LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

November 28/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

 

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Bible Quotations For Today
He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 01/46-56/:"Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home."

He has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all
Letter to the Ephesians01/15-23/:"I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason. I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 27-28/16
Which foreign policy for Lebanon in a volatile environment/Nassif Hitti/The Arab Weekly/November 27/16
Lebanon’s Salafists poised for parliamentary polls/Hashem Osseiran/The Arab Weekly/November 27/16
Mosul Christians: IS are ‘grandsons of Satan/Richard Galpin/BBC News/Irbil/November 27/16
Iraq gives militias official status despite abuse claims/Mustafa Salim and Missy Ryan/Washington Post/ November 27 /16
The Call of the Mu’ezzin/By Uri Avnery/Anbaa/Novemver 26/16
The Truth about Fidel and Raul Castro/By: Ted Cruz/National Review/ November 27, 2016
Turkey: Child Rapists to Go Free, Journalists Not/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/November 27/16
Europe Should End Its Planned Marriage with Turkey/Burak Bekdil/The Gatestone Institute/November 27/16
A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Germany: October 2016/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/November 27/16
Will floating Egypt’s currency boost its economy/Mohammed Nosseir/Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Arabiya/November 27/16
Rich tourists, impress people with your mind not your wealth/Khaled Almaeena/Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Arabiya/November 27/16
Unravelling the Trump phenomenon/Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Arabiya/November 27/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on November 27-28/16
Kanaan Says FPM-LF Alliance Aims to Prevent 'Encroachment on Christian Rights'
Cabinet Formation Hinging on 'Concessions' from Aoun, Hariri
Hariri Says 'Situations Improving, Atmosphere Leaning to Positivity'
Qassem Says Those Boasting about Aoun Election Have Bowed to Hizbullah Will
AMAL: We're Not Obstructing Govt. Formation and No One Can Eliminate Us from Equation
Hizbullah Hails 'Historic Symbol' Castro
Marouni Says Kataeb to Stand by Aoun in Order to 'Rebuild Lebanon'
Saad Hariri President, Ahmad Hariri SecretaryGeneral and 7 women elected as political bureau members of Future Movement
Hariri: The convention is a new start for the Future Movement
Bassil delivers a message from Aoun to Brazilian President inviting him to visit Lebanon
Bassil from Brazil: If we left our land to strangers, then Lebanon the message would cease to exist
Which foreign policy for Lebanon in a volatile environment?
Lebanon’s Salafists poised for parliamentary polls?

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on November 27-28/16
Israeli air strike kills four Islamic State-linked gunmen on Golan
ISIS Breaks into Christian Coffins, Desecrates Corpses and Crosses
Half a Million Children Are Trapped in Syria, United Nations Says
1 Dead, 9 Hurt in New Orleans Shooting
Regime Takes Two More Rebel Districts in Aleppo as 4,000 Civilians Flee
Syrian Regime Says Largest Rebel Neighborhood in Aleppo Retaken
After IS Hell, Displaced Iraqis Face Winter Freeze
Iraq's Parliament Adopts Law Legalizing Shiite Militias
Turkey Says Syria Rebels Hit by IS Chemical Attack
Fillon Tipped to Win French Rightwing Primary
Kuwait Opposition in Strong Election Showing
Cairo Denies Presence of Egyptian Troops in Syria
Israel Douses Fires that Forced Mass Evacuations
Fatah, at the Heart of the Palestinian Institutions
Key Dates in Life of Palestinian President Abbas
Report: Iran Cleric Jailed over Mass Execution Tape

Links From Jihad Watch Site for on November 27-28/16
Islamic State jihadis open fire on Israeli soldiers in the Golan Heights.
Abbas orders Palestinian flags to be set at half-staff to honor Castro.
Minnesota: Muslima “dispels myths” about treatment of women in Islam.
UK: Teachers who Islamized state school back in classroom despite being banned.
Portland State U: Film on ex-Muslims facing threats and abuse denounced as “atheist Islamophobia”.
Life in the Islamic State: “If you don’t convert to Islam we will kill your son”.
Failure of Democracy in Muslim Countries Eludes So-Called Experts.
Germany: Muslim migrants committing numerous rapes and assaults of women in and around refugee centers.
UK: 50% of Muslim migrants complain taxpayer-funded housing “completely inadequate”.
5 Years in Jail for Anti-Terror Posters at GMU — on The Glazov Gang.
Germany: Muslim migrant child brides discovered, refugee workers say marriages should remain.
Maryland Muslim arrested for threatening to blow up Southwest Airlines plane.

Latest Lebanese Related News published on November 27-28/16
Kanaan Says FPM-LF Alliance Aims to Prevent 'Encroachment on Christian Rights'
Naharnet/November 27/16/MP Ibrahim Kanaan of the Free Patriotic Movement has stressed the importance of the reconciliation between the FPM and the Lebanese Forces, noting that it aims to prevent “encroachment on the rights of Christians.”“A lot of people thought that we forged an agreement only to secure the election of a president or to split power shares, but we agreed so that no one thinks from now on that they can overlook us or violate our rights,” Kanaan said at a dinner banquet honoring him and outgoing LF media officer Melhem Riachi. Kanaan and Riachi had played a key role in the rapprochement talks between the two parties. “We have forged an agreement in order to create real partnership in this country. We will not reject anyone, but we won't accept that they treat us the same as they did in the past 30 years,” Kanaan stressed. “We have agreed because we have realized, through our experiences in exile and prison, that without our unity we cannot achieve anything, and now we're seeing how we can achieve a lot through coming together,” the lawmaker added. “We have achieved what was considered impossible in the past and all the confusion and the media campaigns that we are witnessing regarding the cabinet formation process are the result of the surprise of all parties, who had not expected that we might reach an agreement,” Kanaan went on to say. “We are the ones who will unite Lebanon and make it strong so that it can be a message to the region and the Levant and a hub of strength for all Christians of the Levant,” the MP emphasized, reassuring that the two parties “will not use this strength to eliminate anyone.”He added: “We will not put a veto on anyone, but we won't accept vetoes on our (LF) allies.”
 
 Cabinet Formation Hinging on 'Concessions' from Aoun, Hariri
 Naharnet/November 27/16/The cabinet formation process is still facing several obstacles, amid wrangling by several parties over specific portfolios, a media report said on Sunday. “The Marada Movement is still insisting on one of three key portfolios -- public works, energy or telecommunications,” An Nahar newspaper said, noting that such a scenario has become unlikely due to the other parties' obstinacy. Some forces are also complaining that the distribution of portfolios is “lacking equal standards regarding the size of each bloc and the issue of rotating portfolios,” An Nahar said. “This leads to the impression that the cabinet formation process still needs further contacts and consultations,” it added. According to informed political sources, “the cabinet will be formed, but concessions must be offered, not only by (Prime Minister-designate Saad) Hariri but also by the president.”
 
 Hariri Says 'Situations Improving, Atmosphere Leaning to Positivity'
 Naharnet/November 27/16/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri announced Sunday that the situations in the country “started to improve” after his appointment as PM-designate and Michel Aoun's election as president. “The convention represents a new beginning for al-Mustaqbal Movement, which has a project for the country and is looking to the future,” Hariri told an expat Mustaqbal delegation that took part in Mustaqbal's ongoing second convention at BIEL. “After the election of a president and my appointment as PM-designate, we have noticed that the situations have started improving and people feel that the atmosphere is leaning to positivity at all levels,” Hariri added. Aoun's election and Hariri's appointment as premier-designate have raised hopes that Lebanon can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In a sign that Hariri's mission as premier might not be easy, Hizbullah's MPs declined to endorse him during binding parliamentary consultations. Hariri and Aoun are still struggling to put together a new cabinet amid conflicting demands from the political forces that are seeking to join the unity government.
 
Qassem Says Those Boasting about Aoun Election Have Bowed to Hizbullah Will
Naharnet/November 27/16/Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Sunday noted that “the entire world has acknowledged Hizbullah's role” in the election of Michel Aoun as Lebanon's president. “When the entire world acknowledges Hizbullah's role in electing a president, claims of heroism and taking credit by some parties become of no value,” Qassem said, ridiculing what he called “the illusions of victory.”“Those trying to flex their muscles... and claiming that they have made an achievement have actually jumped on Hizbullah's bandwagon,” Qassem added. Aoun was elected president last month after a key endorsement from al-Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri, who was later appointed as prime minister-designate. Crucial support from both Hizbullah and the Lebanese Forces also contributed to boosting Aoun's presidential chances. Turning to the issue of the stalled cabinet formation process, Qassem said “the obstacles are not significant.”“With all due honesty, they need some flexibility and the result will be positive for everyone. There is no need to delay the cabinet line-up and we can cooperate to form the cabinet as soon as possible,” Qassem added.
 
AMAL: We're Not Obstructing Govt. Formation and No One Can Eliminate Us from Equation
Naharnet/November 27/16/A senior official of Speaker Nabih Berri's AMAL Movement stressed Sunday that no one can “eliminate” his movement from the political equation and that it is not to blame for the delay in the cabinet formation process. “We are not the ones who are obstructing the formation of this cabinet and we have told others that we don't care about ministerial portfolios,” Sheikh Hassan al-Masri, the deputy head of AMAL's politburo, said. “But if all these things that are taking place in Lebanon are aimed at eliminating us from the equation, our heads will remain high and no force, party or person can eliminate us or (Speaker Berri) from the equation,” Masri added. Berri has insisted that the finance and public works portfolios should remain with AMAL and that the Marada Movement should get a key portfolio. Marada's demand is one of the main obstacles that are still delaying the cabinet line-up.
 
Hizbullah Hails 'Historic Symbol' Castro
 Naharnet/November 27/16/Hizbullah has hailed late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, whose death was announced on Saturday, as a “historic symbol.”Ammar al-Moussawi, who is in charge of international relations for Hizbullah, lauded Castro as "a historic symbol whose life was a lighthouse to all revolutionaries around the world." Castro, a titan of the 20th century who beat the odds to endure into the 21st, died after surviving 11 U.S. administrations and hundreds of assassination attempts. No cause of death was given. Hassan Rouhani, the president of Hizbullah's regional backer Iran, has hailed Castro as a "relentless warrior."
 
Marouni Says Kataeb to Stand by Aoun in Order to 'Rebuild Lebanon'
Naharnet/November 27/16/MP Elie Marouni of the Kataeb bloc has stressed that his party will stand by newly-elected President Michel Aoun in order to “rebuild Lebanon.”“We in Kataeb will stand hand in hand by the president of the Lebanese republic, General Michel Aoun, in order to rebuild Lebanon, although we practiced our democratic right by refraining from voting for him,” Marouni said during a Kataeb ceremony in Australia's Melbourne. And as he noted that the cabinet formation process “is still within the acceptable timeframe,” Marouni called for reactivating legislation in parliament following the formation of the government. Marouni also hailed the latest achievement of the Lebanese army against Islamic State militants while calling on Australia and the “entire international community” to “assist the Lebanese army in its anti-terror fight.” 

Saad Hariri President, Ahmad Hariri SecretaryGeneral and 7 women elected as political bureau members of Future Movement
Sun 27 Nov 2016/NNA - The Future Movement winded-up, on Sunday, its 2nd annual convention held at "BIEL" in Central Beirut, which resulted in the election of PM-designate Saad Hariri as Head of the Movement, and Ahmad Hariri as its Secretary-General. The convention, in which 2400 voters and 400 observing members participated, elected a 32-member political bureau, including 7 women. PM-designate Hariri also appointed Bassem Sabeh, Raya al-Hassan and Samir Doumit as Vice-Presidents and MP Jamal Jarrah as a representative of the Future Parliamentary Bloc. It is to note that the Movement's Secretary General, Ahmad Hariri, will hold a press conference at 1:00 p.m. on Monday at the Movement's headquarters in Kantari to announce the recommendations of the 2nd annual convention. In a statement by the Movement's Media Bureau, it reiterated that "the electoral process took place in a democratic and peaceful setting, following the closed meetings which continued over the weekend, during which participating members discussed the Movement's political and economic reports, in addition to the organizational chart and internal procedures, before concluding the works of the convention by adopting the proposed political, economic and regulatory recommendations."

Hariri: The convention is a new start for the Future Movement
Sun 27 Nov 2016/NNA - The Press Office of Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri issued on Sunday the following press release: "Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri met this afternoon, on the sidelines of the Second General Convention of the "Future Movement" in Biel, with a delegation of coordinators of the immigration sector in the movement who are participating in the conference. Hariri thanked them for their attendance and said: "The interaction we have seen at the Convention was wonderful, and we will work on expanding this experience". He added: "The convention is a new start for the Future Movement who looks toward the future and has a project for the country. Today after the election of the President of the Republic and my assignment to form the government, we see that the situation started to improve and people feel that the atmosphere tends to be positive at various levels".

Bassil delivers a message from Aoun to Brazilian President inviting him to visit Lebanon
Sun 27 Nov 2016/NNA - Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Gebran Bassil, relayed a message from the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, to Brazilian President Michel Tamer, during a meeting at Sao Paolo's Governor's Palace on Sunday, which included an official invitation to visit Lebanon. In his message, Aoun said: "I am pleased to extend to Your Excellency our esteemed greetings and pride in the historic friendship that binds Brazil with your mother land, Lebanon, which has been reinforced through the large segment of Brazilians of Lebanese origin who have become an integral part of your people, whereby your successes denote a source of pride for both our nations." Aoun expressed hope for working together to strengthen the bonds of bilateral relations between Lebanon and Brazil and boost cooperation in various areas. It is to note that Bassil had earlier met with Governor of Sao Paulo and Brazilian Foreign Minister.

Bassil from Brazil: If we left our land to strangers, then Lebanon the message would cease to exist
Sun 27 Nov 2016/NNA - Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Gebran Bassil, deemed Sunday that "Lebanon, the message and the nation of coexistence between Christians and Muslims, would cease to exist if we left our land abandoned to strangers." Bassil's words came following a Mass service he attended at the Church of "Our Lady of Lebanon" in Sao Paolo, in presence of his accompanying delegation, including Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon, and a crowd of Lebanese expatriates. "We have come to raise many issues, but most important is restoring to Lebanon its identity," Bassil went on. He added: "We have succeeded in restoring the citizenship law, whereby you can now recover your Lebanese nationality, and we have to search for every Lebanese abroad to relay this information." "We have to seek our expatriates and not wait for them to contact our embassies and consulates, and this way we would be preserving the identity of Lebanon," Bassil concluded.

Raad from Nabatieh: To boost ties with Syria
Sun 27 Nov 2016/NNA - Loyalty to the Resistance Parliamentary bloc MP, Mohammad Raad, stressed the necessity to improve relations with Syria at all levels and in all directions. MP Raad’s stance came on Sunday during a meeting organized by Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in Nabatieh in presence of MP Ali Bazzi, Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdul Karim Ali, and other figures. Raad said that the image of the Arab region in light of Syria’s fight against terrorism would be different. He hailed the major operation carried out by the Lebanese Army in the northeastern town of Arsal on Friday, pointing out that said operation proved the army’s readiness to take action in order to eradicate terrorists in Arsal outskirts. MP Ali Bazzi, called for the formation of a government of national unity, “not for a cabinet that increases the representation of certain parties at the expense of others.” The Syrian Ambassador talked in his speech about the plot hatched against his country, adding that the army and the people of this country, supported by the allies who defend the dignity of human being, are triumphing against terrorism throughout Syria.

Which foreign policy for Lebanon in a volatile environment?
Nassif Hitti/The Arab Weekly/November 27/16
http://www.thearabweekly.com/Opinion/7178/Which-foreign-policy-for-Lebanon-in-a-volatile-environment%3F
The election of Michel Aoun as Lebanon’s president came after almost two-and-a-half years of dangerous and threatening paralysis. It was considered by some as a Lebanese-brokered understanding independent of external patrons. It was, in reality, allowed — though passively — by the external patrons who gave a green light to that end to their respective allies. This occurred in response to international pressure and the looming threat of a costly situa­tion for everybody if the stale­mate had continued — a situation that could have led to the collapse of the state and to the disintegra­tion of society. The looming economic crisis was a major instigator to break out of the stalemate that threat­ened the country and everybody’s interest. The election came as a truce amid regional tensions and wars and reflected a wait-and-see attitude because Lebanon was inching closer to becoming a failed state with all that that encompasses. This fear and the international pressure overcame the escalating Saudi-Iranian cold war and the intensifying war by proxies among the two regional powers. Aoun promised an independent foreign policy to steer Lebanon away from the highly polarised and rapidly escalating bipolar confrontation stretching from Yemen to Lebanon. What is needed in terms of foreign policy is to avoid becom­ing hostage to the regional war that could have a devastating effect on the country.
First, Aoun should take the initiative to install a small working group with people representing the two contending factions as well as neutral personalities to work out propos­als for confidence-building measures to contain and neutral­ise the potential fallout of the cold war confrontation on Lebanon. This includes — first and foremost — the necessity to stop the political and media sniping by the conflicting factions — on the respective regional friend of the “other” — meaning Iran and Saudi Arabia. This will be an important test for the factions to demon­strate their credibility of wanting to shield Lebanon from the devastating effect of the cold war. This will help in de-escalation and clash avoidance at home and from the concerned powers.
Second, to entrust the working group to develop proposals for a diplomatic discourse to encour­age, support and engage in any international efforts to launch a Saudi-Iranian dialogue. Such a dialogue is a sine qua non condi­tion to achieve an understanding between the two regional powers on ongoing conflicts and save Lebanon from turning into a theatre of confrontation; an extension of the Syrian one. Third, it is of utmost impor­tance to engage in a larger inclusive national dialogue to elaborate the basic tenets of a much-needed national consensus to liberate foreign policy from remaining hostage to regional politics. Small countries need a proac­tive foreign policy to make them present with dynamism and with weight in regional and interna­tional forums. Such an active presence on different issues and the engagement at trying to settle differences and conflicts particu­larly at the regional level provide the country with a security net at both regional and international levels because of its engaged and constructive role. It will be a main source of soft power for the concerned country.
Lebanon has a keen interest in engaging within any collective initiative aiming at establishing a regional order based on the respect of the normal code of conduct (respect of sovereignty and of other regimes, non-inter­ference in others’ affairs, the management of differences by peaceful means) in the relations among countries that allow for restoring stability in the region.
Fourth, Lebanon has a keen interest to engage in any collec­tive effort to establish a confer­ence on security and cooperation in the Middle East that includes the Arab countries and neigh­bouring Islamic countries, mainly Turkey and Iran. Such a conference, like the Helsinki process turning into the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), does not substitute for existing regional organisations. Indeed, it facilitates the functioning of such organisations. It will act as a forum to pre-empt and prevent crises, to manage and settle them once possible or to contain a crisis so as not to have any spillover effect. Fifth, the proactive role as a third party, particularly initiating mediations to settle differences or contain them and to be active internationally in working for the settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict, is a must. Lebanon pays a heavy price if the tense stalemate persists and the Palestinian people remain deprived of their basic national rights of statehood. Engaging in such a proactive foreign policy provides the country with much needed wider support that consolidates its security as well as its stability and allows for its prosperity.
History provides many exam­ples of such roles in the world. It is not an easy road but Lebanon needs to take it. **Nassif Hitti was head of the Arab League Mission in Paris, Rome and the Vatican. He is based in Beirut.

Lebanon’s Salafists poised for parliamentary polls?
Hashem Osseiran/The Arab Weekly/November 27/16
http://www.thearabweekly.com/News-&-Analysis/7141/Lebanon%E2%80%99s-Salafists-poised-for-parliamentary-polls%3F
Beirut - Shunning the quietest ten­dencies of their predeces­sors, contemporary Salafi movements in Lebanon have emerged as visible and vocal actors in the public sphere, leading some to question whether they might seek to broaden their political clout by entering electoral politics.
While they enjoy a substantial popular base and powerful ties to foreign countries, Lebanon’s Salafi movements do not seem poised to pursue political office, however. Although relatively new in scope and scale, the country’s Salafi groups are historically rooted ac­tors. The orthodox religious move­ment, which seeks to emulate the Prophet Mohammad and his earli­est followers, was founded in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli in 1946 by cleric Sheikh Salem al-Sha­hal. Since those humble beginnings, Salafi movements gained notable popularity over the years.
Statistical data concerning the number of Salafis in Lebanon is not available but Zoltan Pall, a research fellow at the National University of Singapore and a specialist on Leba­nese Salafi movements, attempted to quantify the groups in his 2013 book Lebanese Salafis between the Gulf and Europe: Development, Fractionalization and Transnational Networks of Salafism in Lebanon. His 2009 survey of Tripoli’s mosques revealed that 40 out of 110 are governed by the state-en­dorsed authority of Dar al-Fatwa. Salafis control 40 of the remaining mosques and the other 30 are run by various Islamic groups. This im­plies that the movement possesses significant religious sway over the city.
Beyond this noteworthy pres­ence in the north, Salafi movements have gained popularity in parts of southern Lebanon, namely the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp and the village of Abra east of Sidon. These groups are even marking an increased presence in the Beirut neighbourhood of Tariq al-Jadideh, Pall said in a Skype interview. He said the movements have “succeeded in situating themselves in the centre of the religious field” as evidenced by the increasing number of people praying in Salafi mosques and attending sermons delivered by Salafi figures. Pall pre­dicted that Salafis would play an im­portant role in influencing Sunni re­ligious identity and redefining what it means to be a Sunni in Lebanon.
Beyond a rising support base, Salafi movements have strong ties with the Gulf countries, namely Qatar and Kuwait, which have fi­nanced the groups through charity networks such as Qatar’s Sheikh Eid charity organisation and Kuwait’s Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage. These financial flows, Pall said, allowed these groups to carry out small-scale initiatives, such as building clinics, mosques and reli­gious institutes in underdeveloped north Lebanon districts, which con­tribute to their popularity among residents.
Considering their historical roots, increasing popularity and transna­tional financial ties, it would make strategic sense for these groups to strive for political participation, especially considering the Sunni street’s growing disenchantment with its traditional political leader­ship. However, it does not seem as though this path will be pursued.
“Salafi movements in Lebanon are not yet ready to participate in institutional politics,” Sheikh Salem al-Rafei, the imam of the al-Taqwa mosque in Tripoli and an influen­tial Lebanese Salafi figure, said. He noted that Salafi groups in Leba­non lack organisational structure and are connected instead by loose social networks that would not be amenable to organised political work. Although he said it would be ben­eficial for Salafis to coalesce under a unified political party, Rafei cau­tioned that “this move would un­doubtedly create rifts among Salafi ranks and could isolate the move­ment’s popular base”. This internal opposition, he clarified, stems from the fact that many Salafis ideologi­cally refuse political organisation and label it bid’ah — a harmful reli­gious innovation.
Ideological differences aside, there are political reasons in the way of participation in government. Ra­fei, a well-known critic of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, noted that the evolving situation precludes serious political involvement.
“We are feeling, day by day, that Lebanon is falling under the grip of the Iranian project,” he said. “What would be the point of elec­tions? What would be the point of me being elected as a deputy or me nominating three candidates when in the end Hezbollah decides every­thing?” he asked.
Although it is unlikely that Salafis will coalesce into an organised po­litical force, this does not mean that they will be absent from parliamen­tary elections scheduled for 2017.
Historically speaking, Salafi leaders have seen some success in elections. In Lebanon’s 1996 par­liamentary polls, Sheikh Dai al-Is­lam al-Shahal, son of the founding father of Salafism in Lebanon, re­ceived about 9,000 votes in Tripoli.
Considering the rift between the Sunni street and the sect’s tradi­tional political leaders, Rafei pre­dicted that certain Salafi figures will pursue standing in elections, espe­cially because “the interest of the Sunni sect is at stake”.
**Hashem Osseiran is a reporter based in Beirut.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on November 27-28/16
Israeli air strike kills four Islamic State-linked gunmen on Golan
Reuters/Sun Nov 27, 2016
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-syria-idUSKBN13M09F?utm_source=applenews
Israeli aircraft killed four Islamic State-linked gunmen on Sunday after they fired mortars and shot at troops patrolling along the occupied Golan Heights, the military said. Israel has often responded to errant fire from the Syrian civil war, but exchanges of fire with gunmen on the Golan have been rare since the fighting began more than five years ago. The militants fired at the Israeli soldiers, who were on the Israeli-controlled territory, from a vehicle driving along the Syrian side of the Golan, said Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner. The troops fired back before Israeli aircraft struck. "The air force intervened, targeted the vehicle the gunmen were in and hit and struck the vehicle, killing what seems as four terrorists," Lerner said. He added that the militants were from the Islamic State-affiliated Yarmouk Martyrs Brigades. Previous Israeli attacks deeper in Syria have mainly targeted supply routes and arms depots of Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah, whose fighters support Syrian President Bashar al Assad's army. There was no immediate response from the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade. The United States designated the group a terrorist entity in June for its activities and links to Islamic State.The group first gained attention when they abducted 21 U.N. peacekeepers from the Philippines in a demilitarized zone between Syria and the Israeli-held part of the Golan. They released them in March 2013. Israel captured the western Golan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it, a move not recognized internationally. (Reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Addiitonal reporting by Lisa Barrington in Beirut; Editing by Mark Potter)

ISIS Breaks into Christian Coffins, Desecrates Corpses and Crosses
Raymond Ibrahim// November 26, 2016/A human rights group recently published photos documenting the Islamic State’s fanatical and virulent hate for Christians — even dead ones. The photos show the Christian cemetery of Qarqoosh, Iraq that was vandalized by the Islamic group. Among other things, the jihadis opened coffins and desecrated the remains of the dead– in the picture below, by snapping off the head of a formerly resting-in-peace corpse and throwing the crucifixes surrounding it on the ground.

Half a Million Children Are Trapped in Syria, United Nations Says
By RICK GLADSTONENOV/New York Times/ November 26, 2016
With violence escalating in Aleppo and elsewhere across war-ravaged Syria, the United Nations said Saturday that the number of children trapped in besieged areas had doubled in less than a year to half a million. A report by Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund, said the children were among hundreds of thousands of civilians in 16 areas under siege across the country who had been “almost completely cut off from sustained humanitarian aid and basic services.”The report said some of these areas had received little or no aid in nearly two years, despite repeated efforts by international relief agencies to provide food and medicine. “This is no way to live,” Unicef’s executive director, Anthony Lake, said in the report. The report estimated that 100,000 of the trapped children were among the civilians pinned down in eastern Aleppo, the insurgent-held portion of what had been prewar Syria’s commercial epicenter. Eastern Aleppo is now a focal point of the war, pitting an array of insurgents and militant jihadists against the forces of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and their Russian allies. The top United Nations diplomat seeking a negotiated end to the Syrian conflict, Staffan de Mistura, has repeatedly pleaded for a humanitarian halt to the fighting in Aleppo and has even offered to escort the militants out of the city. But Mr. Assad and his subordinates have said they intend to retake all of Aleppo, apparently regardless of the cost in lives and destruction, as he feels increasingly emboldened that the nearly six-year war is moving in his favor.The Russian forces who have been assisting Mr. Assad for more than a year have been escalating their bombings against insurgent targets in northern Syria since mid-November. Syrian state news media reported Saturday that government troops had captured the Hanano district of eastern Aleppo, which was among the first to fall to insurgent control when fighting broke out in the city in 2012. In another indication of the deprivations confronting residents of eastern Aleppo, the Middle East coordinator of the World Food Program, the United Nations anti-hunger agency, said people had been scrounging through garbage for food scraps since the last rations, delivered in July, were distributed a few weeks ago.
The coordinator, Muhannad Hadi, said in an interview with The Canadian Press that “people are looking through garbage to find something to eat — that’s if they find garbage in Aleppo.”
Mr. Hadi made the remarks during a visit to Ottawa to brief Canadian officials on the Syria crisis.

1 Dead, 9 Hurt in New Orleans Shooting
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 27/16/One man was gunned down and nine people wounded in a shootout in the historic French Quarter of the southern US city of New Orleans, police said early Sunday. Some 30 officers rushed to the scene when shots rang out around 1:30 am (0630 GMT), city police superintendent Michael Harrison told reporters. The man died of gunshot wounds, while two women and seven men were injured. Two men were arrested in connection to the shooting, but Harrison said a motive was not yet known. Thousands of outsiders have poured into the French Quarter this weekend as New Orleans hosts the Bayou Classic, an annual American football game between two rival Louisiana state universities. The multi-day event includes a competition between rival marching bands, concerts and a parade.

Regime Takes Two More Rebel Districts in Aleppo as 4,000 Civilians Flee
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 27/16/Syria regime forces on Sunday seized two new rebel-held districts in Aleppo a day after they retook the largest opposition-controlled neighborhood in the second city, a monitor said. "The army and its allies retook control of Jabal Badro and Baadeen", both adjacent to Masaken Hanano which was retaken on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It earlier reported that more than 4,000 civilians had fled eastern Aleppo in the past 24 hours as regime forces advanced against rebel-held districts. The Observatory said that nearly 1,700 civilians had fled to government-held parts of western Aleppo and another 2,500 to the Kurdish-controlled northern district of Sheikh Maksoud. The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria for its information, said earlier more than 500 civilians had fled east Aleppo towards government-held areas of the divided battleground city. This exodus -- the first of its kind since 2012 -- comes after the Syrian regime seized the city's largest rebel-held district of Masaken Hanano on Saturday in its latest assault to retake the entire city.

Syrian Regime Says Largest Rebel Neighborhood in Aleppo Retaken
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 27/16/Syrian state media said government forces Saturday captured the largest rebel-held district of Aleppo, in what would be a major breakthrough in its offensive to retake the entire second city. Masaken Hanano was the first district the rebels took in the summer of 2012 in a move that divided Aleppo into an eastern area held by the insurgents and a western district controlled by government forces. Since then, more than 250,000 civilians have been trapped under government siege for months in the rebel-held east, with dwindling food and fuel supplies. The capture of Masaken Hanano in northeastern Aleppo is part of a major government offensive now in its 12th day that could isolate that part of the city from rebel-held areas in the south. Since November 15, regime bombardment of eastern Aleppo has killed 212 civilians, including 27 children, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Regime forces had been advancing inside Masaken Hanano for several days, and on Friday state television said they were progressing "from three axes." On Saturday, the state broadcaster and the official SANA news agency said President Bashar Assad's armed forces, backed by their allies, had taken "full control" of the district. "The armed forces retook full control of Masaken Hanano after having put an end to the presence of terrorists there," the state broadcaster said, referring to the rebels. SANA said government forces also recaptured the area around the district and "army engineers are clearing it of bombs and explosives planted by the terrorists in the streets and squares." But Yasser al-Youssef, from the rebel group Nureddin al-Zinki, said fighting was still under way on the southern edges of Masaken Hanano, which he called a district of "strategic importance." Youssef warned that if regime forces can advance to the adjacent neighbourhood of Sakhur, then eastern Aleppo will be split in two. The Observatory also said late Saturday that regime forces now completely controlled Masaken Hanano and had begun an assault on Sakhur and nearby al-Haidariya.
Families flee
The latest regime push comes after days of intense bombardment on the rebel-held east, which was pounded with air strikes, shells and barrel bombs. The escalation has terrified residents, and several families have fled to areas in southeastern Aleppo which have been relatively calm. On Saturday, an AFP correspondent in one of those districts saw four families, without belongings, arrive on foot seeking shelter. "In Hanano, for the past three days, they haven't been able to set foot outside because of the intense bombardment," said Abu Fadel, who helped them find lodgings. "They left on foot because they had no other means of transport. At first they were afraid but when they saw many people around and that there was no bombardment they were reassured," he said. Damascus says east Aleppo residents and surrendering fighters are free to leave, but accuses the rebels of using civilians as "human shields." Before the army said it had captured Masaken Hanano, dozens of families fled from Sakhur and al-Haidariya districts and headed further south, the Observatory said. They took flight as regime forces pounded eastern Aleppo with air raids, including Sakhur, killing at least 11 civilians, it said. The United Nations has a plan to deliver aid to Aleppo and evacuate the sick and wounded, which rebel factions have approved but which Damascus has yet to agree. Guarantees are also needed from regime ally Russia. Also on Saturday, a string of explosions rocked a munitions storage site in northeastern Syria used by the U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State group, the Observatory and a local official said. Contacted by AFP, the coalition said there had been "no reports of explosions" at the site.

After IS Hell, Displaced Iraqis Face Winter Freeze
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 27/16/After enduring two years of tyranny under the Islamic State group and surviving the war that liberated them, displaced civilians in northern Iraq face a new enemy: the cold. With the fighting raging inside Mosul where hundreds of thousands of civilians still live, an early winter and sub-zero temperatures have brought an added challenge. "At night we have to keep our heads under the blanket and curl into a ball to stay warm," said Alya Zannun, a 56-year-old woman living in a tent in Khazir camp, southeast of Mosul. "We are dying from the cold, our hands are getting dry and are covered in fungi," she said, washing a few dishes with ice-cold water. Warda Maraebi, a 71-year-old woman helping her with the dishes, said: "We can't even stretch our fingers because of the cold, how are the children going to handle this?" More than 70,000 people have been displaced in the Mosul area since Iraqi forces launched a major offensive to retake the IS bastion on October 17. Despite the fact that larger numbers were initially expected, aid organizations have been racing against time to build enough camps and provide basic assistance. Fatima Omar, 38, fled her home east of Mosul earlier this month with her six children.
"At night, the tent was shaking, it felt like the wind was going to blow it away," she said. "If the weather gets any worse, the tent will just collapse." Some of the displaced now housed in the camps dotting the Mosul region were battling temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) just a few weeks ago. Northern Iraq gets cold weather in the winter however and even snowfall in some areas, including regions of the Kurdish region housing many of the country's more than three million displaced. Fatima was given a heater but the device was still in its box inside her tent because she had no kerosene to make it work. "Yes they gave us a heater but it's never been used. No fuel, no electricity. What are we supposed to do with it?" she said. She said her youngest child was suffering from diarrhea and also expressed concern about the health of her 71-year-old cousin Mariam Safar.
'I will die'
On the other side of the wire mesh ringing the sprawling camp, vendors selling food to the displaced people above the fence are now also offering clothes. Bushra Talal, whose husband was killed by the jihadists in their Mosul neighborhood of Al-Samah two years ago, broke into tears when she spoke about the conditions in the camp. She said her daughters, aged 13, 10 and eight called at night complaining about the cold. "We are suffering from the cold, my daughters are getting sick... The water is so cold I can't let them have a bath," said the woman, wearing a black abaya and yellow head scarf. "I went to the person in charge of the camp and asked him to let us leave. I don't want my children to die of exposure," said the young woman. The United Nations said it started delivering winter assistance to 4.6 million displaced Iraqis and Syrians but it said its plan was only partially funded. The U.N.'s refugee agency said it was specifically targeting 1.2 million displaced Iraqis, including many of those affected by the Mosul offensive. UNHCR spokeswoman Caroline Gluck said a distribution took place last week in its Hasansham camp, which neighbors the government-built Khazir camp where Bushra Talal lives. The organization handed out "warm blankets, heaters, insulating kits, including floor mats and an additional insulating layer for the tent, and plastic sheets to help get them through the harsh winter months," she said. Different camps get different quality aid and, with winter barely started, many displaced families are suffering already. "When the rain comes, I will die," said Mariam Safar.

Iraq's Parliament Adopts Law Legalizing Shiite Militias
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 27/16/Rekindling sectarian rivalries at a sensitive time, Iraq's parliament on Saturday voted to fully legalize state-sanctioned Shiite militias long accused of abuses against minority Sunnis, adopting a legislation that promoted them to a government force empowered to "deter" security and terror threats facing the country, like the Islamic State group. The legislation, supported by 208 of the chamber's 327 members, was quickly rejected by Sunni Arab politicians and lawmakers as proof of the "dictatorship" of the country's Shiite majority and evidence of its failure to honor promises of inclusion. "The majority does not have the right to determine the fate of everyone else," Osama al-Nujaifi, one of Iraq's three vice presidents and a senior Sunni politician, told reporters after the vote, which was boycotted by many Sunni lawmakers.
"There should be genuine political inclusion. This law must be revised."Another Sunni politician, legislator Ahmed al-Masary, said the law cast doubt on the participation in the political process by all of Iraq's religious and ethnic factions. "The legislation aborts nation building," he said, adding it would pave the way for a dangerous parallel to the military and police. A spokesman for one of the larger Shiite militias welcomed the legislation as a well-deserved victory. "Those who reject it are engaging in political bargaining," said Jaafar al-Husseini of the Ketaeb Hezbollah group. "It is not the Sunnis who reject the law, it is the Sunni politicians following foreign agendas," said Shiite lawmaker Mohammed Saadoun.
The law, tabled by parliament's largest Shiite bloc, applies to the Shiite militias fighting IS as well as the much smaller and weaker anti-IS Sunni Arab groups. Militias set up by tiny minorities, like Christians and Turkmen, to fight IS are also covered. According to a text released by parliament, the militias have now become an "independent" force that is part of the armed forces and report to the prime minister, who is also the commander in chief.
The new force would be subject to military regulations, except for age and education requirements — provisions designed to prevent the exclusion of the elderly and uneducated Iraqis who joined the militias. The militiamen would benefit from salaries and pensions identical to those of the military and police, but are required to severe all links to political parties and refrain from political activism.
The legislation came at a critical stage in Iraq's two-year-long fight against IS, a conflict underscored by heavy sectarian tensions given that the group follows an extremist interpretation of Sunni Islam and the security forces are predominantly Shiite. The Shiite-led government last month launched a massive campaign to dislodge IS from predominantly Sunni Mosul, Iraq's second largest city and the last major urban center still held by the extremist group. Through the military, the government has used the campaign to project an image of even-handedness, reaching out to the city's residents and promising them a life free of the atrocities and excesses committed by IS. It has also excluded the Shiite militias from the battle, winning a measure of goodwill from the Sunnis. But Saturday's legislation may stoke the simmering doubts of many Sunnis about the intentions of the government.
The Shiite militias, most of which are backed by Iran, have been bankrolled and equipped by the government since shortly after IS swept across much of northern and western Iraq two years ago. Many of them existed long before IS emerged, fighting American troops in major street battles during the U.S. military presence in Iraq between 2003 and 2011. Their ranks, however, significantly swelled after Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called for jihad, or holy struggle, against IS in June 2014.
They now number over 100,000 men and fight with heavy weaponry, including tanks, artillery and rocket launchers. The larger militias have intelligence agencies and run their own jails. Since 2014 they have played a key role in the fight against IS, checking its advance on Baghdad and the Shiite holy cities of Samarra and Karbala and later driving the militants from areas to the south, northeast and north of Baghdad. Their heavy battlefield involvement followed the collapse of security forces in the face of the 2014 IS blitz, but their role has somewhat diminished in recent months as more and more of Iraq's military units regained their strength and chose to distance themselves from the occasionally unruly militiamen. Iraq's Sunni Arabs and rights groups have long complained that the militiamen have been involved in extrajudicial killings, abuse and the theft or destruction of property in Sunni areas. They viewed them as the Trojan Horse of Shiite, non-Arab Iran because of their close links to Tehran and their reliance on military advisers from Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Many in the Sunni Arab community wanted them integrated into the military and police, a proposition long rejected by Shiite militia leaders, some of whom have on occasion spoken of their aspiration of evolving into a force akin to Iran's Revolutionary Guards or the Iranian-backed Hezbollah — both well-armed military groups with substantial political leverage and large economic interests. Senior Shiite politician Amar al-Hakim sought to reassure Sunnis on Saturday, saying several laws to be issued by the prime minister to regulate the work of the militias would allay many of their fears. He did not elaborate, but added "The law creates a suitable climate for national unity."In a statement, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi welcomed the legislation and said the "Popular Mobilization Forces" — the formal name of the militias — would cover all Iraqi sects. "We must show gratitude for the sacrifices offered by those heroic fighters, young and elderly. It is the least we can offer them," said the statement. "The Popular Mobilization will represent and defend all Iraqis wherever they are." But Sunni lawmaker Mohammed al-Karbooly said the law ignored pleas by Sunni politicians for the expulsion and prosecution of Shiite militiamen accused of abuses. "The law, as is, provides them with a cover," he said.

Turkey Says Syria Rebels Hit by IS Chemical Attack
Twenty-two pro-Ankara Syrian rebels were hit by an Islamic State (IS) gas attack in northern Syria, the Turkish army said Sunday, the first time Turkey has accused the jihadists of chemical warfare. Observers, including the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), have previously accused IS of using mustard gas in Syria and described the possibility as extremely worrying. "After a rocket was fired by Daesh (IS), 22 opposition members were observed to have been exposed in their eyes and bodies to chemical gas," the general staff said in a statement, quoted by the state-run Anadolu news agency. It said the attack happened in the area of the village of Khaliliya, east of Al Rai in northern Syria, where the pro-Ankara fighters backed by Turkish special forces and air power are battling to dislodge the jihadists from the border area. The report did not specify what type of gas was used. Turkish media said the affected Syrian fighters were brought over the frontier to the Turkish border town of Kilis by teams from Turkey's AFAD emergencies agency. The reports said the Turkish emergency workers were equipped with special chemical suits to protect themselves. The Syrians were brought to the main hospital in Kilis where they are undergoing treatment. Television pictures showed some of the Syrians being transferred on stretchers to the hospital, with the emergency workers dressed in full-body white protective clothing and gas masks. The incident comes amid growing fears over the use of chemical weapons on Syria's over five year civil war.A joint U.N. and OPCW backed panel established during a year-long investigation that forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad carried out three chlorine gas attacks on villages in 2014 and 2015.But the panel, known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), also found that the Islamic State group in Syria used mustard gas as a weapon in August 2015.
Erdogan, Putin talk again
Earlier this month, the U.N. Security Council unanimously decided to extend for another year the panel's mandate. OPCW director general Ahmet Uzumcu told AFP earlier this month that IS may have itself manufactured mustard gas used in attacks in Syria and Iraq.
He said analysis of samples of mustard gas used was was "poor quality, but still harmful ... and it was weaponized so it's extremely worrying."The Turkish army is backing the Syrian fighters in an unprecedented incursion aimed at rooting out IS jihadists from the border area and also ensuring there is no Kurdish militia presence. In a three-month operation, the rebels have so far captured the IS stronghold of Jarabulus, cleared IS from Al Rai and retaken the symbolically important town of Dabiq without much resistance. With Turkish support they are now pressing to take Al Bab, another town deeper inside Syria, from the jihadists in an advance that appears to be taking more time and encountering greater opposition. Tensions are running high after six Turkish soldiers were killed in the last week alone, two by IS but four in an air strike it believed was carried out by forces of Assad. On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Assad's main ally, discussed the Syria conflict by telephone for the second time in just over 24 hours, both sides said. The Turkish armed forces said that four IS targets had been destroyed in the latest air raids by Turkish war planes over northern Syria.

Fillon Tipped to Win French Rightwing Primary
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 27/16/Millions of French voters were casting ballots Sunday to pick the presidential candidate for the center-right Republicans party, with ex-premier Francois Fillon tipped to win and become favorite for next year's election.
The US-style primary contest, the first for the party, is a battle between socially conservative and economic "radical" Fillon and the more moderate Alain Juppe, also a former prime minister who is nine years older at 71. The French presidential vote is seen as a key test for mainstream political parties after the success of Donald Trump in the United States and the Brexit campaign in Britain, both of which harnessed anti-elite, anti-establishment anger. Polls opened at 8:00 am (0700 GMT), with all French voters who pay two euros ($2.10) and state they share the values of the center-right allowed to cast a ballot. Whoever wins will face fierce competition from far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who is waiting in the wings ready to attack the victor as a symbol of France's ruling class. Fillon, a career politician and prime minister from 2007-12, has warned that France is "on the verge of revolt" and believes his plan to slash 500,000 public sector jobs and business regulations is the tonic the demoralized country needs. "I'll do everything for entrepreneurs!" he declared at his final rally on Friday night in Paris, promising to help businesses create the jobs needed to lower France's stubbornly high unemployment rate of around 10 percent. The devout Catholic and motor racing fan has also won support with his hard line on Muslim immigrants, as well as an emphasis on protecting France's identity, language and family values. He demanded Friday that "the Islamic religion accept what all the others have accepted in the past... that radicalism and provocation have no place here."- Happy France? -Juppe, meanwhile, has made a pitch for the center-ground, accusing his opponent of wanting to reform France with "brutality" with an unrealistic program that has drawn support from the far-right. As well as promising to shrink the French state, Juppe's signature announcement was a promise to seek a "happy identity" for multicultural France despite worries about the threat of immigration and Islamic extremism. "I am best placed with my program to beat Marine Le Pen," Juppe said on the last day of campaigning on Friday. He has also sought to highlight Fillon's conservative views on abortion and gay marriage, as well as his closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin who praised Fillon last week as a "very principled person".
But it is Fillon who has all the momentum heading into Sunday's run-off vote.
He won the first round of the primary last Sunday with 44 percent and has since picked up endorsements from party heavyweights including former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was knocked out last weekend in perhaps a final blow to his political career. Several surveys last week forecast Fillon to emerge as winner on Sunday with around 60 percent, but after a topsy-turvy year that has made fools of analysts and pollsters, no one should take his victory for granted.
Unpredictable election
As well as Le Pen, Sunday's winner will face competition in next year's vote from a Socialist party candidate, probably President Francois Hollande who appears intent on trying to defy his historically low approval ratings. After a troubled five years in power, a survey on Friday showed current Prime Minister Manuel Valls would be a far more popular candidate than Hollande. Valls did not exclude making a run at the candidacy in the socialist primary, saying "I will make my decision with a clear conscience", in an interview published by weekly Journal du Dimanche. Hollande's former protege and economy minister, 38-year-old Emmanuel Macron, is also set to stand for the presidency as a centrist independent, injecting some youth and another element of uncertainty into the race. Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melanchon is also likely to draw votes away from mainstream parties in a trend seen in elections across Europe following years of austerity and anger over globalization and job losses. Current polls forecast that Le Pen and the Republicans' candidate will make it through to the final run-off round of the election in May, with the latter set to win by drawing moderate voters from the right and left to block the far-right.

Kuwait Opposition in Strong Election Showing
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 27/16/Islamist-dominated opposition groups and their allies secured nearly half of the Kuwaiti parliament's seats, official results showed Sunday, raising fears of fresh political wrangling in the oil-rich Gulf state. The opposition and its allies won 24 of the assembly's 50 seats, the electoral authority announced following Saturday's snap election called after a dispute over the hiking of petrol prices. The Islamist, nationalist and liberal opposition contested the election after a four-year boycott in protest over the government's amendment of the key voting system. Around half of the opposition candidates who won seats are Islamists from a Muslim Brotherhood-linked group and Salafists. Voters dealt a heavy blow to candidates from the outgoing parliament, with more than half of them failing to make it into the new assembly. Two of three cabinet ministers also failed in their bid for re-election. One third of the members of the new parliament are relatively young and fresh on the political scene. Only one woman was elected and the Muslim Shiite minority was reduced to six seats from nine in the previous house. But despite the outcome, Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah is set to ask the incumbent prime minister or another leading figure from the ruling family to form a new cabinet. "I think this composition will lead to confrontations between opposition MPs and the next government," political analyst Mohammad al-Ajmi told AFP. "There are many issues that could spark disputes: economic measures, revoking of citizenships and others," said Ajmi. In the past two years, the government revoked the citizenship of several leading opposition figures and their family members, citing various motives. The emir called the poll after dissolving the previous parliament due to a dispute over raising petrol prices. Saturday's election saw a turnout of about 70 percent amid divisions over cuts in subsidies due to falling oil revenues.
Austerity measures rejected
Analyst Dahem al-Qahtani said the opposition had made an "impressive showing."
"Kuwaiti voters have punished those who let them down... and rejected the austerity measures," he told AFP. Qahtani said for the government to prevent a standoff, it should make initiatives for cooperation with the opposition. "If the government makes such initiatives, it may succeed in striking a needed political balance and avoid disputes," he said. "If not, confrontations could start from day one," Qahtani said. Kuwait was rocked with a series of political crises between 2006 and 2013 when an entirely pro-government parliament was elected. A majority of the elected MPs have openly said they would oppose any austerity measures by the government to boost non-oil income. The government's overwhelming control in the previous assembly has been reduced to a fragile majority. The majority is because unelected cabinet ministers also become members of parliament, helping to consolidate the grip of the al-Sabah ruling family. Unlike other oil-rich Gulf Arab states, Kuwait has an elected parliament with powers to hold ministers to account, even though senior members of the ruling family hold all top cabinet posts. The set-up has led to repeated standoffs between lawmakers and the ruling family and Saturday's vote was the seventh general election in a decade. But the strength of the opposition allows them to grill ministers and possibly even vote them out of office. The election came with Kuwait facing its most acute budget crisis in years. Oil income, which accounts for 95 percent of government revenues, has nosedived by 60 percent in the past two years. The OPEC member posted its first budget deficit of $15 billion last year following 16 years of surpluses. Kuwaiti citizens make up around 30 percent of the emirate's population of 4.4 million. It pumps 3.0 million barrels of oil daily.

Cairo Denies Presence of Egyptian Troops in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 27/16/Egypt on Sunday denied Arab media reports claiming that it had a military presence in Syria, days after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expressed his support for the Syrian army. "These claims only exist in the imagination of those who promote them," the foreign ministry said in the statement. On Thursday, the Lebanese newspaper As Safir said that 18 Egyptian air force pilots had been deployed on a military base in the Syrian central province of Hama. It added, however, that it was "unclear" whether they were taking part in any military operations. Sisi, the former army chief who was elected president in 2014, expressed support for the Syrian military during an interview aired Tuesday with Portuguese broadcaster RTP. "Our priority is to support national armies, for example in Libya to assert control over Libyan territories and deal with extremist elements. The same with Syria and Iraq," he said, responding to a question on whether Egypt would contemplate a U.N. peacekeeping role in Syria. Asked by the interviewer whether he meant the Syrian military, Sisi, who has overseen a warming of ties with Syrian President Bashar Assad's main he responded: "Yes."Syrian security services chief Ali Mamluk made a surprise visit to Cairo in October and met Egyptian officials, in his first public foreign visit in five years. Sisi, who was elected in 2014 almost a year after overthrowing his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi, has cracked down on Islamists and is battling a deadly jihadist insurgency. His government had been supported by billions of dollars in aid from Saudi Arabia, but ties appear to have cooled between the two countries amid disagreements over Syria. Saudi Arabia backs rebels trying to oust Assad, while Russia and Iran are supporting him militarily. Saudi Arabia suspended oil shipments to Egypt in October, a move announced after Cairo backed a Russian-drafted resolution on Syria in the U.N. Security Council, angering Riyadh. And while Egypt has on paper been part of a Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen backing pro-government forces against Shiite Huthi rebels, analysts say that behind the scenes, Egypt has been reluctant to engage.

Israel Douses Fires that Forced Mass Evacuations
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 27/16/Firefighters have extinguished blazes that ravaged Israel and the occupied West Bank for five days and forced tens of thousands to flee, authorities said Sunday, blaming arsonists for some outbreaks. There were no deaths but some 122 people were treated for injuries, mainly due to smoke inhalation, medical officials said. Around 700 homes were damaged or destroyed as the blazes fed by high winds and dry conditions ripped through thousands of hectares (acres). In recent days, firefighting planes from a list of countries could be seen sloping low over the hills of the occupied West Bank and Israel dropping tonnes of water and retardants. At one point last week, flames towered over an area near Jerusalem, and residents on Sunday were left surveying their charred homes and businesses. "There are no active sites left," fire and rescue service spokesman Yoram Levy told AFP. "Since last night it's pretty calm. We have no new activity." According to Levy, firefighters dealt with about 2,000 fires in Israel and the West Bank, 20 of them major. The Israeli authorities suspect that some of the fires were set alight on purpose and linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday that 17 of 110 fires in the West Bank were so far determined to be arson, without providing further details. Speaking at the Israeli settlement of Halamish in the West Bank, where dozens of homes were damaged at the weekend, he said Israel should respond to any arson by building more settlement homes. Police have arrested 23 people suspected of lighting fires and interrogated another seven. However, Palestinian authorities also joined in the massive international effort to douse the fast-spreading fires and have pointed to damage to their crops and land. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a rare phone call to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday to thank him for those efforts. Lieberman also thanked the Palestinians. Levy noted forces were still "on high alert" due to dry conditions and high winds that were not expected to change prior to rainfall expected on Wednesday. In an example of the risks, a forest fire was extinguished on Sunday near Kiryat Malakhi in southern Israel.
Supertanker, international effort
Israeli firefighters had since Tuesday been battling wildfires throughout the country which on Thursday hit major city Haifa, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate their homes. Around 1,000 residents of Halamish near Ramallah in the West Bank had to flee at the weekend.
Some 45 homes there were damaged or destroyed by fire, police said. Firefighting planes from Israel and countries including Russia, Turkey, Greece, France, Spain and Canada dumped tonnes of water and retardants. A U.S. Supertanker, considered the largest firefighting aircraft in the world, joined the emergency operation on Saturday. Palestinian authorities sent 41 firefighters and eight trucks on Friday. They helped with fires in Haifa and the Jerusalem area, and returned to the West Bank on Saturday night. Israel's Nature and Parks Authority said tens of thousands of hectares (acres) of forest and shrubland had burned. Fires that hit Palestinian areas of the West Bank were also out by Saturday night, with the Ramallah-based Civil Defense saying it had dealt with 143 blazes which burnt crops and trees but caused no casualties. Speaking at Halamish on Sunday, Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said that "the person who threw the firebomb -- which was found -- that lit the fire here tried to murder the residents of an entire settlement, no less." Israeli authorities had not confirmed the Halamish fire was started by arson. Dozens of olive trees in the area of the Palestinian village of Deir Nizam near Halamish were also destroyed, while five Palestinian villages were without electricity overnight, residents told AFP.

Fatah, at the Heart of the Palestinian Institutions
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 27/16/Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas which on Tuesday holds its first congress in seven years, is at the heart of the Palestinian institutions:
Fatah
A secular movement which is a member of the Socialist International, Fatah has since 1994 controlled the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), more commonly known as the Palestinian Authority, and which since 2007 has been confined to the occupied West Bank.
The forthcoming congress, at a time of increased talk of who will eventually succeed Abbas as president, is the seventh since the creation of Fatah in 1959 in Kuwait by Yasser Arafat. The congress is to elect members for its 23-member Central Committee and 132-member Revolutionary Council, the party's de facto parliament.
PLO and PNA
Fatah is the main component of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), created in 1964 in Jerusalem, and which at the time brought together the main Palestinian nationalist movements. The PLO was recognized in 1974 by the United Nations General Assembly and the Arab League as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people."
The PLO's Executive Committee is the only body competent to take decisions committing the Palestinians, notably in the context of the peace process with Israel. Abbas has led the PLO since November 2004, after Arafat's death. The PLO also heads the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the West Bank city of Ramallah and was set up on July 1, 1994 when Arafat returned to Palestinian soil after 27 years in exile, following the 1993 Oslo accords. The authority was initially intended to last for a transitional period, in principle to end in May 1999, with autonomy intended to pave the way for a Palestinian state. After Arafat's death, Abbas in January 2005 took over as head of the Palestinian Authority, which has limited power over about 40 percent of the occupied West Bank, mainly its urban centers, with Israel controlling 60 percent of the territory. In theory the PA is supposed to have power over the Gaza Strip, but that is being run by Hamas now.
The Palestinian Authority has responsibility for 4.8 million Palestinians living in the territories, while the PLO says it represents the 12.4 million Palestinians around the world.
Hamas
Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood that was founded in 1987 and opposes the Oslo accords. It is not a member of the PLO.
Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 following bloody fighting with Fatah. The clashes broke out after Hamas was denied its victory in 2006 legislative elections that led to the defeat of Arafat's party, ending 10 years of dominance. Since 2007 the PNA has been confined to the occupied West Bank, its parliament no longer meets and the mandate of Abbas, which expired in 2009, has been extended for a lack of elections.There has been no general election in the Palestinian territories since 2006. Hamas agreed to take part in local elections set for October 2016 but they have been postponed indefinitely. Divisions between Fatah and Hamas have scuppered three reconciliation accords since 2011, but further attempts have been made. In late October Abbas met Hamas' exiled chief Khaled Meshaal in Doha for the first time in two years. Meanwhile, faced with an impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Abbas has set about gaining international support for the Palestinian cause. He secured for Palestine non-member observer status at the United Nations, where its flag was hoisted for the first time in 2015.

Key Dates in Life of Palestinian President Abbas
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 27/16/Key dates in the life of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority since 2005:
- March 26, 1935: Born in Safed in the Galilee, which was then in Palestine, today in northern Israel. Goes into exile in Syria in 1948 when Israel is founded. Studies law at Damascus university.
- 1959: Living in the Gulf, Abbas with Yasser Arafat founds Fatah, a secular movement that carries out armed operations against Israel from 1965, becoming the main component of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), created on May 28, 1964. He follows the PLO from Beirut to Tunis, entering its executive committee in 1983.
- November 15, 1988: On his initiative, the Palestine National Council, the parliament in exile, recognizes de facto the existence of Israel, rejects terrorism and proclaims an independent Palestinian state. From 1974, Abbas becomes the first high-ranking Palestinian to initiate contacts with left-wing Israeli figures.
- September 13, 1993: Abbas signs the Oslo accords on Palestinian autonomy in Washington with Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres. Abbas was the chief architect of the accords on the Palestinian side.
- September 9, 1994: Returning to Palestinian territory two months after Arafat, Abbas seeks to visit his birthplace but delays his visit after hostile Israeli demonstrations.
- May 22, 1996: Becomes the PLO's number two, leading difficult peace negotiations with Israel.
- March 19, 2003: Accepts Arafat's proposal to become prime minister, a post created under international pressure in the midst of the second Palestinian intifada. Stands down in September after deep differences with Arafat.
- January 9, 2005: Elected president of the Palestinian Authority, having been propelled to the PLO leadership after Arafat died on November 11, 2004. Islamists boycott the vote. His term, which expired in 2009, has since been extended because Palestinian divisions have prevented new elections.
- January 25, 2006: The Islamist group Hamas wins parliamentary elections -- the last held in the Palestinian territories -- ending Fatah's long-standing dominance.
It is the beginning of a bloody trial of strength for Abbas with Hamas, which leads the government from March 2006 to June 2007 before taking over the Gaza Strip, confining Fatah to the West Bank.
- November 29, 2012: Faced with an impasse in the peace process, Abbas secures for Palestine non-member observer status at the United Nations, where its flag is hoisted for the first time in 2015. Several European parliaments recognize Palestine.

Report: Iran Cleric Jailed over Mass Execution Tape
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 27/16/The son of one of Iran's founding revolutionaries was sentenced to several years in jail Sunday after releasing a decades-old tape in which his father denounced the mass execution of prisoners, local media reported.
Ahmad Montazeri, 60, was convicted by a clerical court in the holy city of Qom on charges of "acting against the national security" and "releasing a classified audio file," the ISNA news agency reported. He received a further year for "propaganda against the system," ISNA said. The court said he would only serve six years in view of his lack of previous convictions, his age, and "reverence" for a brother he lost in an insurgent attack. Montazeri is the son of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who for decades was right-hand man to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of Iran's Islamic revolution. The elder Montazeri was one of the few Iranian leaders to voice opposition in 1988 when Khomeini ordered the execution of thousands of political dissidents held in the country's jails.
The order was directed primarily against the People's Mujahideen of Iran (MEK), an insurgent group that had sided with Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the eight-year war between the two countries. Montazeri, who had been Khomeini's chosen successor, opposed the move despite the fact he had lost one of his sons to an attack by the MEK in 1981.That opposition would lead to him being stripped of his status as deputy supreme leader, and he became a vocal critic of hardliners in the regime until his death in 2009. In August Ahmad Montazeri released a 40-minute recording of his father from 1988, arguing with leading members of the judiciary about the executions. Shortly after its release, Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who was one of the people allegedly featured on the tape, said he had no regrets about the executions. "We are proud to have carried out God's commandment with regard to the (MEK) and to have stood with strength and fought against the enemies of God and the people," Pourmohammadi said, according to the Tasnim news agency. There is disagreement over the number of people executed in 1988, though Amnesty International has put the figure at around 5,000.

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 27-28/16
Mosul Christians: IS are ‘grandsons of Satan’
Richard Galpin/BBC News/Irbil/November 27/16
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38097488
 Almost six weeks after the Iraqi army launched its offensive to drive so-called Islamic State (IS) out of the city of Mosul, it has only regained control of a handful of districts in the east. The BBC’s Richard Galpin has been into some of these villages to speak to Christian survivors who are picking up the pieces.
 “They are the grandsons of Satan.” Basma al-Saoor was in shock after seeing the damage that IS fighters had done to a historic building in the Christian village of Karamles, not far from Mosul. She was visiting Santa Barbara church with her mother after spending the morning picking through the charred ruins of their home in another Christian village just down the road. Like Karamles, it had fallen into the hands of the militants two years ago and the entire population had been ordered to either leave or convert to Islam. Almost all fled to the Kurdish city of Irbil, knowing that if they stayed and refused to convert, they would be killed.
 From her bag, Basma pulled out a partially burnt photograph of one of her uncles.”This is all we have left from our house,” she told me.
 We were speaking in the darkened chapel, the air thick with dust.
 The IS extremists had piled tons of rubble and earth in the claustrophobic room as they dug a network of tunnels under the church, converting it into a military-style base.
 Now with the men of violence finally forced out, a team of volunteers was hard at work cleaning up the mess before the damage can be repaired.
 Their supervisor was Father Paul Thabet, a ruddy-faced man born and brought up in the village, who became a priest three years ago after completing his studies in Rome.
 Father Thabet wanted me to see the main church in the village, Saint Addai, where he used to hold regular services until everyone fled.
 Inside and outside, IS militants had systematically erased symbols of the Christian faith.
 Statues of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and child angels, all decapitated. The altar riddled with bullets, a priest’s tomb ripped open.
 For this, Father Thabet told me, there could be no true forgiveness unless those responsible and those who helped them were brought to justice.
 He suspects some in the local Sunni Muslim population either supported or joined IS as they moved into the area. And he fears gunmen may still be hiding among them.
 Such concerns raise real questions about the future for the Christians in the region, if there can no longer be trust between the two communities.
 There are also broader concerns about the long-term consequences of the attempt to defeat IS in Mosul.
 Last week we drove with one of the Iraqi army’s top generals Najim al-Jibouri towards a frontline south-east of Mosul.
 We wanted to see if the reports were true that the famed archaeological site of Nimrud – once the capital of the ancient Assyrian empire – had been destroyed by IS while under its control.
 On the way there we saw that Shia militias, not the Iraqi army, were manning checkpoints in areas taken back from the IS militants.
 The militias have a controversial history. Some have been accused in the past of committing atrocities against Sunni Muslims.
 Now they’re an integral part of the offensive on Mosul, which is a majority Sunni Muslim city – although they have been told not to enter the city.
 Also taking part in the offensive are Kurdish troops, the Peshmerga, who’ve also agreed to stay out of Mosul to avoid inflaming ethnic tensions.
 And then there are Christian militias and some Sunni tribesmen.
 While this complex mix of vested interests is currently bonded by the common goal of destroying IS in Iraq, it could fracture once that goal is achieved.
 For now though the focus remains on regaining the momentum of the offensive as elite troops try to push forward towards the centre of Mosul.
 It is heavy going – the IS leadership has had two years to prepare for this battle.
 And it’s widely believed to have former Iraqi army and intelligence officers in its ranks, with the skills and knowledge to exploit the advantage of defending a city of narrow streets and with as many as a million people still living there.
 So far they’ve been using a stream of suicide bombers along with well-trained snipers to pin down the Iraqi special forces pushing forward street by street.
 The troops are taking a lot of casualties and there are reports they don’t have the back-up they need from units of the regular army which have not yet moved inside the city.
 It was never going to be easy to dislodge Islamic State from Mosul, but unless the militants suddenly collapse or cut and run, it looks like it is going to be a long, costly battle.

Iraq gives militias official status despite abuse claims
Mustafa Salim and Missy Ryan/Washington Post/ November 27 /16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/27/mustafa-salim-and-missy-ryanwashington-post-iraq-gives-militias-official-status-despite-abuse-claims/
IRBIL, Iraq — The Iraqi parliament passed a law Saturday making militia units, including ­Iranian-backed groups accused of human rights abuses, an official part of the country’s security forces.
Lawmakers passed the measure 208 to 0 in a session that was boycotted by most Sunni politicians, who opposed an initiative that extends the influence of powerful Shiite groups that many Iraqi Sunnis view with suspicion.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi praised the law, saying that it gave due to fighters who had proved themselves a key part of Iraqi defenses since the onslaught by Islamic State militants in 2014.
“Those heroic fighters, young and old, need our loyalty for the sacrifices they have made,” a statement issued by Abadi’s office said. “This is the least we can do.”
But the measure, which also legitimizes smaller Sunni tribal groups that have fought alongside Iraqi forces since 2014, threatens to inflame sectarian tensions that could surge anew after the defeat of the Islamic State. It could also complicate Iraq’s military cooperation with the United States and other Western partners.
Some of the most powerful militias included in the “popular mobilization units” are closely aligned to Tehran, and the United States considers one of them a terrorist group. Some of the fighters have been accused of abuses and mistreatment of Sunnis in their response to the Islamic State.
The units, which have more than 110,000 members, were formed in the summer of 2014, partly in response to a call from Iraq’s most senior Shiite religious leader. They drew from existing militia groups and from volunteers who rushed to defend Iraq against its extremist adversary.
Since then, the units have played an important role in most of the major battles against the Islamic State. They are now conducting operations west of the city of Mosul, where a major government offensive is underway.
Militia groups were involved in attacks against the United States during the years after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. U.S. military leaders have said that groups such as Kitaeb Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, and Asaib Ahl al-Haq were responsible for the deaths of at least 500 American military personnel.
Sunni politicians who opposed Saturday’s measure accused the parliament’s Shiite majority of ignoring their objections.
“What was passed today is a breach to the principle of the state and of balance in our security institutions,” Vice President Osama al-Nujaifi said in remarks released by the parliamentary media center. “It would weaken the Iraqi state and weaken hopes for building a stable Iraq.”
Raed al-Dahlaki, another Sunni politician, said the official status would give “legal cover to all these militias who committed and are still committing countless violations against the Iraqi people, like killing, kidnapping, looting and burning houses.”
While human rights groups have complained repeatedly about abuses by militia forces, the Abadi government has said it has identified only a few isolated actions. Last week, Abadi said the Mosul campaign has been conducted without such problems.
Salim al-Jubouri, a Sunni who is speaker of the Iraqi parliament, sought to reassure those worried by the measure, promising that the law would not grant immunity to those who had committed crimes or abuses in the past.
Jubouri said that once Iraq’s major cities have been cleared of the Islamic State, the popular mobilization units will be responsible for holding ground and maintaining security. But important details still must be worked out, such as who will command the troops on the ground and how they will be structured and funded.
Abadi’s office said the fighters will be under the prime minister’s direct control, as is Iraq’s elite counterterrorism force. ­Under former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, that force was seen as having been used at times for the prime minister’s purposes.
“With a sensitive law like this one, the prime minister needs to be careful how he implements it,” said Ahmed al-Mayali, a political analyst.
The incorporation of groups such as Kitaeb Hezbollah into Iraqi security forces could require adjustments in the way security partners such as the United States assist Iraq with its security.
In addition to the approximately 6,000 U.S. troops on Iraqi soil, the United States sells weapons and aircraft to Iraq and provides training to its military. But U.S. law requires that military units receiving American assistance be vetted to ensure they are not guilty of abuses.
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad declined to comment on the new law. The U.S. military has made a point of seeking to withhold air support to the militia units, although, at times, its firepower has helped those units indirectly.
Ahmed al-Asadi, a lawmaker who is also the spokesman for the government committee overseeing the mobilization units, said that once incorporated into the government, they will not retain their command structure.
“All the links they had previously to political parties will be severed, and it will be under the commander in chief,” he said.

The Call of the Mu’ezzin
By Uri Avnery/Anbaa/Novemver 26/16
http://anbaaonline.com/?p=478432
The first mu`ezzin stood on the roof of the prophet Muhammad’s home in Medina, during his exile from Mecca, and called the believers to prayer. He also walked along the streets, doing the same.
When Islam became the established religion, minarets were built. Their original purpose was to ventilate the mosque, letting the hot air out and thus drawing the cooler air in. The mu’ezzin climbed to the top and intoned the ‘azzan, the call to prayer. Often a blind man was chosen, so he could not look into the homes below.
The word is closely connected with the biblical and modern Hebrew word “ha’azinu” (“listen”).
Lately, electric loudspeakers make the job of the mu’ezzin much easier. Nowadays, he can sit below and use a microphone. If a recording is used, the mu’ezzin becomes altogether superfluous.
Anyway, the voice of the mu’ezzin must come forth five times a day and call the believers to prayer, which is one of the five pillars of Islam.
The first call is sent out before dawn. And there’s the rub, as Hamlet would have said, if there had been minarets in Denmark in his time.
SINCE PALESTINE was conquered by the army of the Khalif Omar in the year 636 A.D., the voice of the Mu’ezzin has been heard five times a day in most of the country’s towns and villages. (Some Arabs villages remained Christian and sounded bells.)
No more, if Yai’r Netanyahu has his way.
Yair (25) is the crown prince in Israel’s royal family. He is the darling of his assertive mother and walks around with four bodyguards paid for by the taxpayer (me). He seems to be a nice if nondescript person. He loves nightclubs and luxury. He also likes his sleep.
But how can one sleep in Jerusalem if a nearby mu’ezzin wakes one up at 4 o’clockin the morning?
This is not only Ya’ir’s problem. Many Jews in Israel live near mosques, especially in mixed towns like Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa. The mu’ezzin wakes them up in the middle of their sweetest dreams, just when the beautiful maiden is about to give in (or vice versa for women). They may be furious, but they know that they can do nothing about it.
But Ya’ir can.
He has induced his father to propose a bill that would forbid the use of loudspeakers in all houses of worship. When the powerful Jewish orthodox faction protested, since this would also forbid the call to Shabbat, the bill was amended and now mentions mosques specifically. This may be annulled by the Supreme Court on grounds of discrimination. In the meantime, Ya’ir is still aroused from his precious sleep.
(Actually, there is already a law in Israel that forbids making noise before 7 a.m., but it is not applied.)
ALL THIS sounds funny. But it isn’t. It may be a farce, but it symbolizes one of Israel’s most serious problems.
Only 75% of Israelis are Jews. 21% are Arabs, mostly Muslims, some Christian. The rest are Jewish non-Jews – for example, people whose father was Jewish but whose mother was not.
What is the status of this large Arab minority in a state that defines itself officially and legally as “Jewish and democratic”?
The Arabs are Israeli citizens, with all the rights conferred by citizenship. But are they really Israelis? Can Arabs really be full-fledged citizens in a “Jewish” state?
Worse, Israel is a small though powerful island in the Muslim sea. Israel has an official peace agreement with two Arab states – Egypt and Jordan – but it has never really been accepted by the Arab masses anywhere. Several Arab states have been legally in a state of war with Israel since 1948.
Even worse, Israel rules and oppresses an entire Arab people, the Palestinians, a people deprived of all rights, national as well as human. The Arabs within Israel consider themselves a part of this Palestinian people. Lately they prefer to call themselves “Palestinian citizens of Israel”.
Many countries have a national minority, and each grapples with this problem in its own way. But the situation of the Arab – sorry Palestinian – minority in Israel is unique.
During the first years of Israel, it was hoped that the “Israeli Arabs” (a term they detest) would serve as a bridge between Israel and the Arab world. An Arab friend of mine politely declined, saying that “a bridge is something people trample upon.”
As long as David Ben-Gurion was in power, Arab citizens were subject to a “military government”, without whose permission they could not leave their town or village, nor do much else. This was used to blackmail them into snitching on their fellow-Arabs.
After a long battle by many of us, this regime was abolished in 1966. But the basic problem of the Arab minority was not solved.
IN A country with a large national minority, the majority people is faced with a choice: either confer on all citizens equal rights in every respect, or confer on the minority a special national status with some measure of autonomy.
Israel did what it always does when faced with such a choice: it does not choose. The question remains open.
Can there really be equal rights for non-Jews in a state that defines itself as “Jewish and democratic”? Of course not. The most important law, the “Law of Return”, confers on every single Jew in the world the automatic right to immigrate to Israel. Contrary to the impression given, this right does not stand alone: it is connected with several other laws. A Jewish immigrant automatically becomes a citizen (unless they expressly decline). Several material rights, not generally known, are also connected with this.
Arabs, of course, do not have any of these rights. The huge quantity of mobile and immobile property left behind by the 750,000 Arab refugees who fled or were expelled during the 1948 war and later, was expropriated without any compensation.
pvfIF THERE is no real equality, what about the other alternative: granting them the official status of a national minority, with some form of autonomy?
It is ironic that the official forefather of the Likud, Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky, a brilliant right-wing Zionist, was in his youth the author of the “Helsingfors plan”, a detailed proposal for the status for all minorities in Czarist Russia. This plan, which also formed the basis of Jabotinsky’s doctoral thesis, proposed autonomy for every national minority, even if (like the Jews) they had no territory.
This could be an excellent plan for the Palestinian minority in Israel, but the Likud, of course, would not dream of accepting it. Like the anti-Semites in Czarist Russia, today’s right-wing Israelis consider the national minority a potential or actual fifth column, and any form of autonomy for them a danger to the state.
Lovers of the Bible may find some amusement in the words of Pharaoh (Exodus 1) about the Children of Israel: “When there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies and fight against us.” By a curious turn, now we are Pharaoh, and the Arabs are the new Children of Israel.
SO WHAT is the situation of Israel’s Arab citizens?
It is neither a situation of real equality, as Israeli propagandists assert, not is it a terrible situation of suffering and oppression, as painted by irrational haters of Israel. The actual situation is far more complex.
This week I was in a supermarket in Tel Aviv. I collected some articles and went to pay. I was served by a very good-looking young cashier, who spoke perfect Hebrew and was also extremely polite. When I left, I was a bit surprised to realize that she was Arab.
Some time ago I was hospitalized (forgot for what) in Tel Aviv. The chief doctor of the department was an Arab. Also many of the male nurses. Contrary to the image of the wild, savage Arab, it is generally agreed that Arab nurses, male and female, are much gentler than their Jewish counterparts.
A respected Supreme Court judge, who also sits on the committee for appointing judges, is an Arab.
Arabs are deeply embedded in the Israeli economy. Their average income may be lower than the Jewish one, especially since much fewer Arab women than Jewish ones work. But Israeli living standards are much higher than in any Arab country.
I think that Arab citizens are much more “Israelized” than most of them realize. It is only when they visit Jordan, for example, that they feel they are different (and superior).
While they do not enjoy autonomy, in practice there is a “supervising committee” that unites all Arab municipalities and associations, and there is the Joint Arab faction (the third largest faction in the Knesset)
That is one side of the ledger. The other side is the very opposite: Arab citizens feel every day that they are different from the Jews, that they are looked down upon and discriminated against. Not even the Jewish Left dreams about setting up a government coalition with the Arab faction.
There is a hidden debate inside Arab society in Israel. Many Arabs believe that their faction in the Knesset should deal more with their situation in Israel, while the faction itself deals much more with the situation of their brothers and sisters in the occupied Palestinian territories.
There used to be a well-known Yiddish saying: “It isn’t easy to be a Jew”. In the Jewish State, “it is not easy to be an Arab”.
ALL THESE dilemmas are somehow symbolized by the proposed law of the Muslim prayer call.
Of course, the problem could be solved by mutual discussion and understanding. In all Arab towns and villages, people want to hear the call to prayer, even if many of them do not get up to go to the mosque. In neighborhoods with a non-Muslim population, the loudspeakers could be silenced by agreement, or their volume lowered. But prior to submitting the bill, there were no consultations at all.
So if Yai’r is woken up at 4 o’clock in the morning, perhaps he could devote the next hour to thinking about how to reach an understanding between the Jews and their Arab neighbors. 

The Truth about Fidel and Raul Castro
By: Ted Cruz/National Review/ November 27, 2016
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/27/49181/
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/442485/fidel-castro-dead-ted-cruz-cuban-dictator-oppression-raul?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=583a53ef04d301147d148d9f&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
Two decades of “Castro-is-dead” rumors are finally at an end. And the race is on to see which world leader can most fulsomely praise Fidel Castro’s legacy, while delicately averting their eyes from his less savory characteristics. Two dulelected leaders of democracies who should know better, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and American president Barack Obama, are leading the way. Mr. Trudeau praised Castro as a “legendary revolutionary and orator” who “made significant improvements to the education and health care of his island nation.”
Mr. Obama offered his “condolences” to the Cuban people, and blandly suggested that “history will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure.” Now, he added, we can “look to the future.”With all due respect to Mr. Obama, the 60 years Fidel Castro spent systematically exploiting and oppressing the people of Cuba provide more than enough history to pass judgment on both Fidel and, now more importantly, his brother Raul.
My own family’s experience is a case in point. My father, Rafael, had been an early supporter of the revolution against Fulgencio Batista — and spent a time in prison getting his teeth kicked in for his efforts. He fled the island, only to return to what he hoped would be a liberated Cuba. Instead, he found a new, even more brutal, form of repression had taken hold. In 1960, he left again, never to return. His sister, my Tia Sonia, bravely joined the resistance to Castro and was jailed and tortured in her turn. The betrayal and violence experienced by my father and aunt were all too typical of the millions of Cubans who have suffered under the Castro regime over the last six decades.
This is not the stuff of Cold War history that can be swept under the rug simply because Fidel is dead. Consider, for example, the dissidents Guillermo Fariñas and Elizardo Sanchez, who warned me in the summer of 2013 that the Castros, then on the ropes because of the reduction of Venezuelan patronage, were plotting to cement their hold on power by pretending to liberalize in order to get the American economic embargo lifted. Their model was Vladimir Putin’s consolidation of power in Russia (Sanchez called it “Putinismo”), and their plan was to get the United States to pay for it. It worked. The year after I met with Fariñas and Sanchez, Mr. Obama announced his famous “thaw” with the Castros, and the American dollars started flowing.
As we now know, there was no corresponding political liberalization. Last September, Mr. Fariñas concluded his 25th hunger strike against the Castros’ oppression. Then there is the case of the prominent dissident Oswaldo Paya, who in 2012 died in a car crash that is widely believed to have been orchestrated by the Castro regime. His daughter, Rosa Maria, has pressed relentlessly for answers, and thus become a target herself.
When, just three years after her father’s death, the United States honored the Castros with a new embassy in Washington, D.C., Rosa Maria tried to attend the related State Department press conference as an accredited journalist. But she was spotted by the Cuban delegation, who demanded that she be removed if she dared ask any questions. The Americans complied, in an act of thuggery more typical of Havana than Washington. Finally, I had the honor last summer to meet with Dr. Oscar Biscet, an early truth-teller about the disgusting practice of post-birth abortions in Cuba who has been repeatedly jailed and tortured for his fearless opposition to the Castros.
I asked him, as I had asked Senores Farinas and Sanchez, whether his ability to travel signaled growing freedom on the island. He answered just as they had three years earlier: “No.” In fact, he said, the repression had grown worse since the “thaw” with America. Didn’t we realize, he wondered, that all those American dollars were flowing into the Castros’ pockets, and funding the next generation of their police state?
That is the true legacy of Fidel Castro — that he was able to institutionalize his dictatorship so it would survive him. There is a real danger that we will now fall into the trap of thinking Fidel’s death represents material change in Cuba. It does not. The moment to exert maximum pressure would have been eight years ago, when his failing health forced him to pass control to his brother Raul.
But, rather than leverage the transition in our favor, the Obama administration decided to start negotiations with Raul in the mistaken belief that he would prove more reasonable than his brother (an unfortunate pattern they repeated with Kim Jong-un, Hassan Rouhani, and Nicolas Maduro). Efforts to be diplomatically polite about Fidel’s death suggest the administration still hopes Raul can be brought round. More Fidel Castro Fidel Castro and Dead Utopianism Cuba Before Castro Castro: A Letter from Khrushchev All historical evidence points to the opposite conclusion. Raul is not a “different” Castro.
He is his brother’s chosen successor who has spent the last eight years implementing his dynastic plan. Unlike Cuba, however, the United States has an actual democracy, and our recent elections suggest there is significant resistance among the American people to the Obama administration’s policy of appeasement towards hostile dictators.
We can — and should — send clear signals that that policy is at an end. Among other things, we should halt the dangerous “security cooperation” we have begun with the Castro regime, which extends to military exercises, counter-narcotics efforts, communications, and navigation — all of which places our sensitive information in the hands of a hostile government that would not hesitate to share it with other enemies from Tehran to Pyongyang. And we should insist that no United States government official attend Castro’s funeral unless and until Raul releases his political prisoners, first and foremost those who have been detained since Fidel’s death.
I hope all my colleagues will join me in calling for these alterations. A dictator is dead. But his dark, repressive legacy will not automatically follow him to the grave. Change can come to Cuba, but only if America learns from history and prevents Fidel’s successor from playing the same old tricks. —
***Ted Cruz represents Texas in the United States Senate.

Turkey: Child Rapists to Go Free, Journalists Not?
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/November 27/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9416/turkey-child-rapists-journalists
The ruling Islamist party drafted a bill -- and then suspended it -- that would release about 3,000 men who married children, including men who raped them.
In 2011, Salih bin Fawzan, a prominent cleric and member of Saudi Arabia's highest religious council, issued a fatwa asserting that there is no minimum age for marriage, and that girls can be married "even if they are in the cradle."
A senior Turkish judge mentioned a particular case in which three men kidnapped and raped a girl, then one of them married her and the sentences for all three were lifted.
In 2015 alone, 18,033 female children gave birth, including 244 girls under 15. The number of recorded child abuse cases rose from 5,730 in 2005 to 16,957 in 2015.
If the government had gone ahead with its plans, a 60-year-old man who married a 12-year-old girl through religious procedures, would benefit from the amnesty.
Turkey, officially, is the world's biggest jailer of journalists. But its ruling Islamist party has drafted a bill that would release about 3,000 men who married children, including men who raped them. Public uproar has only convinced the ruling conservative Muslim lawmakers to consider revising the bill.
Muslims in general have a confused mind about the permissible age for marriage. The Quran does not mention a specific minimum age. But most Muslims believe that their prophet, Mohammad, married Aisha when the bride was nine years old -- although there are some sources that claim the marriage took place when Aisha was 19 or 20 years of age. Some modern sources of Islamic authority, however, especially Wahhabi, have in recent years issued "extreme" fatwas. In 2011, Salih bin Fawzan, a prominent cleric and member of Saudi Arabia's highest religious council, issued a fatwa asserting that there is no minimum age for marriage and that girls can be married "even if they are in the cradle."
In 2014, the Saudi Grand Mufti allowed marriages with girls under 15 and avoided mentioning a minimum age. Turkish conservatives are no exception to having an inclination to marry little girls.
Earlier in 2016, the head of a department of the Supreme Court of Appeals revealed that nearly 3,000 marriages were registered between female victims of sexual abuse, including rape, and their assailants. Speaking to a parliamentary commission, the senior judge testified that children between the ages of five and 18 could be subjected to sexual abuse in the country, and that girls between the ages of 12 and 15 were more easily tricked by abusers. He mentioned a particular case in which three men kidnapped and raped a girl, then one of them married her and the sentences for all three were lifted.
The government's motion, now suspended in parliament, stipulates that for any crime of sexual abuse committed before November 16, in the event of a subsequent marriage between the victim and the convict, the announcement of the verdict will be deferred, and if there has already been a verdict, the sentencing will be deferred. If the bill passes, child sexual abusers currently in jail will be released.
Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag defends the bill, saying that "it addresses problems stemming from a reality of religious marriages" taking place before the legal age of marriage.
In Turkey, marriage under the age of 17 is illegal. Children aged 16 can marry subject to a court ruling. But in practice, thousands of children marry, mostly after cases of rape and their families' consent. When a child girl gives birth, hospital authorities are obliged to notify law enforcement for legal proceedings, with prison sentences of up to 16 years.
According to official statistics, a total of 482,908 children were married off by their families in the past decade. In 2015 alone, 18,033 female children gave birth, including 244 girls under 15. The number of recorded child abuse cases rose from 5,730 in 2005 to 16,957 in 2015.
Under pressure, the government on November 20 showed signs of retreat. The ruling Islamists said they were working on a revision of the bill; the final vote had been scheduled to be held on November 22. However the bill ends up, it is problematic. In its proposed form, jurists warned the proposed motion did not include a minimum age for the victims. If the government had gone ahead with its plans, a 60-year-old man who married a 12-year-old girl through religious procedures would benefit from the amnesty.
The Turkish controversy reflects a rather bad habit among conservative Muslims.
The Turkey's Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim once said in an interview that he transferred from his university because he feared to "go off the path" after seeing that male and female students at his university were sitting next to each other on benches. In a typically Islamist thinking, former President Abdullah Gul, co-founder of the ruling Justice and Development Party and the closest political ally (until 2014) of current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, married his wife when she was 15 years old and he, 30 years old.
Turkey's former President Abdullah Gul and his wife Hayrunnisa, pictured standing front and center at an August 2014 reception, married when she was 15 years old and he was 30.
For the conservative Turkish mind set, child abuse whitewashed by a religious marriage is more pardonable, but not journalistic dissent.
**Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 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.

Europe Should End Its Planned Marriage with Turkey
Burak Bekdil/The Gatestone Institute/November 27/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/27/burak-bekdilthe-gatestone-institute-europe-should-end-its-planned-marriage-with-turkey/
http://www.meforum.org/6387/europe-should-end-its-planned-marriage-with-turkey
Lightly edited excerpt of article originally published under the title "Turkey: Lies, Cheap Lies and Cheaper Lies."
Visiting Minsk, the capital of Belarus, in the first week of November for the opening of a mosque in a dictatorial country where there are 100,000 Muslims, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Western Europe of "intolerance that spreads like the plague."
Erdogan described Belarus, which Western countries describe as a dictatorship, as "a country in which people with different roots live in peace." In Erdogan's view Belarus is tolerant and peaceful, but Western Europe is not. Merely because Belarus's dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, agreed to open a mosque to lure some Turkish investment.
Back in Turkey, things look more Belarusian than Western European, a culture Erdogan despises. In August, an Istanbul court ordered Asli Erdogan, a prominent author and journalist, arrested on charges of membership in an armed terror organization. Asli Erdogan, a peace activist and novelist, worked for Ozgur Gundem, a pro-Kurdish newspaper. She has remained in prison since her arrest. The prosecutors demand an aggravated life sentence plus 17.5 years in jail for her.
How did the novelist "support terror"? This is from the indictment: "[I]n an understanding of a novelist, [the accused] portrayed terrorists as citizens in her columns." The prosecutor's "evidence" is four columns by Asli Erdogan. Mehmet Yilmaz, a columnist, suggested that Turkish law faculties, after this indictment, should be closed down and converted into imam schools.
Turkey's incompatibility with the democratic culture of Western Europe is now too visible to ignore. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown on dissent goes on at full speed. The opposition pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party announced that it would suspend its legislative activity after a dozen of its lawmakers, including its co-chairpersons, were arrested on terror charges.
Meanwhile Erdogan accuses Europe of "abetting terrorism" by supporting Kurdish militants as the Turkish government tries to suppress them.
German lawmakers, including leading representatives of the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Left Party, announced an initiative to "adopt" their Turkish colleagues after Erdogan's government rescinded the legal immunity of 53 of 59 Kurdish members of parliament and arrested dozens of lawmakers, party employees, and journalists.
"In the history of the program, there has never been such an extraordinary situation where I think we can say that a democracy is threatening to turn itself into a dictatorship," said German Social Democratic lawmaker and human rights expert Frank Schwabe. "We have a lot of Turkish opposition parliamentarians under threat, so we had to apply the parliamentary sponsorship program in an extraordinary way."
In another speech, Erdogan said that Turkey was ready to abandon its EU candidacy if "Europe told us they do not want us." ...
From left, Austrian Defense Minister Hans Peter Doskozil, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, and Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.
But the incompatibility between the democratic cultures of Western Europe and Turkey is now too visible to ignore or tone down in diplomatic language.
There are signs, albeit weak, in Europe that Islamist Turkey does not belong to the Old Continent.
Austria's defense minister, Hans Peter Doskozil, told the German daily, Bild, that "Turkey is on its way to becoming a dictatorship." Past perfect tense instead of present may have described Turkey's case better, but there is a European "awakening" on Turkish affairs.
Austria's foreign minister, Sebastian Kurz, said: "Over recent years Turkey has moved farther and farther away from the EU, but our policy has remained the same. That can't work. What we need are clear consequences."
He is right: "That" cannot work.
Europe's unpleasant game of pretension with Turkey should end at once.
A tiny EU state was bolder in calling a cat a cat. Speaking of Erdogan's increasingly savage crackdown on dissidents, particularly after the failed coup of July 15, Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, said: "These are methods, one must say this bluntly, that were used during Nazi rule ... And there has been a really, really bad evolution in Turkey since July that we as the European Union cannot simply accept."
Europe's unpleasant game of pretension with Turkey should end at once, with Brussels and Ankara admitting that the planned marriage was an awfully bad idea from the beginning and that Turkey does not belong to Europe, as its leader proudly says.
Let Turkey go on its voyage to become another peaceful Belarus.
**Burak Bekdil is an Ankara-based columnist for the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet Daily News and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.

A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Germany: October 2016
Child Marriage, No-go Zones, Gang Rapes
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/November 27/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9431/germany-islam-october
sidents of Essen complained that police often refuse to respond to calls for help and begged city officials to restore order. One resident said: "I was born here and I do not feel safe anymore." City officials flatly rejected the complaints.
The Sarah Nußbaum Haus, a kindergarten in Kassel, said that "because of the high proportion of Muslim children," and because of the different cultures of the children, the school was "renouncing" Christian rituals.
During the first six months of 2016, more than 2,000 migrants who requested asylum were found to be carrying false passports, but German border control officers allowed them into the country anyway. Migrants with false papers could be linked to the Islamic State, security analysts warned.
German President Joachim Gauck said he believed that Germany will eventually have a Muslim president.
Muslims are attacking Christians at refugee shelters throughout Germany. "The religious minorities in refugee accommodations are now experiencing the same oppression prevalent in their countries of origin," according to the NGO Open Doors.
The Federal Statistics Office reported that the birthrate in Germany reached the highest level in 33 years in 2015, boosted mainly by babies born to migrant women.
A 49-year-old Syrian refugee in Rhineland-Palatinate is seeking social welfare benefits in Germany for his four wives and 23 children.
October 1. Two migrants raped a 23-year-old woman in Lüneburg as she was walking in a park with her young child. The men, who remain at large, forced the child to watch while they took turns assaulting the woman.
October 2. A 19-year-old migrant raped a 90-year-old woman as she was leaving a church in downtown Düsseldorf. Police initially described the suspect as "a Southern European with North African roots." It later emerged that the man is a Moroccan with a Spanish passport.
October 2. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble called for the development of a "German Islam" to help integrate Muslims in the country. In an opinion article published by Welt am Sonntag, he wrote:
"Considering the diverse origins of Muslims in Germany, we want to promote the development of a German Islam, the development of self-assurance of Muslims living as Muslims in Germany, in a free, open, pluralistic and tolerant order, according to our laws and the religious neutrality of the state.
"There is no doubt that the growing number of Muslims in our country today is testing the tolerance of mainstream society. The origin of the vast majority of refugees means that we are increasingly dealing with people from very different cultures.... In this tense situation, we should not allow for the emergence of an atmosphere in which well-integrated people in Germany feel alien."
October 4. Münchner Merkur reported that the 2016 Munich Oktoberfest recorded its lowest turnout since 2001. Visitors reportedly stayed away due to concerns about terrorism and migrant-related sexual assaults.
This year's Munich Oktoberfest recorded its lowest turnout since 2001. Visitors reportedly stayed away due to concerns about terrorism and migrant-related sexual assaults. (Image source: Flickr/Sergey Zhaffsky)
October 6. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on a German intelligence study which found that almost half the German Salafists who left for Syria or Iraq were active in mosques. "The mosques continue to play a central role in the radicalization of Islamists in Germany," a spokeswoman for the German domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), said. The ongoing study analyzes the background and course of the radicalization of persons who left for Syria or Iraq. The study has collected data from 784 Islamists who left Germany or were actively trying to leave the country. The BfV estimates that there are 9,200 known Salafists in Germany.
October 6. More than 400 residents of the Altenessen district in Essen met local politicians in a televised "town hall meeting" to discuss spiraling violence and crime perpetrated by migrants in the area. Residents complained that police often refuse to respond to calls for help and begged city officials to restore order. One resident said: "I was born here and I do not feel safe anymore." City officials flatly rejected the complaints. Mayor Thomas Kufen said: "Altenessen is not a no-go area, the people here are just angry." Police Chief Frank Richter added: "I am sick and tired of hearing about no-go zones in Essen." He insisted that Essen und Altenessen are perfectly safe.
October 7. The Sarah Nußbaum Haus, a kindergarten in Kassel, announced that it would not be celebrating Christmas this year, "because of the high proportion of Muslim children." According to local media, there will be "no Christmas tree, no Christmas stories and no Christmas spirit." Non-Muslim parents said that celebrating Christmas is a normal "part of the integration process to get to know the new culture." School officials responded by saying that because of the different cultures of the children, the school was "renouncing" Christian rituals. They also said that teachers at the school are now required to ensure that the children do not exchange their sandwiches, to prevent Muslim children from eating pork.
October 8. Welt am Sonntag reported that during the first six months of 2016, more than 2,000 migrants who requested asylum were found to be carrying false passports, but German border control officers allowed them into the country anyway. Migrants with false papers could be linked to the Islamic State, security analysts warned.
October 10. Jaber al-Bakr, a 22-year-old refugee from Syria, was arrested after police found explosives in his apartment in Chemnitz. He was suspected of plotting to bomb an airport in Berlin. Two days later, he hanged himself in a jail in Leipzig.
October 14. German President Joachim Gauck, who is stepping down for health reasons, said he believed that Germany will eventually have a Muslim president. Of the eleven German presidents so far, nine have been Protestant and two have been Catholic. Gauck's statement caused a stir in Germany. Some said that all German citizens are eligible for the position, regardless of confession, and others said a Muslim president would further divide society. Vice President of the European Parliament Alexander Graf Lambsdorff said: "A mullah with a turban would be impossible, but a representative of modern, enlightened Islam, such as the mayor in London, of course." The Office of the President told Bild that the oath of office would never be changed from "so help me God" to "so help me Allah."
October 14. Green Party politician Volker Beck called on Germans to learn Arabic so that they can communicate with migrants who do not speak German. When asked on NTV how migrants can integrate if there are no German speakers in many parts of German cities, he replied: "Other countries are more relaxed about the fact that, in some areas, a different language is spoken by a migrant community. In the US, you will find your Chinatown, you will find areas where Mexicans live, or whatever community is strong in a city." He also said it was good that German is not spoken in many German mosques. "Arab sermons are a piece of home," he said.
October 14. Volker Kauder, a key member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, threatened internet giants such as Facebook and Google with fines up to 50,000 euros ($53,000) if they fail to tackle online hate speech. The move comes amid a rise in anti-immigration sentiment in Germany.
October 15. A Syrian migrant disrupted a wedding at the Karmel Church in downtown Duisburg. He burst into the building and began fondling a statue of the Virgin Mary while shouting "Allahu Akhbar" ("Allah is the greatest.") After undergoing a psychological evaluation, the man was released. The incident is one of a growing number in which Muslim migrants have disrupted or vandalized German churches.
October 16. A 16-year-old boy and his 15-year-old girlfriend were walking along the banks of the Alster, a lake in the heart of Hamburg, when a stranger ambushed him from behind and plunged a knife into his back. The attacker then pushed the girl into the water and walked away. The girl survived, but the boy died of his wounds. The suspect, a "southern-looking" (südländischer Erscheinung) man in his early twenties, remains at large. Police say the victims were not robbed and there is no evident motive for the crime: The suspect appears to have randomly stabbed the boy just because he felt like it. The Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the murder, but German police cast doubt on that claim.
October 17. The German Press Council reprimanded the weekly newspaper, Junge Freiheit, for revealing the nationality of three Afghan teenagers who raped a woman at a train station in Vienna, Austria, in April 2016. The press council said the nationality of the perpetrators was "not relevant" to the case, and by revealing this information the newspaper "deliberately and pejoratively represented the suspects as second-class persons." In the interests of "fair reporting," the council demanded that the newspaper remove the offending item from its website. The newspaper refused to comply, and said it would continue to publish the nationalities of criminal suspects.
October 17. The German branch of Open Doors, a non-governmental organization supporting persecuted Christians, reported that Muslims are attacking Christians at refugee shelters throughout Germany. The NGO documented 743 incidents between May and September 2016, but said they were only the "tip of the iceberg." The report said:
"Many of the refugees concerned have previously been persecuted and discriminated against in their Islamic countries of origin and have therefore fled to Germany. The religious minorities in refugee accommodations are now experiencing the same oppression prevalent in their countries of origin."
October 17. The Federal Statistics Office reported that the birthrate in Germany reached the highest level in 33 years in 2015, boosted mainly by babies born to migrant women. The rate was 1.5 births per woman in 2015, up from 1.47 births in 2014, and the highest figure since 1982 when it was 1.51. For German women, the birth rate increased only slightly from 1.42 children per woman in 2014 to 1.43 in 2015. For women of foreign nationality, the rate increased from 1.86 to 1.95 children per woman.
October 18. Sigrid Meierhofer, the mayor of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in an urgent letter (Brandbrief) to the Bavarian government, threatened to close a shelter that houses 250 mostly male migrants from Africa if public safety and order could not be restored. The letter, which was leaked to the Münchner Merkur, stated that local police had responded to more emergency calls during the past six weeks than in all of the previous 12 months combined.
October 18. Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that during the first eight months of 2016, more than 17,000 migrants sued the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) for not giving them full refugee status. Most Syrian refugees in Germany receive only partial asylum status, known as subsidiary protection, which delays family repatriations by at least two years. According to Süddeutsche, 90% of the refugees who challenged the subsidiary protection status in court won their case and were granted full rights under the Geneva Convention. Refugees with full status are allowed immediately to submit applications to bring spouses and children to Germany. If all of the 17,000 migrants win their cases, hundreds of thousands of additional migrants would be allowed to come to Germany.
October 19. Bild reported that a 49-year-old Syrian refugee in Rhineland-Palatinate is seeking social welfare benefits in Germany for his four wives and 23 children. The man, identified as Ghazia A., told Bild that "according to our religion, I have the duty to visit and be with each family equally, and not show any preferential treatment." Local officials told the newspaper that the family is integrating well and all of the children are going to school.
October 19. A 29-year-old migrant from Syria appeared in court on charges of sexually molesting ten children in Freiburg and Müllheim. The father of one of the victims took a photograph of the suspect, but police waited ten days before acting on the lead.
October 19. A 16-year-old German-Moroccan girl appeared in court on terrorism charges. In February 2016, when she was 15, she stabbed a police officer with a kitchen knife at the central train station in Hanover. Prosecutors say she was conducting a "martyrdom operation" for the Islamic State.
October 20. Pupils at a grade school in Garmisch-Partenkirchen were required to memorize and recite the shahada, the Muslim profession of faith ("There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger."), in both German and Arabic, for an interfaith chapel service.
October 21. In an interview with Welt am Sonntag, Islam expert and Green Party member Kurt Edler said that Syrian migrants should be allowed to set up their own city in Germany as a way to prevent radicalization. He said: "Why do not we set up a New Aleppo in Pomerania? Then we can show that what the British and Irish emigrants have done in the North East of the USA is also possible with us."
October 24. A group of Serbian teenagers in Hamburg were handed suspended sentences for gang-raping a 14-year-old girl and leaving her for dead in sub-zero temperatures. The judge said that although "the penalties may seem mild to the public," the teens had all made confessions, appeared remorseful and longer posed a danger to society. The ruling, which effectively allowed the rapists to walk free, provoked a rare moment of public outrage over the problem of migrant sex crimes in Germany.
October 24. A YouGov poll found that 68% of Germans believe that security in Germany has deteriorated over the past several years. Also, 68% of respondents said they fear for their lives and property in German train stations and subways, while 63% feel unsafe at large public events.
October 25. Seven migrant boys, some as young as seven years old, sexually assaulted three girls (ages 9, 11 and 14) at a public swimming pool in Berlin.
October 25. The German edition of the Huffington Post published an article by a Syrian migrant named Aras Bacho in which he demanded that all signs and products in Germany be translated into in Arabic to make life easier for migrants. He wrote:
"As a refugee I believe that in Europe the street signs should be translated into Arabic. Likewise, food packaging should be in Arabic. It should also be possible to take exams in Arabic.... Most refugees have been driving in Syria. It would be helpful if the road signs were in Arabic. We should help these people more, no matter what it costs."
October 25. Police in five German states raided a dozen apartments and a refugee shelter as part of a counter-terrorism investigation. Fourteen Chechens, all asylum seekers who arrived in Germany in 2013, are at the center of a probe into "terrorist financing." No one was arrested.
October 25. A group of Muslim children shouting "Allahu Akbar" threw stones at a visiting Ethiopian priest who was walking to a chapel in Raunheim. Police said the priest was targeted because he was wearing a cross.
October 27. A ten-year-old girl was raped while she was riding her bicycle to school in Leipzig. Police published a facial composite of the migrant suspect with the politically correct warning: "This image is to be published only in print media products in the Leipzig region. Publishing it on the internet, including on social media such as Facebook, is not covered by the court order and is therefore not allowed."
October 27. Officials in Monheim donated 845,000 euros ($890,000) of taxpayer money to two Islamic associations, to build mosques in the town. The money will be used to purchase land for the mosques, the construction of which will be paid for by the Turkish government. Mayor Daniel Zimmermann said he hopes the mosques will promote Muslim integration. "I hope the mosques will be city-shaping and also architectural monuments," he said. The grant is subject to only one condition: the minarets must not be more than 25 meters (80 feet) high.
October 27. Deutsche Welle reported that the parents of a German teenager face prosecution for refusing to allow their son to enter a mosque during a school field trip. The parents were fined 300 euros ($315) for their son's truancy. The prosecutor's office in Itzehoe is now reviewing whether or not the parents should appear in court because they did not pay the fine. The school's principal, Renate Fritzsche, said that there are no exceptions to Germany's mandatory school law. The goal of education, Fritzsche emphasized, is to teach children about other cultures so they will be able to interact and tolerate them.
October 27. Berliner Zeitung reported that a 19-year-old Syrian migrant, identified only as Shaas Al-M., scouted out potential terror targets in Berlin for the Islamic State. He was allegedly actively recruiting assassins in Germany and was preparing to attack when he was arrested in March 2016. The man, who received religious and military training with the Islamic State in Syria, arrived in Germany in the summer of 2015 posing as a Syrian refugee.
October 28. Reuters reported that many Arab mosques in Germany are more conservative than those in Syria. The report states: "A dozen Syrians in six places of worship in three cities told Reuters they were uncomfortable with very conservative messages in Arabic-speaking mosques. People have criticized the way the newcomers dress and practice their religion, they said. Some insisted the Koran be interpreted word-for-word."
October 28. A mob of 17 Muslim migrants sexually assaulted two women in front of a church in Freiburg. Police arrested three of the men, all from Gambia, who arrived in Germany as refugees in 2015 and had previously been detained for other crimes.
October 28. Der Spiegel reported that Justice Minister Heiko Maas wants to make it easier for German courts to void child marriages. There currently are 1,475 married adolescents in Germany; 361 of them are younger than 14 years, 120 are 14 or 15 years old. According to German law, young people above the age of 16 may marry, but only if the other spouse is 18 and a family court gives a so-called exemption. Maas wants to tighten the criteria for this. The exemption is to be granted only "if the intended marriage does not affect the welfare of the applicant." Günter Krings (CDU), parliamentary secretary of state, said the measure does not go far enough. "For the sake of clarity of our legal system, we should consistently ensure that no marriages with minors can be concluded in our country, even in exceptional cases," he said.
October 31. A 53-year-old woman attacked two police officers after they entered her apartment in Mülheim. The officers were checking in on her after she had allegedly thrown furniture out the window. When she refused to open the door, the officers broke it down. Once inside the apartment, the veiled woman attacked them with a box-cutter while shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is the greatest.") Police said the woman was a Muslim convert and was already familiar to police after a series of earlier incidents linked with Islamic extremism.
**Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.
© 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.

Will floating Egypt’s currency boost its economy?
Mohammed Nosseir/Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Arabiya/November 27/16
“It’s time to invest in Egypt” is the explicit message that the Egyptian government is attempting to send out to the world following its bold decision to float the Egyptian pound. Being the first and the only Arab country to float its currency gives us an advantage over our competitors in the region. Yet the move, in itself, is certainly not quite enough to attract foreign investors who call for a number of economic and legislative reforms that would strengthen Egypt’s standing as a truly attractive investment destination.
 Over the past few years, foreign and Arab investors interested in extending their businesses to Egypt were obliged to comply with the formal government exchange rate that only allowed them to sell their hard currency at Egyptian banks. Meanwhile, foreign currency was sold on the parallel market at a substantially higher exchange rate. This ambiguous policy and practice favored merchants who were free to deal with the parallel market while imposing significant constraints on the profitability of legitimate foreign direct investors.
 Emerging countries such as Egypt need to intensify their economic efforts to attract more investors. The floatation of the Egyptian currency is an important and fundamental step in that direction, but it is neither adequate nor comprehensive enough to attract potential foreign investors. Bureaucracy, corruption, the inefficiency of our business structure and deficient legislation are only some of the many impediments that are preventing Egypt from becoming a truly competitive industrial market and an attractive tourism destination. Industry and tourism will benefit, to a certain degree, from the floating rate policy – but this move on its own is not sufficient.
 Establishing Egypt as a prime destination for both investors and tourists will require addressing all of our challenges and introducing the needed reforms and adjustments to make Egypt a truly competitive nation
 Egyptian governments always assume that Egypt’s market competitiveness is limited to the provision of cheap products and services, which in fact has been our only competitive advantage for decades. Every now and then, the government tries (and rarely succeeds), in advancing and promoting other investment factors, but we continue to lag behind other countries in the region whose more efficient efforts allow them to rank ahead of us.
 Political and economic forecasts
 In the course of making foreign investment decisions for any given country, investors need to be able to make both political and economic forecasts for that country. In the case of Egypt, sadly, the political outlook is quite gloomy and the economic one is becoming more complicated, which results in delisting Egypt as an attractive country for investors.
 Egypt ranks third among all the countries where the International Court of Arbitration has issued decisions upholding international investors at the expenses of governments. This indicates either that our business regulations and policies are not well articulated in the first place, or that consecutive Egyptian governments eventually change their minds (and business terms) in dealing with foreign investors, thereby awarding legal advantages to the investors. Additionally, our notorious deep bureaucracy, the difficulties we face in importing raw materials for manufacturing, and the obstacles affecting the transfer abroad of international investors’ profits have hindered our efforts to advance foreign direct investment in Egypt.
 While the factors mentioned above disfavor Egypt as an emerging investment destination, the floatation of the Egyptian currency, along with the cheap cost of labor and our large population, work in our favor. The combined weight of all these factors has managed to attract a number of foreign investors who find Egypt to be an inexpensive location for producing products to be sold to its huge population – period. Meanwhile, it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to diversify our product exports, which are presently limited to a few agricultural products and ready-made garments.
 Government messages and efforts that persist in promoting Egypt as a nation that offers cheap overheads and inexpensive tourist holidays will keep us eternally within the “invest less and realize less” bracket. Establishing Egypt as a prime destination for both investors and tourists will require addressing all of our challenges and introducing the needed reforms and adjustments to make Egypt a truly competitive nation. We have room to increase our national revenue significantly – on condition that we manage to provide better services, to reduce bureaucratic red tape substantially and to do away with corruption.
 
Rich tourists, impress people with your mind not your wealth
Khaled Almaeena/Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Arabiya/November 27/16
 Reports of wealthy Gulf Arabs being robbed in Europe are now a common occurrence. Last week, masked men stopped a car heading from Le Bourget airport in Paris and robbed the two occupants of about five million euros in cash and other assets. According to reports, the luxury Bentley was ambushed and its occupants were tear-gassed.
 There are many similar incidents that have taken place around the world. In Miami, a wealthy Gulf businessman had his briefcase containing $800,000 lifted from his hotel room. He sheepishly told the police he brought the money to spend on a family vacation!
 A couple of years ago in a posh London neighborhood, another Gulf Arab was robbed of 18,000 pounds. Apparently, he and his Asian secretary were going out for a stroll. Why they were carrying such a large amount of money is anybody’s guess.
 There are many other examples some of which make you laugh at the absurdity of the behavior of some of the people from our region when they go abroad. You can, for example, see Gulf Arab women walking on a Sunday afternoon in London’s Hyde Park decked out in expensive jewelry and designer watches and shoes along with handbags worth thousands of pounds.
 You don’t exhibit wealth and show off not in Europe, America or, for that matter, even here. Most of those who make a show of ostentatiously displaying their wealth are the ‘nouveau riche’
 Once in a well-known hotel on Capital Hill in Washington, as I was checking in the receptionist was admiring the string of beads or “subha” of a young man from our region. However, instead of explaining the use and purpose of the beads, the young man said in a loud voice: “It cost $30,000!” I almost choked at his naiveté.
 You don’t exhibit wealth and show off not in Europe, America or, for that matter, even here. Most of those who make a show of ostentatiously displaying their wealth are the “nouveau riche”. Why go to Marbella wearing earrings worth a million dollars?! I can’t understand the logic.
 Rich people in the West or Asia who have worked hard for their fortunes do not do this. And besides, there is a time and a place for exclusive haute couture dresses and priceless diamonds. Walking in the streets is not one of them!
 And remember that these days social media is being used to monitor and trap unsuspecting victims. The problem is that while they know this, some people from the region, both men and women, ignore it, as the love of displaying wealth is part of their DNA.
 As for myself, my advice to those on holiday or business trips is to stay simple.
 Impress people with your mind, not your wealth!
 **This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on November 27, 2016.
 
 Unravelling the Trump phenomenon
 Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Arabiya/November 27/16
 I have to admit that my forecast regarding the outcome of US presidential election was wrong, even though I have observed American affairs for decades, having lived under the “Western democracy” since 1978.
 I deluded myself into believing that human nature is capable of transcending selfishness, greed and hatred for “the other” if it gets the opportunity to freely express itself. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to recent developments, in the UK in particular, when citizens voted to leave the European Union in a move known as Brexit.
 I should have considered two facts: That the American voter is not necessarily more tolerant or mature than the British; and that a high percentage of Brexit supporters were immigrants. Some of them were even, until a few years ago, refugees who took advantage of British tolerance to live on the UK territory. But they proved selfish, voting for those who promised to deny access to other immigrants who are suffering today perhaps more than they did when they decided to leave their countries.
 I should have also been more realistic with regard to the notion of coexistence in the US where, for eight years, the identity and faith of the first African-American president was always doubted by far-right “birthers” and nativists. With polls telling us that President Barack Obama was enjoying a 53-55 percent public approval rating toward the end of his second term, I failed, like many serious American analysts, to probe the depth of racism of the white population in rural America and the antipathy the semi-cultured segments had for the black president.
 I also failed to gauge the strong hatred harbored by the right-wing Catholics, Protestant-Anglican and conservative politicians for the Democratic Party liberals. The American presidential election served as an opportunity for them to get revenge on multiple enemies in a single swing.
 The Founding Fathers established the United States of America as a haven for immigrants. Now, the same country voted for building border walls and denying entry to emigrants based on their religious identities
 They hit back at the political “establishment” in Washington by consistently voting for Trump, who is not a politician but won the Republican Party’s nomination against prominent political figures, and by supporting Bernie Sanders, who although not a member of the Democratic Party, got 40 percent of the Democrats’ votes in the initial race for the party’s nomination. Racist white people sought to address a political situation they perceived as threatening the demographics in the US and having the potential to become “permanent”.
 For example, statistics show that the white population of European origin under 25 years of age will become a minority in the US (compared to those of Hispanic, African or Asian ancestry) by 2020, that is, by the end of Trump’s first term. This, in addition to the reality that the three most populous US states — California, Texas and Florida — are dominated by “minority” majorities. Trump and other far right demagogues focused on “the necessity to save America before it’s too late” propaganda.
 Indeed, this strategy paid off greatly, and it is now feared that it could negatively affect not only the coexistence of ethnic groups in the US, but also the principle of separation of powers, which represents the key guarantee of any democratic system, the US included, because the Republican Party, which increasingly drifts toward the extreme right, has won not only the presidency (the executive power), but also kept control of the two Houses of Congress (the legislative power), which gives Trump the opportunity to appoint partisan judges who back Republican policies on the Supreme Court (the judiciary).
 The angry white voters
 The third target of the angry white voters was globalization. This was used by a number of Republican candidates before the Republican nomination went to Trump, the most outspoken candidate in favor of racism and isolation.
 Trump had earlier pledged to ban Muslims from entering the US and to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. Even the speech of Ben Carson, former Republican presidential candidate of African-American descent, was racist and fanatic, particularly against Muslims.
 This means that those candidates understood the nature of the voters and tried to incite their hatred and stir up their feelings of fear and despair in order to gain their votes. The fourth backlash was against technological and scientific progress, which is interrelated with globalization.
 There were remarkable similarities between the speeches of leftist Sanders and right-wing Trump, as well as of some Republicans, talking about the suffering of the working class in the US due to the fall of barriers to market movement, jobs and goods. Trump gained a significant proportion of the votes of blue-collar workers in Northeastern states, the so-called Rust Belt, whose once-powerful industrial sector had shrank.
 In fact, Trump won the presidential election after securing the votes of three northern states (Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, along with Ohio), which were supposed to vote for his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
 The ongoing protests in some US cities are in response to the shocking Trump win. Protesters fear that tolerance will no more exist in their country where voters decided to do away with time-honored principles and human decency.
 The Founding Fathers established the United States of America as a haven for immigrants. The country developed, guaranteeing openness, pluralism and acceptance of the other — regardless of color, race or religion. Now, the same country voted for building border walls and denying entry to emigrants based on their religious identities.
 The US, which was founded on the principles of individual initiatives, free economy and open market, eliminated all kinds of restrictions and enacted legislations against monopoly, is now working against the interests of its industrial companies, which were forced by the competitiveness of the capitalist system, to reduce production costs by building factories abroad.
 America, which boomed thanks to the scientific progress, encouraging creativity and embracing scientists from around the world, is now bidding for the votes of anti-progressive parties. It may even suspend scientific research under pressure from the radical Christian right, whether in the field of the stem cells, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology or information technology.
 This is Trump’s America in the 21st century. And the world will have to pay the price even though it did not vote for him.
 **This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on November 19, 2016.