al-Jedideh once again briefly blocked roads at the Kola roundabout and Qasqas on the western and eastern edges of the neighborhood.

Looking beyond the release of Michel Samaha
Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/January 15/16/
Article 315 of the Lebanese penal code stipulates that terrorist acts – defined as “all acts that aim at creating a state of terror and are committed using explosives, flammables … that can cause a public danger” – are punishable by a fixed-term of hard labor. Former Lebanese minister and cabinet member Michel Samaha was arrested on August 9, 2012, on charges of plotting a terrorist act, possession of illegal weapons and endangering public safety due to his involvement in transporting explosives from Syria to Lebanon. He was listed as a global terrorist by the United States in December 2012 for helping Syrian president Bashar al-Assad launch attacks in Lebanon – a fact that was confirmed by a leaked video. Samaha was released on bail yesterday, January 14, 2016, after spending less than three and a half years in prison. “The main problem is not Samaha’s release [on bail],” said lawyer Marwan Sakr. “The main problem is the original court decision that was significantly reduced.” In May 2015, the military court sentenced Samaha to four and a half years in prison for transporting weapons from Syria to Lebanon, plotting terrorist attacks, inciting sectarian conflicts and conspiring to assassinate Lebanese political and religious. “Technically, Samaha was not accused of terrorism; he was accused of crimes charged for no longer than 3 years, such as transportation of weapons,” said Tripoli MP Mosbah al-Ahdab. “From the beginning, he was accused by Sakr Sakr, the government’s commissioner at the military court, who is reportedly affiliated with the March 14 coalition and the Future Movement.”
The decision was objected to by a large number of Lebanese politicians and citizens; consequently, Judges Sakr Sakr and Hani Helmi al-Hajjar filed an appeal with the Court of Cassation to annul the first verdict, and sought to convict Samaha of plotting to assassinate political and religious figures in Lebanon. However, Samaha, who was arrested in 2012, has already served most of his sentence since the judicial year in Lebanon is nine months long. “This is definitely a scandal on every level. His case is not closed yet. He might get a longer sentence after later court sessions and go back to jail. Therefore, he shouldn’t have been released; especially that it is very rare for the military court to grant to release on bail a person accused of these types of crimes. But, the court has the discretionary authority to make such decisions and set the bail amount, which was also significantly lower taking into consideration the majority of [Samaha’s] case. In my opinion, what Samaha did should be considered a major crime and he should be convicted to a minimum of 10 to 15 years,” Sakr told NOW.
Lebanese politicians – March 14 leaders in particular – and a large number of Lebanese citizens’ greatly objected to the court’s decision to release Samaha and accused it of politicizing the military court. The Sunni community adamantly opposed the court's decision, especially since many Tripoli residents—accused of terrorism and radicalization— have been imprisoned in Roumieh for years, without proof of a crime or any court decision. “Samaha’s release should be added to the systematic process of weakening and distorting of the Lebanese state,” Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at Lebanese American University (LAU) Imad Salamey told NOW. “The decision aims at broadening the rupture between the Lebanese citizens, especially that the implementation is happening on a double-standard basis,” Hundreds of citizens – particularly from the Sunni community – are in prison without a conviction whereas the trans-boundary Shiite militia group is committing criminal operations without any restrictions.
Consequently, the evening after Samaha’s release, Lebanese protestors blocked roads all over Lebanon and started organizing protests. A number of Roumieh inmates, reportedly Islamists, are on hunger strike. “March 14 leaders are objecting and calling on people to protest, but stressing that they cannot protect them if they are accused of committing acts of terrorism for protesting. People who are protesting in Tripoli are being accused and charged with terrorism,” al-Ahdab told NOW. Analyst who spoke to NOW said that the court’s decision cannot be taken from a legal point of view only. The decision is more political than legal. Sakr told NOW that a court that changes two of its judges a month before taking the decision on Samaha’s case is definitely politicized. “The political composition of the military court goes back to the Syrian occupation; therefore, it is theoretically compassionate with Samaha, and this is obviously one of the repercussions of the Syrian influence on Lebanese institutions,” said Salamey.
Since yesterday, the Lebanese political scene was once again divided into two camps. March 8 politicians and their allies and supporters did not object Samaha’s release, while March 14 leaders started calling on their followers to take to the streets. However, the fact that March 14 coalition, more specifically the Future Movement, are in charge of the Ministry of Justice raises a lot of questions among analysts. “It is true that the military court is not affiliated to the Ministry of Justice that is ruled by the Future Movement. However, March 14 nominated the military court’s prosecutor,” said al-Ahdab. “From one side, March 8 politicians are claiming that Samaha served his term although he did not commit a crime, and this is wrong. But from the other side, March 14 politicians are executing the will of March 8 leaders and are conspiring with each other, and this has become very obvious.”
“Michel Samaha was not accused of terrorism because the current government is going in this direction. This might be one the results of the dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah,” he told NOW.
“The only solution I see is the resignation of March 14 politicians from the government, taking the opposition status, in order to fight the Iranian- Syrian occupation of Lebanon,” said Salamey.

Lebanon’s national dialogue harms state institutions
Nayla Tueni/Al Arabiya/January 15/16/Dialogue is important, but the current national dialogue in Lebanon is sadly not yielding the desired results. Dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement is always preceded by insults, threats and accusations, so no progress is achieved. Neither party contributes to developing security plans, or removing sectarian and partisan banners from the streets. Even if they do, it is only a matter of time before things go back to how they used to be. Dialogue between the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces has progressed a lot, but it has not achieved what the parties’ supporters desire, which is agreement on a presidential candidate to end the current vacuum and restore prestige to the presidential post. Parties should adhere to the constitution and reject this heresy of dialogue altogether. Although both Christian parties are aware that parliamentary elections are their biggest challenge, they have failed to agree on a draft electoral law that helps Christian voters retrieve their influence in the national formula. National dialogue, which has been ongoing since 2006, includes most parties that are represented in parliament and the cabinet. This dialogue has failed to reach an agreement over a president. They hold one meeting after another without implementing anything that is agreed upon, and deliberately ignore state institutions. What stops them holding meetings in parliamentary or cabinet sessions? Parties should adhere to the constitution and reject this heresy of dialogue altogether.

In south Lebanon’s last Communist holdout, alcohol sale under threat
Alex Rowell/Now Lebanon/January 15/16
KFAR RUMMAN, Lebanon – In most respects, Rony Market could be any grocery store in south Lebanon. Sitting just off an intersection at the edge of the village, its modest-sized interior stocks the same basic food and household wares one would find in any so-called dikken across the country. As a handful of customers trickle in and out to buy phone recharge cards or packets of mixed nuts, two middle-aged men in leather jackets stand bantering with Rami Saleh, the shopkeeper, while smoking cigarettes.
In one crucial regard, however, Rony Market is highly unusual for a dikken in these predominantly Shiite Muslim, pro-Hezbollah provinces: its shelves also stock a (fairly extensive) range of wines, spirits, liqueurs, and araks. Two tall, glass-front fridges, moreover, are packed top-to-bottom with bottles of beer, both local and imported. For residents of Nabatieh governorate – whose eponymous capital lies just a kilometer and a half away to the southwest – Rony Market is one of the very few places where refreshments of the Dionysian variety may be sourced.
To a large extent, this is a product of the peculiar history of Kfar Rumman, the wartime headquarters of the leftist Lebanese National Resistance Front (LNRF) militia and still one of the last holdouts of Communism in the country. On the drive into the village, which boasts a large hammer-and-sickle monument just across the street from Rony Market, NOW encountered a bright red truck with a debonair Leon Trotsky painted on the side: not for nothing has it long been nicknamed Kfar Moscow. Today, though, the flag most visible on Kfar Rumman’s lampposts and balconies is not the red-and-yellow of the USSR but the yellow-and-green of the militia that helped crush the LNRF in the mid-1980s: Hezbollah.
And while the godless comrades and Partisans of God have largely made peace today, events this week demonstrate the tension remaining under the surface between the village’s secular-minded residents and their Islamist neighbors. On Wednesday, a petition written by “Sons of Kfar Rumman” surfaced online listing eight shops in the village that sell alcohol – including Rony Market. Citing a Quran verse critical of alcohol (“Verily, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing at] stone altars, and divining arrows are an abomination from among the works of Satan, so avoid them” – 5:90), the petition decried what the early Islamic poets fondly dubbed “the daughter of the vine” as a bane that “leads to the spreading of iniquity and evil and the violation of religious sentiment and the shari`a of Islam,” concluding with a demand that the governor of Nabatieh close the eight shops.
Talking to NOW in Rony Market Thursday, the shopkeeper Saleh spoke the words of a defiant man, though his demeanor at times appeared uncomfortable.
“No official, whether from the municipality or the governorate, has ordered us to close,” he told NOW. “On the contrary, the municipality has confirmed to us that we’re a legal business like any other […] I don’t accept anyone coming to say ‘I will close your shop’. I follow the law.”
Municipality head Kamal Ghabris did indeed confirm the same to NOW, saying he himself had received no request to close the shops, and there was no legal or other reason why they couldn’t continue to sell alcohol.
“We belong to the Lebanese republic, and we abide by the laws and constitution of this republic […] we want to keep our democracy, freedom and pluralism,” Ghabris told NOW.
Legal or not, though, alcohol shops have been the targets of similar campaigns in south Lebanon in the past, in some cases even being burnt down. Were there not fears, NOW asked another man in the shop, that something comparable could happen to Rony Market?
“Those arson attacks were probably done by [Islamist] Palestinians, who don’t exist here,” he replied. “If Hezbollah wanted these shops closed, it wouldn’t have to burn them down, it would just” – he gestured with his cell phone – “make a call, and they would close. But they haven’t made any such call.”
Indeed, Saleh, like the others in the shop, was very adamant on emphasizing that he didn’t blame Hezbollah for the petition.
“We don’t fear Hezbollah; they haven’t done anything against us,” said Saleh. “There are just individuals, certain religious zealots, who are against us. From time to time, some people get annoyed that we sell alcohol. We’re used to it here.”
Whether Saleh genuinely believed Hezbollah had nothing at all to do with the petition, or was simply exercising prudent diplomacy, is a matter about which one could only speculate. At any rate, Hezbollah involvement has been suggested by some local media. The south Lebanese news site Janoubia, which called the petition “ISIS-like,” cited an anonymous “exclusive source” as claiming a draft of the document had been prepared by “a number of clerics affiliated with Hezbollah.” Other analysts suggested any role played by the Party was likely to be of an indirect nature.
“I don’t think the Party is directly responsible for issuing the petition,” said Ali al-Amin, a columnist from south Lebanon often critical of Hezbollah. In Amin’s view, the issue began when a relative of Saleh’s wrote a widely-shared anti-religious Facebook post – for which he received death threats – in light of Hezbollah’s participation in the siege of the Syrian town of Madaya. This angered “young people” among Hezbollah’s supporters in Kfar Rumman, said Amin, who then wrote the petition of their own accord.
That, if correct, could explain the timing, which is also interesting for coming two weeks after Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, raised eyebrows by telling an interviewer the Party was still committed to its ambition of creating a Shiite Islamic state in Lebanon. “As an Islamist, I can’t say, ‘I’m an Islamist and I propose Islam, but I don’t propose the establishment of an Islamic state,’ because that’s part of the project that we believe in, on the doctrinal and cultural level,” Qassem told Al-Mayadeen TV. “We believe the application of Islam is the solution to mankind’s problems, in all times and places.” While Hezbollah has never renounced its goal – formally articulated in a 1985 open letter – to one day establish an Islamic state, a speech given by Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in 2009 outlining the Party’s political program was seen by some as a relaxation on the point.
To what extent Qassem’s remark may have given further encouragement to the “religious zealots” Saleh blamed for the petition may never be determined. In the murky circumstances of the incident, perhaps all that can be said with confidence is it would have been unlikely to happen if Communism were still the prevailing ideology in the town.
Amin Nasr contributed reporting.

Lebanon's banks to pay price of sanctions on Hezbollah
Sami Nader/Al-Monitor/January 15/16
Several challenges lie ahead for the Lebanese banking sector this year. An economic crisis is plaguing the region and the Syrian war is affecting stability in Lebanon. Now, the country finds itself squeezed between the hammer of the United States, which is calling for further banking restrictions, and the anvil of Hezbollah, which does not want the country to comply with US financial authorities’ instructions.The banking sector — already marred by a recessive Lebanese economy, paralyzed constitutional institutions and ineffective governance — is now grappling with political tension.
On Dec. 18, US President Barack Obama signed the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act, which was submitted by Edward Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The law aims to expand economic sanctions on Lebanese Hezbollah and its Lebanese Al-Manar TV channel to prevent the party from access to banks and inhibit its financial operations. This law was preceded by many other decisions designed to tighten the noose around Hezbollah’s neck and block it from the global banking system. A law passed in 2014 aims to cut off funding for Hezbollah gained through criminal activities. The United States classified Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in 1995. This decision comes into force while Western diplomats are expecting the United States to lift economic sanctions on Hezbollah’s supporter Iran in the first three months of this year as part of the nuclear deal signed in July.
Unlike previous decisions, the recent congressional sanctions on Hezbollah apply to individuals and institutions not subject to US jurisdiction, and it classifies the party as a criminal organization, not just a terrorist organization. In other words, Hezbollah and its members could be charged with crimes such as drug trafficking and money laundering.
Lawyer Paul Morcos, executive coordinator of the Legislative Observatory in Lebanon, told Al-Monitor the new law “confirmed all of the previous US decisions regarding Hezbollah, but it did not add new tools.""It stepped up pressure on the Lebanese banks and the Central Bank of Lebanon," he said. "It also set the stage for larger accountability before the US Congress,” as Lebanese banks could be blacklisted or subjected to direct sanctions. Morcos added that the most efficient sanctions will probably be the ones against Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV, since the party already "refrains from opening bank accounts in its name or in the name of cadres included on US terror lists.” Entities that deal with Al-Manar will be affected, as US official and non-official institutions will refrain from dealing with them. Those institutions include US correspondent banks that do business with Lebanese banks. Meanwhile, the sanctions also could lead individuals dealing with Al-Manar to be included on the US blacklist. On Jan. 7, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Ali Youssef Charara, chairman of Spectrum Investment Group Holding, for having provided financial support to Hezbollah. The Lebanese parliament — despite the constitutional vacuum left by the presidential vacancy since May 2014 — has managed to vote on a set of laws needed to combat money laundering. The parliament ratified a treaty developed in 1999 to fight money laundering and terrorist financing. Joseph Torbey, chairman of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, said in a Dec. 19 press conference, “The most important effects of this new legislation is that no investment or wealth will escape Lebanon.” He added, “Lebanon will have achieved what was required of it internationally,” which is to comply with international regulations through the 1999 Anti-Money Laundering Act.
More importantly, this new legislation partially lifts the secrecy that had long characterized the Lebanese banking system, as it allows countries to obtain information about people or companies suspected of money laundering.
The day after the assassination of one of Hezbollah's senior leaders, Samir Kuntar, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah made a televised speech to comment on the incident. Despite its importance, Kuntar’s assassination remarkably failed to overshadow the sanctions issue. On the contrary, most of the Dec. 21 speech was about the sanctions.
According to Nasrallah, the sanctions are part of a scheme to tarnish the party's image. He also stressed that the party does not conduct trade or investment operations in Lebanese banks and that it has no money deposited in those banks. He said that under the recent legislation, the United States, “whenever it wishes to target a specific environment, friends of a certain political line or a particular movement, can send a list of names of individuals or companies” to prohibit Lebanese banks from dealing with them. Nasrallah called on Lebanese banks to “assume the responsibility of protecting Lebanese citizens” as he highlighted the need for the Lebanese government and banks to show some “sovereignty” in this regard. This puts Lebanese banks under further pressure when they are already facing the repercussions of a slowdown in the Lebanese economy and the effects of regional crises on political and economic stability. This situation recently prompted some international rating agencies, such as Standard & Poor’s, to affirm Lebanon’s sovereign credit rating at “B-/B” and downgrade its long-range outlook from “stable” to “negative.” The downgrade was the last thing the banking sector needed. Focusing on sanctions will first and foremost affect the Lebanese economy and banking sector. It is no secret that the banking industry, like many others, chiefly relies on trust. Therefore, focusing on sanctions — especially when Lebanese banks have complied with international regulations — or lecturing Lebanese banks about international requirements will not help build confidence in the country's economy and its institutions under critical conditions. This fact ought to be raised to the conflicting parties both in the region and in the related Lebanese economic arena.

Medics Race to Save Starving Syrians in Besieged Town
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 15/16/Aid workers scrambled Friday to help a hunger-stricken Syrian town where a teenager became the latest victim to succumb to starvation, as Western powers sought U.N. action on lifting blockades. The plight of Madaya and other besieged areas has prompted the U.N. Security Council to call an emergency meeting for Friday, amid warnings that the use of starvation as a weapon constitutes a war crime. A mobile clinic with medics on board was dispatched to Madaya on Friday to treat people suffering from malnutrition, the World Health Organization said, a day after a second aid convoy reached the town. Madaya's 40,000 inhabitants have been living under a crippling siege by pro-government forces that has made even bread and water scarce for months. More than two dozen people have reportedly died of starvation since early December. A teenage boy became the latest victim of hunger, the U.N.'s child agency said. "The UNICEF team, which included a doctor, witnessed on Thursday evening in a makeshift clinic the death of Ali, a 16 year old, who was suffering from severe malnutrition," said UNICEF spokeswoman Juliette Touma. "It was sad and shocking," she told AFP. Another 17-year-old boy in a "life-threatening condition," and a pregnant woman who will give birth soon, are both "in urgent need of evacuation," UNICEF said. There are an estimated 20,000 children living in Madaya, according to UNICEF. At least 22 children under five showed signs of moderate to severe malnutrition, it said. The U.N. agency said Madaya's doctors were "emotionally distressed and mentally drained, working round the clock with very limited resources". "It is simply unacceptable that this is happening in the 21st century," it said, adding that 14 other besieged and starvation-hit areas existed across Syria. A convoy of 44 aid trucks loaded with food and medicine on Thursday entered Madaya, where the U.N. says hardships are the worst seen in Syria's nearly five-year war. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that any forces using starvation as a tactic of war in Syria were guilty of a "war crime". "All sides -- including the Syrian government which has the primary responsibility to protect Syrians -- are committing this and other atrocious acts prohibited under international humanitarian law," he told reporters. Syrian authorities have repeatedly denied that starvation is taking place in Madaya. On Friday, the mobile clinic provided preliminary medical services to Madaya residents and returned to Damascus in the afternoon, according to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent's head Tamam Mehrez. Mehrez said his group was in the process of opening a permanent medical center in Baqin, adjacent to Madaya, but the opening date had not yet been announced. With international pressure mounting, France, Britain and the United States called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council to push demands for an end to sieges. French Ambassador Francois Delattre told AFP the meeting, to be held Friday from 2000 GMT, "will draw the world's attention to the humanitarian tragedy that is unfolding in Madaya and in other towns in Syria."Fuaa and Kafraya, two government-held villages in northwest Syria, have been under siege by rebel groups for months.
On Thursday, about 17 trucks delivered aid to Fuaa and Kafraya's residents, including 6,000 children. More than 260,000 people have died in Syria's conflict, which began in March 2011 with anti-government protests but has evolved into a multi-sided civil war. Humanitarian aid access is seen as a key confidence-building measure ahead of a new round of Syrian peace talks due later this month. The U.N. said the next aid delivery would take place on Sunday. Russia, which is carrying out a bombing campaign against rebels to support its ally President Bashar Assad, said it had launched "humanitarian operations" in Syria, claiming that inhabitants were returning to a "peaceful life" there. "In this context, the implementation of humanitarian operations will be a new line of work for the Russian armed forces in Syria," said senior military official General Sergei Rudskoi. Moscow also revealed that it had signed an agreement with Syria in August giving it the right to retain an open-ended military presence there.

Russia Has Begun 'Humanitarian Operations' in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 15/16/Russia said Friday it had launched "humanitarian operations" in Syria where it is carrying out a bombing campaign against the Islamic State group, claiming peaceful life was slowly returning to the war-torn country. "The inhabitants are gradually coming back to Syrian cities and peaceful life is returning," General Sergei Rudskoi, a senior Russian General Staff official, told reporters. "In this context, the implementation of humanitarian operations will be a new line of work for the Russian armed forces in Syria," he said in televised comments. "Currently most of the aid is being sent to the city of Deir Ezzor which has been besieged by ISIL terrorists for a long time," Rudskoi said, using another term for IS. He said Syria's Il-76 military transport planes had airdropped 22 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Deir Ezzor using Russian equipment. "It will be distributed by local authorities," Rudskoi added. "Our work in this direction will continue," he said. "In the future we will give to the Syrian people all possible assistance when it comes to liberating the country from extremists and rebuilding peaceful life."Russia has decided to launch its own humanitarian operations in Syria because most of the aid has so far gone to rebel-controlled areas, often ending up in the hands of "extremists," Rudskoi said. "Attempts have repeatedly been seen to supply arms and ammunition and evacuate wounded fighters under cover of humanitarian convoys," he added. Moscow launched a bombing campaign against IS and other "terrorists" on September 30, saying it needed to target jihadists before they crossed into Russia. The West has criticized Russia's foray into the multi-front conflict, accusing Moscow of targeting not only the IS group but also moderate rebels fighting the regime. In August, Russia and Syria signed an agreement giving Moscow the right to retain an open-ended military presence in the war-torn country, Moscow revealed on Thursday.

Russia, Syria Agreed 'Open-Ended' Military Presence for Moscow
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 15/16/Russia and Syria in August signed an agreement giving Moscow the go-ahead for an open-ended military presence in the war-torn country, Moscow has revealed. The agreement was signed in Damascus on August 26, 2015, more than a month before Russia launched a bombing campaign against the Islamic State group and other "terrorists" at the request of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. The Russian government on Thursday released the text of the agreement, which said that it had been "concluded for an open-ended period of time."Under the terms of the agreement, Russia deployed warplanes and personnel at the Hmeimim airbase in Latakia in Syrian government-held territory. The deal was made to defend the "sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of the Russian Federation and the Syrian Arab Republic," according to the document. President Vladimir Putin justified the campaign launched in September -- Russia's first major foreign intervention since the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 -- by saying that Moscow needed to target Islamic State fighters before they crossed into Russia. Military analyst Alexander Golts said the agreement with Syria suited Russia's interests. "Russia can halt its operation at any time so it does not have any responsibilities before Syria," he told Agence France Presse. "At the same time it can stay there for as long as it wishes. It's totally up to the Russian authorities."The West has criticised Russia's foray into the already convoluted, multi-front conflict, accusing Moscow of targeting not only the IS group but also moderate rebels fighting the Assad regime. Moscow has denied the accusations, claiming it has been supporting anti-Assad armed rebels in the fight against IS.

Indonesia Says Larger Network Suspected in Jakarta Attacks
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 15/16/Indonesian police launched raids across the country on Friday in the wake of deadly coordinated attacks on Jakarta, saying they suspected a broader extremist network helped carry out an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. The operations came as authorities ramped up security at public places following Thursday's combination of suicide bombings and shootings in the capital that left five attackers and two other people dead. Confusion has reigned in the wake of the incident, with authorities struggling to provide concrete information on the shock attack that unfurled in broad daylight on a busy street lined with shopping malls, top hotels, and foreign embassies. National police chief Badrodin Haiti told reporters the attack likely indicates the involvement of a broader support apparatus, and implying that conspirators might still be at large. "The planners, financiers, and supporters that provide (explosive) materials, assemble the bombs, facilitate accommodations and vehicles etc... of course this is the work of a team that could be big or small," he said. "This obviously was not conducted by five men, this takes teamwork." Police said earlier on Friday that they had identified four of the five dead attackers, and launched raids by heavily armed police in Jakarta and other locations across the far-flung archipelago that resulted in the seizure of an Islamic State flag and other unspecified "books and posters". "We've sent teams to several cities for operations against targets we identified," he told reporters. Unconfirmed reports have said the police dragnet resulted in some arrests, but these have not been confirmed by authorities. Police are yet to release the names of those identified or other details, but said two of the dead militants were fugitive terrorism suspects.
But authorities in the world's most populous Muslim country have already placed blame for the attack on Katibah Nusantara, which police and terrorism analysts say is a faction of the ruthless Islamic State group that has carved out a self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq. It would mark the first attack in the region by Katibah Nusantara, which is made up primarily of Malay-speaking Indonesians and Malaysians. Authorities in Southeast Asia with significant Muslim populations have repeatedly warned of the potential for their citizens to return from IS jihad and carry out violence at home. Indonesian police were put on their highest alert Friday, with security stepped up at some foreign embassies, and officers in Jakarta and on the resort island of Bali patrolling in riot gear and with assault rifles. The rapid-fire series of bombings and a shootout between gunmen and police erupted in the centre of the capital, shocking moderate Muslim Indonesians. The two victims of Indonesia's worst terror incident in seven years were a Canadian and an Indonesian man, according to police. Two dozen other people were wounded -- three foreigners, six police officers and the rest Indonesian civilians. The attacks spilled out in dramatic fashion on a bustling street at mid-morning, transfixing Indonesia's hyperactive social media world, as images and videos of the carnage went viral. Police have singled out Indonesian extremist Bahrum Naim, believed to be a founding member of Katibah Nusantara, as orchestrating the operation. Indonesian police have explicitly likened the attack to the far bloodier violence in November in Paris that left 130 people dead and offered sobering proof to a horrified world of the reach and fanatical determination of IS jihadists. The attack centered on a downtown Starbucks outlet, where a suicide bomb was detonated. Two men on a motorbike also destroyed a police post in another suicide bomb attack that left four officers severely injured. Starbucks has closed all outlets in Jakarta until further notice. Indonesia suffered several large bomb attacks by Islamic radicals between 2000 and 2009, but a subsequent security crackdown weakened extremist networks, and there had been no major attacks since 2009. President Joko Widodo has urged calm, and there seemed little evidence of public jitters, with Jakarta back to its bustling self on Friday, the Muslim holy day. "I am not afraid of terrorists because life is in Allah's hands, and today is Friday so, God willing, nothing bad will happen," said Toto Suhadi, 52, a gardener watering plants near the attack site.

U.N. Urges End to 'Barbaric Tactic' of Besieging Syria Towns
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 15/16/Calling sieges in Syria a "barbaric tactic," the United Nations demanded Friday immediate access to besieged towns to deliver aid to civilians facing starvation. "There can be no reason or rational, no explanation or excuse, for preventing aid from reaching people in need," U.N. aid official Kyung-Wha Kang told an emergency Security Council meeting on ending the blockades.

Tunisia Adjourns Murder Trial of Anti-Islamist Leader
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 15/16/The trial of 24 Tunisians accused of the 2013 murder of prominent opposition leader Chokri Belaid was adjourned Friday, as some of the defendants alleged they had been mistreated in detention. "The judge decided to delay the trial until March 15 and agreed to free one of the accused according to a demand from his lawyer," Kamel Barbouche, spokesman for the attorney general, told AFP. The legal team of Belaid's family had called for proceedings to be delayed, citing "new material" for the trial, one of the defense attorney's, Ali Kalthoum, said. The prosecutor also had requested an adjournment saying more time was needed -- 20 days to a month -- to complete the investigation. Belaid, who was gunned down outside his home on February 6, 2013, was a staunch critic of the then ruling Ennahda party, a moderate Islamist group. His murder triggered deadly protests and a political crisis that brought down Islamist prime minister Hamadi Jebali. Authorities pinned the blame on jihadists and a year later said they had killed Belaid's alleged murderer. Only 17 defendants appeared in court on Friday -- others refused to be present in protest over what they said was their ill treatment while in prison, according to lawyer Rafik Ghak. One of those present at the hearing, Riadh Ouertani, compared the Mornaguia prison where the defendants are being held to the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. "It's two and a half years since I went to prison and they beat me morning and night," he told the court. Speaking to AFP, prisons spokesman Kais Soltani denied that the detainees had been mistreated or tortured, accusing them of seeking the "pity of the judge." Extremists linked to the Islamic State group claimed to have killed Belaid and another opposition member, Mohamed Brahmi, in July 2013, but Belaid's family says there are "gray areas" in the investigation.

U.S. Admits Eight More Civilians Killed in Anti-IS Strikes Last Year
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 15/16/Eight civilians were killed and three others injured in a series of U.S. air strikes carried out from April to July last year against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. military said Friday. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees operations in the Middle East, said the deaths came during three strikes in Syria and two in Iraq, bringing to 12 the total number of civilians the U.S.-led coalition has acknowledged killing in the two countries in 2015. "We deeply regret the unintentional loss of life and injuries resulting from those air strikes," CENTCOM said in a statement revealing the results of their investigations.Two of the victims died April 12 near Hawijah in Iraq during a strike on an IS "tactical unit," CENTCOM said, and three others were killed in another strike near Suluk in Syria on June 11. On July 4, near the IS stronghold of Raqa in Syria, three civilians were "likely" killed during a strike against a high-value IS target. The car and motorcycle they were traveling in had crossed into the target zone after the bomb was released, CENTCOM said. Though the military used the term "likely," their statement also says that in all the strikes, "civilian casualties unfortunately did occur." Officials said they had determined that all the air strikes complied with the law of armed conflict, "and all appropriate precautions were taken." The latest announcement marks the third time since the U.S.-led coalition started bombing IS jihadists in August 2014 that the military has acknowledged civilian casualties. In November last year, the Pentagon said four civilians had been killed in a U.S. air strike against an IS checkpoint in Hatra in Iraq in March. The military has also acknowledged the deaths of two children in Syria in November 2014. Despite such incidents, U.S. officials frequently boast of the accuracy of their bomb drops. As of January 10, the coalition had carried out 9,560 strikes, and the Pentagon has said more than 97 percent of such attacks hit their proper targets. But air campaign critics claim coalition strikes are killing many more civilians than the United States has ever acknowledged. Airwars, a London-based group of independent journalists, published a report in August saying "many hundreds" of civilians had been killed.

2 Palestinians Killed by Israel Forces in Gaza Protest
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 15/16/Two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces during protests along the border with Gaza on Friday, the Palestinian enclave's health ministry said, following a three-month spike in violence. Mohammed Abu Zaida, 18, was shot in the neck and Mohammad Qita, 26, was hit in the stomach, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said. Fifteen other Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire during the clashes east of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, he said. The Israeli army confirmed it had fired on protesters after they breached the "buffer zone" along the border.
"Dozens of rioters have breached the buffer zone and are attempting to damage the fence," a spokeswoman said. "Forces shot rioters posing a threat of infiltration and the riot is ongoing."Israel and the Palestinian territories have seen a wave of violence in recent months, with 23 Israelis and 154 Palestinians killed since October 1. Most of the Palestinians have been killed carrying out attacks, while others were shot by Israeli forces during protests and clashes. An American and an Eritrean have also died in the violence. Fridays are known as a day of protest across the Palestinian territories.

Key Oil Pipeline Blown up in Yemen's Aden
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 15/16/A key pipeline linking a refinery and an oil terminal in Yemen's second city of Aden has been severely damaged in a suspected jihadist attack, officials said Friday. Firefighters managed to contain a huge blaze that ripped through the pipeline overnight, an official at Aden's main oil refinery told AFP. The blast did not damage the refinery's storage tanks, located in western Aden, and there were no casualties, the official added. A security source said that an explosive device detonated by unknown assailants hit the line around 500 meters (yards) from the refinery and three kilometers from the oil terminal. A brief firefight broke out in the wake of the blast between refinery guards and gunmen, who fled the scene in two vehicles, according to witnesses. A security official said that either the Islamic State group or Yemen's Al-Qaeda branch could have been behind the attack. "We are at war with the jihadists and I don't rule out the possibility that the orchestrators of the attack could be supporters of Daesh (IS) or Al-Qaida," the official said. Aden is being used as a base for Yemen's government, which was forced to flee the capital Sanaa in September 2014 after Iran-backed Huthi rebels swept into the city. The Huthis advanced into southern and central Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to begin air strikes in March on insurgent positions. Extremist groups have exploited the chaos to spread, mainly in Yemen's vast desert east, and witnesses report that jihadists including IS are active in some Aden neighborhoods. More than 5,800 people have been killed in Yemen since the start of the Saudi-led bombing campaign against rebels, about half of them civilians, according to the United Nations.

US reportedly considering training base in northeast Syria
Now Lebanon/January 15/16
BEIRUT – The US has reportedly been studying plans to establish a training base in northeastern Syria for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces coalition battling ISIS. On Thursday, leading pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat said that US military experts were studying a project to set up a base in the far northeastern town of Al-Malikiyah, which is situated in an area controlled by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) near both the Turkish and Iraqi borders. An unnamed Western official told the London-based paper that "there is a project… to turn Al-Malikiyah's agricultural airport into a military base in which [US] experts will reside and from which they will travel to battle lines with ISIS.""They will also contribute to training local fighters and helping them use [a] US arms [shipment] consisting of around 50 tons of ammunition and weaponry that was transferred to Syria several weeks ago by US helicopters," the source added. Although the report did not specify the exact location of the proposed base, the open-content collaborative mapping project Wikimapia reveals one potential airstrip in the immediate vicinity of Al-Malikiyah. The 730-meter long airstrip is situated 6 kilometers southwest of the town, near a Kurdish People's Protection Units base on the eastern edge of Hasakeh's Gera Vera reservoir.
Meanwhile, another potential facility—the Kortaban agricultural landing strip—is located approximately 19 kilometers southwest of Al-Malikiyah. Al-Hayat's report comes a month after a small Lebanon-based online news outlet also reported that US technicians were moving to set up a facility near Al-Malikiyah.
On December 13, ASIA news quoted a local source as saying that US military experts were working to establish an airport near the Hasakeh border town, following ongoing efforts to prepare another nearby landing strip in Rimelan. The source told the outlet that the Rimelan field will be "used at first as a landing point for helicopters until work is finished on completing special runways so it can be used as an airport and military base for the US coalition in the area."In turn, the Erbil-based ARA News reported Thursday that work was ongoing on the Rimelan airstrip, where US military experts are currently residing.
In early December, reports began to emerge that the Washington was preparing the Rimelan airbase as a conduit of supplies for the SDF coalition, which the US plans to bolster with a deployment of Special Forces.
Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported on December 4 that US technicians have "worked for more than one and a half months to expand and prepare the airport with a runway specialized for warplanes. Its length reaches 2500 meters and its width 250 meters."The pro-Syrian regime newspaper said that the airbase was located southeast of the town of Rimelan, which is one of the YPG's main strongholds and "largest arms and ammunition depots."According to the report, the airfield was used by Hasakeh's Directorate of Agriculture for crop dusting and has been out of service since 2010. "This airport will help enable Washington to add an additional safe place to land its forces—commando units for example—and bring in military support to its allies, who are working to finalize control over southern Hasakeh countryside."The report came a little over a week after the local Kurd Street outlet said that the US and Kurdish forces were working together to construct a 10 hectare military airbase south of the town of Rimelan in the village of Rimelan al-Basha.
"American experts are directly supervising the airbase with a Kurdish workforce," the report claimed, saying that US unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) had been flown from the facility to test it. The report also said that two helicopter had flown over the town of Rimelan on November 24 and landed eight US military specialists at the airport. Interestingly, the Kurdish YPG issued a statement saying that "two unknown helicopters" had flown over Rimelan on the same day. The following day, ARA News said that residents in the nearby village of Cil Axa had heard helicopters overhead, although they claimed they were Turkish. Amid the news the US was working to prepare the Rimelan airstrip, an official spokesperson in the SDF denied Washington had any presence at the facility. Talal Sello said on January 13 that no US aircraft were at Rimelan, adding that "if the [airport] was being developed" it would be for use as a conduit of relief aid. Work on the Rimelan airbase has allegedly picked up pace since the late 2015 reports, with ARA News saying on Thursday that aircraft were flying into the facility every day.A Syrian national living nearby the base told the outlet—which closely follows northern Syrian developments—that "two unidentified helicopters without markings fly on a daily basis at low elevation above the area.""They go in the direction of Rimelan for a period of around half an hour [and then] they return and enter Turkish territory."
In turn, an anonymous source also living close to the airstrip told ARA that he had seen "US symbols" on the clothing of people operating in the Rimelan facility. For its part, Kurd Street reported on Wednesday that preparations for the base were almost complete. An unnamed heavy machinery operator working at the airstrip told the outlet that "the air base is nearing complete readiness. It has been prepared with the best necessary materials."The outlet added that half of the airbase's foundation has been completed and paved with asphalt. The second half is waiting for the muddy foundation to dry, according to the report.
Washington's support for SDF offensive
On October 30, US President Barack Obama authorized the deployment of a contingent of "fewer than 50" US Special Forces personnel to assist the newly formed SDF, which is spearheaded by the 30,000 strong Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).On Monday, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said that Washington was prepared to expand its military support for forces fighting ISIS in northern Syria."I have every reason to believe the president will allow us to do more and authorize us to do more when we have more opportunities," he told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.
The SDF—which is manned not only by Kurds but also local Arab and Assyrian militias in northeastern Syria—launched an offensive against ISIS the same day as Obama's announcement with the goal of clearing the extremist group from areas along the Syrian-Iraqi border.
In the past month of fighting, the coalition has seized well over 1,000 square kilometers of ISIS territory and marched into over 200 small villages in the eastern Hasakeh province. On November 13, the SDF announced that it had swept into Al-Hawl, a town that lies on an ISIS supply route leading into Iraq's Sinjar. "This is the biggest strategic victory, and it was achieved in complete coordination with the [US-led] international coalition," an SDF spokesperson told AFP. Washington has backed the SDF's recent offensives with heavy airstrikes, while Pentagon officials have publicly touted the coalition's advances. On October 12, the US confirmed that it had airlifted 45 tons of military supplies to the SDF. The SDF has now set its sights on seizing the Hasakeh town of Al-Shaddadi, which is one of ISIS's last strongholds in the northeastern Syrian province.

Liars or Fools: Which Govern America?
Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPage Magazine/January 16/16
When it comes to the connection between Islam and “anti-infidel” violence, one fact must be embraced: the majority of those in positions of leadership and authority in America are either liars or fools, or both. No other alternative exist. The reason for this uncharitable assertion is simple: If Islam was once a faraway, exotic religion, today we hear calls for, and see acts of, violence committed in the name of Islam every day. And if our leaders don’t, many of us still have “ears that hear and eyes that see” (Proverbs 20:12). It’s no secret: Muslims from all around the world and from all walks of life—not just “terrorists” or “ISIS”—unequivocally and unapologetically proclaim that Islam commands them to hate, subjugate, and kill all who resist it, including all non-Muslims.This is the official position of several Muslim governments, including America’s closest “friends and allies,” like Saudi Arabia and Qatar; it’s the official position of Islamic institutions of lower and higher learning, including Al Azhar, the world’s most prestigious Islamic university; and it’s the official position broadcast in numerous languages on Islamic satellite stations.
In short, there’s little excuse today for ignorance about Islam in America—especially for those in positions of leadership or authority. Yet it is precisely they who vehemently deny any connection between Islam and violence. Why? The most recent example took place on January 7. Edward Archer, a convert to Islam, shot and wounded Philadelphia police officer Jesse Hartnett. He later explained his motive: “I follow Allah. I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic state. That is why I did what I did.” Yet after showing a surveillance video of Archer in Islamic dress shooting at Hartnett, Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney emphatically declared: In no way shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam has anything to do with what you’ve seen on the screen….It is abhorrent. It is terrible and it does not represent the religion or any of its teachings. This is a criminal with a stolen gun who tried to kill one of our officers. It has nothing to do with being a Muslim or following the Islamic faith.
Kenney’s assertions are either the product of an addled brain or calculated lies. Take your pick, but there are no other alternatives. If those running the show still don’t “get it,” the overwhelming majority of Americans have by now learned, in Donald Trump’s words, that “there’s something going on” with Islam: “You see the hatred. I mean, we see it every day.” “We see it every day” is absolutely correct—hence why those who deny it must either be liars or fools. (See “Muslim Persecution of Christians,” reports which I’ve been compiling every month since July 2011, and witness the nonstop violence and carnage committed against non-Muslim minorities living under Islam.). Still, Kenney’s falsehoods and/or foolishness are mainstream. Most politicians—practically every democrat but also a majority of republicans—makes the same claims, beginning with U.S. President Obama who insists that the Islamic State “is not Islamic,” calls for the “rejection by non-Muslims of the ignorance that equates Islam with terror,” and classified the Fort Hood massacre as “workplace violence,” despite the overwhelming evidence that it was jihad.
More recently, democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton admonished us to get aboard the wishful thinking bandwagon: “Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.” Republican leaders like John McCain gush about how “unequivocally, without a doubt, the religion of Islam is an honorable and reasonable religion. ISIS has nothing to do with the reality of Islam.” “Conservative” talking heads like Bill O’Reilley flippantly dismiss jihad as “a perversion of Islam, we all know that.”And so it goes. In the context of the most recent violence and slaughter of Americans at the hands of Muslims—one last December and one last November, both in California—the usual chorus of politicians, media, and others made the same tired claims.
Despite the evidence that the Muslim couple that massacred 14 people in San Bernardino was motivated by Islamic teachings of jihad against the hated “infidel,” Obama claimed “We do not know their motivations.” Chris Hayes and MSNBC were also “baffled” in their search for a motive.
Despite the many indicators that the Muslim student who went on a stabbing spree in UC Merced was motivated by Islam—he was described as a “devout Muslim,” had an ISIS flag, and praised Allah in his manifesto—“local and federal authorities continue to insist that Faisal Mohammad, 18, carried out the vicious attack because he’d been banished from a study group.”
In response, the father of Byron Price, who was stabbed while defending some Merced victims, observed that, “Everyone is afraid to be politically incorrect… [I]t seems like to me we aren’t getting the whole story. I just wonder how much of this is driven from way higher up and is politically driven — I just don’t know.”It was one thing for America to be politically correct when it existed in a utopian bubble away from all the nastiness “over there.” But to be politically correct at this late hour when the tentacles of the global jihad are well entrenched in America is suicidal, literally.
Either way, “political correctness” is a convoluted euphemism that simply means “lying”—bringing us right back to our question and a final observation: It doesn’t matter if those running the show are liars or fools, for at day’s end, the result is the same: the world’s strongest nation lays paralyzed before an existential threat that grows fiercer by the day.

Defections threaten Jordan’s Brotherhood
Osama Al Sharif/Al-Monitor/January 15/16
Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), face unprecedented challenges after prominent members and mid- and low-level cadres tendered resignations from the party during the last week of December. On Dec. 28, about 400 members, including veteran members and founding leaders, resigned from the party. Other resignations followed as the Consultative (Shura) Council of the IAF attacked defectors and refused to admit that the 70-year-old group is going through a serious crisis.The Brotherhood's predicament began in 2013 when members — mostly from the East Bank of the kingdom — launched on Oct. 5, 2013, what became known as the Zamzam Initiative. They called for massive structural reforms while demanding disengagement from the international body of the Muslim Brotherhood — established in Egypt in March 1928 — and participation in the country’s political life.
The Brotherhood had boycotted legislative elections in Jordan, the most recent in 2013, in protest of the election law, which they saw as working against them. In addition, Zamzam participants accused the current leadership of the Brotherhood of intransigence and of loyalties that go beyond the borders of the kingdom. When their initiative was rebuffed, their leaders were ousted from the Brotherhood, but they remained in the IAF until they joined others in resigning on Dec. 28. Now those behind Zamzam are considering establishing their own political party.
In March 2015, another faction — led by former general overseer Abdul Majeed Thneibat — defected and applied for a license under the name of the Muslim Brotherhood Society (MBS). The government approved their request and said that the Brotherhood had never officially registered with the government, casting doubts over its legality. Attempts by the MBS to claim the group’s material assets, including its properties, were later rejected by court.
To add to the Brotherhood’s deepening crisis, a number of veteran members of the IAF, later named the Group of Elders, threatened to resign from the party on Dec. 29, citing internal problems and irreconcilable differences with the Brotherhood’s leadership, which has control over the IAF’s affairs and policies.
Prominent Brotherhood leader and former head of the IAF’s Shura Council Abdel Latif Arabiyat, who is also one of the Group of Elders, said that internal reforms of the IAF’s election bylaws had come a long way, but there are “parties that want to divide us in order to reach leadership positions.”
He told Al-Monitor, “There is recognition that the Muslim Brotherhood is going through a crisis, but in return there are many initiatives that aim at reconciliation, unity and reforms [launched by the moderates within the Brotherhood].”
Arabiyat added that one of the controversial issues is IAF elections, “which usually result in polarizations and divisions.” He said that he has suspended a decision to resign from the IAF, hoping that compromises will be reached soon.
“Meanwhile the group and the party will remain even if I was the only member,” he said.
But the leader of the Zamzam Initiative, Rahil Gharaibeh, disagreed. He told Al-Monitor that the Brotherhood had faced challenges before, “but today it is actually collapsing because of the intransigence of some leaders [namely the general overseer, Hammam Said] who are loyal to persons rather than ideas.”
He said that the recent mass resignations are proof that members had no other options since the path to dialogue has been closed.
Gharaibeh accused the current leadership of the Brotherhood — which he described as a “crisis group” — of loyalty to outside parties (the Brotherhood’s international organization) at the expense of the Jordanian state. Zamzam wants the Brotherhood to participate in legislative elections and sever ties with outside parties such as Hamas. Gharaibeh added that the Group of Elders, who represent the moderate flank within the Brotherhood, presented many initiatives but the current leadership did not listen.
“The root cause of the divisions is demographic since Hamas [the Palestinian movement in Gaza] penetrated the group in Jordan for many years and forced its own agenda,” Gharaibeh said.
“Eventually the group will have to evolve and decide where its true loyalties lie,” he added.
Islamist writer Hussein al-Rawashdeh is convinced that the Brotherhood will break down, “producing various currents and fragments.” He told Al-Monitor that the main group will lose its significance while Zamzam and the Group of Elders are likely to form a new Islamist party that will compete with the IAF.
“The IAF will remain, but it will continue to go through more defections,” Rawashdeh said. “Eventually there will be a separation between the clerical and the political within the group while the [Muslim Brotherhood] Society will continue to lack popular support,” he said.
Islamist commentator Hilmi al-Asmar criticized the Brotherhood’s system of “blind submission to the leadership,” which in his view is “archaic and nondemocratic” and has been undermined by “deep changes that have taken place in human society including the revolution of social media.”
He told Al-Monitor that the Brotherhood has failed to appreciate the repercussions of the “tremor-like event in the form of the big setback that the organization suffered in Egypt [in 2013], which has exposed major flaws in the way the group functions and its relationship with the party, which is its political arm.”
Asmar said that Jordan’s Brotherhood has adopted the Egyptian system, where the party lacks independence and is treated as an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood. “The duality of the ‘party and the jamaa’ [group] made these parties ineffective while putting the historic leaderships in front of difficult choices as young members drifted toward extreme dogmas,” he said.
But he warned the government of the price of fighting political Islam because “any weakening of moderate Islamists will benefit the takfiri [those who accuse other Muslims of being apostates] groups, which will come at the expense of regimes and people alike.”
The current leadership of the Brotherhood has evaded calls for carrying out internal reforms. Political analyst Orieb al-Rintawi accused them of going through “a state of denial.” In his piece in Addustour daily on Jan. 3, he wrote that current Brotherhood general overseer Said has refused to resign even after three major breakaways that have rattled the group and its political party. “The group has failed to keep pace with major regional development, and its submission system of obeying the leadership is undemocratic,” he wrote.
“Furthermore, it has failed to examine the Islamist experiment in Tunisia and Morocco and ignored the lessons of the debunked Egyptian experience,” Rintawi added. He was referring to the relative success in both countries by Islamist parties in forming governments and engaging in politics.
In his view, the Brotherhood was unable to separate between "playing” politics and proselytizing (dawa) — the latter being a cornerstone of the group’s objective for a slow “Islamization” of society. In addition to this, Rintawi wrote that the Brotherhood has failed to distinguish itself as a “nationalist” movement concerned with local issues away from the general concepts of the “umma” (nation) and “caliphate.” There are signs that last-minute attempts will be made to preserve the unity of the IAF and, by extension, the Brotherhood. On Jan. 5, the IAF’s Shura Council announced that it had started discussions over regulations to allow members of the general assembly to take part in the secretary-general’s election, scheduled for March of this year, and increase the participation of women and young members through a quota system.
The deputy general overseer of Jordan's Brotherhood, Zaki Bani Arshid, announced that he was about to launch a new reform initiative of the group with the aim of ending internal rifts. Bani Arshid was speaking on the day of his release, Jan. 4, from prison after serving 18 months for publishing a comment on his Facebook page that was deemed to hurt Jordan’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates. He had criticized the UAE’s campaign against Muslim Brotherhood activities there. Bani Arshid is a rising star inside Jordan's Brotherhood, and while he is considered a hard-liner, he still carries influence with moderate members. His initiative may be a last ditch attempt to save the Brotherhood from further fragmentation.

Hagel says Obama 'paralyzed' Syria policy around Assad ouster
Barbara Slavin/Al-Monitor/January 15/16
Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told a Washington audience Jan. 13 that President Barack Obama erred when he called for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to step down early in the Syrian civil war.While Assad is a “brutal dictator” who must eventually leave office, Hagel said, the United States should have learned from the chaos that followed the abrupt removal of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi that taking out authoritarian leaders without knowing who will take their place is not the best solution. “We have allowed ourselves to get caught and paralyzed on our Syrian policy by the statement that 'Assad must go,'” Hagel said, adding, “Assad was never our enemy.” Asked by Al-Monitor what it would take to bring stability to Syria after the deaths of 300,000 people — many at the hands of Assad’s forces — and the country’s fracturing into battered ethnic and sectarian enclaves, Hagel said it would require working with the Russians, Iranians and Saudis. “All have to come together with enough common interest to stabilize things,” he said.
Hagel, a decorated Vietnam veteran and the first non-commissioned officer to run the Pentagon, was pushed to leave the Obama administration after only two years on the job after a series of disagreements over policy and process. While gentler in his criticism of Obama the evening of Jan. 13 than he was in a recent interview, he also criticized the president for declaring a “red line” against Assad’s use of chemical weapons and then failing to carry out missile strikes in 2013 when Syria’s massive use of such arms was confirmed. “I think it did hurt the credibility of the president,” Hagel told a large crowd at the Atlantic Council in his first extended public appearance since leaving the Pentagon a year ago. “When a president of the United States says something, it means something. … To make those kinds of pronouncements and not follow through affects the credibility of the president.”
Hagel expressed support, however, for Obama’s emphasis on diplomacy, particularly with adversaries such as Iran. Asked by Atlantic Council President Fred Kempe for his views on the Iranian detention and quick release of 10 US sailors following intense US-Iran contacts, Hagel said that while there will need to be “a full investigation” of the circumstances that led the Americans to stray into Iranian waters and their treatment by the Iranians, "It’s good news that our sailors are out of there." He added, “I have supported strongly” the Iran nuclear deal and failure to free the sailors would have “very much put in jeopardy the future of that agreement.”Hagel was admonished by the White House and ridiculed by many when he called the Islamic State a “threat beyond anything we’ve seen” in the summer of 2014, after IS had just taken Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul. On Jan. 13, he suggested that events had vindicated him. IS, he said, is the “most spectacular nonstate actor we’ve seen” due to its use of social media, ample finances and sophisticated military tactics. “It was a force we had never been up against and we didn’t know how to deal with it,” Hagel said. He offered no solutions, however, beyond working with regional and other powers to stabilize Syria and shoring up the Iraqi government.
“We’re not going to solve this problem just by bombing, bombing, bombing,” Hagel said. He repeated criticisms of the White House for trying to dominate Cabinet departments and holding too many meetings. “If you want to bring in the best people you are not going to get the best people if they think that they are going to be constantly second-guessed, overloaded with micromanagement … or their time wasted in endless meetings,” he said. Hagel also had harsh words for the Republican-led Congress. Just three days after he took office in 2013, a series of draconian budget cuts known as sequestration went into effect. Those cuts, and a 16-day government shutdown that occurred when Congress refused to pass new spending measures, hurt US national security, Hagel said. An old-school moderate Republican and former senator from Nebraska, Hagel complained bitterly about partisanship and about those who come to Washington seeking, he said, to tear the system down. He chided Republican presidential candidates in what he called this “goofy political season” and compared their antics to a “mass gong show,” a reference to a comic talent contest that ran on television in the 1970s and 1980s. As he did in an interview with Al-Monitor in 2012, Hagel said that he was not sure what the Republican party stands for anymore. In his latest remarks, he added that the party reminded him of the Sioux nation “made up of many different tribes.” He said he doubted the party would sort itself out for another four years.
Asked what advice he would give to Donald Trump, the current front-runner in Republican polls, and other candidates, Hagel said, “Focus on uniting the country, not dividing it.”

Was Zahran Alloush really a moderate leader?
Ali Mamouri/Al-Monitor/January 15/16
The military chief of the pro-opposition Syrian Islamic Front (SIF), Zahran Alloush, was killed Dec. 25 in an airstrike believed to have come from a Russian warplane in the village of Uthaya to the east of Damascus. Until 2013, Alloush had been the leader of Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) before it merged with other armed opposition groups within the SIF, which is seen as the most powerful among the opposition groups in Syria. Alloush was described by US politicians such as former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, as well as in media outlets, as a moderate opposition leader backed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey. He visited Turkey on several occasions and attended public meetings there, including a ceremony at the Sham Khotaba Association in Istanbul in April 2015. He is also believed to have been one of the key figures in the Turkey-Saudi alliance project to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Following the arrival of Alloush in Turkey in April 2015, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who is close to the Saudi regime, said that with the arrival of Alloush, the Saudi-Turkish-Qatari alliance was ready to start. What was interesting about Alloush was that he relied on religious prophecies about the future in Syria in particular, and the region in general. His political and military behavior was influenced by his religious visions, which had a significant impact on his political and military decisions, as well his domestic and regional alliances.
In a video published in September 2013, from a place called the Palace of the 10th Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, located in the city of Resafa, southwest of Raqqa, Alloush announced the re-establishment of the Umayyad caliphate in the Levant and other Muslim countries. The Umayyad had ruled the Islamic world from 661 until 750, founding an empire that stretched all the way to China. They were known for their persecution of the first Shiites, which caused the latter to despise and distance themselves from the Ummayyad. “We will bury the heads of impure Shiites in Najaf, God willing. The Umayyad glory will return to the Levant in spite of you,” Alloush said in the video recording. He continued his anti-Shiite speech basing his statements on a prophecy mentioned in the Sunni accounts about the Prophet Muhammad.
“Matters are not up to you, the prophet had foreseen that you will become ordered soldiers in the Levant, Yemen and Iraq. … [The prophet said:] 'The Levant is God’s finest land, and he has entrusted me [Prophet Muhammad] with it and its people.'” Alloush then added, “Shiites have claimed that no state shall emerge again along the lines of the Umayyad state. However, as the Umayyad had previously broken your heads, the Levantines will break them again, you impure rejectionists.”
Alloush’s rhetoric reproduced the Salafi vision in the system of governance — a vision of reinstating the caliphate and fighting against Shiites. There is no doubt that his Salafi educational background had much to do with his behavior and actions. Alloush grew up in a well-off Salafi family in Syria and pursued his religious studies at the Islamic University in Saudi Arabia that teaches Salafi Wahhabi approaches as part of its curriculum.
In an interview with Al Jazeera in November 2013, Alloush was clear about his opposition to democratic systems in general and republics in particular, calling for the establishment of an Islamic state after the departure of Assad. He also called for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate, stressing the need to adopt Sharia, including religious penal laws. Alloush had also managed religious courts in the areas under his control in Syria. Thus, it was surprising that he was described as a moderate leader. Perhaps these statements were made based on the fact that he did not oppose cooperating with Western regimes to overthrow Assad and because he was not hostile to the Saudi and Arab regimes, unlike the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda. IS rejects any cooperation with Sunni regimes and the West, even if there is a common enemy such as Assad in the case of Syria, or the Shiite government in the case of Iraq.
However, Alloush appeared to have rallied behind Jabhat al-Nusra — which is the official front of al-Qaeda in Syria — and met many times with its well-known leaders.
Alloush’s ideology can only be understood in the Salafi and jihadi contexts, as he ultimately espoused this religious dogma that is known for its extremism, given the violence it employs in political life. Salafi movements have a common prophecy about the future according to the following chronology: In the beginning, there were the prophet’s successors, followed by kings and princes, only for the caliphate to be reinstated. Most Salafi groups believe in this prophecy and are waiting for the return of the Islamic caliphate. However, there are some differences in how these groups view the realization of the caliphate. While the likes of Alloush believe that the caliphate will re-emerge gradually and pragmatically in the end times and will be along the lines of the Umayyad caliphate, others, such IS, have a more utopian and radical vision. IS believes that a revelation will take place in the end times, which will lead to the establishment of an Islamic state that is radically different from the caliphates of Islam’s entire history — except for the era of the prophet and his companions. On the other hand, Alloush and other Islamic groups believe the future caliphate will be in line with the Sunni models of governance that were established throughout the history of Islam, up until more recent models, such as the one in Saudi Arabia, which Alloush did not oppose cooperating with. Thus, what is described as moderate in Alloush’s approach boils down to his approval of dealing with Western and regional countries and accepting their aid so as to achieve the prophecy. Meanwhile, the more radical groups, such as IS, squarely reject any dealings with these countries. Yet the difference between the two sides remains in the preliminary tactic and not in the basic principles and ultimate goals. There are different orders in Salafi jihadism, all working toward the same ultimate goal of establishing the Islamic caliphate. It is true that the means to achieve this dream differ, but they share the same ideological denominator, which is obvious in their arbitrary handling of citizens’ civil and intellectual rights. Therefore, labeling some less politically extremist groups as moderate and supporting them regardless of their ideology will eventually lead to anti-democratic practices, the abolition of human rights-related issues and freedoms and the promotion of radical trends.

Kuwaiti hardliners and their external affiliations
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/January 15/16
This week, Shiite Kuwaiti MPs caused a scandal by boycotting parliament after the arrest of Shiites involved in a terrorist cell, and due to a statement of solidarity with Saudi Arabia against Iran after the burning of the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Is it acceptable in any democratic country to have those in public positions support sectarian or ethnic causes against their own country? Kuwait may be small in size and population, but it is developed politically, culturally and democratically. Iran has sought, and failed, many times to interfere with Kuwait’s national unity on sectarian bases. Kuwaitis, like the other peoples of the region, must see how sectarian and tribal affiliations are easily destroying the region when all the armies of the world have failed to do so. The late famous Hezbollah terrorist Imad Mughniyeh hijacked a Kuwaiti plane in 1988, forced it to land in the Iranian city of Mashhad for four days, then took it to Cyprus. Mughniyeh deliberately chose two Sunni passengers and killed them. He then freed Shiite passengers. After the incident, Shiite Kuwaiti citizens shared mourning tents with Sunnis and publicly denounced Hezbollah and Iran.
Sectarianism
Sadly, today Shiite MPs dare to show solidarity with Iranian terrorism against their country, amid a sectarian climate prevailing in the region. They were preceded by Sunni MPs who showed solidarity with al-Qaeda and al-Nusra Front. Kuwaitis, like the other peoples of the region, must see how sectarian and tribal affiliations are easily destroying the region when all the armies of the world have failed to do so. Without eradicating sectarianism, each country will lose its national identity and will be threatened by division. It will be easier than imagined.

How can Gulf diplomatic relations be resumed with Iran?
Najat AlSaied/Al Arabiya/January 15/16
The latest outrage emanating from the Iranian government over Saudi Arabia’s decision to execute Saudi Shiite preacher Nimr al-Nimr, and the burning of the Saudi Embassy and the Consulate in Iran, prove it has not changed its revolutionary approach and it has not matured into a respectable government.
The recent burning of the Saudi Embassy reminds us of the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. It is as if history is static and nothing has changed. Its attitude remains the same and it still rules through intimidation. The region has become unstable and has been engulfed by sectarianism and violence since the Khomeini revolution in 1979. The question now is; when should diplomatic ties be re-established with this irresponsible regime? The West, and mainly the U.S., are obviously using the nuclear deal to change the balance of power in the region by empowering Iran to police it. The outrage and demonstrations stirred up by Iran after the execution of Nimr are ridiculous and ironic. Iran has the highest rate of executions in the region, according to the latest Amnesty International report, and it does not have the right to criticize Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, who is also the country’s Defense Minister, expressed his surprise over the reaction in an interview with The Economist. “A Saudi citizen commits a crime in Saudi Arabia, and a decision is made on the case by a Saudi court; what does Iran have to do with it? If this proves anything, it’s that Iran is keen on extending its influence over other countries in the region.”
Saudi Arabia never interferes in Iran’s internal affairs regardless of the thousands they execute, many of whom are Sunnis. Many had hoped that Iran’s conduct would be much better after the reformer, Hassan Rowhani, came to power as president, taking over from the hardliner, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But in fact nothing has changed; on the contrary things have worsened. It is not enough that the embassy and consulate were burned, but a street was named after Nimr. Such actions remind us of when one of Tehran’s streets was named Khalid Islambouli, the terrorist who assassinated Anwar Sadat, the third president of Egypt, in 1981. This aggressive meddling illustrates that Iran’s hardliners, including the supreme leader, have agreed on the nuclear deal only to use the money to serve their program of expansion in the region. Everything that is happening, from their domination of the region to their attack on the Saudi Embassy, indicate that more interventions are on the horizon and there is no distinction between Iran’s hardliners and its reformers.
Policing the balance of power
The West, and mainly the U.S., are obviously using the nuclear deal to change the balance of power in the region by empowering Iran to police it. This is reflected in global as well as American media. It is really puzzling that the media focuses on the outrage of Iran over the execution of Al Nimr but does not question why Iran is interfering in the internal matters of another country. There were 47 terrorists executed alongside Al Nimr, but there is no mention of them in the media. The sole focus on him specifically is not only strange, but serves to fan the flames of sectarianism in the region.
The Obama administration’s attitude has been awkward since the beginning of the uprising in the region. For example, even though Obama abandoned the Iranian people in their Green Revolution in 2009 because he did not want to “meddle in Iran’s internal affairs”, he meddled in Egyptian internal affairs in 2011. He called then president Hosni Mubarak, a U.S. ally for 30 years, and told him that reform and change had to begin “now”, which is the exact opposite of his stance towards the Iranian regime. This abandonment of Arab allies in such a humiliating manner and at the same time the support to the Islamists at the expense of liberals, minorities, women and the youth have shaken the trust of those Arab leaders and people towards the U.S.. The Obama administration is sending confused signals to Arab countries. Some of them indicate that the U.S. is working against them while others suggest it is withdrawing from the region and weakening its ties there.
Conditions
The U.S. and the West, before encouraging Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to make peace with Iran, have to stop Iran from interfering in Arab countries’ internal issues. They must also respect diplomatic missions. It is abundantly clear that this revolutionary regime does not want to mature into a respectable government respecting other countries’ sovereignty. It is insisting on exporting its revolution to neighboring countries and it is very keen to dominate the region. It has destabilized the region by supporting militias and insurgent groups in Arab countries. Instability is promoted by this regime even during the Hajj through politicizing it and spreading chaos. This regime exploits every opportunity to criticize Saudi Arabia in its management of the hajj, while it fails to manage its own diplomatic missions. As a result, a simple apology to Saudi Arabia will not solve these tensions because the problem is systemic.
The return of diplomatic ties should be made on several conditions. The Iranian regime must stop interfering with other Arab countries’ domestic affairs. This can be achieved by signing a treaty that states that all funding and support of militias, such as Hezbollah, and insurgent groups in Arab countries, must cease immediately. Once the regime agrees to these conditions then we can start to talk about resuming diplomatic ties. Re-establishing ties without such pre-conditions would be seen naive at best.

Boat drama: Did Iran toy with the U.S. and the world?
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/January 15/16
Iran seized two U.S. navy ships and their 10 sailors, who were released in less than 24 hours. A few weeks prior, Tehran provoked the U.S. navy by firing unguided rockets and ballistic missiles nearby. Now Iran is being treated as a hero by the U.S. government for releasing the sailors. Secretary of State John Kerry thanked the Iranians “for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter,” and referred to the nuclear deal as the reason for this immediate resolution and change in Iran’s behavior. The administration of President Barack Obama now has more leverage over Congress to lift sanctions against Iran in a few days. The administration can tell Congress that if it were not for the nuclear deal, Tehran would not have released the Americans. The naval drama was a win-win scenario for Iran’s hardliners and moderates, as well as the Obama administration. The naval drama was a win-win scenario for Iran’s hardliners and moderates, as well as the Obama administration. It allowed Tehran to appear reasonable in the eyes of the international community. It also drew attention away from other critical issues that were potentially postponing implementation of the nuclear deal. For example, Iran’s recent actions regarding its ballistic arsenal cast doubt on its intentions and spurred concerns in the U.S. Congress. President Hassan Rowhani ordered the expansion of the missile program, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tested ballistic missiles several times after the nuclear accord was reached. Weeks ago, Iran fired several unguided rockets close to the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman in the Straits of Hormuz. Navy spokesman Kevin Stephens said this was “unsafe, unprofessional and inconsistent with international maritime law.” Other ongoing issues include the cases of Iranian-Americans imprisoned in Iran. There has been considerable pressure on Washington to urge Tehran to release them before the lifting of sanctions.
Hardliners
Iranian hardliners are concerned that the nuclear deal and growing ties with the United States send the wrong message to their youth. Their latest actions, including the seizure of the ships, are meant as a reminder that they are still in control, and that the nuclear deal does not mean infiltration of American culture. Keeping Iran isolated makes it easier for hardliners to maintain control. They showed a video of an American sailor apologizing to Iran on state media, to highlight that they are not weakened by the nuclear deal. In the United States, the only obstacle to lifting sanctions is Congress, not Obama. Congress was pushing for new sanctions on Iran for defying the U.N. Security Council by testing ballistic missiles. By seizing American sailors, the hardliners sent a message to those they call “troublemakers in the U.S. Congress” that if they create problems, Tehran can endanger U.S. national security and regional interests.
Iranian moderates and the Obama administration also scored political points by showing the success of diplomacy. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the IRGC released the American sailors immediately as they need the anticipated influx of cash coming from sanctions relief.

Obama: State of the Union’s state of denial
Mohamed Chebarro/Al Arabiya/January 15/16
The 2016 State of the Union address could have easily been U.S. President Barak Obama’s farewell speech. His speeches over the last seven years amount to much ado about nothing, during times when the world craved U.S. leadership. In his State of the Union speech, he talked about his successes, namely regarding the economy. However, that process was launched by his predecessor George W Bush - all Obama had to do was steer it. He spoke of internal reforms but skirted external failures, his speech coinciding with Iran’s arrest of U.S. marines on a routine exercise in the Gulf. Though it was quick to release them, the images released by Iranian media show Tehran’s muscle-flexing, at a time when Obama claims the nuclear deal brought Iran back in line with international law. Obama has done little to stand by the weak or to tackle extremism. The naval incident comes against a backdrop of Tehran’s continued belligerence regionally and internationally. The Iran that Obama boasts about taming does not refrain from reminding everyone that its revolution is still developing, boasting that it has conquered four Arab capitals, and building an army of more than 200,000 personnel.
Relinquishing U.S. leadership
Obama did not mention how he has failed the Syrian people. He did not elaborate on his hasty exit from Iraq that led to the creation of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), or his scaling down of U.S. troops in Afghanistan that led to the re-emergence of the Taliban. His speech underlined American strength, but underplayed the ISIS threat and economic decline. Obama has done little to stand by the weak or to tackle extremism. “Our public life withers when only the extreme voices get all the attention,” he said. However, he has bolstered those voices by avoiding confrontation and limiting U.S. involvement abroad, all under the guise of multilateralism. “The U.S. economy is the strongest in the world. ISIS must be hunted down and destroyed. Insulting Muslims is just wrong. America remains the envy of the world.” These words are just empty rhetoric. Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz aptly tweeted that Obama’s State of the Union address was more a “state of denial.” This sums up his leadership and how he views the world.

How (and Why) Palestinian Leaders Scare the World
Khaled Abu Toameh/© 2016 Gatestone Institute/January 16/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7234/palestinian-leaders
Abbas has perfected the art of financial extortion. Every Monday and Thursday, as it were, the Palestinian Authority (PA) president has threatened to resign and/or dissolve the PA. This tactic has a twofold aim: cold hard European and American cash, and a gaze directed away from the PA's turmoil. The PA wants the following response from the international community: "Oh my God, we must do something to salvage the peace process. We need to put even more pressure on these Israelis before matters get out of hand." Abbas wants the world's eyes on Israel -- and Israel alone. That way, the fierce behind-the-scenes battle for succession that has been raging among the top brass of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank will stay far from the limelight. The PA seeks a solution imposed upon Israel by the international community. Why negotiate when Western powers are prepared to do everything to see Israel brought to its knees? What do you do when your home has become hell?
If you are Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, you divert attention from the mess as fast as possible. For a start, Abbas is trying to scare the international community into believing that without increased pressure on Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) will be forced to resort to unilateral measures, such as attempting to create new "facts on the ground" in the West Bank. Next, Abbas is threatening to renew the Palestinian call for convening an international conference for peace in the Middle East and to step up rhetorical attacks against Israel. Finally, Abbas has perfected the art of financial extortion. Every Monday and Thursday, as it were, the PA president has threatened to resign and/or dissolve the PA. This tactic has a twofold aim: cold hard European and American cash and a gaze directed away from the PA's turmoil. Abbas wants the world's eyes on Israel -- and Israel alone. That way, the fierce behind-the-scenes battle for succession that has been raging among the top brass of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank will stay far from the limelight.
This week, Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, announced that the Palestinian Authority was coordinating with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan in order to create "facts on the ground" to establish a Palestinian state. This announcement was designed to tighten the international screws on Israel. The threat to "create facts on the ground" was a direct message to the US and the EU that they had better push Israel farther -- and faster -- or the Palestinians would be left with no recourse but to build in Area C of the West Bank, currently under exclusive Israeli control. Yet Palestinian building in Area C is not just a threat. In fact, and thanks to the financial and logistical aid of the EU, Palestinians have already begun building that project in some parts of the West Bank.
What the PA wants is the following response from the international community: "Oh my God, we must do something to salvage the peace process. We need to put even more pressure on these Israelis before matters get out of hand."The PA seeks a solution imposed upon Israel by the international community. This has been quite clear for some time, but the PA spokesman's recent announcement leaves no room for doubt. Abbas has no incentive whatsoever to return to the negotiating table with Israel. Why negotiate when Western powers are prepared to do everything to see Israel brought to its knees?
As part of this strategy, Abbas last week renewed his call for an international conference to discuss "ways of solving the Palestinian cause." According to the PA president, the international community that has reached understandings that Syria, Libya and Iran should be able to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
This is nothing but an Abbas scare-tactics redux. Radical Islam and terrorism, so we are to believe, will be conquered by solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The president of the PA desires to implant in the minds of the West a direct link between the Islamic State terror group (ISIS) and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.But Abbas might have done well to check in with his sources. ISIS and the other terror groups currently destroying the Arab world do not give a damn about Israeli settlements or checkpoints. Nor is a two-state solution on their docket. These groups have a different agenda -- to conquer the world and establish an Islamic empire. En route to achieving their aim, the Muslim terrorists will kill "apostates" and "infidels" including Abbas and other Arab leaders. "President Abbas's call for an international conference reflects the state of confusion and wallowing he is in," remarked former Palestinian cabinet minister Hassan Asfour. "The appeal is designed to search for an unclear and jellied formula and it has no legitimacy." Asfour noted that there was no need for such a conference, in light of the fact that the UN already recognized a Palestinian state in 2012.
So what exactly is Abbas trying to achieve? For the most part, Palestinian political analysts are convinced that the eighty-year-old president, who is about to enter the eleventh year of his four-year term in office, is simply seeking to hold onto the reins of power. The best way to do so, they argue, is by keeping up the buzz about international conferences and potential Palestinian unilateral moves on the ground. In order to run the Palestinian show until his last day, Abbas needs to divert attention from the battle of succession that has hit the spotlight in the past few days. Top Fatah officials have been pushing him to appoint a deputy president, in the hope of forestalling a power vacuum upon his departure from the scene for one reason or another. These officials have long censured Abbas for running the PA as if it were his private fiefdom. Among the critics are Jibril Rajoub, Tawkif Tirawi, Mohamed Dahlan, Salam Fayyad and Yasser Abed Rabbo -- all of whom regard themselves as potential successors to his seat.
Mohamed Dahlan (right), a former PA security commander in the Gaza Strip, is one of the major critics and rivals of PA President Mahmoud Abbas (left), and hopes to succeed him in the presidency. (Image sources: U.S. State Dept., M. Dahlan Office). Meanwhile, Abbas's preferred candidate for deputy president appears to be none other than Saeb Erekat, the PLO's chief negotiator who was recently upgraded to the post of PLO Secretary-General. This choice, however, is not going down well with Fatah officials, many of whom have expressed their opposition to the attempt to pave the way for Erekat to become the next Palestinian president. A direct link does exist, then, but it is not, as Abbas contends, one between ISIS and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The true direct link is between the urgency Abbas feels at home to prop up a crumbling empire and his intimidation of the international community. In other words, when Abbas feels the heat, Israel is thrown into the fire.
**Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Palestinian Authority Antisemitism: Overview of 2015
Itamar Marcus/© 2016 Gatestone Institute/January 16/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7220/palestinian-authority-antisemitism
Since the Palestinian Authority (PA) was established, and continuing throughout 2015, it has systematically used Antisemitism to indoctrinate young and old to hate Israelis and Jews. The PA has actively promoted religious hatred by demonizing Judaism and Jews, spreading libels that present Jews as endangering Palestinians, Arabs, and all humanity.
The PA presents Jews as possessing inherently evil traits. Jews are said to be treacherous, corrupt, allied with the devil, as well as descendants of apes and pigs. In 2015, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' advisor on Islam and head of PA Shari'ah courts taught on PA TV that Jews throughout history have represented "falsehood... evil... the devils and their supporters... the satans and their supporters." Accordingly, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is a conflict of "Allah's project vs. Satan's project."
The official PA daily published an op-ed saying Jews "are thirsty for blood to please their god (against the gentiles), and crave pockets full of money." These Jewish "attributes" and traditions are presented as the unchangeable nature of Jews. These messages come from the top of the Palestinian Authority.
In 2015, children were broadcast on official PA TV reciting poems with strong Antisemitic content. Young kids had learned by heart that Jews are "most evil among creations," "barbaric monkeys" and "Satan with a tail."
According to the PA, the Jews' evil nature and corruption caused the nations of the world to take defensive measures. The PA regularly claims that Jews were forced out of Europe in the past because of the threat that their "evil nature" posed to Europeans. These Jewish "traits" and "ways of behavior" constitute a danger, not only to all Muslims and Arabs but to all of humanity. As taught in a religious lesson on official PA TV: "Humanity will never live in comfort as long as the Jews are causing devastating corruption throughout the land... If a fish in the sea fights with another fish, I am sure the Jews are behind it."
The Russian forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is said to be an authentic Jewish text in which the Jews exposed their plan to rule over all humanity. Indeed, the Antisemitism and oppression Jews have suffered throughout history is presented as the legitimate response of nations seeking revenge for the injury that the Jews caused them. The creation of the State of Israel is said to have been a European plot, motivated by the Europeans' desire to get rid of the Jews and save Europe from the evils of the Jews among them.
The following are examples of Antisemitic statements by Palestinian Authority and Fatah leaders as well as Antisemitic content broadcast on official Palestinian Authority television and published in the official Palestinian Authority daily.
Children taught Antisemitic hate speech
Jews are "barbaric monkeys," "most evil among creations," in poem recited by girl on PA TV (Video)
Girl reciting poem on official PA TV children's program The Best Home: "Oh, you who murdered Allah's pious prophets (i.e., Jews in Islamic tradition)
Oh, you who were brought up on spilling blood
Oh Sons of Zion, oh most evil among creations
Oh barbaric monkeys
Jerusalem opposes your throngs
Jerusalem vomits from within it your impurity
Because Jerusalem, you impure ones, is pious, immaculate
And Jerusalem, you who are filth, is clean and pure
I do not fear barbarity
As long as my heart is my Quran and my city
As long as I have my arm and my stones
As long as I am free and do not barter my cause
I will not fear your throngs, I will not fear the rifle"
[Official PA TV, May 29, 2015]
Girl in Gaza on PA TV recites poem about Jews: "You are doomed to humiliation and suffering" (Video)
Palestinian girl in Gaza: "I do not fear the rifle
because your throngs are in delusion and are ignorant herds
Jerusalem is my land, Jerusalem is my honor
Jerusalem is my days and my wildest dreams
Oh, you who murdered Allah's pious prophets (i.e., Jews in Islamic tradition)
Oh, you who were brought up on spilling blood
You are doomed to humiliation and suffering"
[Official PA TV, Oct. 23, 2015]
Girl recites poem on PA TV: "Our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail" (Video)
PA TV host: "What are you going to recite?'
Girl: "The poem 'Visa'..." (i.e., by Hesham El-Gakh)
"When I was young I was taught that Arabness is my honor...
and that our lands extend from one end to the other,
and that our wars were for the Al-Aqsa Mosque,
and that our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail
and that our nation's armies are outstanding."
PA TV host: "Thank you very much. I really like this poem."
[Official PA TV, Nov. 6, 2015]
Girl recites story demonizing Jews: "Treachery has been inherent in them from the days of Moses until today" (Video)
Girl: "Today, children, I have come to tell you the story of my people, listen to it. We had land and a house, and we had a field, garden, and fireplace. In Jaffa we had a noble family with small children, and in Acre we had an oven and pottery. My people lived on the land from generations... I remember what my grandmother told me long ago: 'Don't forget these words, lock them in your heart and guard them: Palestine is Arab, its land is Arab, its language is Arabic, its identity is Arab' ... This home was the home of our father, and the foreigners came to banish us. Long ago we were dear friends. Yona [the Jew] helped Fatima [the Arab] with the laundry and Fatima boiled milk for her, and lit the fire for her on the Sabbath. It does not surprise us [that they banished us]. Treachery has been their nature from the days of Moses until today. May Allah turn back every oppressor's scheme. Say Amen with me."
[Official PA TV, Dec. 26, 2014, Dec. 24, 2015]
Religious Antisemitism
PA TV host: The Protocol of the Elders of Zion is authentic Jewish plan (Video)
Imad Hamato, Professor of Quranic Studies at the University of Palestine in Gaza and host of weekly official PA TV program on Islam: "The Prophet [Muhammad] said: 'The Israelites killed 42 prophets in one day. 170 men came and ordered them to do good and abstain from evil, so they [the Israelites] killed them in the evening.' They are the slayers of the prophets and the slayers of the innocent. There is a falsified Biblical base to their path of blood... [Israel] erases the Islamic traces and fingerprints in Jerusalem. This is a serious matter - Judaization of the land. In addition, the Judaization of people, Judaization of their thinking and education. This is a serious matter - the Judaization of people. Then they began to Judaize education by flooding the media, as was written in The Protocol of the Elders of Zion: 'We have to strive that the Westerner, the Arab, the American and the Australian will hear only what the Jews want him to hear.' They focused on this matter. Now, they have entered the 4th serious stage, the Judaization of the Islamic faith."
Note: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an Antisemitic forgery describing how Jews allegedly plan to subjugate the world under Jewish rule. It was published in Russia in 1903 and translated into multiple languages. In 1921, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was exposed as a false document.
[Official PA TV, Nov. 4, 2015]
Abbas' advisor: Jews represent "evil", Palestinian-Israeli conflict is "Allah's project vs. Satan's project" (Video)
Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs and Supreme Shari'ah Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "The conflict here in Palestine between us and the criminal occupation and its criminal leaders, is a further manifestation of our trials, a further manifestation of the historic conflict between truth and falsehood, between good and evil. Throughout history, there has been a conflict between good and evil. The good is represented by the prophets and their supporters. The evil is represented by the devils and their supporters, by the satans and their supporters. We are not inventing anything new here. This is a conflict between two entities, good and evil, between two projects: Allah's project vs. Satan's project, a project connected to Allah, which is his will - true and good - and a project connected to oppression and Satanism, to Satanism and animosity, occupation and barbarism."
[Official PA TV, Oct. 23, 2015]
Fatah Spokesman on PA TV: Jews are "sons of apes and pigs" (Video)
Fatah Spokesman in Jerusalem Raafat Alayan: "The heroic Palestinian people, including its children, women, and elderly, who have made intifada against the occupation and foiled [its plans]... I confirm that in this uprising, we in Jerusalem have succeeded in preventing 80% of the settlers, the sons of apes and pigs, from walking around the Old City and the stairs of the Damascus Gate."
[Official PA TV, Nov. 1, 2015]
PA cleric on PA TV: Jews are "apes and pigs and slaves of deities" (Video)
PA cleric: "Many Muslims are being harmed these days by a group whose hearts were sealed by Allah. 'He made of them [Jews] apes and pigs and slaves of deities' (Quran, 5:60). They are harming the livelihood of the believers [Muslims]... They withhold their [the Palestinians'] money and collect interest on it."
[Official PA TV, Jan. 30, 2015]
Muslim preacher on PA TV: "Humanity will never live in comfort as long as the Jews are causing devastating corruption" (Video)
Imad Hamato, Professor of Quranic Studies at the University of Palestine in Gaza and host of weekly PA TV program on Islam:"The Israelites went too far by [shedding] pure blood. If the Quran says: 'They killed prophets without right' (Sura 4:155), what can we say about those who are less than prophets - the killing of the righteous and of Jihad fighters? This [Israel] is a state of blood, a terror state... Humanity will never live in comfort as long as the Jews are causing devastating corruption throughout the land. Humanity will never live in peace or fortune or tranquility as long as they are corrupting the land. An old man told me: If a fish in the sea fights with another fish, I am sure the Jews are behind it. As Allah says: 'Every time they kindled the fire of war [against you], Allah extinguished it. They strive throughout the land [causing] corruption, and Allah does not like corrupters.'" (Sura 5:64).
[Official PA TV, Feb. 27, 2015]
Israel's immorality "stems from... the Jewish religion" and Zionism, which "is based on the denial of the rights of the Palestinian 'goys'" says op-ed in official PA daily
Op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, columnist for the official PA daily:
"The year 2014 witnessed a series of sex scandals involving several police officers of the Israeli ethnic cleansing state... This moral flaw in the institutions of the organized terrorism state stems from several reasons: 1. The conservative Jewish religion heritage, which marginalizes the role of women. 2. The ideological foundations of the Zionist movement, as a reactionary colonialist racist movement. 3. Due to the latter, the exclusion of values and morality, since the 'State of Israel' is based on the denial of the rights of the Palestinian 'goys.' This [denial], whether the Zionist leaders like it or not, has consequences for the components of Israeli society, for the feeling of exclusivity is rooted in the Jewish Zionist conscious and subconscious. 4. The mixing of the values of the Jewish religion with those of capitalism, which gave birth to Mafioso [modes of] behavior and ideas, and their dissemination throughout Israeli society and its political and security-military elites."
[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 11, 2015]
The Palestinians, "[Jesus'] people", suffer "from the Zionist Jews" the same way he did, says op-ed in official PA daily
Op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, columnist for official PA daily
"Palestine, the first sanctified land, that promised the oppressed and the defeated liberty, independence and eternal co-existence between human beings, all while carrying the dream of hope for rebirth, will be baptized on May 17, 2015, when it is recognized by the Vatican State. This means recognition of the political rights of the Arab Palestinian nation, support of the two-state option within the borders of June 4, 1967. [it is also] an apology to the messenger of peace and love, Jesus, may he rest in peace, who suffered from the injustice of the first Jews... in the same way his people, the Palestinians, have suffered from the Zionist Jews in the past and in the present... for the delay in doing them [the Palestinians] justice through restoring some of their rights."
[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 16, 2015]
Classic Antisemitism
PA TV: Europe created Israel to "get rid of" the corrupt, scheming Jews (Video)
Documentary on the history of Fatah, entitled "Fatah: Revolution until Victory," that opens with classic demonization of Jews:
"Faced with the Jews' schemes, Europe could not bear their character traits, monopolies, corruption, and their control and climbing up positions in government. In 1290, King Edward I issued a decree banishing the Jews [from England]. Following him were France, Germany, Austria, Holland, Czechoslovakia, Spain and Italy. The European nations felt that they had suffered a tragedy by providing refuge for the Jews. Later the Jews obtained the Balfour Declaration, and Europe saw it as an ideal solution to get rid of them."
This video was originally broadcast on official PA TV, Jan. 1, 2013, Nov. 11, 2014 and Dec. 31, 2015. It was broadcast on Fatah-run Awdah TV on Feb. 18, 2015.
[PA TV, Dec. 31, 2015]
PA daily supports PA ambassador's speech that the Russian forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an authentic Jewish plan "in order to take over the world"
Headline: "[Palestinian Ambassador to Chile Imad Nabil] Jada'a: 'Zionism planned to take over the world'"
"The Hebrew websites reported today [July 8, 2015], Wednesday, and yesterday the words of Palestinian Ambassador to Chile Imad Nabil Jada'a two months ago in the capital of Chile, Santiago, according to which 'Zionism united in order to take over the world, and the search and effort to find a national homeland for the Jews were just a cover.'
What is surprising is not the Palestinian ambassador's statements at the conference named 'Peace for Palestine,' held two months ago, but rather the fact that the Hebrew websites reported these statements only today. The Palestinian ambassador referred to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, exposed by Lenin after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, and published by the Institute of Politics and Antisemitism in New York. He noted that the Zionist movement was composed of a group of thinkers and financial advisors, most them from European countries, and a minority of them Jews, under the pretext of establishing a national homeland for the Jews, but the real reason was [their plan] to take over the world.
These statements made by the Palestinian ambassador in Chile, which the Hebrew websites considered controversial, are interpretations of the contents of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion."
[Ma'an, independent Palestinian news agency, July 8, 2015]
Fatah official speaks about the forgery The Protocols of Elders of Zion as an authentic Jewish document (Video)
Fatah Spokesperson Osama al-Qawasmi: "According to Israel's ideology, strategy and policy from 1956 until now, Gaza is outside the Israeli ideological thinking. Even in their Protocols [of the Elders of Zion] and even in their Bible [it says]: 'Don't live in Gaza.'"
[Official PA TV, April 5, 2015]
Muslim preacher on PA TV: Jews "control the money, the press, the resources" (Video)
Imad Hamato, Professor of Quranic Studies at the University of Palestine in Gaza, and host of a weekly PA TV program on Islam:
"Israel, the invading country, the cancerous tumor - which we have already called a cancerous tumor in the past - many intellectuals today talk about coexistence and offering our hands in peace, and [say] Israel is part of the region. The noblest Arabs in terms of their Arabness, were those who spoke up and said: 'Israel does not exist!' Those who did not say that were ostracized. Now, whoever says that Israel should exist is met with approval... They [the Jews] are usurers. See, the usury money and usurer banks, those who control the money in the world can be counted on one hand - a few individuals - and all of them belong to the Jewish world. They control the media, the money, the press, the resources, the plans."
[Official PA TV, May 1, 2015]
Judaism permits stealing from and killing Gentiles, says Gaza university professor (Video)
PA TV host: "What made the Israeli public lean toward extremism [in the March 2015 elections]?"
Dr. Ibrahim Abrash, political science professor, Al-Azhar University in Gaza: "The structure of the Zionist ideology, and even the structure of the Jewish religion, are based on extremism. The term "Gentiles" exists in the Jewish religion, 'us vs. the Gentiles', and it is permitted to steal from and kill Gentiles."
[Official PA TV, May 29, 2015]
Orthodox Israelis "are eager to steal lands, are thirsty for blood to please their god (against the gentiles), and crave pockets full of money," saysop-ed in official PA daily
Op-ed by Fatah Revolutionary Council member Bakr Abu Bakr, regular columnist for official PA daily
"In [achieving] his electoral success, [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu did not rely on his rhetorical skills alone ...rather, he stuck to five basic principles designed to project an image and reap success:
1. Netanyahu adopted a policy of instilling fear in the Israelis - as if his radical, terrorist government that opposes evacuating the settlements could promise the Israelis security, livelihood and stability...
2. The second principle [Netanyahu] relies on is the theft and crude falsification of history, based on the assumption that Palestine is the land of his "ancestors" - even though [Netanyahu] and those he represents are strangers to this land both now and historically speaking or [the land of] those he claims are his kings and prophets. This is [merely] a belief, and if he holds it, he has made good use of it to influence the Israeli and international consciousness, which is dominated by the bible's historical nonsense.
3. The third principle, related to those described above, is that Netanyahu's reliance on the falsification and theft of history is connected to the strong link created between the false-historic (in the Bible and its adjuncts) and the spiritual-religious [all parentheses in source]. He succeeded in inciting all the Orthodox Israelis (who will soon be the majority of the population), who are eager to steal lands, are thirsty for blood to please their god (against the gentiles), and crave pockets full of money. He [Netanyahu] thereby also incited the Zionist American right-wing, seeking to ignite a "holy" religious war, which he will direct, together with the radical terrorist Jews, against the holy sanctuary of Jerusalem (i.e., the Temple Mount), the holy sanctuary of Hebron (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs) and all places in the West Bank that he claims Jews have a connection to..."
[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 29, 2015]
PA Libel: "Jews of high position" planned Al-Aqsa Mosque arson in 1969 (Video)
Documentary narrator: "From investigations conducted by the Islamic Council it became clear that there was more than one perpetrator [of the Al-Aqsa Mosque arson in 1969] and that the fire was planned by senior Jews of high position, especially since the roof can only be reached from a wooden spiral staircase located outside the Al-Aqsa building. This proves that careful, premeditated measures were taken to completely destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The proof is that the occupation authorities were slow to extinguish [the fire] and that the water supply to the Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) had been cut off during those hours."
Note: The fire in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969 was started by a deranged Australian Christian, but the Palestinian Authority for years has attributed it to Israel.
The documentary was also broadcast on PA Live TV on the same date in 2013, at an event under the auspices of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
[Official PA TV, Aug. 21, 2015]
Zionists "took advantage" of Holocaust to "blackmail" Europe into supporting Zionism and gain "the world's compassion," says op-ed in official PA daily
Op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, columnist for official PA daily:
"Even though the Jewish people were never one nation, the Jews of the different European nationalities paid a heavy price in the Second World War, since Nazis committed a holocaust... The leaders of the Nazi and Fascist states conspired to make the Jews immigrate to Israel, the establishment of which was supported by more than one leader and one European state, to serve the colonialist ambitions of these states in the Arab world. Likewise, the Zionist movement wanted to achieve a series of goals: First, to take advantage and use this [the Holocaust] to blackmail the European states financially and politically to make them support the Zionist colonialist project. Second, to bully the Jews to immigrate to the Israeli ethnic cleansing state, which was in a preparatory stages of establishment. Third, to increase the Jews' suffering and abuse in order to take advantage of the world's compassion for them...
There is no arguing that the Holocaust and catastrophe did strike the Jews and claim more than a million victims, which is a crime according to all political, legal and moral criteria. However, the Jewish catastrophe occurred as part of the [Second] World War, which brought about the death of tens of millions of people... On the other hand, the Palestinian catastrophe, inflicted by the Zionist terror organizations and their allies - the colonialist Western states - was limited to Palestinians only and included killing [them], driving them out and deporting them from their homes and homeland, to the unknown of being refugees. It has been nearly 70 years, and the Palestinian catastrophe and Nakba (i.e., "the catastrophe," Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) still witness the barbarity of the Zionist Jews and their allies."
[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 18, 2015]
Fatah posts Nazi children's book cover: "'Trust no fox on his green meadow, and trust no Jew on his oath'"
Image and text posted to official Facebook page of the Fatah Movement on Oct. 29, 2015
The image shows the picture of the cover of a children's book from Germany from 1936 with the title: "Trau keinem Fuchs auf grüner Heid und keinem Jud bei seinem Eid."
Fatah's Posted text is a translation of the book's title: "Trust no fox on his green heath, and trust no Jew on his oath."
[Official Facebook page of the Fatah Movement, Oct. 29, 2015]
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

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