LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
January 19/17
Compiled
& Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The
Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletins17/english.january19.17.htm
News Bulletin
Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006
Bible Quotations For Today
I desire
mercy, not sacrifice. For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew
09/09-13/:"As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting
at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed
him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came
and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they
said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are
well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what
this means, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." For I have come to call
not the righteous but sinners.’"
For we are not peddlers of
God’s word like so many; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as
persons sent from God and standing in his presence
Second Letter to the Corinthians 02/12-17/:"When I came to Troas to
proclaim the good news of Christ, a door was opened for me in the Lord; but my
mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said
farewell to them and went on to Macedonia.But thanks
be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through
us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being
saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other
a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For
we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many; but in Christ we speak as
persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence."
Titles
For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on January 18-19/17
Articles In Arab Press Warn About Possible Assassination Of U.S.
President-Elect Donald Trump/MEMRI/January 18/17
People-to-people engagement is backbone of India-Gulf relations/By Ehtesham Shahid/Al Arabiya/January 18/2017
Could Jared Kushner resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict/By Aaron David
Miller/CNN/January 18/17
Dear Donald Trump: A letter from a Syrian refugee/Abdulazez
Dukhan/Al Jazeera
News/January 18/17
Germany's New Propaganda Bureau/Big Brother is Watching YOU!/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/January 18/17
Covering Up Armenian Genocide/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/January 18/17
The death of international consensus on Palestine/Chris Doyle/Al Arabiya/January 18/18
A new café in Baghdad’s neighborhood/Adnan Hussein/Al
Arabiya/January 18/18
Is Trump our messiah? Don’t be so sure/Aviad Kleinberg/Yneynews/January 18/17
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News
published on January 18-19/17
Parliament Passes 19 Laws in Legislative Session,
Election Law Not on Agenda
Hariri Chairs Cabinet Meeting: Holding Elections is Govt.'s Priority
Berri adjourns Parliament session, Riachy confirms postponing MoI
contractual employees' dossier doesn't imply thwarting it
Parliament approves draft bill on exercise of psychiatrist profession
Report: PSP Delegation in Baabda to Propose
Amendments to 1960 Law
Aoun in front of Diplomatic corps: We are in need of
new mentality and profound change
Aoun, Syriac Orthodox
Patriarch take up community related affairs
74-Year-Old Man Kidnapped in Qab Elias
Rocket Fired from Arsal Outskirts Hits al-Nabi Othman amid Army Crackdown
Mashnouq: Elections to be Held on Time unless New Law
Passed
Gemayel to Berri:
Discussing an Election Law Part of Parliament's Duties
Lebanese Army Closes Illegal Border Crossings in Hermel
Berri 'Distressed' over Electoral Law, Urges Cabinet
to Meet its Vows
Army cordons off Brital, raids residence of Richa's suspect kidnapper
Army sets up checkpoints in Baalbek's North Street
Sarraf: We commit to 1701, we ask for our natural
resources in regional waters
Titles
For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January
18-19/17
Egypt: Four Christians Slaughtered in 10 Days
Fear grows among Egypt’s Christians after a Coptic doctor was stabbed in the
throat
Israel: New defense system can hit targets outside
the atmosphere
Saudi mufti warns of 'depravity' of cinema, concerts
Istanbul shooter directed by ISIS before attack
Orlando shooter’s wife charged in relation to attack
ISIS targets bombed near Syria’s Al-Bab
Written document to consolidate Syria cease-fire during Astana meet
Iran: Trump’s comments ‘psychologically’ influenced the nuclear deal
Iraq: Troops have ‘full control’ of eastern Mosul
Turkey issues arrest warrants for 243 military members
Fatah and Hamas to form unity government
Iran: 20 Executions in One Day; 57 Executions Since the Start of 2017
Political Prisoner Writes Revealing Letter to UN Special Rapporteur
IRGC Spokesman Threatens Iran Regime's Parliament Deputy Speaker
Iran: 20 People Receive $3.5 Billion Suspicious Loan From Teachers' Reserve
Fund
Iran: Prisoner Dies in Evin Prison Due to Lack of
Medical Attention
Iran Regime's Internal Discords Over Nuclear Deal
Obama Commutes Sentence of WikiLeaker Manning
Iran 'Hostile' to US Involvement in Syria Talks
Latest Lebanese Related News
published on January 18-19/17
Parliament Passes 19 Laws
in Legislative Session, Election Law Not on Agenda
Naharnet/January 18/17/The parliament held its first
legislative session in 2017 on Wednesday after quorum was met with 65
lawmakers, in a meeting that was chaired by Speaker Nabih
Berri. The controversial electoral law is not on the
agenda of the two-day legislative session. Out of 73 draft laws on the agenda,
the parliament approved 19 bills during its morning session on Wednesday as it
sent back two draft laws to the government, the National News Agency said.
Another draft law was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committees. “Most of the laws that have been approved by the parliament are
related to international treaties and proposals between
Hariri Chairs Cabinet Meeting: Holding
Elections is Govt.'s Priority
Naharnet/January 18/17/Prime Minister Saad Hariri presided Wednesday over a Cabinet session at
the Grand Serail, during which he stressed that the
government's “priority” is the organization of parliamentary elections. At the
beginning of the session, Hariri lauded President Michel Aoun's
speech before the the diplomatic corps and “the
national inclinations it included.”“I stress that our
priority in the government is to hold the parliamentary elections and that our
agenda will never include – neither secretly nor publicly – any intentions or
desire to extend the parliament's term,” the premier added. “All political
forces represented in the government are concerned with realizing this
approach, as much as they are concerned with agreeing on a new electoral law
based on unified standards that ensure fair representation,” Hariri said. The
session had 32 items on its agenda. The issue of amending the Lebanese
Petroleum Administration's financial system was postponed to the next session,
Information Minister Melhem Riachi
said after the session. Asked whether the Cabinet discussed the issues of the
Costa Brava garbage landfill, flight safety at
Berri adjourns Parliament session, Riachy
confirms postponing MoI contractual employees'
dossier doesn't imply thwarting it
Wed 18 Jan 2017/NNA - Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, adjourned this evening's parliament session, which
will resume discussions tomorrow, Thursday, at 11:00 a.m. In the wake of the
session, Information Minister, Melhem Riachy, told NNA correspondents that the Parliament's
decision to postpone discussions concerning the Ministry of Information's
contractual employees' dossier in no way meant that the matter has been
thwarted. "This matter will be discussed again in a month time. The case
of Information Ministry contractual workers will be set apart from that of
other public administration employees," Riachy
explained. In turn, MP Nawwar Saheli,
told NNA reporter that he had requested of the Prime Minister to seek the
opinion of the Civil Service Council, which had planned this proposal and
observed its drafting process.
Parliament approves draft bill on exercise of psychiatrist profession
Wed 18 Jan 2017/NNA - The evening legislative session kicked off its work by
discussing a bill on the exercise of the psychiatrist profession in
Report: PSP Delegation in Baabda to Propose Amendments to 1960 Law
Naharnet/January 18/17/A Progressive Socialist party
delegation met with President Michel Aoun on
Wednesday, where talks focused on the controversial electoral law, amid reports
saying that the PSP leader MP Walid Jumblat had planned to suggest some amendments to the 1960
electoral law. The delegation included the MPs: Wael Abou Faour, Ghazi al-Aridi, Akram Shehayyeb,
Alaa Terron and Henri Helou. Aridi, who spoke to
reporters after the meeting, said: “We must not promote for proper
representation in the parliamentary elections while practicing sectarianism.
“The PSP wants to discuss the electoral law based on unified standards,” he
stated, adding that it is misfortune that statements made by some do not match
what is being put into implementation. Insisting on diversity and partnership, Aridi remarked: “If the standards are to adopt proper
representation (for the upcoming parliamentary polls), we hope that the opinion
of the Druze community is taken into consideration.” Earlier, reports have said
that the PSP delegation carries ideas of amendments that Jumblat
believes would develop the 1960 law, and help “save everyone's face.” They
added that the MP is expected to put forward a suggestion to create a new
governorate that includes the Chouf and Aley areas, and to reconsider the distribution of MPs in
Aoun in front of Diplomatic corps: We are in need of new
mentality and profound change
Wed 18 Jan 2017/NNA - President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, stressed on Wednesday the need for a new mentality
and profound change in a bid to rebuild the nation. "No nation can be set
right without principles and feeling with the other," President Aoun said on Wednesday during his reception of members of
the Consular corps in
Aoun, Syriac Orthodox
Patriarch take up community related affairs
Wed 18 Jan 2017/NNA - President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, met on Wednesday afternoon at
74-Year-Old Man Kidnapped in Qab Elias
Naharnet/January 18/17/A 74-year-old man was
abducted Wednesday in the Bekaa town of
Rocket Fired from Arsal
Outskirts Hits al-Nabi Othman amid Army Crackdown
A rocket fired from the outskirts of the Bekaa border
town of Arsal landed Wednesday in the plain of the
nearby town of al-Nabi Othman, media reports said.
Earlier in the day, the army deployed heavily in Arsal
and erected several checkpoints in its northern neighborhood,
state-run National News Agency said. The army measures come in the wake of
“recent attacks on Syrian refugees and Lebanese citizens in the town,” NNA
added. Militants from the Islamic State and the rival jihadist group Fateh al-Sham Front are entrenched in Arsal's
outskirts and in mountainous areas along the undemarcated
Lebanese-Syrian border. The Lebanese army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian forces have engaged in clashes
with them on the Syrian side of the border. The two groups overran the eastern
border town of
Mashnouq: Elections to be Held on Time unless New Law Passed
Naharnet/January 18/17/Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq announced
Wednesday that the parliamentary elections “will be held on time” under the
controversial 1960 electoral law unless a new law is passed. “The elections
will be held on time and won't be postponed for a single day, unless a new law
is passed,” Mashnouq told reporters after a Cabinet
session at the Grand Serail. Earlier in the day,
Prime Minister Saad Hariri had stressed that the
government's “priority” is the organization of parliamentary elections. Mashnouq and Speaker Nabih Berri had recently warned that the country is likely headed
to parliamentary elections under the 1960 law due to the parties' failure to
agree on a new law. Hizbullah has repeatedly called
for an electoral law fully based on proportional representation but other
political parties, especially Mustaqbal and the
Progressive Socialist Party, have rejected the proposal, arguing that Hizbullah's weapons would prevent serious competition in
regions where the Iran-backed party has clout. Mustaqbal,
the Lebanese Forces and the PSP have meanwhile proposed a hybrid electoral law
that mixes the proportional representation and the winner-takes-all systems. Berri has also proposed a hybrid law. The country has not
voted for a parliament since 2009, with the legislature instead twice extending
its own mandate. The 2009 polls were held under an amended version of the 1960
electoral law and the next elections are scheduled for May 2017.
Gemayel to Berri: Discussing an
Election Law Part of Parliament's Duties
January 18/17/Kataeb party chief MP Sami Gemayel
stressed on Wednesday that the parliament should have included the
controversial electoral law on its agenda in order to vote on one. “The
parliament's duties is to include, discuss and approve
an election law during its meeting,” said Gemayel.
Stressing the need to approve an electoral law that ensures proper
representation, the MP addressed Berri at the
beginning of the session, he said: “I know you are upset because a new law has
not yet been approved. The majority of the Lebanese want the change.”The parliament convenes on Wednesday to tackle 73
draft laws on its agenda that does not include the thorny election law.
Political parties are bickering over amending the current 1960 law which
divides seats among the different religious sects. The current parliament has
failed to amend the law, and has extended its mandate twice amid criticism. New
elections are scheduled for May 2017. Hizbullah has
repeatedly called for an electoral law based on proportional representation but
other political parties, especially al-Mustaqbal
Movement, have rejected the proposal and argued that the party's controversial
arsenal of arms would prevent serious competition in regions where the
Iran-backed party is influential. Mustaqbal, the
Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party have meanwhile proposed a
hybrid electoral law that mixes the proportional representation and the
winner-takes-all systems. Speaker Nabih Berri has also proposed a hybrid law.
Lebanese Army Closes Illegal Border Crossings in Hermel
Naharnet/January 18/17/The Lebanese army kicked off
efforts early on Wednesday and closed the illegal crossings on the
Lebanese-Syrian border in the northern Beqaa district
of Hermel, media reports said. It embarked on closing
the crossings near the towns of al-Qasr and Hosh Sayyed Ali, the reports added.
The operation was accompanied by tight security measures with units from the
force patrolling the area. According to VDL (93.3) radio station, the troops
have arrested four individuals of Syrian and Lebanese nationalities during a
raid in the region. The closure of the crossings was a step in future moves to
block more illegal crossings suspected of being used for smuggling operations
between the two countries.
Berri 'Distressed' over Electoral Law, Urges Cabinet to
Meet its Vows
Naharnet/January 18/17/In light of the debate over
approving a new electoral law, Speaker Nabih Berri urged the cabinet to implement the pledges it made in
its ministerial statement, and assured that the parliament will study and
approve all 75 draft laws listed on its agenda.
Berri renewed rejections on Wednesday for staging the
upcoming parliamentary elections based on the current 1960 law or the extension
of the parliament's term, saying: “No need to explain my stance again. I have
reached the threshold of despair,” he told Ad Diyar
in an interview. “Let the government apply the commitments it made in its
ministerial statement and put an electoral draft law,” he added. Political
parties are bickering over amending the current election law which divides
seats among the different religious sects.
The current parliament has failed to amend the law, and has extended its
mandate twice amid criticism. New elections are scheduled for May 2017. On the
parliament sessions scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, Berri
told the daily: “We have put all drafts laws ready for discussion on the
agenda. All 75 draft laws will be studied and approved even if I had to
schedule additional sessions to approve them all.” The parliament will hold two
general legislative sessions on Wednesday and Thursday at 11:00 a.m. to discuss
and approve several pressing items on its agenda. Berri's
call for a legislative session comes after President Michel Aoun
signed a decree to open an extraordinary parliamentary session to discuss
pressing draft laws.
Army cordons off Brital,
raids residence of Richa's suspect kidnapper
Wed 18 Jan 2017/NNA - The Lebanese Army has cordoned off Brital
village and raided the residence of Saiid Richa's suspect kidnapper, NNA field reporter said on
Wednesday. Earlier today, Lebanese national, Saad Gemayel Richa (74 years old), was
kidnapped by three gunmen as he was closing his store near Kob
Elias intersection, NNA field reporter said, adding that the kidnappers were
riding a black 4WD vehicle.
Army sets up checkpoints in
Wed 18 Jan 2017/NNA - The Lebanese Army has implemented wide-scale deployment
in Arsal and set up checkpoints in
Sarraf: We commit to 1701, we ask for our natural resources
in regional waters
Wed 18 Jan 2017/NNA - National Defense Minister Yaacoub Sarraf confirmed
Lebanon's "commitment to UN Security Council resolution 1701, most notably
UNIFIL."Minister Sarraf
on Wednesday received at his office Assistant to UN Secretary General in
Affairs relevant to Peace-keeping Operations Ghassin
Wane accompanied by head of UNIFIL Michael Beary,
whereupon talks focused on the strategic review for UNIFIL. Sarraf
said, "We decided to ask for our natural resources in the regional waters,
notably oil and gas - something requiring improving monitoring the regional water."Wane, for his part, appreciated discussing the
visionary strategy for UNIFIL, saying that his aim is to let UNIFIL assume its
role with more effeciency.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 18-19/17
Egypt: Four
Christians Slaughtered in 10 Days خلال
10 ايام قتل
في مصر 4 من
المسيحيين
Fear grows among Egypt’s Christians after
a Coptic doctor was stabbed in the throat
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2017/01/18/egypt-four-christians-slaughtered-in-10-days-%D8%AE%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-10-%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%84-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1-4-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%8A/
That the Coptic Christian Church continues to voice its support for President Sisi should not be interpreted to mean that the situation
of Egypt’s Christian minority has improved. One need only look to the
substratum of news for confirmation. The current month of January alone has
already witnessed three separate instances over the course of 10 days where
four Copts were slaughtered in
Fear grows among
Loula Lahham/Asia
News/January 16, 2017/ In the past two weeks, several
Copts have been murdered in
A few days earlier, on 5 January, security forces discovered the bodies of a
Coptic couple, Gamal Sami Guirguis
and Nadia Amin Guirguis,
stabbed to death in their home as they slept, in Monufia
Governorate, northern Egypt, about 85 km from the Egyptian capital….
Two days earlier, an
Saudi mufti warns of 'depravity' of
cinema, concerts
The New Arab/January 18/17
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/1/15/saudi-mufti-warns-of-depravity-of-cinema-concerts?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=sf
The mufti said cinemas and concerts corrupt morals and destroy values [AFP]
Saudi Arabia's highest-ranking cleric has warned of the "depravity"
of cinemas and music concerts, saying they would corrupt morals if allowed in
the ultra-conservative kingdom. "We know that singing concerts and cinemas
are a depravity," Grand Mufti Abdulaziz
al-Sheikh said in a television interview cited by Sabq
news website late Friday. The head of the Saudi supreme council of clerics was
responding to a question about the plans of the kingdom's General Authority for
Entertainment to license concerts and study opening cinemas.He
warned that cinemas "might show movies that are libertine, lewd, immoral
and atheist, because they rely on films imported to change our culture,"
according to Sabq. He said there is "no
good" in singing concerts, insisting that music entertainment and opening
cinemas represent a "call for mixing between sexes". "At the
beginning they would assign areas for women, but then both men and women will
end up in one area. This corrupts morals and destroys values," he said. However,
"entertainment through cultural and scientific media is okay," he
said, urging the authority "not to open doors for evil." Developing
tourism and entertainment in the desert kingdom is one of the wide-ranging
goals of Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 announced in April. The entertainment authority
has lined up several events, but a show by American stand-up comedian and actor
Mike Epps at a university campus in western
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Wednesday, 18
January 2017/The suspected gunman behind the new
year’s eve
Reuters,
ISIS targets bombed near Syria’s Al-Bab
AFP, Washington Wednesday, 18 January 2017/The US-led coalition has conducted
four strikes near the Syrian town of Al-Bab, a
significant move that will help Turkish forces fighting ISIS there, a US
official said Tuesday. "These strikes were the result of continued
cooperation with
Written document to consolidate Syria
cease-fire during Astana meet
Staff writer, Al Arabiya.net Wednesday, 18 January 2017/Russian news
agency ‘Interfax’ reported late Tuesday that a source involved in the Astana
meeting said there are expectations of a document to be signed during
negotiations for the implementation of a cease-fire in all parts of Syria. The
source added that the regime will expand the cease-fire as a result of the
meeting, which remains steadfast in general, despite the violations committed
by Assad forces and loyalists. About 20 of the opposition factions previously
confirmed that the talks will focus exclusively on the military side, which was
also confirmed by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov,
stressing that the main objective of the talks is the ceasefire. Mohammed Alloush, leader of the Army of Islam, will head the
delegation in Astana on behalf of the opposition factions. While Bashar al-Jaafari will head the
delegation system, according to media reported belonging to the Syrian regime.
However, the question remains about the regime's intentions, especially after
Al-Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday that
Lavrov said on Wednesday that all Syrian armed
factions are invited to attend negations in Astana except those linked to ISIS
or JAFSH. He said that his country is not opposed to the participation of the
"Army of Islam", which joined the truce in
Iran: Trump’s comments ‘psychologically’ influenced the nuclear deal
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Wednesday, 18
January 2017/The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday, in its fourth
report on the nuclear agreement between Tehran and the six major powers, that
the comments of President-elect Donald Trump, have psychologically affected the
implementation of the agreement. The Iranian Foreign Ministry disclosed in a
report published on its website that Trump’s remarks caused a sense of anxiety
and uncertainty over the fate of the agreement between a number of foreign
companies which are waiting for the new
No new talks
Prior to the arrival of Trump to the White
House, Iranian President Hassan Rowhani said
yesterday in response to the
Iraq: Troops have ‘full control’ of
eastern Mosul
The Associated Pres, Baghdad Wednesday, 18 January 2017
US-backed Iraqi government troops announced on Wednesday they were in “full
control” of eastern Mosul after routing ISIS militants from that part of the
northern city, three months since the major operation started. The achievement
was a “big victory,” said Iraqi Army Lt. Gen. Talib Shaghati, who commands the counter-terrorism forces,
describing the success of the Iraqi forces as “unprecedented.”Shaghatai,
who spoke to reporters in the town of Bartella, just
east of Mosul, said plans were now being drawn up to retake the western part of
the city. He did not elaborate on when that part of the operation would begin.
Wednesday’s advance came after Iraqi troops over the past days intensified
their push into the last ISIS-held neighborhoods in
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi
issued a statement, posted on his website, saying that “work is underway to
liberate” Ghabat and the area housing Saddam
Hussein’s former presidential palaces in eastern
But the prospect of retaking western
Regular Iraqi army troops are pushing from the city’s southeast and
northern edges, and the federal security forces from farther to the west.
More than 1 million people were estimated to still be living in
Reuters,
Anadolu said the suspects were being sought on
suspicion they were using Bylock, an encrypted smartphone messaging app that the government says was used
by the network of Fethullah Gulen,
the US-based cleric accused by
Fatah and Hamas to form unity
government
Al Jazeera and news agencies/January 18/17
Agreement reached after three days of talks in
"Today the conditions for [such an initiative] are better than ever,"
Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior Fatah official, said. The
deal also includes the Islamic Jihad group, which had not been involved in negotiations
for a long time.Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party and
Hamas have been at loggerheads since the latter seized
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Khaled
Elgindy, a senior Brookings Institute fellow and
former adviser on peace negotiations, said it is still not clear how different
the latest agreement is to previous deals.
Elgindy said the "most important factor"
prompting the unity agreement is the leadership change in
"President Abbas may be looking to shore up his
domestic position, and to insulate himself from what he sees maybe as a very
hostile administration coming into
Palestinian MP: Real challenge is implementation of unity deal
Al Jazeera's Natasha Ghoneim,
reporting from Moscow, said the agreement in Russia signals the Palestinians
"looking away" from the United States, which has been involved in the
peace process for decades. "Historically, peace discussions have been
dominated by the
"In principle, all of the Palestinian factions have agreed to form a
national unity government, including Hamas, and to establish a new Palestinian
National Council. But Abbas has yet to make a
decision that will take concrete steps in that direction.”
"Abbas will also have to consider the position
of the regional Arab powers who might cast a veto on the whole thing because of
their animosity toward Hamas."
With reporting from Al Jazeera's Ali
Younes. Follow him on Twitter @Ali_reports
نظام الملالي
يعدم 20 سجيناً
في يوم واحد
وقد بلع عدد
الذين اعدمهم
57 هذه السنة
Iran: 20 Executions in One Day; 57
Executions Since the Start of 2017
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2017/01/18/%D9%86%D9%88%D9%81%D9%84-%D8%B6%D9%88-%D9%86%D8%AD%D8%B0%D9%91%D8%B1-%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B9-%D9%82%D9%85%D8%B9-%D9%88%D8%AA%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B1%D8%A7/
NCRI/Wednesday, 18 January 2017/Maryam Rajavi urges
referral of the clerical regime's dossier of crimes to the UN Security Council.
The religious fascism ruling
The execution of at least 57 prisoners, mostly youths, has been registered in
On January 15, two young men, 20 and 23, were hanged in the Prison of Kerman. Arman Bahrasmani who was executed
in
Three prisoners in
The Iranian Resistance's President-elect Maryam Rajavi called on the UN Security Council and other relevant
international authorities to condemn the wave of executions by the mullahs'
inhuman regime and refer the dossier of the regime's flagrant and systematic
violations of human rights to the UNSC.Mrs. Rajavi added, "The crimes of the religious fascist
regime ruling Iran including the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988
as well as the torture of political prisoners and the mass executions carried
out on a daily basis in Iran, are examples of crimes against humanity and those
responsible for these crimes must be brought to justice. The International
Community's silence and inaction on such crimes against humanity have led to
the continuation of executions and killings of prisoners over the past two decades."Mrs. Rajavi called
on the courageous youths of
The secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran/January 17, 2017
Political Prisoner Writes Revealing Letter
to UN Special Rapporteur
NCRI/Wednesday, 18 January 2017/The political prisoner ‘Mohammad-Saber Malek Raeesi’
writes a revealing letter to Asma Jahangir, the UN
special rapporteur on the situation of human rights
in Iran, describing parts of the inhumane conditions as well as Iranian
regime’s medieval tortures in prisons. Currently spending his eighth year in
Ardebil Prison in exile and 20th day of hunger strike, Malek
Raeesi writes in his letter: “due to communicating
and meeting with my brother who lives in
IRGC Spokesman Threatens Iran Regime's
Parliament Deputy Speaker
NCRI/Wednesday, 18 January 2017/ As the factional feuding among Iran regime
factions escalates, three days after the deputy speaker of the regime’s
parliament, Ali Motahari, criticized IRGC hardliners
regarding the missile program, IRGC spokesman attacked him and said people like
Motahari should know they would be humiliated in
front of the Iranian people. The IRGC spokesman, Ramazan
Sharif, on Monday, January 16, without naming Ali Motaheri
said: “A representative of the Islamic Republic’s parliament has used
ill-conceived and reckless words regarding the missile maneuvers.
Such people should realize they will be humiliated in front of Iranian people.”In his statements, the IRGC spokesman called Motahari “weak spirit pro-western elements” who don’t have
any “correct understanding” of the security atmosphere of the country and
deliberately or unconsciously “echo the enemies’ voice.”The
IRGC Telegram Channel wrote that the statement of Ramazan
Sharif was a response to Ali Motahari. On Friday,
state-run
Iran: 20 People Receive $3.5 Billion
Suspicious Loan From Teachers' Reserve Fund
NCRI/Wednesday, 18 January 2017/ While retired teachers and educators are fed
up with poor living cultural and legal discrimination, head of the Education
and Research Commission of Iranian regime’s parliament revealed that 20 people
have received 11,000 billion Tomans (3.5 billion
dollars) loans from the Teachers and Educators Reserve Fund suspected on not
being paid back to the Reserve Fund. According to state-run Fars news agency,
Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi,
representative of the regime’s parliament from Kerman, in an interview with
parliamentary reporter of the news agency, said: “It is unfortunate that those
responsible for Teachers’ Reserve Fund, Investment (Capital) Bank, and the
Ministry of Education on their top have not yet filed complaint with Judiciary
against those who received huge loans from the reserve fund and affiliated
companies as well as the capital bank but have not yet paid back the loan.
““The loan is about 11,000 billion Tomans ($3.5
billion) and we feel that more than %60 of the loan is suspiciously not paid
back,” he said. According to state-run ILNA news agency, on Tuesday, January
17, a group of retired teachers and educators staged protest gathering in front
of Plan and Budget Organization bulling in
NCRI/Wednesday, 18 January 2017/ According to reports, on Monday, January 16, a
prisoner died in ward 7 of Evin prison in
NCRI/Wednesday, 18 January 2017/ On the anniversary of
the Iranian regime’s nuclear deal with the major world powers, the state-run Kayhan Newspaper slammed Hassan Rouhani's
government and wrote: "Nowadays the government has undoubtedly incurred
considerable and irreversible damages to the regime. Nevertheless, the
government still insists on following the principals of Iran Deal which was not
very much successful. Unlike Rouhani's claims, no
sanction has ever been annulled or lifted. Instead, more sanctions have been
imposed on
The international advisor of the regime’s Judiciary, Javad
Larijani, on the anniversary of Iran Deal said:
"The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) actually put an end to the
nuclear industry of
Obama Commutes Sentence of WikiLeaker Manning
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January
18/17/US President Barack Obama on Tuesday slashed the sentence of transgender
army private Chelsea Manning, who had been sentenced
to 35 years behind bars for handing classified
Obama has imposed sanctions on Russian intelligence services over the hack of
Democratic party emails, some of which were released
via WikiLeaks. - 'Victory' -In recent weeks the White
House had refused to be drawn on a possible commutation or pardon. But
spokesman Josh Earnest did attempt to paint a stark difference between Manning
-- who went through the courts and admitted wrongdoing -- and the likes of
Edward Snowden. Snowden, a former NSA contractor, fled to Hong Kong and then
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January
18/17/Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said late Tuesday that his government opposed the
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis
& editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 18-19/17
Articles In Arab
Press Warn About Possible Assassination Of U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump
MEMRI/January 18/17
Several articles recently published in the Arab press speculated that American
elements might attempt to assassinate U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump. They
noted that Trump has many enemies in
The following are excerpts from some of these articles.
Al-Ahram Columnist: I Predict Trump Will Soon Be
Assassinated
In a January 18, 2017 article titled "Trump Assassinated – A Report We
Will Soon See," Hani 'Asl, a columnist for the
Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram, predicted that
Trump would be killed. He wrote: "I predict that Trump will be
assassinated, if not immediately then soon, and the reasons for this are many.
Trump's opponents, Democratic and other, remind us of the people who filled the
squares during our [Arab] Spring. It's the same
strategy, the same wickedness and the same methods of protest. They see only
themselves, and anyone who disagrees with them is a criminal. Democracy,
elections and referendums do not impress them. [For them,] whoever shouts
loudest, makes the biggest commotion and the most noise and is the biggest thug
is the winner. We see them everywhere, clapping their hands and shouting, and
the media glorifies them.
"The American 'rebels' began by leaking embarrassing videos and false news
and rumors about the Republican presidential nominee.
After he surprised them and won, they undermined the most basic values of
democracy, refused to recognize his victory and threatened to not cooperate
with him. In fact, some radicals threatened that
"As the day of his inauguration drew near, they began placing more and
more obstacles in his path. On one occasion, the failing [president] Obama
issued some advice to the new Trump administration on how to run the country,
as though Obama had a recipe for success. On another occasion they refrained
from vetoing the famous UN Security Council resolution [condemning] the
[Israeli] settlements, in order to embroil Trump in a crisis with Israel and
the Jewish lobby [in the U.S.]. On a third occasion, [U.S. State Secretary
John] Kerry delivered a strange statement on the strategy for achieving peace in
the Middle East, [which sounded] as though brother [Kerry] had slept through
the last two Democratic terms in the White House... On a fourth occasion [they]
sparked unnecessary conflicts with
"Moreover, large and sensitive
Egyptian Columnist: Resistance To Trump And Protests Against Him Could Lead To
Attempts To Harm Him
Also in November 2016, immediately after Trump's election victory, Ahmad 'Abd Al-Tawwab, a columnist for
the official Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, warned of the
possibility that the president-elect would be assassinated. In a November 14
article titled "Will [Things Escalate] To A Trump Assassination?!",
he wrote: "There are some important questions that do not have convincing
answers regarding the daily proliferation and expansion of furious anti-Trump
protests, which have now spread [even] to states where [Trump] just won, such
as Florida... The questions build up in light of massive TV networks and global
newspapers that, contrary to every professional norm, continue criticizing
Trump and questioning his ability to perform the duties as president now that
the results [of the election] are in.
"Some will explain this by saying that Trump opened up many fronts and
incurred the fierce hostility of many elements, and that the immigrants,
Muslims, blacks, and all other oppressed groups that he offended with his rash
statements are not the strongest among [those elements]. There are some
elements in regime and influential and interested circles in society, who
understood ahead of time the danger of standing by and allowing [Trump] to
enter the White House. For these people, Hillary [Clinton] was the desired
successor [to Obama] since she supports many of their policies and there is no
risk that she will pounce without discretion and open up their still-hot cases,
such as those pertaining to the disasters they cause in our region. These
[elements] include weapons manufacturers and dealers, and the influential
sectors that grow rich off of global wars. This, in addition to large groups of
investors who exploit laws enabling them to liquidate their
"It is politically unwise to reject the possibility that these elements
are somehow involved in the protests. Who knows, perhaps the violence that has
now reared its head could develop into terrorist actions that will personally
harm Trump!"[2]
Article On Hizbullah Website: There May Be A U.S.
Plot To Assassinate Trump And Replace Him With Pence
Speculations about a possible assassination of Trump also appeared on the Hizbullah-owned website Al-Ahed
News. In a November 10 article, 'Ali 'Abadi wrote
that political elements in the U.S. might have him assassinated so that his
vice president, Mike Pence, would take his place: "Trump's presidency may
be plagued by problems between him and the politicians and media outlets that
form the mainstays of the traditional [political] system. [Trump] believes that
these elements are conspiring [against him] and want to eliminate him and his
voters, so we may soon witness a surprise or surprises in
"We must remember that during the [presidential] primaries, Trump managed
to impose himself as the nominee of the Republican party, which was initially
unsure [he was fit to serve as president], due to his strange personality and
his irresponsible speeches, and because he does not belong to the traditional
political club. [But] when it saw [the Republican] voters flocking to him, the
party leadership decided to give this 'wild horse' a chance to run against its
other nominees. After he beat them, it decided, given the circumstances, to
endorse him as its candidate. But there is a theory that this old party, with
its cunning members, means to control the situation by means of [Trump's] vice
president, Mike Pence. According to this scenario, Trump will [only] serve as
the rocket that carries the satellite. Once in orbit, [the rocket] will explode
in space and the satellite will strt
moving on its designated path!
"Hence, the first conflict that takes place between Trump and politicians
in
[1] Al-Ahram (
[2] Al-Ahram (
[3] Alahednews.com.lb, November 10, 2016.
People-to-people engagement is backbone
of India-Gulf relations
By Ehtesham Shahid/Al Arabiya/January 18/2017
“With renewable energy becoming a part of the agenda of the GCC countries,
India could also become the provider of renewable energy equipment and
technology and we could see a reverse flow on the energy side.”
This is how Piyush
“Energy is a part of the relationship but I think the more important and
defining feature is the human element. Millions of Indians come to
Goyal said
Energy interdependence
According to
“We have had wonderful interactions with countries like
Demonetization
Goyal emphasized that
Could Jared Kushner resolve the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
By Aaron David Miller/CNN/January 18/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2017/01/18/aaron-david-millercnn-could-jared-kushner-resolve-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict/
"Aaron David Miller is a vice president and distinguished fellow at the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and author of "The End of
Greatness: Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't Want) Another Great
President." Miller was a
(CNN)On Monday, two European newspapers published an interview with
President-elect Donald Trump during which he asserted (again) that his
son-in-law -- soon to be a special adviser in the White House -- is "a
natural" to fix the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
I wish my father-in-law had as much confidence in me. I've worked and analyzed
the Israeli-Palestinian issue for Republican and Democratic administrations
longer than Jared Kushner's been alive without much success. So why not give
Mr. Kushner a chance?
The fact that Mr. Trump is prepared to give this important brief to a
son-in-law who may become one of his closest advisers would ensure that the
issue gets high-level attention. Still, the odds of success are slim. And here
are several reasons why.
It's not the man in the middle: Let's stop infantilizing the Israelis and
Palestinians and treating them as if they were pieces on the chess board that
can be moved around at
Given the stakes, they are the only ones who can begin the game. And right now
neither Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas are prepared
to start, let alone make, big decisions.
It's no coincidence that every breakthrough in the conflict came about quietly
as a result of secret contacts directly between the parties. Once a foundation
was laid,
Timing is everything: Woody Allen was mostly wrong. Eighty percent of success
in life isn't just about showing up; it's a matter of showing up at the right
time. And now isn't the right time. Two days after his inauguration, Barack
Obama appointed the talented George Mitchell as a special envoy whom Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton empowered to help bring about peace.
Not only was the administration wrong in its assessment that the parties might
be induced to create an environment for serious negotiations; their analysis
that there was a deal that both parties could accept was misplaced, too. John
Kerry would make the same mistake.
If Mr. Trump is smart, he'll appoint nobody as a formal special envoy and
refrain from making bold statements about how
It's not just a real-estate deal: Well, actually there is a territorial
component; but it's much more than that. Mr. Kushner may have been wildly
successful in real estate in
It's not just a question of figuring out a way to reconcile the interests of a
couple of companies or big business tycoons. This is a matter of determining
whether the national interests of two peoples whose histories are shaped by
profound insecurity, historical trauma and wounding and religious and national
identity can be somehow made to coincide
And the negotiation is occurring against the background of an ongoing conflict
defined by occupation, violence, terror and, above all, domestic politics. It's
not just a question of losing power; the threat to these leaders is always
existential. The murders of Anwar Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin tell a tragic tale.
Confidence of both sides: Any negotiator must have the skills and sensibilities
to understand the needs and requirements of both sides. Mr Trump keeps talking
about his son-in-law cutting a great deal with
Any
Indeed, the easiest way to undermine any new envoy would be for the Trump
administration to move the US Embassy --or just the ambassador -- to
Let Jared Kushner have a chance to broker a deal between Israelis and
Palestinians. But let's be real. A solution to the Israeli- Palestinian
conflict would be one of the crown jewels of world diplomacy.
No American has ever cracked it -- in large part because the parties themselves
weren't prepared to own up to the decisions required to see matters through and
to get close enough so that an outside mediator might close the remaining gaps.
In 2001, I was asked to assist then-Bush administration
I wish you the best of luck, Jared Kushner. I really do.
Dear Donald Trump: A letter from a Syrian
refugee
Abdulazez Dukhan/Al Jazeera News/January 18/17
'We started the revolution holding roses and hoping for support ... the roses
turned into guns but the hope remains.'
Dear Donald,
My name is Abdulazez Dukhan.
I am 18 years old. I am one of the four million people who have fled
We started the revolution holding roses and hoping for support from the
international community. Years passed; the roses turned into guns but the hope
for support continues. Still, neither roses nor hope helped.
Could your predecessor have done anything to change our fate? I don't know. But
we will continue to have faith. Your words matter to us. You might be able to
change our future.
[Courtesy of Abdulazez Dukhan ]
I left
Like many others, we went to
We are weak. We wanted the international community's support and we know that
it will come. Faith is what moved us and faith is what is keeping us going.
Now I am a refugee. The hardest thing about living in a refugee camp is the
isolation. People build walls around us and countries build walls around those
walls.
Dear future president, borders kill dreams. I've seen dreams die before their
body - it leaves that person with no soul. For those of us who still have
faith, please don't build walls in front of us. Maybe today is my last day as a
refugee and tomorrow I will be safe somewhere in the world. Maybe I will go
back to my beloved
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/January 18/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9771/germany-censorship-propaganda
A married couple, Peter and Melanie M., were prosecuted and convicted in July
2016 of creating a Facebook group that criticized the
government's migration policy. Also, in July 2016, 60 people suspected of
writing "hate speech" online had their homes raided by German police.
None of the above seems to be enough, however, for the president of the
Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, from Angela Merkel's CDU
party, who believes that what Facebook is already
doing against "hate speech" is not enough. According to the CDU
politician, there is a need for more legislation.
The German government's view of what constitutes "hate speech" is
highly selective and appears limited to protecting the government's own
policies on immigration from legitimate criticism.
When massive antisemitism swept large German cities
in the summer of 2014, for example, no such anti-racist zeal was manifest on
the part of the German government. On the contrary, there were instances of
authorities practically facilitating hate speech. In July 2014,
Firebombing a synagogue, on the other hand, is simply an "act of
protest".
Officials in
"The acceptance of a post-truth age would amount to political
capitulation," the officials told Maizière in a
memo, which also disclosed that the bureaucrats at the Interior Ministry are
eager to see "authentic political communication" remain
"defining for the 21st century."
One wonders whether by "authentic political communication," the
officials of the Interior Ministry are referring to the way German authorities
scrambled to cover up the mass sexual attacks on women on New Year's Eve a year
ago in
"Considering the [upcoming] federal elections we must act very fast,"
the officials urged in the memo, citing the need to combat "fake
news."
In other words, the Interior Ministry's bureaucrats fear that Chancellor Angela
Merkel will lose the elections in September 2017, and are willing to do
whatever it takes to prevent that scenario, even if it means using (even more)
federal authority to crack down on free speech by inventing an official state
propaganda bureau. The current debate on "fake news" is a convenient
excuse.
Under a government program, which has enlisted the help of the German
non-governmental organization, the Amadeu Antonio
Foundation, led by Anetta Kahane
(who has turned out, in a fine twist of irony, to be a former Stasi agent and
informer) German authorities are monitoring how many supposedly
"racist" posts reported by Facebook users
are deleted within 24 hours. Justice Minister Heiko
Maas has pledged to look at legislative measures if the results turn out to be
"unsatisfactory". The program is scheduled to run until March 2017.
A married couple, Peter and Melanie M., were prosecuted and convicted in July
2016 of creating a Facebook group that criticized the
government's migration policy. Their page stated, "The war and economic
refugees are flooding our country. They bring terror, fear, sorrow.
They rape our women and put our children at risk. Make this end!"
Also, in July 2016, 60 people suspected of writing "hate speech"
online had their homes raided by German police.
None of the above seems to be enough, however, for the president of the
Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, from Merkel's CDU party,
who believes that what Facebook is already doing
against "hate speech" is not enough. According to Lammert,
there is a need for more legislation. A law to bring social
networks under penalty of fines if they fail to erase "hate messages"
and "false news" has just been announced by Volker Kauder, leader of the parliamentary group in Merkel's
current Bundestag and CDU/CSU faction, and Thomas Oppermann,
Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) parliamentary group.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has
also recently called on companies such as Facebook to
address "false announcements" on the Internet, saying he felt that
the Europeans were increasingly becoming "sensitive to who is fluttering
around them and who is telling them the truth."
All of this, naturally, has Merkel's strong support. She told the Bundestag in
a speech on November 23:
"I support efforts by Justice Minister Heiko
Maas and Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière to
address hate speech, hate commentaries, devastating things that are
incompatible with human dignity, and to do everything to prohibit it because it
contradicts our values".
Those "values" are clearly circumscribed: The German government's
view of what constitutes "hate speech" is highly selective, and
appears limited to protecting the government's own policies on immigration from
legitimate criticism.
When massive antisemitism swept large German cities
in the summer of 2014, for example, no such anti-racist zeal was manifest on
the part of the German government. On the contrary, there were instances of
authorities practically facilitating hate speech. In July 2014,
In another such instance, a German court found that the firebombing of a
synagogue in Wuppertal by two German Arabs and a juvenile accomplice was not
anti-Semitic, but rather "an act of protest" to "bring attention
to the Gaza war." The men were convicted of arson.
In
*Judith Bergman is a writer, columnist, lawyer and political analyst.
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The
articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of
Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced,
copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone
Institute.
Covering Up Armenian Genocide
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone
Institute/January 18/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9769/turkey-armenian-genocide
"In all of these operations children were part of the general population
targeted for wholesale destruction. In many instances they were also subjected
to separate and differential forms of mass murder." — Professor Vahakn Dadrian, in Children as
Victims of Genocide: The Armenian Case.
These forms of murder included methods such as mass drowning, mass burning,
sexual assaults, and mutilations.
"In
"A female survivor from Giresun relates how in Agn (Egin), Harput
province, some 500 Armenian orphans collected from all parts of that province
were poisoned through the arrangement of the local pharmacist and
physician." — Leslie A Davis, U.S. Consul at Harput.
More than 100 years after the genocide,
When experts deny the Armenian genocide and even try to prevent the
"As long as the genocide remains unrecognized, justice will not be
established. The curse of the genocide will not leave this land, and
U.S. President-Elect Donald J. Trump was recently called on to
"guarantee" to
"The
In the meantime, an Armenian protestant church in the Turkish city of
The walls of the church, which served as a place of worship for the Armenian
and Assyrian communities alike, is now loaded with advertising boards,
installed by the managers of the parking lot. Before that, the church was used
as a flour plant, a marketplace and a livestock market.
The city of
Professor Benjamin Lieberman in his book, Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in
the Making of Modern Europe:
"Elazig is a small city in Eastern Turkey of
several hundred thousand inhabitants, situated near a series of lakes created
by a dam on the
The historic town and citadel of Harput (also called Harpoot, Karpoot, and Kharperd) means "rock fortress" in Armenian.
After the founding of the Turkish republic in 1923, the government changed the
city's name to "Elazig".
According to professor Richard Hovannisian, the
Armenian genocide was the "physical elimination of the Armenian people and
most of the evidence of their ever having lived on the great highland called
the Armenian Plateau, to which the perpetrator side soon assigned the new name
of Eastern Anatolia".[2]
No matter how much the Turkish government is trying to erase the Armenian
heritage in Harput and the rest of Turkey, the
Armenian roots of the region are undeniable. As a medieval town, Harput seems to have developed under the Byzantine rule
(10th and 11th centuries – 938 onwards). According to the author T.A. Sinclair,
"The Byzantines presumably valued the site for the powerful castle rock,
but once a military base became established here a civilian population started
to form. No doubt this population, ethnically Syrian and Armenian, came in part
from the city of Arsamosata [a city in the Armenian
Kingdom near the Euphrates] further east, which started to give way to Harput, as well as from nearby villages."[3]
The Ottomans captured the region in 1515. Under the Ottoman administrative
system, the province was called Mamuretul-aziz. But
the Armenian presence in the city remained strong despite all of the massacres
and pressures to which they were subject, such as forced conversions to Islam.
According to another author, George Aghjayan:
"On the eve of the genocide... The figures as presented indicate that the
Armenian population of Kharpert remained relatively
static for almost a century, never deviating much from approximately
40,000."
It was in 1915 that Armenians were exposed to what they often call "Medz Yeghern" or "the
Great Disaster" when the leaders of the Turkish government set in motion a
plan to expel and massacre them.
The plan resulted in the systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians.
Today, most historians call this event a genocide–a
premeditated and systematic campaign to exterminate an entire people.
Armenian civilians, escorted by Ottoman soldiers, marched through Harput to a prison in nearby Mezireh
(present-day Elazig), April 1915. (Image source:
American Red Cross/Wikimedia Commons)
Professor Vahakn Dadrian,
an expert on the Armenian Genocide, wrote in his article, "Children as
Victims of Genocide: The Armenian Case":
"In the provinces of Sivas, Harput, Trabzon,
Erzurum, Diyarbekir, as well as the independent sanjaks of Urfa and Maras the genocide was earned out in
part through deportations and in part through massacres... In all of these
operations children were part of the general population targeted for wholesale
destruction. In many instances they were also subjected to separate and
differential forms of mass murder."[4]
These forms of murder included methods such as mass drowning, mass burning,
sexual assaults, and mutilations.
"[O]rphanages in which Armenian children were
gathered after the liquidation of their families served as transit camps for
subsequent annihilation through drowning."
U.S. Consul at Harput, Leslie A Davis, described a
horrendous scene of butchering around
"In the mass burning of Armenian orphans, plain sadistic fiendishness was
mostly at work. After eliminating the rest of the Armenian population, these
remnants had become a nuisance to the perpetrators. In several regards it was
deemed most economical to end their misery by torching them en masse. In four
provinces,
After describing the gaping bayonet wounds on most of the naked bodies, usually
in the abdomen or chest, sometimes in the throat with the victims showing
"signs of barbarous mutilation," Consul Davis declared:
"That which took place around beautiful
Mass poisoning and rapes of children were also widespread.
"An Armenian boy, adopted by a Turkish family in Mezre,
Harput province, related a graphic description of
rapes committed regularly by a Turkish man with the full knowledge of his wife
in that household. The other modality involves rape before murder. In
"A female survivor from Giresun relates how in Agn (Egin), Harput
province, some 500 Armenian orphans collected from all parts of that province were
poisoned through the arrangement of the local pharmacist and physician."
According to the author Deirdre Holding,
"I do not believe that there has ever been a massacre in the history of
the world so general and thorough as that which is now
being perpetrated in this region, or that a more fiendish, diabolical scheme
has ever been conceived in the mind of man."[5]
More than 100 years after the genocide,
When experts such as Amb. James F. Jeffrey and Soner Cagaptay deny the Armenian
genocide and even try to prevent the U.S. government from officially
recognizing it, they are not only killing the victims all over again but are
also preventing Turks from learning historical truths that they need to learn
in order to take the necessary steps to democratize their country.
However, there are also a few very courageous voices in
"Genocide denial perpetuates genocide. Denial is the exculpation of the
perpetrator and the criminalization of the victim. From course books to special
publications, from newspapers to television programs, Armenians have been
represented as those who deserve genocide. Since the foundation of the
Republic, the Armenians of Turkey have been living to this day in a society
that remains hostile to them and in close quarters with the grandchildren of
perpetrators who think exactly the way their predecessors did.
"As long as the genocide remains unrecognized, justice will not be
established. The curse of the genocide will not leave this land, and
Uzay Bulut, a journalist
born and raised a Muslim in
[1] Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in the Making of Modern Europe, by Benjamin
Lieberman. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2013.
[2] The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies, by Richard G. Hovannisian, Transaction Publishers, 2007.
[3] Eastern
[4] "Children as victims of genocide: the Armenian case", by Vahakn N. Dadrian. Paper
presented at the international Association of Genocide Scholars,
[5]
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The
articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of
Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced,
copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone
Institute.
The death of international consensus on
Chris Doyle/Al Arabiya/January 18/18
The international consensus on Israel-Palestine may
die this Friday with the inauguration of President Trump. Arguably the
so-called “West” might be witnessing its own funeral as well in a realigning of
the world order. Its last hurrah was the mild UN Security Council Resolution
2334 last December on Israeli settlements, its final
wake was the
Of course the bully wants to have free direct access to the bullied with no
impartial referee. If the parties are left to themselves,
The Netanyahu-Trump alliance
Set against this background, it was vital that the rest of the international
community does not give free rein to the Netanyahu-Trump alliance. The
The divisions in the consensus were all too clear.
Spoiler-in-chief was
For May, sacrificing the risible political support her government gives
Palestinians for favorable relations with Donald
Trump was never a tough choice. She has shown close to zero interest in
international issues and even less on the issue of Palestinian rights. Trump
and Netanyahu will see this for what it is – a British Prime minister terrified
of isolation having routinely offended her EU partners, desperately seeking a
soft landing in
Expanding settlements
The real split is over whether to exert any pressure
on
Already basking in the new Trump universe,
A new café in
Adnan Hussein/Al Arabiya/January
18/18
As expected, they brought the curtains down after they
ate and drank until they were full. They expressed the hope that they would
meet again for another “dialogue”, strike conversations in the company of good
food.
The recent Baghdad Dialogue ended on time. It was full of men from outside
At the end of the dialogue, participants did not propose any serious idea that
can help save us from financial and administrative corruption. They did not
show us the path to achieving reforms, which has been promised for years.
They also did not suggest ways to end the quota system which the ruling
political class agreed on, continue to hold on to and which they’ve used to
replace the 2005 constitution. Iraqis were excited about the 2005
constitutional referendum and defied terror attacks.
Missing billions
Those at the dialogue did not enlighten us about the
secret behind the disappearance of over $600 billion of the state’s annual
budgets. The disappearance of these sums is what made the state and its
services deteriorate to what they were a century ago when the state was under
the control of the
Those at the dialogue also failed to enlighten us about the details of the fall
of
Ending terror
They did not propose the right path to reconciliation
which they (i.e. the conference organizers and its backers) keep talking about
as they don’t really want it. They did not provide us a roadmap to decisively
end terrorism and violence which many of them stand behind and incite through
hate speeches. They have mastered nothing else but lying to people and stealing
their money and dreams. The only thing we understood at the end of the
conference is that it will become an annual feature, perhaps like the Arabs did
in the past organizing Souk Okaz, Souk Majna, Souk al-Majaz and others.
In brief, all what the Baghdad Dialogue did was add another cafe to
Is Trump our messiah? Don’t be so sure
Aviad Kleinberg/Yneynews/January
18/17
Op-ed: The Trump-era future will likely not be as bright as Netanyahu and
Bennett expect, simply because there is no way of knowing what the new
It will soon happen. The future will arrive. In his meeting with
Netanyahu usually sees himself as a historian. Occasionally, he explains to us
that it’s not the future waiting for us around the corner but the past.
In Netanyahu’s broken clock, the year is always 1938, and the world powers are
trying to sell us to the current oppressor. Fortunately, Netanyahu is
preventing a disaster with Churchillian valor, while smoking Cuban cigars and drinking French
champagne.
This time, however, it seems that the prime minister has decided to let go of
history and give philosophy a try. In his philosophical mood, Netanyahu ponders
the relativity of time, how every moment in our lives is a future that has
turned into the present and that will turn into the past in a moment. The
future, Netanyahu believes, is lurking at the end of every moment in our lives
and threatening to turn 1938 into 2017, for example.
Okay, fine, that is probably not what Netanyahu meant. It’s more likely that
without mentioning any names, Netanyahu defined the future as “the Trump era.”
Donald Trump (the future) will soon arrive, and then what? “We’ll change
henceforth the old tradition.” All of
Actually, why dream? The moments before reality’s arrival—the real future, not
the imaginary one—are the most optimistic moments. You have just been elected,
for example. Anything is possible. You will change and fix and succeed. A
moment later, your schedule is filled with Coalition Chairman David Bitan, Knesset Member Dudi Amsalem, Minister Yisrael Katz and police investigators.
The truth is that the future in the Trump era will likely not be as bright as
Netanyahu expects, simply because there is no way of knowing what the man, who
is about to be sworn in as the
For a moment, let’s put aside the question of Trump’s opinions and whether he
has any. The world’s strongest power will be headed by an irresponsible person,
a megalomaniac narcissist with radical impatience, who does not read books,
whose imagery and knowledge are taken from reality shows. And if that were not
enough, Donald Trump is going to be the first president who owes nothing to
anyone. He doesn’t owe a thing to the Republican Party. He doesn’t owe a thing
to businesspeople. He doesn’t even owe his electorate. Why, he even won the
support of one-third of the Hispanics, for example, despite treating them in a
racist and scornful manner.
A person who doesn’t owe anything to anyone, a person who has
crossed all lines of polite rhetoric and who has not paid a price for it, a
person who doesn’t listen to advice and is certain of his ability to succeed
without it—that is a dangerous person. Trump is an unexpected person
with a simplistic world view, who has surrounded himself with worthless
advisors. Are you sure that’s a good thing? Doesn’t that scare you just a bit?
Aren’t you afraid that the
Netanyahu and Bayit Yehudi
leader Naftali Bennett are not afraid. If Trump
supports the settlements, Trump is our messiah. Hallelujah. Even if we assume
that Trump will support the settlements (and, as I said, that is uncertain),
shouldn't you ask yourselves for just one moment what kind of world—because
apparently, there is a world outside Judea and Samaria—is the arrogant and rude
reality star preparing for us, with the huge resources of the world’s No. 1
power in his possession?