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Bible Quotation For Today/‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practise what they teach
Matthew 23/01-12: "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practise what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honour at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have people call them rabbi. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted."

Bible Quotation For Today/We must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." ’
Acts of the Apostles 20/17-24/28.32.35: "From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him. When they came to him, he said to them: ‘You yourselves know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house, as I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus. And now, as a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me. But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace. Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." ’

LCCC Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 24-25/15
An ISIS coup against Turkey/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/July 24/15
Stronger Iran, mightier Assad? How Tehran’s ‘billions’ go to Damascus/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/July 24/15
Obama’s Potemkin Villages/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/July 24/15
Jordan launches war on ISIS in Iraq, Turkish warplanes hit ISIS in Syria. US, Israel involved in both ops/DEBKAfile/July 24/15
The new Hezbollah: How Israel's No. 1 enemy is preparing for third Lebanon War/Ronen Bergman/Ynetnews/July 24/15
Egyptian Columnists On Al-Sisi Regime's Campaign For 'Renewal Of Religious Discourse' As A Way Of Fighting Terrorism/MEMRI/July 24/15
Why are Israeli Arabs joining Islamic State/ARIEL BEN SOLOMON/J.Post/July 24/15
Pakistani Police Stand up for Christian Blasphemy Victims in Punjab/Action Lauded by Human Rights Groups/ICC/July 24/15
Introduction to “Nothing Abides”/Daniel Pipes/New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers/July 24/15
What signs indicate that the end times are approaching/GotQuestions.org/July 24/15
U.S. State Dept. Bars Christians from Testifying about Persecution/Raymond Ibrahim/July 24/15

LCCC Bulletin titles for the Lebanese Related News published on July 24-25/15
Grand Serail Officials Pessimistic on Solution to Controversial Issues
Burning Trash Cuts Off Beirut Roads as Residents Block Akkar
Aoun Calls for Curbing Salam's 'Behavior', Says Army Command behind 'Attack' on Protesters
Army Arrests Syrians on Terror, Illegal Entry Charges
Bkirki Officials Say No Christian Rights Before Election of President
The challenging case of Lebanon’s George al-Reef
Report: Woman Arrested in Iqlim al-Kharroub for Terror Recruiting
Bassil Says No Cabinet Resolutions without Consensus, Lauds PM's 'Responsible Remarks'
Survey: Most Lebanese Pessimistic on Country's Economy
Jumblat Defends Army, Urges Politicians to Distance it from Debate
Some Municipalities Heed Mashnouq's Demand but Garbage Crisis Grows

LCCC Bulletin Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 24-25/15
Yemen’s ex-president, Houthis in talks with diplomats to end war
A second Saudi aid plane arrived in Aden on Thursday
Israel's ambassador to US lobbies Democrats in effort to scuttle Iran deal
Obama: Lifting of sanctions will increase Iran's ability to finance terrorists
Israeli military action against Iran would be 'huge mistake,' Kerry says
Iran deal begins long and arduous journey through Congress
Pentagon: U.S. Air Strike Kills Top Qaida Commander in Afghanistan
Turkey Detains over 250 Suspected Militants
Turkish Warplanes Bomb IS Targets in Syria
Report: Iran's Zarif to visit Gulf, Iraq
Muallem: Iran Deal Won't Affect Backing for Damascus
Turkey PM Vows to Pursue Operations against IS, PKK
Turkey-U.S. Airbase Deal Envisages Syria No-Fly Zone
Suspected Jihadist Killed, 16 Arrested in Tunisia
Pentagon Chief Carter Visits Iraqi Kurdistan
Egypt Nile Boat Accident Death Toll Rises to 29

Grand Serail Officials Pessimistic on Solution to Controversial Issues
Naharnet/24 July/15/Officials at the Grand Serail have warned that the government would not be able to resolve major controversial issues over lack of harmony among its members. “Delusional are those who think that this cabinet will resolve big differences,” the officials, who were not identified, told al-Joumhouria daily published on Friday. “Everybody knows that it is not homogenous,” they said. The officials described it as the cabinet of “bickering political parties,” but said its mission is to run the affairs of the people and the state, which doubled after the end of President Michel Suleiman's term. The cabinet crisis grew earlier this month over accusations by the Free Patriotic Movement of MP Michel Aoun that Prime Minister Tammam Salam is infringing on the powers of the Christian president. The cabinet assumed the head of state's executive powers after the end of Michel Suleiman's term in May last year. But the FPM is now demanding changes to its working mechanism, saying its ministers should have a say in setting the agenda of the cabinet by claiming that they represent the president in his absence. The cabinet discussed the decision-making mechanism on Thursday but failed to reach a decision. The issue was adjourned for discussion next Tuesday. Salam has reportedly hinted that he would resign if the government was unable to reach an agreement on the mechanism. Sources close to him told the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah daily that his resignation was an option but he would not take such action under these difficult circumstances. However, the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat said that a number of officials, mainly ex-PM Saad Hariri, had contacted Salam and urged him to slow down any step that would “aggravate the vacuum at the state's institutions, and to give contacts among officials a chance.”

Burning Trash Cuts Off Beirut Roads as Residents Block Akkar
Naharnet/24 July/15/The growing garbage crisis prompted citizens to take to the streets and block roads in several regions on Friday, as uncollected trash continued to pile up in the streets.“A number of young men set ablaze Sukleen trash dumpsters in several areas of Beirut, which led to a partial closure of some roads,” state-run National News Agency reported. The roads were eventually reopened by security forces, NNA said. Health and environmental experts have warned of the hazards resulting from trash burning. In the North district, several young men blocked the Halba-Qobaiyat road at Kousha's intersection over reports that quantities of garbage will be transferred from Beirut to Akkar, the agency added. The waste management crisis started growing after the closure of the main Naameh landfill south of Beirut last week. Beirut Municipal chief Bilal Hamad told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that the capital does not have uninhabited areas that would be able to temporarily pile Beirut's waste. He also criticized officials outside Beirut for refusing to dump the waste in their areas.Hamad was likely referring to the northern district of Akkar, which has been seen as an area that can receive the garbage. But the proposal has been rejected outright by residents and several Akkar lawmakers. There has also been talks to send the waste of Beirut and Mount Lebanon to the southern city of Sidon. But its officials have warned against such an action.MP Mohammed Qabbani told An Nahar daily published on Friday that Prime Minister Tammam Salam and al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri have backed the establishment of a Lebanese University campus in Akkar to lure the area's officials to accept waste being dumped there.On Thursday, the government failed to reach a decision on the crisis, postponing discussions until Tuesday.

Aoun Calls for Curbing Salam's 'Behavior', Says Army Command behind 'Attack' on Protesters
Naharnet/24 July/15/Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Thursday called for “reining in” Prime Minister Tammam Salam while accusing the Army Command of being behind the scuffles that erupted with the FPM protesters on July 9. “The premier's behavior must be brought under control,” said Aoun in an interview on LBCI TV, accusing Salam of infringing on the Christian president's powers in the absence of a head of state. “A minister is abusing his jurisdiction, because the decision belongs to the entire cabinet,” Aoun added, referring to Defense Minister Samir Moqbel. “We will continue the battle over the (security) appointments in order to put an end to the legal flaws in governance,” Aoun underlined. The issue of the appointments of senior security and military officials is a key point of contention that has led to a thorny debate over the cabinet's decision-making mechanism in the event of a presidential vacuum. Aoun has been lobbying for the appointment of Commando Regiment commander Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz, his son-in-law, as army chief. “The army commander cannot demand the extension of his own term,” Aoun told LBCI, accusing Army chief General Jean Qahwaji of making such a request. “Christian rights are not limited to the appointments. There is the Christian representation in parliament, and the Taef Accord and the Constitution stipulate equal power-sharing in the parliament. The electoral law must preserve the foundations of coexistence,” Aoun noted. He stressed that the 24 ministers should take decisions “collectively” in the cabinet. “The entire cabinet must assume the president's powers, not two thirds of the members,” he said. “I'm not seeking to eliminate Qahwaji, the others and Qahwaji are seeking to eliminate me,” said Aoun when asked whether he is opposing an extension of Qahwaji's term with the aim of blocking the latter's possible election as president. “Let us do a referendum and ask people about their favorite candidate for the army chief post or let the cabinet choose after reviewing the CVs of the top 3 candidates,” Aoun suggested. He noted that “there is something fishy in the insistence on extending the army commander's term, as no one would violate the law without awaiting certain benefits.”Turning to the stalled presidential elections, Aoun noted that the so-called top four Christian leaders had agreed with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi that the president “should represent Christians.”“We do not want a president who is not representative,” he added. “I'm not in a battle against anyone and as long as I'm present, I'm a presidential candidate,” said Aoun. Separately, Aoun accused army troops of starting the confrontations with the FPM protesters on July 9 near the Grand Serail, putting the blame squarely on “the Army Command.” “Our youths were surprised that army troops blocked their way and I will soon disclose the names of the army personnel who attacked us,” he explained. “Who are the army troops whom the Command said were wounded?” Aoun asked, referring to a communique in which the Army Command announced that seven soldiers were injured in the scuffles. Addressing the regional situations, Aoun noted that “there are indications that a solution is being prepared for the region and it would involve ending the presence of Daesh (Islamic State group) and (Qaida's Syria franchise) al-Nusra Front.” “It seems that an international decision has been taken to liquidate them, the same as there was a decision to create them to perform certain missions,” said Aoun.

Army Arrests Syrians on Terror, Illegal Entry Charges
Naharnet/24 July/15/The army arrested on Friday a number of Syrians for committing various violations, it announced in a statement. It said that 23 people were detained, some of them on charges of belonging to terrorist groups. The other charges include illegally entering Lebanon. The arrests were made in the Taanayel-Zahle and al-Minieh-Bhannine areas. The military seized in their possession three motorcycles that did not have the valid legal documents.Investigations are underway with the detainees, added the military communique.

Bkirki Officials Say No Christian Rights Before Election of President
Naharnet/24 July/15/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has stressed that Christians will not be granted all their rights if a new president was not elected, Bkirki officials said. The sources told al-Mustaqbal daily published on Friday that al-Rahi has informed all officials who have recently met him that “there is no solution to the rights of Christians before a head of state is elected.” The patriarch “insists on filling the vacuum at the Baabda Palace before discussing any other request,” they said. The sources were referring to demands made by the Free Patriotic Movement of MP Michel Aoun to grant Christians their rights in state institutions. The FPM has lately launched a campaign against Prime Minister Tammam Salam accusing him of infringing on the powers of the Christian president after the government assumed his role. President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ended in May last year amid a failure by lawmakers to elect a successor over their differences on a consensual candidate. Aoun and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea are presidential candidates but their rivalry in addition to differences between the March 8 and 14 alliances have thwarted the elections.

The challenging case of Lebanon’s George al-Reef
Nayla Tueni/Al Arabiya/Friday, 24 July 2015
Some may view last week’s road rage incident which ended in the brutal murder of Lebanese man George al-Reef in the heart of Beirut as an individual act that can happen anytime and anywhere. Security officials may not view it as unusual and may say the daily crimes which cities like New York, for example, witness are a lot more than what happens in Lebanon. However what’s scary for Lebanon and particularly regarding the murder of Reef are three things. First of all, Tarek Yateem, the assailant, has a past criminal record which he hasn’t been penalized for, and he may once again escape punishment despite the fact that his murder of Reef was committed in broad daylight and witnessed by dozens of onlookers. Escaping punishment encourages perpetrators to repeat their crimes and violates the law, especially when provided with a political or security cover. Another scary side to the incident is the number of witnesses who did nothing to help Reef. It seems the Lebanese people’s instinctive and traditional nobility has diminished to the extent of overlooking a crime and just settling with watching it happen, or even worse, record it on their cellular phones for no reason other than brag about being the first to publish it on social networking websites.
‘A rehearsal’
The third aspect is related to the judicial and security system. Security forces often fail to arrest a criminal or a suspect due to corruption in the institution itself. For example, a wanted man would know a patrol is heading to arrest him and is thus given enough time to escape. Corruption does not end here as it also includes the interrogation process and the documenting of the official report as sometimes the judiciary receives case files that are void of details often resulting in unfair rulings. Therefore, the murder of George al-Reef in broad daylight is not an ordinary crime, and it’s rather “a rehearsal” for crimes that can be committed everyday as long as crimes go unpunished in this country. If we add the kidnapping of Czechs and a bank manager in Beqaa – regardless of the different motives –, the death of Rita Francis who was the victim of a hit-and-run in Jbeil, the attacks of stray shells on people in Fanar and other similar incidents in which the perpetrators were not arrested, we’d realize that security plans are useless and are governed by political agendas which different parties scheme and agree on for the purpose of eliminating certain troublemakers. These implementation of these plans is similar to the implementation of the new Lebanese traffic law as the latter applies to ordinary people but not to armed convoys, influential figures motorcades and those of their relatives and, worst of all, security officials who are tasked with implementing the law itself! It’s an unfortunate reality where appeals may be futile. What’s certain however is that silence and surrender are not a solution. Therefore, we will continue to demand that justice be served. So will Reef’s murderer be tried and punished and therefore help save some of the security forces, judiciary and Lebanese state deteriorating reputation?

Report: Woman Arrested in Iqlim al-Kharroub for Terror Recruiting
Naharnet/24 July/15/A woman has been arrested in the Chouf area of Iqlim al-Kharroub for recruiting young men to terrorist organizations, a media report said on Thursday. “Army intelligence agents apprehended Maysam N. after raiding her residence in the Daoud al-Ali area in Iqlim al-Kharroub,” MTV said. She was held on charges of “recruiting young men to join terrorist organizations,” it added. The woman is the sister of the detainee M. N. who was arrested in the morning, MTV said.

Bassil Says No Cabinet Resolutions without Consensus, Lauds PM's 'Responsible Remarks'
Naharnet/24 July/15/Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Thursday lauded remarks by Prime Minister Tammam Salam on “turning the page” on the stormy July 9 cabinet session, as he stressed that no resolutions would be passed in cabinet without “consensus” among all its components. “We appreciate his stance, especially that there is an intention to open a new chapter,” said Bassil at a press conference, describing Salam's statement as “responsible.”“But we underline that the new chapter is not at the personal level with PM Salam, as the cabinet's functioning must be based on consensus,” Bassil added. “We apologize to all Lebanese over the government's performance,” the FM went on to say, echoing earlier remarks by Salam. The cabinet crisis grew earlier this month when a dispute erupted between Salam and Bassil, who is a Free Patriotic Movement official, over the cabinet's decision-making mechanism. The tension between Salam and Bassil was accompanied by a protest by FPM supporters near the Grand Serail where the session was underway. The FPM, which is led by MP Michel Aoun, accuses the premier of infringing on the Christian president's powers in the absence of a head of state. “We represent the president, although partially. That's why we're entrusted with the president's powers in their absence,” Bassil added. “If we couldn't agree on the appointment of a security official, a minister should not commit legal violations” by extending the terms of the incumbent officials, Bassil said, referring to Defense Minister Samir Moqbel. “I hope we will implement the law and the Constitution, especially in the issue of appointments,” the FM stated. Earlier on Thursday, the government failed to reach a decision on its working mechanism and the waste crisis but agreed to continue discussions next week. The session was held at the Grand Serail amid a “disgust” expressed by Salam over the failure to bridge the gap between the bickering sides in the government. The government did not discuss details on how to dispose of waste because Salam had clinched a deal with Free Patriotic Movement ministers not to tackle any issue before resolving the dispute on the cabinet's decision-making mechanism.

Survey: Most Lebanese Pessimistic on Country's Economy
Naharnet/24 July/15/The majority of Lebanese believe that their country's economic situation is doing bad and most of them don't expect an improvement, the Pew Research Center has found. Only 10 percent of Lebanese described their economies as good, according to the Pew survey, released in the U.S. on Thursday. Only 18 percent said they expected the economic situation to improve over the next 12 months, while 44 percent said it will worsen and 37 percent believed it will remain unchanged. Forty seven percent of Lebanese also believed that children will be financially worse off than their parents when they grow up, said the survey. Lebanon was placed in the emerging economies category in the classification of the 40 countries in the survey. Pew said the results for the survey are based on face-to-face interviews conducted with 45,435 adults in 40 countries under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

Jumblat Defends Army, Urges Politicians to Distance it from Debate
Naharnet/24 July/15/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat defended the army on Friday saying it is the “only side capable of safeguarding Lebanon,” and called on all political factions to “keep it away from any disputes to maintain the morale of the soldiers.”“In light of the current paralysis that the state and its institutions are witnessing, and with the continuing disruption of the people's interests for unacceptable reasons, the Lebanese army remains the parent organization that protects the nation from the ongrowing risks from all sides,” said Jumblat in a statement. “The army is worthy of being distanced from political debates so that it is capable of maintaining the high morale of soldiers to be able to carry out the tasks entrusted to it .”“Targeting the army does not give any benefits. Preserving stability is much more important than any other,” the PSP leader concluded. Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun accused army troops on Thursday of starting the confrontations with the FPM protesters on July 9 near the Grand Serail, putting the blame squarely on “the Army Command.” Aoun had called on his supporters to take to the streets during that cabinet session to protest what he described as “the encroachment on the Christian president's powers in the absence of a head of state.”Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman's term ended in May.

Some Municipalities Heed Mashnouq's Demand but Garbage Crisis Grows
Naharnet/24 July/15/A few municipalities in Mount Lebanon began on Friday collecting garbage as a temporary solution to a growing environmental crisis in the hot summer season that erupted after the closure of the Naameh landfill south of Beirut last week. The number of municipalities, which met the demands of Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq, were however limited. The collected waste was being placed in some uninhabited areas pending a government decision on where to dump the garbage of each governornate. But Beirut Municipal chief Bilal Hamad told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that the capital does not have uninhabited areas that would be able to temporarily pile Beirut's waste. He also criticized officials outside Beirut for refusing to dump the waste in their areas. Hamad was likely referring to the northern district of Akkar, which has been seen as an area that can receive the garbage. But the proposal has been rejected outright by residents and several Akkar lawmakers. There has also been talks to send the waste of Beirut and Mount Lebanon to the southern city of Sidon. But its officials have warned against such an action. MP Mohammed Qabbani told An Nahar daily published on Friday that Prime Minister Tammam Salam and al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri have backed the establishment of a Lebanese University campus in Akkar to lure the area's officials to accept waste being dumped there. Al-Mashnouq told An Nahar that he would work within 15 days to announce the names of firms that have won tenders to find locations of new landfills. The companies would start operations in six months, he said. Following a cabinet session on Thursday, al-Mashnouq estimated the amount of trash currently on the streets to be at 22,000 tons.The government failed to reach a decision on the crisis, postponing discussion until next week. The Naameh landfill opened in 1997. It was meant to receive trash from Beirut and the heavily-populated Mount Lebanon area for only a few years until a comprehensive solution was devised. But that plan never came to fruition. As nearly 20 years ticked by, the valley that was originally expected to receive only two million tons of waste swelled into a trash mountain of over 15 million tons. The landfill was closed on July 17. But since its closure, the failure to find an alternative caused the garbage to spill out of dumpsters and into the paths of passing cars in Beirut and Mount Lebanon. The growing heaps have been dusted with white poison powder to keep away rats and insects, but the measure does little to combat the odor. Marwan Rizkallah, a Lebanese solid waste management expert, said the Naameh crisis is symptomatic of a larger trash problem. "The amount of waste being disposed of should be reduced," he said."If plans were adopted before or if other treatment methods were adopted before, we could have dumped much less waste into that landfill."He said a new landfill site will be needed, but Lebanon also has to adopt recycling and better home sorting of trash so the organic matter that constitutes more than 50 percent of its garbage can be composted. "We cannot just create another Naameh," he said."We have to find another location, that is true, but as well we need to adopt different treatment technologies, we need to reduce the amount of waste generated, we need to recycle more," he added.

Yemen’s ex-president, Houthis in talks with diplomats to end war
A second Saudi aid plane arrived in Aden on Thursday
Sana’a and Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen’s ex-president, and the Houthi movement are in “secret” talks with Western and Arab diplomats to help end the war in the country, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned. “[Saleh and Houthis] are actively and secretly seeking… to resume UN [peace] efforts to reach a fresh ceasefire as a way out of the fragile military situation they find themselves in,” a Yemeni government official told Asharq Al-Awsat. A UN-brokered ceasefire during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan failed to hold in Yemen, with fighting between rebels and Saudi-led forces resuming within hours of its announcement. According to the official, Houthi leaders have met with Western and Arab diplomats to urge them to push for a ceasefire deal in Yemen. This comes after the Iran-backed group suffered its biggest setback since the start of the crisis when forces loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, backed by Saudi Arabia, retook the strategic city of Aden last week. Saudi Arabia has been bombarding Houthi positions in Yemen since late March when President Hadi fled Aden to Riyadh and called on the Kingdom to intervene militarily in Yemen. Separately, Yemen’s sovereign ministries will officially resume their work in Aden on Sunday, Rageh Badie, the spokesman of Yemen’s exiled government, told Asharq Al-Awsat. The exiled government has allocated a budget of 1 billion Yemeni Riyals (4.6 million US dollars) for the local authorities in Aden, he said. Several members of Yemen’s exiled cabinet have arrived in Aden since Hadi loyalists, known as the Popular Resistance force, declared the strategic city completely “liberated” from rebels. Meanwhile, a second Saudi military plane loaded with aid arrived in Aden on Thursday, airport officials said. The first plane arrived in Aden on Wednesday after the city’s international airport reopened following months of fighting. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Works is coordinating with the Yemeni government to ensure food and medical supplies reach those who most need them in Yemen, the center’s supervisor told Asharq Al-Awsat. “[The center] is examining those needs with Yemen’s legitimate government… and is coordinating with the country’s civil society organizations,” Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah said.

Israel's ambassador to US lobbies Democrats in effort to scuttle Iran deal
REUTERS/J.Post/07/24/2015 /Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer met with House Democrats Thursday, lobbying for their support in an effort to scuttle the Obama administration's signature foreign policy achievement since the president took office - the recently signed nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers which aims to curb the Islamic Republic's ambition in an attaining a nuclear weapon. According to Politico, who spoke to multiple lawmakers about the effort, Dermer's message was clear: "don’t worry about voting against the Iran deal, because no matter what, the US will not allow the Islamic Republic to obtain a nuclear weapon." Dermer may have a long hill to climb, however. Capital Hill insiders say their is not enough support amongst congressional lawmakers in either the House or the Senate to override President Barack Obama's promise of a veto should the fiercely partisan US Congress agree to kill the deal, according to Politico. Yet, Dermer and company will not go down without a fight. In fact, the most influential pro-Israel group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), will deploy about 300 lobbyists on Capitol Hill next week to try to convince lawmakers, especially undecided Democrats, to vote against the deal, according to officials in the pro-Israel camp. AIPAC's plans are being coordinated with allied groups such as Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran that are sponsoring a national television advertising campaign, the pro-Israel sources said. They are expected to spend upwards of $20 million, one source said. Under a bill reluctantly signed into law by Obama in May, Congress has until Sept. 17 to decide whether to approve or reject the agreement between Iran and world powers to rein in Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Deal opponents in the pro-Israel camp believe more lawmakers can be swayed by detailed arguments about what they see as loopholes that Iran could use to skirt the agreement. Pressure from AIPAC, whose members' support is widely coveted, could also worry lawmakers up for re-election. AIPAC boasts 100,000 members. At the same time, J Street, a smaller liberal pro-Israel group, is urging supporters to lobby Congress to support the Iran deal. Kerry told reporters before the House meeting that the deal "will make the region, our friends and allies, safer. It will make the world safer ... in the absence of any viable alternative."Dermer held meetings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with Republican lawmakers. Along with the entirety of Israel’s political leadership, Dermer has been vocal in his criticism of the agreement and has publicly declared his intention to kill it using all tools at his disposal. *MIchael Wilner and JPost staff contributed to this report

Obama: Lifting of sanctions will increase Iran's ability to finance terrorists
JPOST.COM STAFF/07/24/2015/In a special interview with the BBC Friday, President of the United States Barack Obama admitted that the lifting of sanctions on Iran will increase the Islamic Republic's ability to finance terrorist organizations. Sitting down with the BBC's North American editor Jon Sopel, the president touched upon a whole array of topics, devoting a considerable portion to Iran. "Hezbollah for example, threatening to fire missiles at Israel, has no shortage of resources," the president added. "We have seen that even in times of distress, Iran is able to allocate resources in what it sees as its strategic priority."During the interview, Obama made sure to stress that the possibility of military action remains on the table. "Iran has proved that it is willing to change its priorities and its strategy," he said. "We have sent a clear message to the Iranians - though we closed the deal, we still have not closed account. I hope that solutions will be reached diplomatically, but if necessary, there is also a military option." The president is on a full press campaign since the announcement of a breakthrough nuclear agreement with world powers and Iran, speaking on multiple media outlets outlining his administration's signature foreign policy achievement thus far, which is currently under review in the US Congress. Asked about the hurdles the agreement may face in the hands of lawmakers who have considerable authority over its ratification, the president said, "I am a certain that we will be able to pass the agreement " in Congress. Under a bill reluctantly signed into law by Obama in May, Congress has until Sept. 17 to decide whether to approve or reject the agreement between Iran and world powers to rein in Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Deal opponents in the pro-Israel camp believe more lawmakers can be swayed by detailed arguments about what they see as loopholes that Iran could use to skirt the agreement. Pressure from AIPAC, whose members' support is widely coveted, could also worry lawmakers up for re-election. AIPAC boasts 100,000 members. At the same time, J Street, a smaller liberal pro-Israel group, is urging supporters to lobby Congress to support the Iran deal. Kerry told reporters before the House meeting that the deal "will make the region, our friends and allies, safer. It will make the world safer ... in the absence of any viable alternative."

Israeli military action against Iran would be 'huge mistake,' Kerry says
REUTERS/J.Post/07/24/2015/US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday it would be a huge mistake if Israel decided to take unilateral military action against Iran over its nuclear program in the future. Kerry was asked in an NBC "Today" show interview if the nuclear deal reached last week between would make it more likely that Israel might attempt a military or cyber attack on Tehran. "That'd be an enormous mistake, a huge mistake with grave consequences for Israel and for the region, and I don't think it's necessary," Kerry said. The secretary's remarks are just the latest offering in a public relations blitz staged by the Obama administration as it tries to sell the public and Congress of the necessity and utility of the nuclear agreement struck with Iran last week. The nuclear agreement reached between world powers and Iran last week took its first official beating in Congress on Thursday, with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from both parties questioning the strength of the accord. During an appearance on Thursday before a skeptical Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry mounted a furious counter-attack against the deal’s detractors, saying it would be “fantasy” to think the US could simply “bomb away” Tehran’s atomic know-how. The secretary of state insisted that critics of the deal – which curbs Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief – were pushing an unrealistic alternative that he dismissed as a “sort of unicorn arrangement involving Iran’s complete capitulation.” “The fact is that Iran now has extensive experience with nuclear fuel cycle technology,” Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We can’t bomb that knowledge away. Nor can we sanction that knowledge away. “Let me underscore the alternative to the deal we have reached is not – as I’ve seen some ads on TV suggesting disingenuously – it isn’t a ‘better deal,’ some sort of unicorn arrangement involving Iran’s complete capitulation,” Kerry said. “That is a fantasy, plain and simple, and our intelligence community will tell you that.”Several Democrats on the panel were listening closely. Some expressed concerns with specific provisions of the deal, but the majority seemed to voice agreement that a lack of alternative paths to a peaceful end to the decades-long conflict may force them to vote to approve of it. Congress began a 60-day review period on Monday, during which it may choose to vote to approve or disapprove of the deal. A resolution of disapproval would have to come to a second vote with two-thirds support of both chambers in order to overcome a presidential veto.
**Michael Wilner contributed to this report.

Iran deal begins long and arduous journey through Congress
Reuters/Ynetnews/Published: 07.24.15/Israel News
Facing an uphill battle in a Republican congress, and a possible no vote, Kerry attempts to convince the skeptics of the Iran deal's viability. US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday mounted a furious counterattack against critics of the Iran nuclear deal, telling skeptical lawmakers it would be fantasy to think the United States could simply "bomb away" Tehran's atomic know-how.Testifying before Congress for the first time since world powers reached the landmark accord with Iran last week, America's top diplomat was confronted head-on by Republican accusations that Iranian negotiators had "fleeced" and "bamboozled" him. The vitriolic exchanges on Capitol Hill reflected a hardening of positions as Congress opened a 60-day review of the deal considered crucial to its fate. Iranian hardliners are also trying to undermine the pact, which Israel has condemned as a dire security threat. Opening the hearing on a contentious note, the committee's Republican chairman, Bob Corker, criticized Kerry for the terms he negotiated. "I believe that you've been fleeced," he said. Corker chided Kerry and other administration officials for their line of argument that the only alternative to the accord would be more war in the Middle East, saying that the real alternative would be a better deal. Senator Marco Rubio faulted President Barack Obama for rewarding Iran for "its atrocious human rights record.""This is a deal whose survival is not guaranteed beyond the current term of the president," said Rubio, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate.
Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the committee, said he has not yet decided how he would vote but that he felt that "our negotiators got an awful lot."
"We can't bomb that knowledge away"
Kerry insisted that critics of the deal, which curbs Iran's nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, are pushing an unrealistic alternative that he dismissed as a "sort of unicorn arrangement involving Iran's complete capitulation.""The fact is that Iran now has extensive experience with nuclear fuel cycle technology," Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "We can't bomb that knowledge away. Nor can we sanction that knowledge away." Kerry said that if Congress rejects the agreement reached in Vienna, "the result will be the United States of America walking away from every one of the restrictions we have achieved and a great big green light for Iran to double the pace of its uranium enrichment." "We will have squandered the best chance we have to solve this problem through peaceful means," he said. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz also testified as part of an effort to sell the deal to lawmakers, as well as to the American public and uneasy Middle East allies. Responding to criticism that the agreement lifts sanctions too fast, Lew said it would not prevent the United States from imposing additional sanctions over issues such as human rights violations if deemed necessary. Moniz, seeking to counter criticism that loopholes in international inspection will allow Iran to cheat, told lawmakers: "I am confident that the technical underpinnings of this deal are solid." Seeking to reassure Israel and its US supporters, Kerry said Washington would increase security coordination.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed concerns that Iran will use unfrozen assets to increase funding and weapons to militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.Kerry said the Iran deal carried the "real potential" for change in the volatile Middle East but acknowledged it "does not end the possibility of a confrontation with Iran."The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union signed the deal with Iran. Under a bill Obama reluctantly signed into law in May, Congress has until Sept. 17 to approve or reject the agreement. Republicans hold majorities in both houses of Congress, and many have come out strongly against the pact, which they say will empower Iran and threaten Israel. Obama, who could gain a boost to his presidential legacy from his diplomatic outreach to US foe Iran, needs to convince as many of his fellow Democrats as possible to back the deal. If a "disapproval" resolution passes and survives Obama's veto, he would be unable to waive most of the US sanctions imposed on Iran, which could cripple the nuclear pact.

Pentagon: U.S. Air Strike Kills Top Qaida Commander in Afghanistan
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/24 July/15/A U.S. air strike in Afghanistan killed a senior Al-Qaida commander in charge of suicide bombing and two other militants, the Pentagon said Friday. The attack, which occurred in Paktika province on July 11, killed Abu Khalil al-Sudani, a "high-ranking Al-Qaida operational commander", the Pentagon said in a statement released to reporters in Iraq who were traveling with U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. "Al-Sudani was one of three known violent extremists killed in the strike. The death of al-Sudani will further degrade Al-Qaida operations across the globe," the statement said. The Pentagon described Sudani as a senior member of the group's "shura", or council, and head of Al-Qaida's suicide and explosive operations, and said he was directly linked to plotting attacks against the United States. "He also directed operations against Coalition, Afghan and Pakistani forces, and maintained a close association with Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaida's leader," the statement said. In the statement, Carter said the killing of Sudani underscored the work done by General John Campbell, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, and his troops "to take the fight to Al-Qaida". "We will continue to counter violent extremism in the region and the world," Carter said. Already struggling with the rise of rival jihadists from the Islamic State group, Al-Qaida has suffered a series of setbacks in recent months with several commanders reported killed. Its second-in-command Nasir al-Wuhayshi, head of its powerful Yemeni branch, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in June, in the heaviest blow to the jihadist network since the death of Osama bin Laden. Meanwhile in Syria, a US-led coalition air strike this month killed Muhsin al-Fadhli, the leader of Al-Qaida's offshoot Khorasan Group, which is accused of plotting attacks against the United States and its allies. Al-Fahdli was so trusted by Bin Laden's inner circle that he was among the few who knew in advance about the 9/11 attacks in New York. U.S.-led NATO forces ended their combat mission in Afghanistan in December, leaving local forces to battle militants alone, but a 13,000-strong residual force remains for training and counter-terrorism operations. Despite the drawdown, coalition forces carried out 106 military air strikes in June, a sharp jump compared to the previous month when it carried out 41 strikes, according to NATO statistics. But that figure is still significantly lower than previous years. U.S. President Barack Obama has backpedaled on plans to shrink the U.S. force in Afghanistan this year by nearly half, agreeing to keep the current level of 9,800 U.S. troops until the end of 2015.

Turkey Detains over 250 Suspected Militants
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/24 July/15/Turkey on Friday detained 251 people in coordinated nationwide dawn raids against suspected Islamic State (IS) jihadists and Kurdish militants following a wave of deadly violence in the country, the prime minister's office said. "A total of 251 people were taken into detention for belonging to terrorist groups," the statement said, adding that the raids took place in 13 provinces across Turkey. It said that the arrests had been made following violent attacks against members of the public and the armed forces in recent days. Reports said police raided addresses in several Istanbul districts in search of members of IS, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and other militant groups. The Dogan news agency said that 140 addresses were raided in 26 districts in Istanbul alone, in a giant operation involving some 5,000 police. As well as IS and the PKK, the operation targeted suspected members of the PKK's youth wing the The Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H) and the Marxist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party Front (DHKP-C), the state Anatolia agency said. The raids came after 32 people were killed in a suicide bombing Monday in a Turkish town on the Syrian border, blamed on IS. This sparked an upsurge in violence in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, where many accuse the Turkish authorities of collaborating with IS, accusations Ankara denies. Two police were shot dead in southeast Turkey close to the Syrian border on Wednesday, in an attack claimed by the PKK's military wing which said it wanted to avenge the Suruc bombing.
On Thursday, another policeman was killed in the majority Kurdish city of Diyarbakir. Meanwhile, YDG-H claimed it had shot dead an alleged former IS fighter in Istanbul late Tuesday.

Turkish Warplanes Bomb IS Targets in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/24 July/15/ Turkish fighter jets early Friday bombed positions of Islamic State jihadists inside Syria for the first time, in a dramatic escalation of fighting after the killing of a Turkish soldier in cross-border clashes. Three Turkish F-16s took off from the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir for an early morning bombing raid against three IS targets, dropping four guided bombs, a statement from the prime minister's office said. The operation came after the first major cross-border clashes between Turkey and IS jihadists on Thursday left one Turkish soldier and one militant dead, thrusting Turkey into an open conflict with the Islamists. The bombing raid was the first by the Turkish air force on IS since the Islamists began their advance across Iraq and Syria in 2013, seizing control of swathes of territory right up to the Turkish border. It also came as Turkey, after months of negotiations, finally gave the green light for the U.S. to use a key air base in its south for its air strikes against IS. The decision to launch the Turkish air force's operation was taken at a meeting of security officials in Ankara late Thursday chaired by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. "In this context.... an operation was carried out against targets belonging to Daesh inside the Syrian border," the statement said, using an Arabic acronym for the group. "Three of our F-16s hit... three targets belonging to Daesh," it said, adding that "the government of the Turkish Republic is determined to take the necessary measures to protect national security". The planes dropped their bombs just before 4:00 am local time (0100 GMT) and all returned safely to their base. On Thursday, one Turkish soldier was killed and two sergeants wounded in the Kilis region by fire from IS militants on the Syrian side of the border. A jihadist was also reported dead. Turkish tanks then responded by opening fire on IS targets in Syria.
Militants raided in Istanbul
The fighting erupted after the killing of 32 people in a suicide bombing Monday in a Turkish town on the Syrian border that the government blamed on IS. This sparked an upsurge in violence in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, where many accuse the Turkish authorities of collaborating with IS, accusations Ankara denies. Turkish police on Friday launched raids to arrest suspected members of the IS group and Kurdish militants, in an apparent bid to stamp down on all sources of violence. A total of 251 people were detained, the prime minister's office said in a statement, adding that the raids took place in 13 provinces across Turkey. Police had raided addresses in several Istanbul districts in search of members of IS, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and other militant groups. The Dogan news agency said some 5,000 police were involved in the Istanbul operation. As well as IS and the PKK, the operation targeted suspected members of the PKK's youth wing the The Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H) and the Marxist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party Front (DHKP-C), Anatolia said. A female member of the DHKP-C was killed in Istanbul in clashes with police during the raids, the agency said. Two police had been shot dead in southeast Turkey close to the Syrian border on Wednesday, in an attack claimed by the PKK's military wing which said it wanted to avenge the Suruc bombing. On Thursday, another policeman was killed in the majority Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.
Meanwhile, the YDG-H claimed it had shot dead an alleged former IS fighter in Istanbul late Tuesday and threatened further assassinations.
Deal on key air base
Turkey has been accused of colluding with IS extremists in the hope they might prove useful in its aim of knocking out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Ankara has always vehemently denied the claims. NATO member Turkey has also fallen far short of playing a full role in the U.S.-led coalition assisting Kurds fighting IS militants, much to the chagrin of its Western allies. However Ankara has finally given the green light to U.S. forces for use of its Incirlik base for air strikes against IS in Syria and Iraq, American officials said Thursday
The Hurriyet daily said that the accord was finalized in telephone talks Wednesday between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama. The New York Times said the agreement, which would allow manned and unmanned U.S. warplanes to use Incirlik for raids against IS, was described by a senior administration official as a "game changer".

Report: Iran's Zarif to visit Gulf, Iraq
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/24 July/15/Iran's top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif will visit Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq this weekend, the ISNA press agency said Friday, following a landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. The accord, struck on July 14, which imposes certain controls on Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of crippling economic sanctions, is expected to form the basis of discussions during Zarif's trip. Gulf countries led by Saudi Arabia have been quick to voice concern over the agreement, which will see a progressive easing of international sanctions on Iran in place since 2006. They fear the deal could bolster their Shiite-dominated adversary, which stands accused of interfering in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Zarif is expected to visit the holy Shiite town of Najaf in Iraq on Sunday before heading to Baghdad, according to ISNA. The Iranian foreign minister will return to Tehran next week where he will host talks with EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini before meeting his French counterpart Laurent Fabius.

Muallem: Iran Deal Won't Affect Backing for Damascus
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/24 July/15/An international agreement on Iran's nuclear program will not alter Tehran's staunch support for the Syrian government and may even strengthen Damascus, Syria's foreign minister said Friday. Speaking at a conference in Damascus on "confronting terrorism", Walid Muallem said those who hoped to persuade Iran to abandon Syria's government would be disappointed. "There is a lot of talk about the Iranian nuclear agreement and its impact on the Syrian crisis," he said. "There are those, led by the United States, who think that this agreement will enable the West to influence Iran's positions on the Syrian crisis," Muallem added, dismissing that as "delusional".
"Iran's attitudes on the crisis in Syria have not changed," the minister said. Tehran "provided all kinds of support to the Syrian people in their struggle against terrorism before the nuclear deal, and during it, and will continue to do so after it." In fact, he said, the agreement could end up strengthening Syria. "Iran has entered the world stage through the widest doors, and the more powerful our ally is, the more powerful we are." The nuclear deal between Iran and six powers led by the United States has led to speculation that broader cooperation on regional issues might now be possible. But Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has already insisted Tehran will continue to oppose "arrogant" U.S. policies. "U.S. policies in the region differ from Iran's by 180 degrees," he said last week.
Tehran is a longstanding ally of President Bashar Assad's embattled government in Damascus and has remained a strong supporter throughout the uprising against him. It has supplied money, weapons and military advisers to Assad's government. Also Friday, Muallem thanked another key government ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, for suggesting the creation of a new regional and international alliance to fight "terrorism."Damascus considers all those seeking Assad's ouster "terrorists" and is not part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group with air strikes in Syria. Muallem said it would take "a miracle" to create a new regional anti-terrorism alliance in the short-term. "But in the medium-term, the security imperatives imposed by the reality of the spread of terrorism..., and it rebounding against its supporters, will require neighboring countries to work with Syria to create such an alliance." Syria accuses several of its neighbors, including Turkey and Jordan, of sponsoring "terrorism" in the country. It dismisses the efforts of the U.S.-led coalition, accusing its members of fomenting extremism in Syria. Muallem made no comments about overnight air strikes carried out by Turkey on Islamic State positions in northern Syria for the first time.

Turkey PM Vows to Pursue Operations against IS, PKK
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/24 July/15/Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed Friday Turkey would continue operations against Islamic State (IS) jihadists and Kurdish militants after it bombed IS targets in Syria and made nearly 300 arrests. "The operations that were started today are not a single event but a process," Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara in televised comments. Davutoglu said 297 people, including 37 foreigners, had been arrested in nationwide raids against suspected members of IS, Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and other militant groups. Earlier, Turkish air force jets had launched their first strikes on IS positions in Syria, following a suicide bombing in Turkey blamed on the Islamist group that claimed 32 lives. Davutoglu said that the warplanes had been "100 percent" successful in eliminating their targets. "Whichever terrorist organization poses a threat to the borders of the Turkish Republic, measures will be taken without hesitation," said Davutoglu. "No-one should have any doubt." "We are observing activity in Syria and on the border at every moment. Turkey will show the strongest reaction to the slightest movement that threatens it.""The operation against IS reached its target and will not stop," he added. Davutoglu meanwhile dismissed suggestions that the Turkish government had warned the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad -- which Ankara vehemently opposes -- of the strikes. He said there was "no question" of Turkey becoming a party in Syria's civil war but insisted Ankara would take "all measures to protect its borders".

Turkey-U.S. Airbase Deal Envisages Syria No-Fly Zone
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/24 July/15/A landmark deal between Turkey and the United States for U.S. warplanes to use a Turkish airbase to attack Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria foresees a no-fly zone along part of the Syrian border, a report said Friday.
The agreement for U.S. planes to use Incirlik base in southern Turkey envisages a 90-kilometer (56 mile) no-fly zone between the Syrian towns of Marea and Jarabulus to the east, the Hurriyet daily said. The no-fly zone would back up a planned safe zone on the ground that would extend up to 50 kilometers (31 miles)inside Syria. The safe zone would aim at preventing infiltration by IS and other jihadists to discourage a new flow of refugees to Turkey, it said. The agreement comes after months of negotiations between Ankara and Washington. U.S. officials had grown increasingly frustrated over Turkey's reluctance to play a full role in the coalition against IS, including the use of Incirlik. But a deadly suicide bombing in a Turkish border town blamed on IS followed by border clashes appear to have hardened Ankara's policy. Turkish warplanes on Friday for the first time bombed IS targets in Syria. Where necessary, U.S.-led coalition forces could conduct reconnaissance and assault operations in the area, Hurriyet said. "U.S. planes equipped with bombs and missiles will be able to use the Incirlik Air Base" for raids against IS, the agreement says according to Hurriyet. Turkey could back up the air raids with artillery. War planes of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad will not be able to enter the no-fly zone and will be targeted if they do so, it said. The agreement does not foresee the arrival of any American ground troops in Turkey but an additional contingent of up to 50 U.S. military staff will be allowed in for technical support. The agreement only covers use of the Incirlik air base, which is close to the city of Adana just east of the Syrian border. But U.S. warplanes will be able to use the Batman, Diyarbakir and Malatya air bases in eastern Turkey in the event of an emergency, it said. Without giving a precise date, Hurriyet said the Incirlik base would be opened for the U.S. forces to use in raids on Syria "very soon".

Suspected Jihadist Killed, 16 Arrested in Tunisia
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/24 July/15/Tunisian forces killed one suspected jihadist and arrested 16 others in a series of operations, the government said Friday, as lawmakers studied tougher anti-terrorism laws following a spate of attacks. Security forces launched an operation Thursday in Sejnane, in the northern Bizerte region, "against terrorists preparing terrorist acts," said the interior ministry. It added that 13 suspects had been arrested and that one person was killed when they tried to flee the scene. Another raid was launched Friday at dawn in the town of Menzel Bourguiba, resulting in three further arrests. The ministry said weapons including explosives, ammunition and several assault rifles were seized during the operations. Tunisia has faced a spate of extremist attacks in 2015, including a massacre at a Tunis museum in March that killed 22 people, mostly tourists, and a mass killing at a beach resort last month that left 38 foreigners dead. The attacks, both claimed by the Islamic State group, have impacted heavily on Tunisia's vital tourism sector. Authorities have pledged to crack down on extremism and lawmakers have this week debated a bill aimed at beefing up powers to confront the jihadist threat. Parliament on Thursday approved imposing the death penalty for those convicted of "terrorist" crimes, despite opposition from right groups and a de facto quarter-century moratorium on executions.

Pentagon Chief Carter Visits Iraqi Kurdistan
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/24 July/15/Pentagon chief Ashton Carter met Iraqi Kurdish president Massud Barzani Friday on the second day of a trip to Iraq aimed at reviewing efforts to defeat the Islamic State group. The U.S. defense secretary reiterated his commitment to assisting the autonomous northern Iraqi region, which has been at the forefront of efforts to counter the jihadists.Carter "commended President Barzani on the battlefield successes they've achieved on the ground in coordination with U.S. and coalition air power," a Pentagon statement said. Several high-ranking Kurdish military officials attended the talks in the Kurdish capital Arbil with Carter, on his first trip to Iraq since taking office earlier this year. The threat posed to Arbil by an IS advance in early August 2014 was one of the reasons cited by U.S. President Barack Obama for announcing U.S. air strikes days later. An international coalition has since developed and carried out thousands of air strikes, many in support of Kurdish peshmerga forces fighting IS on the ground. More than 1,200 Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been killed in fighting with IS, which last year swept into several areas controlled by the Kurds, who are now trying to take them back. Many of the 3,500 U.S. advisers and trainers that have been deployed to Iraq in the past year are stationed in Kurdistan. Carter was due to address some of them before flying out and wrapping up his tour of the Middle East. He was in Baghdad on Thursday and met several Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his counterpart Khaled al-Obeidi. Relations are strained between the federal government in Baghdad and the autonomous administration in Kurdistan. Barzani, whose forces have de facto seized several oil-rich, contested areas on the back of last year's IS offensive, has threatened to organize a referendum on independence. Carter stressed during his meeting with the veteran Kurdish leader that Washington's assistance to Kurdistan as part of the war against IS would not bypass Baghdad. "The secretary also noted that the United States would continue working by, with, and through the government of Iraq to support Kurdish forces in the fight against ISIL," the Pentagon statement said, using another acronym for IS. Carter's visit came as Iraqi forces were upping the pressure on IS in its stronghold of Anbar, a vast Sunni province which stretches from the outskirts of Baghdad to the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Iraqi troops and paramilitary forces have largely encircled Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, and Fallujah, the province's other main city, paving the way for major offensives. IS is also under increasing pressure in Syria, where Turkish fighter jets bombed IS positions for the first time Friday, potentially marking a major shift in the conflict. After months of negotiations, Turkey also finally gave the green light for the U.S. to use a key air base in its south for its air strikes against IS. NATO member Turkey had been accused of colluding with IS by allowing the jihadists to use its territory as a rear base and not fulfilling its role in the coalition.

Egypt Nile Boat Accident Death Toll Rises to 29
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/24 July/15/At least 29 people drowned when their party boat collided with a cargo ship on the Nile, the Egyptian health ministry said on Friday. The new toll, after police said 19 people had died in the Wednesday night accident north of Cairo, was released after rescuers found more bodies in the river, the health ministry said in a statement. Rescuers were still searching for more bodies, it said. It was the deadliest such incident on the Nile in years. The victims had been celebrating an engagement on the vessel, one of many Egyptians rent on the Nile for outings and celebrations. The captain of the cargo boat and his assistants were arrested following the accident late Wednesday in the Warraq district north of Cairo, the authorities said. The Nile, which runs along the length of Egypt, is dotted with cargo ships, party boats and fishing vessels. In 2011, at least 22 people drowned in southern Egypt when a bus they were in fell into the Nile from a ferry which crashed into the river bank.

An ISIS coup against Turkey
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya
Friday, 24 July 2015
The official Turkish version is reasonable, unlike what skeptics might believe. The Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) is most probably behind the bombing in the Southeastern Suruc town, which left more than thirty victims dead. The organization’s activity is not a surprise. The U.S. president seized the opportunity to call his Turkish counterpart and convince him to stop the flow of fighters across the borders towards Syria. This urges the review of events and raises the following question: What is it that went wrong?
In fact, Turkey's stance against the Syrian regime was normal, until things got more complicated over time. For the first 18 months, the situation in Syria was a pure uprising; Syrian youth took up arms in response to the regime’s massacres. Ankara's position was in favor of the opposition’s activities, which was formed from several local groups under the umbrella of the coalition and the Free Syrian Army. By the end of the second year, the regime was teetering; it lost many major cities, and the outskirts of the capital Damascus were experiencing nightly battles between the two sides. After the second year, two events happened simultaneously: The first was that Syria started to represent a serious issue in the Muslim world, similar to the tragedy of Bosnia in the 90s because of the killings and vast destruction perpetrated by the regime. It instigated outrage against worldwide unresponsiveness, failure of mediation without sanctions, and the refusal to arm the opposition. The second event was the military interference of Iran and its allies in Syria to support the collapsing regime in Damascus. Jihadist fighters started to flow from both sides.
When Iranian aircrafts were transporting fighters, along with thousands of Iraqi and Lebanese militias crossing the borders, fighters were also crossing from the Turkish front to fight against the regime. Thus, Syria turned into an attractive magnet and a hub for regional and sectarian war. The West saw it as a war within the Muslim camp and felt it had nothing to do with it. Turkey turned a blind eye on fighters sneaking through its borders to support the Syrian revolution, and then supported the lesser of two evils: the al-Nusra Front, as its criticizers claim. Al-Nusra is just another organization affiliated to al-Qaeda, but without videos showing the slaughter of hostages. Ankara thought that it can only face Iraqi, Lebanese, Afghan and Iranian jihadist militias with similar groups like ISIS and al-Nusra. This erroneous thinking weakened and led to overlooking the opposition: The FSA and similar forces, which did not resort to religious slogans, because they had a national political issue that represented most Syrians.
Playing with fire
Of course, those who know the profile of al-Qaeda will be able to predict the end of ISIS. Similarly to al-Qaeda, ISIS started kidnapping and killing Westerners. It played with fire and rallied enemies that are much stronger than itself. This is what characterizes terrorist organizations: they have neither national nor moral boundaries. They are mere destructive groups that believe to be able to defeat the whole world, paving their way to paradise. Ankara was also involved in the regional conflicts and the chaos of the Arab Spring. Despite all that, Turkey remains the only country capable of bringing changes in Syria. The coup of ISIS and al-Nusra against Turkey is not surprising, because the organization was trapped in the corner when thousands of fighters were prohibited from crossing the Turkish borders, and its online websites were banned. We should not forget that ISIS, which achieved great victories, has also fulfilled the Syrian and Iranian regimes’ wills; sabotaging the revolution, tarnishing the image of the Syrian national movement, and damaging the camp that stood against the two regimes, such as Turkey and the Gulf states. Despite all the chaos and pressures, I believe that Ankara, like the rest of the regional governments, is in the midst of a battle of balances. It cannot leave its southern neighbor Syria under the control of Iran, especially after the signing of the nuclear deal that lifted all sanctions on the Iranian regime, because such a deal will increase Iran’s confidence to pursue further expansion in the region. Turkey can re-establish its ties with Syrian national forces because they are fighting for a real and legitimate issue that the world cannot ignore.

Stronger Iran, mightier Assad? How Tehran’s ‘billions’ go to Damascus
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/Friday, 24 July 2015
In the ongoing 4-year-long civil war, the Islamic Republic- one of the major bank-rollers for the Syrian government- has reportedly spent between $6 and $35 billion a year in order to keep its staunchest regional ally, Bashar al-Assad in power.
This amount of spending is significant considering Iran’s military budget is roughly $15 billion a year. Iran’s economic assistance to the Syrian government comes in different avenues including oil subsidies (approximately 60,000 barrels of oil per day), credit lines, and military assistance. What is more intriguing though, is that even before the nuclear deal was reached (when Tehran faced severe economic sanctions and was cut off from the global financial system), Iranian leaders did not halt their support of Assad financially, militarily, or through intelligence and advisory means. But, how is the recent Iranian nuclear deal going to affect Assad’s fate? Will the Iranian-U.S. rapprochement and the closer tactical and strategic cooperation pave the way for the stepping down of Assad or instead empower his rule? Will the recent tactical and strategic shift in American policies evident in the U.S. invitation to Iran to be part of the solution damage Assad’s interests? Why are the Iranian leaders so determined to lose billions of dollars to keep Assad in power? Will the nuclear deal change the Islamic Republic’s support for the Syrian government?
Iran’s financial support
To reach answers for the above questions, a few statements need to be made. Firstly, five major groups play a crucial role in maintaining Assad’s rule:
1. The Syrian armed forces: namely, the Syrian Arab Air Forces, Military
Intelligence (Mukhabarat), and the Syrian Army (al-Jaysh al-Arabi as-Suri)
2. Syrian Shiite proxies (which operate under the banner of the National Defense Force).
3. Foreign Shiite Proxies (namely from countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan,)
4. Hezbollah, and
5. Quds Force (an elite branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps operating in foreign territories)
All of these five categories are financially (directly or indirectly) assisted by the Iranian ruling establishment. Nevertheless, even before the nuclear deal was reached, there were some concerns among Iranian leaders who questioned the cost and benefit of hemorrhaging billions of dollars on Assad. Assad was likely also concerned about the possibility of financial cuts or a change in Iran’s political calculation in supporting him. Nevertheless, the nuclear deal, the gradual lifting of sanctions, and the release of about $100 billion in frozen assets has definitely eased Iran’s financial concerns and removed Assad’s fears.
Crucial lifting of arms embargo
Bashar al-Assad congratulated Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for the nuclear deal calling it a “major turning point”. But will it also be a major turning point for Assad?
The nuclear deal partially eliminated Assad’s concerns that Iran might have to cut down financial support to his government
The Syrian opposition and rebel groups clearly showed their dissatisfaction with the signing of the nuclear deal between Iran and the West.
Financially speaking, the nuclear deal partially eliminated Assad’s concerns that Iran might have to cut down financial support to his government.
But what is more crucial for Iran-Syria relations is indeed the lifting of the arms embargo, which Iranian leaders fought for so vehemently in the last few days of the nuclear deal. The arms embargo will be lifted gradually in the coming years. China and Russia are likely already beginning to chart ways to make billions of dollars by selling advanced weaponry to Iran. This can open a channel for Assad’s army to be equipped by the Islamic Republic with more sophisticated arms.
In other words, the Iranian-West rapprochement and the closer tactical or strategic cooperation can be a blessing for Assad more militarily rather than financially.
Nevertheless, it is crucial to point out that although the Islamic Republic will be less restrained to send the Syrian government financial support (such as the recent $1 billion credit line from Iran to Syria) and advanced weaponry, this phenomenon is not likely to dramatically change the course of the conflict in favor of Assad.
Obama's post-deal hopes
After the nuclear deal, President Obama is going to focus on cooperating with Iran strategically (not only tactically) on several crucial issues in the region.
Recently, President Obama signaled a policy shift in the White House's position towards Iran’s role in Syria. While the U.S. forcefully opposed the Islamic Republic’s participation in previous peace talks on Syria (including objecting to the U.N. invitation to Iran to attend the 2014 peace conference on Syria), he pointed out that Iran should now be a part of the efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria. "I think it's important for them to be part of the conversation," the president stated.
The conflict has led to one of the worst humanitarian tragedies of our generation.
The president however added, "We have not, and I don't anticipate any time in the near future, restored normal diplomatic relations with Iran".
But from the perspective of the White House, the nuclear deal seems to open avenues for strategic cooperation between Washington and Tehran, since there is currently a direct line of communication between American and Iranian leaders.
Privately, Iranian leaders will likely accept America's invitation to participate in talks regarding Syria for several reasons.
1. From the Iranian leaders’ perspective, the U.S.'s invitation further projects Iran’s power in the region.
2. Iranian leaders might be capable of altering the U.S. position towards Assad: leave him in power.
3. If the U.S. insists on Assad stepping down, America can be persuaded to follow a policy which allows the ruling Alawites to stay in power. Iran is not married to Assad per se, but to the ruling Alawite establishment and Syrian state
4. For Iranian leaders, America's invitation to Iran projects limited American power in the globe and its failed exceptionalism.
Complexities and nuances of Iran’s role in Syria
The tactical shift in America's stance towards the Islamic Republic is intriguing. On the one hand, any policy that can alleviate the excruciating pain the Syrian people and refugees are facing should be welcomed. Yet, there exists several shortcomings in the U.S. tactical or strategic shift.
First of all, we need to analyze Iran’s regional priorities. From Khamenei's and the IRGC's perspective, Iran’s defense system and its security are top priorities. When it comes to Iran’s security, it is inextricably linked to Iran’s decades of investments in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria as well as the proxies that Tehran has given birth to or financed across the region.
The Syrian civil war has provided another platform for Iran in establishing more sophisticated networks of Shiite proxies not only in Syria but beyond.
Currently, maintaining the Alawites in power is a significant matter of national security for Iranian leaders. Syria can be viewed as a lynchpin of several crucial relationships and networks of Shiite proxies across the region for Iran.
The Islamic Republic is not committed to Assad as a leader, but rather Iran backs the ruling Alawite establishment. In order to save the billions of dollars that it is sending to the Syrian government, Tehran might agree to part with Assad, but definitely not with the Syrian state. From the Iranian leaders’ perspective, leaving the Syrian state altogether will result in the rise of a Sunni majority to power, which will significantly tip the regional balance of power against Tehran and endanger its security, geopolitical interests and regional hegemonic ambitions. It can negatively affect Iran’s network of Shiite proxies as well. In addition, forcing Assad to step down but maintaining the Alawite ruling establishment in power is not going to satisfy the demands of hundreds of armed rebel groups. Third, the Islamic Republic is partially bogged down in Syria by the same approach the U.S. faced in Iraq and Afghanistan. But what highlights the complexity of Iran’s role in Syria is that its incentives are not only geopolitical, but sectarian (Shiite vs Sunni), ethnic (Persian vs Arab) and ideological (Pro-U.S. and Pro-Arab states vs Anti-U.S. and Anti-Arab states). Obama’s offer seems to be too late though. The conflict and civil war has spiraled out of control. The Islamic Republic played a crucial role in fueling the conflict in Syria by assisting Assad’s crackdown, leading to the rise of endless domestic and global rebel and extremists groups operating in Syria. Even if we idealistically believe that Iran is going to change its position towards Assad, there still exists the challenge of how to subdue the powerful oppositional armed and extremist groups such as the Islamic State (which have paralyzed the international community’s efforts in defeating them). Iranian leaders are viewing themselves as being on the winning side. Therefore, what are their incentives to change their political calculation? Iran observes that even Western politicians, diplomats, policy analysts, and scholars have come to agree with the notion that Assad is a better option than the alternatives. The West is buttressing and repeating Khamenei's and Assad’s lines. Finally, Iran might agree to leave the individual Bashar al Assad but not the Alawite state. Syria is a matter of grave national security for Iran and Damascus is a linchpin for maintaining Tehran’s sophisticated network of Shiite proxies across the region.

Obama’s Potemkin Villages
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/Friday, 24 Jul, 2015
Commenting on the multiple crises the world faces today, US President Barack Obama has often boasted about his “21st century diplomacy” presumably in contrast with the old school that, he claims, must now be relegated to the dustbin of history. In a sense, Obama has succeeded in marketing a new diplomatic method based on the belief that perception is more important than reality. What matters is how things look at the moment, not what they really are or could be in the longer term. As a concept, that view of the modern world was deconstructed by French Marxist writer Guy Debord in his fascinating 1967 book The Society of Spectacle. In such a society there is no right and wrong, no good and evil. There is only what looks good and what does not in the fleeting moment of observation. What matters is the surface of things, the façade and the décor. One key assumption of Debord is that the spectator, that is to say the public at large, has a short attention span and is incapable of retaining too many images for a long time. Make them happy for the moment and tomorrow shall take care of it! For their part, Russians have a perfect phrase to describe the Obama method: The Potemkin method. Grigori Potemkin, a minister of Russian Empress Catherine II, drew a world of make-believe for the gullible tsarina. He would employ experts in stage sets to create ideal villages on the routes chosen for her provincial tours, populated by extras shipped from Moscow dressed up as happy peasants to cheer the imperial party. The extras earned good money, the empress was happy and Potemkin was able to pose as a statesman and increase his own wealth. Who cared if the peasants were really dirt-poor or if the Tsarist Empire was rotten to the core or if the minister had his hand in the cookie jar?
This is what Obama has been doing with US foreign policy for the past seven years. Obama’s first Potemkin village was the “peace initiative” he launched with fanfare, promising to inaugurate a Palestinian state alongside Israel within a year. His cheerleaders in the US media called him “the president of peace”. He put Senator George Mitchell, one of the most respected statesmen in recent US history, in charge of the project. But once the initial show was over, Obama simply forgot the whole thing to the point that he would not even have time to see the frustrated Mitchell who was forced to quit. Obama’s other Potemkin villages include Burma and Cuba, which he cites as two of his successes. The fact is that in neither case did Obama’s kowtowing to despots produce any change beyond the facade. In Burma the military junta is in control with more vigor than ever and the massacre of the Rohingya minority continues unabated. In Cuba the Castro clique continues ruling with an iron fist, and building new prisons. On Ukraine, Obama’s Potemkin village came in the shape of one US brigade sent to six European countries, a move that made even the dour-faced Vladimir Putin smile.
On Syria, Obama’s Potemkin village was launched with the sound and fury of his “Red Lines” and ended up with a Mickey Mouse-style hiding behind the Russians through the stillborn “Geneva process.” The latest Potemkin village, and perhaps the most oversold one is the so-called “deal” that is supposed to prevent the Khomeinist regime of Iran from building a nuclear bomb that it has always said it did not want to build. Obama has pushed this thing over hurdles as fast as he could. A dense text that was never signed by anybody was presented as a “deal” and then used as the basis for a United Nations Security Council resolution, the seventh on the same topic. The resolution was needed for two reasons. First to bestow a measure of legality to the Vienna “deal” which, negotiated by the P5+1 group which was itself an ad hoc body with no legal existence, was not a legal document.
Secondly, the resolution would render opposition by the US Congress legally ineffective. This was the first time in history that a US president was using an international body, in this case the UN Security Council, to override the decisions of the American legislature. As both a sponsor of the resolution and a permanent member of the Security Council, the US marketed and voted for the text. However, Iran, not a member of the Security Council, did not have to vote and thus retains the option of accepting or rejecting it. At the time of writing this article, Tehran has refused to accept the resolution thus depriving the Vienna deal meaningless of a mechanism for implementation.
In the past few days, a range of figures in the Khomeinist establishment have hammered that point in. The “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei has refused to endorse either the “deal” or the resolution based on it.
Several senior military figures, including the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard General Aziz Jaafari and Defence Minister Hussein Dehghan, have stated publicly they would never accept the resolution. The Islamic Majlis has appointed a special commission to “reexamine” both the “deal” and the resolution, making it clear that, as far as Iran is concerned, nothing has been decided yet. Even the Iranian Foreign Ministry had decided to hedge its bets. In a long statement, it offers an alternative interpretation of the text of the resolution. The regime refuses to publish the Persian text of the “deal” or even to let members of the parliament have a look at it. Maybe Tehran’s strategy is to adopt a pick-and-choose approach to the whole thing, accepting pieces of the “deal” that it wants, such as the easing of some sanctions, and rejecting measures to put Iran under the “oversight” of the six world powers for the next decade or so. Meanwhile, Obama is easing sanctions and has promised to prevent Congress from imposing new ones.
I don’t know whether or not the Khomeinist leadership wants to build a bomb. But if they do, Obama’s Potemkin village will not prevent them from doing so at a time of their choosing.
In the meantime, the “deal” strengthens the position of radical hardliners in Tehran who believe they now have carte blanche to pursue their dreams of empire. Khamenei has already declared his “zone of influence” in the Middle East and is trying to build what his adviser Ali-Akbar Velayati calls “a regional coalition” under his leadership. Frankly, it would be better if US Secretary of State John Kerry and Obama stopped getting involved in matters that they neither understand nor are really interested in. Their “Potemkin diplomacy” has made the world a much more dangerous place.

Jordan launches war on ISIS in Iraq, Turkish warplanes hit ISIS in Syria. US, Israel involved in both ops
DEBKAfile Special Report July 24, 2015/The Middle East woke up Friday, July 24, to two new full-fledged wars launched by Jordan and Turkey for cutting down the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as is forces advanced on their borders. The United States and Israel are involved in both campaigns. Jordanian armored, commando and air forces are already operating deep inside Iraq, while Friday morning, Turkey conducted its first cross-border air strike against ISIS targets in Syria. Clashes between Turkish troops and Islamic fighters erupted at several points along the border. Both governments also conducted mass arrests of suspected Islamists. The Jordanian police picked up ISIS adherents, while 5,000 Turkish police detained 250 Islamist and outlawed Kurdish PKK suspects in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Saniurta. Jordan Friday shut down its only border crossing with Iraq. Earlier this week, Turkey permitted US warplanes to us the Incirlik air base in the south for bombing missions against ISIS, and Israel handed over to Jordan 16 Cobra combat helicopters and assured Jordan of air force cover for its anti-ISIS operation. Read more about this new chapter in the war on ISIS in the debkafile report of Thursday, July 23. In the first publicized Israeli military hardware transaction with an Arab nation, Israel has handed over “around 16 Cobra” combat helicopters in support of Jordan’s war on the Islamic State. This was confirmed Thursday, July 23, by a US official close to the transfer. It was also the first time US-Jordanian-Israeli military cooperation in the struggle against ISIS was publicly disclosed.
“These choppers are for border security,” said the unnamed US official. debkafile’s military and counter-terror sources disclose that the Cobras are needed for a large-scale Jordanian aerial-commando operation launched in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, which borders on the Hashemite Kingdom. This operation is designed to carve out a security belt tens of kilometers deep inside Iraq as a barrier against Islamic State’s encroachment.
Amman approached Washington for combat helicopters to back the operation and was told that the US is short of these items and would turn Israel to pitch in. The US first provided mechanical overhauls for the aircraft before they were incorporated free of charge in Jordan's existing Cobra fleet. The transfer was announced while US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter was touring the Middle East. He arrived in Amman Tuesday, July 21,after talks in Israel, and visited Baghdad unannounced Thursday, July 23 for an update on the war on ISIS. The mounting Islamist threat to Jordan is coming now from two directions – the Iraqi province of Anbar and Syria. ISIS forces have grabbed positions in southern Syria near the intersection of the Jordanian, Iraqi and Syrian borders. They have also moved up to the eastern Syrian town of Abu Kamal on the Iraqi border and, since mid-May, have gradually detached small groups from the captured central Syrian town of Palmyra and quietly built up positions in the south near Jabal Druze.
This buildup has been tracked by US, Jordanian and Israeli surveillance.The Islamist domestic threat to the Hashemite Kingdom is no less acute. Jihadist sleeper cells have been planted in Jordan ready to strike strategic targets for a reign of terror to coincide with the onset of external Islamic State attacks staged from Iraq and Syria. Our military sources report that US-Israeli-Jordanian cooperation is channeled through the US Central Command Forward-Jordan from its headquarters north of Amman. It is staffed by US, British, Jordanian, Saudi and Israeli officers working together to defeat ISIS.

The new Hezbollah: How Israel's No. 1 enemy is preparing for third Lebanon War
Ronen Bergman/Ynetnews/Published: 07.24.15/ Israel News
While Israeli intelligence officials believe the Shiite organization is experiencing the most difficult phase in its history after losing some 1,300 fighters in the Syrian battlefields, its leader Nasrallah is only intensifying preparations for the next conflict with Israel. World powers' nuclear agreement with Iran could strengthen Hezbollah even more.
On Friday, May 15, a convoy of about 12 bright black vehicles left Beirut along with a number of off-road vehicles packed with uniformed fighters. The convoy turned east and drove quickly towards the Syrian border. They didn't raise too much attention among the passersby: Similar convoys of Hezbollah members have been entering the bleeding battlefields in Syria for the past two years. Only some of them will get to see Lebanon again.
But this time, it was different. The black vehicles were carrying Lebanese and Western journalists – including correspondents for Reuters, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, German media, etc. – not the population segment which Hezbollah is usually fond of.
They were driven to the border of the fighting zone in the Qalamun Mountains in Syria in order to view the lands Hezbollah recently conquered from the "takfiris" (the infidels, a combination of Arabic and English, as Hezbollah refers to the rebels in Syria). The goal was clear: To show the world how Hezbollah is fighting the Islamic State and other members of the "radical and dark Islam," according to one of the escorts on behalf of Hezbollah, which the West is so afraid of.
One of the participants of this unusual tour told Yedioth Ahronoth last week in a conversation from Beirut that the escorts had gone out of their way to make sure that the journalists were satisfied and received everything they wanted, so that they would produce a favorable article. He said there had been some preconditions – no "political talk" and handing over all cell phones at the beginning of the tour – but the refreshments were not bad and there was a pleasant atmosphere. Relative to Hezbollah, of course.
The tour began in Baalbek, the organization's most important stronghold in Lebanon. From there, the convoy drove up to the mountains bordering Syria. The Hezbollah fighters proudly pointed at charred remains of vehicles and weapons and said they used to belong to members of Jabhat al-Nusra, the jihadist Sunni militia fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The journalists were impressed. "Entire areas of the border, from Brital (a town in eastern Lebanon) and southward, are protected and controlled by Hezbollah. There is no Lebanese army there, and there is no Syrian army. The Hezbollah organization is the one protecting Lebanon from an ISIS invasion: Posts, weapon convoys and dozens of overly armed fighters, who are willing to stop any attack with their bodies," one of the journalists reported.
The tour continued, stopping at Shiite villages in the area. There, the journalists met civilians, who naturally thanked Hezbollah for helping them keep their heads attached to their necks – although ISIS and its friends are right here, around the corner.
"I would be happy if the Lebanese army could protect us," one of the villagers told the journalists. "But Israel and the United States are preventing the transfer of advanced arms to the Lebanese army for fear that it would attack Israel later on, so it's failing to become a significant military power. Therefore, there is no one who can protect us. Apart from Hezbollah."
And that's the exact message that Hezbollah of the summer of 2015 is trying to convey: Hezbollah is the real defender of Lebanon and the last force preventing the Land of Cedars from falling into the hands of radical Islam. Therefore, despite its conflict with Israel, when it comes to fighting ISIS and its partners – Hezbollah is actually helping the West.
But as usual, where Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah is concerned, it's only part of the picture. The journalists were not shown the many graves, scattered across southern Lebanon, of Hezbollah fighters killed in the battles in Syria. There was also no mention of the fact that the unrest against the organization is increasing in Lebanon, and in general, that Hezbollah is in one of the most difficult moments in its history.
They were also not told that in the meantime, Hezbollah is also speeding up its preparations for the third Lebanon war, and that this time it has no intention of settling for firing rockets and missiles at Israel.
There are those in the Israeli intelligence community who are now referring to the organization as "Hezbollah 3.0" or "Third Generation Hezbollah": The first generation was the founding generation during Israel's presence in southern Lebanon; the second is Hezbollah of the Second Lebanon War; and now it's a completely new Hezbollah. On the one hand it is sinking on the Syrian mud, and on the other hand it is gaining vast combat experience and new weapons – and is planning to use both in due course. The only question is when.
Through research reports and conversations with intelligence sources, Yedioth Ahronoth outlines an internal profile of the military force, which was and will likely remain Israel's No. 1 enemy. Yes, even when ISIS sits on the fences.
Killing the 'takfiris'
Up to a year ago, Hezbollah was still doing everything in its power to cover up its involvement in the battles splitting Syria. The organization, which gave each of its fighters who died in the battle against Israel a huge pathos-filled funeral, actually concealed the funerals of its fighters who were killed in masses in Syria. They were buried quietly, in the darkness, in the presence of the families only. Nasrallah anyway found it difficult to deal with the criticism leveled at him: Instead of fighting Israel – the reason for Hezbollah's existence – the organization is now busy killing other Muslims.
No one ever dreamed that Western journalists would be invited to tour the battle zone either. Wafik Safa – the man notoriously remembered in Israel from the return of the bodies of kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev – conveyed filtered messages, most of which were only directed at the Lebanese public. These messages were relayed through media outlets under full Hezbollah control: The organization's television station, Al-Manar; a series of websites led by Al-Muqawama ("the resistance") and the blog "Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah"; and (quite a large) number of Lebanese journalists perceived as being loyal to the organization.
Hezbollah's contact in the press, Ibrahim Mousawi, turned down any request for a response or for joining the organization members on any type of activity. The few attempts made by media outlets to document the night funerals were met with an even more aggressive opposition. Even interviews with Hezbollah's representatives in the Lebanese parliament (Majles al-Nouwab al-Lubnani) were blocked.
But then Nasrallah realized that the depth of his organization's involvement in Syria can no longer be concealed – and that he should even use it for his own benefit. It happened when the beheading videos turned ISIS into the new Satan in the eyes of the West. And who is on the ground to fight it? That's right, Hezbollah.
Nasrallah changed his approach by 180 degrees: The new Hezbollah is no longer ashamed of the fact that its soldiers are getting killed in Syria; on the contrary, it is proud of it. They are dying in order to eradicate an enemy which is endangering all of humanity. Almost overnight, the funerals of the fighters killed in Syria turned into huge ceremonies and well-covered military shows of force.
That was also the start of an image change. Ibrahim Mousawi was replaced a year ago by Mohammed Afif, who previously served as the Al-Manar station manager. Afif has been tasked with rebranding the radical organization. It's not easy, but the fact that there is someone more radical around, with a special fondness for horrific executions, helps him greatly.
"It's very important to Afif," says a journalist representing a major Western European media outlet in Beirut, "to stress that ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra are enemies shared by all of us – Hezbollah, the Lebanese people, the Syrian people and the West. They are saying: You, the West, see all of us as one bloc of radical Arabs, but it's not true. There is an enlightened and progressive Islam, which is the Shiite Hezbollah's Islam, and there is a dark and horrible Islam, the radical Sunnis. They are the ones we must all fight."
But Israeli officials have no doubt about the real intentions of the new "defenders of the West" from southern Lebanon. "Hezbollah is Israel's most challenging enemy and our main reference point for some 30 years now," says Colonel (res.) Ronen Cohen, the former director of the Terrorism Desk at the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate and deputy head of Military Intelligence's Research Division. Today Cohen is one of the owners of Inspiration, a company specializing in managing security projects and providing intelligence collection and information processing and analysis services in Middle Eastern and Persian Gulf countries.
"Hamas is an important challenge as well, of course, but it was always the 'small brother' standing in Hezbollah's big shadow. Since the Taif Agreement (1989), which left Hezbollah as the only armed militia in Lebanon, we realized it is the main strategic threat as far as we are concerned. The operation of command and control systems, the Iranian-sponsored training, the weapons, and especially the rocket arsenal and warfare perception have been duplicated in Gaza time and again."
The Israeli intelligence community understands very well that Hezbollah's situation has changed extremely since the end of the Second Lebanon War. Last June, Nasrallah's rhetoric against Israel became particularly aggressive. During one of the weeks that month he delivered as many as three speeches, which included direct threats against Israel.
At the moment, intelligence experts believe, Hezbollah is not planning to attack Israel in the near future, mainly because it is investing its power in the fighting in Syria. And what will happen there? Some estimate that eventually – despite the huge support Assad is receiving from Iran and Hezbollah, the Syrian president will slowly wear out, and collapse. Only then will Nasrallah return to Israel's northern border, redeploy and seek to restore his initial position – Lebanon's "defender" against Israel – as soon as possible.
Other estimates raise the possibility that Nasrallah won't even wait for the results of the war in Syria and will launch a move against Israel even before Assad's collapse.
In any event, "Hezbollah is in the most difficult situation in its history," Brigadier-General (res.) Dr. Shimon Shapira, a former Military Intelligence official and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's military secretary during his first term, estimated recently. We spoke in early June, before he was appointed as the foreign minister's chief of staff.
Shapira mentioned one of Nasrallah's recent speeches, in which the secretary-general said that "our existence is being threatened". "Hezbollah is getting dragged into an increasingly deeper involvement in Syria at Iranian orders," Shapira says.
But this involvement comes with a bleeding price tag. According to an updated Military intelligence estimate, the number of Hezbollah members sent to fight in Syria is higher than 6,000 and may have even reached 8,000. This is a huge number for the organization, and it is essentially the majority of its finest combat power. The Israeli intelligence's updated estimations are that about 1,300 of the organization's soldiers have been killed so far in the battles in Syria.
"This is an intolerable price as far as Hezbollah is concerned," says Shapira. "It's more than they lost in all the battles and wars with Israel put together."This price is beginning to evoke criticism within and around the organization. "Hezbollah is making a huge effort to silence authentic voices coming out of the Shiite faction against the involvement in Syria," says Shapira.
The loudest speaker was Subhi al-Tufayli, the organization's first secretary-general. Al-Tufayli announced that as far as he is concerned and according to his religious perception, whoever dies in battles in Syria is not a "shahid" (martyr), and will therefore not reach heaven. It's difficult to underrate the power of this statement, which rocked the organization. "After he said what he did, al-Tufayli received a scathing visit at his home in Brital, and has since moved to the 'Keeping the Silence' organization," Shapira reports. Al-Tufayli is not alone. A series of Shiite intellectuals, including women, are harshly attacking Hezbollah over its aid to Assad.
Hezbollah is also starting to feel the discomfort among the fighters and their family members. Only recently, Nasrallah issued an unusual order: In families of a fighter who died in Syria, there will be no additional recruitment to Hezbollah's combat units. "Hezbollah used to brag about parents who had one child killed in battles with Israel and immediately announced that they were putting their other children at the organization's disposal," says Shapira. "Today you don’t hear such things anymore. Why? Many in Hezbollah understand that while the enemy is the ones Hezbollah refers to as 'takfiris,' at the end of the day they are Muslims. It's a war within Islam, between Sunnis and Shiites. Not a war against Israel."
Nasrallah's problems
But the main criticism against Hezbollah is leveled at it from outside the organization and the Shiite faction. Why, ask the Sunnis – the Druze and Christians in Lebanon, is Hezbollah claiming that it remains an armed militia in order to fight Israel, but is actually helping Assad massacre the citizens of Syria? Hezbollah's support for Assad has even led to terror attacks against Hezbollah carried out by Syrian Sunni organizations, some of which belong to the global jihad.
Jabhat al-Nusra is not sparing any efforts either to reiterate that its members will never forgive and never forget. The organization's commander in the Qalamoun Mountains, for example, wrote in a few tweets on his Twitter account on July 7: "A message to Hezbollah: Your support for Nusayri (a derogatory nickname for Assad's regime) demonstrates your hatred towards the Sunnis. You jailed their women and betrayed (the refugees) who sought your help, begging to be given a shelter in your country. Don’t you dare think that you will escape our anger even many years later. We promise you the same destiny as God promised the people of Israel, when they turned to idolatry. We won't lay down our sword until the Sharia law (the Islamic religious law) dominates the country and until we avenge our dignity." Hezbollah, it seems, has created another front for itself.
At first Nasrallah tried to deal with the problem by founding a satellite organization called Hezbollah Syria, thereby perhaps slightly diminishing the direct link between Hezbollah of southern Lebanon and the Hezbollah which kills Muslims in Syria. Hezbollah's graphic designers even designed a flag for the organization with the caption "We yearn for you, Zaynab" (Zaynab is the daughter of Ali, the first Shia imam. There is a very sacred Shiite compound named after her in the outskirts of Damascus. Hezbollah claimed at first that it only entered Syria in order to defend this compound). The idea was that the Hezbollah Syria organization would settle down near the Golan Heights, and later open another front against Israel. Nasrallah put Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh who was killed in 2008 in an assassination attributed to Israel and the United States, in charge of the unit. Nasrallah sought to create a symbol, a sort of future generation – the son's revenge for the death of his martyr father. The son did follow in his father's footsteps, but not the way Nasrallah had planned: In January 2015, an assassination – which was also attributed to Israel – ended Jihad Mughniyeh's life (and the life of another high-ranking Iranian general). Instead of Mughniyeh, Nasrallah appointed Samir Kuntar, the murderer of the Haran family from Nahariya, to command the organization. Dr. Shapira sees it as a Hezbollah attempt to also recruit the Syrian Golan's Druze, who are paying a bloody price for the Sunni rebels' fanaticism.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah hasn't had too many successes on the Israeli front either. Since Imad Mughniyeh's death, the organization has been hit with a series of blows, most of which it attributed to Israel: Assassinations of a few other activists, led by Hassan Lakkis, the head of Hezbollah's arms development wing; mysterious explosions in the organization's armament sites; and repeated bombings of weapon convoys from Syria to Lebanon.
According to Hezbollah's perception, the activities it attributes to Israel against it means that the Israeli intelligence has deeply penetrated its ranks. This is quite a blow for Nasrallah: If these actions, or part of them, were indeed carried out by Israel – how is it succeeding, again and again, in infiltrating a closed, departmentalized and idealistic organization like Hezbollah?
Recently, Hezbollah claims, it managed to expose a person spying for Israel within the organization. According to reports, Mohammed Shurba from the southern Lebanon village of Mahrouna began working for the Mossad in 2007. Hezbollah's suspicions were raised after five failed attempts to avenge Mughniyeh's assassination. Shurba's position was in the unit responsible for Nasrallah's security, and he later assumed senior roles in Unit 910, which is responsible for Hezbollah's operations abroad. Shurba was recruited by the Mossad, according to reports in Lebanon, during one of his trips to Asian countries as part of his job. According to Hezbollah, they had their suspicions against Shurba, and then a source in the organization told him about a planned "operation" against one of Israel's embassies, which would be executed within 48 hours from a certain operations apartments. Hezbollah members were apparently watching the apartment from outside, and shortly after they saw local police forces raiding the place (and finding nothing, of course), Shurba was arrested.
By the way, Shurba was arrested about two months before the assassination of Jihad Mughniyeh. If the claims regarding Israel's involvement in the assassination are true, then even after Shurba, the alleged "Israeli spy," Nasrallah's organization remains transparent to Israel. Nasrallah's problems don't end here. Serious criminal proceedings are underway in The Hague against members of the organization for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. In addition, a series of financial corruption affairs – some of which are unknown outside the organization – have caused Iran to cut its financial support for the organization and have created difficulties in its cash flow. And with ideology alone, as we know, one can't buy rockets.
'A sensitive matter'
Despite Hezbollah's tough situation – and perhaps because of it – Nasrallah and his men are constantly busy preparing for the next war in Israel. "They are operating on the ground as if the war is about to break out tomorrow morning," says a senior military source. Two years after the Second Lebanon War, Nasrallah announced that his forces were ready with more missiles and more people than they were on the eve of the war, in July 2006. Since then, the organization is only growing stronger. "They gave the keys to the new apartments in the Dahiya area, instead of the ones that were destroyed, to the tenants three-four months after the war, and only after they finished rebuilding all the military facilities destroyed by the Air Force," says Colonel (res.) Ronen Cohen. Their list of priorities is clear."According to estimates, Hezbollah currently has 80,000 to 100,000 missiles and rockets, which are all directed at Israel. In addition, the organization has greatly improved its unmanned aerial vehicles and has built a unit of "suicide" aircraft, which can reach many areas in Israel and explode on selected targets.
"Hezbollah has an interest to divert the attention from what is happening in Syria," the journalist from Beirut says," and to repeat all the time: Don't think that the fighting in Syria is discouraging us from fighting Israel." A Lebanese journalist was recently permitted to enter some of the "modern bunkers" built by the organization. He was led there with his eyes covered, and the cover was only removed once the door behind him was closed. His report spoke about new electricity and ventilation systems, modern encoded communication with the Hezbollah headquarters in the Dahiya, and more. All this, he was explicitly told, is part of the preparations ahead of the next war with Israel.
Israel is not blind to these Hezbollah efforts and has significantly increased its routine intelligence monitoring of every movement made by the organization's forces in Lebanon. The alleged Israeli drone which crashed into the sea in Lebanon earlier this month could be an example of these efforts. The IDF is also very busy with the tunnel issue in the north. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit confirmed only recently that following complaints of digging sounds heard at night, the army is holding a comprehensive investigation into suspicions that Hezbollah is digging tunnels under the Israeli border. It's unclear how reliable this inquiry is, as there is still no reliable technology allowing the detection of tunnels – apart from some parts of the southern border, where the defense establishment is building a seismic fence against tunnels. Sources in the IDF say the army has failed to find any evidence of tunnels being excavated by Hezbollah. A military source told us, however, that data received from the company which carried out the investigation did not rule out the existence of tunnels.
The question is: If Hezbollah does have tunnels, what will it do with them? According to Ronen Cohen, "Since the great admiration which captured us when we saw the Americans' performance against Iraq in 1991, we raised the banner of 'counter warfare': Massively using the Air Force combined with special units and very little ground invasions, if any.
"A new security perception was built around the 'counter warfare,' which relied on deterring the enemy and was backed by statements from senior officials in the military and political echelons that Israel could not reach a clear victory and that we should therefore just try to prolong the periods of time between one round and another.
"Today, Hezbollah has reached the understanding that we can't beat them. After six rounds of fighting – Operation Accountability, Operation Grapes of Wrath, the Second Lebanon War, Operation Cast Lead, Operation Pillar of Defense and Operation Protective Edge – in which Israel failed to score a victory, Nasrallah realized that because of the social and political price concerning dead soldiers, we are incapable of defeating him. "Nasrallah also understood something else from us: That Israel's security perception – which requires moving the war to enemy territory as fast as possible – applies to him to. Naturally, Hezbollah doesn’t armored maneuvers like the IDF has, and we are talking about a different kind of fighting, but the principle remains the same: Operating deep within the ground.
"Therefore, Hezbollah's goal is a ground invasion, which could be made up of a number of elements: Using the underground and aboveground area near the border's wadis; and an entry of many commando and antitank teams deep into the Upper and Western Galilee in order to survive as long as possible. "The fighting teams will use explosive devices and antitank missiles like the Kornet, which reaches an efficient rage of 5 kilometers during the day and 3 kilometers at night. Through these ranges, they will be able to control vehicles on the Lower Galilee's roads from the high mountains of the Upper Galilee, not to mention the Acre-Safed road, the roads going up the Galilee panhandle, etc.
"The topographic structure, the plants and rocks of the Galilee are very similar to what they are used to in Lebanon. At the same time, it's the exact same fighting they are now acquiring huge experience in through their battles in Syria, much more experience than most of the IDF's commanders and fighters have. "We should pay attention to Nasrallah's statements in this context. Before the Second Lebanon War he promised to release Samir Kuntar and the rest of the Lebanese prisoners. When he kidnapped IDF soldiers Regev and Goldwasser on July 12, 2006, Nasrallah convened a press conference and referred to the abduction operation as 'the truth guaranteeing operation' – in other words, fulfilling his historic commitment.
"He is using the same words today regarding the 'liberation' of the Galilee: 'The promise that won't be broken.' In other words, a promise which he has to fulfill, on a personal level."
So what do you think he is planning?
"There is no intention of conquering the entire area for good. But it's enough for Hezbollah cells to deploy in the area, hide for a while and hit vehicles and meeting points of the fighting forces preparing to enter Lebanon, in order to deeply sabotage any IDF plan of action."
Cohen's scenario has quite a few supporters in the IDF and Israeli intelligence. Others say Nasrallah will try to reach a achievement such as a "victory shot" – in the form of waving a Hezbollah flag over an Israeli community or spot which has been "occupied." Even if the IDF terminates the force five minutes later, the effect of such an image, which will likely go viral on social media, will create the real damage. Cohen says part of the problem stems from the fact that the IDF, against Hezbollah (and also against Hamas) has mainly become a responsive element. "We gave up initiating and pursuing contact with the enemy," he says, "and searched for a counter response to the development of Hezbollah and Hamas, mainly against the rocket arsenal.
There are those in the IDF who assert that nonetheless, the Second Lebanon War created serious deterrence in Hezbollah from attacking Israel. This deterrence, those sources say, is the reason why Hezbollah is not fulfilling its angry promises of revenge.
This is of course a realistic option, but there are those in the intelligence community who say there is a different reason: Immediately after the battles began in 2006, Israel has learned, a delegation of senior Iranians – led by representatives of the Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah's adoptive body – arrived in Beirut. The delegation reprimanded Nasrallah mercilessly. The military preparations we are devoting and giving you for a conflict with Israel were meant for a completely different time, they lashed out at him. They were meant for a response in case Israel bombs Iran's nuclear facilities. You have revealed the cards and the abilities we have given you without any reason, simply in order to kidnap soldiers and fulfill your promise to bring Samir Kuntar back home. And who is Kuntar anyway, someone added. Just a fking Druze.
Since that admonition, which almost cost Nasrallah his seat, he has been holding fire and restraining himself, according to that perception, not for fear of Israel – but for fear of Iran. If that is the situation, then now that the nuclear agreement has been signed, "it will be clear to the Iranians that Israel is not about to attack them, and they will therefore let go a bit and allow Nasrallah to respond as he pleases," says Cohen. From the moment the nuclear agreement is signed and the sanctions on Iran are lifted, Tehran is able to transfer more funds to Hezbollah, and much more easily.
And there is another point Israel must take into account: The demographic changes in the Lebanese army itself. Traditionally, the Lebanese army relies on a more or less representative sample of the variety of factions in the country. But since 2006, Nasrallah has ordered his people to widely expand the Shiite enlistment with the Lebanese army. He believes that Hezbollah will thereby turn into part of the establishment, and a Shiite army will anyway never act against the organization. There aren't any accurate figures about the number of Shiite soldiers in the Lebanese army, but according to estimates, they make up a relative majority or at least the same number as Christian soldiers. The Sunnis and Druze in the army are the small groups.Many young Shiites, who seek a reasonable and safe salary and haven't been accepted as fighters by Hezbollah, actually see the Lebanese army as a preferable option and enlist with Nasrallah's blessing. "In the next war the IDF will also have to take into account the Lebanese army, which has grown stronger militarily and has become pro-Hezbollah," says Cohen. In Lebanon, on the other hand, there are those who say that Israel is actually planning to attack or ignite the situation, wanting to "come full circle" from 2006. There is one thing everyone more or less agrees on: If and when the third Lebanon war erupts, it could very quickly turn much violent, harsh and brutal than all the previous rounds.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit offered the following response: "The IDF is carrying out routine security activities on the northern border, focusing on diverse defense and intelligence components,
out of an understanding that the tunnels are among the various threats in the area, and is consistently carrying out intelligence operational activity to uncover tunnels, if those indeed exist. "So far, every appeal regarding noises and a suspected tunnel has been checked by designated forces and ruled out. To this very day, neither a shaft nor a tunnel have been found. The IDF is carrying out extensive activity for the development of new technologies."

Egyptian Columnists On Al-Sisi Regime's Campaign For 'Renewal Of Religious Discourse' As A Way Of Fighting Terrorism
July 23, 2015 Special Dispatch No.6114
The wave of terror attacks during Ramadan this year, that included the June 26, 2015 attacks at a Tunisian tourist site, at a Shi'ite mosque in Kuwait, and at a U.S.-owned factory near Lyon, France, as well as a series of attacks in Egypt – the June 29, 2015 assassination of prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat and the July 1 attack on Egyptian army positions in the Sinai by armed Islamists – sparked discussion in the Arab media, particularly in the Egyptian media. A major focus of this discussion was a proposal to combat Islamic terror on the ideological level via a "renewal of the religious discourse."
The term "renewal of the religious discourse" was originally coined by 'Adly Mansour, the former chief justice of Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court who was appointed Egypt's interim president following the July 2013 ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood regime headed by president Muhammad Mursi. At a January 2014 Ministry of Religious Endowments ceremony marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, Mansour told an audience that included dozens of senior clerics: "Our society today is in dire need of a renewal of the religious discourse, a conscious and responsible renewal... that will deal with the problem of extremism and the mistaken or defective understanding of Islam..."[1]
On the same occasion a year later, current Egyptian President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi also took up the call for a renewal of the religious discourse, calling, on December 28, 2014, for a religious revolution.[2]
Articles published in the Arab and Egyptian media on this issue in the wake of the recent terror attacks showed disagreement over whether such an approach, which stemmed from a different perception of the causes of terror, would prove effective. Ibrahim 'Issa, editor of the Egyptian newspapers Al-Dustour Al-Asly and Al-Maqal, argued that terrorism is not the result of economic, political or social factors, but of the religious discourse, and therefore the renewal of this discourse is the main approach to fighting the terrorism it engenders. Accordingly, he said, President Al-Sisi should devote most of his attention to it. In contrast, Egyptian intellectual Dr. Mamoun Fandy, who writes a column for the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, opposed the idea of renewing the religious discourse, dismissing it as "nonsense" and "a failed attempt to revive backwardness" and calling for completely changing the discourse and basing it on scientific criteria. Furthermore, Dr. Wahid 'Abd Al-Magid, political commentator and former member of the Egyptian People's Assembly, argued that it was the social environment that dictated the public discourse, and that therefore the first thing to do was to deal with the social environment.
Below are translated excerpts from these three articles:
Al-Maqal Editor: Terror Is Not Caused By Economic, Political Or Security Reasons; The President Should Focus On Ideologically Combating Terror
Ibrahim 'Issa (Source: Al-Misriyoun, Egypt, October 30, 2014)
Ibrahim 'Issa, editor of the Egyptian newspapers Al-Dustour Al-Asly and Al-Maqal, believes that the renewal of the religious discourse is the main way to combat Islamic terror. He wrote bitterly in Al-Maqal, which he also owns, in criticism of President Al-Sisi, charging him with responsibility for the June 29 assassination of Egyptian prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat and for the deaths of many others from Islamic terrorism. This, he said, was due to the mistaken priorities that Al-Sisi is promoting. He urged the president to completely devote himself to combating terrorism on the ideological level, to be reflected in education, in the mosques, in the media, and in the culture, rather than focusing on other issues such as the war on poverty. 'Issa also attacked the president's decision to entrust the ideological struggle to Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayeb and Egyptian Mufti Muhammad Shawqi Al-'Alam because their own views are extremist. He wrote:"...The funeral yesterday of the shahid [martyr] advisor, Egyptian prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat, must be the last funeral [resulting from] mistaken priorities. Of course, we are all prepared to die, and none of us can interfere with his [own final] hour if that is Allah's will – but in reality, there are mistaken priorities that are leading us to funerals.
"In his statements at the funeral, President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi requested sharply and clearly that we not waste time on the small necessities, and that we should be aware that a very large-scale campaign against terrorism is underway...This is a very important demand. If only the president would be the first to implement it, in his efforts and in his policy...
"I know that the president is concerned for his people, and believes that the fight against terrorism will succeed by [economic] development and by fighting poverty and unemployment. This is very nice – but it is an absolute mistake. Mr. President, abandon this concept, because it hurts the country and delays our anti-terror campaign.
"There are no economic reasons for terrorism. Terrorism exists equally among the wealthy, the middle class, and the poor. You cannot possibly believe the claims – of which we are sick and tired – that link terrorism to poverty. Proof of this is that there is terrorism, for example, in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, France, and Germany; their peoples are not impoverished. Most of the murderous terrorists in Syria and Iraq are Saudis, who come from the wealthiest country in the Arab world. And don't forget [Al-Qaeda leaders] Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and the Muslim Brotherhood. Are they paupers who turned to terrorism because of their poverty?
"There are no economic causes of terrorism; neither are there political or security causes. Enough of this mistaken profile of the phenomenon. Of course we must fight poverty – but it is not a war on terrorism, and it is not the first priority when fighting terrorism. If President Al-Sisi demands that we deal with the big problem–namely the war on terror – we call on him to implement this immediately in his policy. He is the president of the war on terror. This is what we expect of him and of his policy henceforth.
"We must know that the security conflict is not the only solution, and certainly prosecution is no solution.
"In his statements at [Barakat's] funeral, we sensed the great importance that he attaches to changing the laws or the legislative infrastructure of the legal measures [now in place] in order to expedite the implementation of the punishments for accused terrorists. Here too the priorities are wrong. Of course deterrence is essential for dealing with terrorists. But I remind all that death does not frighten terrorists, just as it does not frighten us at all. Moreover, they walk on their own two feet in order to blow themselves up... How many executions have there been, from the Khawarij[3] era until now? Yet this has not prevented the emergence of the terrorist perception, or of the terrorists and their organizations. Furthermore, there are legitimate fears that the implementation [of the laws]in order to achieve a sublime aim – that is, the war on terrorism – will slide down the despicable slope to violation of rights."
We Need A "War To Free The Egyptian Mind"; The War On Terror Is Al-Sisi's Responsibility, Not The Responsibility Of Extremist Al-Azhar Sheikh And Egyptian Mufti
"What is really needed, and urgently and most profoundly, is for the president to focus his main attention [in another direction].Mr. President, let the government deal with developing desert roads, paving highways, and improving land... You, as president, deal only with the big war – the war to free the Egyptian mind.
"So what should we do? First, there need to be short- and long-term plans; and a council of intellectuals, researchers and experts must be appointed, to draw up ideas. The president is assisted by councils of advisers in education, sciences, health and the economy but he is not surrounded by a single thinker or a council dealing with terror. He [Al-Sisi] is approaching the issue from a security standpoint, as if it concerns only the National Defense Council. Moreover, he has assigned [the mission] to the failed and[Muslim Brotherhood-]infiltrated institution of Al-Azhar, whose sheikh [Ahmad Al-Tayeb] himself constitutes an obstacle to the renewal of the religious discourse in Egypt. So what should we expect?...
"The real war to which the president must apply himself is the war to renew the religious discourse...[Al-Sisi]has handed this task to [Ahmad Al-Tayeb,] the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, when there is documented proof that, for example, his decisions are coordinated with the monarch of an Arab country [i.e. Saudi Arabia],[4] rather than with the president of Egypt, and he is involved in issues of sectarian sedition in which Saudi Arabia is interested because of its Wahhabi perception, rather than in moderate Islam, which is in accordance with the Egyptian perception. [He has] also [outsourced this task] to [Egyptian]Mufti [Muhammad Shawqi Al-'Alam],who plagiarizes paragraphs from the works of [Muslim Brotherhood ideologue] Sayyid Qutb for his own articles, using them to guide the Muslim public,[5] and to Religious Endowments Minister [Muhammad Mokhtar Gomaa] who is in charge of a [Muslim Brotherhood-]infiltrated, negligent, and corruption-rotted ministry. And then the president still places his trust in the religious parties [apparently the Salafi parties],which commit murder and then march in the funeral procession of the murdered. These are the parties that believe that Egypt is not implementing Shari'a, that Egypt's judges do not judge according to the words of Allah; that manmade law contradicts religious law, and that appealing to the courts is apostasy.
"By Allah, Mr. President, how do you expect to fight terror when you envelop the disseminators of terror and the purveyors of its perceptions in your love, taking them under your wing, supporting them, and even confiding in them? With every passing day, a new terrorist is born, who will blow himself up and kill among us as many as his madness desires.
"Amending the laws will do nothing in the face of the waves of religious insanity – [the] only [thing that will work is] a war of minds in education, the media, the culture, the mosques and the social media. This effort must be conducted professionally and with alertness; advanced resources must be utilized, along with talented minds and a trained police force...
"Mr. President, you have said that the blood of the prosecutor-general is the responsibility of us all, not just your responsibility. But it is not we who are the decision-makers. We have an opinion, and we have stated it, but the decision was in your hands, and therefore it is you who are responsible for the death of the prosecutor-general, because you are our president, who bears the entire responsibility.
"Mr. President, prepare for your battle, and leave the infrastructures and the economic decisions to a competent and wise government and to a prime minister who is not constantly awaiting your directives and who considers your wishes to be his commands!…"[6]
Egyptian Intellectual: We Need A New, Innovative Religious Discourse – Not A Renewal Of The Old One
Others doubted that religious discourse could eradicate terror, and gave various reasons for this. Egyptian intellectual Dr. Mamoun Fandy, who writes a column for the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, attacked the phrase "renewal of the religious discourse," calling it "nonsense" and "a failed attempt to renew backwardness." He argued that paralysis has taken hold of Islamic intellectual thought, and that the books written today do not meet the lowest standard of intellectual thought. Calling for a new discourse that would sever the link between violence and Arab and Islamic heritage, he wrote:
"The notion of 'renewing the religious discourse' is common in the Arab world. But what our region needs is a new religious discourse, as opposed to a renewal of the old discourse. This is especially true in light of the beheading in the name of religion that we witness daily, and in light of the terrorism we saw on June 26, 2015, which struck three continents in one day – from Tunisia to France to Kuwait – also in the name of religion. When people are murdered in a mosque as they kneel and bow before Allah, where will we take cover? If mosques are considered unsafe, whence can people flee from this terrorism in the name of religion? If mosques are not protected from terrorism, then what is protected [from it] today?
Dr. Mamoun Fandy (Source: Al-Misriyoun, Egypt, July 17, 2014)
"We are now in a real cultural crisis, and we do not need a renewal of the old religious discourse, which has brought us to the current situation, but rather a new religious discourse, that brings us closer to the world instead of causing it to hate us.
"The image of the Muslim in non-Muslim countries is currently that of a sick camel... [i.e. highly negative], as a result of the actions of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, which they justify in the name of Islam, even if Islam has nothing to do with them.
"We need a new religious discourse based on innovation, instead of an old way of understanding the principles and research methods of religion...
"The extremist movements do not draw their religious discourse from the principles of Islam; their source of authority is violent discourse...Extremists have their violent religion, and we have our monotheistic one. They have their religious discourse, and we have ours. As for those who portray [all] Muslims as sharing the same religious source of authority as these [extremists] – they merely want to create confusion and to ignite the fire of fitna.
"Islamic history is glorious, but it had dark periods from which extremists draw their ideas. Most of their sources of authority were written in periods when Islamic thought waned – and there were many such times. However, there were also glorious historical eras, when weighty tomes were written that showed openness to the self and to the other...
"In Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Arab world, and among Muslims in the West, there have been demonstrations aimed at defending the Prophet [Muhammad] against offensive cartoons. [But] what, in fact, harms the Prophet and Islam more – cartoons or ISIS's barbaric, primitive actions, which include capturing women, cutting off heads, and hanging and burning people alive like the Jordanian pilot?
"The more important question is: Why don't the [Arab and Muslim] masses act against the murder of Muslims in a mosque in Kuwait, or the murder of innocent tourists in Tunisia...? Why does death no longer shock us? Why did the masses act against a stupid cartoon, while the blood that was spilled on the prayer mats in the Kuwaiti mosque has not spurred them to action?
"What has happened to us? Does our situation need renewal of the religious discourse – or does it need a new religious discourse that will represent the severing of the link to the violence in our heritage...?
"The intellectual thought in our region has been struck with a paralysis that is unrelated to the scientific research and its standards as they are known in civilized societies. All this should be thrown in the nearest garbage can. This is a discourse that cannot be renewed. We must start setting criteria for what should [and should not] be published, and require publishing houses to either meet minimal standards or be prohibited from operating...
"Our crisis is much too great [to be resolved with] a renewal of the discourse that falls short of the threshold of knowledge. The solution to our crisis will be begun only by a new religious, political, and social discourse. The nonsensical clichés reiterated by governments, like 'renewing the religious discourse,' can be described in a single phrase – 'a failed attempt to renew backwardness.'"[7]
Egyptian Columnist: The Crisis Centers On Social, Economic And Political Conditions, Not Religion
In contrast to 'Issa and Fandy, Dr. Wahid 'Abd Al-Magid, political commentator and former member of the Egyptian People's Assembly, argued in his column in the Egyptian daily Al-Masri Al-Yawm that the cause of terrorism was indeed a cultural, economic, and political situation in society that encouraged the endorsement of a particular discourse. This situation in society, he wrote, must be addressed first, before attention is turned to the discourse itself:
"Every time there is an increase or new development in terrorism, there is also an increase in calls for reform in the religious discourse. This stems from the idea that the problem lies with [religious]texts that need to be either amended or opposed – and not with a society and an environment that are distorted and that spur a few to misuse texts that have been in existence for centuries to support their attacks against that very society...
"However, such a presentation of the issue of reforming the religious discourse reduces [the handling] of a complex crisis to only one of its aspects, and not even to the most important one. The link – any link – between a text – any text – and reality is not created out of thin air, but is connected to the circumstances of the individual, who is impacted by the text in accordance with his specific interpretation or understanding.
Wahid 'Abd Al-Magid (Source: Almorakib.com, June 2, 2015)
"If the essence of the crisis was the religious discourse itself, then the perpetrators of terror would not be exceptional. However, [society has] only a few religious extremists... and even fewer [of these same extremists] transition from extremism to terrorism – that is, from believing extremist discourse to actually carrying out acts of violence.
"If the reason for the crisis is solely the extremist religious discourse, then we must ask why this discourse was minimal in many eras – such as in Egypt from the 19th to the mid-20th century, when it reemerged on the fringes in the 1970s and then began to thrive.
"Therefore, if we search for a different reason for the crisis, we will discover that it is connected to the situation of the society, its prevailing culture, the social and economic state of various groups [in it], and the nature of the political regime, whose policies and actions impact people's lives. The more conservative the society, the more closed its prevailing culture, especially when its education perpetuates that culture and relinquishes its central role – making inflexible thought flexible.
"The [more] controlling and absolutist the political regime, and the more it limits society's participation in public affairs, the more [the regime] becomes [a factor] preventing society from becoming open, and preventing [its] flowers, in all their colors, from blooming. Instead, below the surface, anger towards and alienation from society fester below the surface, in many ways and forms.
"It is then that extremist religious discourse influences those with the most anger – not just because of the extremism [of the discourse], but also because it meets [their] need to express [their] sense of alienation..."[8]
Endnotes:
[1] Albawabnews.com, January 12, 2014.
[2] See MEMRI Clip No. 4704 "Egyptian President Al-Sisi at Al-Azhar: We Must Revolutionize Our Religion," January 1, 2015.
[3]The Khawarij broke away from the forces of Caliph 'Ali bin Abu Taleb and formed Islam's first religious opposition group.
[4] The reference is to an alleged Saudi Foreign Ministry document disclosed by WikiLeaks, claiming that the Sheikh of Al-Azhar asked for Saudi guidance in responding to Iranian pressure for a meeting for rapprochement among the various schools of Islamic thought.Wikileaks.org/saudi-cables/doc515.html.
[5] An article in the Egyptian daily Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' claims that Egyptian Mufti Muhammad Shawqi Al-'Alam had cited several paragraphs from a book by Sayyid Qutb and said that they were his own. Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), June 24, 2015.
[6]Al-Maqal (Egypt), July 1, 2015.
[7]Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), June 29, 2015.
[8]Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), July 2, 2015.

Why are Israeli Arabs joining Islamic State?
ARIEL BEN SOLOMON/J.Post/07/24/2015
Three Israeli Arabs are reportedly in Turkey on their way to join Islamic State, adding to the hundreds from the West making the same decision – to leave a comfortable standard of living in a stable democratic country for jihad and martyrdom in the “Caliphate.” Earlier this month, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israel Police announced they had arrested and charged six Arab citizens, including four school teachers, with supporting and spreading Islamic State ideology. Israeli security officials say a few dozen Israeli Arabs have left to fight alongside Islamic State in Syria, usually traveling through Turkey or Jordan. Joint List MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad) attributed this phenomenon to “living here without a goal and without a strong sense of identity, which pushes them to these acts.”
She added that to take action against this phenomenon, Israeli-Arab politicians must fight to keep such youths from being pushed to the margins of society, “which has become this country’s policy.”
The MK’s statements ignore that there are many young people in the world lacking a strong sense of identity or clear-cut goals in life, but nonetheless do not travel to join Islamic State. The common thread with these recruits is that they are Muslims and have become true believers in Islamist ideology with its goal of expanding its control in the region, and later on the world. Zoabi blames the state, however, most Israeli Arabs that feel wronged by the government or its citizens do not travel to join Islamist groups. While marginalization, economic causes and so on could be contributing factors, they usually are not decisive. Prof. Hillel Frisch, of Bar- Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that according to statistics on the origin of foreign fighters in Islamic State, Israeli Arabs are not joining the group at the same rate as those from other countries. “The real research question is why Israel’s Arab citizens have so much meaning in their lives that they do not join Islamic State anywhere near the proportion they do anywhere else,” said Frisch.
The answer to this, he said, is that “Israel is a land of opportunity to all its citizens, including its Arab citizens, because they enjoy religious and cultural autonomy and complete political freedom and because they know how lucky they are to live on the right side of the border.”
Daniel Pipes, scholar and president of the Middle East Forum think tank, told the Post that Islamic State “offers a compelling body of ideas that many healthy and accomplished Muslims find seductively attractive.”“Like Communism and Fascism, Islamism offers a powerful vision; like them, it needs to be defeated and marginalized,” asserted Pipes. Statistics claiming to estimate the number of foreigners that have joined Islamic State are presented as hard evidence, but obviously are very suspect, he said. “No one knows how many jihadists try or succeed in getting to Syria. The numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt as mere hints of trends.”The distance from the various states to Syria or Iraq is not the main variable, said Pipes, saying that the key factor is the percentage of the population that is Muslim. For example, Morocco is no closer than France to the Islamic State front lines, he said.
Even if these figures were accurate, he continued, “there is no correlation between government policies, repression, economic well-being and so on, and the percentage going off to Syria.”“I reject the vaguely Marxist notion that economics drives politics. If anything does, it is ideas. Their proliferation and resonance are what account for the otherwise crazy-quilt patterns in these statistics,” argued Pipes. Samuel Huntington summarized in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, “As the pace of modernization increases, however, the rate of Westernization declines and the indigenous culture goes through a revival.” Zoabi’s ultra-nationalist Balad Party that has voiced support for Israel’s enemies, such as Hamas, is not offering an alternative that calls for coexistence within Israeli society, but an indigenous revival. In other words, many of the ideological alternatives to Islamic State in the Arab sector are problematic, whether they are Arab-nationalism epitomized by Syrian President Bashar Assad, Muslim Brotherhood style Islamists in the Islamic Movement and its branch in the Palestinian territories, Hamas.
Historian Bernard Lewis, in Islam and the West, described it this way: “It is easy to understand the rage of the traditional Muslim confronted with the modern world. Schooled in a religious culture in which, from the beginning, rightness has meant supremacy, he has seen that supremacy lost in the world to Western power; lost in his own country to foreign intruders, with their foreign ways and their Westernized protégés; lost in his own home to emancipated women and rebellious children.”Islamism is the dominant revolutionary ideology amongst Muslims today, which seeks to return the glory of times past, and because of it a small group of Israeli Arabs have sought to aid Islamic State and other Islamist groups in Syria and around the world.
**Yasser Okbi and Reuters contributed to this report.

Pakistani Police Stand up for Christian Blasphemy Victims in Punjab
Action Lauded by Human Rights Groups
By ICC's Pakistan Correspondent
7/24/2015 Washington, D.C. (International Christian Concern) - Christian leaders and human rights activists have lauded Pakistani police for rescuing several Christians accused of blasphemy and for controlling the violent situation that followed the accusation against Christians in late June. According to media reports, several Christians were accused of committing blasphemy on June 30 in Makki village in the district of Sheikhupura, about 21 miles from Lahore, Pakistan.
Local sources informed International Christian Concern (ICC) that a poor Christian family in Sheikupura was accused of desecrating the Quran when they used a piece of a banner from an educational institution as a floor mat. The banner carried a phrase in Arabic from the Hadith meaning, "Oh God increase me in my knowledge".
A local Muslim cleric reportedly provoked his followers into attacking the Christians, named Owais Qamar, his wife Rukhsana, and his sister Rehana, after claiming that the banner being used as a floor mat was insulting the Quran.
After beating the victims, the mob shaved the victims' heads, blackened their faces, and paraded them around the village on donkeys. The display ended when police arrived and prevented the Muslim mob from killing the Christians. Qamar and his family were quickly taken to safety by police and were advised not to return to their village. Two of the clerics who incited the mob were later arrested.
While talking with ICC, Peter Jacob, Executive Director of Center for Social Justice, welcomed the change in police behavior and in the will of the political leadership to keep harmony between the two communities. Jacob said, "This is very encouraging to see that some of the recent blasphemy allegations have been effectively handled and snapped by police in Sheikupura, Lahore and Mirpurkhas in Sindh during the running year."
"Although I have to be very careful to see it as a precursor of any change in part of the government, it is showing that [the] government is prepared to handle such allegations. They want to handle it administratively which is [a] good and welcome change, yet we would like to see an approach towards legal reforms as well as political response," Jacob continued.
Father Cecil Paul, Chairman of Nai Zindge Welfare Foundation, said, "It is an encouraging step by the Punjab police that they rescued the blasphemy accused and provided security to the Christian families in the neighborhood."
"However, to curb religious extremism and misuse of religion, the administration has to do a lot more for a peaceful and secular society.In the same manner, police should investigate the incident irrespective of political and religious pressures and [investigate] the cleric for false accusations according to the law," the Chairman demanded.
Attaurehman Saman, a human rights activist, hailed the police for their professional intervention in this sensitive situation saying, "We appreciate [the] positive and result oriented attitude of police in a village in Shiekhupura as well as in Sandha in Lahore in May where police defused [a] situation and protected the Christian community before it turning it into another Joseph Colony and Kot Radha Kishan where mob set hundreds of houses on fire and rousted a Christian couple for blasphemy accusation."
"All of the state departments, particularly officials of law enforcing agencies, should be vigilant enough to tackle these situations professionally rather becoming part of the emotionally charged sections. The positive and logical attitude displayed by police officers should be followed by others, which would carve the way to build a tolerant and peaceful society," Attaurehman commented.
The police refused to file an FIR (First Information Report) against the accused Christian family before moving them to an unknown location for security. Local media highlighted the statement made by District Police Officer Sohail Zafar Chattha. Zafar said, "I would not register a case because no blasphemy has been committed, but I have registered a case against the cleric and 400 others for inciting violence and endangering the lives of the couple."
For many Christians in Pakistan, the police action in this case is seen as a glimmer of hope that religious minorities will be treated fairly, even when a religious minority is accused of blasphemy. Pray that this trend of tolerance and justice continues.
For interviews, contact William Stark, Regional Manager for South Asia:
RM-SAsia@persecution.org

Introduction to “Nothing Abides”
Perspectives on the Middle East and Islam
Daniel Pipes/New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers/May 2015
http://www.danielpipes.org/15890/nothing-abides-introduction
The English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) fortuitously captured two themes in his phrase that serves as my epigraph, “Nor peace within nor calm around.”[1] To be sure, Shelley wrote of his inner turmoil in this poem, “Stanzas Written in Dejection, near Naples,” and not his reflections on the Middle East and Islam; but he also succinctly made the two key points, about internal and external unrest, that recur throughout the following study and so might serve as this book’s catchphrase.
My title, “nothing abides” derives from a lecture on the philosophy of history by the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831). He said of Muslim polities: “In its spread, Mohammedanism founded many kingdoms and dynasties. On this boundless sea there is a continual onward movement; nothing abides firm (nichts ist fest).”[2] Almost two centuries later, instability, volatility, and perpetual motion continue to characterize Muslim communities.
Samuel Huntington (1927–2008), the eminent political analyst, coined a phrase in 1996, “Islam’s bloody borders,”[3] that captures the external dimension of this phenomenon, namely the ceaseless wars waged by Muslims against non-Muslims, from the Christians of Iberia to the Hindus of Bali. Together, these three phrases convey the topic of the following chapters published over the quarter century between 1989 and 2014.
My inquiry during this period has concentrated on the Middle East as understood from a historical point of view and on the role of Islam in politics. The book contains five sections.
I. The Arab-Israeli Conflict
The Arab-Israeli conflict is the single most enduring as well as the most intensely scrutinized topic of Middle Eastern politics in the past century. Diplomatically, it compares to the Eastern Question concerning the future of the Ottoman Empire that earlier haunted European statecraft: both endured for more than a century, engaged a large cast of regional and international players, and consumed a disproportionate amount of attention. I consider my ideas about resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict as one of my two most significant contributions to American foreign policy (the other being how to deal with Islamism).
The first chapter, “Peace Process or War Process?” argues for three points needed to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict: realizing “that past Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have failed; that their failure resulted from an Israeli illusion about avoiding war; and that Washington should urge Jerusalem to forego negotiations and return instead to its earlier and more successful policy of fighting for victory.” Victory is the key concept: only when one side wins a clear victory can the war end. And that side must be Israel. This approach dismisses the diplomacy that began with Kilometer 101 in 1973 as irrelevant at least and counterproductive at worst.
The Jewish claim to Jerusalem is well known, but what of the rival “Muslim Claim to Jerusalem”? A historical review suggests that Muslims value the city only when it has political significance to them and lose interest when it does not. “This pattern first emerged during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad in the early seventh century. Since then, it has been repeated on five occasions: in the late seventh century, in the twelfth-century Countercrusade, in the thirteenth-century Crusades, during the era of British rule (1917–48), and since Israel took the city in 1967.” Such consistency over so many centuries and under so many diverse circumstances challenges assertions that Jerusalem has vital religious importance in Islam.
A striking contrast exists between the viciousness of most Palestinian discourse about Israel, such as, for example, comparing it to Nazi Germany, and the diametrically opposite, sober, and appreciative statements Palestinians make about Israel as an actual place to live. I focus on the latter in “The Hell of Israel Is Better than the Paradise of Arafat.” Part one reviews the Palestinian preference to remain under Israeli rule and part two contains praise for Israel in contrast to Arab regimes. These outspoken statements friendly to Israel offer more than tactical ammunition for the Jewish state; they provide the potential basis for a resolution to the entire Arab-Israeli conflict. For if the Muslim Arabic speakers most affected by and knowledgeable of Israel understand and communicate its considerable virtues, the ear-piercing toxicity of their colleagues could one day find itself without a constituency.
I argue in “The Year the Arabs Discovered Palestine” that, contrary to widespread belief, the idea of a Palestinian nation between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea does not reach back into hoary antiquity but rather “its origins can be traced with surprising precision to a single year—1920. In January 1920, Palestinian nationalism hardly existed; by December of that critical year, it had been born.” This change in the space of one year nearly a century ago has had many implications for the Palestinian national movement, foreshadowing “some abiding themes, such as the potential for rapid change and the major role of the Western powers” and providing insight into “the most widely supported but possibly the least successful nationalist cause” of our time.
“Mirror Image: How the PLO Mimics Zionism” follows the Palestinian career as Zionism’s Doppelgãnger, a German word meaning, roughly, “evil twin.” The Zionist movement was unique among national movements (notably, by establishing the Yishuv, a “state in the making,” an informal government that prepared the way for the formal state in 1948). In many ways, the Palestinian movement mimicked these features (the PLO is its “state in the making”). For example, the Palestinian emphasis on the centrality of Jerusalem, the global status of Yasir Arafat, and the dependence on foreign backing. I argue that “the PLO can be understood only with reference to its Zionist inspiration. Indeed, imitation offers important insights into the PLO’s future course.”
“The Road to Damascus: What Netanyahu Almost Gave Away in 1998″ contains a scoop about the Israeli-Syrian negotiations of August and September 1998. Completely secret, these talks were conducted by an unlikely pair of amateur Americans—the businessman and former ambassador Ronald Lauder and the editor of the journal Middle East Insight, George Nader. They approached an agreement but were thwarted in the end by the Israeli defense and foreign ministers, whose objections overrode Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s hopes for a deal. Given what has occurred in Syria since 2011, Israel is very fortunate those objections prevailed. This case study remains of interest for the insights it offers into Arab-Israeli diplomacy, Israeli politics, and the man who both then and now heads Israel’s government.
II. Middle Eastern Politics
“Understanding Middle Eastern Conspiracy Theories” introduces an extensive subject by examining the nature of the conspiracy mentality, the gullibility of the people who hold them, and their leaders, concluding with a case study of Iraq and Iran. This chapter provides the context for the next one, which asks how governments should respond to the irrational world of conspiracy theories. The Central Intelligence Agency commissioned me to explain how these operate, which I later published as “Dealing with Middle Eastern Conspiracy Theories.” I argue that ignoring the phenomenon of conspiracism, as Washington tends to do, neglects key aspects of the Middle East; therefore, government agencies should devote serious attention and generous resources to understanding this type of thinking. Beyond paying them heed, I suggest developing policies with a specific awareness of the region’s conspiracist mindset. This, in turn, leads to an interesting question: should the US government take advantage of vulnerabilities presented by conspiracism, or work to diminish this dangerous attitude? The answer is not self-evident.
Before the Syrian civil war erupted, area specialists generally scoffed at seeing the rulers’ Alawi identity as defining their place in Syria, preferring to emphasize their geographic or ideological features. I begged to differ and concentrated instead on Alawi tensions with Syria’s majority Sunni community. The centerpiece of my argument appeared in a 1989 analysis, “The Alawi Capture of Power in Syria.” I provided background on the Alawis and on their despised place in Syrian society until 1920, then traced their dramatic and unexpected ascent over the course of the next fifty years, culminating with Hafez al-Assad’s seizure of power in 1970. The most striking aspect of this analysis is that Alawis are not Muslims, which in itself led to their consequently terrible relations with Sunnis over the centuries. Two mid-nineteenth-century observations about the Alawis capture their longstanding characteristics: “They are a wild and somewhat savage race, given to plunder, and even bloodshed, when their passions are excited or suspicion roused”; and Alawi society “is a perfect hell upon earth.” Westerners remained largely oblivious to these tensions through forty-five years of Alawi rule, from 1966 to 2011, only to watch them erupt in the horrific conflagration of the most vicious civil war in the modern Middle East.
First presented as my testimony to the House Committee on Government Reform, “The Scandal of US-Saudi Relations” describes a pattern of American obsequiousness—both public and private—in the areas of energy, security, religion, and the treatment of Americans in the kingdom. Example after example demonstrate how weakly the American side behaves when confronted with Saudi will. Contrary to the usual logic, Riyadh sets the terms of this bilateral relationship; a change has taken place, “with both sides forgetting which of them is the great power and which the minor one.” This chapter documents that claim, explains it, and offers a specific policy recommendation to correct the problem.
I wrote “Obituary for Nizar Hamdoon (1944–2003)” for two reasons. First, I’ve never met a diplomat quite like him when he served as Saddam Hussein’s ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Washington in 1984–87, just as full diplomatic relations between the two countries were reinstated, and as the Iraq-Iran war reached its apogee. Hamdoon took seriously his task to develop American support and did so most impressively, even as he worked for a monstrous tyrant. Second, he contacted me in May 2003, a few months after the fall of Saddam and just weeks before his own death. I did not manage to ask him the barrage of questions I had prepared but I did get some valuable information while sitting with him in a New York City Starbucks, some of which I record in this obituary.
The president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who took office in June 2014, remains a mystery; does he fundamentally differ from Husni Mubarak, or is he but a younger clone of the longtime dictator? I look at a student paper written by Sisi in 2006 when he spent a year in the United States, to determine the answer to “What Egypt’s New President Really Thinks.” He turns out to be “a work in progress, a fifty-nineyear- old still trying to discover who he is and what he thinks even as he rules a country of eighty-six million. On-the-job training is literal in his case.” This means he can be influenced, which offers opportunities for foreign governments.
III. Islam in Modern Life
The final three sections take up my other central interest, the role of Islam in public life. Two themes recur here: a recognition that the dream of applying Islamic law looms over Muslim life, giving it similar rhythms regardless of time and place; and the need to take Muslim experience into account, which means noting changes over time, rather than simply assuming the static authority of scripture.
“Islam currently represents a backward, aggressive, and violent force. Must it remain this way, or can it be reformed and become moderate, modern, and good-neighborly?” Against the growing and vocal body of analysts who answer that the Muslim faith cannot advance because its features are immutable, I argue that change for the better is possible in “Can Islam Be Reformed?” In it, I contend that Islam does not have an essential and unchanging core; Muslims and non-Muslims alike should work toward the reformation of the religion by building on the “medieval synthesis” that made Islam a flexible faith until two hundred years ago.
A great debate exists between those who argue that becoming modern requires emulating the West and those who disagree, saying alternative routes to modernity exist. As its title “You Need Beethoven to Modernize” implies, I come down on the side of the importance of Westernizing. To be fully modern, I find, “means mastering Western music; competence at Western music, in fact, closely parallels a country’s wealth and power.” I establish this point by looking at two civilizations, Muslim and Japanese. “Muslim reluctance to accept Western music foreshadows a general difficulty with modernity; Japanese mastery of every style from classical to jazz help explain everything from a strong yen to institutional stability.” Beethoven’s music is not in itself functional, but unless you master it, you cannot enter the inner sanctum of modernity.
I delivered “Denying Islam’s Role in Terrorism: Why?” at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, Israel. In it, I document and explain a curious pattern: the Establishment in the West (including politicians, the police, the press, and the professorate) routinely denies that Islamism represents the leading global cause of terrorism, even though it and everyone else knows otherwise. About five daily assaults in the name of Islam since 9/11 notwithstanding, Islamic motives are rarely noted. While euphemism, cowardice, political correctness, and appeasement all contribute to this pattern, I argue that two other, quite respectable reasons are paramount: not wanting to create even more trouble by offending Muslims and a widespread awareness that implicating Islam implies a major shift away from how secular Western societies are presently ordered. Unless the number of casualties of Islamist terrorism increases substantially, I predict no changes to the current state of denial.
Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1989 edict against Salman Rushdie stands out as one of the most original and consequential political developments of recent times. Ignoring international boundaries and established freedoms, the Iranian despot sentenced to death the author of a novel called The Satanic Verses “and all those [knowingly] involved in the publication.” While Westerners offered respectable resistance to this Diktat, I argue in “The Rushdie Rules Ascendant” that the passage of time has weakened their will, and especially that of liberals. That’s because, now, “defenders of Western civilization must fight not just Islamists but also the multiculturalists who enable them and the leftists who ally with them.” This augurs badly for the continued maintenance of traditional freedoms in the West.
IV. Islam in the United States
In a sociological survey, “Faces of American Islam: Muslim Immigrants,” the late Khalid Durán and I cover a range of topics: demography, geography, history, motives, religion, socioeconomics, children, sex, and institutions. We conclude that immigrants, not converts, are the key Muslim protagonists in the United States; that developing a distinctly American form of Islam will be a great challenge; and that “both the United States and Islam are likely to be deeply affected by their mutual encounter.” These being two of the most powerful cultural forces in the world (along with the Chinese civilization), the result of their interaction is not only unpredictable but also very consequential.
In contrast to the grand sweep of the last chapter, “CAIR: Islamists Fooling the Establishment,” written with Sharon Chadha, examines in close detail the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the most aggressive and arguably the most effective of American Islamist groups. Our exposé reveals CAIR’s connections to terrorism as well as its efforts to stymie counterterrorism, its ties to non-Muslim political extremists, the irregularities about its funding, its real goals, and its reliance on intimidation. Chadha and I conclude this 2006 analysis asking, “How long will it be until the Establishment finally recognizes CAIR for what it is and denies it mainstream legitimacy?” Nine years later, that recognition has yet to be conferred, so our data retains its pertinence.
In “Barack Obama’s Muslim Childhood,” I establish that Barack Hussein Obama was born and raised a Muslim, provide confirming evidence for this from recent years, survey the perceptions of him as a Muslim, and place this deception in the larger context of Obama’s other autobiographical fictions. In brief, the record points to Obama being “child to a line of Muslim males, given a Muslim name, registered as a Muslim in two Indonesian schools.” Further, “he read Koran in religion class, still recites the Islamic declaration of faith, and speaks to Muslim audiences like a fellow believer. Between his non-practicing Muslim father, his Muslim stepfather, and his four years of living in a Muslim milieu, he was both seen by others and saw himself as a Muslim.” This deception points to a deep character flaw.
V. Individuals and American Islam
US promoters of Islamism, both Muslim and non-Muslim, have great importance shaping the future of American Islam. Will they manage to keep radical interpretations dominant, or will they lose ground as other Muslims reclaim their faith?
The press lavished praise on an Egyptian-born professor of law at the University of California at Los Angeles as a moderate, but I sensed otherwise. In “Stealth Islamist: Khaled Abou El Fadl,” I establish that the media’s darling is in fact an Islamist, and all the more dangerously so for misleading potential critics. That he got away with this duplicity despite a long bibliography available in English, “points to the challenge of how to discern Islamists who present themselves as moderates” and the need to do serious background work before anointing anyone as a reformer. “Failing proper research, Islamists will push their way through Western institutions and ultimately subvert them.” How many more individuals are like him, burrowing into the system?
“Waging Jihad through the American Courts: Iqbal Unus” tells how a nuclear physicist of Pakistani origin living in the Washington, DC, area with close links to many Islamist organizations thwarted counterterrorism work through his legal challenge to both the US government and a private counterterrorism researcher, Rita Katz. Although his legal case never had a chance of success and was, in fact, dismissed with prejudice by the presiding judge, it nonetheless brought a raft of benefits to Unus and his colleagues, from gumming up the works to gleaning information to winning public sympathy. In response, I call for changes in the legal system to prevent such predatory legal tactics.
My connection to the third individual began with a crudely written summons for me to appear in federal court in Texas. To make the crazed legal proceedings more endurable, I researched the plaintiff with the intent of publishing what I discovered about him. I held off, however, until a key ally of his switched sides, bearing important information. The result is “A Palestinian in Texas: Riad Hamad,” a cautionary tale of “immigrants who bring with them the bad habits imbued by tyrannical politics and radical ideologies.”
Finally, I look at an Islamist fellow traveler, an eight-term congressman from Cleveland, in “Lefty for Radical Islam: Dennis Kucinich.” In his 2004 presidential effort, Kucinich set a number of precedents in his appeal for Muslim votes—claiming to keep a Koran in his office, rousing audiences to proclaim Allahu Akbar, and visiting Muslim organizations Introduction xvii during his campaign travels. Although “seeking the Islamist vote in 2004 was a sure way not to reach the White House,” his tender treatment of Islamists offered innovative methods that other Democratic Party politicians will likely adopt.
Editorial Practices
These chapters appear essentially unchanged from their original publication: I have corrected typographical errors and other minor mistakes, and added clarifications to once-familiar references that have become obscure. Further, some texts reflect the original work that the author submitted rather than the final publication. Where I have updated a text, an elevated, hollow dot, °, indicates the beginning and end of the new information.
© Transaction Publishers.
[1] Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ode to the West Wind and Other Poems (New York: Courier Dover, 2012), p. 15. I thank Anne Mandelbaum for pointing out this poem as well as for her generous help with the editing of my writings.
[2] Lectures on the Philosophy of History, trans. into English by J. Sibree (London: George Bell and Sons, 1902), p. 454. In German: “Viele Reiche und Dynastien hat der Mohammedanismus bei seiner Ausbreitung begründet. Auf diesem unendlichen Meere wird es immer weiter, nichts ist fest.” Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Geschichte (Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1970), p. 431.
[3] Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996), p. 254.

What signs indicate that the end times are approaching?"
GotQuestions.org?
Answer: Matthew 24:5–8 gives us some important clues for discerning the approach of the end times: “Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” An increase in false messiahs, an increase in warfare, and increases in famines, plagues, and natural disasters—these are signs of the end times. In this passage, though, we are given a warning: we are not to be deceived, because these events are only the beginning of birth pains; the end is still to come.
Some interpreters point to every earthquake, every political upheaval, and every attack on Israel as a sure sign that the end times are rapidly approaching. While the events may signal the approach of the last days, they are not necessarily indicators that the end times have arrived. The apostle Paul warned that the last days would bring a marked increase in false teaching. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). The last days are described as “perilous times” because of the increasingly evil character of man and people who actively “oppose the truth” (2 Timothy 3:1–9; see also 2 Thessalonians 2:3).
Other possible signs would include a rebuilding of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem, increased hostility toward Israel, and advances toward a one-world government. The most prominent sign of the end times, however, is the nation of Israel. In 1948, Israel was recognized as a sovereign state, essentially for the first time since AD 70. God promised Abraham that his posterity would have Canaan as “an everlasting possession” (Genesis 17:8), and Ezekiel prophesied a physical and spiritual resuscitation of Israel (Ezekiel 37). Having Israel as a nation in its own land is important in light of end-times prophecy because of Israel’s prominence in eschatology (Daniel 10:14; 11:41; Revelation 11:8).
With these signs in mind, we can be wise and discerning in regard to the expectation of the end times. We should not, however, interpret any of these singular events as a clear indication of the soon arrival of the end times. God has given us enough information that we can be prepared, and that is what we are called to be as our hearts cry out, “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

U.S. State Dept. Bars Christians from Testifying about Persecution
Muslim Persecution of Christians, May 2015
by Raymond Ibrahim/July 24, 2015
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6141/state-dept-bars-christian-testimony
“This is an administration which never seems to find a good enough excuse to help Christians, but always finds an excuse to apologize for terrorists … I hope that as it gets attention that Secretary Kerry will reverse it. If he doesn’t, Congress has to investigate, and the person who made this decision ought to be fired” — Newt Gingrich, former Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives.
“The U.S. insists that Muslims are the primary victims of Boko Haram… The question remains — why is the U.S. downplaying or denying the attacks against Christians?” — Emmanuel Ogebe, Nigerian human rights lawyer, Washington D.C.
“Stop building churches. Convert to Islam, which is the true religion. Otherwise we will make a horrible example of you.” — Javed David, head of Hope for the Light Ministries, quoting a biker.
The Free Front of Algeria demands that all Christian churches remaining in the North African nation must be closed and reopened as mosques.
A Muslim mob in Deder, Ethiopia attacked a Christian man and forced him out of his home on pain of death in an effort to appropriate his land and build a mosque on it — despite recent court rulings confirming the Christian man’s property rights.
Accounts of Muslim immigrants taunting and even assaulting Christians in Italy are increasing.
“We are a poor nation. These people [Christian captives] have not done anything wrong and won’t harm anyone. We as Assyrians do not have this amount of [ransom] money you are asking for” — Bishop Mar Mellis, Syria.
During the height of one of the most brutal months of Muslim persecution of Christians, the U.S. State Department exposed its double standards against persecuted Christian minorities.
Sister Diana, an influential Iraqi Christian leader, who was scheduled to visit the U.S. to advocate for persecuted Christians in the Mideast, was denied a visa by the U.S. State Department even though she had visited the U.S. before, most recently in 2012.
She was to be one of a delegation of religious leaders from Iraq — including Sunni, Shia and Yazidi, among others — to visit Washington, D.C., to describe the situation of their people. Every religious leader from this delegation to Washington D.C. was granted a visa — except for the only Christian representative, Sister Diana.
After this refusal became public, many Americans protested, some writing to their congressmen. Discussing the nun’s visa denial, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said:
This is an administration which never seems to find a good enough excuse to help Christians, but always finds an excuse to apologize for terrorists … I hope that as it gets attention that Secretary Kerry will reverse it. If he doesn’t, Congress has to investigate, and the person who made this decision ought to be fired.
The State Department eventually granted Sister Diana a visa.
This is not the first time the U.S. State Department has not granted a visa to a Christian leader coming from a Muslim region. Last year, after the United States Institute for Peace brought together the governors of Nigeria’s mostly Muslim northern states for a conference in the U.S., the State Department blocked the visa of the region’s only Christian governor, Jonah David Jang.
According to a Nigerian human rights lawyer based in Washington D.C., Emmanuel Ogebe, the Christian governor’s “visa problems” were due to anti-Christian bias in the U.S. government:
The U.S. insists that Muslims are the primary victims of Boko Haram. It also claims that Christians discriminate against Muslims in Plateau, which is one of the few Christian majority states in the north. After the [Christian governor] told them [U.S. authorities] that they were ignoring the 12 Shariah states who institutionalized persecution … he suddenly developed visa problems…. The question remains — why is the U.S. downplaying or denying the attacks against Christians?
The testimony of another nun, Sister Hatune Dogan, also made in May, indicates why the State Department may not want to hear such testimonials: they go against the paradigm that “Islam is peace.” According to Sister Hatune:
What is going on there [Islamic State territories], what I was hearing, is the highest barbarism on earth in the history until today… The mission of Baghdadi, of ISIS, is to convert the world completely to the Islamic religion and bring them to Dar Al Salaam, as they call it. And Islam is not peace, please. Whoever says ISIS has no connection to Islam or something like this is, he’s a liar. ISIS is Islam; Islam is ISIS… We know that in Islam, there is no democracy. Islam and democracy are opposite, like black and white. And I hope America will understand. America today has the power that they can stop this disaster on the earth, with other Western countries.
The rest of May’s roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes, but is not limited to, the following accounts, listed by theme.
Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches
Pakistan: Three separate incidents involved attacks on churches:
1) On May 28, in the city of Chakwal, south of Lahore, Muslim men destroyed a Protestant church and beat six Christians, including the pastor. Some of those wounded had to be hospitalized. A few days earlier, Pastor Suhail Masih and his companions had been accused by local Muslims of carrying out “proselytism and conversions of Muslims,” according to a preliminary report.
2) Javed David, head of Hope for the Light Ministries in Lahore, and his associates, have been receiving death threats since February. The latest incident occurred in April, but became public knowledge only in May. According to David:
I had been to church in Sheikhupura to attend a meeting with colleagues. It was 8 o’clock in the evening when we left to return to Lahore. We were about to reach the main road when a motorbike drove up and blocked the way. Maybe they were following us. The two bikers were wearing a helmet (sic). One of them came up to my window and spoke to me. “We know what you are doing here,” he said. “Stop building churches. Convert to Islam, which is the true religion. Otherwise we will make a horrible example of you.”… [On another] occasion too, I was going home when a motorcycle stopped in front of me. The driver knocked on the window and threw in a piece of paper. I did not open it before I got home. It said, “This is an Islamic nation. We cannot allow church building. Either you convert to Islam or you leave this country! Stop building churches or you’ll pay the consequences!”
3) On May 29 in Faisalabad, around 2 a.m., a gang of Muslims on motorcycles attacked a church near the Sadar police station. They opened fire on the church and set its main gate on fire, damaging its windows. According to church cleric Dilawar Masih, “Though no human loss was reported in this incident, attackers gave a clear-cut message that Christians and their places of worship are not safe and they may be attacked any time by the terrorists.”
Egypt: Two churches were attacked:
1) On May 16, a homemade explosive device planted next to a Coptic Christian church was detonated around sunset. As the St. George Church in Tamiya (Fayum governorate) was mostly empty at the time, there were no casualties. However, the church’s administrative offices and second floor windows were shattered, creating chaos and panic in the area. Church security cameras captured the two men on a motorcycle, who stopped at the church. One of the men dismounted and placed a bag containing the bomb next to the church, and they then sped off.
2) On Sunday morning, May 31 in Senoras city, Fayum, masked men on motorcycles opened fire on an Evangelical church. Security forces guarding the church briefly exchanged fire with the masked men before they fled on their motorcycles. No one was reported hurt.
Canada: On May 26, a 22-year-old man of Muslim background was charged with alleged hate crimes committed against the St. Catherine of Siena Church and its neighboring elementary school in Mississauga, Ontario. Iqbal Hessan faces five counts of mischief, and over $5,000 in fines. On May 20, the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue that stands in front of the church was covered in black paint and the fingers of its outstretched arms were broken off. Behind the church, graffiti with the words “There is no Jew God” was scrawled across the brick wall along with a drawing of a face labelled “Jewsus.” That vandalism was the fourth time the church was targeted. On April 9, surveillance cameras caught a young man breaking into the church, ripping pages of the Sacramentary book on the altar, throwing them at the tabernacle, and then stealing one of the church’s sound-system speakers. On May 17, a drawing of a hand gesturing with the middle finger was found spray-painted on the front steps of the church. And on May 25, graffiti was sprayed on the school walls.
The St. Catherine of Siena Church and its neighboring elementary school in Mississauga, Ontario were vandalized this year by Iqbal Hessan, a 22-year-old Muslim man.
Algeria: According to Abdel Fattah Zarawi, the Muslim leader of the Salafi party, also known as the Free Front of Algeria, any and all Christian churches remaining in the North African nation must be closed and reopened as mosques. Although the transformation of Christian churches into Muslim mosques is nearly as old as Islam itself — Algeria was Christian-majority and even gave the world St. Augustine before Islam invaded and conquered it in the seventh century — the Salafi leader tried to portray his proposal as a “grievance” against rising anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe, especially France. Launched on social media and networks, the Salafi campaign against Algerian churches even calls for the transformation of the nation’s most important churches into mosques — including the Church of Notre Dame d’Afrique in Algiers, the Church of St. Augustine in Annaba, and the Church of Santa Cruz in Oran — since “they have no relation whatsoever to the religion of Algerian Muslims,” in the words of the Free Front.
Saudi Arabia: Sheikh Adel al-Kalbani, former Imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca and current prayer leader of Muhaisin Mosque in Riyadh, issued a tweet from his personal Twitter account, saying, “My beloved nation: It suffices me that you shelter me from hearing church bells ringing in you.” Due to his importance, the New York Times once issued an entire spread about al-Kalbani. The “hopeful” theme is how al-Kalbani managed to rise to the top in Saudi Arabia by becoming the first black Imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca. No word in any English language media, however, about his abhorrence for Christian churches and their bells.
Turkey: A 900-year-old Christian church in Turkey is to be renovated into a functioning mosque — despite previous governmental assurances that it would be renovated into a museum. Enez’s Hagia Sophia, the name of the ancient church, is located inside the city of Ainos, along the border with Greece and stationed atop a hill, visible to all. Another centuries-old church, Hagia Sophia in Trabzon, along the Black Sea, was reopened in 2013 as a mosque, although it was a museum for many years. Meanwhile, a majority of Turks await the re-transformation of the greatest Hagia Sophia (Constantinople’s) into a mosque.
Yemen: A Catholic church was seriously damaged during a Saudi bombing raid around mid-May. The church of the Immaculate Conception in Aden had earlier been occupied by Houthi rebels who had vandalized its interior. The airstrike by Saudi bombers — in support of the Yemeni government in its struggle with the rebels — did further damage to the structure. Only one Catholic priest remains in Yemen. Two priests fled the country to escape the violence, while another, who was out of the country when the fighting began, has been unable to return. Twenty members of the Missionaries of Charities have chosen to remain in the war-torn country, tending to the sick and the poor.
Muslim Attacks on Christian Freedom
Pakistan: On Sunday, May 24, a Christian man in the Sanda neighborhood of Lahore was accused of blasphemy when some Muslims saw him burning newspapers that reportedly contained Arabic verses from the Koran. After the accusation, a Muslim mob caught the Christian, severely beat him, and even attempted to set him on fire. A few months earlier, another Muslim mob burned a Christian couple alive inside a kiln after they, too, were accused of insulting Islam. The Christian youth — named Humayun Masih, said to be “mentally unstable” — was imprisoned and charged under section 295-B of Pakistan’s penal code, which prohibits the desecration of the Koran. After the attack on the Christian youth, the Muslim mob, reportedly thousands, rampaged through the neighborhood and set fire to Christian homes and a church. Christians in the region were attacked, and most fled the region; some of the mob was armed and gunshots were heard.
Egypt: On May 5, another Coptic Christian was convicted of blaspheming against Islam: “ridiculing or insulting a heavenly religion” in violation of Article 98 (f) of the Egyptian Penal Code. A judge in Daqahliya sentenced Michael Munir Beshay to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of one thousand Egyptian pounds. As International Christian Concern puts it: “Despite steps taken by the Sisi-led government to bring about greater tolerance and reforms, the conviction of Beshay is just another of many recent incidents highlighting the continued persecution of the country’s Christian minority.”[1] And Bishoy Armia Boulous — formerly known as Mohammed Hegazy, an apostate from Islam to Christianity — has remained imprisoned now for approximately a year, well past the legal six-month investigation period. All this time, he has been subject to physical and verbal abuse, from both prison guards and fellow inmates, on account of his “apostasy” from, and “blasphemy” against, Islam. He has been denied a Bible and has not had eyeglasses since they were intentionally broken some time ago. [2]
Iran: Ibrahim Firouzi, a Muslim convert to Christianity, was sentenced to the maximum five years in prison for “action against national security through collusion and gathering.” After Firouzi converted to Christianity, he was arrested on August 25, 2013 and convicted of evangelizing, colluding with “anti-regime” foreign networks, launching a Christian website, and working against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Although his prison term was supposed to end on January 13, 2015, authorities continued to hold him illegally, and on March 8 they sentenced him to serve another five years “in very difficult conditions.”
Dhimmitude
Syria: After failed negotiations, the Islamic State (IS) refused to release 242 Christian hostages captured during a late February raid along the Khabur River. On May 1, the IS demanded $242 million USD for the release of 93 women, 51 children, and 98 men taken captive. The Assyrian church, family and friends, unable to raise such a large sum, made a lesser, undisclosed offer, which IS rejected, saying it would no longer negotiate concerning the fate of the captive Christians. Based on Islamic law, their fate will now likely be slavery (especially women and children) or execution (especially men).[3]
Ethiopia: A Muslim mob in Deder attacked a Christian man and forced him out of his home on pain of death, in an effort to appropriate his land and build a mosque on it — despite recent court rulings confirming the Christian man’s property rights. “Their first plan was to kill my husband,” said Fikere Mengistu’s wife. “Now, he has escaped from the area. We are fasting and praying for God to rescue us from this forceful action.” She remains with her five children, elderly mother-in-law and 30 other Christians, praying on the property. “We did our best try to defend our faith based on the law of the country… Muslims are out of the control of the government and the law. What can we do?” said Mengistu.[4]
Iraq: Juliana George, a 16-year-old Christian girl living in Baghdad, was abducted from her home. According to her family, a person knocked on the door of their home and when she answered, she was seized by four men who forced her into a waiting taxi and sped away. Her grandfather, Joseph, a priest, chased the taxi on foot and grabbed its door, but eventually fell to the side as the vehicle sped away. She was eventually released after her family paid a $55,000 ransom to the abductors for her return. Juliana’s father, George, said that she has been traumatized by the experience: “I fear for her and my two other daughters…. There is no reason to believe that we will not be targeted again. I don’t see how we can stay in Baghdad after this.”
Turkey: On the same year that millions around the world commemorated the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, Turkish authorities started the demolition of Kamp Armen, an Armenian orphanage in the metropolitan district of Tuzla, despite the attempts by some political representatives to intervene. The orphanage was built in 1962 on the initiative of the Armenian Protestant community. A brief historical recap of the orphanage follows:
Thanks to its activities, the institution has helped 1,500 children to grow up in an environment based on the spirituality and culture of Armenian Christianity. There was also Hrant Dink among its students, the Armenian Turkish journalist, founder of the bilingual magazine Agos, killed in 2007 after being repeatedly threatened with death for his positions on the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish State had expropriated the orphanage in 1987, and all legal attempt (sic) by the Armenian Protestant communities to regain control of the building fell on deaf ears.
Italian Dhimmitude
Accounts of Muslim immigrants taunting and even assaulting Christians in Italy are increasing. Earlier this year, a crucifix was violently destroyed in close proximity to a populated mosque, and a statue of the Virgin Mary was destroyed and urinated on by a group of North Africans in Italy. In addition:
A Muslim schoolboy of African origin beat a 12-year-old girl at a school because she was wearing a crucifix around her neck. The boy, who had only started to attend the school a few weeks earlier, began to bully the Christian girl — “insulting her and picking on her in other ways all because she was wearing the crucifix” — before he finally assaulted her. Italian police did not charge the boy with any offense; they said he was a minor.
On Sunday, May 10, after church mass, a group of young Muslim immigrants from the Islamic Center interrupted a Catholic procession in honor of the Virgin Mary. They shouted verbal insults and threats as the group passed in front of the Islamic Cultural Center in Conselice, a small town in lower Romagna. Approximately 100 Catholic Christians, including several small children, were preparing to receive their first Holy Communion. They were reportedly stunned and confused and halted the procession before regrouping and hurrying past the Center.
Egyptian Dhimmitude
On Sunday, May 24, in the village of Kafr Darwish, just south of Cairo, a Muslim mob attacked Coptic Christian homes by throwing stones and Molotov explosives at them. More than 10 homes were torched and damaged. This attack was apparently prompted by a familiar narrative: one of the Coptic villagers, Ayman Youssef, was accused of posting cartoons offensive to Muhammad on his Facebook account. Youssef is illiterate and says he lost his mobile phone a few days before the alleged Facebook posting. Village elders and security representatives held a “conciliation session” and decreed that Youssef’s entire family — including the 80-year-old father and 75-year-old mother — must leave the village if angry Muslims were to calm down. The Christian family was told by the village mayor Ahmed Maher that police “cannot guarantee their safety if they remained in the village.”
Dr. Khaled Montaser, an Egyptian intellectual and frequent critic of the Islamization of the country, discussed how discrimination against Coptic Christians is widespread in certain medical professions. He said during a televised program that, although the pioneer of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Egypt was a Coptic Christian (Dr. Naguib Mahfouz), his grandson is banned from entering these professions because he is a Christian. Montaser confirmed that this policy, even if not a formal law, has caused Christian students increasingly to continue their studies abroad. He pointed out that this “policy” has become a norm — one of many that discriminates against Copts.
In a 25-minute interview on Arabic satellite TV with Dr. Mona Roman, Coptic Christian Bishop Agathon fully exposed the plight of his Christian flock in Minya, Egypt — a region that has a large Coptic minority that is steadily under attack. It was pointed out that the Egyptian state itself is often behind the persecution of and discrimination against Christians. According to the bishop, local governmental authorities — including the State Security apparatus — do not just ignore the attacks on Copts, but are often the very ones behind them.[5]
During a recent interview on Egyptian television, Dr. Yunis Makioun, head of the Al-Nour Party, the political wing of the Salafis, insisted that Islam commands Muslims to “protect” the nation’s Christian minority — a reference to their “dhimmi” status — and treat them properly. Even so, said the Salafi spokesman, Muslims, according to Islam, are forbidden to offer greetings or congratulations to Copts on any Christian holiday.
Coptic Kidnappings
Since the “Arab Spring” came to Egypt, the kidnapping of Coptic Christians has been on the rise. In Nag Hammadi alone, 77 persons have been abducted, and two killed.
Makram Nazir , a 55-year-old Coptic Christian man was kidnapped and killed. Nazir was returning home from his second job in the middle of the night on April 26, when he was seized. His abductors called his brother and demanded a million Egyptian pounds (equivalent of $131,000 USD). As it was an impossible amount to raise, the Coptic man’s family negotiated a significantly reduced price by phone with the abductors. The brother went to the local police station, provided them with all the information, including recordings of the phone calls, but, according to Watan News, “no one made a single move or took the matter seriously.” After paying the ransom, three days passed before Nazir’s family found the Coptic man’s corpse in a canal. Killing Christian hostages even after being paid the ransom is not uncommon in Egypt. The same happened to 6-year-old Cyril Joseph: on May 2013, it was reported that his “family is in tatters after paying 30,000 pounds [about $4000 USD] to the abductor, who still killed the innocent child and threw his body in the sewer system, where the body, swollen and moldy, was exhumed.”
Armed gunmen seized an 8-year-old Coptic Christian child, Antonious Zaki Hani, who was walking with his mother to school in Nag Hammadi. Four armed gunmen appeared, forced the child from his mother on the threat of death, and fled in a car. The kidnappers demanded two million Egyptian pounds ($262,000 USD) in ransom. Police eventually released the boy 17 days after he was kidnapped, although some activists say police knew earlier where the boy was being held.
On May 2, another Coptic Christian girl, Marina Magdi Fahim, 17, vanished after leaving her home around midday in the Hanofil region of Alexandria. Her family reported her disappearance to the authorities. Human rights activists say the girl was not reported injured at any hospital — a sign that she was kidnapped. She has not been seen since.
A few days earlier, another 17-year old Coptic Christian was kidnapped in the village of al-Kom al-Qibliyya in Samalout. An eyewitness said he saw a Muslim neighbor named Ahmed Khalifa seize the girl. Although the family planned to organize a protest, the village elders counseled against it, lest it backfire by provoking more of the area’s Muslims to retaliate against the Christian minority of the region, as often happens whenever Copts ask for their human rights.
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians is expanding. “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed to collate some — by no means all — of the instances of persecution that surface each month.
It documents what the mainstream media often fails to report.
It posits that such persecution is not random but systematic, and takes place in all languages, ethnicities and locations.
[1] Beshay’s case is only one of several concerning Christians accused of, and punished for, insulting Islam. In April, Gad Yunan, a Coptic Christian teacher, and some of his Coptic students, were arrested on the charge of insulting Islam. Their crime was to have made a 30-second video on Yunan’s iPhone mocking the Islamic State — which Egypt’s Muslims and authorities apparently equate with mocking Islam, even as Muslims in the West insist ISIS has “nothing to do with Islam. Last year, Kerolos Shouky Attallah, a young Coptic Christian man accused of blaspheming Islam for simply “liking” an Arabic-language Facebook page administered by an anonymous group of Christian converts, was sentenced to six years in prison. The Copt did not make any comments on the site, share any of the postings or upload anything to it, and removed his name from the page once he realized that it might offend Muslims. In the hours preceding the sentencing, a rioting mob burned down several Christian-owned shops. He remains in hiding.
[2] According to lawyer Karam Ghobrial, the reason his client is being held and tortured in prison has to do with what made Bishoy notorious some years back in the first place: his audacity not only to convert to Christianity, but to try formally to change his religious identity from Muslim to Christian on his ID card — prompting much public animosity and death threats against him at the time.
[3] According to Bishop Mar Mellis:
We tried many times to negotiate with the people that captured them and for their release.
We offered them an amount of money in accordance with the law of jizya but sadly after a week the negotiator between us returned and told us that ISIS wanted $100,000 for each person. They were asking for over $23 million.
We are a poor nation. These people [Christian captives] have not done anything wrong and won’t harm anyone. We as Assyrians do not have this amount of money you are asking for. We offered an amount of money that we cannot disclose at this time. With the amount we offered, we thought it was acceptable, to have the return of the 230 people.
After two days, they [Islamic State] told us: “The amount the church offered was not acceptable. From now on, we will no longer negotiate with you.” We then thought we would wait, hoping they would come back to talk. Sadly, we received word that the 230 kidnapped people will be sent to the Court of Sharia in Raqqa, where a Muslim judge from Mosul will deliver their fate.
In the context of these ongoing attacks that the ancient Assyrian Christian community has been exposed to, particularly at the hands of IS, Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana of the Assyrian Church of the East declared before a European parliament on human rights that “Assyrian Christians are facing a danger that threatens their existence in their historical regions.”
[4] According to International Christian Concern:
Fikere Mengistu’s family has owned their land for more than 90 years, but a mob of more than 20 Muslims in Kufanzik village remain intent on forcibly building a mosque on the Mengistu farm in defiance of the law. Muslims make up the religious majority in the area. They have destroyed his fence and have looted his possessions. In addition, the local police are complicit in these attempts to steal his land…. The authorities are letting it happen. In the past, he has faced threats from local police officers, has been forced to pay bribes, and has been imprisoned simply because he is a Christian.
[5] For example, when the Copts were having a serious council meeting with government officials about the possibility of building a church, one of the authorities actually contacted the Islamic sheikhs of the village asking whether they “stand with the Coptic church or with the State?” If the latter, each Muslim household was instructed to send one family member to protest against the proposed building of a church — so that security can then point to the mob and, as usual, just tell the Copts, “Sorry, no can do.”
Other times, State Security is complicit: Male and female Christian minors — currently 21 from just Minya alone, said the Coptic leader — are habitually abducted by surrounding Muslims. At the moment, the youngest Christian girl abducted had just started elementary school. Whenever any of these attacks occur, Copts, working with the church, prepare bundles of documents, including photos and other verifications, incriminating the culprits. These then are placed into the hands of top officials, to make sure they don’t get “lost” or “misplaced” by underlings. The bishop named many of these top people — at no small risk to himself — and said he even put such proofs and documents into the hands of the Director of Intelligence himself. “Absolutely nothing was done,” said the despondent Christian.
He discussed the difficulties that Copts encounter whenever they want to build a church — due to their dearth, some of the current churches serve tens of thousands of Christians — or even make simple repairs. By way of example, he explained how the Virgin Mary Church in Safaniya village has no bathrooms or running water. Christians “tried time and time again to get approval to build bathrooms, to no avail.” The bishop lamented how elderly and sick people sometimes urinate on themselves during service, while mothers must change their crying babies’ diapers right on the pews.
In response, authorities told the bishop to “Go and ask the Muslims of your region if they will approve the building of a church, or bathroom, or anything — and if they do, so will we.”
It should be noted that Islamic law specifically bans the construction or repair of churches.
Clearly frustrated, the bishop added: “We as Copts are human beings. And envy takes us when we see our Muslim brothers build mosques where they will, how they will, at any place and at any time. And the State helps them! But as for us, we cannot build anything and that which is already open is being closed…. We, the Copts, are citizens with rights; and we see Muslims get whatever they want, while we are always prevented.”
The Coptic bishop also said that sometimes Christians are punished whenever they go and “bother” authorities about their treatment. For example, when a Coptic delegation went to make a formal complaint, one of them was immediately kidnapped. His kidnappers demanded and received 120,000 Egyptian pounds for his release. Police were notified — even told where the exchange of money for hostage was to take place — but did absolutely nothing. The bishop referred to this incident as a “punishment” while Dr. Roman, the Coptic hostess, called Minya, Egypt a “State of Retribution” against those Copts who dare refuse to suffer quietly,” adding, “Al-Minya is apparently not an Egyptian province; it is governed by ISIS.”
Finally, Bishop Agathon made clear the despondency he and the average Christian in Egypt feel, repeatedly saying that, no matter which official they talk to, “nothing will change.” If anything, the plight of Egypt’s Christians has gone “from bad to worse,” said the bishop: “We hear beautiful words but no solution.”
Dr. Roman concluded by imploring Egyptian President Sisi, saying: “I’ve said it before: President Sisi is very meticulous and aware of the nation’s issues. Why, then, is it that the Coptic plight in Minya is being ignored? Why is he turning a blind eye toward it?”
Bishop Agathon concluded by saying that “Copts are between a state anvil and aggressor hammers,” meaning that, the state serves only to keep its Christian citizens in place while Islamic radicals pound away at them.
Raymond Ibrahim is author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War in Christians (published by Regnery in cooperation with Gatestone Institute, April 2013).
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December, 2013
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December, 2012
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