LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

July 20/16

 Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.july20.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

God gave them a sluggish spirit, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.’
Letter to the Romans 11/01-08/:"I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.’But what is the divine reply to him? ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, ‘God gave them a sluggish spirit, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.’"

Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, "Doctor, cure yourself!"
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 04/22-30:"All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, "Doctor, cure yourself!" And you will say, "Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum." ’And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 19-20/16

Netanyahu: Second Lebanon War a ‘promo’ to world’s battle now with extreme Islam/Jerusalem Post/July 19/16
Audio Interview with Dr. Walid phares Adviser on the Turkish Coup: Turkey crisis may unleash Islamist wrath/Greg Corombos/WND Radio/July 19/16
Iran to have a quick path to nuclear bomb in 10 years/Ynetnews/Associated Press/July 19/16
Kuwaiti Columnist Fahd Al-Bassam: Leave ISIS Be/MEMRI/July 19/16/
Gulf Officials Blast Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi: He Is The 'Mufti Of Suicide Attacks,' Should Be Prosecuted/MEMRI/July 19/16
The 28 Pages that Damn Saudi Arabia/A.J. Caschetta/Gatestone Institute/July 19/16
The dilemma of eliminating extremism/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/July 19/16
Loners, weirdos, misfits: The new face of terrorism/Dr. Halla DiyabAl Arabiya/July 19/16
France: Enlightenment in the face of blood/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/July 19/16
Iran’s Kurdish party and the challenge of ethnicity/Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/July 19/16
The alienation of the Saudi legacy/Jamal Khashoggi/Al Arabiya/July 19/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on July 19-20/16

Netanyahu: Second Lebanon War a ‘promo’ to world’s battle now with extreme Islam
Report: Security Situation Improving Owing to Army Efforts
Army Destroys Nusra Posts on Eastern Border amid Report of IS Attack
Report: Mustaqbal Urges Hizbullah to Attend August Legislature Session 'If it Truly Endorses Aoun'
Mustaqbal Hits Back at Hizbullah over Presidential Vote Obstruction
Change and Reform Urges Approval of Oil Decrees, Rejects Army Term Extensions
US Treasury Department delegation visits Banks Association
Kabbara calls on control committees to put their hands on Tripoli bridge project
Khalil: Financial measures weak if political life not reactivated
Pheraon launches Douma festivals.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 19-20/16

Three Killed in Shooting in Eastern UK
U.S.-led Coalition Strikes Kill 56 Civilians in Syria
Palestinian Militant Killed in Gaza Tunnel Collapse
Turkey removes 492 state religious personnel after failed coup
Erdogan says Turks want coup ‘terrorists’ killed
50,000 targeted in post-coup Turkey crackdown
Turkey PM Warns against 'Feeling of Revenge' after Coup
Turkey Says has Sent 'Dossiers' to U.S. over Gulen Links to Coup
IS Claims First German Attack with Train Axe Assault
Armenia Hostage Crisis Enters Third Day
Bahrain Rebuffs British, U.S. Allies over Opposition Ban
Iraq PM Accepts Resignation of Five New Ministers
Syria Islamists Announce Bid to Break Aleppo Siege
Drone over N. Israel: Iranian with stolen US apps
Maryam Rajavi calls for condemnation of increasing executions, effective action
UN accuses Iran regime of flouting international law
UN chief slammed over Iran nuclear deal report
Lord Maginnis: A Striking Contrast to the Mullahs’ Iran
Belgium’s lawmakers call attention to human rights abuses in Iran
Political prisoner Alireza Golipour declares support for Iranian Resistance’s rally
Political prisoner Ali Moezzi backs “Free Iran” rally

Links From Jihad Watch Site for July 19-20/16
Moderate” Muslim Canadian TV guest expert: Islamic State supported by West & America
Raymond Ibrahim: ‘Muslim Grievances’ Responsible for Terrorism in France, Says Reuters
German bishop: Axe attack by Muslim migrant screaming “Allahu akbar” “cannot be understood”
Germany: Muslim migrant who stabbed non-Muslims urged Muslims to murder apostates; authorities search for motive
Jihadists pledge loyalty to Islamic State in first public declaration in South America, weeks before Olympics
France: Muslim cab driver arrested, had dynamite and Islamic State flag image
France: Muslim migrant stabs woman and her three daughters for being scantily dressed
Robert Spencer in FrontPage: Axe Attack by Muslim Migrant: What Else Did Angela Merkel Expect?
Soldier of Islam” Bouhlel “took drugs, used dating sites to pick up men and women”
Kazakhstan: Muslim murders five in attack on police station and security office
Australia: Murderer who converted to Islam in prison flees to join the Islamic State
Bangladesh: University profs inciting students to “attack non-Muslims”
Video: Robert Spencer exposes CAIR’s cynical and deceptive “Islamophobin” campaign

Latest Lebanese Related News published on July 19-20/16

Netanyahu: Second Lebanon War a ‘promo’ to world’s battle now with extreme Islam
Jerusalem Post/July 19/16
A direct line can be drawn between Israel's battle against Hezbollah 10 years ago and events today in the Middle East, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, calling the Second Lebanon War a “promo” to the battle between extremists and moderates the region is now witnessing.
“The first sparks of the collision between Islamic fundamentalism and the free world, and with the whole moderate world, we saw during the Second Lebanon War,” Netanyahu said in the Knesset, at a special session marking the 10-year anniversary of that war. “Looking back, the war in Lebanon was a watershed in the relations between extremists and moderates in the Middle East,” he said, repeating a theme here raised earlier in the day at a memorial ceremony for the fallen of the war held at the Mt Herzl cemetery. “It was the promo in the struggle against the rise of Islamic extremists.”Hezbollah was, and remains, an Iranian emissary in the region, as is Hamas, he said. “But radical Shia is not alone,” he noted, adding that the Sunni fundamentalists – led by Islamic State -- is competing with them and not only downing the region in blood, but also spreading fires to countries and continents far away.
“Israel is the forward bastion of the democratic world, a wedge between culture and barbarism,” he said. Netanyahu said that Israel's experience in dealing with the challenges of terrorism are copied “sooner or later” by other countries around the world. He ticked off the terrorist challenges that the country has faced over the last two decades – suicide bombings, organized terrorism, terrorism by individuals incited into a frenzy, stabbings, car bombings, indiscriminate shootings – and noted that they are now being dealt with by the entire world. To those still living in denial, he said, “the time has come to open your eyes. The terrorism threatens us all, and it is impossible to condemn it there [abroad], and praise it here. “Only if we join hands in the struggle can we defeat it.”The premier praised the soldiers and civilians for their courage and resilience during the Second Lebanon War, saying that while Hezbollah deemed the country before the war to be be without a backbone and tired, the war proved the exact opposite. He also noted that since the war, the border with Lebanon has been quiet. But this quiet rests on one thing: effective and continuous deterrence. Not one-time deterrence, he stressed, “but continuous. I say to Israel's enemies, we will respond to all acts of aggression with great power. No one is immune.”Netanyahu noted the failures and shortcomings – both strategically and operationally -- during the war, and said that while many lessons have already been learned and are being implemented on the battlefield, the process of drawing conclusions still continues.

Report: Security Situation Improving Owing to Army Efforts
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 19/16/The intensified security measures and precautions that have been taken by the Lebanese army lately have improved the security situation in the country, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday. “The security situation is generally much better than it was a few weeks ago,” a prominent security source told the daily. “Owing to the utmost readiness of the army and the tight security measures that have been taken in all the Lebanese regions and on the border. It coincided with live exercises (in Aqoura for example) and demonstrated new ways to confront terrorism,” added the source. Lately, the army has been able to thwart several terror operations attempts that planned to target dense populated areas in the country. The Interior Minister announced recently that the security apparatuses succeeded in foiling a terrorist scheme that planned to target nightclubs.
Since the suicide bombings rattled the Bekaa town of al-Qaa in June, the army has intensified measures and raids on the Syrian encampments in all Lebanese regions.

Army Destroys Nusra Posts on Eastern Border amid Report of IS Attack
Naharnet/July 19/16/Artillery shelling by the Lebanese army on Tuesday destroyed the posts of the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front in the Wadi al-Kheil and Khirbet Younin areas in the outskirts of the eastern border town of Arsal, media reports said. Militant vehicles were seen going up in flames after the army used long-range multiple rocket launchers in its bombardment, al-Jadeed TV reported. The shelling of the outskirts of the eastern towns of Arsal, Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa intensified in the afternoon and the sounds of blasts were echoing across northern Bekaa, state-run National News Agency reported. NBN television meanwhile quoted a military source as saying that the extremist Islamic State group had attacked an army patrol that was planting landmines on the Ras Baalbek-al-Qaa road near the al-Hamra hill. “No casualties among army troops were reported and this is the same road that the suicide bombers used to reach the town of al-Qaa,” the source said, adding that “the clashes are still ongoing.”The army has been shelling the outskirts of Arsal, Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa for several days now. Troops have been on high alert since the unprecedented suicide bombings that hit the Christian border town of al-Qaa in late June. Militants from IS and al-Nusra are entrenched in rugged areas along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border and the army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian army have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border. The two groups briefly overran the town of Arsal in August 2014 before being ousted by the army after days of deadly battles. The retreating militants abducted more than 30 troops and policemen of whom four have been executed and nine remain in the captivity of the IS group.

Report: Mustaqbal Urges Hizbullah to Attend August Legislature Session 'If it Truly Endorses Aoun'
Naharnet/July 19/16/Al-Mustaqabl Movement slammed accusations fired by Hizbullah MP Nawaf Mousawi that blamed the Movement and Saudi Arabia for obstructing the election of a head of state, As-Sharq daily reported on Tuesday. Mustaqbal official circles said: “Hizbullah is throwing the ball and responsibility in our court in order to drive the attention away from its obstruction of the election of a president.“Our parliament members have never boycotted the parliament sessions that aimed to elect a head of state, unlike Hizbullah MPs who never attended,” added the officials. “If Hizbullah is honest in its intention to elect (MP Michel) Aoun, let them take part in the parliament session slated for August 8 (and prove that),” added the source. They added that Saudi Arabia and Mustaqbal have no veto on the election of Aoun, “We are ready to attend all parliament sessions even if Aoun is to be elected.”In a speech delivered at a Hizbullah ceremony over the weekend, Moussawi blamed Mustaqbal and Saudi Arabia for hindering the election of Aoun. The official circles concluded that Aoun had pointed out in a speech last week in front of a Press Syndicate delegation “that there is no Saudi veto on his election which slams Hizbullah's accusation that held the kingdom responsible.” Hizbullah says that it endorses Aoun for the top Christian post but at the same boycotts the sessions of parliament that aim to fill the over two-year vacuum. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of the president ended. Conflicts between the rival March 8 and March 14 camps have thwarted all attempts aiming at electing a successor. The parliament convened last week for the 42nd time in a bid to elect a president but only 128 MPs attended. It was adjourned due to lack of quorum.

Mustaqbal Hits Back at Hizbullah over Presidential Vote Obstruction
Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc snapped back Tuesday at Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc over accusations that al-Mustaqbal Movement and Saudi Arabia are obstructing the presidential elections in Lebanon. “The bloc condemns Loyalty to Resistance's statement, which represented a return to the rhetoric of underestimating the intelligence of the Lebanese through repeating malicious claims and accusations, in a desperate attempt to pin the blame on al-Mustaqbal Movement,” said the bloc in a statement issued after its weekly meeting. “Hizbullah's claim that the movement and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are to blame for the failure to elect a president in Lebanon is fabrication par excellence,” Mustaqbal added. The party “is seeking to deviate the public opinion's attention from the main issue, which is the election of a president,” the bloc went on to say. “Amid the rising tensions, confusion and threats in Lebanon and the region... the bloc stresses once again that the Lebanese in general and all MPs must return to the correct and serious basis for addressing the problems, topped by the immediate election of a president, in line with the Constitution and the Taef Accord,” Mustaqbal added. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Change and Reform Urges Approval of Oil Decrees, Rejects Army Term Extensions
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 19/16/The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc led by MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday called for approving two decrees related to offshore oil and gas excavation, while reiterating its rejection of term extensions for military chiefs. “The bloc views positively the financial report that was submitted to cabinet by (Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil), seeing as it included serious, practical suggestions in the absence of a state budget,” said the bloc in a statement issued after its weekly meeting in Rabieh. “The two oil decrees require a meeting for the specialized ministerial committee and their approval in cabinet without any political obstruction. The two decrees are technical par excellence and they would boost confidence in the economic and financial situations, according to what was recommended in the finance minister's report,” the bloc added. “That must be followed by passing a taxation law that preserves the rights of the people and the treasury,” Change and Reform said. Asked about the issue of military appointments, ex-minister Salim Jreissati, who recited the statement, told reporters that the bloc did not discuss the issue. “The bloc's stance is clear and there is a need to appoint a chief of staff and the cabinet has the ability to make appointments. Our stance is principled and clear and we oppose any term extensions,” Jreissati added. The bloc's stance on oil exploration comes after a recent meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri after which the two parties announced that they have resolved their difference regarding the file. Prime Minister Tammam Salam has announced that he will not convene the oil ministerial committee before gathering “all the data” about the issue of offshore oil and gas exploration, noting that the file requires “high readiness on all levels.” Lebanon and Israel are bickering over a zone that consists of about 854 square kilometers and suspected energy reserves that could generate billions of dollars. Lebanon has been slow to exploit its maritime resources compared with other eastern Mediterranean countries. Israel, Cyprus and Turkey are all much more advanced in drilling for oil and gas.In March 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and a mean of 34.5 trillion cubic meters of recoverable gas in the Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean, which includes the territorial waters of Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Cyprus. In August 2014, the government postponed for the fifth time the first round of licensing for gas exploration over a political dispute. The disagreements were over the designation of blocks open for bidding and the terms of a draft exploration agreement. Lebanese officials have continuously warned that Israel's exploration of new offshore gas fields near Lebanese territorial waters means that Israel is siphoning some of Lebanon's crude oil.

US Treasury Department delegation visits Banks Association
Tue 19 Jul 2016/NNA - A delegation from the US Treasury Department, headed by Assistant US Treasury Secretary Daniel Glazer, visited on Tuesday Lebanon Banks Association's headquarters in Saifi. The delegation was greeted by Association head, Francois Bassil, and Board Administration members. As per a statement by the Association, it said that the meeting tackled the current financial and banking situation in Lebanon and the region, with emphasis on the measures adopted by the Lebanese banks in a precision and regularity manner, in anticipation of the various risks and abidance by the proper banking norms in compliance with international resolutions, particularly the mechanisms of the application of US sanctions and the law of US tax-compliance. Bassil, for his part, Bassil stressed that the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing is an ongoing work by the Lebanese banking sector, clearly evident through the ongoing developments in the supervisory and regulatory framework. Bassil said that they do not deal with those placed on blacklists and do not allow them any access to the international banking sector, underlining compliance with international laws and sanctions.

Kabbara calls on control committees to put their hands on Tripoli bridge project
Tue 19 Jul 2016/NNA - MP Mohammad Kabbara called upon the concerned control committees to call the contractor of Al-Mina - Al-Beddawi bridge project in Tripoli, apply the observed laws against him and put their hands on the project as its inappropriate to carry on this negligence towards Tripoli and its projects. The MP urged the concerned control committees to play their role, figure out the facts that are going on and hold those responsible for the unjustified delay accountable, stressing that the citizens of Tripoli will not accept anymore marginalizing their city nor will they accept their projects to stay in the dark. He called upon the cabinet to interfere and give Tripoli back its rights through accomplishing its projects or "we will defend our city and its projects in our own ways."

Khalil: Financial measures weak if political life not reactivated
Tue 19 Jul 2016/NNA - Finance Minister, Ali Hassan Khalil, said that the financial measures would be weak if the political life was not reactivated by launching the work cycle of legislative institutions. His words came on Tuesday during a ceremony organized by Régie Company under his patronage, for the purpose of giving grants to a number of villages in the North, South and Bekaa regions, in favor of tobacco cultivation and the implementation of developmental projects. He called for benefiting from the municipal elections experience through organizing the parliamentary one on time in line with a new law based on the proportionality system. He also described Régie's step as visionary, paramount, and continual to the Sustainable Development Program launched by Régie several months ago.
Khalil did not forget to praise Régie's role in managing and producing tobacco.

Pheraon launches Douma festivals
Tue 19 Jul 2016/NNA - Tourism Minister, Michel Pheraon, on Tuesday launched Douma tourism festivals in a press conference held at his office, in presence of the representative of Culture Minister Sarkis Khoury, Director General of Tourism Ministry Nada Sardouk, and head of Douma Festivals Committee Hayat Al Hage Chalhoub. Pheraon spoke highly of Douma as a model city reflecting the Lebanese heritage, culture and civilization.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 19-20/16

Three Killed in Shooting in Eastern UK
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 19/16/Three people were killed on Tuesday in a shooting in eastern England, including the suspected assailant, police said -- adding that there was no indication of a link with terrorism. "Three people have been fatally wounded, including the suspected offender," a statement from Lincolnshire Police said, confirming a "firearms incident" near a swimming pool. "There is an ongoing police investigation and at this stage we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. "There is no indication that this is a terrorist related incident and no shots have been fired by police." The incident began at around 9:00 am (0800 GMT) when police were called to reports of a person injured near the Castle Swimming Pool in Spalding, a town in Lincolnshire. "We would urge members of the public to stay away from the area at the present time," police said. In a short statement on its Facebook page, the Castle Sports Complex and Swimming Pool said it was closed "due to an incident in the local area".

U.S.-led Coalition Strikes Kill 56 Civilians in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 19/16/At least 56 civilians, including 11 children, were killed Tuesday in dawn raids by the U.S.-led coalition outside a Syrian village held by the Islamic State group, a monitor said. Dozens more civilians were injured in the strikes, including some who were in serious condition, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "Residents were fleeing the village of Al-Tukhar in Aleppo province when the strikes hit," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. He said the strikes appeared to have been carried out in error, with the civilians being mistaken for IS fighters. The Observatory -- which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information -- says it determines what planes carried out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved. Asked about the incident, the coalition had no immediate comment but said it was looking into the reports. Al-Tukhar lies 14 kilometres (nine miles) north of the town of Manbij, a key stronghold of IS in Aleppo province. The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters that is backed by the coalition, broke into the western districts of Manbij in late June. But their advance has been slowed in the past month because of landmines planted by the jihadists, who have also launched suicide attacks against the SDF. The Observatory on Monday had reported at least 21 civilians dead in U.S.-led coalition strikes on Al-Tukhar and Manbij. Syria's war has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

Palestinian Militant Killed in Gaza Tunnel Collapse
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 19/16/A Palestinian militant has died after a tunnel collapse in the Gaza Strip, Islamic Jihad has announced, in the latest in a series of such incidents.Salah al-Astal, 28, from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, died while working in a tunnel, the Al-Quds Brigades, the Islamist movement's military wing, announced in a statement late on Monday. It said he had died during the "collapse of a resistance tunnel," a term used by Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other Palestinian militant factions to refer to tunnels used in the conflict with Israel. It was the second such death in 10 days, after another Islamic Jihad member died in similar circumstances on July 10. Israel accuses militants in Gaza of rebuilding tunnels that could be used to attack it, with three wars having been fought between them since 2008. A spokesman for the Al-Quds Brigades told Agence France Presse Tuesday they would continue to focus on tunnel building as it enables them to "hurt the enemy". Since January 26, at least 14 Gazans have been killed in at least seven separate tunnel collapses.Israel and Egypt have both launched operations to try to prevent tunnelling. Clashes broke out on the Gaza border in May as Israel revealed a new tunnel reaching into its territory from the Palestinian enclave, after another was discovered in mid-April. That violence was the worst flare-up between the army and Hamas since a devastating 2014 war, with Hamas attacking forces operating nearby with mortar rounds and Israel responding with air raids and tank fire, which resulted in the death of a Gaza woman. The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for around a decade and its border with Egypt also remains largely closed. Egypt has also destroyed Palestinian tunnels used to smuggle in commercial goods, cash, people and, allegedly, weapons.

Turkey removes 492 state religious personnel after failed coup
Reuters, Ankara Tuesday, 19 July 2016/Turkey has removed 492 staff from duty at its top Islamic authority for suspected involvement in the failed July 15 military coup and for alleged "terrorism" links, a statement from the Diyanet said on Tuesday. Turkey's government has accused US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen of masterminding the coup, in which more than 200 people were killed. Gulen, who has many supporters in Turkey's civil service, judiciary and police, has strongly denied the accusation. More than 100,000 personnel are employed at the Religious Affairs Directorate, or Diyanet. Also on Tuesday, Turkey removed 257 staff from duty at the prime minister's office for suspected involvement in the failed July 15 military coup, sources in his team said on Tuesday.
 

Erdogan says Turks want coup ‘terrorists’ killed
Reuters Tuesday, 19 July 2016/President Tayyip Erdogan told CNN in an interview on Monday that the Turkish people wanted the death penalty - abolished more than a decade ago - for those involved in last weekend’s failed military coup. “The people on the streets have made that request,” Erdogan said in an excerpt broadcast by CNN. “The people have the opinion that these terrorists should be killed ... Why should I keep them and feed them in prisons for years to come, that’s what the people say.”CNN also quoted Erdogan as saying official papers would be filed within days to request the extradition of cleric Fethullah Gulen from the United States. Turkey says Gulen masterminded the coup attempt. He denies involvement. Erdogan spoke early Tuesday to hundreds of supporters outside his Istanbul residence who were chanting for Turkey to restore capital punishment following the failed coup. Erdogan said Turkey is “a democratic state run by rule of law” and “you cannot put aside the people’s demands.” European Union officials say talks on Turkey’s bid to join the EU would end if Ankara restores the death penalty.“Today is there no capital punishment in America? In Russia? In China? In countries around the world? Only in European Union countries is there no capital punishment,” Erdogan said.He also said he planned to meet with his National Security Council on Wednesday.(With The Associated Press)
 

50,000 targeted in post-coup Turkey crackdown
By Reuters Istanbul/Ankara Tuesday, 19 July 2016/Turkey vowed to root out allies of the US-based cleric it blames for an abortive coup last week, widening a purge of the army, police and judiciary on Tuesday to universities and schools, the intelligence agency and religious authorities. Around 50,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended or detained since the coup attempt, stirring tensions across the country of 80 million which borders Syria’s chaos and is a Western ally against ISIS. “This parallel terrorist organization will no longer be an effective pawn for any country,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, referring to what the government has long alleged is a state within a state controlled by followers of Fethullah Gulen. “We will dig them up by their roots,” he told parliament. A spokesman for President Tayyip Erdogan said the government was preparing a formal request to the United States for the extradition of Gulen, who Turkey says orchestrated the failed military takeover on Friday in which at least 232 people were killed. Seventy-five-year-old Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania but has a network of supporters within Turkey, has condemned the coup attempt and denied any role in it. A former ally-turned critic of Erdogan, he suggested the president staged it as an excuse for a crackdown after a steady accumulation of control during 14 years in power. On Tuesday, authorities shut down media outlets deemed to be supportive of the cleric and said 15,000 people had been fired from the education ministry, 492 from the Religious Affairs Directorate, 257 from the prime minister's office and 100 intelligence officials. The lira weakened to beyond 3 to the dollar after state broadcaster TRT said all university deans had been ordered to resign, recalling the sorts of broad purges seen in the wake of successful military coups of the past. In a sign of international concern, a German official said a serious fissure had opened in Turkey and he feared fighting would break out within Germany’s large Turkish community. “A deep split is emerging in Turkish society,” Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. “The danger of an escalation in violence between Erdogan supporters and opponents has also risen in Germany.”
“Double standards”
Turkey’s Western allies have expressed solidarity with the government over the coup attempt but also alarm at the scale and swiftness of the response, urging it to adhere to democratic values. Prime Minister Yildirim accused Washington, which said it will consider Gulen’s extradition only if clear evidence is provided, of double standards in its fight against terrorism. Yildirim said the justice ministry had sent a dossier to US authorities on Gulen, whose religious movement blends conservative Islamic values with a pro-Western outlook and who has a network of supporters within Turkey. “We have more than enough evidence, more than you could ask for, on Gulen,” Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters outside parliament. “There is no need to prove the coup attempt, all evidence shows that the coup attempt was organised on his will and orders.” Seeking to quash any suggestion of lingering instability, the army said it had resumed full control. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus denied reports that 14 naval vessels were missing and their commanders were seeking to defect. Kurtulmus also told reporters 9,322 people were under legal proceedings in relation to the attempted coup. Eight soldiers have sought asylum in neighboring Greece and Turkey says they must be handed back or it will not help relations between the neighbors, which have long been uneasy. Around 1,400 people were wounded as soldiers commandeered tanks, attack helicopters and warplanes, strafing parliament and the intelligence headquarters and trying to seize the main airport and bridges in Istanbul. The army general staff said it would punish “in the most severe way” any members of the armed forces responsible for what it called “this disgrace”, adding that most had nothing to do with the coup. “No clandestine terrorist organization will have the nerve to betray our blessed people again,” Yildirim said.
Death penalty center stage
Some Western leaders expressed concern that Erdogan, who said he was almost killed or captured by the mutineers, was using the opportunity to consolidate power and further a process of stifling dissent. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, voiced “serious alarm” on Tuesday at the mass suspension of judges and prosecutors and urged Turkey to allow independent monitors to visit those who have been detained. The foreign ministry has said criticism of the government’s response amounts to backing the coup. Turkey scrapped capital punishment in 2004 as part of its push to join the European Union, and European leaders have warned Ankara that restoring it would derail its EU aspirations. But in the aftermath of the coup, Erdogan has repeatedly called for parliament to consider his supporters’ demands to apply the death penalty for the plotters. Yildirim said Turkey would respect the rule of law and not be driven by revenge in prosecuting suspected coup plotters. Speaking alongside the leader of the main secularist opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), he said the country must avoid the risk that some people try to exploit the current situation. “We need unity... and brotherhood now,” he said. The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), a right-wing grouping and the smallest of the three opposition parties represented in parliament, said it would back the government if it decides to restore the death penalty. More than 6,000 soldiers and around 1,500 others have been detained since the abortive coup. About 8,000 police officers, including in the capital Ankara and the biggest city Istanbul, have been removed on suspicion of links to the plot. Some 1,500 finance ministry officials have also been removed from their posts. Annual leave has been suspended for more than three million civil servants, while close to 3,000 judges and prosecutors have also been purged. A court remanded 26 generals and admirals in custody on Monday, Turkish media said.
“100% security”
Officials in Ankara say former air force chief Akin Ozturk, who has appeared in detention with his face and arms bruised and one ear bandaged, was a co-leader of the coup. Turkish media said on Monday he had denied this to prosecutors, saying he had tried to prevent the attempted putsch.
The coup crumbled after Erdogan, on holiday with his family at the coastal resort of Marmaris, phoned in to a television news program and called for his followers to take to the streets. He was able to fly into Istanbul in the early hours of Saturday, after the rebel pilots had his plane in their sights but did not shoot it down. He said on Monday he might have died if he had left Marmaris any later and that two of his bodyguards had been killed. The bloodshed shocked the nation, where the army last used force to stage a successful coup more than 30 years ago, and shattered fragile confidence in the stability of a NATO member state already rocked by Islamic State suicide bombings and an insurgency by Kurdish militants. Since the coup was put down, Erdogan has said enemies of the state still threatened the nation and has urged Turks to take to the streets every night until Friday to show support for the government.

Turkey PM Warns against 'Feeling of Revenge' after Coup
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 19/16/Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday warned against revenge in the aftermath of a failed coup targeting his government. "Nobody can have a feeling of revenge. This is unacceptable in a state governed by rule of law," Yildirim said, referring to images purportedly showing government supporters physically attacking alleged coup backers. He vowed however that whoever had acted against the law would be punished. "Today we need unity," he said. Turkey has jailed over two dozen generals, including a former air force chief, on suspicion of planning Friday's attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Yildirim was speaking after meeting secular opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Turkey's opposition parties have stood against the coup plot which has been blamed by the government on Erdogan's ally turned foe, the US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Turkey Says has Sent 'Dossiers' to U.S. over Gulen Links to Coup
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 19/16/Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday said his government had dispatched dossiers to the United States for the extradition of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen over his alleged links to Friday's attempted coup. "We have sent four dossiers to the United States for the extradition of the terrorist chief. We will present them with more evidence than they want," Yildirim told parliament.

IS Claims First German Attack with Train Axe Assault
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 19/16/The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Tuesday for its first attack in Germany, an axe and knife assault on a train carried out by a 17-year-old Afghan refugee. German authorities said they had found a hand-painted IS flag among the belongings of the asylum seeker, who seriously injured four members of a family of tourists from Hong Kong in his rampage. The teenage assailant was killed as he tried to flee. "The perpetrator of the stabbing attack in Germany was one of the fighters of the Islamic State," the IS-linked Amaq news agency said. The assault on a regional train near the southern city of Wuerzburg late Monday left two of the victims critically hurt, said Joachim Herrmann, the interior minister of Bavaria state. "We hope that those who were gravely injured make it," Herrmann told ZDF public television. Germany has thus far escaped the kind of large-scale jihadist attack seen in the southern French city of Nice last week, in which 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel used a truck to mow down 84 people. That attack was also claimed by IS. The terrifying assault in Bavaria is likely to revive a heated national debate about integrating migrants and refugees after a record influx last year.
- 'Like a slaughterhouse' -The assailant had arrived as an unaccompanied minor in Germany about two years ago and had been staying with a foster family in the region for the last two weeks, Herrmann said. "It is quite probable that this was an Islamist attack," said a ministry spokesman hours after the attack, adding that the assailant was heard shouting "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest). However, he stressed that the investigation was ongoing and that the teenager appeared to have acted alone. "We must determine what the motive was and to what extent he really belonged to the Islamist scene or self-radicalised very recently," Herrmann said, adding that the assailant had no criminal record in Germany. The assault happened around 9:15 pm (1915 GMT) on the train which runs between the town of Treuchtlingen and Wuerzburg in Bavaria. An eyewitness who lives next to the railway station told DPA news agency that the train, which had been carrying around 25 people, looked "like a slaughterhouse" with blood covering the floor.
The man, who declined to give his name, said he saw people crawl from the carriage and ask for a first-aid kit as other victims lay on the floor inside."The perpetrator was able to leave the train, police left in pursuit and as part of this pursuit, they shot the attacker and killed him," a police spokesman said. Herrmann later said the teenager was shot when he attacked police while trying to escape the scene. - Political tensions -Germany has been spared major Islamist attacks but in May, a mentally unstable 27-year-old man wielding a knife killed one person and injured three others on another Bavarian regional train. Early reports had suggested he had yelled "Allahu akbar" but police later said there was no evidence pointing to a religious motive. He is being held in a psychiatric hospital. In February, a 15-year-old girl of Turkish origin stabbed a policeman in the neck with a kitchen knife at Hanover train station in what prosecutors later said was an IS-inspired attack. And police in April arrested two 16-year-olds over an explosion that wounded three people at a Sikh temple, in what was believed to be an Islamist-motivated attack against an Indian wedding party at a temple in the western city of Essen.
Germany let in nearly 1.1 million asylum seekers last year, with Syrians the largest group followed by Afghans. However the number of refugees arriving in Germany has fallen sharply as a result of the closure of the Balkans migration route and an EU deal with Turkey to stem the flow. Bavaria is governed by the Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, which has been loudly critical of Merkel's welcoming stance toward asylum seekers. The split threatened the unity of the ruling coalition in Berlin and sent the government's approval ratings plunging. It has also put wind in the sails of a right-wing populist party, Alternative for Germany, which was founded as a eurosceptic protest outfit in 2013 but now mainly rails against Islam and Germany's refugee influx. Merkel's popularity has rebounded recently but the Bavaria attack is likely to stoke political tensions.

Armenia Hostage Crisis Enters Third Day
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 19/16/Pro-opposition gunmen are holding four police hostage in the Armenian capital Yerevan, officials said Tuesday, two days after they seized a police building, killing one officer and taking several hostages. "Talks are underway with the hostage-takers. We are doing our best to resolve the situation without bloodshed," Armenia's first deputy police chief Hunan Pogosyan told Agence France Presse. Lines of police in flak jackets and helmets gathered outside the building Tuesday as parked trucks blocked off surrounding streets, an AFP photographer said. The gunmen, who captured a large arsenal of police weapons, have so far refused to surrender. They freed four hostages on Sunday and Monday, but were still holding four hostages as of Tuesday morning, Armenia's national security service said. The hostages include Armenia's deputy police chief General Major Vardan Egiazaryan and Yerevan deputy police chief Colonel Valeri Osipyan. The attackers have demanded the resignation of President Serzh Sarkisian and the release of detained opposition leader Zhirair Sefilyan. More than 1,500 anti-government protesters rallied in Yerevan on Monday, calling for a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Sefilyan -- the leader of small opposition group the New Armenia Public Salvation Front -- and six of his supporters were arrested in June after authorities said they were preparing to seize government buildings and telecoms facilities in Yerevan. A fierce critic of the government, he was arrested in 2006 over calls for "a violent overthrow of the government" and jailed for 18 months. He was released in 2008. Last year, Sefilyan and several of his supporters were arrested again on suspicion of preparing a coup, but released shortly afterwards. Sarkisian, a former military officer, has been president of the tiny country of 2.9 million people since winning a vote in 2008 that saw bloody clashes between police and supporters of the defeated opposition candidate in which 10 people died.

Bahrain Rebuffs British, U.S. Allies over Opposition Ban
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 19/16/Bahrain has rebuffed its British and U.S. allies over a controversial ban on the kingdom's largest opposition group, insisting it will brook no interference in its internal affairs. The tiny but strategic Gulf state, a former British protectorate and home base of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, has been racked by persistent unrest since its Sunni rulers bloodily suppressed an uprising by its Shiite majority in 2011. Western governments have repeatedly appealed publicly for reform and reconciliation but those calls have gone unheeded and in recent months the crackdown on dissent has intensified.
On Sunday, a court dissolved Al-Wefaq, the largest faction in parliament before 2011, accusing it of fanning violence in Shiite areas. The ruling was condemned around the world, by Iran as well as Western governments and the United Nations. But Bahrain was unrepentant, issuing a statement late on Monday hitting back at its Western allies. "Such statements and positions are unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of the kingdom of Bahrain, and in the decisions of the Bahraini judicial process, which provides all necessary standards of justice, fairness, transparency and independence," the foreign ministry said. The "statements are unjustified and only give encouragement to groups which support extremism and terrorism," it added. The ministry said it hoped "friendly and allied countries take into account the interests" of Bahrain, just as it "is keen to take into account the interests of all allies and partners in order to preserve their distinctive historical relations, and to ensure security and stability in the region."Bahrain received military support from its Gulf Arab allies when it crushed the 2011 protests for a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister, but its continuing crackdown has drawn mounting Western criticism. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Al-Wefaq ban was the "latest in a series of disconcerting ‎steps in Bahrain." He called on Bahrain to "reverse these and other recent measures (and) return urgently to the path of reconciliation."British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson urged Bahrain "to guarantee and protect political freedoms for all its citizens."Al-Wefaq's chief, Shiite cleric Ali Salman, is serving a nine-year jail term on charges of inciting violence after a court in May more than doubled his sentence. Authorities have also stripped at least 261 people of their citizenship since 2012, according to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, including the country's Shiite spiritual leader Sheikh Isa Qassem. Last October, Britain began building a naval base at Mina Salman, outside Manama, its first new permanent base in the Middle East in four decades. Bahrain is a member of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria.

Iraq PM Accepts Resignation of Five New Ministers
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 19/16/Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has been trying for months to replace the current cabinet, has accepted the resignations of five more ministers, his office said on Tuesday. Abadi issued orders accepting the resignations of the ministers of oil, transport, housing and construction, water resources and industry, as well as interior, which had been previously announced. But replacing them will be a major challenge: Abadi struggled to win parliament's approval for even relatively minor ministers, and oil and interior are two of the most powerful ministries in the country. And while parliament finally approved a few of Abadi's candidates in late April, a court scrapped the session, from which some lawmakers were barred from attending, two months later. The premier called in February for the cabinet to include technocrats, but has faced major opposition from powerful political parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds. Populist Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr later took up the call for a technocratic government, and has organized repeated demonstrations calling for reforms.His supporters have broken into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone area, where the government is headquartered, on multiple occasions during Friday protests.

Syria Islamists Announce Bid to Break Aleppo Siege
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 19/16/A hardline Islamist rebel group announced on Tuesday the start of a battle to break the regime siege of rebel-held districts of Syria's second city Aleppo. Ahrar al-Sham, a leading rebel Salafist faction active in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib and allied to the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front, issued the declaration on Twitter. It announced "the beginning of the battle to break the siege of the city of Aleppo with the liberation of military positions in al-Mallah district."President Bashar Assad's forces have controlled the southern part of the district since July 7, when they cut a key route threatening the supply of food and other essentials to 200,000 people, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Several Islamist groups have since launched attacks to try to halt the regime advance, but so far without any success. Aleppo city was once Syria's economic powerhouse, but it has been ravaged by the war that began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.The conflict has killed more than 280,000 people and left Aleppo divided roughly between government control in the west and rebel control in the east.

Drone over N. Israel: Iranian with stolen US apps
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 19/16
The UMV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) that flew on July 17 over northern Israel was a “Yasir’ drone made in Iran that was launched from a Hizballah base in Syria’s Qalamoun Mountains, some 60km from central Golan. This is reported by DEBKAfile military and intelligence sources.
The Yaasir can reach an altitude of 5,000 feet, operate in a 200km radius and stay aloft for 8 hours. There is no information as to whether it was launched by a Iranian or a Hizballah team. This UMV displayed exceptional maneuverability, unlike most drones, due it is believed to the advanced US electronic systems installed by reverse engineering of the American US ScanEagle drone that was downed intact over Iran on Dec. 17, 2012. Our military and intelligence sources say this fundamental upgrade was carried out under the instruction of Chinese cyber warfare specialists. The IDF, the Israeli air force and other western armies, including the US Air Force, are anxiously trying to find out how many replicas of the purloined US ScanEagle the Iranians have been able to manufacture. They all watched the Iranian drone’s performance in evading Israeli air force jets and helicopters and ducking air-to-air missiles and Patriot surface-to-aircraft missiles before flying back to Syria after spending the best part of an hour over the Golan and Upper Galilee. On October 2013, when Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev, the Russian Air Force Commander, visited Tehran, the Iranians made him a gift of a drone into which the sophisticated the US electronic systems were implanted. This would explain why the Russian command in Syria omitted to intervene or warn Israel of the approach of an alien UMV from Syria - in breach of the coordination agreement between Israel and Russia. DEBKAfile’s military sources add that the two Patriot missiles fired at the drone veered off course and crashed into each other. This was most probably one of the effects caused by the Iranian-Hizballah drone’s pirated US electronic capabilities.

Maryam Rajavi calls for condemnation of increasing executions, effective action
NCRI/ Monday, 18 July 2016/Iranian Resistance President-elect Mrs. Maryam Rajavi described the unprecedented increase in mass and arbitrary executions in various cities across Iran as the religious dictatorship’s utter fear of increasing social unrest and escalating popular protests. “An increase in vicious executions has come at a time when two weeks ago the mullahs’ regime staged a rocket attack against Camp Liberty and was on the verge of killing refugee members of the Iranian Resistance. During the past week at least 30 prisoners in different cities of Iran were mass executed and in some cases hanged in public. 16 of these prisoners were executed on Sunday, July 17th alone,” Mrs. Rajavi said. “All signs indicate the mullahs’ weakness and utter fragility more than ever before, and it being terrified of its indispensable toppling. This is the same fear that the regime showed hysterically in response to the grand annual gathering held by the Iranian Resistance. During the past few days Tehran has summoned representatives of foreign governments, made ridiculous threats and launched a choir of senior regime officials in all its propaganda organs in this regard,” she added. The increasing trend of executions, especially one year after the signing of the nuclear agreement, once again proves the defeasance of the reform theory inside the regime. This also shows that the appeasement policies encourages this medieval regime in its criminal policies. Dealing with and appeasing this regime at a time when mass executions, warmongering and its export of terrorism to regional countries are on the rise is considered practical collaboration with the mullahs, Mrs. Rajavi underscored as she called on the United Nations Security Council and member states of the European Union to strongly condemn these criminal executions and adopt effective measures against Tehran. All economic and political relations with the mullahs must be conditioned on abolishing all executions and improving the human rights situation in Iran, she added.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran/July 18, 2016

UN accuses Iran regime of flouting international law
NCRI Iran News/Tuesday, 19 July 2016/The United Nations on Monday accused the Iranian regime of repeating violating international law by sending weapons to militias in the Middle East. The Under Secretary-General of the UN for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said that the Iranian regime violated international law by sending weapons to militias in Iraq, Al Arabiya English reported. The report pointed to a weapons shipment that was seized by the US Navy in the Gulf of Oman. Also, a special report submitted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the UN Security Council on Monday affirmed that Iran's regime is violating the agreement reached with world powers on its nuclear development program a year ago, Al Arabiya English added. The French and US representatives said that the Iranian regime conducted its fourth ballistic missile test since signing the nuclear agreement with the United States and five other world powers last year.The report mentioned an intercepted Iranian arms shipment to rebels in Yemen and a violation of travel restrictions on Iranians such as the head of its al-Quds Force, who was recently seen in Iraq.

UN chief slammed over Iran nuclear deal report
Reuters, United Nations Tuesday, 19 July 2016/The United States and Russia both criticized United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday for overstepping his mandate in a report on the implementation of a Security Council resolution backing a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
Most UN sanctions on Iran were lifted in January when the UN nuclear watchdog confirmed that Tehran fulfilled commitments under its nuclear deal with Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and the United States. But Iran is still subject to a UN arms embargo and other restrictions. UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman briefed the 15-member Security Council on Monday on Ban's first bi-annual report on the implementation of the remaining sanctions and restrictions on Iran. "The United States disagrees strongly with elements of this report, including that its content goes beyond the appropriate scope. We understand that Iran also disagrees strongly with parts of the report," US Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, told the council. Power said "while some have argued that to be balanced, the report should give Iran a chance to express complaints about sanctions relief under the deal," the Security Council did not mandate Ban to report on such issues. Ban's report said Iran complained that it had yet to fully benefit from the lifting of sanctions, raising concerns about US travel restrictions and the confiscation of Iranian Central Bank assets under a US court order.Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the report contained factual errors and headings in the report referring to 'restrictions' on Iranian ballistic missile activities "simply don't coincide with the subject of the report.""Some of the provisions of the Secretary-General's report have no relation to his mandate, nor to the terms of reference of (the UN) resolution or the (nuclear deal)," Churkin said.Under the UN resolution, Iran is "called upon" to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for up to eight years. Key powers agree that request is not legally binding, but Western nations view the language as a ban and say there is a political obligation on Iran to comply.Ban's report said ballistic missile launches by Iran in March were "not consistent with the constructive spirit" of the nuclear deal, but it is up to the United Nations Security Council to decide if they violated a resolution.

Lord Maginnis: A Striking Contrast to the Mullahs’ Iran
NCRI Iran News/Tuesday, 19 July 2016/The major world power's nuclear deal with the mullahs' regime will not bring a moderate Iran, writes Lord Maginnis of Drumglass. He says to achieve that, Iran’s democracy activists need the international community's support.
In an article on Tuesday, July 19, for The Diplomat, Lord Maginnis wrote: A full year has passed since the Iranian regime accepted a nuclear deal with the West which would boost the regime and allow economic sanctions against Tehran to be lifted. The reciprocal of that entailed an abandonment of the nuclear program and hopefully could be a precursor to moderation — a softer, gentler Iran. Now that year has passed with these hopes being far from reality. The sad lesson must surely be apparent — the only real opportunity for change must lie in giving tangible support to active and moderate Iranians like those who assembled in Paris last weekend. The Iranian regime has increased its support for the murderous Assad regime; for Hezbollah; for Shiite militias and other terrorist groups abroad. It continues to directly participate in regional conflicts and at home the execution, in record numbers, of its their own people. Far from being a moderate, President Hassan Rouhani has exceeded the brutality and extremism of his predecessor, and all the while the nuclear program remains largely covert, while more overt segments show signs of further development. Ballistic missiles, executions, and regional turmoil are not signs of moderation by any stretch of the imagination. Just because the Iranian regime is full of hard-liners does not mean that the Iranian people are. Last Saturday, an impressive 100,000 Iranian expatriates and their international supporters gathered in Paris in a massive show of force. The keynote speaker was Maryam Rajavi, the charismatic president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) who has assembled a solid show of support among Iranians at home and abroad.
Mrs. Rajavi has for some years presented a stark contrast to the Iranian status quo, calling for a truly democratic Iran and saying, “A new era will dawn in Iran; a society based on separation of religion and state, and gender equality will blossom.” Her words, while drawing a strong reaction from the highest levels of the Iranian regime were warmly received by both supporters in Paris and those other supporters who still must run the gauntlet within Iran’s borders. It is this moderation that not only brought thousands of Iranian supporters, but a large contingent of leading international politicians as well.
The most striking aspect of the NCRI’s international political support is that the list of politicians attending would rarely, if ever, be seen together except at this kind of event – a response to the national tragedy that exists under Rouhani and the Mullahs. U.S. Democrats such as Howard Dean and Bill Richardson were joined by Republicans Newt Gingrich and John Bolton. Likewise, European politicians in attendance, parliamentary delegations, and global political personalities covered the entirety of the political spectrum. In such a polarized political era, to have such cooperation and agreement on a single issue should not be understated. Among the more notable attendees was Turki bin Faisal Al-Saud, a prominent member of the Saudi royal family, its former intelligence chief and a former ambassador to the United States and UK. Surely this is a significant and major indicator that the momentum is shifting against the Iranian regime. Prince Turki’s attendance marked the first time Saudi support was given publicly to any group so opposed to the Iranian regime. This was not simply a gamble, but a purposeful and calculated statement by the Saudis, indicating an expectation that the NCRI will continue to gain momentum that could ultimately lead to regime change. Tehran’s immediate hysterical reaction to the gathering and its message included summoning the French ambassador to Tehran with the aim of intimidating the French for allowing a peaceful rally to take place in the “City of Light.” Surely that’s a clear indication that the theocratic regime in Tehran is feeling the heat and that NCRI opposition is, increasingly, making an impact internationally.
The huge numbers of grassroots supporters, the political attendees of every political and democratic hue from so many countries is a huge endorsement. The reaction of the Mullah’s regime sends a very clear message. Though regime change is unlikely to happen overnight, the NCRI is a viable, moderate alternative that the hard-liners in Tehran regards as a threat. Western governments and others in the region should take this message seriously and perhaps reconsider their position in how they seek to reform a regime that has, time without number, broken its commitments and been consistently so deceitful and destructive.
Mrs Rajavi and her formidable workforce have a clearly enunciated, pluralistic, and democratic vision. The free world should not be content to relegate this to merely a once-a-year event.
**Lord Maginnis of Drumglass is an independent member of the UK House of Lords and prominent member of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom (BPCIF), www.iran-freedom.org

Belgium’s lawmakers call attention to human rights abuses in Iran
Tuesday, 19 July 2016/NCRI – The Belgian Committee of Parliamentarians and Mayors for a Democratic Iran has called attention to the violation of human rights in Iran by the mullahs’ regime. In a statement on Tuesday, the group also declared its solidarity with the major “Free Iran” rally that was held by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) in Paris on July 9. The following is the text of their statement:
For immediate release – Tuesday 19 July 2016
More than 90 Belgian Politicians Call for Relations with Iran to be Conditioned to Human Rights
We in Belgium are very much concerned about the human rights violations in Iran which has gone worse after the so called moderate Rouhani became President 3 years ago. Women are being repressed more than before and many journalists have been sent to jail.
One year has passed after the nuclear deal with Iran but we do not see any change of attitude. The regime has fired long range ballistic missiles and is a sponsor of terrorism and is fully supporting Bashar Assad in Syria.
In these circumstances, we were happy that the Iranian resistance held a very big gathering in Paris on 9th of July in solidarity with Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the opposition leader, who has been to Belgium Senate and Parliament several times before. This gathering has really shaken the regime.
So we in Belgium, in solidarity with the people of Iran who are suffering under the rule of the mullahs, have signed a joint statement which has received the support of many members of parliaments from major political parties from French, Flemish and German speaking regions. This support includes more than 90 members of the Federal parliament and Senate, members of the Flemish parliament and members of the regional parliaments of the Capital Brussels and Wallonia. I am sending this joint statement to the media and EU and international institutions today.
Our main demand is that the European governments, including our own government in Belgium, must condition their relations with Iran to ending of executions and a clear progress on human rights.
We should not close our eyes to the crimes in Iran for financial interests.
**Dirk Claes, Mayor and Honorary Senator
President of Belgian Committee of Parliamentarians and Mayors for a Democratic Iran

Political prisoner Alireza Golipour declares support for Iranian Resistance’s rally
Tuesday, 19 July 2016/NCRI - Iranian political prisoner Alireza Golipour, wrote a message praising the Iranian Resistance’s “Free Iran” gathering on July 9 in Paris. The text of his message, smuggled out of Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, is as follows: "My greetings to the brothers and sisters who are fighting for freedom. What a pleasant moment to see your unification and empathy. It is a proud moment for us to stand against the mullahs' regime with all our strength and vitality. We are proud of you and we were even prouder when we witnessed your magnificent gathering. With the presence of all people of different classes, you proved the meaning of freedom of thought, expression, and democracy. Interestingly, the Iranian dictatorship was trembling with fear and they planned to destroy you but their attempt failed. It was not possible to spoil such purity and beauty. Another dishonor has been left on their dirty and corrupt record. I have a heart full of longing and appreciation for you, and because of your strong resistance, I shall shout out loudly: As your little brother, I am standing firmly on my principles and I am proud of my ideology and beliefs.
With hope for a free Iran."
Alireza Golipour
Tens of thousands of Iranians and their international supporters attended the "Free Iran" rally in Paris on July 9, which saw international support for the 10-point plan of Iranian opposition leader Mrs. Maryam Rajavi for a future free and democratic Iran.

Political prisoner Ali Moezzi backs “Free Iran” rally
Tuesday, 19 July 2016/NCRI - Iranian political prisoner Ali Moezzi has sent out a message from inside Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, commending the Iranian Resistance for holding the “Free Iran” gathering on July 9 in Paris. Mr. Moezzi, is a father to two members of the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK). He wrote: "The large gathering in Paris was attended by a myriad of Iranians, as well as compatriots and delegations, from all five continents who want to see a free Iran. Subsequently, the gathering attracted a considerable amount of attention from the worldwide press, and congratulations must be given to liberal compatriots and the members of the PMOI, who organized this event. Iran's struggle with authoritarianism has continued for more than fifty years, from the time of the Shah to the current mullahs, but despite all odds we will gallop to freedom, no matter what obstacles block our way. The voice of the resistance shall be heard. It is not in the interest of our people, the region, and the world to close their eyes and create a barrier in the way of this resistance. In order to make a better world with more responsible people, the organized message of the Iranian Resistance must be heard and applied. It is true that the members of the PMOI will, like blazing torches, set tyranny on fire. Yes, the multilateral and global resistance has large numbers of people in prison, in exile, at schools or in universities, in the factory or bazaar, at home or on the street; they are united to bring down the corrupt theocracy. We must revive freedom. ‘They see it far away and we see it close.’ My greetings to all freedom fighters, the brave sons of our homeland and the friends and supporters of the resistance.”Ali Moezzi, Ward 8 of Evin Prison.

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 19-20/16

Audio Interview with Dr. Walid phares Adviser on the Turkish Coup: Turkey crisis may unleash Islamist wrath
'The U.S. is perceived as weak. We've got to change that perception'
Greg Corombos/WND Radio/July 19/16
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fought off a coup attempt late last week, but a top foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump says the fallout may lead to a more Islamist Turkey bent on crushing any dissent.
And that uncertainty, he says, adds even more evidence that a change is needed in U.S. foreign policy.
Military elements launched the coup on Friday, but just hours later it was a clear failure. Nonetheless, Turkey will remain in a state of upheaval for some time.
“This does not mean that the tensions are gone. Tensions will remain. It all depends on how the Erdogan government is going to behave after crushing the coup,” said Dr. Walid Phares, a longtime terrorism and Middle East expert. He was announced as a foreign policy adviser to Trump back in May.
Since the failed coup, the Turkish authorities have rounded up thousands of military personnel, many of whom have nothing to with the plot to oust Erdogan. In addition, thousands of judges and other government workers are in custody.
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Phares told WND and Radio America he finds this especially worrisome.
“One thing is to stop a military coup. We don’t like to accept military coups in the 21st century,” Phares said. “Another thing is to use that military coup to have a counter-coup and then eliminate an entire political opposition.”
He said Erdogan may well use the coup as grounds to trample rights and ditch Turkey’s secular legacy.
“This could be an excuse that this government could use to control political life completely and then move the country toward becoming an Islamic regime,” Phares said.
Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with Walid Phares:
http://www.wnd.com/2016/07/trump-adviser-turkey-crisis-may-unleash-islamist-wrath/

Iran to have a quick path to nuclear bomb in 10 years
Ynetnews/Associated Press/July 19/16
Secret document reveals sanctions set to be eased in little over decade will leave Tehran capable of producing a nuclear bomb in just six months; US official insists limit on amount of enriched uranium Iran will be allowed to store to remain at 300 kilograms for full 15 years. Key restrictions on Iran's nuclear program imposed under an internationally negotiated deal will ease in slightly more than a decade, cutting the time Tehran would need to build a bomb to six months from present estimates of a year, according to a document obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The document is the only part linked to last year's deal between Iran and six foreign powers that hasn't been made public. It was given to the AP by a diplomat whose work has focused on Iran's nuclear program for more than a decade, and its authenticity was confirmed by another diplomat who possesses the same document. The diplomat who shared the document with the AP described it as an add-on agreement to the nuclear deal. But while formally separate from that accord, he said that it was, in effect, an integral part of the deal and had been approved both by Iran and the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, the six powers that negotiated the deal with Tehran.
Details published earlier outline most restraints on Iran's nuclear program meant to reduce the threat that Tehran will turn nuclear activities it says are peaceful to making weapons. But while some of the constraints extend for 15 years, documents in the public domain are short on details of what happens with Iran's most proliferation-prone nuclear activity -- its uranium enrichment -- beyond the first 10 years of the agreement. The document however, fills in the gap. It says that as of January 2027 -- 11 years after the deal was implemented -- Iran can start replacing its mainstay centrifuges with thousands of advanced machines. Centrifuges churn out uranium to levels that can range from use as reactor fuel and for medical and research purposes to much higher levels for the core of a nuclear warhead. From year 11 to 13, says the document, Iran can install centrifuges up to five times as efficient as the 5,060 machines it is now restricted to using. Those new models will number less than those being used now, ranging between 2,500 and 3,500, depending on their efficiency, according to the document. But because they are more effective, they will allow Iran to enrich at more than twice the rate it is doing now.
The US says the Iran nuclear agreement is tailored to ensure that Iran would need at least 12 months to "break out" and make enough weapons grade uranium for at least one weapon.
But based on a comparison of outputs between the old and newer machines, if the enrichment rate doubles, that breakout time would be reduced to six months, or even less if the efficiency is more than double, a possibility the document allows for.  The document also allows Iran to greatly expand its work with centrifuges that are even more advanced, including large-scale testing in preparation for the deal's expiry 15 years after its implementation on January 18. It doesn't say what happens with enrichment past year 13. That indicates a possible end to all restrictions on the number and kind of centrifuges even while constraints on other, less-proliferation prone nuclear activities remain until year 15. A US official noted, however, that the limit on the amount of enriched uranium Iran will be allowed to store will remain at 300 kilograms (660 pounds) for the full 15 years as well as being restricted to a level used for reactor fuel that is well below weapons grade. Like the diplomats, he too demanded anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the document.
Iran insists it is not interested in nuclear weapons, and the pact is being closely monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA says Tehran has essentially kept to its commitments since the agreement was implemented, a little more than six months after Iran and the six powers finalized it on July 14, 2015. Marking the agreement's anniversary Thursday, President Barack Obama said it has succeeded in rolling back Iran's nuclear program, "avoiding further conflict and making us safer." But opposition from US Republicans could increase with the revelation that Iran's potential breakout time would be more than halved over the last few years of the pact. Also opposed is Israel, which in the past has threatened to strike Iran if it deems that Tehran is close to making a nuclear weapon. Alluding to that possibility, David Albright, whose Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security is a US government go-to resource on Iran's nuclear program, said the plan outlined in the document "will create a great deal of instability and possibly even lead to war, if regional tensions have not subsided." The deal provides Iran with sanctions relief in exchange for its nuclear constraints. But before going into recess, US Congress last week approved a bill to impose new sanctions for Tehran's continuing development and testing of ballistic missiles, a program the White House says is meant to carry atomic warheads even if it is not part of the nuclear agreement.  It also approved a measure that calls for prohibiting the Obama administration from buying more of Iran's heavy water, a key component in certain nuclear reactors. The White House has said removing the country's surplus heavy water denies Tehran access to a material that may be stored for potential nuclear weapons production. But critics note that the purchase was made only after Iran exceeded heavy water limits proscribed by the nuclear deal and assert it rewarded Tehran for violating the agreement.

Kuwaiti Columnist Fahd Al-Bassam: Leave ISIS Be
MEMRI/July 19/16/Special Dispatch No.6531
On July 16, 2016, the Kuwaiti Al-Jarida daily published an article by columnist Fahd Al-Bassam under the provocative title "Leave ISIS Be." Al-Bassam is not at all an ISIS sympathizer: he argued rather that by fighting ISIS, Kuwait and the world were playing into its hands, and that the way to turn the tables on the organization was to recognize its state and to force it to become a responsible sovereign member of the international system. The columnist also pointed to some potential benefits from such an arrangement – for example, he suggested that the Islamic State and Iran might end up expending their energies fighting against one another, to the benefit of countries such as Kuwait that view both as their enemies.
The following are translated excerpts from the column:
Let Us Turn The Other Cheek To ISIS
"It is coming on three years now that we and the world have been confronting ISIS in fits and starts... We have tried every kind of conventional and unconventional weapon on them, as well as intelligence and spy operations. None of this has worked, and they are still there. We likewise tried to fight them with Islam, trying to convince them to adopt the path of moderation – the boundaries of which no one knows – and this did not work on them either, [since] they always find bad-faith interpretations [to justify their actions]. As for us, we gained our expertise through our dealings with the sweet, cute Muslim Brotherhood 'guy', who espouses a lightweight and tractable version of Islam that is always subject to negotiation and adaptation. The only thing that puts him in a tight spot is a salafi, and the only thing that puts a salafi in a tight spot is another who is more salafi than he – and so on and so forth... And these ISIS guys are the most salafi of all to date, and they have come to put everyone in a tight spot.
"For this reason, let us change the rules of the game a bit, turn the tables on them, and put them off their game. Let us face them with some Christianity, in which we will perhaps find our own lost wisdom. Perhaps we can succeed this time by, for example, following the principle of 'if someone slaps you on your right cheek, offer him your left cheek'.
"Let us recognize them and their state in its borders. This will then require them to adhere to these borders and not go beyond them, [and will likewise require them] to cure [themselves of their] 'nostalgia' for the [Islamic] conquests and to abandon the hobby of chasing dust in the desert on four-wheel drive vehicles. 'If we can't beat them, let's make them join us' in the international club and in the game of states, politics, and diplomacy. Let them send their ambassadors, and we will send our ambassadors, like things were with the Taliban's Afghanistan. Let us start playing out in the open.
'ISIS Would Be An Extremist Buffer State In Confrontation With Iran'
"This new situation would not be all bad. In fact, it would also bring us some gains. From the foreign policy perspective, ISIS would be an extremist Sunni buffer state in confrontation with Iran, the extremist Shi'i state. Let them come to terms one with the other. [For our part] we will hope that each side is sincere in its intention to do away with the other.
"From the domestic policy perspective, the existence [of the ISIS state] would be an opportunity to test the sincerity of the faith of those among us who dream of an Islamic state and sympathize with ISIS. We will see if they will move to live there, or go to invest, work, tour, and buy apartments there instead of in Turkey, Bosnia, or the UEFA Euro states. As for those who prefer to remain among us to spread ISIS' ideology, it would then be simple to indict them on charges of treason and collusion with a foreign country without any hesitation or ambiguity, unlike at present.
"Finally, we would like to see with our own bare eyes how the dream of the Islamic state and the caliphate is achieved in reality and how they will run it. It is one thing to hope and to live in the mantle of the past, and reality is another thing. Come on [ISIS]: pay salaries, create an economy and job opportunities, manage human life, and achieve economic growth. If they succeed, may Allah grant success to the state [established] by our brothers who rebelled against us; and if they fail, then at least we will have put to a practical test... the dreams of those romantics among us [in Kuwait] who hold ISIS in their hearts and on their tongues – after which perhaps they will be convinced [that their dreams are impossible].[1]
Endnote:
[1] Al-Jarida (Kuwait), July 16, 2016.

Gulf Officials Blast Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi: He Is The 'Mufti Of Suicide Attacks,' Should Be Prosecuted
MEMRI/July 19/16
July 19, 2016 Special Dispatch No.6530
In recent weeks, officials in the Gulf have lashed out at Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) and a prominent spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), for fatwas he issued in the past permitting suicide operations. The accusations came on the wake of the July 4, 2016 suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia, for which the Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility. The first to voice the accusations was UAE Foreign Minister 'Abdallah bin Zayed, who, in two tweets, blamed Al-Qaradawi for suicide attacks and called to hold him to account for his role in encouraging them. Responding to this on his own Twitter account, Al-Qaradawi called bin Zayed a "devil" but refrained from addressing the accusations themselves. It should be noted that after Twitter twice removed Al-Qaradawi's response he reposted it on his Facebook page. [1]
Bin Zayed's comments were echoed by two other Gulf officials: Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Aal Khalifa and UAE State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Mohammed Gargash. Several articles in the Gulf press joined the attack on Al-Qaradawi, calling him "the Mufti of Suicide" and "the Sheikh of Fitna," and some Egyptian papers known from their anti-MB position also published articles against him.
The accusations against Al-Qaradawi sparked a heated debate on social media. As evidence for their validity, users pointed to a video from 2012 in which the sheikh justified suicide operations in Syria. Asked whether it was permissible to carry out a martyrdom operation against regime loyalists even if civilians may be harmed as a result, Al-Qaradawi said that this was allowed as long as the group (that carried out the attack) deemed it necessary.[2]
This is not the first time that various Arab media, especially those opposing the MB, have blamed this movement – and Al-Qaradawi as one of its prominent ideologues – for ISIS's violence in the Arab world.[3] In fact, Egypt and some other Arab countries have designated the MB a terrorist organization. However, this is the first time official Gulf elements have fingered Al-Qaradawi as responsible for ISIS's terrorism and for suicide operations. This may stem from their desire to rebuff Western claims that the source of Sunni extremism is the Wahhabi stream, dominant in Saudi Arabia, and shift the blame to the MB, which is regarded by many in the West as a more moderate Islamic movement.
It should be noted that even prior to 2012 Al-Qaradawi sanctioned suicide operations, especially in Palestine. In 2001 he responded to a fatwa by then-Saudi mufti 'Abd Al-'Aziz bin 'Abdallah Aal Al-Sheikh that forbade suicide operations even against an army occupying Muslim land. Al-Qaradawi stated in reply to this fatwa that operations by Muslim suicide bombers were a legitimate form of resistance, "heroic acts of martyrdom and sacrifice," and one of the noblest kinds of jihad for the sake of Allah. He clarified: "These operations are the furthest [thing] from suicide and the ones who carry them out are not suicides by any measure. A suicide is someone who kills himself for selfish reasons, while one who sacrifices himself [a fida'i] does this for the sake of his religion and ummah. [He] fights the enemies of Allah using a new weapon that God has placed in the hands of the oppressed as a means of resisting the tyranny of the strong and the haughty."[4] As stated, in 2012 Al-Qaradawi permitted suicide operations in Syria provided that "the group [carrying out the attack]" deems it necessary, without explaining exactly what this means. In 2015, after he was accused of sanctioning suicide operations in Egypt following the ouster of president Muhammad Mursi, Al-Qaradawi's office issued a statement meant to clarify his stance on this issue. It said that, in his book Fiqh Al-Jihad from 2009 the sheikh had clearly stated that he permitted suicide operations only in Palestine and nowhere else. The statement clarified further that, now that the Palestinians had obtained sophisticated weapons, suicide operations were no longer valid even in Palestine.[5] However, Al-Qaradawi's fatwas sanctioning suicide operations are still interpreted in some Muslim circles as a blanket permission for attacks of this kind. It should also be stressed that these fatwas still appear on his website.
This report will review the recent accusations against Al-Qaradawi.
Gulf Officials: The MB, Headed By Al-Qaradawi, Are To Blame For Suicide Attacks
On July 4, 2016, several hours after the series of attacks in Saudi Arabia, UAE Foreign Minister 'Abdallah bin Zayed tweeted: "We should hold to account those who incited and permitted to kill people and [to perpetrate] the suicide attacks." In a later tweet he explicitly pointed the finger at Al-Qaradawi: "Do you remember that [the former Saudi mufti], the honorable sheikh ['Abd Al-'Aziz] bin Bazz, forbade suicide attacks? Do you remember that the MB's mufti, [Yousuf] Al-Qaradawi, permitted them?"[6]
Bin Zayed's tweet
Responding to this, Al-Qaradawi called Bin Zayed a "devil," saying: "Enjoin what is right and avoid the ignorant [Koran 7:199]. We ask Allah to protect us from the evil of the devils when the latter are released from their chains."[7]
Al-Qaradawi's post on Facebook
Other gulf officials supported bin Zayed's position. UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Mohammed Gargash, tweeted: "Those who justified suicide attacks and issued fatwas [permitting them] are responsible for the current situation. Thousands of innocent people have died because of [their craving] for influence and power which is disguised as religion." He added: "These people must take responsibility for the chaos and violence that they helped to ignite... The MB's historical affinity for violence and bloodshed is documented and known..."[8]
Two days later, Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Aal Khalifa likewise responded to Al-Qaradawi's reply and supported his UAE counterpart, tweeting: "The devils who were unchained are those who tried to destroy the heart of the [Muslim] ummah and its strongest fortress. Now they are blaming the righteous leaders for their own faults."[9]
Khalid Aal Khalifa's tweet
Articles In Gulf Press: Al-Qaradawi And His Ilk Prefer To Sacrifice Other People's Sons On The Altar Of Their Bloody Struggles; 'The Suicide Belts [Al-Qaradawi Permitted In His] Fatwas Have Come Back To Harm The Muslims Themselves'
Articles blaming Al-Qaradawi for suicide attacks also appeared in the Gulf press. The London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published an article titled "Al-Qaradawi Refuses to End the Affair of His Fatwas Permitting Suicide Attacks" which presented examples, some of them groundless, of Al-Qaradawi's support for such attacks. The article said: "Al-Qaradawi has called on Muslims throughout the world – from Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Senegal, Pakistan, India, Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan – to become 'martyrs'...[10] In previous fatwas, Al-Qaradawi ruled that [the attackers] 'must verify that there are people in the target area' [chosen for] the suicide attack and that they are 'of the descendants of the apes and pigs [i.e., Jews],' and prior to this he encouraged Palestinians to blow themselves up, claiming that this was a type of jihad. He said: 'If the Western world has atom bombs, we have human bombs,' namely the suicide bombers who carry out his fatwas."[11]
Muhammad Al-Hamadi, editor of the UAE daily Al-Ittihad, harshly criticized Al-Qaradawi in an article titled "The Mufti of Suicide [Attacks]," in which he called upon the sheikh "to declare his new and different position" on suicide attacks and "to renounce his fatwa [permitting them] and not to insult the Muslims' intelligence as is his custom..." He added: "Because of this fatwa, which [Al-Qaradawi] never recanted and never asked to erase from YouTube or from any other site, he is responsible for the crime of the suicide bombers and [for the death of] the innocent Muslim and non-Muslim victims of these suicide operations. Why all this anger about [Bin Bazz's] tweet that reminded us who encourages suicide [attacks] and who opposes them?!"[12]
Al-Hamadi's article
In an editorial titled "The Sheikh of Fitna," the UAE daily Al-Bayan called not to suffice with condemning the planners and perpetrators of the attacks, but to address "the source of the disease, [namely those] who provide backing for the attacks by presenting them... as sacred deaths." It added: "Were it not for these fatwas that incite the youth, the terror organizations would not have [managed to] capture so many of them and play with their minds... Right in front of us we [see] the fatwas of the Sheikh of Fitna, Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, that justify suicide and suicide bombings... He and his ilk are personally responsible for starting these wars. They issue fatwas and play with the heads of the simple folk, while [they themselves] enjoy great wealth and live in luxury. They prefer to sacrifice other people's sons on the altar of their bloody struggles... It is no longer possible to remain silent and suffice with half solutions while ignoring the bitter facts. We must stand as one against this darkness and against those who nurture it with ideas, money, weapons or with fatwas manufactured in the laboratories of black death... Islam must be liberated from those who have hijacked it..."[13]
The Al-Bayan editorial
Khaled Al-Ghanami, a columnist for the Saudi daily Al-Sharq, wrote: "Sheikh 'Abdallah bin Zayed is perfectly right to blame Al-Qaradawi... The suicide belts [Al-Qaradawi] permitted in fatwas from the 1990s have come back to harm the Muslims and have [even] reached the mosque in Al-Madina and the Prophet's tomb... Fatwas permitting suicide attacks will come back to harm the Muslims and will be used against them."[14]
Accusations against Al-Qaradawi were reiterated following the July 14, 2016 Nice terrorist attack, which the sheikh later condemned.[15] Several hours after the attack, Muhammad Aal Al-Sheikh, a columnist for the Saudi Al-Jazirah daily, tweeted: "The one who perpetrated this shocking and bloody act – is he a liberal or a secularist, or is he one of the manufacturers and supporters of the 'martyrdom' fallacy which is associated with Al-Qaradawi and which has blackened his name? May Allah soon gladden us with [Al-Qaradhawi's] death."[16]
Muhammad Aah Al-Sheikh's tweet
In his Al-Jazirah column, Aal Al-Sheikh came out against Western commentators who claim that Wahhabi Saudi clerics are the ones responsible for suicide attacks, while the true culprits, in his opinion, are MB clerics, especially Al-Qaradawi. He wrote: "As long as we fail to pursue the jurisprudents who have ruled in favor of suicide [attacks] and the sources [of these attacks], [as long as] we keep silent over [what they say], treat them politely and ignore them, [as long as] we condemn terror [but] fear to point the finger at those who invented the terrorist weapon of suicide [attacks], we will continue to be trapped in a vicious circle. Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, the MB mufti, was the first to rule that [suicide] was a form of jihad and to call it 'martyrdom' in order to entice mentally deranged youths [to carry out such operations]... The system of takfiri terrorism includes [three components]: the sheikh who issues fatwas, namely Al-Qaradawi; the sheikh who speaks of the [wide-]eyed beauties of Paradise, and a madman who carries out the attack..." He added: "What angers me is that the one who incites to perform the crime [of suicide] is Al-Qaradawi, who is an MB sheikh to the core... [But] Westerners, especially French commentators, attribute the sanctioning of suicide [attacks] to 'Wahhabi' jurists... and this, even though Saudi Arabia's chief clerics oppose the statements in favor of suicide that constitute the terrorists' main weapon these days [and which] emanate from the MB..."[17]
Claims In Egypt: Most Suicide Operations In Muslim World Rely On Al-Qaradawi's Fatwas
Unsurprisingly, accusations against Al-Qaradawi were also voiced in Egypt, whose current regime is virulently opposed to the MB. The Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' daily noted that, following the recent bombings in Saudi Arabia, a video was circulated on Facebook in which Al-Qaradawi permitted suicide operations. The daily stated that "most suicide attacks recently carried out in Arab capitals are based on a fatwa by Yousuf Al-Qaradawi in which he allowed groups to decide whether to carry out suicide attacks..."[18]
Al-Azhar sheikh Rasmi 'Aglan urged Al-Qaradawi to "come out today, not tomorrow, and say the truth, for he is the one who [issued] militant and controversial fatwas... Whenever a cleric tells the terrorists that their operations and [their] killing and violence are forbidden, they immediately answer: 'It is Al-Qaradawi who said [this is allowed]."[19]
Al-Qaradawi's Supporters Come Out In His Defense
Some of Al-Qaradawi's supporters rallied to defend him. According to a report, Kuwaiti preacher and Islamic scholar Tareq Al-Suwaidan tweeted: "Small politicians should speak politely when addressing great clerics."[20]
**Dr. 'Azzam Al-Tamimi, the former head of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought in the UK, who is known for his ties with Al-Qaradawi, wrote that the UAE foreign minister's attack on the sheikh stemmed from his frustration at the change in Saudi Arabia's policy towards the MB, which was reflected in the warm welcome extended by the Saudi king to Al-Qaradawi when he made his historic visit to the kingdom several weeks ago.[21]
Endnotes:
[1] Facebook.com/alqaradawy, July 6, 2016.
[2] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), July 6, 2016.
[3] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6170, "Saudi Journalist: Islam Prohibits Suicide Attacks – This Is A Negative Innovation By The Muslim Brotherhood That Must Be Fought," September 30, 2015.
[4] Al-Jazeera.net, April 21, 2001.
[5] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6116, Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi: Permission Previously Given To Palestinians To Carry Out Suicide Attacks – No Longer Valid; They Now Have Missiles That Can Strike Deep Inside Israel, July 28, 2015.
[6] Twitter.com/ABZayed, July 4, 2016.
[7] Facebook.com/alqaradawy, July 6, 2016. This is a reference to a hadith with states that, during Ramadan, the gates of Paradise open while the gates of Hell close and the devils within are chained. The month of Ramadan ended this year on July 5.
[8] Twitter.com/AnwarGargash, July 6, 2001.
[9] Twitter.com/Khalidal-khilafa, July 7, 2016.
[10] This is apparently a misrepresentation of Al-Qaradawi's statements from June 2014, in which he called upon Muslim across the world to be witnesses [shuhada, which also means "martyrs"] to what is happening in Egypt.
[11] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), July 7, 2016. As noted, while Al-Qaradawi has indeed issued fatwas sanctioning suicide attacks, not all the examples quoted by the daily are credible; some appear only on the websites of Al-Qaradawi's opponents.
[12] Al-Ittihad (UAE), July 8, 2016.
[13] Al-Bayan (UAE), July 8, 2016.
[14] Al-Sharq (Saudi Arabia), July 10, 2016.
[15] See Qaradawi.net, July 16, 2016.
[16] Twitter.com/alshaikhmhmd, July 15, 2016.
[17] Al-Jazirah (Saudi Arabia), July 17, 2016.
[18] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), July 6, 2016.
[19] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London)m July 7, 2016.
[20] Klmty.net, July 9, 2016.
[21] Arabi21.com, July 9, 2016.
MEMRI/Gulf Officials Blast Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi: He Is The ‘Mufti Of Suicide Attacks,’ Should Be Prosecuted
MEMRI/July 19/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/07/19/memrigulf-officials-blast-sheikh-yousuf-al-qaradawi-he-is-the-mufti-of-suicide-attacks-should-be-prosecuted/

The 28 Pages that Damn Saudi Arabia
A.J. Caschetta/Gatestone Institute/July 19/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8501/saudi-arabia-911-report
More puzzling than the elusive pages from the Congressional 9/11 inquiry is why Obama released them, and specifically, why now.
The president apparently believes it will burnish his legacy, embarrass his enemies and make permanent his diplomatic "accomplishments" with Iran. Reminding Americans of Saudi Arabia's Al-Qaeda connections, shortly after the one-year mark of the Iran nuclear deal and before the 15-year mark of 9/11, might also continue to desensitize us to the dangers posed by Iran.
Americans suddenly flush with a renewed indignation against the Saudis might not run into the arms of the Iranian mullahs, but some might get distracted from their equally-deserved indignation about Iran's ongoing missile tests, the steady progress Iranian scientists are making at the nuclear plant in Parchin, and their anger at having been lied to again and again.
After keeping them secret for 14 years, the White House has finally released the 28 pages that were removed from the 2002 Congressional inquiry into the 9/11 attacks and withheld from the final 9/11 Commission Report. More puzzling than the elusive pages is why Obama released them, and specifically, why now.
The administration claims that the 28 pages clear the Saudis because they provide no conclusive evidence of their involvement in 9/11. The media echo chamber followed the administration's lead: Time, Al Arabiya, NBC, the Associated Press and many others reported that the pages contained "no smoking guns." But there are smoking guns. Those smoking guns expose the Saudi government as a sponsor of terrorism, and, by proxy, improve Iran's standing in the Middle East.
Author Paul Sperry writes that the 28 pages "show the hijackers got help from Saudi diplomats and spies." And while the evidence might not meet the threshold that the current Department of Justice requires for an indictment, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) described it as
"a chilling description of Saudi ties to terrorists, Saudi payments to terrorists, and Saudi obstruction of U.S. antiterrorism investigations" and found "more than enough evidence to raise serious concerns."
Obama had to know, despite his administration's tepid affirmation of Saudi innocence, that the information in the 28 pages would inspire a wave of negativity towards Saudi Arabia from the American public. He also knows that anything that hurts Saudi Arabia's reputation helps Iran. What weakens Saudi Arabia tips the scales in Iran's favor, as the two nations compete for dominance in the region.
The evidence of the Saudi government's connections to the 15 Saudi jihadists who were involved in the 9/11 attacks has long been among the worst-kept secrets in Washington. Even so, few suspected that the 28 pages would reveal an intricate web of Saudi nationals radiating outwards from Prince Bandar himself, supplying assistance to Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdar, two members of the "muscle" crew on American Airlines Flight #77 which Hani Hanjour flew into the Pentagon. Bandar, nephew to the former and current King, was Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005.
The White House has finally released the 28 pages that were removed from the 2002 Congressional inquiry into the 9/11 attacks. They reveal an intricate web of Saudi nationals radiating outwards from Prince Bandar (right), supplying assistance to Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdar, two of the 9/11 terrorists.
The web includes Saudi consular officials, naval officers, pilots, and servants. At least three Saudi intelligence officers functioned as facilitators and go-betweens for several of the 9/11 jihadists. One of them, Osama Bassman, and his wife received monthly checks from Princess Haifa Bint Sultan -- not just any princess, but the wife of Bandar.
Meanwhile, Saudi-funded mosques and Islamic centers, a variety of Saudi owned front companies, and even the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., (where Osama bin Laden's brother Abdullah worked) provided all the cover a spy could ask for.
Mark Mazetti of The New York Times downplayed the damning evidence as a "wide-ranging catalog of meetings and suspicious coincidences." Coincidences indeed -- when Abu Zubayda, Al-Qaeda's financier, was captured in 2002 after a shoot-out in Faisalabad, Pakistan, he had on his person the phone number of Prince Bandar's bodyguard. What are the odds?
Former US Senator Bob Graham (D-Florida) and others in Congress have spent years calling for the 28 pages to be released, but that does not mean that the pages had to be released -- the administration continues to withhold a great deal of information requested by Congress (IRS files, Fast and Furious documents). President Obama could have prevented this release for the duration of his tenure, but he did not. So how does releasing evidence that the Saudi government was complicit in the 9/11 attacks advance his goals?
It is possible that Obama believes the information should be released in the interests of truth and transparency, but this is unlikely given his history and the fact that he has had over seven years to follow that course of action.
Under a different administration, releasing the 28 pages might be an opportunity to manipulate Saudi policy, or a ploy to pit the Saudis and Iranians against each other. Obama, however, has never done much to hide his favoritism for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Islamic Republic over the House of Saud.
A more realistic explanation for the sudden release of the 28 pages is that the president apparently believes it will burnish his legacy, embarrass his enemies and make permanent his diplomatic "accomplishments" with Iran. Reminding Americans of Saudi Arabia's Al-Qaeda connections, shortly after the 1-year mark of the JCPOA and before the 15-year mark of 9/11, might also continue to desensitize us to the dangers posed by Iran. This seems to be a top priority for the President in his second term.
The JCPOA legitimized the Iranian nuclear program and ensured that a Saudi nuclear program would follow. But revealing to the American public proof of the House of Saud's involvement with Al-Qaeda is a poison pill that will make it difficult to continue treating Saudi Arabia as an ally. It is hard to imagine how relations with the Kingdom could ever be the same. Perhaps there was an element of revenge involved for Bandar's opposition to the JCPOA.
Americans suddenly flush with a renewed indignation against the Saudis might not run into the arms of the Iranian mullahs, but some might get distracted from their equally-deserved indignation about Iran's ongoing missile tests, the steady progress Iranian scientists are making at the nuclear plant in Parchin, and their anger at having been lied to again and again.
**A.J. Caschetta is a Shillman-Ginsburg fellow at the Middle East Forum and a senior lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute

The dilemma of eliminating extremism
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/July 19/16
In France, Germany and other European countries, marketing the ideology of Nazism is a crime punishable by law. This is not because opposing ideas is prohibited, but because this specific ideology threatens social peace and incites prejudices. Some believe marketing extremist Islamic ideology, such as that of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda, is no less dangerous than Nazism and must be similarly categorized. However, some thinkers and politicians fear conflating extremist Islamic ideology and Islam as a religion. After all, Muslims are the primary victims of extremism.Theoretically, all who study doctrines that accuse others of infidelity, and call for harming those who do not believe in them or implement them, can be considered extremists who must be punished. Practically, however, it is unreasonable to consider someone who has not yet committed a crime a criminal who can be punished.
Public pressure
Every time a hideous crime is committed, pressure increases on politicians and legislators to set laws that allow pursuing extremist Muslims and limit building schools and mosques. French President Francois Hollande supported stripping citizenship or not granting it to those involved in terrorist operations and anyone linked to them. However, he backed down later after reading the situation and relevant laws. How can one differentiate between what is allowed and prohibited to teach and preach among Muslims in order to isolate extremists and their ideas, fortify the Muslim majority and protect the entire society?
Voices demanding the pursuit of extremists instead of waiting until they commit a crime and then arrest them are expected to rise further. Politicians will not be able to reject this, especially after hideous terrorist crimes have been committed and the world has seen the corpses of passers-by in the French city of Nice. This is not the first crime of its kind, as two years ago another terrorist ran over 11 passers-by in the French city of Dijon. In a society enflamed by terrorism, such as France’s today, it is normal for anger to be voiced by the majority, which does not differentiate between Muslims and extremist Muslims. It is also normal for the majority to not accept anything less than laws pursuing extremism in general.
Islamic project
How can one differentiate between what is allowed and prohibited to teach and preach among Muslims in order to isolate extremists and their ideas, fortify the Muslim majority and protect the entire society? This calls for Islamic thinkers to present projects of Islam that call for peace and coexistence on the basis of sacred texts in the Quran and hadith. Many have written books and submitted studies about moderation in Islam, but they have not been transformed into educational projects that are obligatory for all in basic curricula. The reason for this is a lack of plans for change and correction.
In the past, under the slogan of reforming education and mosques’ work, everything clearly calling for extremism and hostility against others was prohibited. However, it did not present an alternative Islamic proposal that fortifies them against extremist intellect marketed outside the official mosque and school.
Extremist domination
Islam preaches good ethics, such as showing compassion toward the weak, being kind to people, helping the needy, and forbidding injustice and treachery. However, amid the rise of extremist religious ideology over the past 30 years, preachers of religious parties are promoting clashing with non-Muslims and accusing moderate Muslims of infidelity. They have succeeded in establishing an extremist approach that dominates over the moderate interpretation of Islam. We can see the results of all this among terrorist organizations, and among people who believe that extremists express the right Islam and defend it.
Following brutal crimes such as that in Nice, the price will be paid by millions of innocent Muslims, who will be restrained and unjustly categorized as long as no one comes forward to show the difference between them and extremists.
This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on July 19, 2016.

Loners, weirdos, misfits: The new face of terrorism
Dr. Halla DiyabAl Arabiya/July 19/16
The recent atrocities in Nice and Orlando have led to the realization that terrorism has a new face. The insistence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that it is acting in the name of Islam suggests to many that the group’s war is one of theological ideology.
However, the profiles of the perpetrators in Nice and Orlando, who acted in the name of ISIS, demonstrate the criminal impulse of its followers rather than their devotion to Islam. To understand ISIS’s appeal, we need to understand the actions and profiles of its followers.
Criminality
Nice’s Mohamed Lahaouaiej Bouhlel and Orlando’s Omar Mateen prove that you do not need to espouse an ideology to execute a terrorist attack. It is enough to be a criminal. Both massacres were executed by criminals who happened to be Muslims of Middle Eastern descent. Their acts serve ISIS’s aim of being ubiquitous. In the age of social media, the group is garnering popularity worldwide, especially among loners, low achievers and misfits such as Bouhlel and Mateen. They find in the group a haven for restoring their self-esteem and sense of belonging. You do not need to espouse an ideology to execute a terrorist attack. It is enough to be a criminal Although they do not develop an ideological devotion to ISIS, they act on the animalistic impulse that is easily stimulated by its barbarism. It is enough to make them one of its soldiers - ideological and theological devotion is not necessary. This is restructuring the dynamic of modern jihadism and jihadist archetypes. Today’s terrorists are no longer anonymous actors serving an ideology, but humans with personal traits of love, stress, insanity, anger, loneliness and sexual preferences. Al-Qaeda was personified by its late leader Osama bin Laden, the mysterious villain who we feared but did not expect to be our neighbor. However, ISIS jihadists are independent and visible individuals who orchestrate their own acts of terror and come up with unconventional methods, such as Bouhlel’s use of a truck. ISIS has invaded every aspect of our lives. Rising public fear following the massacres in Nice and Orlando is propelled by the idea that almost anyone among us could be a terrorist.

France: Enlightenment in the face of blood
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/July 19/16
The Nice attack, claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), touched the world. Statements following the massacre spoke of France as the country of enlightenment. This captivating country has managed to find humans’ greatest value, represented in universal brotherhood. The Nice attack may be an example of targeting the state, not just its policies, because of France’s historical influence on humanity. There have been major French historical and influential figures, from the era of philosopher Rene Descartes to that of philosopher Gilles Deleuze, who taught Dr Moajab al-Zahrani, director of the Arab World Institute in Paris, at the Sorbonne. French culture’s major concepts have influenced the Arab and Muslim worlds. France has also contributed to organizing human values and civil concepts.
In his book “The Two Treatises of Civil Government,” English philosopher John Locke, who greatly influenced the French, wrote: “Men being… by nature, all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.
The Nice attack may be an example of targeting the state, not just its policies, because of France’s historical influence on humanity
“The only way whereby any one divests himself of his natural liberty, and puts on the bonds of civil society, is by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community, for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living one amongst another, in a secure enjoyment of their properties, and a greater security against any, that are not of it. “And thus that, which begins and actually constitutes any political society, is nothing but the consent of any number of freemen capable of a majority to unite and incorporate into such a society. And this is that, and that only, which did, or could give beginning to any lawful government in the world.”Those attacking people with trucks or suicide bombers cannot understand the social contracts that were established in Europe through solid and theoretical influence.

Descartes
In his book “Entrance to the European Enlightenment,” Hashem Saleh wrote that Descartes “influenced an entire community and instilled his traits in them to the point where we can no longer differentiate between the people and the individual. He was a nation on his own. Even the organization of streets and public squares in France carries the systematic features of Descartes in terms of clarity and accuracy. “But who knows that Descartes feared churchmen to the maximum? And that he lived almost his entire life avoiding their sword held over his head? This is despite the precautions he took and the pious measures he followed to survive their evil. This is why he left his country, France, which was full of fanatics as per the Catholic sect, and he went to live in a Protestant country that was more free and liberal, The Netherlands.” This was France five centuries ago. It is as if it survived radical Catholicism only to confront other forms of radicalism. France, as President Francois Hollande has said, will remain the country of enlightenment and freedom to the world.
This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on July 18, 2016.

Iran’s Kurdish party and the challenge of ethnicity
Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/July 19/16
The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), which kept its armed struggle with the government in Tehran suspended for 27 years, has suddenly announced the resumption of their “armed action”. Clashes during the last few weeks between KDPI members and Iran’s Security Forces have left several dead on both sides. The armed members of KDPI even crossed borders from Iraq’s Kurdistan in Erbil and entered into Iranian territories. Considering the fact that Masoud Barzani, the leader of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, has good relations with Tehran there are questions over whether he would have allowed the armed KDPI men to enter Iranian territory. This has also surprised political leaders, especially commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, who are said to be close to Barzani and have reportedly assisted him in the fight against ISIS militants. In what was clearing a warning, veteran IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaee, the Secretary of the Expediency Council, called Barzani to act against terrorists during a live interview to Iran state TV. “If Mr. Barzani doesn’t act against the anti-revolutionists who enter into our territories, we will destroy them all,” Rezaee is quoted to have said on July 17. Some Iranian officials blame “external powers” for being behind the KDPI while others see it as a response to what they deem religious and ethnic discrimination. It is widely known that the dominant Shiite ruling system doesn’t generally coexist with other faiths and ideologies. Yet, most people in Iran are more or less treated the same way regardless of their faith. This also applies to Sufis or Dervish, which is a sect of Shiism. Iranian Kurds are not excluded from this even though many of them have been reportedly executed in recent years on what many say were baseless charges. Moreover, the deep public sympathy for a young and unarmed Kurd teacher, Farzad Kamanghar, who was executed without a fair trial hasn’t been forgotten. However, the important factor is the nation’s condemnation of any oppression, which may be carried out against anyone regardless of religion or ethnicity.
Armed struggle
It is true that the right to practice one’s faith and upholding ethnicity is a sensitive subject and many activists have risked their lives to defend others and tried to champion the cause of an open society. However, in any civilized country, the public cannot tolerate an armed struggle and violence of any form.
For the people of Iran, irrespective of what religion or ethnicity they belong to, reforming the system to ensure legal rights is extremely important . Armed clashes with Security Forces eventually lead to the violation of human rights and political activists and cause more restrictions in the society. Iran has changed a lot since the revolution in 1979. Today it has among the largest educated population in the region and the Middle East. For the people of Iran, irrespective of what religion or ethnicity they belong to, reforming the system to ensure legal rights is extremely important. A good example is the people respect for someone like Molavi Abdul-Hamid, a Sunni Iranian mufti in Sistan and Balochistan. He has been appreciated for what he has done for his country regardless of the background he comes from. On April 15, 2014 he touched the heart of the nation when he negotiated with an armed group to secure the safe release of kidnapped soldiers. Molavi Abdul-Hamid’s achievements, his mannerism and wisdom, have made this rather humble man a national hero. His popularity and influence goes beyond his religion and ethnicity and reaches all Iranians. This is something rebel groups can never achieve with their armed struggle.

The alienation of the Saudi legacy
Jamal Khashoggi/Al Arabiya/July 19/16
Saudi Prince Turki bin Abdullah bin Abdulrahman narrated in his book “Saudi Arabia: Heritage and Future” the story of a young Saudi princess who had heard and asked about the founder of the second Saudi state, Imam Turki bin Abdullah bin Mohammed, and his sword.
The sword is best known in a poem, and re-emerged as a matter of interest a few years ago when Bahrain’s king returned it as a gift to the late Saudi King Abdullah during a huge ceremony. The young princess – who, like the late king and the author of the book, is a grandchild of the imam – asked how she was related to him!Prince Turki depended on this ironic incident to begin his book, which was recently published. I consider it the second most important book to tackle the crisis of Saudi identity and alienation after Egyptian researcher and journalist Mohammed Jalal Kishk’s book “The Saudis and the Islamic Solution.”This book was published more than 30 years ago, when the question of an Islamic solution emerged with the return of political Islam and the victory of its sectarian version in Iran. It is time to put this book back on school shelves, so the current generation learns and feels proud of the work of a critical mind that addressed the history of their country and the Islamic project that created it. Prince Turki depended on the story of the young princess to signify a worrying situation and write an introduction to his important book. The worrying situation is the disconnect of the current Saudi generation from “their ancestors and what they have achieved and left as a heritage, and which can go as far as doubting [the latter] or even destroying it.”
I think this is due to many reasons. The most important are decades of dependence on oil affluence, and the collapse of the old Arab system that was formed during the same period as the current Saudi state. The collapse was accompanied by a rise in violence that was unjustly associated with Islam and the inherited principles on which the kingdom was formed. The book comes as an outcry from a Saudi prince calling for an awakening that revives what was inherited from our grandparents, takes pride in it and seeks to live according to it. This legacy is what succeeded in building a state that overcame the challenges of a cruel era, and united all the people of the Arabian Peninsula under one nation and identity.
Sharia
More importantly for him, it protected and kept Islamic sharia as a basis for governance. He thinks this is the most important achievement and legacy for Saudis, who have “until now managed to at least reverse the direction of the current” that uprooted or confused the principle of resorting to sharia in most Islamic countries.He notes that what is left of sharia in some countries is what is left of the sharia that the Ottoman state resorted to when it was first established, but then under pressure from modernization and superpowers, decreased it and separated it from governance and politics. What was left is what Arab countries inherited. These countries were liberated from Ottoman rule only to become Western colonies.
Today’s generation needs something that reminds them of their ancestors and revives their values
The Saudi project survived this, as it went back to the origins and legacy of sharia. Although it has not achieved this perfectly yet, it is still the only state able to balance between sharia and modernization. To build on this requires a new revival.
Prince Turki does not want to return to values as theoretical ideas but as practices. He complains that “these values’ influence in society has begun to vanish and shake in the past decades. We have begun to lose the glow of our legacy, and this has gone as far as [affecting our] behaviors and practices [to the point where] they contradict with our legacy and morals.”
In his book, he talks about discrimination, corruption, lack of transparency, and the loss of the culture of work. What worries him most is the attack on the most important legacy, sharia, which is responsible for the kingdom’s survival and success. He believes no country can succeed without a basic law, regardless of the nature of the law. Saudi’ fate is that sharia is our ruling law.
Under attack
We are in a strange situation as the inherited is under unreasonable - if not ill-intentioned - attack by some. We face an enemy targeting us with its ideology, violence and murder. It was formed in the shape of Al-Qaeda, and is now in the shape of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It adopts extremist rhetoric that uses the same legacy and symbols that the prince defends.
Some direct accusations against political Islam, ignoring the idea that there is no non-political Islam, and that the Saudi Kingdom is the mother and father of political Islam, giving Muslims hope in the power of the religion, and protecting the idea of governing via Islam at a time of secular domination and separation of religion and state.
If this attack succeeds, Saudi Arabia will lose the legacy that made it. If it does so, unity will be threatened as it was achieved by that legacy. The nation will no longer exist. Today’s generation needs something that reminds them of their ancestors and revives their values.
The first step is knowledge and appreciation of the legacy, efforts and sacrifices that everyone made. All generations must be loyal to this legacy and proud of it, because it is ours and we produced it. This legacy is not for a specific group or certain individuals. It was established with the participation of everyone’s ancestors.
This article first appeared in Al Hayat on July 16, 2016.